It's been tough for fans of the Pittsburgh Pirates lately. We're almost to the point where an entire generation of fans have gone without seeing a single winning season of Pirates baseball. Every year since the Pirates came within one out of reaching the 1992 World Series, they have lost more games than they've won, and only once during that span did they finish within 13 games of 1st place. In the last five seasons the best the Pirates have done was their 68-94 record in 2007. But things are about to start changing in Pittsburgh -- sooner rather than later. They will if the new M&M Boys have anthing to say about it. When you're in a small market situation as are the Pirates, your best chance for success is with lots of young talent -- players who are productive before they're old enough to earn big money. This season the Pirates are counting on a couple of players with dreads who fit that description -- outfielders Lastings Milledge and Andrew McCutchen (photo below). Both former 1st round draft choices, the new M&M Boys gave Pirate fans a taste of their talent in '09 and are expected to do more this season.
Milledge (photo below), who would have been drafted higher than the #12 overall pick in 2003 if not for some trouble off the field, has already been traded twice since first reaching the majors in '06; and he knows that even though he's only about to turn 25, he's running out of chances, and he needs to step up now. The talent is still there, and now the effort is there too. Milledge's dad has mentioned that his son has been smiling like never before this spring, an indication that we're going to see Lastings at his best from now on. Let's hope he's right. Please check out this article (including a 3-minute video) from four weeks ago in the Tribune-Review for the whole story about Milledge, a player who hopefully will bring smiles to the faces of Pirate fans this season and for several years to come.
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/pirates/s_670430.html
The 23-year old McCutchen (photo below), drafted #11 overall in 2005, arrived in Pittsburgh last season on June 4 and immediately started living up to his considerable hype. He performed so well that he finished 4th in the voting for NL rookie of the year despite playing only 108 games (exactly two thirds of a full season). A five-tool talent, McCutchen only scratched the surface of his ability last season according to teammates. As exciting as his debut was, he's going to get a lot better, hopefully good enough to make the Hall of Fame someday. Please click on this article from a week ago in the Tribune-Review for more on McCutchen, a player seemingly headed for stardom.
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/pirates/s_673750.html
When McCutchen was in high school, he was often referred to as "the next Lastings Milledge," so I guess they were destined to end up being teammates in the majors. And they've already become close friends. Please click here for a nice article from yesterday's Post-Gazette about the two.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10092/1047407-63.stm
Milledge and McCutchen -- the M&M Boys with dreads. No, they're not going to combine for 115 home runs in one season as the original M&M's did a half century ago. But if they both play up to their potential, it won't be much longer before Pirate fans finally get to enjoy that long-awaited winning season.
2
1
