Moneyball and the Pirates: Now and Then

This team is lost at sea. Aside from a few prospects in the minors, it has no strengths. There's not a bad management philosophy in this organization there is no management philosophy. This team is not rebuilding, not tooling up for a run at the pennant, not looking at any time horizon, and seems as if it's run by Rachel Phelps. There is absolutely no reasonable explanation for the choices this team has made as of late.This is Baseball Prospectus's introductory paragraph on their pre-season writeup for the Pirates. From the winter of 1995/1996 (Ed. Read all of that. You'll thank me later.). It could be from 1998, though. Or 2001. Or 2003. Or 2006. As I wrote for Pittsburgh Magazine's blog, it's incredible how long the Pirates have been bad and it's best not to think about it, lest you make yourself question why you've stayed a Pirate fan for this long. You can't objectively say all of these things about the 2011 Pirates, though. You could say the ...