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Pirates have a pretty park but an ugly outlook.

Article Excerpt
The Brewers are for sale. The Tigers are signing free agents. The Devil Rays are adding veterans and developing youngsters at a breakneck pace. Good things are happening even in the most depressed baseball markets.

Then there is Pittsburgh.

After the Expos, who exist in a bizarre, Major League Baseball-controlled universe, the Pirates' outlook is the bleakest of any low-revenue club's. If their latest rebuilding plan fails, it could cost owner Kevin McClatchy his nerve and general manager Dave Littlefield his job.

The Pirates, entering their fourth season at gorgeous PNC Park, are reducing their payroll from $54 million at the start of last season to between $35 million and $39 million. Adding to their challenge is the economic crisis in Pittsburgh, a city that has lost population and is on the brink of insolvency.

Reduced ticket prices could help attendance, which dropped from 2.4 million in the inaugural season at PNC to 1.6 million last season, 26th in the majors. But after 11 straight losing seasons--a streak that matches the Brewers' for the game's longest--fans are skeptical about the promise of a brighter future.

"They've heard this said two, three, four times before,' Littlefield says. "There's some doubt as to when it's going to be delivered. It hasn't been delivered in the past."

Yet, as discouraging as it is for Pirates fans to bid farewell to players such as pitcher Jason Schmidt, left fielder Brian Giles and third baseman Aramis Ramirez, the team's only chance is to follow the model used by the A's, Twins and other successful low-revenue dubs: Tear down, then build up.

Catcher Jason Kendall has no place in such a reconstruction, which is why...