Pittsburgh Pirates Paying For Success

Sep 28, 2014; Cincinnati, OH, USA; Pittsburgh Pirates manager Clint Hurdle (13) watches from the dugout in the fifth inning against the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park. Mandatory Credit: David Kohl-USA TODAY Sports

With success comes many new and exciting challenges and the Pittsburgh Pirates are starting to pay for their recent success.  A couple of recent examples include Jeff Banister being named manager of the Texas Rangers.  Of course, you read it here first.  We have always been a supporter of Banister and the new skipper of the Rangers has been a fan of RumBunter over the years.

Banny loved the photoshops that our team created.  When we thought he was going to kick our ass at PiratesFest, we were wrong, he just wanted to tell us how much he loved our work.  The man is a class act and their is no doubt the Rangers are in a much better position today with Banny at the helm.  Banister was a guest on our RumBunter Podcast on a few occassions always being more than gracious with his valuable time.

We can’t express our congratulations enough in words and we look forward to talking with him in the near future and trust we can share our conversations with each of you.  Stay tuned.

The Pittsburgh Pirates best free agent signing ever was Russell Martin.

Of course the other news today was the Pirates will extend a qualifying offer to Russell Martin.  It’s the news that isn’t.  Martin is going to be leaving town and the Pirates will at least have a talented young player in the draft as compensation.  Gotta love Major League Baseball.

Sep 20, 2014; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Pittsburgh Pirates fans hold up signs cheering on the Pirates against the Milwaukee Brewers during the seventh inning at PNC Park. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

The Pirates just happened to announce the increase in ticket prices for the 2015 season on the same day as the announcement about the Q.O. to Martin.  The team will announce a paltry nine percent increase for 2015 season tickets.  Of course, it’s too little, too late, but we have discussed our feelings on the lack of ticket price increases in the past and won’t rehash them again here.  The team needed to make larger increases in order to close the gap in their average ticket pricing, but unfortunately for too many seasons losing was tied to holding prices constant.    The poor business decisions by teams from years past is still having an impact on the current ball club.

The Pittsburgh Pirates will continue to lose personnel from their coaching ranks as the success continues.  The Pittsburgh Pirates will also continue to lose talented players as their success continues.  And the Pittsburgh Pirates will also continue to raise ticket prices, hopefully whether the success continues on the field or not.

Be thankful.

It’s almost 2015, not 2005 and your Pittsburgh Pirates are doing a lot of things right.