Pirates Mascot Released. Salary Dump?

The Pittsburgh Pirates didn’t wait until June to start the madness. In a cool article over at Raise the Jolly Roger,  the history of the Pirates signature phrase is revealed by Pirates announcer Greg Brown.  Near the end, we saw something disturbing in Brownies’ response:

"Later, they (the Pirates) added the mascot (though it looks like The Jolly Roger was released just before the season.)"

So here’s the question.  Does anyone miss Captain Jolly?  You don’t?  Yeh, me either.  Captain had been with the Bucs since the 2006 season.  Here was the announcement of the  Captain joing the team.

"Move over Parrot, you’ve got some company."

"After the Pirates’ rousing 12-5 win over the Houston Astros on Friday night at PNC Park, the Bucs unveiled a new, as-yet-unnamed mascot to join the longtime fan-favorite Pirate Parrot."

"The shaggy-bearded and patch-eyed new buccaneer mascot has the look of a fuzzier take on the team’s logo. He will be integrated into the Pirates in-game entertainment at PNC Park, Sunday Kids Days and other community and marketing initiatives."

"“The new mascot will enhance our in-game entertainment experience by allowing us to increase the fan interaction at PNC Park, especially with our younger fans,” Pirates vice president of marketing, sales and broadcasting Tim Schuldt said in a statement. “After all, we are the Pirates. We want our young fans to form that emotional connection with the franchise.”"

Seriously, not just any mascot claiming to be a professional can replace Parrott.  Clearly, this move was not a salary dump.  It appears it was just another step in the five year plan.  Sure, it would have been nice to at least try and work a trade with another major league club for Captain, but who would want a mascot with Captains’ record of 264-383 since 2006?    Many fans have been critical of the Pirates approach to rebuilding this team, but nobody can doubt the commitment by Bob Nutting.