Pedro Alvarez Promotion: For One Night, Pirates Not All About The Money

Call the Pedro Alvarez debut the anti-Stephen Strasburg Strasmas.  The Pittsburgh Pirates front office have been called the best in sports by their owner Bob Nutting.

I disagree.  If the Pirates had the best, most capitalistic management team in sports, the Pedro Alvarez call up would have been

a calculated move.  The Pirates didn’t pull such nonsense and will not cash in tonight.  Something went down to cause this,  and I am anxious to see what it was.

Think about it.  The Pittsburgh Pirates are now on the clock to sell tickets to Pedro’s debut.  It’s a little after midnight and the Pirates ticket office isn’t open.  That’s not a big deal you say, just get them online.  Where do you go?  StubHub right?

I am very curious how many diehard fans bought tickets online last night.   In the twenty minutes since our last post, at least 40+ tickets in nice sections have sold.  (I bought some tickets before I grabbed the screenshot for the last post, plus it doesn’t take into account how many were added to the inventory.)  Buying from StubHub is a knee jerk reaction.  It’s quick.  You feel great thinking you got the best seats possible.  Hell, you need to see the Pirates best talent since Barry Bonds make his debut.

How curious are you to know if an email was sent to the Pittsburgh Pirates associates?  Heh, you might want to come in early tomorrow, we called up ‘the franchise’ and people will want to see him play.  Expect a busy day.

Some Pirates associates might be surprised to learn the news when they wake up this morning.  Especially after Pirates GM Neal Huntington didn’t give any indication such move was coming a few hours before gametime last night.  Ah, hell what does that guy know anyway?  Is he really calling the shots anymore, because it certainly seems confusing these days.  I get the feeling Frank Coonelly had seen enough.  Do you?

Frank Coonelly runs the business side.  There isn’t much business to be generated from this late night, traditional callup.  At least tonight.  That’s cool.  What is your prediction on the number of tickets Alvarez adds to the gate tonight?  8,000?  10,000?

The big picture tells us, Alvarez is going to sell some tickets.  But it’s exciting to see how many tickets the kid can sell with this small amount of notice and very little buzz in his last 15 at-bats at AAA.

What about the corporate opportunities lost by the Pirates by keeping Pedro top secret?  The tickets for the Pirates tonight will be the hottest one to come along in oh, let’s say as long as I can remember, and perhaps at least the hottest until Ben Roethlisberger comes back from suspension.   Fans are attracted to youth.  America is attracted to youth.  And everyone is attracted to talent.

So if the Pirates wanted to make a sizeable gate tonight, how easy would it have been?  I know without a shadow of a doubt, I could have filled two suites with clients for this game.  I am small fries.  How many suites will be empty tonight at PNC Park?   I will be sure to zoom in with my camera for you.  There were zero suites available in DC.  None.  Sold out.  It was also a weeknight and despite reports of a complete sell-out, we bought standing room tickets at 3pm.  No money was refused for Strasmas.

It will be near impossible to see an official jersey with Alvarez printed on the back.  There were so many in DC, my eyes hurt.  But the bottom line is, Alvarez can rake.  Rake=Sales.  Sales Cures All.  Sales helps sign Jameson Taillon and Stetson Allie.

In closing, because we are still celebrating at RumBunter HQ, the next time some hilljack says ‘Nutting is a crook,’  remind him of this story.  Sure, Nutting is a crook, but his management team made certain that the crook wasn’t able to cash in on a few golden opportunities to make a bundle.  The boys went old school.   Or maybe just one boy went old school.

If the Pirates wanted to maximize profits, it could have manipulated Pedro’s callup into a windfall much like, although not exactly like,  the Nationals did.   Certainly pitchers garner more attention, but the last time the city of Pittsburgh saw a baseball talent this good was Barry Bonds.  Yeh.  Barry.  Bonds.

Dig back into the recent RumBunter posts about the records set for Strasburg.  DC ain’t a sports tahn.  Pittsburgh is the best on the planet.  I will stand and applaud when Pedro Alvarez struts to the plate tonight.  I will enjoy it.  I hope some other diehards enjoy it too.

Some more wild, once in a lifetime opportunities missed tonight.  How much would you have paid to be on the field to watch batting practice?  With five clients that could make your quarter?

Some other things to consider, but could have much less of an impact than they should…What time do the gates open tomorrow?  What time does will call open?  What time….oh the questions are long.  Each of them running through my brain because I am a capitalist pig that would love an opportunity to make a big splash and a pile of cash on this one night.

But heh, that’s just the evil Nutting side of my brain.

The Pirates front office realized a long time ago, that there is no way for the Pirates to ‘win’ in this town, until they can win on the field.

Pedro Alvarez will help in spite of the best management team in sports.  Perhaps he will hold the same grudge and take it out on the baseball in the same manner Andrew McCutchen, Garrett Jones, and Neil Walker did.

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Tim has an interesting take at BuccoFans  tonight discussing the amount of service time Pedro will collect and the $700 K……

Funniest thing I heard in a long time was on the Fan last night.  The Fan announcer asked the question “When was the last time you got excited about the Pittsburgh Pirates?”   A texter sent in this:

"The last time I was excited was when Mark Smith threw that no hitter against the Astros."

The announcer ( I won’t embarass him)  said, yeh, that was cool.  Ahhh….now that is clueless radio.  Send your funny texts to the Fan, I will listen, and see if you can make RumBunter.  I wish I would have caught the name of the texter because I would have given you props.  That was good shit.