What went wrong was the front office removing critical pieces from the team and then attempting to stop the bleeding by throwing a band-aid on top of it. Not even Searage, the Wizard him, could fix the likes of Niese, Locke, and Nicasio. There was never hidden talent in these guys like there was in say, Liriano.

I’m a life-long Pirates fan, typically a hopeless optimist. However, when we failed to resign Happ, I knew we were in for a long season. My biggest fear is that this franchise never reaches its full potential in what I characterize as a“modern renaissance” period for this franchise franchise.