This question has been bugging me for some time. When I interviewed Don from Mondesi’s House, I asked how the failures of Pirates GM Dave Littlefield compared with the early successes of Pens GM Ray Shero. Don’s response was, Littlefield has not carved out much of a legacy, but I think his hands are tied for the most part. Its been 6 years since Dave took over for the, dare I say, even more awful Cam Bonifay. To this point, Littlefield has rivaled Bonifay’s horrible-ness.
I’ve replaced the logo poll in the upper left of the page with one reflecting this question, What is Dave Littlefield’s Legacy? My choices are explained here:
Best GM of All Time. The Nuttings don’t care about winning baseball games. The Nuttings care about the devout Pirates fan base who will generously dole out dollar after dollar, with the hopes of finally breaking the (soon to be) 15 years of losing baseball. With revenue sharing, the Nuttings can continue to spend bottom dollar and lose games, all while the Steinbrenners of the world still cut the Nuttings a check year after year. So why would you want a competent GM? If you are good at judging talent, you can sign top prospects and free agents, increasing your chance at winning games. Winning games = increasing the payroll. Incompetent GMs will continue to sign the Matt Stairs and Tike Redmans, consistently lose games, and still cash Steinbrenner’s checks.
Rule 5 Disaster. In the 2003 Rule 5 draft, 5 Pirates prospects were picked in the first 6 draft choices. Chris Shelton, who was named Buccos Minor League Player of the Year, went first, followed by former prospects Rich Thompson, Frank Brooks, Jeff Bennett and Jose Bautista. Bautista made it back, but the damage was done. Remarked one anonymous AL Executive who wanted a Pittsburgh prospect, “There wasn’t anything left.”
Hack. Doesn’t need an explanation.
Nutting Puppet. If the Nuttings are more concerned with making money rather than winning, then any (I say this hesitantly) stars on the team need to go. Why pay them? It only cuts into your profit. So Littlefield has traded guys like Jeff Suppan Jason Schmidt, Jason Kendall, Kenny Lofton, Sean Casey, Aramis Ramirez, Chris Young, Brian Giles and Oliver Perez for guys like Bobby Hill, Orlando Hernandez, Jose Hernandez, etc. Yeah, we got Jason Bay and Freddy Sanchez, but for every NL Rookie of the Year, there’s a Chris Stynes waiting.
Create Your Own Answer. And make them interesting. I’m only giving you four other choices, so your feelings won’t necessarily be expressed within these four. Is he a tool, a jerk, a punkass, a nerdy dweeb, a god, your mom, etc.? Have fun with it, and tell the world what you really feel about Dave Littlefield.
