I say it's not on the field and not in the front office, but in the
ownership office.

If these owners do not commit this team to spending somewhere near the
median 75 million mark, the Pirates cannot possibly improve from .500.

One can argue about the need for a slugging firstbaseman, a reliable
veteran starting pitcher, etc, etc.

But if ownership doesn't allow spending to increase, how does a GM
even go out into the marketplace and attempt to acquire these kind of
players.

Please, no more one year rent-a-players!

So far, all I hear is that "spending will be about the same, etc,
etc." That has been around 47 million.

All of the other objections fall by the way side, i.e. "you can't get
a good player to come here", "you can't take a chance on a long term
contract", etc, etc.

You won't find out if a Carlos Delgado type or a Greg Maddux type will
come to Pittsburgh UNLESS you commit to spending at least something
approaching the 1/2 way mark of MLB payroll, which is around 75
million.

Comments welcome.

CF-