Playing the Fool for the MLB

In very Jaromir Jagr like fashion, former Pittsburgh Pirates RHP A.J. Burnett is gone.

It shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone.  It certainly wasn't to me.  Even when A.J.publicly stated after last season that he either be back pitching for the Pirates, or retire, I knew he was going to leave.  So did you.  Whether you want to admit it or not, you knew A.J. wasn't coming back.  You knew he was going to take a huge paycheck someplace else that could pay him - because that's what baseball players do.  It sucks but it's the reality of being fans of a small market team.  It's one we've all come to terms with.

But we continually fool ourselves.  We tell ourselves that things will change - or have changed.  That maybe a player like A.J. would mean what he said and take a discount to come pitch for a team and city he fell in love with because, hey, money isn't everything.  That maybe, just maybe, a big name free agent would want to come to Pittsburgh because it's such a great place to be a professional athlete - a great place to be a professional baseball player (for proof of this see: any of the Pirates post season games).

These are fantasies folks.  They will never happen, at least, not in this MLB.  Money will always triumph over loyalty - meaning that teams like the Yankees, Red Sox, Cardinals, etc. will always triumph over small market teams. Because they have the money.  A.J. Burnett was no different than any other big name free agent.  When the money comes calling - the player always answers.

 The Pirates will never land a big name free agent.  Ever.

So why even follow this team?  Why fool yourself into thinking that a player like A.J. would come back here?  Why keep playing the fool?  Well, it's simple really.

When you're a fan of a small market team, being a fool is part of the territory.  If it wasn't, then what would be the point of being a fan.  It's not that we don't know that these players are in no way in hell going to sign with us - and by us I mean any small market team.  We're not stupid.  We know they're not coming.  We know they're going to take the money 10/10 times.  But we tell ourselves that they might anyway.  Because we need to.  Because if we didn't then it wouldn't be worth being a fan of these small teams.  Because it's hope that drives us to keep rooting for these terrible teams. It's hope that keep fans of the Pittsburgh Pirates, Minnesota Twins, Miami Marlins, etc - rooting for their teams.   It's hope that drives us to keep following them year after year of loosing seasons.  Year after year of watching big market teams pilfer our players.  Year after year of the same 6 teams in playoffs.  See, we need to fool ourselves - in order to make watching these teams meaningful.  We need some silver lining - that one day, maybe, things will be different.

Until that day though, I'm going to keep playing the fool.
I'm going to keep hoping.
Because, at the end of the day - as a Pirates fan, it's all I have.