Pirates will win before Reds

John Erardi of the Cincinnati Enquirer says that the Pirates are outpacing the Reds in the process of rebuilding a winning team. The Pirates' deals at the trading deadline netted a bounty of talent, the Reds' deals did not. It seems that the Reds are still chasing the .500 mark for the 2008 season while the Pirates have smartly moved on to 2009 and beyond.

From following both of these teams, I absolutely agree with Erardi's argument here. The Reds are still starting Corey Patterson in centerfield for goodness sakes! The major difference between these two (current) bottom-dwellers can be summed up in one word - attitude. Both teams have new managers and new GMs, but the Reds haven't changed a bit from the past few seasons. They don't play with energy or passion. The Pirates on the other hand do, regardless of their record or 2008 outlook. The Bucs grind out close games and blowouts while the Reds just curl up in a ball and feel sorry for themselves. The Pirates also are much better in fundamentals such as baserunning and defense.

The Pittsburgh mainstream media is much more supportive of their team. They accentuate the positives and highlight the teams' progressive. It seems that the Cincinnati mainstream media does nothing but bash the Reds and tear them apart. In this respect, as weird as it may sound, I would have to say that it's a more positive experience being a Pirates fan - at least it's more fun to read the newspaper. For some reason, maybe it's good karma, maybe it's a positive outlook, or maybe it is a better job and rebuilding as Erardi says, but I think the Pirates will win before the Reds.

Charlie at Bucs Dugout doesn't agree. He points to the wealth of up-and-coming talent in the Reds farm system. This is my comment to his post:

The Reds might have more talent in their system but the Pirates have a brighter future because they are doing thing the right way.

A lot of people might not agree with me here, but the Pirates’ attitude has changed in 2008. Hopefully this attitude change goes all the way up and down the farm system.

The Reds on the other hand are the same ol’ Reds – they are severely lacking in knowledge of the basic fundamentals like defense and baserunning.

I also think that the Reds ballpark is (and will be) the death of them. It’s a bandbox and not conducive to building a team centered on defense and pitching. They must continually build the same type of team in that ballpark (a team of Adam Dunn’s)... that’s NOT the way to win in a smaller-market.