Different Kind of Offseason

Nothing ever goes right for the Pirates. How else could you explain 19 straight years of losing? I know, it's becoming foolish to say that things are turning around until we actually see them turn around, but there have been some serious signs of good luck for the Pirates this offseason.

The crazy thing about these signs is that the Pirates have not had a direct impact in any of them.

First, we got news that baseball is adding another Wild Card spot for the playoffs, and the Houston Astros were going to the American League. Those two changes aren't going to happen until 2013, but they were certainly good news for the future of the Pirates.

After that, we got the news that Albert Pujols was headed to the American League. Pujols did as much damage to the Pirates as any single player could do, so it's good to see him leaving. Throughout that, it has become more and more clear that Prince Fielder will not be returning to the Brewers. He has not made a decision yet, but there is a very good chance he will heading to the American League as well, and there is hardly a chance at all that he will be staying in the National League Central.

The good news didn't stop there, as Ryan Braun tested positive for performance enhancing drugs and now faces a 50 games suspension. All of that makes the division much more winnable than it has been in past years.

Outside of baseball, things have also been going well for the Pirates in terms of their fan base. First of all, the signing of Nate McLouth will generate some more interest. That's actually not outside of baseball, but now I'm going to get outside of baseball. The Pittsburgh Penguins have had a good season and probably had a larger regular-season fan base than ever when Sidney Crosby returned to the lineup. However, Crosby could miss another huge chunk of time, which has some of the Penguins fans pretty discouraged. Also, today Todd Graham walked out on Pitt football, which probably doesn't help the morale of the Pitt fans out there. I'm not saying that that stuff is going to directly push people to liking the Pirates, but it certainly could sour them towards the other sports and generate some more interest when the 2012 season rolls around.

With all the things going right for the Pirates this offseason, it's kind of discouraging to see them not making their big league much better. They have made some moves this offseason that should help, but they haven't made any kind of big splash. I personally still don't think it's the time to spend big money in free agency or anything of that sort quite yet, they should still wait until Jameson Taillon, Gerrit Cole, Josh Bell, and company are closer to the big leagues, so let's just be happy that the outside influences are being kind to the Pirates this offseason. It's about times things start going right around here.