Bucs' Ownership Makeover

After 15 consecutive losing seasons, the Pittsburgh Pirates have made a change at the top.

The Pirates announced on Friday that they have requested Major League Baseball to approve a change of control within the team's ownership group.

Under the proposed move, Pirates chairman Bob Nutting would take over as the leader of the Pittsburgh ownership team. Kevin McClatchy, who has served as the Pirates' managing general partner since becoming baseball's youngest owner in 1996, will remain on as the team's chief executive officer.

"I want to see this team win as much as anybody," McClatchy said. "I've put a lot of time into this thing over the years. I think we're getting closer, and I want to see it through.

"We've gone through the tough times. It would be nice to actually be here for some of the better times."

This shake-up is not only justifiable but needed. The final lines of the McClatchy quote, "We've gone through..." shows just how frustrated the Pirates front office has become with their losing ways. Although it has seemed that they've been content with sub .500 seasons.

Breeding young promising pitchers and then pawning them off is never going to produce playoff caliber teams. The past years of loser-ship came to a head when actor Michael Keaton, who threw out the first pitch of their home opener, essentially lambasted Pirates ownership for continuing a tradition of losing.