Kab, the pirates were a farm team for the past 10-15 years. Every good and decent player was traded for prospects whom were traded if they too became good/decent and in the final years of arbitration. Just to name a few. Freddy Garcia, Niger Morgan, Jason Bay, Aramis Ramirez, Brian Giles, Jason Kendell (in his prime) and many more. The reason is because the GM in those years -- and still now -- was told to dramatically lower payroll. Low payroll makes it hard to keep good players and so goes the tale of a crappy baseball team for the past 20 years. GO BUCS!