Cannon Firing Line
Wish Granted. Fans Get Wish With Giles Trade
By Ellis G. Cannon
PSR Publisher & ESPN Radio 1250 Talk Show Host

Brian Giles is now gone. This is what you wanted, right?

Whether David Littlefield received enough consideration when he moved Giles, his biggest bargaining chip at the rebuilding table, will be answered over time. The short term will be filled with talk just about every time Jason Bay, Oliver Perez or Giles does something newsworthy. But this process is not one to be evaluated by the moment or via snapshots. This is long-term and to be graded by watching the entire video.

It's not going to be easy. Just remember this is what fans said they wanted.

We acknowledge the fans who hoped the Pirates would include Giles in the rebuilding process, but that was a pipe dream. Giles longed to leave and, as we've seen with other players, that's the death knell. It's just a matter of time when it becomes known. It also does no favors for the general manager who's doing the trading.

If you need a refresher course, ask Craig Patrick how much Jaromir Jagr helped out his leverage when he said he was out of here.

Besides these fans, however, there has been the loud base of others who let it be known they wanted to see the Pirates "burn it down", to "get rid of the bums" and so forth. Those fans have received their wish.

There were merits to the view, but this is simply to remind fans of what they said for so long, particularly as they are now left with the reality. Call it what you want, but holding the fans accountable works for us.

Doing so will not allow them to get away with changing their earlier calls to something like "burn it down but get three major league starters and two top prospects and heal the Pirates' long-term financial ills while you're at it" when you trade the best player.

It doesn't work that way - for you or Littlefield.

Rather than run from it, the Pirates would be well-served to embrace it. In fact, if the Pirates want a fresh off-season marketing approach, management should remind you of what they've done rather than run from it, spin it or camouflage it through a marketing campaign built around pyro freaks and hot dogs being shot into the sky.

The Pirates message should be along the lines of "You wanted kids, you got kids" or "Put your money where your mouth is". The marketing should challenge fans, not BS them.

Nonsense? Consider after 11 losing seasons, fans weren't coming out in 2004 if the Pirates remained built as they were this summer. Attendance was already down this year and if it was the same crew returned, the backlash would have been unmistakable. Cries of "...they stink...they had their chance...I'd rather see the young guys because we know what these guys can't do..." would abound.

It would have been bad business to field the same outfit, at prices toward the high end of the Pirates' budget. Bad business may have had a role in getting the Pirates in this hole, but it doesn't mean poor business should be practiced indefinitely. No sense making a bad situation worse.

So you have the young guys. As with any good rebuilding plan, you have pitchers in the pipeline. You have a GM who knows there's a model out there to rebuild and that a big part of rebuilding is deciding who you don't want as much as who you do.

And you? You have what you wanted.

Ellis Cannon is also a regular contributor on the "#1 Cochran Sports Showdown", aired Sundays at 11:35 on KDKA-TV.