A Pirates Scout Has Quit Working For The Pirates Because The Pirates Suck

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review refers to Mike Leuzinger as "a superscout." He had been the Pirates' area supervisor for North Texas and Oklahoma since 2004, and last year, he brought in Josh Bell, a top-flight outfield prospect the team had acquired by dangling a $5 million signing bonus. Before joining the Pirates, Leuzinger spent 12 years with the Dodgers, and Matt Kemp was among the players he signed.

But now Leuzinger's had enough, telling the Trib he opted not to renew his contract. Part of it was because the Pirates' refused to grant permission for him to interview for a job with the Yankees. But part of it was, well, the Pirates:

"I was there for eight of those (20 losing seasons)," he said. "It does wear you down. I'm not the only one."

When the season ended, Pirates owner Bob Nutting did say he would re-evaluate "every area of the organization" in the wake of the Pirates' second consecutive late-season swoon. Yet he's since decided not to make any changes at the top of the baseball operations staff, which has been in place for the last five of these 20 straight losing seasons. Because, you know, why fix what's broken?

[ Pittsburgh Tribune-Review]