The 17-year nightmare is almost over

The Setup

Quick: What do the Pittsburgh Pirates have in common with Right Said Fred?

(Waiting.)

Neither has been relevant since 1992! Zing.

All right, now that we've gotten a Pirates joke out of the way, it's time to get serious; that's exactly what the Bucs themselves are doing. Since Neal Huntington was hired as GM in September 2007, he has had the singular focus of rebuilding the Pirates from the ground up. The complete housecleaning done by Huntington is pretty much unprecedented in recent baseball history. To succeed as a major league GM, you need to have a vision for the organization that is within your means. No GM in the game has a more clear-cut plan than Huntington, and he is executing it perfectly. Fear not, Pirates fans, relevance is fast approaching.

Heard this one before? Sure, sure ... Pirates ... relevance ... Jason Bay ... Aramis Ramirez ... Zach Duke as an ace ... right, right ... but seriously, on the other side of this pay wall, Matt Meyers makes some good points about the Buccos. So, if you're into baseball and rebuilding projects, go for this one. However, you'll need to be an ESPN Insider.

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