Who's fault?

I probably should have been a little clearer in my post from yesterday where I agree with Dejan's statement that if we have a losing season next year it's the management's fault. As Rory points out in the comments, there's a lot the players can do to screw things up too. Rowdy also disagrees, wondering just how much difference the management can make. Anyways, both of these arguments made me want to refine my point a little bit and try to make a little bit of a clearer point.

Yeah, it's true, these young players can do a lot to screw up next year. Eldred and Castillo could strike out, a lot. Doumit could be a defensive liability behind the plate. Duffy and McLouth might never get one base and be nothing but good gloves that are fast on the bases, if they ever get there. Perez might never get his head screwed on right, Burnett might not be 100% healthy, other teams might start to figure Duke out, Bullington might never find that extra 5 mph he lost from college and suffer from it, Van Benschoten might make the argument that he should stay in the outfield look like a good one, etc. etc. But if all those things happen, that's not any different than what's happened to us at any point in the last 13 years. Has it been the player's fault every single time? Chris Duffy sure looks more promising than Jermaine Allensworth ever did, so does the fault go squarely on their shoulders if they both go the way of Chad Hermanson? The truth is, the management of this team made a ton of mistakes this year, some that had an immediate effect, some that may hurt us down the road.

• Mid-December we traded Leo Nunez for Benito Santiago. Benito played in 6 games for us before being cut because he wasn't as good as Humberto Cota or David Ross. This was a trade that never needed to be made (a deal similar to the Ross one would've been very possible before spring training). Nunez is a young guy with a very live arm that's been up with the Royals already this year at the age of 21. This trade smacks of Chris Young for Matt Herges. We traded a young, potentially useful reliever for a guy we didn't need and didn't use.
  
• Oliver Perez came to Spring Training with a stiff arm after having not thrown all winter. Instead of trying to get him in shape we hurried him along to start the opener, risking further injury in the name of public relations. He struggled for most of the year before breaking his toe on a laundry cart out of frustration. This may have happened anyways, but in light of all the evidence it's possible the best thing for him would have been an extended spring training.
  
• We called Chris Duffy up in early April, only to let him sit on the bench for a week or so before being sent back down. We then spent part of May and June pissing it away on Tike Redman in center. If we'd given every start we've given to Tike this year to Duffy from the time he was called up, we'd know a hell of a lot more about Duffy and he'd be that much further along. Instead, we have no idea of Duffy is Tike 2003 re-incarnated or an actual answer in center.
• Mark Redman was 4-4 with a 2.80 ERA on June 10th. I realize that hindsight is 20-20, but as a GM Dave Littlefield has to realize that Redman's value was peaking at this point. It shouldn't matter what our record was at that point, having delirious dreams about .500 is the fan's job, not the General Manager's. A player like Mark Redman on a team like the Pirates should have been traded when his value was the highest. A season close to .500 this year, followed by more seasons way under it will not bring more fans to the park, a commitment to winning will. If we'd traded Redman in June and brought Duke up then, then called up Snell to replace Ollie in the rotation would we be worse off than we actually are? Snell would get a real chance to start in the Majors (which he hasn't been given) and Duke would have an extra month. As it stands, after this year we will have more or less traded Jason Kendall for a gimp and a little bit of cash (that probably will not be put into the on-field product that we see). That's not acceptable.
  
• Ryan Doumit was called up in June and more or less sat until the beginning of August. What a waste.
• Ian Snell was called up in late June and was used spottily in the pen, while making only two starts as Josh Fogg, Mark Redman, and Kip Wells struggled. In his second start (which I missed on vacation but talked to my uncle who was at the game about it) he threw very well and very hard, gave up some soft hits, got no defense, and was yanked after 6 runs in 2 innings. He was then sent back down to AAA shortly after that. We could've been using this year to find out if he is in fact suited to a starter's role in the majors, instead we're going to have maybe 5 starts total to go on (once he gets called up in September).
• Rick White and Jose Mesa have been more or less bad all year (Mesa opened with a brilliant streak and White pitched mostly well between May and July) but they're still the go to guys in our bullpen. They're both ancient and can only go down in talent from here, but every indication points to at least Mesa coming back as closer next year. We could've used this year to find out how Ryan Vogelsong responds to a key role in the pen. Remember how good he was in Spring Training of '04, this guy has good stuff and yet we continue to banish him as mop-up man rather than find out if he can actually produce in the pen. Lots of bad starters have made good relievers simply because it's easier to throw one or two good innings than it is to throw 6 or 7. Look at Gagne. For an example closer to home, look at Torres. When he returned from his exile he was awful as a starter, but besides this year he's been a very effective reliever. We could have also used their slots to see how Snell responds to a full-time slot in the pen (rather than mop-up as he was used) if that's how we really think he'll be best for us. Mesa and White have been a complete waste of space.
  
• Until very recently McClendon would refuse to use anyone out of his usual rotation unless they hit .400 and couldn't be put on the bench. Thus, Eldred came up and sat initially as did Doumit, and now McLouth. He finally came around on most of them, but keep Craig Wilson in mind as an example of what his methods can do to a prospect's confidence.
• The people that run the team have to take some responsibilty for the Kip Wells debacle. Sure, some of Kip's problem is in his head. It's the coaches job to fix that. He was great in May and early June this year and has shown flashes of brilliance since then (mostly against the Phillies). He's got good stuff, and I'm sick of the "He'll never succeed here" excuse. There's no reason why guys like him (of course following other "will never succeed here" guys like Schmidt, Aramis Ramirez, and Benson who have gone on to succeed elsewhere) CAN'T succeed here. When they excel elsewhere, it's an indictment of the people that run the team.
  

My point is only that when Brad Eldred regresses into Steve Balboni instead of turning into Jim Thome, when Chris Duffy turns into Hermanson, when Zach Duke regresses into Dave Williams, when Ryan Doumit can "no longer succeed as a Pirate", when Oliver Perez never regains his 2004 form, and when none of the pitching prospects develop the way we think they should that all of these things could be because we had unreal expectations of them, because they simply aren't that good, but to me all signs would point to it being because we're a poorly run baseball team.