Pirates give Humberto Cota the middle finger

How can you tell when the baseball team you play for has absolutely no respect for you? When they decide to retire the number of a player that hasn't suited up for them in 67 years, despite the fact that you're currently wearing the number.

Welcome to Humberto Cota's world. The Pirates are going to announce tonight that they're going to retire Paul Waner's #11. Tonight happens to be the all-important 81st anniversary of Waner's debut with the Pirates. I'm not debating the worthiness of retiring Waner's number (I suspect if I did, Bob Smizik would hunt me down and kill me in cold blood), it just seems kind of strange that they're doing it right now with a player already wearing #11 on the roster. And it's not a rookie who's just been given the number, it's a guy that's been here for some time. I mean I know Cota sucks and he's just the backup catcher, but would it kill the team to wait until he's not around, say, next year? They've waited this long, why not wait one more year? It's like the PR department is going, "Oh, shit! This season is going down the tubes quick! Spin! The whole team will wear #42 to honor Jackie Robinson! Spin! We're retiring Paul Waner's number! Spin! Spin! SPIN!"

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