Kevin Gorman: Time for Pirates to stop talking, start playing

BRADENTON, Fla. —

Josh Harrison started the sounding off by Pirates players, a day after they traded his best friend and face of the franchise, Andrew McCutchen.

Now, it's become obvious the move wasn't just a slap in the face to Pirates fans but to the men who played with the five-time All-Star center fielder.

So, Pirates players aired their grievances about the disconnect between the ownership, front office, coaches and clubhouse.

Harrison questioned the club's direction and said if the Pirates weren't committed to winning, he wanted to be traded. David Freese criticized the team's accountability and demand to win.

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Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said it's "medicinal in a lot of ways, when guys have their feelings and they get them out."

If so, what Pirates players did was more homeopathic, a complete cleansing of the colon.

Harrison on Sunday stood behind everything he said. But the team's longest-tenured player also did something significant that should be noted.

He showed up.

That was never a given.

The Pirates could have acquiesced to his demands and dealt Harrison, though they knew if they did so it would be trading from a position of weakness.

Harrison could have held out until they moved him, contract or not. That's what professional athletes do to get their way.

What Harrison wanted, what all the Pirates players want, is an absolute affirmation that everyone on the club is in it to win it.

"Every year, there's going to be guys who come in and guys who go out," Harrison said at Pirate City. "I've been here for a lot of it, and a lot of it is you just want to know where you stand as a team and where you stand as a player, what's expected of you and what's expected of the team.

"Sometimes, that gets lost in translation, the human side of this game. We all want to win. I'm not saying nobody wants to win, but when you feel it's not the main goal of everybody, whether it's in the clubhouse or dealing with the organization, that's hard to be a part of, especially when it's only a fraction of our lives playing at the major-league level."

Pirates general manager Neal Huntington did his best to assure everyone the Pirates want the same thing as the players, and that's to win a World Series.

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"I guess in theory, 50-year-old men in pleated pants have a longer shelf life than a player might, but if we don't win, we get fired. That's pretty straightforward," Huntington said. "Obviously, we're missing something with the message publicly. We're working to find out what that is. The candid conversation isn't always me talking to them. There are times when the candid conversation is when you listen and you're taking in what they have to say and trying to understand what they have to say."

The players understand that, following 78- and 75-win seasons, the Pirates didn't believe they could build a championship team around McCutchen and Gerrit Cole and felt the trades were necessary.

Privately, they don't believe the team did enough to build around McCutchen or think they got much of a return for a player of his star status. They view the trade as a simple salary dump.

That's the disconnect.

Harrison talked about feeling tension and an edge around everyone at PNC Park, from players to coaches to the front office.

Maybe the mistake was not sounding off two years ago, when the Pirates didn't invest in starting pitching following a 98-win season.

"It wasn't my place when Cutch was here because it would be just another voice drowned out," Harrison said. "Once those moves happened … you just want to make sure everyone's on the same page. I care about winning, man."

So, Harrison spoke up and showed up. The players have been heard, loud and clear. Hopefully, that improves the lines of communication, and the Pirates stop missing with their message.

"If their main focus is winning, let's do that," Harrison said. "That's my main objective. I don't care how we do it but things need to be done. As Freese said the other day, it has to be urgent — and not just a couple of guys. It has to be from top to bottom."

The first day of full-squad workouts start Monday at Pirate City. The Pirates are minus Cutch and Cole, but have added a third baseman, a starting pitcher and a pair of relievers to a roster that is young, talented and outspoken.

"It's everyone on board, just thinking the same thing: We can't be hungry. We've got to be starving to win," veteran super-utility player Sean Rodriguez said.

"You've got to be starving to want to perfect everything and just pour that into every day, so that if you're not the type to be outspoken about it, at least you're contagious by the way you walk and the way you carry yourself. That's what it takes. That's what winning is."

It starts with showing up. Every day.

Kevin Gorman is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at kgorman@tribweb.com or via Twitter @KGorman_Trib.