I have 20 unpublished articles in my drafts.
The last one was on July 7th, which I started on July 5th and worked on throughout the weekend.
Most of these drafts are at least 2,000 words, without a conclusion, and cover my observations about the Pittsburgh Pirates this season. A lot of them are geared toward the front office.
Today, I thought I would provide some rankings of my favorite unfinished drafts.
Untitled - There are nine of these, out of my 20 drafts, including the post I was working on from last week. The most recent untitled post discussed a lot of topics, including how crazy it is that Ben Cherington began a rebuild by inheriting Mitch Keller, extended Keller as part of the plan to contend, and now could be starting another rebuild by trading away Keller.
Social Media Reality - Early in the season, Paul Skenes walked a few people, and the panic and criticism on Twitter — mostly from Pittsburgh radio hosts — made me think that Skenes had an ERA over 4.00. He ranked as one of the best pitchers at the time, and has only gotten better. I’ve only been following the Pirates on social media, as part of an experiment this year to track what fans get from the traditional Pittsburgh media. The panic factory that is Pittsburgh sports radio is intolerable. Someone needs to medicate those whining white boys.
Leaders - One of my pet peeves is the modern day concept of leadership. Most people pushing an idea of leadership end up pushing a concept of being a follower in a power position. Most people attempting to be leaders in the days of social media only want to be followed and influence people. Real leaders don’t act in a way that even considers followers, and they’re not trying to get other people to act like they do. Real leaders walk alone, and are called crazy by the follower crowd for the path they take. I wrote this draft around the time Derek Shelton was still manager. Up until that point, the Pirates and their players acted like the follower version of a leader. Every thing they did was with the attitude of winning social points from the crowd. The most encouraging thing I’ve seen under Don Kelly as manager has been a fire from the players, highlighted by Mitch Keller screaming “Fuck You” at an umpire after a costly call. I’ve always felt that Keller could be one of the best pitchers in the game — and he is on a statistical level this season. Part of that belief would require that he unleash a “fuck you” attitude on the mound more often. The followers who proclaim themselves leaders would tell you that you need to act a different way, but that’s why they are the blind leading the blind. Leaders pave their paths with “Fuck You”.
Live - At the beginning of June, I started writing about my concept of going Live. If I was a trusting person, I’d do a video podcast to make the writing and publishing part of this newsletter easier. Thus, it would live up to the traditional concept of Live. What I know to be true is that in the age of AI, all I would need to produce is a few episodes in order for anyone to make a copy of my voice and my persona. I have too many enemies in Pittsburgh media, and too much of that crowd lacks ethics. Thus, you only get my written words. Which, I suspect, has already been replicated by some in Pittsburgh’s media scene, in attempts to replace my writing about prospects.
Support and Resistance - This society puts athletes up on a pedestal, mostly due to their spot on the screens and their high salaries. Every single person requires some level of support and is fighting some level of resistance. One of the challenges in Pittsburgh is that their young athletes, who are in most need of support, end up facing resistance. This is brought on by the perpetual losing by the Major League team, and the fans and media members who throw any struggling player under the bus after a certain amount of at-bats or innings. The Major Leagues are about succeeding when there isn’t enough support, and in the face of too much resistance. It’s more difficult to be a Major Leaguer in Pittsburgh, as there is less support and more resistance.
Draft Rankings - Hey, that’s this one, which would make this unpublished draft number 21. Unless you’re reading this. Then, it’s my first post in months.
This year, my focus has been in two areas.
On a personal level, I’ve been learning and training for a new career on the stock market.
Had I done this back in 2013-14, I might be a millionaire right now. Especially since my number one long-term stock at the time was Netflix. However, I wouldn’t have been able to run Pirates Prospects in a way that allowed me to build confidence in my ability of expression.
Had I done this back in 2022-23, I might still be a millionaire right now. Instead, I was in the middle of my industry plant research, creating what would eventually be Bucs on Deck (I repeat myself about the research), and going through extensive therapy that allowed me to break away from being influenced by anyone’s opinions.
I started trading stock options in April, and like any new trader, I’ve been losing consistently at the outset. If I was a Pittsburgh sports athlete, radio hosts would take to Twitter with demands that I be sent down after most of my June trades.
My trading has improved in recent weeks. This past week was my first week with five green days. This came after I reworked my ranking system last week, along with my approach to buying and selling options.
I often think about all of the rankings I’ve done over the years in baseball. There’s little difference between ranking stocks and ranking prospects. In each case, you’re projecting out individual future results, then comparing those future results against each other. Rankings were one of my favorite things in baseball, even if there’s the discomfort of ranking human beings. There’s a reason I always preferred tiered rankings.
As for my baseball focus, I’ve been using this season to get a fresh perspective on following the game.
The MLB draft is tomorrow, but I couldn’t tell you who the Pirates might pick. I can’t even tell you who I’d rank number one in the draft. I only know that one of Matt Holliday’s children is in this draft. Beyond that, I’ve been both disgusted by the prospect industry, while also feeling free from ranking human beings like stocks.
My perspective this year has been one of an average fan. For the first time in years, I wake up excited to get to work, with my work being tracking the stock market all day. Every single day I have an updated list of the top ten options I’m considering. By the time 5 PM hits, I’m mentally exhausted. I take a few social media breaks during the day, spend some time outside, but mostly I attack my work in the same way I did all of those years with Pirates Prospects. There is no one who works harder or more obsessively than I do when I love what I’m doing.
I haven’t loved baseball in some time. My industry plant research actually began about six years ago. That was before the Pirates made a change to the current front office. I had reasons why I didn’t trust Pittsburgh’s media, and reasons why I didn’t trust the Pirates. The entire scene is toxic, from my standpoint, and I find myself healthier without it.
As an example to that, I can’t remember the last time I’ve used marijuana. I can’t remember the last time I’ve smoked tobacco. I haven’t been drinking alcohol the last few years, though when I was focused on baseball, I needed some external escape from my mind in order to pull me out of the dark place that Pirates baseball talk put me in.
Granted, I drink about six cans of Coca-Cola per day. I read a story about how Warren Buffett drinks five cans of Coke per day, including three before the markets open. I felt a sense of connection reading that article that I’d imagine sports fans feel when their favorite athlete talks about playing a video game they also enjoy playing. I’ve never aspired to be a professional athlete, and have never related to the career path, other than the relentless pursuit of being the best in a competitive field. I’ve always looked at big business figures in the way sports fans look at athletes.
I do enjoy watching sports as an escape. And my business focused mind has always enjoyed the game of baseball due to the fact that this game is the epitome of modern Capitalism. For years, even before starting Pirates Prospects, I would spend my free time studying the market inefficiencies of minor league development and free agent values. I used to post on the MLB.com Pirates message boards, where I could always find a good discussion about small market rebuilding theories. Many of the posters from two decades ago are still posting online today.
I remember what it was like to have a full-time job and spend my free time watching and discussing baseball. That reality hasn’t existed for nearly two decades since I became a sports writer.
This year, I’ve returned to sports as an escape. Knowing what it takes to run a full-time independent site like Pirates Prospects, and regaining the experience of dedicating only free time to sports, I’ve got one single observation: Some of these podcasters and bloggers are being paid with dark money to focus full-time on shaping the discussion surrounding the Pirates.
I’m not talking about the people who post periodically. I’m talking about the ones who do it on a schedule, who know every single thing that’s happening surrounding the Pirates, and who are always online to give their opinions about everything. My belief is there are plants on social media who aim to direct the discourse surrounding the team. Not in a way that is exclusively good or bad, but in a way that controls the framework of discussion for the average fan who is checking in with little knowledge after work.
I’ve actually muted all of the accounts who aren’t credentialed media. I’ve also muted the accounts who are pretending to do what I did on the independent level, while obviously receiving help that I never had, nor would have accepted.
Most of my observations are formed around what the traditional media discusses. It’s no less toxic. It’s no less corrupt. There are three beat writers covering this team who were roommates and Pirates fans when I was entering my second decade covering this team. They work for three different competing outlets. That’s the most improbable thing I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen the Pirates make the playoffs.
All of this is to say that every time I begin to write about this team, I feel the need to stop. It takes me to a dark place, because I know how fake this is. I wonder how many others can see that it’s fake. Worse, I wonder how many people are being fooled. As someone who was once fooled by all of this — including draining a Roth IRA and investing $30,000 of my own money at the outset to make Pirates Prospects the powerhouse site it eventually became — I can see how people would think any discussion surrounding the Pirates is real.
I am real.
I’ve acted in a way that followers (and those paid to influence the minds of fans) would label crazy, in order to highlight how real I am.
There’s no pursuit of followers here, though I do appreciate anyone who has followed along and supported my path. And while I could pursue being the only real figure in a fake industry, I’ve already dominated that goal. I can’t grow by continuously pursuing being the best baseball analyst in Pittsburgh media. I couldn’t even grow being one of the best minds inside the game of baseball.
This time of year is when I’d shine. This is when the draft takes place, the trade deadline shuffles the finances of this organization, and the business of baseball goes into full effect.
I am sorry if you are looking for actual draft rankings from me this year.
I am enjoying taking a break. The Pirates will draft who they will draft, and they’ll tell Baseball America to hype up that person, and Baseball America will do as they’re told because they’re trying to avoid closing, and the industry plants will complete the cycle by hyping up the same players with a perception of independence from the industry, and the fans will have a new hope to follow for the future. Then, that player will make his way to Pittsburgh, and if he’s not the second coming of Jesus Christ, he will be thrown under the bus by the fans and media who know that the Pirates are banking on young, inexperienced players to immediately become stars and lift the team into contending status.
I felt it was important in 2023 to make a stand that the Pirates couldn’t pass on Paul Skenes. He was a rare person who not only had the talent to win, but had the energy and drive to be the best. If they passed on him, it would be evidence that they didn’t care about winning, or didn’t know how to win. It potentially would have been evidence that Major League Baseball doesn’t even want a team in Pittsburgh to win.
Seeing how the Pirates have surrounded Skenes the last two years with zero offensive upgrades, I can’t say that this organization cares or knows how to win.
Some days, I feel like all of this is just a ruse, aimed at giving people in Pittsburgh something to direct their anger at while remaining in a low vibrational state — instead of providing something to inspire people to achieve difficult goals while raising the vibrations of the city.
As someone who has only followed the Pittsburgh media this year, there are some extremely low vibrations being broadcast out among every sport. And I can’t say those vibrations are a product of the current losing among city teams, because I’ve seen the same low vibrational energy when Pittsburgh has winning teams.
It’s toxic. To me, it’s toxic, as it drags me down from my normal vibrational levels.
The Pirates don’t match my personality as a team I could identify with and take inspiration from.
Any writing I could do would only attempt to bring them up to my level, by suggesting players who have higher vibrational energy, or suggesting moves that would increase the value of the talent base. My writing would only be a futile attempt to raise the vibrations, against an entire industry that hums like literal fucking hell.
I might dust off one of those drafts I’ve been working on, and highlight how ridiculous it is that this team is entering their second rebuild in six years under the same front office. I’d only be attempting to provide a better look at the team for the fans. But I truly do not care if the Pirates remain perpetual losers.
All I care about these days is the future of semiconductors.
This is not investment advice.
Until the next time I go live…
-Tim Williams