Here's what happens when you keep dingbats on the payroll

As the Giants face the embarrassing prospect of a fourth consecutive losing season, there's a warning sign from 3,000 miles away. Or however far Pittsburgh is from San Francisco. Thanks to losing the last two games at Mays Field, the Pirates have racked up their 16th consecutive losing season, which ties the record for a sports franchise set by the Phils between 1933 and 1948. The Pirates haven't had a winning season since Barry Bonds was a Buc; ironically, Brian Sabean's trade of Matt Morris last year to the Pirates may ultimately wind up being the first step back to pulling the Pirates out of their funk since it got Dave Littlefield fired. Sabean actually had the brains to make a deal with the one GM who was just as much of a dingbat.

In a long but interesting posting by Charlie on Bucs Dugout, the front office gets the blame-- none of the usual victimhood excuses such as "we're in a small market: Littlefield was one of the last really awful GMs in an era where many were quite good. Add that fact to the terrible ownership and the ten previous years of losing that Littlefield wasn't responsible for, and you've got a recipe for exactly what happened: the Pirates have now tied the 1933-1948 Philadelphia Phillies for the longest losing streak in the history of professional sports.

The Giants have a lot of advantages the Pirates don't -- a far bigger revenue base, a much bigger payroll and the good fortune to play in what's often been the weakest MLB division in recent years. The amazing perfomances by Barry Bonds covered up Sabean's incompetence for many years but now that incompetence is here for everyone to see. Without a change, the Giants risk going down the same road as the Pirates.