Inside Conditions: Handcuffed…There wasn’t always this thing called ‘free agency’

When I venture to the grocery store to purchase a loaf of bread, I use the old people’s method to test the bread for freshness. I pick up a loaf and give it a gentle squeeze. If the loaf is hard and stiff, I assume that in a few days, I will have a loaf of mold-covered bread in my breadbox.& That method has and continues to work for me. However, when evaluating athletes, they can be squeezed, poked, and prodded ‘til the cows come home, and most likely “the squeeze method” cannot be relied upon to help a GM determine whether a veteran performer still has “the right stuff.” Both Omar Khan and Ben Cherington have a common denominator that binds them and that is a few of their personnel choices and the spin regarding the Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania demographic. It continues to be the following: Pittsburgh is a small market and cannot feasibly compete with larger markets regarding signing and maintaining marquee names to perform for their franchises. At the time that this column was written, the Pittsburgh Pirates were 5-0, a feat that was last accomplished in 1983. Forty-one years ago was not exactly last week,...