Forget for a moment the rash of trades the Pirates have made over the last few weeks.

Whether fans are on board with the direction the organization's management team has opted to take is entirely up to the individual.

It's easy to be mad. It hurts to be sad.

In the case of seeing Jack Wilson leave the Pirates, it hurts.

Wilson's career here served as a parallel to Jason Kendall's in many ways.

Both were Pirates for nine years. Neither had a winning season here. Both played critical positions defensively. Both were dependable, playing more than 130 games nearly every year.

The only time Kendall failed to catch more than 130 games was 1999, the year he suffered his horrific ankle injury on the Fourth of July.

The only time Wilson failed to play more than 130 games was last year, when a series of injuries limited him to 78.

Both had All-Star seasons in Pittsburgh. Kendall batted over .300 six times. Wilson collected 200 hits and a .308 batting average in 2004, then hit .296 with 12 home runs only two years ago.

The difference is why and how they were pushed out of town.

The trade of Kendall to Oakland was a salary dump. Pirates management, under extreme public pressure to lock up its star players at the time, signed Kendall to a long-term deal at an unaffordable price.

Kendall was dealt to a team willing to take that salary off their hands. The return was veteran left-handed pitchers Mark Redman and Arthur Rhodes.

Rhodes was immediately shipped out in another deal. Redman failed miserably in a Pirates uniform.

Wilson was offered a contract extension — one more in line with the organization's financial structure than his would-be option year of 2010 — and he declined.

Rather than overpay for Wilson, the current management team made him part of their plan to deal veteran players for front-line minor league talent.

The Wilson situation played out better than Kendall's in the end. At least, hopefully, time will show that.

But the departure of Wilson is no less painful.

This guy is an acrobatic shortstop. While he doesn't possess the range or flamboyance of an Ozzie Smith, he doers provide similar highlights on an almost nightly basis.

It's easy to be into the game and play baseball with a boyish passion day in and day out when your team is winning.

It's doubly difficult to do so when your team is losing.

Kendall and Wilson never won here. That wasn't because of a lack of effort on their part.

Kendall continued to bring his fiery play to Oakland, the Chicago Cubs and now Milwaukee. Wilson will do the same in Seattle.

In a perfect world, they will experience success elsewhere and the Pirates will build some success here.

All we can do is wait and see if that perfect world materializes.

John Enrietto is sports editor of the Butler Eagle.