It's not often that a baseball organization can walk away from negotiations with super agent Scott Boras and say, "Thanks, Scott, thanks a lot."

That's the position the Pirates were in due to their good fortune of having Boras as the representative for the player they selected in the first round of the June amateur draft.

That's right, good fortune. Once Boras became involved, the negotiations and eventual signing of Pedro Alvarez became a media circus. Never before had so much attention been focused on the signing of the team's first pick. Usually, it's a fairly routine event, even in this age of excessive media hype.

Although the prospects of signing Alvarez always were somewhere between very good and excellent, the presence of Boras and his well-known reputation for making outrageous demands raised doubts with some that it could be done. So, when Alvarez signed minutes before the deadline last week, there was jubilation all around. The atmosphere was that of a great victory for the Pirates, when, in fact, signing the No. 1 draft choice virtually is automatic. Since the draft was instituted in 1966, the Pirates never have failed to sign their No. 1 pick.

What should have been a routine story became big-time mostly because of the involvement of Boras. The Pirates basked in the glory of this signing at a news conference Saturday, when there was praise heaped all around. You might have thought they won the World Series or advanced to the playoffs or had a winning season.

No one threw around the praise quite so outrageously as owner Bob Nutting, who had this to say about president Frank Coonelly, general manager Neil Huntington and their associates:

"It's the single best management team in all of baseball, maybe all of sports."

Just like that, Nutting placed Coonelly and Huntington at the top of the baseball heap, ahead of, among many others, the management team of the Boston Red Sox, a franchise that has won two of the past four World Series. He also put them ahead of the management teams of the San Antonio Spurs, who have won four of the past 10 NBA titles and the New England Patriots, who have won three of the past seven Super Bowls.

Not only did those teams win all those championships, but they actually -- can you believe this? -- signed all of their No. 1 draft choices.

Nutting is setting the bar dangerously low by doling out such praise. He doesn't even have the best management team in Pittsburgh sports, but he was so elated over what in actuality was a routine signing that he was passing out over-the-top compliments.

Thanks to Boras.

Overlooked in this euphoria is that the Pirates are in the midst of another losing season, and there is no end in sight.

There is so much enthusiasm about the Pirates having some decent young players that the fact they gave up their best veteran talent to get them is ignored. Also ignored is the fact the Pirates are a lesser team for it. Nor is there a guarantee that any of these newly acquired young players, including Alvarez, are going to be a highly productive hitter or even successful major league hitters.

Not only are the Pirates heading toward another 90-loss season, but some of the great stories of the first half are losing their luster. It has been widely perceived that Nate McLouth and Ryan Doumit were in the midst of breakout years and would be the mainstays of the offense for 2009 and 2010, at least. Not to diminish the fine seasons they are having, but both have declined appreciably in the second half.

McLouth batted .281 with a .542 slugging percentage before the All-Star Game; he's batting .257 with a .389 slugging percentage since. He homered every 19 at-bats before the All-Star Game, every 38 at-bats since.

Doumit batted .329 with a .565 slugging percentage before the All-Star Game; he's batting .313 with a .429 slugging percentage since. He homered every 19 at-bats before the All-Star Game, every 112 at-bats since.

This isn't to suggest that both are going to continue at this pace. They could be fatigued and might resume their strong play later this season or next. But it is to suggest that half a season does not make a career. Remember when Ronny Paulino was the catcher of the future and Warren Morris was the second baseman of the future?

There are reasons to be mildly optimistic about the Pirates, and McLouth and Doumit are two of them. But the Boras-induced celebration of last week cast a joyful image over the Pirates that is grossly misleading.