November 28, 2008
Pirates Philosophy
Neal Huntington speaks on the way the Pirates are approaching the off-season:
"We are not throwing 2009 to the wind and saying, 'Well, we'll win again sometime in the future.' We know we need to win, and sooner rather than later, and we're going to show up, work hard, prepare, teach and go out to win every game" Huntington said. "But, if we can trade a veteran player and it brings us 12-18 years of control instead of one or two, and we don't take that large of a step backward, that's just good business."
And that is why, according to multiple sources, no fewer than of the Pirates' five veterans -- shortstop Jack Wilson, second baseman Freddy Sanchez, first baseman Adam LaRoche, reliever John Grabow and catcher Ronny Paulino -- already have been part of trade talks, to some degree or other.
To me, this is an approach to keep payroll low. I'd rather see the Pirates pick their weak link position and improve it as much as possible. Looking at the team stats by position, they can pick third base, shortstop or second base as their area of improvement for this season. Even just bringing one of those position above league average will help them score more runs. Given that the Pirates have such a log way to go, addressing two of those is probably needed. Just trading veterans to get more years of control, however, is not the way to build a winner unless the players acquired are good, too. Jack Wilson isn't going to bring much.
Posted by David Pinto at
11:05 AM
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Management
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I'd suggest another approach: Make defense the top priority. Often, the "surprise" teams are the ones that shore up their defenses. The Rays are the most recent example of a team that helped itself by concentrating on defensive improvement. In their case, particularly on the infield.
The Pirates would have to spend a lot of money or talent to significantly upgrade offensive production at positions like 2B or 3B. But it's usually not that hard to pick up superior defenders and -- temporarily -- ignore the loss of offensive production.
I'm not familiar enough with the 2008 Pirates to say where they could best improve the defense, but that's what I'd suggest.
Regarding the trade rumors, the only one I'd argue against trading is Paulino, because it's so hard to find good catching. Wilson and Sanchez are almost certainly past their primes, and probably earn more than they're worth. As for Grabow and LaRoche, they occupy positions that should be relatively easy to fill.
starting pitching and d up the middle - you hope you can find enough power at the corners if you have enough starting pitching -
