Pittsburgh Pirates Won’t Be Active in Free Agency
By Matt Shetler
It looks like it is going to be the same old typical offseason for the Pittsburgh Pirates.
There hasn’t been much activity so far as it pertains to major league free agents, but the likes of Torii Hunter, Gerald Laird, David Ross, Maicer Izturis and several other players already have found new homes.
July 24, 2012; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Pittsburgh Pirates president Frank Coonelly (left) and Pirates general manager Neal Huntington (right) observe players at the batting cage before playing the Chicago Cubs at PNC Park. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-US PRESSWIRE
In addition, the Toronto Blue Jays acquire the Miami Marlins franchise on Tuesday, meaning the offseason is in full swing.
So naturally the Pirates are silent.
It’s really not the fact that the Pirates haven’t signed anyone to improve their team, but it is a little disturbing that the Bucs currently aren’t linked to anyone at all.
Obviously you don’t buy the Josh Hamilton, Justin Upton or Jarrod Saltalamacchia brief references the Pirates have been involved in, so in terms of going out and improving the on field product for 2013, the Pirates aren’t very active at the start of free agency.
Don’t expect them to become much more active in the upcoming months.
For the mere simple fact that the payroll won’t increase much, the Pirates again won’t be players for A-list free agents, nor will they be players for most B-list free agents,
And why should they?
Aside from a catcher, a first baseman, a shortstop, a corner outfielder, a starting pitcher or two and a couple bullpen arms, this team is set.
With the winter meetings about four weeks away in Nashville, Pirates’ general manager Neal Huntington may try to swing a traded or two for a veteran who other teams are down on, hoping to catch lightning in a bottle. Or he may sign a couple of free agents with similar pedigrees, hoping a change of scenery helps.
But at the end of the day all he will be doing is reaching on a bunch of average to below average guys.
That’s not all his fault.
He has to work with the budget he has and if Huntington isn’t given money to spend, there isn’t really much he can do.
Huntington doesn’t have a great track record signing free agents, mostly because the only money the Bucs will spend affords them taking risks on a few bench players every year.
That will likely be the case this offseason as well as there won’t be many improvements likely to be made.
I love the offseason and all of the stories and the player movement.
It’s just a shame that there won’t be many surrounding the Pirates.