Footprints in the Snow is FanHouse's look at the paths to be forged by MLB teams this winter as they look ahead to 2010.The Pittburgh Pirates wrapped up their record 17th consecutive losing season last month by avoiding 100 losses with a rain delay. During the season, they traded away four Opening Day starters, plus two starting pitchers and two of their better relievers. It might be easy to say that the Pirates have their work cut out for them this offseason if they want to avoid losing season No. 18.
It's not quite that straightforward, though. The team does have a pretty solid core of youngsters, so anything they do this winter has to be accomplished without blocking players like Lastings Milledge and Andy LaRoche from getting at-bats so that the team can accurately assess just what they have in those players.
Who Might Leave
No free-agents or obvious non-tender candidates. The Pirates could be active in the trade market, though.
Shopping List
On the one hand, the Pirates need almost everything except a center fielder, which is where Andrew McCutchen resides. On the other hand, the aforementioned LaRoche and Milledge played well enough to earn longer looks due to their minor-league pedigrees, so they'll man third base and left field when the season starts. Throw in Garrett Jones, who mashed at first base and right field in a half-season last year, corner infield super-prospect Pedro Alvarez, who will likely be in Pittsburgh by June or July, and the recently acquired Akinori Iwamura, and the Pirates most pressing need is at shortstop, where Ronny Cedeno currently resides.
They could certainly use more help in the bullpen, especially from the left side. They recently traded their only lefty reliever John Grabow, then followed that up by dealing Jesse Chavez, a righty with reverse splits, to Tampa for Iwamura. Depending on what happens with Duke and Maholm, they could also use more depth in the starting rotation, though their top pitching prospect Brad Lincoln will likely make his debut in Pittsburgh early in the season if he doesn't break camp with the team.
With the Pirates' rebuilding process still far from complete, to some extent their shopping list is more of a puzzle that will be constantly evolving through the next year or so. If they can use a player like, say, Zach Duke to pick up a shortstop, then they might do well to make that trade, even though it opens up another need. Money Matters
The four arbitration-eligible players for the Pirates this year are Zach Duke, Ronny Cedeno, Matt Capps, and Jeff Karstens. With the payroll currently very low after last season's trades, there's no question they can afford all of these guys. They might be a little slow to pay Matt Capps $4 million, though, after his disastrous 2009. It's possible they'll look to trade him to get more value for the money.
They've mostly shed all of their contracts, bad or otherwise, right now, so there's not much to talk about there either. They do owe Ryan Doumit about $8 million over the next two seasons, and with his extensive injury history they may look to trade him rather than paying that, but even after adding Iwamura, their projected 2010 Opening Day payroll is still about $15 million lower than it was this year.
That low payroll could put the Pirates in an interesting position this winter. While teams like the Rays and Brewers are trading potentially useful players like J.J. Hardy and Iwamura and the Reds are indicating that they might need to trade someone like Brandon Phillips, the Pirates have taken on Iwamura's salary and made an offer for Hardy. They clearly can add payroll this winter, and that might put them in position to swoop in another trade or on a free agent left out in the cold if the market is as slow as it's expected to be.
Offseason Goals
The Pirates have two goals this offseason. The first is to continue building toward having a competitve club in 2011 and beyond. With McCutchen, Jones, Alvarez and other prospects acquired via trades and two solid drafts under Huntington that is increasingly a possibility. The second is to try and add some payroll to improve the immediate future of the team in 2010. The first goal is the most important and nothing that's done for the second goal should come at the expense of the first. That's a dangerous balancing act for a front office, though, and it's where previous Pirate front offices have been tripped up.
