The offseason thus far and beyond

Today is December 2nd, that means that among other things, we're two full months into the offseason. So how have the Bucs done so far? What should they do in the future? Let's take a look.

Things we've done so far
Well, first and foremost, we've hired a manager. Of course we can't really judge Tracy until we've seen games played, but there have been both good and bad things said about him. I will say that seeing Ozzie Guillen and Phil Garner manage teams into the World Series made me feel a little better about Tracy. If he can fix the "culture of losing", keep the mood in the clubhouse light, improve communication between the players and the manager's office, and have faith in his players, things will be improved over the McClendon era. His coaching staff has no resemblence to McClendon's (which is a good thing) and only one person is even from the organization, Manto (probably the weakest link).

We also got Jason Bay's contract for next year and his arbitration years taken care of. 4 years, $18 million, a good price to take care of the three spot in our lineup for the next 4 years. Some people wanted a fifth year team option included, but that probably would've come at a steep price. We've got four years to figure everything out after the end of this contract.

We signed a bunch of old relievers to minor league contracts. The only one of consequence is probably Scott Strickland who was good at one point in his career, but has only pitched in 5 games over the last two years after having his elbow reconstructed. The good news is that all 5 games were last year and there's a chance he'll be healthy next year.

The biggest problem thus far is that Dave Littlefield's head as grown exponentially. I'm actually surprised he hasn't started referring to himself in the third person yet. He absolutely believes that he is a genius for the Jason Bay contract, something he's done to prove he's committed to building a winning baseball team. In reality, he did something that made sense, kind of a rarity in these parts. Someone (here's looking at you Dave) started a rumor that the Red Sox were interested in him, being a New England native and all. They still haven't called. He also casually mentioned that he was interested in acquiring Josh Beckett. Guess what Dave, so were the Washington Wild Things, if anyone would've asked them. Doesn't mean it was going to happen.

Things we might do, or should do, or at least will think about doing
We're probably going to keep looking for a third baseman. Hank Blalock was available, but only for Oliver Perez. We declined there and I can't blame us for doing that. Blalock could certainly be the guy we're looking for at third, but his numbers haven't improved since 2003 (slugging and OPS down every year since then) and there's no evidence he's going to hit well without making his home in comfy Ameriquest field. Perez is too steep a price for Blalock.

That being said, I don't think Perez is off limits this offseason. Duke is off limits, Maholm is off limits, Burnett is probably off limits. Perez, Gorzelanny, Snell, Van Benschoten, Williams and of course Wells, Redman, and Fogg are all pitchers I would consider dealing if I was DL. There haven't been many deals discussed so far, but everyone knows the Reds have outfielders and we have pitching, and we each need the opposite. Instead of creating rumors here, however, I'd much rather just comment on them as they pop up.

Speaking of rumors, the biggest one so far to hit Pittsburgh is about Nomar Garciaparra coming to play third base for the Bucs next year. Of course the Trib is kind of like the Ministry of Truth at this point with the deal they struck with the Pirates. Still, Nomar is probably a good fit for the Pirates. Assuming he'd stay healthy (a big assumption but hey, even a blind squirrell finds a nut once in a while) he'd play a good third base for us and be a middle of the order bat that we badly need. He made $8 million for one year with the Cubbies last year and shouldn't make more than that this year. The problem is that so many teams are interested we may have to overpay for Nomar to end up here, something I wouldn't recommend doing. (ESPN's rumor mill lists the Orioles and Indians as suitors while Rotoworld says that the A's, Braves, Twins, and D'Backs shouldn't be ruled out). With that kind of interest, I just can't see a free agent like Nomar ending up in the 'Burgh. Assuming he does, that opens up some more trade options for us. Between Jack Wilson, Jose Castillo, and Freddy Sanchez we have three players that are good enough to start at second or short (yes, Sanchez is good enough to start) and we won't need to use one at third. With all of the middle infielders on the 40-man, we could definitely deal one of these three.

That leads us to the outfield. Jason Bay is entrenched in left and better not be moved for anything. Chris Duffy will start the year in center and will probably fight for time with McLouth, both who deserve a chance at the big league level. That leads to right field, where our current options are Craig Wilson, Jody Gerut, and maybe McLouth if he really impresses in camp. Gerut is not an answer as a right fielder, plain and simple. I've never seen a bigger knee brace on a human being than the one he had on last year. He's never been the same since the injuries have started, and he wasn't that great to start with. As for Wilson, I still think he deserves at least a chance to play every day. He's definitely an on-base machine, which makes up for his strikeouts. The question is whether his absence of power last year was due to never getting into a real groove with all his hand injuries or whether it was something more... chemically related. If he can hit like he did in 2004 he should probably play mostly every day. If not, well, a slow, lead gloved right fielder/first baseman with no power isn't of much use to anyone, no matter how much he gets on base. I've seen the Pirates name connected to Jacque Jones (again, ESPN rumor mill, which is curious because I've read nothing of the sort in the local papers, that could mean something or it could mean nothing) but I really don't know how much Jones has to offer us here. Earlier in the offseason Wily Mo Pena was mentioned as a potential trade target, a solution I would be more amicable towards. I guess this is a position to keep an eye on.

The final position in question is first base. Eldred mashed some monster homers while he was up in August and September but not much else. He wasn't particularly fantastic in the AFL (his numbers weren't bad but it's definitely a hitter friendly league). I'd still give him the benefit of the doubt at first base. He took a while to adjust at every level in the minors, but eventually hit everywhere he went. He at least deserves a chance to show that he won't do that in Pittsburgh before we give up on him. If he doesn't hit, Craig Wilson can fill in at first (where he's less of a liability than in right) or we could sign or trade for someone. Lyle Overbay's name has come up quite a bit, but I don't think he's enough of a solution to warrant trading what the Brewers will ask for. Again, this is one to keep an eye on as Littlefield will probably try to do something here in the next couple months.

The real question is what Littlefield will actually do in the offseason. He seems pretty desperate to fill out a $50 million payroll for 2006 and prove to the world he's as great of a GM as he thinks he is. The problem is, desperate GMs do stupid things. Nomar isn't worth it for 3 years at $8-10 million, trading Oliver Perez for Lyle Overbay doesn't help us get better. A $50 million payroll is completely worthless if the money isn't spent right, just ask anyone that watched the 2001 Pirates. I can't say for sure Littlefield will do these things, but we're going to get a real good idea within the next week here.