Where have you gone, Andy Van Slyke?

It's hard to do the outlook for a year with something like baseball when the season doesn't really start until April. Instead, I suppose this is more of a "Mid-Off Season Report," just a reminder of things that we knew at the end of last season that get lost in the shuffle during the winter. The basic philosophy of the Pirates this off season has been, "We'd like to make some moves, but not if we have to give up too much. Dammit, we were a good team in the second half last year and we're not breaking this team up if we don't have to." Of course, as a reminder, the Pirates were outscored by over 50 runs after the All-Star break last year. They only had one player that had an OPS of over .800 after the break last year. That is not good, that is lucky. Look, I'm as happy as the next guy that the Pirates aren't flushing their money down the toilet after what they did last season, but the problem is that they aren't going to be a good tea...

I finally finished it. Not that the stuff from this last part happened that long ago anyways. October The season finally ended. This brought lots of good things, mainly an end to our misery as fans and the 2006 NL Batting Title to Freddy Sanchez . I also gave out my 2006 awards , made some awful playoff predictions , and did my Pirates season review . The '92 Pirates-run Detroit Tigers went to the World Series . Oliver Perez started Game 7 of the NLCS for the Mets. He pitched well, but the Mets still lost. The baseball owners admitted to collusion and no one paid any attention. The Freaking Cardinals won the World Series. Ugh. I made a list of who I though the Pirates should trade this off-season. As usual, the Pirates don't seem to be following my plan for success. We got first wind of the Pirates trying to sign Yoslan Hererra , way back when everyone thought his named was spelled with a "u." November Not much happened in November besides crazy free agent signi...

In the least surprising news of the the off season, the Pirates are bringing Jose Hernandez back for round 3. Despite all of my incessant bitching about him last year, he was a semi-decent utility guy. Still, who gives a flying crap about this? If they don't trade Castillo (and it doesn't look like they will), Hernandez will probably take at-bats away from a guy like Bautista. This is a move that's been made strictly because Jim Tracy wants it made. Perhaps Jim Tracy should ask Dave Littlefield for some bats.

There's a frustrating interview with Jim Tracy that made up most of yesterday's Hot Stove Report at the Post Gazette. Other fun facts from that article are that the Pirates appear to be unwilling to part with Chris Duffy to complete the LaRoche trade (if the Braves even want him), there won't be a mini-camp this year (to cut down on disastrous pitcher injuries, I can only assume) and we may consider giving Trot Nixon a phone call now that Huff is off the market. Meanwhile Charlie gets out the crystal ball and looks ahead into 2007. " And John Sickels has his Top 20 Pirates Prospects for 2007 posted. I count seven relievers out of our top 20. Phrases like "starting to look overrated" and "who knows?" and "depends on health" pepper the list, especially beyond the top three. The top three no longer include Neil Walker, by the way. To summarize the system in one sentence, Sickels says, "A thin system that lacks impact talent as well as ...

Just wishing everyone a happy start to 2007. I'll be back sometime tomorrow night or Tuesday morning.

The holiday version of the Pittsburgh Pirates Rountable is up and running with two new questions. Frequent commenter Will discusses the performance of the Bucs that took part in the Arizona Fall League at Future Considerations . Randy Johnson may be headed back to Arizona sooner rather than later ( via Rotoworld ). That's all. Nothing's happening this week.

Via Honest Wagner , Dan Szymborski's 2007 ZiPS projections for the Pirates are up at BBTF. Without much time for analysis (we can look at them closer at a later date) I would say this: damn, our offense is going to be awful next year. Basically what the projection sees is much of the same from everyone except for Ronny Paulino and Freddy Sanchez, who will suffer expected drop-offs. That's not good. Also, Aubrey Huff is close to signing with the Orioles ( via Rotoworld ). If history is to repeat itself, it's time for DL to swoop in and snatch him out of Baltimore's grasp.