Pirates may find favorable market at short
Pittsburgh fans haven't read these words in a while:
The Pirates might have caught a break.
The Pirates would like to upgrade at shortstop, where career .245 hitter Ronny Cedeño is the incumbent. And, for once, the market seems to be unfolding favorably for them.
Although the Pirates weren't close to dealing for a shortstop early Wednesday afternoon, they have a chance to do so before Thursday's deadline to tender contracts.
Sources say the Pirates have interest in Tampa Bay's Jason Bartlett and Minnesota’s J.J. Hardy. Both are available via trade, because the San Francisco Giants (Miguel Tejada) and St. Louis Cardinals (Ryan Theriot) shopped elsewhere for their infield upgrades.
With the addition of a good shortstop, Pittsburgh fans could look at a credible everyday lineup in 2011.
The rest of the group will include catcher Chris Snyder, first baseman Garrett Jones, second baseman Neil Walker, third baseman Pedro Alvarez, left fielder Jose Tabata, center fielder Andrew McCutchen and right fielder Ryan Doumit.
Now, if only they had some pitching …
The Pirates have three starting pitchers who can be considered strong candidates to begin the season in their rotation: Paul Maholm, Ross Ohlendorf and James McDonald. Beyond that, there are questions.
But at least the Pirates are trying. They made a strong offer to free-agent starter Jorge De La Rosa before he re-signed with the Rockies, one major league source said.
— Jon Paul Morosi
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The Pirates organization is the worst in the Majors and have been for two decades now. As a long time fan, it just hurts to watch them play, and almost embarrassing. We have had great lineups in the past, with Jason Bay, Freddy Sanchez, and others. But every year at the trade deadline, they just trade away the faces of the franchise and its going to keep happening. They need to focus on their pitching rotation it has been horrible for years, the team has not had a decent pitcher in years. The front office, just holds onto the fact that the pitchers that we got, have the potential to be decent. They are always focus on their farm teams to produce players. In a few years, they will be getting rid of Andrew McCutchen and Garrett Jones who will be great players. Go spend some money on pitchers, I know its hard with a budget, but obviously what they are doing is not working. The Pirates are only good at one thing and they do it every year and that is FAILURE!
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Dude, buccos fan here. They haven.t had areal team since 93. Bay and Sanchez were good mlb players ,but rest teams and players were average at best!
