Pirates may pursue familiar faces?

by Eli Greenspan on Sep 21, 2009 8:55 AM EDT Comment 2 comments

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is reporting that the Pirates will be more aggressive in their pursuit of free agents this offseason. General manager Neal Huntington told the Gazette that he wouldn't rule out anyone in free agency, including some of the recently traded Pirates like Jack Wilson or Freddy Sanchez.

"We will look into the free-agent market, and we have some money to apply to the right situation," Huntington said yesterday. "We go in not feeling that we have a desperate hole to fill but that, if we can find someone who makes us better in the short and hopefully the long term, we can do that."

Adding a middle infielder should be one of their goals, but the Pirates would probably have to overpay to lure someone like Placido Polanco or Ronnie Belliard to Pittsburgh.

The Pirates currently have Steve Pearce at first base, who is hitting .211 in 51 games. The Pirates still believe Pearce can contribute long term, especially after a solid season in Triple-A where he hit .286 with a .373 on-base percentage and 13 home runs.

If you're a Pirates fan, who do you want to see at first base next season? If you haven't already, you can check out our 2010 MLB Free Agent list to get a better feel for who is available this offseason.

0 recs | Comment 2 comments |

Story-email Email Printer Print

Comments

First of all...

NO ONE is going to want to come here in the first place unless we overpay. Secondly, a team like the Pirates in rebuilding mode shouldn’t be too concerned with free agency in the first place, imo.

So i personally would prefer Jeff Clement be given every opportunity to lock down the 1st base job next year, and at the worse, platoon him with Pearce or Jones. Eventually, 1st base will probably be Pedro Alvarez’s spot in the future anyways.

I just hope Huntington isn’t considering bringing back recently traded Pirates like Freddy or Jack just to ‘appease’ the the disgruntled ‘casual fan’ in Pittsburgh. Part of the reason we got in this mess (17 years of losing) in the first place was by making ‘PR moves.’

by phil79 on Sep 21, 2009 1:31 PM EDT reply actions

didnt do my hw...

well i have to admit that i really didnt put a lot of homework into this post, eh hem. Pedro Alvarez is definitely the future at first base, and could see time there next season.

Jeff Clement, the third overall pick in 2005, was hitting well before being traded but i still think he has a lot of potential if given time to string some at-bats together.

bottom line is that the Pirates need to show that the rebuilding that has started is a step in the right direction, then they can start trying to lure veterans into pittsburgh..

thanks for the comment..

thoughts?

by Eli Greenspan on Sep 21, 2009 2:40 PM EDT reply actions