Take a Breath

Now what? The team has made some moves to let guys walk or choose to walk, how will they replace them? Who might also be joining them? Right now there are a bunch of holes in a lineup that was not all that great to begin with. Going around the horn we have catcher, first, short, and you might as well say third, to go with a starting pitcher or two.

Some rumors had the club looking to Carlos Pena, Ramon Hernandez and Jeff Francis to fill some of those voids. Funny thing is at various points in the last twelve months, all of those players seem to have been associated with the Pirates before.

Many are fretting that the team has no direction this offseason. That they are foolish to think that the team can build through free agency. That might be the case. Or it might not be the case either. Huntington should have money to spend this offseason, how he spends it is going to be watched closely.

Maybe he'll be able to lure someone unexpected. Maybe he has something up his sleeve. I don't know, but it is too early to really jump up and down just yet.

Sure I don't know if cutting Cedeno was right, I think he should still be here. Maholm perhaps as well, though I can live without him. The catchers should be gone, no question.

While the plan looks really fuzzy right now, I am willing to give the benefit of the doubt right now. I want to see what happens in the coming weeks, as by the time of the winter meetings there should be a much clearer picture. I think at that time we can really start to debate the offseason, now not so much.