Well, we've had a change of tack from our original plans for this offseason - part from necessity but also on a philosophical basis as well.
Full disclosure is that, after the Nolan Ryan fiasco of a year ago, we had Lefty Carlton earmarked as our big add at this point. We felt that the staff was a quality guy or two shy of where we wanted it to be and that Steve would go a long way to redressing that issue.
But we entered this offseason with about $2m in spendable funds and all of that would have had to go to him. In fact, his opening offer was at that level and looked almost certain to head higher. So rather than waste our time in fruitless pursuit of a guy we were in reality little chance of getting - and, if we did, it would have left us precariously-poised in a financial context - we simply grabbed our chequebook off the table and walked away.
We're not the Yankees or some of these other big-market clubs. Never have been and sure as Sherlock Holmes never will. Even if we were slightly more flush, buying Championships is not the Pirates way. Our way is to put together a sustainably-affordable group of the highest quality that we can assemble. If the latter ever becomes the former, I'll walk away from the club.
The fact remains, however, that we are a smidgen off the pace at the moment and need to change that. So since crossing Carlton off the list, we have been busy plugging our holes in other ways, with other players.
One of our main weaknesses is a thinness up the middle. While we are full to overflowing with quality at the corners of both our IF and OF, we are desperately in need of some spinal reinforcement.
We feel this guy will help a great deal in this regard:
Derrel, who will take our third and final CC slot, will operate a roving commission, mainly at 2B and CF, just as Lee Lacy has been doing for the past few seasons. Lee will now move to the everyday 2B role. His D there (and pretty much everywhere, now) is shaky, so DT will come in as a defensive sub for him in close and late situations.
Given our dearth of suitable LH relief pitching, we ended up extending Woodie Fryman for one more year before he walked. We have also signed Andy Hassler on a minors deal but he'll almost certainly be with the big club come OD as a reliever.
All of our CC spots being taken means we cannot use Steve Trout and so, once the Draft is out of the way, we'll be figuring out the best means to turn him into some player or players we can avail ourselves of. We do also have our FA ticket to be deployed.