Pirates have money to spend

11/09/2005
PITTSBURGH -- With holes to fill and additional financial resources at his disposal, Pirates general manager Dave Littlefield will be a very busy man in the coming Hot Stove months.
After spending the better part of his first four years at the helm working his way out from under several burdensome long-term contracts, Littlefield now has a roster made up primarily of young players who are under the team's control at relatively modest costs. This, coupled with an influx of revenue as a result of revenue sharing and an attendance increase of nearly 240,000 fans from 2004 to 2005, has given Littlefield the financial flexibility he has coveted.
Although the Pirates' decision to increase payroll from the low $30 million range to around $50 million is still modest when compared to the likes of the big-spending New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox and others, the extra money should allow Littlefield to address at least some of his needs on the big league roster this winter.
"We'll be able to investigate a lot more options," said Littlefield. "We have a lot more flexibility in that regard because of the combination of having more players at the Major League level that we think are better quality, and also with more dollars to spend. That gives us the potential to go in a lot of different directions. In the past, we've been a little limited with what we can do in both areas."
Littlefield's primary objective will be to add power to an offense that finished 12th in the National League in home runs and 14th in runs in 2005. With the exception of All-Star Jason Bay, no Pirates hitter had more than 12 home runs or 63 RBIs last season.
"We know, in general, that we need to strengthen the offense -- specifically looking at right field, first base and third base as the areas to strengthen," said Littlefield.
The Pirates have some internal power options at first base and right field with Brad Eldred, Craig Wilson and Jody Gerut. Eldred hit 40 home runs combined between the Major and Minor Leagues in 2005, Wilson led the Bucs with 29 home runs in 2004, and Gerut hit 22 long balls as a rookie with the Cleveland Indians in 2003. However, Eldred has shown a propensity to chase pitches out of the strike zone during his limited experience in the big leagues while Wilson and Gerut are coming off injury-filled 2005 seasons.
The Bucs' internal options at third base are less established. Freddy Sanchez, who began last season as a utility infielder, batted .291 in 132 games, but hit just five home runs with 35 RBIs in 453 at-bats. Ty Wigginton, the Bucs' Opening Day starter in 2005, was demoted to Triple-A in early June and saw infrequent playing time after being recalled in August. Jose Bautista hit .283 with 23 home runs and 90 RBIs at Double-A Altoona, but he has just a .190 average in 116 career big league at-bats.
While the 2005-06 free agent class is considered to be below average by most observers, there are players available who could make an impact on the Pittsburgh offense, including first basemen Paul Konerko, Kevin Millar and Tony Clark, outfielders Jeromy Burnitz, Brian Giles, Jacque Jones and Preston Wilson, and infielders Nomar Garciaparra, Bill Mueller and Joe Randa.
Littlefield's most significant offseason moves, however, will likely come via trades. The Bucs have an abundance of left-handed starting pitching throughout the upper levels of the organization that should serve as enticing bargaining chips in potential deals with other pitching-starved clubs.
"We will be looking at trades," said Littlefield. "We think we've put ourselves in a pretty good position in that we've started to build some depth within the organization and we now have some dollars to use, where we haven't had as much in the past. Now, through some tough decisions and increased fan support, it has really helped us have some more resources this winter."

Source: http://pittsburgh.pirates.mlb.com/