What's Next for the Pirates Offseason?

The Pirates have made two moves in free agency already this offseason with the additions of Rod Barajas and Clint Barmes. In my eyes, that is only the beginning.

There have been speculations of trades. Andrew McCutchen's name came up recently, but Dejan Kovacevic calmed the storms about that pretty quickly. Joel Hanrahan's name has also been brought up (mainly by bloggers) because of the huge market for top of the line closers that we've seen this offseason. It appears that the Pirates could get quite a good return for Hanrahan and fill some bigger needs that they have, which I would be totally for.

That said, I don't think the Pirates will be making any big trades this offseason, but I do think they'll sign another player or two.

One thing they will definitely be looking for is starting pitchers. Last year the team added Kevin Correia and Scott Olsen. They got a good half season out of Correia and got absolutely nothing out of Olsen. Now they are faced with an ugly rotation of Morton-McDonald-Correia-Karstens-Lincoln (with Ohlendorf still slightly in the mix). Nobody would argue the Pirates trying to improve that starting five. While I would like to see the Pirates give Brad Lincoln a full shot at the big league level, I can do without Jeff Karstens or Kevin Correia in the rotation. If I were the Pirates, I'd sign a capable big league starter and have Karstens start the year in the bullpen. That might not be the most fair thing considering the season he put up, but nevertheless that's what I would do.

So what are the options? It really comes down to eight names. Those names are: Paul Maholm, Chris Capuano, Erik Bedard, Joel Pineiro, Jeff Francis, Aaron Harang, Aaron Cook, and Rich Harden.

MLB Trade Rumors recently reported that the Pirates have interest in Cook, which isn't surprising since he previously had a relationship with Clint Hurdle (more on in a post later today).

I think the strongest candidate is Chris Capuano, who posted a 4.55 ERA and a markedly better 3.67 xFIP last year. Bill James projects him to post a 4.12 ERA with 7.53 K/9 and 2.56 BB/9 in 2012. Tim at Pirates Prospects thinks Capuano is a nice fit for the Pirates as well, so check that article out.

My guy however is Erik Bedard. I love the high-ceiling guys (even though the fact that the player is wearing a Pirates uniform always seems to take away that ceiling), and Bedard is the highest ceiling guy in the bunch. He posted a nifty 3.62 ERA in 24 starts last year, striking out 8.7 batters per nine innings and walking 3.3. The issue with him is injuries. Before last year, he hadn't made over 15 starts since 2007. The Pirates have some mediocre depth at starting pitching, so they could absorb Bedard missing a little bit of time, but if they only get a half season out of him it could really kill us.

At the end of the day, it's probably really not going to matter who the Pirates get. This team isn't one that looks like they can get close to competing. There's really no reason to believe that they'll improve at all from last year, which is really sad to say.

My prediction is that the Clint Hurdle effect will win out once again, the Pirates will sign Aaron Cook and he'll put up a very mediocre season. That'll be awesome.