With the Steelers at a very depressing 6-5 and seemingly heading no where, I’ve started to focus a bit on the rapidly heating up Major League Baseball Hot Stove.  At this point in the off season, there tends to be a lot of interest in free agent players from teams and very rarely does that interest reach the stage of negotiations.  So rather than focusing on the specific players the Bucs are expressing interest in, I’d rather look at the group as a whole to learn what type of player the pirates are targeting.

As I mentioned a few weeks back, The Pirates have already addressed their most glaring need by trading for 2nd baseman Aki Iwamura.  With that hole filled, their focus has shifted to acquiring arms to improve a bullpen that struggled down the stretch in 2009.  From the names being reported so far (J.J. Putz, Justin Duchscherer, Noah Lowry, etc) Neal Huntington seems to be targeting players who can be had at good short term value.  These types of guys are intriguing because they have all achieved some level of past success, but had down years in 2009 due to injury.  Of this group, I find Duchscherer the most interesting because of the possibility that he could start.  Right now, the Pirates front 4 starters seem all but assured of being Ross Ohlendorf, Zach Duke, Paul Maholm, Charlie Morton with the fifth spot a toss up between Kevin Hart and Daniel McCutchen.  If the team can sign Duchscherer, he would have the opportunity to compete for the last spot in the rotation and also fall back to be a solid long reliever if he doesn’t win the 5th starters job.

As the off season progresses, it will be fun to watch which of these names become more than just preliminary interest, and to see if Huntington brings in anyone who will make an impact on wins and losses in 2010.

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