I know it is early and its only ST, but Meek seems to be the man.  Anyone see a trade in the future of Capps?  It appears that Meek has really found the strike zone and can bring the heat.  Not that Capps doesn't throw heat and he certainly has great control, but do you really need two closers?  I would also presume Capps would bring a decent return even if he was slightly injured last year, plus some money could be saved with his salary gone.

If the article by Jason Stark is accurate (see below) regarding what the Bucs want, among others, for Jason Bay and the X-Man, I can see why they are still here.

Bay: The Pirates are asking for four players back -- two sure-thing young players, one good prospect and a fourth prospect with upside.

Nady: A similar package, except they want three players instead of four -- one sure thing, one good prospect and a third, more iffy, prospect.

With all due respect for J-Bay, whom I have always liked, just last year, many on this site was playing the past the prime card (bat speed decreased, power gone, etc.).  Nevertheless, his numbers so far in his career have been very good and he is still relatively young, but is he really worth 4 players????  Why not, as they say desperated people do desparate things especially as they become even more desparate.  May the most desparate team, please make a bid....

Again tonight, Tracy allowed another starting pitcher the chance to let the game get away after a galiant effort to give the Bucs a chance to win.  Am I the only one that thinks Tracy knows nothing about pitchers.  How many Pirate pitchers have pitched past 6 innings lately?  Not very many.  With the score 3-0 after 6, why not shake Maholm's hand and depend on your bullpen to hold the lead.  This has happened too many times this year, I attribute at least 10-15 losses to Tracy in this fashion.  Maybe it doesn't matter, but I think it does (36-42 (10-losses) or 41-37 (15-losses)sounds better than 26-52 and don't get me started on the 1-run games that he has lost because he has no clue what reliever to bring in.

Since it appears that the new manager's philosophy is to forget the youth movement for a year, why not sign Richard Hidalgo for 5 mil for 1 year.  Though probably not an upgrade in right, we might get lucky and Hidalgo might have a great 06 and then we can dump him for some minor league players.  Same with Casey after a year.  The "new philosophy" appears to be - try to get lucky for a year.  Though it has been so long ago, I believe in the golden years, when the bucs won consistently, you had mostly a complete team of homegrown talent and then management would bring in a special player from the outside like a Madlock to put them over the top.  Why can't we learn from history?

What happened to the youth movement?  Last time I checked 30 and 40 somethings were not considered youthful in baseball.  There are great players in their early to mid 20s, such as Miguel Cabrera (a 3rd baseman by nature) that I am sure Florida would give up for the right package (Kip Wells, Craig Wilson, and a Grabow or Snell).  Otherwise, Bautista is it, especially if Jack Wilson never reaches his all star gear again, which means Castillo would move to short and Sanchez to 2nd.  I have been a Pirate fan since the Forbes Field days and this is a sad time for bucco fans.  What happened to playing hard and giving it everything you had, like Mackowiak and Wiggington always did?  Nice reward for them.  It's better to keep a Craig Wilson who strikes out a thousand times and shows no emotion, like he could care less.