Bucs Hire Neal Huntington

Well, for all the denials and rumors and whatnot, the Bucs just announced that Neal Huntington will be their general manager.

I'm happy for this one.  Yes, I would have preferred DePo or one of his Dodger wunderkinder, but a team like the Bucs can do a lot worse than hire a fresh person from a respectable organization.  What Huntington intends to do with the bloated contracts and weak farm system during his first year is beyond speculation, but I'm starting to get the feeling that the Bucs very well may find themselves emulating the Marlins Model - build from the ground up, use your best developments to trade for more prospects as the cycle peaks, aim to compete every year.  I can live with that.

As for Brian Graham, I think he'll still be around.  Whether the failures of the system are his responsibility or come from lousy drafting in the first place will quickly become apparent - the team can't draft any worse.

Jim Tracy becomes another interesting quandary.  He's not a completely worthless manager [No? - ed.], but he's not going to lead a plucky team of overachievers to the promised land, either.  I hope he's fired simply to clean out the atmosphere.  Replacing him will reveal the real intentions of Coonelly/Huntington - do they go with an established Valentine-esque hire, do they try to bring in a talented-but-so-far-neglected talent like Girardi, or do they go looking for a relative unknown, a position coach or minor league manager with a good track record?

It's really all speculation, especially from this guy, who relies more on what others say than on what he finds/knows himself.  But I will say that I'm genuinely excited about the Bucs for the first time since I could drive.  Even if this new regime flames out, at least it's something new.