I was going to update Davd's fanshot with this, but it's probably worth its own thread. I really hope this is another case of Neal Huntington explaining things to the press in the dumbest way possible, because if not ...
"We've got to be willing to take some chances," Huntington said. "We've got to be willing to make some tough financial decisions. We'll see how it plays out this offseason, but we're confident that we'll end up with a good option."
"Some tough financial decisions"? What? Without adding any free agents, the Pirates' payroll currently projects to be in the $30 million range, depending on who they take to arbitration. (Which proves that a cheap young team can be really cheap if it only has three halfway-reasonable starting pitchers and lacks a catcher, first baseman and shortstop, and arguably a third baseman too.) Maybe Huntington just means that he feels guys like Paul Maholm and Ronny Cedeno cost too much (in which case I'd love to know why he thinks that), but if this is meant to be any kind of commentary on the Pirates' financial situation next year, yikes.
Yes, yes, yes, I know, there are five months before the season starts, anything can happen, etc.