I knew it was Heyman before I even clicked the link.  At least he's predictable.  

Umm lets see the As are in a rebuliding mode and downgraded at a lot of positions. The White Sox replaced all of the areas where production was well below average and improved it.

Cabrera drastically improves the IF defense and increases the team OBP and situational hitting while lessening Ks.

Swisher improves the whole lineup with his high OBP, intangibles, and the possibility of hitting 35+ HR in US Cellular, he's also under control for 5 more years for extremely cheap.

The Linebrink and Dotel signings improve which was one of the worst bullpens in baseball for the 2nd straight year outside of Jenks. While the signings were overpriced they were necessary to get the ball to Jenks. Rather than see countless 3 run leads blown in the 7th and 8th innings, thanks to the likes of Ryan Bukvich, Nick Masset, Brett Prinz, and Mike MacDougal.

The acquisition of Carlos Quentin drastically improves the OBP and gives them a potential high upside player in vital categories that is still very young.

The signing of Alexei Ramirez is another very low risk/high upside move, super utility player that could turn out to be something great. If Cabrera leaves after 08 Ramirez could slide in and become the starting shortstop.

It's all about the W's now.  What have you done for me lately, not what will you do five years from now.  Most fans cringe when the hear the R word that's why it takes balls to do it.  GM's with a plan will almost always lose in the court of public opinion (if it means delayed gratification) but will gain the respect of their peers and employers, and perhaps more knowledgeable sports writers who are able to see the big picture.

It is highly unlikely that the Pirates will compete in the weak Central Division in 2008 although I do think that good handlers/evaluators of men can make a difference. In other words, maybe Russell and his staff can win a few more games this year with basically the same roster. He probably will, but if the Pirates are still in any kind of contention by June 15, I'll be surprised.

Therefore, in a small market like Pittsburgh, the Pirates can only do one thing --- and that is REBUILD. Maybe the Pirates can be competitive by 2010 if they start drafting and developing better than in the past, and start making better deals with their tradeable veterans to obtain AA players that have a chance to become impact major leaguers.

And they need to strike when the iron is hot, for example, when other teams lose an everyday player to injury and need a replacement, like a Bay, Sanchez, or Wilson. I'm not ready to part with LaRoche and we won't get much for Nady.
We could part with at least one of the young starters. Some team is also going to need Marte well before July 31.

The Pirates were ranked 28th for their off-season activity for a reason. They did nothing of significance to improve the club. They claim that they could not get fair value because Pirate players had sub-par years.

Well, "doing nothing" with the roster and hoping that the team will be better this year is the decison that the Pirates made. And "doing nothing" is always one alternative when contemplating the future and considering alternatives..

But we better see a "culture" change of some magnitude soon or see better evaluating, scouting, development and trades, or I'm afraid that we are going to be looking at a minimum of 17 consecutive losing seasons.

As for the Pirate fan base, fans will put up with anything as long as they believe that there is a plan and that management knows what it is doing.

Now we are going to find out if the C & H boys can "walk the talk".

......whenever a mainstream sportswriter evaluates teams' offseason activity, he or she always thinks it's a good idea when a team signs a big free agent, or trades prospects for veterans, or does something stupid rather than just doing nothing?

It's due to the fact that mainstream writers are paid to write, not think.

Coincidentally, I just read the rankings on SI.com before logging on here and had similar thoughts when I read the two sentences of insight he provided on the Pirates.  And more to your point, he has the Royals one peg higher, presumably because they did something in the offseason (ala Jose Guillen), albeit asinine.