From the Post-Gazette:
In the not-so-distant past, Dave Littlefield sort of said that the Pirates would not be sellers. After a bad two weeks, though, it appears that they will be, and that's the right decision. In terms of its talent level, this team is much closer to its current 34-40 record than its 30-31 record two weeks ago - which is to say that it's not a very good team.
It's frustrating to be a seller every year, but what's far more frustrating than the selling itself is the constant losing that causes selling to be the best strategy. For the Pirates, not selling this year would be like a person not taking their medicine just because she's always sick. The Pirates have a lot of talent right now at Class AAA that should step into big roles with the Pirates sometime soon anyway, and they have a number of players who could fetch decent value in the trade market but who aren't likely to contribute much in the future, particularly relative to their salaries. The Pirates should be shopping Mark Redman, Josh Fogg, Matt Lawton, Daryle Ward and Jose Mesa (if he'll let them). And if one or more of those players gets traded, fans shouldn't blast management for trading players they know. Instead, they should blast management for consistently failing to put the Pirates in a position to win.