Pirates Rumors: With Players Signing Elsewhere, Bucs Sit On Bench

Over at Bucs Dugout, I write about the near-total lack of Pirates news right now. The Bucs' offseason so far has revolved around the acquisitions of Clint Barmes, Rod Barajas, Erik Bedard and Casey McGehee. Barmes, Barajas and Bedard essentially replace the departed Ronny Cedeno, Ryan Doumit and Paul Maholm, respectively. So the only player the Bucs got who's likely to represent more than a slight upgrade on what they already had is McGehee, and they had to trade a good bullpen arm in Jose Veras to get him. And besides, McGehee's a bench player.

It's a little depressing, though not at all surprising, that the Pirates haven't been connected (at least not by actual reporting) to bigger-ticket free agents like Edwin Jackson. But it's downright disappointing that they haven't been connected to anyone lately, including someone like Jeff Francis, who recently agreed to a minor-league deal with the Reds and who's capable of soaking up innings. That would have been nice to have, given the current likelihood that bad pitchers like Kevin Correia and Jo-Jo Reyes are going to have to pitch 250 or 300 innings when all is said and done. Francis himself isn't the point, but why aren't we hearing about the Pirates being connected to anyone?