Pirates' Struggles Mounting For Neal Huntington

At Bucs Dugout, I look at Neal Huntington's tenure with the Pirates and ask what his future with the team ought to be. In the past, I've probably been kinder than most commentators in assessing Huntington. There's a problem, though, in that his drafts haven't produced enough, relative to the amount of money the Pirates have spent. The struggles of 2008 and 2009 first-round picks Pedro Alvarez and Tony Sanchez have a lot to do with that, but the Bucs have spent big money on lots of players, and most haven't even yet emerged as real prospects in Class A ball.

There's still time, but right now, many national analysts still rank the Pirates' farm system as only slightly better than average. That's something, clearly, but when the Pirates are out-spending every other team in the draft, and they're consistently picking early in the first round, they ought to be doing better than that.

There's also the fact that the Bucs' offseason plans still haven't amounted to much. That's not entirely Huntington's fault, but it's frustrating to see yet another offseason go by without seeing proof of a coherent plan to win.