Pirates need to be in win now and win in the future mode

There are both sides of the argument on whether the Pirates should go for the "win now" mentality or the "hold on to your prospects and win later" idea. I think we can find a nice common ground in the middle somewhere. A team can't be successful by constantly looking into the future. If they do, the future will never come. The Pirates have been on the side of holding on to prospects and winning later side the last 2 years and I think that has led to the 2 straight collapses. The future is now for the Pirates and they have to do what they must not to let an opportunity like this slip through their fingertips. On the other hand I don't want the Pirates to do what the Brewers did. They went all out for 2 years, traded all their top prospects and now their paying for it. Small market teams need their prospects more than say the Yankees or Dodgers. The Brewers did nothing after all they did those 2 years and now they suck again. The Rays are a rare example of a team that can win constantly with "future" in mind. They're the exception to the rule.

I think the Pirates approach should be in the middle of the Rays and Brewers approaches. Get an impactful player or two but don't drown out your farm system. The Pirates have a good enough farm system that their 2nd tier players are as good as some teams top prospects which is a luxury if you ask me. You don't have to use Polanco or Taillon to get a deal done. You can use guys like Hanson, Heredia, Kingham, Bell etc. instead and those guys are still top line prospects. The Pirates can get an impact player or two with some years of control with a few of those guys and it wouldn't even dent the system. The system would still be very strong and we wouldn't miss those guys a bit. The other thing is we don't know what prospects will become. That's the risk you take. Even if they become good, if the Pirates are successful than who cares how well the player you traded years ago is doing? Definitely not me.

I say the Bucs should trade a few of their top 20 prospects(which in most minor league systems are top 10) to get impact major leaguers that can help the big club. This way they don't drown out the minor league system but at the same time they have success at the major league level. The Pirates have the proper farm system to do this type of things and its time now to take action.