What exactly is the Pirates plan?

     This past week, we have seen the Pirates let go of two of the longest-tenured Pirates. Those being Neil Walker and Charlie Morton. For Walker, they were able to get a solid middle-of-the-rotation starting pitcher in Jon Neise. For Morton, they got a single-A pitcher in a trade that was just a salary dump. With these moves looking kind of head scratching on the surface, I will try to make sense of it all. What is the Pirates plan?

     The Walker trade did not make sense from a financial point of view. However, it did make sense from a need standpoint. With the addition of Neise, they have a pitcher with 3 years of control attached to him, if they so choose. The Morton trade, however, makes less sense when originally thinking about it. People say, why trade him for a single-A pitcher? The main reason they did it was to dump his $8M that he was making in 2016. The Pirates got an average pitcher, at best, off their books. There is some good salary relief there.

     It is now well known that the Pirates need another SP. They needed one before, but it is deathly obvious at this point. The only guys in the rotation at this point are Cole/Liriano/Neise/Locke. Yes, Locke is the 4th starter. Talk about scary. Anyway, many speculate that the Pirates shedded Morton's contract to free up some money to get another SP. It makes sense from a need standpoint. Many  think that this is the time that the Pirates dish out some money and get a good free agent SP. However, some reports suggest that that may not be the case. Who really knows, though?

     The other BIG hole on the Pirates is the lack of a left-handed-hitting 1B. Everyone knows that the Pirates are in need of one. The Pirates have some options there in the trade and free agent market, and Neal Huntington is definitely in search of one. The freeing up of some payrolls could be related to that as well. 

     The Pirates are definitely going to make some more moves to make this team a contender in 2016, no matter how much you hear about them playing for 2017. We can trust Neal Huntington in this. The plan looks very incomplete right now, and that is because it isn't done yet. Calling the team bad in December isn't a good thing to do. The team will look different in April than it does now. No MLB team's roster is set as of now. Making predictions in December is dumb. Just let it play out than give your opinions on the offseason.