LaRoche

The LaRoche story will not die. Dejan Kovacevic reports how it lumbers from the graveyard.

Littlefield is right to reject the Duffy-and-Gonzo offer. I'm less sure about the starter-and-Gonzo scenario. We need six to ten starters for next year. No one got hurt in 2006, so you know a couple of people will get maimed on us in 2007. It's going to happen--depend on it.

Here's the depth chart, off the top of my head: Ian Snell, Zach Duke, Paul Maholm, Tom Gorzelanny. That's four good starters. The Bucs would be lucky if they combine for 100 starts. Who starts the other 62 games? Shawn Chacon, Sean Burnett, John Van Benschoten, Yoslan Herrera (good signing), Shane Youman, Marty McLeary, Bryan Bullington, ... uh ... Kip Bouknight?

Chacon is good for 20 mediocre to bad starts. Burnett might be good for a dozen, ditto for JVB. They could be good for more, but I would not plan on it. Herrera might be ready at the end of the year for six starts. That leaves twelve starts open for Youman and McLeary.

The problem with dealing one of the starters is this. Who starts those 25 games? The Pirates have little depth in the starting pitching department. How many of those relief pitchers could be converted into starting pitchers? Torres maybe?

And who's left on the free agent wire? Where's Jimmy Anderson? Where's Omar Daal? Who could the Pirates sign that would be good for 25 starts in 2007? Call Ryan Vogelsong and tell him to put down those Japanese language tapes.

Or, seriously, sign some mediocre to good pitcher and live with the contract. All the other teams are doing it. If candidates are floating around, they should deal one of the starters and take care of the first-base, the left-handed bat, and the home-run power problems. This would be good for everyone in the lineup. They only need one 25-game starter now (to fill the traded pitcher's turns) and they can get another 25-game starter, or group of guys who can start 25 games collectively, later (to fill the hole created by the first injured starter).

If the Pirates could get LaRoche tomorrow with one of those starters - say, Maholm, since his name is most often mentioned - they could do that first and worry about the 25 starts second.

Here's an added bonus. The addition of LaRoche would sell tickets. And few fans look beyond five or six starters. Littlefield can talk about former #1 picks and the Cuban signing when asked who fills the loss of Maholm. The fans would be happy. The new owner would look good. It's a risk but not that great a risk. And if it fails, Littlefield won't be around to fix it anyway. He can do such a trade.

It would be terrifying, but I think it would be worth it.