Bucs reportably aggressive with free-agent market

It’s Sunday, folks! Which means the free-agent market is officially open. It should be an interesting off-season for the Pirates because there are several things they need to address. Here is a list of the free-agents available.

And according to Sports Illustrated writer Jon Heyman, the Bucs aren’t waiting around. He tweeted this earlier today: SI_JonHeyman: Pirates may still not have a manager (assuming its hurdle or banister eventually) but hearing they’re aggressive going for players early.

“We’re going to have to be intelligent about how we go about it,” Neal Huntington said. “While we definitely want to upgrade, we’ve got to make sure it’s the right move. We want to upgrade and improve in every facet that we can, but we have to be intelligent about how we use our resources both long-term and short-term.”

Pitching is top on the list (both starters and relievers), but it isn’t the only thing they need. Solutions at first-base, right-field and better players off the bench are also important. The organization will have a higher payroll for the 2011 season (Last season the payroll was $35 million).

So what is the number one priority for the new season?

“Everything,” Neal Huntington said. “I hate to say things like that because it seems to be such a negative statement, but the reality is that there is a reason we have lost 100-plus games and it is because we haven’t pitched the way we needed to, we haven’t played defense the way we needed to, we haven’t scored runs the way we needed to.”

Should make for a busy hot stove…