With One Hand on the Cutch

Well, look. You can use today to make a case about the Pirates, or about the Giants, or both.

Let's examine the Pirates first. They just gave away their flagship star for a couple of prospects...for the second time this week. After Cole, they gave away Andrew McCutchen, who had become one of my favorite players. The consensus is that they're making an attempt to strip back down and rebuild, and seeing as this went SO WELL in the 2000s, it's a bit concerning.

I imagine the Pirates will try to hold onto Starling Marte and Gregory Polanco, as well as Ivan Nova, as they'll have to base a team around something, but if they do this, they'll at least need to do something about people like David Freese, John Jaso and Francisco Cervelli, who are aging and beginning to crowd the team. Or...at least the last two. Freese is somehow still pretty good.

It doesn't look like the Pirates are going to compete in 2018, as the stage is set for the Cubs and Brewers to continue their playoff pushes, the Cardinals to finish their 2017 work, and the Reds to work on their rotation and attempt to sneak in. The Pirates will have to work towards the future, and that may involve losing a few games in 2018.

Now...onto the Giants.

The Giants have accumulated their second straight franchise legend over 30, after Evan Longoria. But, after plugging Longo in the infield, and Cutch in the outfield...and accounting for Hunter Pence, Jeff Samardzija, and Mark Melancon...this is a very old Giants team they're banking on.

I understand they're trying to milk Buster Posey's tenure in San Fran by having as many good years with good players as humanly possible, but that didn't mean getting people with only a few good years each left. This is a pretty nice team that the Giants are building, but it's not an especially sturdy one. Hunter Pence has become injury-prone in his later years, Cutch has morphed into a power-hitter after average-work evaded him, and as good as Evan Longoria is, even he has become a bit haphazard in terms of health. Yes, there will be people like Joe Panik, Brandons Belt and Crawford, and Madison Bumgarner on hand, but...they're now approaching 30, and they might start getting injured.

This is baffling compared to the young and hot Dodgers, who spent the offseason becoming younger and hotter, as well as the youth-structured Rockies and D-Backs. Even the Padres are trying to bank on their youth movement...while also getting a pair of 30+ infielders (okay, bad example). The Giants' effort to compete might be all for naught, especially when you consider that a lot of their young, rookie backup options are kinda untested and may flounder when given the opportunity.

So...not quite sure if either side got a particularly good piece of things. Oh well. The offseason is technically still young.