Pirates Tailspin Knee-jerk

And with last night's performance, our hometown Buccos have dropped the fourth game in a row. What's more, they've lost Neil Walker for at least the minimum stay on the 15-Day DL. Will an infield made up of some combination of Barmes/Mercer/Inge and very possibly Josh Harrison be a palatable buoy as the Pirates attempt to remain atop the NL Central? I highly doubt it.

Three-fourths of the above combination have been nothing short of disappointing, save for Mercer's ascension to the "starting" SS. So what's the solution here? Unfortunately, the Pirates will remain in a holding pattern. What should be done? There's no time like the present to address a need. I don't mean to suggest that Neal Huntington go out there in a panic and scoop up (Phillies' second-baseman) Chase Utley in a panic. No. There are far more clever ways to replace production in more useful ways.

Take right field, for instance. Here's a position where Travis Snider and Jose Tabata are providing very middling (at best) offensive support. I'm confident that when the time comes, Huntington will eventually deal for a right fielder. But why wait? Plodding along with the Snider/Tabata combination isn't working well when the lineup is clicking, and that lineup just took a huge hit by reinserting Barmes back into it. This region rarely sees a knee-jerk reaction when it comes to hometown baseball, and if ever the Pirates lineup could stand to benefit from one, now's the time. Avoid the tailspin and what's become the traditional, yearly collapse. Put a tourniquet on the Walker loss while addressing what you were going to address anyway. Trade for a RF while we still have winnable games remaining on the schedule. And more importantly - stay atop the NL central.