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Q: Yes, the Pirates are going after the bottom tier of remaining free-agent starters ... but why is this a bad thing?

Over the past two seasons, Tony Armas Jr. has compiled a 5.00 ERA and 1.51 WHIP. Compare this to the 4.75 ERA and 1.49 WHIP of Gil Meche. Now, if the Pirates could sign Armas for, say, $3 million over two years, wouldn't that be a pretty solid deal, considering Meche got $55 million for five years?

Now, I admit that Armas is substantially less durable, but just comparing what the Pirates would likely pay him compared to the market. I would be very happy to sign a guy like that.

Mike Kotowski of St. Louis

KOVACEVIC: Ideally, obviously, the Pirates would sign a much better pitcher and strengthen the rotation. Add another dependable right-hander, and the entire complexion of the staff changes.

Maybe someone like, oh, Jeff Weaver, should they succeed in signing him, and should Jim Tracy and Jim Colborn succeed in having him be as productive in Pittsburgh as he was for them in Los Angeles.

That said, my view on the fifth-starter slot in the absence of Weaver -- and I do not doubt, based on mail, that it is a minority view -- is that Shawn Chacon can do just fine as the fifth guy on the depth chart. And here are reasons why:

1. Very clearly, the Pirates' priority in developing the current staff is to place an emphasis on the four young guys -- Zach Duke, Ian Snell, Paul Maholm and Tom Gorzelanny -- and it is difficult to dispute that is the right thing to do. For the team to be competitive, each of those four has to ascend to his next level. That means the fifth guy, whoever it is, essentially will be a complementary piece, the one whose turn gets skipped on occasion, the one who will get less of the benefit of the doubt if things go badly.

2. Chacon explained to me near season's end with great conviction that, when he was pitching well, his knee was feeling fine. Now, I know athletes can use injuries -- especially vague, lingering injuries such as Chacon's -- to make excuses for poor performance. But I did notice that Chacon's general assessment of his knee shortly before he pitched, good or bad, did actually portend how he fared. How will that knee hold up? Hard to say. Chacon had said near season's end he was going to have surgery on it, then changed his mind. Could it have healed on its own? We will see. And, based on precedent, it probably will be easy to see.

3. When Chacon is good, he is very good. That cannot be said of many of the mediocrities who have signed megamillion contracts this offseason. He throws the ball as hard or harder than anyone on the staff, tipping 96 mph in some of those late-September starts, and has some wild offspeed stuff, too. Consistency obviously is his mammoth issue, but I always would prefer a high-ceiling guy to someone whose very best is going to get you 8-14 with a 5.00 ERA.

4. Speaking of numbers: Chacon was 2-3 with a 5.49 ERA in nine starts with the Pirates. Nothing special, to say the least. But here again, we get back to the knee: He failed to reach the sixth inning in the first five of those starts, then did so in each of the final four. He and the coaching staff confirmed that not only was his delivery more stabilized because the knee felt better, but it also had been tweaked -- of course -- by Jim Colborn for greater consistency. Anyone who saw Chacon's stuff that late September night in Los Angeles was not thinking about giving up on him. His stuff was dominant, and his poise not much below it.

5. Weird stat: Seventeen of the 32 runs Chacon gave up with the Pirates came by way of home run. Not sure why I am even mentioning this, but it just seems so odd that one might wonder if the all-or-nothing factor might help him quite a bit if he addresses the cause of the 12 home runs allowed in just 46 innings.

Q: Realistically speaking, I know that the Pirates will not be able to compete this coming season (I am not saying they won't play competitive baseball). Do you think that 2008 will be a make a break year for Mr. Littlefield? If the Pirates don't compete in 2008, I feel that it is time to make a change because from the looks of things, our farm system looks to be a little depleted.

Travis Barta of Greensburg

KOVACEVIC: Certainly, Dave Littlefield's future looks secure through 2007, if only because of the LaRoche trade and the reaction that followed.

Not the public reaction. The reaction from the top.

Later that afternoon, Bob Nutting issued a brief statement on the trade -- an unusual event for any trade anywhere -- to praise Littlefield not only for the execution of the trade, but also how it was handled and how the player will work in with the Pirates' current core group. That statement was not solicited. Nutting wanted his feelings on the matter known.

This does not have the feel, to say the least, of a GM who is in trouble.

Until tomorrow ...