Picture the scene ...

It is late June of 2011, and the phone rings in Neal Huntington's office. The Pirates' general manager answers and hears a mind-bending trade offer, one that would boost the minor league system just as much as it would blow up the major league roster.

And yet, these hypothetical Pirates are only 4 1/2 games behind the first-place Milwaukee Brewers in the Central Division.

What would he do?

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Today

• Game: Pirates vs. Minnesota Twins, 8:10 p.m., Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome.

• TV, radio: FSN Pittsburgh, WPGB-FM (104.7).

• Pitching: LHP Paul Maholm (4-2, 3.61) vs. LHP Glen Perkins (1-3, 5.36).

• Key matchup: Unlike most interleague matchups, these teams are intimately familiar with each other. The Pirates and Twins meet several times each spring, including the final weekend, when they are the only ones left in Florida.

• Of note: Minnesota catcher Joe Mauer, currently batting .414, has 716 career hits, making him one of six active players with that many in his first 600 games. The others: Ichiro Suzuki, Vladimir Guerrero, Derek Jeter, Albert Pujols, Carl Crawford and Jose Reyes.

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Almost peculiarly, given the backlash of the players and public to the recent Nate McLouth trade, Huntington smiled when this question was posed over the weekend.

"Honestly," he replied, "I look forward to the day when we have enough talent in the system that we don't feel like we have to make these types of trades, where we turn them down even if they're good baseball trades, just because we'd be on the cusp of really, truly feeling like we're that close. But the only way for us to get there -- and stay there -- is to add talent."

But how much is enough?

"I understand the question: When is now?" Huntington said. "I know everyone is looking forward to it, as are we."

OK, then, three more questions ...

1. When, if ever, will "now" come?

2. What assurances are there that, even in the thrust of contention, the Pirates would not execute another trade akin to the one that sent the popular, productive and intensely loyal McLouth to the Atlanta Braves for prospects Charlie Morton, Gorkys Hernandez and Jeff Locke?

3. What assurances are there that such moves are not made with the primary intent of pushing back the finish line and saving salary in perpetuity?

Taking one at a time ...

Management's view of its current talent level, in Pittsburgh and below, is that it is insufficient at pretty much every position other than third base and center field. The major league team is 30-33 and still on track for a 17th consecutive losing season and, even with recent infusions, the minor league system remains in baseball's lower half.

Neither facet will change soon, given the time it will take for players from this management's two drafts to develop, as well as the mounting industry-wide difficulty in acquiring young talent through other means.

"We don't have a definitive answer but, at the same time, we're not saying it's 2015," Huntington said. "With this trade and other moves before that, we feel the talent level is significantly improved over where it was a year ago and, certainly, two years ago. We're closer than we've ever been."

So, what qualifies as contention?

Owner Bob Nutting was adamant that call will be made by team president Frank Coonelly and Huntington.

"What you need to be looking at is how you improve the team in Pittsburgh and the organization overall," Nutting said. "And those are the balances, honestly, that Frank and Neal -- Neal, particularly -- have to be charged with. Those aren't decisions I'm ever going to step in and try to make. I know that would be a mistake."

Even so, he added this: "We're never going to have a static lineup that we lock in. I don't think you ever get to the point where you say, 'That's it. We're anchored. We're done.' If you do that, the organization, I believe would start to immediately fall back."

Coonelly's stance: Once he and Huntington see real contention, the Pirates could flip from the norm and trade prospects for veterans.

"We look forward to the day when we have the type of depth in the system that we can use those valuable prospects to make a trade for a veteran who can put us over the top and still have players in the system who will help us win on a consistent basis," Coonelly said.

"We're looking forward to having a Tampa Bay Rays moment, a Cleveland Indians moment, an Arizona Diamondbacks moment, where we see several guys all come together all at one time, and we can add to that," Huntington said. "We're not there."

Some internally speak of such a possible convergence in 2011, but there are far too many variables for that to be firm.

As for money, the Pirates maintain that they will upgrade payroll -- the current $51 million is far less than Milwaukee's $80 million, despite the Brewers being based in a market two-thirds the size of Pittsburgh -- once that contending core is identified. Budgets for the draft and other developmental ventures have been increased, but nowhere near enough to justify that gap.

On that count, Coonelly suggested that success will fuel payroll, rather than the other way around.

"There is no question that fielding a competitive team will allow us to support a higher payroll and retain our core players into their free-agent years," he said. "We look forward to getting to that point and, while the trades we have made to date have been difficult, we are much closer than we have been in a long time."

To be sure, raising payroll would be the greatest step -- fair or not, right or not -- toward regaining the trust of a fan base that remains as skeptical as that of any in sports that its team is serious about the fundamental concept of winning.

"We do care about winning," Huntington said. "That's why we do this. If we didn't care about winning, it would be easy just to coast along, make the popular moves, make the low-impact moves. We care about winning this much. We're doing this to win."

In the process, though, as all concerned are aware, they are infuriating -- or, worse, alienating -- a significant portion of that fan base.

All three team executives have been open in their responses, specifically, to the McLouth trade, but none comes close to apologizing.

"Nate McLouth was a player of great character, not one that I would have guessed wouldn't finish the season with us. Or next year. Or the year after that," Nutting said. "The whole idea was a surprise to me. But I listened to the evaluation of the immediate talent impact with Andrew McCutchen and Charlie Morton coming in, and the opportunity to not take a step back on the field, then also to take a step forward with the other talent coming in. It was a really compelling storyline."

"This is the reality of our market size," Huntington said. "It's not Pittsburgh. This is how teams in our markets do it: They build from the bottom, build from within. They keep the ones they can, replace the ones they can't."

Huntington has seemed genuinely stung by some of the backlash but, at the same time, unmoved in terms of resolve.

"I do understand the passion our fans and players felt for Nate McLouth. I genuinely like Nate. Felt the same way about Jason Bay, Xavier Nady and Damaso Marte," he said. "But the truth is, we can't make emotional decisions, and that's what fans will have the hardest time with. We have to make good, sound decisions that make us a better organization. We trust what we're doing."

On that note, has anyone noticed that the current Pirates are only 4 1/2 games behind first-place Milwaukee in the Central Division?

That is the closest they have been to first this late in any season since the final week of 1997.