FanSided Off-Season Sim Primer: Pittsburgh Pirates

For the first time in a long time, the MLB Division of FanSided has banded together for a grand experiment. 30 fans running their favorite teams through an entire off-season in 3 days.

It promises to be a lot of fun and very informative. Trades are already being discussed and ideas are flying left and right. However, to fully understand the task we are undertaking, you must first know the rules we are bound by.

1. You must stay true to the 40 man roster. The Pirates currently have 38 players on their 40 man.
2. After long discussions with Pirate fan favorite Bob Nutting I have been granted permission to raise the payroll to $110 million this offseason.
3. Free Agent bidding begins Monday morning. The highest bid doesn’t guarantee you a player. All decisions are made by a super agent.
4. To prevent bad trades, all deals must be approved by the commissioner which is Mr. Colby Patnode of Sodo Mojo.

During this activity, I will be consulting fellow Rum Bunter writers Nick and Dave about moves that are made.

It will be interesting to see how other people view the Pirates. I have already received trade offers for players such as Adam Frazier, Andrew McCutchen, Chad Kuhl, Gerrit Cole, and Ivan Nova. As the “faux GM” I will be avoiding a full-scale rebuild. While, personally, I believe Neal Huntington should consider it this offseason I’m shooting for the postseason in 2018 baby!

Third base will be the top goal of trade talks/free agency. Starting pitching, the bullpen, and backup catcher are also areas that I will attempt to address.

Next: Turning Tyler Glasnow into Archie Bradley

This activity should be a lot of fun to partake in, and hopefully for our readers to follow along with, next week. Maybe Pittsburgh Pirates’ fans will even get lucky and Neal Huntington will see the master moves that ya boy makes and consider making them himself to help the 2018 Pirates return to the postseason.

It is time for Rum Bunter to lay the ground for making the Pittsburgh Pirates great again.