A new Q&A with Dave Littlefield is up on MLB.com. Nothing too surprising or revealing, though I got a chuckle from this piece of spin:

It's hard to see a player who has played as well as Kendall has for the Pirates be traded. But Mark Redman was part of a 2003 World Championship team in Florida, he's won double-digit games the last two years and he had the same number of wins as Barry Zito this year.

Well, I guess we should just count our lucky stars that we didn't get Zito in that deal, huh?

Later in the interview, Littlefield does offer some hints into the Bucs' player procurement strategy this off-season:

One thing about the free agents: I don't know where it will go, but we'll certainly be working behind the scenes. My sense is we'll probably be a player a little later than earlier in regards to the free agent players.

Which I read to mean that once again, the Pirates will wait until free agents get desparate and then troll for bargains. This worked well two years ago, not so well last year.

I know that waiting for the bargains seems like sound conventional wisdom, but it is important to remember that fortune favors the bold. If the buzz is correct, there should be some interesting names getting non-tendered. They might not be cheap, but a sharp executive may be able to lock up a guy about to explode for a decent price.

I'm not talking about superstars here, but there may be a guy or two that may be worth taking a chance on. If so, I hope Littlefield doesn't sit on his hands just so that he can wait and sign a desperate veteran right before spring training. I am tired of stopgap measures. We don't just need talent. We need hope. And hope doesn't come from a one-year contract.