Trades are an interesting thing. They seem straightforward enough, but when you start to look at them closer their complexity becomes more apparent. Some trades seem to take on a Rashômon-like quality because the evaluation of them changes depending on the perspective you view it from. Yesterday's Matt Lawton for Arthur Rhodes deal is one such trade.

At face value, the deal is a good one for the Bucs. Rhodes was never in the Bucs' long-term plans. They have younger and cheaper options that fill the same role, while glaring holes exist in other areas. Some of those areas get filled in the Lawton deal. He's a lefthander. Check. And he's a leadoff hitter. Check. So essentially, the Pirates got a player you could help them next year for a player who was likely not going to help them much. In all likelihood, this trade will make the team better.

That's one perspective.

Another perspective looks at this deal in the larger context of deals the team has made over the last two years. The Lawton acquisition is a small part in the talent turnover that has marked the team's recent history. Players like Jason Kendall, Kris Benson, Brian Giles, and Arams Ramirez have been shipped out. New players have been brought in. All the while, management has brought out the dreaded "D" word -- rebuilding. Rebuilding is obvious, but no fan likes to hear it. Especially Pirate fans, who have been hearing it quite often for over the last decade. But if we are rebuilding, where are the parts needed to do it? The Giles deal brought in Oliver Perez and Jason Bay. There's two. But the rest of the deals yielded little to hang your hat on.

With all due respect to the player's involved, it's impossible to rebuild with players like Ty Wigginton, Mark Redman, Bobby Hill, and now Matt Lawton. Those players don't say, "rebuilding" to me, they say, "treading water." Rebuilding requires acquiring players who have a chance to get significantly better. With the players mentioned above, you pretty much know what you are getting.

Getting back to the Lawton deal, some may say it's unfair to assess the Lawton deal in the context of rebuilding. Perhaps. But since he was acquired for Rhodes, and since Rhodes was a part of the Kendall deal, then he must be evaluated in that light. Like it or not, Kendall was one of our few remaining valuable trade parts. True, he was expensive, but teams still valued him. But all we got for him were two players that will only be helping the team for a limited time and some supposed "financial flexibility".

It is also difficult to evaluate the Lawton deal until we get a clearer picture of the other moves Littlefield will make. How (or even if) he takes advantage of this new found "financial flexibility" is key. The Lawton deal does not exist in a vacuum. There will be other deals, and hopefully those other ones will bring in some more long-term help we can invest in. Littlefield has stated that Lawton will be the team's right fielder next season, but he has also stated a desire to move Bay to center and add an additional outfielder. I am not sure that Bay is best in center (though, McClendon has gone on record calling it his best position), but I like the idea of moving Lawton to left. I think he's sub par defensively in right, and offensively I'd rather have more pop there. With Lawton in left and Bay in center, that frees the team up to get another outfield bat (I'm still advocating Jay Gibbons). Or, we could leave Craig Wilson in right and bring in a first basemen to share the position with Daryle Ward. Josh Phelps is available and would fit that bill nicely.

Despite what other players may be brought in, it seems apparent that Lawton is another in a long-line of short-term solutions. Lawton is only signed through this year, and seems likely to bolt the team when his contract his up at the end of next season. That's fine. If he can help us for a year and then leaves, it's fine for the short-term, but it doesn't leave me all warm and fuzzy for the long-term. I am just hoping that Lawton has a good season and some team in the pennant hunt comes calling. If so, the Bucs may be able to wrest a decent player from them, provided the contending team is desperate enough. It's a long shot, but it could happen. And if it does, suddenly I'd look back at the Lawton deal in a whole new light.

I am adopting a wait-and-see attitude concerning all of this. Hopefully, Littlefield will make the additional moves so that we can feel like the Bucs are moving forward as an organization. The Lawton deal isn't a bad deal. He definitely will help fill a couple of key spots for the Pirates, but it just doesn't leave me feeling that the team is finally ready to turn things around.