Well, I won’t belabor the obvious: Not many fans, whether Pirate fans or not, think these were good trades. I think the best argument for the trades is that the alternative — waiting until July -- was too much to ask of a fanbase in which many fans understand the team can’t contend with its current core. It’s a lot to expect fans to spend four more months in purgatory, waiting until, as Eli puts it, the team chooses a direction. And then they’d still have to go through the inevitable anger over trading the team’s best players.
It’s a little more disturbing to see reports, in connection with the Cole trade, that the Pirates chose quantity over quality, although you do have to acknowledge the possibility that these reports aren’t entirely accurate.