Yesterday I ran a poll asking for you to vote on your ideal off-season at the four big areas of need: catcher, first base, shortstop, and starting pitcher. The vote was meant to look at realistic options that are available to the Pittsburgh Pirates, rather than some of the options they have no shot at landing, such as Albert Pujols or Jose Reyes.
My ideal additions for each position would be Ramon Hernandez, Derrek Lee, Clint Barmes, and Chris Capuano. The voters agreed with me in all four positions.
Chris Capuano saw the most votes in the starting pitching poll, narrowly edging out Rich Harden. Capuano finished with 17.4% of the vote, while Harden finished with 17.11% of the vote. The next best option was a trade, which received 12.39% of the vote, followed by Erik Bedard with 12.09% of the vote. Paul Maholm came in fifth with 11.5% of the votes.
Clint Barmes had a much bigger lead in winning the shortstop poll. Barmes took 32.65% of the votes, a big lead over the second place vote getter, Alex Gonzalez, who saw 14.29% of the votes. Rafael Furcal was the only other free agent in the top five, finishing third with 12.54%. The next choice was an internal option, with 11.95% of the voters wanting to go with an option like Pedro Ciriaco or Chase d’Arnaud. In fifth place was a trade, with 9.04% of the voters saying this was their ideal choice for the off-season. Ronny Cedeno finished with 5.83% of the votes, good enough for sixth.
The catching position had another clear winner. Ramon Hernandez dominated the vote with 45.51%. Ryan Doumit came in second with 12.08% of the vote. 9.27% of voters wanted an internal option, while 8.99% of voters picked my number two choice, Rod Barajas. Rounding out the top five was a trade, with 6.18% of the votes. Chris Snyder finished sixth with 5.06% of the votes.
The biggest winner was Derrek Lee, who took 47.71% of the votes in the first base poll. Lee was followed by Carlos Pena at 19.71%, and Michael Cuddyer at 14.57%. After that the top five was rounded out with 7.14% of people wanting an internal option, presumably looking at Matt Hague, and 5.14% of people wanting a trade.
