Pirates GM Begins Making Frantic, Haphazard Moves After Realizing It's Almost Spring Training

PITTSBURGH—While watching the noon edition of SportsCenter in his pajamas Tuesday, an alarmed Pirates GM Doug Littlefield suddenly realized that spring training was just one week away and he had yet to make a single offseason transaction. “Shit shit shit—what do we need? Hitters? Pitchers? Pitchers. Can never have enough pitching. Who’s a pitcher? Let’s see, Randy Johnson, Roy Oswalt, Tom Glavine—wait, wasn’t there some Japanese guy now who’s good?” Littlefield reportedly said as he went to go put on pants, started running the shower, and picked up the phone to call his assistant. “Who’s still available… A… A… Armas. Tony Armas Jr. Wait, is he already on the Pirates? No, that’s Shawn Chacon. Good, that’s one. Think, think: Who else is there in baseball?” Littlefield spent the next hour trying to figure out where the Pirates normally hold spring training before making the last-minute decision to send half the team to Arizona and the other half to Florida.