I'm not sure how I feel about this.

The Pittsburgh Pirates ... in first place ... in late July.

I think the End of Days prophecy spoke of this.

Locusts. Pestilence. Pirates with a winning record on July 28.

Part of me wants to rejoice for a city full of baseball fans who haven't seen a good baseball season since 1997 and haven't seen a winning baseball season since, it seems, the ball was made of brown leather and string.

Another part of me wonders if what we are seeing is simply fools' gold.

Still, here we are. The NFL lockout is mercifully over and the Steelers are (finally) about to open training camp.

And the Buccos are still dominating the news, drawing fans in droves and even have the national media salivating all over their growing bandwagon.

No matter how many people want to pooh-pooh them as mere pretenders.

They even topped Ben Roethlisberger's wedding. Now that's progress.

Things in baseball have slowly changed and the Pirates' 100-game success story so far is exhibit No. 1 of that terraformed baseball landscape.

It's a stark, stark contrast to last season.

A year ago today, the Pirates were 36-64 and nearly 20 games out of first place.

Trade deadline talk about the Bucs were of them dumping players, not adding them.

Now, as the July 31 trade deadline looms, there is talk about the Pirates adding an impact player for a stretch run that may, gasp, conclude with a playoff spot.

But general manager Neal Huntington and the rest of the Pirates' brass need to take a step back and not get carried away with this quick success.

I think Huntington and many Pirate fans will agree that the team is overachieving this season and that true contention is still a year or two down the line.

Huntington can't give in to the fans' lust for some splashy move that will sacrifice future success.

That means if you are jonesing to see Carlos Beltran in a Bucco uniform, get over it. It's not going to happen.

Same goes for Hunter Pence or Carlos Pena or B.J. Upton.

There are some dudes the Pirates can acquire on the cheap, guys who won't break the bank or come with a hefty prospect price tag that would do just fine:

• Ryan Spilborghs could be had from Colorado. He's a high-energy outfielder with a little bit of pop and would complement the gritty Bucs well.

• Before Jason Giambi got hurt, he would have been a good fit for the Bucs. Another Rockie bench player, Giambi could have been a spot starter and No. 1 pinch-hit option.

• Colby Rasmus would have made sense, but there is no way the Cards would have traded him to the Pirates — another contender.The “Pirates” and “contender” in the same sentence. Wow, that's different.Mike Kilroy is a staff writer for the Butler Eagle.