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Odds & Ends: De La Rosa, Mariners, Thames

Links for Tuesday, as the GM Meetings commence in Orlando and we await the announcement of the NL Cy Young winner...

• The Pirates' top free agent target is Jorge de la Rosa, tweets Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.  The Brewers, Rangers, Nationals, Yankees, and Rockies have also been linked to the lefty.  Correct me if I'm wrong, Pirates fans, but aside from Yoslan Herrera it seems the team's last multiyear free agent pitcher signing was Pete Schourek in December of 1998.
• The Mariners are expected to be limited to bargain bin shopping this winter, tweets ESPN's Buster Olney.  They've got plenty of needs, but expensive free agents don't make sense until they're closer to contention.
• Meanwhile the Softbank Hawks are working on signing Marcus Thames, according to a Sponichi report passed along by NPB Tracker's Patrick Newman on Twitter.  Thames, 34 in March, was productive in a part-time role for the Yankees this year.
• Brandon Backe intends to pitch in 2011, his agent told Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports (Twitter link). He's recovering from a rotator cuff injury.
• The Rockies will keep an eye on Bartolo Colon in the Dominican Republic, GM Dan O'Dowd told Troy E. Renck of the Denver Post, but Renck finds a signing a long shot (Twitter link).  MLBTR's Nick Collias filled us in on Colon yesterday.
• The Chiba Lotte Marines re-signed pitchers Hayden Penn and Bill Murphy, tweets Jason Coskrey of the Japan Times.
• Yankees GM Brian Cashman ruled out Leo Mazzone but not Rick Peterson for the team's new pitching coach, reports Marc Carig of the Newark Star-Ledger.
• Joel Sherman of the New York Post muses on how the Mets should handle well-paid veterans Oliver Perez, Luis Castillo, Carlos Beltran, and Jose Reyes.

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