NL Central Rumors: Pirates, Lynn, Neshek, Reynolds

The Pirates seem willing to spend on relievers, as Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review writes.  “We have typically stayed away from large dollars in the bullpen,” Huntington said. “That said, we are evolving as a organization. We’ve got a little more to spend now. For the right guy, we can go a little bit beyond our comfort zone.”  More out of the NL Central..

• There’s mutual interest between the Cardinals and Lance Lynn in discussing an extension this winter, according to Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.  Yesterday, GM John Mozeliak inferred that he had a chat with someone from Excel Sports Management about Lynn.
• Pat Neshek signed with the Astros earlier today, but he nearly joined the Pirates, according to Brian McTaggart of MLB.com (via Twitter).  The reliever was about to join the Bucs, but Houston upped their offer at the last second.  Neshek had eight two-year offers in front of him.
• The Cardinals are not only interested in Rickie Weeks, they’re also looking at another ex-Brewer in Mark Reynolds, according to Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel (via Twitter).  Reynolds, 31, hit .196/.287/.394 with 22 homers last season.
• The Cardinals aren’t necessarily looking for a platoon partner to pair with Matt Adams, writes Goold.  “I believe we saw Matt Adams put together some fantastic at-bats against lefties in big situations,” manager Mike Matheny said Tuesday. “We can’t get too far away from the fact that this kid is still not really long into his career. Lumping him into this idea that he can’t hit lefthanded pitching isn’t really fair right now.”