Headlines

Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Pirates Rumors

Pirates Hire Clint Hurdle

By | at

The Pirates have hired Clint Hurdle to fill their managerial opening, according to Jon Heyman of SI.com (via Twitter). The deal is for three years, tweets Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. MLB.com's Jenifer Langosch (Twitter link) adds that the team will hold a press conference on Monday to make the official announcement.

Hurdle managed the Rockies from April 2002 to May of 2009, before being hired as the Rangers' hitting coach last offseason. During his time in Colorado, Hurdle compiled a 534-625 (.457) record, leading the club to the World Series once, in 2007.

Earlier this month, Pittsburgh narrowed their managerial search to two finalists – Hurdle and internal candidate Jeff Banister. Yesterday, Rosenthal reported that the Pirates had ramped up their efforts to land Hurdle.

With the hiring, Hurdle is of course out of the running for the Mets' managerial opening. In a separate tweet, Heyman suggests that New York's list of finalists will include Terry Collins, Bob Melvin, and perhaps Chip Hale, with Jose Oquendo to be interviewed tomorrow.

Odds & Ends: Lopes, Maybin, Farrell, Cubs, Cousins

By | at

Links for Saturday…

  • Newsday's Ken Davidoff provides a primer for next week's GM Meetings in Orlando.  MLBTR's Ben Nicholson-Smith will be on the scene there Tuesday and Wednesday.
  • Dylan Hernandez of The Los Angeles Times tweets that former Phillies' first base coach Davey Lopes is close to joining the Dodgers' coaching staff in an unknown capacity.
  • Tom Krasovic of AOL FanHouse analyzes the Cameron Maybin trade, saying the outfielder doesn't need to develop into a star to represent an upgrade for the Padres.
  • Richard Griffin of The Star has a one-on-one interview with new Blue Jays manager John Farrell.
  • Cubs GM Jim Hendry told Gordon Wittenmyer of The Chicago Sun Times that he's not worried about making a splash this offseason, but that it's "really imperative that we have two or three really good moves."
  • MLB.com's Joe Frisaro says that in the wake of the Maybin deal, the Marlins will give Scott Cousins a long look in center field next year (Twitter link).
  • Meanwhile, Padres GM Jed Hoyer told Dan Hayes of The North County Times that Maybin is "exactly the type of player we hoped to acquire for Petco Park." (Twitter link)
  • MLB.com's Jason Beck states the obvious, saying that the Marlins probably would have been better off keeping Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis and then taking the draft picks when they left as free agents. I'm not sure that keeping those two would have been financially possible, though.
  • Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com writes that after catcher Erik Kratz signed with the Phillies, the Pirates will now have to bring in a catcher or two to provide depth at the Triple-A level.
  • The Nationals have signed righty reliever Tim Wood to a minor league contract with an invitation to Spring Training, tweets Jon Paul Morosi of FoxSports.com. Wood, who turns 28 on Tuesday, appeared in 44 games with the Marlins over the last two seasons, pitching to a 4.32 ERA with nearly as many walks (25) as strikeouts (26) in 50 innings.
  • ESPN's Buster Olney expects the Cardinals to aggressively pursue Juan Uribe since they could use him at pretty much any of their non-first base infield positions (Twitter link).
  • Michael Silverman of The Boston Herald reports that GM Theo Epstein said the team has talked to Kevin Youkilis about moving to third base in the event that they are unable to re-sign Adrian Beltre, who we learned is one of their priorities.
  • Meanwhile, Alex Speier of WEEI.com separates fact from fiction with regards to Scott Boras' claims about Beltre.
  • SI.com's Melissa Segura tweets that a new league launched in the Dominican Republic yesterday, and it features the top young free agent players the country has to offer. 

Manager Rumors: Mets, Pirates

By | at

Here's the latest on the managerial searches in New York and Pittsburgh..

Mets

Jose Oquendo will be the last of the first round interviews when he meets with the Mets on Monday, tweets Jon Heyman of SI.  The second round of interviews, he says, could begin this week in Orlando.

Meanwhile, Adam Rubin of ESPNNewYork.com (via Twitter) keeps hearing that Terry Collins is the most likely to land the job.  We learned yesterday that Collins, Clint Hurdle, and Bob Melvin are all expected to receive second interviews. 

Pirates

Speaking of Hurdle, the Pirates have ramped up their efforts to land him, writes Ken Rosenthal of FOXSports.com.  Along with in-house candidate Jeff Banister, Hurdle is believed to be one of the finalists for the job.

Odds & Ends: Royals, Pena, Alderson, De La Rosa

By | at

Happy 133rd birthday to Archie "Moonlight" Graham.  Arguably baseball's most famous one-game player (Eddie Gaedel also has a great case for this distinction), Moonlight Graham's only taste of the majors was one half-inning as a defensive replacement for the 1905 New York Giants.  That half-inning grew into immortality thanks to his characterization in W.P. Kinsella's novel Shoeless Joe and its film adaptation Field Of Dreams.  Graham, who passed away in 1965, went on to become a doctor in Chisholm, Minnesota following his brief playing career.

Onto some news items…

Minor League Transactions: Clevlen, Moss, Cash

By | at

The latest minor league transactions include a number of familiar names. Matt Eddy of Baseball America has the details:

  • The Braves
 re-signed Brent Clevlen and signed independent leaguer Beau Torbert, who posted tremendous numbers in the American Association this year. Earlier in the week, Torbert told David O'Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he's excited to be joining the Braves.
  • The Astros signed right-hander Casey Fien. Fien has appeared in 11 games for the Tigers, but the 27-year-old has not proven himself against big league hitters.
  • Former Yankees lefty Royce Ring elected free agency.
  • The Pirates released Chris Jakubauskas and saw Brandon Moss elect free agency. Moss arrived in Pittsburgh in the Jason Bay trade, but he hit just .228/.295/.373 in parts of three seasons for the Pirates.
  • Former Mariners catcher Guillermo Quiroz became a free agent.
  • The Rangers signed Kevin Cash. The 32-year-old backstop posted a .483 OPS for the Astros and Red Sox last year and threw out an uncharacteristically low percentage of would be base stealers.

Odds & Ends: Messenger, Martin, LaRoche, Branyan

By | at

Some links for Veterans Day…

  • MLBTR echoes commissioner Bud Selig's thoughts on the death of a legendary Mariners broadcaster: “All of Baseball is terribly saddened … by the tragic news that Dave Niehaus, the voice of the Seattle Mariners, has passed away."
  • Randy Messenger has agreed to a deal with the Hanshin Tigers, according to Patrick Newman of NPB Tracker. The five-year MLB veteran pitched for the Mariners in 2009.
  • Three former White Sox employees were indicted on federal fraud charges yesterday, according to Melissa Segura of SI.com. They allegedly accepted $400K worth of signing bonuses intended for Latin American prospects.
  • Russell Martin's agent repeated to Dylan Hernandez of the LA Times that the catcher wants to play for the Dodgers in 2011. There's been extensive speculation that the Dodgers could non-tender or trade Martin.
  • Pirates GM Neal Huntington told MLB.com's Jenifer Langosch that Andy LaRoche has to prove his worth to the Pirates, who are attempting to determine the best way to maximize the 27-year-old's value.
  • Russell Branyan has left Dan Lozano and is now represented by ACES, according to ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick (on Twitter).

Red Sox, Pirates Express Interest In Duchscherer

By | at

Yesterday it was Jayson Werth; today the Red Sox have expressed interest in free agent righty Justin Duchscherer according to WEEI's Rob Bradford.  Bradford adds that Duchscherer "has made it clear to clubs that he is only interested in pursuing opportunities as a starter."  The Pirates have also expressed interest, reports Bill Brink of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

We examined Duchscherer's free agent stock here.  The 32-year-old righty has made only 32 starts over the past three years due to injuries and clinical depression, but after having both hips and his elbow surgically repaired he remarked to MLB.com's Jane Lee, "I can't imagine what else could go wrong."  He should require less than this year's $1.75MM guarantee, I imagine.  The Red Sox and Pirates had interest in him a year ago as well.

Odds & Ends: Beltre, Crawford, Mets, Konerko

By | at

Links for Tuesday night, as free agents Adam Dunn and Dave Bush celebrate birthdays…

Odds & Ends: Lee, Blue Jays, Mets, Hampton

By | at

Here are the rest of the day's links on the 11th anniversary of the Shawn Green–Raul Mondesi trade…

  • Darek Braunecker, the agent for Cliff Lee, told the AP (on CBS Sports) that his client is “clearly the best player on the free-agent market.” Hard to argue with that one.
  • If the A's reach a deal with Japanese righty Hisashi Iwakuma, they'll have a surplus of arms and a number of suitors for them, so Mychael Urban of CSNBayArea wouldn't be surprised if Oakland flips a starter for some offense this offseason. 
  • Mets GM Sandy Alderson will interview DeMarlo Hale, Clint Hurdle and Don Wakamatsu for the team's managerial opening according to Adam Rubin of ESPNNewYork.com (on Twitter).
  • Andy Martino of the New York Daily News hears that the Mets will also consider internal candidates Tim Teufel and Ken Oberkfell.
  • The Blue Jays announced that Wakamatsu will serve as the team's bench coach assuming the Mets don't hire him to be their next manager. Joining Wakamatsu on John Farrell's staff: former AL Cy Young Award winner Pat Hentgen.
  • Derrek Lee, who had surgery on a ligament in his right thumb, told Yahoo's Tim Brown that he'd like to sign with a team that has a good chance of reaching the playoffs.
  • The Pirates agreed to a minor league deal with left-handed reliever Justin Thomas, according to MLB.com's Jenifer Langosch.
  • Mike Hampton, who pitched 4 1/3 scoreless innings with Arizona last year, wants to pitch again and is drawing interest, according to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (on Twitter).

Odds & Ends: Renteria, Huff, Takahashi

By | at

Four years ago today, the Padres traded Josh Barfield to the Indians for Andrew Brown and Kevin Kouzmanoff.  Only Kouzmanoff panned out to any extent; he was sent to the A's with Eric Sogard in January for Aaron Cunningham and Scott Hairston.  With Kouzmanoff and Hairston non-tender candidates, Sogard and Cunningham could be the remaining threads of the deal.  Links for Monday…

Show all

MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

hide arrows scroll to top