Pirates Rumors

Four Clubs Offer Minor League Deal To Takahashi

By Tim Dierkes | February 7, 2010 at 9:01pm CDT

9:01pm: The Pirates have emerged as a destination for Takahashi, according to a report from Sanspo passed along by Patrick Newman of NPB Tracker. The report also notes that the Dodgers are targeting other pitchers and the Mets were "moving towards an MLB contract," but couldn't agree on money.

Meanwhile, Takahashi was set to throw for teams today in Arizona, according to an article from Sponichi passed along by Newman.

2:32pm: Japaneseballplayers.com reports that Takahashi has turned down the Mets' offer as well. NPB Tracker tweets that Takahashi prefers to play on the West coast.

SUNDAY, 11:01pm: Jeff Zrebiec of The Baltimore Sun reports that Takahashi has turned down the Orioles' offer of a minor league deal, but that doesn't mean the two sides can't work something out down the road.

SATURDAY, 4:53pm: Takahashi is being considered by the Mets, Dodgers, Red Sox, Giants, Pirates, and Padres tweets Jon Heyman of SI. Heyman also writes that Takahashi will pick his team soon.

Meanwhile, Andrew Baggarly of the Mercury News reports (via Twitter) that the Giants are assuming that Takahashi will sign elsewhere.

FRIDAY, 7:19pm: NPB Tracker passes along a report (via Twitter) from the Japanese publication Sponichi Annex saying that the Giants and Dodgers are in the lead for Takahashi's services, however Henry Schulman of The San Francisco Chronicle tweets that the the Giants are still waiting to hear back about their minor league offer.

THURSDAY, 2:38pm: Free agent lefty Hisanori Takahashi has minor league offers from the Red Sox, Giants, Padres, and Dodgers, according to a Sports Hochi report passed along on Twitter by NPB Tracker's Patrick Newman.

Last week, ESPN's Jerry Crasnick wrote that Takahashi seeks a big league deal and has drawn interest from the Orioles, Dodgers, Mets, Red Sox, and Giants. Takahashi, 35 in April, profiles as a flyball/command pitcher who can fill a swingman role.

Odds & Ends: Hudson, Red Sox, Bedard, Mets

By Mike Axisa | February 7, 2010 at 8:19pm CDT

A Super batch of links..

In a piece for Fangraphs, Dave Cameron writes that the Twins are in the mix for the best offseason in baseball. Earlier this week, Minnesota agreed to a one-year deal with Orlando Hudson for just $5MM and appear to be close to locking up Joe Mauer.
Even former Met Darryl Strawberry offered up a critique of the Mets' quiet offseason, writes Newsday's David Lennon. Strawberry said that the offseason "could have been better," when asked about it. Lennon's piece looks at some offseason targets that never became a reality for New York.
Following up on yesterday's news that Bobby Kielty is converting to a pitcher, MLBTR heard from Kielty himself via email. Kielty says his ultimate goal is to be a right-handed bat off the bench and eat up some relief innings if necessary. He threw some bullpens for the Mets last season and has thrown for Oakland as well. Kielty says he reads MLBTR every day. Thanks for the support, Bobby!
Peter Abraham has the full list of players who will be with the Red Sox in training camp this year.
Jeff Zrebiec of The Baltimore Sun reports that Erik Bedard seriously considered an offer from the Orioles similar to the deal he signed to return to Seattle.
Joel Sherman of The New York Post spoke one agent about the Mets, who said "How can you have that payroll and still not have a starting catcher or first baseman, a second baseman you hate and no legitimate starters after Johan?”
Paul Lo Duca is unlikely to accept a minor league assignment if he doesn't make the Rockies, reports Troy E. Renck of The Denver Post. Colorado signed Lo Duca to a minor league deal in January.
Rob Biertempfel of The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review says that Pirates' GM Neal Huntington admitted that there are "a lot of rumblings" that prospect Jose Tabata might actually be in his mid-20's. Tabata's listed age is 21, and ESPN's Keith Law ranked him as the 57th best prospect in baseball last month. The Pirates originally acquired Tabata from the Yankees in 2008 as part of the Xavier Nady–Damaso Marte trade.

Odds & Ends: Kielty, Ruiz, Gillick, Santos

By Mike Axisa | February 6, 2010 at 1:45pm CDT

Saturday morning links…

Arangure (via Twitter) writes that the A's have agreed to terms with Michael Feliz, a right-hander from the Dominican Republic. The deal, which is still pending a physical and an age investigation, will provide Feliz with an $800K bonus. The Dominican Prospect League website says that the 6'4, 200-pound hurler is 16-years-old.
Tim tweets that Bobby Kielty is converting to pitching, and that his slider is actually pretty good. The 33-year-old last played in the big leagues back in 2007, when he was still an outfielder of course.
ESPN's Jorge Arangure tweets that the Blue Jays, Rockies, and Rangers are the teams most interested in Cuban first baseman Jose Julio Ruiz. Ruiz was recently cleared to sign by the Office of Foreign Asset Control.
Pat Gillick has returned to the Phillies as a senior advisor to president Dave Montgomery, reports Bob Elliott of The Toronto Sun. Gillick was the team's GM from 2006-2008.
ESPN's Buster Olney spoke to several talent evaluators, none of whom think Omir Santos is equipped to be a number one catcher. If the season started today, Santos would likely be behind the plate for the Mets.

Odds & Ends: Jackson, Norman, Dye, Lester, Manny

By Mike Axisa | February 5, 2010 at 9:13pm CDT

Some links for Friday night…

MLB.com's Steve Gilbert tweets that the Diamondbacks and Edwin Jackson have made no progress towards reaching an agreement to avoid arbitration. A hearing is set for February 17th.
Chuck Finder of The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette passes along a report from the independent St. Paul Saints that says that the Pirates have signed 25-year-old outfielder Anthony Norman to a minor league deal.
Several executives told Morosi that they expect Jermaine Dye to sign with an AL club, though no one's sure which one.
WEEI.com's Alex Speier says that Jon Lester's contract is one of the biggest bargains in baseball when you look at the deals Felix Hernandez and Justin Verlander just received. Lester signed a five-year deal last March that guaranteed him at least $30MM.
Bill Shaikin of The Los Angeles Times wonders if 2010 could be the final year of Manny Ramirez's career. If so, he has a chance to be just the eighth player in history to retire with a career OPS over 1.000.
ESPN's Keith Law says that the Orlando Hudson signing is a major upgrade for the Twins, likely enough to make them preseason favorites in the AL Central.
Meanwhile, Law thinks it's too risky for the Diamondbacks to give Mark Reynolds a multi-year contract right now. The two-sides have been discussing such a deal recently.
Jon Paul Morosi of FoxSports.com says the Mets are more likely to sign a pitcher rather than another catcher this month.
Susan Slusser of The San Francisco Chronicle has some quotes from Travis Buck regarding his standing with the A's following all of their outfield additions, and adds that the team has found some interest in Dana Eveland and Gregorio Petit, both of whom were recently designated for assignment.

Pirates Notes: Harper, Free Agents, Ankiel

By Tim Dierkes | February 4, 2010 at 8:21am CDT

This offseason, the Pirates spent about $14MM to add Akinori Iwamura, Octavio Dotel, Ryan Church, Brendan Donnelly, Bobby Crosby, D.J. Carrasco (non-guaranteed), and Javier Lopez. They shedded one decent-sized salary in Matt Capps, but re-invested in a veteran bullpen. Team president Frank Coonelly chatted with fans yesterday at MLB.com; let's take a look.

Asked about Bryce Harper, Coonelly said the Pirates are scouting the much-hyped potential draft pick but he "is clearly nowhere nearly as developed as Stephen Strasburg was this time last year." In a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article, Chuck Finder clarified that GM Neal Huntington was not saying Saturday that Harper ranked "No. 9, No. 10 or worse on their draft board." Reading Huntington's specific quotes, he didn't actually reveal much about the Pirates' draft plans.
Coonelly feels it's likely the Pirates head to Spring Training with the current group, but they'll be "keeping tabs on certain free agents who might be a fit if their financial demands soften." Maybe they'd bring in another fifth starter candidate?
Coonelly said Church was a better fit for the Pirates than Rick Ankiel, because the Pirates were not willing to guarantee Ankiel a starting job.
The Pirates' massive overhaul is over, as Coonelly stated, "We do not anticipate an exodus of players off the roster at this year's Trade Deadline."

Odds & Ends: Hudson, Wang, Brewers, Cabrera

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | January 31, 2010 at 2:22pm CDT

Some links for your Sunday…

Bryce Harper is not among the top ten on the Pirates' draft rankings currently, reports Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Jason Marquis, Ryan Zimmerman, Nyjer Morgan, and Ivan Rodriguez have all voiced their desire for the Nats to sign Orlando Hudson, tweets MLB.com's Bill Ladson.
The Phillies have talked about Chien-Ming Wang, but don't believe he's a fit, according to Scott Lauber of the News Journal.
Brewers pitching coach Rick Peterson says it's up to Mark Mulder to decide if he wants to pitch for the Brewers, according to this tweet from Haudricourt.
The Brewers have pulled their latest offer to Corey Hart and are preparing for an arbitration hearing with him, writes Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Orlando Cabrera wasn't willing to move from shortstop, so he picked the Reds over the Rockies, tweets Yahoo's Tim Brown.
Chien-Ming Wang will end up on one of the coasts, according to this tweet from Jon Heyman of SI.com.
Melvin Mora is talking extensively with the Rockies and another club, writes Troy Renck of the Denver Post.
The Dodgers are in the midst of talks with Garret Anderson, writes Dylan Hernandez of the LA Times.
Tony Jackson of ESPN.com adds Reed Johnson, Gabe Gross and Brian Giles to the list of backup outfielders the team is considering.
The Indians are talking about bringing Russell Branyan back, according to Terry Pluto of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. A reunion seems unlikely unless Branyan doesn't see appealing offers elsewhere.
The Brewers engaged Jason Marquis but backed off since they were convinced he would sign with the Mets, writes Ken Davidoff of Newsday.

Odds & Ends: Indians, Mets, Verlander

By Mark Polishuk | January 30, 2010 at 9:37pm CDT

As Tommy John's long-lost brother Elton once said, Saturday night's alright for fighting…and also for posting news links.

The Tribe's quiet offseason is recapped by Paul Hoynes of The Cleveland Plain Dealer, who also looks at how busy the other AL Central teams have been in comparison.
MLB.com's Marty Noble outlines how he would have handled the Mets' offseason if he had been the GM, both if the team's goal was to contend or to rebuild (Noble's preference).
Steve Kornacki of MLive.com thinks Justin Verlander's reported five-year, $75MM offer from the Tigers "is too sweet a contract for Verlander to pass on," even without the sixth year that the pitcher wants.
Mark Sheldon of MLB.com passes along some tidbits from Dusty Baker on the Reds Winter Caravan. Baker said that reliever Mike Lincoln (who last started a major league game in 2000) was a contender for the No. 5 spot in the Reds' rotation, and that the club had considered moving top prospect Yonder Alonso to catcher. John Fay of the Cincinnati Enquirer sums these ideas up as candidates for the "sometimes-managers-say-the-darnedest-things file."
MLB.com's Bryan Hoch believes the Yankees have finished their roster tinkering before spring training, and talks to Yankees manager Joe Girardi about New York's offseason moves.
Chuck Greenberg, the incoming general managing partner of the Texas Rangers, is profiled by Evan Grant of The Dallas Morning News.
MLB.com's Jenifer Langosch was all over the Q&A sessions with Pirates management during the team's PirateFest event. Here is her latest transcript of a similar sessions with various Pittsburgh players.
Jon Heyman of SI.com tweets his guesses about the destinations of some of the free agent infielders left on the market. He sees Orlando Hudson in Washington, Orlando Cabrera in Cincinnati and Felipe Lopez in St. Louis.
Count the White Sox out of the running for Johnny Damon or Hank Blalock, says Scott Merkin of MLB.com, since both are too costly for the limited space left in the team's budget. When asked about the possibility of Damon in Chicago, Sox GM Kenny Williams rhetorically asked, "Who is his agent?"

Pirates Talk: Miguel Sano, Ownership, Prospects

By Mike Axisa | January 30, 2010 at 5:01pm CDT

Here's some Pirates chatter, courtesy of The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review's Karen Price and Dejan Kovacevic of The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette…

When asked why the team failed to sign Miguel Sano at FanFest, GM Neal Huntington gave a very interesting response.
"Take your frustration level and multiply it by a million when I got the phone call (that Sano signed with the Minnesota Twins)," Huntington said. "I didn't get it done. I relied on the agent to live by his word that he'd come back to us and give us a chance to make our final bid. We never got the chance."

"We were never in the game for a player even looking for $250,000 out of Latin America before," he said. "This may be one time we were overly aggressive — we moved too quickly."

Team president Frank Coonelly said that the Pirates offered Sano $2.6MM, however he ended up taking $3.15MM from the Twins. MLB.com's Jenifer Langosch provided more quotes from the Q&A sessions here (Friday's session) and here (Saturday's session).
Pittsburgh Penguin co-owners Mario Lemieux and Ron Burkle made a "very serious" offer to buy the Pirates in a face-to-face meeting with owner Bob Nutting about four months ago, however they did not receive a response. Nutting, who has owned the Pirates for just over three years, has firmly stated that the team is not for sale.
In an Insider only piece at ESPN.com, Matt Meyers explains how the team's hoarding of prospects through trades and the draft will lead to a brighter future for Pirates fans.

Odds & Ends: Prospects, Livan, Cardinals, Damon

By Mike Axisa | January 27, 2010 at 9:51pm CDT

Some links for Wednesday night…

MLB.com's Jonathan Mayo released his list of the top 50 prospects in the game. Jason Heyward and Stephen Strasburg rank one-two.
Livan Hernandez sent a contract proposal to Nationals' GM Mike Rizzo back in December, but he never received a response according to a tweet from MLB.com's Bill Ladson.
MLB.com's Matthew Leach reports that Cardinals' GM John Mozeliak confirmed that any pickups from here on out would be on the offensive side of the roster.
Scott Boras said that "The Yankees never even made an offer to me regarding Johnny Damon during the entire process," according to a tweet from Tyler Kepner of The New York Times. In a second tweet, Kepner says Boras indicated that the two-year, $14MM offer the team reportedly made was conditional on whether or not Nick Johnson would sign.
ESPN's Jorge Arangure reports that 17-year-old righty Rafael DePaula is back on the market after being suspended for a year by MLB after lying about his age. His agent hopes to have him signed within the next 15-20 days, and Arangure mentions that both the Yankees and Red Sox are interested.
Pirate relievers Anthony Claggett and Steven Jackson both cleared waivers according to MLB.com's Jenifer Langosch, and have been outrighted to Triple-A Indianapolis. Claggett was designated for assignment to make room on the roster for Octavio Dotel, Jackson for Ryan Church.
Astros' GM Ed Wade said that signing Wandy Rodriguez to a long-term deal would become a "front-burner discussion for us" if he repeats his 2009 success in 2010, reports MLB.com's Brian McTaggart. Wandy had a 3.02 ERA with an 8.4 K/9 in 205.2 innings last season.
Craig Calcaterra of NBCSports.com says that the Braves have discussed Johnny Damon recently, but came up with three reasons why he wasn't a fit.
David Murphy of The Philadelphia Daily News lays out the Phillies' payroll commitments for the next four years. As of right now, the team stands to shed almost $70MM off the books following the 2011 season.

Kovacevic Talks To Pirates Owner Nutting

By Tim Dierkes | January 25, 2010 at 8:49am CDT

Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette grilled Pirates owner Bob Nutting yesterday; let's take a look at the interview.

Nutting says Miguel Angel Sano's $3.15MM bonus with the Twins, $550K more than the Pirates' offered, "was comfortably within the range" of what the Bucs could've paid.
GM Neal Huntington has "lots of flexibility" in payroll, but Nutting does not want to divert from the long-term plan.
Asked if the Pirates would "someday spend at the level of the Brewers and Reds," Nutting replied in the affirmative. That'd be the $75-80MM range. The Pirates currently project to fall under $40MM in 2010.
Nutting assured Kovacevic the Pirates are "using our revenue-share dollars appropriately."
By my count, the Pirates have added about $14MM for winter acquisitions Akinori Iwamura, Octavio Dotel, Ryan Church, Brendan Donnelly, Bobby Crosby, D.J. Carrasco (non-guaranteed), and Javier Lopez. Matt Capps, who received $3.5MM from the Nationals, was the one well-paid subtraction.

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