Pirates Rumors

Pirates Get Last Crack At Mientkiewicz

By Tim Dierkes | December 3, 2008 at 11:52pm CDT

Dejan Kovacevic talked to free agent first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz recently. Mientkiewicz seeks a starting job, even while admitting, "I’m everybody’s B and C plan. If the two guys they want to sign get hit by a truck, then they think about me."

The 34 year-old hit .277/.374/.379 in 334 plate appearances while playing an above average first base. He earned $1.075MM. The Pirates want him back, but in a utility/clubhouse leader type role. Pirates president Frank Coonelly said today, "We are working hard to convince Doug that returning to the Pirates is an outstanding opportunity for him." Out of gratitude to GM Neal Huntington for giving him a shot this year, Mientkiewicz will give the Pirates a call before he signs anywhere else.

Kovacevic also has an update on the Jack Wilson trade talks. He says the Bucs are focused on the Dodgers, seeking Chin-Lung Hu and Delwyn Young. Ken Rosenthal wrote earlier today that the Dodgers’ talks for Wilson "remain stalled," while John Perrotto said L.A. "backed off."

Dodgers Starting With Infield

By Tim Dierkes | December 3, 2008 at 7:43pm CDT

More from Ken Rosenthal. The FOX hot stove guru says the Dodgers plan to sort out their infield before worrying about starting pitching. They can use Blake DeWitt at second or third, but that still leaves them two infielders short.

Casey Blake is the obvious free agent fit at the hot corner; maybe the Dodgers will stretch and give him that third year. If they miss out on Blake they could always go for Joe Crede. It doesn’t sound like Ned Colletti plans to sign any of the top three free agent shortstops, while talks have stalled for Jack Wilson. Just wondering, how about a trade for Miguel Tejada or Jason Bartlett?

Rosenthal sees plenty of starting pitching options for the Dodgers, tossing out names like Randy Wolf and Randy Johnson. Meanwhile Tom Krasovic says the Dodgers are gathering information on Johnson, Andy Pettitte, and Trevor Hoffman. Ken Gurnick adds Russ Springer to the mix. The Dodgers are searching for a veteran who can help the team’s young pitchers.

Rosenthal considers re-signing Manny Ramirez a longshot, meaning the Dodgers may have to turn to another free agent like Adam Dunn to replace his OBP and power.

Odds and Ends: Griffey, Springer, Hoffman

By Tim Dierkes | December 3, 2008 at 3:14pm CDT

Links for Wednesday…

Common misconception Joe and I keep running into: signing one of the 15 Type A free agents who were offered arbitration will only cost the signing team one draft pick. The player’s old team also gets a second pick, but it doesn’t come from the new team. It’s just squeezed into the supplemental round. Check out a deeper explanation here.
Nuggets from a Frank Coonelly chat: he expects the Pirates to make room on the 40-man roster for a potential Rule 5 addition, and they’d still like to re-sign Doug Mientkiewicz.
Pirates pitcher Jason Davis looks like a non-tender candidate.
Twins manager Ron Gardenhire doesn’t have Delmon Young in his preferred starting outfield.
The Cubs signed pitcher Chad Fox to a minor league deal.
Ken Griffey Jr.’s agent Brian Goldberg says he’s fine with DHing but is capable of playing the field. Goldberg thinks Junior can bounce back and have a 30 home run season.
Click here to listen to free agent reliever Russ Springer talk to The ITD Morning After radio show on 1380 AM. He’s gotten calls from teams in both leagues, including "World Series participants." Springer is known to be on the Phillies’ radar.
Recently I talked to Sarah Small of the Daily Illini.
SI.com’s Tom Verducci looks at the supposed shortstop revolution that seems to have petered out.
Dave Cameron respects the Astros’ signing of Mike Hampton.
Tony Jackson says the Dodgers offered a minor league deal to Juan Castro.
Royals GM Dayton Moore did a Q&A with fans at MLB.com. His priority is adding right-handed relief help after trading Leo Nunez and Ramon Ramirez. Also, he says Mark Teahen is "more important to our team today then he was in all of 2008 — and he was very important to our team in ’08."
McCovey Chronicles is skeptical of all the teams blaming the economy.
Drunk Jays Fans predicts Kevin Mench’s Japan experience.
Jesse Spector looks at comparable pitchers for C.C. Sabathia.
Trevor Hoffman may meet with the Mets soon. Also, Mets COO Jeff Wilpon spoke of "addition by subtraction" yesterday.
East Windup Chronicle disputes a Richard Griffin column.
The Phillies are still willing to sign Type A free agents who were offered arbitration, such as Raul Ibanez or Juan Cruz.
Evan Grant’s latest Rangers mailbag, always a good read.
Joe Sheehan discusses various poor arbitration decisions by teams.
Minor league deals for the Mets: Nelson Figueroa, Adam Bostick, and Rene Rivera. Marty Noble adds Andy Green.
Rany Jazayerli figures Mark Grudzielanek agreed in advance to reject the Royals’ offer of arbitration.
As usual, ESPN will be all over the Winter Meetings. I’m told they’ll be doing daily Baseball Tonight specials and will have a team of seven on the scene in Vegas.
ESPN’s Peter Gammons says the free agent and trade markets are flooded with corner/DH type bats. There will be bargains.
Bruce Miles thinks Milton Bradley would be a nice match for the Cubs. The biggest issue would be his ability to play right field every day.

Pirates Talking To Turnbow

By Tim Dierkes | December 3, 2008 at 10:57am CDT

According to Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Pirates are in talks with free agent reliever Derrick Turnbow. Kovacevic notes that Turnbow stopped pitching in July this year due to a slight labrum tear. Turnbow, 31 in January, hasn’t shown any control since 2005.

Tigers Rumors: Renteria, Wilson, Zaun, Treanor

By Tim Dierkes | December 2, 2008 at 10:01am CDT

Jon Paul Morosi of the Detroit Free Press has the latest on the Tigers.

GM Dave Dombrowski wasn’t sure Edgar Renteria would turn down an offer of arbitration, and he didn’t feel two draft picks were worth the risk.
Discussions with the Pirates regarding Jack Wilson are ongoing, but concrete proposals have yet to be exchanged.
The Tigers have interest in free agent catcher Gregg Zaun. Zaun, 38 in April, hit .237/.340/.359 in 288 plate appearances this year while earning $3.75MM.
Morosi adds that the Tigers also like Marlins catcher Matt Treanor, but no deal is imminent. MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro wrote yesterday that the Marlins are shopping Treanor. He speculated that the Fish could be setting themselves up to sign Ivan Rodriguez.

At Least Four Teams Interested In Loretta

By Tim Dierkes | December 1, 2008 at 1:42pm CDT

According to ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick, at least four teams are interested in free agent infielder Mark Loretta. Among them: the Phillies, Pirates, Diamondbacks, and Dodgers. The Pirates have talked to Loretta’s agent twice.

Crasnick figures the Astros won’t offer Loretta arbitration this time around; he accepted last year. He lost his case but still earned $2.75MM. The 37 year-old hit .280/.350/.383 in 297 plate appearances while playing a below-average second base and an above-average third base.

Rosenthal’s Latest: Peavy, Wilson

By Nat Boyle | November 30, 2008 at 10:12am CDT

Lots to cover in the latest from Ken Rosenthal:

Jake Peavy to the Cubs is still being explored despite complications: The Cubs are being sold. Ryan Dempster was re-signed for 4 years, $52MM. The Padres are trying to include a third party to net the package GM Kevin Towers is seeking. If this happened then the Cubs would need to move Jason Marquis. Rosenthal suggests the Padres could take him if the Cubs ate around $3MM of his $9MM owed next season, or the Cubs could deal him and cash to another team (Rosenthal suggests the Rockies, Reds, or Giants). Rosenthal also backs the rumors of the Orioles involvement as the third team and having interest in Felix Pie.
As an update to this post, the Dodgers stopped pursuing Jack Wilson when the Pirates asked for a third player in the package of Chin-Lung Hu and Delwyn Young as compensation for the Dodgers request for cash to reduce Wilson’s contract. Wilson is set to make $7.25MM next season with an $8.4 club option or $600,000 buyout, and the Dodgers don’t believe Wilson offers enough offensive production to justify those figures. The Pirates agreed to include cash and would offer more cash for a better prospect; however, the Dodgers did not want any part of that.

Pirates Rumors: Wilson, Paulino, Byrd

By Tim Dierkes | November 28, 2008 at 1:47pm CDT

Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is back on the scene to get us up to speed with the latest Pirates rumors. Let’s start with the team’s five veteran trade candidates:

Jack Wilson: The Tigers and Dodgers are said to be the main suitors. The problem is that neither team wants to send the Pirates top prospects while paying all of the $7.85MM Wilson has coming. Additionally, the Pirates do not view Dodgers shortstop prospect Chin-Lung Hu as a possible trade centerpiece. The Bucs have spoken to at least two other clubs about Wilson, but Kovacevic rejects the previously reported three-team scenario. It seems that some of the top free agent shortstops will need to sign to create a better market for Wilson.
Freddy Sanchez, Adam LaRoche: The Pirates have received "mere inquiries" on these two.
John Grabow, Ronny Paulino: Grabow is a free agent after ’09, so his trade value may never be higher. The Pirates are apparently pushing Paulino, but don’t want to sell low on him.
Ryan Doumit, Nate McLouth, Paul Maholm, Matt Capps: These four are described as "as close to untouchable as it gets" for the Pirates.
On the free agent front, the Pirates have made contact with Paul Byrd. However, GM Neal Huntington implied he’s not finding the starting pitching bargains he expected. The Pirates haven’t made offers to Doug Mientkiewicz or Jason Michaels; those players are considering proposals from other teams.
Kovacevic adds: "The Pirates also had discussed acquiring a right-handed power bat for the outfield through free agency, but there has been no known movement on that front." Just looking at who’s out there, I imagine this could be referring to Pat Burrell. Still, that’s entirely speculative and he’s probably out of their price range.

Baseball Blogs Weigh In: Varitek, Burnett, Teixeira

By Cork Gaines | November 28, 2008 at 12:05pm CDT

Let’s take a look at what is being written around the Blogosphere…

River Ave. Blues debates Ben Sheets versus A.J. Burnett and wonders if Sheets will be the better bargain in the end.
Detroit Tiger Thoughts shows that Jason Varitek is not a good fit with the Tigers, even in a platoon situation.
Fire Brand of the American League lays down several reasons why the Red Sox should avoid signing Teixeira.
Where have you gone, Andy Van Slyke? sees no downside to the Pirates’ signing of Indian imports Dinesh Patel and Rinku Singh.
The ’Burgh Blues feels Eric Hinske is an economical fit for the Bucs.
Amazin’ Avenue does not see Raul Ibanez as an upgrade for the Mets, suggesting he may not be any better than Fernando Tatis.
The Baseball Opinion breaks down what the acquisition of Tyler Lumsden means for the Royals and Astros.
Batter’s Box takes a look a recent J.P. Ricciardi quote and the current state of the economy and wonders if the Jays are going to reduce their payroll.
Royals Review lists the ten best free agent signings in Royals history, topped by David Cone. Amazingly, four of the signings occurred in the last five seasons.

Cork Gaines writes for RaysIndex.com. If you have a suggestion for this feature, Cork can be reached here.

Dodgers Talks For Wilson At Impasse

By Tim Dierkes | November 26, 2008 at 10:36pm CDT

WEDNESDAY, 10:34pm: Rosenthal actually posted this update last night, but we’re adding it now. He says the Pirates sought Hu, Delwyn Young, and a third player for Wilson. That caused talks to grind to a halt. Rosenthal added that the Dodgers are showing mild interest in Edgar Renteria but not Orlando Cabrera.

TUESDAY, 6:34pm: Rosenthal says the Pirates wanted Hu and two other young players, and the Dodgers balked at the price.

6:06pm: According to Ken Rosenthal, the Dodgers are again considering trading for Pirates shortstop Jack Wilson. The Bucs would like to receive Chin-Lung Hu in return to replace Wilson at short. The Tigers are known to have interest in Wilson as well. He’s set to earn $7.25MM in ’09 and has a $8.4MM option for ’10 with a $600K buyout. Wilson is known for his defense; he made sixteen more plays than the average shortstop in this year despite playing fewer than 700 innings.

Rosenthal says the Dodgers aren’t likely to sign Rafael Furcal and aren’t pursuing Orlando Cabrera or Edgar Renteria. He notes that four teams are in on Cabrera.

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