The Winter Meetings begin this Sunday and continue until Wednesday. It should be an interesting time for the Pirates, and the entire MLB. The Draft Lottery will be Tuesday, and the Rule 5 Draft is Wednesday. I would expect the Pirates to be involved in some free agent signings, especially for pitching. The rumor mill with discussions regarding the trading of Brian Reynolds will be plentiful. I hope a trade doesn’t happen because I like the present every day lineup. It has some legitimate hitters.

On Sunday night, inductees will be announced by the Hall of Fame's Contemporary Era Committee. On the ballot are: Albert Belle, Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Don Mattingly, Fred McGriff, Dale Murphy, Rafael Palmeiro and Curt Schilling.

I see where one the Pirates rivals for having the lowest payroll in baseball, the Rays, just signed Zach Elfin to a 3 year $40 million deal; salaries of $11 mil for the next 2 years, with an $18 mil salary  in 2025.  This contract, along with the recent 1 years deals for Clevinger ($12 mil) and Boyd ($10 mil), illustrate just how expensive starting pitching that is either mediocre or no sure thing has become.

If BC is really interested in adding starting pitching, particularly pitching that has a greater likelihood of success, would the Bucs be willing to try and bring Quintana back on a 2 year deal?   The projected asking price is $24 mil or so, perhaps with some incentives for games started or innings pitched, and perhaps with an option for a 3rd year with a moderate buy-out cost (perhaps $2 mil).    Quintana is no sure thing, but he pitched well for both Pittsburgh and St. Louis last year, and he is a left-hander; something that the Bucs definitely need.

The Bucs have added some 'veteranosity' for the offense by bringing in Santana; albeit on a 1 year deal and at a much lesser cost.  Decent starting pitching, however, appears to be coming at a much higher price tag than offense. 

Lastly, with the costs of starting pitching, such as noted above, I again suggest that BC should be working to lock up Keller and Contreras on longer term deals.

With the no mention of having placed them on waivers (Ali Sanchez waived, claimed by Arizona; Miguel Yajure waived, claimed by San Francisco) the Pirates 40 man roster sits at 38 now.

Are they lining up a FA, a trade, or making room for Rule 5? Yajure is the real head scratcher to me, I thought they were still pretty high on him. Regardless, there is absolutely zilch mentioned anywhere about these guys being put on waivers.

fjk090852-7 wrote on Dec 2^nd, 2022 at 8:17pm:

Interesting that the two guys are positions they needed to address. Yajure has more than just wet feet at the MLB level. Surprised he couldn't have been traded in some sort of package. Which leads me to believe, they're bringing in a FA or two.

Doc wrote on Dec 3^rd, 2022 at 6:28am:

Guys on the MLB for the most part shocked, calling it an overpay. However, they go on to say that it's also in part to get people to the new stadium, and I guess there's a whole experience around the stadium too. So it's not just DeGrom the newest ace pitcher, he's also the number one attraction.

I can't wait to see what someone pays Verlander now.

Cutting players before the Rule 5 draft suggests they are looking at someone there. I thought I saw that you can only select someone in the draft if you have an open spot on your 40-man roster (I may well be mistaken, though). They could always DFA someone if they signed a free agent or made a trade necessitating a spot.

MaineBucs wrote on Dec 3^rd, 2022 at 1:15pm:


It seems pretty obvious the Bucs like Vilade. The Covid missing season makes it harder to get a grip on these players, but maybe there is something there. While his 2022 season didn't seem impressive, he was obviously working on things as he walked a lot more bringing his OBP up above .350 and he doesn't strike out a lot His early stats prior to 2020 in A ball are pretty solid.

Also, these recent moves show my little tantrum about not protecting enough players in the Rule V was a bit premature. Obviously a bigger plan is in place than I anticipated. I, for one, would love to get Quintana back.

Lastly, I'm sure I'm in the minority, but I've been in the trade Reynolds this year mode for awhile now. The trick is we need as couple of very good major league ready, and controllable, players in return.He is our last decent piece to get a return to get is over this dang hump. Pull the trigger, his value is high.