Tuesday, December 8, 2015

Winter Meeting Notes: Bucs Touching Base, NL Central News

A quiet day for the Pirates, per the FO's usual MO:
  • Bill Brink of the Post Gazette tweets that the Buc have interest in Kyle Kendrick, long time Philly pitcher who was banged around (7-13/6.12) in Colorado last season.
  • Conversely, Rob Biertempfel of the Trib says the Bucs haven't touched base with Doug Fister, who had been thought to be of potential interest to the Pirates; he had a strong ground ball rate but a big velocity drop last season.
  • Stephen Nesbitt of the P-G reports that the Bucs have been in touch with LOOGY Matt Thornton, formerly of the Nats.
  • Jon Heyman of CBS says the Pirates are interested in Mark Reynolds, tho we don't see the fit. One guy we'd keep an eye on would be Milwaukee's Adam Lind, who is being shopped around as a 2016 lefty rental at first. 
  • The Trib's Travis Sawchik wrote that a source speculated Pirates are interested in former NPB/KBO first baseman/DH Dae Ho Lee, 33, a 6'4", 285 pound basher. Might be a courtesy call; he seems to profile as an AL type player, and he bats RH'ed; the Pirates, we assume, are looking for a LH stick at first. Still, he is a free agent (no posting fee) and worth the chat. He adds that the Bucs are interested in bringing back S-Rod, even tho his 1B services hopefully won't be needed this season.
  • Not such great news division news: Ken Rosenthal reported that Ben Zobrist in agreement with the Cubs on four-year, $56M contract, pending a physical.Chicago then sent IF Starlin Castro to the Yankees for P Adam Warren, a touted young arm, and a PTBNL.
  • The Aroldis Chapman trade to LA - or anywhere else - is down the drain while the MLB investigates domestic abuse charges. (There is a twist involved.) Chapman joins Jose Reyes and Yasiel Puig, who are also under the league's microscope for similar allegations.
  • The Rule 5 draft, btw, is Thursday, ending the winter meetings. The Bucs pick #13 and may look at a young reliever as the draft list is pitcher heavy.

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