Trade Rumors, Farm Downers

The Pirates will probably not be very busy this deadline. They're nearly done with housecleaning, and don't have that many baubles to offer.

Their starters, both pitching and in the field, hold more value for Pittsburgh than they do for the teams inquiring about their availability, so Neal Huntington is rightly seeking an overpay for them.

The bench, except for Delwyn Young, doesn't feature an Eric Hinske-like piece (and he only brought in a pair of Class A players), and the bullpen, like the starters, may hold more value for the home team than contenders.

Joel Hanrahan, Octavio Dotel, Javier Lopez and DJ Carrasco are the most asked about, but only Lopez is replaceable in the Bucco system, and all four are under team control for 2011. So we'll see what Friday brings...

-- Jon Morosi tweets that the "Pirates are hearing from teams on lefty reliever Javier Lopez, source says. Lopez holding lefties to .200 average this year." He didn't add any specifics, but thinks that the Giants, Phillies, Red Sox, Twins, and Rays could use a left-handed reliever.

The Bucs just brought up Wil Ledezema and Indy's Justin Thomas is on the 40-man roster and doing well in AAA, so they still have LOOGY's in the pipeline.

-- Matthew Pouliot of NBC's Hardball Talk says this about Pirate trade bait:

" (Garrett Jones) current .270/.333/.422 line is a lot closer to what his minor league numbers suggested he'd hit. Jones won't even be arbitration eligible next year, so the Pirates may want to keep him around as an extremely cheap regular. Still, if they can get a couple of intriguing prospects for him now, they should go for it and then start looking to find the next Jones. The Angels are believed to have asked about him (EDIT - publicized in a national publication, denied by the locals), and he could also be a fit with the White Sox or with the Rangers" and adds:

"(Ryan) Church has had a disastrous season in Pittsburgh, hitting just .187/.242/.319 in 166 at-bats, and at this rate, he could well end up in Japan next year. Maybe it's a coincidence, but he hasn't been the same player since suffering multiple concussions in 2008. The Pirates will gladly give him away if anyone comes calling."

And if it ain't for bad news...some farmhand stories:

-- LHP Dana Eveland of Indy has been placed on the DL due to elbow soreness. The Bucs signed indie league RHP Travis Chick and sent him to the Tribe; their staff has taken a big hit in the past couple of weeks with callups, injuries, and defections to Japan. Chick last pitched MLB ball for the Angels in 2006.

-- Altoona prospect CF Gorkys Hernandez was hit by a pitch, and now he's on the DL with a broken ring finger and is out for the season; they're hoping he'll be ready to play winter ball. It's been a tough year for farm guys getting plunked; maybe the Pirates need a minor league dodgeball coordinator.

Talk about a brutal year for prospects, health-wise: Kevin Hart and Donnie Veal had season-ending surgeries; Tony Sanchez had his jaw broken; shortstops Brian Friday and Brock Holt suffered leg injuries, plus a variety of lesser injuries - Tyler Yates, Chris Hansen, and Jose Ascanio haven't recovered from 2009 work; Starling Marte is beginning his second rehab for hamate surgery; Bryan Morris always has an issue...it goes on.

-- Two camps ago, Shelby Ford was promoted to Indy and considered the heir apparent to Freddie Sanchez at second. Yesterday, he was sent down to High A Bradenton. The higher you get, the further the fall.

-- RHP Jose Acosta, 18, of the Pirates' VSL team will miss the remainder of the season after receiving a 50-game suspension after testing positive for Stanozolol. He's the first Bucco to get busted in two years.