Bucco Bits

A little holiday news and notes on the Buccos...

• Ben Nicholson-Smith of MLB Trade Rumors reported that "Rick Porcello, 23, posted a 4.59 ERA with 5.5 K/9, 2.2 BB/9 and a 53.2% ground ball rate in 176 1/3 innings this past season. He earned $3.1MM in 2012 and has a projected salary of $4.7M for 2013. He’s under team control through 2015 and could be a fit for the Rockies, Padres or Pirates in my view." John Perrotto of Baseball Prospectus tweets that Motown will give up OF Brennen Boesch, but not Porcello, for Hanny, as if the Pirates need another sub outfielder.
• Kristy Robinson of Pirates Prospects says of another current rumor: "I am told the Pirates would want a second player in addition to Chris Capuano if they were to trade Joel Hanrahan to the Dodgers."
• Ben Nicholson Jason Parks of Baseball Prospectus picks the Bucs Top Ten Prospects.The prospect list is on the page; the individual reports are behind a subscriber wall. The roster is awfully young; #1 Gerritt Cole is the only one we could see in Pittsburgh this season.
• Man, the Twins sure like old Pittsburgh Pirates. They took Dewey last year and now have added Kevin Correia to the fold, agreeing on a 2-year, $10M deal with the righty. Minny also signed minor league FAs Jeff Clement, Eric Fryer and Tim Wood from Indy this year.
• Tim Williams of Pirates Prospects guesses that Starling Marte's winter ball is done at the Dominican Winter League All-Star break, as the Pirates want to limit his 2012 inning count. Marte had a .304/.381/.464 line with four doubles, four triples, two homers and twenty RBI’s, so it was a productive few weeks of ball.
• Jason Bay signed a one-year deal with Seattle. He got a hefty separation agreement from the Mets, and inked a contract with the Mariners worth $1M if in the majors, $500K if in the minors.
• The Pirate Caravan starts today when it rolls into the Children's Institute in Squirrel Hill. The Bucs big pre-season blow out, PirateFest, begins Friday at the Convention Center.