News, Notes, Trade Smoke

• The Pirates won a Competitive Balance draft pick for next season. After round two, the following teams will get a selection, in this order: the Padres, D-Backs, Cardinals, Rays, Pirates and Mariners.
• Jim Bowden of ESPN (behind a subscriber wall) adds the Twin's Justin Morneau to the Pirates' list of tires being kicked. 
• James Krug of isportsweb.com thinks the Blue Jays and Pirates are a deal waiting to happen.
• Jon Heyman of CBS Sports picks his mid season awardees: Cutch gets some love in the MVP race, Clint Hurdle is his manager of the year and Neal Huntington his executive of the year...so far.
• Jerry Crasnick of ESPN has piece on the Bucs and their main driver, Cutch.
• Tom Singer of MLB.com has his mid-season report on the Bucs.
• Tim Williams of Pirates Prospects looks at the 2013 Bucs and opines "The Pirates don’t need to go all-in this year. This isn’t the only year they will be competitive. They’re built for long-term success."
• Jeff Sullivan of Fangraphs has a chart on the expected strikes vs actual strikes; the Pirates have made far and away the greatest improvement in that area, going from losing 14 strikes/1,000 pitches to gaining seven, a credit to both ends of this year's batteries. 
• Keith Law of ESPN updated his Top Fifty Prospects list (behind a subscriber wall - Pirates Prospects has the run down). The are, not too surprisingly, Jameson Taillon, Gregory Polanco and Alen Hansen.
• Will Carroll of Bleacher Reports looks at TJ surgeries, and found that 1/3 of MLB pitchers have undergone the procedure. Why so many? Plain and simply, overuse of the arm, starting at an early age.