Hot Stove, Pirate Notes...

Over the weekend notes:

• Joe Baker of MLB Nation puts together 2+2 and speculates that the Bucs may be among a handful of teams kicking the tires of Cub SS Starlin Castro. 
• 5 PM today is the deadline for a qualifying offer for FA, which is a year at $14.1M. We'll see if the Pirates use it on AJ. We expect they will. Even though he said he'd return if he doesn't retire, the Tim Lincecum deal (2yrs/$35M) and a possibly bruised ego might make him rethink taking a dip into the FA pool, so the Pirates would be prudent to lock up a draft pick if he does fly the coop. 
• Seattle announced that it plans to make a qualifying offer to DH/1B Kendrys Morales, so the rumored Pirate target would cost a first round pick (#27) in addition to the contract costs. The Red Sox plan to do the same with SS Stephen Drew and 1B Mike Napoli, also thought to be on the Bucco wish list.
• Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors takes a look at OF Marlon Byrd's upcoming free agency. His "expectation is that Byrd will match (Melky) Cabrera with a two-year, $16M deal."
• Tim Dierkes of MLB Trade Rumors took a guess at where the Top Fifty FA would land. He has Pittsburgh keeping AJ and The Byrd, with no outside Top 50 additions.
• Travis Sawchik of the Tribune Review looks at why free agency isn't the gold mine it used to be, with the locking up of young talent and the financial risk of long-term deals for aging vets being among the chief culprits.
• Lloyd McClendon, on the short list to replace Jim Leyland at Detroit, lost out to Brad Ausmus.
• The Tigers didn't pick up Jose Veras' $4M option.
• Remember Casey McGehee? He hit .289/.371/.512 with 27 home runs in Japan this past season. McGehee, 30, will decide whether to stay in Japan or head back to the United States to reestablish his MLB brand.