Mo' Notes...

The preseason rolls along...

• Bill Brink of the Post Gazette has the lineups for the Pirates first scrimmage on Tuesday and the pitchers due to work. After that, the Grapefruit League games kicks in.
• Saber Bucs uses Brandon Moss and Bill Robinson as cautionary tales for those ready to give up on Travis Snider.
• The Pirates claimed 3B Brent Morel, 26, off waivers from the Toronto Blue Jays. He has a .229 lifetime BA in parts of four big league years. Chase d'Arnaud was DFA'ed to clear a space for Morel. Looks like minor league depth - he and Josh Harrison (.250) will battle for a bench spot, but Harrison has played all over the field while Morel is pretty much a third baseman (and has an option year, tho Harrison has a pair).
• Tim Williams of Pirates Prospects features Brandon Cumpton, who went from 2013 hot mess to a MLB contributor by pitching to contact rather than going for swing-and-misses.
• The Pirates placed three players on the MLB Network list of the current Top 100 - Cutch at #4, Pedro at #79 and Gerrit Cole at #94.
• Allan Smith of Sports Media 101 looks at Cutch's chances of being a Bucco for life. Because of  his future value and the depth of OFer's in the pipeline, he thinks it's unlikely.
• Baseball America picked its Top 300 minor league players by position; the Bucs have 13 on the list.
• Michael Clair of Yahoo Sports calls out a problem the Pirates have - "...as long as MLB finances are set up as they are, the Pirates have to be perfect every year and Neal Huntington has to be the smartest man in the room, winning every trade, banking on the all right prospects. Sadly, that's that's just not sustainable."
• Jaff Decker turned 24 on Sunday; happy belated B-Day!