Camp Notes: Who's In, Freeser on the Attack, Ol' Bucs in New Homes & the Week's News Around the League

Baseballs and brickbats flying through the Florida air...

• All the Pirates pitchers/catcher reported to Bradenton on time except for C Elias Diaz, who was granted some extra time for family after his mom's kidnapping and rescue. 
• Clint confirmed that they're looking at Joe Musgrove as a starter and expect Colin Moran to be their go-to guy at the hot corner.
• Lots of position guys showed up early, too. Moran, Josh Bell, Jordy Mercer, Starling Marte, El Coffee, S-Rod, David Freese, Jordan Luplow, Max Moroff, Daniel Nava, Jose Osuna, Austin Meadows, Kevin Newman, Cole Tucker, Kevin Kramer, Chris Bostick, Jason Martin, Eric Wood, Erich Weiss and Todd Cunningham all reported ahead of the opening bell. Osuna in particular is an interesting guy; he's been taking all his infield so far at third base.

Freezer sounds off (photo USA Today)

• Freeser had an interesting chat with the media when he arrived. In one of the Pirates most memorable camp outbursts (maybe only second to Jim Leyland’s f-bomb scold of Barry Bonds in 1991), he tossed darts at the “environment” in Pittsburgh with zingers like "When you’re losing 10-2 in the pouring rain against Joe Maddon and you’re laughing, that’s not good. That says a lot.” Also “This is a different organization, where if you get drafted, you look at a guy like Jameson Taillon. It sucks that if you pan out, you have your future written for you in an organization like this. You either fold and sign a team friendly deal, or you’re bounced.” And finally "You look at the Steelers, Penguins and you’ve got the Pirates. If I’m kind of handling this situation, I’d be losing sleep trying to compete with those other two teams. To have all three teams in a city like Pittsburgh be on top of each league, that would be incredible." He explained that he thought the FO and his teammates had the desire to win, but had to move beyond analytics and focus more on intangibles to provide that winning environment for the Pirates. "You’ve got to have urgency. You’ve got to have accountability...I’ve been here for two years, and we just kind of lacked in that department a little bit. We’ve got to pick that up.”
• The first injury of camp - Huddy turned his ankle jogging and missed a bullpen session; he was in a walking boot. On the other side of the coin, S-Rod has regained the full range of motion in the arm he injured in a car wreck and is ready to roll physically.
• MLB Radio Network has ranked Felipe Rivero as its #7 MLB closer.
• The Braves signed Chris Stewart to a one-year/$575K deal (spoiler alert - it's not guaranteed; he's expected to be a depth piece).
• Mike Berardino of the Twin City Pioneer Press has a story on LHP Zach Duke and how his decision to convert from starter to reliever was due in large part to the advice of his wife, Kristin.

Zach's move to the pen was a family discussion - 2006 Topps

• The Twins Puckett's Pond blog calls this a "make or break" year for old Bucco OF prospect Robbie Grossman.
• Eric Fryer, who caught for the Bucs in 2011-12 and 2016, retired at 32. 
• RHP Drew Hutchison signed an NRI deal with the Phillies.
• C Tony Sanchez signed a minor league deal with the Cincinnati Reds. It's his fifth organization since the Pirates released him after the 2015 campaign.
• RHP Edinson Volquez agreed to a two-year minor league contract w/the Rangers; he's recovering from Tommy John surgery. The deal is worth $2M in 2019 if he makes the club.
• The free agent camp is off limits to scouts; it's purely for the players to train, not audition. In fact, one bird dog was escorted from the premises. No biggie; we'd sorta assume most teams had a report on the gang already.
• Pace-of-game tweaks could show up this year. They can be instituted unilaterally by Commissioner Rob Manfred (although MLB prefers a collaborative set of rules OK'ed by the MLBPA), and he says he intends to implement some without being specific yet. Among items discussed previously were a 20-second pitch clock, bullpen carts, limited catchers visits to the hill and time limits for pitching changes and between inning warm-ups. Some of the initiatives have been used by the PCL since 2015 and have cut the average game time to under three hours; their games are 17 minutes shorter than MLB contests.
• Pitt head baseball coach Joe Jordano was named to the staff of the 2018 Collegiate National Team, per USA Baseball. Jordano is in his 21st season as the Pitt skipper and ranked among the top-25 active winnings Division I coaches. It's a big year for JJ - he'll coach his 1,500th game and has an April date to enter the National Italian Hall of Fame.

Tito Francona 1960 Topps

• Tito Francona, who was born in Aliquippa and spent most of his adult life in New Brighton, passed away at age 84. Tito played 15 years in the majors, most notably with the Indians, and is the father of Terry Francona, the Tribes manager and former Bosox skipper.
• Esteban Loaiza, who began his 14-year MLB career w/the Pirates from 1995-98, was arrested in San Diego County on Friday for transporting 20 kilos (about 44 pounds) of heroin and cocaine. Guess he burned through that $43M+ he earned in MLB.