Notes: Grapefruit Opener - Pirates v Rays, Outfielders Everywhere as Bucs Land Dickerson, Brentz & Saunders; Camp Stuff and News

Off to Port Charlotte to visit the Rays - the long winter is over!

RHP Tyler Eppler will start the Pirates Grapefruit League opener with a two inning/35-pitch limit and we get our first look at Colin Moran on the hot corner; J-Bell and Fraze (LF) also start. Today's game is on 93.7 the Fan and starts at 1:05.

Colin gets the call (photo Pittsburgh Pirates)

Notes

• Holy Moly, outfield logjam! The Pirates have have traded for OF Corey Dickerson from Tampa Bay in exchange for RHP Daniel Hudson, minor league infielder Tristan Gray and cash. Dickerson, 28, has played for Colorado and Tampa for the past five years with a .280 BA and some pop in his bat. He's making $5.95M this season and will be eligible for arbitration next year. He’ll be a free agent in 2020 and so won't be much of a block in the OF but is a nice plug-in. He's average defensively, but if he can keep his bat on a steady course - he fell off dramatically in the last three months of 2017 - he can help firm up the middle of the order. Gray, 21, is a good-looking 2B drafted out of Rice in 2017 who has been in Low A, but has a boatload of young guys ahead of him in the pipeline. Huddy is trying to find some consistency; two bad months killed his stat line last year and eroded the Bucs confidence in handing him the ball in higher-leverage situations. He'll have to earn a spot; the Rays pen is full of young arms.
• Yah, more outfielders - the Pirates purchased OF Bryce Brentz from the Bosox; he was a big bopper in AAA Pawtucket (.271/31 HR) but was in line to be DFA'ed when the JD Martinez signing becomes official. He's a 29-year-old corner OF'er who has two stops in Boston, batting .287 in 90 PAs and is out of options. The Pirates also signed OF'er Michael Saunders, 31, late of the Phillies and Jays, to an NRI contract. He looked like he turned a corner in 2015-16, but he had a tough second half in '16 and stayed cold last year (.202 BA in 73 games).
• RHP Bo Schultz, an NRI from Toronto who had TJ surgery last year, should be cleared for full action at the end of the month. On the other side of the pillow, Nava, who had back issues last year, is off due to lower back discomfort and Joe Musgrove is in "keep loose" mode, but not shut down, so that's promising.

Big year for Fraze? 2017 Topps Heritage

• Mike Podhorzer of Fangraphs expects a good year from Adam Frazier, who he says"...has shown tremendous BABIP skills. He hits a ton of liners, rarely pops up, doesn’t get shifted, and possesses above average speed...a rebound should be coming.
• Fran Cervelli, as may be expected, is not a fan of the pace-of-game changes; we can't really think of a catcher who would be a proponent. Those guys are the game's chess-masters and the new rules are taking away one of their primary tactics, the mound visit. 
• Per @JohnDreker the Pirates have signed their 47th international amateur free agent since July 2nd, so they've been busy gathering bodies in the post-Rene Gayo era.
• If you were among the many who thought FA OF'er Jarod Dyson would be a good fit in Pittsburgh, you can perish the thought - he signed a two-year/$7.5M deal with Arizona.
• The Astros’ RHP Forrest Whitley, 20, who the Pirates tried to pry loose from Houston unsuccessfully, has been suspended 50 games for minor-league drug violations. It's said that he took a stimulant to help him on a long drive home after taking in a college game. At his age, tho, this is pretty much a speed bump lesson.
• RHP Jesse Chavez, 34, who started out as a Pirate in 2008, was signed by the team that drafted him back in 2002, the Texas Rangers, on a two-way contract.
• Jose Tabata, 29, has signed with the York Revolution of the independent Atlantic League.