Weekend Notes: Fest News, Random Stuff

Over the weekend:

• At Pirates Fest, Neal Huntington said the Bucs feel that they have a young Freddy Galvis in Erik Gonzalez and a young Jordy Mercer in Kevin Newman, the FO's cover story if they don't land a SS from the market. He added that as of now, Jordan Lyles is penciled in as the fifth starter, with Steven Brault/Nick Kingham as Plan B. Hope it pans out better than the 2016 Juan Nicasio conversion did.

• As far as payroll, one reason for the low outlay, per prez Frank Coonelly, is that better than half of the Pirates’ 25-man roster isn't arb eligible this season, with eight of those players (Jung-Ho Kang, Fraze, Big Joe, J-Bell, Jamo, Elias Diaz, Willy & Chad Kuhl) becoming eligible next year. He'll also have four guys who will be FA's in 2020 (Cervy, Corey D, Lonnie Chisenhall and Jordan Lyles), and it'll be interesting to see who gets signed and who walks. Still, sounds to us like a better opportunity to ink a rental FA while the salary window is open rather than pile it up in anticipation of next year's possible boost.
• Chad Kuhl told the press gang that he had a partial tear of his UCL during the past season but thought he could get through the year with it. He aggravated the injury in June, and that led to TJ surgery. He expects to start his rehab throwing program when he gets to camp.
• Conor Byrne of MLB Trade Rumors has collected some Pirates tidbits that may interest you.
• And Top 100 Prospects season rolls on - MLB Pipeline announced theirs, with Bucco pups Mitch Keller (19), Ke'Bryan Hayes (46), Travis Swaggerty (87), and Oneil Cruz (96) making the list.
• Seems like the Pirates, at one time or another, held the contract of every reliever in the league. The Cubs have agreed to a minor-league deal with fairly recent Bucco RHP George Kontos, per Bruce Levine of 670TheScore.com. The deal comes with a camp invite. He tossed a bit for Cleveland and the Yankees after the Bucs cut him loose last May.
• Our fave PNC Park promo is back...