Wintry Notes: Pirates Potpourri

When's knit cap night again...?

• Adam Berry of MLB.com looks at how ready Adam Frazier is to take the 2B job and the current depth at the spot.
• Craig Edwards of Fangraphs wonders whassup with the quiet Pirates offseason and wonders how that lack of improvement will affect the product - and the fan base.
• The Bucs have five farm guys in Baseball Prospectus' Top 101 - RHP Mitch Keller (18), 3B KeBryan Hayes (55), CF Travis Swaggerty (82), SS Oneil Cruz (91) and OF Calvin Mitchell (97). Baseball America, behind their paywall, agreed on three - Keller (26), Hayes (49), & Cruz (72). John Dreker of Pirates Prospects recaps the BA selections.
• Another day, another bit of love: Ke'Bryan Hayes was picked as the #4 3B Prospect by Jonathan Mayo of MLB Pipeline in his Top Ten list, and was rated with the best glove and included on the short list of best arms at the hot corner.

Cutch 2005 Topps Draft Update

• MLB Pipeline selected each team's best prospect of the past 15 years; not too surprisingly, they picked Cutch for the Pirates. They also have a list of all the #1 picks during that span if you feel like a deeper dive. 
• In that vein, Anthony Castrovince of MLB.com thinks that two Bucco prospects of yore, Austin Meadows and Tyler Glasnow, have better days ahead of them.
• LHP Justin Wilson signed a two-year/$10M deal with the Mets, pending his physical. 
• Another ol' Bucco lefty, Ollie Perez, inked a one-year deal with the Tribe for $2.5M with an option based on appearances.
• OF Travis Snider is back - after playing indie ball last year, the D-Backs inked the 30-year-old Lunchbox to a minor league deal for this season.
• C Tony Sanchez, the Pirates 2009 first-rounder, signed a minor league deal with the Texas Rangers, the team he was traded to last year by the Braves. Since his release in early 2016, the 30-year-old been with six organizations and gotten into one MLB game.

Tony Sanchez 2009 TriStar Prospect

• RHP Hunter Strickland, non-tendered by the Giants, has signed w/the Mariners per Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. Strickland, 30, was a Bucco prospect from 2009-13,when he was waived at the end of camp and claimed by SF. He got into 253 games with the G-men since, posting a 14-14-19/2.91 slash.
• BTW, the Dodgers landed a center fielder and it wasn't Starling - they signed AJ Pollock.
• PiratesFest at PNC Park is Saturday from noon-5; admission is free.
• Click on the blue line for a preview of the shirt giveaways for the Free Tee Fridays this year.