Notes: Quiet Week

Boldly into the offseason:

Notes:

• Nick Deeds of MLB Trade Rumors elaborates on a Jason Mackey report that contract extension talks between Mitch Keller and the front office will resume in the offseason.
• Ben Cherington plans to sit down shortly with Cutch to discuss a 2024 contract.
• RHPs Chase De Jong and Duane Underwood Jr. declared for free agency.
• Bench coach Don Kelly may be included in consideration to a couple of manager candidate lists, per Kevin Gorman of the Trib, although none are past the speculation stage yet.

Don Kelly - 2023 photo/Pirates

• The Bucs used 58 players to get through the season. That's an improvement over 2022 when 68 guys donned a Bucco jersey.
• OF Joe Christopher, 87, who was a Pirate from 1959-61 and part of  the '60 World Series team,  passed away at 87 years old. He was the first player from the Virgin Islands to play in the NL.
• First reported by Jason Mackey of the Post Gazette, the Pirates have dismissed at least two hitting coaches in their minor league system: Altoona's Jon Nunnally, who was credited with tweaking Ke'Bryan Hayes' swing, and Greensboro's Ruben Gotay.
• RHP Quinn Priester was named to the International League All Star team. He was 9-4/4.00 at Indy, averaging nearly 10 K per nine innings. 
• The Arizona D-Backs swept the Milwaukee Brewers, the sole NL Central playoff rep, in the Wild Card Series by 6-3 & 5-2 scores. The NLC is 2-20 is the postseason since 2019.
• Baseball America selected the Angels Shohei Ohtani as the 2023 Player of the Year.