Bucco Bits

-- The Pirates' potential shopping list: here's FA starting pitchers who are still unsigned and would fit into Pittsburgh's rotation - Jeff Francis, Chris Young, Bruce Chen, Ben Sheets, Justin Duchscherer & Kevin Millwood. Some back end relievers remaining are Chad Durbin, Kevin Gregg, Brian Fuentes, Jon Rauch, and Hiroyuki Kobayashi.

-- Jon Heyman of Sports Illustrated tweets that the Bucs, along with half of major league baseball, have interest in Brian Fuentes.

-- Tim Dierkes of MLB Trade Rumors takes a look at the needs of the NL Central teams; his take on Pittsburgh is that they're short a starter, a veteran reliever, and need a taker for Ryan Doumit.

-- RJ Anderson of Fangraphs has the tale on new Bucco Garrett Atkins.

-- Ben Nicholson-Smith of MLB Trade Rumors has a piece on the "New Look Pirates". Well, new look bench, anyway.

-- Jen Langosch of MLB.com has an article on the Top Five Pirate stories from the 2010 season.

-- John Dreker of the Pirates Prospects blog interviewed Pirates' prospect Evan Chambers on his first full professional season.

-- According to John Paul Morosi of Fox Sports, "...the Toronto Blue Jays have finalized a one-year, $3.5 million contract with reliever Octavio Dotel...The contract includes a $2.75 million salary in 2011, followed by a $3.75 million club option — with a $750,000 buyout — for 2012."

-- LHP Sean Burnett and the Washington Nats agreed on a two-year, $3.95M contract with a mutual option for 2013, avoiding arbitration. Burney went 1-7 with three saves and a 2.14 ERA in 73 appearances in 2010; he's 9-16 with four saves and a 3.80 ERA in four major league seasons.

His deal pays $1.4M next season and $2.3M in 2012. There is a $3.5M option for 2013 with a $250,000 buyout. The contract also includes potential bonuses up to $500K each season based on games finished.

Brew Crew Playing Some Hardball

From Tim Dierkes of Major League Trade Rumors this morning:

"The Brewers acquired ace righty Zack Greinke from the Royals, confirms ESPN's Buster Olney. Milwaukee will reportedly send shortstop Alcides Escobar, center fielder Lorenzo Cain, and pitching prospects Jeremy Jeffress (who may be replaced by a PTBNL) and Jake Odorizzi to the Royals for Greinke, shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt, and $2MM."

"The move represents the second major pitching acquisition of the winter for the Brewers, who previously traded top prospect Brett Lawrie to the Blue Jays for Shaun Marcum. The Brewers had long indicated a desire to shore up a starting rotation whose 4.65 ERA ranked near the bottom of the National League in 2010. Moving a handful of young players in the two trades, while hanging on to Prince Fielder, suggests that the club feels they can immediately contend in the NL Central."

Now the Brewer rotation consists of Grienke, Marcum, Yovani Gallardo, Randy Wolf, and Chris Narveson with Chris Capuano in reserve. Kinda puts the Kevin Correia - Scott Olsen deals in perspective, hey?

It didn't come cheap. Greinke has two years left on his contract at $13.5M per season before he becomes a free agent in 2013. Marcum is under team control for two more years also, hitting free agency in 2013. He's in his second arb year and made $850K in 2010. The Brewers are talking to him about a contract extension.

Fangraphs Marc Hulet takes a look at the guys Milwaukee sent to the Royals, and his take is that it represents quantity over quality.

"There are no can’t miss prospects and no blue-chip, young stars. You have a raw, potential No. 2 or 3 starter, an eighth- or ninth-inning reliever, a slick-fielding, light-hitting infielder, and a speedy centerfielder with contact issues."

It's actually a package the Pirates probably could have matched except for the middle infielder, which was on top of KC's trading wish list. Of course, it doesn't make much sense to get a pitcher who will become an unaffordable free agent just about the time when the pieces for your team are hopefully falling in place.

We wonder if we'll be shufflin' along this mortal coil long enough to see the Pirates swing a deal like this.

Tidbits

-- Ben Nicholson-Smith of Major League Trade Rumors posted "The Royals announced that they have released Bryan Bullington so he can sign with the Hiroshima Carp."

The first overall selection of the 2002 draft, Bullington has a 1-9 record and 5.62 ERA in 81-2/3 innings of work for the Pirates, Royals, Indians and Blue Jays.

-- The Dodgers offered Octavio Dotel arbitration. He's a Class B free agent, which means LA gets a supplementary (sandwich) round pick in the next year’s draft if he declines the proposal. He has until November 30th to decide whether to accept or not.

-- A promo: The 1971 season will be featured on Monday, November 29 at 9:00 p.m. ET on MLB Network. The episode will highlight the Baltimore Orioles' historic pitching rotation, Vida Blue, and focus on Roberto Clemente leaping onto the national scene and Pittsburgh's powerful offensive machine.

-- We assume you've heard, but just in case: Joey Votto and Josh Hamilton were named MVPs.

Throw Another Log In the Stove...

-- Jon Paul Morosi of Fox Sports writes "The Pirates are comfortable with their internal options at closer, Evan Meek and Joel Hanrahan. But one source suggested that Pittsburgh could deal one of the two and sign a replacement."

Hanrahan is up for arbitration this year and Meek after next season. We'd expect for their age, performance, and years of remaining team control that their value is about as high as it's going to get.

Neal Huntington already has said that the pair are being evaluated; he doesn't want a "spring competition" for the closer's job. So the team will go into 2011 with one or the other as the anointed ninth inning man.

We'd prefer to see Meek and Hanrahan battle it out until there was a clear-cut winner to finish games, but the brass think a bullpen is easy to pull together and trading players when their perceived value is high, so if someone would like to overpay...

-- Clint Hurdle will be the fifth skipper for the Pirates in seven (2005-11) seasons. The others were Lloyd McClendon (2005), Pete Mackanin (2005), Jim Tracy (2006-07) and JR (2008-10).

Ryan Doumit, Zach Duke and Paul Maholm, if they make it to Opening Day, will have played for all five. None of the players on the Pirates' 40-man roster has been coached at any level by Hurdle.

-- Former prospect news: The Twins signed LHP Phil Dumatrait to a minor-league deal and the Royals resigned OF Jamie Romak, 25, once the Pirates' top farm slugger, to a minor league contract.

-- Roy Halladay won the NL Cy Young after going 21-10 with a 2.44 ERA and 219 strikeouts, and "King" Felix Hernandez earned the AL Cy Young Award by putting up a modest 13-12 record, but with a 2.27 ERA and 232 K's.

-- Baseball officials will meet during the December 6-9th winter meetings to consider expanding the playoffs. A move from eight playoff teams to 10 could happen next year but is more likely to occur in 2012. The biggest issue seems to be whether to have the wild cards play a single game or best-of-three series to advance.

Hurdle Chat & the Daily News

-- Clint Hurdle had his first chat with the fans this afternoon. A few notable quotes:

* "Bunting when appropriate will be an option, the hit and run will be a play that we'll depend upon and we're going to encourage a more aggressive running style of play as we enter the 2011 season."

* "It takes courage to have patience, and I believe this leadership team in place over the last three seasons has shown courage. Young players have played, and young players have gained experience. It is time for many of these young players to take that next step. This will always be a market where young players have an opportunity."

* "Pitching deeper into games for our starters is a must. The pitch count will not be an ejector button. As long as the pitcher remains effective, they will pitch on deeper in games."

* "One of the things we will ensure is the fact that most of the pieces we have in the bullpen can pitch multiple innings. No one will pitch more than three days in a row."

* "One thing the manager has control of is the lineup, and it is usually a task-efficient way to get a player's attention."

-- John Perrotto of Baseball Prospectus tweets that Aki Iwamura headed back to Japan and signed with the Rakuten Eagles.

-- Giants catcher Buster Posey beat out Atlanta's Jason Heyward for NL Rookie of the Year, while his World Series foe, Rangers closer Neftali Feliz, topped Motown's Austin Jackson in the AL.

Dejan Kovacevic of the Post Gazette caused a tempest in a teapot by voting for Posey, Neil Walker and Jose Tabata, bypassing Heyward. His vote is discussed by Dave Cameron of Fangraphs in his article "Bias or Insight?"

Monday Morsels

-- A little winter ball news: Lastings Milledge has started playing in Venezuela and is 6-for-14 so far; Sean Gallagher has walked 10 batters in 11 innings in the VWL; Josh Harrison has a .333 BA and .593 slugging average for Mesa in Arizona, with ten of his 18 hits going for extra bases; Andy LaRoche is hitting .146 for Bravos de Margarita; Charlie Morton has pitched four scoreless innings in the Dominican with 5 K's, and Aaron Pribanic has yet to be scored on in 8 innings in Arizona.

-- The Pirates have released their 2011 spring training schedule. It starts with the Bucs annual charity game against State College of Florida (formerly Manatee CC) on February 25th.

Then Pittsburgh will open its 34-game spring slate against the Rays in Port Charlotte on Saturday the 26th. The Rays will then travel to Bradenton the following day to face the Pirates in Pittsburgh's home opener. Pittsburgh will close out the spring with two games with Philly at Citizens Bank Park on March 29th and 30th.

The Pirates' season opener is on April Fools Day against the Cubs; 'nuff said about that bit of scheduling.

-- Wonder why the FO has staked its future on adding players like Jamison Taillon, Stetson Allie, Luis Hereda, Zack von Rosenberg, Billy Cain, Rudy Owens, Bryan Morris, Brad Lincoln and all the other young arms in the organization instead of looking for more Pedros?

It could be that the current World Series template has something to do with it. SF was only eighth in the NL in runs scored, but first in MLB in ERA. As the Pirates found out in the trade market, pitching is the one thing no team ever has too much of or gives up; it's much easier to find a bat.

-- Bud Selig told the press that he'd consider adding another wild card team to the playoffs in the future. The kicker is that none of the owners will accept a shorter season, and shoehorning an extra series is a very daunting exercise in scheduling.

Thursday Olio

-- Texas coach Clint Hurdle, who is thought to be on the Pirates managerial wish-list, is also supposed to be in the running for the Mets position. He was a candidate in Seattle for the job that went to Eric Wedge.

And Bo Porter may not be such a sure thing in Florida; there's still some heavy support for interim skipper Edwin Rodriguez to get a full season behind the helm.

-- Sean Casey was noted for his gregarious nature and charitable work during his twelve year MLB career, known by the players as the "Mayor" and active with Big Brothers, the Make-A-Wish Foundation and his "Casey's Crew" program.

The Upper St. Clair grad, now an analyst for the MLB Network, is still a champ of the underdog. He's aiming to raise $1M to build the county's second Field of Dreams for the Miracle League program. His will cover the South Hills, and will be built on Mayview Road in Upper St. Clair.

He's setting up a "Casey's Crew" to help fundraise; you can donate at Casey's Clubhouse. The Bucs have had a lot of great guys walk through the clubhouse; Sean Casey was among the best.

-- The Bing Crosby tape of Game 7 of the 1960 World Series will make its debut at Byham Theater on November 13th. Fans interested in tickets to the 6 PM event are asked to send an email to Game7onMLBN@mlb.com.

The event will be hosted by Bob Costas and shown on MLB Network two days later. Bill Mazeroski, Dick Groat and Bobby Richardson are scheduled to attend the event.

-- Tim Wakefield was recognized for his community service today when he was named the 2010 recipient of the Roberto Clemente Award before Game #2 of the World Series. Bud Selig and Vera Clemente presented the award.

Monday Wash

-- Tim Dierkes of MLB Trade Rumors believes that Lastings Milledge is a borderline non-tender candidate this year. He expects that the Pirates will dangle him as trade bait up to the December 2nd deadline, when the FO has to decide whether or not to offer him arbitration.

-- We're not much on fall-ball reports, at least this early on. The Bucs have 11 pitchers and 11 position players participating in extra-curricular hardball, and no hurler has gotten 10 innings under his belt yet, nor any hitter more than 41 at-bats. Not much of a sample size so far.

For the record, the early fall heroes are: Brian Bass, who has a 0.93 ERA and 14 K's against just 1 walk in 9-2/3 innings of pitching for the Tigre de Aragua in the VWL, and Andrew Lambo of the Mesa Solar Sox, who is hitting .293/.356/.512 with 2 HR and 9 RBI in 41 at-bats.

-- The Toronto Blue Jays officially announced the hiring of John Farrell as their new manager today. He had been the pitching coach for the Red Sox and director of player development for the Indians.

It was a mild shocker that the Pirates didn't bring him in for an interview; it looks now like he had his target already in sight after the season, and Pittsburgh wasn't it.

-- Bengie Molina and Chris Ray, traded for one another in July by San Fran and Texas, will cash in twice for participating in the World Series. The San Jose Mercury News reported that the Giants voted full playoff shares to Molina and Ray, and the Rangers did the same.

Both may also be in line to get rings, no matter who takes the title. Sounds like a win-win to us.

Playoff Patter

-- The Giants beat the Braves 1-0 as Tim Lincecum tossed a two-hitter and struck out 14 in his postseason debut to outduel veteran Derek Lowe.

-- The Yanks continued on their merry way with a 5-2 win over the Twins, putting them up 2-0 in the series. Andy Pettite's arm and Lance Berkman's bat led the way for New York, which now heads back to the Big Apple.

-- Texas went up 2-0 on the Rays with a 6-0 win, primed by CJ Wilson's pitching and Michael Young's three run homer. Like the Yanks, they're going home with the series already well in hand.

-- Last year saw a number of missed calls during the playoffs by the umps; it's continuing this season. The most obvious of a handful of questionable decisions already made this post-season was Buster Posey being called safe on a steal of second when he was out; he scored the only run in a 1-0 Giant victory.

Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports addresses the issue with his piece "Bad Calls By Umps Marring Post Season." he's not alone; virtually every national sports site has an article on the umping gaffes, and we're only two games into the playoffs.

-- Add another log to the PED flames: Kim Briggeman of the Missoulian wrote that sportscaster Brent Musburger told a journalism class that "I think under the proper care and doctor's advice, they (steroids) could be used at the professional level," careful to differentiate between amateur and pro players' usage.

"I think it's going to be up to the medical profession to finally come out and say, now how much damage are we doing to these guys? Let's go find out. What do the doctors actually think about anabolic steroids and the use by athletes? Don't have a preconceived notion that this is right or this is wrong," he told the aspiring writers.

Thursday Rundown

-- Juan Rodriguez of the Sun Sentinel reports that "Bo Porter will interview with the Pittsburgh Pirates for their opening." He's also a candidate for the Marlin's job. Porter, 38, was Florida's third base coach and a bench coach at Arizona.

EDIT - Porter interviewed today with Pittsburgh; we'd assume Juan Samuel can't be far behind.

-- Might as well get to that pesky payroll question bright and early. In his monthly chat, Frank Coonelly said "Our payroll in 2010 was $44 million (40-man roster), which was principally a function of the fact that we have such a young roster...We have the capacity to meaningfully increase the payroll for 2011, and will do so if we are able to bring in players who can help us win."

"One of Neal Huntington's highest priorities this offseason is to improve the pitching staff. The aggressive pursuit of free-agent players, of course, does not guarantee that we will be able to secure the players in whom we have an interest, but we are committed to improving this club and will be aggressive in our pursuit."

Some sources have said that the Pirates have budgeted for a $50M salary budget in 2011, not a ton but at least a move up.

Coonelly added that the rumors about Andy Van Slyke being interviewed for the manager's job were just that: rumors.

-- Baseball America picked its Top Twenty Prospects from the High Class A Florida State League; Bradenton Marauders that made it were Tony Sanchez (#6) and RHP Diego Moreno (#16). We're surprised to see that OF Starling Marte didn't make the list. Our guess is that being limited to 60 games because of hamate surgery is the reason, although Sanchez made the rankings with 59 games.

-- Roy Halladay threw the second no-hitter in postseason history, leading the Philadelphia Phillies over the Cincinnati Reds 4-0 in Game 1 of the NLDS yesterday. Doc's only blemish was a two-out walk in the fifth inning. He joins Don Larsen, who tossed a perfect game for the Yankees in the 1956 World Series, as the sole members of the October no-no club.

-- Cliff Lee shut down the Tampa Bay Rays while outpitching David Price, leading the Texas Rangers to a 5-1 victory in the opening game of the ALDS. Lee matched a postseason best with 10 strikeouts while allowing five hits in seven frames.

-- The Yankees beat the Twins 6-4. Mark Teixeira homered in a pair, Curtis Granderson whacked a two-out, two-run triple, and Mariano Riviera stoned the Twins at the end.

-- Maury Brown of The Business of Baseball reports that "Major League Baseball is projecting gross revenues of $7 billion for 2010, continuing a run of record-breaking years." That's up 6% from last year, fueled mostly by lucrative Regional Sports TV deals, and great news for the free agent players looking for a fat contract.

Friday Frisbee

-- Ya know, we've made mention that we're a little leery of the way the Bucs treat their wounded. Guys like Brandon Moss and Paul Maholm tell us that they played basically one-legged last season (and may we quickly add, by their own choice).

Any number of pitchers have reported minor twinges, and the next thing we know is that they're out for six weeks, followed by a visit by the knife. Now Nate McLouth tells the beat writers that he's wearing contacts in 2010. The Pirates, to paraphrase Nate the Great, gave an eye exam that a blind man could pass.

Hey suits - evaluating and amassing talent is job one, but trying to keep them on the field is pretty important, too. You might want to sharpen up your player diagnostics a bit.

-- Chuck Finder of the Post Gazette shakes a stick at the Pirates mob of outfielders.

-- Scott Miller of CBS Sports has the annual Pirate preview.

-- Tim Marchman of SI's Inside Baseball rated the MLB GMs, and here's what he had to say about Neil Huntington (whom he ranked #20):

"There's something to be said for aggressively trying to clean up a disaster. The Pirates have gone longer without winning than any team ever has, and while they won't turn that around any time soon, Huntington's program of getting rid of any veteran of any value in exchange for whatever young talent he can get is absolutely the right one."

Spring Sampler

-- In Yahoo Sport's Big League Stew blog, Nyjer Morgan - who now goes by the nom d' guerre T-Plush - gets some puck love, and blasphemously picks the Cap's Alex Ovechkin as the NHL's alpha dog over Sid the Kid. It also has a vid of Nyjo's hockey days.

In other Nyjer news, the Nats are trying to get him to slide feet-first after he broke his wrist last season, according to Ed Chigliak of Federal Baseball.

-- Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune has a piece on John Grabow and his veteran status in a bullpen full of puppies in Wrigley.

-- Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic talked to Adam LaRoche about the big deal he rejected from the Giants; LaRoche claimed it wasn't all it was cracked up to be.

-- Luke Adams of MLB Trade Rumors has an item on Pirate and Duquesne grad Joe Biemel's waiting game as a free agent.

-- Once upon a time, long, long ago Pirate Tim Wakefield is sharing his knuckleball secrets with Eri Yoshida, an 18-year-old who became the first female drafted by a Japanese professional team, according to USA Today. A knuckleball throwing teen age girl? And you thought the Nippon League was tradition-bound?

-- Maury Brown of the Biz of Baseball moonlighted a bit for Baseball America, and did a piece on the competitive balance of baseball. From the article:

"Complicating the argument is that most fans have only a rudimentary understanding of how revenue-sharing even works, and they don't see that baseball does have a salary cap, of sorts. While management and union leaders debate the fine points of both revenue sharing and the luxury tax, fans have a more basic question: Do they promote competitive balance?

The answer seems to be yes, and no. You need to spend to go to the postseason with regularity, but if the true barometer for baseball is winning the World Series, then being hot at the right time can get you to the promised land, regardless of where your payroll sits."

-- Twelve Angry Mascots doctor a Sarah McLachlan vid pushing animal adoption into a plea to pick up a free agent ("for only $18 a month"):

Another Day At Camp Bradenton

Sorry, guys, no sex or steroid scandals, no blockbuster trades or season-ending injuries; no breakout performances. It's just another day at camp.

First, what the beat gang is reporting:

-- Octavio Dotel is day-to-day with a sore left side; the Bucs don't believe it's anything serious, and we sure hope it's not his oblique. Evan Meek can tell OD all about those.

-- Joel Hanrahan should be ready sooner rather than later. The swelling is going down, according to his MRI, and Dr. McAndrews seconded the strained elbow opinion. He's on track to be ready for Opening Day or thereabouts.

-- Neil Walker is working out at first, third, second, and right. Think the suits are trying to tell him something? We think his glove is fine; he needs to pick up his bat.

-- The docs checked out Jose Ascanio's labrum; he's looking like he'll be back in the last couple weeks of June.

-- Jen Langosch of MLB.com wrote that Bucco minor-league guru Kyle Stark says a pair of touted minor-league arms will be down for the start of the season: Colton Cain (8th round, 2009) has a back injury, but has been cleared to begin workouts. Brett Lorin, acquired in the Seattle trade, will miss the start of the season because of a hip injury.

-- Chuck Finder of the Post Gazette reports on a wonderful problem; where are the Pirates gonna place all their pitchers? The Bucs have a load of arms trying to make their way up from High A and AA. That's one area the new crew addressed in a hurry.

-- According to Dave O'Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 30 year-old JR House was given a premature burial by GW; he landed on his feet and signed with the Braves for another minor-league go around. In 10 minor league seasons, House has a .302 career average, 117 homers and a .838 OPS. He’s had just 10 hits in 60 MLB at-bats with Pittsburgh, Houston and Baltimore.

House spent the 2009 season with the Royals’ AAA Omaha club, batting .251 with nine homers and 53 RBIs in 505 at-bats. Ouch.

-- Speaking of signings, GM Neal Huntington's contract is up this year and manager John Russell is working on the first of two team options. Bob Nutting isn't extending either one quite yet, though he did give the management gang a vote of confidence.

-- The MLB Network will televise four of the Pirates' Spring games: March 3 at 1 pm (Pirates/Yankees), March 10 at 7 pm (Orioles/Pirates), March 13 at 7 pm (Pirates/Red Sox), March 14 at 9 pm (Yankees/Pirates).

-- And for those of you bemoaning the popularity of baseball, Maury Brown of the Business of Baseball wrote that though attendance was down 7%, MLB set a revenue record. He explains how in his article.

Weekend Widgets

-- The Pirates are not a lead-footed bunch by design, or so it seems. Matt Pouliot of the Hardball Times projects steal leaders for 2010. Among his top eleven picks, one is a current Pirate and a pair are recent vintage: Andrew McCutchen - 37 steals; Rajai Davis - 39 sacks (that Matt Morris deal gets worse and worse!), and of course Nyjer Morgan, with 52 swipes.

-- 32 year old (is that all?) RHP Kip Wells signed a minor-league deal with the Reds, per the Cincinnati Reds Blog.

-- The Charlestown Gazette's Mitch Vingle reports that it could be the end of the road for 30 year-old catcher JR House, once one of the Bucs' brightest prospects.

-- Bill Ladson of MLB.com tweets that RHP Kris Benson - and Anna, they're a package deal, we suppose - is on the Washington Nat's radar. The 35 year-old fizzled as a reliever for the Rangers last year, and was sent to the minors in June. It was his first MLB action since 2006, when he blew out his arm.

-- J.J. Furmaniak, an old Pirate farmhand, signed a minor-league deal with the Ryas, according to Ben Nicholson-Smith of MLB Trade Rumors.

A Couple of Signings

-- Ronny Cedeno avoided arbitration and inked a one-year deal worth $1.125M with the Bucs.

-- Bobby Crosby passed his physical and is now officially a Pirate.

-- Robby Diaz was signed as a minor league free agent by Detroit this week. He's considered catching insurance for the Tigers, who have to decide whether Alex Avila is better suited for a backup MLB role or everyday minor league duty, according to Steve Kornacki of MLive. Gerald Laird is Motown's regular backstop, and is a free agent after the season.

It was rumored that the Tigers were trying to deal for him in August; Neal Huntington might have missed the boat on that one.

-- Jesse Chavez has been traded again, this time from Tampa Bay to the Atlanta Braves in a deal for reliever Rafael Soriano. Hope he didn't sign a lease in Florida yet. Pat Lackey at WHYGAVS has an insightful post on the economics of the Jesse Chavez Circle.

-- Tom Gorzelanny was tendered by the Cubs, posts Mike Axisa of MLB Trade Rumors, so he remains their property in 2010.

-- Juan C. Rodriguez of Marlins Beat tweets that Ronny Paulino signed a one-year deal with the Fish for $1.1M.

-- Jason Kendall signed with KC for a deal that will earn him $2.25M in 2010 and $3.75M in 2011, with another $250K in incentives, tweets Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star. It's the same two year, $6M contract Pudge Rodriguez received.

-- 28 year-old Chris Duffy signed a minor league contract with the Phillies.

Hot Stove Fodder

To start off the winter, here's a link to Tim Dierkes of MLB Trade Rumors, who lists the Top 50 free agents and the teams he thinks they'll end up with.