Offseason Update

A lot of stuff has been happening in the few days since my last update. We are seeing the Pirates name in a lot of offseason discussion this year, which is really exciting to see. Here is the list of the players the Pirates have (publicly) shown interest in:

• We'll start with the people I have already talked about in the last couple weeks, Hank Blalock, Rick Ankiel, and Mike Gonzalez.


• Justin Duscherer, RHP - Duscherer is 32 years old and missed the entire 2009 season due to hip and elbow surgery. He broke out in 2008 with the Oakland Athletics going 10-8 with a 2.54 ERA with 6 K's/9. His career ERA is 3.14 with almost all of his innings before 2008 coming from bullpen appearances. Duscherer is someone I have personally expressed interest in in former posts. I think he could be an incredibly effective pitcher for the Pirates and would come at an affordable price.


• Jamey Wright, RHP - a pretty common baseball name here. Wright is 35 years old and has been with 4 different teams in the last 5 years. Last year he pitched 79 innings with the Royals, all out of the bullpen, posting a 4.33 ERA with a pretty discouraging walk rate. The reason the Pirates are looking towards Wright is for veteran leadership. The Pirates are far and away the youngest team in the major leagues, and do not have a starting pitcher over the age of 27. While Wright probably would not put up very great numbers with the bucs, he could definitely help the younger guys mature and get better.


• J.J. Putz, RHP - A surprising name here. Putz was one of the game's best relievers 2 years ago when he pitched for the Mariners. That led to the Mets working hard to trade for him, hoping he and Francisco Rodriguez would be the keys to fixing their bullpen trouble. Putz got hurt and missed a lot of the 2009 season, compiling only 29.1 innings. He posted a 5.22 ERA in that time. He was very ineffective at times and was a real disappointment for the Mets. 2007 was the best season of Putz's career, when he racked up 40 saves while pitching 71.2 innings with a stellar 1.38 ERA. The issue here is money. Regardless of his performance last year, Putz is going to ask for big money. He is 32 years old right now, so he might not be as valuable in a Pirate uniform, but I definitely will not be complaining if they sign him (but don't count on it happening).


• Noah Lowry, LHP - This could be another solution to the Pirates problem of a lack of south paws. Lowry has been strictly a starting pitcher in his career, which makes me question why the Pirates are interested in him. It seemed to me that management was pretty set with their rotation for next season with Maholm, Duke, Morton, Ohlendorf, and Lincoln (a couple months into the season with McCutchen or Hart eating starts before he's ready). I guess it couldn't hurt to sign Lowry, and he could definitely help us out if he agrees to take a role in the bullpen. At age 29, he has been around for a couple more years than Maholm, so he could definitely provide some leadership. I'm really not for this one, but again, I probably won't complain if they sign him.