Some Links

Well there has been a good amount of Pirates news going around in the last day or so, and I am late on most of it, so instead of summarizing what other blogger's say, I'll just share some links.

• First, Dejan Kovacevic reports that the Pirates DFA'd Steven Jackson and claimed Brandon Jones off waivers. This is a very interesting article because it seems to be setting up another Neil Huntington trade. The surface says that the Pirates made this move to free up a spot on the 40-man roster for recently signed Ryan Church. Now, since Jackson has just been designated for assignment, the Pirates have 10 days to trade, waive, or release him. Also, there are rumors that the Brandon Jones signing was made to help in a trade. The Pirates were 2nd in line on waivers, so they had the chance to sign Jones before 28 other major league teams. Now Jones has a lot of potential, so it is sure that other teams had interest in him. The Pirates already have a surplus of outfielders, so Jones very well could have been signed just to be traded again with Jackson. We could definitely be seeing the Pirates send Jackson and Jones to another team in exchange for one player. That's all the information I have on that topic for right now.
  
  
• My main man Lanny Frattare is contending for the 2010 Ford C. Frick Award, which is an award presented every year for excellence in baseball broadcasting. Lanny is now a professor at my school and I would love to see him win this award.
  
  
• In more 2010 Pirates related news, Jennifer Langosch has the details of Zach Duke's newly signed 1-year deal. The Pirates made this agreement yesterday to avoid the arbitration process for Duke, which will probably end up saving them a good amount of money. Also, the one-year deal will make it pretty easy for the Pirates to trade Duke in July if they like the return. If Duke pitches anywhere near as well as he did last year, there will be a lot of interest for him around the deadline.
  
  
• For more on the very interesting Steven Jackson situation, check out Bucco fans, WHYGAVS, and see what Neil Huntington had to say about the move.