- The arbitration deadline was Tuesday morning, and the Pirates still had two eligible players, Garrett Jones and Casey McGehee, unsigned. That doesn't mean it's too late to sign them however, since arbitration hearings wouldn't be set up until sometime between February 1st and 15th, and the sides are free to negotiate until then. I don't understand the whole "deadline" thing if you can just continue to work out a deal after it has passed, but baseball does a lot of things that don't make a ton of sense. Anyways, Jones and McGehee are both very close to getting the deals they want from the Pirates, so I would imagine that they both get contracts before February and they avoid arbitration. Jones will get somewhere between $2.25 and $2.5 million while McGehee will get somewhere between $2.7 and $2.35 million.
- The Pirates have a rousing list of PNC Park concerts in 2012, including Boyz II Men, Daughtry, STYX, and Lifehouse. SBNation calls them the "The Pittsburgh Pirates of Music".
- The Astros have begun to prepare for their move to the American League by signing Jack Cust, who might not even own a baseball glove. Cust is a designated hitter who used to have big time power but has struggled a lot recently. The Astros will see if they can rejuvenate his power bat and hope he doesn't kill them in the outfield while they patiently await their move to the American League.
- The Nationals are still the favorite to sign Prince Fielder, but I'm curious as to why it's taking him so long to pick a team. I guess he's just enjoying all the freedom to eat whatever he wants at any volume and not have a manager to hold him accountable.
- While we wait for Fielder to stop the gluttony, Carlos Pena and Derrek Lee still remain unsigned. Earlier in the offseason I thought the Pirates were going to seriously go after one of those guys, but now I don't see any chance of that happening.
I'd post more, but I'm already late for Calculus. Peace out Pittsburgh.
