Pirate Hooks

The Pirates have made a few roster moves over the past few weeks,but nothing to write about until today with the signing of Ryan Church to a one year contract worth a million and a half dollars with the possibilities of making more from performance bonuses.
The 31 year old former Indian farmhand split last season with the Mets and Braves after having his best days in Washington with the Nationals.
The initial plan is for Church to serve as the fourth outfielder and that may affect any of three players.
Church can play any of the three outfield spots,although center would be the place that you would want to try to avoid for any length of time,so his versatility could mean the end of Brandon Moss as a Pirate.
Moss is out of options and considering that he already was going to have to fight off Rule V draftee John Raynor to stick on the 25 man roster,this signing puts Moss on the bubble to say the least and gone to say the most.
Raynor will have to stay all season to remain Pittsburgh property,but the signing of Church will likely eat into any playing time that Raynor might have received as a late inning defensive replacement or spot starter,although Raynor being a righthanded swinger might help his case in certain situations over the lefty hitting Church.
The final player that could be affected is Steve Pearce,who despite clobbering lefthanded pitching appears to ticketed for Indianapolis or out the door.
That could be a Pirate error for as good as the Garrett Jones numbers were,his struggles against lefties were alarming.
However,considering the limited data,a Jones/Pearce platoon has the potential for some excellent production.
It doesn't seem that is in the cards however as the Pirate seem to think that Jones is an everyday player-I respectfully disagree.
Considering the cost and if Church can perform well,he is the type of player that tends to be moved around the deadline with a friendly contract and being able to pinch hit well along with his ability to play all the outfield spots.

The Pirates are supposedly close to bringing in two or three arms to the bullpen,most notably Octavio Dotel,who would step into either the setup role that he was successful in last season with the White Sox or into the closer role vacated by Matt Capps.
Dotel would be a signing that I would like as long as the deal isn't too long or too expensive.
D.J. Carrasco is reportedly close to a minor league deal in another former Pale Hole hurler move.
Carrasco's numbers look passable until you see the high WHIP and batting average against,still he does strike out a decent amount of players and is worth a look.
The third pitcher would be one of several listed players,but is unknown at this time.
I would like to see Chan Ho Park brought in as Park has been very good as a reliever,but you have to dig through his stats to find that as the numbers have been inflated by some bad spot starts.

Other than that,the Pirates haven't done too much other than collecting mediocre arms to minor league deals.
Tyler Yates was brought back in as he continues to rehab from Tommy John surgery as does lefty signee Neal Cotts who will be attempting return for a team outside of Chicago for the first time.
Brian Bass was signed for an attempt to add righthanded relief depth,while Jack Taschner and Brian Burres were brought into the system to attempt to pan gold from the left side.
I don't expect much from any of these signings,but if one sticks,it was worthwhile.

That about covers Bucco talk for now.
I hope to be back sometime tomorrow with a melting pot that will take on Lane Kiffin and more.

Photo Credit-Andre Pichette-AP Photo