Cooking on the Pirates hot stove

The Pittsburgh Pirates spun some wheels and made some deals as the Buccos cooked on the Hot Stove at the Winter Meetings as they signed two players,traded for one,drafted a player in the Rule 5 drafts major league version and a few in the minor portion that included one that could surprise some people and dropped some players as well.

The biggest names to hit the Steel City were the two free agent signees as the Pirates added righthanded pitcher Erik Bedard and former Pirate outfielder Nate McLouth.
Bedard is the type of pitcher that has ace like stuff,above average numbers,is just 32 and only cost 4.5 million with another half million in possible incentives.
So what could be the issue?
Well,Bedard has not made more than 24 starts in each of the last four seasons,which raises durability issues and is why the Pirates had a chance to sign him in the first place.
Bedard features one of the best curveballs in the majors and IF he can stay healthy,gives the Pirates a horse at the top of the rotation and at the cost that Pittsburgh will be paying him,could be quite a valuable trading chip at the trade deadline.
This is exactly the type of signing that I like to see the Pirates make.

Wish I could say the same for the return of Nate McLouth,who I have always liked as a player,but watched his game decline as a Brave and most likely found his true level after a career year with the Pirates in 2008.
McLouth's numbers were passable in 2009 as he split the year with Pittsburgh and Atlanta,but suffered through two bad seasons that included an assignment to the Braves AAA affiliate in Gwinnett last season.
Contact has never been McLouth's strength as even in his best season hit just .276 and things have gotten worse with averages of .190 and .228 in the last two campaigns.
The cost is high yet low as dumb as that sounds.
1.75 million is not a lot to pay for a fourth outfielder that can play all three outfield positions,but I think Pittsburgh could have gotten a player that as struggled like McLouth a bit cheaper than that.
Not an awful signing,but nothing to get excited about either as McLouth's trade value would likely not be high even with a rebound as his track record would then indicate a PNC Park bias.....

Pittsburgh swung a deal with the Kansas City Royals to land Yamaico Navarro from the Royals in exchange for two minor leaguers,including former second round draft pick Brooks Pounders in the deal.
The 24 year old Navarro spent most of his career in the Boston system before being traded to the Royals in mid season last year.
Navarro can play second,third and short and has hit well in the minors,although not nearly as well in his MLB cameos with Boston and Kansas City.
Upside?Could be a guy that plays three or four days a week as he gives the starters a rest at three spots and hits closer to his minor league numbers.
Downside? Major league pitching confounds the bat and the glove is not as versatile as the scouting report indicates...
Brooks Pounders throws a lot of strikes but his stuff is nothing sensational.
I might have held onto Pounders for another season,but this is not an trade to go raving mad over.
The other player in the deal going to Kansas City is infielder Diego Goris,who has yet to move out of the Dominican Summer League.

The Pirates released Ross Ohlendorf rather than offer him arbitration as the process would have resulted in far too high of a risk for the possibility of yet another injury riddled season from the righthander.
Ohlendorf could not be re-signed for less than 1.62 million,which was too rich for the Pirates blood as well as mine.....

Jason Jaramillo and Pedro Ciriaco were designated for assignment and will likely not be returning next season.
The Pirates signed catcher Jose Morales to compete with Michael McKenry for the backup catching spot behind Rod Barajas with the loser going to AAA Indianapolis.
Morales spent last season with Colorado.

The Bucs offered Derrek Lee arbitration,which Lee declined.
Pittsburgh is still trying to ink Lee to a new deal,but if he signs elsewhere,the team will receive a compensation pick between the first and second round in the draft.
The Pirates?A comp pick? Wow!

Pittsburgh made a mildly surprising pick in the Rule 5 draft with the selection of shortstop Gustavo Nunez from Detroit.
Nunez turns 24 before spring training and hit very poorly in his 131 at bats at AA Erie,which is his only stint above High A ball.
I have my doubts about Nunez sticking on the roster,especially with the acquisition of Yamaico Navarro.
Pittsburgh lost righthanded pitcher Brett Lorin to Arizona in the draft,where he will need to stay on the Diamondback roster all season,which I have my doubts about as well...

The Pirates selected three players in the AAA phase of the draft at $ 12,000 apiece and do not have any restrictions on a level that the players must stay at.
Simply put-for the twelve grand each,the players are theirs.
The most intriguing pick to me was lefthanded pitcher Aaron Poreda from the Padres,who had acquired the former first rounder from the White Sox in the Jake Peavy trade a few years back.Poreda was the featured prospect in the deal at the time,although Clayton Richard has been the player that San Diego received more mileage out of.
Poreda has suffered through control issues,but still has posted impressive strikeout numbers.
The 6'6 Poreda is just 25,so I am interested to see if the Pirates have a shot at straightening out his issues as if they can,the team might have itself quite a find..

Pittsburgh selected two catchers in the AAA portion as well.
The Pirates tapped Francisco Diaz from the Phillies and selected Charlie Cutler later in the round from the Cardinals.
Not sure what the Pirates saw in Diaz,who has never played in a full season league,played in short season in the United States last season in Williamsport for the first time and hit just .211 with no homers in 36 games there.
It has to be defense and throwing because I do not see much else.....
Cutler is 25 and not a power prospect,but has hit fairly well at his stops in the St.Louis system and did fairly well at AA Springfield last season.
Bucs Dugout has reported that Cutler's knees are bad and that could be a reason that the Cardinals lost interest in him.

The Indians made little news in the meetings as the only news was the Tribe losing pitcher Marty Popham and outfielder Donnie Webb in the AAA draft,both who I had seen a few times in Frederick.
Neither are large losses to the prospect pipeline.....