I’ve got two bits of news to mention this evening. The first is that Ken Rosenthal mentioned the Pirates as a possible landing spot for Tampa Bay’s Jason Bartlett. There’s been quite a bit of buzz this winter about the Pirates adding a shortstop (the Twins’ JJ Hardy, who’s also likely to be non-tendered or traded, also comes up quite a lot) so this is hardly a surprise. The question is what the Rays want in return. Rosenthal guesses a reliever and the Pirates obviously have that, but whether or not they’d part with Meek or Hanrahan for Bartlett is another question entirely. I’ve said before that I’m all for both trading Meek or Hanrahan should the return be right and that I’m all for upgrading the shortstop position, but I’m not sure this is the right way for either of those things to happen. Obviously a solid shortstop is worth more than a good reliever, but Bartlett would probably only be a Pirate for one year and the team controls Hanrahan and Meek for much longer than that. Given the way some teams overvalue relievers, I’m not sure I’d give them up for one year of Jason Bartlett.
Meanwhile, Rosenthal is also reporting that the Rockies are nearing an extension with Jorge de la Rosa. Jon Heyman says the deal is for three years/$30 million. That’s a pretty reasonable price and length for the deal and had the Pirates signed him to it I probably wouldn’t have been upset, but then you have to remember that the Pirates might have offered that or more to him and been turned down simply because they’re the Pirates. I know that free agents have used the Pirates as a bargaining tool in the past (You’re only offering me $20 million over two years? The Pirates are offering me $38 million over four!) and as it’s been made clear time and time again that the Bucs have money to spend this winter, I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that that’s happening quite a bit so far this offseason.
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