We’re less than six hours from the deadline today and there’s not much news surrounding the Pirates. After acquiring Derrek Lee late last night, the most logical thing for them to do would be to pick up an outfielder as well, though Buster Olney reported last night that the team’s talks with the A’s about Josh Willingham were dead and this morning Ken Rosenthal said that the Yankees checked in on Willingham and didn’t like the price.
The easy conclusion is that Neal Huntington’s done dealing, but I’m not really certain of that. The Lee trade was born in the wake of the Koji Uehara trade and it’s hard to know what opportunities will exist for the Pirates if another rash of trades is made in the next couple of hours. I also wouldn’t completely count Huntington out of trading someone like Paul Maholm if the perfect opportunity presents itself: that would drive Pirate fans nuts, but if it’s a sellers market (which it mostly seems to be) and he gets an offer that’s too good to pass up … I dunno. He’s in a tough situation right now. I’ll update this post throughout the day as warranted and if another trade does happen, it’ll get its own post.
UPDATE (11:10 AM): You can take this for what it’s worth (which is to say that it may mean something and it may just be speculation), but Rob Biertempfel just tweeted this:
Pirates are having closed-door team meeting. There’s a sense another trade might be coming
I’m not sure why a closed-door meeting necessarily equals a trade (they’ve been playing pretty shoddily of late, which also results in closed-door meetings), but no one’s closer to the team than the beat writers and they tend to have a pretty good feel for this kind of thing.
UPDATE (11:55 AM): A series of tweets from Biertempfel and Jen Langosch tell us that the Pirates are interested in Ryan Ludwick but that he’s not their top target and that they’re interested in adding pitching but prioritizing offense. Biertempfel says the Pirates still have Jason Kubel as their top target. Given the Twins’ weird reliever fetish, I’m going to guess they may want Chris Resop or Jose Veras for Kubel, which may be why the Pirates are still interested in adding arms. Well, that or because 80% of their rotation is approaching career high inning counts and you can never have too many arms.
UPDATE (12:36 PM): Jon Morosi from FOX says that as of right now there are no serious talks between the Pirates and Twins for Kubel.
UPDATE (1:09 PM): CBS’s Danny Knobler says the Indians and Padres are close on a Ryan Ludwick deal. We’re still a few hours away, but it looks like Neal Huntington could be done for the day.
UPDATE (1:11 PM): And Ken Rosenthal says that Ludwick to the Indians is “not close, but seems inevitable.”
UPDATE (1:31 PM): Morosi has a source that tells him that the Twins “are not trading Kubel.” We’re 2 1/2 hours from the deadline and it’s hard to see exactly where Huntington’s going to make another trade. He also says if Kubel isn’t available he expects the Pirates to make a run at Upton. I like Upton and all, but dealing for a player like Upton with a guy like Andrew Friedman makes me awfully nervous.
UPDATE (1:40 PM): Chris Iannetta’s not in the starting lineup today, Troy Renck notes. The Pirates were supposedly interested in Iannetta earlier this month. Having games going on during the deadline is going to make the next three hours pure chaos.
UPDATE (1:54 PM): Andrew Baggarly says it’s the Blue Jays trying to get Iannetta.
UPDATE (2:00 PM): Morosi says the Pirates have interest in “many bats” including Omar Infante. Omar Infante is not interesting at all.
UPDATE (2:19 PM): Jon Heyman says that Josh Willingham won’t be going anywhere today. Again, I don’t see much room left for Huntington to make a move today.
UPDATE (2:41 PM): The Rangers just sent Joseph Weiland and Robbie Erlin to San Diego for Mike Adams. That’s a huge haul. If Huntington didn’t even consider moving one of his excellent relievers at this deadline, I’m going to be kind of disappointed.
UPDATE (3:11 PM): Yahoo!’s Tim Brown says the Pirates are still in play for Ludwick.
UPDATE (3:23 PM): Morosi calls a Ludwick deal to the Pirates “close.” Heyman, meanwhile, says that Ludwick is either going to be a Pirate or an Indian.
UPDATE (3:54 PM): A flurry of tweets makes it seem like the Ludwick deal is about to be official.
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