DK is churning out the reports from Orlando today, saying the Pirates are interested in Justin Duchscherer again this winter (and more seriously so than last winter) and former Blue Jay reliever Jeremy Accardo.
Duchscherer’s hip injuries are well-documented, but he’s said to be healthy this year and the interest is described as mutual. Given their interest in Brandon Webb is tailing off, Duchscherer might be as high as the Pirates can shoot for free agent pitching this winter. It’s certainly true that he can be a good pitcher when healthy, but he’s of the extreme-groundball type and I don’t know how much he’d help the Pirates unless they help their defense first.
Accardo was excellent as the Blue Jays’ closer in 2007, but missed much of 2008 with injury and hasn’t pitched much in the majors since, though he was pretty good in the PCL in 2009 and less good there in 2010. Most of the stuff about his injury is weirdly non-specific; the most I’ve found on it so far is from Blue Jays’ blog Bluebird Banter where it’s described as “a weird forearm injury.” I also got the impression from them that Accardo had fallen into Cito Gaston and/or JP Ricciardi’s doghouse and that’s why he wasn’t back with the club despite his excellent 2009 numbers. In any case, the Pirates can use as many arms as they can get and there’s a chance that Accardo would be a non-terrible one to add to the bullpen.
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