Here’s a two-tweet sequence from Jerry Crasnick on Friday:
Lefty Jeff Francis is starting to attract more interest from teams in the market for a starting pitcher.
— Jerry Crasnick (@jcrasnick) January 20, 2012
The #Mariners, #Reds, #BlueJays and #Mets are among the clubs believed to be keeping tabs on Francis.
— Jerry Crasnick (@jcrasnick) January 20, 2012
You’ll notice, of course, that none of these teams are the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Pirates have seemed interested in Francis since the start of the winter, but there’s been very little word on that front since Erik Bedard signed. They were also almost completely uninterested in Paul Maholm, a similar but better pitcher that signed for a reasonable price.
It’s impossible to say for now whether or not the Pirates are completely done dealing this winter, but at this point they’ve been silent for six weeks and it’s easy to think that they’re probably not planning on doing much more.
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