Grinding In the Rumor Mill

Thank goodness the Red Sox are seriously expressing their plans to sign Masumi Kuwata. They and the Pirates are the only teams in the running for him, but his being signed by either team doesn't make much sense. I suppose it is vaguely understandable to sign him to a minor league contract, take that minimal risk, and see what happens, but what can you seriously expect from a pitcher who has been pitching for 21 years and will be 39 on opening day? This isn't Salomon Torres who didn't pitch for three years, it's serious wear and tear on an arm. And I think it's beginning to show, considering Kuwata posted an ERA of roughly 6.00 and a WHIP of 1.67 over the past three seasons (03-05*).

Then there's the problem of ex-Red Sox. The Pirates are supposedly still pursuing Trot Nixon. Just a few problems with that. 1) He's 31 going on 38, 2) he has minimal power (17 HR the past 3 seasons). The age, that's unavoidable. That plus his overall batting numbers say it would be a miracle for him to be anything more than a platoon player (doesn't mean DL and Tracy wouldn't give him starter AB's). The power? I'm less worried about that. PNC Park, according to statistics, favors left-handed gap hitters, which is what Nixon is. Here's the bigger issue, though: he's a right fielder. Do the Pirates really believe that Nixon could give them better offensive production than Nate McClouth, Jody Gerut, Xavier Nady, Ryan Doumit, and Jose Bautista? I seriously doubt that happening.

Another rumor that was wafting in the breeze was the Pirates entering a three team deal where they would still trade Mike Gonzalez to Atlanta for 1B Adam LaRoche, but Gonzalez would then be traded to the Yankees for RHP (long reliever) Scott Proctor and OF Melky Cabrera. This trade makes sense in that the Pirates badly want LaRoche and the Braves badly want Proctor (and have since last season), but don't forget, this trade possibility was first breached by the NY Post, and we all know Yankee Nation is kinda like your buddy in the fantasy league who thinks he can pull off any trade as long as it benefits him.