Prince Fielder is out of the NL Central on a ridiculous nine-year deal, which leaves precious few high-level free agents on the market. Two of them — Roy Oswalt and Edwin Jackson — are pitchers that certain bloggers wearing a Penguins shirt while sitting in a lab in North Carolina would like to see the Pirates show some interest in. Unfortunately, I don’t see any way that the Bucs get Roy Oswalt on a semi-cheap one-year deal because it looks like Oswalt is mainly interested in pitching for a contender in 2012. And since the Pirates haven’t expressed any interest at all in Jackson, I doubt anything will happen there.
Meanwhile, Neal Huntington keeps saying that he’s not trying to trade Andrew McCutchen and people keep reading that as “Neal Huntington might trade Andrew McCutchen (via MLBTR).
Mike Fast, who’s been doing absolutely cutting-edge work with PitchFX at Baseball Prospectus over the last year, has been hired by the Astros to work in their front office. The ‘Stros also tried to lure Keith Law away from ESPN and have shown a considerably smarter approach since Jeff Luhnow was hired to be their GM. Which means that they’re no longer one of the worst-run front offices in baseball. It’s a good thing for Pirate fans that they’re on their way out of the NL Central, I think.
