A couple rumors from XM MLB Radio (XM 175)
LaRoche:
According to MLB Radio: A rumored trade persists from the West Coast pertaining to an Adam LaRoche to the Giants deal. Apparently San Francisco is willing to trade Jonathan Sanchez and first baseman Travis Ishikawa for the much scrutinized Pittsburgh Pirate first baseman.
BTW Take:
Sanchez is quite intriguing, but for my money Ishikawa is much more tantalizing to the baseball palette. If this is an accurate rumor, being a rumor lends to the likelihood being minimal at best, this is a deal Huntington would likely jump at. Considering the front office denied emphatically any deal was in the works with San Francisco, I highly doubt the is much meat behind the story. Huntington does not like to divulge anything on deals he is working on, so the denial could still be a cover-up of actual talks. That is the only reason I have spent any time on this.
Free Agent:
According to MLB Radio: The Pirates are in discussions with free agent outfielder Luis Gonzalez.
BTW Take:
Mientkiewicz is a better fit for the team. I do not see where a 41 year old outfielder should garner more than a minor league contract. Gonzalez is outside the "rebuilding" project free agents the Pirates have signed recently like Monroe. I am not sure I buy this rumor either, but Dejan's comments about a free agent signing coming soon and a name we all know makes me a little nervous this is more than a rumor.
Cuthbert:
Apparently the Pirates are favored to sign a Nicaraguan Prospect League player by the name of Cheslor Cuthbert. According to the blog post, he will be available to sign come July and is drawing attention from many teams.
http://cardinalsbestnews.blogspot.com/2009/01/updates-out-of-nicaragua.html
Another link from Cardinals Best News has some information on him:
http://cardinalsbestnews.blogspot.com/2008/12/aritcles-on-jem-argenal-cheslor.html
Here is a link to a Google translation of an article about his tryout:
BTW Take:
I know nothing about this player but found it interesting nonetheless. It looks like the legacy of Roberto Clemente is still paying dividends for the Pirates. According to the articles, the kid can flat rake. Big power, especially at a young age.
Mayor Retires:
Sean Casey has retired to take on a studio job.
BTW Take:
There are a ton of free agents retiring after seeing what the market has in store for them. Good luck in the new gig Sean.
Boras Fingered:
Scott Boras and his agency have been fingered by Kirk Radomski as being part of the Kevin Brown portion of the Mitchell Report.
From ESPN.com:
Radomski's account says he sent HGH to Brown in the winter of 2003, and several days later discovered a wet overnight shipping package containing $8,000 in cash in the bushes by his house. Radomski says the FedEx account number and return address on the package were from the sports agency of Brown's California-based representative, Scott Boras.
Boras, reached by ESPN.com, says his agency had no connection to the alleged payment.
"The Federal Express package or anything like that, Kevin Brown was asked about it and denied it," Boras says. "The fact of the matter is we obviously give out our Federal Express numbers to a wide number of sources -- team officials, people, clients, that kind of thing -- because we obviously are sending out and mailing back and forth."
Radomski says government agents found FedEx labels from Brown in the raid of his Long Island home, but he was uncertain whether they were in possession of this particular label.
There is much more in the story.
BTW Take:
How sweet would it be to have Boras lose his license over this deal?
Delay:
One more days delay on wrapping up the free agency posts. Once again work has got in the way of blogging.
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