Major League Baseball's Hot Stove has been a bit tepid this off season, aside from news that the Marlins are stripping their cupboard bare and that the Yankees have obtained NL MVP Giancarlo Stanton (59 HR's in 2017) to go alongside Aaron Judge, AL ROY who hit 52 HR's in 2017.
On the Pirates front, I suppose the biggest news is that Jung Ho Kang will most likely not be in Pittsburgh, or anywhere in the USA, in 2018, and probably not any time after that either. According to the Pirates website, they are not too alarmed about it and plan to make do at third base next season with some combination of David Freese, Adam Frazier, Max Moroff, Josh Harrison, Jose Osuna, and some random guy who will be selected from the stands for each Sunday home game.
It can be noted that the San Francisco Giants also were in need of a third baseman for next season. Their solution? Make a trade with the Rays for Evan Longoria. How old fashioned of them.
But the Pirates have added the following players for 2018:
- Jordan Milbrath, RHP, via the Rule 5 draft
- Nick Burdi, RHP, trade from Philly where he was selected in the Rule 5 draft
- Engelb Vielma, utility INF, trade from Philly
- Todd Cunningham, OF, minor league free agent
- Richard Rodriguez, RHP, minor league free agent
I also recall reading in there paper that they invited a guy to camp who spent last year with the Washington Wild Things, but can find no mention of it on their website, so that was either fake news from the nasty, Nutting-hating media or I dreamt it, in which case I apologize to the Pirates.
Oh, and the Bucco website also has a feature with this headline (honest to God):
"Bucs Not Rushing To Find Fourth Outfielder"
We all know how well that worked out in 2017 when the team found themselves in desperate need for a fourth outfielder.
And other news reports indicated that GM Neal Huntington was still mulling over whether or not the team should try to contend in 2018, or work on tooling up for 2019 and beyond. He hasn't quite decided yet.
I suppose that a lot can happen between now and Opening Day, but in the meantime, ain't it great to be a Pirates fan?
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