Time for a Pirates roundup. They deserve some love here at MLBTradeRumors.
- Dejan Kovacevic reports that Salomon Torres’s grievance against the Pirates may prevent the team from trading him. On the off chance he wins the grievance, he would become a free agent and the acquiring team would be screwed. While that scenario is unlikely, it does look like this thing needs to be resolved before any deal is made. I imagine that if some team wanted him badly all the involved parties could figure something out.
- The Bucs owe Shawn Chacon a phone call on whether they’re open to negotiating a contract extension with him. Their lack of action speaks volumes; even Dave Littlefield isn’t going to sign Chacon for multiple years at $4MM+ per. Chacon has managed to subdue righties this year and increase his strikeout rate significantly. He’s still got lousy control though. He’s a trade candidate but shouldn’t bring much.
- On the other hand, Damaso Marte is known to be available. He’d be helpful as a lefty-killer. For Marte, Chacon, or Torres, the Pirates want a Major Leaguer of some sort (according to MLB.com’s Mark Bowman). Bowman says the Braves would get in on Marte if Littlefield would drop the price.
