Friday, January 19, 2007

House Cleaning and Such

-Adam LaRoche is a Pittsburgh Pirate. Officially. The present Pirates are happy about it, in fact they are ecstatic.

-The Pirates also agreed to a one-year deal with Shawn Chacon worth $3,825,000, plus as much as $225,000 in performance bonuses based on innings pitched. Chacon and the team exchanged salary figures Tuesday, Chacon submitting $4.25 million and the team $3.7 million. He made $3.6 million last season.

-More official paperwork says the Pirates officially have a new principal owner and his name is Bob Nutting. He was approved unanimously by the other Major League owners.

-A scouts take on Brent Lillibridge (courtesy of Baseball America):

No matter how impressive his 2006 numbers were, Lillibridge's year was also somewhat historic, as he was the only player in the minors to hit over .300, post over a .400 on-base percentage, hit over 10 home runs (13), drive in over 50 runs (71) and steal over 50 bases (53).

"This guy is a poor man's Brian Roberts . . . very exciting player with boundless energy and good speed, reactions, and instincts.

"He's one of the top middle infield prospects in the game for me, a sure-fire major leaguer with the only question being how good he will be and where--short, second base, or even moving him back to the outfield."

-Jeff Samardzija has chosen baseball and the Chicago Cubs over the possibility of the NFL. The two-sport Notre Dame star signed a five-year deal worth 10 million dollars that includes a no trade clause.

-Who's hitting in Winter ball you ask? Jose Castillo is finding his stroke.

-The Pirates are still chasing Brian Lawrence. They even upped their offer yesterday.

1 comment:

Peter said...

Yea sure everybody is sad to see Lillibridge go but the Pirates need major league players now not more hopeful minor leaguers. Lillibridge would play AA this year and is probably at least a year and a half away from the majors. So in my mind he was worth giving up to get LaRoche who just seems to fit so perfectly into the Pirates lineup. Let's go hunt some birds, I'm psyched