Rumors and More

The day started off with the news that Brian Bixler and Andrew McCutchen were reassigned to the minor league camp. As I have said before, it is plainly obvious that McCutchen is ready to show what he can do in the big leagues. I guess the team just wants to wait a little while longer to prolong his arbitration clock and I have no problem with that. I only hope that he will be up in the big leagues before Memorial Day.

Bixler has seemingly turned some heads this spring as well. That is good news to hear, as I hope that we get a chance to see if he can improve on his rather poor performance in the big leagues last season. I want to say that the Bixler we saw last year is not what he can do on the major league level, he won't be a big time player, but I think he can be a more than serviceable major leaguer.

John Perrotto provided the juiciest nuggets of the day as he provided some rumors of possible future Buccos. He mentions Jeff Baker, a utility guy with youth and some upside from the Rockies as a player that the Pirates have been thinking about. He would definitely be a type of higher upside bench player, the kind of which we have not seen in some time in Pittsburgh.

Among the other names are defensive minded infielder Robert Andino, Morgan Ensberg (yet another guy I believe Littlefield wanted at some time), and Marcus Giles. While those names are not all that intriguing this one was; Jeff Niemann. You may remember his name as the tall righty was a first round pick out of Rice by the Rays a few years back, a Cam Bonifay pick if I am recalling it correctly.

Niemann has run out of options with the Rays and it looks as though he might get subjected to waivers. While injuries have held back the former top pick, Niemann is the prototype player the Pirates should be jumping at. He has a pedigree and obviously tremendous talent, he just needs some time and maybe a change of scenery. While he may not answer our current questions about the rotation, he could provide depth and the possibility of regaining the promise that made him a number one pick. I would absolutely love to add a guy like him and can only hope that the price is not all that high.