Jon Heyman of SI tweets that 11 teams are interested in relief pitcher Brian Fuentes, and names the Pittsburgh Pirates as one of those teams. Fuentes is apparently looking for Scott Downs type money, according to Buster Olney, which amounts to three years and $15 M. I can’t see the Pirates paying that much for a reliever, even if he would be a closer, which Fuentes most certainly would be if he signed with Pittsburgh.
The Pirates probably won’t end up signing Fuentes, but their interest in him raises the question as to what they are planning with their 2011 bullpen. We’ve heard that they’ve also been pursuing Octavio Dotel and Kevin Gregg. The money required to sign one of these relievers would almost certainly make that reliever the closer in Pittsburgh, which would shift Joel Hanrahan and Evan Meek back in to a set up role. It could also open the door for the Pirates to trade either Hanrahan or Meek to try and upgrade another area of the team.
