Travis Sawchik of the Trib reports through a source that the Pittsburgh Pirates have been making calls on high upside starters early in free agency.
Most of the Pirates' initial free agent calls have targeted 'high upside' starting pitchers per source
— Travis Sawchik (@Travis_Sawchik) November 11, 2013
Earlier today we learned that the Pirates haven’t heard from Burnett on whether he is retiring or coming back to play in 2014. It makes sense that the Pirates would be making most of their calls to “high upside” guys. The free agent market is pretty weak at the positions where the Pirates need to upgrade. If they’re looking at first base, right field, and shortstop, then they have limited choices at each position. By comparison, there are a lot of high upside pitching candidates on the market, which means you’re going to be checking with all of them to find the best combination of price and the best candidate to bounce back.