The Pittsburgh Pirates and Baltimore Orioles had trade talks involving Neil Walker at the GM meetings last week according to Rob Biertempfel. He reports that the talks quickly broke down due to the high asking price from the Pirates. Since it is early in the off-season, there shouldn’t be any rush to move Walker, so a high initial asking price is no surprise. He has one year left before hitting free agency and he is projected to make $10.7M through arbitration this winter. Walker hit .269/.328/.427 in 151 games this season
Earlier in the day, Neal Huntington commented that the recovery of Jung Ho Kang won’t impact what they do with Neil Walker this off-season. It’s still early in his recovery process, but Kang is expected back sometime after Opening Day, though the best case scenario would have him ready close to the opener.