During the 2004 season, Oliver Perez had one of the best pitching seasons I can recall from a Pittsburgh Pirates starter in the last few decades. The Pirates don't have a lot of great pitching performances...
The Pittsburgh Pirates are struggling at the plate at the Major League level. Fortunately for them, a lot of their hitters in Triple-A are performing well. This means they have some internal solutions if they wish...
When the deadline for offering contracts passed last night, four new free agents were created. The Pirates offered contracts to pitcher Jeff Karstens and SS Ronny Cedeno, both as expected. But they elected not to tender contracts to pitchers Donnie Veal and Brian Burres, SS Argenis Diaz, and OF Lastings Milledge. Veal is still recovering from elbow surgery, and is expected to sign a minor league deal with the Pirates. Since he is going to have to spend some time in the minors when he returns anyway, this is not likely to affect his progress much. The other three are all free agents now.
Other notes: Former Pirate C Ronny Paulino was also non-tendered by the Marlins, and he also is now a free agent. Pittsburgh native INF Josh Wilson, who played for the Indy Indians in 2008, was resigned by the Mariners. (NOT Jack Wilson, who is also on the Mariners' roster.) OF Eric Hinske was signed as a free agent by the Braves. P Zach Duke signed a contract with the Diamondbacks, avoiding arbitration.
