Ken Rosenthal had the following tweet this morning about the Pittsburgh Pirates and Shane Victorino.
Things can change quickly over next 31 hours, but #Pirates did not seem alive on Victorino as of late last night. #Phillies
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) July 30, 2012
As Rosenthal notes, things could change between now and tomorrow’s deadline. The news is a bit surprising, as we’ve heard the Pirates connected to Victorino a lot this summer. Of course, on the other side of those talks, Jeff Passan reports that the Phillies are more aggressive in dealing Hunter Pence than they are Victorino. The Phillies are looking to unload some salary next year, and by dealing Pence they’d be getting rid of $3.7 M this year, and upwards of $14 M next year. Victorino is a free agent following the season, so he would have zero impact on reducing next year’s payroll.
July 30, 2012 at 12:45 pm
I’d disagree with the assessment that the Pirates have connected to Victorino a lot this summer. There was one report that said the Phillies wanted Lincoln and the Pirates countered with Hughes. The Phillies declined that offer. All the other reports were just piggybacking off of that one report.
Twitter: timwilliamsp2
July 30, 2012 at 12:56 pm
Here’s the Victorino archives.
http://www.piratesprospects.com/?s=shane+victorino&x=0&y=0
A lot of the early talk was more speculation and matching a team looking for an outfielder with a team who would potentially be dealing an outfielder. But the actual connection has been more than just the Lincoln/Victorino talk. There was reported interest before that offer.