I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving holiday. I took a few days off from the site and the Prospect Guide to spend time with family. That included cooking a hickory smoked turkey, watching the Penguins beat the Lightning up in Tampa, and making a 30 foot chip for par. You could say that was more activity than the Pirates had this week, as their moves were limited to a minor trade and a few minor league transactions. Next week will have more moves, especially on Monday with the non-tender deadline. Here is the week in review.
Transactions
**The Pirates acquired Jaff Decker and Miles Mikolas this week for Alex Dickerson. Here are the player pages for Decker and Mikolas. Overall I feel this was a minor move that saw two similar valued players swapped (Decker/Dickerson), along with an extra relief arm coming to the Pirates. The values on Decker and Mikolas were lower, since they were DFAd, although we didn’t have a high ranking on Dickerson, so the Pirates didn’t give up much to get those two. Dickerson was the number 28 ranked prospect in the 2014 Prospect Guide at the time of the trade. Those rankings aren’t final, since the book won’t be released for another two weeks. You can pre-order the 2014 Prospect Guide here.
**In minor moves this week, the Pirates released two lower level pitchers and signed two Minor League Free Agents. The player pages for the new free agents: Nevin Ashley and Cody Eppley.
Free Agent Rumors
Free agency should get a boost tomorrow with the non-tendered players entering the market. So far none of the Pirates moves this off-season have involved free agency. There were a few minor updates this week.
**The Pirates Have Checked On Rafael Furcal. This came from Furcal’s agent, and Furcal later mentioned the Pirates by name as a team that has shown interest. Today I talked about what off-season interest means.
**In news we’ve already heard once before this off-season: The Pirates Won’t Pay A.J. Burnett Market Rate. The comments made by Neal Huntington shouldn’t be a surprise, since he’s made similar comments before about how the Pirates can’t sign their best players for market rate.
**On Monday I wrote about how the Pirates have a few options between first base and right field, allowing them the flexibility to add a free agent at either position. It looks like a platoon at first base seems most likely.
**The month of November is over and the Pirates haven’t made any moves yet. There has been some growing concern over how quiet the Pirates have been. On Tuesday I wrote about why I trust Neal Huntington, and how he’s earned the right to at least let the off-season play out before any judgement is made.
Winter Leagues
**John Dreker reviews the top performers so far in the winter leagues. The Pirates have a lot of talented outfielders playing this off-season.
**Stolmy Pimentel made his debut.
**Gregory Polanco broke out of his slump with three hits on Saturday night. He was also named the Hitter of Week in the Dominican.
