The Detroit Free Press:

The Tigers are in the midst of their search for [2008 shortstop Edgar] Renteria's successor. Detroit is involved in "ongoing" discussions with the Pittsburgh Pirates regarding shortstop Jack Wilson, according to one industry official familiar with the talks.

The teams have not yet exchanged concrete trade proposals, the official said, but there appears to be genuine interest on both sides.

The Tigers have declined to offer arbitration to Renteria, which comes as no surprise given the way he played last year.

The Tigers' farm system is, unfortunately, pretty rough, due in part to the trades for Renteria and Miguel Cabrera last offseason. They do have a couple of shortstop prospects in Danny Worth and Cale Iorg, but I don't see either of those guys as good bets to be starters in the majors. (Again, I don't think the Pirates need to get a shortstop here, but it wouldn't surprise me if they tried to get one.) Their best bet in a trade with the Tigers might be to try to grab a live arm or two, but the starting pitching prospects who are posting the most interesting numbers (Jon Kibler and maybe Duane Below) are apparently doing so more with polish than with stuff. (I'm ignoring Rick Porcello, of course, since the Tigers definitely aren't going to trade him for Wilson.) Here's a pretty good list of the Tigers' best prospects.

Tons more cool stuff about Latin America in the Post-Gazette today. First, there's a list of the Pirates' top five prospects who haven't yet played for the Pirates' affiliates in the states. Because Latin scouting and development under Dave Littlefield was so terrible, it's basically a list of the Pirates' most expensive signees this year, but there's also Starling Marte at the top of the list. Marte, an outfielder, turned 20 in October and hit .296/.367/.455 for the Pirates' DSL team. That's a good line for that league, although Marte was a bit old.

The list was compiled by Latin American scouting director Rene Gayo, so it's not surprising he would favor the players he got to pay the most, but it's still probably the best information about this sort of thing we're likely to get, and it's manna for dorks like me.

Meanwhile, this is an interesting piece on Gayo himself, who sounds like the kind of guy who could write an amazing autobiography.

While we're on the subject of prospects, I just noticed that WTM has written a summary of the Pirates' drafts since 1999, with grades on each draft. WTM is the authority on these things, but it's striking to me that, of Littlefield's six drafts, only two get D's, and the rest get passing grades. Yes, the 2005 draft (with Andrew McCutchen, Steve Pearce, Brent Lillibridge and Jeff Sues) looks okay, and 2003 (Paul Maholm and Tom Gorzelanny) wasn't too bad. But if Littlefield's 2007 draft, for example, doesn't get an F, then what does an F draft look like? Or do we really have to wait another two years for Danny Moskos (and any number of questionable late-round picks) to flame out completely before we give that grade? And how much does grabbing Matt Capps with a late-round pick in 2002 balance against completely botching the first overall pick in that draft (Bryan Bullington)? I would have been a bit less generous than WTM is here.

The Post-Gazette reports that the Pirates (and other teams) are considering signing Mark Loretta, presumably to take over the Chris Gomez role. Loretta's late peak with the Padres is now long gone and he'd probably be stretched as a starter, but he played 72 games at shortstop for the Astros in 2007, and he's a notch better than the typical bench infielder. I assume the Pirates aren't planning to have Loretta take over the starting shortstop job if Jack Wilson is traded, but signing Loretta would prevent shortstop from being a complete black hole if the Pirates deal Wilson and don't get a shortstop in return. Signing Loretta thus might make a Wilson trade more likely.

Bob Lozinak, who owned the Pirates' Class AA affiliate in Altoona before he sold it to Chuck Greenberg in 2002, has bought the team again. Greenberg will remain the owner of the State College Spikes. Lozinak says he plans to maintain the Curve's affiliation with the Pirates and keep the team in Altoona.

The Astros have agreed to sign Mike Hampton, pending a physical:

Hampton, 36, will be in Houston either Monday or Tuesday to take the physical, which is usually the final step before a team and player finalize a deal. An announcement confirming an agreement between the free agent and the Astros could arrive sometime on Tuesday, assuming Hampton passes.

It's unclear how much the Astros will pay Hampton.

I have to credit Hampton with persistence; with the expiration of his gargantuan contract and his problems staying healthy, it'd be hard to fault him for just retiring. As a groundball pitcher and as a guy who doesn't allow a lot of home runs, he's a good fit for Houston's homer-happy ballpark, as far as that goes. Of course, it's hard to glean any advantage if he can't stay on the field--the last season he pitched more than 78 innings was 2004.

Here's another great article about the Pirates' efforts in Latin America. Dejan Kovacevic suggests that the Pirates' new Dominican facility will be among the best in the business. On top of that, the Dominican has become a major priority for Bob Nutting, who has tripled Latin scouting director Rene Gayo's signing budget and has taken a personal interest in the area:

It was Nutting early in 2007 who decided, with no input from then-general manager Dave Littlefield, to react to independent word about the Pirates' lagging facilities and productivity in the region by arranging a visit. That happened in May of that year, with Littlefield ordered to come along in a look-at-this-mess-you've-made spirit. To boot, before the party left Pittsburgh, Littlefield was instructed to announce the trip to the media in a clubhouse gathering that might have been one of the most uncomfortable public moments of his tenure...

If any attempt had been made by others in the front office to hide any aspects of the Latin American operation from Nutting -- and there is speculation that was the case -- he apparently smoked it out.

"If we had on our list to show him this, he wanted to see that," Gayo recalls. "And when we went to look for places for the new one, it must have been 14 different ones that we saw."...

By all accounts, Nutting took to Gayo right away and promised to make changes.

It's hard not to get excited about this. And it's funny to imagine Littlefield squirming about having to talk to the media about the job he'd done.

Go read the whole thing. Also be sure to check out Kovacevic's blog, which contains a lot more great stuff that didn't fit in the articles.

This wouldn't get its own post on a bigger news day, but I still thought this was interesting. The Royals have signed former Pirate prospect J.R. House to a minor league deal. The Royals are both open-minded enough and bad enough at catcher that House, who has 60 career big-league at bats spread over five seasons, could finally get a real look in the majors.

"We signed him to catch," said Royals assistant general manager J.J. Picollo. "We thought J.R. was a good fit. He can also play first, he's a right-handed hitter and with Kila [Ka'aihue] in Triple-A, we could have a right-left combination at first base as well."

Picollo said House has had shoulder problems in the past.

"I know the knock on him has been his defense isn't real strong, but it's a serviceable job that he does and, hopefully, his shoulder will hold up and it'll be fine," Picollo said. "He's an offensive-type guy and that's an attraction with him."

Platooning House with Ka'aihue in the minors would be a really dumb idea (Ka'aihue is a pretty interesting hitter), but letting House share time behind the plate with Brayan Pena wouldn't. The Royals will likely enter 2009 with the same catchers (John Buck and Miguel Olivo) who hit .236/.295/.383 for them last year. Both have their charms--they both hit for above-average power for catchers and play decent defense--but neither can get on base. Buck, in particular, has to be disappointing to Royals fans: since his debut in 2004, he hasn't gotten better, and his career high in batting average is still just .245. In the past two years, he's batted .222 and .224. If he hits any worse than that, he's a liability, and everyone notices when a guy's batting average is the problem. It's easy to imagine a situation in which Buck and Olivo, who are both old enough that a decline isn't out of the question, perform a bit worse and the Royals get sick of both of them. If that happens, House is a good bet to be an offensive upgrade.

The New York Times wonders why the pace of transactions has been so slow this offseason:

A review of baseball’s transaction history since 2001 showed that the only period featuring fewer signings in the first 12 days of open bidding than this year came in the 2002-3 off-season, when Jesse Orosco was the only free agent who had signed. Each of the last five free-agent off-seasons included at least six signings by this stage, led by the 2006 bonanza when Alfonso Soriano, Juan Pierre, Nomar Garciaparra, Gary Matthews Jr., Aramis Ramírez and Frank Thomas signed before Thanksgiving...

Some baseball executives have suggested that many teams, unsure of how long it will take for the economy to rebound, are reluctant to offer expensive multiyear deals.

It is unclear how well baseball is insulated from the country’s economic troubles, but it is clear that people in the sport are concerned.

It's too early to draw firm conclusions about why so few free agents have signed, but it's not too early to wonder. This article reminds me of the 2002-2003 offseason, when teams were spectacularly thrifty with certain types of low-impact talent, and the Pirates wound up signing Reggie Sanders, Matt Stairs, Kenny Lofton and Jeff Suppan for practically nothing.

In 2003, those players all exceeded expectations, but the rest of the team simply wasn't very good, and the bullpen was a disaster. This year, Neal Huntington has said he's going to wait awhile before signing free agents. Although he isn't going to be able to sign the equivalent of Sanders, Stairs, Lofton and Suppan for pennies on the dollar, waiting may turn out to be a productive strategy in this economic climate. Suppan didn't sign until the end of January, and Sanders and Lofton didn't sign until mid-March. This may be the only time in Huntington's tenure in which emulating Dave Littlefield is a good idea.

It's really a shame that the Pirates aren't in a position to take advantage of market conditions. If there's a market downturn, it probably won't affect marquee players like Mark Teixeira, and mid-level free agents aren't going to get the Pirates anywhere this year. A team like Tampa Bay, which really could benefit from some mid-market talent, might find useful players at good values this offseason.

Dejan Kovacevic returns with a long story on the Pirates' offseason plans. One interesting bit:

"It could be an offseason where there is a significant change or one where almost nothing happens," [Neal Huntington] said. "Quite honestly, it has the makings of an either-or scenario, depending on what happens with other clubs and the industry."

Well, we'll see.Trade rumors involving Jack Wilson have been flying about for years, and the Pirates played a big chunk of last season without him anyway. At this point, it would be a shock if the Pirates didn't trade him.

Kovacevic also reports that some of the key free agent shortstops (Rafael Furcal and a couple others) may have to find homes before the bidding for Wilson becomes serious, so don't look for anything to happen right away. Also, Chin-Lung Hu will not be the headliner of any trade for Wilson, which is good to hear.

Via WHYGAVS, the Dodgers are still interested in Jack Wilson:

The Pirates, who are discussing Wilson with several teams, wanted Dodgers shortstop Chin-Lung Hu, outfielder Delwyn Young and a third young player, sources say.

The teams spoke as recently as Monday, according to one source, but currently are at an impasse. The Dodgers first tried to obtain Wilson in early July, when Furcal was recovering from back surgery. It was then that the Pirates expressed their initial interest in Hu.

I suppose a great deal could depend on who the third player is, but I'm a bit baffled by this. I don't dislike Hu and I'm not surprised the Pirates would want him--he is, after all, a shortstop, and a good defender at that. I just don't think he's good enough to build a deal around. He had an atrocious year at the plate, posting a .485 OPS with the Dodgers and only a .708 OPS in a great hitting environment in AAA Las Vegas. Before that, he looked a bit like Wilson, but maybe with a notch less power. This year, though, he only had one homer total. He'll be 25 at the start of next season, and while I wouldn't mind having him in the Pirates' organization, I think it's fair to wonder if he's going to blossom into an everyday player.

As for Young, I don't see what the Pirates are getting at. He's a corner outfielder who will be in his age-27 season next year. He's put up superficially good-looking seasons in the minors, but they're mostly in Las Vegas, and you need to go look at his team numbers before you get too excited about them--everybody who goes to Vegas posts a .900 OPS. Young has looked more like a AAAA player than a real prospect for a couple years now.

Again, a lot could depend on who the third player is, but unless he's someone pretty impressive, I don't get why the Pirates would want this package or why the Dodgers could refuse them. Of course, it's possible the third player was Matt Kemp or something, and Rosenthal got his information from someone from the Pirates who wanted to make the Dodgers seem irrational. In which case, well played, Pirates.