Weird. I'm not sure what to make of a story that says the Pirates pursued Brian Giles but that they've also shown interest in Jacque Jones. Signing Giles would have been a great and unexpected move; signing Jones would be an actively self-destructive move. Likewise, I'm not sure what to make of the facts that the Pirates are interested in Nomar Garciaparra, but that Garciaparra's agent has told the Yankees he's not interested in offers shorter than four years.

The problem with this time of year is that there's so much excitement but not enough actual facts to go around. With the Brian Giles story, for example, all we have to go on is Giles' agent's assurance that yes, the Pirates inquired about him, which really probably just means that something like the imaginary conversation at the beginning of the linked article actually took place.

Agent: Hello?

Dave Littlefield: Hi, this is Dave. I'd like to talk about Brian.

Agent: Not a chance, Dave.

Littlefield: Well, I tried! Would you mind mentioning that to Kovacevic, please?