I missed this last night, but Bill Brink just retweeted a note that the Pirates have signed outfielder Darren Ford to a minor-league contract.

Ford's claim to fame probably is having been traded for Ray Durham back in 2008. He came up in the Brewers and Giants systems, but spent last year with the Mariners' Class AAA affiliate in Tacoma. He's incredibly fast (you may remember him from this game) and has a good defensive reputation in center, but he has little power and hasn't had the batting averages (or, for that matter, the stolen-base percentages) you'd hope for from a fast guy. Maybe there's a Gorkys Hernandez-style fifth outfielder in there, but it's more likely he'll simply be with Indianapolis.

... Writing that sentence about Gorkys Hernandez just made me realize I had a dream last night that the Pirates non-tendered Gaby Sanchez. Some part of me wanted to sit down this morning and write a scathing post about wasting a compensation pick. But that didn't happen. Anyway, Darren Ford, people!