Rob Biertempfel writes that the Pirates asked for top pitching prospect Taijuan Walker from the Mariners for Garrett Jones. Trading Walker for Jones would be ludicrous, from the Mariners' perspective. But since the Pirates are trying to take themselves at least somewhat seriously in 2013, they either need to get someone in a Jones trade who can help right away, or they need to get a legitimate prospect. Walker, who handled himself well in Class AA at age 19 last year, certainly qualifies.

This trade was never going to happen, obviously, since Walker is far more valuable than Jones. You might actually say that it's a waste of both teams' time. But it's still reassuring, in that the last proposal we heard -- Justin Smoak, John Jaso and Hector Noesi for Jones and Joel Hanrahan -- wasn't a particularly good one at all. It sounds like the two teams might be talking past each other here.