-P- Via Primer, you need to read this interview with Adam LaRoche:
"In my opinion, they need to get the .500 thing out of their heads and go for the playoffs"...
"It really is lot different, good and bad," LaRoche said. "They want to win, but I think nobody's real sure how to do it. They're looking for a couple of guys to come in and show them."
Jeez. LaRoche has been here two weeks, and he's already figured out what the Pirates' problems are. It doesn't sound like Dave Littlefield has managed to fill LaRoche with confidence.
Elsewhere in the article, LaRoche says some really nice things about Pirates fans, and has some choice words for Braves fans. This is a must-read. If LaRoche keeps being this candid, Littlefield is going to regret trading for him. And I mean that in the best possible way.
-P- Baseball America lists its Top 10 Pirates prospects.
The players are going to have to sign a lot of guys to long-term deals if that "Projected 2010 Lineup" is going to come to fruition. Jason Bay, Freddy Sanchez and Xavier Nady, who are all on the team, will be in their free agent years by then.
-P- Pat begins his 2007 preview with a post about Chris Duffy.
-P- An outsider's take on the Jack Wilson - Jose Castillo situation. Check out the rest of the blog, too, while, you're there. I thought this was pretty funny.
-P- Athletics Nation has a huge new interview with Billy Beane.
-P- The Nats signed Austin Kearns to an extension worth at least three years and $17.5 million. The deal buys out one, and possibly two, of Kearns' free agency years. Kearns was going to cost the Nats about $4 million this year in arbitration, so this is basically a two-year, $13.5 million deal with a $9 million option. Given Kearns' age and the current free agent climate, that sounds like a decent deal for both sides.