Pirates rumors: Bucs show interest in Rafael Furcal

The Pirates have contacted free agent shortstop Rafael Furcal, Travis Sawchik tweets. Furcal had Tommy John surgery in March and missed the whole season, so he's heading into free agency way under the radar.

Unfortunately, he's very far removed from his peak with the Braves and Dodgers, and he hasn't posted a WAR above 0.8 since 2010. As with Lance Berkman, he would probably be a bench-type player who might surprise us with something more. I don't see much reason to think Furcal would be better than Jordy Mercer at this point, but he might be worth a cheap gamble coming off the bench. With Stephen Drew probably too expensive for the Pirates' tastes, there aren't many other good free agent shortstops left. Furcal is certainly one of the more interesting of that group, although that's not saying much.

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