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-P- The Pirates "have spoken about" Stephen Drew, Jon Heyman reports. In a vacuum, I'd love it if the Pirates wound up with Drew, but the No. 24 overall pick is a lot to give up, given that the Pirates have what appears to be a perfectly decent shortstop in Jordy Mercer.
-P- Mike Carp could get some work at third base this spring. This kind of thing happens every spring and usually doesn't mean anything. If Carp could really play third, my guess is that the Red Sox or one of his other teams would have put him there by now. On the off-off-off-chance Carp proves to be a capable third baseman, though, the Red Sox would probably be less inclined to deal him, given that the Sox have less certainty at third than at the other positions Carp plays.
-P- Wilbur wrote about the Nelson Cruz signing yesterday. It's obviously a very interesting deal that has pretty profound implications not only for the qualifying offer, but also for how teams now value one-dimensional sluggers. There's also the matter of Cruz putting up big counting stats in Texas -- as Dave Cameron notes, that stuff doesn't fool anyone anymore. One year and $8 million, plus a second-round draft pick, is actually a reasonably accurate valuation for Cruz, who I'm guessing would have been wildly overpaid in any year before this one.
-P- The Yankees have agreed to terms with Brett Gardner on a four-year extension, thus removing another good player from an increasingly weak 2014-15 free agent market that also recently lost Homer Bailey. We seem to be moving backwards, in a way, to the time period when players stuck with one team for most of their careers.
-P- Chris Capuano has signed with the Red Sox for one year and just $2.25 million plus incentives. I don't know how great a bet Capuano is to succeed in the AL East, but as with the Paul Maholm deal, this looks like a potential bargain.
