Notes: Alen Hanson, Emilio Bonifacio

There still isn't much happening today, but here's a brief look at what is happening, both within the Pirates organization and outside it.

• Rob Biertempfel reminds us what's on the horizon for January and February. The Pirates have voluntary minicamp next week, and the Jung-Ho Kang deadline is two weeks from Tuesday.
• The Pirates will evidently promote Michael Ryan, who had been the manager at West Virginia, to Bradenton this year. Tom Prince held that position last season, so it's unclear what will happen there, but these sorts of minor league shuffles are common.
• Alen Hanson was supposed to attend a rookie orientation in Washington DC this week, but the Pirates gave him permission to keep playing for Toros del Este in the Dominican Winter League playoffs. Hanson is hitting 5-for-18 with a homer and three walks this winter. I didn't know MLB had a rookie orientation, but it's not surprising that they do. The majors are pretty different from the minors, particularly with regard to travel and fan interaction. (The NFL has a similar program, which I only know because I happened to sit next to this guy on a plane as he was heading to his rookie orientation in San Diego.)
• The White Sox will sign Pirate-killer Emilio Bonifacio, adding a good utility player to the huge amount of talent they've acquired this offseason. He'll presumably compete for the White Sox' job at second base, where they're thin after sending Marcus Semien to Oakland as part of the Jeff Samardzija trade.