Notes: Should the Pirates sign Joba Chamberlain?

Notes for a slow Tuesday:

-P- Sports Illustrated's Jay Jaffe is a fan of the Pirates' offseason. He suggests they could use a little more pitching depth, though, and proposes that they sign Joba Chamberlain, an idea I found interesting -- Chamberlain is relatively young, is coming off a fairly good year, throws hard and gets ground balls.

Jaffe sees John Holdzkom as a question mark and Jared Hughes as a mediocrity, however, and I'm not sure I agree with either assessment. Holdzkom was so dominant last season that he's more than a wild card now, and while Hughes isn't a strikeout pitcher, his extreme ground-ball tendencies mean he doesn't need to be. The Pirates' pitching staff is closer to being set than Jaffe seems to think it is, I think, and adding someone on a big-league contract would complicate the Bucs' roster a great deal, since a couple pitchers whose roster spots appear most tenuous (Stolmy Pimentel and Jeff Locke) are out of options. But if the Pirates were to add another reliever, Chamberlain would be a very good choice.

-P- In case you missed it, Jake Elmore elected free agency after being outrighted, so it appears he won't be Triple-A depth for the Pirates after all. That's too bad. There wasn't a place for Elmore on the Pirates, but he's premium Triple-A depth, and last year's team showed what you're missing when you don't have extra infielders who can hit.

-P- 19-year-old Yoan Moncada, an extremely talented Cuban infielder, has been cleared to sign. He'll likely be way out of the Pirates' price range, particularly since he's subject to rules regarding international bonus pools and will likely require whoever signs him to pay a huge tax for exceeding their allotment.