Pirates Rumors: Willingham, Kouzmanoff, Doumit, Walker, Maholm

*Rob Biertempfel of the Tribune-Review reports that contract talks for Neil Walker have cooled. A source told Biertempfel that the two sides currently are not engaged in discussions about a multi-year deal for Walker, but Biertempfel reports that the sides are likely to engage in talks again before spring training. The Pirates are said to be looking to make some noise before spring training in locking up at least one member of their young core.

The team was "deep in talks with Walker" in late August, when outfielder Jose Tabata signed a six-year, $14.75 million contract.

However, the team was trying to ink Walker to a bargain deal similar to Tabata. Something Walker and his agent Alan Hendricks is not going to go for. One industry source in the summer indicated that the Pirates were floating around numbers in the 5 year - $18 million range.

*MLB.com reported earlier this week that the Pirates have some level of interest in outfielder Josh Willingham and third baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff.

I touched based today with agent Matt Sosnickwho represents both players.