Winter Meetings Buzz: Pirates have mindset that they owe it to themselves to listen to offers for Hanrahan

Sources: Pirates high on Red Sox outfielder Ryan Kalish

The Pirates' marketing department might have gotten a little bit ahead of itself.

One of the promotions at PNC Park in 2012 is Joel Hanrahan Bobblehead Night on May 12 when the Pirates host the Houston Astros.

However, there is at least a chance that the Pirates closer won't be on the team come next May. It is also possible that he won't be a Pirate by the time baseball's winter meetings end next Thursday in Dallas.

Multiple teams are looking for closers this winter and Hanrahan was one of the best in the major leagues last season when he converted 40 of 44 saves opportunities with a 1.68 ER and a 1.05 WHIP in 70 games.

While the Pirates aren't actively shopping Hanrahan, they are willing to listen to offers for him, especially since he figures to earn a raise from $1.4 million to at least $4 million this winter through the arbitration process.

A Pirates' source said "we think the world of Joel and the job he's done for us but we also owe it to ourselves to at least listen to what other teams will offer because you never know how badly somebody wants a player."

General manager Neal Huntington is a big believer in advanced statistical analysis and one of the tenets of sabermetrics is that closers are overvalued because they account for so few of a team's innings over the course of a season. Hanrahan is certainly a case in point as he pitched just 4.7 percent of the Pirates' innings in 2011, working 68 2/3 of 1,449 1/3.