***Trade Rumors surrounding players not named Freddy Sanchez or Jack Wilson.
The Pirates are currently not engaged in trade talks with the Philadelphia Phillies about Zach Duke. There has been a belief that the Phillies would look into Zach Duke, if this miss out on Cliff Lee or Roy Halladay.
The Tigers continue to show a strong interest in Duke as do the Texas Rangers.
Although Neal Huntington’s philosophy is to sell high, there’s only about a 35% chance that Duke is moved.
The Yankees are considering Ian Snell but he is more of a last option for them. The Rangers remain interested and want the Pirates pick up part of Snell’s salary for next season.
The Dodgers have scouted
Matt Capps and John Grabow heavily over the past month. But for now the Dodgers have put their pursuit of both players on hold.
They could come back to either player if they miss out on some of their top tagets.
Pittsburgh has tried to gauge interest from the LA Angels in closer Matt Capps. Pittsburgh is coveting 1B Mark Trumbo but the Angels interest in Capps has cooled
Slim chance that Capps is moved but one team to keep an eye on is the Florida Marlins. The two teams exchanged proposals earlier this month.
Pittsburgh was eyeing 1B Gaby Sanchez.
Pittsburgh expects to get a better than expected return for John Grabow. A slew of teams looking at Grabow including the Yankees, Dodgers, Twins, Phillies, Marlins, Angels, Braves, Cubs, Rockies, Tigers.
Of the 7-8 teams that teams that have inquired about the Grabow, the Pirates have been in deep discussions with the Cubs, Yankees, Twins and Marlins.
Vibe around the league is that Ryan Doumit likely would have been shopped heavily at the deadline, if he stayed healthy.
