This isn't exactly new news, but Fox's Jon Morosi confirmed today that the Pirates are possibly interested in trading for Logan Morrison, as well as continuing to be interested in Adam Lind:
Pirates discussing multiple trade options for first base vacancy, including Adam Lind and Logan Morrison, sources say. @FOXSports1
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) December 9, 2013
I think this is the first time the Pirates have been officially linked to Morrison; before today it was mostly just idle speculation that the Pirates need a first baseman and Morrison is a first baseman.
Two years ago I would've thought that this was good news, but Morrison missed a lot of time in 2012 and 2013 with knee problems and he hasn't been all that good in the time that he has been on the field. Over the last two years, he's got a .236/.321/.387 line in 178 games. Obviously the knee problem could cause problems for Morrison on both ends of the surgery, but I'd be awfully wary of giving up too much for him in a trade. There are a few teams interested in Morrison at this point, including the Rays, who I'm mentioning because they seem to have a knack for picking the correct buy-low first base reclamation project almost every year.
There's not much else to talk about thus far today, other than that Bill Brink mentioned that the Pirates are still in touch with Clint Barmes. If Barmes is willing to take a paycut (to, say, $2.5-$3 million) and accept a role on the bench, I have no problem with him coming back as an extra glove to occasionally spell Jordy Mercer or play in late innings as a defensive replacement. I sort of suspect that he'll be limited to that role no matter what team he signs with, so I'd like to see him back for maybe one more year to work with Mercer defensively, especially if the Pirates have decided that Mercer is who they're going with at short for at least the time being.
