The Pirates are reportedly interested in both Ty Wigginton and Jason Giambi of the Colorado Rockies.
As I wrote earlier today, Giambi would make some degree of sense for the Pirates if the price was low, purely as a bat off the bench.
As for Wigginton, it’s amazing that it’s been six years since he played for the Pirates. His stint with the Bucs didn’t go so well, but he had his moments with the Rays and Astros after that. The problem is that he hasn’t hit terribly well in the past several years, is now 33, and has never provided much defensive value. He does have some versatility, but it’s hard to see how the Pirates can make use of it. If the Bucs didn’t have a third baseman, he might make some sense, since he can at least stand at third, but they promoted Pedro Alvarez today and have (sensibly) anointed him their starter at third base. So it’s unclear where Wigginton would fit in, except as a pure bench bat. The Pirates shouldn’t be paying much for those, so we’ll see if their negotiations with the Rockies go anywhere.
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