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Pirates Notebook: Wilson deal appears dormant
Friday, August 24, 2007
By Dejan Kovacevic, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

DENVER -- It appears Jack Wilson will have at least one more month of playing in Pittsburgh.

There have been no trade talks between the Pirates and Detroit Tigers for "several days, maybe more," one source said yesterday. Two other sources offered similar accounts, one saying that the Pirates have made up their minds to wait until the offseason to shop Wilson again.

There are three potential advantages to that:

More teams than the Tigers would be involved, with new holes involving shortstops being created on other roster.

Players being dealt would not have to clear waivers, as they have had to since the July 31 deadline after which the Pirates-Tigers talks apparently fizzled.

Wilson's value might be seen by some as rising with his terrific play of late, including a .378 average -- 28 for 74 -- in the past 24 games, with two more hits yesterday.

Wilson's agent, Page Odle, never was contacted by the Pirates at any point in the process, even when they and Detroit were believed to be close to a deal at the July 31 deadline. The Pirates would have needed to seek written permission from Wilson and Odle because Wilson's limited no-trade clause includes the Tigers.

"Jack's feeling now is that he's going to have another month with the Pirates," Odle said. "And he's completely fine with that, of course."

Wilson is due $14.25 million over the next two seasons, including $6.5 million next year. If he is traded, the Pirates surely will exercise shortstop Cesar Izturis' $5.45 million club option for 2008.

Nady slowed again

In what likely will be a recurring theme down the stretch, outfielder Xavier Nady was held out of the lineup because his ailing hamstring was "throbbing," according to manager Jim Tracy, after covering a long distance to catch a sixth-inning popup Wednesday.

Nady looked fluid in approaching that ball, but he complained to athletic trainer Mike Sandoval shortly after that and was replaced.

"It's just going to be day by day with him," Tracy said.

Buried treasure

Second baseman Freddy Sanchez's right arm caught Colorado catcher Yorvit Torrealba during a first-inning slide into home. Sanchez appeared stung for a few moments but kept playing.

The pitchers for the Tuesday doubleheader with the Cincinnati Reds will be, in order, Tom Gorzelanny and Shane Youman. That will render Youman unavailable for bullpen duty over the weekend.

There remained no word on the MRI results on center fielder Chris Duffy's left shoulder.

Nate McLouth's nine home runs as a center fielder -- he has 10 overall -- are the Pirates' most at that position since Brian Giles had 14 in 2001. The greatest recent output for a career-long center fielder was Andy Van Slyke's 14 in 1992.



First published at PG NOW on August 23, 2007 at 11:14 pm