Some quick hits:

Payroll Made Public: Jeff Tripodi of Let's Go Bucs has compiled a comprehensive chart of the Pirates' salary obligations for the next five years. What a player HAS made is pretty easy to find, but if you want to know what a player WILL make over the next couple of years you have to do some serious digging. That makes the list Mr. Tripodi compiled all the more impressive. A tip of the hat for a reference source I plan on using quite extensively.

Mike Gonzalez Reevaluated: It's somewhat of an understatement to say that Mike Gonzalez is one of the Bucs' bright spots in the bullpen. The 26 year old Texan is one of baseball's most desired commodities -- a power lefty. At first glance, his numbers would suggest he was nearly unhittable in 2004. He held opposing hitters to a .201 batting average and a paltry .489 OPS. Many Pirate observers, including myself, wondered why the team brought back aging Jose Mesa instead of giving Gonzalez a shot. Well, according to Baseball Graph's Studes, the numbers don't tell the whole story with Gonzalez. Using a calculation called Wins Probability Added (WPA) (explained here) Studes explains that Gonzalez had a good year in 2004, but not so much when the game was on the line. He blew several leads spectacularly with inherited runners. The study illuminates that Gonzalez might not be quite ready to be the main man out of the pen. Not surprising, considering his inexperience, but even so, I still don't like re-signing Mesa.

Deals Dead?: Pirate beat writer Dejan Kovacevic created quite the stir among the Bucco faithful when he speculated that the Pirates were making a run at Aubrey Huff, Austin Kearns or Eric Byrnes. Since then, Reds GM Dan O'Brien has announced that Kearns is not on the market, ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick (subscription only) called any Huff trade speculation "overblown" and Eric Byrnes has signed a one-year deal with the Athletics to avoid arbitration. Now, none of these things necessarily preclude any of those guys getting dealt, but as I said before, I just don't see any of them coming to Pittsburgh. I still the team looking at a guy like the Twins' Restovich. But, if you are going to go that route, I think they should be targeting someone like the Oriole's Val Majewksi -- a guy who: (A) is cheap; (B) has upside; and (C) could be blocked on his current team.

Take a Look at Albaladejo: Pirate farmhand, Jonathan Albaladejo had pitched extremely well in the Puerto Rican League this off-season, but his hot streak came to an end last night in the Caribbean Series. Pitching for Puerto Rico's Mayaguez, Albaldejo got lit up by the Dominican Republic team. Read the write-up here and be sure to check out the video profile of Albaladejo linked on the same on the page.