The Pirates Are After Luis Gonzalez

I learned something new today. Believe it or not, Luis Gonzalez is still in baseball! I know! I know, I was surprised too. Apparently, he spent all of last year coming off of the bench with the Marlins, which is probably why I failed to notice his continued existence in baseball. I mean, hey, I could tell you who won the World Series in 1924 off the top of my head (the Washington Senators), but I've got to cap the knowledge somewhere and I draw the line somewhere well before whoever the Marlins fourth outfielder is.

Perhaps even more impressive, though, isn't that he played last year. No, it's that someone is still interested in him this year. Indeed, the Pittsburgh Pirates are attempting to fill out their bench and use up some remaining money they had earmarked for salary this year and they appear to be interested in adding Gonzo for that role this year. The Post-Gazette, which is reporting the story, says that two other teams are also interested. though I can't imagine who else they would be.

I want to make fun of the Pirates for doing this, but Gonzalez probably isn't going to start and he's not going to get paid a lot, so the question really doesn't go beyond, "Really? But why? There's no better way to spend that money?" Maybe there really isn't. The Pirates have certainly done stupider things.

What kind of baffles me is how we're to a point in the off-season when guys like Luis Gonzalez are finding jobs, but Ben Sheets, Adam Dunn, and Bobby Abreu aren't. There are three teams interested in Luis Gonzalez, but no one wants Dunn for more than $5 million? How does this make any sense to anyone?

Gonzalez, however, would get to join an illustrious group of baseball players that includes Joe Randa, Jeromy Burnitz, Chris Stynes, and Ramon Martinez who went to Pittsburgh to let their careers die. On the bright side, he'd certainly be the best player on that list. On the downside, he'd be backing up Nyjer Morgan this year.