Could it be? Might the Pirates and owner Bob Nutting finally be attempting to build a contender? According to ESPN’s Jeff Passan, Pittsburgh was in on Josh Naylor before the first baseman re-signed with the Mariners. There’s no telling the numbers the two sides posed in the talks, but considering Naylor’s contract with Seattle comes in at five years and $92.5 million, it sounds like the Pirates have finally started to pony up the cash, and Passan claims they were prepared to offer him something akin to double Francisco Liriano's $39 million contract.
The timing couldn’t be better for this news to break.