Jesse Chavez News

The pool of possibilities is about to become a free-for-all. Thursday marks the final day that teams have exclusive negotiating privileges with its own free-agent players.

A common sight for Chavez as he watches another home run clear the fence. But why the increase in homers? Without the Rays scouting department handing over their report on Jesse Chavez , there is only so much we can tell from the numbers.

Delwyn Young's reaction to the deal that brought second baseman Akinori Iwamura to the Pirates last week is simple: It is what it is.

As the Akinori Iwamura-Jesse Chavez trade was announced just over a week ago, the e-mails started arriving in a flurry.

The Hot Stove season begins in earnest this week as the 30 general managers and their assistants get together Monday through Wednesday at a hotel at Chicago O'Hare International Airport for the General Managers' Meetings.

Despite the anxious wishes of Twins' fans everywhere, the Twins have yet to make their first move this offseason.

Now that the Yankees are celebrating this year's championship, the Rays can start the real work in trying to win the next one.

Hip-Hop icon Jay-Z's "Blueprint" has sold more than 2 million copies and is widely considered among the best records released this decade.

Three missing North Dakota college softball players were found dead Tuesday in a Jeep pulled from a pond, and police said they believed the women were in the vehicle when they made two desperate calls to friends for help.

Yesterdaya s trade of Jesse Chavez for Akinori Iwamura was hardly a blockbuster.

The biggest story of the offseason can't be made official until the World Series is over, because god forbid we talk about anything other than the Yankees.A But still it IS a pretty huge freakin' deal when the 23rd Greatest Devil Ray Ever , Akinori Iwamura gets dealt to deepest coal-darkened Pittsburgh .

Akinori Iwamura isn't going to make the Pirates a winning baseball team. He's a nice player and a viable starting second baseman, provided he is healthy.

Hold on to your hats folks but the Rays' have traded second baseman Akinori Iwamura, not to the Dodgers or Cubs as first speculated, but to the cash-strapped, last place Pirates.

The Tampa Bay Rays have traded second baseman Akinori Iwamura to the Pittsburgh Pirates for right-handed reliever Jesse Chavez.

It took six tries and a path that ended exactly where it started, but Daniel McCutchen can go back to Oklahoma this offseason with "Major League win" crossed off his to-do list.

If the Pirates are going to succeed with home-grown players, they must produce breakthrough seasons at an above-average rate.

I wasn't totally sure why Bautista came in to start the inning instead of Jackson , but after Jackson came in later and walked in two batters, well, I guess it didn't matter much... can we have Joel Hanrahan back? Please? Anyway, the Bucs wasted a brilliant throw by Lastings Milledge and a great diving catch by Andrew McCutchen , not to mention ...

And to think that the bullpen's dominance had been such an uplifting story just 24 hours earlier.

Andy LaRoche almost certainly will begin the 2010 season as the Pirates' starting third baseman.

Three unearned runs and a "bullpen game" enabled the Pirates to slip past the Los Angeles Dodgers, 3-1, and snap a six-game losing skid.