Ronny Cedeno News

The transaction wire cranked up a notch Wednesday at baseball's annual winter meetings, though the A's didn't join in the party.

The Pirates have signed infielder Chris Garcia to a minor league contract. This 22-year old Brooklyn native spent the 2009 season playing for the Shreveport-Bossier Captains of the American Association.

The Pirates on Tuesday took steps toward signing free-agent infielder Bobby Crosby to a one-year contract.

The Pittsburgh Pirates are interested in Detroit Tigers free agent shortstop Adam Everett, according to a source familiar with the team.

Ronny Cedeno hit .258 with five homers and 21 RBIs after being acquired at midseason.

New Pirate hurler Wil Ledezma suffered his third straight loss as he made the start for Aragua.

Here's a quick look at the Pirates' checklist and standing as the organization prepares for the Winter Meetings in Indianapolis next week: Pirates' needs Relievers: This is the Pirates' most pressing need for 2010.

Pirates' players and friends in Sunday's winter league action: VENZUELAN LEAGUE Tiburones de La Guaira 7, Aguilas de Zulia 6 Los Tiburones jumped up and bit Los Aguilas with 6 runs in the bottom of the 9th to get the walk-off win.

Looking in on Pirates players and friends in Friday's winter league action: VENEZUELAN LEAGUE Caribes de Anzoategui 6, Bravos de Margarita 4 Los Caribes broke a 3-3 tie in the bottom of the 8th inning, with a solo home run, followed by two more runs on a single, an intentional walk, and a 2-RBI double.

BaseballProjection.com released their 2010 CHONE projections for hitters over the weekend.

Pirates ' players and friends in Tuesday's winter league action: MEXICAN PACIFIC LEAGUE Mayos de Navojoa 5, Tomateros de Culiacan 3 Three runs in the top of the 9th gave Navojoa the come-from-behind win over Culiacan.

The Pirates made it official Tuesday by trading reliever Jesse Chavez to the Tampa Bay Rays for veteran infielder Akinori Iwamura .

Former Pirate Romulo Sanchez suffered the loss for Lara, as he gave up the winning run in the bottom of the 7th.

Friday's winter league action featuring Pirates' players and friends: VENEZUELAN LEAGUE Bravos de Margarita 11, Cardenales de Lara 1 3B Neil Walker started the scoring for Los Bravos, with his second homer of the winter season, a solo blast over the left field wall to begin the 2nd inning.

Next up in the list of community projections is Jack Wilson . Community : .271/.313/.360 ZiPS : .267/.317/.358 Actual : .255/.292/.362 Bonus: We predicted Wilson's last game with the Pirates would be August 13; actually his last game was July 27.

The Pirates' Neil Walker, Robinzon Diaz, Ronny Cedeno and Luis Cruz will play winter ball.

Shortly after he was hired as the club's general manager in September 2007, general manager Neal Huntington completed a thorough organizational assessment, after which he came to one concerning conclusion -- the team didn't have nearly enough depth.

The current Pirates ownership will likely never have pockets deep enough to sign a superstar free agent.

The Pirates have spent two years talking about how important it is to change the losing culture of the franchise.

Of all the things that have contributed to the Pirates' ongoing free fall, manager John Russell clarified on Friday that effort was not one of them.