Bucs extend offer to Mueller

[Toy Cannon]

DALLAS -- Major League Baseball sources confirmed Monday at the winter meetings that the Pirates have extended a two-year offer to free-agent third baseman Bill Mueller, who spent the previous three seasons with the Boston Red Sox.
According to the sources, Mueller has narrowed his teams to the Pirates and Los Angeles Dodgers. The Minnesota Twins also were in pursuit of him.

Pirates general manager Dave Littlefield has identified the third base position as one of the areas he needs to upgrade during this offseason. His objective is to add a left-handed batter who also can contribute defensively.

Mueller, 34, is a switch-hitter who owns a career fielding percentage of .960.
A 10-year veteran, Mueller is no stranger to the National League, having spent his first seven major-league seasons with the San Francisco Giants and Chicago Cubs.

Last season for the Red Sox, Mueller hit .295 with 10 home runs and 62 runs-batted-in. He earned $2.5 million in 2005, which would place him in the Pirates' price range, as Littlefield has been granted permission by ownership to increase the 2006 payroll by as much as $15 million.

In addition to seeking an upgrade at third base, Littlefield has said he hopes to improve the Pirates at right-handed relief pitching, right field and first base.

Lyle Overbay, a first baseman with the Milwaukee Brewers, could be a target of the Pirates via trade. Overbay, 28, earned $446,000 with Milwaukee in 2005, a season in which he batted .276 with 19 home runs and 72 RBI.

One of the players that Littlefield could be dangling as trade bait is Mark Redman, who last season went 5-15 with a 4.90 earned-run-average.

The Philadelphia Phillies are thought to be interested in Redman because left-handed pitcher Randy Wolf is out until July because of elbow surgery.

[3-2 Changeup]

Mueller will shore up the defense and he is capable of hitting for a high average as evidenced by his batting title a couple of seasons ago. Might be a good stop-gap move until Jose Bautista is ready. Or, Jose might move to the OF.

[imgreat95]

I fail to see how this is any significant upgrade over the incumbents we already have at 3B...

[Greymire]

The Overbay deal is dead since we have apparently traded for Sean Casey. As for Mueller, I really had hoped we did not go after him. He has a good glove, but his batting title was a fluke if you ask me. He had never hit over .300 in a full season before and hasn't since. That was also a career year for him with 19 Home Runs, but he averages more like 10. I think Castillo will hit more home runs than that down the road. Sanchez hit 5 last year and might hit a few more in the future. It looks like we did make an offer, but I do not like it. Keep Sanchez there if we are going to go with a third baseman who hits well for average. Defensively I do not think there will be a ton of difference (Mueller has a good Fielding Percentage, but some question his range a little). It sounds to me like they are really pushing hard for a .500 season when they should be looking at staying the course with the youth and adding younger guys. I think they would hit .500 that way quicker. To me, Mueller is a gamble. Sean Casey, with one year left on his contract, is a much safer bet.

[00_Agent]

Yeah, I'm not sure about this at all. I don't have anything against Mueller really, but he's not that big an upgrade based on last season if you ask me, why don't we wait and see how Sanchez progresses if we can't make a serious upgrade?

Sanchez was hitting well all season, especially later in the year, when he hit all of his home runs. And his defense is solid. They could put the resources they are offering to Mueller into another area.

I also agree that we will reach .500 quicker staying the course. Not that I'm against additions - I'm happy about the Sean Casey deal and I'm glad that we're being active, trying to get things done - but signing Mueller isn't the way to go. It wouldn't be horrible either, but it is sort of a slap in the face to Sanchez.

00