--OF Craig Monroe signed a minor league deal with the Pirates and was invited to the team's big-league spring camp. Monroe's best season was 2006, when he drove in 92 runs for Detroit. He batted .202 in 58 games for Minnesota last year.
--LHP Phil Dumatrait has been slow to recover from shoulder surgery performed last August and will not be able to throw during a four-day minicamp for pitchers that will be held at the spring training base in Bradenton, Fla., beginning Jan. 13. The Pirates have all but ruled out Dumatrait being ready to win a spot in the rotation during spring training, which means he likely will begin the season on the disabled list. --OF Steve Pearce may get a chance to be the Pirates' starting right fielder after free agent OF Rocco Baldelli turned down an offer from the Pirates to sign with Boston. The Pirates want a right-handed bat with power in the lineup. Pearce was the Pirates' minor league player of the year in 2007, but he hit .248 with four home runs and 15 RBIs in 37 major league games last season as a rookie.
--CF Nate McLouth, who made his first All-Star Game appearance last season and also won a Gold Glove, headed a list of six Pirates who filed for salary arbitration. The others were LHP Zach Duke, LHP John Grabow, 1B Adam LaRoche, LHP Paul Maholm and RHP Tyler Yates.
--SS Anderson Machado and SS Pedro Lopez were signed as minor league free agents and invited to major league spring training. Machado, 27, hit a combined .224 with five home runs and 27 RBIs in 91 games with Class AAA New Orleans, Class AA Binghamton and short-season Class A Brooklyn in the New York Mets' farm system last season. Lopez, 24, hit .236 with two homers and 27 RBIs in 104 games with Toronto's Class AAA Syracuse club.
--INF Chris Gomez, who spent last season with the Pirates, signed a minor league contract with Baltimore and was invited to the Orioles' major league spring training. Gomez, 37, hit .273 with one home run and 20 RBIs in 90 games with the Pirates in 2008.
BY THE NUMBERS: $90 million -- Amount Kevin McClatchy and his partner paid to buy the Pirates from a public/private consortium in 1996. McClatchy recently sold his 5 percent stake in the team to majority owner Bob Nutting. The franchise is now generally estimated to be worth around $275 million.
QUOTE TO NOTE: "Kevin has made a lasting positive impact on the Pirates and our city. On behalf of the entire organization, I personally thank him for all he has done for the club and the city of Pittsburgh." -- Pirates principal owner Bob Nutting.
