Read More: C.J. Wilson (P – ANA), Paul Maholm (P – PIT), Mark Buehrle (P – FLA), Pittsburgh Pirates, Chicago Cubs

According to a report from ESPN Chicago’s Bruce Levine, the Chicago Cubs are in negotiations with free agent left-handed starting pitcher Paul Maholm, who has spent the last seven seasons with the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Chicago Cubs have been looking for a left-handed starter this offseason, and Maholm presents a decidedly cheaper option than either C.J. Wilson or Mark Buehrle would have, especially if they can work out a deal similar to his last one:

Maholm made $6.25 million in 2011, the final season of $13.75 million deal he inked with the Pittsburgh Pirates prior to the 2009 season. He was a combined 53-73 with a 4.36 ERA during his seven seasons in Pittsburgh.

Playing in Pittsburgh didn’t do Maholm’s win-loss record any favors — he was 6-14 in 2011 — but he did post a respectable 3.66 ERA in his final season with the Pirates.

For more updates on Chicago sports, stay tuned to SB Nation Chicago. For more in-depth coverage of the Cubs, head over to Bleed Cubbie Blue. Also, check out MLB Daily Dish for Cubs rumors and transactions.

December 1, 2011 – South Atlantic League (SAL) West Virginia Power
CHARLESTON, WV (December 1, 2011) – The Pittsburgh Pirates, parent club to the West Virginia Power, have announced the 2012 field staff for each of their Minor League Baseball affiliates. The Power are pleased to welcome a new staff to Appalachian Power Park in the upcoming season.

Rick Sofield will assume the role of manager for the Power, a Class-A affiliate of the Pirates. Sofield was selected by Minnesota in the first round of the 1975 draft and played portions of three seasons in the Majors with the Twins. The former shortstop has five seasons of Minor League managerial experience on his resume, most recently in 2003 with the Colorado Springs Sky Sox. Sofield has served as the head coach of the University of South Carolina-Beaufort baseball team for the last four years.

Willie Glen will serve as the pitching coach for the Power during his first year within the Pirates Minor League system. Glen was signed as an undrafted free agent by Toronto in 2001 and began his professional career as a Charleston Alley Cat. He spent 10 seasons playing ball, including four seasons in the independent Northern League. Glen was in the South Atlantic League during the 2011 season, serving as the pitching coach for the league champion Greensboro Grasshoppers.

Edgar Varela returns to the Power staff as a coach for 2012. Varela spent 2011 in State College in the same capacity after having served on the Power staff in 2009 and 2010. The former corner infielder was drafted by the Chicago White Sox in 2002 and appeared in 473 minor league games over five seasons.

Former Power manager Gary Robinson will serve as a professional scout for the Pirates during the 2012 campaign. Former coaches Dave Howard, Jeff Johnson, Dave Turgeon, and Gera Alvarez have moved on from West Virginia as well, but all remain within the Pittsburgh Pirates organization at various levels.

The West Virginia Power begin the 2012 season on April 5 at Hagerstown and will host Greenville on April 12 in the home opener at Appalachian Power Park. Full and partial season ticket packages as well as several mini-plans are currently available.

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The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

The Pittsburgh Pirates have signed catcher
Jake Fox to a minor league contract with an invitation to spring training.

Fox appeared in 27 games with Baltimore last season, batting .246 with a pair
of homers and six runs batted in. He spent most of the campaign at Triple-A
Norfolk.

The 29-year-old journeyman began his big league career with the Cubs in 2007
and has also played for Oakland. He belted 11 homers and drove in 44 runs in
82 games for Chicago in 2009, and is a career .237 hitter in 193 major league
games.

Pittsburgh also signed outfielder Brandon Boggs and pitcher Shairon Martis to
minor league deals with spring training invites. Boggs had two homers in 16
games for Milwaukee last season and has hit .209 in 130 games for the Rangers
and Brewers over parts of four seasons. Martis hasn’t pitched in the majors
since 2009 with Washington and has a record of 6-6 with a 5.33 earned run
average in 20 games, including 19 starts over parts of two seasons.

The Pirates also signed infielder Stefan Welch and pitchers Kyle Cofield and
Jose Diaz to minor league contracts.

©2011 Sports Network. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

BOSTON — The Boston Red Sox are interviewing Gene Lamont for their managerial opening.

The former Pittsburgh Pirates and Chicago White Sox manager is the last of five candidates scheduled to interview. New Red Sox general manager Ben Cherington has already brought in Torey Lovullo, Sandy Alomar Jr., Pete Mackanin and Dale Sveum.

The Red Sox have been looking for a manager since parting ways with Terry Francona after the team’s 7-20 record in September left it out of the playoffs for the second straight year.

Lamont has been the third base coach for the Detroit Tigers since 2006. He also had that job with Boston in 2001.

He managed the White Sox from 1992-95 and Pittsburgh Pirates from 1997-2000.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Pittsburgh (KDKA)- The Pittsburgh Pirates have two more series (Cincinnati and Milwaukee) before the 2011 season comes to and end.

For the first four months of the season, the Pirates were the talk of Pittsburgh and it actually felt like the city had a real baseball team.

All the positive vibes the team earned have been erased with a gigantic losing slump during the months of August and September.

Following yesterday’s 8-5 loss to Arizona, the Pirates now have a record of 69-87 and will likely finish with another 90 loss season.

Despite all the talk about trying to finish with a .500 record, the Pirates organization is headed for another Top 5 pick in the 2012 MLB Draft.

As of today, here are the top 10 picks for the draft next June:
1) Houston (53-102)
2) Minnesota (59-95)
3) Baltimore (65-90)
4) Seattle (66-89)
5) PIRATES (69-87)
6) Kansas City (68-88)
7) Chicago Cubs (69-87)
San Diego (68-88)
9) Oakland Athletics (69-86)
10) Colorado Rockies (70-85)

Although the Bucs will finish with a losing record for the 19th consecutive season, I’ve been able to come up with five positives to take from this season:

1) Pittsburgh fans still love baseball- The first four months of this season showed how great of a baseball town Pittsburgh could be if given something to cheer for. Heading into the final home stand, the Pirates attendance is 1,851,441 (an increase of over 330,000 people).

2) Pirates finally have a real manager in Clint Hurdle. The front office finally got one right with picking Hurdle. His passion and no bs style is so refreshing. Let’s hope he actually gets some talent to manage and then it could get really fun following baseball in Pittsburgh.

3) Rotation Stability for 2012. The Pirates will go into next season knowing that they have 3 legitimate major league starters in Jeff Karstens, James McDonald and Charlie Morton. I’m not saying their All-Star pitchers but it’s possible to win with them in your rotation.

4) All-Star Closer. Maybe the best individual story was the emergence of Joel Hanrahan as one of the top closers in MLB.

5) Two Blue-Chip Prospects Added. The organization added two top prospects to the farm system by drafting RHP Gerrit Cole and OF Josh Bell. The team desperately needed a hitting prospect like Bell and Cole is added to the future rotation with Jameson Taillion and Luis Heredia.

Brian Burres pitched into the sixth in his first start of the season and Alex Presley had two triples, helping the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Chicago Cubs 3-1 on Friday. 

Presley reached four times and scored twice as Pittsburgh snapped a five-game losing streak. Josh Harrison doubled, singled and scored twice.

Burres (1-0) allowed one run and five hits over 5 1-3 innings. The left-hander was promoted from Triple-A Indianapolis on Thursday. 

Four Pirates relievers combined for 3 2-3 perfect innings, with Joel Hanrahan picking up his 33rd save in 36 chances.

Jason Grilli got the last two outs of the sixth, Chris Leroux pitched the seventh and Jose Veras worked the eighth before Hanrahan struck out two in the ninth. 

Carlos Pena went deep for the Cubs, who have lost nine of 12. The first baseman now has at least 25 homers in five straight seasons and six times overall in his career. 

Ryan Dempster (10-11) worked out of a couple of early jams and held Pittsburgh to three runs and seven hits over 6 1-3 innings. He struck out nine, two shy of his season best, and threw a season-high 121 pitches. 

Pena connected in the second, hitting a drive to the deepest part of center field to give the Cubs the lead. 

Pittsburgh responded with two in the third. Presley led off with a triple off the right-field wall and Harrison followed with a single to right. Garrett Jones added a two-out RBI double. 

Neither team mounted much offense after that. The Cubs stranded two runners in the third and fourth. The Pirates didn’t threaten again until Presley’s one-out triple in the seventh chased Dempster. Presley scored on Jose Tabata’s two-out single off Kerry Wood. 

Presley became the first Pirate to record two triples in a game since Andrew McCutchen on June 8, 2009. He has five triples on the season.