Contracts for the young'ns

Apparently Zach Duke will not follow in the footsteps of Oliver Perez and Jason Bay from last spring and will avoid bitching about the one year, $335,000 deal the Pirates have offered him. He might not sign it, but he seems to understand the process and won't complain about it. The bottom line is, Oliver Perez is a perfect illustration as to why Littlefield (and other GMs) don't go above those low offers for the 1 to 3 guys.

Also, Paul Maholm is looking better after a strained hammy, but John VB isn't throwing yet as a result of his shoulder "stiffness." It's good to hear Maholm's injury wasn't serious, but I think Van Benschoten's problem is worse than people think, or then the Pirates are letting on.

UPDATE (10:14 PM)- I misread Dejan's article, JVB is throwing and participating in long toss but there's no timetable for him to return to pitching. My mistake on that one, sorry guys.