Sunday links

Dejan gets ready for the Winter Meetings and does his best to assuage the paranoid types like myself that if the Pirates go out and drop a 4 year $40 million contract on Jeff Suppan that it won't be the end of the world. There's a nice little breakdown of the kind of money the league funnels into this team:

This offseason, all 30 teams -- including the Pirates -- received a check for $36.5 million that broke down to roughly $20 million for the national broadcasting, $6.5 million for the Advanced Media and, as a one-time bonus, $10 million from the sale of the Washington Nationals. The latter money stemmed from every team owner pitching in approximately $4 million to buy the Montreal Expos in 2002, then selling that franchise for $450 million last year...

Last year, the Pirates were cut a check for $25 million. This year, it should be slightly more.

That means the Pirates will make a minimum of $61.5 million this year before a single ticket is sold for PNC Park. That can buy a whole lot of Jeff Suppan.

So, $50 million or so into payroll, $10 million or so for the lease, operating costs, etc., and we've got a whole lot of profit for the Nuttings. The rest of the article is worth the read, if you haven't read it yet.

There's also some Winter Ball stuff to catch up on. Dejan gives most of his Hot Stove column to Jose Castillo and Ryan Doumit:

Castillo is batting .337 for Caracas, that average ranking third in the Venezuelan Winter League, and he has four home runs and 23 RBIs in 89 at-bats.

Doumit is at .291 for Mazatlan of the Mexican Pacific League, including five home runs despite a home field known as a hitter's graveyard, and 15 RBIs. Maybe most impressive, he has maintained the sharp eye he displayed at the end of the Pirates' season, drawing 17 walks in 137 plate appearances and posting a .395 on-base percentage.

He also talks about how both have been playing out of position, with Doumit mostly at first and Castillo mostly in the outfield. It's hard to know what to make of those kinds of numbers in winter leagues given the level of competition, but I'd certainly rather see them hitting than not hitting.

Meanwhile, at Pirates.com there's more Nyjer Morgan love, as well as a rundown of just about everyone you can think of that is Pirate property and playing somewhere this winter. At least, I think all of those guys are Pirates. I should probably check better, given the source.