The Texas Rangers have been in active talks since the beginning of the winter meetings on Monday with Jeff Banister's former club, the Pirates, about first baseman Mitch Moreland.
It made too much sense. The Pirates cut ties with Pedro Alvarez at first, and they're managed by Clint Hurdle, who absolutely loves Moreland as he served as the Rangers' hitting coach for one season (2010), which happened to be Moreland's rookie year.
But it seems the talks have cooled.
The Dallas Morning News' Evan Grant reported that the Pirates' reluctance to include their young star prospect catcher have cooled the Moreland talks, and now MLB.com is reporting that the Pirates have perhaps shifted their focus to another Rangers first baseman in free agent Mike Napoli.
The general thought around Rangers camp was that the team would keep Moreland or Napoli, with the longtime thought they'd trade Moreland to get a decent haul back as Moreland is coming off a career year. He's still under contract in arbitration for 2016 but will be a full-fledged free agent after next season.
Napoli would obviously be more appealing to Pittsburgh based off expense alone, as they could get him without having to give up any prospects. Stay tuned.
