Steve Lerud News

Baseball 's Winter Meetings begin tomorrow, right here in Indianapolis. Nothing is open to the public but wouldn't it be fun to be the fly on the wall? Or just happen to be hanging out at the nice restaurants downtown and watch who wanders in? Chris Wright of the Indianapolis Star has provided us with an ABC Guide to the Winter Meetings.

The Royals signed catcher Steve Lerud to a Minor League contract on Friday. Lerud, 25, has been in the Pirates organization since being taken in the fourth round of the 2003 First-Year Player Draft.

Free-agent outfielder Scott Podsednik is the latest name to surface in connection with the Royals.Club officials confirmed a FoxSports.com report of contact with Podsedniks representatives but said talks have not progressed beyond a preliminary exploration of interest.General manager Dayton Moore declined to comment directly on Podsednik while ...

These are all fairly logical choices with Evan Meek and Jose Ascanio still on the 60-day DL and several prospects still waiting to be added before the Rule 5 draft, as well.

Saturday's games in the Pirates' minor league organization: Salem Red Sox 7, Lynchburg Hillcats 6 A box The Red Sox kept their playoff hopes alive with an extra-inning win.

A quick look at Saturday's action with the Pirates' minor league affiliates.. box Yoslan Herrera's winning streak could not go on forever.

Tuesday's action with the Pirates' minor league affiliates... box Three Curve batters, 3B Pedro Alvarez, CF Gorkys Hernandez, and C Steve Lerud, each had 3 hits and contributed to a 6-run 4th inning to lead the Curve to a win of the series opener.

Second baseman Freddy Sanchez was out of the lineup Friday with what manager John Russell described as an "achy" knee.

Who the heck knows anymore? It can't get much worse than 19-2, the Curve's record-setting loss Tuesday against Erie.

The errors are down and the average is back up, but the season has still been a struggle for Jim Negrych.

Saturday evening's games in the Pirates' organization: box The Curve just didn't have their hitting shoes on today.

Top prospect Pedro Alvarez will be out "a couple of days" due to knee tendinitis, according to farm director Kyle Stark.

Curve third baseman Pedro Alvarez left Sunday's game in the fourth inning after suffering a minor injury to his right knee on a foul popup.

The Curve had an early 5-0 lead, but were derailed by 12 unanswered Akron runs, including 8 runs in the 8th inning.

Double headers all around for the rest of the Pirates' minor league affiliates on Saturday, and pitching duels were the order of the day for the Curve and the Hillcats.

A They will play their scheduled game tonight and then play two on Saturday. It was also raining in Wilmington, and the Lynchburg Hillcats' game against the Blue Rocks was also postponed.