I never liked the Tony Armas signing, but, in all fairness, I thought they should have gone for Chan Ho Park like the Mets did that year. The Matt Morris deal is still confounding, and I cannot easily come up with any more nonsensical trades in that vein. Always liked Phil Dumatrait and his stuff, but he's never been wildly successful at any level; maybe he'll work out better as a full-time reliever.

The Pirates have made two buyouts this spring—pitchers Byung-Hyun Kim ($300,000) and Juan Perez ($97,500)—but those will count toward next year’s payroll, as per MLB’s accounting procedures

If thats not a used car salesmen's mentality right there, nothing is .. .. "Buy Now, No Interest For One Year!!"

Perez got a buyout because he blew out his elbow in spring training. I don't think he's really emblematic of some larger mentality or trend.

With the Pirates needing to set their roster and Burnett still away from camp, general manager Neal Huntington called him Thursday night to tell him he was headed to Triple-A Indianapolis to start the season.

“He was angry, frustrated, disappointed,” Huntington said. “But he was very professional about it.”
...
The Pirates, however, have no idea how a left-hander who had reconstructive left elbow surgery three years ago and a shoulder operation and only now is regaining his velocity and pitch movement can hold up in the bullpen.

“Candidly, nobody has outpitched him,” Huntington said. “He’s healthy for the first time, the ball’s coming out of his hand great, but there are some durability and resiliency questions that have to be answered. Can he go back to back? Can he go three innings and 50 pitches and come back two days later? What happens when he gets up in the sixth inning and doesn’t get in the game, can he get back up in the eighth? A lot of questions need to be answered.”
...
Right-hander Jaret Wright, the former Indians and Braves starter, declined a minor league assignment and became a free agent. Left-hander Casey Fossum was released after balking at the Pirates’ plan to make him a reliever at Indianapolis.

AP

Just to be clear, they're paying $1.2 million to four players that won't play a single inning for them this year. That's funny.

On the other hand, the Royals are paying Angel Berroa $5 million to play in Omaha, so it's not that funny.

Kinda surprised Hector Carrasco got let go. ZIPS liked him to have a decent year.