Would Alfonso Soriano be worth a few million dollars to the Pittsburgh Pirates? Jake Roth-US PRESSWIRE

Before you shake your head no.  Ok, well you are already shaking your head no.  We understand.  But listen for a moment.  The Pittsburgh Pirates are facing some very difficult decisions in the next few hours with the news of Neil Walker and Travis Snider’s injuries.

We can’t really say why Snider was pinch hitting, he is obviously injured.  Walker will surely be out as well.  That’s some serious power taken out of the Pirates lineup.

Alfonso Soriano cleared waivers today.  The Cubs outfielder is now eligible to be traded anywhere, but he must agree due to his ten-and-five rights.  The guy is older and expensive, but don’t tune this out just yet, he might not be as expensive as you think.

He is hitting .264/.319/.490 and has 21 bombs on the year.  Here is the part that must be considered the most if you are Bob Nutting and the Buccos brass.  Walker is out.  Snider should be out.  Pedro is in a funk. McCutchen hit his first bomb in weeks last night.

The power will be on ice for perhaps a couple of weeks.

So what do you do?   Soriano is owed about $45 million dollars through the end of through the end of the 2014 season.  We have heard that the Cubs will pay all but $3 million annually on Soriano’s contract.  He turns 37 in January.

The Pirates need to give this some thought.  Despite playing on a Cubs team that has won just twice this month, Fonz is still hitting.  He has a couple of homers, nine hits, and has driven in ten runs.  In fact, all of Soriano’s homers have come since May 15.

It seems like a tempting idea, a month ago we wouldn’t have even thought about it.   We hated the idea in fact.  Maybe it’s the tough stretch the Pirates are in right now, but  it’s at least something to think about at the very least.

Soriano is still a productive player, one competing GM said, noting, “It all comes down to how much the Cubs are willing to pay his contract down. If they’d pay him down to $1 (million) to $2 million a year, I’d think a lot of teams would be interested.”

One source suggested before the deadline the Cubs offered at least one team to pay Soriano’s $18-million salary down to $3 million.

Michael Waterloo tweeted a few minutes ago that Pirates GM Neal Huntington and skipper Clint Hurdle have had no discussions talks about Maholm.

If only this news would have came out last night, when we spent an hour putting together our opinion on why Maholm would be a bad idea for the Pirates to target at the deadline.

It’s no secret the first place Pittsburgh Pirates are working hard to inquire on players that could help improve the ballclub.  The Pirates are a sparkling eleven games over 500, but rightfully want to add to their success.

The offense has been hot lately, but the team was getting nearly no production from left field until #DREWSUTTON arrived. Shortstop and first base are also question marks.

Take a look at the starting rotation, and it’s easy to spot weaknesses as well.

It’s been written that pitchers like Zack Greinke and Cole Hamels are pitchers that could help a team like the Buccos.  But both of those pitchers have a serious asking price – and some things that we just don’t care to see in Pittsburgh.   Cole Hamels appeals to us more than Greinke, so we tried to find out just what the Phillies were thinking in return for a half season of their left hander.

We got word the Phillies want two of the Pirates best prospects, Gerrit Cole and Starling Marte.

After we stopped laughing, we quickly let our mind drift to one of the best performers in all of baseball this season.  It’s Ryan Dempster.  The Cubs right hander has given the team permission to shop him.

Chicago Cubs pitcher Ryan Dempster (46) during the game against the Milwaukee Brewers at Miller Park. Mandatory Credit: Benny Sieu-US PRESSWIRE

He was on the DL, but apparently wants out of Chicago so badly, that he bugged skipper Dale Sveum for a chance to get a start before the All-Star break.  All he did was stretch is scoreless innings streak to 27.

In case you didn’t notice, Dempster is sporting a 1.99 ERA for his beloved Cubs. It’s insane.  He trails only Dirtbag Jered Weaver by point-zero- three percentage points.

Worried about the financial impact?   It’s not your money, but we see your point.  He is making $14 million this season and is a free agent at the conclusion of the season.  He seems to be saving his best season just in time to get another big contract.

Worried about the clubhouse impact?  Sean Casey called Dempster the best teammate he ever had.  That’s a lofty compliment.

What we worry about with Dempster is despite the outstanding ERA, his strikeouts per nine innings have been dropping by the month.  He went from 10.2 per nine innings in April down to a respectable 7.2 in May.  But the big drop came in June, when he posted just 4.9 punchouts per nine innings.

Let’s say his back is all healed up.  The balls in play numbers and strand rate are bound to regress.  It’s a bit scary.  But we could say that about quite a few of the Pirates starters.

So, if a good clubhouse guy is your thing, you might want to be rooting for Ryan Dempster to regress in the next three weeks.  We’re not sure how well Neal Huntington and the Super Genius, Theo Epstein, in Chicago work together, but Dempster is likely to bring two prospects in return.

But no way will they be the caliber of Marte and Cole.    Someone in the Pirates top 5-10, with another prospect tossed in, gets Dempster to town along with some cash from the Cubs we think.