News & Notes: NRIs', Archie Back In The Bay; Jordy, Frankie Sign; RIP Grant

 Recent stuff:

• The Pirates added 22 non-roster invitees for camp. There are a boatload of arms and some top prospects like 2B Nick Gonzalez, SS’s Ji-Hwan Bae & Liover Peguero, OF Travis Swaggerty and RHP Quinn Priester. They’ll join previously signed FA-NRIs IF Wilmer Difo, C’s Joe Hudson & Andrew Susac and OF Troy Stokes Jr to bring the NRI count to 26. Other guys you may be looking for like Oneil Cruz are already on the 40-man roster and get an automatic invite.

• What could make one of baseball’s worst deals even worse? RHP Chris Archer, 32, and the Tampa Bay Rays agreed on a one-year, $6.5M deal. He’ll join Tyler Glasnow, Austin Meadows & Shane Baz, who were traded for him.
• LHP Francisco Liriano, 37, signed a minor league deal with Toronto worth $1.5M if he makes the MLB roster. Frankie twirled for the Jays once before from 2016-17. 
• SS Jordy Mercer, 34, signed a minor league deal with Washington that included all the veteran trimmings – camp invite, opt out and $1M big league salary w/$400K in possible incentives.
• Grant “Buck” Jackson, 79, passed away. The lefty tossed for six years (1977-82) for the Bucs, slashing 29-19-36/3.23 and he went 2-0 in six scoreless appearances during the 1979 NLCS and World Series, winning game 7 of the Fall Classic against the Orioles. Buck played for 18 years for six teams, ending his career as a Pirate in 1982 after some shufflin’.