Braves Rumors: Eugenio Suarez signing may have revealed Marcell Ozuna's new suitor

In baseball, free agency has always operated like dominoes up until the very end. Once one move of some significance is made, other players operating in the same market become very popular all of a sudden as teams realize that there could be a run on relievers, power bats, rotation arms, etc. and they don't want to be left behind. For former Atlanta Braves slugger Marcell Ozuna, he could finally see his market get moving.

While Ozuna had been unable to get much traction at all on the market previously, Eugenio Suarez seemed to be rather popular as he decided where he was going to sign. We finally got an answer as to Suarez's landing spot over the weekend after he signed a deal with the Reds which should, in theory, make Ozuna's suitors more clear so close to spring training.

One such bidder for Ozuna's services may be revealing themselves, but it is not one you would probably expect. According to Pittsburgh 93.7 The Fan's Andrew Fillipponi, the current scuttlebutt is that the Pirates are interested in Ozuna with Suarez off the market and that is pretty strange.

Pirates may be pushing to sign Marcell Ozuna in wake of Eugenio Suarez signing

Now, it isn't odd that Ozuna's market could get moving now that Suarez is off the market. Both players were occupying the "aging sluggers looking for a short-term deal" free agent bucket and Suarez was pretty clearly the more desirable between the two. However, that it is Pirates getting involved and that the source of this rumor is a radio host from Pittsburgh is all pretty strange (and perhaps should be taken with a grain of salt for now).

Unlike some of the teams that most thought could be in on Ozuna, the Pirates have some very real financial issues mostly caused by a combination of the collapse of the team in recent years as well as having a truly cheap owner. The Pirates have been looking for a cheaper veteran bat for a while, but Ozuna would make an already inflexible Pittsburgh roster even more inflexible.

In all likelihood, we will find out this week as to where Ozuna and most of the remaining free agents are going to sign. There are a handful of guys (and teams) that have been playing hard ball, but spring training starts very soon and every team is going to want their important guys in camp from the start of camp. Right now, it does seem like Ozuna's market is waking up and he could end up heading out to the NL Central.