Unconfirmed: Giants sign pitcher Brian Burres

by Troy Nelson, 22gigantes.com

On a day when they signed a Burriss, the San Francisco Giants have also apparently signed a Burres.

Confused? Me too.

So, I went to the supposed source, Kristy Robinson, a Pittsburgh Pirates beat reporter for Ohio Valley Athletics.

She’s a self-proclaimed “rookie” in the business, and I wanted to make sure she didn’t confuse Emmanuel Burriss (the Giants infielder who did in fact re-sign with the G-men today) with Brian Burres, the left-handed pitcher (pictured above) who was San Francisco’s 31st round draft pick in 2000 and has spent the past two seasons in the Pittsburgh Pirates’ minor league system.

Robinson sent out this tweet earlier this afternoon:

The Giants signed LHP Brian Burres to a Minor League deal. Burres posted a 3.86 ERA over 14IP with #pirates; 4.66 ERA in AAA Indy

Robinson told me she got her information from MLB Trade Rumor’s Ben Nicholson-Smith, who about 30 minutes earlier also reported that the Giants had signed Burres:

The Giants signed left-hander Brian Burres to a minor league deal that includes an invitation to Spring Training, MLBTR has learned. San Francisco drafted Burres in the 31st round of the 2000 draft, but the 30-year-old has never played for the Giants at the MLB level. In six seasons with the Orioles, Pirates and Blue Jays, Burres has a 5.75 ERA with 6.4 K/9, 2.6 BB/9 and a 38.3% ground ball rate. He posted a 3.86 ERA with 6.4 K/9 and 2.6 BB/9 in 14 innings with the Pirates this past season and spent most of the year as a starter at Triple-A, where he posted a 4.66 ERA with 6.6 K/9 and 3.1 BB/9 in 129 1/3 innings.

So far, the Giants’ website and none of the team’s regular beat writers have confirmed or denied the Burres signing (although Wikipedia has already updated its page on Burres). I’m still skeptical on this one until I see something more official.

I’m still waiting to hear back from Ben and I’ll update this post as soon as we have a solid confirmation on whether or not both Burriss and Burres signed with the Giants today.

*** UPDATE 12/22/11: Giants beat writer Hank Schulman puts my speculation to rest by confirming Nicholson-Smith’s scoop. Big kudos to Ben for scooping the big boys a whole three days ahead of anyone else. [NEW STORY HERE]