Update on Brian Burres-to-Giants rumor

by Troy Nelson, 22gigantes.com

Many of you have asked me to provide an update on my post from a couple of days ago, when I wrote about how skeptical I was regarding the supposed report that pitcher Brian Burres had been signed to a minor league contract by the Giants.

My skepticism arose as soon as I heard that the Giants had also re-signed infielder Emmanuel Burriss on the same day.

Burriss (the infielder), who has been with the Giants organization since 2006, is not a well-known player, nationally, and I was immediately suspicious when Ben Nicholson-Smith at MLB Trade Rumors allegedly broke the story of the Burres (Pirates pitcher) signing, leading with “MLBTR has learned.”

I figure Nicholson-Smith heard the Giants signed Burriss and immediately thought of Brian, not Emmanuel.

Thirteen minutes later, he posted another article about Emmanuel’ signing.

Ironically, Burres was drafted by San Francisco (2000, 31st round) and pitched in the club’s low minors from 2001-’05. That little factoid could have also led Nicholson-Smith (pictured, right) to assume it was Brian who was re-signed by the Giants on Monday.

A slew of blogs around the country immediately took Ben’s word as the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, by posting articles of their own, “confirming” the deal.

Kristy Robinson, who calls herself a Pittsburgh Pirates “beat writer” for the Ohio Valley Athletics website, admitted to me that she got her info from MLB Trade Rumors.

None of the Giants’ regular beat writers have mentioned anything about the Brian Burres deal, although John Shea of the Chronicle did retweet MLB Trade Rumors’ original tweet. I don’t consider that an official confirmation. I tweeted Shea, too, but he ignored my request for more info.

Since Monday, I have been working feverishly on trying to confirm the deal. Here’s what I know:

• Ben Nicholson-Smith at MLB Trade Rumors still insists the deal is confirmed, but won’t reveal his source.
• I emailed Tim Dierkes (MLB Trade Rumors head guru) for confirmation, who told me that MLBTR simply scooped everyone else.
• Doing a Google News search for “Brian Burres” does not yield any results from credible news outlets; a Google News search for “Emmanuel Burriss,” however, does.
• MLB.com still shows Burres as a “free agent” (with his picture in a Pirates uni).
• The Giants website confirms the Emmanuel Burriss signing, but mentions nothing of the Brian Burres signing (which supposedly happened on the same day).

So, as of right now, I’m still holding firm to my belief that Emmanuel Burriss was signed to a contract by the Giants on Monday, but not Brian Burres, despite claims by MLB Trade Rumors that the report is true.

*** 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]