It has been a busy time all around baseball as the 2015 season is over and teams are trying to find the right pieces to make a run toward the 2016 World Series. The Pittsburgh Pirates are no different and have welcomed some faces, while saying goodbye to other ones. Hellos: Oct. 24 Pirates acquire Trevor Williams - This was a bizarre acquisition as this was later revealed to be compensation for the Pirates losing their "pitching guru" in Jim Benedict, someone whose opinion had high ... Read More
Pirates GM discusses roster moves; team health
Pittsburgh Pirates general manager Neal Huntington always meets with the media on Sunday home games to delve into a series of topics. Not surprisingly, the two roster moves fresh in the mind were the central topics of today's session. Huntington broke each move down to better explain the reasoning, starting with the Steve Lombardozzi call-up, which resulted in pitcher Chris Volstad being designated for assignment. “The first move was to re-balance the 12 pitchers and 13 position players," ... Read More
Pirates’ Huntington talks about Lambo injury, Cole’s progression, minors
As he does every Sunday home game, Neal Huntington met with assembled media and handled nearly 16 minutes of topics. Injuries, prospects and some major league talk were all on the table in this session. Andrew Lambo continues to struggle with his plantar fasciitis and has not seen a return to game action. Lambo has continued to experience discomfort. The Pirates are taking things slow with him "He's disappointed, he wants nothing more than to be back here helping this club, but his foot is ... Read More
Pirates pregame 5/23: Burnett meets Harvey in afternoon contest
The Pittsburgh Pirates hope to earn a series win this afternoon against the New York Mets. The Pirates won a 4-1 contest last night to take game one of the series. Today’s starters: Pirates manager Clint Hurdle offered this assessment of today's pitching battle: “You’ve got the young pitcher that’s really special and you have the old experienced veteran." The Pirates will send A.J. Burnett to the mound against Matt Harvey. Burnett last won his third consecutive outing allowing no ... Read More
Pirates pregame 5/6: Lambo to DL; Lombardozzi joins team
The Pittsburgh Pirates will play its second game in a six game home stand tonight against the Cincinnati Reds. The Reds won Tuesday's game with a 7-1 victory. Marlon Byrd was 2-5 on the day with four RBI and his fourth home run of the season. Todd Frazier hit his National League leading ninth homer as part of a two-run second inning. Michael Lorenzen picked up the first win of his major league career with the only damage being a solo home run from Starling Marte, his seventh of the ... Read More
Top 10 Pirates moments of April
The Pittsburgh Pirates have completed its first full month of regular season play and came away with a 12-10 record. Naturally with each team, there are successes and failures, however this month is a definite improvement over last season's 9-14 mark in April. While there were some hitting inconsistencies and Mark Melancon's velocity decline was spotlighted, there was a lot to like, and these are some moments that stuck out. 10. Andrew Lambo Opening Day pinch-hit appearance- The Pirates ... Read More
Pirates battle fall short late against Reds
Francisco Liriano allowed two hits in seven innings but came away with a no-decision after a 5-2 Opening Day loss to the Cincinnati Reds. “It’s great for Opening Day to come and it's just as great when it gets by you," Manager Clint Hurdle said to assembled media. "We always are challenged when we see Cueto… We made him pitch that was the one upside. I thought our guys went up there and battled. We showed some resiliency to come back and get two late.” Liriano, who was starting his second ... Read More
Pirates outfield considered among the best in 2015
Many have wondered which of the Pittsburgh Pirates trio of outfielders is the fastest. It was an idea tossed around at PirateFest, the annual way the team thanks fans for their support, this question was raised and it was split right down the middle. This is a great problem to have as speed and power have led to the discussion that the Pirates outfield is the best in all of Major League Baseball. "We're all out there, speedsters, guys that can run down balls," Andrew McCutchen said to ... Read More
Consistency key for Alvarez, first base
It is no secret that the Pedro Alvarez once again goes into a Pittsburgh Pirates season as a key factor to the team's success, however this year Alvarez moves across the diamond to first base. Alvarez committed a Major-League leading 25 errors in 122 games, his fewest played since the 2011 season. The Pirates tried to be patient with Alvarez and did everything from extra reps before games to rest but nothing worked. This coupled with Josh Harrison's breakout season meant the Pirates scaled ... Read More
Pirates win; Brandon Cumpton undergoes Tommy John surgery
Francisco Liriano made a strong case to start Opening Day throwing three scoreless innings in a 4-3 Spring Training win Tuesday afternoon against the Tampa Bay Rays. In his three innings of work, Liriano surrendered one hit while striking out four batters. He also registered a single. "I just want to get better each start," Liriano said. "I was pretty happy with what I did today." "He's never going to be a guy who just goes out there to get his work in," Manager Clint Hurdle said. "He's ... Read More