The Pittsburgh Pirates today acquired outfielder Jaff Decker (first name pronounced Jeff) and right-handed pitcher Miles Mikolas from the San Diego Padres in exchange for minor league outfielder Alex Dickerson. The announcement was made by Pirates Senior Vice President, General Manager Neal Huntington. Decker, who was San Diego’s supplemental first round selection (42nd pick overall) in the 2008 First-Year Player Draft, hit .286 (100-for-350) with 23 doubles, 10 home runs and 40 RBI in 105 ... Read More
Reds to hire Jay Bell as bench coach
Ken Rosenthal has reported that the Cincinnati Reds are close to hiring Pirates hitting coach Jay Bell as bench coach. Sources: #Reds to hire #Pirates hitting coach Jay Bell as bench coach. — Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) November 12, 2013 In Bell's one season as Pirates hitting coach, the Bucco offense posted a .245 BA (11th NL)/.396 SLG (9th NL)/.709 OPS (8th NL) while hitting 161 home runs (T-3rd NL) and recording 603 RBI's (9th NL). The team struck out 1330 times which was third in the ... Read More
Francisco Liriano has been named the MLB NL Comeback Player of the Year
Francisco has been named the MLB NL Comeback Player of the Year as well as the Players Choice NL Comeback Player of the Year. The Comeback Player of the Year Awards are officially sanctioned by Major League Baseball and presented annually to one player in each League who has re-emerged on the field during the season. The 30 Club beat reporters from MLB.com, the official web site of Major League Baseball, selected the winners from an original list of 30 candidates (one per MLB Club). Liriano, ... Read More
Three Pirates Fall Short of Rawlings Gold Glove Award
Andrew McCutchen, Russell Martin and Starling Marte were shut out on Tuesday night for the Rawlings Gold Glove Award. Carlos Gomez defeated Andrew McCutchen for the NL Gold Glove in CF. Cutch recorded 321 put-outs (5th among NL CF's) while assisting on 11 plays (3rd among NL CF's) and recording 3 double plays (1st among NL CF's). His wins over replacement was an 8.2 which is 3rd for all NL players in 2013. Russell Martin fell to Yadier Molina for the catchers award. Martins 103 assists at ... Read More
Liriano Named Sporting News NL Comeback POY
Follow @TBerardi_OVA Francisco Liriano has been named the Sporting News NL Comeback Player of the Year as voted by the NL players. Liriano posted a 16 - 8 record with a 3.02 ERA in 26 starts for the Pirates while striking out 163 batters and walking 63. He was signed in the offseason to a two-year, seven million dollar deal which had been reworked down from a larger amount after he suffered a broken non-throwing arm on Christmas Day of last year while playing with his children. The injury ... Read More
Hurdle Earns Chuck Tanner MLB Manager Of The Year Award
The Rotary Club of Pittsburgh has announced Clint Hurdle is the winner of its 7th Annual Chuck Tanner Major League Baseball Manager of the Year Award. Each year, the Pittsburgh Rotary Club holds its Chuck Tanner MLB Baseball Manger of the Year Awards Banquet in Pittsburgh. The highlight of the event is the presentation of the Chuck Tanner MLB Manager of the Year Award as selected by a distinguished group of baseball professionals from around the country. Previous winners of the Chuck Tanner MLB ... Read More
Wainwright and Co. Knock Bucs Out of Postseason
Follow @TBerardi_OVA Adam Wainwright shut the Pirates down in a complete-game effort while David Freese and Matt Adams both homered to propel the St. Louis Cardinals to the NLCS and knock the Pirates out of the 2013 postseason. Wainwright was flat-out dominant as he allowed only three base runners over his first six innings of work while striking out four before experiencing some bad luck in the seventh inning. With the Cardinals up 3 - 0 in the seventh with two out, Justin Morneau and ... Read More
Pirate Players Encourage Blackout Part 2
Follow @TBerardi_OVA The Pirates did their part by splitting the first two games of the NLDS in St. Louis. Now it's the fans turn to do their part on Sunday when the Pirates return to PNC Park for Game 3 against the Cardinals. Some of the Pirate players took to twitter shortly after Friday's 7 - 1 victory to encourage fans to participate in the second PNC Blackout of the postseason. Sunday... BLACK IT OUT! #PNCBLACKOUT Lets gooooo! — andrew mccutchen (@TheCUTCH22) October 4, ... Read More
Pirates Even Series With Offensive Barrage
Follow @TBerardi_OVA The September NL Rookie of the Month, Gerrit Cole continued his outstanding string of starts with another six inning gem on Friday afternoon in St. Louis as the Pirates evened the NLDS at one with a 7 - 1 victory over the Cardinals. Cole experienced some trouble in the first when Carlos Beltran laced a one out double into the right-center gap. He would settle, though and retire the next eleven batters he faced until giving up a lead-off homer by Yadier Molina to start ... Read More
Pirate Pitching Knocked by Reds in 10 – 3 Loss
Follow @TBerardi_OVA Jeff Locke couldn't get off to a good start and the Reds took advantage as they chased him after five runs in one inning as the Reds cruised to a 10- 3 victory on the final home date of the season for the Pirates. Locke got Billy Hamilton to ground out to lead off the game, but allowed a single, two walks, a double and a homer to put the Pirates in an early hole that they could not dig themselves out of. "Everything happened pretty fast," said Locke. "I think as a ... Read More