Despite two straight late season collapses, the Pirates have announced that they will extend Manager Clint Hurdle through the 2014 season with an option for 2015 according to Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune Review. Hurdle, who is going into his third season as the Pirates manager, was originally signed to a three-year deal in the winter of 2010. In his two seasons with the Pirates, Hurdle is 151-173 for a .466 winning percentage. Hurdle was on the hot seat last year as fans ... Read More
Neil Walker’s living every kid’s dream
Growing up as a kid from Pittsburgh who loved to play and watch baseball, it was always a dream of mine to put on that Pirate uniform and take the field for my hometown team. If you ask any kid around the country who plays baseball, I’m sure they’d agree that playing for their hometown team would be a dream come true. By playing for the team that was located in your city and the team that you grew up watching would be a life changing experience. Everyone wants to be that “hometown hero” and ... Read More
Pirates sign Jonathan Sanchez
The Pittsburgh Pirates have officially announced the signing of left-handed pitcher Jonathan Sanchez to a minor league contract. The contract includes an invitation to Major League Spring Training. Sanchez went 1-9 last year with a 8.07 ERA between Colorado and Kansas City. The signing of Sanchez is a low-risk, high-reward move by the Pirates. It also provides insurance for the signing of Francisco Liriano. Liriano broke his non-pitching arm over Christmas, but the Pirates were able to ... Read More
An Early Look at Pirates Pitching Roster Battles for 2013: Pitching Staff
Earlier this week, we took a deep look at the Pittsburgh Pirates roster battles by position. Today we will take a gander over to the pitching staff, where several key changes have once-again given the Bucs a new look on the rubber. The 2012 Pirates opened the season with veterans LHP Erik Bedard and RHP Kevin Correia at the back of the rotation, both expected to provide the team with solid innings pitched. Bedard was a total flop, never regaining any semblance of the form he had shown in ... Read More
Jackie Robinson: American Legend
Today would've been Jackie Robinson's 94th birthday. Jackie Robinson came from a time that most of us today only read about in books. Born in 1919 to sharecroppers in Georgia, Jackie Robinson grew up to change the game of baseball. Adversity was nothing new for Robinson. Growing up, his family was the only African American family on their block. He went on to UCLA to be the first athlete to letter in four different sports. After being forced to leave college, he went into the Army, where ... Read More
Pirates have four prospects in Top 100
MLB.com put out their list of Top 100 Prospects tonight. The Pittsburgh Pirates have four prospects that made the list. Gerrit Cole and Jameson Taillon were the most notable. Cole, the right-handed prospect, is one of the top prospects that is league-ready for the Pirates. Last season he went 5-1 with a 2.55 ERA in Class A, 3-6 with a 2.90 ERA in Double-A, and 1-0 in six scoreless innings in his only start in Triple-A. The Pirates haven't said that they'll be bringing him up to Pittsburgh ... Read More
Are Pirates one player away from a dominant outfield?
Several sites have put out their "Best Outfields in Baseball" list after the Atlanta Braves recently acquired Justin Upton. This move has solidified the Braves at the top of these lists. Atlanta now has BJ Upton, Justin Upton and Jason Heyward. Other teams to show up on the list include the Los Angeles Angels of Aneheim, Los Angeles Dodgers, St. Louis Cardinals, and Washington Nationals. There are other teams that round out the Top 10 that are solid in maybe two positions and iffy on the thrid ... Read More
Marte MVP of Dominican Winter League Finals
It isn't rare that MLB players join a winter league team to keep in shape for the regular season back here in the states. The Pittsburgh Pirates' left fielder Starling Marte was no exception. Marte went back to where he was born, the Dominican, to play for Escodigo in the Dominican Winter League this off-season. Marte's club swpet the Aguilas in the Dominican Winter League Finals, the equivalent to the MLB World Series, just a little less publicized. For the series, Marte went 11-21 and ... Read More
There’s no I – or we, us, our – in fan
Now we've all heard this before. And yes, I meant to say we. I'm grouping us into a group. We, in this case, is the fan. The fan which is short for fanatic. That's what we are, right? We're all sport fanatics. But there's something that we aren't. We aren't a part of the team that we cheer for. Call me picky or call me clueless. That's fine. But you are a fan and that's all. "We can't run this play. If we lose this game, it's going to hurt our playoff chances." - Oh really? Tell me ... Read More
Team USA Roster Announced
Joe Torre, the manager for the USA team in the World Baseball Classic, has submitted his roster for the tournament today. There are no Pittsburgh Pirates on the list. The World Baseball Classic is a tournament of the best baseball players in the world that is held in March, before the regular season. Players in the MLB have the option of either playing for Team USA or playing for their home country. Previously, players have said that they did not want to play because they didn’t want to take ... Read More