It's a common misconception that athletes assume the responsibility of being a role model for young kids once they make it to the pro's. With the amount of times they appear in the news for negative off-field antics, it could be easy to lose hope that good guys still exist in the professional sports realm. For Andrew McCutchen, however, he embraces his role of a role model and with the holiday season upcoming, he's ready to give the community more than just their first winning season ... Read More
Pirates re-sign Jason Grilli to two-year deal
Jason Grilli (64 G, 2.94 ERA, 90 K’s) will be a Pirate for two more years. Well, at least in contract he will be. Last night, Grilli agreed to a two year, $6.75 million dollar contract with the Bucs (pending a physical). This, according to sources, was actually a hometown discount compared to other teams offering. When was the last time Pirates fans heard that with a big name free agent? This signing is huge because what it does is allow the front office to pursue talks with teams ... Read More
Pirates sign Russell Martin to two-year deal
Over the past few days, the Twitterverse has been buzzing about the top free agent catcher Russell Martin possibly becoming a Pittsburgh Pirate. While it seemed hard to believe that Martin would choose the small-market Pirates over the New York Yankees, his team for the past two years, Martin did just that. Wait what? The Pirates actually beat the Yankees for a top free agent? As first reported by Ken Rosenthal, the Pirates have agreed to terms with Martin pending a physical. Although ... Read More
Pirates announce coaching changes
Coming off of the collapse part two, the Pirates front office made some changes. Before we go to far, no they aren't Frank Coonelly, Neal Huntington or Clint Hurdle, but they did make some changes at hitting coach, first base coach and Major League coach. The Pirates have brought on former player Jay Bell to take over as hitting coach as Gregg Ritchie left to take a coaching position at his alma mater. Bell, who played eight of his 18 seasons with the Pirates, has a career batting average of ... Read More
Nationals Show Pirates How to Handle Gerrit Cole
Just when you thought the Pirates had the most heartbreaking end to their season, the Washington Nationals swooped in to take the top prize. The Nats blew a two run lead in the ninth inning by surrendering four runs to the St. Louis Cardinals. The game five loss ended Washington's incredible run and first postseason appearance since moving from Montreal in 2005. Entering the playoffs with the most wins in baseball, the divisional series loss has to be considered premature; however, given the ... Read More
The Pirates are the ex-boyfriend that breaks your heart
A relationship between a fan and their team is no different than that between a man and a woman. Just like the last guy I dated, I thought this Pirates' season was the one. Finally, everything was falling into place and we were destined for greatness, or at least a few steps above the mediocrity that I’ve allowed myself to accept for the majority of my life. But I was wrong. Think back to July. The Pirates spent the bulk of the month battling for the division, win after win distancing ... Read More
Are The Pittsburgh Pirates Allergic To Winning?
After today’s loss to the New York Mets, there is absolutely no margin for error if the Pittsburgh Pirates hope to end their 19-year losing streak. If the Pirates truly want to crush their fans hearts in style, they should win four games then lose the last two and finish just below the mark. That seems to be how they do things around here. Look at the fact they got to 16 games over .500 and most experts, including myself, thought there was no way in hell even the Pirates could blow such a ... Read More
The Pirates second collapse could be worst season in 19 years
It's happened. It's officially happened. I've remained mum on the situation for the past month or so, but tonight was the nail in the coffin. The Pirates officially are a losing ball club with their loss to the Brewers tonight. .500 was the dream for fans for the better part of two decades and this had to be the year. There were nothing but talks of making the playoffs because .500 was a given. Seriously, 16 games over .500 in late July, how could it not happen? The simple question is who ... Read More
Who Says Cheaters Never Win?
I’m sure you’ve all heard the phrase “Cheaters Never Win.” Apparently that’s not always the case. Major League Baseball has announced that Melky Cabrera, who is currently serving a 50-game suspension for using a banned substance, will in fact be eligible to win the NL batting title. One player of local interest, Andrew McCutchen, currently trails Cabrera by seven points (.346 to .339) and doesn’t have much longer to make up the ground. If Cabrera wins, he will have done it despite missing ... Read More
Pittsburgh: The former graveyard is now a hit and miss
For years now, Pittsburgh has been known as the graveyard for baseball players. To simplify it, players would come to Pittsburgh for one last stop before they turned in their baseball cleats. Just look at it over the years. Raul Mondesi Jose Mesa Jeromy Burnitz Matt Morris Derek Bell This list is just the players off the top of my head that made their last stop, or close to their last stop before throwing in the towel. To put it nicely, each of the players didn't enjoy their best ... Read More