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I'm a little behind the eight-ball on this one, but the Pirates made a flurry of roster moves this afternoon that are worth at least talking a little bit about even if I end up being the last person on the internet to weigh in on them. First up, they traded Luis Rico and Luis […]

When rumors about the Dodgers gargantuan new TV deal started floating around the internet yesterday, most people classified the reaction to the rumors as a "shockwave." It's true that the numbers are staggering: the deal's not finalized, but it will pay the Dodgers somewhere in the ballpark of $6-$7 billion over 25 years. That puts […]

Ken Rosenthal wrote this morning that the Pirates had "significant interest" in signing free agent catcher Russell Martin, though the Yankees are still the favorites to retain his services. I've made a list of ways that the Pirates could spend money that would be worse than spending it on Russell Martin. I think it's comprehensive, […]

I have a little mental tic where every time any big trade goes down involving any baseball team, I ask myself what it would take for the Pirates to complete the trade themselves. This was born, I think, during the Dave Littlefield era when the Pirates would only rarely target players I thought they should […]

Buried in yesterday's election news, Bob Nutting made an appearance yesterday afternoon to give a vote of semi-confidence to Neal Huntington and his front office for 2013, basically saying that while he was upset by the collapse that he thinks that controversial military-style training needs to be toned down, that he thinks the front office […]

When the Pirates hired Jay Bell last week, I mentioned that I had read an excellent Deadspin story last month about Bell and the beginning and end of his career and that Bell in general had really impressed me in the story, leaving me with the impression that he'd make an excellent big league coach. […]

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I'm very happy that Andrew McCutchen hit well enough to win this year's National League Gold Glove Award in center field. I hope he continues hitting well enough throughout his career that he can accumulate several more of these prestigious defensive awards.  (I know I'm being cynical, but that's pretty much how the Gold Gloves […]

I'm working on Part 2 of WHYGAVS prospect week as we speak and it'll be done tonight/tomorrow morning. Until then, tide yourself over with this great Baseball Prospectus guest piece by Jorge Arangure about why Dominican players have trouble drawing walks in the big leagues. The story traces the journey of the Indians' Carlos Santana, […]

Look at the Pittsburgh Pirates as constructed. Be brutally honest with yourself. What are the strengths of this team? What are their weaknesses. What can you say about them for sure entering 2013?  If we're starting with strengths, we can say for sure that the Pittsburgh Pirates do not need a center fielder. Andrew McCutchen has […]

"Manny Machado is awesome."  That's the tweet I sent out during the Yankees/Orioles series after the 20-year old infielder hit his first playoff home run. There was no deeper meaning to it than the words I typed. The reason I like watching the playoffs so much is to see players I don't regularly watch for […]

As usual, getting ready for my committee meeting pretty much consumed my entire week and so my idea that I'd spend some time getting big posts together was fairly misguided. The good news is that that's done with now (I survived! I might graduate … eventually!) and so next week will definitely see some more […]

Over the weekend and into Monday, stories about Game Seven of the 1992 NLCS were inescapable. This is logical. It's one of the most memorable games in recent baseball history, and Sunday was the 20th anniversary of it. We as Pirate fans have a visceral reaction to this kind of thing, but the reality is […]

Sorry for the lack of posting this week; I had to give lab meeting this week and I have a committee meeting next week and that's resulted in a lot of time in lab and a lot of time trying to piece things together. When you throw in a lot of time watching playoff baseball, […]

Another year, another set of baseball playoffs without the Pirates. My own personal rooting interests in 2012 are, in order: A's Tigers Reds (I don't care what you say about Brandon Phillips, I like the Reds; I say the Reds being good is proof the Pirates can do it) Giants (why do my four favorite […]

  I am in no way shape or form interested in reviewing the 2012 Pittsburgh Pirate season. It goes like this: it sucked, it was awesome, it sucked a lot more. I will remember a lot of individual moments from 2012 as being fantastic in a vacuum; Andrew McCutchen's incredible mid-season hot streak, Pedro Alvarez's brobdingnagian […]

Earlier this summer, I started thinking about how my post for the Pirates' 82nd win would look. It was a foregone conclusion that they would get there in early August; I actually briefly wondered if they'd have a chance to get to 82 around the time that I would be home for a game on […]

A month ago, I probably would've had more to say about this. Homer Bailey no-hit the Pirates and for the 20th straight year, they won't have a winning season. What are we all doing with our lives? 

The Pirates and Mets play at 1:10 this afternoon. RA Dickey goes for his 20th win, the Pirates try to keep their flickering hopes of 82 wins alive, and Kevin Correia makes what I will assume is his next-to-last start as a Pirate. Only one weekday afternoon game left in 2012 after today.