Baseball Historians

NBCsports.com offers some hope for Pirates fans in their preseaon preview.  With some bonafide hitters in Jason Bay, Adam LaRoche and Freddy Sanchez, the Pirates have some solid offense.  The big question mark is their young rotation.  At this point, the team could go either way, but like the preview says, the Pirates at least […]

Chris Kline at Baseball America recently wrote up a nice story on Pirates signee and Cuban defector Serguey Linares.  He hasn’t thrown in a while, but the Pirates got him for only $125,000 so he’s probably worth taking a flier on.  And he’s only 23 but it looks like an injury has taken some mph’s […]

The Pirates signed second baseman Jose Castillo to a one year, $1.9 million deal and avoided arbitration with the infielder.  Castillo did hit 14 homeruns in 2006, but he only had a .299 OBP and a .382 SLG so some plate discipline would probably do Castillo some good.  On top of that, fielding was an […]

The Pirates have been busy the last few days and today they settled with infielder Freddy Sanchez.  Of course Sanchez broke out in 2006 and won the batting title.  Sanchez will make $2.75 million and prove to everyone that 2006 wasn’t a fluke.
PECOTA has Freddy Sanchez coming back down to earth.  His weighted mean average […]

The Pirates settled two of the their five arbitration cases today when they locked up Adam LaRoche and John Grabow to one year deals.  LaRoche was the big one and he signed for $3.2 million.  The slugger of course came over in the trade that sent closer Mike Gonzalez to the Braves.
I like what PECOTA […]

The Pirates finally have someone for the back of the rotation and I personally like this signing.  Out of the guys like Tomo Okha and even Jeff Weaver, I think Tony Armas, Jr. has the most upside.  In addition, if you make him the fifth starter, you have a little more control over his innings […]

Baseball America recently unveiled their list of the top ten Pirates prospects.  Topping the list is the Pirates first round pick in 2005, outfielder Andrew McCutchen.  At nineteen, McCutchen hit Double A pitching very well and while it looks like he’ll repeat their in 2007, a cup of coffee at the end of the year […]

You hate to see players speak out like this but shortstop Jack Wilson recently told the Pittsburgh media that he’d much rather have Freddy Sanchez playing second base over Jose Castillo.  He questions Castillo’s work ethic.  Of course I like how this tid bit goes on to talk about how Wilson should work on his […]

First off, the Pirates lost out on another starting pitcher yesterday with Jeff Weaver looking more and more likely to go to the Mariners.  That leaves Tony Armas as the next best option for that fifth spot in the rotation.
In other news, the mega deal that will pay Chase Utley $85 million over seven years […]

In the Pirates hunt for a fifth starter, the team has now moved on and is talking to probably the best guy still out there. World Series hero Jeff Weaver has three other teams in the mix but it looks like now that Tomo Okha is off the table, the Pirates aren’t leaving any rock […]

The Jays stole Tomo Okha from us, so now the Pirates are looking to sign Tony Armas.  I like this a little bit better because despite Armas’ injury problems, he has a better upside.  He looked poised to breakout a few years ago but then injuries pretty much derailed his career.  He was pretty much […]

The Pirates have apparantly stepped up their pursuit of free agent starter Tomo Okha.  It looks like the Pirates are on of four teams and Okha might be the best guy out there after the Pirates lost out on signing Brian Lawrence.  Okha might not be an All Star, but as far as fifth starters […]

The Pirates signed pitcher Shawn Chacon to a one year, $3.825 million deal.  The Pirates got Chacon in the deal that sent Craig Wilson over to the Yankees and there’s a solid chance that the right handed curve ball specialist could be the Pirates fifth starter in 2007.
Chacon started his career with the Rockies and […]

The Pirates finally got this deal done and in my opinion, it’s a steal. Yes, Mike Gonzalez is left handed and yes, he strikes guys out and can close games.  Adam LaRoche is a bona fide slugger though and he should give Jason Bay a little protection in the lineup.  I like this deal a […]

The Pirates are making one more effort to shore up their rotation and they’ve apparantly made an offer to Brian Lawrence.  The right handed starter missed all of 2006 because of a shoulder injury but prior to that, he’s been a good but not great innings eater for the Padres.  On the Pirates, he’d probably […]

The Pirates inked infielder Jose Hernandez to a minor league contract.  Hernandez hasn’t had a really good year since 2002 but he’s solid against left handed pitching and he can play anywhere in the infield.  If he doesn’t prove his worth in camp, we’re not the hook so there’s not a lot of risk here. 

I love these lists and it looks like both John Sickels and Kevin Goldstein agree on the top three Pirates prospects.  Sickels recently unveiled his list and his top three matches Goldstein’s from the week before.  Andrew McCuthcen is the lone Pirate to get an A- rating and Brad Lincoln (B+) and Brent Lillibridge (B) […]

Minor League expert Kevin Goldstein recently unveiled his top 10 Pirate prospects in his latest Future Shock.  It’s a pretty encouraging list as the Pirates have one “excellent” prospect and two “very good” prospects.
Centerfielder Andrew McCutchen tops the list as the lone excellent prospect.  He tore it up at Low A and then did it […]

The Pirates still might have a chance to nab Adam LaRoche from the Braves.  After a deal for Mike Gonzalez fell through at the winter meetings, it now looks like the Yankees of all teams might save the deal.  The Yankees would send infielder Melky Cabrera to the Braves, who would send Adam LaRoche to […]

The Braves are blaming the Pirates for being sticks in the mud when it came down a deal that would have sent Mike Gonzalez to the Braves for Adam LaRoche.  This would have been a nice deal while it happened and the Pirates are denying the Braves claim although I tend to think someone botched […]

The Winter Meetings are winding down and it looks like once again the Pirates will be on the side line.  While I’m sure the team got a ton of offers for their young pitchers, the Pirates will probably go into 2007 just like they did last year and the result will be the same.  Sigh, […]

The Pirates solidified their bullpen today when they re-signed Damasco Marte to a two year, $4.7 million deal.  Normally this would be a lot for a middle reliever but this year, getting anyone for less then $3 million a year is a bargain.
The Pirates picked up Marte in a trade with the White Sox last […]

It’s hard to believe that Pirates actually have a shot at winning a post season award but to get on the “This Year in Baseball” ballot doesn’t take too much.  Salomon Torres is going up against the likes of Joel Zumaya and Adam Wainwright for Setup Man of the Year while Mike Gonzalez has to […]

Ed Eagle is taking a glass half full approach in this column about the Pirates.  While I agree the team has some things to be happy about, I don’t see them making a big splash in free agency nor do I see them snapping their losing streak.  At least not this year.
And here’s a solid […]

MLB.com beat writer Ed Eagle answered his mail yesterday about the Pirates. He touches on everything from the Pirates budget to the return of Aramis Ramirez and Shawn Chacon.  Good stuff as always.