Pittsburgh Pirates

By Chuck Finder A sampling of Pirates players, whose Q&A session was far kinder and gentler than the management discussion that followed. . . LaRoche on his brother, Adam: "I haven't talked to him since the day he was traded" last July. Such a kidder.

By Brian …and Bob Nutting insists the team is not for sale. This certainly is one crazy development that came out of NOWHERE, especially in the middle of PirateFest. Can you imagine the questions at the Q&A session this afternoon? WHYGAVS and Bucs Dugout already have their thoughts posted. Pat:...

Individual game tickets to the 2010 Pittsburgh Pirates season went on sale Saturday morning.

Forbes magazine estimated the Pirates' value last year at $288 million, with only the Florida Marlins below them. The Pirates have acknowledged being profitable the past six years, and have one of the most lauded stadiums in sports in 9-year-old PNC Park.

By Susan Mannella So good for the Pirates, good for Bill Mazeroski and good for Pittsburgh. The legend will be made solid. Now if someone can only erect a statue to another Pittsburgh icon, Gene Kelly. Baseball players come inside when it rains; Gene Kelly danced in it.

By mondesishouse(noreply@blogger.com) If anyone has proven to know what they're doing in the field of pro sports ownership, it's the Lemieux/Burkle group. What they've done with the Penguins did take a matter of some luck in the draft, but also needed the right touch to finish what the lottery Gods gave them. That's hiring Ray Sher...

On a bitter cold Friday, Pirates general manager Neal Huntington and president Frank Coonelly were on the hot seat.

By Dejan Kovacevic gt;PirateFest: Bill Mazeroski somehow gets through his speech. Also, Neal Huntington talks about payroll, Frank Coonelly and the players talk about playoffs, and three more players are invited to spring training. gt;Video: Mazeroski and his statue.

By FRANK The wound, in this case, is poor scouting, that only drafted eight major league players out of nearly 100 picks in '05 and '06. The eight major league players drafted are back of the end pitchers, middle relievers, and bottom-of-the-lineup type hitters.

The Pittsburgh Pirates have reportedly received an offer from a fellow Pittsburgh sports franchise owner.

The Pittsburgh Pirates have officially announced plans to build a statue in honor of Bill Mazeroski at PNC Park.

By Dejan Kovacevic Q: Hey, Dejan, I read the blog every day and a huge Pirates fan. But, at 16 years old, I've never been alive during a winning season. It seems every year is a disappointment, and kids my age see the Pirates as being a joke compared to the Steelers and Penguins. Out of my friends, I very well may be th...

By Dejan Kovacevic Mazeroski, shortly after being introduced by Pirates owner Bob Nutting, grew predictably emotional in speaking at the podium. Interestingly, he appeared to address his brief remarks in the direction of the current players, seated just below where this photo shows.

By Michael Cohen The Pittsburgh Pirates, Kansas City Royals, and Baltimore Orioles seem to come to mind, unfortunately, every spring as teams that will have no shot at competing for a .500 record during the season, let alone a wild card. There was John Garland. He signed with the San Diego Padres.

By Charlie 5 months ago: Pittsburgh Pirates losing pitcher Steven Jackson sits in the corner of the dugout after giving up five runs to the Arizona Diamondbacks in the 12th inning of the baseball game in Pittsburgh, Thursday, Aug. 6, 2009. The Pirates lost 11-6. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)

By Dejan Kovacevic The three current statues honor Roberto Clemente, Willie Stargell and Honus Wagner. There also is a Ralph Kiner memorial inside the stadium of just his hands gripping a bat, as well as several smaller monuments to players who were part of the city's Negro Leagues teams.

By Charlie 5 months ago: Pittsburgh Pirates' Ronny Cedeno, right, is greeted by third base coach Rich Donnelly after hitting a two-run homer against the St. Louis Cardinals in the bottom of the ninth inning of the baseball game in Pittsburgh, Saturday, Aug. 8, 2009. The Pirates lost 5-3 .(AP Photo/Keit...

Related articles from post-gazette.com and more.

By Charlie When Nutting tells the story of what he's doing with the Pirates, it is indeed mostly coherent--the Bucs will build a core of young talent and then raise payroll when those players become costly, and when a few extra players could be the difference between a pennant winner and an also-ra...

By Dejan Kovacevic gt;Sidebar: Dotel is signed, sealed and smiling. Chose to focus this on his strikeouts and how that type of closer has been surprisingly rare for the Pirates over many years. gt;Q&A: More on Dotel's Ks. gt;Someone at Sports Illustrated predicts a Pirates-Royals World Series ... in in 2014.

There may be a few months left before baseball season gets underway, but the Pittsburgh Pirates are gearing up for their annual PirateFest.

By Charlie UPDATE: The Post-Gazette, linked above, now reports that Jones may not be a Pirate for long--since the Pirates were second in the waiver queue, they might have claimed him for another team who wanted him, and may now be trying to work out a deal where they send Jones and another player to tha...

By Sam Fogelgaren Congratulations to the Mets. After all those other teams' offseason signings where Omar Minaya appeared to be sleeping (literally), the Mets finally made a move, signing former Pittsburgh Pirate and Boston Red Sock (is that the singular?), Jason Bay. 

By Dejan Kovacevic The reason I mention Bixler and Pearce is because they are still on the 40-man roster instead of Neal Huntington-acquired players such as Robinzon Diaz and Jeff Karstens. These moves fly in the face of Huntington's nearly complete purge of the 40-man. Would Bixler and Pearce do the same?

By Brian Eric Hinske was signed…well, we liked it at the time! Paul Maholm got a nice contract extension. This was also around the time when it became very evident that Doug Mientkiewicz wouldn’t be back, making a lot of fans very angry. It was a sad day in Pittsburgh when PNC Park organist Vince Lasche...

The Pirates, coming off their 27th consecutive losing season, have hired Josh Bonifay as their new GM. Bonifay requests patience from the fan base, ... and more »

April 9, 2001: Pirates christen new home, PNC Park, only hours after franchise icon Willie Stargell dies of complications from stroke. ... and more »

By Trogluddite As a long-suffering Pirates fan, I have to constantly defend my loyalty to the team – usually, I claim insanity and let it go at that.  I’m currently trapped in New York.  When I point out that the Yankees buy championships, the locals respond, “The Pirates have had good players – if they had ju...

By Charlie 19 days ago: Pittsburgh Pirates' Lastings Milledge (85) leaps into the arms of teammate Zach Duke, left, after hitting a base clearing, three-run walk-off double off Los Angeles Dodgers closer Jonathan Broxton in the ninth inning of a baseball game in Pittsburgh Sunday, Sept. 27, 2009. T...

By chrisiu10 The draft this year has really helped Neal Huntington’s cause.  Tony Sanchez was projected as a good hitting catcher on the fast track to the big leagues.  Now Huntington took a lot of heat for drafting Sanchez so high, but I think a lot that was unwarranted.  In his first 3 months of profession...

By Charlie As bad as Doumit's season felt, the difference between what he did in 2008 and what he did this year mostly just stems from his batting average being 68 points lower, which mostly just shows what a fickle little finger batting average can be. He still hit for good power, and he pounded the ball...

By Charlie 1. Pedro Alvarez, 3B, Altoona. Grade: A-. Previous ranking: 1. If there's anything to worry about here, it's that Alvarez won't hit for a high average in the majors; he batted only .259 in 54 at bats for the USA's World Cup team. He did, however, slug .574, and he's only just now finishing his first pr...

By Dejan Kovacevic Neal Huntington said yesterday that Capps will be the closer next spring. gt;Notebook: Why is Frank Coonelly the only one vocally upset by the season? Huntington addresses the question. Also, Pedro Alvarez and Brad Lincoln win gold medals.

By Dejan Kovacevic gt;Game story: Pirates 3, Dodgers 1. From Jeff Karstens to Matt Capps, the bullpen was terrific. The players also had some unusual motivation. Box score gt;Audio: Karstens. gt;Opponent: The Dodgers, by the Los Angeles Times' Dylan Hernandez.

By Dejan Kovacevic In the game story, you will find rather strong language from Frank Coonelly about the performance of some players, as well as how the team might respond to those players' performance this winter. gt;Next: The Dodgers, by the Los Angeles Times' Dylan Hernandez.

By Dejan Kovacevic gt;Pittsburgh stuff: Finally, all the Pittsburgh entries into one online volume. gt;Brian Sabean, the Giants' general manager, gets quite defensive about the Freddy Sanchez trade. Sure sounds like his club option will not be picked up.

The Pittsburgh Pirates have signed the following five players, selected in this year's First-Year Player Draft.   Jose Hernandez - 23rd round - OF from the University of Texas/San Antonio Hit .360 (76-for-211) with 25 doubles, 17 home runs and 61 RBI in 55 games as a senior this year…Led t...

By Dejan Kovacevic gt;Today's Sports poll question asks if you want Karstens out of the rotation. gt;Chris Duffy will come to town with a smile. gt;Another old friend, Damaso Marte, goes on the DL. Seems there might be a reason why he has not thrown as hard as he did while in Pittsburgh.

By Dejan Kovacevic In that context, then, it is absolutely zero surprise that a) Ryan Doumit asked the Pirates if he could rehabilitate in Pittsburgh and b) that management easily agreed. gt;Bob Smizik wants to see the Pirates follow Florida's model. gt;USA Today praises the Pirates' rotation.

By Dejan Kovacevic He could have complained about home plate umpire Randy Marsh's refusal to give him an outside strike the whole inning, but declined. gt;Xavier Nady is headed for the DL and Tommy John gt;Pirates Charities begins awarding its "Fields of Dreams."

AP PITTSBURGH - The Pittsburgh Pirates plan to honor three slain city police officers at the team's home opener Monday against the Houston Astros. The Pirates will observe a moment of silence and taps will be played before the game to honor officers ...

By Pat(noreply@blogger.com) The Road to 17 is a longer-form look at each losing season that the Pirates have had since their last playoff appearance in 1992. The object is not to wallow in the misery of the Pirates, but instead remember just what it is that makes us Pirate fans in the first place. Every team has their great m...

By Jeff Gordon “The Pirates are committed to creatively adding talent to our organization,” general manager Neal Huntington said Monday. “By adding these two young men, the Pirates are pleased to not only add two prospects to our system but also hope to open a pathway to an untapped market. We are intrigu...

By Dejan Kovacevic By Dejan Kovacevic | 12:45 a.m. Monday Pirates 6, Padres 1: In addition to stuff about the Adam LaRoche and Steve Pearce home runs, some of the athletes and John Russell talked about how their season changed so dramatically on July 31. Video: Dunlap the detective tracks down Alvarez.

By Dejan Kovacevic MILWAUKEE -- This city's metropolitan area is two-thirds the size of Pittsburgh, in terms of population, but here it is all energized about Major League Baseball in late September. Moving on, Baseball Prospectus' Kevin Goldstein analyzes the Alvarez matter further, but this, too, re...

By Dejan Kovacevic By Dejan Kovacevic | 11:20 a.m. Wednesday Greg Billman of New Philadelphia, Ohio Q: How come John Russell doesn't stick up for his players more? There have been some awful calls against the Pirates the past month -- the one at first Tuesday takes the cake -- and he doesn't move.

By Matt Bandi On Friday night, as Pirates fans awaited word on No. 1 draft choice Pedro Alvarez, DeMaro tried on another hat: Reporter. Jim Callis of “Baseball America” is perhaps the leading authority in the country on the draft. He was on ESPN after midnight saying there was no word on Alvarez.

By Pirate Blues Hopefully Freddy Sanchez is healthy this year or Jason Bay picks up his game because the lack of OBP from the #3 hitter last year killed us. Since the National League Central Division teams have pretty much set their rotations for 2008 other than a late big deal or two, I thought it was time to t...

By Matt Bandi Overall, the Pirates outfield simply looked bad in 2007. Balls were not caught, throws were feeble, and the players occasionally looked lost while roaming the grass. Jason Bay, an above average leftfielder when he joined the team, has seen his skills decline to the point that he is an occas...

By supernaturalfic@gmail.com Summary/ A/N: More from the Pirate!Dean verse, now with killer robots. Just an average day in the life of the Flying Dutchman's two newest crewmembers, which is to say, not at all. Goes with the CoTFD curse as Bootstrap described it, and not as the writers have explained it. Also, I intend to X-...

By Chris Beaumont Sheer entertainment. If nothing else, the movie is insanely entertaining, even at a near three-hour running time. It is addictively entertaining to the very end. This is a series that was large in scope and very ambitious in what it was trying to do, but on top of that, the creative team made su...