News -- May 2013
5/19 Rum Bunter: Pittsburgh Pirates Trade Piece : I love Michael McKenry as much as the next Pirates fan, he’s been a great locker room guy and is a fan favorite thanks to several ...
5/14 www.drstrangeglove.com: Pirates Stink, Lose Game : I will keep it short, since no one wants to spend even one more conscious moment thinking about last night’s embarrassing debacle ...
5/13 Raise the Jolly Roger: Game 37 Preview: Pirates at Mets : Pirates (20-16) at Mets (14-19) 1:10 PM–Citi Field, New York MLB.com Gameday TV: ROOT The Bucs finish this weekend’s ...
5/12 Rum Bunter: Neal Huntington Show Continues To Mystify Pittsburgh Pirates Fans : The Neal Huntington Show just concluded and we have some notes for you. Anyway, on with the show. Francisco Liriano was the focus ...
5/11 This is Getting Old: Pittsburgh Pirates vs. New York Mets – Game 36 : A slew of roster moves coming? First things first Francisco Liriano is going to make his debut. To clear his spot the Pirates ...
5/11 Raise the Jolly Roger: Tony Sanchez called up to the “taxi squad” : Pirates catching prospect Tony Sanchez is in New York to potentially join the team if Russell Martin has to hit the DL with neck ...
5/11 Three Rivers Burgh Blog: Tony Sanchez Possibly Joining Pirates : Late last night Kristy Robinson had some scoop on Pirates catching prospect Tony Sanchez:Source: #Pirates catching prospect Tony ...
5/11 Rum Bunter: Tony Sanchez Gets The Call To Join Pittsburgh Pirates : Tony Sanchez is joining the Pittsburgh Pirates in New York and could be activated if catcher Russell Martin needs to head to the ...
News -- April 2013
4/30 Rum Bunter: Jose Contreras Close To Joining Pirates Shark Tank : The Pittsburgh Pirates seem poised to promote Jose Contreras to the bullpen, or as it is now known, The Shark Tank. Until ...
4/29 Rum Bunter: The @RumbunterPodcst Returns With Special Guest @Tony26Montana : Rumbunter Media Enterprises™ has some BIG news to announce. You’ve probably been wondering where the hell we’ve ...
4/17 Raise the Jolly Roger: Game 14 Preview: Pirates vs. Cardinals : Cardinals (8-5) at Pirates (6-7) 7:05 PM–PNC Park, Pittsburgh MLB.com Gameday TV: MLB Network The Bucs and Cardinals finish ...
4/17 This is Getting Old: Pittsburgh Pirates vs. St. Louis Cardinals – Game 14, Version 2 : We are going to lose a Jonathan Sanchez start? Nooooooooo! Wow. There isn’t much in the world that sums up the 1980s quite ...
4/14 Indians Baseball Insider: Clippers implode, giving Indianapolis an 12-7 victory : Columbus, OH-The Indianapolis Indians erupted for a nine runs in the top of the seventh to sink the Columbus Clippers 12-7 during ...
4/5 This is Getting Old: Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Los Angeles Dodgers – Game 4 : Squandering. If there is one thing the Pirates have done well over the course of this streak of professional impotence besides ...
4/4 Indians Baseball Insider: Hermida's Grand Slam Gives Clippers 4-0 Victory : INDIANAPOLIS- The Columbus Clippers started off their season on a high note, defeating the Indianapolis Indians 4-0 on opening ...
News -- March 2013
3/17 Raise the Jolly Roger: News and notes : Some quick Bucs notes from the past week: World Baseball Classic: Jason Grilli did not make an appearance in the second round, ...
News -- February 2013
2/12 This is Getting Old: Roster Watch: Michael McKenry : Last year Michael McKenry turned into a real bright spot for the Pittsburgh Pirates. No one really expected him to come out ...
News -- January 2013
1/12 Raise the Jolly Roger: Weekend news and notes : Some quick Bucs bullets for the weekend: Andrew McCutchen won the MLB 13 The Show video game cover vote. His total of 108,147 ...
News -- December 2012
12/5 This is Getting Old: Roster Watch: Eric Fryer : Eric Fryer has actually already been removed from the roster. In fact, Fryer has already signed on with the Minnesota Twins, ...
News -- November 2012
11/29 Raise the Jolly Roger: Pirates to sign Russell Martin : The Pirates have reached a deal with free agent catcher Russell Martin, pending a physical. The deal is for $17 million over two ...
11/29 Three Rivers Burgh Blog: Pirates Sign Russell Martin : It seems like I haven't written much about the Pirates in a while and that is because I haven't there hasn't been much to talk ...
11/12 This is Getting Old: Is There Even A Catcher Fix? : When the Pirates declined to bring Rod Barajas they admitted another free agent failure. It’s become something of given. ...
11/12 The "Mc" Effect: Early Thoughts on the Catching Situation : The biggest question the Pirates have coming into the offseason is who will be playing catcher for the 2013 Pittsburgh Pirates? ...
11/10 Rum Bunter: Pittsburgh Pirates Lose Two Players to the Minnesota Twins : The Pittsburgh Pirates lost two members of the organization to the Minnesota Twins on Saturday. The Twins made the announcement ...
News -- October 2012
10/31 Raise the Jolly Roger: News and notes: Bell, Barajas, Coonelly : Plenty of Bucs news on Wednesday… The Pirates hired former shortstop Jay Bell as their new hitting coach. Bell replaces ...
10/25 Raise the Jolly Roger: Pirates claim Chad Beck and Ali Solis : The Pirates claimed pitcher Chad Beck and catcher Ali Solis off waivers on Thursday. Jeff Clement and Eric Fryer were designated ...
10/24 This is Getting Old: Here We Go Again!!!!!!!!! : Time for another installment of what is sadly becoming a regular series of posts by Dejan Kovacevic. Hoka Hey! Why Change A Thing? ...
News -- September 2012
9/27 mlbreports.com : Is Tony Sanchez Ready For The Big Leagues? The Pirates Have High Hopes for Their Catching Prospect : Thursday September 27th, 2012 Dedrick Hendrix: Not many prospects have an easy route to the major leagues. But catcher Tony ...
9/20 Rum Bunter: Pittsburgh Pirates Kyle McPherson, Tony Sanchez, and Neal Huntington Join the RumBunter Podcast : The RumBunter Podcast welcomes Kyle McPherson, Tony Sanchez, and General Manager Neal Huntington to the show. You can download ...
9/20 Rum Bunter: Disappointment, Drug Suspension and Retirement….So What’s Left of 2009 Pittsburgh Pirates Draft? : Back in January we jotted down some notes regarding the 2009 Pittsburgh Pirates draft. Let’s take a quick look back at ...
9/19 Rum Bunter: More on The Pittsburgh Pirates Theft Epidemic : The Pittsburgh Pirates have an epidemic. You know that and it probably scares you just as badly as it scares me. We looked ...
9/12 MLBTradeRumors: Barajas Willing To Take Less To Return To Pirates : The Pirates hold a $3.5MM option on Rod Barajas for 2013, but should they decline it, the catcher says that he would be willing ...
9/8 Rum Bunter: Pittsburgh Pirates Catching Prospect Tony Sanchez Lands On Triple-A Disabled List : September 6: The Indianapolis Indians placed Tony Sanchez on the disabled list and recalled Miguel Perez from Double-A Altoona. ...
9/4 Rum Bunter: Triple-A Round-Up: Tony Sanchez and His Broken Toe Will Never Let Us Down; Joey Votto Goes 0-for-3 : The Pittsburgh Pirates 2009 first round pick Tony Sanchez has a broken big toe. His Triple-A Indianapolis Indians are ...
9/1 Rum Bunter: Pittsburgh Pirates September Call-Ups : The Pittsburgh Pirates have taken what they need from the Triple-A Indianapolis roster to start the September call-ups. ...
News -- August 2012
8/28 Throw the Challenge Flag: Minors: "Effectively wild" outing from Gerrit Cole, Andrew Lambo his a grand slam :
The Bradenton Marauders had their game against the Fort Myers Miracle postponed. The West Virginia Power and the GCL Pirates ...
8/24 Throw the Challenge Flag: Minors: Phil Irwin strikes out nine, Eric Avila remains red hot :
Transactions: Juan Cruz cleared waivers and refused to report to AAA Indianapolis. He was released.
AAA - Indianapolis ...
8/22 Throw the Challenge Flag: Minor: Stellar debut in AA for Jameson Taillon, Eric Avila hits a grand slam :
Transactions: Kyle McPherson and Justin Wilson were both optioned back to AAA after combining for three scoreless innings ...
8/15 Throw the Challenge Flag: Minors: AAA treating Kyle McPherson well, Willy Garcia hits 16th home run :
The State College Spikes were the only affiliate with the day off. They were on the last day of their All-Star break.
AAA ...
8/12 Throw the Challenge Flag: Minors: Chris Leroux pitches seven shutout innings, impressive outing for Tyler Glasnow : The West Virginia Power were the only affiliate to have the day off on Saturday. Their game with the Palm Beach Cardinals was ...
8/10 Throw the Challenge Flag: Minors: Scoreless outings for Gerrit Cole and Casey Sadler : AAA - Indianapolis Indians (72-49) - Lost to the Columbus Clippers 5-1. Rick VandenHurk (11-4, 3.43 ERA) pitched 5 1-3 innings, ...
8/10 Throw the Challenge Flag: Minors: Justin Wilson pitches eight inning no hitter, Gregory Polanco hits two homers but gets hurt : News: Zack Dodson, the Pirates' fourth round pick in 2009, has been suspended 50 games for failing his second drug test. With ...
8/5 Throw the Challenge Flag: Minors: Jameson Taillon extends scoreless inning streak to 13 : AAA - Indianapolis Indians (70-45) - Lost to the Scranton/Wilkes Barre Yankees 9-8 in 10 innings. Justin Wilson pitched 3 2-3 ...
News -- July 2012
7/20 North Side Notch: 7/19 MiLB Recap: Clay Holmes Continues to Dominate : Justin Wilson started and gave up four runs over four innings. He struck out six and walked four. Duke Welker pitched two scoreless ...
7/18 The "Mc" Effect: Tony Sanchez Heating Up in Indianapolis : Going into the season, I wrote a blog post about the five most important players in the Pirates organization in terms of what ...
7/17 Throw the Challenge Flag: Minors: Starling Marte fall a single short of the cyle, Tony Sanchez goes deep : The West Virginia Power were the only minor league affiliate not to play on Monday. Their game against the Augusta GreenJackets ...
7/15 North Side Notch: 7/14 MiLB Recap: Not a good day for Taillon, Cole : - Justin Wilson struggled, giving up eight runs over three innings. He struck out three and walked three while giving up five ...
7/15 Throw the Challenge Flag: Minors: Gerrit Cole and Jameson Taillon both struggle : No recap of the Pittsburgh Pirates today either. Been a hectic week. Didn't get to see any of the game. Should be able to start ...
7/14 North Side Notch: 7/13 MiLB Recap: Zack Dodson coming on strong : - Jose Tabata was 0 for 4 with two strikeouts. - Starling Marte went 0 for 2 with a walk and a strikeout. - Tony Sanchez was 1 ...
7/14 Throw the Challenge Flag: Minors: Daniel Cabrera and Zack Dodson each throw complete games : The Bradenton Marauders were the only minor league affiliate that didn't play. Their game against the Brevard County Manatees ...
7/12 North Side Notch: 7/12 MiLB Recap: Tim Alderson strikes out 8 : Jeff Locke started the first game of a double-header for the Tribe and gave up four runs (two earned) over five innings. He struck ...
7/8 Throw the Challenge Flag: Minors: Robby Rowland throws six shutout innings, Gift Ngoepe hits two homers : AAA - Indianapolis Indians (56-33) - Beat the Columbus Clippers 10-5. Justin Wilson (7-4, 3.44 ERA) pitched five innings, allowing ...
7/7 Throw the Challenge Flag: Minors: Rudy Owens gets roughed up, Matt Curry has four hit game : Just a minor league roundup today. I didn't see the Pittsburgh Pirates' game so there will be no recap on them today.
AAA - ...
7/6 Throw the Challenge Flag: Minors: Colton Cain continues hot streak, Alen Hanson goes deep again : AAA - Indianapolis Indians (55-32) - Lost to the Louisville Bats 7-5. Daniel Cabrera pitched 5 1-3 innings, allowing four runs ...
7/5 North Side Notch: 7/5 MiLB Recap: Tim Alderson, Colton Cain, Joely Rodriguez put up zeros : Jose Tabata went 2 for 5, but was caught stealing. He stole just eight bases in 17 attempts in Pittsburgh. Starling Marte was ...
7/5 The "Mc" Effect: The Pirates Trade Problem : Sick of reading about the Pirates and the trade deadline? ... Yeah, me either. I've been thinking a lot about this today and ...
7/5 Throw the Challenge Flag: Minors: Jeff Locke with a one hitter through seven, Barrett Barnes hits first pro home run : AAA - Indianapolis Indians (55-31) - Beat the Louisville Bats 6-1. Jeff Locke (7-4, 2.92 ERA) pitched seven innings, allowing ...
7/2 Throw the Challenge Flag: Minors: Luis Heredia pitches five shutout innings, Starling Marte continues push towards majors : All of the minor league affiliates in action won on Sunday (Bradenton went 1-1 in a doubleheader). The GCL Pirates had the day ...
7/1 North Side Notch: Indianapolis Indians: Post Game Review from Louisville : The Indianapolis Indians, the Pirates’ Triple-A affiliate has been in town all weekend, so I decided to head down to Louisville ...
News -- June 2012
6/26 The "Mc" Effect: Tony Sanchez Update : The Pirates got their first big injury scare yesterday when Rod Barajas left the game after the first inning with a knee ...
6/18 North Side Notch: 6/18 MiLB Recap: Stetson Allie gets off to hot start as hitter : Openers for both State College and the GCL Pirates today. Indianapolis 5, Gwinnett 4 – Rick VandenHurk gave up 4 runs over ...
6/10 Buccos Buzz: Pirates Win Series in Milwaukee; Huge Tony Sanchez and Stetson Allie News : I’ll try and wrap up the ridiculous day/night that was yesterday in Pittsburgh Pirates baseball with this post. - First ...
6/4 Raise the Jolly Roger: 2012 Draft mini-preview and thoughts : The first round of the 2012 MLB Draft is Monday night, and the Pittsburgh Pirates will have the eighth pick. It’s still ...
6/3 The "Mc" Effect: Tony Sanchez Promoted : Yeah I'm coming at you with a rare news report! Because it's not like you can't just turn on your smart phone and be bombarded ...
6/3 Raise the Jolly Roger: Tony Sanchez promoted to AAA : 2009 first-round and 4th overall pick Tony Sanchez was promoted to AAA this evening. Sanchez has been a disappointment since being ...
6/1 YankeeAnalysts.com: The agony and the ecstasy of the MLB draft : With the MLB draft upcoming, I thought this would be a good time to think a bit about the uncertainty of the draft, and how so ...
News -- May 2012
5/28 This is Getting Old: Step Away From the Merrero, Neal! : There seems to be considerable consensus building that the Pittsburgh Pirates will select Deven Merrero in the 2012 Rule IV draft. ...
5/21 This is Getting Old: Guess It’s Time To Talk Bats : Everyone else is weighing in so why not me too!?!?!?! Obviously the bats are bad. Worst in the majors and on and on and on. ...
5/7 Raise the Jolly Roger: A trip around the minors : Since we’re no longer running the daily minor league updates (see Pirates Prospects or some of the other blogs if you’re ...
News -- April 2012
4/15 Raise the Jolly Roger: GAMEDAY: Pirates at Giants : Pirates (2-6) at Giants (4-4) 4:05 PM EST–AT&T Park, San Francisco Here is the MLB.com Gameday TV: ROOT Sports The Bucs ...
4/7 Raise the Jolly Roger: Off-day news and notes : The off day after Opening Day is always annoying, but it’s a lot more annoying this year after a 1-0 loss (as opposed to ...
News -- March 2012
3/15 Buccos Buzz: Pirates Score 10 in First Inning, 17 in Win Over Minnesota Twins : The Pittsburgh Pirates bats sure are out this spring. The Bucs scored ten times in the first inning and added seven more on 19 ...
3/6 The "Mc" Effect: 3/5 Recap | Bucs Bring the Bats, Pirates 10 Orioles 3 : 10 runs, 18 hits. The Pirates absolutely wrecked the Baltimore Orioles under the lights, scoring in each of the first five innings. ...
3/6 Raise the Jolly Roger: GAMEDAY(!): Pirates at Blue Jays : Pirates (0-0) at Blue Jays (0-0) 1:05 PM–Florida Auto Exchange Stadium, Dunedin Audio: MLB.com? Here is the MLB.com Gameday ...
News -- February 2012
2/22 MLB Dirt: 2012 Pittsburgh Pirates Top 16 Prospects : The Pittsburgh Pirates spent just over $17M in last year’s draft to make sure they helped stock a farm system that has ...
2/1 Raise the Jolly Roger: Bar news: Tony Sanchez and Budweiser : Both these news bits are a day or so old, but since things continue to be slow I figured I’d put them up here anyway in ...
News -- January 2012
1/31 The "Mc" Effect: Tony Sanchez Has/Had A Broken Jaw : Ridiculous news from the Tribune-Review this morning, Pirates prospect Tony Sanchez sustained a broken jaw earlier in the offseason ...
1/16 The "Mc" Effect: The Forgettable Eric Fryer : Myself and RumBunter have been doing a lot of writing about Pirates catching prospect Tony Sanchez today. I wrote this post about ...
News -- December 2011
12/22 Through The Fence Baseball: Pirates most major-league ready prospect: Jeff Locke : With the offseason in full swing and teams working to finalize rosters for the upcoming season, let’s take a look at which ...
News -- November 2011
11/23 The "Mc" Effect: New CBA Puts Pressure on Prospects : The new Collective Bargaining Agreement for Major League Baseball was announced today, and it was not kind to the Pirates. Basically, ...
11/10 Baseball Analytics: Bucs Add Powerful, OBP-Challenged Barajas : Earlier this offseason, the Pirates declined options on both Chris Snyder ($6.75 million, $750K buyout) and Ryan Doumit (a combined ...
11/3 This is Getting Old: Four Pirates Qualify as Type B Free Agents : Four Pirates free agents have qualified for Type B status. These guys range in terms of risk but in my opinion the Pirates ...
News -- September 2011
9/4 The "Mc" Effect: 9/3 Altoona Curve - What I Learned : I was at the Altoona Curve game last night. This post is very late because of the long drive home I had, I'm not going to give ...
News -- August 2011
8/28 The "Mc" Effect: An Early Look At 2012 :
After a very exciting first half of the 2011 season, the Pirates have fallen back under .500 with little hope of getting ...
8/7 The "Mc" Effect: The Real Value Of Ryan Doumit : The Pittsburgh Pirates have had a lot of question marks in their lineup for the last several years. Most recently one of the biggest ...
8/3 The "Mc" Effect: Catching Up With The Pirates Prospects (Part 2) : Previously I reviewed the seasons of Pirates’ 6-11th ranked prospects according to Baseball Prospectus’ preseason list. Today ...
News -- July 2011
7/21 Raise the Jolly Roger: Blogger interviews with Jeff Karstens, Frank Coonelly, and Neal Huntington : The Pirates did a really cool thing Monday night, inviting a few bloggers to come down to the park before the game and spend a ...
7/12 Buccos Buzz: Pittsburgh Pirates’ Trade Deadline Plans Coming Into Focus? : It’s no secret that the Pittsburgh Pirates (45-42) are in a somewhat precarious and unfamiliar situation at the moment. ...
News -- June 2011
6/25 Raise the Jolly Roger: Eric Fryer called up, Dusty Brown DFA : The Bucs have called up catcher Eric Fryer for tonight’s game, and designated Dusty Brown for assignment. I like this move. ...
6/14 Through The Fence Baseball: A letter to Pirates GM Neal Huntington : Dear Mr. Huntington, Over the past couple of days, you’ve made a few moves (or lack thereof) that have caused a little bit ...
6/12 The "Mc" Effect: McCatcher! : The Dallas Mavericks probably think they're going to be the biggest story in sports tonight, but they're now going to have to ...
6/12 MLBTradeRumors: Quick Hits: Pirates, Millwood, Astros, Gamel : Here are some Sunday evening Quick Hits as the Reds take on the Giants..
The Astros have been dominating the rumor mill over ...
6/10 Raise the Jolly Roger: Catching crisis : Chris Snyder‘s season might be over. Ryan Doumit is not coming back until late July at the earliest. Jason Jaramillo is ...