Tag: Pittsburgh pirates

Pirates matches lead to a win against the Reds and a draw with Brian Reynolds

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CINCINNATI – The Pirates had plenty of anticipation games Thursday before and during their 5-4 Opening Day victory over the Reds. Patient approaches the plate, squatting tight until Reds right-hander Hunter Green, flexing five relievers, made nine runs and assisted in making runs. The Pirates won the game in the eighth inning when Ji Hwan Bae walked, stole second, sacrificed third and scored on Oneil Cruz’s sacrifice fly. “You just have to take a step back, take a breath and relax,” said Brian Reynolds, who drew a bases-loaded walk in…

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Shuhei Ohtani for the Dodgers? Juan Soto extended? 23 Bowden Predictions for the 2023 MLB Season

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With the opening date only a few days away, it’s time to score again with predictions for the 2023 season and beyond in the off-season. While we wait for the season to kick off, here are 23 bold (and not so bold) predictions for the year. Like all preseason predictions, some will come out and others will flop. Let me know what you think, and share your predictions, in the comments section. 1. Juan Soto, who turned down a 15-year, $440 million offer from the Nationals before he was traded…

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Finally, Pirate President Travis Williams took questions, including some from our subscribers

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Bradenton, Fla. – Four straight losing seasons is going to stir up a lot of bad karma for the ball club. Which explains Pirates owner Bob Nutting’s move to soften his image by mingling with fans during spring training this year. On Thursday, it was team boss Travis Williams’ turn. After dodging interview requests for two years, Williams sat down for one-on-one interviews with several reporters covering the team. The overall goal of this Q&A was to discuss recent renovations and improvements at PNC Park, but we were told that…

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Minors Madness: Round 1, Hoo-Hoos and Gasbags regions

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The bracket of 64 teams is set. Let’s admire it: As you can see, Friday’s vote in the Gasbags didn’t result in a single surprise. It was the least dramatic round of voting yet. Good fare for the Senators, Fightin Phils, Braves, Aviators, Cubs, Missions, Threshers, Redbirds, Clippers, Braves (again), Bandits, Dodgers and Baysox. The closest match was between Emeralds No. 16 and Blue Rocks No. 17, which was determined by a margin of 53.8-46.2 percent. But, before we looked forward, a quick shout out to the defeated Blue Rocks.…

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Pirates comeback favorites: 4 players with something to prove in spring training

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Bradenton, Fla. — When he reported for spring training last week, it had been nearly a decade since Drew Magee last set foot inside Pirate City. “Man, that’s weird,” Maggie said. “It feels good, you know, a lot of familiar faces here. The smell hasn’t changed.” the Smell? The complex is infused with what appears to be a typical club scent – a mixture of musky leather, grime, and a desperate desire to succeed. Is this good or bad? “Oh, it’s a good thing,” said Maggie, laughing. “It takes me…

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Sarris: Ten young MLB pitchers poised to break out this season

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It’s really hard to develop a starting pitcher these days. The ratio of starters 24 and under to starters 33 and over hasn’t been lower in a long time, suggesting two things: We’ve both gotten better at keeping pitchers going longer, and it’s gotten harder to produce an MLB-ready starting pitcher early in their careers. The fantasy market seems to have reacted by mostly taking a wait-and-see approach with young pitchers. The highest a pure prospect is going this year is around pick 200, and that one, the Orioles’ Grayson…

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Andrew McCutcheon isn’t chasing nostalgia with the Buccaneers. He wants to build something

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Pittsburgh – It wasn’t nostalgia that brought Andrew McCutcheon back to the Pirates. On Friday, McCutcheon signed a one-year, $5 million, second-round service contract with the team that drafted him, turned him into a superstar and then traded him. His homecoming is a rare feel-good moment for a series that has absorbed franchise after franchise over the past four decades. To celebrate the announcement, the Pirates filled the press conference room at PNC Park with dozens of team employees and broadcast the event live on their website. (Bob Nutting, the…

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Baseball Hall of Fame ballots 2023: The Athletic’s voters reveal their selections

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Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Curt Schilling no longer dominate the annual conversation around Hall of Fame voting, having collectively fallen off the ballot in their final years of eligibility. But that doesn’t mean everything is suddenly straightforward, especially with this year’s addition of Carlos Beltrán, so inexorably tied to the 2017 Houston Astros sign-stealing scandal. Meanwhile, with those big names gone, candidates like Scott Rolen, Andruw Jones, and Billy Wagner could see the gains made in recent years accelerate. We asked some of The Athletic’s writers who vote for…

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What Rich Hill, MLB’s newest Pirate and oldest player, brings to the team

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Pittsburgh – Rich Hill began his major league career in 2005, three years after being named a fourth-round draft pick by the University of Michigan. Over 18 seasons with 11 teams, the left hander has seen trends come and go, which he calls “the ups and downs of the show.” The splitter was popular in the early 1990s, followed by the advent of the rig. In the 2000s, it was all four-seam fastballs high in the strike zone and curveballs over the top. Everything was new and different – except…

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What could Pirates get for Bryan Reynolds in trade? Jim Bowden weighs 9 hypothetical deals

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PITTSBURGH — It’s been more than a month since Bryan Reynolds, miffed that talks on a contract extension had stalled, asked the Pirates to trade him. When Reynolds’ umbrage was leaked a couple of days before the Winter Meetings, it put general manager Ben Cherington in a tough spot. It’s not that lots of rival GMs suddenly started calling about Reynolds; they’d already been doing that for a year or more. But now, everyone knows Reynolds wants out and Cherington will answer his phone. It’s rarely easy to trade a…

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