Pirates/MLB category, Page 239
Pirates’ Josh Bell says he’s looking forward to new cultureVideo
When Josh Bell turned his head and looked out a window of the Clelian Heights School, the sun was shining over Greensburg. Snow was melting. If you didn’t know better, you would think it was baseball season. The Pittsburgh Pirates All-Star first baseman, the bat in his hand looking the...
PNC Park undergoing $1.9M seat rehab ahead of 2020 Pirates seasonVideo
As the Pirates gear up for the annual PiratesFest event this weekend, workers are preparing PNC Park for the upcoming season with a $1.9 million seating rehab. The Sports & Exhibition Authority of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County, which owns the stadium, last year approved the replacement of bottoms, backs and...
Mark Madden: Baseball Hall of Fame voters indulge agendas
One voter left former New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter off his Hall of Fame ballot. It kept Jeter from being the second unanimous choice in the institution’s history. New York is ablaze with outrage. New York should be grateful. The manufactured outrage gives the city a platform to burnish...
First Call: Watt brother to host ‘SNL’, Chris Archer rips Astros, Todd Graham’s new job, Kansas hoops brawl
In Wednesday’s “First Call”: J.J. Watt to host SNL. Chris Archer fires at the Houston Astros. A major basketball brawl. A new home for Todd Graham. Live! From New York … How big of a personality is Houston Texans star J.J. Watt? Big enough to host “Saturday Night Live” on...
John Perrotto: Bonds, Clemens, Ramirez worthy of Hall of Fame
The facts are the facts. Barry Bonds hit 762 home runs, more than any player in major league history. He also won seven National League MVP awards — two with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1990 and ’92 — and was selected to 14 All-Star Games. Roger Clemens won 354 games...
Pirates invite 11 to spring training
The Pirates announced 11 more players who will attend spring training as nonroster invitees this season, including four who pitched for the major league club in limited duty last season. Righties Montana DuRapau, Luis Escobar and James Marvel and lefty Williams Jerez pitched for the Pirates last season. The other...
Pirates’ 1st Hall of Fame class will include Steve Blass, and who else?
This year’s voting results for baseball’s Hall of Fame will be announced Tuesday night, and Derek Jeter almost certainly will headline the Class of 2020. Later this year, at a date to be determined, the first class of the Pittsburgh Pirates Hall of Fame will be announced. Details are scant...
Pirates’ projected 2020 payroll ranks 2nd lowest in MLB at $69M
Bob Nutting, fairly or not, has developed a reputation of being a cheap owner in the eyes of many Pittsburgh Pirates fans. That perception of Nutting likely isn’t going away anytime soon. The Pirates are projected to have a $69 million payroll to open the 2020 season, according to Tribune-Review...
Analysis: Mitch Keller, Ke’Bryan Hayes lead list of top 10 Pirates prospects
One of the primary reasons Ben Cherington was hired as general manager by the Pittsburgh Pirates in November was because ownership believes he can build a strong player development system. The Pirates certainly can use help in that department. They generally are considered to have one of the weaker farm...
Pirates announce CARE-a-van stops will feature All-Star Josh Bell, new manager Derek Shelton
The Pittsburgh Pirates announced the schedule for the Pirates CARE-a-van, which will have stops at 35 public and private community events in 18 cities from Jan. 22-24 leading up to PiratesFest on Jan. 25 at PNC Park. The CARE-a-van features four busloads of Pirates players, including All-Star first baseman Josh...
OF Guillermo Heredia might be welcome addition to Pirates
In a three-day span at the MLB winter meetings last month, teams spent a combined $814 million on three free agents: Gerrit Cole, Anthony Rendon and Stephen Strasburg. The Pittsburgh Pirates’ largest expenditure on the free-agent market so far this offseason is the $1 million, one-year they gave outfielder Guillermo...
Glenn Sherlock eager to lend his wisdom to Pirates coaching staff, manager Shelton
Many career paths in professional baseball eventually intertwine, especially for veterans of the game like Derek Shelton and Glenn Sherlock. Sherlock was working as a catching instructor in the New York Yankees farm system in 1992. That same year, Shelton was beginning his brief professional playing career as a catcher...
Mark Madden: MLB’s punishment still not enough for Astros sign-stealing scandal
The Houston Astros were heavily punished for using technology to steal signs during their march to a World Series win in 2017. Their GM and manager were suspended for a year, then fired. They lost first- and second-round draft picks this year and in 2021. The club was fined $5...
Will Pirates use 1st-round pick on West Allegheny’s Austin Hendrick?
West Allegheny baseball star Austin Hendrick, ranked as the top high school bat in the country, is expected to hear his name called early in this summer’s MLB Draft. How early? Well, Baseball America released a mock draft on Monday that predicted the left-handed hitting outfielder going seventh overall to...
When it comes to MLB video rules, Pirates are squeaky clean
On the same day the Houston Astros were penalized heavily by Major League Baseball for stealing signs electronically, Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Trevor Williams had a funny story about MLB’s video monitoring system. MLB assigns someone to each clubhouse during games to monitor the type of video players and coaches are...
New Pirates catcher Luke Maile wants to prove he can be good at plate, not just behind it
The Pittsburgh Pirates have 22 pitchers on their 40-man roster. By the time they complete the list of nonroster players who will be invited to spring training, that number almost certainly will exceed 30. So Luke Maile has plenty of work in front of him when he arrives in Bradenton...
Pittsburgh sports teams hope 2020 won’t be another injury-filled yearVideo
As the calendar flipped to 2020, the happiest people in Pittsburgh were likely the players, coaches and fans of the Steel City’s professional sports teams. A spate of injuries to high-profile athletes across all sports in 2019, including some of the most recognizable names in pro football, baseball and hockey,...
New Pirates coach Tarrik Brock to prioritize baserunning
Bad baserunning seemingly has become an epidemic around the major leagues. Rarely does a game go by without an egregious baserunning error. The lack of acumen players sometimes show can be galling, especially to traditionalists. However, Tarrik Brock isn’t ready to say baserunning is a lost art. In fact, it...
Pirates World Series hero Hal Smith dies at age 89
Former Pirates catcher Hal Smith, whose eighth-inning home run in Game 7 of the 1960 World Series made Bill Mazeroski’s heroics possible an inning later, died at the age of 89 Thursday in Columbus, Texas. With the Pirates trailing 7-6 with two outs in the eighth, Smith hit a three-run...
Pirates avoid arbitration with Josh Bell; All-Star lands big raise
Josh Bell followed an All-Star season with a big bump in pay. The Pittsburgh Pirates first baseman agreed to a $4.8-million contract Friday for the upcoming season. That represents an 817% increase over his $587,000 salary of last year. Spurring Bell’s salary growth is the fact he had the necessary...
Pirates sign catcher John Ryan Murphy to minor-league contract
The catcher’s position was an offseason concern for the Pittsburgh Pirates, especially after they decided not to bring back Elias Diaz. The new management team addressed that personnel shortage by signing two free-agent catchers, including the most recent addition, John Ryan Murphy, 28. He signed a minor-league contract and will...
Pirates sign former Tampa Bay outfielder Guillermo Heredia
The Pittsburgh Pirates started shoring up their outfield depth Thursday — and perhaps preparing for a trade of center fielder Starling Marte — when they signed light-hitting Guillermo Heredia to a one-year contract. General manager Ben Cherington announced the signing Thursday evening. Heredia, a four-year veteran who will turn 29...
Pirates pitcher Trevor Williams and wife, Jackie, welcome baby boy
Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Trevor Williams and his wife, Jackie, welcomed a new addition to their family Tuesday, baby boy Jude Michael. He will be the brother to Isaac and JoJo. The family will have two toddlers in the house as JoJo was born and adopted by the family last year....
Pirates name former Tigers minor-league manager Mike Rabelo assistant hitting coach
The Pittsburgh Pirates made the final appointment to their coaching staff Tuesday when general manager Ben Cherington named Mike Rabelo assistant hitting coach. Rabelo, 39, was a manager in the Detroit Tigers’ farm system for six seasons, most recently with the Double-A Erie SeaWolves in 2019. He led the SeaWolves...
Pirates still looking to add depth at catcher as activity figures to pick up post-holidays
Spring training is five weeks away. Pittsburgh Pirates pitchers and catchers will begin undergoing physical examinations Feb. 10 at Pirate City. Baseball front offices come back from their de facto holiday break Monday, and things should heat back up on the transaction front. Of course, there hasn’t been much warmth...
