The Pittsburgh Pirates Blog

know, it seems rather odd to ask if the Pirates are truly focused on winning when they are ten games over .500 in the middle of July. In fact, saying the "Pirates" aren't focused on winning is using too broad a brush to paint out the lackadaisical approach to improving this team. No, not on […]

Whether it was a financial issue, a slight against the Pirates, or the draw of graduating from an elite university with a degree, Mark Appel has decided to go back to Standford and not sign with the Pirates. With this decision, it now makes sense as to why the first seven teams in the draft […]

Heading into this season, the greatest challenge for the Pittsburgh Pirates appeared to be surviving their first forty games. When the schedule was released, the Pirates -on paper- were believed to have the toughest first third of the season. On the outset, it seemed unfair to have the least successful sports franchise over the last […]

Who is the worst Pirate to play at PNC Park? This follows up on our OPS+ conversation from an earlier blog post, where we used the sabermetric "Adjusted On Base Percentage + Slugging Percentage." OPS+ uses ballpark effects and league effects with OPS and SLG to put a player's offensive hitting prowess (base-running aside) on […]

I've been geeking out on sabermetrics of late. That, combined with an interest to put the season (so far) of Pirates CF Andrew McCutchen into some kind of historical team perspective has me looking at OPS+ here on Friday, June 15th. What is OPS+, you ask? Well, I'm relatively new to this stuff myself, but […]

After Brad Lincoln's second consecutive poor start on Tuesday against the Orioles, Clint Hurdle was asked if Lincoln's job as a spot starter was up for grabs. "We've got him scheduled to pitch the last game in Cleveland but we need him to pitch better." (Washington Post) Why? Why is Lincoln scheduled to pitch against […]

The Pittsburgh Pirates are right on track where they were last year at this time with being in contention. Let me repeat that: the terrible hitting Pirates are still somehow in contention for a not just a wild card spot, but also the division crown, despite having a team batting average of .225. That is […]

In 2008, the Pittsburgh Pirates selected Pedro Alvarez with the second pick in the MLB Entry Draft. The pick was monumental for the Pirates who were finally starting to take players based on skill instead of signability. Standing in their way was Scott Boras, Alvarez's agent, who was -and still is- notorious for getting teams […]