4-27-24 – By Gary Morgan – @garymo2007 on Twitter Many of us are in awe watching Jared Jones do what he’s doing. The 100 MPH fastballs are impressive, but we’ve seen those get hit, hell we just watched Aroldis Chapman have a 102 MPH fastball off the plate taken deep. The secondary stuff is impressive, but we’ve seen guys with 3 or 4 developed pitches struggle like hell to make them work. No, Jared is impressive because as a complete rookie he’s thrown with incredible velocity, insane spin, advanced tunnelling, a willingness to stay in the zone with his stuff even when getting a chase ..read more

4-26-24 – By Gary Morgan – @garymo2007 on Twitter All through this process, meaning back in 2019 when the Ben Cherington era began it was always going to come down to how much would be needed to fill out the holes, and how much Bob Nutting would be willing to provide. At it’s core, those things have taken this entire time to start to matter. For Ben Cherington’s plan to work, he had to build pitching and pitching depth to the point the team would have a base to win with. Pitching is risky, expensive and for a notoriously cheap team, it’s not something you can have on your shopping li ..read more

4-26-24 – By Michael Castrignano – @412DoublePlay on X Following a series split against division-leading Brewers, the Pirates head west and will try to break over .500 against the underperforming San Francisco Giants. Both teams entered the 2024 season with post-season expectations but are each sitting 4th in their respective divisions. Both of these teams have struggled to score runs with the Pirates ranked 16th (109) and Giants just behind them at 17th (107) in all of baseball. A main dividing point between the teams is on defense as the Giants rank as the best defensive team in th ..read more

4-24-24 – By Gary Morgan – @garymo2007 on Twitter Want to know the absolute facts about protecting pitchers from injuring their arms in baseball? We know there are more reported and treated than ever before. There’s your fact. The only one that’s not at least got a ways to go to prove itself out. So everyone of course is an expert. That’s what we, meaning humans, do. We of course know the answer and how to stop it. Ranging from “Walk it Off Sissy!” to the pseudo anatomy majors who pretend biometrics should be discussed in the public forum with any degree of wisdom attached. People wi ..read more

4-22-24 – By Ethan Smith – @mvp_EtHaN on X Heading into 2024, the Pittsburgh Pirates – and their expectations – were at heights we haven’t seen in some time. On paper, this is a team that has talent – from the extended Bryan Reynolds, Ke’Bryan Hayes and Mitch Keller, to the more youthful Jared Jones, Paul Skenes and Jared Triolo, among others. For a team like the Pirates though, they cannot take the next step in being a competitive baseball team until some of those young guys also take the next step, and Oneil Cruz, a player many have penned with superstar potential, is the most notable. Cruz ..read more

4-22-24 – By Gary Morgan – @garymo2007 on X The season started off with a sweep and it only feels right that they plummet back to .500 taking back to back sweeps on the chin on the cusp of their first NL Central matchup of the season. Ahh baseball, you can go from walking around in flip flops drinking an Iron City with a little strut about your baseball team and the next week it’s hailing and you’re having a hard time peeking at the score. If you love the game, you love the ride. The ups are everything and the downs are crushing. Can’t do or fix anything, can’t make a mistake. Win a bunch, the ..read more

4-22-24 – By Ethan Smith – @mvp_EtHaN on X After a 9-2 start, the Pittsburgh Pirates have gone 2-9 since, a complete flip from what we were watching to begin the season. Eyes will be directed at the offense, which has had a multitude of issues over the past 11 games, and they should be, seeing as the starting pitching staff is actually performing above expectations through the first 22 games. The issues are apparent as well for the offense: They take way too many pitches, they are constantly searching for walks and the two-out magic has fizzled out – against some starters, it works; against ot ..read more

4-22-24 – By Ethan Smith – @mvp_EtHaN Well folks, it’s time for the Pittsburgh Pirates to take on their first NL Central foe of the 2024 season, as the Milwaukee Brewers make their way to PNC Park for a four game set. For the Pirates, they enter this series on a six-game losing streak, losing to the New York Mets and Boston Red Sox last week, both sweeps. The Brewers meanwhile enter on a completely different tangent, winning four consecutive games and six of their last nine. These two teams are practically night and day right now, especially offensively, as the Brewers enter the series with th ..read more

4-21-24 – By Gary Morgan – @garymo2007 on Twitter There’s something troubling that has bothered me from the very start of the Ben Cherington and Derek Shelton era of the Pittsburgh Baseball Club. It’s endured every season and overcome all my understanding about the realities of rebuilding a franchise. I think the Pirates are simply planning too far in advance. More specifically, I think the Pirates are too prone to stick to that plan regardless of factors that should lead to adjustment. Example? Let’s go hypothetical, but lets go all Law and Order on it and base it on real life. The ..read more

4-20-24 – By Gary Morgan – @garymo2007 on Twitter I know, you could say this about any area of the team that isn’t performing but at the plate, this year, this group has to hit, there simply isn’t a plan B. There is no Paul Skenes equivalent with a bat in his hand waiting to come up here and be the savior. They don’t have 3-4 guys that are good bets to produce, instead they have a couple interesting guys but that’s about all you can say. No, this team has to hit, primarily the guys who are here. We can get into the hitting coach and we can probably argue about whether it’s his fault ..read more