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  • Ben Cherington Stuck To His Strength At The Draft. That’s A Good Thing

    With the sixth overall pick in the 2025 Major League Baseball Draft, the Pittsburgh Pirates and general manager Ben Cherington selected Seth Hernandez, a flamethrowing right-hander from Corona High School in California. Hernandez has topped out at 100 miles per hour on the mound this season, though he usually sits in the mid-90s with an…

  • Matt Dumba Will Put The Kyle Dubas “Trade And Flip” Strategy To The Test

    Matt Dumba is now a Pittsburgh Penguin. In a trade announced by the club on Thursday, the Penguins have received Dumba and a second round pick in 2028 from the Dallas Stars in exchange for defenseman Vladislav Kolyachonok. Kolyachonok was a waiver claim by the Penguins midway through last season from Utah. He played 12…

  • Vasily Ponomarev’s Departure Puts More Emphasis On Ville Koivunen’s Development

    A little over a year after the initial trade, what the Pittsburgh Penguins have from the original Jake Guentzel deal with the Carolina Hurricanes is very different than what they had on the morning of March 8th, 2024. The conditions on a fifth round pick the Penguins acquired were never met, resulting in Carolina keeping…

  • Giving Out The Fifth Avenue Sports Development Camp Awards

    Yesterday, the Pittsburgh Penguins wrapped up their development camp with the annual prospect tournament. The event featured four total games, culminating in the championship between Teams Stevens and Patrick, where Stevens won it. You can read a recap of each game here. Last year, I named five players to awards for their performances during the…

  • Team Stevens Claims Championship At Penguins’ Prospect Tournament

    On the final day of development camp, the Pittsburgh Penguins held their annual prospect tournament, featuring three teams and almost 50 players at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex in Cranberry. Each game was played at 4-on-4 with a 25-minute running clock, and a shootout to determine in a winner if a game ended regulation in…

  • Why The Pirates Must Tread Carefully About Trading Away Pitching

    With the July 31st trade deadline looming, rumors are starting to fly and articles are running wild about what could happen between now and then. For the Pittsburgh Pirates, general manager Ben Cherington is expected to field calls on a large amount of players currently on their major league roster. But while position players like…

  • Pirates Pitching Farmhands Dominate On Independence Day

    Pitching was not a strong suit for the Pittsburgh Pirates on Friday, as they lost in Seattle on Independence Day to the Mariners 6-0. Pirates pitching allowed four total home runs to Seattle. Starter Bailey Falter allowed three; he was taken deep by Cal Raleigh, MLB’s home run leader, who increased his total to 35,…

  • Opinion: Before You Trade Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Try To Extend Him

    The Major League Baseball trade deadline is just a few weeks away, and the Pittsburgh Pirates and general manager Ben Cherington are fielding calls about a lot of their players from now until July 31st. From rental free agents like Andrew Heaney and Tommy Pham, starting pitchers like Mitch Keller and Bailey Falter, and relievers…

  • Anthony Mantha And The Future Return He Will Bring

    After a quiet and boring July 1st, the Pittsburgh Penguins and general manager Kyle Dubas brought in what is probably their best free agency signing so far. On Wednesday, the team announced the signing of forward Anthony Mantha to a one-year contract. Mantha’s deal carries a $2.5 million cap hit and up to $2 million…

  • Penguins’ July 1st Approach Reaffirms Season Plans

    On a day where well over 100 contracts were signed and nearly $700 million was handed out, the Pittsburgh Penguins and general manager Kyle Dubas had a very quiet day. Last year’s July 1st was pretty boring, but it still saw the team sign Matt Grzelcyk, Anthony Beauvillier, and Blake Lizotte, all notable NHL names.…

  • Breaking Down The Penguins’ 2025 Development Camp Roster

    On Monday, shortly after the Pittsburgh Penguins held their introductory press conference for their draft class in 2025, the team also released the roster for the upcoming development camp. Starting on July 3rd, development camp will be fans’ first chance to see a lot of new Penguins in any official on-ice activities. The first four…

  • A Hot Streak On The Hot Corner: The Recent Rise Of Ke’Bryan Hayes

    It was a great weekend for the Pittsburgh Pirates. When your baseball team is bad, there aren’t a lot of good days to be had watching them. But every now and then, your team finds some magic, and for a few days, they are the best entertainment out there. Sometimes it’s about your team catching…

  • This Draft Will Define The Kyle Dubas Era

    With one of the weakest prospect pools in the entire National Hockey League, the 2025 NHL Draft served as a major opportunity to help replenish the organization and start to build up the organization from the best source. Yes, this was his third draft in charge in Pittsburgh, but this was his first real draft…

  • Ronny Simon Deserves A Shot With The Pirates

    Let’s be honest. This season is just about lost. On an off day before a six-game home stand that sees them host the New York Mets and St. Louis Cardinals, the Pittsburgh Pirates sit at 32-50. The trade deadline is just over a month away, and soon the roster will likely be carrying multiple players…

  • Penguins Draft Pick Primer: How They Acquired/Lost Each Pick In The 2025 Draft

    For the first time in quite a while, the upcoming NHL Draft will actually be of great interest to the Penguins. Entering his third draft in charge, Kyle Dubas has 11 total picks to work with in the 2025 NHL Entry Draft, giving him plenty of flexibility to use as little or as many as…

  • The Pirates Really Missed Nick Gonzales

    Before the season started, I penned a column where I claimed that Nick Gonzales was going to be the X-factor for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2025. Gonzales made his major league debut during the 2023 season, but his breakout came the following year. In 2024, he slashed .270/.311/.398 in 94 games, with seven home runs,…

  • How Liover Peguero Can Get Another Look At The Major League Level

    Liover Peguero is a name that Pirates fans don’t hear that much about anymore. Once considered a decent option in Pittsburgh’s farm system, he has since faded away into a mainstay at Triple-A Indianapolis. Like many prospects who have played major league games for the Pirates in recent years, Peguero was not originally developed in…

  • Carmen Mlodzinski: Bulk Reliever?

    As departures and injuries start mounting up for the Pittsburgh Pirates, the organization is looking for someone in their bullpen to step up and serve in a bulk reliever role. That spot previously belonged to left-hander Joey Wentz, who opened the season in Pittsburgh’s bullpen. Wentz was a waiver claim towards the end of the…

  • Letting Ben Cherington Conduct The Trade Deadline Would Be A Mistake

    The MLB trade deadline is just a little over a month away, and as the losses continue to pile up for the Pirates, the odds get higher every day that the team will head into the deadline with a seller’s mindset. That’s disappointing for almost any major league team. It’s infuriating for a team six…

  • Will The Pirates Let Billy Cook?

    The Pittsburgh Pirates made another roster move today, recalling Billy Cook from Triple-A Indianapolis to the major league roster. Cook was acquired from Baltimore by trade last season by the Pirates, as general manager Ben Cherington continued to stock Indianapolis with names in the hopes one of them could break through. He, along with Nick…

  • Dauri Moreta’s Rehab Journey: What Pirates Fans Need To Know

    In a pair of roster moves announced on Monday, the Pirates designated catcher Brett Sullivan for assignment and reinstated reliever Dauri Moreta from his rehab assignment, optioning him to Triple-A Indianapolis. Moreta was a big part of Pittsburgh’s bullpen two years ago. After being acquired in a trade that sent Kevin Newman Cincinnati’s way, Moreta…

  • Analyzing Isaac Mattson’s Recent Run Of Success With Pirates

    Pitching is not the issue for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Their starting rotation is one of the best in baseball, finding ways to keep them in almost every game. The records of most of their starters don’t reflect things they need to improve on, rather they show just how let down the arms have been by…

  • Why I’m A Big Fan Of Boko Imama Coming Back

    A fan favorite candidate is back in Pittsburgh! On Friday, the Penguins announced they re-signed forward Boko Imama to a one-year, two-way contract worth $775K at the NHL level. Imama signed a very similar deal last season to come to the Penguins organization. Now on his second contract with the team, Imama’s cap hit is…

  • What Went Wrong With Erik Karlsson In Pittsburgh?

    This summer will mark the third year of the Kyle Dubas era in Pittsburgh. After two seasons that saw him take wildly different approaches to construction, this offseason has already seen the most change. After Mike Sullivan and the team parted ways, the longtime Penguins coach was replaced by Dan Muse, a first-time NHL head…

  • Four Predictable Predictions For The Penguins This Offseason

    The offseason gets closer and closer every day, and the content Christmas known as July 1st is now only a few weeks away. For the Pittsburgh Penguins and general manager Kyle Dubas, they are entering a very interesting offseason. The organization has a new head coach, the beginnings of a youth movement after top prospects…

  • The Pirates Hate Mitch Keller

    Mitch Keller is a pretty league average pitcher. He has an ERA of 4.15, just 14 points above the MLB average. He has a WHIP of 1.275, just better than the league average. And he has a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 3.25, 70 points clear of the league average. But perhaps most stunningly, Keller is tied…

  • Give David Bednar A Ton Of Credit

    David Bednar’s last 16 months have been a complete rollercoaster. In 2024, Bednar was coming off his second straight All Star appearance and a season that saw him record career-best 2.00 ERA, with 80 strikeouts in 67.1 innings. He led the National League with 39 saves on a team that finished ten games under .500.…

  • Braxton Ashcraft Picks Up First Career Win As Pirates Sweep Phillies

    Braxton Ashcraft has been a starting pitcher his whole career. He was drafted out of high school as a starting pitcher. When he made his professional debut in the Gulf Coast League in 2018, it was as a starting pitcher. When he established himself as one of the better prospects within the Pirates organization, it…

  • Isaac Mattson Shines For Pirates In Unusual Appearance

    Life comes at you fast. So does baseball. Isaac Mattson got the call earlier on Saturday that he was back in the big leagues. The right-handed reliever had been with the Pirates a few weeks ago, pitching in three innings before he was quickly shuttled back down to the farm. Now, in his second big…

  • Vasily Ponomarev’s KHL Departure Marks A Missed Opportunity For Both Sides

    What was first rumored now appears to be official. Pittsburgh Penguins prospect Vasily Ponomarev is heading back to Russia, signing a deal with the KHL for the upcoming 2025-26 season. Reports surfaced a few days ago that Ponomarev might head back to his homeland after a deal in the KHL saw Spartak trade his KHL…

  • Cap Crunch For Dallas Creates Opportunity For Penguins

    Last season, the Pittsburgh Penguins had a relatively boring offseason. Their work in the free agent market was minimal, and general manager Kyle Dubas made most of his work in the trade department. Much of Pittsburgh’s trades were crafty, taking on bloated or unfavorable contracts from other teams, being paid draft picks to do so,…

  • Welcome, Dan Muse!

    It’s official, the Pittsburgh Penguins have a new head coach. And it’s someone almost none of us saw coming. Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas named Dan Muse the 23rd head coach in team history Wednesday afternoon. Muse, 42, was most recently an assistant coach with the New York Rangers. So, in a way, the Penguins…

  • Three Current Leafs The Penguins Could Target This Offseason

    If one thing is for certain, it’s that Kyle Dubas loves his guys. When the ex-Toronto Maple Leafs general manager left the north to take over the Pittsburgh Penguins, he brought with him several ex-Leafs both in the front office and on the ice. Jason Spezza, who served as special assistant to the general manager…

  • Does Dom Smith Make Sense For The Pirates?

    There’s a new name on the free agent market: Dom Smith. The seven-year major leaguer opted out of his minor league contract with the New York Yankees organization and is now on the market. Smith has yet to play a major league game this season. He signed a minor league deal with the Yankees in…

  • Carmen (Not In) San Diego

    After a heartbreaking loss Friday and a galvanizing, shutout win on Saturday, the Pirates had forced a rubber match Sunday afternoon out west in San Diego. If you turned the game off early, you likely missed the implosion that the Pirates suffered late in the game. Pittsburgh took a 4-1 lead into the sixth inning,…

  • Bailey Falter And May: A Match Made In Heaven

    After a heartbreaking 3-2 loss Friday night in San Diego, Bailey Falter was up in the rotation, hoping to pick up his team after they fell just short due to a terrible umpiring call the night before. For Falter, he was looking to close out the month of May just as strongly as he started…

  • Bringing In Kirk Cousins Doesn’t Make Sense For The Steelers

    As optional team workouts have kicked off for the Pittsburgh Steelers, chatter about their quarterback situation is starting to ramp up once again. It’s still unclear whether when, or even if, Aaron Rodgers will sign with the Steelers. Mason Rudolph, the free agent who came back to the Steelers after a year in Tennessee, is…

  • Game Of His Life: Dominik Kahun

    “Game Of His Life” tells the story of Pittsburgh athletes who may not have had the most illustrious, Hall of Fame level careers, but had one absolutely amazing game. In today’s edition, Dominik Kahun. Dominik Kahun has one of the weirder career arcs in the NHL’s history. In his rookie season, he played all 82…

  • The Bryan Reynolds Breakout Is Here

    How do you know that Bryan Reynolds is really feeling it? When he lets loose and finally allows himself to crack a smile. We got the rare showing of any type of emotion from the usually stoic Reynolds Tuesday night in Arizona. After all, he had plenty to smile about. The Pirates rallied from down…

  • Revisiting The Last Time The Pirates Surged Like That So Late In A Game

    It’s been a rough season for the Pittsburgh Pirates. If anyone needed a thrilling, pick-me-up type of win, it’s these guys and this fan base. They got that Tuesday night, when the Pirates came back from down 6-0 to win it 9-6, enacting revenge for a 5-0 shutout loss the day before and setting up…

  • Get Henry Davis Into The Lineup More

    The catching job of the Pittsburgh Pirates has been an interesting watch this season. Joey Bart, Henry Davis, and Endy Rodriguez are all capable catchers for the Pirates, and the latter two are trying to establish themselves as a long-term player for the Bucs. Bart has taken the bulk of the starts at catcher for…

  • Checking In On Dauri Moreta’s Rehab Assignment

    The bullpen of the Pittsburgh Pirates is a bit of a mess right now. Aside from Dennis Santana, it’s hard to find any reliever who can be trusted whenever he takes the mound. The organization has shuffled through arms in recent weeks, trying to find some consistency late in games. Most recently, the team promoted…

  • Positives From The Pirates’ 4-3 Homestand

    The way that the Pittsburgh Pirates lost on Sunday is going to leave a sour taste in people’s mouths. And understandably so. The Pirates dug themselves a massive hole early on, came back from down multiple runs, and wound up blowing a lead themselves to lose the game late. After a disastrous inning that saw…

  • Can The Pirates Trust Tanner Rainey?

    Friday night featured a back-and-forth matchup between the Pittsburgh Pirates and Milwaukee Brewers that ended with a wild pitch walk-off winner. For all the craziness that happened in this game, one storyline that won’t go quietly into the night is the struggles of the bullpen. Different games have had different poster children for the shakiness…

  • Going Through The Penguins’ Free Agent List

    As the Stanley Cup Playoffs march, we are now less than a month and a half away from the start of free agency on July 1st. Here in Pittsburgh, the Penguins have a lot of cap space heading into the 2025-26 season, and while we don’t know how busy they plan to be in the…

  • Can Henry Davis Build Off Wednesday’s Dominance?

    On Wednesday afternoon, the Pittsburgh Pirates won back-to-back games for the first time in just under a month. As Dennis Santana capped off a stellar pitching performance by the Pirate arms, the club took a series from the Cincinnati Reds, giving them an ounce of momentum heading into a four-game swing with Milwaukee over the…

  • The Falter Fellas Are Alive And Well

    Pitching has not been the issue for the Pittsburgh Pirates this season. Whether it’s Paul Skenes pitching a complete game and getting tagged with the loss, Mitch Keller being 1-6 despite only having a 3.88 ERA, or Andrew Heaney’s steady hand on the mound, the Pirates are finding new and unusual ways to waste the…

  • Game Of His Life: Troy Stokes Jr

    “Game Of His Life” tells the story of Pittsburgh athletes who may not have had the most illustrious, Hall of Fame level careers, but had one absolutely amazing game. In today’s edition, Troy Stokes Jr. It’s been far too long since I did one of these, but I think that Troy Stokes Jr is a…

  • Point-Counterpoint: Should The Pirates Trade Mitch Keller?

    After a disastrous road trip to New York and Philadelphia that saw them go a combined 1-5, the Pittsburgh Pirates are finally back home. Mitch Keller takes the mound tonight at PNC Park as the reeling Buccos open a three-game series with their NL Central rivals from Cincinnati. Keller is 1-5 so far this season,…

  • Pirates Make Paul Skenes First Pirates Pitcher To Throw Complete Game And Lose In Eight Years

    The Pittsburgh Pirates have done (nearly) the impossible. In their quest to find new and innovative ways to screw their ace pitcher Paul Skenes and rack up his loss count, the team was shut out in Philadelphia on Sunday afternoon, despite Skenes pitching the entire game. The Phillies beat the Pirates 1-0, completing the sweep…

  • The Pirates Are Only A Handful Of Games Away From Being A Losing Franchise

    At the beginning of this season, after every Pirates game, I gave an update on the franchise record that the team had. After a week or two in, I stopped. I’ll be honest, half of it was out of neglect; I was simply forgetting to update it after each and every game. But the other…

  • Former Pirate Cody Ponce Sets Strikeout Record In Korea

    Cody Ponce, a former major league pitcher with the Pittsburgh Pirates, has etched himself into the history books over in South Korea. Playing for the Hanwha Eagles of the Korean Baseball Organization, Ponce struck out an astounding 18 batters in the first of a doubleheader against the SSG Landers on May 17th. Ponce’s 18 strikeouts…

  • Looking At Spencer Horwitz’s Rehab Time

    The Pittsburgh Pirates debut of Spencer Horwitz has been a long time coming, and it looks like this weekend Horwitz will finally suit up for the big league club. The Pirates are reportedly activating Horwitz from his rehab assignment tomorrow, and he is expected to get into game action this weekend as the Pirates are…

  • Alexander Canario Is Starting To Heat Up

    The Pittsburgh Pirates shut out the New York Mets at Citi Field Thursday night to avoid the sweep. While two-run homers by both Matt Gorski and Jared Triolo powered the 4-0 win for the Pirates, left fielder Alexander Canario had himself a two-hit night and a solid performance in the field. Canario, who spent spring…

  • For Bryan Reynolds, June Can’t Come Fast Enough

    A lot of things that have gone wrong for the Pittsburgh Pirates this season were rather predictable. Paying a starting pitcher and two lefty prospects for an injured Spencer Horwitz has yet to work out. After undergoing wrist surgery in the offseason, Horwitz has only recently resumed playing baseball and has yet to play in…

  • It’s Now Or Never For Matt Gorski

    One of the call ups that the Pittsburgh Pirates have made this season was to Matt Gorski, a right-handed hitter who can play all over the outfield and first base in a pinch. Gorski was promoted to the major leagues on April 24th. For Gorski, the call to a major league team had been a…

  • Ke’Bryan Hayes, The…Shortstop?

    Raise your hand if you knew that Ke’Bryan Hayes ever played a position other than third base in the major leagues. Put your hand down, no you didn’t. I didn’t know either, for what it’s worth, until I was working on a piece about Pirates infielding prospect Malcom Nuñez (shameless self plug). During writing that,…

  • The Modest Malcolm Nuñez

    In keeping tabs on things down at Triple-A Indianapolis, the top farm team of the Pittsburgh Pirates, there’s a relatively unknown prospect starting to make a name for himself. Malcom Nuñez is off to a hot start in Triple-A, and if he continues this run he’s on, he could force the Pirates into seeing what…

  • Don Kelly Makes A Good First Impression As Pirates Manager

    It’s a new era of Pirates baseball in Pittsburgh. After the news yesterday that the Pirates had relieved manager Derek Shelton of his duties, the club promoted bench coach Don Kelly to that role. The ex-big leaguer had twice managed a game for the Pirates, once in 2023 and once earlier in May, but now…

  • Pirates Historically Awful Start Forced The Firing Of Derek Shelton

    The moment that many people have been wondering, speculating, maybe even begging the baseball gods to happen finally did earlier today. The Pittsburgh Pirates officially announced that they have relieved manager Derek Shelton of his duties. In his absence, bench coach Don Kelly will take over. Even with several injured players expected to return in…