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  • A Grand Old Time: Yasmani Grandal Is Secretly On A Tear Right Now

    If you take a look at his season long stat line, or if you polled the Pirates fanbase about their feelings on him, you wouldn’t believe the incredible hot streak that Yasmani Grandal is on. But the veteran catcher has been one of this team’s best bats in recent weeks, providing some offense from the…

  • Brady Feigl, 33, Set To Soon Make Major League Debut

    Though perhaps not having as many minor and foreign league games under his belt as Drew Maggi from last year, the Pirates about to promote a veteran player who has played 277 games before making the major leagues. Brady Feigl, 33 years old, had his contract selected this afternoon after the team placed Hunter Stratton…

  • Trying To Rank Every Penguins Trade This Offseason

    It’s been a very interesting offseason for the Pittsburgh Penguins. In his first true summer on the job as a general manager (with a season of him in charge to better evaluate), Kyle Dubas led a very uncharacteristic offseason for the Penguins. He made multiple deals to acquire undesirable contracts, getting draft picks in the…

  • The Jake Woodford Experiment Is About To End, Rightfully So

    Jake Woodford has traveled many places this season. A former four year big leaguer with the St. Louis Cardinals, the 27-year old started his 2024 baseball season with the Charlotte Knights, the Triple-A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox. In 10 starts for the Knights, he went 1-3 with a 5.26 ERA, 1.389 WHIP, and…

  • Penguins Extend PTO To Nikolai Knyzhov

    The Penguins made headlines yesterday when they swapped forward prospect Brayden Yager for Rutger McGroarty, but that wasn’t the only personnel move the team made. Earlier in the day, the team had announced that they signed defenseman Nikolai Knyzhov to a professional try out. Knyzhov is the first player that the Penguins have signed to…

  • What Are The Penguins Getting In Rutger McGroarty?

    This was certainly not a deal anyone was expecting. Th Penguins and Winnipeg Jets have completed a deal that sent Pittsburgh’s top forward prospect for Winnipeg’s top forward prospect. The trade is one for one. The Penguins and general manager Kyle Dubas acquired forward Rutger McGroarty from the Jets, giving up Brayden Yager to do…

  • Home Run Bomb Ends Utterly Miserable Stretch For Jack Suwinski In Triple-A

    Jack Suwinski was one of the biggest talking points surrounding the Pirates during the first half of the season. Though he was just one of many underperforming players that the Pirates rostered at the time (and still do today), Suwinski’s struggles were particularly frustrating to watch. The outfielder appeared in 88 games for the Pirates,…

  • Pirates To Use Domingo Germán As A Starter In Latest Experimental Role

    During last night’s game, as Mitch Keller was dominating on the mound for the Pittsburgh Pirates, it was unclear who would be following him up the next day. The Pirates had not yet confirmed who would start for the club in a game that now will decide the winner of Pittsburgh’s series in Texas against…

  • Jared Jones Looks Much Better In Third Rehab Start

    Jared Jones has not pitched for the Pirates in over a month and a half, but earlier in August it looked like we were getting pretty close to seeing Jones get activated off the Injured List. All that he had to do was get back on track in a rehab assignment with Triple-A Indianapolis, and…

  • Aw, Shucks: Remembering When The Pirates Tried To Create Their Own Two-Way Player

    A two-way player would be the dream for any Major League Baseball team. Even if they were never able to reach the stardom that Shohei Ohtani has, having somebody who could take to the mound and also to the plate would be an invaluable addition. That was especially the case for National League teams all…

  • Billy McKinney Is Deserving Of This Call Up

    All reports indicate that the Pirates plan on meeting Billy McKinney in Texas when the Pirates travel there for a series against the Rangers. Pirates reporter Noah Hiles posted that McKinney is expected to be with the team and officially added to the 40-man roster before Pittsburgh’s game against the Rangers. As for who is…

  • Breaking Down One Of Baseball’s Most Insane Splits

    Yasmani Grandal has been a frequent topic of conversation around Pirates fans and online circles. Grandal’s defensive work behind the plate as catcher has been incredibly spotty over the year, from dropping pitches to failing to come up with big-time tags at home. His bat has also been the subject of a lot of criticism.…

  • Promoting The Nick Yorke Agenda

    Make no mistake: the fire that Pirates general manager Ben Cherington is currently under is every bit deserved, and it should only get hotter with each passing day that the organization falters and sits well outside of relevancy in the fifth year of this rebuild. However, he may have had a stroke of genius when…

  • Talking About JuJu Smith-Schuster And A Potential Steelers Return

    It’s a sort of natural way of thinking here in Pittsburgh, that wherever an ex-Steeler, Penguin, or Pirate are released/have left a new team, we talk about a potential reunion. For many, I know that those discussions have become a nuisance, and so when I suggest that there’s a real potential for the Steelers to…

  • Four Under The Radar New Penguins To Keep An Eye On

    We’re one day closer to hockey season, and that also means we’re one day closer to training camp for the Penguins. This year will be extremely interesting to watch, given how many depth players will be competing for a finite amount of roster spots. Last year, I made a list of five under the radar…

  • Ex-Pirate Martín Pérez Carves Up His Former Team As Pirates Lose 10th Straight

    Things can’t possibly be going any worse for the Pittsburgh Pirates right now. Coming into this afternoon’s tilt with the San Diego Padres, the Pirates were looking to avoid losing their tenth straight loss. Having been swept by the Padres back at home, then on the road vs the Dodgers, the Pirates were also looking…

  • Should We Be Concerned About Jared Jones’ Triple-A Struggles?

    It’s been about a month and a half since we’ve seen Jared Jones take the mound for the Pittsburgh Pirates. The 23-year old who went down with a lat injury in early July made up one half of a stellar rookie pitching duo, along with Paul Skenes. Jones had made the team out of spring…

  • Discussing The Cody Glass Deal

    Kyle Dubas has had one busy day today. After swinging a pick swap deal with the St. Louis Blues, he has also brought a new face to town by the name of Cody Glass. The Penguins acquired the forward, along with two draft picks, from the Nashville Predators in exchange for a minor league forward.…

  • Explaining The Pick Swap Deal Between The Penguins And Blues

    The Penguins made a bit of an odd announcement this morning, when they published a trade between themselves and the St. Louis Blues. In this deal, the Penguins acquired a 2026 second round pick and a 2025 third round pick, in exchange for a 2025 second round pick and a 2026 fifth round pick. If…

  • The Marco Gonzales Experiment Is Over…And It Didn’t Work

    Well, it’s going to be very interesting at the end of this season when we have to evaluate this Pittsburgh Pirates roster. But one player we already can take a final look at is Marco Gonzales. Ahead of the team’s eighth straight loss, this time in heartbreaking fashion to the Padres in San Diego, the…

  • Allegheny City’s Bids Fall Short In 1889

    By the time 1889 rolled around, ownership of the Allegheny City ballclub, which included William A. Nimick, was eager to put a winning team on the field. The Alleghenys had just one winning season, coming back in 1886, and had none since jumping ship from the American Association to the National League. Last season, in…

  • Ben Heller’s Wild Ride

    Folks, I’m not going to lie to you. I feel like I owe a little something to Ben Heller. Fifth Avenue Sports got a major spike in views back when Ben Heller earned his first promotion from Triple-A to the major leagues. My article on Heller back when he was still appearing in Indianapolis on…

  • Talking About The Future Of First Base

    Until there is a big name prospect who places on the Pirates’ prospect rankings, a conversation around first base will always be there. For years, the Pirates have filled the role with patchwork solutions, usually in the form of one year rentals and journeymen/minor leagues after the trade deadline. Things went a little different this…

  • The Domingo Germán Call Up Makes No Sense

    The Pirates made some strange news last night after Mike Rodriguez reported that the team was set to call up veteran pitcher Domingo Germán to the major league squad ahead of Pittsburgh’s series in Los Angeles against the Dodgers. This report was later confirmed by both Alex Stumpf and Noah Hiles, two reporter names Pirates…

  • Kevin Hayes Is The Next Reilly Smith, But That’s Ok

    Let’s be honest. It was a pretty underwhelming offseason for the Pittsburgh Penguins, and while we still have a whole month until the start of the new season really ramps up, hockey folks are usually notoriously not busy in August. The best free agent signing by Kyle Dubas was probably Blake Lizotte, and their biggest…

  • Ben Heller Is Back

    In a move that I don’t think any Pirates fan saw coming, the Pirates have selected the contract of a reliever you probably remember, but not for a good reason. Pittsburgh has selected the contract of right-handed pitcher Ben Heller from Triple-A Indianapolis for a second time this season. Colin Holderman, who has gone through…

  • The Deployment Of Colin Holderman Is Costing The Pirates Their Season

    Six days ago, I wrote an article entitled “Something’s Gotta Give With Colin Holderman.” That came after three brutal games in a row that saw him pitch 2.1 total innings, surrendering 6 earned runs, 3 home runs, and be handed back to back loss decisions. Since that article on August 2nd, Holderman has made a…

  • What Is Ji Hwan Bae Bringing To The Team?

    It hasn’t been a great year for Ji Hwan Bae. Injury hampered Bae’s ability to make the team out of spring training heading into 2024, and once he got healthy he started the season in Triple-A Indianapolis. Bae has since earned a few call ups back to Pittsburgh, but injuries and depth chart roles have…

  • Kenny Pickett’s Gamble Might End In Disaster

    Kenny Pickett’s NFL career is off to a very odd start. The much talked about quarterback while he was in Pittsburgh was traded to the Philadelphia Eagles in the offseason, in a move that aimed for both sides to get a fresh start. His draft team, the Steelers, were looking for a new direction at…

  • Did The Pirates Make A Mistake Letting Brent Honeywell Jr. Go?

    Brent Honeywell Jr. is a very interesting name in baseball. Not just because he shares a last name with a fan company, which performs the same job he aims to do whenever he is on the mound (fan his opponents), but because of his career story. Tormented by arm injuries in development days, Honeywell essentially…

  • The Ultimate One-Game Wonder Penguins Team

    This is one of my favorite projects I’ve done here on Fifth Avenue. Back when I was a writer for The Foreword, I did an article about seven one-game wonders in Pittsburgh sports history. In that list, there were two NHLers who played a single game for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Recently, because I’m a narcissist,…

  • Something’s Gotta Give With Colin Holderman

    Colin Holderman’s name lends itself very well to the role the Pirates like him to play. He slots in as the seventh/eighth inning guy, when the Pirates need somebody to come in and hold the game where it is, getting it to the eighth or ninth for one of Aroldis Chapman or David Bednar. It’s…

  • The Recent Rise Of Dennis Santana

    When he was claimed off waivers from the New York Yankees, Dennis Santana had fallen on some hard times. While wearing pinstripes, Santana had amassed a 6.26 ERA in 27.1 innings. His final outing for that club saw him pitch 1.1 innings and surrender 3 earned runs on as many hits, while also walking a…

  • Pirates Make Crafty Moves In Unusual Trade Deadline

    For the Pittsburgh Pirates, the trade deadline usually symbolizes the unofficial end of the season. Veterans on expiring deals are shopped and free agents who came to the team on one year deals are almost assuredly moved, while the eyes of the city shift increasingly over to what the Steelers are up to in training…

  • Allegenys Experience An Incredibly Streaky Season In 1888

    Allegheny City didn’t have an easy transition from the American Association to the National League. In their inaugural year in the NL, the Alleghenys went 55-69-1, which was only good for sixth place in the league. This had followed up an 80-57-3 season in the AA in 1886. So, in an effort to get the…

  • Why The Pirates Need To Call Up Nick Yorke As Soon As Possible

    The Pittsburgh Pirates have made a trade, and while it is far from the names that fans were hoping the team could go out and acquire, it actually is looking to be a pretty solid deal for the team out of the gate. Per Jeff Passan, the Pirates have sent right handed pitcher Quinn Preister…

  • Jared Triolo Is Collecting New Positions Like Pokémon Cards

    The ultra utility man for the Pittsburgh Pirates just added another part of the baseball field to his now extensive résumé. Jared Triolo has ben shifted all around the infield over the course of his professional baseball career. More traditionally used on the left side of the infield in previous years, Triolo at first shifted…

  • Trying To Find The Most “Realistic” Trade Target For The Pirates

    Rando Arozarena is gone. Traded to Seattle. Jazz Chisholm is gone. Traded to the Yankees. Brent Rooker and/or JJ Bleday are supposedly gone, with reports suggesting that Oakland is leaning towards keeping both of those men. So if you’re a Pittsburgh Pirates fan, and hoped that maybe this could be the year that general manager…

  • Revisiting Pirates Trades From Last Year: Rodolfo Castro For Bailey Falter

    I’ve been working on a mini-series the last few days, reviewing the trades that the Pirates made at this time last year. On Thursday, I talked about the Carlos Santana deal. Yesterday, I discussed the five-player deal that saw Rich Hill and Ji-Man Choi depart Pittsburgh. Today is a much more simple trade than yesterday:…

  • Revisiting Pirates Trades From Last Year: Rich Hill And Ji Man Choi For Alfonso Rivas, Jackson Wolf, and Estuar Suero

    Yesterday, I kicked off a mini-series by looking at Pirates trades from the trade deadline last year and evaluating them almost exactly a year later. I kicked things off with the Carlos Santana trade, which you can read about here. Next up is the biggest deal, at least asset wise, of Pittsburgh’s moves last deadline:…

  • Revisiting Pirates Trades From Last Year: Carlos Santana For Jhonny Severino

    In reviewing trades that the Pittsburgh Pirates made at the trade deadline last year, I decided to kick things off with the first trade of the flurry that general manager Ben Cherington made. The Pirates had entered the month of July just a few games under .500, but by July 27th, Pittsburgh was sitting at…

  • Martín’s Last Chance

    The Pirates are a very funny team. Sometimes, we won’t know who’s taking the mound for them until a few hours beforehand. Others, they have multiple game starters planned out in advance. Yesterday, the Bucs announced their starters for all three games against the St. Louis Cardinals, a home series that could prove to be…

  • Alleghenys Struggle After Jumping To National League In 1887

    History largely sees 1887 as the official start of Pittsburgh Pirates baseball. Even though the team was yet to be known as the Pirates, or even be recognized as Pittsburgh, this is the year that is seen as the beginning of this team. Why? Because 1887 saw the first year of baseball in the National…

  • Francisco Vicioso Is The *Ultimate* Underdog Story

    There was a tweet that dominated baseball discourse yesterday, and it wasn’t necessarily a positive one. EJNave on Twitter/X introduced us all to Francisco Vicioso, a pitcher who is currently in the Atlanta Braves system. Down in the Dominican Summer League, Vicioso is having a stat line for the ages. https://x.com/twitchejnave/status/1814751899557450077 Vicioso is straight up…

  • A Much Needed Change To A Pirates Rotation

    Last night, as the Pirates continued their Yinzerpalooza festivities, the team continued their winning ways and upped their winning streak to six games. The win was their second in a row against Philadelphia, claiming the series against the best team in baseball right now. Pirates pitching was absolutely dominant. Starter Luis Ortiz went a strong…

  • Ranking How Likely Pirates On One Year Contracts Are To Be Moved

    Unfortunately, given the trend the Pirates have made over the last few years, anyone who signs a one year contract in Pittsburgh is expected to be moved at the trade deadline. This season, however, with the Pirates still relevant this late into a season for the first time in years, things might be a little…

  • Predicting Which Pirates Will Improve Or Regress In The Second Half Of The Season

    With the second half of the season about to get underway, the Pittsburgh Pirates will be looking to stay in the playoff race after clawing their way back to .500, entering the All Star break at 48-48. The first (little more than) half of the season saw some members of the team really exceed expectations,…

  • Carroll, Barkley, Galvin, Morris Bring Success To The Allegheny In 1886

    It took four years and a lot of roster and personnel change, but the Alleghenys finally achieved a winning season in 1885, thanks largely to the purchase of nearly the entire Columbus Buckeyes team, which folded after the 1884 season. in the American Association. These Ohio transplants just barely eked out a 56-55 record, which…

  • The Horror Of A Skenes-Less Pirates Team

    Leadership of the Pittsburgh Pirates has been under fire for years, and rightfully so. From losing season after losing season from a cheaply constructed roster, to bad free agent signings, to draft misses in multiple years, the Pirates’ ownership and front office has been loathed by their fans for…well, I’ve lost count of how many…

  • Alleghenys Enlist Help From Ohio In 1885

    Things have not been going well in Allegheny City during their first three years in the American Association. Their ballparks are burning down and flooding, the team is rapidly approaching a double digit amount of managers, and the team is cycling through countless players trying to find any balance that worked. Not to mention, the…

  • Marco Gonzales Bends, But Doesn’t Break In Return

    When Marco Gonzales took the mound for the Pirates last night, it was the first time he had pitched for the team since mid-April. After an injury riddled 2023 season, the Pirates had acquired Gonzales via trade at an incredibly reduced rate, giving up cash and a player to be named later. The trade was…

  • The Pirates Made The Right Decision Pulling Paul Skenes When They Did

    Paul Skenes is the talk of Major League Baseball. On the heels of being the first player in major league history to be drafted and then be selected to the All Star Game the very next year, he put together another dominant game that saw him earn his sixth win of the season, strike out…

  • Presenting A Solution To Martín Pérez’s Struggles

    It’s been a very up and down season for veteran lefty Martín Pérez. After winning a World Series ring with the Rangers last season, Pérez signed a one year deal as a free agent with Pittsburgh. He joined the Pirates as a veteran in a rotation that was set to see an influx of youth…

  • Giving Out The Fifth Avenue Development Camp Awards

    The prospect tournament is one of my favorite things about the summer time. Not only because it’s hockey during the offseason, but because it’s a chance to see virtually every player the Penguins are hosting for their development camp. Sure, the practices and drills are great, but the tournament provides an opportunity to see these…

  • Team Black Dominates In Prospect Tournament

    The final day of the Penguins’ development camp featured a tournament between the three teams that have spent the last four days working out at the Lemieux Sports Complex up in Cranberry. It’s a great opportunity to see these young players in real in-game scenarios, even if the tournament games have some altered rules. Each…

  • David Bednar And Ryan Borucki Getting Work In Altoona

    There’s a bit more buzz than usual in Altoona surrounding the Curve, as major league pitchers David Bednar and Ryan Borucki are currently in town on rehab assignments. Both pitchers have been on the Injured List and are desperately needed back when they are healthy. Bednar, the team’s closer, as missed the last few weeks…

  • A Check In On Ben Heller

    There was some excitement when the Pirates first called up veteran arm Ben Heller back in early June. His stats at a glance weren’t all that impressive, but his underlying performance was actually quite solid, and when he was on his game, he was finding ways to carve up opponents at the Triple-A level. Signed…

  • Sights And Sounds: Development Camp – Monday

    In the third day of development camp for the Pittsburgh Penguins, all three groups got a skating drill in at the Lemieux Sports Complex. The morning started off with Group 3 (wearing gold jerseys) at 9AM, followed by Group 1 (wearing black jerseys) at 10AM, and then Group 2 (wearing white jerseys). Each group used…

  • This Feels Like A Season Killing Loss

    The Pirates were locked in a pitcher’s duel on a Sunday afternoon vs the New York Mets. After splitting the first two games of this four game stand, the Pirates sent Luis Ortiz to the mound to face off against New York’s Sean Manaea. Manaea, despite a rocky start that saw him issue multiple walks…

  • An Intro To Brent Honeywell Jr.

    As pitching injuries have mounted for the Pirates, moves are being made to bring in some new arms and relocate some others. For the time being, Luis Ortiz has a starting role once again, which prompted the Pirates to recall another reliever for the bullpen. That reliever is Brent Honeywell Jr., who had his contract…