Pirates/MLB category, Page 196

The Pirates signed catcher Luke Maile. He hit .151 with Toronto last season. His career batting average is .198. Gee, how can you not get excited? The new Pirates management effectively has batted its eyes at the local stooge media, because we keep reading/hearing about Maile’s defensive acumen, particularly his...

The Pirates have agreed to terms on minor league contracts with an infielder, an outfielder and two pitchers and given them non-roster invitations to spring training, the team announced Tuesday. Right-handed pitcher Hector Noesi has the most big league experience, going 12-34 with a 5.51 ERA in 119 appearances with...

Oscar Marin, even during a phone call from another country, made it clear how enthusiastic he is to join the Pittsburgh Pirates. The team announced Marin’s hiring as pitching coach Tuesday, a day after news broke the Texas Rangers bullpen coach was tabbed to replace Ray Searage. The Pirates also...

Oscar Marin, who has been a pitching instructor at many levels since 2010, was officially named Pittsburgh Pirates pitching coach Tuesday morning by general manager Ben Cherington. Marin, 37, spent last season as the bullpen coach with the Texas Rangers. He served the Seattle Mariners in 2017 and 2018 as...

A frequent criticism of the Pittsburgh Pirates in recent years has been that the franchise employed one of the most expensive managers in Major League Baseball but had one of the lowest payrolls. In August 2018, USA Today published a deep dive into why managerial contracts were dipping. Clint Hurdle’s...

The trend in the major leagues recently has been for teams to hire pitching coaches with varied backgrounds who haven’t necessarily played professional baseball. That fits the description of Oscar Marin, whom the Pirates will hire as their pitching coach. Two baseball sources confirmed to the Tribune-Review on Monday that...

The Pirates added a player at a position of desperate need Monday, signing free agent catcher Luke Maile to a one-year major league contract. Maile, 28, is known as a strong defensive catcher who hasn’t hit much in parts of five big league seasons. For his career, he’s a .198...

Pittsburgh Pirates right fielder Gregory Polanco’s extended recovery from shoulder surgery continues, but he should have no restrictions when he reports to spring training. But that doesn’t mean his shoulder problems are finished. Todd Tomczyk, the Pirates’ director of sports medicine, said Polanco’s shoulder will require regular management, possibly including...

The Pittsburgh Pirates are looking for a pitching coach for the first time since 2010. Ray Searage was promoted from assistant coach in August that year to replace the fired Joe Kerrigan. Searage then spent the next nine seasons overseeing the pitching staff. However, Searage was fired at the end...

Unless Rob Manfred has a change of heart, it will be a rule change that has the greatest effect on how managers deploy their personnel in more than four decades. MLB’s commissioner said this past week during the winter meetings in San Diego a rule requiring pitchers to face at...

SAN DIEGO — Ben Cherington left his first Winter Meetings as general manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates on Thursday without making trade. However, it seems likely center fielder Starling Marte will be with another team by the time spring training opens in mid-February. Second baseman Adam Frazier could also be...

SAN DIEGO — There is a certain segment of fans and media members who have advocated that the Pittsburgh Pirates fire everyone. Owner Bob Nutting has done his share of firing since the end of a season in which the Pirates had a 69-93 record and finished last in the...

SAN DIEGO — Don Kelly won’t be the prototypical bench coach for the Pittsburgh Pirates. The former Mt. Lebanon and Point Park standout, who was hired last Saturday, has only one year of coaching experience at any level of baseball. He was the Houston Astros first-base coach last season. However,...

SAN DIEGO — Derek Shelton knew who he wanted to go to for advice. Soon after Shelton was hired as the Pittsburgh Pirates’ manager two weeks ago, he got in touch with Jim Leyland. Though Shelton only knew Leyland in passing, he thought the former Pirates manager was the perfect...

SAN DIEGO — It doesn’t take a deep dive into the Pittsburgh Pirates roster to determine the area that lacks depth. Jacob Stallings is the only catcher on the 40-man. Stallings, who turns 30 later this month, has played just 95 games and accumulated 282 plate appearances in four major...

PiratesFest will return to PNC Park on Jan. 25, with autograph sessions — free and otherwise — and appearances by team executives and past and present players. The all-day event will include several activities for season-ticket holders and others, beginning at 9 a.m. and continuing until 5 p.m. Admission is...

SAN DIEGO — It remains to be seen if Ben Cherington will make the first splash move of his nascent career as the Pittsburgh Pirates general manager during the winter meetings. The four-day event started Monday at the Manchester Hyatt, and there wasn’t even a trace of a rumor involving...

SAN DIEGO — Ted Simmons is now a Hall of Famer, being elected by the Hall’s Modern-Day Era Committee on Sunday night for his stellar career as a switch-hitting catcher. In the years after amassing 2,472 hits and making eight All-Star Games during his 21-year career, Simmons had a 1½-year...

The Pittsburgh Pirates are excited about having a new general manager and a new manager. Maybe some fans are, too. Meanwhile, the New York Yankees are the favorites to sign Gerrit Cole as a free agent. According to the New York Post, it’ll be a shock if they don’t. Yankees...

Ben Cherington drew an interesting football analogy to his new job in baseball earlier this week. The Pittsburgh Pirates’ general manager said when he was hired Nov. 18, he felt like a quarterback backed up on his 1-yard line. Nearly three weeks later, Cherington feels like he at least has...

The Pittsburgh Pirates stayed in town for their bench coach. Don Kelly was hired to be new manager Derek Shelton’s right-hand man Saturday. Kelly starred at Mt. Lebanon and Point Park and lives in Mars with his wife Carrie — sister of former Pirates second baseman Neil Walker — and...

Dave Parker will find out Sunday if his latest bid to be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame is successful. If it were up to Parker, he already would have a spot in Cooperstown, N.Y. Somehow, that is not a surprising thought coming from one of the most...