Buccos Cove

Today is the Major League Baseball Trade Deadline, and the Pirates are one of the known sellers on the market this season. How different, if at all, will the Pirates look by 4 pm this afternoon? The Major League Baseball trade deadline is a day like no other during the baseball season. Teams that are in contention are fighting for some of the most coveted players around the league to help give their team a push to make the playoffs. The deadline may look a little different this year, with so many more teams in the playoff hunt, but the rumor mill is still ringing off the hook as 4 pm creeps closer and closer. Sitting at 10-20, the Pirates are on the outside looking in terms of a playoff spot and are one of the known sellers on this year's market. Several names have been swirling around the rumor mill including Joe Musgrove, Gregory Polanco, and even Josh Bell. But, just how different will the Pirates look when four o'clock rolls around this afternoon? General Manage...

After yet another game where the Pittsburgh Pirates bullpen spoils a late comeback, the question remains who will step up for the Pirates? One of the top prospects Blake Cederlind is waiting in satellite camp, but will he get the call in 2020? There has been no question that the Pirates bullpen has been a little bit of a dumpster fire so far in 2020. Another late-game Pirates comeback was spoiled on Saturday night when closer Richard Rodriguez gave up a walk-off home run to Eric Sogard that handed the Pirates their second straight loss. It was another in a series of big home runs allowed by Rodriguez, calling into question whether he has lost it or not. Two years ago, he was one of the best relievers in Major League Baseball. Rodriguez, like many of the Pirates other relievers, has been severely underperforming this season. Not helping things is the fact that the bullpen is missing guys like Nick Burdi and Michael Feliz, while just getting Kyle Crick back from the injured l...

The 2020 Major League Baseball Trade Deadline is creeping closer and closer, and the Pirates have their eye on trading several of their current pieces. For today's Trade Proposal, the Pirates ship an outfielder across the country for pitching help. If there is one thing the Pittsburgh Pirates definitely need to address, it is pitching depth. The team has seen success stories as of late, with Cody Ponce and JT Brubaker impressing in their first couple outings, but the organization just doesn't have a lot of depth at the position. That is one thing General Manager Ben Cherrington will be trying to change as he has his sites set on trading some of the Pirates big pieces prior to Monday's Trade Deadline. In today's trade proposal, the Pirates address that issue head-on as they send one of their outfielder across the country. The outfield is a position where the Pirates have plenty of depth down in the Minor Leagues. Jared Oliva and Travis Swaggerty seem to be th...

Last night, Jason Martin played in his first Major League game since September 3rd of last season. Here is what the future looks like for the 24-year old outfielder as the 2020 season gets set to head into its final month. When you think of the Pittsburgh Pirates outfield of the future, there are many different names that end up coming to mind. You usually think of guys like Jared Oliva and Travis Swaggerty as the future in the outfield, but many forget about 24-year-old outfielder Jason Martin. Martin came over as part of the Gerrit Cole trade in 2018, and the Pirates got a glimpse of what the young outfielder could do last season. He was the first prospect called up when Lonnie Chisenhall disappeared off the face of the Earth, and he got a chance to start in left field right from the get-go. He initially took that opportunity and ran with it getting a hit in each of his first four games, sitting with a batting average of .416. However, he would end up going on a long cold...

We continue our series of Trade Proposals, as we send a package of Major League players to the New York Yankees for a big return. The move helps the Pirates both now and in the future. "Rebuild." It is a word that no baseball fan ever wants to hear their General Manager say, but it is also a fact of the game of baseball. At one time or another, every team has had to go through a rebuild as they restock the farm system and get ready to be competitive again. For the Pirates, their time to rebuild is now as the new regime looks to retool their roster to get back to competitive baseball again. To do this, there are going to be some painful goodbyes as some of Pittsburgh's biggest stars. In today's trade proposal the Pirates work on a megadeal with the New York Yankees involving seven different players to help the Yankees now and get the Pirates started on their rebuild for the future. Pirates Trade IF Josh Bell and RHP Richard Rodriguez to the New York Yankees...

Last weekend, the Pittsburgh Pirates got on a hot streak when they swept the Milwaukee Brewers at PNC Park. They have now won five of their last seven games and are looking to conjure up some more of that magic when they make their first trip to Miller Park this season. On August 20th, things weren't looking good for the Pirates, as they had lost seven of their last eight games, and were heading into a series with the Milwaukee Brewers, a team that has owned them. However, the Pirates offense would erupt for 24 runs in the three-game series and ended up sweeping the Brewers to move to 7-17. One week later, the Pirates are riding high having won five of their last games, including a sweep of a doubleheader against the St. Louis Cardinals yesterday. They are looking to conjure up some more of that magic when they make their first trip to Miller Park this season for a three-game weekend series with the Brew Crew. However, this time it won't be as easy because Miller Pa...

The Pittsburgh Pirates get their first taste of Doubleheader action today when they take on the St. Louis Cardinals today starting at 3:15 pm in a makeup of a game that was postponed due to COVID-19. Doubleheaders are rare anymore in Major League Baseball, but when the Pirates take on the St. Louis Cardinals in their doubleheader today, it will be even more unusual. The teams will play two seven-inning games as opposed to the normal two nine-inning games. For the Pirates, this is a big doubleheader for the team coming off of two straight losses at the hands of the Chicago White Sox. The Pirates are looking to get back on track and show off some of their trade chips ahead of Monday's Trade Deadline. It will be the second time the Pirates have faced the Cardinals this season after dropping two of three in the first series of 2020. However, the Pirates look a little different since that game dealing with injuries to 12 of their everyday players, including Kevin Newman and ...

The Pittsburgh Pirates offense had one of its worst performances of the season last night when they were no-hit by Lucas Giolito and the Chicago White Sox. Lost in the mix, was an absolutely dominant performance from reliever Nick Tropeano, who kept the White Sox off the board for four scoreless innings. Last night was not a good night if you were a Pittsburgh Pirates fan, and that's not even considering the no-hitter. As a team, the Pirates struck out 13 times last night and produced just one base runner in the 4-0 loss. Don't get me wrong it was an outstanding performance by Chicago White Sox starter Lucas Giolito, and he deserves all the credit, but the offense just didn't have it after putting up a combined 24 runs against the Milwaukee Brewers over the weekend. However, one thing that might have got lost in the shuffle was the performance of one man who was claimed off waivers from the New York Yankees earlier this season. After Steven Brault was tagged for...

Coming off a series sweep of the Milwaukee Brewers, the Pittsburgh Pirates are back in action for a short two-game series Tuesday against the Chicago White Sox. Here is what to expect as the offense looks to keep their momentum going. For the first time since the 2018 season, the Pittsburgh Pirates hit the road to take on the Chicago White Sox in a short two-game series. The Pirates enter with momentum on their side after a three-game sweep of the Milwaukee Brewers and loom to carry that momentum into Tuesday night. The offense has been on fire and will once again be let if the Pirates plan to have another successful series. The offense combined to score 24 runs in the series with Milwaukee, providing plenty of run support. The Pirates are going to have to put up another strong effort if they want to beat a Chicago White Sox team that is surging right now. The Chicago White Sox have won seven of their last eight ball games, with their lone loss coming on Sunday at the hands...

The 2020 MLB Trade Deadline is next week as teams are trying to separate themselves as either contenders or pretenders. We are going to play General Manager all this week and look at some deals that might help the Buccos. It is a week before the trade deadline, and teams are beginning to make their push for the playoffs in this shortened 60-Game season. No matter how well the Pirates do over this seven-day stretch before the deadline, General Manager Ben Cherrington and his team will likely be trying to sell off some of their biggest trade chips to build for the future. All this week, we will be getting into the General Manager's chair and proposing a trade that will help the Pirates get ready for the future. It is possible that none of the moves we look at will never happen, but they all will be focused on the future, whether that be short-term or long-term. Today, we will propose a trade package involving five players between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Atlanta Bra...

The Pittsburgh Pirates have been bitten hard by the injury bug this season and might have lost two key players in Sunday's finale with the Milwaukee Brewers. We take a look at who down in Altoona could be called upon to take their places. Injuries happen in baseball, but the Pirates have been hit especially hard by the injury bug. They already had 10 regulars on the injured list and might have lost two more to injury on Sunday. Colin Moran was involved in a collision at first base on the very first play of the game but continued to play until being pulled in the third inning with concussion-like symptoms. One inning later, Kevin Newman started grimacing after striking out swinging and he had to leave the game. It caused a whole lot of shuffling in the Pirates lineup as Jose Osuna moved from right field to first base, Cole Tucker came in to play right field, Erik Gonzalez moved from third base to first base, and JT Riddle came in to play third base.  It was a lot of switching around...

At the end of last season, Jacob Stallings earned the starting catchers spot for the Pittsburgh Pirates. He is now coming into his own as a big-league catcher and is coming off a strong week of games not only on the defensive side of the ball but on offense as well. Ever since he was drafted in the 7th round of the 2012 MLB First-Year Player Draft, everyone knew that Jacob Stallings was a good defensive catcher. He has developed into one of the best pitch framers in the game and works well with the entire Pirates pitching staff. However, recently Stallings has shown that he can swing the bat well to and drive in runs on a consistent basis. Not only did Stallings have a strong day at the plate against the Brewers yesterday, going 2-3 with a walk and three RBI, but he has has a strong week's worth of games at the plate. He is currently on a four-game hitting streak and has had strong series against both the Cleveland Indians and Milwaukee Brewers. Over his last seven game...

It has been a while since we could say it, but the Pirates have finally Raised the Jolly Roger! The offense showed a glimpse of their true potential with a seven-run outburst in last night's win. After weeks of seeing almost no offense from the middle of the Pirates lineup, the team broke out for seven runs in their 7-2 win over the Milwaukee Brewers. Josh Bell, Bryan Reynolds, and Colin Moran combined to go 8-11 while driving in four of the team's seven runs in the win. The offense showed a glimpse of what they could be and gave starter Chad Kuhl his first win of the 2020 season. It was an effort that the offense desperately needed after dropping seven of their last eight games where the offense was held almost stagnant. The big performance of the day was by Bryan Reynolds, who went 3-4 with all four RBI from the middle of the order. So, can this offense be sustained over a length of time? If it can the Pirates have a chance to get back on track and see some succes...