Buccos Cove

After a rough start to his Major League career in 2019, Geoff Hartlieb had a breakout season in 2020. The hard-throwing right-hander is trying to find himself a spot in the back-end of the Pirates bullpen for 2021. The Pittsburgh Pirates bullpen is one of the biggest questions the team faces heading into the 2021 season. No spot is locked down, aside from Richard Rodriguez and everyone is looking to make an impact. One of those pitchers is Geoff Hartlieb, who is entering his age 27 season. After struggling through his first big league season in 2019, Hartlieb came back in 2019 and began showing the success that he had in the Minor Leagues. He was brought up as a closer his entire professional career, and it was thought that he would take over the role someday. Now, he has his chance if he can duplicate the success he had in 2020. He made a career-high 21 appearances for the Pirates and went 1-0 with a 3.63 ERA over 22.1 innings of work. Through September 11th, his ERA was u

The Pirates 40-man Roster is crowded with middle relief pitchers all trying to make a spot in the Pirates bullpen. One of those relievers that bounced on and off the Pirates roster was right-hander Carson Fulmer. With the bullpen in disarray in 2020, the Pittsburgh Pirates did everything they could to put out a competitive bullpen. They went out and traded for/signed several mid-level relievers in hopes that one would stick. One of those relievers was right-handed pitcher Carson Fulmer, who they claimed off waivers from the Detroit Tigers. He was on the Pirates roster for a total of two days and did not pitch before being DFA'd again. Then, he latched on with the Baltomore Orioles, but after three scoreless outings they too DFA'd Fulmer. He ended up finding his way back to the Pirates and enters the 2021 season looking for a spot in the team's bullpen. Fulmer is a former eighth round pick of the Chicago White Sox and although he had success in the Minor Leagues,

Now that most of the Pittsburgh Pirates' major trades are completed, the team is looking to add to their Major League roster for the 2021 season. One of their needs is a veteran starting pitcher, and we take a look at the market to see who is available that Ben Cherington could go after and that fit within the Pirate's price range. So far this off-season, General Manager Ben Cherington has fully committed to rebuilding the Pirates and turning them into a winner by the 2023 season. In order to do this, he has had to trade some of the Pirate's core pieces in Josh Bell, Joe Musgrove, and Jameson Taillon. Cherington has done a nice job in those deals, flipping three players for a total of 14 prospects, 11 of those landing in the Pirates' top prospects list. However, the trades have left a hole at the Major League level as the Pirates still try and compete day in and day out. Cherington has said that their focus has flipped and they have some "Oars in the Wa

Michael Feliz was looking to establish himself as a dominant reliever in 2020, but injuries derailed him. He is back and healthy in 2021 and looking to once again stake claim to the back of the bullpen. When the Pirates traded Gerrit Cole to the Houston Astros back in 2018, they were looking for young and controllable Major League-ready talent. Three of the four pieces they acquired covered that and one of those was reliever Michael Feliz. Feliz was just 25-years-old at the time of the trade and was just establishing himself at the Big League level. He had high promise, with a fastball that could reach triple digits, but he didn't have the experience at the Major League level yet. His debut with the Pirates in 2018 was lack-luster at best, but he came back in 2019 and put together a career-year. He appeared in 58 games that season and went 4-4 with a career-low 3.99 ERA in a career-high 56.1 innings of work. With that success under his belt, he was looking to take his g

Last night, MLB Pipeline revealed their top 100 prospects list and the Pittsburgh Pirates had four on the list. The team made history with their highest-ranked position player in team history as the system takes a step forward. Every year, MLB Pipeline releases their new list of the top 100 prospects in baseball to show who the next generation of stars might be. Over the last couple of seasons, the Pittsburgh Pirates have not had many players on this list because of a depleted farm system. However, Ben Cherrington has committed to building up the Minor Leagues and made the Pirates farm system the third most improved across Major League Baseball, and that was before the Joe Musgrove and Jameson Taillon trades. The rewards of those efforts were starting to show last night as the Pirates landed four prospects on the MLB Top 100 prospects list. Overall, one pitcher and three position players made the cut, showing the rest of the league the future of this Pirates team. The nominees were IF

The Pittsburgh Pirates only have two left-handed pitchers on the 40-man roster entering Spring Training, and one of them is left-hander Austin Davis. He looks to be more than a lefty specialist coming out of the Pirates bullpen in 2021. Left-handed pitching is hard to find at any level of baseball from little leagues all the way up to professional baseball. To find a good left-hander is even harder, but is one of the keys to a successful pitching staff. For the Pittsburgh Pirates, their current 40-man roster only has two left-handers and only one in the mix for a spot in the Pirates bullpen. That man is Austin Davis, who was acquired from the Philadelphia Phillies in a trade last year. Davis struggled in his first four appearances with the Phillies, so he was sent to the Pirates alternate training site at first. Once he was ready he joined the team in September and gave the team a preview of what he can offer. Davis appeared in just five games for the Pirates at the end of

With the Pirates stockpiling prospects at the Minor League level, it leaves a Major Question for the MLB rotation. We look at who will be the Pirates ace in 2021 with the recent trades of Jameson Taillon and Joe Musgrove. Entering 2021, the Pittsburgh Pirates starting rotation looks a lot different than it did last season. Gone are Joe Musgrove, Jameson Taillon, and Chris Archer as the Pirates plan to build for the future. They have done a good job of that already, adding 11 top prospects between their three big trades this off-season. However, when you look at the Major League team, there is no clear cut ace on the current roster. Of the current eligible starters, only Chad Kuhl has pitched more than 30 games in a season, and he is coming off Tommy John surgery. The other two locks have not pitched a full season as a starter in the Major Leagues. The starters are going to be relied on to go deep into games all season after the group averaged just four innings per start las

So far the Pirates have traded away three of their big-name players this off-season and turned them into 13 prospects, 11 in the top 30 in the organization. One of those players was Wil Crowe, who is looking to impact the Pirates in 2021. The Pittsburgh Pirates are going through a rebuild in 2021 as they tear down the Big League roster and put the foundation in place for a winner in the future. This means that some fan favorites will have to leave the organization, and the players the team gets in return have a lot of pressure to succeed put on them. One of those players for the Pirates in 2021 is right-handed pitcher Wil Crowe, who the Pirates acquired in the Josh Bell trade on Christmas Eve. Crowe spent some time on the Washington Nationals Big League roster last season and will look to compete for a spot in the Pirate's starting rotation this season. With three open spots, and four pitchers battling for them, Spring Training looks to feature a lot of competition on t

So far in a little over a year on the job, Ben Cherington has given the Pirate's Top Prospect list a complete overhaul. He is sticking to his word from day one as he stockpiles talent in an effort to bring a winner back to Pittsburgh. Since taking over as General Manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates back in November of 2019, Ben Cherington has said that he plans to stockpile talent and then develop them into Major Leaguers. It is a little more than a year later and Cherington has stuck to his guns and completely flipped the Pirates farm system. Because of his work, the Pirates were named the third most improved farm system in Major League baseball and had four prospects appear as part of Baseball America's Top 100 prospects list. As a small-market team, the Pirates can't afford to go out and make a splash ok a huge free agent. The model they have to follow to be successful is to find and develop talent and then trade them when they are at their maximum value to kee

The back-end of the Pirates bullpen is nowhere near set in stone for the 2021 season. Kyle Crick is one of the many relievers battling for a spot to help the team late in ball games as they try to secure more wins. Ever since coming to the Pirates during the 2018 trade of Andrew McCutchen, relief pitcher Kyle Crick has had a bag of mixed results in Pittsburgh. He came out of the gates strong in 2018 with a 2.39 ERA in 64 outings, but since then things have been downhill for the 28-year-old. 2020 was his worst performance yet and one he would like to forget altogether. He was destined to take over as the Pirates closer during the season, a role that he failed miserably in early on. Then, injuries started to mount and he ended up missing almost the entire season due to strained lat muscle. His fastball hasn't had the life it has had in the past and the Pirates and Crick are trying to figure out why. After appearing in only seven games during the 2020 season, Crick should

Coming into the season, one of the positions that lacked depth in the Pirates organization was catcher. Ben Cherington added to that depth yesterday, signing catcher Joe Hudson to a Minor League contract. For the Pittsburgh Pirates, catcher was a big position of need for the team entering the 2021 season. Behind Jacob Stallings at the Big League level, you had Luke Maile, Andrew Susac, and John Ryan Murphy and behind them, the field was even less void of offensive talent. General Manager Ben Cherington has already made a couple of moves to add depth, claiming Michael Perez off waivers and trading for prospect Endy Rodriguez, and he added another depth piece late Monday afternoon. The Pirates signed catcher Joe Hudson as a Minor League Free Agent and included an invite to 2021 Big League Spring Training. Hudson was drafted in 2016 by the Cincinnati Reds and has already been a sort of journeyman, joining his fifth organization. At 29-years-old, he is looking for an organizati

Our 2021 Pirates previews continue with one of the newest members of the Pirates organization, Roansy Contreras. Contreras was part of the Jameson Taillon trade on Sunday and is looking to continue to develop into a top starting pitcher for the Pirates. As we continue down the Pittsburgh Pirates 40-man roster for our 2021 season previews, the next man up has been in the organization for a total of one day. He was acquired in the Jameson Taillon trade with the New York Yankees and ranks as the Pirate's #19 prospect in the organization. He has a high-powered fastball at 97 miles per hour and is looking to show consistency at the higher levels of the Minor Leagues. Roansy Contreras enters the 2021 season at 21-years-old and is the 11th top prospect that General Manager Ben Cherington has added to the system since taking over in November 2019. Contreras faced the biggest workload he has ever faced in 2019 before the Minor League shut down, and after working at the Yankees a

The Pittsburgh Pirates Made Their Third Major Trade of the off-season, sending Jameson Taillon to the New York Yankees. Three more top prospects were added to the system as part of the haul coming to Pittsburgh. Since Ben Cherington took the GM job back in 2019, his message to Pittsburgh fans has been the same. He wants to stockpile talent in order to bring competitive baseball back to Pittsburgh. Since day one, he has stuck to those guns adding 11 of the current Top 30 prospects in the Pirates organization. He continued that plan on Sunday when he traded Jameson Taillon to the Yankees for a package of four prospects, including three of the Yankee's top 30 prospects. Unlike the haul for Joe Musgrove, the package the Pirates got for Taillon is going to help both the current Pirates and the future Pirates. Coming to Pittsburgh are RHP Miguel Yajure, RHP Roansy Contreras, OF Canaan Smith, and IF Maikol Escotto. Two of those four players were added to the Pirates 40-man ros

For the last two seasons, we have heard talks about young relief prospect Blake Cederlind. He made his MLB debut last season and is now looking for a full-time spot in the Pirates bullpen. At the start of 2020 Pirates Spring Training, there was a young pitcher emerging who many called mini Thor. He had long flowing locks and a fastball that can get as high as 100 miles per hour. That pitching prospect made his MLB debut seven months later as part of the Pirates bullpen. The guy we are talking about is Blake Cederlind and if all things line up, he will be in the back of the Pirates bullpen for the 2021 season. There is a lot of upside to Cederlind, being that he is young and has good velocity behind him. However, he is going to have to go through some growing pains and make adjustments at the Big League level as well. Cederlind came to the Big Leagues on September 15th and appeared in four games during the season. He posted a 4.50 in his four games pitched last season and th

Our Pittsburgh Pirates 2021 previews continue with a young guy who is looking to establish himself as a full-time starter. JT Brubaker is looking to take his game to the next level in 2021. In 2018, pitcher JT Brubaker was named the 2018 Pittsburgh Pirates Minor League Pitcher of the year. He beat out guys like top prospect Mitch Keller and Tyler Glasnow, going 10-6 with a 2.82 ERA. He was primed for a call-up to the Major Leagues in 2019, but injuries derailed those chances. He suffered a right forearm strain and had a set back in mid-June and was forced to miss the rest of the season. With the cancellation of the 2020 Minor League season, Brubaker got the call to the Big Leagues and continued his development in the Pirates bullpen. By season's end, he was a member of the starting rotation and put up decent numbers for a rookie. All-in-all, Brubaker appeared in 11 games, nine starts, and ended up going 1-3 with a 4.94 ERA in 47.1 innings of work. He started out as a lo