Buccos Cove

After not scoring a run all game, the Pittsburgh Pirates fought back last night to beat the San Francisco Giants in walk-off fashion 3-2. The offense is hoping to use this momentum to get them going again for the rest of the series. Entering Friday night's game against the San Francisco Giants, the Pittsburgh Pirates offense had been really bad. They had scored two runs or less in nine of their previous 11 games, and things weren't looking good again. The Pirates entered the ninth inning down 1-0, and even though they were out-hitting the Giants 6-3, they weren't bringing runners home. The only bright spot was that the top of the lineup was due up with the National League's hit leader set to lead it off. The Pirates would rally to tie the game on a Bryan Reynolds single and forced extra innings. Neither team scored in the 10th, but it was the Pirates who had the last laugh as Gregory Polanco won the game in the bottom of the 11th with a sacrifice fly.  Extra...

If there is one thing the Pittsburgh Pirates have had to deal with lately, it is injuries at first base as Colin Moran is on the DL and Phillip Evans left yesterday's game hurt. We look at who will be on first for the Pirates if both players miss significant time. On Saturday, the Pittsburgh Pirates were dealt a blow worse than the 3-2 loss they took to the Chicago Cubs. In the process, first baseman Colin Moran was forced to leave the game with left groin discomfort. At the time, the team had a veteran option in Todd Frazier, who stepped in and handled the position the next two games. However, with a lack of outfielders at the Major League level, the Pirates ended up DFA'ing Frazier in favor of rookie outfielder Troy Stokes Jr. The Pirates still had Phillip Evans to play first, but really no one behind him. Now, the Pirates were dealt another blow as Evans was forced to leave yesterday's game with what is being reported as left hamstring tightness by Jason Mack...

After starting the season 1-6 through their first seven games of the season, the Pittsburgh Pirates have turned it around going 8-4 in their last 12. A lot of that success has been because of the team's ability to hit with two outs and continuously drive in runs. When you get the first two outs of an inning quickly, most pitchers begin to relax knowing they need just one more out to get out of the inning. However, the Pirates are making it difficult on pitchers this year with two outs, as they are coming through with some clutch hits. The most recent display of their ability for clutch two-out hits came against the Detroit Tigers this past week. They scored a total of nine runs in the series win, and five of those came with two outs in the inning. In their 4-2 win in the series finale, three of the runs they scored came with two outs, including the first two runs of the game on RBI hits from Colin Moran and Erik Gonzalez. These clutch hits have helped give the Pirates p...

Over their first 16 games of the season, the Pittsburgh Pirates have outperformed the expectations of many going 7-9 and winning two of their last three series. We look at how they have been able to exceed expectations, and what they have to do to stay competitive. Before the season began, the Pittsburgh Pirates had already been counted out from being anything that resembles a competitive team. The start of the season also warranted some of these claims as the Pirates stumbled to a 1-6 record out of the gates, and nothing was looking like it would go right for the Pirates. Las Vegas's over/under of 58.5 wins, which I still think is ridiculous, was looking more and more like a possibility. I'll admit even I started to have doubts about my 71-91 prediction and started rethinking if this team could really be that bad. However, they were in front of their home crowd for the first time in over a year and fed off that energy as they tried to prove the doubters wrong. As o...

We are just two weeks away from Opening Day of the 2021 season, and the first round of cuts has been made. Today, we try and predict who will be on the Pirates bench when the team heads up to Chicago to take on the Cubs on April 1st. When looking at the Pittsburgh Pirates 2021 roster, the hardest position group on the field to guess is the bench. With the new 26-man rosters for the 2021 season, there are a few different combinations of players the Pirates could go with. They could have 12 pitchers and 14 position players, 13 pitchers and 13 position players, or 14 pitchers and 12 position players. In an interview during Sunday's Spring Training game, General Manager Ben Cherington said there would be points during the season where the team would use 14 pitchers. He did not make it clear how he was going to balance out the roster on Opening Day, but for today's list, we are going with the model of 13 pitchers and 13 position players. With 13 position players on the t...

It is week one of Spring Training 2021, and the Pirates are off to a 2-3-1 start through their first six games. Today, we name our first Buccos Cove Players of the Week for the 2021 season. Baseball is officially back! The Pittsburgh Pirates opened up Grapefruit League action this week and have gotten off to an average start going 2-3-1 through their first six games. It is only a short sample size for the team, but there have been some good performances through the first week's worth of games. The pitching is showing signs of life, and the guys who are back from last year's team have been generating offense. When For example, when Ke'Bryan Hayes, Kevin Newman, and Erik Gonzalez have been in the lineup this week, the Pirates have generated 13 runs in three games. And, aside from allowing the home run ball a little too much, the pitching hasn't been bad across the board. With actual games being played, we have our first pair of Buccos Cove Players of the week....

The battle for a spot in the 2021 Pittsburgh Pirates middle infield is heating up and two players are coming to the forefront. Kevin Newman and Erik Gonzalez have both been on fire at the start of the Grapefruit League schedule. Coming into Spring Training, the Pirates had five middle infielders vying for two spots in the Pittsburgh Pirates middle infield in 2021. With only two spots in the middle infield and one taken by second baseman Adam Frazier, the competition for the starting shortstop position is heating up. Adam Frazier is currently out with a groin injury, and his fellow middle infielders are taking advantage of the uptick in playing time. Two middle infield candidates in particular have taken the opportunity in stride and are showing through the first five games how good they can be. Kevin Newman and Erik Gonzalez have both been on fire at the plate and have shown they can play both second base and shortstop. The tandem got the first start of Spring Training at t...

Erik Gonzalez has had a roller coaster journey since joining the Pirates prior to the 2019 season. After a broken collar bone and a shortened season, Gonzalez is looking to show that he can be an everyday contributor while helping the young players as they begin their journey into Major League Baseball. The 2020 season was supposed to be the year that Erik Gonzalez proved himself to the Pirates after coming over in a trade with the Cleveland Indians. Gonzalez won the starting shortstop job in Spring Training 2019, but a broken collarbone in May limited him to just 53 games. Rookie Kevin Newman emerged during that same year and relegated Gonzalez to a bench role during the 2020 season. Even being a bench player, Gonzalez figured to still see a decent amount of playing time, but then the Coronavirus pandemic shut down baseball. This would severely limit Gonzalez's opportunity to shine, and he would have to make the most of every opportunity that he was given. Fortunately ...

As the Pirates enter the 2021 season, there is really no clear-cut starter at shortstop. Barring any other trades, we look at the three-way battle for shortstop with Erik Gonzalez, Kevin Newman, and Cole Tucker all in the running. As the Pittsburgh Pirates get ready to enter Spring Training 2021, there still remains a lot of questions on the Big League club. One of those questions revolves around who will be playing shortstop for the team this season. After Kevin Newman's struggles at the plate last season, there is likely to be competition heading into the 2021 season. Plus, if Adam Frazier is traded, that would more than likely move Newman to second base, opening the field for more competition at shortstop. With so many middle infielders on the Pirates roster, Manager Derek Shelton has a couple of different options he can play with. If everything stays put before the start of the season, it is more likely than not that Kevin Newman will at least start the year as the ...

With so many middle infielders on the Pittsburgh Pirates 40-man roster, there are several combinations the Pirates could use in the middle infield. Today, we look at those possibilities and see who the Pates double-play combination will be in 2021. Dick Groat and Bill Mazeroski, Tim Foli and Rennie Stennet, and Jack Wilson and Freddy Sanchez. These are just some of the great second base/shortstop combinations that have graced the Pittsburgh Pirates middle infield. For a defensive first team like the Pirates, having a solid showing up the middle is going to be key to the team's success. However, with so many different middle infielders on the 40-man roster, the Pirates will be forced to narrow it down to two starters. Last season, it was Kevin Newman at shortstop and Adam Frazier at second base as the double-play combination. By the end of the season, neither of the two were still in their positions and both sports were open. Adam Frazier's name has been circling the...

Being a back-up infielder on a team is no easy feat because you have to be ready for any situation. However, Erik Gonzalez took to every role thrown at him in 2020 and earns this year's Buccos Cove Heart and Hustle Award for his efforts. Baseball is a game full of curveballs both on and off the field. When a situation changes due to injury or ineffectiveness, someone has to be able to step in and fill the void in order for the team to be competitive. For the Pittsburgh Pirates, the guy that stepped in during the 2020 season was infielder Erik Gonzalez. He has played all over the infield and played well at times where the Pirate's offense needed a spark. With so many injuries striking the Pirates this season, players had to be flexible and Gonzalez ended up taking advantage of his opportunities. He was out with a broken collarbone for the majority of the 2019 season, and he was out to prove that he could be a valuable asset for the Pirates moving forward. No matter w...

The non-tender deadline came and went last night and the Pirates agreed to contracts with three of their arbitration-eligible players. Erik Gonzalez, Michael Feliz, and Jameson Taillon all agreed to deals while the rest will go to arbitration. Wednesday's non-tender trade deadline came and went and the Pirates kind of skidded around the date. They agreed to contracts with three of their arbitration-eligible players and decided to go to arbitration with ten others. The three players who agreed to contracts for the 2021 season were infielder Erik Gonzalez, Right-Handed Pitcher Michael Feliz, and Right-Handed pitcher Jameson Taillon. The other ten players who were arbitration eligible will head to the arbitration process, which runs through January 15th, 2021. The Pirates did lose one player on Wednesday as they decided to non-tender reliever Clay Holmes, making him a free agent. The three players that the Pirates have already agreed to contracts with will not have to go t...

The non-tender deadline is coming up on December 2nd, and all players on the 40-man roster must have a 2021 contract by that time. Today, we look at Pirates who might not make the cut for the 2021 season. When people think of off-season moves, they normally think of the big free agent signings and the blockbuster deals that see stars go from one team to another. However, possibly the bigger part of the off-season is arbitration season where players receive performance bonuses before they hit their years of free agency. Coming into the off-season, the Pittsburgh Pirates had 19 arbitration-eligible players accounting for nearly half the roster. Some of those have already been cut out, with the designation of guys like Trevor Williams, Nick Burdi, and Luke Maile. Even with the cuts, 13 arbitration-eligible players remain for the Pirates to tender contracts to. However, it is likely that not all 13 players will get contracts by the non-tender deadline on December 2nd, making th...

The Pirate's shortstop position has been the one that has seen the most player cycle through. 2020 was another experiment year where the Pirates were sorting through their options for the future. Ever since the Pirates lost Jordy Mercer following the 2018 season, the team has been struggling to find someone to man the position full-time. Over the past two seasons, four different players have cycled through at shortstop for the team with neither of them really able to stake their claim to the position. There was a thought after last season that Kevin Newman would be the guy after he hit .304 during his first full season in the Majors, but a sophomore slump put those first-year successes into question. As a result, the Pirates had to test other options as they tried to get Newman back on track. Some of those options included Erik Gonzalez, Cole Tucker, and even now-former Pirate JT Riddle. Gonzalez was hurt for most of the 2019 season and the Pirates never truly got a loo...