Pittsburgh Pirates News

A division that includes the defending World Series champion and both combatants in last season's NLCS also features plenty of uncertainty.

It's not often that a pitcher that has made 32 starts in each of the past four seasons is mentioned in a breath with the city of Pittsburgh.A Burnett has just enough positive attributes that despite battling pneumonia the past several days, I felt I should give my two cents.

From SI.com Oil Can Boyd admits to pitching while high on cocaine. Will he be the first of many? How long until Dave Parker and other Pirates cop to this? Either way, I'm not impressed.

The Pittsburgh Pirates staff is busy over at PNC Park today as they pack up their gear and get it ready to be shipped down south for the start of Spring Training.

Jayson Stark says the Phillies are looking to trade Blanton whether or not they get Oswalt, and that the Pirates and the Orioles have expressed mild interest.

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The longtime Pirates affiliate seems like it might vanish, as the Braves move the team to Wilmington, North Carolina.

Buster Olney writes that the Yankees want Garrett Jones in a potential deal for A.J. Burnett , but that the Pirates don't want to deal Jones.

Ever have one of those things that you continually switch things around only to find you're back at the first time you laid out your plans? I experienced that when it came to ranking the National League Central's crop of center fielders.

Here's Grant Brisbee's piece on PECOTA's new comparables. I wasn't sure how seriously to take PECOTA anymore, but I went ahead and looked at the comparables themselves , because, well, I'm a dork.

Everyone knows the nursery rhyme about the boy who joked about seeing a wolf so many times that, when he finally does tell the truth, none of the townspeople believe him, and his flock of sheep is promptly devoured.

BRADENT0N -- A $7.5 million bank loan for improvements at McKechnie Field will be taken out by the city this month, the Bradenton City Council agreed Wednesday.

We've heard the Pirates connected to Burnett before, but Ken Rosenthal thinks that current circumstances with both the Pirates and Yankees would be conducive to a trade, with the Pirates failing to get Edwin Jackson or Roy Oswalt and the Yankees wanting to shed salary.

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Ryan Ludwick #36 of the Pittsburgh Pirates hits a RBI single against the San Francisco Giants in the first inning during an MLB baseball game at AT&T Park August 8, 2011 in San Francisco, California.

September 9, 2011; Pittsburgh,PA, USA: Florida Marlins shortstop Emilio Bonifacio waits in the on-deck circle to bat against the Pittsburgh Pirates during the first inning at PNC Park.

The Pittsburgh Pirates may not have been good enough for the likes of Roy Oswalt and Edwin Jackson, but Erik Bedard didn't find the team so unattractive.

The Boras contribution: throw out the first-round picks to get more valuable player.

BA lists Austin Kubitza as one of the top 50 sophomores. Seventh to be precise. In terms of scouting, the Bucs seem to have been right on.

The Pirates selected Clyburn, a right-handed outfielder, with the 47th overall pick in the 1992 draft, a pick the team had received as compensation from the Mets in exchange for the loss of Bobby Bonilla as a free agent.