9-30-21 By Craig W. Toth (aka @bucsbasement on Twitter) The Bradenton Marauders captured the Low-A Southeast League Championship with a sweep of the Tampa Tarpons nearly a week ago. After the rain held off the long enough, the Greensboro Grasshoppers fell to the Bowling Green Hot Rods in the deciding game five of the High-AContinue reading “Local Boy Trey McGough Makes Every Inning Count In Altoona”
Category Archives: Opinion & Analysis
Pitching, The Pirates, and Why We Just Can’t Get on the Same Page
I’m not sure ‘better’ will be enough next year, so I truly hope they see this too and prepare to adjust, if they don’t they run the risk of wasting some of the talent they worked so hard to acquire, and quite simply the Pittsburgh
Roansy Contreras Shows Glimpse of His Arsenal; Bucs Fall 3-2 to Chicago
No matter what happened, no matter who did what, this game was always going to be about the few innings the Pirates brass allowed Roansy Contreras to pitch as he made his Pirates debut, at PNC Park no less.
Why Roansy? Why Now?
I wanted to see the Pirates do something like this as opposed to continuing to trot out bullpen games and pretending limping through the finish line would be enough.
Pirates Win After An Appearance From The So-Called Bad Mitch Keller
9-29-21 By Craig W. Toth (aka @bucsbasement on Twitter) I’ve written and said almost everything I possibly could about the journey of Mitch Keller; from former top prospect in all of Major League Baseball to polarizing starter for your Pittsburgh Pirates. At the end of 2020 when Keller went on his 11 inning no-hit streak,Continue reading “Pirates Win After An Appearance From The So-Called Bad Mitch Keller”
Pirates Top 30 Prospect Trend Report
9-28-21 – By Justin Verno – @JV_PITT on Twitter Greetings from Ocean City Maryland where, between the beach and beers (OK, a lot of beers) I’ve been able to get this done. Man oh man what a great week for the Pirates system. A few real good looks here. To get into this I thinkContinue reading “Pirates Top 30 Prospect Trend Report”
Five Pirates Thoughts at Five
There’s something in a season like this that irritates people that stick with the team through the whole death march more than the fact that the team is bad. It’s the devolution that really makes it impossible to stomach.
Another Bullpen Game, Another Predictable Beat Down 13-1 to Reds
The Reds are on the verge of playoff elimination, and it’ll happen today or tomorrow with no help from the Pirates. That didn’t stop them from the equivalent of Pitt beating New Hampshire 77-7.
Pirates Pitching And Bats Power Through To Avoid A Sweep In Philly, Proving Me Wrong In The Process
9-27-2021 By Craig W. Toth (aka @bucsbasement on Twitter) It almost never fails. Every time I talk bad or write some negative about a member of the Pirates, an aspect of their overall game performance (fielding or base running) a certain group of players (relievers, starters, batters, etc.), the coaching staff or the general capabilitiesContinue reading “Pirates Pitching And Bats Power Through To Avoid A Sweep In Philly, Proving Me Wrong In The Process”
The Pitching Needs to Improve, but It’s Also Not Quite as Bad as it Looks Right Now
Before I really get into this too far, let me just start by saying, yes, you’re absolutely right, the pitching staff on this club is the worst aspect by far, and it needs to be the focus this offseason for improvement.
Steel City Pirates 