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Pirates Morning Report: Three Down 89 To Go

Final Score: Pirates 8 Reds 3

Why The Pirates Won: Despite a very strange lineup, the Pirate bats continued to score runs. No O’Hearn and no Lowe. I can see Lowe; he does have trouble against lefties. O’Hearn hits lefties better than righties. There is this thing today called a day off. I am not sure the Pirate management team knows what that means when a team has an off day. What it means to me is nobody is playing today and O’ Hearn did not need yesterday off. When you win, even stupidity is rewarded. Though the run total was the same, the Pirate pitching staff had a much better performance. Paul Skenes pitched 5 solid innings. Why just 5, I’ll never know, but maybe in the long run, it might be best. Skenes gave up 1 run on 3 hits. He struck out 5 and walked 2. He threw 77 pitches, but the Pirates felt he had thrown enough. Mason Montgomery gave up a 2-run homer after a walk, but the rest of the bullpen was superb. Isaac Mattson, Justin Lawrence, and Gregory Soto pitched the last 3 and 1/3 innings, giving up just one hit, no walks, and struck out 3. Soto looked a lot better than the game before. The Pirate offense put 8 runs on the board again with Oneil Cruz and Bryan Reynolds hitting home runs for the 2nd consecutive game. The Pirates were clinging to a 4-3 lead going into the top of the 9th. They put 4 runs on the board, with Nick Gonzales and Bryan Reynolds getting the big hits and driving in 2 runs each. Those 9th-inning runs on the road are sure nice insurance.

The Key Moments Of The Game: In the first inning, the first two batters made outs. Bryan Reynolds singled to right. The struggling Marcel Ozuna worked a 6-pitch walk. Oneil Cruz hit a 2-1 knee-high curve out over the plate, 407 feet into the right field seats, to give the Pirates a quick 3-0 lead. This got the Pirates off to a fast start. Skenes had a good first inning, and the Pirates kept their early momentum going. After the Reds made it 4-3 in the 6th inning, the Pirate bullpen never really let the Reds put up much of a threat. The last 10 Reds batters all made outs. The Pirates had the big 9th inning for a series win.

Next Game: Tomorrow, the Orioles in Pittsburgh, at 4:12 PM. For the Pirates, it will be Mitch Keller starting the home opener. Let’s hope things go better for the home opener than they did for the opener of the season. Other than the first game’s disaster, the pitching has been pretty much spot on. They have not given up more than 3 runs in any of the last 5 games. The Pirates did finish the road trip 3-3, which is what you are supposed to do on the road. The Pirates are going to play 13 out of the next 16 games at home. We will see if the Pirates can get on a nice little run during this stretch.

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Pirates Morning Report: Two Down 90 To Go

Final Score: Pirates 8 Reds 3

Why The Pirates Won: The hitters won this one. The pitchers, even though they only gave up 3 runs, were shaky as hell. Bubba Chandler did not give up a hit but walked 6 batters in 4 and 1/3 innings. The Reds scored 1 run on a botched fly ball by Bryan Reynolds and O’Neil Cruz. All is forgiven when you hit 3 home runs between you and drive in 4 runs. The Pirates went long ball last night. Ryan O’Hearn got the big hit, a 3-run homer after 2 were out in the top of the 3rd to give the Pirates a 4-0 lead. Bryan Reynolds followed him with a homer to left. Cruz hit 2 home runs, one in the 4th and the other in the 9th to give some insurance runs. The way the Pirates pitched, it looked like they were going to need it. A little luck and some bad baserunning by the Reds helped keep them from making this a better game. Yohan Ramirez, who I did not think should make the team, continued to pitch great. Coming in with the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the 5th, he struck out Matt McClain and Elly De La Cruz to end the inning. It was the bottom of the 8th where things got interesting.

Key Moments Of The Game: Hunter Barco came out for his third inning of work in the bottom of the 8th and gave up two home runs. One was a real fluky by De La Cruz. He hit a high fly ball down the right field line that looked like it had to go foul. However, it just went over the fence about a foot inside the foul pole. That was followed by another opposite-field blast by Sal Stewart to make the score quickly 6-3. Don Kelly got ejected on a non-check swing call on Eugenio Suarez. Suarez then proceeded to get a single to right. Barco was replaced by Dennis Santana. He gave up a single to put runners on 1st and 3rd with no outs. Noelvi Marte popped out to short with no advancement by the runners. Nathaniel Lowe pinch-hit for catcher Jose Trevino. Lowe, after falling behind in the count 0-2, worked it out to 3 and 2. Lowe hit this very soft 59 MPH liner between 1st and 2nd. Brandon Lowe made a very nice diving catch and the runner was easily doubled off 1st to end the inning. It was a big base running blunder by the Reds. If there was ever a time for the Reds to really put the squeeze on this struggling Pirates team, this was the inning to do it. They essentially came up empty. Cruz hit another homer in the top of the 9th with a man on base to give the Pirates a little more breathing room. The way Gregory Soto pitched, I would not have wanted to see the inning unfold with only a 3-run lead. Soto gave up a leadoff single to Ke’Bryan Hayes. By the way, Hayes is batting 9th for the Reds, something he never did for the Pirates. After one out, Soto hit the next batter. He got the second out when Nick Gonzales made a nice play on a ground ball in the hole to force the runner out at third. Soto walked the next batter to load the bases. He struck out Suarez to end the game. The last two innings could have been disastrous for the Pirates.

Next Game: Today, the Reds in Cincinnati at 12:40. Paul Skenes goes today for the Pirates. Let’s hope he has better luck today. Nick Yorke started at 3rd base for the Pirates last night. He did not get a hit but hit a sacrifice fly to start the scoring. I will be surprised if Triolo is not in the lineup today, but we will see. After all the trials and tribulations of this early season, the Pirates have a chance for a .500 road trip. The Reds are sending Andrew Abbott to the mound. He had a nice opening day start. In 6 innings, he got touched up for 7 hits and a walk but did not give up a run. Hopefully, the Pirates will be able to ride Paul Skenes to a series win.

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Pirates Morning Report: A Familiar Tune, No Offense

Final Score: Pirates 0 Reds 2

Why The Pirates Lost: The Pirates scored 0 runs, and the usual suspects were present. Henry Davis went 0 for 3 with 3 strikeouts. He faced 15 pitches and only made contact with the ball twice. Jared Triolo, hitting 6th, went 0 for 4 with two strikeouts, bringing his average down to an explosive .118. Hopefully, he will be batting cleanup tonight. Oneil Cruz went 0 for 4 with 2 strikeouts. I am sure he will continue to leadoff with his splendid .143 average. Ryan O’Hearn and Brandon Lowe continued to do well. O’Hearn went 1 for 2 with 2 walks. Lowe did exactly the same. It makes you wish they had traded the whole team. Manager Don Kelley pretty much sat on his hands most of the night. There were times when he could have pinch-hit for Davis or Triolo in some big situations and decided not to. It was also revealed today that the Pirates are one of the worst teams in baseball in utilizing the new ABS challenge system. Man, is that a shocker. It makes you wonder what they did all spring training. The pitching was good but not good enough. Braxton Ashcraft pitched well, giving up 2 runs on 4 hits. He did walk 4 and struck out 3 in 6 innings of work. The bullpen pitched 2 scoreless innings.

Key Moment Of The Game: The Reds tried to give the game to the Pirates but to no avail. They brought in an inexperienced pitcher, Connor Phillip, to try and close the game out. Marcel Ozuna walked on 4 straight pitches. Ryan O’Hearn would have done the same thing if he had used the challenge system. He eventually walked, but it took 8 pitches instead of 4. Jared Triolo came to the plate. He must have been sleeping in the dugout and on-deck circle. Here is a pitcher who technically has not thrown a strike for 12 pitches. Triolo swung at the first pitch that was over a foot outside. He swung and missed again, but at least this was in the strike zone. Then he took a called third strike to complete a perfect Pirate at-bat. Spencer Horwitz then flew out to left field. He had gotten his first hit of the season, looking a little better at the plate. Nick Gonzales hit a little blooper over the second baseman’s head, but Matt McLain made a nice running catch while avoiding a serious collision in the outfield to end the game.

Next Game: Tonight, 6:40, the Reds in Cincinnati. Bubba Chandler takes the hill tonight for the Pirates. Lefty Brandon Williamson will be going for the Reds. We might see Cruz in the lineup tonight because he did get a hit off a lefty the other day. I suspect we will see Jake Mangum in the lineup. I am sure they will move Triolo up to 5th or lead him off; he has been doing so well. This is essentially the third game in a row that the Pirate bats have done very little. Hopefully, things will begin to pick up, but it may not until some replacements are called up from AAA. By then, it may be too late. By the way do you think Konner Griffin would have done worse than Jared Triolo so far?

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Pirates Morning Report: One Down 91 more to go.

Final Score: Pirates 4 Mets 3 in 10 innings

Why The Pirates Won: The bullpen did the job pitching the last 5 and 2/3 innings and not giving up an earned run. A couple of nice bounce-back performances by Mason Montgomery and Isaac Mattson. I will say this, Yohan Ramirez is making me eat a little early-season crow. He had his 2nd consecutive scoreless outing, going 1 and 2/3 innings this time. Mlodzinski had a decent outing, striking out 8 but threw 85 pitches in just 4 and 1/3 innings. The Pirates’ bats were not great again, leaving 12 on base and going 3 for 14 with runners in scoring position. They did just enough with their 7 hits and 8 walks to pull this one out. Brandon Lowe hit his 3rd home run. Ryan O’Hearn got 3 hits and drove in 2 runs.

Key Moments Of The Game: It all boiled down to the 10th inning. After O’Hearn drove in Reynolds from 2nd in the top of the 10th, Jared (Why Am I Batting Fifth) Triolo promptly grounded into a double play. The Mets helped the Pirates out by walking the next two batters. Wouldn’t you know it, Henry (I Can’t Believe It Myself) Davis laced a line drive into center field to drive in the deciding run of the game. The Pirates brought in Jose Urquidy to pitch the bottom of the 10th and did he ever make it interesting. He started by walking Francisco Lindor. Juan Soto lined a drive into the left-center field gap to the wall. Despite what the Pirates’ broadcast booth said, it was far from a perfect relay, but it got the job done. Triolo had to short-hop Cruz’s throw, and then his relay was up the third base line. Davis was able to get to home plate and tag Lindor right on the chin on a play that was not even close. Bo Bichette then grounded to short for the 2nd out, with Soto moving to third. Jorge Polanco took Urquidy’s first pitch and hit it deep to right field. Billy Cook made the catch with his back to the right field wall. The Pirates head to Cincinnati 1 and 2.

Next Game: Tonight, the Reds in Cincinnati at 7:40. Braxton Ashcraft will make his first start of the season. He will go up against Chase Burns, who has only thrown 43 major league innings. He is only 23 years old and made 8 starts last year. He is a right-handed thrower, so expect the opening day lineup. God knows where they might bat Triolo. In the first 3 games, he batted 6th, leadoff, and 5th. He should never bat higher than 8th. I don’t know why the Pirates think Triolo can hit; in the last 3 years, he has had 3 good months of hitting. The last 2 years, his OPS has been .611 and .667. What are the Pirates looking at when they bat him 5th? It was nice to see Davis come up with the big hit. Spencer Horwitz is 0 for 7 at the plate and looks bad doing it. Hope he will snap out of it soon. If they can take 2 out of 3 from the Reds, it will be a .500 road trip. I can’t wait to see where Triolo bats next.

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Pirates Morning Report: The Art Of Leaving Men On Base

Final Score: Pirates 2 Mets 4 in 11 innings

Why The Pirates Lost: The Pirates had 12 hits, 4 walks, plus a Met error, but could only manage 2 runs, and that was because of the ghost runner. They left 17 men on base and were 2 for 18 with runners in scoring position. WOW and DOUBLE WOW. In the first two innings, they went 6 up and 6 down. In other words, they left all those men on base in just 9 innings. Triple WOW. All of this hitting ineptness wasted a great performance by Mitch Keller. He went 6 innings, allowing no runs on 3 hits while striking out 3 and walking no one. The bullpen would not be so stingy. In 4+ innings of work, they walked 5. Hunter Barco came in the bottom of the 10th and promptly hit a batter, then gave up two singles, and the Mets had tied the game 1-1. Miraculously, he got out of the jam on two ground balls and a fly out. In the bottom of the 11th, he walked the leadoff hitter. Next Luis Robert Jr. golfed one out of the ballpark for a 4-2 Mets win. This is only the 2nd game, and I still think this team is going to be pretty good, but did this game ever remind you of 2025?

Key Moments Of The Game: This is really painful, but I’m doing it. Top of the 3rd, 1st and 2nd with one out, 0 runs. Top of the 4th, 1st and 2nd, 0 outs, 0 runs. Top of the 5th, bases loaded, 2 outs, 0 runs. Top of the 6th, 1st and 2nd, 1 out, 0 runs. Top of the 9th, runner on 2nd, 1 out, 0 runs. Top of the 10th, able to get the ghost runner in with a one-out single, but then had 1st and 2nd, 1 out, and bases loaded, 2 outs, no further runs scored. Top of the 11th, singled in the ghost runner with 2 outs, then had 1st and 3rd, but could not add any runs. Whew, I did it. I don’t feel all that bad either, certainly not as bad as the Pirates must feel. This was a game of missed opportunities for the beleaguered Pirates.

Next Game: Today, Mets in New York, 1:40. Carmen Mlodzinski will take the hill for the Pirates. We will see if he is better at getting through the lineup more than once. He has added pitches to his arsenal to make that more of a possibility. Hopefully, the Pirates can avoid the sweep. The Mets, who are not afraid to use young players, will send 24-year-old phenom Nolan McLean. It will be interesting to see who the centerfielder will be today. It should be Jake Mangum, and he should lead off. Even if the Pirates go with Cruz, he should not lead off. Of course, even Cruz is better than 2 for 10 Triolo leading off. Talk about crazy batting orders. Can the Pirates get out of New York with a win? Let’s hope so.

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Pirate Morning Report: Giving The Opener Away

Final Score: Pirates 7 Mets 11

Why The Pirates Lost: A disastrous 1st inning that saw Oneil (I Don’t Need Sunglasses) Cruz misplay one ball and lose another in the sun. This accounted for 3 of the Mets’ 5 first inning runs. The Pirates’ pitching staff helped the Mets along by walking 9 and hitting one batter. The Mets’ pitchers did not walk a batter. The Pirates did score 7 runs. Last year they scored 7 or more runs 24 times and managed to lose 3 of them. Only 2 more losses to match that record. Paul Skenes did not look sharp, but with any luck, he would have gotten out of the inning with only 2 runs scoring. The Pirates did manage 10 hits, with Ozuna and Horwitz the only Pirates held hitless. It was not a good opening day for the Pirates as the pitching and defense were pretty putrid. The Pirates did hit 3 home runs, two by Brandon Lowe and one by Ryan O’Hearn. The bullpen tried to keep the Pirates in the game, with Yohan Ramirez pitching 2 and 1/3 innings of shutout ball. However, Isaac Mattson had a rough outing. In 2/3 of an inning, he gave up 2 runs on 3 hits and 2 walks. One of the walks was with the bases loaded. The Mets went long ball off Justin Lawrence to round out the scoring. The bullpen’s line was 8 and 1/3 innings, giving up 6 runs on 7 hits while walking 7. Thanks to the Pirates’ inept pitching, the game was 3 hours and 8 minutes long. The Pirates made it a little interesting in the top of the 9th but fell well short of making a game of it.

Key Moments of the Game: It was the shocking 1st inning after the Pirates had grabbed a 2-0 lead in the top of the 1st on Lowe’s 2-run homer. Skenes set the tone for the day by walking the leadoff hitter, Francisco Lindor. Juan Soto looped an 83 MPH line drive to center for a single. Lindor tried to go to third and just barely made it on a bang-bang play. I was a little surprised the Pirates did not challenge. Bo Bichette hit a sacrifice fly pop down the right field line. Jorge Polanco hit a check-swing dribbler at 44 MPH down the 3rd base line for an infield hit. Luis Robert Jr. had what I thought was the key at-bat of the inning. After 3 pitches, he was behind in the count 1 and 2. He then fouled off 4 more pitches and was able to work a 10-pitch walk. This loaded the bases and set up the Cruz missile misfiring. Brett Baty hit a 103 MPH liner out to Oneil Cruz, where he took a fatal step in before going back and never came close to catching the ball. The ball only traveled 369 feet to straightaway centerfield. This cleared the bases, and then things got worse. Marcus Semien hit an 82 MPH pop-up out to center that Cruz let drop because he lost it in the sun. Skenes struck out the next batter and hit the following one. After 37 pitches, Skenes was removed. The Mets had scored 5 runs with only one ball hit over 83 MPH and none that traveled over 369 feet. From that point on, the bullpen allowed another 6 runs, helped along with all those walks.

Next Game: Tomorrow, Mets in New York at 4:10 PM. Mitch Keller will make his first start of 2026. Let’s hope he can get out of the first inning. Right now, the Mets are going to throw lefty David Peterson. It will be interesting to see if Cruz is in the starting lineup. In my opinion, he should not be. What a first inning to start the season. Better to have a first inning like that to start the season rather than one in an elimination game. Not that it would have made any difference, but the opening day batting order was a bit of a head scratcher. I still don’t think that Cruz should lead off. Jared Triolo batting 6th? I don’t know. However, let’s face it, the offense did not lose this one; pitching and defense just fell flat on their faces. Hopefully, tomorrow will be a better day.

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Pirates Morning Report: Can This Team Contend

Tomorrow the Pirates start the 2026 season against the New York Mets. This has been their busiest offseason this century. Optimism is high that the Pirates can make the playoffs. I have written about this before, but the Pirates have to do three things in order to make the playoffs. They have to pitch like they did last year. They need to be an average offensive team. This would be a gigantic improvement over last year’s league-worst offense. They were a better-than-average defensive team last year. There will be some drop-off in that performance this year, but as long as they remain around an average defensive team, they should be fine. How do the Pirates go about achieving those goals, thus contending for a playoff spot?

Let’s do the easy one first, the pitching. The Pirates should pitch at least as well as they did last year and maybe even better. Everyone seems to love the new pitching coach, and the Pirates have lots of young arms ready to take the mound. As well as the Pirates pitched last year, there is room for improvement. They were 7th in ERA. They were 5th in runs allowed. They were 3rd in Fielding Independent Pitching, FIP. All good numbers to be sure, but it is not inconceivable to think they could be the top pitching staff in all of baseball. As long as the injury bug does not get them, they should be a very reliable group. The challenge for the Pirates will be how to go about limiting the innings of Bubba Chandler and Braxton Ashcraft. According to reports, they want to keep them right around 150 innings for the season. This is where Hunter Barco, Jose Urquidy, and the return of Jared Jones should help. The bullpen looks stronger than it was last year at this time. The other good news is that there are lots of arms in AAA that can come up if needed. The Pirates should be able to survive if there are some minor injuries along the way. The one man that needs to stay healthy is Paul Skenes. If everything goes well, it looks like he will be throwing a 200-inning season. If everyone stays relatively healthy, this will easily remain the strongest part of this team.

The offense is another story. Can they become average? It may not be as easy as you think, despite the acquisitions over the off season. The Pirates added Brandon Lowe, Ryan O’ Hearn and Marcel Ozuna as big bats. Add that to Spencer Horwitz, Oneil Cruz, and Bryan Reynolds and you have a formidable front 6 to the batting order. The last 3 not so much. Jared Triolo and Henry Davis/ Joey Bart are pretty pathetic. Nick Gonzales could be a sleeper here. He seemed to be making progress through the 2024 season. Somehow to start the 2025 season the Pirates allowed him to play about 6 spring and regular season games on a broken foot and ankle. Great medical staff there. In my view I do not know if he truly ever recovered from the injury. If he can become an average major league hitter or better then it will be a bonus for this team. The other thing that has to happen is Oneil Cruz needs to have a bounce back year at the plate. He seems to have had a good spring and looked pretty good in the World Baseball Classic in a limited capacity. The media like to say that Brian Reynolds needs to have a bounce back season. I think he just needs to hit like he did after the All Star break last year. For 63 games he slashed .276/.364/.453 for an OPS of .816, which is pretty darn good. If he can continue to do that and Cruz is able to become an all around good hitter, then this will be a much improved lineup even with Triolo and the catchers. The other good news is there are plenty of bats to replace these guys. The bench I feel is solid and there are guys in AAA that are just itching to get to the show. That’s not to say there are not potential problems. Lowe may not be able to stay on the field. Ozuna is 35 years old. O’Hearn is not a very good outfielder. I feel that most of these potential issues can be dealt with if the Pirates move to deal with them. That is main reason that I think there is real reason for hope. This is by far the most depth the Pirates have ever had at the Major League Level. There was a time not long ago, like last year, that you could say the only reason that this guy is in the big leagues is because he is playing for the Pirates. That statement is no longer true, not even close.

I really did not delve deeply into the defense because that can be such a subjective part of the game. I have always used Baseball Reference’s defensive metrics not because I think they are the best but just to be consistent. There is no question that the defense is going to suffer just a bit, but the key will be how much. I still feel it will not be significant. So, how do I think this team is going to do? I think if they stay healthy and Konner Griffin eventually makes a big contribution to this team; I can see them winning over 90 games. Even if things do go a little haywire, I feel they can right the ship and at least play over .500 ball and have a chance at the playoffs. I was very pessimistic going into last season, and I was right. This year I may be overly optimistic, but here is the final reason I feel the Pirates have a real chance. The manager’s name is not Shelton. I do not know how good a manager Don Kelly will finally be, but you can tell this team feels really good that he is the manager. Speaking of shocks, I still cannot believe that The Shadow got another managerial job with the Twins. I send all my condolences to the Twins faithful. The adventure begins tomorrow. I am gearing up for a wild ride.

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Pirates Morning Report: The 2026 Roster, Going By The Book

The season is now just 2 days away with the 2026 roster all set: thirteen position players and thirteen pitchers. On the whole, I do not have a big problem with what the Pirates have done. The Pirates use spring training performance as a reason for some of their moves. The reality is that the Pirate management had their minds pretty much made up before spring training started. Spring training stats are pretty much meaningless despite what the Pirates may say. According to them, it was Konner Griffin’s poor finish that led the Pirates to feel he should be sent down. However, having a slash line of .405/.463/.595 like Jhostynxon Garcia did was not good enough to make the team. Henry Davis and Joey Bart hitting .138 and .147, respectively, was enough for them to keep their jobs. Spring training had no affect on who was going to make this team. Let’s take a look at this mighty roster the Pirates concocted.

The biggest surprise is Billy Cook. In fact, he is such a big surprise he is not even listed on the depth chart on the Pirate website. He, along with Nick Yorke, spent almost the entire year at AAA Indianapolis in 2025. They were acquired at the trade deadline in 2024. The reason they made this team is because it is time to see what they can do. Although the sample size is small, neither one has been very impressive at the major league level. Essentially, there is nothing else left to do with them other than trade them or cut them loose. The rest of the team is made up of the off-season acquisitions and returning veterans. The roster was decided probably on February 1st. The pitching staff has one major shocker as the Pirates continue to feel that Yohan Ramirez has some kind of value. They signed him in the off-season, so I guess they felt he had to at least be on the team at the start of the season. Again, the Pirate website is short on information. This may be on purpose to make the Pirate management look not quite as bad for keeping this guy. On the Pirate website, it lists 3 teams that he has pitched for: the Pirates, Mets, and Mariners. He really has pitched for the Mariners, Guardians, White Sox, Mets, Orioles, Dodgers, Red Sox, and the Pirates doing 2 stints. He has a lifetime ERA of 4.71 and averages 4.5 walks per 9 innings. Maybe the new pitching coach will make a difference, but in a so-called pitching-rich franchise, there has to be somebody with a better record than this guy. At least he did not knock Hunter Barco off the team. Other than Ramirez, the same pattern: acquisitions and veterans. Despite Ramirez taking up a spot, the pitching should be very strong.

There you have it, the 2026 edition of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Not on the team from last year are Andrew McCutchen, Tommy Pham, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Ke’Bryan Hayes, Alexander Canario, Jack Suwinski, and Adam Frazier. Not one of these players had an OPS over .700. Andrew Heaney, Bailey Falter, Mike Burrows, David Bednar, Chase Shugart, Caleb Ferguson, and Johan Oviedo are not on the pitching staff. It will definitely be a new-look Pirate team on Thursday. Just how will this Pirate team perform? I will dive into that tomorrow. One final note as we evaluate the teams’ and players’ performance throughout 2026: I am not going to use OPS+ and ERA+ as stats as I have in the past. I feel there is too much subjectiveness, or maybe not enough, when evaluating a player’s performance with this method. This year, I am going to stick to raw numbers. Can this team make a run at the playoffs? Stay tuned for the answer tomorrow.

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Pirates Morning Report: What Will The Pirates Do?

It is one week from today that the Pirates will open the 2026 baseball season against the New York Mets. This blog is not going to speculate on what the Pirates are going to do to construct an opening day roster. If you try to think like the Pirates, you could cause yourself brain damage. I am not going to write about what I think the Pirates should do. That would lead to too much frustration. I played 166 rounds of golf last year, so I have plenty of frustration in my life. I do not need the Pirates to add to it. This is more of a fact-finding mission about the players that the Pirates have to decide on to make the team at the start of the season.

The decision-making process got a lot stickier when the Pirates decided to sign Marcel Ozuna. Two things happened. The Pirates lost a lot of flexibility in making out a starting lineup. Ozuna can only DH. He took another spot on the opening day roster. Ozuna had an off season last year. His OPS was .756. A lot of this was blamed on a bad hip. His combined OPS for 2023 and 2024 was .915. Does he have to perform that well in 2026 to consider his acquisition a success? No, I don’t think he has to be that good. Let’s at least split the difference. If we did that, he would have an OPS of .835. If he can do that, then he will be an asset to the team even though he is a one-dimensional player. If he fails to do that, even signing him for 1 year will be considered a bust. Now let’s look at the players that he is potentially keeping off the roster.

Konnor Griffin is grabbing most of the conversation on whether or not he should make the team. Right now, the speculation is that he will start the season in AAA. The main reason given is that he has had limited AA experience and no AAA experience. The Pirates have 5 young players who have a lot of AAA experience. It is hard to say how many of these players are going to make the team. Certainly, one less player will make the team because of Ozuna. All 5 players have similar AAA resumes. They have had limited major league experience. I will give a general rating of what type of spring they have had. I am going to list them alphabetically and make no mention of the positions that they can play. All 5 can play multiple positions, at least all of the outfield positions. All the ages will be what they will turn before or during the season.

Billy Cook is 27 years old. He has had a good spring training. He had 805 plate appearances at AAA. His slash line is .264/.352/.437 for an OPS of .789

Rafael Flores is 25 years old. He has had a poor spring training. He had 206 plate appearances at AAA. His slash line is .266/.369./.422 for an OPS of .791

Jhostynxon Garcia is 23 years old. He has had a great spring training. He had 351 plate appearances at AAA. His slash line is .271/.334/.498 for an OPS of .832.

Endy Rodriguiz is 26 years old. He has had a good spring training. He had 383 plate appearances at AAA. His slash line .275/.352/.445 for an OPS of .797

Nick Yorke is 24 years old. He has had a good spring training. He had 783 plate appearances at AAA. His slash line is .307/.379/.446 for an OPS of .825.

Those are the 5 players that could possibly play at the major league level. It is a little eerie how similar their AAA stats are. Their OPS ranges from a low .789 (Cook) to a high of .832 (Garcia). There are some problems with each one of them: Cook, his age; Flores, a bad spring; Rodriguiz, injury problems; Garcia, young; Yorke, although the sample size is small, had not looked that great offensively at the major league level. At one point during the offseason, I thought all 5 players would make the 2026 Pirates. Throw Konnor Griffin into the mix and there would have been 6 young players on this Pirate roster to start the season. Of course, the Pirates could still make some moves that would change this picture.

On the pitching front, the Pirates are still in that “who will be the 5th starter” mode. I promised that this blog would not try and speculate what the Pirates might do to form the final 26-man squad. I am going to stick with that even when it comes to who the Pirates choose to round out the rotation. That could encompass another trade move; who knows? In a week, we will all know. For the Pirates, the formula for success is quite easy to calculate. The Pirates were a very good defensive team last year. They were 9th in Defensive Efficiency, 11th in total errors, and 4th in what’s called Total Zone fielding. With the starting lineup for 2026, the fielding could suffer some, but I do not think that much. It all boils down to this: the Pirates have to pitch like they did last year. They have to have a league-average offense. Their fielding has to also be right around the league average. If the Pirates can do that, they will make the playoffs. A lot will be riding on what decisions management makes on the 26 players that are going to make this team. That is one scary thought.

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Golf: Breaking Down The Golf Swing

When I wrote about fault no.1 I mentioned the 9 parts of the golf swing. The golf swing is a continuous motion. For beginning golfers, it is good to understand each part of the golf swing. Even players who have played for a while can benefit from this knowledge. In order to play to the best of your ability, is it necessary to get each part exactly right? Absolutely not. As I have written many times, the swing is not the thing. Your pre-swing actions, before grabbing a club or at the address position, probably affect your shot more. Still, it is helpful to understand the elements of a good golf swing. It is also beneficial to learn the best ways to accomplish them. It is also good to know some of the pitfalls to avoid when executing the golf swing. Without further ado, here is the golf swing

Step 1. Starting the golf swing. The main goal here is to start the club low to the ground for the first 12 to 18 inches of the golf swing. Arnold Palmer thought this was the most important part of the golf swing. He felt if you did this, you could not make a bad swing. The easiest drill I know to get the right feel is to place a large ball behind your club at address. A soccer or volleyball will do. As you start your swing, just push the ball away. This will give you a great feel for keeping the clubhead low to the ground. You will hear a lot about the one-piece takeaway with everything starting at once. Some of that is even being questioned today. I would not worry about the one-piece takeaway. Simply keep the club low to the ground and begin turning your body.

Step 2. Getting the club shaft parallel to the ground. Once the shaft is parallel to the ground, you want to check the position of the clubhead. The clubhead should be pointing in a direction that is parallel to the ground. If you have closed the clubhead to your intended line, then the clubhead will be pointing toward the ground. If you have fanned open the clubhead, then it will be pointing toward the sky. The easiest way to see this is to lay a club on the ground with a tee behind the clubhead to keep the club head from falling over. Take your stance with the middle of your feet even with and perpendicular to the club shaft. Take your swing, and when your club shaft gets parallel to the ground, it should be a perfect match. There will be some players that have a slightly closed clubface at this point in the swing. That is not a bad position and can help in preventing a hook. You will never see anyone really fan open the clubhead at this point in the swing. Even Hogan, whose clubhead was wide open at the top of the swing, was still square at this point in the swing.

Step 3. The left arm is parallel to the ground. At this point in the swing, the club shaft should be perpendicular to the ground. The left arm and the club shaft should form an L. This is where the wrists should be almost fully cocked. Everyone uses their wrists differently, but if the wrists are fully cocked at this point in the swing, then I think you can avoid getting into that wrist-flipping action at the top of the swing. The cocking of the wrists is one of the most interesting subjects of the golf swing, but if you want to increase your distance, getting them fully cocked at this point in the swing will help. To do this, the club shaft needs to be perpendicular to the ground at this point in the swing.

Step 4. The top of the backswing. The key positions here are that the left shoulder should be under your chin. This will give you a 90-degree shoulder turn. Your hips should turn 45 degrees. You should feel that your weight is almost all on the inside part of the right foot. These are guidelines. My view is the more you can turn your hips, the better off your body will be. At this point, your club shaft should be pointing on a line that is parallel to the target or right of the target. Some touring pros may have their shaft pointing left of the target, but they are big and strong. For the average player, this position will just lead to short, crooked shots.

Step 5. Starting down. This is where the swing starts to get tricky. A lot of people will refer to this as the transition. Another observation is that the downswing starts before the backswing is fully completed. If you watch videos of some of the great golf swings or the golf swings of tour players, this is very true. However, thinking about it usually leads to disaster. I think you need to do two things at this point in the golf swing. You must be aware of or feel the change in direction of the golf swing. This will cause a slight pause at the top. It has to happen because nothing can change directions without stopping first. This is a basic law of physics. You want to feel the pause, not consciously do it. Then your next thought should be to get your weight on your left foot before starting down. It is not important how you do it, just do it. You want to try and feel that your arms and hands are starting down slowly from that paused position.

Step 6. Your left arm is parallel to the ground and the club shaft is perpendicular to the ground. The exact same position when your left arm is parallel to the ground on the backswing. The one big difference is that things are happening so fast in the swing at this point you can’t consciously control it. This is where you have to begin to let it go. You have to trust your swing at this point and finish the job. This is why starting down slowly is so important. This is where you can maintain your wrist cock as you start down. If you can do that, the wrists will still be cocked when the arm is parallel to the ground.

Step 7. Impact. The moment of truth. Your body is unwinding. The key point of impact is that your belly button has to be past the ball at this point. Your head is still just above or slightly behind the ball. This is where a lot of people begin to come up and out of the shot. You must stay down and finish the job.

Step 8. The straightening of the right arm. This straightening of the right arm is a result of staying with the shot. You have to be able to resist the temptation to look up to see where the ball is going. A great feeling is that your right shoulder is coming around and literally forcing your head up and out of the way.

Step 9. Finishing the swing. A lot of people like to call this the follow-through. I prefer finishing the swing because that is what you are doing. The straightening of the right arm and finishing the swing in a nice balanced way are very important parts of the swing, even though they happen after the ball has been struck. You want to be aware of these parts of the swing because it stops you from hitting at the ball. You want to be able to hit through the ball. If you are aware of the last two steps of the golf swing, your swing will accelerate through the hitting area and not be slowing down.

This is essentially the golf swing. You do not have to perform each part of the swing perfectly or exactly as it has been described here. Having an idea of what is required will at least help you in developing a style that will be effective for your game. Having an effective sound golf swing will help improve your game. Getting a fairly good golf swing can help, but there is still the short game and putting, which can really drive you nuts if you let it. Hit ’em straight.