Category: Pittsburgh Pirates

Is it Time to Get Rid of Interleague Play?

Colorado Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki (2) steals third base against Tampa Bay Rays third baseman Evan Longoria in the sixth inning during their interleague game at Coors Field in Denver on June 18, 2009. (UPI Photo/Gary C. Caskey) Photo via Newscom
This will be the fourteenth season of interleague play in the Major Leagues. Perhaps the most controversial of Bud Selig's innovations, interleague has had a good run with some wonderful moments, but it has also produced some head-scratching matchups, highlighted the gap in talent between the American and National Leagues, and introduced a level of imbalance that is, at least in my view, antithetical to the spirit of baseball. Despite the revenue boost it has given some clubs, it may be time to end - or at least reduce - the interleague experiment.

Evan Brunell’s 2010 MLB Predictions: Does Boston win it?

Game Four-NLDS-Colorado Rockies Host Philadelphia Phillies
As the advent of spring training games are upon us, I thought I'd kick off everyone's favorite little exercise by providing my own personal predictions as to how I think the season will shake out. Now, before I do so, a word of caution: predictions can change daily based on events. Heck, my predictions change multiple times a week. But I've gotta make predictions at some point, right? Point being, I might disagree with my own predictions a week from now. Most of the time, these kind of predictions are an exercise in fallacy, but it's not going to stop me from trying. I don't know why I made things harder on myself, but I set out to present an exact record. This means I had to go into a spreadsheet and make sure all the wins and losses totaled the correct amount of games while also balancing out to a .500 record. Took me a while, but dadgum it, I did it. One thing I did not control for was the unbalanced schedule (in a total record sense), but I already strained my tenuous math skills, so I wasn't about to complicate it further. Click "read more" or the headline to find my predictions.

Cafardo’s Latest: Baldelli, Smoltz close

Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe is reporting that Rocco Baldelli and the Boston Red Sox are close to agreeing on terms for the Rhode Island native to become the fourth outfielder for 2009. The St. Petersburg Times reported earlier this evening that Baldelli was likely to sign soon, and Peter Gammons later reported that Rocco and the Red Sox "close."

Cafardo is also reporting the team is likely to announce a deal with 42-year old veteran John Smoltz. Sources involved with negotiations indicate Smoltz with get a one year, $5.5 million deal with the potential to make $10 million in 2009. Smoltz is likely to return by early May and has a desire to be a starter.

MANNY TRADED (Jason Bay heads to Boston)

Check out my trading deadline winners and losers. Who will replace Hansen in bullpen? Activate Colon and put Buchholz in…

We're Making The Playoffs!

In 2003, 2004 and 2005, the Red Sox lost Opening Day and went on to make the playoffs. In 2006,…

ST Recap – 3/21/07

Daisuke Matsuzaka and Jon Lester, two important components to the future of the Red Sox starting rotation, both took the…

Linking Away

I think today would be good to put a bunch of different topics on the table and direct you to…

The Real Closer

Brendan Donnelly is signed. J.C. Romero is signed. Along with Timlin, Okajima, Delcarmen, Tavarez, Snyder, Corey and Hansen, the bullpen…