The Reality of a Garrett Jones/Casey McGehee Platoon

As spring training approaches, almost every player looking for a bounce-back season claims to be in the best shape of his life. Pirates infielder Casey McGehee is no exception; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writer Bill Brink tweeted on Thursday that the first-year Bucco has lost nearly 25 pounds and “cut [his] body fat in half.” The premise may be as clichéd as any in...

The Pirates and Casey McGehee have an arbitration hearing scheduled for Feb. 16 if they cannot agree on terms of a contract before that time.

Yesterday the Pittsburgh Pirates announced that they had signed right handed reliever Juan Cruz to a minor league deal with an invite to Spring Training. Cruz was considered one of the better set-up men in the game just a few years ago, and is coming off a pretty good year pitching out of Tampa Bay’s bullpen, one year removed from a shoulder injury. Following the move, I raised...

Baseball America has released their pre-season top 100 draft prospects today, complete with scouting reports for each player. The Pirates will have four to five picks in the top 100, depending on whether Derrek Lee signs with another team or opts for retirement. The Pirates pick eighth overall in the first round. Baseball America’s eighth ranked player is Brian Johnson, a left...

On this date in Pittsburgh Pirates history five former players have been born as well as one new player just signed last month. Starting with the newest former player first, relief pitcher Dan Plesac was born on this date in 1962. He was a lefty reliever with nine years experience already when the Pirates signed him as a free agent on November 9, 1994. He went 2-3 4.61 in 54 games...

This morning has been filled with Pirates talk. First, Ken Laird and Guy Junker talked to Pirates manager Clint Hurdle on TribLIVE Radio. Here are some quotes from Hurdle from the show:"Alvarez will get the first shot at third base."This isn't huge news, but it's good to hear that starting at AAA isn't an option for Pedro, even though he will have another option...

On this date in 1975 former Pittsburgh Pirates second baseman Billy Herman was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame by the Veteran’s Committee. He is joined that year by manager Bucky Harris, Cleveland Indians star Earl Averill, Negro Leaguer Judy Johnson and also Pirates outfielder Ralph Kiner, who was elected earlier by the baseball writers. Billy was the Pirates...

Kevin Goldstein from Baseball Prospectus tweeted today that the Pirates signed left-handed reliever Brian Tallet. Tallet’s deal is a minor league contract and does not yet include an invite to spring training (Major League camp). After hearing that an invite to camp doesn’t go along with this signing, I think it is safe to say that Tallet will be starting off the year...

Last night, Jon from McEffect, Brian from Raise the Jolly Roger, Cory from Three Rivers Burgh Blog, and myself got together for what will be the first of a series of podcasts discussing the Pirates. This episode consisted mainly of the Pirates’ offseason moves and the outlook of the 2012 season. It’s worth a listen. The audio on it isn’t the best and something that...

Last night, Pittsburgh Pirates bloggers at The “Mc” Effect (@McEffect) and Raise the Jolly Roger (@rtjr) started a campaign on Twitter aimed to lure free agent starting pitcher Edwin Jackson to sign with the Pirates. The campaign started around midnight, so the amount of support the campaign received is somewhat surprising. They got Edwin Jackson’s Twitter account...

Hopefully this will be the beginning of something semi-regular and fun. Last night, Jon of McEffect, Jim of North Side Notch, and Cory of Three Rivers Burgh Blog joined me in a podcast to discuss the Pirates’ offseason and some other random things. Specific topics include: The additions of Clint Barmes, Rod Barajas, and Nate McLouth (for some reason we forgot Casey McGehee...

The Pittsburgh Pirates have signed left handed pitcher Brian Tallet, according to Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus. No word on whether the deal is a major league deal or a minor league deal. Tallet has a career 4.79 ERA in 460 major league innings, pitching for three teams. Last year he split time between St. Louis and Toronto, but had poor results with a 9.45 ERA in 13.1 innings...

The Pittsburgh Pirates have agreed to sign left-handed pitcher Brian Tallet, according to Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus.It's unclear whether the lefty will receive a major league or minor league contract.The 34-year-old split the 2011 season between the Toronto Blue Jays and St. Louis Cardinals. He posted a 9.45 ERA in 13 innings last season.Tallet posted a 3.38 ERA...

The Bucs signed veteran lefty Brian Tallet today. The 34 year-old has suffered through injuries and a couple of poor seasons recently, so I would assume that it’s a minor league deal. Tallet has been reasonably effective against lefties, so he’ll probably join Daniel Moskos and Doug Slaten in the group that will be fighting for a second lefty bullpen slot behind Tony...

Last week, Beyond the Box Score put together a chart of what they call the Pirates' "Window to Win" (I can't get the original to load so I've linked the cache). It's worth looking for a visual representation of what the Pirates have right now (there is one mistake in the Pedro Alvarez row; he should be eligible for arbitration starting in 2014, which will...