Author: mattbandi

As you probably know, Pirates beat writer Dejan Kovacevic has been taking some heat this week for his Rookie of the Year selections. Dejan left Atlanta Braves right fielder Jason Heyward off his ballot, voting for Buster Posey, Neil Walker and Jose Tabata instead.

Per Jen Langosch:

Per Jerry Crasnick:

Per Rob Biertempfel on Tuesday: Look for the Pirates to be among the serious bidders for free-agent pitcher Jorge de la Rosa. Jeff Francis and...

Rob Biertempfel reported Tuesday that Pirates management is planning to pursue free agent pitcher Jorge de la Rosa this offseason. De la Rosa has been a popular target of many Pirates fans, but he represents a risk I would not take.

Andrew McCutchen had a very solid sophomore year in 2010, but he experienced an extended slump around midseason that dragged his overall numbers down a bit. Anecdotally, at least to my eyes, he seemed to be a little pull-happy during this period. Unfortunately, I could not quantify this.

John Heyman of SI.com just posted the following tweet:

I’m a few days late on this, but Dan Szymborski released the 2011 ZiPS projections for Pirates players on Sunday. There is nothing all that earth-shattering in the projections, but there are some certainly a few interesting things to note.

Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus published full scouting reports for his Top 11 Pirates prospects very early this morning. He also released his rankings for prospects 12-20. Since the Pirates were the first organization on the schedule, the information is available to non-subscribers for free. That is a nice little bonus, so head over and take a look. Kevin is answering questions in the comments section, as well.

Sports Illustrated's Jon Heyman posted an interesting tweet earlier today.

Yesterday, Tim Williams of Pirates Prospects noted that this year’s cut-off for Super Two arbitration eligible players is about eight days earlier than it has ever been before. There is now a strong possibility of Andrew McCutchen reaching arbitration a year earlier than expected.