Author: mattbandi

Go to WHYGAVS right now and read Pat Lackey's take on the potential shutdown of the Post-Gazette's Penguins blog Empty Netters. I have nothing more to add. Pat sums up the situation perfectly.

A few quick, unrelated notes regarding the Arizona Fall League, 2011 World Series odds and the Pirates' managerial search.

In August, I considered whether the Pirates starting lineup could be significantly improved through free agency this upcoming offseason. I completed that post by promising a part two. Well, that was more than two months ago, but a promise is a promise.

The 2010 winners of the Fielding Bible Awards were announced today, along with the complete voting tallies. Unsurprisingly, no Pirates defenders took home an award. Scanning the lists of players receiving votes, very few Pirates were even considered.

Your Monday evening reading, with appearances by Joe Posnanski, Matt Klaassen and Joe Pawlikowski.

Pirates minor league infielder Josh Harrison is currently playing in the Arizona Fall League (AFL), and he has had a pretty tremendous stretch of hitting over the past week or so. Here are his stats from the past four games.

Former Pirate Freddy Sanchez had a big night, on the biggest stage, against a pitcher who was on one of the most dominant postseason runs in baseball history. Fun stuff

This is a few days old, but Keith Law had a few interesting tweets about Pirates outfield prospect Andrew Lambo. Lambo is...

"He made me a better hitter today," said Sanchez, the Pirates' first-round pick in 2009. "I was watching him hit and I saw how he transferred his weight and I thought, 'Man, that's how he drives the ball 500 feet. Let's see what happens when I try and do that transfer.' And lo and behold, I hit a bomb down the line. I'm like, 'No wonder he's so good.' "

Your Monday morning reading, composed entirely by Pat Lackey of WHYGAVS.

While glancing at the Win Expectancy chart for last night’s Yankees-Rangers game, I realized that FanGraphs also has these charts for historical games. Although I already knew that, I had never taken the time to sift through some older games. Here is a look at some of my all-time favorite Pirates games.

Your Saturday afternoon reading, with appearances by MGL, Tony Sanchez and Joe Posnanski.