Author: mattbandi

Jen Langosch reports that Ryan Church suffered a minor broken finger on Saturday. He is expected to return sometime this weekend.

Rocco DeMaro reports that Jack Taschner is the leading candidate for the Pirates' final bullpen opening.

Dejan Kovacevic reports that Rule 5 pick-up John Raynor is currently ahead of Brandon Moss in the battle for the final bench spot.

Many Pirates fans mistakenly consider Jeff Locke's minor league career to be unimpressive. In other news, management has grudgingly demoted Kevin Hart to Triple-A to start the season. Join me as I tie these seemingly unrelated topics together into one simple statistic.

Rob Biertempfel reports that Delwyn Young has begun working out at third base, in hopes of adding the position to his repertoire.

It was an up-and-down weekend for me in Bradenton. There was some beautiful weather, some heavy rain and a refreshing dose of green grass. Here are a few photos from my first trip to spring training.

Jen Langosch confirms that Neil Walker will receive playing time at first base, second base, third base, left field and right field at Indianapolis...

According to Ed Price, the Texas Rangers remain interested in Ramon Vazquez for a utility infielder role. A Vazquez trade has been expected...

Zach Duke will start the Pirates' season opener on April 5th at PNC Park. Ross Ohlendorf, Paul Maholm, Charlie Morton and Daniel McCutchen...

The Pirates cut eight players from major league camp today, most notably Kevin Hart. Daniel McCutchen will be the team's fifth starter to...

On August 28th, the Brewers quickly went to work on Zach Duke in the first inning. On September 8th, the Cubs did the same thing. Neither team hit the ball extremely hard off Duke, outside of a lone Prince Fielder bomb. Such is the life of Zach Duke.

Every year, there are a few players who fail to meet spring training expectations. Conversely, a few players perform better than anticipated. Here are some Pirates that I expect to surprise in 2010.