Blogs

SAN DIEGO — Last game of the season … not on TV back home … players sitting around the clubhouse, exchanging cell phone numbers and checking their fantasy football lineups … and although no one’s saying it, everyone’s wondering who’ll still be around next year.
Should be a busy offseason.
Lineups for today’s game:
PIRATES — McLouth CF, [...]

SAN DIEGO — The Pirates plan on keeping a closer eye on their players’ waistlines this winter.
Management will clamp down on offseason conditioning programs so the players arrive at spring training in better shape. Huntington said that will mean more face-to-face meetings and stricter checkups.
“We have to be more proactive,” Huntington said. “We want to [...]

SAN DIEGO — If you’re still reading this … well, God bless you. Three games left in another lost season, and it ends with a titanic clash of the Pirates and Padres. No TV back in Pittsburgh, so maybe many of you will instead tune into the presidential debate. (I’m sure my long-suffering Pirates fan [...]

MILWAUKEE — After getting a second opinion Thursday afternoon from Dr. Richard Steadman in Vail, Colo., outfielder Brandon Moss opted to undergo microfracture surgery.
Steadman will perform the procedure next Friday. The extent of the damage to Moss’ knee — he has a divot on the bone — won’t be fully known until Steadman does the [...]

MILWAUKEE — Hello … Ronny Paulino?
The former first-string catcher tonight will make his first start for the Pirates since May 31. Paulino was used the next day as a pinch-hitter, then was sent down to Triple-A, where he spent a good chunk of time on the disabled list with ankle problems.
Paulino [...]

MILWAUKEE — More than a month after saying “I do,” Pedro Alvarez finally went to the altar with the Pirates.
Alvarez, the team’s first-round draft pick, on Wednesday signed a four-year, major league contract with a guaranteed $6.355 million payout.
The deal includes a $6 million signing bonus, the same amount Alvarez verbally [...]

MILWAUKEE — About 20 minutes ago, Major League Baseball and the Players Association announced an agreement that resolved the dispute regarding the status of Pirates first-round draft pick Pedro Alvarez.
Alvarez, who was the second overall choice in the June 5 draft, has been freed to being his playing career and was [...]

MILWAUKEE — Outfielder Brandon Moss will miss the rest of the season — and perhaps as much as the next eight months — with a knee problem.
Monday, Moss had an MRI in Pittsburgh. Dr. Patrick DeMeo, the team doctor, told Moss a divot is forming in the bone of his left knee. DeMeo recommended surgery, [...]

Jim Negrych was a home run-hitter during his career at Pitt. In the pros, however, he is a doubles hitter. Coming to grips with that — and embracing it — allowed him to blossom this year in the Pirates’ minor league system.
“It was a matter of getting my swing fine-tuned, compared to the year before,” [...]

Lefty Paul Maholm (9-9) is on track to make a career-high 31 starts, but still has one fewer victory than he finished with last season. His final start of the year come be Wednesday in Milwaukee against the Brewers.
Maholm said reaching 10 victories, which would match his total last season, would not have any special [...]