Blogs

Joe Beimel had other offers from four other teams, but could not pass up the chance to rejoin his “hometown” club and play again for manager Clint Hurdle. Beimel today signed a minor league contract with the Pirates and got an invite to spring training. If he makes the big league club — a good [...]

This afternoon, the Pirates held their annual hot stove luncheon with the local media. A few tidbits: »»» GM Neal Huntington was not ready to announce a deal with free-agent reliever Joe Beimel. “We’re still working through some things,” Huntington said. But, based on info I’ve gathered from other sources, Beimel will get a minor [...]

ESPN.com analyst Keith Law, a respected MLB wonk and a friend of this blog, this week released his third annual list of organizational rankings. His top three farm systems are: 1. Kansas City (“arms coming out of their ears,” Law wrote), 2. Tampa Bay (“absolutely loaded”) and 3. Atlanta. Law’s cellar-dwellers are: 28. Chicago White [...]

Andrew McCutchen’s best asset in center field is his speed. It allows him to play deep, overcome bad routes (his biggest and most frequently displayed shortcoming), chase down balls other fielders can’t get, and make runners think twice before taking an extra base when the ball does fall in. With that in mind, I was [...]

BRADENTON, Fla. — Jose Tabata told me this morning he weighs 212 pounds, which means that — assuming the media guide isn’t lying to me (cough cough) when it says he weighed 210 last year — he packed on all of two pounds this offseason. Numbers lie. Tabata has bulked up noticeably … and it’s [...]

BRADENTON, Fla. — Right-handers Kevin Hart (shoulder) and Tyler Yates (elbow), who both are rehabbing from surgeries, threw bullpen sessions this afternoon on day two of minicamp. Both threw 25 pitches, all fastballs, under the watchful eye of pitching coach Ray Searage. “I like what I saw,” Searage told me. “Of course, their timing’s going [...]

Some highlights of manager Clint Hurdle’s presser this afternoon after the first round of minicamp workouts at Pirate City:

BRADENTON, Fla. — The Pirates signed right-hander Jorge Julio to a minor league contract that does not include an invite to spring training.

Kevin Hart will throw a brief bullpen session sometime this week. It will be his first time on the pitcher’s mound since May, when he had surgery to repair a torn labrum

BRADENTON, Fla. — Scratch free-agent lefty Brian Fuentes off the list of relief pitching options for the Pirates.