New shirts

Designated for assignment.

Hand of the Lord. This image looks good on a shirt, I think. I have no other explanation for it.

Trade fallout

Flurry of trades this week. What does it mean for the Pirates?

Marvel, Max, and James

Smith, Starks, and Farrior all should be back for Monday night's donnybrook. And finally a healthy backfield of Willie, Jerome, Duce, and Verron will be backing up Big Ben. Look for the Steelers to shockingly dominate and pistol-whip Peyton in a 34-20 laugher.

Jeff Manto

New, effervescent third-base coach.

Big Ben

Back. Peyton is impressed (and scared):

"It's extremely impressive what he's been able to do as far as his record when he's been in there. You can tell the team has a ton of confidence when he's in there. His ability to make plays puts defenses in tough situations. For a young player to come in and win games like he has, certainly's been impressive."

All hail Big Ben!

We have prospects

John Perrotto explains the prospect supply for BA.

HW Readers Poll: Who's to Blame?

Who do you think is to blame for 13 consecutive losing seasons of Pirates baseball?

Rank in order:
1. ownership (McClatchy, Nutting Sr. and Jr., etc.)
2. Cam Bonifay
3. Dave Littlefield
4. the players

Rowdy often suggests the players are the most to blame, which I call "crazy talk".

I'll start the voting with 1-2-3-4. The McNutting's miserly ways effectively guarantee failure year in and year out. DL is not good, but Cam was much worse. The players are usually collectively overmatched, and thus, despite their noble efforts, bear relatively minimal blame for the team's final record.

Strickland before the mast

Welcome Scott Strickland.

Littlefield to Red Sox

Just kiddding. But Gordon Edes, Boston Globe, says it makes a lot of sense:

Pirates general manager Dave Littlefield, who worked under John W. Henry in Florida, didn't know last night whether the Sox had asked for permission to talk to him, and is pleased to have the job he has in Pittsburgh, but it makes too much sense for the Sox not to investigate whether the Maine native and UMass grad is available.

I wouldn't let him go. But I always hate to see turnover at the general manager position. So what do I know.

Hill to Padres

Good luck, Bobby.

Two more bats

This article is a few days old, but I just read it, and I see that McClatchy "challenged" Littlefield to acquire two more bats.

Steelers at Raisins

Got the red beans. Gonna fry some chicken too. What are you cooking up for this afternoon's game?

...that was just pathetic, start to finish. The Steelers should be heavy dogs at Indy for the week 12 MNF.

Blalock

From Rotoworld I see the Marlins are looking to acquire Hank Blalock to put him in a trade to a third team. Too bad our GM has no ties with Florida, or I'd think maybe the Pirates were involved in that talk of a three-way deal.

Adams, Reames and Alfaro signed

Bucs signed RHPs Terry Adams, 32, and Britt Reames, 32, and SS Jason Alfaro, 27 to minor league contracts. Welcome aboard, guys. Now grab a mop and swab the deck, ye scurvy dogs!