Did you miss some of this past week’s content on Pirates Breakdown? No problem – here’s a weekly look back at what you might have missed on our pages.
I am pleased to say that this will be the last weekly update post before live game action begins. Finally the long off-season has come to an end as the Pirates kick things off with their annual Black & Gold game on Monday, then their first spring training game on Tuesday. There are a few quality players still left on the free agent market, and teams will likely sign them during spring training or during the regular season, but most of the major moves are done by now. That also stands for the Pirates. During spring training we’ll see the team send prospects down, place players on waivers, and maybe make another minor signing/trade or two. But the team’s attention will be almost fully turned towards fiddling with the lineup, dealing with inevitable injuries, and trimming the active roster to the best group of 25 players for Opening Day.
But before we look ahead, let’s take a brief look back at how we tackled the final week of the off-season:
- Jose kicked off the week by trying to calm some of the worries of the fanbase with John Jaso‘s move to first base by looking at some of the other former catchers and players that have successfully transitioned to that corner of the infield.
- Tyler Thomas continued his division preview series by turning to the teams in the NL Central, starting with the Cincinnati Reds.
- Aaron continued his point/counterpoint series by debating with Jason whether Jared Hughes is ready for a bigger role in the bullpen.
- Tyler Thomas wondered if new addition Eric O’Flaherty will make the final spot in the Pirates’ bullpen.
- New addition to the Pirates Breakdown team Brian Hannon (make sure to give him a follow on Twitter!) debuted his work by taking a look back at which current Pirates were college baseball stars.
- Zach D’Ulisse – of Center Field Smoke fame – took his graphic design talents and used them to preview a new weekly piece, Friday Focus, in which he will cover all things Pirates uniforms; it figures to be a fun, intriguing piece!
- Oh, and if you want our full rundown on the Black & Gold game set to get underway at noon tomorrow, Tyler Thomas was kind enough to give us a preview of it as well as a breakdown of the lineups for the game.
This upcoming week figures to be an exiting one, as not only do the Pirates begin live game action, but we at PBD debut our daily Sights & Sounds piece, where we give you a roundup of all of the day’s spring training action, including a brief game recap, exclusive video, and tweets and pictures from the day. We’re excited about it, and we’re sure you’ll enjoy it too!
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