PBN Around the Horn

PBN Around the Horn: Could We See a Changing of the Guard in Pittsburgh?

Published

2 years ago

January 11, 2022

Welcome to the PBN Around the Horn. Here you’ll find news and notes from across Major League Baseball, your Pittsburgh Pirates, and around the Sports Now network.

UPDATE (1:23 p.m.) After reading Baseball America’s piece, the Pirates are among 8 teams with the most to spend in international bonus pool money at $6,262,600. The other teams are Arizona, Baltimore, Colorado, Cleveland, Kansas City, St.Louis, and San Diego.

UPDATE (11:16 a.m) According to Jeff Passan, MLB and the MLBPA will have a meeting this Thursday. MLB is expected to make a core-economics proposal.

Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association plan to hold a bargaining session Thursday, sources tell ESPN. MLB is expected to make a core-economics proposal at the session, which would be the first between the sides since the league locked out the players on Dec. 2.

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) January 11, 2022

The city of Pittsburgh as it stands right now is in a transition phase with all three sports teams. Although the Penguins are on an absolute tear right now, and the Steelers are in the playoffs (thanks Vegas). There’s no denying the guard is changing, and a “retool or “rebuild” may be in the near future for the Pens and Steelers.

This begs the question; can the Pirates prime themselves to take the lead in the city once/if the top prospects pan out? General manager Ben Cherington and the development staff have all the ingredients to make a delicious cake, but did they choose the proper oven temp?

The non-cookie cutter approach is a step in the right direction, and the past two drafts may give you a consistent pipeline through 2025 or maybe slightly longer. Yes, minor league talent is like playing in Vegas, but with the proper bets, and a consistent system, we may be talking about the Pirates being the prime show in town (or TAHN as the people call it.)