Thursday Traynor's

Harold Traynor, better known as "Pie" because of his childhood fondness for pie, was the best third basemen to ever put on a Pirates uniform. He was known for his defensive prowess but was no slouch at the plate either, yet the most amazing stat for Pie is that he only struck out a total of 278 times in 8293 plate appearances, a k-rate of just 3.3%, which is pretty much unheard of. Though a New Englander by birth and accent, Traynor spent the rest of his life in Pittsburgh after his playing career, acting as a manager, scout, and eventually broadcaster towards the big league team. Traynor also never learned to drive a car, opting to walk almost everywhere he went. Pie Traynor, Hall of Fame baseball player, carbon-footprint minimalist.

Pitt lost last night, what of it? My recap can be seen here, and Ron Cook's newest abomination can be found here (actually, his piece isn't terrible, but I wish he would get his facts right, Nas Robinson and Devin Ebanks did not get in a scrum despite their getting T's). I don't know what to make of Dixon just chalking this up to having a bad game; on the one hand, it's good that they are not all doom and gloom. But on the other hand, the fact that the team also acknowledged that they were out-hustled and didn't appear to "want it more" along with the knowledge that this team has not had a "good" game in a month is what really concerns me.

A link to links! Why? Because I'm lazy. BTSC has some links for those looking for their Steelers fix while we all try to act like the biggest game this Sunday is Caps/Pens (which for me, it is). Interestingly enough, there is a link to an article about the Steelers grabbing Tim Tebow come the 3rd/4th round. I don't have to tell you how bad of an idea this would be, right?

Rum Bunters has a video of Bryce Harper's first home run. Eat your heart out yinzers. I have a feeling he will be picked by the Nationals first overall, or be too much of a question mark and will be passed up by a few teams. But that's just an early hunch, we're a long way off from the draft (June).

Cory Humes over at Titletahn takes a look at how the Pirates are spending compared to other low-market teams. It's not an exact science, but I still think it's ludicrous to say the Pirates are pocketing tens of millions of dollars. Studies have shown that the average ML team spends 40-45% of it's payroll on the ML roster (sorry, can't find the link right now). So by saying, "The Pirates get around $80 million in revenue sharing money but only spend $35 million, therefore they are stealing $45 million from the ML," you are being very short-sighted.

Matt Bandi has his first installment on his five-year plan series. A quick look at the minor transactions that are necessary to build in a small market (think Garrett Jones, or for the Rays, Carlos Pena). I already know what tomorrow's links will be called.

Indianapolis is so boring that they have to steal Pittsburgh's idea of the post-Super Bowl school delay. Although we win because ours was two-hours while theirs will be just one hour, pansy's. But either way, this has to be for the teachers sake right? They'll be the one hungover (at least lets hope it's just them).

Soccernet does a fantastic job of looking at the Everton/Liverpool rivalry especially when it comes to the American aspect. Just another reason that as Americans, you'll be more welcome on the blue side of Mersey. Unless you wanna be like this guy.

This was a pretty solid reaction from a Pirate's fan to Bill Simmon's piece on tortured franchises. I agree with everything the guy said except the part about the current system not allowing the Pirates to win. No, it's previous management that screwed up the Pirates, not MLB.