With Tuesday’s trade of Ivan Nova to the Chicago White Sox, the Pirates have four clear-cut rotation pieces in place in Jameson Taillon, Chris Archer, Trevor Williams and Joe Musgrove – assuming that all will be healthy when the first bit of chalk lines the field in 2019. Conventional baseball wisdom says that is one short of a standard rotation. But what if it wasn’t? According to Neal Huntington andThe Athletic Pirates beat writer Rob Biertempel, the Pirates could entertain the idea of having strictly bullpen pieces comprise their fifth and final piece in the rotation. An “opener” if you will.

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Tis’ the season to be optimistic. The Pittsburgh Pirates activity this winter will go a long way in determining what kind of team they want to be in 2019. Will the front office continue to seek high-end talent such as they did with Chris Archer and Keone Kela at last year’s trade deadline? Or is budget-cutting still at the forefront of their agenda? 

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Benson - @bucsdugout

Jared - @pirates.strong

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Of the players left unprotected from the Rule Five Draft by the Pittsburgh Pirates, a left-handed pitcher seems like the most likely to be lost.

Part of the yearly Major League Baseball Winter Meetings is the Rule Five Draft. The Rule Five Draft is designed to give players that have been stuck in the minor leagues their entire career a shot at reaching the MLB level. Any player that has spent the past four years in the minor leagues, and is not on a 40-man roster, is eligible for the Rule 5 Draft.

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Benson - @bucsdugout

Jared - @pirates.strong

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A former five-time MLB All-Star could help the Pirates solve their outfield needs via free agency this offseason.

Free agency is underway in Major League Baseball. While, in typical fashion, the market has been slow thus far that will change soon. In a little over two weeks at the MLB Winter Meetings free agency will pick up, and this includes the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The Pirates have already been active in free agency, signing Jung Ho Kang to a new 1-year contract earlier in the month. However, the team now needs to address other positions of need in free agency. This includes finding an outfielder that can play in place of Gregory Polanco until he returns from injury before transitioning to a fourth outfielder/extra starter role.

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Benson - @bucsdugout

Jared - @pirates.strong

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With a deadline looming on Tuesday, roster decisions are on the horizon for the Pittsburgh Pirates

Tuesday is the deadline for Major League Baseball teams to add players to their 40-man roster in order to protect them from the yearly Rule 5 Draft. The Rule 5 Draft is part of MLB’s Winter Meetings every year, always taking place on the final day of the meetings.

This year’s Winter Meetings are set to take place in Las Vegas December 10-13 this year. Therefore, this year’s Rule 5 Draft will take place on December 13th.

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Benson - @bucsdugout

Jared - @pirates.strong

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Could a long time Pirate killer be a free agent target for the team this offseason? Gregory Polanco is slated to be out until at least  mid April and the latest mid June. The Pittsburgh Pirates have internal options in right field with Jordan Luplow, Pablo Reyes, Jose Osuna, and potentially Adam Frazier along with guys like Bryan Reynolds and Jason Martin, but these players are all unproven commodities, the Pirates and Neal Huntington should go out there and get Jon Jay to fill in that spot.

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Jared @pirates.strong

Benson @bucsdugout

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Presenting to you "The Marlins Catch" with hosts Nick Adelson and Mitch Brandwein. Beginning on January 7th, they will be discussing Marlins baseball every Monday giving Marlins fans a fresh perspective to Fish baseball. The Marlins organization is in the midst of a full blown rebuild under Derek Jeter, and the guys will talk about the state of the Marlins and what they believe is best for the organization in 2019 and moving forward as they search to get back to the playoffs and bring a World Title back to they city of Miami.

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Nick Adelson - @marlins__news

Mitch Brandwein - @mitchbrandwein

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Free agency is starting soon, and there’s an under the radar move the Pirates can make to position themselves better in the 2020 season. 2019 should be a year in which the Pirates are able to contend for a World Series with their dominant pitching staff, but there is a move Neal Huntington should  make for both 2019 and 2020. They must sign Garrett Richards this offseason to make it a good one, this will only better the team and bring fans out.

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Jared - @pirates.strong

Benson - @bucsdugout

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The Baseball Podcast Network is proud to announce our Diamondbacks show on the network with RattleUp. The hosts Chris Sumner and Blake Warner will be live to discuss their plans for the podcast, and to introduce themselves to the podcast community. RattleUp will debut on Thursday January 3rd talking all things Diamondbacks baseball while preparing your for the remainder of the offseason and getting you ready for the Diamondacks 2019 season. Questions about their future will be answered, and the direction of their franchise as there has been rumblings that a tear down rebuild could be in the works.

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Blake - @everythingdbacks

Chris - @chris_sumner710

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The Revolution is here! 7 teams, 14 hosts and it's all starting January 1st. This is the first of its kind and its for fans, by fans. We are utilizing Instagram baseball fan pages of the Phillies, Yankees, Diamondbacks, Mets, Pirates, Cubs, and Marlins to create the Baseball Podcast Network (BPN). Here are the names of the podcast and the days of the week

Sunday - The Ivy - Cubs @cubsnation2018

Monday - The Marlins Catch - Marlins @marlins__news @mitchbrandwein

Tuesday - Phancast - Phillies @philliescentre @koyzdimal

Wednesday - Pinstripe Talk - Yankees @yankees_coverage @yankeesnetwork99

Thursday - RattleUp - Diamondbacks @phxsports @chris_sumner

Friday - Amazin' Mets - Mets @metnews @metsupdates

Saturday - Bucco Booth - Pirates @pirates.strong @bucsdugout