News/views

Pittsburgh Sports News & Views

News/views: Pedro has hyperextended elbow 33

by • News/views • Tags:

Pittsburgh Pirates v Toronto Blue Jays

Pedro Alvarez drives a three-run home run six days ago vs. the Blue Jays in Dunedin, Fla. — GETTY

BY DEJAN KOVACEVIC

News: Pedro Alvarez has a mildly hyperextended right elbow, the Pirates just announced, the result of a swing taken a few days ago. He’s expected to miss a few more Grapefruit League games but will participate in other work if it can occur without pain.

Views: This is the first real uh-oh moment of spring training. And if the team is fortunate, it will be nothing more than that.

Elbow injuries are uncommon in hitting. It’s the wrist or torso that’s usually at risk. So it’s hard to project where this might lead. If it ends up being anything more than what the Pirates currently hope, it could open up first base far more than expected, given that Corey Hart — Alvarez’s projected platoon mate — also is currently out with a foot injury. Look for Andrew Lambo to start getting a little more time at first right away.

MORE

News/views: Hounds finally take it outside 13

by • News/views • Tags:

FullSizeRender

A train passes while the Riverhounds and Western Illinois scrimmage at Highmark Stadium. — DEJAN KOVACEVIC

BY DEJAN KOVACEVIC

News: After two months of training indoors and two weather-canceled scrimmages, the Riverhounds finally plowed through the snow and ice covering Highmark Stadium to get in a 2-0 victory vs. Western Illinois University today, the goals coming from Lebo Moloto and Rob Vincent.

Views: That was fun. Watching Moloto, I mean.

Signed in the past week, this South African midfielder is listed as being 24 years old, but he looks more like 12 and he performs with the maturity of someone a decade his elder. Time and again, the ball would find his foot in traffic, and each time he’d make the smartest possible play. The highlight was a ridiculous goal, the first of the match, when he danced around two defenders, then brought the keeper to his knees before softly tucking a left-footer into the vacated net.

MORE

News/views: Steelers add to QB mix with Boyd 46

by • News/views • Tags:

New York Jets v Philadelphia Eagles

Tajh Boyd lasted only one preseason with the Jets after being their sixth-round draft pick. — GETTY

BY DEJAN KOVACEVIC

News: The Steelers have signed Tajh Boyd, a quarterback the Jets cut loose shortly after drafting him in the sixth round last summer, to battle for backup duty.

Views: In and of itself, this isn’t significant. If one can’t make the Jets’ QB depth chart, one might not make a CFL depth chart.

At the same time, it’s yet another sign that Mike Tomlin and Kevin Colbert aren’t satisfied with Bruce Gradkowski and especially Landry Jones, and would prefer better quality below Ben Roethlisberger. Gradkowski is in the final year of a three-year contract, but Jones has impressed no one and won’t simply be handed No. 3 again.

Here are Boyd’s collegiate stats at Clemson.

sub final

News/views: For Steelers, less is Moore

by • News/views • Tags:

Indianapolis Colts v Pittsburgh Steelers

Lance Moore made 14 catches in his lone season with the Steelers. — GETTY

BY DEJAN KOVACEVIC

News: The Steelers make their first significant purge of the offseason, releasing wide receiver Lance Moore after just one season. They’ll save $1.1 million in cap space.

Views: Oh, do try to look surprised.

Moore was hurt in the final exhibition game, never came close to establishing any rapport with Ben Roethlisberger, visibly fell out of favor with the coaching staff, wound up with only 14 catches for 198 yards and two touchdowns, and he was sadly inactive for the playoff game vs. Baltimore. Also, depending on whom you believe, he asked for his release once the season ended.

This is what mathematicians call addition through subtraction.

Also, as expected, the Steelers did not apply a tag to linebacker Jason Worilds by the NFL’s 4 p.m. deadline to do so. He can become a free agent next week.

News/views: Penguins reacquire Lovejoy

by • News/views • Tags:

BY DEJAN KOVACEVIC

News: The Penguins made a second trade for a defenseman, reacquiring Ben Lovejoy from the Ducks in exchange for Simon Despres.

Views: Now that’s a surprise. On both ends.

I think I’m going to write a full column now combining both trades, so I ask your patience.

MORE

News/views: Penguins get Cole for Bortuzzo

by • News/views • Tags:

St Louis Blues v Washington Capitals

Ian Cole backtracks with the puck in a game last month in Washington. — GETTY

BY DEJAN KOVACEVIC

News: The Penguins have completed a trade of bottom-pair defensemen, sending Robert Bortuzzo and a 2016 seventh-round draft pick to the Blues for Ian Cole.

Cole, 26, is a 6-1, 219-pound left-handed shot who had four goals, five assists and a plus-16 rating in 54 games for St. Louis. The games played represent a career high, as Cole never topped 46 in his first four NHL seasons, something of a disappointment for a first-round pick in 2007.

Views: Initial thought is that these are two teams exchanging seventh defensemen who better suit their needs, and little more. Cole is more mobile, Bortuzzo more physical, and perhaps Cole fits better in the role of being able to step in and replace one of the Penguins’ top defensemen in the event of injury.

MORE

News/views: NHL trading deadline, 3 p.m.

by • News/views • Tags:

BY DEJAN KOVACEVIC

News: The NHL’s trading deadline is at 3 p.m. today. The league’s official site has a live tracker, and Canada’s TSN offers its usual unmatched array of live news, video and audio.

Views: There is no rational reason to expect the Penguins to be active today, given that they don’t have enough room under the salary cap to pay even a minimum-wage player. That means any deal would have to be pretty much a financial match. Moreover, as Jim Rutherford told this site last week in Washington, he thinks he’s done.

Still, and even after a very active Sunday on the trade front, more should happen.

MORE

News/views: Winnik revved up for Cup run

by • News/views • Tags:

Daniel Winnik lines up for a net-front drill at the Penguins' practice Saturday at Consol. -- DEJAN KOVACEVIC

Daniel Winnik lines up for a net-front drill at the Penguins’ practice Saturday at Consol. — DEJAN KOVACEVIC

BY DEJAN KOVACEVIC

News: Daniel Winnik took to the ice for his first practice with the Penguins this morning at Consol Energy Center, skating on the third line alongside Brandon Sutter and Steve Downie.

Views: Never mind my views. I shared those the other day from D.C. when Jim Rutherford acquired Winnik from the Maple Leafs.

Instead, here are three questions I just had for the new guy himself …

Very professional, poised. Even handled that Toronto question, which can be a little sticky, with the smartest answer possible. Impressive.

MORE

Penguins acquire Winnik from Leafs

by • News/views • Tags:

Arizona Coyotes v Toronto Maple Leafs

Daniel Winnik pursues a puck in a game against the Coyotes last month. — GETTY

BY DEJAN KOVACEVIC

WASHINGTON — The Penguins have acquired versatile forward Daniel Winnik from the Maple Leafs for left winger Zach Sill, a fourth-round draft pick in 2015 and a second-rounder in 2016, and Toronto agrees to assume half of his prorated $1.3 million salary the rest of the season.

Views: Nothing not to like here, especially in light of other potential offers that were being made for Winnik, according to the Toronto media.

Winnik, who turns 30 in a week, is a player I’d reported two weeks ago in the Friday Insider the Penguins were targeting, largely because he’s exactly in the mold Jim Rutherford had been coveting. He’s 6-2, 207, built on grit, and dependable enough that he’s been steadily employed in the NHL since 2007 despite averaging about seven goals a season. This season, he had seven goals and 18 assists in 58 games and, perhaps most impressive given his miserable team, a plus-15 rating.

MORE

News/views: Pedro ‘very positive’ about first base

by • News/views • Tags:

BY DEJAN KOVACEVIC

BRADENTON, Fla. — Pedro Alvarez reported early for the Pirates’ spring training, as did every position player on the roster, and described himself as feeling ‘very positive’ and ‘grateful for the opportunity’ to play first base in 2015.

On the video are all three questions I asked Alvarez before the pitchers and catchers took to the field at 1 p.m. Thursday for the first formal workout of spring training.

Alvarez and the early position players — a list that I believe was complete once Josh Harrison arrived from a stop at Disney, though I’ve yet to see Corey Hart for myself — hit in the batting cage, then took to the fields for some practice. Alvarez shared first base in the drills with Andrew Lambo and prospect Stetson Allie.

MORE

< 1 2 3 4 5 >»