Some Idle thoughts from an idle mind.....
The Pirates have started the 2026 season on a fairly good note. They are 8-5. The staring pitching of Skenes, Keller, Mlodzinski, Ashcroft, and Chandler had been quite good, if not very good. New additions Brandon Lowe and Ryan O'Hearn have delivered as hoped; new addition Marcel Ozuna, not so much.
And 19 year old rookie phee-nom, best prospect in baseball Konnor Griffin has arrived!
After getting an RBI double in his first AB, Griffin has collected only two hits since and is hitting .143, in 21 AB's in seven games. Way too early to worry, and one thing that Griffin has shown is that he can flash the leather. It appears that the Pirates have got their short stop for the next decade or so.
Did I say "decade"? The other big news concerning Griffin is that he and the Pirates signed a nine year, $140 million contract extension that will tie Griffin to the Bucs through the 2034 season. This, of course, is completely out of character for Bob Nutting's Pirates, and it certainly is a positive development, but let's not give Nutting the Dapper Dan Award because of this. As the owner of a professional sports team that purports to be all in on winning and winning championships, this is doing merely what you are supposed to do, something that Nutting has NOT done in his tenure as Pirates CEO. As comedian Chris Rock says, you don't get special credit for doing WHAT YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO DO.
As usual, The Grandstander will wait until the thirty game mark of the season before giving a more thorough evaluation of this season's Buccos.
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We are now halfway through (now speaking in hushed, reverential tones) The Masters, A Tradition Unlike Any Other. I confess to having been glued to the early round coverage of the event on Prime and ESPN for the last two days. What can I say?
While I have no gripe against Rory McIlroy, he's a likable enough guy, I hate to see what he has done over these last two days. Through two rounds, he is at twelve under par and has a six shot lead over his nearest competitor. He has threatened to remove any semblance of drama from this year's tournament. Like I said, I have no axe to grind with McIlroy, but I hope that he comes back to the field a bit, or that three or four guys surge forward to make it interesting come the fourth round on Sunday.
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In honor of The Masters I will close with this musical interlude from well known golfer and sometime crooner Bing Crosby. May all your shots be "straight down the middle".
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