Site last updated: Thursday, October 8, 2026

Log In

Reset Password
Butler County's great daily newspaper

Baseball stove quite hot this year

Now that the Steelers’ season is all but over thanks to a colossal mismanagement of late-game situational football by Mike Tomlin and a spacial disorientation by Antonio Brown, it may be time to start thinking about another sport.

That sport? Baseball. You know, one of the two good professional sports in Pittsburgh.

The Penguins will be skating around for several more months before the “real” season begins. Baseball’s winter meetings, the yearly get-together of MLB executives with wads of cash burning a hole in their pockets, began Monday.

That’s the real excitement this week.

This year may be one of those special ones. There could be many blockbuster trades. There have already been some shocking free-agent moves.

Here are some of the things I’m looking forward to.

The stove is hot! Be careful.

The price for Price. It’s no secret the Tampa Bay Rays are shopping star left-handed pitcher David Price.

The cash-strapped franchise can’t afford to pay the, um, price to keep Price long-term, so the Rays are looking for quite the haul.

The teams who can, uh, pay the “Price” are few: Angels, Mariners, Rangers and the seemingly Scrooge McDuck-rich Dodgers.

The Red Sox and Yankees could afford Price, too, but there is no way in the world the Rays will trade him in-division.

The power-hitter feeding frenzy. It’s no secret it’s been the decade of the pitcher.

Last season, only 14 players in all of Major League Baseball hit 30 or more home runs.

That dearth of power is going to make teams over-pay for the mashers that are available.

Dudes like Mark Trumbo (34 homers) and Brandon Moss (30 homers) are going to command much more on the trade market than what they are worth.

What will the Yankees do? Now that the pinstripes have about $250 million more to spend than they thought they would after Robinson Cano bolted for Seattle of all places, it will be interesting to see what they do with this windfall.

The Yanks have plenty of holes to fill.

They’ll make a big move. They have to make a big move, don’t they?

What will the Pirates do? After stunning everyone last year and not only enjoying a winning season, but making the playoffs, the Buccos are facing a very different offseason this winter.

Expectations are at an all-time high.

Sorry. Bronson Arroyo talk won’t pique anyone’s interest.

The Pirates still have a lot of holes — first base being a big one. If they want to prove they just weren’t a one-hit wonder, they’ll have to be somewhat active this week.

Stay tuned.

Mike Kilroy is a staff writer for the Butler Eagle.

More in Sports

Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter

* indicates required
TODAY'S PHOTOS