Daily 5: Pirates struggles in NL central, rack up wins with Lirano on mound; + Pens Rumors & Steelers offense improving inside 35
TIOPS DAILY FIVE *Rumblings, Musings, Opinions* Photo: David Hague 1. The Pirates with last night’s 4-1 loss to the Brewers are now 12-18 against the NL Central. That’s a problem for a team with division title aspirations and so is only winning three of Francisco Liriano’s 12 starts this season when Liriano has posted nine
Daily 5: Pirates smart to key on position players in draft, Lightning resemble Penguins of past, Impact of elite No. 1 d-men & more
TIOPS DAILY FIVE *Rumblings, Musings, Opinions* 1. The talk of the Pirates zeroing in high school prep pitchers with the No. 19 pick was nothing more than a smoke screen as the Pirates went infield heavy with their first three selections of the 2015 MLB draft, (SS) Kevin Newman at No. 19 , (3B) Ke’Bryan
Monday’s TIOPSDailyFive on Gerrit Cole, Pirates, Cavs, and the one draft that stings more and more for Penguins
TIOPS DAILY FIVE *Rumblings, Musings, Opinions* 1. Gerrit Cole has evolved into a true No. 1 ace and he’s not even through his third full MLB season. Cole’s decision to forego signing with the New York Yankees ended up becoming a brilliant decision as outlined by Joel Sherman of the New York Post. After being
Daily 5: Pens up for a sale viewed as unique situation, one major thing being overlooked for a Pens/Saad offer sheet & more
TIOPS DAILY FIVE *Rumblings, Musings, Opinions* 1. The Penguins on the market is being regarded as a unique situation around the league. Many are fascinated on how this plays out. While Pittsburgh is not the Mecca of hockey that some in the local media called the Penguins and this market 3-4 years ago, but if
Daily 5: Doubts emerge in financial world that Mario can cash out to the max if Burkle doesn’t sell his majority
TIOPS DAILY FIVE *Rumblings, Musings, Opinions* 1. Mario Lemieux and Ron Burkle exploring options of selling the Penguins hasn’t been a question of ‘if’, it’s been a question of ‘when’ in recent months. It became official Wednesday night that the Penguins are pushing forward in exploring their options after the team confirmed they have hired
Daily 5: On Penguins AHL Coaching search, NHL being a Copy Cat League has getting faster the new rage & more
TIOPS DAILY FIVE *Rumblings, Musings, Opinions* 1. As the Penguins begin their search for a new AHL coach, a few longshot but interesting names are being discussed internally. After Jim Rutherford’s bizarre coaching search last summer when he failed to land Bill Peters or Willie Desjardins that forced the Penguins to go back to square
Daily 5: The $3.75MM elephant in the room, Kunitz future, John Hynes, Gerrit Cole & more
TIOPS DAILY FIVE *Rumblings, Musings, Opinions* 1. The expectation in the Penguins organization is this regarding Pascal Dupuis: Doctors are likely to come up with a medication that will allow Dupuis to be ‘cleared’ to play next season but there will be a cloud around him all season and uncertainty as no one knows whether
Defining Clutch: Stats back up Toews, Kane abilities to rise to the occasion in elimination games & more in Today’s TIOPSDailyFive
TIOPS DAILY FIVE *Rumblings, Musings, Opinions* 1. Jonathan Toews willed the Chicago Blackhawks back to the Stanley Cup Final with a 2-goal performance in Game 7 and Toews two first period goals took the life out of the Ducks before the game was even 20 minutes old. That’s what makes Toews so great and such
Daily 5 Weekend Edition: Kang investment, Alvarez/Expectations, Pens/Draft Pick Compensation, Cup Final
TIOPS DAILY FIVE Rumblings, Musings, Opinions 1. Neal Huntington in January on the Pirates winning the posting fee for Jung Ho Kang and eventually signing the 28 year old Infielder. “This is an unprecedented situation, so it’s difficult to truly project how he will perform,” Pirates general manager Neal Huntington said. “That is why we
Daily 5: Rutherford still blabbering about Despres, Pens to get compensation for Bylsma & more
TIOPS DAILY FIVE Rumblings, Musings, Opinions* 1. Jim Rutherford is still blabbering about the Simon Despres trade. “If I had a chance to make that trade today, as we speak, I wouldn’t make it,” Rutherford told Trib Total Media on Wednesday. Jason Mackey of the Trib writes, [In trading Despres, Rutherford acknowledged, then and now,