Ian Snell News

Neil Walker was named the International League's best defensive third baseman by Baseball America in just his second season at that position.

Pirates right-hander Ian Snell walked 4.87 batters per nine innings in 2008 as he struggled to a 7-12 record with a 5.42 ERA.

Each year at Baseball Prospectus, we take a look back at the season and give out awards to honor those who have excelled.

Joe Kerrigan, a former pitching coach with the Red Sox , Phillies and Expos, will succeed Jeff Andrews in the same job with the Pittsburgh Pirates .

Azibuck was really idiosyncratic in his projections of just about every player and got a lot of them very, very wrong, but he nailed this one, guessing Snell would have 166 IP, 132 K, 77 BB and a 5.01 ERA.

The news of Lanny Frattare's retirement on Wednesday came as much as a surprise to me as it did to many of you, gauging from the e-mails I received soon after the announcement was made.

"Inefficient but not ineffective" has been Daisuke Matsuzaka's modus operandi all year.

A review of the Pirates' players who spent two or more months on the 25-man roster and finished the season with them, grades based on how they compared to positional or role peers in the National League: ...

Ian Snell dominated the San Diego Padres for five innings and paced the Pirates to a 6-3 victory.

It's the last chance to make a good impression for rookie Josh Geer, who gets the start on Friday when the Padres open their final series of the season at home against the Pirates.

Pitching coach Jeff Andrews and first base coach Lou Frazier were fired Monday by the Pittsburgh Pirates after only one season in their jobs.

With one week left in the season, I felt it would be the right time to pull out one of my favorite baseball quotes.

Ryan Doumit put Pittsburgh in front with a three-run homer in the sixth Friday and the Pirates went on to defeat San Diego 6-3. Pittsburgh ended a nine-game road losing streak and San Diego remained in jeopardy ...

Sometime this afternoon, Paul Maholm plans to ask Ian Snell to sit at a laptop and review the Pirates' 6-3 victory against San Diego last night at Petco Park.

Padres starter Josh Geer went five innings allowing five hits and just one run, but left trailing 1-0 in his last start against the Rockies.

Manager John Russell had said it nearly verbatim on Thursday. But when walks marred the outcome for a second straight day, what else was there to say? "We had trouble throwing the ball over the plate," Russell ...

I was at the game yesterday, and definitely noticed much more participation last year.

Adam LaRoche rounds the bases after hitting a solo home run in the fourth inning last night.

The Astros are barely hanging onto their playoff hopes, due partly to a stretch of poorly pitched games from their starters.

Denver Post sports writer Troy E. Renck posts his Rockies Mailbag every other week on Mondays during the 2008 MLB season on DenverPost.com. The next installment is slated for Aug.