Nobody asked me, but . . .
* Pirates fans understandably are pleased the team has five prospects ranked in most of the top 100 lists. They therefore might be equally pleased to learn there are five on the current roster from the Baseball Prospectus top 100 of 2007. They include: Andrew McCutchen 15, Jose Tabata 22, Travis Snider 40, Felix Pie 42, Jonathan Sanchez 73. What’s more, in the past they’ve had six other members of that 2007 top 100: Brandon Wood 5, Andy LaRoche 20, Donnie Veal 36, Jeff Clement 59, Brent Lillibridge 80, Brad Lincoln 83.
* There’s certainly no sense of urgency surrounding the return of Evgeni Malkin, who has concussion symptoms. The next game the Penguins must win figures to be in May.
* With the excitement generated by the announcement Pitt will play both its first game of the season and its first game in the Atlantic Coast Conference against Florida State on Labor Day night at Heinz Field, it’s a perfect opportunity for the school to return the hugely popular script logo to the Panthers' helmets.
* Early candidate for the boldest prediction of 2012: Tom Singer, who covers the Pirates for MLB.com, on the Pirates starting left fielder:: ``Starling Marte is not only the one to watch, you won’t be able to take your eyes off him. The Pirates have brought him along perfectly, and he is about to blow it up. Yeah, Mike Trout-esque.’'
* Kevin Colbert will not rule out the Steelers taking an offensive lineman in the first round of the draft. I believe him. I also will bet him they won’t.
* Goalie Tomas Vokoun, pulled in the second period last night in the Penguins' 6-4 loss to Florida, is beginning to do a nice Brent Johnson imitation. Vokoun's goals-against averaged soared to 3.26 with the four goals he allowed and his save percentage is 8.90.
* No one should be surprised if Pitt’s 10-man rotation does a slow fade away with the postseason approaching. Against St. John’s Sunday, Durand Johnson and Cam Wright, the bottom two players in that rotation, played nine and five minutes, respectively.
* Steve Pearce won’t go away. The one-time Pirates top 100 prospect, who will be 30 in April, played with three MLB teams last season and was scheduled to bat fourth for Baltimore against the Pirates yesterday before the game was rained out.
* Raise your son to be a baseball player. There have been 41 contracts of $100 million or more in MLB this century and that includes Mike Hampton, Vernon Wells and Barry Zito. The two largest contracts both belong to Alex Rodriguez -- $252 million in 2000, and $275 million in 2007. The complete list.
* Bruce Feldman of CBSSports.com writes that the NCAA might live to regret its current dogfight with the University of Miami, where Donna Shalala is the outspoken president. ``Shalala, keep in mind, has as many big connections in the world of politics as anyone in the NCAA community from her days in D.C., where she served eight years as the Secretary of Health and Human Services. She has clout and isn't intimidated playing politics. I doubt the NCAA wants this ending up on Capitol Hill.’’
* Maybe there’s a good reason for this, but in its proposed new alignment the NHL is going against the grain by decreasing the number of divisions and increasing the number of teams in the divisions. Isn’t there more hope for the worst club in a five-team division than in an eight-team division?
* CBSSports.com is reporting that because of its future geographical makeup the Big East is thinking of selling its name to the Catholic 7, who are exiting the conference to form their own basketball league. That would be kind of neat. The Big East was at its best when it was a basketball league.