The Pirates haven’t had a winning season in 18-years. By this time next year, it will be 19. The Pirates have a young core of players highlighted by Andrew McCutchen, Jose Tabata, and Pedro Alvarez but this team lost 105 games last year, the most in the majors. They will improve this season as last year’s rookies adjust to life in the majors and the additions of Lyle Overbay and Matt Diaz will pay dividends, just not enough to get them out of the NL Central’s basement.
Projected Lineup:
- Jose Tabata (LF)
- Andrew McCutchen (CF)
- Lyle Overbay (1B)
- Garrett Jones (RF)
- Pedro Alvarez (3B)
- Ryan Doumit (C)
- Neil Walker (2B)
- Ronny Cedeno (SS)
Projected Rotation:
- James McDonald
- Paul Maholm
- Kevin Correia
- Ross Ohlendorf
- Scott Olsen
Strengths:
Lineup: Though it may not stack up against the Yankees, Red Sox, or even the Cardinals, the Pirates lineup is deep in its own special way. This spring, Jose Tabata has had success out of the leadoff spot. This allows manager Clint Hurdle to move Neil Walker out of the two hole, where he spent most of last season, and down in the order, providing more depth. McCutchen has shown glimpses of a star and is definitely a player to watch this year, hitting second. Overbay, Jones, and Alvarez provide the power in this order and could prove tough to handle fr some pitchers, though its no Berkman, Pujols, Holliday in the middle of the order.
Depth: I can’t believe this is actually a strength for the Buccos but here I am writing it. There is no way Matt Diaz spends the whole season on the bench, he has a career .301 AVG despite a down year for Atlanta in 2010. Chris Snider is a capable backup catcher and may get a lot of playing time because Doumit isn’t a capable starting catcher.
Weaknesses:
Ronny Cedeno: I can’t stress this enough, Ronny Cedeno is a bad major league baseball player. In the opinion of some (me) the worst regular player in the bigs. He has a career WAR (a stat that measures value against a generic replacement player, 8 is MVP quality, 2 is about what a starter should be) of -2.2, which is simply embarrassing. The worst part? He is currently the Pirates starting shortstop. The other worst part? He is being paid almost $2 million this season. Imagine that in relation to your job. Would you get paid $2 million if some guy of the street could quantifiably do your job better? I want to a major leaguer.
Pitching: The rotation is made up of guys who have shown some talent but haven’t been able to put it all together. For instance, Scott Olsen was the next big thing when he came up, projected at at least a number two starter but has a career record of 37-49. The bullpen won’t help them win any games this year. Joel Hanrahan and Evan Meek will anchor it but I doubt those names strike fear in the hearts of enemy lineups. James McDonald is the number 1 going into this season. He strikes out a lot of guys and has a lot of potential but he hasn’t shown he can win consistently at the major league level.
Storylines:
Youth: The Pirates have only 2 players in Keith Law’s Top 100 prospects but that’s partly because all their top prospects made it to the majors last year. Tabata, Walker, and Alvarez are all heading into their second full seasons and expect big results.
Will Charlie Morton go 10 games under .500 again this year?: He was 2-12 last season. Its a tough thing to do, but I believe in him.
Prediction:
70-92, Last, NL Central. This is actually quite an improvement over the 105 games they lost last year. The young players will continue to improve but the pitching will doom this team. With some big, Nationals-style investments, this team could be good in a few years.
Side note: Go to Pittsburgh. The stadium is unbelievable, the tickets are really really cheap and you’ll have the whole place to your self.
Bold Prediction:
- Andrew McCutchen makes the All-Star game
- Matt Diaz is the starting right fielder by May
- Ronnie Cedeno underperforms, again. Wait, that’s not bold.
- Pedro Alvarez hits 25 bombs and pushes for a .300 AVG
And Now Something Completely Different will be up later
-Max Frankel
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