Pittsburgh Pirates rotation: Walking a tightrope?

The Pittsburgh Pirates rotation is seemingly a strength. But what can the first three games of the season tell us about the unit, if anything?

Over the club’s first three contests, the Pittsburgh Pirates have received an interesting mix of starting pitching performances.

First, there was Ivan Nova, who shook off some early struggle to give the club five quality innings in its delayed season opener. Nova struck out four. No surprises there. However, he walked three batters – a dubious mark he reached only three times last season. It is also worth noting that Nova was dealing with knee problems that worsened as the season went on.

Trevor Williams held the Detroit Tigers without a hit in his six innings of work. However, he walked five and only struck out one. Chad Kuhl shook off his own sluggishness in the final game of the team’s opening series,ending with 5.2 innings pitched, with four earned runs allowed over eight hits.

With Jameson Taillon set to take the bump today in the team’s home opener, the lone starter yet to make a start will be Joe Musgrove,

As thing stand now, how can we possibly determine anything about the club’s starters? The answers is simple: We can’t. Many pitchers — especially starting pitchers – take a bit to round into form even with all of their spring prep.

The sobering fact is in plain view: this starting rotation is a young one. Kuhl and Williams in particular will need to show that they can handle the rigors of a full load again in their second full seasons while taking steps forward. It will not simply be enough for them to maintain their performances to date.

It may be fair to ask the question: Are the Pittsburgh Pirates up to the task if the rotation has its growing pains?

Kill em with offense

The Pittsburgh Pirates are not going to out-slug many clubs, and fans should not get too excited about the team’s offensive output in games one and three against a hapless Tigers team. However, there may be some cause for excitement should the team continue to get great production from Gregory Polanco and Josh Bell in particular.

Should Colin Moran and Corey Dickerson get going sooner rather than later, the club easily has the talent to overcome any potential shortcomings from its starting rotation. The bats will run hot and cold just as pitchers will, and the team won’t always be able to put up their share of runs.

But over the course of a full season? They just might be able to pick up the slack for the starting pitching should there be slack to pick up. And that’s something we could not say very often about this team over the past two years.

Bullpen to save the day

Despite some inauspicious beginnings, the Pittsburgh Pirates bullpen should be able to handle the load of wrapping things up if the starting pitching can only give five innings. Edgar Santana in particular piques many’s interest as an arm that can thrive in the bullpen based on his offerings.

Felipe Rivero will be just fine, as will George Kontos. The bullpen’s performance may hinge on Michael Feliz, who is much better than his season debut suggested. Indeed, Feliz was able to rebound in his second outing, however, Ray Searage and company will need to figure out the right mix for Feliz to be successful. Throwing all fastballs as he did in his first outing is likely not going to be the answer.

Tyler Glasnow remains an enigma….for now. Though he walked two in two innings yesterday, it was encouraging to see the young right hander attack hitters. One of his walks came to future hall of famer Miguel Cabrera, and even that at bat had its moments. Glasnow got out to 1-2 on Cabrera, working his way back to the advantage after missing on a first pitch curveball.

If that’s not a sign of progress, I don’t know what is.

While it might be a bit of a stretch to say that the Pittsburgh Pirates will be walking a tightrope with its starting pitching all season, it is entirely appropriate to say that the club looks like it might have the makings of a team that can survive even if its starters aren’t hitting on all cylinders.