Pittsburgh Pirates Wake-Up Call – Is this Lineup Good Enough as is?

In our daily Wake-Up Call, we get you ready for the day with a complete look at all things Pittsburgh Pirates.

Yesterday in our Wake-Up Call we wondered if the starting rotation was good enough in its current state to help this team compete for a playoff spot next season. Today we wonder if the lineup as presently constructed needs to improve before Opening Day.

Here is your starting nine at the moment for the Pirates –

1B – Josh Bell

2B – Josh Harrison

Shortstop – Jordy Mercer

3B – Jung Ho Kang

Catcher – Francisco Cervelli

LF – Starling Marte

CF – Andrew McCutchen

RF – Gregory Polanco

What’s important to note is that the Pirates aren’t going to be adding anyone via free agency or trade to be plugged in as a starter at one of these positions. I’m sure the team is more than comfortable heading into next season with this starting nine. The only change from the beginning of last season to the the lineup will be Josh Bell at first (and Kang at 3B instead of David Freese, but he didn’t miss much time to start the year).

Without wondering about the order of the actual lineup, the team seems to be better off offensively than it was to start the year last April. Bell’s upside is much higher than that of John Jaso, as is Kang’s compared to Freese. The key, obviously, will be McCutchen rebounding to his pre-2016 form. If he does that, if Bell takes a step forward, and the rest of the lineup just bats to their career averages, this will be an above-average offense in 2017.

In fact, I’m not only comfortable but confident in this offense heading into next season. Just like the rotation, there are some “ifs” (I didn’t even mention Cervelli staying healthy), but there’s not too much reason to be worried about the upside of the lineup moving forward.

Baseball Talk Around the Web

• Sam Miller of ESPN looks back at Game Seven of this past World Series, and uses win likelihood and probability as the game progressed to do so. It’s pretty cool.
• Speaking of the Pirates lineup, Dieter Kurtenbach of Fox Sports lists what he feels are the ten best lineups in baseball. Did the Pirates make the cut?

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