Pittsburgh Pirates

Pittsburgh Pirates

(2010 record: 57-105)

Notable additions: SP Kevin Correia, LF Matt Diaz, SP Scott Olsen, 1B Lyle Overbay

Notable subtractions: SP Zach Duke

When you are a pitcher in the Pittsburgh Pirates minor league system, there is hope that you could make an impact in the Major Leagues sooner, rather than later.  Enter 2006 28th round draft pick Rudy Owens, who looked great at Double-A in ’10 and could make his Pirates debut before long.

Today is the first installment of a position-by-position look at the Pittsburgh Pirates camp battles in spring training.

We begin behind the plate, which was a sore spot both offensively and defensively during the 2010 campaign. Teams stole bases on the Pirates pitchers and catchers at an alarming rate a season ago. It was so alarming that it prompted Pirates General Manager Neal Huntington into making some midseason changes.

As spring approaches, baseball fans all across the nation become giddy with anticipation. New acquisitions have us all looking at our respective teams and wonder what may be.

Still, there are inevitabilities in every season.

There is at least one guy out there who, looked at as a random scrub today, will be a star in the coming months. A minor league player hoping to make the big club will become an integral part of their success.

Senior Fantasy Baseball Analyst, Jesse Mendelson, switches leagues to preview the National League Central's Pittsburgh Pirates' starting rotation. Jesse promises nothing, but notes Paul Maholm and company could potentially aide your fantasy baseball team in 2011.

From a fantasy perspective, the single most amazing thing about the Pirates’ 18 consecutive losing seasons is their incredible lack of mixed league-ownable starting pitching over that time.  

For being one of the most storied franchises in baseball history, the Pittsburgh Pirates have had a rough time as of late.  Each of the past 18 seasons, due to desire to cut payroll and "rebuild," the team has not had a winning record.

Even with the 2011 season fast approaching and a good core of young talent, fans are not optimistic.  No matter how well these players do, won't team management just trade them away?

There hasn’t been a lot to get excited about recently if you are a Pittsburgh Pirates fan.

There are some ball teams that are genuinely strong. There are others that only look like they may be strong.

The Pittsburgh Pirates are beginning to fall into the latter category. That's already a good bit better than where they have been.

State College of Florida Manatee-Sarasota, the defending Florida State community college champions, fell victim to the surging Pittsburgh Pirates in a lopsided 21-1, 7 inning exhibition game.

The Pirates took an early 3-0 lead before giving up a run in the top of the second. Manatee CC, feeling confident, was quickly brought back down to the Earth by the Pirates' seven-run explosion in the bottom of the second.

It's that time of year again.  The time of year when you hear all the lines from players and managers about how good they can be this year, no matter what past history says.  You know, the "everybody starts out with the same record" or the always clever "we had a lot of injuries last year" excuse.