Pittsburgh Pirates

Imagine a Pirates rotation with the 2007 ("star") versions of pitchers Ian Snell and Tom Gorzelanny, together with Paul Maholm and Zach Duke at their later (2008-2009) selves.

Imagine that the fifth starter is actually better than fifth starter-caliber.

That's what the Pirates may finally have in 2010.

Old Pirate standbys Maholm and Duke are (slightly) better than league average pitchers (by half a game or so). They don't look that way because they've had less than league average run support.

Well after the first week of spring training, the position players start reporting for spring training. And now that the position players are in Bradenton, the main focus of spring training is focused most of team chemistry. I will also go over anymore position battles that are arising.

The playoffs, whether fair or not, determine a lot in terms of historical value for both baseball fans and writers alike. Why should it not? It is obviously the most important games a player can play in, the nation is watching, and a great performance can turn any mediocre player like David Eckstein or Don Larsen into a folk hero.

It can't possibly be all bad.

Predictions for the Pirates in 2010 run from bleak (they might only lose 90 games) to abysmal (they probably will lose 120 games) to fanciful (they will win it all).

The truth, as is usually the case, likely lies somewhere in between (and around 75 wins).

As crazy as it sounds, its probably no longer a matter of if the Pirates will turn things around, but more a matter of when .

In a previous post, I addressed the issue of Pirates' injuries, how they held the team back, and the fact that the club's pitchers were particularly prone to this problem. Following stories about this in the local press, I'm going to develop this theme further.

Paul Maholm apparently had the flu last June, when he started against the Minnesota Twins, and gave up seven runs on 14 hits. This, along with a couple other bad outings when injured, halted the downward (good) progress in his ERA over the previous years, leaving him with a 2009 tally of 4.44.

I just got done reading a book about the 1960 World Series. You know, the one where Bill Mazeroski downed the evil Yankees with a home run in the bottom of the 9th of Game 7? Well, it got me thinking.

The Pirates are terrible, and it kinda sucks.

By any measure, the Pirates' Jason Bay was a superstar in 2006. But he injured his knee in 2007, and was never quite the same again.

In that year, his batting went downhill to "league average," and his crippled fielding pulled his overall usefulness down to that of a replacement player. Bay has since regained his star batting ability, but his continued weak fielding makes him worth perhaps $5 million less than he might have commanded were he a free agent in 2006.

There is no doubt in the minds of many baseball followers that although some teams lose in style, none can quite do it like the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Pirates have set a sports record for most consecutive losing seasons. Though I am an avid Pirates fan, I must admit I know when to say we stink.

It isn't all the players fault though. The management here was awful for a really long time. We've had awful players stroll through here such as Pokey Reese and Josh Fogg. The losses are blamed on our General Managers and anyone who was involved in signing and scouting our so called "players".

What's the potential of the Pirates in 2010?
Let's take a look in this preview around the bases.

All projected stats are based solely on myself. A stat you may not recognize is home run percentage. This equation is simple it's at bats divided by home runs hit. In doing calculations for 2010 previous years are taken into account along with the possibility of improvement.

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The Pittsburgh Pirates' Bobby Crosby made $5.3 million at shortstop this past year for the Oakland A's, but the Pirates have signed him for $1 million plus incentives. One of the reasons was that they let go of Jack Wilson last summer for two question marks, Ronny Cedeno and Jeff Clement.

And how much was Jack Wilson re-signed for by the Seattle Mariners? $10 million for two years, plus a $600,000 buyout of his $8.4 million club option for 2010, or an average of the same $5.3 million per year, for two years.