Pittsburgh Pirates

General manager Neal Huntington and the Pittsburgh Pirates have been busy this offseason, making small moves for players they hope will play to their maximum potential in 2015.  

There was a time when Gaby Sanchez was considered an offensive threat at the plate for opposing pitchers. 

That time was five seasons ago, as the young first baseman was coming off his second straight 19-home run season.  Between 2010-2011 as a member of the then-known-as Florida Marlins, Sanchez drove in 163 runs in 310 games.  

When the Pittsburgh Pirates were bounced from the playoffs in the 2014 National League Wild Card Game by the eventual World Series Champion San Francisco Giants, general manager Neal Huntington knew there would be a lot of work to do in the offseason.

The Pittsburgh Pirates reunited with a familiar friend Friday. Bill Brink of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that they signed starting pitcher A.J. Burnett to a one-year deal.  

Despite frequent insistence to the contrary, free-agent signings are almost always about the money. That's what it's all about, you know.

But not for A.J. Burnett. On Friday, he decided to be a very rare exception to the rule. And for good reasons, to boot.

Starting pitcher A.J. Burnett enjoyed two of his best seasons as a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates, and he will look to recapture that magic in 2015.

The Pirates announced the deal via Twitter:

Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com noted the money involved:

For the first time in more than two decades, the Pittsburgh Pirates have made headlines for seemingly all the right reasons, going from perennial losers to championship contenders after making the postseason in each of the last two seasons.  

Can we properly say that the Pirates truly have been a legitimate contender for a World Series title though?  

While all eyes will be on the marquee players like Andrew McCutchen, Buster Posey and Madison Bumgarner in Wednesday's National League Wild Card Game at PNC Park, there are a few players who may steal the spotlight and have huge games to help their team advance into the division series. 

One of them is Pittsburgh's Josh Harrison.

The Pittsburgh Pirates have one chance to get it right if they want to advance to the National League Division Series.

It is often said that in Major League Baseball, playoff spots cannot be won early on in the season, but they can certainly be lost.  

For the Pittsburgh Pirates, it looked as if that may have been the case early on.