Last season, the Pittsburgh Pirates went 62-99, turning in their 18th consecutive losing season and, in the process, establishing the longest stretch of futility in MLB history.
The ‘09 edition of the Pirates took a step backwards in order to start taking steps forward, and while I don’t expect MUCH in the way of improvement, I do expect SOME improvement as they begin the long road back towards respectability. The task of fielding a competitive team seems a superhuman effort that the Pirates aren’t yet ready to accomplish and may not be within their grasp for the foreseeable future.
But for the first time in recent memory, the Bucs actually added more productive pieces in the off-season than they subtracted—so there is at least some movement in the right direction.
Key Additions: Ryan Church, Bobby Crosby, Brendan Donnelly, Octavio Dotel, Akinori Iwamura, Javier Lopez
Key Subtractions: Matt Capps
Key Performer, 2010: Garrett Jones
Starting Rotation
The Pirates rotation has three decent arms and a couple of question marks. Southpaw Zach Duke (11-16, 4.06 ERA) occupies the spot at the top of the rotation. The all-star has seen his performance improve in each of the last three seasons, but his workload has become a concern to the front office which has vowed to manage his innings more aggressively this year in order to avoid a second straight second-half swoon. RHP Ross Ohlendorf is their No. 2 pitcher. In his first full season as a member of the starting rotation he went 11-10, 3.92, and offers promise for the future. LHP Paul Maholm (8-9, 4.44) is hoping to rebound after taking a sizeable step backwards in 2009. As is the case in Pittsburgh, any of these guys could be traded before the end of the season.
The back end of the rotation will consist of Charlie Morton (5-9, 4.55) and Kevin Hart (4-9, 5.44) who came over from Chicago in the Gorzelanny deal.
Bullpen
Gone is closer Matt Capps (5.80 ERA, 27 S in 54 IP), he has been replaced by Octavio Dotel, who was 3-3, 3.32 with the White Sox last year. The problem is that Dotel has not recorded more than 11 saves since 2004.
The Pirates had a bad bullpen last year, and while there has been a lot of turnover in their relief corps it is unclear whether this edition will be any better than the last. Big league castoffs D.J. Carrasco, Brendan Donnelly, and Joel Hanrahan have all found jobs with the Bucs and are hoping to re-establish themselves as viable major league pitchers. The odds are against them, and the club.
Lineup
CF Andrew McCutchen (.286, 12 HR, 54 RBI, 22 SB) and RF Garrett Jones (.293, 21 HR, 44 RBI in just half of a season) anchor a strong outfield. LF Lastings Milledge gets yet another chance to live up to the tremendous potential that remains untapped.
The infield has a chance to be decent, although it is more likely to be abysmal. Catcher Ryan Doumit hit .318, with 15 HR and 69 RBI in 116 games in 2008, but an injury curtailed his development in 2009 (he hit .250 in 75 games). Around the infield, the club expects former Seattle catching prospect Jeff Clement to win the job at first base. He showed great power potential in the HR-happy PCL but was of little use in the big leagues. Andy LaRoche (.258/12/64) will start the year on the other side of the diamond, but many pundits anticipate that blue-chip prospect Pedro Alvarez to be handed the job on something resembling a permanent basis sometime during the second half of the year. Former Tampa Bay infielder Akinori Iwamura (.281 career avg) has been brought in to handle responsibilities at second base. Ronny Cedeno and Bobby Crosby will battle it out at shortstop.
Outlook
Once again, it’s going to be a l-o-n-g summer at PNC Park. In my mind, the question isn’t IF they’ll finish in the basement again, but how close they’ll get to overtaking Houston in an effort to escape baseball purgatory.
SOX1Forecast: 67-95, 6th place
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Pittsburgh Pirates — Top Five Prospects
1. 3B Pedro Alvarez
2. OF Jose Tabata
3. INF Chase D’Arnaud
4. RHP Tim Alderson
5. C Tony Sanchez
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