The Pittsburgh Pirates will basically be bringing back the entire 2007 group to the 2008 season. The problem is that if something is broke you should fix it, and nothing was fixed from the 68-94 disaster that came about in Pittsburgh last season. They at least had a change in manager, with Jim Tracy's time being up, and John Russell taking over. Unfortunately for Russell, he doesn't have a whole lot to work with.
Lineup: Jason Bay is very good, but he is not Superman. The cast that he has around him is decent, but in no way can help. Xaiver Nady, who would be a very useful third outfielder to any maybe any other team, has the burden of being a key 3, 4 or 5 hitter for this team. Adam LaRouche is another decent chip, but again, tough to be dependent on him as a significant bat. Then of course at the top you have Jack Wilson and Freddy Sanchez, both just average offense players. Ronny Paulino is the catcher, la-de-dah, and let's be serious, Jose Bautista and Nate McLouth are role players, not starters. Other than Bay, this is an offense filled with 6, 7 and 8 hitters, and unfortunately they have to fill out every spot but 3 or 4 (pending where Russell decides to throw Bay). I don't wanna say the worst offense in baseball, but I can guarantee you it will be close to the worst this year.
Bench: Considering I just mentioned two of their starters as guys who should come off the bench, the bench has a very bleak outlook. Chris Duffy is probably the only lock for the bench, assuming the role of backup outfielder, and that's what he is. Ryan Doumit can also be considered a lock for the bench, but after that a lot of it will be rounded out from their spring training. Unfortunately they didn't sign more free-agent role players to maybe compete for the starting jobs, since there's nothing positive coming from that end.
Starters: Matt Morris, Tom Gorzelanny, Ian Snell, Pat Maholm and Zach Duke will look to compete with the likes of Pedro and Santana or Haren and Webb in the NL this year. It's not happening, not even at a slightly competitive level. As I said the lineup is filled with 6, 7 and 8 hitters, this rotation is filled with No. 4 and 5 starters. Morris can be the exception, because he's had a good amount of success before. His days are behind him however, and if he can turn to smarts than maybe he can succeed again. Will be hard to do with this team. The rest of the guys are young, and it's hard to develop on this team. This will be a W-E-A-K rotation.
Bullpen: Matt Capps is the closer, he's not bad. They also have two lefties in Damaso Marte and John Grabow. The rest will be rounded out by whoever they want to look at this spring. Oddly enough this bullpen has succeeded in the past years with a constant changing cycle of "who's who" coming out of there. While it's not quite set in stone, this will probably be the most reliable piece to the Pirates season.
They're going no where folks; definitely not up because they don't have the talent to do so, and definitely not down because they just can't go to seventh place of the NL Central - there's only six teams
2008 Outlook: Painfully awful. Bleak. Depressing
Tune into Matt and Joe Radio on Sunday February 17 at 7pm for a full NL Central preview.
Lineup: Jason Bay is very good, but he is not Superman. The cast that he has around him is decent, but in no way can help. Xaiver Nady, who would be a very useful third outfielder to any maybe any other team, has the burden of being a key 3, 4 or 5 hitter for this team. Adam LaRouche is another decent chip, but again, tough to be dependent on him as a significant bat. Then of course at the top you have Jack Wilson and Freddy Sanchez, both just average offense players. Ronny Paulino is the catcher, la-de-dah, and let's be serious, Jose Bautista and Nate McLouth are role players, not starters. Other than Bay, this is an offense filled with 6, 7 and 8 hitters, and unfortunately they have to fill out every spot but 3 or 4 (pending where Russell decides to throw Bay). I don't wanna say the worst offense in baseball, but I can guarantee you it will be close to the worst this year.
Bench: Considering I just mentioned two of their starters as guys who should come off the bench, the bench has a very bleak outlook. Chris Duffy is probably the only lock for the bench, assuming the role of backup outfielder, and that's what he is. Ryan Doumit can also be considered a lock for the bench, but after that a lot of it will be rounded out from their spring training. Unfortunately they didn't sign more free-agent role players to maybe compete for the starting jobs, since there's nothing positive coming from that end.
Starters: Matt Morris, Tom Gorzelanny, Ian Snell, Pat Maholm and Zach Duke will look to compete with the likes of Pedro and Santana or Haren and Webb in the NL this year. It's not happening, not even at a slightly competitive level. As I said the lineup is filled with 6, 7 and 8 hitters, this rotation is filled with No. 4 and 5 starters. Morris can be the exception, because he's had a good amount of success before. His days are behind him however, and if he can turn to smarts than maybe he can succeed again. Will be hard to do with this team. The rest of the guys are young, and it's hard to develop on this team. This will be a W-E-A-K rotation.
Bullpen: Matt Capps is the closer, he's not bad. They also have two lefties in Damaso Marte and John Grabow. The rest will be rounded out by whoever they want to look at this spring. Oddly enough this bullpen has succeeded in the past years with a constant changing cycle of "who's who" coming out of there. While it's not quite set in stone, this will probably be the most reliable piece to the Pirates season.
They're going no where folks; definitely not up because they don't have the talent to do so, and definitely not down because they just can't go to seventh place of the NL Central - there's only six teams
2008 Outlook: Painfully awful. Bleak. Depressing
Tune into Matt and Joe Radio on Sunday February 17 at 7pm for a full NL Central preview.
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