In the "If I knew yesterday what I know today..." category, I wish I had done the Pirates edition of this series yesterday on International Talk Like a Pirate Day instead of the Twins. Moving on...
Since Barry Bonds left to play for the Giants following the 1992 season, the Pirates have had 15 consecutive losing seasons. With a new president in place and a new GM on the way, Pirates' fans just might have a reason to get excited. We'll see how the new leaders impact the games on the field.
The Good
After many years of hearing about the Pirates' young pitching prospects, they are finally starting to see some results. With Tom Gorzelanny and Ian Snell taking their places at the front of the rotation, the Pirates are starting to have something that resembles a major league rotation. They are supported by the makings of a pretty good bullpen led by Matt Capps. In his first season as the closer, Capps has delivered with a 2.10 ERA over 76 innings.
The Bad
After a couple of seasons carrying the Pirate offense, Jason Bay has failed to produce this season. After a .306/.402/.559 2005 and a .286/.396/.532 2006, Bay has only hit .251/.331/.425 in 2007. In addition, the Pirates have not allowed Andrew McCutchen to dominate in a league before moving him up. He started this year at AA and made a brief appearance at AAA, combing for a .265/.329/.388 line. The scouts haven't given up on him, but he hasn't been given a chance to see if the on-the-field results will match up with the scouting reports. To make matters worse, Dave Littlefield (in his last trade) traded Rajai Davis and Stephen McFarland to the Giants for Matt Morris. I'm not going to argue that they gave up too much for him, but should you have to give up anything for a below-league average pitchers that's making $9.5M this year and next year? Unless Morris is a great teacher, the Pirates have no need for him on their squad. Since his acquisition, Morris has been able to post a 6.18 ERA over 51 innings. Is that what you want to teach your youngsters?
Looking Forward
Given how little Littlefield has done for the organization, the new president and GM have quite a bit of work before they become year-to-year contenders. They should not be major players in the free agent market and if Bay starts out the season well, they might want to find takers as he turned 29 today (happy birthday, Jason) and will be a free agent following the 2009 season.
As a dedicated Pirates fan for years, this season has been harder to watch then some in the past. The play on the field has been simply atrocius at times, from all levels. It didn't help that offense finally starting clicking in August. Nor did their 4-16 stretch in the first 20 coming out of the break help them. Gorzo has been great, but Snell has really tanked in the second half. Duke continued a free fall since last year whent he pitching staff needlessly tinkered with his throwing motion, and now he seems lost on the mound. Good news though, McClathy is gone, Littlefield is gone, and Tracy should be gone with them. Sorry Jim, you have done abosolutley nothing to prove you can manage this club, plus the fact that the entire clubhouse either doesn't like him or down right hates him. The Pirates have some pieces in place, but still a ton of holes, but we will be looking to start anew next year.
This is baseball. Let's have some fun.
Recommended Websites:
MLB Trade Rumors, Baseball Prospectus, Cot's Baseball Contracts, Fan Graphs, Football Outsiders
