The starting lineup has basically been announced, and will fall out like this: Chris Duffy, CF Jack Wilson, SS Sean Casey, 1B Jason Bay, LF Jeromy Burnitz, RF Joe Randa, 3B Jose Castillo, 2B Humberto Cota, C The starting rotation is set as (may not be in the proper order): Oliver Perez, L Zach Duke, L Paul Maholm, L Ian Snell, R Victor Santos, R Bench players include: Ryan Doumit, C Jose Hernandez, IF Freddy Sanchez, IF (3B) Nate McLouth, OF Craig Wilson, OF Relievers are: Matt Capps, R Mike Gonzalez, L (closer) John Grabow, L Roberto Hernandez, R Damaso Marte, L Salomon Torres, R Ryan Voglesong, R Key injuries: Kip Wells, R (starting pitcher) OK, so the upside of the Pirates is their young but talented starting pitching, and their blend of youth and veteran leadership in the bullpen. The Pirates are going to live and die by the performance of their pitching staff; if they struggle, the Pirates will as well. They have a nice blend of power and precision on that staff - Perez and Snell can zap it past you, while Maholm and Duke will play on the corners. They're all young, and they all have talent. The coaches have spent spring training working very hard with them, especially on mechanics and maintaining their physical posture from pitch to pitch. It sounds silly, but for young pitchers, its critical - they get get out of their throwing slot easily if they are getting hit hard or are just having a bad day. So the work that the coaches have done - and have to continue to do through this season - will be focused on maintaining their physical approach to pitching. The actual pitching will have to follow. But it stands to reason that with their talents, if the pitchers can maintain what the coaches want them to do, they will be by and large more successful. The Pirates have two giant problems. First, their overall youth in the pitching staff means that they will likely be inconsistent during the year. That in turns puts pressure on their offense to perform. Although the offense does seem to be upgraded over past years, make no mistake - this is not an offense that can carry a team through a long stretch of pitching problems. They have a speedy leadoff man with some base-stealing ability. But, Chris Duffy is young like the rest of the team. He will have his ups and downs. Jack Wilson is a truly professional hitter - you can reasonably expect a .300 or higher average from him. Their 3-4-5 hitters are all capable of powering the ball out of the park, have been (in Jason Bay's case, thus far) consistent professional hitters and decent RBI men. Casey and Burnitz could be on the downside of their careers, but even so they are upgrades over previous starters. Joe Randa is another professional hitter - expect about a .280 average out of him. Castillo and Cota are question marks offensively. What they have is intriguing and capable of producing runs. Whether or not they can do that on a regular basis, however, is not yet known. Its thought they can. But its not known. Defensively, the Pirates believe they have their best unit on the field that they've had in a long, long time. At the corners, Randa is a solid third baseman - not the best range or glove - but not error-prone, either. He is very consistent, and will get the job done. Sean Casey is an above-average defender, and should protect the rest of the infield. Up the middle, their SS/2B combination might be mentioned by the end of the year as one of the best in the league. They were 2nd in the NL turning double-plays last year, and there are several ground-ball pitchers on this staff. Expect them to do the same. Wilson has above-average range, and Castillo has some serious moves. In the outfield, Jason Bay is very solid, and Chris Duffy has the speed to range at center. Burnitz is another professional defender - not great, but not a liability either. Humberto Cota is solid behind the plate - the reason he's starting over the younger and more powerful Ryan Doumit. Overall, I'd say the range of victories for the Pirates goes from about 72 to perhaps 85 or so. I'd bet they end with 78 to 80 wins - not quite .500, but not all that bad of a year, either. It would be a big accomplishment if they did finish over .500 - their division is still stocked with teams better than they are, and even the bottom half of the division is stronger than in past years. If they were in a weaker division, it would be easier to project wins from 80 to 88 or so. The only way they'll hit .500 this year is if they can play St. Louis, Chicago and Houston to near .500, and try and steal a few from the Reds and Brewers. That will be hard to do - St. Louis in particular has eaten the Pirates for lunch over the past few years. The same is true of Houston, and Chicago has also had success against them. Overall, however, the foundation for success is in place. The Pirates farm system has some solid major-league talent working in it. The major league team doesn't have any glaring, horrible weaknesses like they have had in the recent past. Instead, they have some players that are in the middle to slightly below average in all key positions. They have 2 legit high-profile young players in Bay and Wilson. They have 3 solid professional veterans in Casey, Randa and Burnitz. They have some good leather all around. They have the young arms that just might be the next "Big 3" in the majors. So the potential is there. It is - for the first time in at least 8 or 9 (or perhaps 13) years, the Pirates have talent on the field that isn't minor-league level. If there's a "bugaboo" that could carry over from past years, its that the Pirates have had a tendency to play solid ball for 4 months or so - flirting at .500 for the majority of those months. But in 2 months, they totally go into the tank. That cannot happen - they don't have the firepower to reel off a 10-game winning streak to offset a bad month. They have to play .500 nearly every month to have a shot at it by season's end. I wish they were ready to contend for a playoff spot. Since baseball is trending towards parity, I suppose that the most optimistic among us could believe in that. But since the planets would have to be aligned, the injury bug decimate their in-division opponents and everything else happen perfectly, I just don't see it. They could be a problem "out" later in the year, but that's small consolation. What I want to see is this young team play hungry all year. I want to see the pitchers grow more consistent as the year goes on. I want to see key player development continue. If that happens...then the Pirates are a team of the future. A step backwards now is also possible - I just hope like hell it doesn't happen. Again.