* Tyler Hissey and I are doing division-by-division breakdowns on BlogTalkRadio.com. To complement the radio show, we will be putting what we cover in writing for you as well. Check out the NL Central and NL West podcasts here. The NL East is next up Monday, 12/29 @ 1 PM EST.

Pittsburgh Pirates

Record: 67-95

Division Rank: 6th

Offense

Runs: 735

Runs Per Game: 4.5

OPS+: 99

Run Prevention:

Runs Allowed: 884

Runs Allowed Per Game: 5.5

ERA+: 81

Recap:

It is a shame that one of the most beautiful ballparks in baseball can't fill itself because the franchise has had seventeen straight losing seasons and counting. PNC Park and the sympathizing fans of Pittsburgh deserve a winner - they haven't seen a World Series since Willie Stargell and haven't been relevant since Jim Leyland and the beginning of the '90s - and I will not stop writing about them until they have one. 

Offense:

The Pirates, surprisingly, ranked ninth in the National League in runs scored in 2008, and that's probably only because they had Jason Bay and Xavier Nady for the first half of the season. There are just no impact bats on this roster and the big league club has to rely on too many young hitters to complement a few average big league hitters.

The biggest name in Pittsburgh last year was Nate McLouth, and the center fielder hit .276/.356/.497 to go along with 26 home runs. McLouth is an exciting young player who takes more nosedives into the outfield turf than a cheap toy helicopter, but he isn't a guy that can carry an offense or be the premier hitter. McLouth is a topping on frozen yogurt, not the actual soft-served goodness. He will be most productive with a couple sluggers around him.

Adam LaRoche held down first base for the Pirates and provided some pop from the left side, hitting .270/.341/.500 with 25 home runs. LaRoche would be a solid hitter in the six-hole, but the fact that the Pirates ask him to be one of the main run producers in the thick of the order tells the story with this club. Catcher Ryan Doumit appears to be a promising young player. Doumit hit 15 homers and posted a .357 OBP in 431 at-bats, very respectable numbers from the catcher position.

Jack Wilson and Freddy Sanchez both turned one solid season into undue hype, and they are overrated players up the middle. Sanchez hit .344 with a .378 OBP in 2006 before taking substantial steps backwards in the last two seasons. Wilson has never posted a OBP higher than .350, which he did in 2007, and since he doesn't hit for any power, he brings no real value to the lineup. There are some accessories to play with in Pittsburgh's lineup, but GM Neal Huntington has to figure out the problems underneath the hood before this bus moves anywhere.

Run Prevention:

Any good team runs on pitching, and the Pirates need to stockpile impact arms. There are a number of pitchers currently on the roster who can contribute, but the Pirates don't have one arm that profiles better than a No. 3 starter on a contending team, and that's the biggest fault here. Paul Maholm was Pittsburgh's best starter in 2008. Maholm went 9-9 with a 3.71 ERA in 206 1/3 innings, and the southpaw allowed less than one hit per inning. Maholm's appropriate spot is at the back end of a rotation.

Zach Duke and Tom Gorzelanny are two names that have gotten a lot of play around Pittsburgh recently, but that's more because they are both 25-year-old left-handers with some upside; neither one of them has fulfilled any expectations yet. Duke made 31 starts in 2008, going 5-14 with a 4.82 ERA over 185 innings. He will be asked to help headline the rotation in 2009, but he is not ready for that responsibility, let alone the fact that he should be in the middle of the rotation to begin with.

Gorzelanny was limited to only 21 starts last season due to a midseason demotion to the minor leagues and a sprained ligament in the middle finger on his throwing hand that ended his season in September and deprived him of another start or two. Gorzelanny went 6-9 with a 6.66 ERA and severely disappointed after a strong 2007 season. Gorzelanny probably has the most talent and upside of any starter out of this bunch, but even he is not the bona fide No. 1 that the Pirates make him out to be. Gorzelanny's season was doomed for underachievement when he reported to spring training out of shape and unprepared mentally for the responsibility that comes with anchoring a staff. But he's young and, to his credit, has been determined to learn from this experience, starting with a commitment to a more rigorous off-season training program.

Ian Snell will be in the mix of pitchers competing for starting jobs come spring training. Snell made 31 starts, pitching 164 1/3 innings while posting a 5.42 ERA. Snell has good stuff but he needs to dramatically decrease his walk totals - he averaged approximately one walk per 1.8 innings - and find a way to average more than 5 1/3 innings per start. The former will directly improve the latter.

The bullpen was, as expected, patched together from an assortment of unproven arms. Matt Capps, 24 years old, is being groomed as the closer, and he had 21 saves to go along with a 3.02 ERA in 49 appearances. Lefty John Grabow was the most valuable reliever in the pen last year, making 74 appearances and posting a 2.84 ERA over 76 innings. Tyler Yates ate up 73 1/3 innings and Damaso Marte provided a power arm from the left side before being included in the trade that sent Xavier Nady to the New York Yankees.

Looking Ahead:

We are not going to sugarcoat things here; the current situation is bleak in Pittsburgh. Andy LaRoche and Brandon Moss, two young players acquired in the Jason Bay-Manny Ramirez, three team blockbuster, should step into the everyday lineup next season and could become solid major league players, but they need time. Jeff Karstens almost threw a perfect game against the Arizona Diamondbacks after coming over from the Yankees, and he should find a spot in the starting rotation.

The Pirates are not going to contend in 2009, and they probably won't contend for a couple years after that, either. This organization is a perfect model for the club that needs to pour its resources into the draft and sign top amateur talent, as they will continue to have premium draft picks for a couple more seasons. The Pirates cannot miss on their top picks like they have in years past.

There is a new regime in town, headed by Huntington, so we will have to wait and see how they approach the renovation of this franchise. A sure-fire way to continue their path towards the bottom of the Allegheny river, the beauty that runs directly behind the ballpark, is to attack the draft with the same approach as the old management group, the one who made it a ritual of passing on top talent due to bonus demands.

The Pirates selected pitcher Daniel Moskos with the fourth overall pick in the 2007 draft when talents like Matt Wieters and Matt LaPorta were still on the board. Moskos' ceiling may be as a late-inning reliever, while Wieters is the top prospect in all of baseball and will be behind the plate for the Baltimore Orioles on Opening Day 2009; many scouts have described Wieters as "Joe Mauer with power." No disrespect to Moskos, but who would have been the better fit in Pittsburgh?

Huntington needs to take the best talent on the board and sign him, regardless of the money. They began to do that in the 2008 draft by taking third baseman Pedro Alvarez from Vanderbilt, the type of hitter who will bring fans back out to PNC Park when he arrives. The Tampa Bay Rays were in a similar position a few years ago and they just started drafting huge impact arms. As many as possible. Now they have more royalties than they know what to do with. If the Pirates follow this same approach and get their system to overflow with top talent, they will be making some noise in a few short years. Until then, a lot of lonely seats will remain.

You can reach Teddy Mitrosilis @tm4000@yahoo.com

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