I've been a Pirates fan above all other teams in this town since I was probably 3 years old. During the last 23 or so years, I've seen a lot of winning, but a heck of a lot of losing. I've seen one of the greatest players of all time (Barry Bonds) and some of the worst (Brian Bixler). But with what has gone on the past 18 seasons, it's hard to be optimistic in March. This year, however, I'm really looking forward to this season. The Pirates may not win this division, heck they may not even break .500, but for the fans who have stuck this losing out through thick and thin, here is what we're optimistic about:
New Manager
Please raise your hand if you were a fan of John Russell as coach of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Well, I'm not raising my hand, and I really hope there isn't anyone silly enough to raise there hand both to that question and to someone asking them to on a blog. Now raise your hand if you're ready to run through a brick wall for Clint Hurdle. I've got to tell you, it's really akward typing this up with one hand on the keyboard and the other in the air, so I'm going to stop.
In Clint Hurlde's introductory news conference, he engaged the media and fans in ways that Russell could never dream of. It's hard not to root for the guy after that day, but he's been doing it every day since. I have no idea if Hurdle is going to win here because he's 534-625 (.457) in his career as a manager, but if he can motivate his players to win the way he's motivated a lot of fans, he could have some success here.
"This is eventually going to turn, there is not a doubt in my mind that this is eventually going to turn. I wanted to get on board now, because I believe this is the time it's going to start turning."
- Clint Hurdle
Full Year of (Insert Player)
I bring up Hurdle first because the manager is going to be the face of the franchise and he's going to take the heat when things don't go well, but it's up to the players to produce the wins and losses. This year's Opening Day lineup will be completely different.
2010
C - Doumit
1B - Clement
2B - Iwamura
SS - Cedeno
3B - LaRoche
RF - Jones
CF - McCutchen
LF - Milledge
Contrast that with this year's potential Opening Day lineup:
C- Snyder
1B - (Undecided) Jones/Pearce/Overbay/Bowker
2B - Walker
SS - Cedeno
3B - Alvarez
RF - (Undecided) Diaz/Jones/Pearce/Bowker
CF - McCutchen
LF - Tabata
Snyder is a defensive upgrade over Doumit, which the Pirates sorely needed. It remains to see if his bat will come around as his OPS was .566 with the Pirates after starting out .778 with the Diamondbacks. Walker was a Rookie of the Year candidate, while Iwamura is back in Japan. Cedeno REALLY wants to prove he's a starter this year, so...take that for what it's worth. Alvarez is the future of the franchise that Andy LaRoche never could be. Tabata had a higher AVG, OBP, and SLG and stole 14 more bases than Milledge in 11 less games.
This roster is an obvious upgrade to what the Pirates put on the field last year. They have young talent to groom for the next 5 or 6 years in Walker, Tabata, and Alvarez and a potential star in Andrew McCutchen. Couple that with a veteran leader at catcher in Chris Snyder and this team is going to give every team they play all they have.
The roster still has some obvious holes (Shortstop), but this is going to be a good, young, fun team to watch this year. They're going to take a lot of lumps, but they are done fighting to stay here and will grow as a team.
The McDonald Effect
The roster may be better than the 2010 Opening Day lineup, but this is almost the same team that went 21-38 after the trade deadline, including an abysmal 8-21 August. If the Pirates plan on winning this season, their pitching staff will need to lead the way.
One young player the Pirates will be leaning on is James McDonald. The Pirates stole him from Los Angeles and he rewarded them in his 11 starts with 64 innings, 3.52 ERA, 61 Ks, 2.54 K:BB ratio, 1.297 WHIP, and 5 quality starts. He struck out 6 or more in 7 of his 11 games.
If you looked at the Pirates rotation last year, they were missing a guy who could produce swings and misses. Paul Maholm was the only starting pitcher to strike out 100 or more batters. Of the starters that remain with the team, Ross Ohlendorf came in next with 72 Ks.
This could be a defining year for McDonald. He needs to prove that his time with the Pirates wasn't a fluke. If the Pirates are going to have success this season, James McDonald will need to stike batters out and hand the game over to his bullpen in good shape.
Last year, Charlie Morton was the team's "X factor". He didn't do so hot in his first 10 starts with a 9.35 ERA, 52 ER, and 16 walks in 43.1 innings, before spending a few months in Indy. Luckily he came back and closed out September and October with 6 solid starts, giving up 2 or less runs in 5 of them and striking out 18 batters in his final 3 starts. If McDonald comes out the same, then the Pirates season will be over by the end of April. Let's hope he continues what he started.
Pirates fans have every reason to be excited for this coming season. Just as Cardinals, Royals, Padres, and other fans do. I'm really excited to watch this young team progress and the new manager lead the way. The Pirates may still lose 90 games, but this is our team of the future. There's going to be speed bumps along the way, and I'm prepared for that, but win or lose, I'm going to enjoy watching these guys.
The Saddest Commercial Ever
13 years ago
