2013 Pirates - Year of the What If's

The 2013 Pittsburgh Pirates could be successful this year...or not. That's my prediction and I'm sticking to it.

Kidding aside, the Pirates have a realistic shot at making the playoff's if more of their "What if's" are successful than not. Regardless, the team will be beginning the season with the most polished starting pitching staff they've had in a very long time.

Let's take a look at some of the "What if's" in the starting rotation.

What if AJ Burnett can repeat last year's success?

What if Wandy Rodriguez can pitch like the Wandy we grew to hate over the course of his career in Houston?

What if Francisco Liriano can stay healthy and the switch to the NL has the AJ Burnett effect for him?

What if James McDonald returns to form and regains confidence???

You get the idea. The starting rotation could has the potential to be above average this year. There is less certainty, however, for the position players. The position players, for the most part, are young players with a wealth of upside.

Pedro Alvarez - What if Pedro can reduce his number of strikeouts, become less streaky, and improve his batting average a little bit? He would quickly become on of the best 3rd basemen in the NL.

Clint Barmes - What if Clint woke up and was 27 and in his prime again? Nevermind...Forget I brought up Barmes.

Neil Walker - What if Neil returns at full strength from his nagging back injury and picks up where he left off? Neil is already a top 10 MLB 2B and is said to be in terrific shape.

Garrett Jones - What if Garrett Jones can repeat the career year he had last season?

Starling Marte - What if Marte plays to his potential and becomes one of the most exciting and dynamic young players in baseball?

Andrew McCutchen - What if Cutch can build on last year's success and post even better numbers?

Travis Snider - What if Snider can play to his first round draft pick potentiail and be a staple in right field?

Russell Martin - Russell Martin began his career in the NL and played 5 seasons for the Dodgers. Martin's 5 year batting average in the NL was .272. In 2 seasons in the AL with the Yankees, Martin's batting average dipped to .224. What if the switch back to the NL makes Martin more productive at the plate?

When you look through the list of Pirates starters, there are certainly more questions than answers. However, the club is just a few answers away from shocking the baseball community with a broken 20 year losing streak...and maybe even a shot at the playoffs.

PED's Make Pro Sports More Exciting

Performing enhancing drugs (PED's) have been a large part of our current era of professional sports. We've witnessed the careers of many of our heroes be ruined because of their association with PED's. The guys that seemed to be super-human may have had some help. Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Sammy Sosa, Mark McGuire, Jose Canseco, Lance Armstrong, etc. etc. etc. The list could go on forever, but the point I'm making is that this is the reality of professional sports.

I'm sure many players have played by the rules. However, playing by the rules doesn't always create great entertainment for the fans. I remember watching Mark McGuire hit his 70-something home run against the Pirates. I was there. The ball landed a few rows away from me. At the time, he was in a home run slug fest with Sammy Sosa and it was one of the most exhilarating things I've ever witnessed as a baseball fan.

Barry Bonds was amidst a hall of fame career during this time and his great play was overshadowed by the PED-using sluggers. Bonds decided to join the party. Bonds was so exciting to watch post-PED that I would stop to watch his at bats if a game were on TV. I couldn't get enough of it.

Imagine if the NFL truly begins to cut down on PED's. I'm sure they have to an extent, but most human bodies aren't capable of reaching the plateau achieved by many of these players. When the speed, size, and strength are diminished - the game becomes less exciting.


I'm sure my point of view isn't popular, but I would argue that PED's improved professional sports. The days of watching 500+ ft home runs is over and has been replaced with 1-0 pitchers duels.

Call it cheating...call it what you want. Just know that you will likely never see a one-testicled man win 7 Tour de France's again in your lifetime.

Back at it

So, I've stopped and started this blog more often than a NASCAR race...not that I would know because I really don't watch NASCAR.

I began contributing to the short-lived Pittsburgh-Pierogi.com with Pittsburgh sports satire articles and the itch to begin blogging again returned. So here we go...

I pulled up the blog just to read some old posts. In of the posts, I made predictions on the Pirates and Steelers. Unfortunately, it seems that fortune telling might not be in my future. For example, I predicted that 2012 would be the year the Pirates would break the losing streak. I was close, but no cigar. I claimed that Josh Bell was the steal of the draft. Could be, but his injury shortened season prevented us from knowing. Then, in other posts, I basically re-reported sports information. That's pretty boring, so I wont be doing that anymore.

Maybe my most accomplished post contained exclusive pictures of Jeff Reed partying on the night he was arrested for beating the snot out of a Sheetz paper towel dispenser. That post made me relevant - based on the 5 or 6 comments it received. Well, maybe not relevant, but at least somebody read the post. From this point on, I would prefer to make bold predictions, outlandish statements, and opinions. Who knows, at some point I have to predict something that comes to fruition...even if by luck and I will look like a pretty smart dude when I say "Told you so"...

2012 is the Year of the Bucs

19 consecutive losing seasons...One of the worst records to claim ownership of in professional sports. As a fan, it's been a long and grueling process to endure such a horrendous streak. However, all of that is about to change. The new management group has effectively changed the culture of the organization and is executing a viable rebuilding process. The Pirates have outspent the rest of MLB over the last 3 drafts and the strong prospect list is something foreign to the organization.


It wasn't long ago that Daniel Moskos was drafted to give the Pirates "hope" to build around (LOLittlefield). Here we are a few years later and we are now counting on Jameson Taillon, Garrett Cole, Luis Heredia, etc. etc. etc. The Pirates are building a deep and talented farm system that will hopefully be providing big league talent in the near future.

But enough of the future...Let's take a look at 2012. The Pirates have lost key players such as Paul Maholm, Ryan Doumit, Jose Veras, and Ronny Cedeno (In that order of importance). However, those players have been replaced by the likes of Rod Barajas, Clint Barmes, Erik Bedard, and Nate McClouth. The Pirates young, inexperienced core is no long inexperienced. Neil Walker, Andrew McCutchen, Pedro Alvarez, and Jose Tabata could all have productive seasons and provide the offensive and defensive stability the club needs to continue moving in the right direction.

The pitching staff received a shot in the arm with the addition of Bedard. The organization hopes James McDonald, Charlie Morton, Jeff Karstens, Kevin Correia / Brad Lincoln can all build off of last season and contribute this season.

I hope that the Pirates are willing to make at least one more move that will help the club compete in 2012. For example, what if the Pirates (who have 9 or 10 mil available to spend) would reach out to ---Roy Oswalt? He would be the staff ace and would complement the rotation perfectly and buy time until our future aces are ready for the bigs.

Clint Hurdle is making his mark on this club and I like the direction they are going. This is the year that the Pirates finally have a winning season. I believe they will have 85 - 86 wins, but it won't be good enough to win the division or make the playoffs. They will likely finish 3rd in the NL Central, but that would be a huge improvement over the last......19 years. The 2012 season will turn the organization around and give the city of Pittsburgh optimism for 2013 and beyond.

Josh Bell - Steal of the draft?

Keith Law stated before the draft the Josh Bell, the 6'3, 200lb slugger committed to the University of Texas, was a top 15 talent and was virtually unsignable. Supposedly, the Red Sox had great interest in taking him in the first round, but the letter Bell sent to MLB teams prior to the draft requesting that they did not draft him because of his college committment was enough to scare off all major league teams in the first round. Law also stated that if a cool 6.5 mil and a chance to play for the world champion Red Sox couldn't persuade Bell to enter the draft, then nothing would...

So, the progressive, high rolling Pittsburgh Pirates decided to roll the dice on Bell with the 1st pick of the 2nd round....and they were successful on signing bell to a 5 million dollar deal. Although the deal wasn't completed until a few minutes before the signing deadline, the Pirates were victorious in securing two highly touted draft prospects (Gerrit Cole and Josh Bell).

At Texas Prep, Bell was an advanced switch hitter that offers tremendous power. He started switch hitting at the age of 5 and hits equally as well from both sides of the plate. In Bell's senior season at Texas Prep, he hit .584 with 13 HR's, 50 RBI, and 16 stolen bases. Bell projects to be a middle of the lineup type of hitter that will likely play either left or right field.

Athough Gerrit Cole stole the show as the first pick of the draft, Bell might have a greater upside as an every day contributor to the offense. Kudos to Bob Nutting and the Pirates organization for putting together a financially record setting draft and following the sustainability plan they discussed early on. Bell might be more of a "sure thing" than anyone else the organization drafted this year. Pirates fans have a reason to be excited for several years to come.