Pittsburgh Pirates: Is This Finally The Year?

Hello,

With the Dodgers not playing a game yesterday, I won't be writing a Dodgers Daily today. I feel sort of  like a free agent. Although I love the Dodgers, I also follow the Red Sox, Orioles, Braves, Cubs and the Pirates.

When I write "is this finally the year", I don't mean is this the year they finally win the World Series?  Although that would be incredibly awesome, but it's not a realistic hope. One meaning is this the year the Pirates will finally finish above .500? A second meaning is this the year the Pirates will make the playoffs? It's been 20 years since the Pirates accomplished either feat. At this point the Pirates should just be glad to finish above .500.

I hope the Pirates break their trend of the last year couple of years. Two years ago they started off fairly well, only to fade terribly down the stretch. Last season they started out fairly well and were hitting new heights for the last 19 years. They were hitting new 19 year heights in stats such as number of games above .500. Their stretch of well played baseball lasted longer than the previous season. But once again they faded terribly down the stretch. Last August Pittsburgh played a brutally long extra inning game, I believe it was 19 innings. The Pirates never seemed to be the same after that, that game seemed to break their back and season. They won the game but lost the season. At one point I thought the Pirates would at least finish above .500 but then they faded away. It was yet another year of futility.

However the Pirates didn't panic and make a bunch of stupid moves. Of course part of that is they don't have the amount of money that other teams have. In order to get better Pittsburgh has to develop their own players and find bargains in free agency and trades. It's a process that usually doesn't go fast. Slowly but surely they seem to be building a winning culture. Part of that is signing their own young players when they are relative bargains. For instance, they've locked up Andrew McCutchen for a few years. He was 3 for 4 Thursday night, is hitting .291. He also has 6 home runs and 25 RBIs. I also expect Starling Marte to start getting some Rookie Of The Year publicity soon too. He was 2 for 3 last night and is hitting .310 on the season. He also has 5 home runs and 17 RBIs. I could see him and McCutchen forming a solid Pirates nucleus for the next several years.

Like the previous year the Pirates picked up a player from the Yankees scrap heap. After trading for A.J. Burnett a year ago, this past off season the Pirates signed Russell Martin to a three year contract. Burnett was surprisingly successful last season, although he has struggled a bit this season. Whereas Martin, who'll never regain his All-Star form, has been serviceable. It's hard to believe he's only 30, it seems like he has been around for a much longer time. Martin is only hitting .262, but he's added some pop to the Pirates lineup. He has 6 home runs and 12 RBIs.

Going into Friday's 3 game series in Milwaukee, the Pirates are 29-18. They've won 4 games in a row and 11 of 13. They're tied for second place in the NL Central with the Reds. St. Louis leads both teams by 1.5 games in that top heavy division. ESPN shows a 46.3% chance of the Pirates making the playoffs this year.

I expect the Pirates to win 2 of 3 games against the Brewers. Remember the low scoring Dodgers just went into Milwaukee and took 2 of 3 from the Brewers. After that the Pirates go to Detroit for a 4 game series with the Tigers and the man Miguel Cabrera. If a team actually pays a player $21,000,000 they should be getting the level of performance the Tigers are getting from Cabrera. (In comparison LA is paying 4 players over $20,000,000 this season and are getting nowhere near the production of Cabrera. Adrian Gonzalez, Matt Kemp, "Rocky" Greinke and Carl Crawford you all have some work to do. Imagine how good the Dodgers would be if those 4 players were playing closer to the level of Cabrera. Not to mention they are paying Josh Beckett $17,000,000 and getting virtually nothing out of him.)

Cabrera is absolutely amazing again this season as he's trying to win his second straight triple crown. Cabrera has 55 RBIs, which is 11 more than second place Chris Davis. Cabrera has 14 home runs, he's tied for second place with the Braves' Justin Upton. Both players trail Davis by 1 home run. Batting average: Cabrera is in some rarefied air, as he's hitting .391 this season. He leads second place Joey Votto, who's "only" hitting .358. Chris Davis is in 14th place as he's hitting .327.

Deservedly so Cabrera's name is in the Triple Crown talk, but why haven't I heard Chris Davis' name even once?

themusicaddict