Right at this very moment, the Pittsburgh Pirates are 3-1, and that really shouldn't make anyone go out and buy playoff tickets, but that doesn't mean we can't be a little bit excited, right?
On his blog this morning, Bob Smizik pointed out that decent starts for the Pirates have been fairly common in recent years and that we shouldn't read too much into this modest 3-1 start to the season.
It is true that the team has given us some false hope at the beginning of recent seasons, but those teams were made up of players that weren't expected to be with the team for the long-haul. Players like Jack Wilson, Freddy Sanchez, and Jason Bay were all targeted as key pieces to be used in Neal Huntington's plan to replenish a barren farm system.
The roster of the Pittsburgh Pirates changed considerably from April to September in each of the last three seasons and with that kind if instability, a significant drop-off in performance by season's end has to be expected.
However, this year could be a different story because there really shouldn't be any wholesale changes to the roster. Over the past two seasons, Andrew Mccutchen, Jose Tabata, Neil Walker, and Pedro Alvarez have been added to the big league roster and are making contributions on a daily-basis.
These are four guys with great upside if there's ever a season in-which we should see improvement from beginning to end, it's 2011. I'm not saying the Pittsburgh Pirates will compete for a division title, but I'd be shocked if this team didn't improve by at least a dozen games this season.
Call me crazy, but I think they have some bona fide Major Leaguers on this roster and this could be the year Pirates fans finally have reason to believe.
No comments:
Post a Comment