The Baseball Thread

I personally think Duffy and Paulino are going to be the downfall (and the bullpen) ... My prediction: I see them getting quality stuff from their starters most nights, Duffy will be on the bench by the end of the year, Jack Wilson will do an adequte job in the two hole as well as shining in the field, Sanchez won't challenge for the batting title but will collect a lot of hits and bat over .300 while playing second base, Laroche will take advantage of being a lefty at PNC and have similar numbers to last season in a more prominant role in a weaker lineup, Bay will do what he always does (30/100), Nady will bat about .260 with 15 HR and drive in a few runs and play ok in the outfield, Castillo and Bautista will share time at third, whoever is hot will play, neither will light it up but the two will combine to put up better numbers than the buccos got from the position last season, and paulino will bat .220 but do a good job managing the staff ... bullpen will blow a few saves but won't be enough to sink the season, it will just be encouraging that the team will actually have a couple late leads to blow anyway ... Record 83-79 (keeping my fingers crossed)

 

Agreed. He had a couple of monster seasons, but otherwise he's a very similar player to McGriff.

 

I can go to every Pirates spring home game; I might make it to one.

 

Around 75-80 wins seems reasonable for this group.

Even with LaRoche, the offense still sucks.

Duffy strikes out WAY too much for a leadoff guy; Jack Wilson is a black hole in the No. 2 spot. Dude should be hitting eighth. Nady, Paulino and the Castillo/Bautista winner are all question marks. At best, they'll get league average production where Sanchez doesn't play, RF and CF. And anytime Humberto Cota and Pat Kelly are vying for roster space, your bench ain't much better.

I think the starting pitching is pretty solid, despite the lack of a frontline-type guy. The bullpen -- if Torres comes close to his post-AS numbers -- could be the NL's best. Then again, I can't see this lineup spotting it too many leads.

And, oh yeah, I think the Brewers take the Central.

 

This is already more than we talked about the Pirates all of last season.

 

Hopefully it stops soon.

 

I doubt it. PittsburghSportsJournalists.com is small, but formidable.

 

Meanwhile, Bobby Cox is saying he plans to retire after 2008.

 

Link here: http://www.ajc.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/ajc/sportscolumns/entries/2007/03/03/cox_says_hell_r.html
(reg. required)

 

The Pirates have some interesting players to track like Jason Bay and Freddie Sanchez. It will also be interesting to see if Zach Duke can return to his 2005 form - if so he's an Ace.

It will also be interesting to see who they dangle at the mid-season mark. A Tony Armas, Paul Maholm or a Shawn Chacon could gather a nice prospect if they somehow manage a below 4.00 ERA for the first half of the season. Xavier Nady may fill a need for someone too.

The second half of the season could see prospects like catcher Neil Walker - even though the Pirates already have Ronny Paulino who is the rare catcher capable of hitting over .300. Maybe Andrew McCutchen makes the leap in the second half of the season if Nady is traded. Every team is interesting this time of year.

 

Unless you're the Royals.