Starting Pitching: (F) A disappointing year from top to bottom. Ross Ohlendorf was supposed to be the ace and ended up with a record of 1W-11L. Barf. Everyone in the Pirates organization says that Charlie Morton has the best “stuff” on the team. He was demoted to Triple A by mid-May. Hurl. Maholm and Duke both had down years. Dry Heave. James McDonald, acquired from the Dodgers mid-season, was a lone bright spot in the rotation (4.02 ERA in 12 starts). Can you smile with your head face down in the toilet?
Bullpen: (C+) The bullpen was the strength of Pirates until they traded Octavio Dotel, DJ Carrasco, and Javier Lopez (currently, tearing it up for the Giants) at trade deadline in late July. Our only All Star, Evan Meek, came from nowhere and dominated this year. Joel Hanrahan also had a solid year. The rest of the replacements were pretty bad. Except for Chris Resop, who had an ERA of 3.86 in 23 appearances.
C: (F) Ryan Doumit let me down again. Nagging injuries, an inconsistent bat, and poor defense forced the Pirates trade for Chris Synder. A veteran who is known for his glove and having some power. I guess 15 HRs counts as “some power.” His average was .207. Ugly situation here. Financially, it gets worse. Snyder made $5,250,000 this year and Doumit made $3,650,000. That’s $8,900,000 for the catcher position! Almost a third of the Pirates payroll! Where is my brown paper bag?
1B: (C) Garret “G.I.” Jones had a year that was expected of him (.246/21/86). Nothing flashy, some pop, some strikeouts. A good #5 hitter. Way better than Garret Atkins.
2B: (B) Aki Iwamura started the season at 2B and only lasted 2 months. He was awful. He hit well under the Mendoza line at .182 and in the field he was as slow as Ty Wigginton.(Ok that is literally impossible, but you get my point.) But then the hometown kid, Neil Walker, got the call at the end of May. He had a tremendous year at the plate and was as clutch as they come. He only played 110 games and ended with 12 HRs and 66 RBIs.
SS: (C-) Ronny Cedeno was okay. He has nice glove work and sometimes finds a little “pop” in his bat. He is better player than Cesar Izturis, who I gave a D. We could use an upgrade here, but it isn’t happening any time soon.
3B: (D+) The only thing Andy LaRoche helped the Pirates win this year is some sort of humanitarian award. He is a great guy off the field, probably to balance out how bad he is on the field (.206/4/16). The Pirates gladly replaced LaRoche at third with Pedro Alvarez. He has been marketed as “The best prospect in the Pirates organization since Barry Bonds.” Do I believe the hype? Of course I do!!! At times Alvarez carried the Pirates on his back and was unstoppable. He was named NL Player of the Week near the end of September. At other points he was very stoppable, doing his best Ryan Howard impression. He also provided the memory of the year and the best radio call of the year. Watch the game recap to understand the circumstance.
OF: (B-) Andrew McCutchen had a solid year as the CF of the future for the Buccos. Rookie Jose Tabata is going to be a star as soon as he leaves Pittsburgh in 5 years. RF was a platoon of players including but not limited to: Lastings Milledge; John Bowker; Ryan Doumit (see above); Brandon Moss; Delwyn Young. None are long term options.
Overall: (F) I wanted to give the Pirates a “D,” but after reading this disturbing fact I had no choice: The Pirates are the first team since the ’65 Mets to finished last in offense (batting average), last in pitching (ERA) and last in defense (fielding percentage) in the same year.” Obviously, it was a disappointing year, but I am optimistic. Their 1-5 hitters all have less than 2 years of Major League experience. They are young, but showed glimpses of stardom. McCutchen, Tabata, Walker and Alvarez are going to be around for a long time (at least 5 years). The starting pitching underachieved. They are better than what their ERA reflected this year.
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