First Post!!

This is attempt number two of a Pittsburgh Pirates baseball blog for me. I previously had an official MLB one, but that went belly up when I realized that you can’t actually say anything you want on there. So I figured going out on my own would be the best option. Hopefully this one actually has a longer shelf life than my last attempt.

It’s been an interesting offseason so far for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Coming off a 62-99 2009 campaign had quite a bit of work to do this offseason. A lot of trade talks featuring some pretty big stars. Will Ryan Doumit be traded, what about Paul Maholm? I am not an expert by any means, and this blog isn’t an armchair GM one. It’s just the musings of a devout Pittsburgh Pirates fan.

The one that has angered me this offseason is the continued ignoring of the bullpen. The Javier Lopez signing was solid, but he alone is not enough to help this team. I hope he bounces back from a disappointing 2009 season, but even if he does, he won’t be enough to help this team have its first non-losing season since 1992. The only other major signing was Bobby Crosby. He has a last name that Pittsburghers will adore, but will his defense make up for his lack of bat? Will he even be starting? He was brought in to compete with Ronny Cedeno for the starting shortstop job, and you have to figure that Cedeno will be the one starting come April 2010.

Other than those two free agent signings, there hasn’t been much to report in the hotstove, but the Pirates do reportedly have interest in former St. Louis Cardinal Pitcher-turned-Outfielder Rick Ankiel. He’d be a good stopgap signing until Jose Tabata is ready to make his Major League debut. I am not that confident that we’ll sign him, but it would be nice. To be honest, I don’t think the Pirates will make anymore major league free agent signings; it just isn’t how the Pirates do things. We’ll leave the signings to the Red Sox and the Yankees of the world.

Honestly, I think you can pending any injuries of unforeseen occurrences predict the opening day starting line-up of the Pittsburgh Pirates.

CF: Andrew McCutchen

LF: Lastings Millage

RF: Garret Jones

1B: Steven Pearce/Jeff Clement

2B: Akinori Iwamura

SS: Ronny Cedeno

3B: Andy LaRoche

C: Ryan Doumit

Pitching Staff:

Paul Maholm

Zach Duke

Kevin Hart

Ross Ohlendorf

Charlie Morton

This of course is pending any major trades or signings. Looking at that line up, it is young, and it might actually have some potential, especially in the outfield. Lastings Millage and Andrew McCutchen both have the potential to be elite Major League players. Andrew more so than Lastings because Lastings has to prove he can keep it together mentally. Andrew should hopefully be able to build off his amazing 2009 rookie of the year worthy season. I could see Andrew becoming a 20-50-type guy. He won’t give you crazy power, but he does have some pop, and his speed is absolutely insane. Andrew will definitely be the leader of this team, and hopefully he remains a Pirate for years to come. I don’t think even the Pirates’ front office has the gull to trade Cutch, and I doubt that will come up anytime soon. Andrew should be a Pirate for many years to come. Hopefully we finally get to see winning baseball in Pittsburgh again as a result.