30 in 30!

After numerous delays, I was finally able to sit down and watch the MLB Network, Pirates 30 Clubs in 30 Days special. It wasn’t anything too special, a lot of focus on our young players and our minor league development. I will say, I enjoyed that they talked up most of our recent draft picks, especially Pedro Alvarez and Tony Sanchez. Those two players are definitely part of our future core, and need to be developed properly. I think Pedro will definitely be Big League ready this season, as he has looked very good in Spring Training. I doubt strongly, he’ll start the season on the MLB opening day roster, but he will be in AAA and I assume that we will be seeing Pedro in a Pirates uniform around June.

Most years, when I watch coverage of the Pirates, I get very angry at how negative all the coverage is. Even though the past few, oh, almost 2 decades, it has been justified. The national talk about the Pirates has been pretty optimistic. They don’t see us competing this year, but they see us making 9-10 game improvement over 2009 and building towards competitive baseball in 2011-2012. Building a successful small market team is a challenge, and it takes a lot of drafting and player developing. Which is exactly what the Pirates are doing.

In other news, the Pirates may or may not play a game today against the Braves. They did make the 2-hour drive from Bradenton to Orlando, but it has been raining all over Florida, all day today, and most suspect that the game, if it starts, will last more than a few innings. After a few more games are played with the regulars, I plan on doing a semi-comprehensive analysis of how I feel the starters have looked during Spring Training. I think the one thing we should be very happy with so far, has been the main starting and relief pitchers have for the most part all looked pretty solid. Don’t focus on the wins and losses, because in Spring Training, they do not matter. It’s all about players getting playing time and coming together as a team. Which is exactly what the Pirates have done so far this spring.