1. AJ Burnett AJ was one of the Pirates' biggest bright spots last year. In his second start of the year, he allowed a baseball record nine runs through four innings. After that, he played like a true ace for pretty much the entire season, including a one hit masterpiece in which he came within four outs of a no-hitter. He also served as a veteran leader for the team. Look for the same strong play this year, but don't be too surprised if he slows down a little. He is 37 after all.
2. Wandy Rodriguez The Pirates made three trades at the trade-deadline last year, and one of them could be considered a success. That one success would be the trade that brought SP Wandy Rodriguez from Houston. Rodriguez played excellent ball, although it was a small sample size starting at the mid-august trade-deadline. All signs point to him having another solid year this year.
3. James McDonald JMac is probably the hardest pitcher to gauge of them all. In the first half of the 2012 season, he played like an ace, an all-star. After the all-star break (the midway point of the season) things went south in a hurry. From the midpoint on, he posted an Earned Runs Average (ERA) above eight. Eventually, in mid-August, he was pulled from the starting rotation and demoted to the bullpen. So the question for this year is "which JMac will we see this year? The ace, or the 8+ ERA JMac? A lot of the Pirates' success this year depends on that.
Veterans Jeff Karstens and Charlie Morton will both start the season injured, and the following guys will fill in for them:
4. Jonathan Sanchez Sanchez, signed in the offseason by the Bucs, is one of the more bizarre stories on the team this year. Four years ago, he threw a no-hitter. Last year, he had an ERA above nine. NINE. What is more disturbing is that the Pirates' front office somehow thought he would be a good addition this year, and signed him to a minor league contract. The most disturbing is that they promoted him to the Majors, and gave him a spot as a starting pitcher. Buckle your seatbelts. Let's hope he proves me wrong.
5. Jeff Locke Jeff Locke was given his first chance as a starter during the second half of last season. He put up poor performances, simple as that. However, he is very young, and shows potential. We'll see.
A lot of the Pirates' hopes this year depends on these people. The latter two tossers seem like a dreadful back-end of the rotation, but help will come when Karstens and Morton return. Another piece of good news: 2010 first-round draft pick Gerrit Cole is ready to play at the major league level. He probably won't be called up to Pittsburgh until at least June, which would allow the Pirates to retain him for an extra year.
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