The Good and Bad of the Pirates' Pitching

The Pirates currently sit at 11-9, one game back from the lead of the NL Central.  Not a bad position to be in, nearly a month into the season.  Almost all of the wins were due to a pitcher, starter or reliever, coming up with an amazing performance.  Similarly, a fair amount of the losses can be traced back to a pitcher not doing his job.  Here's a look at how some of the pitchers have been doing this year, and how things could look in the future.



AJ Burnett-  AJ has, as expected been the Pirates' best starter so far.  In his first two starts, he allowed three runs and recorded sixteen strikeouts.  Both were spoiled by the fact that the Bucs' offense was struggling mightily at the time.  He has continued to put up solid numbers, and has improved to 2-2 on the season (the Pirates' 6-5 win over the Reds went down as a no-decision for AJ).  Burnett seems to be the Bucs' most reliable pitcher for the duration of this season.

Wandy Rodriguez-  Wandy has been sensational so far in 2013.  In his first start, he shut down the Cubs through six innings, which would turn out to be the Pirates' first win of 2013.  In his next start, he injured his hamstring in only the second inning, and was forced to leave the game.  He missed his next start (Phil Irwin got the spot start, which turned out to be a thrilling comeback win over Cincinnati), and returned on the 19th vs. Atlanta.  He pitched a 2-hit shutout through 7 innings.  The Pirates closed out the game having faced the minimum 27 batters for the first time in decades.  As terrific as he has been, it is a very small sample size, plus the hamstring could come back to bother him.  Things look cautiously optimistic for Wandy.

James McDonald-  JMac, JMac, JMac.... Truly an impossible puzzle to solve.  Lights-out one day, lit-up the next.  Shut down the Cubs in his first start of the season, gets lit up for 10 runs in the 2nd inning against the Cardinals.  His most recent start against Atlanta was the epitome of inconsistency.  He struck out the first three batters he faced.  In the second inning, he loaded the bases, and proceeded to walk home the leading run.  Directly thereafter, he struck out three batters to end the inning.  Frustrating for fans.  I'm not going to venture a guess on JMac.  The potential for success is certainly there.

Jeff Locke-  Jeff Locke has been quietly mediocre.  He was unimpressive in his first few outings.  He had a good start on Tuesday vs. Philadelphia.  Personally, I don't think he will remain in the rotation very long.  Charlie Morton and Francisco Liriano are returning soon.  Later on, Jeff Karstens will be ready.  Gerrit Cole will be called up.  No space for Locke.

Jonathan Sanchez-  Similar story for Sanchez.  He's been remarkably mediocre thus far, including a 10 run torching by the Arizona Diamondbacks.  I would be shocked if he is in the rotation in June.

Happy Easter... I mean Opening Day-Eve

Finally.  The most mind numbingly boring thing in sports, MLB Spring Training, is over.  The team is finally at PNC Park, preparing for Opening Day against the Chicago Cubs tomorrow.  After an entire month of speculation of what will happen this season, in particular the 20 year old question of "Will the Bucs make .500?".  Well, after a month of thinking, one thing has become clear: Nothing is certain, there are too many variables.

So, on this Opening Day-Eve, I'm taking one last stab at a preview to the 2013 season.

Four players you can expect big things from in 2013

Andrew McCutchen, CF-- This one is so obvious, I considered not even writing it.  Last year, Cutch established himself as a true superpower in the MLB.  He had a bit of a drop-off in the final 1/3 of the season, which coincided with the team's collapse.  He is hungry to put up big numbers the whole way through, and more importantly, he is hungry to carry this team into the playoffs.

Starling Marte, RF-- Marte was called up from the minors in late July of 2012.  He famously crushed a home run on his first pitch of his first at-bat, which happened to be the first pitch of the game.  A big statement indeed.  The next 2.5 months were so-so for Marte.  He didn't meet the unfair expectations that come with such a statement, however he wasn't all that bad.  He is very young, and has lots of potential.  Look for him to try to establish himself as a quality MLB hitter in 2013.

Clint Barmes-- In this case, you need to thing of "big things" in a relative way.  Barmes was terrible for most of 2012.  He showed signs of life in parts of August and September, but that was it.  I see him making a comeback this year, posting something like a .250-.260 batting average.

Wandy Rodriguez-- Wandy was acquired by the Bucs at last year's trade deadline.  As a starting pitcher, he turned in solid outings in nearly every start.  He had been doing that for a long time with Houston, but couldn't be seen behind all that failure by the Astros.

Two players NOT to expect big things from in 2013

Neil Walker-- Walker entered the Big Leagues in 2010.  He has been a fairly good player his whole career.  Last year he hit very few home runs and showed very little power.  Also, he was injured for most of August and September.  This is just one person's opinion, but I don't thing Walker will have a good 2013.

Jeff Locke-- Jeff was called up from the minors in August of 2012, and never really put together an impressive performance.  While he is young with good potential, I see him having a poor start to 2013 and being replaced by a healed Jeff Karstens or Charlie Morton.

Final prediction for 2013

Record: 88-74

Wild Card appearance