#27 Pittsburgh Pirates
2006 W.L. 67-95
2006 OR 78-78-6
15 years and counting. There have been many consecutive seasons in which the Pirates have finished under .500 and 2007 should be 16 in a row. Pittsburgh is one of those small-market clubs that can’t afford to spend money, as it ranks in the bottom five in baseball on payroll. The Pirates finished ahead of the Cubs last season, but Chicago went out and spent $300 million, while Pittsburgh got just one player, Adam LaRoche, and had to trade their closer to do it. The young talent on this team is great, but for this team to sniff out .500 baseball, all of those young guys need to have breakout seasons, while the few veterans need to carry the load even more. One ray of hope is the fact that Pittsburgh was 37-35 after the break last year, so building on that momentum is always a possibility.
Money
Pittsburgh got into a big hole early on, starting 30-60 and dropping 25.3 points in the process. Sponsors who didn’t shy away, however, did some of that in the second half when the Pirates scored just over 13 points after the All-Star break. Pittsburgh was your typical home/road team as it earned nine points at home thanks to being five games over .500, but away from home it was a different story. The Pirates won 24 road games in the National League and lost more than 21 units. One thing to watch out for again this season is when they take on lefty starters, as Pittsburgh went on a rotten 13-36 run against lefties for -21.7 points.
Pittsburgh was dead even in the over/under department. The Pirates went 38-40-3 at home and 40-38-3 on the road, so there was no advantage either way. The pitching was decent enough not to allow a ton of runs but still below average, while the offense couldn’t score as the Pirates were last in the league in runs scored. While he lost 36 games against left-handed starters, 30 of those games exceeded the total shown by the pitching breakdown. Not much happened during the offseason, so it will probably be another similar year for the totals.
Insulted
Run production was the problem last season, as the Pirates averaged a league-low 4.3 rpg. Pittsburgh finished with a .263 batting average, which was in the middle of the pack, but his .397 slugging percentage was last in all of baseball. They were the only team slugging under .400. The Pirates’ only move to improve was picking up LaRoche, who is coming off a very productive 2006 in Atlanta, where he hit 32 home runs and scored 90 runs while slugging .561. He along with Jason Bay will provide the power. Freddy Sanchez will need another big year, while Chris Duffy needs to break out as a leadoff hitter after a poor season last year.
Pitching
The pitching is extremely young, but it wasn’t horrible last year and another year of experience can go a long way. Zach Duke, Ian Snell, Paul Maholm and Tom Gorzelanny are all 25 or younger and the future looks bright for all of them. There’s still no fifth starter in his place, but if Shawn Chacon can get back to his 2005 form, the rotation could be very solid. The bullpen was a strength last season, finishing fifth in the NL with a 3.98 ERA, but there could be a dip this season. Middle relief is a big question mark, as is the closer’s situation with Mike Gonzalez, who didn’t blow a single save last year, now in Atlanta. Salomón Torres assumes that role and he did look good at the end of 2006 to be able to surprise. Matt Capps had a great rookie season and should be productive again as a setup man.