Poor Pitching In Spring Training Is A Pittsburgh Pirates Staple

Pittsburgh Pirates fans have got to be thinking, “What in the  hell happened?”  Jonathan Sanchez is now in the rotation – just a few weeks after the Buccos were smooth sailing with pitching depth, and a plan on paper that at least looked logical.   Now, Kyle McPherson and Jeff Locke have been Zach Duke-like, allowing hits with regularity.  It wasn’t supposed to turn out this way.

Yeah, we hear you. 

But rest assured, we went back and checked out some awful numbers from Spring Trainings past, and this is nothing new. Repeat: Garbage pitching by the Pittsburgh Pirates in Spring Training is nothing new.

2012

James McDonald started six games.  JMac pitched 21.2 innings and allowed 20 hits and 20 earned runs.  He walked 11 and struckout 11.

Erik Bedard started five games.  Bedard pitched 19.2 innings and allowed 19 hits and 11 earned runs.  The Bucs Opening Day starter walked eight and struckout 14 before pitching well at PNC Park for a considerable number of starts.

Brad Lincoln pitched eight innings.  Lincoln, who was recently sent down by the Toronto Blue Jays, gave up 12 hits and 10 earned runs.

Kevin Correia pitched 16.2 innings.  KC gave up 23 hits and 14 earned runs.

2011

Joel Hanrahan pitched 10.2 innings.  The Hammer was hit around for eight earned runs and 12 hits, but struckout 13.

Paul Maholm pitched 25 innings.  The southpaw was rocked for 31 hits and 13 earned runs, he surprised with 18 strikeouts against five walks.   Seven bombs scared the hell out of Bucco fans.

James McDonald only threw 6.2 innings and allowed ten hits.

2010

Virgil Vasquez, Kevin Hart, and Brian Burres * pitched so poorly that they combined for a 53.30 ERA.

Ross Ohlendorf had an ERA over 9, Zach Duke and Jeff Karstens were over 6 and Vinnie Chulk rocked a big number as well.

* Note from Cocktailsfor2: It appears that  Brian Burres is now pitching in Taiwan for the EDA Burros, the same team that now employs the soon-to-be-41-years-old Manny Ramirez. [Link opens in new window, and yes, Manny actually showed up, and went 2-for-6 in his first game]