Pirates: Almost Ready?

Spring Training is starting its final week and everyone within baseball is gearing up towards Opening Day.  The pitchers are working themselves up, almost ready to pitch a full 7 innings.  The hitters are starting to see the ball better, almost ready to see all the pitches that will try to strike them out.  The coaches are finalizing rosters, almost ready to make final cuts and get their teams to the best 25 guys.

At this point in Spring Training, we’ve learned the Pirates will have a solid 4 starting pitchers with a wealth of depth and talent with the bullpen but we’ve also learned the hitting may come around to show much better than they did last season.  There weren’t very many jobs available on this Pirates team and it’s been a long while since anyone could say that.  However, looking at the few positions, has Andrew Lambo really taken the needed steps towards securing the platoon at 1^st base or has Travis Ishikawa done more than enough to be that guy?  Who will be the infield utility guys on the team along with my expectation that Clint Barmes is safe?  Will Josh Harrison be that guy or will it be Michael Martinez?

Who will be the 4^th outfielder prior to Gregory Polanco’s expected arrival this summer?  Will it be Jose Tabata, who recently has been shopped around to other teams?  What about Travis Snider, with whom has had a good spring which could increase some value in a trade?  Chris Dickerson has made some noise throughout Spring Training and could be the reason for the Tabata/Snider trade rumors.  I would think the Pirates will be almost ready to pull the trigger on any trades that will clear room on the 25 man roster.

The biggest questions of the summer will be, is Jameson Taillon and Gregory Polanco almost ready to make a huge splash on a playoff caliber team?  Will these guys be able to help get the team over the hump and into the World Series?  We are almost ready to find out in just over a week to all of the questions that we are almost ready to have answered.