Five More Reasons The Pirates Have Sucked In 2010

If you’re a fan of the Pittsburgh Pirates, this is not going to be anything new.  Pitching was supposed to be a strength coming into the 2010 season.  Instead, the Pirates pitching at the major leagues and AAA level have been

hammered this season.  Before we were even turned the calendar to the month of May the following had happened.

The first reason was Ross Ohlendorf was on the disabled list retroactive to April 12 with back spasms.  He returned on May 10, but struggled to regain his form all season and over several starts he looked like the old Ohlie.   Unfortunately, misfortune followed Ross throughout the season.  The RHP was being counted on to continue his strong finish to 2009, but it never happened.

The second reason was Charlie Morton was absolutely terrible in April.  The Pirates, to their credit, I really believe that, tried to let Morton pitch out of it.  It didn’t happen and Morton went on the DL before Memorial Day.  I think the struggles of Charlie Morton was one of the top five reasons the 2010 Pirates were one of the worst teams in ML history.  It had to be frustrating for the organization to watch a pitcher with so much talent, look so lost.

The third and fourth reasons were left-handers Zach Duke and Paul Maholm struggled.  Duke looked nothing like the All-Star pitcher who had pitched so effectively in the first half of 2009.  Duke would be on the DL before the month of June would end.  Maholm was nothing more than average, but he managed to stay off the DL which was something few of  the Pirates starters would be able to say in 2010.

Most everyone knew Daniel McCutchen was not going to light the league on fire after winning the fifth starter job by default.  McCutchen was called up on April 17 being known as a pitcher who filled up the zone.  Yeh, that certainly was the case.

Little did we know, the Pirates struggles in spring training, and in the month of April and May would be an indication of things to come for the 2010 season.

We deleted some of the non pitching transactions from the ESPN list.