Questions Abound For Pittsburgh Pirates

After such a solid start,

injuries are catching up with the Pittsburgh Pirates now.  It would be a perfect time for Jose Tabata, Neil Walker, and Andrew “I hate mid-June” McCutchen to put the team on their back, but it’s looking like that would be some serious lifting.

In 2011, Chris Snyder was hitting better than he had in his career.  Granted, he wasn’t an offensive weapon, but at least he was hot.  Ryan Doumit was following his historically strong start to the season before he was injured in a play at the plate.  The work  Snyder and Doumit did with the pitching staff was commendable – and record setting for the Pirates.

Pedro Alvarez had to be respected by opposing pitchers, and was breaking out of his early season funk…

Now, all three are on the DL.

The Pirates’ lineup just isn’t the same.  Clint Hurdle’s pencil can only do so much with what is left.  The pitching staff will definately regress.  So, can the offense somehow progress?  The Pirates’ chalkboard is filled with a lot of ‘dunnos’ like Brandon Wood, Josh Harrison, and Dusty Brown.

Combine those with veterans that aren’t impressing us (Matt Diaz and Lyle Overbay), and it’s a lineup at a tipping point.  The fans are searching for a hero, but just who can step up from a struggling list of options?

So, how are you feeling about the Pirates now?  We certainly aren’t giving up –  not in the least.  But damn, there are something like seven AAA players on this team.

How can this club continue winning games?  Just look at what we came up with off the top of our head…

Pedro Alvarez suffered what was described as a setback in his rehab in Bradenton, Florida.  Damn, you’re not kidding about the Bucs missing the on-base machine we saw at the end of 2010 the most.

Have you noticed? Josh Harrison is really a free-swinger.  He has very little trouble hitting the baseball.  But, man, it’s ugly sometimes.  Did you see that double play he hit into last night?

Brandon Wood.  Please.  Please.  Someone help Wood.

Pedro Ciriaco is always the last man off the bench,  probably with good reason.   Still, we bet that sucks.

Matt Diaz and Garrett Jones have failed to produce the numbers we all dreamt about from the vaunted right field platoon.  It’s so bad now, that Xavier Paul seems like a sensible option.

Steve Pearce was a valuable piece to the bench. Injured. Gah.

The catching position is down to the country duo of  Dusty and Wyatt.  We seem to be more anxious than anyone to see if Wyatt can hit the ball as he has done in the past.  We liked what we saw of Wyatt previously, but this is the big leagues.  Good Luck, fella.

Chris Snyder’s surgery was a success.  Now how long until we see him behind the dish again?   Snyder was playing so well with such a painful injury.  We wish him well, and trust the surgery has fixed his pain for the long term.

What happens to the pitching staff is something for another day, but  God, we hate even thinking about the impact on the pitching staff with the Pirates Snyder and Doumit on the shelf long-term.

Evan Meek will go see Dr. Andrews, and _____.  That sentence typically doesn’t have a great ending.  We can’t imagine this turning out well.  Meek hasn’t had it all season.

Donnie Veal is struggling in his rehab assignments.

The only thing on the Pirates’ side right now is their attitude and their desire to win.  On the lineup card, it doesn’t look pretty. On most nights, the Pittsburgh Pirate  lineup is going to pale in comparison to the opposition.  But, thankfully, games aren’t won with pen and paper – they are won on the field.

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An interesting quote from Pittsburgh Pirates manager Clint Hurdle in this article recently.

"“We’re trying to bump the pitch count up, we’re sitting over 100 now. We want to get it up to 120 or 125 by the All-Star break.”  Clint HurdleFollow RumBunter on Twitter"