These Pittsburgh Pirates must play 150 games in 2015

Jul 12, 2014; Cincinnati, OH, USA; Pittsburgh Pirates center fielder Andrew McCutchen (22) hits the game winning home run during the eleventh inning against the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park. The Pirates defeated the Reds 6-5. Mandatory Credit: Frank Victores-USA TODAY Sports

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After Andrew McCutchen went on the shelf in early August, the Pirates limped to a 5-8 record.  In a vacuum, that record wouldn’t look so bad when your consensus best player is out.  What I’d like to highlight here is the domino effect of any extended absence by Cutch.  Losing Cutch leaves a crater at the number three spot.  That is bad enough on its own but when coupled with any other injury (Neil Walker, anyone?), it can be downright disastrous.  Picking a random boxscore during the time in August of 2014 when both Walker and Cutch were out shows me that Starling Marte led off, and Harrison batted third.  This is the point where you tell me that Harrison batting third isn’t all that bad, heck he was second in the NL in batting last year.  And I would agree with you, but these are just not optimal sports for these hitters in this lineup.  The number three hitter is the most important hitter in a lineup for many more reasons than just traditionally being your best hitter.  It allows the players around you to excel in batting orders that play to their strengths and needs.  We haven’t even talked about defense and leadership yet, either.  Losing Andrew McCutchen for any significant amount of time creates so many problems for the Pirates and allows opposing pitchers not to work as hard, thus extending their starts, saving bullpens, I could go on and on.  As if you didn’t know this already, but Cutch must play 150 games this year, if not more.

This was not an easy list to make.  One could easily make arguments for Walker, Jordy Mercer, or even Pedro Alvarez.  But when I look at these four players and the impact that they can have on the lineup around them, it forces me to think of them as belonging in another tier of importance.

If these four can play 150 games or more, I think the Pirates have a great shot at being a top 5 offense in the National League in 2015.

And if one of them misses extended time, the offense would be middle of the pack at best.