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The State of the Pittsburgh Pirates Address
By Joe Smeltzer
The Other Guys
Neither Garrit Cole nor Juan Nicasio has been anything to drool over this season, but Cole showed grit over the weekend in St. Louis, so hopefully he is turning back into the anchor of the pitching staff that he should be. As for the infamous Jeff Locke, he has been ok. However, unless Locke all of a sudden becomes a superstar (kind of like another #49 that pitches in the NL Central), he will be out of the rotation when Mr. Tallion and/or Mr. Glasnow is ready to join the big boys. Hopefully, Locke can pitch well enough to make himself a useful trade chip for Neil Huntington sometime soon.
Overall, the Pittsburgh Pirates rotation has been ok. It hasn’t been great, nor has it been terrible, and I am confident that better days are ahead.
Grade: B-