The State of the Pittsburgh Pirates Address

Hello, all. We are currently through 33 games of the 2016 Pittsburgh Pirates baseball season, and I think we are to a point in the season where we can start to reflect on the achievements of the 25-man roster. Let’s address who has been hot, and who has not. Let’s start with the starting pitching.

Starting Pitching

Staff Ace: Francisco Liriano

The Pittsburgh Pirates pitching staff has seen better days. As many expected, the rotation has been inconsistent and not up to par with the Bucco staff’s that we’ve grown used to seeing over the past five years. At this point, the Bucs do not have a true lockdown ”ace”, but I’d say Francisco Liriano has been the closest thing to it . Franky currently carries a record of 3-1 and he  the team in ERA with a mark of 3.60, as well as in strikeouts with 39, sporting a K/9 rate of 10.0 to boot. Frankie’s last two starts have been especially good, and hopefully, they are a sign of things to come for the rest of 2016.

Staff Bum: Jon Niese

If you’re looking for a rant about how Neil Walker is the greatest man alive based on geography, you’ll have to look somewhere else (likely anywhere on Pirates twitter).  However, one cannot deny that Niese has not been excellent this season. Now, Niese has had the misfortune of some poor defense behind him, as well as pitching in hitters dojos such as Coors Field, Chase Field, and most recently Great American Ballpark. However, Niese’s 1.62 WHIP and  .304 BAA to go with his 5.63 ERA suggest that some of his misfortunes are his own damn fault. Out of the five  arms in the starting rotation, Niese has been the most underwhelming, and for that, I give him the punishment of Staff Bum

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-

Offense

Offensive MVP: Starling Marte

No doubt about this one. Ain’t no party can keep up with the Marte Partay, cuz the Marte Partay don’t stop. Starling currently has a slash line of .341/.388/.512, along with a team-high nine stolen bases. Marte is also an excellent defender, and in my opinion, he is the Pittsburgh Pirates leading man at the moment.

Biggest Surprise: John Jaso

Another no brainer. When the Pittsburgh Pirates signed John Jaso in December, he was not expected to light the world on fire at first base. Hell, I thought he would be a platoon at best with Mike Morse. However, Jaso has proven the skeptics wrong, both at the plate and in the field. Jaso’s slash line is currently .291/.358/.812, but the biggest surprise has been his defense. After experiencing the haunted house that was Pedro Alvarez at the keystone sack, you can’t fault Bucco nation for being skeptical of bringing in a man who had all of 5 innings of experience at first base in his entire career. However, with the help of Kevin Young, Jaso worked hard over the winter and has not only been a serviceable first baseman for the Bucs, but he has also made some plays that any first baseman in the league would consider to be solid. There’s no telling how long this will keep up, but Jaso has certainly been one of the feel-good stories of the 2016 Bucco campaign thus far.

Biggest disappointment: Andrew McCutchen 

Disclaimer: I will not dismiss Cutch as ”lazy”, ”washed up”, or ”just a bum”.

I believe with all of my heart and soul that Andrew McCutchen will right the ship and turn in a solid 2016 season. However, the heartbeat of the Pirates just is not getting it done right now, and unlike his slow start in 2015, injuries are not an excuse. McCutchen is better than what he is putting on the field right now, and nobody knows this better than #22 himself. He’s still Andrew McCutchen, and he will be just fine.

Defense 

Inconsistent. Prone to random fits of chaos. Those are two things that describe the Pirates defense pretty well. However, I think we can all agree that the defense is much better off without Neil Walker and Pedro Alvarez than it was with them. The Pirates are just 26th in baseball with 23 errors committed, but stats can be deceiving. Watch David Freese, Josh Harrison or even John Jaso, and that will be easy to see.

Overall grade: C+

Bullpen

Yuck. That’s one way to describe things. What is usually the strength of this ball club has turned into it’s biggest weakness. The biggest problem with the Pirates bullpen has been lack of depth. The back end of the Pirates bullpen (Neftali Feliz, Tony Watson, and Mark Melancon) has been pretty good, but it’s the other guys who spoil the party. Guys like Kyle Lobstein, Arquimedes Caminero, and A.J. Schugel wouldn’t really give Pirates fans a great deal of confidence in your typical ”battle of the bullpens” type of game. The pen was expected to receive a huge boost when Jared Hughes returned from injury, but Hughes just hasn’t looked like himself since coming back. I think that the Pirates bullpen still has a chance to be pretty good, but as of right now, it lacks the Jeanmar Gomez, Vin Mazzaro type depth guys that the Bucs have been fortunate to develop over the past 5 years. Is help on the way in the form of a trade? Maybe. Time will tell.

Overall Grade: C-

Final thoughts

It’s so cliche to say in baseball, but it’s early. It’s impossible to decipher exactly what the Pittsburgh Pirates will and won’t accomplish over the next 5 months, but as of right now, the team can best be described as decent at worst, solid at best. There’s nothing to drool too hard over the Bucs right now, and the Chicago Cubs will make it pretty hard to win a division title. All we can do as fans is sit back and enjoy the show.