I know that the Pirates are 30-31, just one game under .500 and have won 6 of 9. I also know that they recently won series’ against the Phillies and the Diamondbacks, two teams who are at or near the top of their respective divisions. As many of you know, I am one of the biggest and most loyal Pirates fans in this great city. Hell, I bet on the Pirates finishing above .500 every single year and every year (so far) I have lost. Obviously, I am ecstatic about the Pirates start and how well they have been playing. The pitching has been a more than a pleasant surprise and that was never more apparent than last night when Jeff Karstens only needed 79 pitches to get through 7 innings while only giving up 4 hits. The Pirates took the loss but the starters as a whole have a 3.58 ERA, good for 8th in the majors. With all that has been going well recently, I should be optimistic for the Pirates and their prospects for success throughout the summer. That just isn’t the case and here’s why.
Starting Pitching – Yes, it has been fantastic but can these guys really sustain this level for the entire year? I truly believe that Charlie Morton is the real deal so I think he will be fine. I also think Maholm is a pro and is pitching to either get his option picked up (9.75 million next year) or get traded. Correia has found a comfort level away from Southern California and all the distractions that last few years have brought him, most notably the death of his brother last year, so I think he will continue to pitch well. I like McDonald and his stuff and Karstens just keeps going out there and getting the job done, but how long can they be this good? Something tells me a staff ERA around 4.25 is more likely.
Hitting – The Pirates are batting .240 as a team and rank 26th in SLG percentage. During this streak of good baseball the Pirates have gotten a ton from Andrew McCutchen. Since May 25th, when the Pirates were 22-26, McCutchen has raised his average 32 points and is now hitting a respectable .283. He is currently riding a 9 game hitting streak and also is hitting .500 in June. It is no coincidence that during that span the Pirates are 8-5 with 3 series victory and a series split in New York. Apart from McCutchen, only Overbay (what?) and Tabata are hitting well in June. The rest of the order is struggling to get on base and drive in runs, which brings me to my final reason…
Injuries – The fact that the Pirates have been playing enjoyable to watch; competitive baseball has overshadowed the fact that they are not a healthy ballclub. Pedro Alvarez just had another setback (quad) and won’t be ready until mid-July at best. Steve Pearce has been out since early May making 3rd base a rotation of soft hitting Josh Harrison and Brandon Wood. Not exactly the typical power you would like to see from a corner infield position. Those injuries pale in comparison to the ones currently affecting the catchers in the organization. First, Jason Jaramillo hurt his wrist and was placed on the minor league disabled list. That was followed by Ryan Doumit fracturing his left ankle in a collision at Wrigley. That injury forced the Pirates to purchase the contract of Dusty Brown, who is a career .259 hitter in the minors and so far with the Pirates is hitting .125 while allowing 2 passed balls and having a caught stealing percentage of zero. To make matters worse, Chris Snyder will have back surgery today and will most likely be out until August if not the entire year. Now the Pirates have Brown and Wyatt Toregas (.179 hitter in 51 at bats with Cleveland) as their backstop tandem. To say the catching situation is desperate would be an understatement with no help on the horizon. The only other options are to acquire a catcher from outside the organization (who would only be needed for 6 weeks and would not be a long term solution) or call up Eric Fryer who hit .345 at AA Altoona before being called up to AAA last week. Fryer would need to be added to the 40 man roster and then would need to clear waivers (which isn’t likely) to go back to AAA. Overall, it is a crappy situation. I don’t know what the Pirates are going to do, but don’t be surprised if Dusty Brown is the starting catcher until Jaramillo or Doumit is healthy enough to return.
Overall the next 6 weeks will be really interesting and potentially hard to watch. Here’s hoping that the Pirates can hang on until they are healthy enough to actually field a major league caliber team. As always, Let’s go Bucs.
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