Co writer: Kyle S.

The Pirates have always had a trend to dig themself into a hole at the bottom of the NL central.  They had tons of bright spots at the beginning of the year starting of 47-43, but had one of the worst records the second half of the year going 25-47.   There were talks about the Pirates finally getting to the playoffs, but they ruined it.  The pirates winning games is going to come down to how well Andew McCutchen and Jose Tabata can perform along with their pitching.  Newly signed free agent, A.J Burnett should help bump up the rotation so the Pirates don’t need to make so many spot starts (they led the league in those last year).  The pirates have such a talented farm system so REALITY CHECK!!!!!!!!!!!!  STOP SIGNING SO MANY VETERANS!!!!!!  Another question is can Casey M. get back to his old self and will Clint Barmes strengthen the middle infield.  They had a lot of errors last year. The Pirates will need to have a great OBP.  This is because they will have scrappy good or bad players that will hit to get on base not for power so the RBI totals need to be through the roof and the team ERA for pitching needs to be low.  The managerial position is in good hands also.  It all comes down to how bad a they want it , I don’t see a championship any time soon but if there farm system turns out and they can keep some of their GOOD veterans and keep their  McCutchens and Tabata sort of players in the organization the future COULD be bright.  That’s my twist!!!!!!!!!!!