THE BULLPEN

It’s that time of year again, folks. Time for pitchers and catchers to report and hope to spring eternal.  Your Pittsburgh Pirates are looking to contend for the NL Central crown and, in the process, avoid a 21^st consecutive losing season. Are you familiar with the phrase “when they think they have the answers, I change the questions”? The Pirates have a similar mindset in that they never have the answers and continuously have questions. Considering the Pittsburgh Baseball Club has had 20 straight losing seasons, I’m going to look at 20 questions for the 2013 campaign. 

1)What’s up with the right field and first base platoons? Will any player ever step up and take control of one of these positions? How many candidates are there? Let me count the ways: In right field we have Travis Snider (anyone with the twitter tag LunchBoxHero is a fave of mine), Jerry Sands (came over from the BoSox in the Hammer deal) and Jose Tabata. First base is looking at a GI Jones/Gaby Sanchez platoon. Which brings us to our next question.

2)Can GI Jones duplicate his output of 2012, 27 HR, .274 BA, 86 RBI? If so, that may answer the first base question.

3)Can Homeboy Neil Walker stay healthy? He was on his way to a good season last year but got derailed in the closing months due to a balky back. Is Homeboy back (pun intended)?

4)Can Clutch continue to be clutch and win the MVP?

5)Who is leading off?

6)Can Starling Marte make it through a full, big league season and live up to his potential?

7)Is Petey ready to step up to the plate and protect Clutch by batting cleanup?

8)Can the catchers throw anyone out any baserunners? I would like to think that Russell Martin is an upgrade over Barajas both behind the plate and at the plate.

9)Can the pitchers help out their catchers by holding runners on base and have a quicker delivery to the plate?

10)Can Grilled Cheese be the next Hammer?

11)Can AJ do it again this season?

12)Will the real JMac please stand up?

13)Will Gerrit Cole make his MLB debut this season? If so, when?

14)Can Boney Hurdle get this team over the hump and keep them in contention without falling apart as they’ve done the past 2 seasons?

15)Can Charlie Morton come back from Tommy John surgery and contribute?

16)If the Pirates fall out of the race, will Neal Huntington have a fire sale?

17)If the Pirates are in contention at the trade deadline, will they pull the trigger on a deal to get them into the playoffs?

18)If he falls to them, will the Pirates draft Mark Appel?

19)If Grilled Cheese is not the answer for the closer role, who is?

20)Like the Nationals added William Taft to their President’s race, will the Pirates add another pierogie?

The Pirates no longer have the Astros to make them look good in the NL Central. The Cardinals are going to be without Chris Carpenter but I don’t think that’s enough to slow them down. The Brewers have steroid issues hanging over Ryan Braun’s head. Maybe his brawn is medically enhanced. Corey Hart is also hurt and it’s not known when he’ll return. The Reds have pretty  much stayed pat except for the addition of Shin-Soo Choo.  The Cubs have been relatively silent this offseason. Does all this mean the Pirates can contend or, at the very least, have a winning season? Only time will tell. I will make a bold prediction though and say that this is the year the streak ends. 87 wins, 75 losses. Someone right this down and we’ll see where we’re at in October. Let’s Go Bucs!!!!!