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Pittsburgh Pirates Preview

Get ready for the 2006 season with our Pirates preview. 

If only the Pirates still had Barry Bonds? They did pick up 2-time All-star and perennial .300 hitter Sean Casey from Cincinnati in exchange for a young question mark pitcher in Dave Williams. I think Pittsburgh comes out ahead on this deal but it won’t be near enough to put them over the hump in the NL Central. Pittsburgh put up 3 straight seasons of 70 wins or more before fading to just 67 victories in 2005. This number will likely sink again this season. They also are looking for Jeromy Burnitz, who they signed to a one-year deal, to give them a big lift from the left side of the plate. Although, he might have been the best available player, what the Pirates really need are some strong right-handed sticks to alleviate their major trouble with left-handed hurlers. Over the past 3 seasons, if you were to have gone against Pittsburgh as a greater than +150 dog when they were facing a lefty starter, you would have been 16-2. This is a very strong trend that you will want to look for this season. However, trends are subject to change and the addition of Randa, Casey, and Burnitz could cause some positive changes.

The Pirates look to be trying to mold their team to be more like the Reds hoping that they’ll be able to outscore teams. But it appears that they’ll run into the same problems as Cincinnati had on the mound as the Bucs don’t have a proven pitching staff or even a dominant starter. They gave up their top wins guy, Williams, for Casey, and Wells, their runner-up in wins, will likely miss the entire season with a blocked artery and Pittsburgh has said that they’ll try to fill the void from within the organization. They’re in a terrible pitching predicament, but with the addition of some players they could support their pitchers better than last season. See how this team develops in the early going. The 2006 Pirates have the makings of a good overs team.
 

2006 Baseball Previews