Just a quick intro—- My name is Jay Flannelly and I am your Pirates blogger for the coming season! I am a 36 yr old Boston native and U of Michigan grad, while I am not a Pirates “fan” I am old enough to remember their last World Series Victory!(1979 in 7 games vs the Baltimore Orioles!) Yes, I watched Omar Moreno, Jim Bibby, Bill Madlock, Tim Foli , Willie Stargell, Dave Parker and one of my 1st Baseball heroes, Kent Tekulve!( I was relief pitcher growing up and had a funky delivery). I even own the complete series DVD package!
Before u ask, I am a Huge Red Sox fan and If I had to pick an NL team, the Mets would be my choice. I play in two fantasy leagues, one pay and salary cap(CDM sports) and one live draft(Yahoo). I watch and follow all Boston teams,so this year has been good. Lets not talk about the Super Bowl though! Hopefully, the Celtics will get us #17 to make up for the loss of win #19 by the best franchise in pro sports, the New England Patriots.
I am very excited to be covering this team. I know the losing season streaks and financial structure of MLB does not favor this team or its great history and legacy. However, I see some positives here and a division that does not scare or impress me. One of the biggest keys to winning in baseball is quality pitching, to be more specific, starting pitching. The Pirates have it and the it features both youth and variety. This team has 5 solid ML starting pitchers with a good variety of LH and RH plus a solid veteran in Matt Morris. Ian Snell and Tom Gorzelanny both had ERAs under 4 last season and are 26 and 25 years old . Paul Maholm is another strong LH and a return to form by Zach Duke would make this group both dangerous and scary.The The team also features one of the best young closers in MLB in Matt Capps plus veteran setup man in Damaso Marte.
Position player wise, the Pirates need the young veterans to be leaders and be more consistent. They have a good team defense and players with upside. The key remaining battle is CF. Last season Chris Duffy did not work out and he is more likely to be a bench player or trade bait. The candidates are Nate Mclouth and Nyjer Morgan. Nate had around 330 ABs last season and has a slight edge this far thru camp. He has 20-20 hr-sb potential. (13-22 in 329 ABs in 2007)The rest of the everyday lineup appears to be set at C Ronny Paulino, 1b a strong talent in Adam Laroche(bad 1st half, strong 2nd in his 1st Pirates season), All Star 2b Freddy Sanches returns and hopes to have a strong season. Solid Jack Wilson(trade rumors from 2nd half on in 2007) anchors the infield at SS and Jose Bautista returns at 3b. The best pure talent on this team is in LF and it is Jason Bay. Jason had a down season and heard his name come up during the offseason in trade rumors. Vet Xavier Nady is in RF and is also coming up in trade discussions. He has skills but has never been an everyday 150+ game starter. To me, he will produce strong numbers with 500 + ABs. This group has potential and the ability to improve from within._
