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. Jason Bay is really emerging as a star for the Bucs. Last year he played in every single game while hitting 32 home runs, getting 101 runs across the plate, and scoring 110 runs himself while batting an amazing .306. This is one young star for Pittsburgh fans to keep an eye on as he progress into a super star.

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. The pressure will be on Zach Duke, he came in the middle of the season to go 8-2 with a 2.92 ERA. Oliver Perez was dangerous until what is believed to be a lack of conditioning set him back to a 5.85 ERA last season. Kip Wells went 8-18 with a 5.09 ERA, not exactly what they had in mind, but all three of these guys are relatively young and will need to grow if the Pirates are going to do anything this season. The bullpen is shaky at best, which will put more pressure on these young arms to shoulder even more of the load late into games.

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