PITTSBURGH (AP) -The Pittsburgh Pirates didn’t look the same this season after trading outfielders Jason Bay and Xavier Nady.
Think how they might look in spring training if Jack Wilson isn’t there. Or Freddy Sanchez. Or both.
The Pirates flirted with halting their streak of consecutive losing seasons that dates to 1992 by staying relatively close to .500, at least until they dealt Bay and Nady in late July. After that, the season fell apart quicker than their bullpen did during the late innings.
After being 48-54 on July 24, the day before they dealt Nady to the Yankees, the final two months of the season were bad by even the Pirates’ standards. They won 19 of their final 60 – a .317 winning percentage – to finish with the same 67-95 record they had in 2005 and 2006.
Even worse, none of the players acquired in the Bay and Nady deals were moderately productive. Worse still, Brandon Moss, the outfielder who was expected to be Bay’s replacement, unexpectedly developed a knee problem that may cost him a good chunk of 2009.
Pirates needed to know: Their one September highlight was the Lynyrd Skynyrd concert following their Sept. 20 home game.
Here’s something else all in the organization are dreading: If 2009 is a repeat of 2008, the Pirates will gain national attention by setting a record for the longest string of consecutive losing seasons in major American pro team sports history at 17 in a row.
If nothing else, the couldn’t-get-much-worse September tells president Frank Coonelly and general manager Neal Huntington how much more work there is to be done to right this ship.
If a payroll of approximately $54 million that is one of the majors’ lowest doesn’t increase appreciably, and it likely won’t, the Pirates probably can’t add enough impact players to make a major difference in the standings.
“We’re not going to spend money to spend money,” Huntington said. “If we bring a player in, it’s because we think he’s a significant upgrade over what we have and helps us not incrementally, but has a tangible impact on us.”
One or two modestly priced players won’t likely tangibly improve a talent-thin team that finished 28 games under .500, so that probably means the Pirates will take an even longer spring training look at their few close-to-ready prospects, including outfielder Andrew McCutchen and third baseman Neil Walker.
ay that we spent more money than we did in 2008,” Coonelly said this week during an online chat with fans.
With little else of value to trade except Wilson and Sanchez, the Pirates may have no choice but to deal them.
“It will be interesting to see who’s back and who comes in,” said first baseman Adam LaRoche, who seems likely to stay. “You have to be realistic in our situation. We as an organization have to make good decisions.”
Among the decisions they must make:
-Who stays and who goes in the starting rotation? A year ago, the rotation was all but set before spring training began, but it quickly became the club’s biggest weakness once the season began.
Ian Snell, Tom Gorzelanny and Zach Duke began the season as the top three starters, but won a combined 18 games, only four more than Gorzelanny won by himself in 2007.
Even if they don’t add a single starting pitcher during the offseason, the Pirates will go into camp with at least eight pitchers competing for four jobs.
They’ll go in with different approach, too. After firing Jeff Andrews, the Pirates want a pitching coach who emphasizes the importance of avoiding big innings, throwing first-pitch strikes and pitching inside.
so unproductive, some of the veteran players openly questioned why he kept playing.
The Pirates don’t believe former first-round draft pick Walker, a third baseman, is ready despite his 16 homers and 80 RBIs in Triple-A, but they must be wondering how much worse he could do than LaRoche.
-How many relievers must they add? The bullpen doubled as a season-long tryout camp, and it isn’t likely to stabilize until there is more quality than quantity.
-Who plays shortstop if Wilson goes? The Pirates found out how thin they are there when Wilson missed more than one-third of the season with injuries.
-Can they start the season with both McCutchen and the raw Nyjer Morgan in their outfield? Morgan has had two successive strong Septembers in the majors, but doesn’t hit for power. Neither does McCutchen, although the Pirates expect him to hit more than the nine homers he had at Triple-A Indianapolis.
Given their rapid need for improvement, the Pirates probably can’t afford the luxury of two corner outfielders with little or marginal power.
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