Are the Pittsburgh Pirates Contenders or Pretenders?

baseball-wallpapers.net

I don't know if anyone read the Sweet Spot blog post on ESPN.com the other day. It was a backhanded compliment on how the wheels are due to fall off on a so far surprising Pirates season. I agreed with parts of it. The first reason was that "Andrew McCutchen is awesome" (this doesn't really explain much). To delve further, Cutch in the 6th most valuable player according to WAR, wins above replacement. McCutchen has been playing fantastic in June and we need him to continue to have a good year for the Pirates to be contenders because our offense isn't the best. Remember when McCutchen went 0-13 in the Cleveland series we were swept. The ESPN article does believe in McCutchen and thinks he can continue his superstar play. I also agree so; one reason why the Pirates are a contender is the play of McCutchen.

The second reason the Pirates are doing well according to ESPN.com was that the defense has improved dramatically from last year. I agree with this, Walker has gotten used to second base and no Pedro at third accounts for fewer errors. Also, there are more chances to make easy plays on defense for the Pirates as Morton is a great ground ball pitcher, this ultimately makes our defense look much better in statistical ratings.

I made the Morton point because the third point ESPN makes is that our starting rotation has been solid, I think this is above and beyond the reason why the Pirates are contending. Our current bats are not going to average 5 plus runs a game; it’s great when we can win with 2 or 3 runs behind a great pitching performance. Here the ESPN writer ripped the Pirates a new one. First he said, "No offense to Jeff Karstens or his family, but he’s not this good". The reasoning for Karstens not being so good is that he has let up 14 homers and 13 of them have been solo homers also he's held hitters to a .151 with runners in scoring position. I'm sorry, but I think that's great that he's held hitters to such a low average in tough situations. 

Nothing the writer wrote gave good reason why the wheels are going to fall off. Then the writer puts down Morton and says, "He’s not that good". What? I think I read an article earlier this month about how the Halladay imitation made Morton a great pitcher. Morton is struggling with arm fatigue right now and hopefully has his head on straight when he makes his return against the Nationals. But to say he's not that good dismisses his early success for a fluke which it was not.

I think the improved defense has helped the pitching and the pitching has helped the defense transitively. Pitchers like Maholm and Morton give the players easy balls to field. Additionally, improved defensive play saves the pitchers from hits.

The 4th reason was that Hanrahan is a beast (vote him for the all star game) and is perfect in save opportunities that is 23 wins. I think he'll blow a save or two (I hope not), but I think he will continue to be incredibly successful. Maybe there are secret powers in his messy goatee.

Outside of ESPN's points I think Clint Hurdle deserves great credit for working through so many injuries. We have gone through 7 catchers and are contending. Alvarez our home run threat is hurt and we are contending. Tabata is hurting now as well. If the Pirates can get healthy and Alvarez comes back swinging the bat well, we are for sure contenders.

Also, Neil Walker deserves credit as well. The man is the king of the 2-out RBI, his average is not that phenomenal but he is an All Star in my heart in that he has won us so many games in 2-out situations, as he leads NL second basemen in RBIs.

We have one more game with Toronto then we take on Washington, Houston, and Chicago (we own Chicago). Now is the chance to gain ground in our division. If the Pirates don't capitalize here things will be tough as the month after the All-Star break is tough as we face the Cards, Reds, Braves, and Phillies. But hey, we took 2/3 from the Phillies not long ago so why worry? 

The Pirates contendera, they would have been cast in the pretender category had they been swept by the strong teams from Boston and Philly. If the Pirates can compete with the best of the AL and NL, then why can't they make a push in the less talented NL Central? I'm excited to watch what happens. I'm usually counting down days until training camp starts at this point. Let's go Buccos.