The Pittsburgh Pirates, as woeful as they are in most other phases of the game, had the best starting outfield in the majors last season in Xavier Nady, Nate McLouth, and Jason Bay.  And yet, despite dealing away all three of those players as well as defensive genius Nyjer Morgan in the span of less than one year’s time, the Pirates have not missed a beat.

Their new outfield seems nearly as good as before so far, with Garret Jones providing big-time power in left, Andrew McCutchen merchandising speed and defense in center, and Delwyn Young providing a .300 batting average and high OBP in right.  Their OPS’s, respectively, are 1.118, .801, and .793 so far.

While this new trio is not quite as good as Nady/McLouth/Bay just yet, these three players are younger, and all three still have some upside left to go.  I’m not sure if that upside will all pan out and necessarily translate into stardom for these guys, but it is pretty impressive how the Pirates keep churning out this sort of top-shelf outfield talent.

Now if only they had actually gotten more in return for trading away four of the better outfielders in the game…

The Pirates have gotten off to a good start this year, largely thanks to the entire starting rotation hitting the ground running right out of the gate (starters’ ERA: 3.12).

The offense however, still needs some work.  Hard-hitting catcher Ryan Doumit is going to be out for a while following wrist surgery, and several other hitters, notably 3B Andy LaRoche and SS Jack Wilson, are battling through early season struggles at the plate.

But if the Pirates want to take advantage of a surprising young pitching staff, they are going to need to find a way to sneak some better bats into the lineup.  It’s probably too early to give up on Wilson and LaRoche, but there is one glaring hole with an obvious in-house solution: rightfielder Brandon Moss (.597 OPS)

It amazes me that the Pirates still think Brandon Moss can hit in the major leagues.  Nothing about his minor league record even remotely suggests that he will put up anywhere near the numbers expected of a corner outfielder in the big leagues.

Which means it’s time to dump Moss and bring up Andrew McCutchen, who is posting a .985 OPS at triple-A Indianapolis.

McCutchen, long touted as a top prospect, has seen his star fall a bit of late due to scouts’ disappointment with his failure to develop the power they expected of him.  But McCutchen is still only 22 (compared to Moss’s 25), and still has time to develop some power.

Meanwhile, he has already shown some other useful tools, such as a good batting eye, gap power, 30+ stolen base speed, and plus defense in the outfield.

Granted the Pirates could really use another power hitter in their outfield rather than another speedy gap hitter (another team that should have signed Adam Dunn), but in the meantime there is no excuse to keep running a Brandon Moss out there when they have a major-league ready, vastly superior option like McCutchen languishing in AAA.

I didn’t expect the Pittsburgh Pirates to improve a great deal during the offseason. I didn’t think they would sign any players to lucrative deals, and never counted on them to entertain me by making any blockbuster trades. If you did… well… wanna invest in my magic bean business?

In my mind, the best thing that the Pirates have done so far this winter is announce that Andy Laroche will be their starting third baseman. This is a sign that the Pittsburgh front office understands that if they are to have any chance of competing within the next few years, prospects like Laroche (who looks like the lovechild of David Wright and Luke Wilson) need to be a big part of the equation.

Just two years ago the younger brother of 1B Adam Laroche was ranked #1 by Baseball America, ahead of notables like Clayton Kershaw and James Loney. But due to injuries, Laroche’s stock has sunk considerably over this short span of time to the point where he’s almost forgotten. Rereading the John Heyman article regarding the Manny-Bay trade in July that brought Andy to Pittsburgh, the guy is treated like a throw-in.

No one can doubt that Andy’s career hasn’t exactly been sparkling thus far. He has a career OPS+ of 49 over 367 PAs. But it’s far too soon to give up on him as a potentially solid big leaguer. And the Pirates are one of the few teams who can give guys like him a shot without much consequence.

And I know that this sounds like a backhanded compliment, but the best thing the organization has going right now is roster flexibility. Aside from Jack Wilson, the team doesn’t have much in terms of stupid contracts, which allows them to provide playing time for their prospects in the coming years.

Currently, their top prospect (depending on who you ask) is Pedro Alvarez, who could become a monster offensively, but reviews on him are mixed. The former #1 pick arrived in mini-camp… well… not-so-mini. And I hardly ever hear anything about the guy without also hearing something akin to “if he gets his priorities straight…” He’s listed as a 3B but his future is more likely to be at a less demanding position.

Jose Tabata is another intriguing prospect who could become a very good player, but is known to be moody and is still a couple of years away from contributing in the Pirates outfield.

Then there’s of course, Andrew McCutchen, an outfielder whose stock has also fallen a bit of late. He used to be regarded as a five-tool prospect but his power is yet to arrive, leaving scouts to wonder if it ever will. However, he’s still very young and his glove and patience are already MLB-ready. He’s expected to be a better defensive CFer than Nate McLouth, but that’s kind of setting the bar low. They can certainly put him in the corners in 2009, but his lack of power decreases his value there.

So what this leaves us with at the moment is a team full of mediocre veterans. “Gold Glove” winner McLouth will “lead” this “team” in 2009 once more (I clearly need to stop reading Zagat’s guides).  The Laroche Bros. will man the infield corners, while the combo of Freddy Sanchez and Jack Wilson should compete with the San Diego Padres’ double play duo to be crowned “worst starting middle infielders in baseball”. Their OF is in a state of flux aside from McLouth as I just refuse to believe that any team will dare start Brandon Moss and Nyjer Morgan at the corner spots when everyone is healthy. Perhaps their “big” winter pick up, Craig Monroe will fill one of those spots and/or they will decide that McCutchen deserves the gig. But as of now, the only above average player the team has is catcher Ryan “Why Are My Pupils Always Dilated” Doumit. However, Doumit’s going to be on the downside of his career by the time the Pirates will be able to even sniff contention. Anyone want a cheap, offensively talented catcher in exchange for pitching prospects?

Offseason Transactions:

Add: Craig Monroe, Jason Jaromillo, Ramon Vazquez, Jeremy Powell, Jeff Salazar, Andy Phillips, Brian Slocum

Lost: Doug Mientkiewicz, Ronny Paulino, Jason Michaels, Luis Rivas, John Van Benschoten, Raul Chavez

Projected Lineup:

LF – Nyjer Morgan/Andrew McCutchen
2B – Freddy Sanchez
CF – Nate McLouth
C – Ryan Doumit
1B – Adam Laroche
3B – Andy Laroche
RF – Brandon Moss/Craig Monroe
SS – Jack Wilson

Pitching:

SP1 – Paul Maholm
SP2 – Zach Duke
SP3 – Ian Snell
SP4 – Ross Ohlendorf
SP5 – Tom Gorzellany/Jeff Karstens
CL – Matt Capps

The Pirates appear willing to let their kids play, which is good. They didn’t trade them away, didn’t foolishly sign any free agents to long term deals and maintained their flexibility, which is also good.  The fact that I can pat the Pirates on the back for these seemingly innocuous decisions is further evidence that Dave Littlefield was an idiot. After years of failing to even tread water, Pittsburgh appears headed on the right track. Their system still lacks top-notch prospects, but it’s not entirely barren either. If they had some promising young pitchers, they’d be in decent shape. They don’t. At least, not yet. But they’re taking baby steps.

Grade: C-

- Hot Offseason Action Index -

Averaging 4.84 runs scored per game, the Pittsburgh Pirates offense has been better than what many had expected going into 2008. In fact, their starting OF has been stellar, averaging an adjusted OPS of 138, which is tops in MLB*. You read that correctly. You could easily make the argument that the 2008 Pittsburgh Pirates have the best offensive outfield in Major League Baseball. I’m going to give you a second to let that sink in.

That’s better than Boston (Manny-Ellsbury-Drew = 127), St. Louis (Schumaker-Ankiel-Ludwick = 126), White Sox (Quentin-Swisher-Dye = 129), and even Detroit (Thames-Granderson-Maggs = 136).

Consisting of Jason Bay, Nate McLouth and Xavier Nady, each member of this Pittsburgh outfield trio have OBPs north of .350 and slug at least .510.

Which is why it’s really too bad that the Pirates are still pretty far out in the playoff hunt, 11.5 games behind the Cubs for the division lead. And the long-term outlook for the Bucs would be improved if they broke up their outfield in preparation for 2009 and beyond.

With all three players performing at such a high level, any of them should interest teams looking for an offensive boost for the stretch run. Xavier Nady is the one who will most likely get dealt, which makes sense. He’s a 29-year old in the last year of his contract. Based on his current performance this season, he’s going to get quite the raise from his $3.35MM salary. In addition, with a very strong .284/.387/.531 line and a pretty budget friendly contract ($5.75MM in ‘08, $7.5MM in ‘09), Jason Bay will most likely be among the top names we’ll be hearing about as we approach the trade deadline. There’s been word that Pittsburgh intends on keeping Bay for now, and if this is their sincere intent, then I think they’re making a mistake. Not only will the Pirates still be near the basement in 2009 with or without him, this is the perfect sell-high moment. With one more year left on his contract, teams would be more inclined to make an offer, much like the Rangers were able to do last year with Mark Teixeira.

The only one that the Pirates ought to keep for 2009 is McLouth and they ought to ink him to a long-term contract extension very soon (arbitration eligible at the end of the year), despite the fact that Pittsburgh management seems very wary of committing financially to players over the long haul. Although many small market teams have been quick to lock up their young talent in recent months, the Pirates have been late to that party. In fact, the only player on the roster with a guaranteed Major League contract two seasons from now (in 2010) is Ian Snell. To be fair, they haven’t exactly had the kind of young talent that’s really worth locking up, but I think McLouth’s bat is worth the risk.

And if Bay and/or Nady can be dealt, the Bucs have a pretty good prospect waiting in the wings named Andrew McCutchen. Currently playing for AAA-Indianapolis, McCutchen is a five-tool centerfielder whose skills at the position should allow the team to move McLouth over to left (Nate currently sports a pretty ugly .866 RZR in center). But since he’s only 21 years old, I’d understand it if the Pirates waited just a bit longer to call him up.

Now if they could only figure out this “pitching” thing, they’d be going somewhere…

*One caveat so that Rangers fans won’t jump me – on those days when Texas goes with the trio of Milton Bradley-Josh Hamilton-David Murphy, they’re better (OPS-Plus of 142). But Bradley’s mostly a DH these days (48 games at DH, 17 in OF).

- What They Need Index -