Pirates pitching future looks very bright

[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by Calzone Lord

He's not platooning with him. Mercer is now the everyday starter.

Barmes lost the job. His defense was outstanding. He was robbing people of hits and making great plays every other game. He is just terrible with the bat.

I suppose it's a relative thing ... but I'm not worried at all about shortstop and I don't think the team is either.

The team has been a lot more successful since benching Barmes, but I still feel very good about having him.

Gabby Sanchez and Garrett Jones are both terrific defensive 1B's ... and they are a perfect platoon, because Gabby only hits left-handed pitching well and Jones is great against right-handed pitching but useless against lefties.

All this team needs is a good Right-handed bat in RF. The team is 8-0 when Jenmar Gomez starts games. He's just 25 years-old, he has a .276 ERA, a .114 WHIP, he pitched 5 innings of no hit-ball in his final AAA rehab start, and pitched very well today ... yet he's out of the starting rotation and headed back to the bullpen when Wandy and A. J. Burnett get back into the rotation.

The bullpen is unbelievable. I can see why AAA Indianapolis has been the best minor league team in baseball over the last few years.

This is not even close to the same team as last year. Last year, McCutchen, A. J Burnett, Walker and the bullpen were carrying the team by themselves for a long time. Those three guys have all been banged up this year, especially the latter two, and they've played below expectations.

This team got a monumental upgrade at catcher in Russell Martin. Liriano has been a nice addition to the starting rotation. And Melancon has been sensational in the bullpen. But, it's the youth movement that has made all the difference.

The problem is that most of the pitchers have exceeded what their norms would be and the team is still near the bottom of the league in offense.

Liriano isn't likely to make it through the season with a 2.30 ERA
Gomez is really unlikely to continue at his current pace
Locke is unlikely to continue at this pace
Burnett is 36 and hurt again
Wandy Rodriguez is hurt but is the only SP on the team not having a career year at this point.
Bryan Morris, Melancon, Grilli, Wilson all having career years or have stats that are exceeding their minor league numbers

The pitching coach obviously is doing a great job and the park factors help but it is unlikely that they all will continue to perform at the current level.

They are gonna have to add some bats to the lineup or they will just be the Oakland A's of the NL. Make the playoffs with young, cheap guys and castoff vets but get wiped out in the playoffs when they have to face the other teams best pitchers only. Understandably making the playoffs for a team that hasn't in 20 years is a huge deal but hopefully management doesnt make the mistake in thinking that this team as currently constructed can make any noise in the playoffs without an extreme amount of good fortune. Not hating on your team but it would be nice if they had a single guy hitting .300 or more than one with more than 8 HR's heading into July.