Polaroid
I need a tittle
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- Jan 21, 2010
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Pittsburgh Pirates
Next to the Cubs' World Series drought, it has to be the most overused statistic in baseball but I'll just remind everyone that the Pirates haven't had a winning season since 1992. In 1992, the Arizona Diamondbacks didn't exist and they've already won a World Series; neither did the Florida Marlins and they have won two. Questionable draft picks, equally questionable money thrown at free agent veterans and outrageously questionable trades has blighted the franchise for years although it does seem to be going in the right direction under GM Neal Huntington.
After the 2008 season, the Pirates signed Rinku Singh and Dinesh Patel as undrafted free agents and they were the first Indian players to sign a contract with a major American sports franchise. Both Singh and Patel were the top two finishers in a reality game show, ironically to find future cricket superstars, and at least gives the impression that the Pirates are thinking outside the box as all small market teams need to do. As to 2010, it's going to be another losing season. In Andrew McCutchen, last year named Baseball America Rookie of the Year and fourth in the National League ROY award, they have one of the best young players in the game but sadly they have only one of him. Until they can harvest more of him from their farm system it will be more of the same in Pittsburgh.
Cincinnati Reds
In 2010, the Reds face a problem which is common for all mid to small market teams. One one hand they have a talented group of young players, such as All Stars Jay Bruce and Joey Votto, but they aren't at the stage to usurp the the Cardinals hold on the division. But next year Reds pitchers Bronson Arroyo and Aaron Harang have options too expensive for the Reds and Scott Rolen will be 36 and more DL prone than normal and the money saved on Arroyo and Harang needs to be earmarked for when the likes of Bruce and Votto become eligible for arbitration. At least there is one positive note they're not the Pirates.
Milwaukee Brewers
Things are looking good in Brewer nation albeit as good as a team like Milwaukee can be. Although there's always the disadvantage of playing in baseball's only six team division there's the advantage that it's nowhere near the strongest division. A little bit of positive variance on their young side can give the Cardinals some competition and/or provide enough wins to challenge for the Wild Card.
Ryan Braun, Alcides Escobar, Prince Fielder and Yovani Gallardo are all first class young talent and can keep the Brewers competitive for the next couple of years. The eternal problem for the smaller market franchise is keeping hold of that talent which will be an issue for the Brewers after the 2011 season when Prince Fielder becomes a free agent interestingly enough the same time when San Diego first baseman Adrian Gonzalez is eligible which can only reduce Fielders trade value for the Brewers especially since the Yankees will be out of the auction. But for this season signing free agent Randy Wolf is a distinct upgrade from Brandon Looper, Rickie Weeks is back after missing all but six weeks of 2009 and anyone is an upgrade from catcher Jason Kendall who hit for 0.244 (with a MLB low 0.305 SLG in 2009) during his two year contract.
Houston Astros
And whereby things are looking good in Milwaukee, things are not sitting so pretty in Houston. It was less that 5 years ago since the Astros won their first NL Pennant before losing out to the White Sox in the World Series but fast forward to 2010 and things are not looking as rosy. The main problem is the age of the squad and, more specifically, signing non-impact veteran players to large value contracts. With this in mind, who did the Astros sign in the offseason? Brett Myers (1 year, $5.1 million), third baseman Pedro Feliz (1 year, $4.5 million) and reliever Brandon Lyon (3 years, $15 million). I bet they did their best to try and coax Roger Clemens out of retirement as well.
Again, I think the PECOTA crack pipe must have been put to good use if someone thinks Houston will be battling for 2nd place in the division when the only fight the market can forsee is battling with the Pirates for 5th place.
Chicago Cubs
Thinking about it, the Cubs position is a lot like the Astros with old players and big contracts and not enough young impact players to make the jump from division also rans to division contenders. The key difference is that Chicago ($140 million 2010 payroll) have a lot more money to waste I mean spend - than Houston (~$90 million). With no notable upgrades to the North Side of Chicago (although shipping off Milton Bradley to Seattle no doubt improves the team) there looks little chance of the Cubs repeating their 2007 and 2008 NL Central Division titles although they should be on the heels of the Cardinals for most of the season.
St Louis Cardinals
In common with the rest of the NL Central, there were no major upgrades in St. Louis but coming off a 91 win season and winning the division by 7.5 games there wasn't that much fixing needed. When you've got the current NL MVP at first base and your 1-2 rotation finished second and third in the 2009 Cy Young vote you've got an excellent base. Signing Matt Holliday in the offseason's biggest free agent move means they have him for the full season which can only aid their W/L stats; if they can manage to get a full season out of the DL-prone Chris Carpenter (who is predicted 28 starts) then the sky is the limit.
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