Battling Bucs : The Pirates Paradox

Everyone is quick to blame the Pirates struggles on something. The rotation stinks, the bullpen is awful, the bats aren't doing enough, etc but is any of this actually true. Is a certain aspect of this team really performing that much worse than what should have been expected of them? My initial reaction was yes but then I took a step back and while I did notice something it wasn't what some might expect.
The Bullpen
Melancon's blown save has the most recent blame falling on the bullpen. The talk is now is that this is a subpar unit but the numbers really don't back that up. Below are the ERA/FIP for each of the Pirates 7 primary relievers thus far this season.
Gomez: 4.09/5.87
Watson: 1.42/1.94
Melancon: 2.37/2.67
Morris: 3.31/4.87
Wilson: 2.93/2.38
Pimentel: 3.18/4.15
Hughes: 2.70/3.80
Watson, Melancon and Wilson are continuing to build off of last year and post great numbers. Melancon's performance is certainly a step back from last year but Melancon was barely human last year so no big surprise. The threesome is pitching very well. The rest of the bullpen hasn't been pitching as well but they all have been at least by their FIP posting somewhat lucky results. Gomez is what he is a solid dependable long man who is going to allow some runs. Pimentel is a young pitcher still in need of work who probably only made the team due to his lack of options but even so he has held his own. Hughes has done nice work as the 8th reliever. That leaves us with Morris who is once again posting decent numbers despite poor peripherals. More was expected of him but he really hasn't been bad.
Noticeably absent from the above list is Jason Grilli. The start of his 2014 season wasn't great but then again we are talking about a measly 8 innings some of which he presumably pitched while hurting. Yu can mention him with the disappointments but you can't pin a lot on him due to his sheer lack of innings pitched.
The Rotation
I'm going to list the 5 primary starters just like I did the bullpen arms but here I will include ERA/FIP/xFIP
Liriano: 4.25/3.84/3.52
Cole: 3.76/3.95/3.49
Morton: 3.22/4.13/4.24
Volquez: 4.57/4.64/4.37
Rodriguez: 6.84/7.02/4.11
Liriano and Cole haven't been quite the work horses the Pirates and fans had hoped they would be but that isn't to say they have pitched poorly either. Both players are off to decent starts even if they haven't quite met top of the rotation standards. Morton has rarely looked sharp but he is getting good results with the best ERA on the staff and is showing himself a fine middle of the rotation arm. Volquez is pretty much doing what the Pirates brought him in to do and that is pitch none horribly and hold down a back of the rotation spot. Rodriguez certainly hasn't been good but has been the victim of an absurd amount of home runs. No pitcher capable of throwing a competent inning here or there in the majors is going to see one quarter of the fly balls he allows go for home runs. His home runs allowed will come down and as his xFIP suggests once that happens he'll be a decent starter.
The staff has been a bit weak but in reality the group is largely doing alright. Maybe they all are a step below what the general thought of what they would be but as a unit they have held their own.
Hitting
Fans in general like to blame the Pirates lack of hitting when the team struggles. It is an easy excuse but it isn't an accurate one. The general fan still seems view the game in steroid era terms. The truth of the matter is this Pirates offense is a respectable one. The Pirates non pitchers have a wRC+ of 104 making them the 5th best offense in the National League. On an individual level the Pirates hitters have the following wRC+
McCutchen: 159
Walker; 128
Alvarez: 101
Marte: 96
Mercer: 47
Tabata: 78
Snider: 88
Davis: 127
G Sanchez: 159
Martin: 103
T Sanchez: 79
Harrison: 126
Barmes: 42
Ishikawa: 77
Stewart: 47
As a whole that seems like a pretty solid performance. There are certainly disappointments but there are some real surprises as well. At the catcher position martin has remained around a league average hitter while his backups have performed a bit worse than expected. Tony Sanchez has been making good contact but has shown little power or willingness to take a walk both of which are strange and may just be a sample size issue. Stewart has been bad even for a defensive specialist as they should at least have a wRC+ in the 60 range. First base has been an unexpected success as Gaby has been hitting the ball well and Davis despite showing little power has been an OBP machine (Ishikawa did what you would expect him too in his time here).
Walker at second base is off to a great start and may be on his own to his best season to date. Mercer has looked bad at the plate at times but has shown recent signs of coming around. Barmes continues to slip offensively and is pretty soon going to reach a point where his bat won't even play as a defensive oriented utility player. Alvarez has been a bit of a disappointment showing a bit less power but more plate discipline. His BABIP also indicates he has been unlucky. Harrison has had a nice start to his year although he is miscast as an OF and should remain as the offensive minded utility infielder.
In the outfield McCutchen has continued being McCutchen and Marte had a prolonged slump but was coming out of it before his injury. That leaves right field where Snider has pretty much hit as he should have been expected to while Tabata has struggled. Not making excuses for Tabata but it appeared all offseason he was going to get a chance at regular at bats only for that to be pushed aside for Snider and Harrison so far during the year.
So Tabata, Mercer, Marte and Alvarez have all been disappointments to some degree or another but 1B and Walker have been huge pluses for the team. The bats overall have been doing a good job. A big complaint with the team last year was its lack of "clutch" hitting but so far this year they seemed to have solved that mysterious ailment as the non pitchers are hitting .251/.352/.384 in RISP situations good enough for a 107 wRC+ and the 6th best mark in the NL.
Neither the pitching nor the hitting has been as good as they could have been and the failures of both has certainly contributed to the team's poor performance but as a whole I don't think we can easily blame the team's poor first quarter on anyone player, position or unit. Just looking at these numbers I would say this has the look of a team that should be about .500. If this is true which I have every reason to suspect it is something else must be at play here and if we have already looked at pitching and hitting that really only leaves one last component.
Fielding
Last year the Pirates team succeeded largely based on its solid defense so it makes sense if the team is underperforming a large culprit could be the defense not being nearly as well and it appears the numbers bear that out. This isn't to say the whole unit is performing poorly but a large section of it is.
The Pirates are receiving an overall good performance from their catchers as the advanced numbers see Martin and Stewart both as plus defenders and Sanchez as about an average one. Mercer whose defense was usually questioned has performed quite well and has been a bit above average at the position while his backup Clint Barmes known for his defense has been merely around average there. The other strong performance has come from Starling Marte in left field as he has once again been excellent.
Aside from those four players (Martin, Stewart, Mercer and Marte) the Pirates defense around the field has been at best average and at worst awful. Ike Davis and Gaby Sanchez both known as quality fielders at 1B have both been performing quite poorly thus far this season. Walker who had turned himself into a league average or better second baseman has been awful thus far according to the advance metrics. Alvarez who was coming off a quality defensive season in 2013 has reverted back to being his usual self at 3B. McCutchen's whose play in the field is usually overrated has been a fairly average fielder. In right field both Snider and Tabata grade out fairly poorly but surprisingly in a very small sample Harrison shows himself to be decent.
In my opinion it is the Pirates defense that should thus far hold the largest part of the blame for the Pirates poor first quarter of the season. The pitching and hitting while they haven't been what they need to be are being portrayed as units performing far worse than what they are in reality. Meanwhile the Pirates defense an integral part to the team's success last year has been an oft overlooked unit that is quite possibly costing the Pirates more than either of the tow "big" areas.