2014 has come to an abrupt crashing end for the Pittsburgh Pirates. It was a great season, filled with a lot of highs and a lot of unseen accomplishments from Josh Harrison coming out of nowhere, to Russell Martin's breakout season offensively.. Edinson Volquez? Nobody saw that one. How about Starling Marte's second half performance? Unreal.
In the end, the Pittsburgh Pirates couldn't overcome a masterful pitching performance in order to advance, much like the 2013 Divisional Playoffs Series against the St.Louis Cardinals and now the collective of fans are sitting around wondering what it will take to get further into the Playoffs in 2015. What needs to be done to avoid the dreaded 1 game Wild Card and win the Division?
One thing that the Pittsburgh Pirates can do, is not have another month like they had in April 2014. The Pirates played .500-.650 ball in every month except for April where they went 9-16. Had the Pirates played .500 ball in that month, those extra 3+ wins would've given them the Division Crown. We're not talking about overachieving for a month, just playing average ball. That's how far away this team was from winning the Division.
Looking forward to 2015, the Pirates don't necessarily need to go out and get better, they need to replicate what they have going on right now and that's not always easy to foresee. For instance, here's 3 questions :
Josh Harrison : He's going to be the opening day starter at 3B in 2015. He earned that, but is he a .315 hitter with an .837 OPS? That's clearly questionable. You need to almost see a player have 2 strong seasons in a row to be certain and next year will be Josh Harrison's chance.
Russell Martin : Provided that they actually are able to resign Russ-Mart, this is a guy who hasn't come close to batting .290 since 2008. Martin saw the ball better this past season, striking out a career low, but duplicating his Offense next year is also questionable. He could easily revert back to being a .220-.250 hitter as he was for the previous 5 seasons.
Edinson Volquez : It's reasonable to assume that he won't post another 3.04 ERA. Prior to this season, his breakout season with the Cincinnati Reds in 2008, Volquez posted a 3.21 ERA. It is reasonable to suggest that he could have an ERA in the 3's again and this is all provided that the Pittsburgh Pirates resign him.
Those are 3 guys who really had breakout performances this season. Starling Marte's 2nd half performance, isn't all that surprising. The talent is there. Gregory Polanco will be a year more experienced and more hungry in 2015. We should expect to see great things from him. Pedro Alvarez moving to 1B full time should take a lot of pressure off of his shoulders to the point where we see the 2013 NL Home Run Champ, mashing another 30+ Home Runs and who knows, maybe he eclipses 40? Garrit Cole should get better. Charlie Morton will hopefully be healthy by the start of the season. Vance Worley? I could've made him the 4th question, what can we really expect from him? Consistency or receding? If they can resign Francisco Liriano or replace him with someone similar statistically, the Pittsburgh Pirates have a dangerously strong foundation.
I forgot Andrew McCutchen because He's already consistently **** good.
...and poor Jordy Mercer.. there's no way he hits .255 again next season.
Resign as many players as the Pirates can or replace them in Free Agency with equivalents (they were able to replace A.J. Burnett's production), come out of the gate playing at least average ball and this team could potentially be Division winners in 2015.
It wouldn't hurt to throw a voodoo doll under the pillow of every player on the St.Louis Cardinals roster, just for good measures, though ....
I disagree about Mercer. I think he could. Resigning Liriano is big because of how good he finished.
Welcome back Kipper.
