Things I Think I Think

1. I think the Pirates have a great chance to do better in 2013 than they did in 2012. We have already equaled the number of wins at 79 with 27 games left to play.
2. I think the Pirates will run the table in 2013 by having a winning record in every month of the regular season. April, May, June, July, and August are already in the bag, with only September remaining.
3. I think the Pirates need to play .500 in September to lock up at least the first Wild Card berth which gets them home field. 9 wins of the remaining 27 will get us to 88 wins and that, IMO, will lock us into the playoffs. A .500 record will get us to 93 wins and that, IMO, will mean the NL Central Pennant or the first Wild Card.
4. I think this has been the best example of taking advantage of a deep roster of 25-30 player/pitchers. The first half of the season was dependent on the pitching of Jeff Locke, Francisco Liriano, Jennmar Gomez, Jason Grilli, and Mark Melancon. Since the AS Break it has been Liriano, Charlie Morton, and AJ Burnett, and to a lesser degree, Gerrit Cole. And, getting good starts from Brandon Cumpton. We lose pitchers to the DL and other guys step up - great depth already, and the real depth is just starting to get to AA/AAA.
5. Coonelly and NH handled the various trading deadlines as well as any in the game. Nobody knew who they wanted and what they were willing to offer, and that "take-it-or-leave-it" demeanor is exactly what you must have in negotiations.
6. I think the guys the Pirates have secured for the stretch - Byrd, Buck, and Morneau are "team-first" guys who could end up staying in the future - probably one or two of them.
7. I think we can start to pencil in Gregory Polanco and Jameson Taillon for June 2013; this is not an option - the way our contracts are structured with the current SP's, we need to have these young guys in the Rotation in 2014.
8. I think the Pirates need to approach Russell Martin about an extension - he is the glue. Same for Neil Walker - he gives us that switchhitter option for the Manager, and he has always been a steady glove at 2B. I might also consider AJ Burnett.