Preview and Prediction

The 2012 season starts today!!!!

The Pirates start the season  with what I have to admit is a bit of a disappointing line up.  But, this is largely because I am a huge Jordy Mercer fan.  I think he should have a shot, and his spot as the infield back up was taken by a suspect trade for an older Short Stop, who will sit the bench.  I don't have that big a problem with Josh Harrison making the club.  He puts the ball in play and plays with energy.  I hope he does not lose his spot when Brandon Inge comes off the DL.  The Pirates have to start trusting their farm system.

The real concern for the Pirates is the bench.  There is not a big time power threat on the bench unless you count Gaby Sanchez.  Snider and Tabata have potential, but also give you more reason to think they are going to fail than succeed.

The line up should be improved.  Marte's performance will go a long way to how well the Pirates do this year.  They need his bat.  Martin should be a big improvement at catcher.  I also think we will get a slightly better year from Alvarez.  I know I am going against stats projections here, but I think his average comes up a bit this year.  Not a lot, but enough.  Walker really needs to avoid an injury for us to stay in contention this year.  Top to bottom this is a better offensive team in the starting line up.

The Rotation does not worry me as much because it will be totally different by mid June.  Karstens and Morton will be back in June and around that time will be when Cole can be called up.  Burrnett and Rodreguiz are solid 1 and 2, and hopefully James McDonald can put together a full season with some strike outs.  Plus, Locke is ready in my opinion.

The bullpen is also not a big concern to me.  We have plenty of depth in the minors and I think Grilli will be fine as a closer.  In the end, we may not have as dominate a bullpen, but I think it will be fine.

I do think (again) that this is the year we break the curse.  I am going to go with 88-74.  This will only get us a Wild Card birth in my opinion.

Here are my picks for the year:
AL East - Toronto
AL Central - Detroit
AL West - Oakland
Wild Cards - Tampa Bay and LA Angels

NL East - Washington
NL Central - Cincy
NL West - Dodgers
Wild Cards - Giants and Pirates

I am going to go ahead and pick the Blue Jays to win the Series over the Nationals.

It should be an exciting year.