Offseason Review: Pittsburgh Pirates

The past few years, the Pirates have started their seasons with such tenacity that even the slothiest, drunken Milwaukee homer has had to concede that they don't look like the pitiful and hapless bunch of dopes they were only a few years ago. In 2012 they took the first place slot in the NL Central and took everyones attention as a potentially very exciting dark horse candidate. Then July happened and everything fell apart. The mix of young undeveloped talent and very, very veteran presence couldn't sustain themselves, and the Pirates plummeted in to their twentieth consecutive losing season. This motif is getting very old for Pittsburgh fans.

Manager Clint Hurdle's face basically says it all.

The way Pirates GM Neal Huntington has responded to this record of prolonged failure is a little perplexing to me.  The only legitimate gold that his draft board has yielded that's been an impactful big league presence is Andrew McCutcheon. There are a few good-ish players (Neil Walker, maybe Pedro Alvarez) who could contribute to a solid run, but they are weighed down by a massive body of mediocrity. Walker hitting slightly above average isn't going to matter if Michael McHenry or Garrett Jones is expected to knock him in. This puts Huntington in an extremely awkward, difficult-to-apply-blame-to position.  Building the right chemistry between young and developing talent and influential veteran presence in an environment where losing is becoming an inexcusably tired theme is a frustrating and extremely difficult one, especially when you're given extreme budgetary constraints.

New Pirates catcher Russell Martin,
PIRATED from the Yankees. Har har.

Sadly, it looks like the Bucs strategy isn't going to shift too far off course from 2012 to 2013. The tactic of adding old, former Yankees who are past their prime has repeated itself in the signing of backstop Russell Martin.  Martin signed a 2 year $17MM contract after posting a pretty modest .211/.311/.403 line last year in the Bronx. The signing caused a little bit of commotion in the world, not because it was particularly intelligent per se, but because the Pirates outbid the Yankees for a player. Martin does figure to be an upgrade over Rod Barajas, but to what end?  Replacing one mediocre, aging backstop with a slightly better but much more expensive one enhance a team like the Pirates in to competitive relevance.

Notorious bathroom slipper, Francisco Liriano

Russell Martin may not be the only major signing by the Bucs. The signing of Francisco Liriano was all but official until the requisite physical necessary for completing a player's signing revealed a broken arm. Apparently Liriano damaged his non-throwing arm in a "bathroom fall", an injury claim as vague as it is suspiciously silly. Whether or not the injury happened by it's claimed cause doesn't matter, the alleged bathroom tumble has gummed up the works quite a bit. As of tonight, Liriano is still officially a free agent, but the latest reports suggest that he has agreed to a newly worded contract containing "protective language" ala Mike Napoli's new deal with Boston. What does it mean though? Adding a pitcher who hasn't posted an ERA under 5.00 in two seasons doesn't bode well for the fragile Pittsburgh roster.

The two things I've seen make sense out of the Pirates front office are the trading of Joel Hanrahan and the re-signing of Jason Grilli. Grilli will be a fine stopgap closer and ultimately a decent trade chip if the  Pirates do what I expect, which is implode again and again for a few more years until the talent they still have in the minors continues to develop. Their isn't really anyone to blame for this, and Pirates fans owe it to their General Manager to be patient for a few more years. Losing has been such a constant for the Pirates that Neal Huntington couldn't help but inherit a losing team. Trading their all-star closer is a conscientious move proving that an attempt is being made, despite limited resources, to right the ship in Pittsburgh.

Pirates prospect Jameson Taillon

The other moves have been or minuscule importance. Trading Chris Resop for Zach Thornton and signing Brad Hawpe isn't going to bring a ring to PNC Park. The Pirates won't taste victory in the NL Central as long as the Cardinals and Brewers are relatively competent and the Reds are in powerhouse mode. All pessimism aside, their farm system provides things to be optimistic about.  Players like Jameson Taillon and Gerrit Cole will be major league ready while Andrew McCutchen is still an elite player, and when that time comes, the Pirates will be a force.

Offseason Review: The Milwaukee Brewers

Going in to the 2012 season the Milwaukee Brewers were expected to viable contenders to repeat as NL Central Champions. There was a lot of concern as to how things would flow without Prince Fielder  holding down first base; but with Braun, Hart, Weeks, an emerging Lucroy and the addition of slugging third baseman Aramis Ramirez, offense wasn't too much of a worry. It was also easy to look at the Crew's bullpen as a major advantage given John Axford's lights out performance in 2011 and a returning Francisco Rodriguez. With the starting rotation the same as it was the year prior, it would basically take a major meltdown for the Brewers to not be serious contenders in their division. That's exactly what happened.

Rickie Weeks, an all-star in 2011, started the season in a slump that carried through almost the entire season. Randy Wolf performed with a degree of mediocrity that saw his release near season's end. The bullpen absolutely erupted, posting an MLB worst 4.66 ERA and 29 blown saves. Axford temporarily lost his closing role to Jim Henderson. K-Rod's heyday looked like a distant memory as well, proving to be absolutely hittable, posting career worst 4.38 ERA. The Crew did have a late season surge of relative competence but it proved too little too late, and they lost their Wild Card hopes to their nemesis Cardinals.

LHP Tom Gorzelanny with his pitching face

It would seem obvious given the Brewers absolutely blundering 2012 that a drastic overhaul would be in order. Things seemed headed that way, as the Brewers made the moves to non-tender or release a huge chunk of their bullpen. Kameron Loe, Manny Parra, Tim Dillard,  and Francisco Rodriguez are all relievers who are going to be wearing different uniforms next season. Taking their place will be former Washington Nationals LHP's Mike Gonzalez and Tom Gorzelanny, and sinkerballer Burke Badenhop who was acquired from the Rays for prospect Raul Mondesi Jr. All of these moves make a lot of sense for the Brewers. Gorzelanny is effectively Manny Parra with way higher pitchability, and the same could be same of Badenhop as a more effective Loe. Mike Gonzalez has closing experience and fits in as a set up man, back up for Axford if he breaks down again, and is generally a decent veteran arm.

The bullpen overhaul is essentially complete, so problem solved, right? Not even close. After 2012 saw the release of Randy Wolf, trading of Zack Greinke and free agency of Shaun Marcum, the Brewers starting rotation was stripped. The only definite starter left is Yovani Gallardo, followed by a slew of young talent competing for various slots. Also indefinite and by no means complete is the Brewers' bench. It could be said that this type of inaction is a reasonable way to cut down on spending that hasn't resulted in a championship, but it could also be said that the Brewers front office is behaving like they completely oblivious to the fact that they have a window of potential right now that isn't getting the support it needs to stay propped open. I abide by the latter notion.

Is the untested Michael Fiers up for the challenge
of a full year in the bigs? 

Ryan Braun is maybe the best all around outfielder in baseball right now. The 2011 MVP has several good years in front of him, but his contributions as an elite five-tool player have a logical deadline. Why Doug Melvin is wasting any of his years putting anything besides the best possible team together and building it around Braun is completely beyond me.  It wouldn't have broken the bank to sign a pitcher like Dan Haren just in case Mark Rogers does what he always does and gets injured. It wouldn't have sank the team to sign Sean Burnett or Koji Uehara in case the bullpen's ailments weren't a fluke last year. Now that Corey Hart is injured Mat Gamel is going to get another chance as a full time first basemen for the Crew, but he missed almost all of last year with a serious knee injury, you'd some depth there may be worth looking in to.

Just because Milwaukee's pen was the biggest problem Milwaukee faced last year doesn't mean that it's the only hole they should fill. I know that there are constraints that come with being a middle market team and that you can't acquire every major talent free agent that comes around, but that's not what it would take to make the Brewers viable contenders in 2013. The Brewers are probably going to be good, but extremely fragile. If one young arm gets injured or under-performs, what are they going to do to replace them? Given Milwaukee's pretty modest depth the only resource they could have tapped in to enhance their armory is the free agent market, and every signing that goes elsewhere makes that pool a little thinner.

GM Doug Melvin's Ron Swanson lookin' ass.

I think it's going to be the lack of depth that pushes the Brewers out of contention in 2013. Milwaukee is a really good team, but a really thin and inexperienced team with a lot that can go wrong. Their is a minute chance that absolutely everyone stays healthy, something I've never seen from any team ever, and they eek their way in to a wild card spot. There is a much much much much greater chance that the Brewers experiment with a rotation built almost entirely on inexperience and a limited bench proves futile, the Crew loses a whole bunch of games in frustrating fashion, and a rebuilding era is reigned in prematurely in Miller Park. I think the Brewers finish with a similar record as they did last year and miss the play offs again.

Offseason Review: The Cincinnati Reds

The Reds new leadoff man Shin-Soo Choo

The best team in the NL Central, and most underrated team in baseball, got a whole lot more dangerous this offseason. After winning 97 games and dominating their division last year, Cincinnati decided to further thicken their armor with some smart trades and free agent acquisitions. Shin Soo Choo (who also epitomizes "underrated") was an excellent lead off hitter for the Indians, and will now be wearing Ohio's other colors in Cincinnati. The brutal bullpen was maintained with the signing of Broxton and extension of Logan Ondrusek. The oft-injusted and soon-to-be retired Scott Rolen was replaced at the hot corner by another former Indian, Jack Hannahan. Moves like this combined with the implicit threat of players like Brandon Phillips, Joey Votto and Johnny Cueto almost ensure another dominant year by Cincinnati, but it's my opinion that fickle management may disrupt some of this seemingly ensured success.

It's always been my opinion that what isn't broken shouldn't be fixed, and while that tired platitude may seem obvious, it isn't always honored in baseball. Young closer Neftali Feliz won rookie of the year in 2010 and took the Rangers in to the World Series. The Rangers repeated this feat in the following year and had the Cardinals all the way down to their last strike, before they miraculously rallied and ended up winning the next two games to take the ring. Following that year, Feliz was put in to the starting rotation after the Rangers signed veteran closer Joe Nathan. His first appearance as a starter was nasty, seven shut out innings against the Mariners. So what's the problem? His stint in that rotation didn't last very long because he blew out his elbow and needed Tommy John surgery.

CLOSER Aroldis Chapman. Not starter Aroldis Chapman.
CLOSER Aroldis Chapman

It might seem weird that an article about the Reds would have an entire paragraph focusing on the Rangers former closer, but Cincinnati is considering enacting the same totally fucking asinine transition for Aroldis Chapman. Chapman is a rare talent, combining brutal speed with ever improving control. Last year after Sean Marshall struggled in the closer role, Chapman came in and just SLAUGHTERED competition. In July he recorded 13 consecutive saves without allowing a run, and ended 2012 with 1.51 ERA having completed 38 saves in 43 opportunities. The reason he has that success is because he's a natural closer. He's deceptive, he throws with extreme power and he has the requisite confidence to shut down games. What he doesn't have is the build or delivery to be an enduring, excellent starter. Excellent closing mechanics and top of the rotation starting pitching are mutually exclusive ideas, and it would be in Cincinnati's best interest to acknowledge that.

If Cincinnati can resist the urge to experiment with their brutal bullpen, they will be a vicious team to deal with. Their starting rotation from top to bottom should be pretty damn good. Their offense is an absolute recipe for domination. My basic assessment is that Walt Jocketty is too intelligent, and Dusty Baker is too experienced to do something that stupid, but only time will prove me right. If everyone stays healthy, the Reds win 100 games this season.

EDIT: I forgot to mention Billy Hamilton is going to be brought up this year and win Rookie Of The Year and steal like 45 bases. It's gonna be wild.

Offseason Review: Chicago Cubs

Who did you really expect to see here? David DeJesus?

For a team that is in need of gradual and patient change, the Cubs sure made some drastic moves to get the ball rolling in that direction. On October 12th, 2011, just after the collapse that terminated the Red Sox season came to it's merciful end, Theo Epstein was granted his release by Boston and signed a five-year $18.5 million dollar contract with the Cubs. The replacement of longtime GM Jim Hendry with the refreshing, young and already highly decorated Epstein was heralded as a very welcome change by many Cubs fans. So does what does the infancy of the Epstein era mean for the North side of Chicago?

The Brewers' Outfield Situation

After the integrity of the case against Braun disintegrated, the Brewer's were gifted with the security of having last years NL MVP back on the team for a full season. Transitively they were given another immovable component to their outfield. Last year the Brewers outfield was primarily occupied by Hart in right, Braun in left and Gomez and Morgan platooning center. The signings of Norichika Aoki and Corey Patterson, and the emergence of Logan Schafer and Caleb Gindl as legitimate players give the Brewers a healthy surplus of competent outfield talent.

Exonerated

MVP

I tried to come up with some dignified sounding introductory sentence to this post but it's not happening, so I'm just going to be inflammatory. This fucking rules.