Scary, scary thought! Bixler makes Mark Reynolds look like a player with exceptional plate discipline!

It is interesting that for all of the trades, we won’t look a whole lot better in 2010 than we would have w/o the trades. BUT we should start to look better in 2011!

But I think the team will be much improved next year. The starting rotation is at least average. In fact, it could be good.

The bullpen has to be better next year. Veal will be at AAA. Hanrahan is a solid 8th inning guy. Capps can’t be that terrible again, can he?

The Pirates are at least average at catcher. An infield of Jones, LaRoche, Cedeno and probably Walker at third isn’t terrible. It’s average defensively with some potential offensively. The outfield starts with Milledge and Cutch. This is where a smart free agent signing or trade could make all the difference. You need a solid bat for RF.

But it’s at least a young team with upside. I’m actually more optimistic about the team than I’ve been in 10 years.

Moreover, if Walker shows he can play, he’ll got to the OF when Alvarez comes up.

that was our team. I imagine though, that if Dave Littlefield was still our GM, somone would have shot him after this year.

they need to just release him.

This look at what-could-have-been shows that standing still would have made them even further away from contention. There are enough plusses on the roster that would make people think they were close to contention (great outfield, a couple of decent starting pitchers), when in reality, they aren’t even close.
It is evident that NH is targeting former first rounders who teams have either given up on, or get frustrated with, such as Thrilledge, Clement, and Hansen. These moves have a lot of high-risk, high-reward in them, but its refreshing to see the Buccos try to target potential talent for once. Any other possibilities you can think of from other systems? The only one I can think of, and he doesn’t make much sense for the Buccos, is BJ Upton.