Thoughts on PirateFest and the 2007 season

Last night and again today I made down it to PirateFest. Last night I only stuck around for about an hour, just long enough to get my Sanchez jersey signed and see the red ugliness the Pirates introduced as their new third uniform, which I think might be the ugliest alternate jersey in the Majors. (Check out what they're saying over at Uni Watch.) Plus, since when did red become a Pittsburgh color? I understand the Pirates were once red and blue, as were the Penguins, but they both switched for a reason. Needless to say I disapprove on a lot of levels. I loved the gold All-Star jerseys last year, why not have gone with something like this for a third jersey?



Why this instead?



I only stuck around for about an hour last night, just long enough to wait my turn in line at Freddy's autograph table. Today I went down again, this time with my brother Matthew, my college pal Adrian (recently transplanted back to Western PA from Boston) and Matthew's friend Brandon. Beforehand, we got breakfast at a place called Eggs 'N At on University Blvd in Moon. I'd definitely recommend it for portion size and overall tastiness, but not for price. A glass of milk and "eggs 'n at" (eggs, bacon, great home fries, toast and a nice-sized pancake) cost me almost $10. But you can't beat a breakfast place with a Pittsburgh theme. I'll be back there for sure.

Back to the Buccos: Despite being at PirateFest twice in the last 24 hours and the amount of thought I've given them of late, I'm really not that excited about the upcoming year, at least in terms of actually expecting to see a winning baseball team. Here are my reasons. Last season the Pirates ended with a 67-93 record. To get to 82 wins (which is 1 more win than loss on the season) is a 15-game improvement--huge, in other words. Here's a quick rundown of the off-season additions and subtractions:

Lost: Jeromy Burnitz, Joe Randa, Mike Gonzalez

Added: Adam LaRoche, Einar Diaz, Luis Matos, Jose Hernandez

In other words, we have the 2006 Pirates (end-of-the-year edition) + LaRoche. We'll miss 2006 Gonzo for sure but with DL's mad bullpen-building skills (possibly his only) I have no doubt the relief core will be fine in the hands of Salomon Torres, Matt Capps and the like. So, the question is, is the addition of LaRoche plus a year experience for all our young guys, particularly Chris Duffy, Ronny Paulino and our young pitchers (the four-headed mosnter MaDukeSnellGorzyHolm) enough to add up to 15 additional wins?

Well, when I say it that way...

A handful of teams have made a significant jump in recent years, adding 15 or 20 wins to their total, teams like the Padres, Tigers and Cardinals to name a few. The LaRoche deal was a great trade for a lot of reasons, but the bigger key to 2007 will be not how many home runs he hits into the Allegheny, but how well MaDukeSnellGorzyHolm pitch 5 out of 7 days a week--and if they do. LaRoche makes our lineup respectable, not great, but it'll be good enough, we hope, if the Fantastic Four stays healthy (this is the first and maybe the most important key, because our depth behind fifth starter Shawn Chacon is scary bad) and if they pitch, simply, better. Which they can without a doubt.

But here's what really bugs me about the Pirates (and maybe in the end this has very little to do with actually playing baseball, as these guys would definitely have me to believe), the Pirates just don't seem to care all that much about winning. I could be wrong. I've just been reading some of the reaction to Jack Wilson calling out Jose Castillo the other night on the Stan Savran Show, and it really seems to me that he's talking like a guy who is sick of losing. Today at the Q&A session, however, I got the opposite impression. I'm all about "good guys" and a good clubhouse atmosphere, which it seems like the Bucs have, but when "good guys" win you 67 games, it's not always the best thing to brag about that. Maybe that's just the Pirate PR parade getting me down, but the only thing the players said today that made me think they cared about winning baseball games and not just having a good time was when Freddy said he'd trade 10 batting championships for one World Championship.

I know this for sure: I'm definitely ready for one World Championship. Heck, I'd even take 82 wins.

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