2007 Pirates

[Goooooo]

Here is my line-up and positions:

1. Chris Duffy CF (35 SB, .275 BA, 90 R)
2. Nate McLouth RF *bench if you they can aquire a powe hitting Right fielder (25 SB, .275 BA)
3. Freddy Sanchez 2B (.330 BA, 80 RBI, 50 2B)
4. Jason Bay LF (.300 BA, 100 RBI, 30 HR)
5. Xavier Nady 1B (.290 BA, 75 RBI, 25 HR)
6. Jose Bautista 3B (.280 BA, 50 RBI, 20 HR)
7. Jack Wilson SS (.310 BA, 30 2B)
8. Ronnie Paulino C (.310 BA, 15 HR)

Bench:

Ryan Doumit C (left handed bat!)
Jose Castillo IF (if they cannot trade him)
* FA outfielder
* Joe Randa IF (can back up 1B or 3B)

Rotation:

1. Ian Snell
2. Zack Duke
3. Shawn Chacon
4. Paul Maholm
5. Tom Gorzelanny

Pen:

Salomon Torres MR
Victor Santos MR
Demaso Marte MR
John Grabow Lefty Specialist/Setup
Matt Capps Setup
Mike Gonzalez Closer
*???? (aquisition)

[Ontarioguy]

I like your lineup and pretty much agree with it but I do have a couple of questions.

Is it worth keeping Joe Randa around as a bench player at $4 Million? I'd rather dump him for a bag of BP balls and try and accquire a new pitching arm.

Which brings me to a second question...

Where's are biggest hole on the mound? In the rotation or the pen? And as for an aquisition, what names are available this summer, realistically.

I've been so busy with work lately that I haven't had as much time as I'd like to listen to Pirate games, so I'm a little behind.:o

[Gary Gaetti for MVP]

I agree with this line-up. The only changes I could see are hopefully that they spend some money on a free agent, but I doubt that. There is also a possibility that if Rajai Davis plays well at the end of this season, and has a solid spring, he could very easily take over Duffy's spot in center. Davis posses great speed and would look great as a lead-off hitter. Although Duffy has great speed too it really doesn’t matter when you are hitting .190. Davis has 45 stolen bases in Indy this season through 100 games and is a caterer .308 hitter in the minors. But I suppose we will just have to see how things play out. Hopefully better than the '06 season.

[Goooooo]

I like your lineup and pretty much agree with it but I do have a couple of questions.

Is it worth keeping Joe Randa around as a bench player at $4 Million? I'd rather dump him for a bag of BP balls and try and accquire a new pitching arm.

Which brings me to a second question...

Where's are biggest hole on the mound? In the rotation or the pen? And as for an aquisition, what names are available this summer, realistically.

I've been so busy with work lately that I haven't had as much time as I'd like to listen to Pirate games, so I'm a little behind.:o

Deal is, the Pirates will never be a winning team until they can flat out say THIS IS ARE STARTING LINE-UP. Go out there and play some dang baseball and kick the sh*t out of some teams. This whole shuffling the deck every other day is bs and will never produce a winner. Now if they were stocked with all-star talent I could see shuffling the deck. Let these youngsters go at it. Sure next year may only be a 500 season, but think long-term. I do hope they can pick up a big bat RFer and a legit 1 or 2 SP...but hey...the guys up there can play....dang nab it...they got speed. Duffy, McLouth and Bautista need to be running all the time. Play more small ball...there are selfless players on this team start moving guys to second and third everygame and hit some sac flys.