Regular Season Record: 68-94
Sixth in the NL Central, 17.0 games back 

Offensive leaders:
Home Runs: Adam LaRoche 21
Average: Freddy Sanchez .304
RBI: Adam LaRoche 88
Runs: Jason Bay 78
Steals:  Nate McLouth 22 

Pitching leaders:
Wins: Tom Gorzelanny 14
ERA: Ian Snell 3.76
Strikeouts: Ian Snell 177
Saves: Matt Capps 18 

Highlight of the season:  The final out of the final regular season.  If there had been a mercy rule this team should have been allowed to call it quits and begin their offseason at the All-Star break. 

Low point of the season:  Finishing dead last in the National League once again.  At least they can take some solace that they weren’t the worst team in all of baseball. 

Best move of the season:  Picking up Adam LaRoche from the Braves gave one of the leagues most anemic offenses some semblance of respectability.  LaRoche did exactly what he was brought in to do, and he led the team in home runs and RBIs.   

Worst move of the season:  Trading for Matt Morris at midseason was supposed to make the team a little bit better.   Admittedly it didn’t cost much beyond a mid-level prospect but Morris isn’t even a shadow of the great pitcher he used to be.  He was such a flop that he didn’t even do much in the way of eating inning for this team, lasting on average 5.2 innings per start in his 11 starts.   His numbers were even uglier than that - 3-4, 6.10 ERA, 1.61 WHIP.  It’s a sure thing the Pirates would like their prospect back, as well as the $9 million they owe Morris this season. 

Key Player:  Freddy Sanchez traded average for a touch of power this season, but it’s hard to complain too much about a guy who hits .304 with 11 home runs and 81 RBIs.  Unfortunately for Sanchez, he doesn’t get to bat at the top of the lineup where he’s best suited and instead usually gets slotted into the middle of the lineup where his lack of power is extremely evident.  Still he’s arguably the best player that the Pirates have developed in a long while.  

Up and Coming Player: Better late than never to the party. Ian Snell was one of those prospects who was expected to arrive and dominate as a pitcher.  Instead he’s spent most of his career on the disabled list, but this year he finally managed to put in a full season and for the first time crossed the 200 inning pitched marker.  His 9-12, 3.76 ERA and 1.33 WHIP were by far the best of his career.  Since he is just 26, he still has time to grow into the pitcher that all the experts believed he could be. 

What went right:  In truth not much, but the best the Pirates had to offer was the starting pitching.  Ian Snell (9-12, 3.76, 1.33) and Tom Gorzelanny (14-10, 3.88, 1.40) performed more than respectably.  And while youngsters Zach Duke (3-8, 5.53, 1.73) and Paul Maholm (10-15, 5.02, 1.42) struggled, slight improvements were the name of the game as their development continues. 

What went wrong:   On paper, and taken individually, the Pirates look a heck of a lot better than their record suggests.  But the fact is that the Pirates were one of those teams that were less than the sum of their parts.  The starting pitching really wasn’t bad, but an abysmal bullpen - which possessed only three arms with less than a 4.00 ERA - wasn’t exactly reliable and prevented a lot of quality starts from translating into wins. 

The hitting wasn’t exactly lights out either.  Individually the numbers of Jason Bay (.247-21-84),  Adam LaRoche (.272-21-88), Freddy Sanchez (.304-11-81), Jack Wilson (.296-12-56), Xavier Nady (.278-20-72), Jose Bautista (.254-15-63), and Nate McLouth (.258-13-38 with just 329 AB) don’t look bad, but this team never really gelled offensively, ranking 12th in the NL in runs scored. 

Offseason Preview:  The Pirates aren’t likely to make major hay the remainder of the offseason although rumors about them shopping veterans like Jason Bay probably have truth to them.  

Even with revenue sharing, the Pirates don’t have the financial wherewithal to improve via free agency, so player development and trading are the only real options that the team has.  With a bevy of aging players and rising salaries the team will be making deals at some point this season.

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