An Early Look At 2012

After a very exciting first half of the 2011 season, the Pirates have fallen back under .500 with little hope of getting back to it, and are headed towards their 19th straight losing season. The good news is that the Pirates will be back to 0 wins and 0 losses at the start of the 2012 season, and there should be some pretty high expectations for that club. Let's take a look at what it should look like: Catcher: With Chris Snyder missing almost the entire 2011 season due to injury and being scheduled to hit free agency after this year (he has a $6.75 million option), I would doubt that the Pirates will bring him back. That leaves Ryan Doumit, who has been the Pirates catcher for the last handful of years. Next year could be the first year he isn't on the roster. His contract is up, but he has a $7.25 million club option with a $750K buyout. There's a chance that the team will consider picking that option up, especially with Tony Sanchez struggling in the minor leagu...