The Pirates are looking up at the Cincinnati Reds in the National League Central. Since July 6, the Reds have a league best record of 16-2. They have won nine straight games and have an easy schedule to boot. Fortunately, the Pirates have been able to take advantage of their own weak schedule and are 12-6 in that same time period, and are 10-5 since the all-star break.
Cincinnati has been playing their best baseball of the year without their best player, Joey Votto, which is scary. They also haven't made any moves yet to improve their team, but that doesn't mean moves aren't coming. The Pirates added Wandy Rodriguez and called up Starling Marte, and they are still struggling to compete with Cincinnati.
We're closing in on being two days away from the deadline, and both of these teams are trying to make a move. The Pirates have recently been linked to Shin-Shoo Choo, and the Reds have shown interest in Shane Victorino. Neither of those players would be easy to get, and the Pirates very might have to give up Starling Marte in order to get Choo, so it'll be interesting to see if these deals are made and what is given up in exchange.
It wouldn't seem like the Reds really need help to win this division. They lost their best player to injury and are 8-2 without him. They have series with the Padres, Brewers, Cubs (twice), Mets, and Phillies coming up, so the schedule isn't going to be much of a problem if they continue playing how they are now.
The good news is that teams don't usually go two months at a time winning 90% of their games. They'll lose some games eventually, but it's looking more like the Pirates will need 92-95 wins to take this division, which isn't what we expected from the start. If you're asking me if the Pirates are 92 win team, I'm probably not saying yes.
Your Bucs very well might have to make another trade in order to stay really competitive in this, and that's going to hurt the future. That's the price competitors have to pay though, and it'll be interesting to see where the Pirates go here. The good news is that the Pirates don't have to win the division to make the playoffs, they use have to have one of the two best records for non division winners.
Whatever happens, it'll be fun two months of baseball.
Original Story:
http://www.mceffect.com/2012/07/pirat...
Cincinnati has been playing their best baseball of the year without their best player, Joey Votto, which is scary. They also haven't made any moves yet to improve their team, but that doesn't mean moves aren't coming. The Pirates added Wandy Rodriguez and called up Starling Marte, and they are still struggling to compete with Cincinnati.
We're closing in on being two days away from the deadline, and both of these teams are trying to make a move. The Pirates have recently been linked to Shin-Shoo Choo, and the Reds have shown interest in Shane Victorino. Neither of those players would be easy to get, and the Pirates very might have to give up Starling Marte in order to get Choo, so it'll be interesting to see if these deals are made and what is given up in exchange.
It wouldn't seem like the Reds really need help to win this division. They lost their best player to injury and are 8-2 without him. They have series with the Padres, Brewers, Cubs (twice), Mets, and Phillies coming up, so the schedule isn't going to be much of a problem if they continue playing how they are now.
The good news is that teams don't usually go two months at a time winning 90% of their games. They'll lose some games eventually, but it's looking more like the Pirates will need 92-95 wins to take this division, which isn't what we expected from the start. If you're asking me if the Pirates are 92 win team, I'm probably not saying yes.
Your Bucs very well might have to make another trade in order to stay really competitive in this, and that's going to hurt the future. That's the price competitors have to pay though, and it'll be interesting to see where the Pirates go here. The good news is that the Pirates don't have to win the division to make the playoffs, they use have to have one of the two best records for non division winners.
Whatever happens, it'll be fun two months of baseball.
Original Story:
http://www.mceffect.com/2012/07/pirat...
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July 29, 2012
