Will the Pirates’ struggles continue?
Lyle Overbay is the closest thing to a graybeard on the Pirates’ roster, the oldest player on the team at 34.
The first baseman has been in the major leagues longer than any other Pirate as he made his major-league debut in 2001. Thus, Overbay has as good of a feel about a team as anyone in the Pirates’ clubhouse beyond manager Clint Hurdle and the coaching staff.
Overbay, signed as a free agent in the offseason after spending the last five seasons with Toronto, says he likes the feeling around the Pirates as they get set to open the season at 2:20?p.m. today against the Cubs at Wrigley Field in Chicago.
“We have a good group of young guys,” Overbay said, referring to the Pirates’ core group of youngsters that includes second baseman Neil Walker, third baseman Pedro Alvarez, left fielder Jose Tabata and center fielder Andrew McCutchen.
“That’s the biggest thing, getting those young guys hitting on all cylinders. Those are the guys who are going to get the Pittsburgh Pirates’ organization going in the right direction.
“The chemistry is good between the young guys and a few of us veterans who have brought in to help out. We’re excited to get going and we feel that we have a lot to prove to everybody in that we’re not a team that can be taken lightly.”
It would be easy to take the Pirates lightly after they finished with the worst record in the major leagues last season at 57-105. It was their 18th consecutive losing season, adding to their major North American professional team sports record for sub-.500 finishes.
Another Pirates’ newcomer, Kevin Correia, will get the first opening day start of his seven-year career as he faces the Cubs’ Ryan Dempster. Correia signed a two-year, $8 million as a free agent last December after going 10-10 with a 5.40 ERA last season for San Diego in 28 games, 26 starts.
Ten wins and a .500 record may not sound like much but it qualifies Correia as an ace in a starting rotation in which the other four pitchers went a combined 16-44 last season-Paul Maholm (9-15), Ross Ohlendorf (1-11), Charlie Morton (2-12) and James McDonald (4-6).
Correia, like Overbay, has a good feeling about his new team. After spending spring training with his rotation mates, Correia is convinced the starting pitching will be much improved in 2011.
“I see talent here, a lot of it,” Correia said. “I see guys who can pitch and have really good stuff. They are guys who are going to get better. I wasn’t here last year, but what off I saw this spring, there were obviously some guys who underachieved last season. I think this whole team is going to be better than people are expecting.”