Pirates set up to be a winner well into the future
It is nearly impossible to make a case that the Pirates are as good now as when they made their first postseason appearance in 21 years last October.
Right-hander A.J. Burnett is almost certainly gone, and first basemen Justin Morneau and Garrett Jones and right fielder Marlon Byrd have left as free agents. The Pirates will try fill those holes with lesser players.
Yet, while the Pirates seemed challenged to match last season’s win total of 94 as they get set to open spring training Thursday in Bradenton, Fla., the organization is set up to be a winner well into the future.
Center fielder Andrew McCutchen, last year’s National League MVP, is under contract through 2018, while slugging third baseman Pedro Alvarez can’t become a free agent until after the 2017 season. Star-in-the-making left fielder Starling Marte is under the Pirates’ control through 2019 and ace-in-waiting right-hander Gerrit Cole can’t test the open market until after 2020.
Better yet, there is more home-grown talent coming through the farm system.
Baseball America, the magazine considered the authority on such matters, ranks the Pirates’ system as the best in the game. So does MLB.com analyst Jim Callis. The Pirates come in at No. 3 in rankings by Baseball Prospectus’ Jason Parks and ESPN’s Keith Law.
MLB.com had six Pirates on its list of top 100 prospects: outfielder Gregory Polanco (No. 13), right-hander Jameson Taillon (No. 16), right-hander Tyler Glasnow (No. 27), outfielder Austin Meadows (No. 45), shortstop Alen Hanson (No. 67) and outfielder Josh Bell (No. 74).
Meanwhile, Baseball Prospectus included seven Pirates among its 101 top prospects: Taillon (No. 19), Polanco (No. 24), Glasnow (No. 42), catcher Reese McGuire (No. 59), Bell (No. 77), right-hander Nick Kingham (No. 80) and Hanson (No. 89).
The Pirates also had seven prospects in ESPN’s top 100: Polanco (No. 13), Glasnow (No. 20), Taillon (No. 27), Meadows (No. 35), Kingham (No. 73), Hanson (No. 74) and Bell (No. 97).
As everyone learned during the Pirates’ unprecedented streak of 20 consecutive losing seasons from 1993-2012, prospects don’t always pan out.
Yet the Pirates have so many premium prospects at each level of the organization that it is hard to imagine them reverting back to having another extended long stretch of losing.
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Ralph Kiner, who died on Thursday at 91, wasn’t the greatest player in Pirates’ history. That honor belongs to Honus Wagner.
However, it can safely be said that no player was a bigger drawing card in the franchise’s history than Kiner, the slugging outfielder who played for the Pirates from 1946-53 and led the National League in home runs during each of the first seven seasons of his career.
Despite Kiner’s personal success, the Pirates never finished higher than fourth place during those seven seasons and had a winning record only once.
However, the Pirates flourished at the box office as they drew more than 1.1 million to Forbes Field in each season from 1947-50 as fans clamored to watch the handsome and charismatic slugger. The Pirates had never drawn more than 870,000 in a season to that point.
No other player ever directly impacted ticket sales as much, not even more modern-day greats like Roberto Clemente, Willie Stargell or Barry Bonds.
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For those of us who lived in the backwoods of Ohioville, Pa., and did not get wired for cable television until the early 1980s, getting the opportunity to watch Kiner call New York Mets’ games on WOR-TV was a big treat.
An even bigger treat was the post-game show called “Kiner’s Korner” where Ralph was almost always sure to call a guest by the wrong name.
My favorite moment occurred in 1983 when Kiner referred to Pirates catcher Milt May as Mel Ott. Not only had Kiner confused May with Ed Ott, another Pirates catcher, but got Ott confused with Hall of Fame outfielder Mel Ott.
That was a large part of Kiner’s charm and why he was part of the Mets’ broadcasting team for an amazing 52 seasons.