Pirates/Mets: Quick Thoughts

It's been a week since I finished my sophomore year of college and I figured I would be able to write on my blog more often.  I was completely wrong.  I have worked over 50 hours this week and missed every Pirates and Penguin game until Saturday.  I wasn't able to write a "Good, Bad, and Ugly" for the last two series simply because I didn't watch the games.  I hate forming my opinions strictly from box scores because they don't tell the whole story. On Saturday I finally was able to watch a Pirates game and I realized something about this years team:

If Jordy Mercer and Jose Tabata can do more of what they did on Saturday against the Mets, then this years Pirates are going to be very dangerous.  Mercer looks like he is the real deal and he is making it hard for Hurdle to not make him the starting SS once Walker comes off the DL.  At this point, fans are so fed up with John McDonald and Clint Barmes that they may riot if Mercer doesn't become the starting SS (I know I might).  As for Tabata, lately he has looked more like the Tabata we expected after he signed his long-term contract.  He showed power to all parts of the field and looks to have finally figured it out again.  The platoons of Jones/Sanchez and Snider/Tabata are shaping up to be very exciting moving forward.

If you have read some of my other posts then you know I have great faith in the teams pitching staff.  Even though tomorrow Jeanmar Gomez is going up against the leader in the Cy Young race so far (Matt Harvey), I still believe he gives the team a chance to win.  With Liriano returning and looking very strong, I expect the pitching staff to only improve moving forward.  With Locke continuing to pitch well and Morton/Cole/Karstens preparing to join the staff shortly, I believe this is a perfect time for James McDonald to regroup.  Hopefully he can get healthy and clear his mind before he comes back to the team.  On his day, JMac is a great #3 starter and I believe with the pitching depth/competition that he will return to that form after he recovers from his "injury".



As for the bullpen, I really believe that Tony Watson needs to be sent down to AAA.  Although the bullpen is currently one of the best in the league, I think the Pirates might want to go out and trade for a solid 7th inning guy to take over for Watson.  They have pitchers internally such as Contreras or even Morris, but I believe the Pirates should go get an established shutdown reliever to help Melancon and Grilli so that their arms don't fall off in September.

The Pirates have a great opportunity to impress the rest of the ML against Matt Harvey tomorrow. Harvey is getting national recognition and if they Pirates rough him up, then they will be getting the attention.  The Pirates were able to play great baseball early in the season without some of their key players and against some of the better teams in the ML.  The team will soon be stronger than ever and it's about time for the rest of the ML to begin to pay attention the this years Pittsburgh Pirates are different.  Lets Go Bucs!! Pursue Your Dreams!!