<a href="http://feedshark.brainbliss.com">Feed Shark</a>
The 2016 season for the Pittsburgh Pirates can be summed up in one word, disappointment. There are many reasons that one could point out in this disappointing season, these are three areas that can be looked at as reasons why. It was not all bad however for the 2016 Pittsburgh Pirates. There are two major keys to why the Pirates will once again be in the Post Season in 2017.
The 2016 season for the Pittsburgh Pirates can be summed up in one word, disappointment. There are many reasons that one could point out in this disappointing season, these are three areas that can be looked at as reasons why. It was not all bad however for the 2016 Pittsburgh Pirates. There are two major keys to why the Pirates will once again be in the Post Season in 2017.
The Good
Leading things off for the Battling Buccos, Josh Bell the 24 year old first baseman, made his debut on July 8th, 2016. Taking a 1-1 pitch from Adam Warren out of the ball park and almost to the Allegheny, for a pinch hit grand slam to beat the NL Central champion Chicago Cubs. He has shown that the merry go round at first base might be over. In 115 at bats Bell is batting .278 with 3 home runs and 18 runs batted in. In 22 games at first base he has committed 3 errors all and all with the power an plate vision Bell has mixed with his size and defensive ability, the future looks bright at first base for the Pirates.The other bright spot that has to be talked about is Ivan Nova, acquired at the deadline Nova has gone 5-2 with a 3.49 earned run average in 10 games started. In 156.2 innings of work, Nova has thrown 122 strike outs and 2 complete games. Pitching coach Ray Searage and the Pirates have to once again resurrect another struggling pitching career. The big question in the off season will be,does Neal Hunington and the Pirates make a push to resign Nova or if they will go with the young upcoming pitching staff?
3) The veteran pitching staff for the Pirates never got comfortable throughout the season. Fransisco Liriano went from a 12 win workhorse in 2015 with and earned run average of 3.38. In 2016 that was not the story, Liriano only managed 6 wins with a 5.46 earned run average. The entire season seemed to show that father time had caught up to Liriano who just never quite had the same magic as in the past season with the Buccos. Along with Liriano, Gerrit Cole had a career fumble this year, 1 year removed from winning 19 games and a 2.60 earned run average in 2015. Cole's 2016 season was filled with injury and just never quite looked like the Cole Pirates fans had come to know. Going 7-10 with and earned run average of 3.88, just looked as of Cole was never really comfortable during 21 starts this year.The Bad
2) Andrew McCutchen had his lowest production year as the leader for the Pirates since 2011. Cutch had a batting average of .258 a career low and 139 strikeouts which is a career high. He started the season very slow while dealing with a hand injury and a move into the number 2 spot in the batting order, Cutch did not look like the Cutch that many fans had come to expect. He did have flashes of the All-Star that fans have come to expect him as but it was a very inconsistent season for the aging center fielder.
Another veteran player that under performed and had an injury plagued year, the man behind the plate Francisco Cervelli, he also saw a dip in numbers going from 133 hits, 7 homeruns, 43 runs batted in, .295 in 2015. All of those numbers were down in 2016, 1 Home run that came about a week ago, to go with only 88 hits, 33 runs batted in, and a batting average of .264. The 30 year old catcher had to battle the injury bug and like the rest of the Pirates offensive numbers which were at the best inconsistent to say the least.
1) The Neil Walker trade for many reasons is the number one reason the Pirates did not make the playoffs. First of all in the end the Pirates ended up giving Walker away after the trade deadline with John Niese who was traded back to the Mets at deadline for Antonio Bastardo. That even in itself should make Pirates fans mad.
The Pirates replaced Walker with Josh Harrison who in 2016 batted .283 with 4 home runs and 59 runs batted in. Neil Walker batted .269 with 18 home runs and 71 runs batted in during the 2015 season, so the pirates lost a lot of offensive production on the table when Walker left. In 2016, Walker showed that he is in the prime of his career batting.286 while hitting 23 home runs and batting in 55 runs. All in all this deal seemed to be the nail in the coffin for a team that struggled all season long to produce runs.
These are the reasons why the 2016 Pirates did not make the post season. The big take away that Pirates fans should be thankful for is that this year is a minor set back. This isn't like the years when the Pirates were losing 100 games in a season. This is a team that has great young talent both in the field and in the pitching staff. The Pirates will be back to the post season in 2017.
All stats for this blog from
Pirates.MLB.com
espn.com/mlb/Neil Walker
Baseball Reference.com
Written by
Carlo Guadagnino
