MVN: Most Valuable Network

This is the first in a series of looking back on all MLB teams and their respective 2008 seasons. In this series, I will be reaching outside of MVN's network of coverage to provide a different view from a blogger of that team. First up is Charlie, who covers the Pittsburgh Pirates at Bucs Dugout.

Charlie:  I wrote in March that they might well win 67 games, and that's exactly what happened. That didn't take any real clairvoyance on my part; the Pirates have now won 67 or 68 games in each of the past four seasons.

Charlie:  The hitting was better than expected, particularly before the departures of Jason Bay and Xavier Nady; the pitching was worse.

Charlie:  I'll stick with 67 wins; that seems to work. The losses of Bay and Nady (well, not Nady himself, but the fluke year he had) will sting, but GM Neal Huntington acquired a bunch of pitchers who can be competent starters. There was virtually no rotation depth at the beginning of the 2008 season, but new acquisitions Ross Ohlendorf, Jeff Karstens and Daniel McCutchen address that problem, so the '09 Bucs should be able to avoid some of the really miserable starts they got from the likes of Matt Morris, Yoslan Herrera and John Van Benschoten. They'll also be able to pull the plug more quickly on someone like Tom Gorzelanny who's having a terrible year. A better season from Ian Snell would help, too.

Charlie:  Tampa's approach has been to grab as much talent as they could and then try to mold it into a team only when they had enough of it, and that's a strategy the Pirates should emulate. For example, many Pirates fans think that if the Bucs trade Jack Wilson they have to get a shortstop in return, because there really isn't one in the pipeline. That's the wrong approach, since a new shortstop alone isn't going to make the Pirates a competitive team. 

Instead, they need to acquire good players, regardless of position. The 2007 Rays were very talented, but their pitchers suffered at the hands of a brutal defense. Because they had a ton of talent and some athletic young players, though, they improved the defense in short order by promoting Evan Longoria, moving some fielders to positions where they were better suited, and acquiring Jason Bartlett (and Matt Garza). The Pirates don't yet have a Longoria or a B.J. Upton, so those sorts of fixes don't exist for them. They have to wait to acquire their Bartlett until they have their Longoria and Upton.

Also, the Pirates need to draft well like the Rays have and take B.J. Upton when the opportunity presents itself (as they finally did this year, with Pedro Alvarez), but that's just common sense.