Pittsburgh Pirates Information

John Russell is in the final year of his contract as the Skipper of the Pirates and has not finished better than 6th in the National League and hopes that the team he puts in place for the 2010 season will not be ripped apart by management like his two prior teams.

Season ticket holders will find that the team made few moves in the offseason but the ones they did make should strengthen the team and put them in a position to compete for the NL Central title. The team had the following departures: RHP Jesse Chavez, LHP Phil Dumatrait and RHP Matt Capps. The team added INF Bobby Crosby, 2B Akinori Iwamura, RHP Chris Jakubauskas, LHP Javier Lopez, OF Ryan Church, RHP D.J. Carrasco, RHP Brian Bass, RHP Brendan Donnelly, OF Brandon Jones and RHP Octavio Dotel.

The 129th season for the franchise will feature a projected starting rotation of LHP Zach Duke, LHP Paul Maholm, RHP Ross Ohlendorf, RHP Charlie Morton and RHP Kevin Hart. The projected Bullpen looks to be RHP Octavio Dotel (closer), RHP Brendan Donnelly, RHP Joel Hanrahan, RHP Evan Meek, RHP Kevin Hart, LHP Javier Lopez and RHP D.J. Carrasco.

The projected hitting lineup will be CF Andrew McCutchen, 2B Akinori Iwamura, RF Garrett Jones, C Ryan Doumit, 1B Jeff Clement, LF Lastings Milledge, 3B Andy LaRoche and SS Ronny Cedeno. Ramon Aguero, who's fastball topped out at 98mph, is expected to continue to be used in short stints as he continues to develop and are high on John Raynor who, while in Class AAA New Orleans, hit .257, 36 RBI's, and 19 stolen bases in 123 games. His speed and his defensive ability may just get him into the 5th outfielder spot.

The city that produces the best sheets of steel seems to be turning out great hitters – Pittsburgh has 24 batting champions and 36 hall of famers. They are banking on that pedigree to improve their 5th in the league standing in ’06. The Pirates began ’07 with a new owner, Robert Nutting. More changes happened when team CEO Kevin McClatchy announcing that he would be stepping down from his role at the end of the season. After the All Star Break, the Pirates lost 8 out of 9 games overall. Ticket holding fans are watching closely to see if they can pull up and improve their ’06 standing.

The Pittsburgh Pirates have won five championships in their franchise history, but you’d have to go back to 1979 to find the last championship team. That team was led by Bert Blyleven on the mound and Willie Stargell at the plate. This team is hoping to find a similar type of leadership from their up-and-coming group in 2004.

The Pittsburgh Pirates recently moved into their new ballpark, PNC Park at North Shore. The design is what will bring in the most baseball fans. It has a two-deck design, and the highest seat is only 88 feet from the field, meaning that every fan will have a good angle to the game and will be able to see most, if not all, of the action. The deepest part of the ballpark isn’t straight away center, as in most parks, but left center field, where the field extends to 410 feet. The left field wall is only six feet high, but the right field wall is raised to a level of 21 feet in honor of the legendary Pirate outfielder, #21 Roberto Clemente. The park was also built along the Allegheny River, and the distance to the river from home plate is 443 feet and 4 inches, straight to right center field. The most amazing thing about this ball field could be it’s relative inexpensiveness when compared to other similar ball parks, only costing the city $216 million.

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