Pittsburgh Pirates' Midseason Grades

The Pirates have had a wild season, playing one or two memorable games a week, en route to a 44-50 mark at the All-Star break. The elusive .500 mark is still within reach.

This year’s Pittsburgh team is almost the opposite of last year’s, as is it is suddenly the offense leading the way and the rotation that is dragging the team down.

There have been plenty of bright spots, as well as plenty of disappointments, but one thing is clear: This Pirates team has more of a core now than it has in a very long time.

Below, I will evaluate every player’s performance from the first half of the season.

Ryan Doumit, C

Doumit has been one of the most productive hitters, not only for the Pirates, but in the entire National League. His emergence as a consistent, middle-of-the-order presence has been critical to the Pirates’ offensive resurgence, and it is no surprise that he was recently promoted to the No. 3 spot in the batting order, given his lofty .943 OPS.

If only he had been healthy all season, the Bucs could be a few games closer to that .500 mark.

Midseason Grade: A

Raul Chavez, C

Chavez was promoted from AAA after Doumit’s first injury, and has since remained with the club due to his defense and his game-calling abilities. He even gets a hit once in a while.

Midseason Grade: B

Ronny Paulino, C

This was, in many ways, a make-or-break season for Paulino, who entered the year competing with Doumit for the starting catcher job. His bat never got hot, questions about his work ethic once again surfaced, and he was demoted a few months ago.

Midseason Grade: F

Adam LaRoche, 1B

LaRoche got off to his usual first-quarter swoon, but has rebounded quite nicely, adding depth to an already formidable Pittsburgh offense. He is batting a mediocre, but respectable, .251 with 43 RBI. Those numbers could be better but, given his start, they could also be much, much worse.

Midseason Grade: C

Freddy Sanchez, 2B

Sanchez, only two years removed from winning the NL batting title, has simply been atrocious. Who knows how many more runs the Pirates would have scored if not for Sanchez’s automatic outs from the No. 2 spot in the batting order. At least John Russell has begun to bench Sanchez in recent weeks.

Midseason Grade: F

Jack Wilson, SS

Another “what if” for the Pirates, as Wilson’s early-season injury greatly weakened their infield's defense. Since coming back, Wilson has been his usually stellar self in the field, while also batting over .300. He has become the Pirates’ “second leadoff hitter", showing once again that he is the consummate professional by agreeing to bat ninth for the Bucs.

Midseason Grade: A

Jose Bautista, 3B

While he may not even be the starting third baseman, Bautista deserves credit for his solid play over the past few months. That he has raised his average to .257 and compiled 40 RBI amid questions about his job security and future with the club (the Pirates did, after all, just draft a third baseman who could be in the majors as early as 2009) is even more impressive.

Midseason Grade: B-

Doug Mientkiewicz, UTIL

His contribution as a veteran presence in a young clubhouse cannot be understated. Everyone knew he could fulfill that role. That he has learned to play third base and is actually swinging a pretty good bat was a little more unexpected. He has been one of several valuable, small additions to this club.

Midseason Grade: B

Chris Gomez, UTIL

Gomez has received very little playing time since Jack Wilson’s return, but it should be noted that he is still hitting .311 on the season. Look for Gomez to see more at-bats (as he did on Sunday) if Sanchez cannot break out of his slump.

In order for that to happen though, Gomez needs to prove that he can play second base; he’s already proven he can’t play shortstop.

Midseason Grade: B

Luis Rivas, 2B

Manager John Russell has often turned to Rivas to spell Sanchez, presumably because he is a natural second baseman, and thus better at fielding the position than Gomez. He is batting .250 with no power, though, so he isn’t exactly the answer.

Midseason Grade: C-

Jason Bay, LF

In order to have a successful offensive team, you can’t just have a couple players who have breakout seasons each year—you need guys who are capable of maintaining that success level. Bay has shown this ability, and has once again become the focal point of this Pittsburgh lineup.

His early-season, clutch-hitting problems are a thing of the past, as well: Bay has come up with countless crucial hits (many of the walk-off variety) in recent weeks.

Midseason Grade: A

Nate McLouth, CF

Back in late March, the Pirates’ players predicted McLouth would be the team’s breakout performer. But there’s no way they could have predicted this.

McLouth is on pace for a 35+ HR, 100+ RBI season, all while playing a superb center field (as was on display in Tuesday’s All-Star game, where McLouth threw a strike to home plate to nail Dioner Navarro in the bottom of the 11th and extend the game). He certainly has arrived, and should be a cornerstone of this team for a long time, along with Ryan Doumit.

Midseason Grade: A+

Xavier Nady, RF

The third piece in Major League Baseball’s best outfield so far this year, Nady has excelled as well. His run production has begun to tail off slightly, and nagging injuries are a concern, but one can’t complain too much about a .321 batting average and 56 RBI.

Midseason Grade: A-

Jason Michaels, OF

Another veteran, another great competitor, and another smart pick-up by the Pirates' front office. Michaels has been a terrific backup, never complaining about being stuck behind three guys who are having amazing seasons.

And he has made some plays, too, when given the chance, including hitting a walk-off home run to cap the Pirates’ amazing 12-11 come-from-behind victory on Saturday.

Midseason Grade: B-

Paul Maholm, SP

Let’s start with the good when it comes to the Pirate rotation, which won’t take long. After battling several bouts of inconsistency, Maholm has really been pitching well of late, and has emerged as the one reliable starter on the entire Pittsburgh staff. His 3.93 ERA is almost a half-run better than that of any other Pirate starter.

Midseason Grade: B+

Zach Duke, SP

Duke is once again doing it with smoke and mirrors; scratching and clawing his way to a 4.40 ERA despite a WHIP of nearly 1.6. I would say he can’t keep doing this forever, but he has been for so long, so why not? That said, he’s not exactly a top-of-the-rotation starter.

Midseason Grade: C+

Phil Dumatrait, SP

Dumatrait pitched extremely well in his first several starts, but he has since been hindered by arm trouble that caused his ERA to balloon and has since resulted in two trips to the disabled list. The Pirates might still consider him a future back-of-the-rotation possibility, but we certainly haven’t seen enough for that to be more than a hopeful projection.

Midseason Grade: C

Ian Snell, SP

Snell simply has been unable to regain his old form. His numbers are terrible across the board, which is such a shame given the performance of the Pittsburgh offense. He was supposed to be this team’s ace, but at the moment he doesn’t even look like he deserves to be on the 25-man roster. He has shown the occasional sign of returning to form, but signs simply don’t cut it in the big leagues.

Midseason Grade: D-

Tom Gorzelanny, SP

Speaking of not deserving to be on the 25-man roster, meet the man who is responsible for Snell receiving the generous grade of D-. Gorzelanny has been significantly worse than Snell, and has been sent to AAA to try to regain some semblance of his 2007 form. If Snell and Gorzelanny had pitched the way they did in 2007 this year, the Pirates could very well be Wild Card contenders.

Midseason Grade: F

John Van Benschoten, SP

He has had several opportunities to impress management in the wake of other starting pitchers’ struggles. He has failed every single time, and he can’t have too many chances left.

Midseason Grade: F

Matt Capps, CL

Capps was having an absolutely dominant season until shoulder bursitis caused him to blow five of seven save opportunities (I am giving him the benefit of the doubt and assuming it must have had something to do with the injury).

He has since been placed on the DL and will likely be out until September. He is an important piece of this club’s future, and everyone in Pittsburgh is praying for a full recovery from the Mad Capper.

Midseason Grade: A-

Damaso Marte, RP

Marte is having a very good season in the Pirate bullpen, first as a set-up man and now as Capps’ replacement—he has saved all three chances he has gotten since ascending to the role.

Marte has also done the Pirates a huge favor by substantially increasing his own trade value and almost assuring he will become a Type-A free agent this offseason, giving the Pirates two extra top-50 picks in the 2009 entry draft.

Midseason Grade: A

John Grabow, RP

After getting off to a great start, Grabow has been very hittable over the past couple months. His performance is even more important now with Capps out, as he and Tyler Yates, along with Marte, may be the only three bullpen-arms John Russell really trusts at this point.

Midseason Grade: B-

Tyler Yates, RP

He has been very good at times, and like almost the entire bullpen, many of his poor outings can be blamed on overuse and the inability of the starting pitchers to go deep into games. But he still needs to walk less people—He has a 1:1 K:BB ratio on the season.

Midseason Grade: C+

Sean Burnett, RP.

Burnett has done a nice job of late, and John Russell is finally willing to let him pitch some important innings. He is by no means a dominant reliever, but can get lefties out. It’s great to see Burnett finally contributing to the big-league club.

Midseason Grade: C

Denny Bautista, RP

He gives the Pirates a power arm, which is something they have always sorely needed, and is a much-better long man than Franquelis Osoria. Then again, so am I.

Midseason Grade: C-

Franquelis Osoria, RP

Given the Pirates’ offensive prowess, and starting pitching woes, they are a team that needs a good long-reliever more than most, and a team for which a good long-reliever can mean the difference between several wins and losses.

In Osoria’s case, he has meant few wins and countless losses. He needs to get off the team.

Midseason Grade: F

John Russell, Manager

He hasn’t been perfect—who would expect a new manager to be?—but he has done a nice job with this team. From a strategic standpoint, batting the pitcher eighth seems to be working, while Osoria needs to pitch less innings and Sanchez should not be batting in the No. 2 spot.

However, Russell also should get some credit for the tremendous improvement shown by many of his young players—namely McLouth, Doumit, and Maholm—and it is important to note that the Pirates became one of the best offensive teams in the league without adding a single piece.

Midseason Grade: A-

Neal Huntington, GM

Huntington has made several minor moves since taking over the job from the hated Dave Littlefield, and all of them have been successes. While he has not made any big splashes, he is basically responsible for revamping the entire Pirate bench.

That said, the next few months (through August 15) are much more critical to the Pirates’ future than anything that has happened already.

At best, assuming the Bucs sign No. 2 overall pick Pedro Alvarez, the Pirates are a team that has their lineup of the future relatively figured out and has its No. 3 and No. 5 pitchers of the future in Maholm and Duke.

It is up to Huntington to figure out the rest.

He has two big trading chips in Xavier Nady and Damaso Marte (in my opinion, Jason Bay should not be traded—Bay, Doumit, McLouth, McCutchen, and Alvarez can lead a very formidable offense for years to come. There’s no reason to mess that up), and will have to decide whether it is worth it to trade Marte or simply hold out for the draft picks.

Huntington also must determine whether second-round pick Tanner Scheppers is worth his large bonus-demands.

That said, at least there is some legitimate hope in Pittsburgh. That hasn’t been true for a long time.

Midseason Grade: A-

There you have it. The Pirates are probably in their best position at the All-Star break since perhaps 1992, as they finally have legitimate expectations to win both this year and next.

Of course, as we Pittsburgh faithful know all too well, there is a big difference between expectation and reality.