Pittsburgh Pirates: There's Always Next... Decade?

That outfield, plus Doumit, Pearce, and third baseman Neil Walker, is a pretty good start for the Pirates, and this could feel like 1997 again. Of course, their current team ERA of 5.25 doesn’t help matters, but at least it’s a start.

The biggest test for the Pirates won’t come this year, it will come next year when Jason Bay will be looking for a contract extension. He’ll either get the extension that the Pirates have refused to give so many times to so many stars, or he’ll be traded for players that could be ready in two or three years.

The problem being that three or four years after those players debut, it will be time to trade them for the next batch of prospects. Meanwhile, the fans don’t recognize the names on the backs of the jerseys anymore, and one of baseball’s oldest and most decorated teams will fade off into oblivion. 

If they aren’t going to pursue free agents (when’s the last time you ever heard the Pirates sign a big-name free agent?), then they are going to have to start holding onto their own.

Their biggest deals right now pay Jack Wilson about $6 million a year and Jason Bay about $5.5 million. Both of those contracts expire after next year.

While it’s going to be, “See you later!” to Wilson, what to do with Bay? He’ll most certainly be asking for a raise in the eight-figure range. Can the Pirates do that when their payroll is only $48 million?

It certainly isn’t all about having the biggest payroll. The Rays lead the AL East while paying their players the least amount in baseball.

But can there even be a comparison to the Rays and the Pirates? Even the 2007 Rays, who had the worst record in the league?

Even before they added David Price, the top pitching-prospect in baseball, the farm was loaded with Evan Longoria, Reid Brignac, Wade Davis, and others. The team had already been getting production out of young players like Carl Crawford, James Shield, and Scott Kazmir.

Is there one pitcher on the Pirates as good, or with the potential to be as good, as any of those two pitchers? Even to be as good as Matt Garza?

No, and not even in the farm system is that true.

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