David Schoenfield ranks the NL Central teams by position. If you'll like me, you'll be glancing through, thinking, "Hey, the Pirates' hitters actually don't rank too badly compared to their peers. They don't rank well, but Andrew McCutchen is the best center fielder in the division, and ..."
↵... And then you'll get to the rankings for the rotation, where the Pirates simply get destroyed. Their No. 1, No. 2, No. 3 and No. 5 starters all rank last in the division, and their No. 4 starter (Erik Bedard, in this case, although you can pretty much just put Kevin Correia at No. 5 and pick the rest of their pitchers out of a hat) ranks fifth out of six. Earlier this week, it was reported that the Pirates offered Edwin Jackson a three-year. If he had accepted it, that would have gone a long way toward establishing the Pirates as a serious team.
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