What Will Help the Pirates in 2012?

[magnumo]

It's telling when most published articles mention the loss of Pujols and Fielder from the division as the most important factor in answering the question in my title. I just read yet another article (Biertempfel in the Trib) which has that primary theme.

Pirates' division foes lose some punch - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

It's a long article but contains a lot of interesting info. The third part consists of input Biertempfel obtained from folks who cover other NL Central teams. Interestingly, all 8 submitted the exact same predicted order of finish in 2012: St.Louis, Cincy, Milwaukee, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Houston. (I seem to be in a very small minority in thinking that the Cubs will finish ahead of the Bucs.)

When I ask myself the question, "what will help the Pirates in 2012?"..... I always come back to the same two answers: pitching and Pedro (rather than Pujols and Prince).

 

[element1286]

I'm interested to see what Alex Presley can do getting 500+ plate appearances in the majors. Early results last year were very promising.

I think the "division is weaker" argument is a terrible reason why the Pirates should win more games.