The Pirates have been in rebuilding mode for about two decades it seems. There hasn’t been a decent baseball odds team fielded in Pittsburgh Pirates since the days of Bonilla, Van Slyke, Drabek, Bream and Bonds.
The 2006 baseball odds campaign was just another bad year for what has become a chronically bad team. It’s hard to say exactly why this baseball odds team has been so bad considering that their division is not really all that difficult and there have been plenty of great prospects coming up through the Pirates system.
However, most of those top prospects are now playing for other teams and the Pittsburgh Pirates also seem to get the short end of the trade. However, for as bad a baseball odds season (actually about average for this team) as the Pirates had, there were a few bright spots that can build upon in 2007 baseball odds season.
The final overall baseball betting line record for the Pittsburgh Pirates was 67 wins and 95 losses. That was just god enough to edge the pitiful Cubs by one game in the NL Central and claim fourth place all to themselves. The strength of this team was definitely playing at home where hey composed a very respectable 43-38 baseball odds record, however away from the Three Rivers area they couldn’t buy a win going 24-57. When all the dust settled, this team was 16.5 games in back of the division winner and World Series champs, the St Louis Cardinals with a .414 baseball odds winning percentage.
Baseball betting line experts know that the bright spots from the 2006 baseball odds season were a couple of position players that had great baseball odds years. By now everyone is familiar with the work of Freddy Sanchez smart hitting third baseman for the Pirates that batted .347 last year and walked away with the NL batting crown and finished second in the majors only to Joe Maeur. Baseball betting line fans remember that he didn’t have much power to go along with his average, which is what you might want from a third baseman, but he was consistently on base and his work with his glove was very solid. This guy should be an all-star in 2007 baseball odds season even though this position is stacked in the NL.
The other bright spot was the star of the franchise and terrific all around talent, Jason Bay. This guy has monster type power and has been one of the few positives in Pittsburgh Pirates the last couple of years. In 2006 baseball odds season his homerun and RBI totals were again great even if they weren’t quite as good as his 2005 baseball odds numbers. His change of positions in the batting order to cleanup spot may have had something to do with that. In 2007 baseball odds season he’s likely to back in the 3 spot with some protection and will see more opportunities and better pitches. And what protection he will have. The Pirates finally pulled the trigger on a pretty decent free agent deal that didn’t break the bank, and seems like it will work out for everyone involved. Adam LaRoche, who had a break out year with the Braves in 2006 baseball odds season will not take over first bas duties and bat cleanup. Baseball betting line stats shows that LaRoche is a very powerful hitter and very good fielder and should pay immediate dividends for the Bucs.
There isn’t really all that much to be impressed with among the other position players and in 2006 baseball odds season no one showed anything all that great, but catcher Ronny Paulino proved that his bat is potent and valuable in the lineup, although his defense and pitcher management is a bit suspect. Also, right fielder Xavier Nady, not only has the coolest name on the team, but showed great power last year and seems as though he’ll be ready to repeat where he lest off last baseball odds season, which also means a ton of strikeouts and a not that great batting average.
The pitching staff in 2006 baseball odds season was this team’s weak link. Zach Duke is the team’s number one pitcher, which isn’t saying much considering that he would be at best a number three on most staffs. He won only ten games in 25 attempts last baseball odds season and had a huge 4.47 ERA. He’s got to get better if the Bucs are going to improve in 2007 baseball odds season. Ian Snell is the number two man on the card and as pathetic as it sounds, he was the only pitcher on this staff to have a baseball odds winning baseball betting line record last year going 14-11 with another huge ERA of 4.74, so it looks as though his wins had more to do with run support than great pitching. Bottom line the staring rotation was awful last baseball odds season and so was the bull pen. This will have to be remedied if this team wasn’t to win more than 70 games in 2007 baseball odds season.