2010 Forecast, Holidays Edition, Part 4

Here we are, two days after Christmas, and pressing towards the new year. I hope everyone had a safe and relaxing holiday. Now, it's time to get back to business - Pirates baseball. Today we'll be talking about the left side of the 2010 Pirates' infield, the shortstops and the third basemen. Here's the links to the previous posts:

• Starting Pitchers
• Catchers and First Basemen
• Second basemen

Shortstops:

• Bobby Crosby:
  2009: 97 G, .223 AVG, 6 HR, 29 RBI
  Crosby was another offseason addition for the Pirates. He has been brought in to compete for the starting job at shortstop, a void which the Pirates have needed to fill since they traded Jack Wilson. As you can see, Crosby is by no means a guy who can hit for good average. In fact, he is not much at the plate in any category. In his rookie season he showed a lot of power and belted 22 bombs, but he hasn't hit more than 9 in a season since. There is absolutely no reason to believe that that power will come back to Crosby this year, although there is hope that he can hit for higher than a .220 average.
  2010 peak: 140 G, .250 AVG, 15 HR, 50 RBI
  2010 expectation: 120 G, .235 AVG, 7 HR, 35 RBI


• Ronny Cedeno:
  2009: 105 G, .208 AVG, 10 HR, 38 RBI
  While you probably thought it couldn't get any worse at the plate than Crosby, Ronny Cedeno's numbers show up. Despite being somewhat reliable at the plate for the Pirates in his first month or so with the club, everything evened out and he finished the year with that dismal .208 average. He showed a little bit of pop hitting those 10 homers, 5 of which were for the Pirates in his 46 games with us. He is younger than Crosby, and therefore has more upside, however no one really expects him to surprise anyone any time soon, including me. My bet is that he loses one of the most discouraging position battles in history to Crosby and sits the bench most of the year, filling in for Crosby once every week or 2.
  2010 peak: 140 G, .250 AVG, 12 HR, 40 RBI
  2010 expectation: 65 G, .220 AVG, 3 HR, 25 RBI

I included Ramon Vazquez in my 2nd base talks, and the same thing applies here. If Vazquez makes the team out of spring training (my guess is that he won't), he will be the emergency option at short stop. If Crosby or Cedeno get hurt, it would sure be nice to have Vazquez there to be the back up, instead of the BB word.

Third Basemen:

• Andy LaRoche:
  2009: 150 G, .258 AVG, 12 HR, 64 RBI
  Sadly enough, Andy LaRoche was one of the bright spots for the 2009 Pirates. He led the team in RBIs (which is absolutely pathetic), and was probably our best defender. There is high hopes for LaRoche, who at the age of 27 has a pretty high ceiling. However, there is pressure behind him with #1 prospect Pedro Alvarez looming in the minor leagues. LaRoche is going to have hit the ball well early and often in 2010 if he wants to lock up a job with the Pirates in the future. There have also been talks of him moving to 2nd base, but the Pirates temporarily silenced those talks with the signing of Iwamura. LaRoche disappointed Pirates fan at the plate for most of the 2009 season, but he gave us some hope by finishing the year with a .313 September/October batting average with 5 of his home runs coming in those 27 games. The future will be greatly affected by Andy's first 2-3 months of performance in 2010.
  2010 peak: 155 G, .300 AVG, 20 HR, 90 RBI
  2010 expectation: 125 G, .275 AVG, 12 HR, 65 RBI


• Neil Walker:
  2009: 17 G, .194 AVG, 0 HR, 0 RBI
  Walker was once a Pirates #1 prospect, however now, he is looking more like a career AAA player. His many struggles in the minors kept him down there for longer than anyone expected, and so far he has been of no good to the Pirates organization. However, there is still time with Walker. You really can't do any judging on his big league performance with only 40 plate appearances under his belt, and he is still young at the age of 24. There is very little chance that he will get another real chance to prove himself in the major leagues, however. Andy LaRoche will get all the starts at third until they are ready to give Alvarez the job (possibly mid-season). Walker's only chance at regular playing time will be an injury to LaRoche or maybe Iwamura. I do think he will be the back up at the beginning of the season though, I don't see any use of sending him back to Indianapolis, and who knows, he could turn out to be a good bench player. He has a very good glove and he has power potential. I'm not writing him off quite yet, but he sure is starting to look like an official wasted draft pick.
  2010 peak: 50 G, .250 AVG, 5 HR, 30 RBI
  2010 expectation: 25 G, .210 AVG, 2 HR, 15 RBI

As for any options at third, there is nothing I haven't already covered. Vazquez is also an option here, which may be the only reason he makes the team, and Alvarez is the future (pending a move to first base). I see Andy playing every game until Alvarez comes up, probably in early July, and then Pedro starting the rest of the games from there on out. Now, if LaRoche plays well and earns himself a job, I don't know what's going to happen. Let's just hope we have that problem come June.


That's it for now, I'll be back tomorrow some time with some outfielders.