Pujols, Fielder, Astros, NL Central

We're getting into the thick of the offseason here and the Albert Pujols rumors are heating up. Most recently the Chicago Cubs have been mentioned in the discussions. There is a good chance that the Cubs are just trying to up the bidding price for the St. Louis Cardinals and the Miami Marlins (that's gonna sound weird for awhile), but they were one of the contenders from the beginning and it's no surprise to hear that they're still interested.

Much of the same is going on with Prince Fielder, who is almost certainly not coming back to Milwaukee. The Washington Nationals are the leader for him as far as I know, so there's a very good chance he'll be leaving the division.

If Pujols and Fielder both end up playing outside of the National League Central next year, the Pirates playoff chances automatically go up. The Pirates chances also will be helped if (more like when) the Astros leave the division.

That's three big things pushing the Pirates closer and closer to contention. The division hasn't been great the last few years, let's take a quick look at the last 5 division winners and their win totals:

2011: Brewers - 96 wins
2010: Reds - 91 wins
2009: Cardinals - 91 wins
2008: Cubs - 97 wins
2007: Cubs - 85 wins

This year's Brewers and 2008's Cardinals were the only really good regular season teams there. The Brewers and Cardinals are both at risk to get significantly worse with the huge losses of their first basemen, so this division could be won with another low-90's win total.

Are the Pirates in position to win 90+ games in 2012? No, it certainly doesn't seem like it. However, the fact is, the Pirates are going to have a very good chance at competing in their division the next 3-5 years; now is as good a time at any to put together a real big league team. The rebuilding stuff has been underway for awhile and we've started to see some results of that at the major league level, but it hasn't translated into real competition yet.

The fact is that the Pirates are going to need pitching to have a chance to compete. They aren't going to have an offensive juggernaut any time soon, although they have the potential to be a good unit. If Gerrit Cole and Jameson Taillon reach the major leagues in the next two years and reach somewhere near their potential, while Andrew McCutchen continues to improve and the Pirates get some offense from Jose Tabata and/or Pedro Alvarez, I think this team could reasonably flirt with 90-95 wins. There's a good chance that that win total would be enough to win the division crown.

In addition to that, apparently there will be another wild card team added in the next two years (it could be as early as next season), so that also helps the Pirates playoff chances a lot.

I really don't think the Pirates are going to compete 2012, but we get closer and closer everyday that Taillon, Cole, and some of the other young prospects get closer to the big leagues.

This is an extremely crucial period of three years for the Pirates, and if they don't break the streak of losing seasons in this span, it might never happen.

More stuff coming soon. Keep reading.