For each team, I will look at their 2012 projected Opening Day lineup (which could easily change before the season starts) and each players Bill James projections in certain categories. After that, I average out the projections (which is really an illogical thing to do mathematically because the average of a bunch of averages is not a true average, but it'll work for this study since we're doing it just for comparison reasons) and see how the Pirates stack up against the other squads.
So let's take a look at the Pirates projections first:
Not too pretty. Now here's the reigning World Series Champion St. Louis Cardinals:
As you can see, the Pirates .265/.329/.424 line with a .328 average wOBA does not come close to the Cardinals .284/.358/.441 with a .346 wOBA. That's still a very formidable offensive team. I think the numbers were a little over the top on guys like Lance Berkman, I think it's a longshot that he actually plays 146 games and slugs .498, but it could certainly happen.
It doesn't get any prettier when you check out the starting pitchers. The Pirates have an average 4.08 ERA with 7 K/9 and 3.2 BB/9 while the Cardinals come in with a 3.68 FIP and 6.5 K/9 and 2.6 BB/9.
The Pirates have a pretty solid bullpen, and it could actually turn out to be better than the Cardinals this year, but that really doesn't have much of an affect compared to offensive and starting pitching.
The Pirates are making strides forwards, and the Cardinals are taking steps back, but it still appears there is a large gap between these two ball clubs.