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Kyle Bishop's 2017 Pittsburgh Pirates team preview. His fantasy baseball draft strategy, advice and outlook for their pitchers, hitters, prospects and rookies.
Pitchers and catchers have reported to spring training, and your fantasy draft is likely just around the corner. As part of RotoBaller's ongoing effort to help you win your leagues, we're previewing all 30 MLB teams. In these articles, we discuss each team's offseason moves, as well as their hitters, pitchers, and prospects.
Today's installment covers the 2017 Pittsburgh Pirates Team Outlook, and previews their potential fantasy baseball contributions.
Editor's note: for even more draft prep, visit our awesome 2017 fantasy baseball rankings dashboard. It has lots of in-depth staff rankings and draft strategy columns. You will find tiered rankings for every position, 2017 impact rookie rankings, AL/NL only league ranks and lots more. Bookmark the page, and win your drafts.
Offseason Moves
The Pirates were rumored to be heavily shopping franchise cornerstone Andrew McCutchen and pursuing pitcher Jose Quintana in trade talks. In the end, Pittsburgh made no trades and only one free agent signing of consequence – reliever Daniel Hudson, who could compete for the closer role. They did retain starter Ivan Nova, but allowed reliever Neftali Feliz to sign with the divison rival Brewers, and also bid adieu to part-time players Sean Rodriguez and Matt Joyce. Pirates fans probably hoped for a more dynamic winter after the team fell back below .500 for the first time since 2012.
Hitting Overview
The strength of this team is in the outfield. If McCutchen bounces back from his injury-plagued 2016, the Pirates could have three of the top 20 outfielders in fantasy baseball. That doesn’t even include top prospect Austin Meadows, who will open the year at Triple-A but looks like a future star. The infield is much less robust. Catcher Francisco Cervelli offers little value in standard leagues if he can’t get his average back up near .300, though his OBP remained strong. Josh Harrison hits for average and can steal some bags, but he’s lost the multi-position eligibility that enhanced his value and isn’t a starting-caliber 2B outside of NL-only formats. Shortstop Jordy Mercer has never been a fantasy asset and isn’t likely to change that at age 30. Third baseman Jung Ho Kang is a quality hitter, but his legal troubles and the depth at the hot corner are tamping down his value. Speaking of tamped down value, Josh Bell would be a much more interesting option at first base if we could be sure the Pirates would play him every day. His terrible defense is holding him back on that front.
Pitching Overview
Gerrit Cole struggled in an injury-shortened 2016. If healthy, he’s an excellent bet to regain his ace form. He should benefit from some BABIP regression as well. Jameson Taillon was impressive as a rookie, but it’s an open question how his body will respond to throwing a career-high 175 innings after missing the previous two seasons with injury. He’ll also need to miss a few more bats to break into the ranks of the truly great pitchers. Nova was Ray Searage’s latest successful reclamation project. If he can build on his second half performance, he’ll be a fantasy relevant arm. Tyler Glasnow has knockout stuff, but like most young pitchers of his height, struggles to control it. He routinely ran high walk rates in the minors and will need to make progress on that front to come anywhere near his ace potential. Chad Kuhl and Drew Hutchison will battle for the final rotation spot. Neither is likely to be worth rostering in most formats, though Hutchison does have upside if Searage can fix what ails him.
In the bullpen, Tony Watson enters spring training as the de facto closer. He struggled after assuming the role in the wake of the Mark Melancon trade, but does have a track record of success. Hudson is getting some sleeper buzz as a potential usurper in the ninth, but my money’s on Felipe Rivero. One of the players who came to Pittsburgh in the Melancon deal, Rivero punched out 92 batters in 77 innings last season.
Prospects Overview
Meadows is the big name here. He’s currently blocked, but if the Pirates elect to move McCutchen, Meadows immediately becomes a must-add. Bell and Glasnow are still technically prospects, but we’ve covered them above. Nick Kingham and Steven Brault are the most likely to step in if the backend starters struggle, though neither is terribly exciting for fantasy purposes. Alen Hanson could settle into a super-sub role and has enough speed to merit consideration in deep leagues.
Conclusion
The Pirates’ three-year streak of playoff berths ended in 2016 as they returned to the familiar territory of sub-.500 baseball. They’ll hope for returns to form for McCutchen and Cole, and breakouts from the young guys. With the Cubs’ budding dynasty and the Cardinals looking strong as usual, they’ve got their work cut out for them. That said, they should contend and have plenty of worthwhile assets to offer fantasy owners in 2017.
