Pitchers & Catchers Report, Excitement Builds Within Fan Base

Today marks the unofficial, but maybe official (???), start of the 2010 Spring Training season. In a little over 4 hours, Pittsburgh Pirates pitchers and catchers report to camp in Bradenton.

According to a player's poll done by Chuck Finder of the Post-Gazette, it looks like Paul Maholm will get the nod as the Opening Day starter when the Pirates host the LA Dodgers on April 5. The line-up also looks a little different compared to my prediction from yesterday's post. As a reminder my prediction is on the left, the player's on the right:

Opening Day - April 5, 2010 @ PNC Park vs. Dodgers

1. Andrew McCutchen - CF Andrew McCutchen - CF

2. Akinori Iwamura - 2B Akinori Iwamura - 2B

3. Andy LaRoche - 3B Garrett Jones - RF

4. Garrett Jones - RF Ryan Doumit - C

5. Ryan Doumit - C Andy LaRoche - 3B

6. Jeff Clement - 1B Lastings Milledge - LF

7. Lastings Milledge - LF Jeff Clement - 1B

8. Ronny Cedeno - SS Ronny Cedeno - SS

9. Ross Ohlendorf - P Paul Maholm - P

It'll be interesting to see how this spring will play out compared to years past. This is actually the first year that I can remember, off the top of my head, in quite some time where veteran players have been added to the team to complement and back-up younger players.

Lets Go Bucs!

Opening Day Roster

With less than 3 weeks until the start of Spring Training, there has been pleanty of talk on the blogs and message boards on who will be brought north to St. Louis once April 6th rolls around. Assuming there aren't any major injuries in Spring Training, here is who I expect will be coming to Busch Stadium.

Opening Day Lineup
Nyjer Morgan - LF
Freddy Sanchez - 2B
Ryan Doumit - C
Nate McLouth - CF
Adam LaRoche - 1B
Brandon Moss - RF
Andy LaRoche - 3B
Jack Wilson - SS
Paul Maholm - P

Pitching Rotation
Paul Maholm
Ian Snell
Tom Gorzelanny
Ross Ohlendorf
Zack Duke

Bullpen
Matt Capps
Tyler Yates
John Grabow
Sean Burnett
TJ Beam
Jeff Karstens
Jimmy Barthmaier
Evan Meek

Bench
Jason Jaramillo
Luis Cruz
Steve Pierce
Ramon Vazquez

There you have it. My Opening Day lineup and roster for the 2009 Pittsburgh Pirates. I'm sure there will be a lot of disappointed Pirates fans because of the lack of a Doug Mientkiewicz. That's ok, disappointment is an emotion that you are required to be able to withstand when you cross into the gates of PNC Park.

Let's Go Bucs