Just How Homegrown Are The Pittsburgh Pirates?

The growing sentiment against the Pittsburgh Pirates’ moves this off-season have led many to believe that the Pirates lack homegrown talent. Is that truly the case?

In 2015, the average Major League roster had 6.6 home ground players receiving regular playing time. The high was 11, which was shared by the Philadelphia Phillies and New York Mets. The low mark- one –  is held by trade happy Billy Beane and the Oakland Athletics.

The Pirates as a team rank right near the top in terms of home grown players as they had 10 regular contributors in 2015. They were Andrew McCutchen, Neil Walker, Pedro Alvarez, Jung Ho Kang, Jordy Mercer, Starling Marte, Gregory Polanco, Gerrit Cole, Tony Watson and Jared Hughes.

Compare that to the rest of the playoff finishers in the National League:

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Blue Jays Projections vs Rest of AL East

With a somewhat disappointing offseason, we look at the Toronto Blue Jays projected offense for 2016 to see if there is reason for optimism.

If you’re like me, you’ve been pretty frustrated with the Blue Jays’ winter thus far. But, whether it is the egg nog talking or a ghost of seasons past showing me the light, I’ve come to accept the notion that this team is going to compete in 2016. That notion is buoyed by the visions of home run trots dancing in my head. But, I wanted to see if I was actually dreaming. I wanted to take a look to see if 2016 is actually going to be as good as I think. If we look at the 2015 Steamer projections via Fangraphs.com, we get an idea of the season yet to come.

 

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