At the trade deadline, Neal Huntington made it relatively clear that 2011 will be another year for evaluation. If the Pirates are ever going to play competitive baseball, it likely won’t be until 2012. Here’s my take on an Opening Day lineup for next year.

Statistics are an important part of baseball, and so players are constantly being evaluated, judged, measured and scrutinized. In July, all the numbers are brought front and center by two events: the Major League Baseball All-Star Game, and the trade deadline. Cory and Alan consider the Pirates’ roster in that context.

It’s the top of the 12th inning. You’re deadlocked at five runs. Your opponent, the Milwaukee Brewers, brings in a left-handed pitcher, starter-turned-reliever Manny Parra. You have the heart of the order due up. What’s the call?

All numbers that point to this being the darkest day in recent Pirates history. A record-breaking shutout loss, eclipsing a standard that stood for a century. A three-game series of absolutely one-sided baseball. A Pythagorean expectation so pessimistic that it’s quite literally unbelievable.

Either I’m easily impressed, or you can still see a glimmer of what made Ronny Cedeno a former prospect. I’m not expecting him to become a star, but I do think Ronny can be a usable piece of the Pirates for more than a season or two. Jack Wilson, on the other hand, seems to be trending the other way.

Hosts Cory Humes and Alan Smodic go around the diamond and discuss players’ performances and managerial tendencies through the Pirates’ opening series against the Dodgers. And, as is often the case, the focus turns toward the future, as the 2010 season will be spent as an extended tryout for what’s certain to be a competitive 2011 team.

These six scenarios will be fun to watch. They’re the ones where Pittsburgh Pirates general manager Neal Huntington said to his colleagues: I’m better than you.

There are reasons to be optimistic about the Pirates as currently constructed. Ron Cook, and other curmudgeons like him, just need to consider players in the proper perspective.