While Neal Huntington’s work has the Pirates positioned well for a turnaround circa 2012 or so, his evaluation of players in certain trades seems inaccurate in hindsight. Unfortunately, along with his celebrated wins at the exchange came these four losses.

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.

In Andy LaRoche, Pedro Alvarez, Jeff Clement, Neil Walker, Steve Pearce and Garrett Jones, the Pittsburgh Pirates have a number of interesting corner infield options for 2010 and beyond.

If you haven’t learned by now to not listen to any national reporters when talking about the Pittsburgh Pirates, please take note. Most national writers, as they have proven recently, love to take any shot at Pittsburgh and its consecutive string of losing seasons. This typically comes with snide remarks and a complete lack of competence in reporting what the front office is actually accomplishing.