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.

In 2010, John Russell will make decisions that will lead to screaming, yelling and crying. But Monday, April 5, Russell had the golden touch, and Ryan Church solidified his position on the active roster.

Opening Day is less than three weeks away, and hosts Cory Humes and Alan Smodic begin to wonder who’ll take the hill for the Pirates against the Dodgers on April 5. In this episode of Pirate Revolution, starting pitchers at the major and minor-league levels are reviewed.