Pittsburgh Pirates

Catchers & Infielders:

• C – Jason Kendall
• C – Manny Sanguillen (RF)
• 1B – Paul Waner (RF)
• 2B – Bill Mazeroski
• SS – Honus Wagner (3B/RF)
• 3B – Pie Traynor
• CI – Jake Beckley (1B)
• CI – Arky Vaughan (SS/3B)

Outfielders:

• LF – Ralph Kiner (1B)
• CF – Andrew McCutchen (LF)
• RF – Roberto Clemente (CF)
• OF – Dave Parker (RF)
• OF – Willie Stargell (1B/LF/RF)
• OF – Jason Bay (LF/RF)

Starting Pitchers:

• SP – Babe Adams
• SP – Sam Leever
• SP – Jesse Tannehill
• SP – Deacon Phillippe
• SP – Gerrit Cole
• SP – Wilbur Cooper

With every team, we started building their all-time 25-man and 40-man rosters by using the Hall of Fame as a starting point, figuring that a player enshrined in baseball’s immortal Hall would certainly qualify to make his team’s all-time roster.

Almost all the Hall of Fame members are easily identifiable with one team so it’s a simple way to start every roster with near-inarguable selections. There are a few brilliant players who made significant contributions to multiple teams, and it’s our job to decide where they made the biggest impact.

Pittsburgh’s big fight is for Barry Bonds:

Barry Bonds

Pittsburgh: 7 seasons, 2-time All-Star, 2-time MVP, 50.3 WAR, .275 AVG, 672 Runs, 556 RBI, 176 HR, 251 SB

San Francisco: 15 seasons, 12-time All-Star, 5-time MVP, 112.5 WAR, .312 AVG, 1555 runs, 1996 RBI, 263 SB

Unfortunately for Pirates fans, it’s a knockout. Bonds had a great run in Pittsburgh, but his sustained dominance and late-career surge make him part of San Francisco’s roster.

As with every team, we are trying to build an active roster with 13 position players and 12 pitchers, and then a 15-player inactive roster of guys who just missed the cut, but remain valuable as callups in case of slumps or injuries.

The 13 active position players are usually two catchers, six infielders, and five outfielders. The stats are built around the average of the player’s best three consecutive seasons.

The National Baseball Hall of Fame gives us a good start to the Pittsburgh roster. Cooperstown gives the Pirates Paul Waner (whose middle name was Glee but his nickname was BIG POISON), Bill Mazeroski, Honus Wagner, Pie Traynor, Arky Vaughn, Ralph Kiner, Roberto Clemente, Willie Stargell, Max Carey, Lloyd “Little Poison” Waner, Jake Beckley, and Fred Clarke.

With 12 players coming from Cooperstown, WAR (Wins Above Replacement), a great stat for looking at the all-around contribution to a team for both hitters and pitchers, can help us find the rest.

We get lots of help here, as in order we find: Andrew McCutchen, Tommy Leach, Dave Parker, Andy Van Slyke, Jason Kendall, Starling Marte, Al Oliver, and Manny Sanguillen.

Bobby Bonilla and Josh Bell’s short but stacked Pirates careers deserve consideration, and since each team needs at least three catchers we’ll look at Tony Peña as well.

Once plugged into the simulation software, we looked at their OPS (on-base + slugging percentage) and their defensive rankings and they break down like this:

CATCHER: Jason Kendall, Manny Sanguillen
FIRST BASE: Paul Waner, Josh Bell
SECOND BASE: Bill Mazeroski
SHORTSTOP: Honus Wagner, Arky Vaughn
THIRD BASE: Pie Traynor
LEFT FIELD: Ralph Kiner, Willie Stargell
CENTER FIELD: Andrew McCutchen
RIGHT FIELD: Roberto Clemente, Dave Parker

If Pittsburgh wanted to, they could roll out a starting lineup with Hall of Famers at every position except catcher – and still have four Hall of Famers on the bench!

That leaves inactive roster options for Max Carey, Bobby “Make your move” Bonilla, Lloyd Waner, Jake Beckley, Fred Clarke, Tony Peña, Andy Van Slyke, Bill Madlock and Starling Marte.

For the pitching staff we’re looking for six starters and six relievers. Bear in mind that across the whole game you will see dynamic, outstanding starting pitchers that can’t crack an all-time rotation but are better served as relievers on a team than sitting inactive. With 21 players on the total roster we have room for 19 pitchers.

Once we dug into the career WAR rankings (as Pirates) we came up with: Babe Admas, Wilbur Cooper, Bob Friend, Sam Leever, Ed Morris, John Candelaria, Deacon Phillippe, Jesse Tannehill, Ray Kremer, Vern Law, Rip Sewell, Bob Veale, Pud Galvin, Vic Willis, Frank Killen, and Doug Drabek. Impressive relievers that bear consideration include Roy Face, Dave Giusti, Kent Tekulve, Mark Melancon, and Felipe Vazquez.

Their Pirates careers didn’t last forever, but Gerrit Cole and Charlie Morton certainly deserve consideration as well.

We looked at their overall numbers in the simulation software and leaned heavily on ERA to come up with these designations:

STARTING ROTATION: Babe Adams, Sam Leever, Jesse Tannehill, Deacon Philippe, Gerrit Cole, Wilbur Cooper
RELIEVERS: Doug Drabek, Ray Kremer, Mark Melancon, Ed Morris
SET-UP: Kent Tekulve
CLOSER: Felipe Vazquez

All the pitching staffs look good in this league but I’ll admit I’m a little concerned about the Pirates’ rotation. The inactive pitcher options are Dave Giusti, Roy Face, Bob Veale, Rip Sewell, Waite Hoyt, and Charlie Morton

So how did we do?

Is Willie Stargell playing more left field or first base?

How would you split at-bats between Roberto Clemente and Dave Parker?

Let us know in the forums below and if you make a compelling case we will adapt it in-game. We want every squad to be the best they possibly can be and appreciate your help fine-tuning the Pirates for Eternal Baseball.

Photo Credits:

• PNC Park by Dan Gaken