29 year old Freddy Sanchez will look to repeat his gigantic breakout season of last year.  Sanchez played in 157 games and he hit .344 with 85 runs scored, 200 hits, 53 doubles, 6 homers, 85 RBIs and a .851 OPS.  Sanchez also played very well at third base defensively.  Sanchez only made 6 errors in 99 games and he’s showed fantastic range in the field.  It will be hard for Sanchez to repeat as a batting champion but he’s almost a lock to be a .300 hitter next season.  Look for Sanchez and Jack Wilson to form one of the best defensive left sides of the infield in the major leagues this season unless Sanchez replaces Jose Castillo at 2B.

26 year old Jose Bautista will likely be the starting third baseman for the Pirates if Sanchez moves to 2B, but that’s not too likely.  He played in 117 games last season for the Pirates and he hit .235 with 16 homers, 51 RBIs and a .755 OPS.  Bautista is not a good defensive thrid baseman as he made 5 errors in only 33 games there and he didn’t show much range.  Look for Bautista to get most of his playing time in the outfield unless Sanchez or Castillo get injured.

37 year old Jose Hernandez will be an option at third base too.  He played 11 error-less games there last season and showed outstanding range.

30 year old Mike Edwards is a favorite of manager Jim Tracy who brought him over to the Pirates because he played for him in LA.  Edwards didn’t do much at AAA last season for the Pirates as he played in 92 games and hit .258 with 3 homers, 29 RBIs and a .690 OPS.  He also played in 14 games for the Pirates and went 3 for 16 (.188 avg).  Look for Edwards to spend most of 3B in the minors unless the Pirates suffer a rash of injuries.

29 year old Jack Wilson is fantastic defensive shortstop and a pesky little hitter.  Wilson played in 142 games last season and he hit .273 with 70 runs scored, 8 homers, 35 RBIs and a .686 OPS.  He made 18 errors in 131 games at shortstop last season but he showed unbelievable range there.  He gets to balls that other shortstops can only get to in their dreams.  He’s a very hard nosed player that isn’t scared to get dirty and that style rubs off on his teammates.  Look for Wilson to have a real shot at a Gold Glove if he can cut down on his errors a little bit this season.  He also will probably hit a little bit better than he did last season.

The Pirates have brought back 37 year old Jose Hernandez to be a reserve infielder again for them.  They traded him to the Phillies last August 22nd.  Hernandez played in 85 games last season and he hit .263 with 3 homers, 19 RBIs and a .679 OPS.  Hernandez played 11 error-less games at shortstop and he showed great range.  Look for Hernandez to get spot starts all over the infield this season and a lot of pinch hitting appearances.

26 year old Jose Castillo comes into Spring Training as the starting 2B as he has the last three seasons, but he will have to earn the job this season.  The Pirates are a little upset at Castillo’s conditioning and his defensive problems, which they think are brought on by his lack of determination to improve both on and off the field.  Castillo hit .253 last season with 14 homers and 65 RBIs.  He’s not very selective with the bat in his hands as he only walked 32 times and wound up with a .299 OBP, which is awful.  He does have decent power and the Pirates think he could hit 20+ homers if he worked harder at the game.  Castillo does have good range in the field, but he made 18 errors last season which is way too many for a second baseman.  Look for him to remain the starter, at least early in the season.  He will have to play well to hold off the competition for his job.

The Pirates are considering shifting batting champ Freddy Sanchez to 2B and starting young Jose Bautista at 3B, so if that doesn’t light a fire under Castillo’s behind……nothing will. 

28 year old Nick Green has been brought in to battle for a back-up infield job this season and he will have a good shot to make the team.  He’s looking to rebound from an awful year last season as he only hit .184 with the D-Rays and Yankees.  He is a .243 career batter, so look for him to hit closer to his career norm.  He’s also a decent defensive player and is very versatile which should help his chances.

30 year old switch hitting Eddy Garabito also will have a chance to make the Pirates in Spring Training.  Last season he hit .257 with a .670 OPS, 5 homers, 46 RBIs and 19 steals in 128 games in AAA ball.  He only has played one season in the majors (2005 Colorado Rockies) and he hit .307 with a .782 OPS in 88 at bats.  He should give Green a pretty good battle in Spring Training for a roster spot.

27 year old lefty swinging Adam LaRoche really broke out last season for the Braves so the Pirates traded relief pitcher Mike Gonzalez to get him.  LaRoche should give Jason Bay good protection in the line up for once and both of them should excel because of that.  LaRoche hit .285 with a .915 OPS and 32 homers and 90 RBIs in 492 at bats for the Braves.  Look for him to knock in even more runs this season now that he’ll be batting in a power slot near the top of the batting order for the Pirates.  LaRoche only made 5 errors in the field as he’s pretty slick with the glove which is good news for the rest of the infield and the pitching staff.

If something happened to LaRoche the Pirates would either bring Xavier Nady in from the outfield or they would give Brad Eldred a chance.  The 26 year old lefty swinging Eldred has big time power but he whiffs a lot and that keeps his average way down.  He only hit .226 with 3 homers and 10 RBIs in only 62 at bats in AAA.  Eldred has 190 at bats in his major league career and he hit .221 with 12 homers, 27 RBIs and a .737 OPS.

25 year old Ronny Paulino will be the starting catcher for the Pirates again this season.  He had a great rookie year as he was only the second catcher (Mike Piazza) since 1969 to catch at least 100 games and hit .310.  He batted .346 with runners in scoring position last season which was amazing seeing how he was batting 8th most of the season.  He should move up a little bit in the line up and his power will likely improve some.  He hit .310 with 6 homers, 55 RBIs and a OPS of .754.  Paulino has a super arm as he threw out 26% of the runners that tried to steal on him.  He made 11 errors and had 9 passed balls last season so he does have some things to improve on defensively this season.

26 year old Ryan Doumit will get the chance to be the back up catcher for the Pirates this season, but he’ll have to play better defense behind the plate if he wants to stick all year.  He only hit .208 with a .711 OPS which shows that he has decent power.  He did hit 6 homers and 9 doubles in only 149 at bats.  Doumit had 1 error and 2 passed balls in only 91.2 innings behind the plate.  Doumit threw out 15% of attempted base stealers, but Pirates pitchers had a 6.09 ERA when he caught.  Chances are that Doumit will be a back up catcher and first baseman again this season for the Pirates.

28 year old Humberto Cota had an awful season with a bat in his hands last year.  He hit .190 with a .448 OPS which is pathetic.  Cota only scored 5 runs and knocked in 5 runs in 100 at bats!  Even pitchers hit better than he did, so he better rebound with the stick or he’ll be in the minors leagues for a long time.  Cota threw out 22% of the base runners that tried to steal on him and he didn’t make an error last season for the Pirates.  He did have 5 passed balls in 242.1 innings so he better do a better job of catching the ball.  Pirates pitchers had a 6.09 ERA when throwing the ball to him last season.

34 year old Einar Diaz was brought in by the Pirates on a minor league contract.  He might have a chance to make the Pirates as he is a much better defensive catcher than Cota or Doumit are.  He had a rough season in AAA last year as he only hit .225 with 3 homers and 31 at bats.  He only batted 3 times last season in the majors and had 2 hits (.667) for the LA Dodgers.

28 year old Carlos Maldonado will also have a chance to claim the back up job in Pittsburgh.  Maldonado had a solid season in AAA as he hit .283 last season with a .744 OPS.  Maldonado only had 2 hits in 19 at bats (.105 avg.) for the Pirates.  He only threw out 1 of 7 (14%) of attempted base stealers and he made an error in only 54 innings behind the plate.  He could have been nervous as it was his first big league experience.

28 year old David Parrish had a solid season in AAA as he hit .298 with 4 homers and 34 RBIs in only 76 games.  He had a solid OPS of .787.  He has never played in the major leagues but the Pirates don’t have a lot of great players in front of him, so you never know.