24-year old righty swinging CF Andrew McCutchen turned in another solid year for the Pirates in 2011. He has played in 156 games for the Pirates so far this year and he is 148 for 564 (.262 avg, .831 OPS) with 87 runs scored, 23 homers, 89 RBIs and 23 stolen bases. McCutchen has now played in 418 games in his first three years with the Pirates and he is 435 for 1,567 (.278 avg, .826 OPS) with 255 runs scored, 51 homers, 199 RBIs and 78 stolen bases. The best is likely yet to come out of him.

29-year old righty reliever Joel Hanrahan won the closer’s job in spring training and he has been nasty. Hanrahan has looked like ole Goose Gossage for the Pirates this year. He has pitched in 70 games (0 starts) for the Pirates so far this year and he is 1-4 with 40 saves, a 1.83 ERA and a 1.05 WHIP. Hanrahan has now pitched in 175 games (0 starts) in his first three years with the Pirates and he is 5-6 with 46 saves, a 2.55 ERA and a 1.17 WHIP. He has only given up 137 hits in his first 169 2/3 innings for the Pirates while whiffing 198 batters and that is pretty darn impressive. When the Pirates take a lead into the 9th inning now, they feel comfortable that they are going to win.

26-year old lefty swinging outfielder Alex Presley came into this season as the Pirates’ #20 ranked prospect according to Baseball America. He then went on to play in 89 games in A+AAA-ball this year in which he was 115 for 348 (.330 avg, .866 OPS) with 60 runs scored, 8 homers, 41 RBIs and 22 stolen bases. Presley earned a promotion to Pittsburgh and he has played well. Presley has played in 47 games for the Pirates so far this year and he is 57 for 193 (.295 avg, .799 OPS) with 26 runs scored, 3 homers, 16 RBIs and 8 stolen bases. Presley really hustles on the field and when he got hurt, that’s about exactly when the Pirates’ season went down the toilet.

The Pirates have acquired 23-year old righty reliever Eliecer Cardenas from the Braves to complete the deal for Matt Diaz. Cardenas pitched in 45 games (0 starts) in A+AA-ball for the Braves this year and he was 4-3 with 7 saves, a 2.11 ERA and a 1.36 WHIP. He only gave up 46 hits while whiffing 76 batters in only 59 2/3 innings this year which was impressive. He did walk 35 batters and that is way too many. Cardenas has now pitched in 138 games (26 starts) in his first six years in the minors and he is 20-10 with 16 saves, a 2.52 ERA and a 1.30 WHIP. This was good value for the Pirates as Diaz didn’t really have a role with them any more.

28-year old righty swinging shortstop Ronny Cedeno is likely in his last season as a Pittsburgh Pirate. The Pirates hold a team option for the 2012 season on Cedeno, but he hasn’t really played well enough this year to earn it. Cedeno has played in 120 games for the Pirates so far this year and he is 99 for 387 (.256 avg, .654 OPS) with 42 runs scored, 2 homers, 31 RBIs and 2 stolen bases. Cedeno has now played in 305 games in his first three years with the Pirates and he is 259 for 1,010 (.256 avg, .671 OPS) with 101 runs scored, 15 homers, 90 RBIs and 16 stolen bases.