24-year old righty swinging outfielder Lastings Milledge has been solid for the Pirates since coming over from the Nationals. He has played in 45 games for the Pirates this season and he is 51 for 166 (.307 avg, .748 OPS) with 15 runs scored, 2 homers, 15 RBIs and 5 stolen bases. The Pirates believe that Milledge has a higher upside than Nyjer Morgan who they traded for him and they better be right.

26-year old righty swinging shortstop Ronny Cedeno has done well for the Pirates since coming over from the Mariners in the Jack Wilson trade. Cedeno has played in 39 games for the Pirates and he is 37 for 129 (.287 avg, .775 OPS) with 15 runs scored, 5 homers, 18 RBIs and 2 stolen bases. Cedeno is making a good argument for being the starting shortstop next season for the Pirates.

Nate McLouth has never really been a starting player for the Pirates until this season. He was mostly just a #4 or #5 outfielder on the team but he will likely never have that role again. McLouth has played in 117 games for the Pirates this season and he is 131 for 468 (.280 avg, .902 OPS) with 87 runs scored, 22 homers, 74 RBIs and 14 stolen bases. Look for the Pirates to build around McLouth in the future as they hope that this season is a glimpse of things to come out of him and not a mirage.

At some point the Pirates are going to have to quit crying poor and try to put a legit baseball team into the beautiful new stadium they call home. The team owner appears to have rejected a trade with the Braves that would have netted them four prospects including two that were major league ready. Still, Jason Bay has been the face of the franchise for a while now and the people of Pittsburgh deserve to see some major league players when they come out to the ballpark. Bay has played in 103 games this season for the Pirates and he is 108 for 380 (.284 avg, .907 OPS) with 69 runs scored, 22 homers, 61 RBIs and 6 stolen bases. Bay is a player to build around not a player to give up on.

I know that this sounds like a broken record around Pittsburgh but they will probably be looking to trade starting RF Xavier Nady who is off to a great start to the 2008 season. He appears to be playing over his head based on his career numbers so the Pirates will likely get much more than he’s worth in trade. It will be hard to pass it up as in reality the Pirates are still rebuilding due to a awful pitching staff. Nady has played in 74 games for the Pirates this season and he is 88 for 271 (.325 avg, .926 OPS) with 40 runs scored, 12 homers and 53 RBIs. Of course, if the Pirates wanted to try to get to .500 this season than they would keep Nady…..but even with him they likely wouldn’t reach that goal because of the pitching staff.