The Pittsburgh Pirates were close enough on July 31st to make deals for 1B Derrek Lee and outfielder Ryan Ludwick. Both of those players missed a big chunk of the last two months due to injury, and that’s when the Pirates’ season went down the commode. The Pirates finished in 4th place in the N.L. Central with a 72-90 record, which had them 24 games behind the Brewers. Here is the things that stood out about the Pirates to me in 2011:

TEAM MVP & BEST PITCHER: 30-year old righty Joel Hanrahan won the closer’s job in spring training and the rest is history. He pitched in 70 games (0 starts) for the Pirates in 2011 and he was 1-4 with 40 saves, a 1.83 ERA and a 1.05 WHIP. He only gave up 56 hits and 16 walks, while whiffing 61 batters in 68 2/3 innings. A lot of the Pirates’ wins were close ones and that is what made Hanrahan so valuable to them.

PLEASANT SURPRISE: 29-year old righty Jeff Karstens came out of nowhere for the Pirates in 2011. He pitched in 30 games (26 starts) for the Pirates in 2011 and he was 9-9 with a 3.38 ERA and a 1.21 WHIP. Karstens was very aggressive in the strike zone as he only walked 33 batters in 162 1/3 innings and that was a big reason for his success.

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT: This isn’t even close. The Pirates were depending on 24-year old lefty swinging 3B Pedro Alvarez to provide them with a nice power stick in the middle of the batting order. That didn’t happen. Alvarez played in 74 games for the Pirates in 2011 and he was 45 for 235 (.191 avg, .561 OPS) with 18 runs scored, 4 homers, 19 RBIs and 1 stolen base as he whiffed a stunning 80 times!