AUTHOR: Josh TITLE: From Prospects to Superstars! DATE: 5:37:00 PM ----- BODY:

Some Pirates fans look back on the Pirates teams of the past and wish that the Pirates still had some of the players that they traded away. The three outfielders who started the 2008 season for the Pirates, were leading the league in RBIs as an outfield unit before they were seperated by trades. That year the Pirates seemed to be in every game because they could come back from large deficits with the help of their power hitting outfielders and their catcher Ryan Doumit. Now that outfield which was made up of Jason Bay, Nate Mclouth, and Xavier Nady, is all gone. However that outfield was traded for something the Pirates needed badly, and that is Pitching. Jason Bay, Nate Mclouth, and Xavier Nady were considered to be Pittsburgh's superstars and the team missed them badly when they were traded. However, to begin the 2010 season, the Pirates have completely replaced the production that those outfielders provided. Three recent prospects will now take the place of those superstars that the Pirates had two years ago. Garret Jones in right field will be asked to replace the production of Jason Bay, Andrew McCutchen in center field will be asked to replace the production of Nate Mclouth, and Lastings Milledge in left field will be asked to replace the production of Xavier Nady. McCutchen was a prospect in the Pirates farm system up until June of last year, Lastings Milledge was a prospect for the Mets and he was in the Nationals farm system when the Pirates traded for him last year, and Garret Jones was a prospect for a combined nine years in the Braves and Twins farm systems. These three outfielders are all five tool players and they are very capable of replacing the players who patrolled the outfield for the Pirates before them. Garret Jones was acquired by the Pirates as a minor league free agent and he was given an invitation to camp last year. Andrew McCutchen was the Pirates first round pick out of high school in the 2005 Major League Baseball draft. Lastings Milledge was acquired by the Pirates from the Nationals in exchange for 29 year old outfielder Nyjer Morgan. The Pirates were very resourceful when they traded their superstars, because not only did they replace them, they acquired a lot of young pitching which will help the team immensely. Look for Jones, McCutchen and Milledge to make huge contributions offensively for the Pirates in 2010. -Josh (Pittsburghbaseball)

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