Hosts: Sonny, Ryan and Rich: This episode focused entirely on the National League Central. With Kosuke Fukudome now in Chicago, can the North Siders make it two division titles in a row? Or will the Milwaukee Brewers’ youth movement come to fruition with a division crown? Also, what can we expect from the talented youngsters in Cincinnati? Can they challenge for the crown this year? Or will Tony La Russa and Albert Pujols get back to the forefront of the division. All of this and more on the Sportable Spot.

Note: We’ve recorded our podcasts for the AL Central and AL East. They will be posted in a few days after we complete the NL West team previews.

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All Hands on Deck for More Losing! The Pittsburgh Pirates have a couple of things going for them. For starters, they play in a beautiful ballpark and are a franchise rich in history and glory. They also have a badass team name, which opens up tons of opportunities for Pirate puns throughout this preview. But that’s where the fun ends for the Buccos, who haven’t exceeded 75 wins in this millennium. Despite new ownership and management, this season shouldn’t be much different.

Bats. If I wanted to assemble a lineup, I would probably take the skeleton crew of The Black Pearl before this bunch of misfits. Once a franchise loaded with superstars like Barry Bonds and Andy Van Slyke, the modern-day Pirates have few players that generate much excitement. For no reason whatsoever, outfielder Jason Bay went from a rising star to a huge disappointment. After consecutive trips to the All Star Game, Bay’s batting average fell nearly 40 points to a meager .247. His power numbers also fell (35 and 109 in ‘06 to 21 and 84) randomly. At 29 years old, Bay is supposed to be entering his prime. But last year’s fall makes zero sense to anyone interested in Pirates baseball (all six of you). Outside of Bay, the closest thing this lineup has to a star is infielder Freddy Sanchez, who followed up his ‘06 batting crown with another strong season. Sanchez didn’t come close to his .344 average from that season, but he still finished a respectable .304 with a career high 11 homers and 81 RBIs.

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Warning: If you’re an NL Central homer, this article (like the current standings in that division) probably will burn your eyes out.

For the past few seasons, the NL West has taken the dubious name of the worst division in baseball. Much to the West’s glee, that title has been passed on to the NL Central, a division that has the team that spent $136 million this off season, the defending World Series champions, and only one team (the Milwaukee Brewers) over .500. Remarkable.

Believe it or not, the Milwaukee Brewers had the best record in baseball at one point this year. It was too good to be true. Since that point, the Brewers have slid and only won 10 of their last 29 games. Welcome back to earth, Milwaukee. Yet, despite the Brewers struggles over the past month, the rest of the division has been just as bad, if not worse. It took a Zambrano sucker punch and a Piniella ejection to get the Cubs going again, but the big spending Cubs are still seven games under .500, though sitting in third place but only a half game back of the Cardinals. Alfonso Soriano has decided that he wants to hit, but with the money that the Cubs have invested in him I would imagine that they would have preferred he started swinging the bat in April like everyone else.

The World Champion St Louis Cardinals continued their former 2002 Anaheim Angels circle jerk the other day when they signed Troy Percival to a minor league deal. Percival, who was once lights out, won’t do much beyond helping that bullpen. The problem that the Cardinals face is that they can’t get a lead to the bullpen because their starting pitching is atrocious. So much for that Anthony Reyes experiment. Before his ass got sent down, he was 0-7 with an ERA over 7. Mark Mulder can’t come back fast enough. And how about the productivity lack of offense from Jim Edmonds and Scott Rolen so far this year. Do these guys even care anymore? Read the rest of this entry »

This season brings many new hopes and dreams for a young Pittsburgh Pirates ball club. But one thing that will stand out this year at PNC Park is the Pirates’ new red alternate jersey. Many teams across the league wear alternates on Sunday. However, the Pirates are also wearing these new threads during the week.

In the past, the Pirates have worn a black alternate that never really flew off the shelves. Hopefully this year, the new red color will change all that. Almost every single jersey that the Pirates have in their locker is a cut off sleeve uniform. So it was fitting that this new jersey would also be a cut off. The Pirates will wear a black t-shirt underneath to finish off the new look.

The standard Pirates font runs across the middle in black with yellow trim to compliment the redness of the jersey. The cut off sleeves of the jersey also feature a yellow and black trim that runs around the entire sleeve at about 3/4 of an inch thick.

All in all, I really like what the Pirates have done here. They went away from their ordinary color scheme and came up with something that’s very nice. The new jersey just might be the best one the Pirates have in their locker. If you’re thinking about buying one, may I suggest a Freddy Sanchez jersey. The defending National League batting champion is a rising star in the league, just like the new Pirates’ red alternate.

Sportable is always looking for guest columnists or bloggers? input. We welcome any submissions for guest articles and if we like them, we?ll post them on the site with a link to your blog. Free advertising! This guest article comes courtesy of Ted Bauer over at A Price Above Bip Roberts. It covers all sports and it’s definitely a good one. If you?d like to submit a guest article, send us an email.

The following article is written about Xavier Nady, a player whose jumped around the league the last few years. He’s incredibly talented but for some reason, only feels like playing during the month of April. Thanks for the article Ted.

“And when the game was tight, we always knew he’d come through,” wrote the seriously independent band Kuff and the Buttheads last summer, before continuing:

“… he’d make that pitcher take it… in the butt.”

True poetry, indeed; and written about a man that lyrical wordplay barely does justice to: Xavier Nady. You may know Nady for a variety of reasons: the Pac-10’s all-time leader in slugging percentage; part of the very rare group of “professional athletes whose first name begins with X” (Xavier McDaniel, anyone?); one of a handful of people to go straight into the majors without making a professional debut in the minors (albeit for only a game); part of the trade that sent Phil Nevin out of San Diego (in an effort to make more playing time for Nady); part of the trade that sent eventual NLCS Game 7 starter Oliver Perez into New York; or as a guy who once homered in four straight games.

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For the entire month of March, the Sportable Staff will look at one Major League Baseball team a day. We’ll look at their lineups and pitching and in the end, assess their playoff chances. Previews will be done by division, starting with the American League East. Each new division will also feature a new podcast devoted entirely to that division.

Pirates Looking to Earn NL Central Booty: With my first terrible pun out of the way, I can now focus on the probable last place team in the NL Central, the Pittsburgh Pirates. They’ve added a red alternate to their rotation but in terms of talent, they’re very similar to the 95 loss teams from the past two years. For their sake, they may have to hope that Davy Jones’ Locker is full of steroids and HGH. They’ll need it. The Pirates will unveil a new red alternate uniform to be worn on Sundays and holidays. Whether or not they transform into the Cardinals when they put them on is a different story. Read the rest of this entry »