Hire the Pirates

Yes, Virginia, the Pirates are decent. (Pirates)

Is there a HR Department jinx? We'll find out, because the Pittsburgh Pirates and their (mostly) anonymous lineup have quietly reached a 33-33 record as of June 15, which is probably the latest the team has sniffed a winning season since Bill Clinton's second term.

Norman Chad of the Washington Post, who said he is a Pirates fan for reasons unknown even to him, recently compiled a list of the Pirates' records from 1993-2010. The best was 79-83 (1997) and the worst was 57-105 (last year). The team hasn't won more than 68 games since 2004, which is what makes this season so surprising.

The turnaround can't be chalked up to an improved lineup - Pittsburgh's cleanup hitter is 2B Neil Walker, who is batting .256 this season and has 20 home runs total in his three MLB seasons. As a team, the Pirates are near the bottom of the league in runs scored (25th), batting average (26th), on-base percentage (23rd) and slugging percentage (26th).

The key to this vast improvement is pitching. The Pirates are 7th in the majors in team ERA (3.48) and 12th overall in quality starts with 39. Pittsburgh's pitching has been especially tough on right-handed batters, holding them to a .231 average and .298 on-base percentage this season. The defense is pretty solid, too, with only 39 errors in 66 games.

As weak as Pittsburgh's hitting is, the team will demand a lot of its pitchers all season. And with a run differential of -10, it's going to be pretty tough for the Pirates to make the playoffs. But for a team that is the least valuable franchise in baseball and has the third-lowest payroll, finishing at .500 would be a significant accomplishment. (As a side note, this must be the year of vindication for cheap owners - the Royals and Rays are the two teams behind the Pirates in payroll, and they both still have a shot at the playoffs.)