Sometimes, even the obvious can look new, especially if you give it a new dress. Like most Pirate fans, I am well aware of the Pirates seemingly inability to take a walk. Still, a comment by the Yankee broadcasters during Monday's Pirate/Yanks matchup struck me. Essentially, the Pirates, as a team, compiled 415 walks last year (last by far in the major leagues). By contrast, the Yankees' top 5 walk guys had 433 walks all by themselves (the entire Yankee team compiled 670 walks). And it's not like those five guys were punch and judy guys. They were Gary Sheffield, Jorge Posada, Hideki Matsui, Bernie Williams and Alex Rodridguez.

When people point to the Yankees and Pirates as the "haves" and "have-nots" of professional baseball, I don't think this is what they had in mind. Still the disparity in plate discipline is as probably as much a factor in the difference in the quality of the two teams as payroll. There were 25 guys who walked 80 or more times in the major leagues last season. The Yankees had 5 of them. The Pirates top guy (Jason Kendall) walked 60 times last year. Sixty-three other professional players had more walks than the Pirates' top guy. That's enough guys to fill the offensive side of at least four ballclubs.

Of course, walks weren't the Bucs' only offensive shortcoming, but it is the most frustrating. The Pirates don't have a lot of power (the team finished 27th overall in total bases last season), so getting as many guys on base as possible should be a priority. Unfortunately, this roster doesn't seem to grasp the concept. Don't get me wrong, I am not suggesting that it's an easy skill to learn. On the contrary, I think it's an incredible difficult skill to master. Furthermore, I don't think it's a skill that can be taught after a player reaches a certain stage in their development. The Pirates have a young roster, but there isn't a lot of evidence available to suggest that a bunch of them will suddenly become proficient at it.