Baseball America has released their National League Preview online and the results were not kind as far as the Bucs are concerned. The Pirates were pick to finish last in the NL Central. To add insult to injury, this was BA's quick take: "The only thing worse than being the Brewers is being the Brewers and having no cause for optimism. That's the Pirates."

That's pretty harsh, but considering the source, it's not entirely surprising. The true blue among the Bucco faithful will point to guys like Oliver Perez, Jason Bay and Jack Wilson as bright spots, and I would tend to agree with them -- they are good guys to have on a ballclub. But I think Baseball America is looking at the organization as a whole, and not seeing a tremendous amount of "there" there. Let's face it, aside from perhaps Neil Walker, there aren't a lot of guys in the system that have the upside needed to help turnaround a floundering franchise. That's not to say the Bucs don't have some talent, but it takes more than talent to turn the tide of mediocrity, it takes talent with the potential to be great, rather than just good.

All that being said, I still don't feel like the Bucs will finish last in the division. You can say a lot about Lloyd McClendon, but his players don't quit on him. That can't be said for a lot of teams that go through a tough season (see last year's Brewers, Diamondbacks and Mariners). Even if things fall apart, I see the Pirates scraping just enough to avoid the cellar.