It’s mid-May and the Pirates are 17-19 and three games out of first place in the NL Central.
How many of you thought that would be the case when the season began? That April was supposed to kill the Buccos.
So, now as the weather gets nicer and the Pirates aren’t out of it, you have to ask, is this the year?
No doubt in my mind 99% of you will say no, but I say yes, and here’s how and why they’ll do it:

Seeing free agent signings fall flat is nothing new to the Pittsburgh Pirates. After all, this franchise has endured the likes of Adam Laroche, Jeromy Burnitz, Joe Randa, Raul Mondesi and, of course, Derek Bell. While Clint Barmes's poor play hasn't reached the point where I could be considered a "saga", I still believe it belongs in the conversation of worst Pirate signings.

The Pirates -having grown tired of watching Ronny Cedeno bunt with the bases loaded- decided to replace him by signing Barmes to a two year, $10 million contract.

I'm a baseball writer. There are thousands of us all around the country, and we seem to all be writing about one player recently - Bryce Harper. This kid's been hyped up since he was a young teenager, and he was on the cover of Sports Illustrated at the age of 16. He's 19 years old now and he's taking the major leagues by storm. The way I look at it, the hype itself has done more than anything to capture all those eyes.