I’m not sure we can quantify the depth of the Pirates’ dumpster dive last season. But we can try.
They used a franchise-record 55 players, including a franchise-record 32 pitchers, and saw their win total drop by 20 from 2015. That would have been a franchise record, too, if not for the 1993 team, which posted a 21-win drop and inadvertently launched a 20-year losing streak.
So while questions abound every year in Bradenton — and every other spring training site across the majors — this year seems especially provocative. And troublesome.
One could list 25 critical inquiries, topped, of course, by this one: Who was the Pirates’ most anonymous offseason pickup — Pat Light, Joey Terdoslavich, Nefi Ogando, Dan Runzler or Josh Lindblom?