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Cockcroft: Pittsburgh Pirates preview

By Tristan H. Cockcroft
ESPN.com

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Is bad luck to blame for the Pirates' string of 14 consecutive losing seasons? Having averaged 92 losses the past nine years, Pittsburgh has had plenty of chances to draft prime players to restock the farm system. And from 1998-2003, the Pirates used each of their first picks in the amateur draft to select pitchers, on the idea that that's how you build a winner. Well, it's 2007 now, and only one of those six pitchers is a lock for the Pirates' rotation: Paul Maholm (2003), whose 1.608 WHIP was ...

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