The Pittsburgh Pirates, in the wild card race despite an impotent offense, should add the stolen base to their attack. So far, good starting pitching and a weaker National League have kept the Bucs in the race. However, there will be moves by all contending teams at the trade deadline. The Pirates can\u2019t continue to rely on the status quo. General manager Ben Cherington has stated that the Pirates will look to improve internally while pursuing outside help from trades. In the meantime, the stolen base could be a useful weapon for them. In the current part of their schedule, the Pirates are seeing the benefits of the stolen base firsthand, with games against the Tampa Bay Rays and Cincinnati Reds, two of the \u201crunningest\u201d teams in all of baseball.<\/p>\n
The Pirates rank near the bottom of the National League in virtually every important offensive category. They\u2019re 14th in batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage. They\u2019re 13th in runs scored, home runs, and doubles. Also, they\u2019re 12th in stolen bases. Of course, part of the reason for the low ranking in steals correlates with the low ranking in reaching base. As goes the old baseball axiom, one can\u2019t steal first base (unless one is Lloyd McClendon<\/a>).
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