Will Pirates' talented starters have enough help? taken in Bradenton, Fla. (Courtesy of StepOutside.org)

Jameson Taillon. - MATT SUNDAY / DKPS

BRADENTON, Fla. -- The Pirates don’t have anything close to matching baseball’s original “Core Four", at least when it comes to winning rings.

Derek Jeter, Andy Pettitte, Jorge Posada and Bernie Williams helped the Yankees win four World Series titles in a five-year span from 1996-2000. The Pirates, conversely, haven’t been to the World Series since 1979.

However, the 2019 Pirates have what they consider their Core Four, and they aren’t shy in saying much of their hopes of contending this season ride on the arms of Jameson Taillon, Trevor Williams, Joe Musgrove and Chris Archer.

The Pirates have reason to be excited about all four talented right-handers. However, the big question is whether management has done enough to give the Core Four proper support.

Last season, the Pirates ranked 28th among the 30 major-league teams in defensive efficiency. That statistic counts the number of balls put in play, except for home runs, that are turned into outs.

The Pirates have revamped their infield this season with the hopes that the fielding will improve following the offseason departures of second baseman Josh Harrison and shortstop Jordy Mercer to the Tigers in free agency.

Jung Ho Kang beat out incumbent Colin Moran in the spring training competition for the staring third baseman’s job. Newcomer Erik Gonzalez, acquired from the Indians, takes over at shortstop. Adam Frazier has been promoted from a utility player role to be the regular second baseman.

“We feel our defense will be better with the moves that have been made,” Neal Huntington said. “Defense played a significant part in our decisions.”

The Pirates’ infield defense was suspect this spring, though. It seemed the starting pitchers were continually put in a position to get extra outs in innings during exhibition games because of errors or plays that weren’t made behind them.

“It stands to reason that if you’re going to build your team around pitching that you would also want to have a good defense,” a scout from an American League team told me. “The Pirates have good pitching but it’s hard to have consistently good results when the ball isn’t getting caught behind you. Their infield defense can’t be any worse than last year, but I also don’t know if it’ll be significantly better.”

The same could be said for the offense. The Pirates have basically the same hitters who produced just 4.3 runs a game last year, which was 19th in the major leagues and 0.2 below the big-league average.

The only other new face in the lineup beyond Kang and Gonzalez is Lonnie Chisenhall. He will be the fill-in in right field until Gregory Polanco recovers from shoulder surgery.

“They’re putting a lot of stress on their pitchers,” the AL scout said. “The defense might not be very good, and they aren’t going to get much run support. There is no margin of error for their starters and that’s a tough way to live over a 162-game season.

“This is the era of quick-strike and the home run. They don’t have enough of that.”

The Pirates starters scoff at the idea that their teammates have too much of a handicap to overcome.

“I like the team we have,” Williams said. “We’re going to be better than a lot of people think. We have good players. We had a good season last year and we’re going to build off that. I’m excited (about) the guys playing behind me. They give everything they have, and everyone believes we are going to have a good year. I’m excited about playing with these guys.”

Of course, what else are they going to say?

The Core Four all understand that expectations are high, and they will likely carry an inordinate amount of the load if the Pirates are to reach the postseason for the first time since 2015.

“We know there is a lot riding on us, and we’re fine with that,” Musgrove said. “We welcome the challenge. We have a lot of confidence in our abilities. We all feel we are capable of having a lot of success. We’re a very tightknit group and we all push each other to be better. We’re capable of being one of the best rotations in the league.”

Taillon seconds that sentiment.

“There is no reason we can’t be among the best rotations (in) the game,” Taillon said. “I think there is still a lot of upside among us.”

Archer seconds Taillon’s sentiment.

“We can do some very special things this year,” Archer said. “I look at our rotation and there are no weak links. Every day we put a guy out there who can do a lot more than just keep the team in the game.”

Taillon, 27, is coming off a fine 2018 season in which he was 14-10 with a 3.20 ERA, 1.17 WHIP and 8.4 strikeouts per nine innings.

He was one of just two major league pitchers to have a streak of 22 consecutive starts of allowing three runs or less in 2018 — the Mets’ Jacob deGrom set the major league record with 29 in a row on his way to winning the National League Cy Young Award.

Multiple scouts told me during spring training that they feel Taillon is a darkhorse candidate to succeed deGrom as the Cy Young winner.

“You have to love Taillon,” a scout from a National League team said. “He’s got great stuff and he knows how to use it. He’s such a smart pitcher, and because of that you know he isn’t going to beat himself. And he’s got great poise. He doesn’t rattle.

“He’s already a good pitcher but he has a chance to be great. I see him building off last season and really taking it up another notch.”

The 26-year-old Williams had a season much like Taillon’s last year, going 14-10 with a 3.11 ERA, 1.17 WHIP and 6.6 K/9. He also had a historic second half, as his 1.38 ERA after the All-Star break was the second-lowest in Pirates’ history behind Zane Smith’s 1.30 in 1990.

Williams became the first pitcher in franchise history to work at least six innings without allowing a run in as many as 10 starts in a season. He also led the major leagues in that category, one more than the Astros’ Justin Verlander.

“He’s Greg Maddux Lite,” said a scout from an AL team. “He’s not going to overwhelm you with 96-mph fastballs, and he doesn’t have that one off-speed pitch that nobody can hit. All he does is put pitches in spots where hitters can’t square the ball up. There’s an art to pitching that way and not a lot of guys can pitch with that kind of precision. He’s a real craftsman. He’s special.”

Williams and Taillon formed quite a 1-2 duo as the Pirates finished a surprising 82-79, following a winter in which they traded stars Andrew McCutchen and Gerrit Cole.

Williams was seventh in the NL in ERA and Taillon finished ninth, marking the first time since 1991 that two Pirates pitchers finished in the top-10 during the same season. That year, Randy Tomlin (2.98) was eighth and Doug Drabek (3.07) was 10th.

Furthermore, it was the first time the Pirates had two right-handers win at least 14 games in a season since 1978 when Bert Blyleven was 14-10 and Don Robinson went 14-6. The last season in which two Pirates pitchers won as many as 14 games was 1992 when Drabek was 15-11 and Tomlin went 14-9. The last time the Pirates had two pitchers 26 or younger win at least 14 games was 1976 when John Candelaria went 16-7 and Bruce Kison was 14-9.

The Pirates are confident Musgrove and Archer can make their own marks.

Acquired from the Astros in the trade for Cole, Musgrove had an uneven first season with the Pirates. He did not make his first start until May 25 because of a shoulder injury, then pitched through a stress fracture in his pelvis for much of the second half. Musgrove had abdominal surgery in October in which he also had a hernia repaired.

Musgrove had a 6-9 record with a 4.06 ERA, but his 1.17 WHIP matched that of Taillon and Williams. Musgrove also had a fine 7.8 K/9 and a very impressive 1.8 walks per nine innings.

“The thing about Musgrove is he is never going to beat himself with walks and I can’t say enough about how important that is,” a scout from an NL team said. “The guy pounds the strike zone and his stuff is good enough that he can get away with it. Some guys pound the zone and get hit because they have so-so stuff.

“I like everything about the guy. He’s very athletic. He helps himself in the field and at the plate. And he’s a great, great competitor. He doesn’t back down in any situation.”

Archer joined a new situation last season when the Pirates acquired him from the Rays in a July 31 trade. It was a deal that went against the organizational norm as the Pirates added a player most fans were familiar with rather than sending a known commodity away.

Archer was so-so in 10 starts for the Pirates, going 3-3 with a 4.30 ERA, 1.35 WHIP and 10.3 K/9.

That continued a downward trend for the 31-year-old. In his first three major-league seasons from 2013-15, he was 31-29 with a 3.26 ERA. 1.18 WHIP and 8.8 K/9. In the last three seasons, he has gone 25-39 with a 4.12 ERA, 1.28 WHIP and 10.9 K/9.

“The whole thing with Archer is fastball command, and it’s not as good as it was earlier in his career,” a scout from an AL team said. “He winds up in too many deep counts and doesn’t put hitters away. His stuff is still good. His strikeout numbers are good. He just leaves too many pitches in bad spots and they get hit.”

Archer, 30, plans to combat that by pitching exclusively from the stretch this season. He abandoned the windup late last season and felt it helped simplify his delivery and improve the command of his pitches.

“He has looked better this spring than he has in a few years,” the AL scout said. “But then I see him revert back into his old habits sometimes. He’s a real wild card for the Pirates. He should get a bump up from moving to the National League because it’s an easier league to pitch in. If he improves his command, he could be a really good pitcher again. He could be a No. 1 or he could be a No. 4. It will be interesting to see which way he goes."

Ray Searage has plenty of faith in the Pirates’ rotation. He works more closely with the Core Four than anyone.

“They are not going to be asked to pitch well but they are going to be asked to be leaders on this team, and they will be,” Searage said. “They are all talented, work hard and take a lot of pride in what they do. They are all special people, and those are the kind of guys you win with.”

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