What a great Pirates season last year, eh? Pittsburgh fans are in high hopes and expectations for this season, especially with the addition of some fresh new recruits: Chad Hermansen, Abraham Nunez, Aramis Ramirez, Kris Benson and Ron Wright. The heavy burden is upon these new faces, as well as the rest of the Bucs as they try to outdo last season's 79-83 record.

After a series of exhibition games and spring training in Florida, the Bucs are back with a new game that will rely heavily on pitching and defense. Reportedly, the team will be doing a lot of stealing and hitting-and-running to compensate for an anticipated lack of power at the plate.

And don't forget about Kevin Young. This first baseman came out of the mists of obscurity to getting a couple of 1997 Most Valuable Player votes. He played Gold-Glove caliber first base, batted a marvelous .300 and led the team with 18 home runs and 74 RBI in just 333 at-bats.

If you missed it, here's the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Bob Smizik's outlook for the Bucs this season: "Can Kevin Young, Tony Womack, Jose Guillen, Francisco Cordova and Rich Loiselle do it again? That's a good question because they'd never done it before. If they can, the Pirates have a chance of duplicating their surprising 1997 season. The team still is exceptionally young with rookies Lou Collier and Freddy Garcia starting at shortstop and third base. After Cordova, the starting pitching is highly questionably, although the bullpen should be strong with Marc Wilkins, Jason Christiansen and Ricardo Rincon setting up, possibly helping, Loiselle. [I expect the Pirates to finish up] fifth."

Check out these snazzy pics of Pirates' spring training in Bradenton, Florida... taken by OnTV's Alan Freed!

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