The Pirates are going in the right direction. They just have a long path ahead of them still. The Pirates are in the same situation the Brewers were in 10 years ago,a small market team that was poorly run as well. They just got in new and much improved management and things will start to turn around there now. The Astros are more likely to be fighting with the Pirates for 5th place than with the other teams for 2nd place though. That team has holes all over the place, CF, 3B, #3, #4, #5 SP. A 2B who is injury prone and a SS who looks to be on the wrong side of his career. Pence, Berkman, Oswalt and Lee are talented but it isn't enough. They need some big rebounds, career years or just luck to end up .500.