Merry Christmas - Steamer Takes the First Crack at Pittsburgh's 2015 Player Projections

First, hohoho and we're hoping that jolly ol' elf will take good care of his Pirate faithful this Christmas. Now, to unwrap our group present a bit early...the 2015 Buccos.

Steamer has released its projections for the season. Here's its peek at the hitters.

No huge surprises. They expect Cutch to continue to kick butt (6.2 WAR) and for Neil Walker to continue his slugging. They project Starling Marte to continue strong, and have Josh regressing but still performing at a solid level both offensively and defensively. Pedro is pegged as, well, Pedro once again, with 26 HR, a .242 BA and 151 K.

They don't have Gregory Polanco as the everyday RF'ed; they give that honor to Travis Snider. We'll see how that works out. Steamer also projects Pedro Floriman to get the back-up middle infielder nod over Justin Sellers; both are predicted to nudge the .225 mark at the dish.

They also have the pitchers projections ready, too. Not much of a surprise there, either. They like the bullpen a lot, but don't see any ace-like performances from the rotation, with Frankie and Gerritt being more solid workmen than lights-out wizards. And they don't have a Bucco starter near the 200 IP mark, not even AJ. So the pen better be good.

Merry Christmas!