PITTSBURGH -- Last offseason, the Pirates overhauled the back end of their rotation. Out went A.J. Burnett, J.A. Happ and Charlie Morton, and in came Jonathon Niese, Juan Nicasio and Ryan Vogelsong.
The Bucs hoped they could get enough production out of Niese and either Nicasio or Vogelsong early in the season to hold them over until their crop of talented young starting pitchers arrived. All three wound up in the bullpen -- Nicasio in June, Niese in July, Vogelsong out of Spring Training before returning to a depleted rotation in August -- and too often struggled as starters.