Baseball Prospectus released its PECOTA projections on Wednesday, with the Pirates projected to finish 78-84 in 2018. That’s three wins better than the team’s actual 2017 finish. That puts them at fourth place in the NL Central, as expected.
The projections naturally fall towards the middle — teams usually don’t get projected for 100 wins or losses, though somebody’s going to perform well above or below expectations and reach the century mark.
Josh Bell is projected at .270/.349/.448 with 21 home runs in 634 plate appearances. Starling Marte (.277/.332/.421, 14 HR) is projected to lead Pirates with 3.