Pity the Pirates

The Pirates really should have a nice young team. Look at this host of players and their corresponding OPS+ (age in parentheses)

C- 141 (26)/62 (26) (Pirates platoon Doumit and Paulino at C and, amazingly, Doumit is killing the ball right now)
3B- 107 (26)
LF- 140 (28)
RF- 107 (28)

Obviously, I've cherry-picked that sample, and it's only 1/3 of the way through the season, and Ryan Doumit won't keep mashing the ball like he is, but for a team with a sub-$40MM payroll that's not too bad. Furthermore, let's unwind the Ollie Perez trade and see what the Pirates rotation would be (of course, unwinding that trade would subtract Nady from the above roster- yeah, whatever, humor me. I was partying with a big Pirates fan this and last weekend so I'm feeling charitable toward the Steel City.)

Potential Pirates Rotation (IE- including Perez) including ERA+ and age:
S1- 147 (25)
S2- 140 (25)
S3- 173 (24)
S4- 72 (24)
S5- 145 (29)

I'd venture to say this would be the best young rotation in MLB. Either way, the Mets have Perez and Peterson has earned his money on this one (as opposed that other "10 minute" debacle). In this case the Pirates loss is the Mets gain. OLLIE, OLLIE OXEN FREE!!!!!