Bob Walk Is Sure That The Pirates Will Win The NL Central
PITTSBURGH (93-7 The Fan) -- Former Pirates pitcher and current color commentator Bob Walk joined The Fan Morning Show today for his weekly "Walk on Wednesday" interview.
Walk feels that getting to 81 wins is huge for those fans who have waited through the past 20 years; but for him, the fact that it came so early in September makes it less of a big deal.
In his mind, the goal now is to go deep into the playoffs, and he thinks that they now have the lineup to do it, since they have added guys in the middle of that lineup that give the team so much more confidence, and more ways to hurt opponents.
Walk really likes this team, and will be disappointed if they don't win the division because they are the favorites and they have the better team. He believes that they will be in great shape if they can get through this road trip with a lead. Neal Huntington should get a ton of credit for what he has done bringing in quality guys like this at the end of August.
In Walk's mind, the one concern that may be still there is the pitching rotation.
Walk believes that Jeff Locke may be pitching for his job on Saturday in St. Louis, and that if he doesn't pitch well, he will not get another start. Walk hopes for Locke's sake (and the Pirates' sake) that it goes well. Walk expects it all to come down to whether or not Locke can command his pitches.
Meanwhile, Walk is growing more confident in Gerrit Cole each time he goes out there. He said that Cole's struggles last night were not that big of a deal.
When it comes to the rotation, Walk's biggest concern is the fifth spot in the starting rotation, but he noted that if they can get past that in the regular season, it will become a non-factor (since team's only use three or four starters in the postseason).
"Walk on Wednesday" can be heard every Wednesday on The Fan Morning Show at 8:40 a.m.
Walk's comments can be heard here:
