The Pirates roster may not be set but we can still look at where this team stands compared to 2013.
Catcher:
2013 - Russell Martin and Michael McKenry
2014 - Russell Martin and Chris Stewart
The Pirates could have had McKenry back and chose Stewart instead so I'm guessing they feel better about 2014. Tony Sanchez has one more year of experience in AAA so that is a slight improvement in depth
1st Base:
2013 - Garrett Jones and Gaby Sanchez
2014 - Andrew Lambo and Gaby Sanchez
This is a hotly debated topic but I can't see it as much more than a wash either direction. Lambo doesn't have to live up to much to match Garrett's 2013 production.
2nd Base/Shortop:
2013 - Clint Barmes and Neil Walker with Brandon Inge and John McDonald as backups
2014 - Jordy Mercer and Neil Walker with Clint Barmes and Josh Harrison as backups
I call this a clear upgrade at least in depth. It's probably worth a win based on just how terrible Inge and McDonald were.
3rd Base:
2013 - Perdo Alvarez with Brandon Inge as primary backup
2014 - Pedro Alvarez with Josh Harrison as primary backup
An improvement although with Pedro the hope is he improves even more. But even with just a repeat and Harrison and Mercer's ability to hit LHP it's not a bad setup as long as everyone is healthy.
Outfield:
2013 - Marte/McCutchen/Tabata with Snider the first guy off of the bench
2014 - Marte/McCutchen/Tabata with Snider the first guy off of the bench
We're at a wash here. Obviously the big difference is they guy that is in AAA.
Starting Pitching:
2013 - Burnett, Rodriguez, Locke, Sanchez , McDonald
2014 - Liriano, Cole, Morton, Rodriguez, Voquez
Obviously the five from this year look a lot better than the five from last year. But last year the Pirates had Liriano and Morton ready to come back from injury and Cole in AAA. This year they have Locke as a 6th starter instead of in the rotation and Taillon and Kingham in AAA.
Bullpen:
I'm not even going to dig into this one because it's virtually identical at this stage with similar AAA depth. The biggest questions will be workload and the dreaded "regression".
This team looks better than it did on opening day last year with stronger AAA help. It looks worse than the closing day roster but that shows just how much you can improve a team as the season progresses so I will not panic too much at this point. (hey that's just me, you guys and gal panic all you want)