Pirates need an attitude adjustment

Doug Mientkiewicz says the team has to think like winners to become one.

BRADENTON, Fla. (AP) — When comedian Billy Crystal lived out his lifelong goal of playing for a day with the New York Yankees, it probably didn’t take them long to target his opponent.

The hated Red Sox, who also train on Florida’s Gulf Coast? The emerging rival Tampa Bay Rays, who’ve stirred up a fuss in Yankeedom with their aggressive style? The Detroit Tigers, who might be fielding the AL’s best team as the new season arrives?

Of course not. The Pittsburgh Pirates were the choice, a team the Yankees knew wouldn’t create any muss or fuss about having their starting pitcher take part in what some in the game perceived as a sideshow.

After all, what team could offer less resistance than the Pirates, who often fall out of pennant contention by Mother’s Day and, this season, are on the verge of tying one of baseball’s least-enviable records?

The Pirates have had five managers, four general managers, two ballparks and a whole lot of losing during their 15 consecutive losing seasons. They’ve averaged 90 losses during the full seasons over that span and endured countless rebuilding plans and changes of direction, each leading to a dead end.

That’s why utilityman Doug Mientkiewicz, who has played mostly with winners during 10 seasons in the majors, didn’t need much time to decipher what the Pirates must do to become winners again for the first time since they averaged 96 wins from 1990-92.

Spending tons of money would help, but these cost-conscious Pirates will never do that. To compensate, Mientkiewicz said they must start thinking, acting and believing they can win. Not in a year or two, either, but right now.

“You have to know there’s at least one point in the season where people around the Pirates are going to say, ‘Here they go again,”’ Mientkiewicz said.

“How we respond from that will determine how this team looks at it — as ‘Here we go again’ or do we turn the page and say, ‘We’re not going to settle for this any more?”’

Josh Phelps, a former Yankees first baseman, said much the same thing during his brief time with the Pirates last season. He found them too willing to roll over and accept losing, adopting an attitude of “Well, it’s just another day.”

“That’s what you’ve got to get rid of,” Phelps said.

The Pirates didn’t shed many players from their 94-loss team and might be the most unchanged team in the majors, at least on the field.

Off the field, much has changed since the start of last season with a new president (Frank Coonelly), general manager (Neal Huntington), manager (John Russell) and coaching staff.

They’re trying to alter the approach of a club that is one more sub-.500 season away from tying the 1933-48 Phillies’ major league record of 16 consecutive losing seasons.

The idea is to start doing it the way the better teams do it — by drafting well, spending money smartly, building from within, teaching the same system at every level of the minors and adopting a winning mind-set.

To illustrate that, there was more attention to detail during spring training, more uniformity and, if nothing else, a lot more meetings — nearly one per day. The many holdover players from the previous regime quickly noticed the difference.

“It is a lot different, there’s a little more structure, and that’s not a slight to anyone in the past,” Jason Bay said. “That’s kind of been their method, to have everything structured. There’s a difference in saying, ‘Hey, we want you to get better at this or this, just go ahead and do it,’ from ‘Well, we want you to get better at this and this, so we’re going to show you how to do it.’ With the type of team we have, that’s what we need.”

That, it could be argued, and some more good players.

While it might be a stretch to think this virtually unchanged club can improve by 13 games and get to .500 following three consecutive seasons of 94 or more losses, no one in management is giving into the temptation to say, “This will take a while.”

“It’s kind of hard to explain — it feels a lot different and, right now, different is good for us,” said Bay, who expressed disappointment during the offseason that there weren’t more roster changes.

For the Pirates’ on-field results to change, it’s apparent what needs to happen.

A pitching rotation in which every starter but 33-year-old Matt Morris (10-11, 4.89 ERA) is 26 or younger needs to keep improving — especially Ian Snell (9-12, 3.76 ERA) and Tom Gorzelanny (14-10, 3.88), each of whom has been a 14-game winner the last two seasons.

Paul Maholm (10-15, 5.02) and Zach Duke (3-8, 5.53) must begin pitching again like they did as rookies in 2005, when they were two of the most coveted young left-handers in the sport. Matt Capps (18 saves in 21 opportunities) needs to build on his first season as a closer.

Offensively, left fielder Bay (.247, 21 homers, 84 RBIs) and catcher Ronny Paulino (.263, 11 HRs, 55 RBIs) must have bounce-back seasons. Adam LaRoche (.272, 22 HRs, 88 RBIs) can’t hit in the .160s for six weeks like he did last season. Second baseman Freddy Sanchez (.304, 11 HRs, 81 RBIs) can’t go through the season with the sore shoulder that kept him off the field for much of spring training.

That’s not all.

Bay, right fielder Xavier Nady (.272, 20 HRs, 72 RBIs) and shortstop Jack Wilson (.296, 12 HRs, 56 RBIs) can’t be distracted by the extensive talk they’ll soon be dealt for prospects. And center field can’t be a season-long worry with former backup Nate McLouth (.258, 13 HRs, 38 RBIs) now starting.

Oh, yes, and a reconfigured bullpen must come together quickly.

“I guess everybody has to wake up and pay attention — that they’re going to make changes here and make changes for a good reason, and not the bad,” Snell said.

For the Pirates, that would be the biggest change of all.