Pirates pin turnaround hopes on mound starts

By Greg Gulas

Bucs players, executives, broadcasters and a coach visited Youngstown to promote the 2009 season.

YOUNGSTOWN — Dr. Lou Zona, executive director of the Butler Institute of American Art, is one of the biggest Pittsburgh Pirates fan in the Mahoning Valley.

To help create a buzz for his beloved Bucs, who visited the Butler Wednesday as part of their Winter Caravan, Zona kicked off the event by showing pitcher Steve Blass register the final three outs of Game 7 of the 1971 World Series against the Baltimore Orioles.

Blass, who joined players Nyjer Morgan, Neil Walker and Jeff Karstens, hitting coach Don Long, team president Frank Coonelly and broadcaster Greg Brown at the luncheon, could only smile as he offered his insight about the upcoming season.

”Starting pitching will be the key and going with a five-man rotation means that you can consistently count on three of those starters,” Blass said.

“If that happens, then we can and will surprise a lot of teams this season.”

The Pirates, who have not had a winning campaign since 1992, are hoping to reverse their fortunes under second-year manager John Russell.

Blass cautions that turnaround, however, isn’t a word that will be used.

“You cannot talk turnaround, you just have to go out and do it and pitching is the sure way to create a buzz almost immediately,” he said. “You cannot play catch-up baseball every night because it puts a strain on your starting pitching, depletes your bullpen and in turn, puts added pressure on your hitters.”

Karstens, a pitcher who will begin his second season with the Pirates, is anxiously looking forward to the start of spring training.

“Personally, I want to stay healthy so I can go out and pitch every fifth day while as a team our main goal is to improve across the board in every phase of the game,” he said.

“We seem to have the starting components in place so if we do not beat up our bullpen, we should have a chance,” Karstens said. “We have some good young players that the fans will really come to appreciate.”

One of those exciting players is Morgan, who has just 86 major-league games under his belt but will compete in the outfield.

“Pitching will jump start us, but working as a cohesive unit will be the key,” Morgan said. “Personally, I need to remain consistent and I understand that if I expect to stay at this level.”

Walker, a Pittsburgh native, is an infielder who is hoping to make his major league debut after five solid campaigns in the minors.

“We have quite a few pieces to the puzzle already in place and I’d like to be a part of that this season,” he said. “Developing a chemistry coming out of spring training will be important.”

Long is in his second season with the organization after helping the team produce the most runs scored (735) since the 2003 season (753).

“I like the direction of the team and not just on the major-league level. They’ve committed to fund an Academy in the Dominican Republic and increase their budget to sign draft picks as well,” said Long.

“All of that plays a huge part in the commitment to sustain a competitive environment,” he added.

Coonelly said he’s in favor of a salary cap for baseball.

“What the Yankees have done in the off-season is not unusual. They’ve done that ever year,” he said. “They’ve had a payroll of over $200 million the last three years and payroll isn’t the only thing that matters.

“Would a salary cap be a rational system for professional sports? Sure, but that’s for the commissioner’s office to decide. Our focus and our goal is to singularly win under the current economic system,” Coonelly said.

Pirates’ pitchers and catchers are due to report to Bradenton, Fla., on Feb. 13, with their first Grapefruit League game against the world champion Phillies scheduled for Feb. 25.