Lost art: Pirates believe they'll win again soon

[March 26, 2009]  BRADENTON, Fla. (AP) -- Maybe it will take another season or two, but the Pittsburgh Pirates are convinced they will soon rediscover the lost art of winning.

The Pirates have been so bad for so long, so set in their can't-win-for-losing ways, that it's been 17 years since they had a winning season. Illustrating how long it's been since they were above .500, baseball's most habitual losers haven't had a player on their roster who played for a winning-record Pirates team since 2003.

Changing owners, general managers, managers, players -- even changing ballparks in 2001 -- hasn't helped as the Pirates tied the record for the longest streak of consecutive losing seasons in major American pro sports history.

Maybe this will work: This time, the Pirates are trying to change a mindset.

The alterations team president Frank Coonelly and general manager Neal Huntington promised when they took over 18-plus months ago are becoming visible, even if the Pirates still aren't spending freely on free agents or ramping up an estimated $50 million payroll that's less than one-quarter that of the Yankees.

No, the Pirates are not winners yet, but they're starting to act like winners during a spring training that's visibly different than those of recent seasons.

"There's definitely a change in attitude," said catcher Ryan Doumit, one of three players signed to multiyear contracts during the offseason. "We were talking about this, some of the guys and I, and while it's nothing I can pinpoint, there's no one thing, there's a different attitude. There's a spring in everybody's step, everybody's excited to come to the field and after the last out's made, you don't see guys rushing to get out of here. It's fun here."

Several players said the changes became noticeable after Coonelly, a former Major League Baseball legal counsel, took over late in the 2007 season. While Coonelly hasn't openly criticized how unorganized the Pirates were in the past -- they would try to rebuild with youth one season, with low-priced free agents the next -- he made it clear they needed to have a cohesive plan and follow it.

Coonelly brought in Huntington, an energetic, youthful GM who had something to prove himself after being buried down the Indians' front office depth chart, and told him to build a team the way championship teams without unlimited financial resources do.

Coonelly, Huntington and their staffs overhauled nearly every aspect of the way the Pirates do business, from acquiring talent to selling tickets (season tickets for $5 per game) to the way their minor leaguers dress; no longer can they wear their uniform pants at heel level like a junior-grade Manny Ramirez.

They also shook up the status quo, resulting in changes everywhere from the manager's office to the coaching staff, even the broadcast booth (Lanny Frattare left after 33 seasons last fall) and clubhouse staff.

The most visible change occurred during the June draft, when the Pirates weren't scared off by a Scott Boras client and drafted former Vanderbilt third baseman Pedro Alvarez, although a three-month ordeal was required to sign the No. 2 pick. They also spent an estimated $10 million on the draft, effectively disregarding the slotting system for paying picks that Coonelly designed while working for MLB.

Coonelly still can't get over how the Pirates bypassed Orioles catching prospect Matt Wieters in the 2007 draft, a decision by former management that delayed their rebuilding efforts.

"They're doing it a lot different from the way they did before," pitcher Ian Snell said. "Just for the fact they went out and they signed the best player available in the draft, Alvarez, which is money well spent because he's a phenomenal player. And then we re-signed (left-hander Paul) Maholm, then Doumit, then Nate (McLouth, the NL all-star outfielder). And we go out and get two veteran players in (outfielder Eric) Hinske and (infielder Ramon) Vazquez. There's more leadership, people who are outspoken and will tell you if you're not doing the job."

Before being sent to the minor league camp, Alvarez hit an exhibition game homer estimated at 440 feet. Jose Tabata, a 20-year-old outfielder picked up from the Yankees last season, made a similar impression by hitting .407 this spring before being reassigned to the minors.

The Pirates are taking risks, too. They gave minor league contracts to two raw pitching prospects from India before either had played in his first baseball game and to the first black player from South Africa to sign with a major league organization.

"You can sense a buzz," Russell said, referring to the growing optimism.

Maybe the rest of the baseball world is pegging the Pirates' magic number at 17, representing a record-breaking 17th consecutive losing season. For the Pirates, the magic number is 2010, the season when prospects such as Alvarez and Tabata might start arriving.

"There's no question it's exciting," McLouth said.

Now, Snell said, the Pirates must be patient, a difficult task given how long they've waited to win. Not every team can go from last place to first place in a single season like the Tampa Bay Rays did last season.

"We can't worry about going to the glory land right away," Snell said. "We've just go to go out and play hard and play together as a team. If you play as a team, you achieve. Hopefully, we stay together as a team."

[Associated Press; By ALAN ROBINSON]

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