Pitchers, catchers set for competition

02/16/2006
BRADENTON -- With all due apologies to Punxsutawney Phil, there is no better indicator that spring is on its way than the annual rite of pitchers and catchers reporting for the start of a new baseball season.
For the Pittsburgh Pirates and Bucs fans everywhere, the 2006 season and the Jim Tracy era got underway Thursday with players, coaches, trainers and staff members making their way through the Pirates City and McKechnie Field complexes in preparation for the first official workouts Friday.
The perpetually positive Tracy, who was hired as the 37th manager in team history on Oct. 11 after posting a 427-383 record in five seasons at the helm of the Los Angeles Dodgers, believes the Pirates have plenty of cause for optimism as the franchise embarks on its 120th season in the National League.
Bolstered by the additions of established veterans such as Sean Casey, Jeromy Burnitz, Joe Randa, Roberto Hernandez and Damaso Marte, the club Tracy is inheriting has only a passing resemblance to the squad that finished last in the NL Central with a 67-95 record a year ago.
For his part, Tracy admits that he is champing at the bit to get the first official workouts underway on Friday afternoon following team physicals.
"I've been looking forward to this for a while," said Tracy. "But I'm not so revved up that I am looking at it that [Friday] is the most important day as the manager of the Pirates.
"I'm looking at the big picture. I'm looking at it from the standpoint of beginning tomorrow and how that begins to translate from day-to-day over the course of the next seven months. That's what is important to me. In order to try to improve this club and get it to a level that it hasn't been in a while, I think that is how you have to perceive it."
It is perhaps fitting that in Tracy's first few days of camp he will have an opportunity to focus solely on the pitchers and catchers before the rest of the squad officially reports next Tuesday. With the starting lineup and bench already all but set, barring injuries, Tracy can use the extra time to assess his team's biggest question marks.
Southpaw Oliver Perez and right-hander Kip Wells, an enigmatic duo that will be looked upon to lead a talented but inexperienced starting rotation, will have their first official bullpen sessions with new pitching coach Jim Colborn this weekend. The Pirates hope that, under Colborn's tutelage, Perez and Wells will be able to bounce back from their disappointing 2005 seasons and return to the form that once made them two of the game's top young starters.
Southpaws Zach Duke and Paul Maholm, both of whom are coming off outstanding rookie seasons, will enter camp looking to prove that they were not simply one-hit wonders. Duke and Maholm must show that they can handle the mental and physical workload of taking the ball every fifth day in the big leagues.
Lefty Sean Burnett will do his best to prove to the Pirates that he is healthy enough to win the fifth spot in the starting rotation after missing all of last season recovering from elbow and shoulder surgeries. Burnett's challengers in the battle for the final rotation spot -- right-handers Ian Snell, Ryan Vogelsong and Victor Santos -- will each attempt to make a positive first impression on Tracy and his staff and get a leg up on the competition.
In the bullpen, hard-throwing southpaw Mike Gonzalez will attempt to show that Hernandez and Marte won't be needed as insurance policies in case he struggles as the team's new closer.
Although Colborn knows full well the complexity of the task that lies before him, his trademark dry humor was clearly on display Thursday when he laid out the goals he has for his pitching staff this season.
"I want all of the pitchers, by the end of the year, to be throwing 100 miles per hour," Colborn said, with tongue firmly planted in cheek.
"The other goal is if we can develop some ambidextrous pitchers that will allow us to have more position players."

Source: http://pittsburgh.pirates.mlb.com/