Submit your question about the Pirates.

Hey, who mixed up the software and sent all the baseball questions to the hockey guy?

An explanation probably is in order before we open the floor to the usual Pirates Q&A format, so, here goes ...

A little less than a month ago, after eight years of covering the Penguins and the NHL, I accepted the Post-Gazette's offer to take the newspaper's top baseball job. It was not easy to leave behind hockey, as those who know me can attest, but it was made easier by the fact that I never was the primary writer on any beat in my 14 years here, unless you count a month in Athens, Greece, last summer. This is an extraordinary opportunity, one I plan to embrace fully.

It does not hurt the transition, of course, that my interest in the Pirates has been an intense one dating to my earliest childhood memories.

By the time I was 6, I knew enough to agonize over Bob Moose's wild pitch. When I was 11, the agony was for my favorite player, Rennie Stennett, getting his spikes stuck in the dirt near second. Two years later, my family painted a banner to hang from the front of our Monroeville house as part of the World Series fever that had gripped our region.

Through it all, I have spent the bulk of my summers watching the Pirates. I outgrew other stuff. Not baseball.

My dad would take me, as a child, to games at Three Rivers. Most often, embarrassingly enough, we would take advantage of that little-known offer where, if you entered through the media gate after the sixth inning, you could get in at a dramatically reduced price. It was less than half the game, but it was better than none at all. The players became more real, as did the natural drama and tension -- and tension and tension -- that only baseball brings. Besides, if it went to extra innings, you felt like you got away with a crime.

When PNC Park opened, it became my turn to take family members, which I was doing right through last summer. My dad and I were going together on our bikes -- we live only a short ride away -- and my 4-year-old daughter has learned at least enough about the game to know that anyone who pulls their cap way down over their eyes is "like Joe Beimel." I was there for Todd Ritchie's first pitch, for Brian Giles' grand slam in the outrageous rally against Houston, for Oliver Perez's 14K gem last fall, and for a whole ton of games that were ... well, eminently forgettable. For some reason, I kept going.

I covered the Penguins and also did Steelers games for the newspaper, so the Pirates were the one local sports team I could still enjoy as anyone might. Leave the laptop at home, buy a ticket, put up the feet and relax.

Not anymore, obviously.

Now, it will be work. Or, at least, as much as it can be considered work to have a job where you get to carry a scorebook and pencil to the office.

What my aim is with this first Q&A is to find out more about the readership.

I have spent the past few weeks meeting members of the Pirates' management, chatting with agents and stuff. I have an awful lot more to learn, about the business of baseball, the mechanics of the game, the long Latin names for all the various arm injuries and what all those funny OPS-POBZ stats in the back of the Bill James Handbook mean.

In the meantime, I want to learn more about your views on the Pirates, baseball and other related matters, and here is my idea:

With the Penguins Q&A, once a year, I would do a Reverse Q&A. I would ask the questions, and the readers would send in the answers. One or two would be chosen for each, so that opposing viewpoints get expressed and so that nobody thinks I pick the answers just because I happen to agree with them.

Your 10 questions are below. Feel free to go nuts and answer all 10 if you want, but I have found in the past that the best responses come when there is a focus on three or fewer. The results will appear in this cyberspace next Wednesday.

We begin ...

1. Who deserves most of the blame for the Pirates' inability to win since moving into PNC Park?

2. When you see young players excel, as have Oliver Perez, Jason Bay, Jose Castillo, Jack Wilson and Mike Gonzalez, do you find reason for hope? Or do you just picture how they will look in another uniform?

3. For old-timers only: Can you recall any Pirates player between Ralph Kiner and Perez who single-handedly drew Pittsburgh fans to the ballpark?

4. What are your choices for Dave Littlefield's best and worst personnel moves in his tenure? This does not have to be limited to trades. It also can be an internal move (keeping Castillo in the majors last year, Rule 5 fiasco, drafting Neil Walker, whatever).

5. In your mind, which prospect in the organization who has yet to appear in a major-league game has the greatest potential?

6. If Major League Baseball shut down for a full season or more when its current Basic Agreement expires in a couple of years, and you had reason to believe that the end result would be a salary-cap system, how would you react during the work stoppage?

7. For season-ticket holders only: Is there anyone 18 or younger in Pittsburgh who cares about the Pirates? I am not talking about kids who get dragged there by their parents and roll their eyes when dad starts talking about how Bill Madlock once said that hitting a sac fly is the easiest thing in baseball. I am talking about passionate, stats-keeping, analyze-every-move, Bay-jersey-wearing fans.

8. Who should start in center field? For that matter, what should the outfield look like? Feel free to throw in a free agent you think the Pirates should sign or acquire through trade. But be realistic. No Beltran.

9. How do you feel about the Pirates' decision to delay signing Perez to a long-term contract? Is it a needless risk that could cost the team money in the long run? Or a shrewd show of patience?

10. A purely selfish one: What would you like to see in the Post-Gazette's coverage of the Pirates in 2005? Over the years, suggestions made to the Penguins Q&A have led directly to regular features in the newspaper. Among them were a minor-league notebook, nearly every element of our Sunday hockey page, specific story angles, the recent Penguins in Exile feature and a slew of other stuff. I would like to encourage that type of communication here.

In closing ...

I actually encourage all kinds of communication, positive or negative. Always have, always will. Obviously, not every Q -- or next week, A -- is going to get published. But I can tell you that every one of them is read and appreciated. More often than not, if you write, especially something about the coverage, you will hear back from me personally.

All that is asked in return is that the submissions come with a full name, current city of residence and legitimate email address so that you can be contacted if clarification is needed about something. I know that the bulk of the Internet world is really into the whole anonymity thing, but we will be talking about baseball here, not bunkers in Afghanistan. No one is going to come banging your door down over your opinion on the Pirates, and I promise not to forward all of my spam to you.

Until next week, when the floor is yours ...