Peter Diana, Post-Gazette Jason Bay will miss at least a week after his left wrist was jammed when he dived for a fly ball in the fifth inning of a 10-4 loss to the Cincinnati Reds yesterday. Click photo for larger image.

BRADENTON, Fla. -- Pirates left fielder Jason Bay, the National League's Rookie of the Year last season, has a bruised bone in his left wrist after he tried to make a diving catch of a double hit by Cincinnati's Adam Dunn yesterday.

The Pirates sent Bay for X-rays and a Magnetic Resonance Imaging test. Those revealed no fracture and no ligament damage. They expect Bay to be ready for opening day April 4, but he probably won't play for at least a week.

"He'll be sore to start with and then he can participate in drills depending on whatever he can take," general manager Dave Littlefield said.

The injury occurred in the fifth inning of the Pirates' 10-4 loss to the Reds. Bay tried to make a diving catch after sprinting toward the left-field line. He caught the ball but it fell out of his glove.

"It didn't feel that bad," Bay said.

Manager Lloyd McClendon immediately ordered Bay from the game.

Fehr visits

Don Fehr, head of the players' union, visited the Pirates yesterday and discussed baseball's new steroids testing agreement.

"Everybody pretty much knows about it in here," said pitcher Josh Fogg, the Pirates' player representative. "It's been talked about enough.

"I was at the Executive Board meeting [in January] and everybody there agreed it was something that had to happen, that something had to change. The players wanted it. The owners wanted it. I think the public wanted it. You can't tell what the results are going to be until the end of this year whenever the testing's done, but I expect it to work."

Does Fogg think commissioner Bud Selig will be correct in his recent prediction that steroids will be eliminated from baseball this year? "I don't know what the other sports have, but I don't think any sport's at zero," Fogg said. "You always hear about guys getting suspended for something or guys failing something. We'd like it to be at zero and level the playing field for everybody, but I don't think it's possible.

"There's not zero crime in the United States, but there's penalties for that. I think you get as close as you can to zero and then penalize the guys who still break the rules."

Fehr left immediately after the meeting and didn't take questions, but Michael Weiner, the union's general counsel, was available. "We think the new agreement is a very solid agreement and one that should be given a chance to work."

There was discussion, too, about the labor situation in the National Hockey League, which canceled its season as the owners try to get the players to agree to a salary cap.

There has been speculation the resolution of the NHL situation could impact baseball's negotiations on a new collective bargaining agreement. The current agreement expires after the 2006 season.

"We always give the players an update on other sports," Weiner said. "It's too early to tell how that whole thing is going to play out and what impact it will have on our negotiations. But it was something we did discuss."

Can Fogg envision there being no baseball season in, say, 2007?

"Me, personally? No," he said. "I would hope not, but you never know. But I guarantee if you'd asked the hockey players last year if they could envision it, they'd have said the same thing.

"I don't think anybody in here or on the owners' side would not want to have a season, but you can't call it until it happens. Just like with hockey, it was such a shock. It was a thing that happened and nobody was happy with it, I'm sure."

Bonilla on Bonds

Bobby Bonilla, a former Pirates player and a special assistant to Fehr, was among the entourage yesterday. He recently had dinner with former teammate Barry Bonds, but Bonilla really had no comment on allegations Bonds used steroids.

"I just saw him the other day in Arizona," Bonilla said. "He was in good spirits. He looked great. He's unbelievable. I've just been amazed at his level of play and the player he's become. We knew he'd be great, but he's on another planet. He's that good."

BP for Perez

Left-hander Oliver Perez pitched batting practice off the McKechnie Field mound, throwing a 10-minute session, then was given the go-ahead to make his spring debut Friday in Winter Haven against Cleveland. "I'm very happy, very excited," Perez said. "It's like the first time I came to the big leagues. I'm ready to get in a game."

Jack almost back

Shortstop Jack Wilson said he hopes to make his spring debut Saturday against Cincinnati. It's likely, though, that Wilson won't play in back-to-back games until the middle of next week.

Calling the Curve

Paul Steigerwald, best known for his work as the radio play-by-play voice of the Penguins, has signed on to be the lead announcer for the Altoona Curve, the Class AA affiliate of the Pirates. "This is going to be a great chance for me to expand my horizons," said Steigerwald, 50. "I consider the opportunity one of the greatest challenges of my career." Steigerwald will call his first game April 7 when the Curve opens its season against the Reading Phillies.

Game action

Catcher Ryan Doumit's three-run home run accounted for most of the Pirates offense yesterday. Freddy Sanchez, getting another start at shortstop, and Jose Castillo each had two hits.

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Staff writer Bob Smizik contributed to this report.