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We begin this morning with an aside to Ted Schroeder, who asked in yesterday's Q&A if the Pirates would have an emergency catcher if Ronny Paulino and Ryan Doumit were the two regulars: I asked around and found that Jose Hernandez has done it "at some point in my career," as he put it. He said he was sure he could handle it if asked. I asked Jose Bautista, too, and he said he never had done it. That, first base and pitching are the only positions he has not played.

So, there it is, yet another reason -- besides popular demand, no doubt -- for Hernandez to make the roster, my friends ...

Q: Dejan, love the column. With everything that has been presented about Masumi Kuwata and the rave reviews that seem to be coming out of camp about him, why is there not more buzz about Kuwata competing with Tony Armas and Shawn Chacon for that fifth spot? The guy is a veteran and obviously knows how to pitch.

John McCay III of Kittanning

KOVACEVIC: And an almost related Q ...

Q: Dejan, I've been a crazy Pirates fan all my life and will be attending spring training next week. I have been hearing great things about Yoslan Herrera. Is there any chance he can sneak in behind Armas and Chacon and steal the fifth spot?

Jeff Moschgat of Uptown, Pittsburgh

KOVACEVIC: No, there really does not appear to be, John and Jeff, much of a chance for either.

Regarding Kuwata: He is ticketed for Indianapolis, according to some of my newfound friends in the voluminous Japanese media. His control and movement have been impressive, John, which is what you have been reading about. But his velocity is negligible, and he has a significant adjustment to make on other levels to get by without a fastball. One of those, as he talked about the other day, is that the North American baseball is slightly different -- according to him -- than those used in Japan. That has altered his grips to some extent.

As for Herrera, as detailed in the main story today, his s pace is going to be a cautious one. That is largely because he has not pitched competitively in so long, but partly because there really is no rush: Herrera is signed to a three-year contract, so the Pirates are in no rush to see how he fares at higher levels.

Every indication I get is that he will start out with Altoona, emphasize taking a regular start and go from there. If he can make a move to Indianapolis and get guys out the way the Pirates think he can, he surely will be in Pittsburgh before long.

The fifth spot really is Armas' to lose, I think, unless Chacon were to significantly outperform him this spring. Every indication from management is that they have made reliability a priority with that spot, and Armas has at least the 2006 edge on Chacon in that category.

Q: Hi Dejan. Hope you're enjoying the warm weather. My question is about off-season workouts. In the past couple of years, we've seen people bulk up (Jack Wilson) or slim down (Jose Castillo, Humberto Cota). Do the Pirates guide these players through off-season workouts, or are they doing this on their own? I would think the team has some say as to how each player works out over the offseason.

Jim Krugh of Manayunk, Pa.

KOVACEVIC: The Pirates give guidance to players in their season-ending meetings -- at least to those who have some reasonable chance of coming back -- as to what they should do in the offseason. That can be medical, as it was for Jason Bay. It can be conditioning, as it was for Castillo. And it can be asking them to go to winter ball, as it was for a bunch of guys.

No player has to follow these orders. Their lives in the offseason are their own. But the team controls the career, to some degree, so it generally is considered a good idea to listen. As it pertains to winter ball, for example, everyone who was asked to go did except Chris Duffy, who felt his preparation for 2007 would be best served by rest. That is his right, whether the team likes it or not. (They surely did not.)

Once orders are given, by all accounts, the Pirates send out management types to follow through. In some cases, that can be Dave Littlefield himself or his assistants. (Doug Strange was the one checking up on Castillo in Venezuela.) Or it can be one of Littlefield's many special assistants, North American scouts or Latin American scouts.

Thing No. 11 that I miss about Pittsburgh: Seeing my favorite local band, Seven Color Sky. If you have not checked them out and you have any appreciation for the excellent, innovative generation of music from the 1980s, you owe it to yourself to do so.

A couple years ago, they opened for the Psychedelic Furs on the lawn of Point State Park in what was one of my more enjoyable nights in the past few years.

Down here, there is one radio station that claims to play music from that time period, but it seems to have this near-obsessive focus on Pat Benatar. Now, I like Benatar and have a special appreciation for the work of guitarist Neil Geraldo. But I do not, to quote one of the Bobs in "Office Space," celebrate her entire catalog.

Prepared for this in my third spring, I brought down all 14 of my XTC discs and change every two days. Now, that is a catalog to celebrate.

Until tomorrow, by which time the hated Manatees still will not be healed from the mental and physical wounds -- Josh Shortslef drilled one of the enemy in the ear -- of yet another humiliation for college kids everywhere ...