The months ahead should be the most intriguing and important in the recent hapless history of the Pirates, and we're not talking about the remaining 75 games. Considering what has transpired the past few years, we know all too well that strong finishes -- when the pressure is off -- are meaningless.

Which means the focal point of the next few months concerning baseball in Pittsburgh should not be the wins and losses or the continuing development of the team's good young players.

That's small stuff. What's important over the next few months will be the unmasking of Bob Nutting.

What Nutting does in terms of replacing Kevin McClatchy, who resigned Friday effective the end of the season, as CEO is light years more important to this franchise than the progress of any one player.

We don't know much about Nutting, who was named principal owner of the franchise in January. He prefers to remain in the background, which doesn't make him much different from a lot of wealthy men who own sports franchises. For every George Steinbrenner and Jerry Jones there are two or three owners who stay in the background, delegate authority and make only the most major of decisions.

The time has come for Nutting to make such a decision. The Pirates' next CEO will tell us whether Nutting is serious about running a baseball franchise in Pittsburgh or if he just looks at the Pirates as another revenue stream among his family's vast holdings.

We'll know by who he hires if he understands that owning the Pirates is more than a business deal, it's a sacred trust with the fans of this region. If he hires a man steeped in baseball experience, Nutting is on the right track. If he hires, for example, a bean counter from one of his other companies, we'll know the Pirates are doomed.

The Pirates are in desperate need of a baseball man, one with previous experience in running a franchise, to succeed McClatchy.

The Baltimore Orioles recently made such a move, hiring Andy MacPhail, who previously had been president and general manager of the Chicago Cubs and general manager of the Minnesota Twins. The Twins won two World Series with MacPhail in charge. His tenure with the Cubs was considerably less successful.

MacPhail's lack of success in Chicago is proof that a baseball man as CEO is not necessarily a foolproof plan for success. But it's considerably better than having a non-baseball man in charge.

If Nutting is serious in making this franchise better, he'll find such a man, just as the San Diego Padres lured Sandy Alderson, who had been massively successful with the Oakland A's, away from the commissioner's office. The Padres are prospering with Alderson as CEO, as are the Boston Red Sox with Larry Lucchino in that role. Lucchino, a Pittsburgh native, is a lawyer by profession but he developed his baseball expertise at Baltimore and San Diego before helping to lead the Red Sox to a World Series title in 2004.

The only way Nutting is going to get a respected baseball man to take charge of this franchise is to give him a large measure of control. Someone the stature of MacPhail, Alderson or Lucchino is not going to come aboard as a figurehead. Such a man will only come if he can make all the baseball calls. And that means having the power to fire the general manager, the manager or both.

Dave Littlefield and Jim Tracy have contracts that run through the 2008 season and their combined value is about $1.7 million. Unless Nutting is willing to buy out those contracts, and such a move does not fit the limited profile we have of his business practices, he's not going to get his man.

If Nutting gives such power to a new CEO, it will be a clear indicator that he is changing his ways or that we had an incorrect take on his business practices.

Of more significance is the latitude Nutting will give a new CEO in raising payroll. The Pirates have major decisions on many of their key players after the 2009 season. If Nutting isn't going to be willing to expand payroll to keep all or most of those players, he's not going to get the man the franchise needs.

A good man can't be had with the promise of a $50 million payroll. It will have to be considerably higher than that, although not necessarily in 2008.

Finding the right man will not be easy and it will be even more difficult because of Nutting's limited experience in the inner circles of baseball. We'll give Nutting credit for being an astute businessman. Either through the long process of interviewing or by hiring a company that conducts such searches, he should be able to come up with a good list.

Then comes the hard part, which is being willing to pay the salary -- in excess of $1 million -- and granting the full control that must come with such a hire.

It's all up to Nutting. In a few months, we'll know a lot more about him and about the future of baseball in Pittsburgh.