None of the questioners at PirateFest's various Q&A sessions with management and players carried a press pass, but that hardly diminished the pointed queries from the fans in attendance Friday and yesterday.

And no one, to be sure, looked more comfortable in the crossfire than team president Frank Coonelly.

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PirateFest

• What: 18th annual PirateFest.
• Where: David L. Lawrence Convention Center, Downtown.
• When: 11 a.m.-4-p.m. today.
• Tickets: $10 for adults, $6 for children 12 and under, free for children less than 30 inches in height.
• Autographs: Tom Gorzelanny, Paul Maholm and Neil Walker, 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m.; Ian Snell, Andrew McCutchen and Bill Madlock, 12:30-2 p.m., Xavier Nady, Nyjer Morgan and Richie Hebner, 2-3:30 p.m.
• Youth clinics: Manager John Russell and pitching coach Jeff Andrews, noon-1 p.m.

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A handful of his most memorable responses from the big stage:

• Asked to respond to Richie Hebner's remarks in the Friday Post-Gazette that the team needs to spend more to win: "I don't disagree. And we will be spending more at the major-league level, but it's not going to be until after we build a solid foundation. The Milwaukee Brewers built that foundation first, then spent. We're not going to spend simply to spend, which I believe has been done here in the past, and I can rattle off the names."

• Asked to pinpoint the Pirates' timetable to become competitive from a fan who sounded wary of long-term plans: "It starts immediately. It's today. Look, we could have accelerated the process by trading away our good young players. Other teams wanted our starters and our closer, Matt Capps. But we didn't think that was fair to this team, and we didn't think it was fair to the fans of Pittsburgh, who are frustrated. We want to give this group a chance to win."

• Stressing each syllable when asked if the Pirates "honestly" will draft the best available player at No. 2 overall in June: "I'll say it again: We are going to select the best player. This organization has been criticized in the past for not doing that. We are going to do it."

• Asked how he is different than his predecessor, Kevin McClatchy: "One thing I'm not going to do here is criticize the way things were done in the past. Kevin saved the Pittsburgh Pirates when he came in. He also got us a beautiful stadium. In terms of my own style, I know what works and what will work in Pittsburgh. This presents a challenge. Why do I think I can succeed? Because I've done it my whole life and believe I will do it again."

• On the potential of the current roster: "There may not be a team in baseball that under-performed as badly as the Pirates in 2007."

• On what it would take for Major League Baseball to have a salary cap so that the Pirates could compete financially as the Steelers and Penguins do: "We'd probably have to shut down the game for a year, two years. Nobody wants to do that. And besides, I'm not going to say the Pirates want that to happen because that would mean that we believe we can't compete in this system. We can. Look at Colorado, Arizona and Cleveland. Those three teams made the league championship series last year with payrolls that were close to what the Pirates paid."

• One reason that continuing discussions between the Pirates and reliever Shawn Chacon have not amounted to much: There are those on the Pirates' end who feel he is not worth anything close to his asking price, thought to be a salary in the $4 million range.

• The Pirates have weighed long-term contracts for other young players besides Capps and, based on an internal belief in such deals, might pursue more someday. But it is most likely that such contracts will go to position players because they are more predictable and less prone to injury than pitchers.

• According to one informed source, Cleveland was willing to include top third-base prospect Andy Marte in at least one phase of its ill-fated trade talks with the Pirates regarding Jason Bay in early December.

• What was suspected was confirmed: The Pirates did, in fact, offer more money to free-agent pitcher Chad Durbin than the $900,000 he accepted from Philadelphia last month, but he embraced what he saw as a better chance to crack the Phillies' rotation.

• PNC Park gained a new addition this offseason, but one that will be difficult to notice: Retractable windows were placed across the front of the press box, with the team covering the full cost.

• Compared to the two management Q&A sessions at PirateFest, the one with the current players yesterday was a lovefest. The highlight came courtesy of Center fielder Nyjer Morgan. He has been beaming for weeks about his recent purchase of a 2005 Cadillac STS, and he shared that with the crowd, along with this nugget: "Her name is Charlene." And why, he was asked, is that? "She just rides real clean."

• Only 18 days until pitchers and catchers report.