BRADENTON, Fla. -- Jason Bay will report to spring training today, and he plans to do so with no further complaints about the Pirates' few roster moves this offseason.

"I responded to the comments I had made at the end of last year," Bay said shortly before arriving in Bradenton last night. "That's it. Time to move on and focus on what we do have."

On Jan. 25, the day PirateFest opened at David L. Lawrence Convention Center, Bay publicly expressed disappointment that management had not done more -- five waiver claims and a minor free-agent signing -- to bolster a team that went 68-94 last season, saying, "I think that, for a championship-quality team, you need to make more moves. And I'm not talking about the .500 team we can be. I don't think anyone in this room is going to tell you we're a championship-quality team."

Those followed up remarks he made Sept. 30, the final day of last season, including, "To think we're going to win 100 games or go to the World Series next year with the exact same team ... it would be a little foolish."

Now, just as the Pirates' best player seems determined to move on, so, too, does management.

Team president Frank Coonelly and general manager Neal Huntington addressed the matter with Bay that weekend and, by all accounts, were not harsh. Rather, they told him they would have preferred that his first act would have been to come to them.

"We were disappointed that Jason didn't ask us why we were doing what we were doing this offseason before talking to the press," Coonelly said yesterday by phone from Pittsburgh. "He's one of our more veteran players, and he certainly has a right to voice his opinion. We just would have preferred that he voiced it to us."

"What Jason said, do I agree with it? No," Huntington said at Pirate City. "I wish he'd come to me. Maybe what I said, he wouldn't have liked, and he still would have made his comments. But, at least he would have made those comments with an understanding of what we're trying to accomplish."

Ironically, the primary reason the Pirates had such an inactive offseason was that they were unable to trade Bay despite engaging at least three teams in talks. That included a near-deal with the Cleveland Indians in early December.

All of that activity came before Bay spoke out at PirateFest.

The Pirates will not rule out trading Bay or any player, but each of the team's top two officials were adamant that his future with the franchise will not be influenced by those remarks.

"No, I wouldn't say so at all," Coonelly said. "Obviously, he was frustrated at the end of last year, and that's understandable. But there's nothing more important to the Pittsburgh Pirates' success in the short term than Jason Bay returning to the player that we all know he can be. His status with the club is certainly not in jeopardy."

"Jason's a passionate guy," Huntington said. "No, it does not affect Jason Bay's future."

From the sound of it, the Pirates will try the reverse approach, which is to have Bay embrace their plan for the short and long term, beginning with the instruction of new manager John Russell and his entirely new coaching staff.

Coonelly is due to arrive in Bradenton today.

"We want Jason to be enthusiastic about what we're doing, about the teachers we brought in to work with him and the rest of the club," Coonelly said. "I think he's going to come to Bradenton and see a whole different mentality with this team, and I'm confident he's going to like what he sees."

"Bottom line: We all want to win," Huntington said. "We all hope Jason Bay's here for a long time. At the end of the day, it will come down to the players. If they do, if we're successful, we can build on this. If not, then there may be some tough decisions forthcoming."

Coonelly and Huntington each said he wished more attention had been paid to another portion of the Post-Gazette article covering Bay's Jan. 25 remarks, the one where Bay described his wonky right knee as finally being healthy and his swing as having returned under the tutelage of new hitting coach Don Long.

"If I had a frustration about that initial message, it's that some very good points were lost, the excitement Jason felt about his knees being back under him and his enthusiasm for working with Don Long," Huntington said.

Bay and Long live in Seattle, and they met regularly at a batting cage to work on restoring power to his swing. In addition to Bay's average dropping from .286 to .247 last season, his home runs dropped from 35 to 21. He did not complain about it at the time, but it became clear to observers that his knee hindered him.

"It starts with the foundation," Long said. "If you have strength in your lower half, your head and your eyes will naturally be quieter. You'll be able to follow the ball better, and you will put your swing in a position of strength. Hitters from time to time will get off their lower half, meaning their weight can be too far forward or back. When you do that, you take strength from your base."

All position players are required to report today, with the first full-squad workout tomorrow.