Baseball 2010: It means something to them
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Alberta Shermann, 80, holds some of the memorablilia from her four decades as a season-ticket holder. She decided not to renew her plan this season. "They've killed something in me, and I'm done," she said.
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PHILADELPHIA -- In about 24 hours, the Pittsburgh Baseball Club will take the field for its 124th season, and a historian would be hard-pressed to produce any precedent for a summer with such low expectations.
The roster will be much the same as the one that spiraled to a 62-99 finish last year. It will have a payroll shrunken to $35.6 million, lowest in the sport, which management attributes to youth but which many fans attribute to prioritizing profits over winning. And that young roster will get even younger by mid-summer, when the next wave of prospects is due.
An optimist might say that wave makes the future bright, that 2010 could be the start of something special.
A cynic might say it will be another losing step in a neverending, chase-of-the-tail future.
Some will tune in, some will tune out.
But some also will see 2010 as a pivotal one for the Pirates, and that surely includes the following 10 people, each of whom will experience it, even influence it from wholly different perspectives.
Each was asked the same question: To you, what does the coming season mean?
Third base prospect
"To me, it means a lot of things. It's my first year after my first year, if you know what I mean. I had a little taste of professional ball, and everything isn't going to be new this time around. I see this year as an opportunity to get better, to get one step closer to the big leagues, to Pittsburgh. For the organization, it's another opportunity to get past all those losing seasons. And I think that's going to happen."
When Alvarez arrives, likely sometime in May or June, it will be the most momentous debut for the Pirates since ... Barry Bonds?
COUNTDOWN
TO OPENING DAY
The Post-Gazette's five-day preview of the Pirates' 124th season:
Thursday: Three reasons why the Pirates could be winners ... and why they almost surely will not be.
Saturday: Columnists Gene Collier and Ron Cook weigh in with their opinions.
Ron Cook | Gene Collier
That is not to compare the two but, rather, to underscore how long it has been since the city has had a baseball prospect of this caliber. Andrew McCutchen, Jose Guillen and Aramis Ramirez came with some fanfare, but none was seen as having Alvarez's potential.
Even before Alvarez has played his first Class AAA game -- that is coming Thursday -- his talents have been exhaustively documented, notably the natural power stroke that could give the Pirates their first legitimate 40-home run threat since Brian Giles. But there also is a poise and maturity beyond his 23 years, at the level that one easily could see his adjustment being as breezy as McCutchen's last summer. He approaches the game with the humility of a rookie, answers questions about himself in team-first tones, and he does both of those while exuding an unmistakable air of confidence.
Check out this response from Alvarez when asked three weeks about how he envisions his Pittsburgh debut: "All I know is that, when I get that opportunity, I'm going to be very grateful. I'm going to embrace it. I'm going to enjoy it. And I'm going to work hard. If I do get that opportunity someday, it's going to be because I worked hard, because I dedicated myself. And it's going to be just an opportunity. It's not the end."
It is difficult to envision anything about the coming season that could matter more to the Pirates than that day.
Pitcher
"I feel as though we're all not only striving toward reaching personal goals but also coming together to prove that our team belongs. Individually, this year is important because I've been given an unbelievable opportunity to prove that I can be a quality arm in a big-league rotation. I am very appreciative of that. And this season is important for all of us because, despite the doubts that surround us, we recognize that we have the talent to turn it around."
Of all the players currently in the Pirates' clubhouse, perhaps no one is as a greater key for 2010 ...
He is the wild card to the rotation, as Ross Ohlendorf, Zach Duke and Paul Maholm are more known commodities. He has the best stuff on the staff, so his ceiling might be the highest. And, in a less tangible sense, he was the main acquisition in the robustly unpopular Nate McLouth trade, and a summer of progress could lessen pressure on Morton and management.
First Published April 4, 2010 12:00 am
