Pirates Notebook: Maholm eager to make his 2006 debut
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CINCINNATI -- Paul Maholm is scheduled to make his long-awaited season debut tonight -- weather permitting.
The forecast for southwestern Ohio tonight is worse than it was last night when rain canceled on-field batting practice.
"Hopefully, this rain will hold off, so I don't have to wait too many more days," Maholm said. "I'm kind of like champing at the bit to get it under way."
The Pirates' left-hander already has gone 11 consecutive days without pitching in a game. He threw against Class AAA Indianapolis batters Sunday in Bradenton.
"I worked on my pitches," Maholm said of that exercise. "I gave up some hits and some runs, but overall it was good. I threw a lot of strikes and got up to 90 pitches."
Manager Jim Tracy believes Maholm's relative inactivity isn't a big issue.
"Because of the extra adrenaline you get from the first time you go out there and pitch for keeps," Tracy said. "That stuff is not there at any time during the spring. Guys who are competitors know when it's time to raise the bar another notch or two. They're real good at understanding that."
Positive sign
Tracy saw a positive in Chris Duffy's first-pitch-swing pop fly that ended the game Wednesday night in Milwaukee with the bases loaded.
Craig Wilson and Ryan Doumit walked before Duffy's at-bat.
"We made a young, aggressive mistake, and he chased a ball out of the strike zone," Tracy said. "Unfortunately, the best teacher in life -- not just baseball -- is failure. You can preach it, you can talk about it, you can direct them and then they go up there and fail. If you're cognizant of what people are telling you, the light goes on -- 'Oh, that's what they're talking about.' That's how you grow."
Mayor's impact
Sean Casey had some kind of huge impact last season on Joe Randa, who has a mental list of his top five all-time teammates.
"I played with him for four months, and he made my top five," Randa said. "And I'm a pretty hard [grader]. It's hard to get on that list because I think there are a lot of guys in this game who take being in the big leagues for granted and who also don't use all their tools all the time. But Sean gives you everything he has all the time."
The other four players on Randa's list, by the way, are former Kansas City teammates Mike Sweeney, Jermaine Dye and Johnny Damon and San Diego's Trevor Hoffman.
Turn the page
Casey, who has rented a house in Upper St. Clair, still has a home in the Cincinnati area and a permanent address in Jupiter, Fla.
"The first couple weeks [after the trade] were whirlwind weeks," said Casey, traded to the Pirates in December after eight years with the Reds. "I do follow the Reds, but every time I mention the Reds [in the Pirates' clubhouse], the guys tell me to turn the page."
Talent-laden in AAA
Indianapolis was scheduled to start its season in Pawtucket last night.
"It's going to be a pretty good team and it's going to be exciting," pitcher Sean Burnett said. "We have a lot of talent in this organization. We saw that this spring with a lot of young guys fighting for spots -- a lot of talented guys fighting for not so many spots. We've probably got the most talent in minor-league baseball. It's tough, but it's great competition. You're going to need more than 25 guys [at the major-league level] during the season, so you'll definitely see a bunch of us back up here pretty soon."
Starting a Curve
Class AA Altoona was scheduled to open its season against Trenton last night, and Josh Sharpless, who has been a reliever exclusively in his minor-league career, might become a starter with the Curve.
"It's something we've kicked around," general manager Dave Littlefield said. "We'll take a look at where we go with him. He's done very well, and we like him a lot, but nothing has officially been determined [about] his role.
"You're always trying to find starters. You always want to exhaust every potential starter you have or every pitcher you have who could be a starter before you put him in the bullpen. There are just not enough starters in baseball."
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First Published April 7, 2006 12:00 am
