Apr 2, 2006 5 min read

PITTSBURGH (AP) – Start-of-the-season baseball quiz: Which hitter had more extra-base hits last season, NL Most Valuable Player Albert Pujols or Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder Jason Bay? Surprise answer: Bay (82 extra-base hits, or one more than Pujols).

When last seen by much of America’s baseball-watching populous, Bay was hitting zero homers in the All-Star Home Run Derby, or 41 fewer than Bobby Abreu of the Phillies. What the fans may have overlooked – mostly because the easy-to-ignore Pirates were stalled in a 13th consecutive losing season – was Bay hit 16 homers the rest of the season to Abreu’s six.

As Bay begins his third full Pirates season, only a handful of players in club history have matched his overall production in his first two seasons. And no other major leaguer, not Pujols or Andruw Jones or Alex Rodriguez, had a .300-plus average with more than 30 homers, 20 stolen bases, 100 runs scored and 100 RBIs like Bay did last season.

Bay, who comes from a small town in western Canada and enjoys playing in one of the majors’ smallest markets, doesn’t care if he gets more recognition this season for being one of baseball’s best all-around players. What he wants is for the Pirates to stop being the answer to another trivia question: Which major league team is three more losing seasons away from tying the Phillies’ record of 16 in a row?

“I’d gladly take a little bit of a decline for some more wins and some other guys to get in on the action, because I realize I was a very large part of the offense last season,” Bay said.

Bay acknowledges the constant losing – 95 losses last season, 89 in 2004 – were wearying and couldn’t help but affect a player’s attitude.

“The last few years we’ve gone out and haven’t been expected to do too much and, even if you don’t think that as a player, it sometimes dictates your attitude a little bit,” he said.

Maybe it’s false hope, or the eternal optimism of spring, but Bay’s outlook improved after the Pirates added three veteran regulars: first baseman Sean Casey, third baseman Joe Randa and right fielder Jeromy Burnitz to what otherwise will be one of their youngest teams ever.

“Now you have that little extra motivation, and that’s what this team hasn’t had in a few years,” Bay said. “That’s going to be the big driving force, not meeting or worrying about (low) expectations but expecting to go out and do well.”

Part of that attitude results from the staff change that swept out former manager Lloyd McClendon after five consecutive losing seasons and brought in Jim Tracy, who managed the Dodgers to four winning seasons in five years.

Tracy’s emphasis all spring has been to build a fundamentally sound team that plays excellent defense, has a solid bench, pitches well and takes advantage of the runners it puts on base.

“It’s called winning baseball,” Tracy said.

Even in exhibition games, Tracy has shown little tolerance for batters who don’t move runners over, pitchers who don’t throw strikes and plays that aren’t made in the field. It’s been noticed, even by the newcomers.

“I’ve just enjoyed Tracy and (bench coach Jim) Lett and those guys, and I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the staff,” Casey said.

Still, adding the veterans doesn’t disguise the Pirates’ youth movement, one that began last season with encouraging production from a half-dozen prospects, including left-handers Zach Duke (8-2, 1.81 ERA) and Paul Maholm (3-1, 2.18 ERA) and center fielder Chris Duffy (.341 in 39 games). How quickly the youth push succeeds, or fails, no doubt will determine the fate of the Pirates’ 2006 season.

Duke and Maholm open the season with right-hander Ian Snell and opening day starter Oliver Perez in what likely is the youngest rotation in Pirates history, with only one starter older than 24. Closer Mike Gonzalez, a left-hander who has a 95 mph fastball, is new, too, after two seasons as a setup man.

As they await prospects such as third baseman Jose Bautista and first baseman Brad Eldred (12 homers in 190 at-bats last season), the small-budget Pirates spent $18 million bringing in Casey, Burnitz and Randa. All figure to be one-year fill-ins, even Casey, who grew up in suburban Pittsburgh.

Stopgaps are nothing new in Pittsburgh (Remember Jeff Suppan? Reggie Sanders? Matt Stairs? Mark Redman?) Only this time, they’re not around to hold space for the next round of modestly priced free agents.

“I think there’s some very strong signs that we’re going to be better, and the way the (farm) system is structured it’s going to be better for a while,” general manager Dave Littlefield said.

“I think there is very tangible evidence we’re going to be better for four or five years.”

Bay and shortstop Jack Wilson, in whom the Pirates invested a combined $40 million during the offseason, want to be around to see it.

Wilson played in the All-Star game two years ago and is another player who gets little attention outside Pittsburgh. Bay hopes that changes this season, too.

“You go out there now with the guys we have in the lineup, the potential of your pitching staff, I don’t want to say there’s an urgency to win but there’s more of an expectation to win,” Bay said.