Mar 11, 2007 4 min read

PITTSBURGH (AP) – Former All-Star reliever Dan Kolb chose to stay in the NL Central and sign with the Pittsburgh Pirates, not because they remind them of his former club, the Milwaukee Brewers, but because they resemble the Minnesota Twins. Yes, the Twins.

The Pirates’ 95 losses last season were nearly the opposite of the AL Central champion Twins’ 96 victories, so there’s no comparison there. And the Twins have won as many division championships (four) in the last five seasons than the Pirates have won since 1979.

What Kolb likes about the Pirates is their wealth of young starting pitchers, position player stars such as Jason Bay and Freddy Sanchez who are not yet reached their prime and the attitude that a turnaround is close following 14 consecutive losing seasons.

“Playing against these guys, I know the talent they have here,” Kolb said Saturday. “It’s going to take these guys a little bit of time to put it together but, when they do, it’s going to be the same scenario they had in Minnesota about five or six years ago.”

The right-handed Kolb, who had 39 saves for Milwaukee in 2004, is trying to put his career together again after failing as Atlanta’s closer in 2005. The Braves returned John Smoltz to their rotation after using him as their closer for three-plus seasons and Kolb was supposed to be his bullpen replacement.

Kolb quickly lost the closer’s job after having four losses and three blown saves by mid-May, and he has not yet returned to being the pitcher he was in 2003 (1-2, 1.96 ERA, 21 saves in 37 games) and 2004 (0-4, 2.98 ERA, 39 saves). He went back to Milwaukee and was 2-2 with a 4.84 ERA in 53 games last season, but was not used as a closer.

“I put too much pressure on myself to basically be John Smoltz and replace a guy like that,” Kolb said. “I tried to do what I’m not capable of, become a strikeout pitcher, and that’s not me. I’ll just go out there and get my ground balls.”

The Pirates signed him to a minor-league contract last month after trading former closer Mike Gonzalez to the Braves and designating Salomon Torres as his replacement. Torres was 12-for-12 in save conversions last season but, at age 35, has never been a closer when a season began.

One change Kolb is making with Pittsburgh is going back to throwing a four-seam fastball, as he did with Milwaukee the first time around, rather than a two-seam fastball that might have better movement but lacks the velocity of a four-seamer.

“His fastball is jumping out of his hand,” catcher Humberto Cota said. “His fastball looks better than it did last year and when he was with the Braves. He came back to that overpowering four-seamer and his arm is healthy.”

Kolb has struck out only one of the 12 batters he’s faced this spring, but has allowed one hit and no runs.

“Honestly, I haven’t felt this good mechanically and arm strength-wise since 2003,” Kolb said. “Everything is right where it needs to be, so the decision is up to them.”

Kolb’s contract allows him to become a free agent if the Pirates don’t put him on their season-opening roster, but that seems unlikely if he keeps pitching this way. He is expected to join left-handers John Grabow and Damaso Marte and right-hander Matt Capps as a middle to late-innings setup reliever.

Kolb, who turns 32 later this month, has been in the Pirates’ clubhouse less than a month but has seen enough to know he wants to stay.

“I’ve played against Minnesota for almost seven years – watching those guys come up, put a team together and stay together,” Kolb said. “I think it will happen here and I don’t see it being that far away. … They’ve got all the tools here. It’s going to take some time for some of their younger guys to find their niche, and then it’s going to get interesting.”