Friday, December 19, 2008
By Dejan Kovacevic, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/
Pirates shortstop Jack Wilson set to earn $7.25 million in the last year of his three-year contract.
Jack Wilson, sounding convinced he will return as the Pirates' shortstop next year, yesterday urged management to bolster the 2009 roster and heed its own call for accountability.
"The only thing I wish we could do was compete," he said in an extensive phone interview from his home in California. "I wish we could go out and get some more players to make our team competitive. And, you know, now that this whole trade thing has probably blown over, that's going to be my new focus on the Internet: Instead of looking for my name and where I might go, hopefully, we might get some players. Because we need them."
Management has attempted aggressively to trade Wilson this offseason, but a field of suitors that might have been at three around the time of Major League Baseball's Winter Meetings earlier this month has dwindled perhaps to none. The most serious suitor, the Los Angeles Dodgers, agreed to terms to bring back free-agent shortstop Rafael Furcal late Wednesday.
And that, apparently, changed Wilson's focus from potential new employers to the current one. The Pirates' sole move of note this offseason was the free-agent signing of utility infielder Ramon Vazquez.
"I always said I wanted to honor my contract and, in the negotiations we had for that, the organization had talked about building a team," Wilson said. "I wanted to make sure that, if I was giving up a couple years of free agency, I had a chance of competing. That's one of the main things that went into my signing that piece of paper, that we'd compete. Since I signed that, that hasn't happened. We've lost key players who were going to be part of that team they were talking about. They are now gone."
Wilson, the Pirates' most tenured player, signed his three-year $20.2 million contract in 2006, and he did so under the team's previous management. He has one guaranteed year left at a salary of $7.25 million.
His reference to the "lost key players" was to outfielders Jason Bay and Xavier Nady, traded for prospects this past summer.
"I just want to compete," Wilson continued. "At this point in time, I look at where we're at, and that's one of the things that's hard for me to look at. I really hope we can change that outcome."
He mentioned the mantra of accountability cited so often by the new management headed by team president Frank Coonelly and general manager Neal Huntington.
"The biggest thing stressed over the past year was accountability," Wilson said. "That includes everybody in the organization, as far as having accountability for themselves and in wanting to win. It's not just the players."
Wilson was asked what action, specifically, he thought management should take. Previous management often was criticized for signing quick fixes, while the current management seems focused on the future well beyond 2009.
"Well, people still talk about Jeromy Burnitz and Joe Randa," Wilson said, referring to one-year free-agent flops from 2007. "They both retired right after they were with us. They just wanted to play one more year. ??? Look, we've got to do whatever we have to do to try to find a way to compete. I know that there are 25 players right now who would love to compete at this level for the Pittsburgh Pirates. There are eight core players who are dying to compete. There are thousands and thousands of fans of the Pittsburgh Pirates who are dying to compete. And we all need to be accountable for that."
Coonelly, asked to respond to Wilson's comments, did so by email from his PNC Park office.
"We agree with Jack that everyone in the organization must be and is held accountable, and that starts with ownership and management," Coonelly said. "That is precisely what we told the players in the spring. We also agree with Jack that we have a large core of players here who are working extremely hard to compete and to win. Like our players, management is working very hard to build a team that will consistently compete for championships. Ultimately, we are all judged by whether we accomplish this singular goal."
Coonelly cited, as many in the front office have this winter, the Philadelphia and Tampa Bay models.
"We have said very clearly that a championship organization, regardless of market size, starts with a strong core group of players built from within. This year's World Series opponents provide the latest proof that drafting and developing is far more effective than attempting to buy championships on the free-agent market. I am not sure if Jack is suggesting that we return to the days when the club signed veteran players in their last years like Burnitz and Randa but, if he is, that is not a suggestion we are likely to follow. While we are aggressively pursuing several free agents in addition to Ramon Vazquez, the free-agent market is not where we are going to build the core of our team."
Wilson later clarified that he was not advocating acquiring one-year fixes.
Of sending away Bay and Nady, Coonelly added, "I am sure that Jack misses some of the players who were here when he signed his contract three years ago, but he is not alone in playing for a team that has experienced significant turnover. Indeed, only seven players who were on the Red Sox World Series team in 2004 were on the Series roster of the 2007 team. Instead of worrying about who is and who is not here, we all need to figure out how we can win with the 25 players who report to Bradenton this spring."
Wilson acknowledged having an intense interest this offseason as to where he might get traded, including imagining what it would be like to join a contender for the first time in his career. But he was adamant that he would take no issue with a return to the Pirates.
"Through this whole thing, I've said I wouldn't mind coming back to Pittsburgh and playing there, and I don't," he said. "For a moment, you're thinking about the chance to play for a team that's been in the playoffs, whether it was the Dodgers or Twins, and it does get exciting to think you can go into a season with a chance to compete for the playoffs. But I signed a contract that I would be a Pittsburgh Pirate through 2009, and I'm giving 100 percent to honor that."
Wilson added that he should be held accountable, too, particularly after a season in which he played in only 87 games because of the first disabled-list stint of his career.
"I started working a week after the season, a month earlier than usual, because I still had that bad feeling in my stomach that I wasn't out there to help my team," he said. "There's only one thing I can do about it, and that's to get in the best shape of my career. I'm holding myself accountable."
Might it not seem unusual to take the field at PNC Park in a Pirates uniform after that memorable standing ovation for his final at-bat in the last home game?
"It was nice, God willing, that I was healthy enough to have that last at-bat. But, even then, it was more of a just-in-case reaction. A lot of people, including myself, thought it was going to be my last game in Pittsburgh. So, no, I won't find it awkward at all. I love Pittsburgh. I love the people there. I've loved raising my family there. I'll be happy to be back."
NOTES -- A formal announcement on catcher Ryan Doumit's contract extension, the financial terms of which are expected to be completed soon, will not come until early next week. ... The Pirates have had discussions about bringing back reliever Denny Bautista, who became a free agent last week when the team did not tender him a contract through arbitration. ... Center fielder Chris Duffy, released by the Pirates last month, signed a minor league contract with the Milwaukee Brewers.
Dejan Kovacevic can be reached at dkovacevic@post-gazette.com
First published on December 19, 2008 at 12:00 am
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