| | Pittsburgh Pirates (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-24) |
 | | Prior to 1999 Pittsburgh was aggressively promoting its top players, but the philosophy changed last season after several of those players had trouble adapting to the big leagues. |
 | | The Pirates have a solid base to build a contending club, especially since the payroll is being upped $10 million to $32 million, but they still need a few more position players and several pitchers. |
 | | However, the Pirates feel they drafted an outstanding high school pitcher with command, makeup, a fine arm and great curveball, and feel he should move faster than the typical 18-year-old because of those attributes. |
| www.usatoday.com /sports/baseball/sbn/sbn11min.htm (5152 words) |