Mackowiak and Redman

Great article by Joe Rutter out right now. Mackowiak defers to Tike as the team's only natural centerfielder. McClendon says Redman's defense has improved across the board.

Mackowiak's been improving his swing in hopes of making more contact.

After striking out almost once every four at-bats last year, Mackowiak resolved to shorten his stride so he would have better pitch recognition and not swing at so many pitches in the dirt.

The early results have been favorable. Mackowiak has struck out just twice in 26 at-bats.

"It has been paying off so far," he said. "It will be interesting to see what happens when we play the Cubs or Cardinals, teams that have a better scouting report on me."

That's the truth. Down the stretch, when the games mattered most for those teams, they pretty much did what they pleased with the Pirates.

Mackowiak understands he'll get his playing time one way or another:

"I go into every spring without a position, and it seems like I get my 300-400 at-bats during the year, so it's not something that is going to get me stressed out or worried," he said. "Things have a way of working themselves out."

I think he'll see more like 500 at-bats, but no one really knows. He's at least an average hitter against right-handers and he can play everywhere.

Finally, and I don't think we've discussed this much, yet another quote like this from the GM:

"Mackowiak is a viable option," general manager Dave Littlefield said. "It's a combination of what we get offensively from those two guys along with what fits defensively. Nothing is set in stone. We realize we need to score more runs. We also have to figure out what we think is a reasonable tradeoff comparing offense versus defense."

The Bucs were criticized a year or two ago for trying to build around pitching and defense, as though defense mattered much. One thing we can say about this team - it's not built around defense.