Pirates Q&A: Other Boras clients?

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By Dejan Kovacevic | 12:30 a.m. Tuesday

Before we hit the road for a fourth separate trip to the Pacific time zone, we have Qs ...

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Q: DK, how many PBC players does Scott Boras represent and, in your opinion, will the Alverez/Boras fiasco affect the future negotiations with current Pirates?

Bob Fosnot of McMurray

KOVACEVIC: Craig Hansen is the only other Boras client in the clubhouse. If there are others in the system, I am unaware. I do know there is no one else on the 40-man. In the recent past, Xavier Nady, Oliver Perez and Bobby Hill were in his fold, too.

The very strong impression I get from both sides is that there is no reason the door will be shut from either side because of this. There is a genuine rivalry -- some might find stronger words -- between Boras and Frank Coonelly, and that surely was heightened with this episode, but the bottom line is that neither party has anything to gain from staying away from the other. The Pirates might well draft a Boras client in the first round again in 2009 -- No. 4 overall, for those not keeping up with the reverse standings this week -- or they might make a trade in which the best player they can acquire is a Boras client. From the agent's perspective, crossing teams off one's list is a very good way to diminish one's clientele. The more suitors, the better the market.

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Q: Dejan, like many Pirate fans, I was on hand for the season finale at PNC Park on Sunday. Like many Pirates fans, I am hoping it was not Jack Wilson's last game in Pittsburgh. After Wilson singled in his pinch-hit, I stood with many others in cheering Wilson's success.

After the third out, I kept watching Wilson as he ran off the field. I believe I saw Wilson run off the field and, as he approached the third base line, reach down and scoop up some infield dirt and put it in his back pocket.

Did you see this?

Any idea of why he did that or what he did with the dirt?

Keith Boyer of Indiana, Pa.

KOVACEVIC: I did not see it, Keith, but enough readers noticed it that it simply had to be the case.

I can ask Wilson about it tonight at Miller Park.

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Q: I saw the kid with the sign -- from the photo that ran with the game story yesterday -- as he left the park. The other side of the sign said something like "Nady, Strike One. Bay, Strike Two. ... I couldn't read the rest. I assume it was that Wilson would be Strike Three, but there was more. And I couldn't ask him to show it to me, because the poor kid was weeping. Choked me up, too.

Also, yesterday was my baby boy's first game. My daughter's first game was Opening Day 2004, when she was 10 days old. I have a very understanding wife.

Jason Roth of East Liberty

KOVACEVIC: Special breed.

In all seriousness, can anyone remember the last time a Pittsburgh baseball crowd reacted that way spontaneously in appreciation for one of the Pirates? Before an at-bat?

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Q: It was good to hear about Jeff Sues, who was a mystery man for years due to injury problems. Since he's headed to the Arizona Fall League, I take it that means he's healthy? He finished the season on the DL due to a shoulder injury. It was shoulder surgery that caused him to miss two years after the Pirates drafted and signed him.

Wilbur Miller of Silver Spring, Md.

KOVACEVIC: Yes, he said the shoulder was fine. You know, I feel lousy about having given both of those guys short-shrift in the coverage yesterday, but our space was cramped by other news of the day, not the least of which was the late Alvarez development.

Maybe I can make up for that here, as far as Sues goes ...

First off, in having spoken with him and Jim Negrych for quite a while, the first thing that struck me is this is a big - 6 feet 4, 213 pounds - kid who is anything but the usual lanky that you see at that level. It is easy to see where the power comes from, as well as envisioning that it probably comes with less effort than it does a smaller pitcher.

Second, the shoulder has healed to the point Sues described himself as feeling "great" and immediately available to pitch in Arizona. That league starts Oct. 7, but Sues was set to fly out there yesterday for a head start.

Third, what the Pirates liked about his development had not only to do with his staying mostly healthy but also with the ability to use a "power curve," as Sues described it, to get hitters out. He used it behind in counts and in all situations, and the speed differential alone, as one might imagine, was more than most hitters at that level could handle.

By the way, I have added to the minor league links on the blog roll the official site for the Scottsdale Scorpions, the team the Pirates have stocked in Arizona.

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Until tomorrow, when, in filing from the road, we can do our final three Pittsburgh items of the year ...