Kevin Gorman’s Take 5: Are you ready for some Pirates spring training football?

BRADENTON, Fla. – When Pittsburgh Pirates pitchers started to activate for workouts – a fancy way of saying to warm up – they found a football on the half-fields at Pirate City.

Soon enough, Derek Holland had it in his hands. The left-hander got Kyle Crick, Keone Kela, Mitch Keller, Joe Musgrove and Cody Ponce to play in an impromptu pickup game.

The Pirates promised the first spring training under new managment would be fun but to see Derek Shelton throwing the football around before the first workout was a surprise.

“It wasn’t my idea but I think it’s great,” Shelton said. “Anytime you get a chance to have fun – and I know I’ve said it numerous times – but to see guys throw the football around and do it, yeah, I like that.”

Asked if there was a benefit for pitcher’s arms, Shelton feigned igorance on the subjects.

“There probably is,” Shelton said, “but to go into the mechanics of how that works, that’s way too advanced for me.”

1. Broadway Joe: Where Holland opened eyes by rolling to his right and throwing spirals downfield, the workout was nothing new to Musgrove.

“I play catch with a football a lot in the offseason to keep my arm moving,” Musgrove said. “I use it a lot to warm up.”

Musgrove changed his delivery last year and has since found that throwing a football gets his shoulder ready because of the short, compact release.

“The way you throw a football is a lot different than the way you throw a baseball,” Musgrove said. “With the changes I made with my arm action, with my delivery last year it really syncs up with a football throw and the football pattern.”

Musgrove was quick to note that it’s just a warm-up tool.

“I’m not trying to get fundamental work out of it necessarily but it kind of serves two purposes,” he said. “It keeps you warm and loose and it’s an easy way to get activated and warmed up without feeling like you’re going through a monotonous stretch program or routine.”

2. Going Dutch: Holland signed with the Pirates because they were willing to give him a shot at a spot in the starting rotation when he worried he would only be a reliever.

“Just to get an opportunity to get out there and play. That was the important thing, to get an opportunity to redeem myself,” Holland said. “I felt like last year wasn’t exactly the way I wanted it to go, obviously, numbers-wise. I had to make some adjustments, bouncing back and forth between the ‘pen and starting a little bit. I feel like I’ve got to get myself back together.”

The 33-year-old Holland has a 78-78 career record in 11 seasons — and was the winning pitcher in Game 4 of the 2011 World Series with the Texas Rangers — but was 2-4, with a 5.90 ERA in seven starts with the San Francisco Giants last year before being designated for assignment and traded to the Chicago Cubs.

Holland said he expected backlash for allowing a .288 batting average and 19 home runs to right-handed hitters, but blames poor location and a predictable fastball.

Where Holland was 1-5 with an 8.10 ERA as a starter, he was 1-0 with a 4.53 ERA out of the bullpen last season.

“Going into the offseason, I thought for sure I was going to be a reliever,” Holland said. “To have that opportunity to possibly get to start, I’m going to try to do the best I can with it. If it doesn’t work out for me, I’m going to look at the bullpen as the next chapter of my career.”

3. Clean up, Aisle 6: New center fielder Jarrod Dyson is known for his speed but Pirates fans couldn’t seem to get over how quickly he put his foot in his mouth.

Asked why he chose to sign a one-year contract with the Pirates, the 35-year-old Dyson was candid about his free-agent opportunities.

“Ain’t too much out there right now,” Dyson said. “You would love to explore but, at the same time, you have to take what you can. Take the good with the bad and roll with it, make the most of it.”

That sounds like someone who chose the Pirates for no other reason than it was his best offer. There’s no shame in that. The Pirates signed a potential starting center fielder who is expected to be as good, if not better on defense and on the basepaths. And he’s won a World Series.

Dyson knows the Pirates are building from the bottom up, but aren’t expected to contend this season. If they were, they likely wouldn’t be offering him a chance to start.

And if playing for a winning team was the priority, Dyson probably wouldn’t have signed with the Pirates.

4. Nice ring to it: Dyson might be in the twilight of his career but he has experienced something not many players in the Pirates’ clubhouse have by playing in two World Series (and winning one) with Kansas City.

That type of postseason experience is invaluable to a young core that no longer has Franciscos Cervelli and Liriano, Melky Cabrera, Corey Dickerson or Starling Marte, not to mention pitcher Jameson Taillon out for the season following Tommy John surgery.

The Pirates signed veteran free agents like Dyson, Guillermo Heredia, Luke Maile, JT Riddle and John Ryan Murphy as much for depth and leadership as anything.

“As we look to build depth within our roster and did some of that in free agency, you start with fit. It’s got to start with there’s got to be a role on the team first,” general manager Ben Cherington said. “We tried to think about influence on the environment that guys would have, particularly in a time of change that we’re going through. That was important to Sheltie and important to me. Hopefully, the guys we’ve added can be positive influences in that way.”

The Pirates have to hope they can be better positive influences – and performers – than their predecessors were last season.

5. Backburner: All indications are that Dyson is the frontrunner to start in center, with Heredia and Riddle fighting for backup roles and playing time.

That means Cherington’s first free-agent splash for the Pirates was minimal. He made no promises about whether more moves will be made in spring training.

“There’s nothing on the burner right now,” Cherington said. “We’ll certainly keep our eyes open, whether in remaining free agency or just as we get into watching other camps throughout the spring to see where other opportunities might be.”

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