Pair Of Aces To Open
McClendon, Pirates Looking For One Or Two Starting Pitchers To Step Up
By John E. Sacco

Any baseball team, at any level is better for having the one starting pitcher whom evokes the confidence of his teammates and has the respect of the opponent.

That kind of pitcher is a pillar of a successful team, a major building block of a championship team.

The value of having an ace cannot adequately be defined by words or numbers. An ace pitcher in the big leagues not only possesses those rare talents of the truly great ones of the game but also has those sometimes undefinable intangibles that lifts him from being very good to superior.

Does it help to have an ace?

Ask Arizona Manager Bob Brenly and Diamondbacks' players, who rode the coattails of not one, but two ace pitchers in Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling to a World Series championship last year.

Ask long-suffering Boston Red Sox fans, who revel in the performance of Pedro Martinez and emerging ace pitcher Derek Lowe, if having that kind of a pitcher matters.

It seems that in the current climate, aces come in pairs.

In addition to the twosomes in Arizona and Boston, Oakland features Barry Zito and Tim Hudson and Atlanta features veterans Tom Glavine and Greg Maddux.

Ask Pirates' Manager Lloyd McClendon if having an ace matters?

"It's certainly important to the manager to have that kind of guy," McClendon chuckled. "I'd love to say we had somebody in that class. But we have some guys who still have a ways to go."

The Pirates want right-hander Kris Benson to become that ace. Benson, who will turn 28 in November, has the stuff and pedigree to be just that.

He hasn't had the results and his recovery from Tommy John surgery this season has been dotted with the expected ups and downs most who have had the surgery and returned to the major leagues experience along the way.

As much as the Pirates want Benson to become that kind of pitcher, Benson wants it more.

He admits his recovery from surgery has been frustrating even though he knew it would be a bumpy road. He refuses to give in to that, however. He points to the success enjoyed by St. Louis' Matt Morris the past two years and his former college teammate at Clemson Billy Koch, Oakland's closer.

"Personally, I want to be the guy this team can count on to win big ballgames," Benson said. "I want to be the kind of pitcher who can carry a team to the post-season and through the post-season. That's just the way I was brought up and that's the way it has been from high school to college through the Olympics, all the way up. To be an ace is how I've been groomed. I don't really settle for anything less."

If Benson doesn't reach ace status, the Pirates think they have a couple of other pitchers who could fill that role at some point.

Kip Wells started the season strong and his earned run averaged was good for the majority of the year. But after the first two months, Wells' performance declined. That he's only 25-years-old speaks to his lack of big league innings and experience. He also returned to a bad habit after May of overthrowing and trying to add an extra couple of mph to his fastball - sacrificing some of his ability to place the ball where he'd like.

"Kip just needs to go out and pitch," McClendon said. "He's still wet behind the ears.

Wells always has pitched under the pressure of high expectations. As a 22-year-old, the Chicago White Sox made him their No. 2 starter despite having just 32 major-league starts.

That led to some tough times for him as well.

His trade to the Pirates with Sean Lowe and Josh Fogg this past offseason seemed to be a blessing.

"I don't think they (White Sox) were setting him up to fail, but the pressures on him were high," Lowe said. "If you're a No. 2 starter in the big leagues, you're damn good. And they wanted him to be that."

Fogg, also 25, has performed well and appears to have the mentality and desire to be a top-of-the-line starter.

"Wells has the stuff," McClendon said. "Fogg has the makeup. But it takes time to become that kind of pitcher.

"Time will tell. No. 1 starters are special individuals who can take a team on their shoulders. If there are negative streaks going when he starts, it stops right there. They have it written all over their faces.

"How many No. 1 guys are there?"

Most think there are about 10.

Having identified the four teams holding two aces, who else is left?

Morris has emerged as an ace for the Cardinals. Roger Clemens might not be having his greatest season but he's one year removed from winning the Cy Young Award and he's still a dominating presence on the mound.

Others like Houston's Roy Oswalt, Javier Vasquez of Montreal, Chicago's Kerry Wood and Mark Mulder of Oakland might have that kind of potential but need to put up outstanding numbers for a longer period of time.

And there are those who think youngsters like the Cubs' Mark Prior and Brett Myers of Philadelphia can be special but they're just beginning their careers in the majors.

No matter, it seems it takes times and overwhelming talent to become a true ace.

Ten years ago, Johnson was a 6-foot-10 inches freak with a blistering fastball and an inability to control his pitches. In his first six seasons as a big leaguer with Montreal and Seattle, Johnson was 39-38 and had walked 519 batters in 888 innings. He led the American League in walks three consecutive seasons from 1990-92. That's not the stuff of an ace.

His breakthrough came in 1993, when he went 19-8 and struck out a league-high 308 and cut his walks down to 99. In the eight seasons from 1994-2001, his walk total was never higher than 77.

"It takes time," McClendon said. "Clemens was a little different. To think it's going to happen over the course of one or two years is not realistic."

John E. Sacco covered the Pirates from 1986-1992 and has covered the team and major league baseball for PSR since October 1998. He is a former member of the Baseball Writers of America Association, Pittsburgh Chapter.