Kevin Gorman: Jarrod Dyson is nothing if not completely candid when it comes to the Pirates
BRADENTON, Fla. — Jarrod Dyson was with the Pittsburgh Pirates for all of a day when he had the clubhouse cracking up, pulling a stack of scratch-off lottery tickets out of his leather backpack that fell to the floor like a Slinky.
“I’m messing around, trying to hit the lotto here,” Dyson said, laughing at his own antics. “I had them rolling. What big-league guy brings lotto tickets in here?”
When it comes to clubhouse characters, the Pirates might have hit the jackpot by signing the 35-year-old Dyson to a one-year contract to replace Starling Marte in center field. Dyson has a reputation as a “really good teammate,” as Pirates manager Derek Shelton called him, one who embraced the organization’s newfound emphasis on honesty and transparency, almost to a fault.
Upon arrival Thursday at Pirate City, Dyson made instant waves with his comments that he signed with the Pirates because there “ain’t too much out there right now” in free agency and that he had to “take the good with the bad and roll with it.” Say this about Dyson: He is nothing if not completely candid. On Sunday, he was unaware of the social media uproar he caused Pirates fans but unapologetic about his candor.
If the truth hurts, so be it.
“I was being real. I’m going to be real about it. I ain’t going to sugarcoat it. It is what it is,” Dyson said. “That part is over with. Now it’s time to get acquainted with my teammates. They’ve welcomed me in with open arms. I have no choice but to gravitate towards them.”
Dyson is the oldest player on the Pirates’ 40-man roster and one of only a handful born in the 1980s. Nobody had to tell him there was an expectation to provide leadership for a young core. Dyson won a World Series with the Kansas City Royals, so he knows how the game works and what is expected of veterans.
Despite his brash talk, Dyson’s reputation is real. Catcher John Ryan Murphy played with Dyson in Arizona and saw a magnetic personality who combined honesty with humor to keep the clubhouse loose. The Pirates can use a player who isn’t afraid to speak the truth or crack up the clubhouse.
“Not a lot of people live that way, and the people who do you respect,” Murphy said. “What you see is what you get. He’s an incredible teammate. He’s contagious, man. He walks into a room, and you know he’s there right away. He just makes an impact. The room brightens up when he gets in. He brings a good energy, and it’s contagious.”
So is Dyson’s confidence. He believes he can be as good of a defensive player as anyone who has patrolled center field at PNC Park, even though Marte and Andrew McCutchen were Gold Glove winners. And with 30 or more stolen bases five times in his career, including last season, Dyson knows he is dangerous once he gets on base.
“I love the cat-and-mouse game,” said Dyson, listed at 5-foot-9, 165 pounds. “I’m one of them guys that there’s an extra gear down there somewhere. It comes out. I’m not saying it comes out all the time. My natural speed is fast. But there might be a time you see the extra gear and say, ‘Wow, that guy’s moving.’ At 35, I’ve still got elite speed.”
Dyson makes no such promises about providing 20-plus homers, like Marte and McCutchen did. Dyson knows he wasn’t signed for his bat. That’s the reason the Pirates are paying him only $2 million this season. But Dyson said he didn’t join the Pirates just for a paycheck, even though he is less than two years away from a full pension.
Dyson knows the Pirates are projected to lose as many as 100 games but complimented the young talent in the lineup and even praised the pitching staff. I remind him the Pirates lost Jameson Taillon and two-time All-Star closer Felipe Vazquez last summer, but Dyson faced the starting rotation last season and didn’t back down.
Dyson’s comments about the Pirates’ chances this season are as stunning as his statement about signing with them.
“I definitely want to win, brother. I definitely want to win,” said Dyson, who has played on winning teams five of the past seven seasons. “After experiencing winning, you want to win. It (stinks) losing every day. I understand what the roster looks like. I think we’ve got a pretty good club, if you ask me.”
Dyson wants to be one of those pieces for the Pirates, even if the odds of winning with them might be as miniscule as hitting the lottery on a scratch-off.
Kevin Gorman is a TribLive reporter covering the Pirates. A Baldwin native and Penn State graduate, he joined the Trib in 1999 and has covered high school sports, Pitt football and basketball and was a sports columnist for 10 years. He can be reached at kgorman@triblive.com.
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