Pirates Q&A with Dejan Kovacevic

Friday, June 30, 2006

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Q: Freddy for president!

Marda Hook of New York

KOVACEVIC: There was a whole bunch of Freddy and a whole bunch of exclamation points emailed this way in the aftermath of his home run yesterday.

At the risk of belaboring the obvious, I will add only this: In my eyes, Sanchez's production and consistency have made him -- and not Jason Bay -- the Pirates' most valuable player to date. He has been truly remarkable.

Now, that said, there was this small matter of a 13-game losing streak that preceded all the leaping and cheering, and that took up the bulk of the inbox ...

Q: The past two weeks have been some of the worst in Pirates history, even surpassing the hell of the 1985 season.

It has been especially bad for me. I returned to Pittsburgh this May after living in Arizona for five years. When I first returned, I was amazed at how much Pirates spirit there was. It seemed like there were far more people talking about the Pirates and wearing Pirates gear. I saw an area ready and willing to begin a great relationship, a new beginning.

Now, my amazement has turned to horror. It is amazing to see the damage two weeks can cause. This season is not just a disappointment. It is a huge, missed opportunity. I fear the relationship between the Pirates and the fans may now be damaged beyond repair. It is a loss for all.

David T. Bollman of Butler

KOVACEVIC: Agreed on all counts, David. The situation is quite bad and, without the lure of All-Star tickets for 2007, bound to get worse at the gate.

On top of that, trust is being lost between the team and its consumer, some of it on the field, some of it off the field (which I will get into later).

It is one thing to lose. Fans forgive that. But trust? That just has to be there between the public and all levels of the organization.

Q: As the Bucs near the mid-season, start to become sellers for the umpteenth time, and look to 2007, so do I. Dejan, why should I invest time and money in this team in 2007? What is there to look to?

Background on me: I am 28 and have lived in Pittsburgh for seven years. I am finishing with college and car loans and finally have entertainment money to spend and time to do it. I have been a partial season-ticket holder for the three years and attend, at least, 12-15 games a year.

I am not asking for your advice on how to spend my money. I am just asking for some reasons to continue to spend time on this team.

Kevin Van Asdalan of Banksville, Pittsburgh

KOVACEVIC: I have a funny way of answering that one, Kevin, and it has little to do with the sorry state of baseball here.

In my eyes, since childhood and to this day, the city's three sports teams are one and the same. They all have the same first name, they all have the same colors, they all have T.C. from McKees Rocks selling cotton candy in the stands, and they all have the mysterious guy I always refer to as the Ultimate Fan showing up at every single game that all three of them play.

Vin Scully, the legendary voice of the Dodgers, came up me in the press box in Los Angeles last weekend to ask some background on the Pirates wearing black and gold. After marveling at how cool it was to have someone with that familiar and famous a voice talking to me, I seized the opportunity to point out that we have the only city where all the teams wear the same colors. I then went back through the whole history of the Pitt family crest being black and gold -- still seen in the city flag -- and how the Pirates picked it up in 1948, then the Steelers, then the Penguins.

Maybe that is why. Maybe it is just because I loved the idea of a neverending sports season in which all that changed was the team's nickname and the sport being played. Whatever the case, I always viewed these things as pulling for Pittsburgh against another city, not as team vs. team.

That probably is not the answer you were seeking, I know, but that is the one I have.

The Pirates are the black sheep of the family, no question. They are the least successful team of the three, the least popular in terms of a diehard fan base and the least likely to win a championship even with ideal management, if only because of the inherent unfairness of Major League Baseball's economic structure. But they unquestionably are part of the fabric of our city, going all the way back to ... well, even before the 1890 Pittsburg Alleghenies.

Q: Hi, Dejan. I'm wondering what shape the much discussed changes that might take place. The obvious answer is that the Pirates will, as always, unload players in the last year of their contract for marginal prospects, most of whom will never smell the majors. This group would include Jeromy Burnitz, Joe Randa, Jose Hernandez (Ha!), Roberto Hernandez, Damaso Marte, Kip Wells (if he can win a couple games before July 31) and Sean Casey (if he doesn't sign an extension).

Do you see the Pirates looking into trading anyone else? What about Jack Wilson, Freddy Sanchez, Jose Castillo or -- gasp! -- one of our young pitchers? As you've mentioned many times in this space, it takes talent to get talent. If the Pirates are serious about a personnel shake-up, it would seem they have to offer more than rent-a-players.

Ryan Duchene of Squirrel Hill, Pittsburgh

KOVACEVIC: Well, this one can be cut off quickly: The Pirates apparently have no intention of a personnel shakeup of the "serious" type, as you describe it. Right or wrong, Dave Littlefield and management are of the mind that they have a core they do not want to disperse. The three players you mentioned there are very much part of that, as are others.

The other players you mention are the ones that are or will be getting offered. In fact, of all the veterans on the team 30 or over, only Casey and Salomon Torres are likely not to be placed on the block. Casey, as you mentioned, could be signed. Torres is signed long-term and considered part of the core group despite his age.

You are right on about this: Trading prime chips is the only way to acquire prime, young talent. We have seen it all over baseball, most recently with Cleveland and Florida.

But there no indication of that coming, and there is no indication, in fact, that any aspect of how the Pirates have done things is on the verge of changing. Witness Littlefield's recent comments that he hopes to acquire talent that is "major-league ready."

That, my friends, is not Hanley Ramirez. It is J.J. Furmaniak.

Q: All right, Dejan, give me some good news about the Bucs. Tell me that we have some legitimate prospects close to the bigs that will help spark this pathetic excuse for a major-league team. I know we have Tom Gorzelanny knocking on the door, but are there any other under-25 prospects?

Tom Martin of Baltimore, Md.

KOVACEVIC: Well, since you wrote, Gorzelanny finally broke that door down, obviously.

Pitching-wise, Josh Sharpless is making excellent progress as a reliever and should be in Pittsburgh this year. But none of the rest at any level is considered a sure bet, save Brad Lincoln, their first-rounder this month.

Offensively ... well, sorry, Tom, but the good news is sparse. The Pirates will need a dramatic upswing in the performance of an awful lot of players to wipe away the current impression that there are very, very few position prospects above the Class A level. Craig Stansberry, a second baseman with some pop, has had a nice summer and was rewarded for it Thursday with a promotion from Altoona to Indy. Vic Buttler is having a nice upswing kind of year in Altoona, but he is 25.

This keeps coming back to Neil Walker and Andrew McCutchen, and even those two are not having the type of huge-step-forward year you like to see. Walker, of course, is coming off wrist surgery. And McCutchen is down below .280, in large part because he has not adjusted to pitchers not throwing him strikes.

Q: What is it going to take for Jim Tracy to show some sort of emotion about a team that seems to be going through the motions and not seem to mind that we have lost so many in a row? In April, Jim Leyland lost a couple in a row, and he went bonkers. Look where his team is today compared to ours.

Do you think these players are giving a good effort?

Jim Costantino of Monongahela

KOVACEVIC: The effort is there on an individual level consistently, Jim. The focus on the team and things from the collective standpoint are much more difficult to detect.

Q: With enough blame to go around from the changes in Chris Duffy's hitting and Zach Duke's pitching for starters, who gets the credit for Freddy Sanchez's improvement? Dave Littlefield? Jim Tracy?

Dave Hartman of Dormont

KOVACEVIC: For that to be a discussion, at least in regard to the manager, Sanchez would have had to improve from last year to this year. All relevant numbers strongly suggest he is doing nothing more than remaining remarkably consistent.

Obviously, Littlefield should get credit for acquiring the player and sticking by him through a prolonged injury. But he also deserves low marks for failing to realize this past winter that what Sanchez did last year was no mirage.

Q: Hi, Dejan: Do you see Jack Wilson and Jason Bay stepping up as clubhouse leaders for this squad? It seems like it's always here-for-one-year veterans like Roberto Hernandez that get mentioned as the leaders, but Wilson and Bay have more of a vested interest in seeing the Bucs turn this ship around, having inked long-term deals in the off-season.

Chris Buell of Shadyside, Pittsburgh

KOVACEVIC: Hernandez has become a strong presence in the clubhouse, no doubt, and his passion for winning is unmistakable. Walk into that room after a loss and, even if he pitched well, he looks just devastated at his stall. Angry, too, but in a healthy way.

Furthermore, unlike other veterans, he wants very much to stay. His feeling is that he signed up to be part of something this season with the Pirates, had his hopes raised by his own evaluation of what he saw in spring training and wanted very much to push it along. He says he wants to follow it through, and he says it with conviction.

The guy is the real deal. And, if you can set aside the one bad pitch yesterday, he is having another very nice season on the mound, too.

Wilson and Bay? It is hard to say.

Neither is the in-your-face type to demand accountability from teammates, the way Hernandez is, so that should not be expected, as such traits are not developed over time.

Both clearly are bugged by the losing, and that came out, I think, in the comments each made after the sweep by the Dodgers in calling for significant personnel change on the roster. It is not easy to call for such change, then walk into that clubhouse the next day knowing a teammate or two might be thinking ill of you, but they and a couple others did it. That is, perhaps, a sign of leadership of a sort.

But the jury is still very much out on who -- if anyone -- of the Pirates' youngsters might emerge into that type of role.

Q: Dejan, I'm a little embarrassed by the dramatic rise of Pirates players in All-Star balloting. Several weeks ago, I was at a game and chatted with an accountant who works in the organization. This was when Jason Bay and Jose Castillo had their torrid hot streaks, and I mentioned to him that maybe they might have numbers warranting All-Star consideration. He said the Pirates were starting a "voting campaign" for Bay and other Pirates, which included paid staff stuffing the ballot box. This accountant had his own interns voting throughout the day as part of their duties.

With the Pirates mired in a 12-game losing streak, it's embarrassing to see half of our lineup among the top vote-getters at their position. There is something creepy and disingenuous about teams paying people to vote for their players. And it's a little lame, like a bobblehead night gone awry.

What are your thoughts on this?

Ian Leyda of East Liberty, Pittsburgh

KOVACEVIC: I have not heard that the Pirates are paying people on their staff specifically to do this, though I have heard that employees, interns and the like are being encouraged to do so on company time.

Is that the same? You be the judge.

Increasingly, since you raised the subject, Ian, this team is engaged in all kinds of unusual behavior off the field lately. Without going into details -- since I would not know precisely where to point the finger -- management very clearly has recently begun pushing some in the organization, particularly those who have a public voice, to put a brazenly positive spin on what is nothing less than the most miserable stretch of play in the franchise's 120-year history.

That goes from some of what you hear over the air -- "We will persevere!" -- to suddenly ultra-happy press releases to asking what type of questions might be asked of Robert Nutting in an interview to the sudden absence of negativity in the daily game notes distributed to the media.

Information you might have read in our paper about the history of the Pirates' various losing streaks, for example, came as the result of a long stretch of clicking away, year by year, at a baseball reference site. It did not come from the team, as it has in the past on such transparent matters. Apparently, some in the Pirates' front offices must have thought that they could suppress an 0-13 slide into secrecy. ("Quick: Someone knock out Leno's transmission tower!")

Never mind what this sort of behavior does to lessen the public's trust in the organization.

And never mind, for that matter, that there is no such thing as negative publicity in sports. When your fans are angry in Pittsburgh, it means they care. When your fans no longer care, you become irrelevant.

On this note, I feel compelled to give credit where it is due: I know Kevin McClatchy is not the most popular sports figure in town, and I understand better than most the reasons for that. But, when I phoned him Sunday from Los Angeles, minutes after the latest loss out there, he required not the slightest push from me to call out everyone in the organization from himself to the GM to the manager to the players for this team's performance to date. He told it like it is, did not mince words and even went so far as to give an unsolicited criticism of all this talk about one-run losses.

Was it overdue? Blame me. It was the first time I asked him.

Was the bluntness, honesty and accountability a welcome departure from what is heard from some of those in his employ? Absolutely.

Q: Hey, Dejan. This question might be a little off the wall, but I didn't know where else to ask: During home games, do they shoot off real hot dogs into the stands?

I figure they probably just wrap a coupon around something before they fire it up. But my buddy says it's a real hot dog. Don't let me down Dejan, the loser of this bet has to buy the next round of dogs. Funny, I have a feeling if our Bucs weren't so bad this wouldn't be such a burning issue.

Joe Lengyel of Duquesne

KOVACEVIC: The hot dogs are on you, dude. The ones in the gun are real, even if they are marginally edible.

Ever see the girl use the Wiffle bat to shove them down into the barrel? What good can come of that?

Q: Dejan, I'd like to put aside the Pirates for one question and ask something I have been very curious about: It's June 30 as this week's Q&A sees the light of day, and you have been on the Pirates beat exactly 18 months. I imagine Dickens might describe it this way: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times."

But how would you describe it? How have you found the assignment? Better or worse than expected? How hard is it covering a game virtually every day of the week? All the travel? How does it compare to covering the Penguins?

Gerry Mangold of Richmond, Va.

KOVACEVIC: I got a few of these this week, apparently out of concern that all the losing would have some sort of effect on me.

I mean, hey, it is appreciated and all, but it is also way unwarranted. There cannot be too many cooler jobs on the planet.

And, for those who have never heard this before, it changes very, very little based on whether the team wins or loses. Nobody outside the business ever believes that, but those inside understand. It is about length of game, convenience of travel, length of game, convenience of travel and the type of material that you have to cover.

And man, what material there has been these past two weeks. Think about it: The Pirates are in a run unlike any seen since shortly after the Civil War. There are good anecdotes, quotes and all kinds of neat research that can accompany this. And it is quite a bit more interesting than, say, waffling 10 games under .500 and winning one of every three.

To answer your actual question, Gerry ...

The hockey and baseball beats each have one very bad thing: In hockey, it was the morning skate that would kill your whole day by splitting it in two. In baseball, it is spring training, in part because it is so long and repetitive, in larger part because it is held in Florida.

Cancel those out, and the tiebreakers mostly go to baseball. It is easier to write during games because there are many, many more stoppages in the action. There is more travel, but it is not as grueling in the sense that you can go to a city for three days and actually unpack rather than Vancouver one night, then Calgary and Edmonton the next two. There are more games, but I love doing game stories more than any other aspect of the job.

Would it fun to describe a contender? Sure. I often wrote in the Penguins Q&A that I felt the best stuff was produced out of the most dramatic environs. Stands to reason that means playoffs. But I also have seen on the Pirates beat that the bar is set so low that it will not take playoffs to get that kind of drama here. It will take mediocrity, and those ".500!" banners will be flying again.

In closing ...

I forward to the readership at large this submission from Harry Patterson of Etna, only because it stumped me to the point where I just got tired of thinking about it.

Harry writes: "Here was the situation at the end of that horrid ninth inning of the Diamondbacks game on that Monday afternoon: Bottom of the ninth. Two outs. Bases loaded. Score tied. Question: Why was there a guy in the on-deck circle?"

Argh.

If you have an idea, let me know. If you think Arizona just messed up, send it instead to the Diamondbacks' manager at bob.melvin@icantbelieveallthreeofthoseguysstruckout.com.

Until next week, by which point I am determined to see "Superman Returns" once for every time I have described a one-run loss this summer ...

First published on June 30, 2006 at 12:00 am