SlackBoss: Can you clarify who on the staff coached pitchers on technique before this weekend? Was it Kerrigan? Who has that responsibility now?

Dejan Kovacevic: Yes, Kerrigan had the responsibility of dealing with the Pirates on matters of delivery and mechanics. The new pitching coach, Ray Searage, has that now.

An easy one to start.

If you were referring to the item in my article about Kerrigan stressing pitcher-batter matchups more than mechanics, that obviously wouldn't mean at the total exclusion of mechanics. Just describing emphasis.

tom: Dejan, thanks for the great coverage. Although I am not sure what else NH could say with regards to the $10M being tied up on Snyder and Doumit, do you realistically see Doumit being here next year. I know how the sell low is not a good thing, but really a team with a $34M payroll paying a 4th outfielder and back-up catcher $5M? Don't you thnk that money is better spent elsewhere?

Dejan Kovacevic: Plain and simple, Tom, they want to see if Doumit can play right field. I'm sure they hope, for one reason or another, that he can.

Could the money be spent better elsewhere?

Again, depends on how Doumit does. Either way, it's not as if the Pirates can simply wish away the contract. To trade Doumit, he first needs to do better.

Dennis Leyden: The past few days have been fascinating. What confuses me is my recollection that Joe Kerrigan had wanted to leave after last season but had been persuaded to stay. And that everyone was delighted he could stay for another year. Was his leaving in the plans since that time, or did something change? Thanks!

Dejan Kovacevic: Very clearly, all kinds of things changed over the course of this season.

Maybe Kerrigan thought his pitchers would do better, or that the Pirates would have added some help, either on the mound or behind the plate. Maybe the Pirates thought the pitcher-batter matchup issue was a bigger one than having young pitchers learn and adjust at the major-league level. Maybe both would have been wrong in those cases.

Alex: DK, thanks for the coverage and time. Do you think it's likely the Pirates pursue anything in free agency this winter? I'm not expecting Cliff Lee, obviously, but there are some decent fourth and fifth pitching options as well as a few shortstops. Will the Pirates spend just to raise the payroll? I sure hope not.

Dejan Kovacevic: I just can't imagine how they can address the pitching without making at least some moves in free agency. For all kinds of reasons, I wouldn't expect some eight-figure guy, but there can't be any questioning at this point that help from the outside is needed. There is no cavalry in Indianapolis.

Frank Coonelly has indicated to me that the team will be aggressive this offseason in free agency, but time will tell how that term is applied.

A bit more on this in the main story for tomorrow's paper.

Chuck: You cited a lack of loyalty to Russel as maybe part of Kerrigan being fired. What exactly does that mean? Did he not respect Russel's decisions? Or just Russel as a manager?

Dejan Kovacevic: What I've heard -- and reported in the Post-Gazette this morning -- was that the primary issue here, related to both firings, was one of loyalty. That, obviously, can take on all kinds of forms in all workplaces. But I'm sure it includes the type of examples you give there, yes.

Jeff: Hey DK, any word on a timeline of moving Rudy Owens up from AA?

Dejan Kovacevic: I would not expect Owens to move up. For one, there really is not much time left in the season, maybe three more starts, and he and the Curve have a chance at an Eastern League championship. That can be important to the player's development, which always should be top priority. But that's true, too, of the health of the affiliate itself. Wins and losses for those teams don't mean much to Pittsburgh, but they do to those communities.

Spanky: Do writers from other teams beats ever ask you for insight /information into Pirates players that they can include in their articles?

Dejan Kovacevic: Just about every day, especially as it relates to the current series' opponent. Same is true in the other direction.

Justin: How do people around the industry see the guys in the AA rotation?

Dejan Kovacevic: They really like Bryan Morris' rebound this year, and Owens' stock goes up by the day. Jeff Locke just got there, but he has potential, too. Justin Wilson is seen as having the ability to pitch in the majors, but I'd say he's in the next bracket down.

They like the Curve, no question, and they like it a lot better than what's in Indianapolis.

Officer Mancuso: Watching the brief post-game interview clips, I have a hard time telling whether Maholm sees his troubles as the result of bad calls, bad luck, etc, or whether he recognizes that he's struggling on his own. Do you have an impression one way or the other on this?

Dejan Kovacevic: Maholm and Duke probably will both sound like that at times, as you can see on those video clips I've been putting up on the blog after each game.

They're pitch-to-contact guys, so they view their outcomes based on the type of contact they allow, by very nature of what they do. Thus, if Maholm gives up a broken-bat single, he's going to think a lot less of it than someone in the stands. On the other hand, when he gets creamed, as he mostly did yesterday by the top of the Colorado order, he'll take that pretty hard.

I think some of that, too, comes across in the postgame interviews.

Spanky: Do you think Lambo may be our #1 Outfield Prospect?

Dejan Kovacevic: No, that would be Starling Marte. But Andrew Lambo is off to a good start with Altoona, even if he is striking out a lot.

it's worth noting, too, what a dramatic reshuffle it's going to take just of the top 10 prospects when this season is done.

No. 9: "They like the Curve ... and they like it a lot better that what's in Indianapolis." Is that strong praise for Morris, Owens, Locke and Wilson or does that reflect a growing discontent towards Morton and Lincoln or some combination of both?

Dejan Kovacevic: No hidden meaning there. The question was about what people outside the Pirates thought of Altoona's starters, not inside.

Jack McElligott: Who do you think will be the September callups?

Dejan Kovacevic: Doing this in a live chat, you always think you're going to miss somebody. I'd say Jason Jaramillo, Charlie Morton, John Bowker, Joe Martinez, all currently on the 40-man. Brian Burres and Steven Jackson are there, too. Looking off the 40-man, Brandon Moss has gone above and beyond expectations, I would think, for such a recall.

Dejan Kovacevic: See, I left off Brad Lincoln. Knew that would happen.

Sam K: What's the point of bringing in a guy like Chan Ho Park? I know Justin Thomas had disappointed so far, but you KNOW what you're getting with Park, and its not much better. I'd rather have a young guy try and find himself than waste what could be valuable experience on a guy who clearly won't be here next year.

Dejan Kovacevic: I described the acquisition of Park and Chris Resop as a "tourniquet" in the paper the next day, and that surely is the case as it relates to Park. Resop has looked pretty good in the very early going, with all those Ks, so that one might be more meaningful over time.

Plan and simple, Sam, the Pirates didn't want to spend the final two months:

A. Getting their brains beat in, as was happening.

B. Hurting Joel Hanrahan or Evan Meek. I think you saw some signs over the weekend that Hanrahan, who has been excellent, could use a bit of a break.

James_Taiwan: Do you see Neil Walker being a .290 to .300 hitter or do you think his current average .303 is a fluke?

Dejan Kovacevic: I make mention of this in tomorrow's main story, as well, as it relates to Walker's two-strike approach. He's been great in two-strike counts, like crazy great. But he also gets into two-strike counts in half his at-bats.

Only Freddy Sanchez and a handful of others get away with that sort of thing over any sustainable period.

That's not a knock on Walker. What he's done has been remarkable, and this is to say nothing of his remarkable rate of really hard-hit outs. All he's doing is finding a way to get the barrel on the ball, which is great.

But there probably will have to be more to it, over time.

Wieters4President: Do you think that the issues the Pirates have had with Hill, Kerrigan and Varsho extend elsewhere in the organization...particularly to players? In other words, are the Pirates top brass having a hard time getting all of the troops to buy in on the ground-up re-construction?

Dejan Kovacevic: That had nothing to do with this, as I understand it. Organizational philosophy and trades and the like had much to do with Perry Hill and Rich Donnelly, not in these cases.

Jeff: If I can answer to James - Neil's current batting avg on balls in play (BABIP) is .361 per fangraphs.com, which is far above the major league norm. His line drive percentage is also above average. It's not impossible for these things to continue, but it is fairly unlikely.

Dejan Kovacevic: Normally, I'll support a BABIP finding, especially as it relates to pitchers. But again, where Walker walks a weird line in all this is that his outs are getting stung, too. One can make a very solid case, then, that his BABIP might not accurately reflect that aspect of it.

I say this a lot, but the great flaws with both BABIP and UZR -- at the risk of alienating about 90 percent of people reading this right now -- is that statistics still lack the ability to track velocity and trajectory off the bat. Someday soon, maybe, that will change.

Plain and simple, Walker is scorching the ball most of the time.

Ron: Do the Pirates pay above average salaries to key coaching and minor league development staff? It seems that with the strategy in place, they need the best possible coaches at all levels to maximize prospect values and the likelihood of success.

Dejan Kovacevic: No salaries ever are given out, but my understanding is that they have gone above the norm on at least a couple of cases.

Your point about paying for elite instruction is an excellent one.

Stephan: James MacDonald had a great first start. Have you heard of what may have been holding him back in L.A., possibly him wanting to start rather than relieve, or do you think he was mishandled out there? Or is this just a case of relocation helping his development?

Dejan Kovacevic: You said yourself there, Stephan, that it was one start. If he has another great start Wednesday in pitcher-friendly Petco, it will be just two starts. Long way to go before passing judgment on the Dodgers here.

If anything, the Dodgers probably should get a little credit for having invested in McDonald the faith to return him to the minors in a starting role, even though he might have been a better short-term bullpen option.

Dejan Kovacevic: Couple more today ...

Kyle: Do you get the sense that Russell gained some respect from his team after cutting Varsho and Kerrigan loose?

Dejan Kovacevic: Yes, among some.

SeanE: What was the reason for the demotion of Negrych? Certainly couldn't have been his bat. Do they just want to make sure he plays everday?

Dejan Kovacevic: It actually had more to do with Brian Friday playing pretty well at second base right now. Friday was kind of forgotten, maybe, after that leg injury earlier this year, but he is seen internally as a prospect.

Jeff: Dejan - true enough on the BABIP - it, like any other stat, has its flaws for sure. Hope you're right on Neil. Thanks for the chat.

Dejan Kovacevic: In some cases, it really does help to go with the eyes. And it might help to know that, even within the current statistical system for tracking the difference between line drives, fly balls and popups, that is done -- at PNC Park and elsewhere -- by actual humans watching the balls put in play.

That's fine. That's obviously the system I use myself for describing entire games, at least once I become human after a really large iced chai. But it doesn't offer the type of precise metrics needed to, oh, completely pulverize ridiculous notions such as Ronny Cedeno having a great UZR and Andrew McCutchen having a terrible one.

Have to go now, but if anyone wants to discuss the McCutchen UZR further, I'll be over at the blog a little later.

I have a feature running tomorrow, then Chuck is off to San Diego.

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