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In the interest of full disclosure: I have found that the easiest way to get an avalanche of overwhelmingly positive mail is to write something that describes anything at all negative about the previous management. It is somewhat akin to announcing to all of Pittsburgh that free beer can be had somewhere. (Or expensive beer, for that matter.)

Just know these two things, in those instances when you see it:

1. Trust me. It is not pandering. I raise issues such as the Nate McLouth evaluation only if they are relevant to current affairs. I have written before that there is plenty enough to describe now without digging up the Aramis Ramirez trade every other week, and I mean that. But there are current applications to some of this.

2. For the millionth time, for those who ask, the reason the bulk of such information becomes known only after people are fired is because, quite simply, they no longer are around, and people feel far more comfortable talking about it. There will be another example in the Sunday "On the Pirates" collection.

I took a good amount of grief from the readership, for example, when this piece came out right after Jim Tracy was fired. Many thought I was waiting until the firing because that would make it more convenient to run. But, as my editors can attest, that content was written before the firing actually happened and was going to run whether he was retained or fired.

Would it have made my job a little less comfortable in dealing with Tracy if he had stayed?

Maybe, maybe not.

Everything in that piece was accurate, and that makes for two decent legs to stand on. And it was no different, really, than several other instances where the relationship was a little uncomfortable, particularly when we had a couple of public exchanges about Jeromy Burnitz famously failing to run out that grounder in 2006.

Anyway, on that note ...

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Q: Dejan, it would seem the writing is on the wall for a few of the Pirates' outfielders.

Between Jason Bay, Nate McLouth, Xavier Nady, Jason Michaels, Nyjer Morgan, Kevin Thompson, Andrew McCutchen, Steve Pearce and Chris Duffy, there just is not room for everyone. Assuming Duffy is able to play at some point, a few have to go, it would seem.

Is it now extremely likely that both Bay and Nady are traded during this season, or am I missing something?

Dave Morris of Erie

KOVACEVIC: Not as much mail on Michaels as I had expected, but maybe that was because there was a good grasp of the idea that this will be a bench piece for the Pirates, and because it had become so clear that Morgan was not going to be around much longer.

Anyway, I can probably address Michaels and your question in the same vein since they are very much related.

The aim in getting Michaels, from what I know, was, plain and simple, to improve the major-league team for 2008. Nothing else to it. Management has said that it would try back the current group of players and, although extremely little was done in that regard over the winter, we now have seen not only Doug Mientkiewicz make the team this spring but also the trade for Tyler Yates, the addition of Sean Burnett at the potential expense of Evan Meek, and now this.

None of that is going to address the greatest shortcoming so far, that being the starting pitching, but those clearly are moves made at giving this team a chance to find some kind of footing before it is too late.

The Pirates like Michaels as a fourth-outfielder type, and some liked him as perhaps even more not that long ago in his career. They also rave about his character.

His career numbers will show he is fairly consistent, if unspectacular, in terms of batting average, just as they will show he sure does strike out a lot, just about once every five at-bats the past two seasons with the Indians.

At any rate, it would be difficult to argue he is not an upgrade over the right-handed bench help the Pirates had previously -- just Chris Gomez, really, given that Ronny Paulino has to saved for catching duty in most situations -- but it probably should not be viewed as anything other than a short-term situation. And a fairly cheap one, too, from the sound of it.

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Q: Dejan, you frequently report on the Pirates' total lack of depth throughout their system, but a line in the Nate McLouth story -- that he was drafted in 2000 -- started me thinking about Dave Littlefield's role in all of this.

I did some digging and found that, on the current 25-man roster plus Jack Wilson, Littlefield contributed only eleven players: Matt Capps, Tom Gorzelanny, Paul Maholm, Damaso Marte, Franquelis Osoria, Jason Bay, Brian Bixler, Adam LaRoche, Nyjer Morgan, Xavier Nady and Freddy. Cam Bonifay accounted for 10: McLouth, Wilson Sean Burnett, John Van Benschoten, Zach Duke, John Grabow, Ian Snell, Ryan Doumit, Ronny Paulino and Jose Bautista. (I attribute Bautista to Bonifay because Littlefield's 2004 trade only reclaimed a player drafted in 2000 that he clearly should have protected in 2003.) Moreover, despite his six-plus years as GM, Littlefield signed, drafted or traded for only 17 of the 37 players on the 40-man roster as a whole.

True, some of his draftees, Andrew McCutchen and Neil Walker, remain inexperienced enough to not require inclusion on the roster, but even of the five or so legitimate prospects on the 40-man, Littlefield acquired only three.

Do these numbers not speak volumes to his failures to build the system? Or have I overreacted and, realistically, even a GM of so many years cannot leave a larger footprint on the roster?

David Flaherty of Charlottesville, Va.

KOVACEVIC: Speaking of pandering, by the way, I probably sound occasionally like I gush too much about the readership contributions here, but this is the sort of thing I cite when pressed on it. Real research. Real information that helps make real cases.

Everyone is free to draw their own information from what you have there, David, but I take away this: I look at those names under the Bonifay pile, and I think of the three Mickey White drafts that rank, in the eyes of some, as the only good things to have happened to the Pittsburgh franchise in the past 15 years. They handled the draft exactly as a team in this position should, identifying the best players, going after them with vigor and, yes, getting them by spending above slot.

It remains to be seen if the current management team will be able to achieve that. They certainly sound as if they intend to.

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Q: Dejan, excellent piece on McLlouth, who did his part to validate your story with his two home-run performance the same day. This type of feature story does so much to give insight to the person, not just the player.

My question is regarding the process of evaluation: Is the method now being employed by the Pirates widely used? Is there a standard, or does it vary greatly?

It seems overwhelmingly clear that there is either a difference in how the players are evaluated or in the new management's ability to use those evaluations. This is evident in the handling of not only McLouth and Doumit this year, but Xavier Nady last year and Freddy Sanchez the year before that.

Brad Frantz of Oakland, Md.

KOVACEVIC: There is no question some better decisions have been made this year, Brad, but, at the risk of going all wet blanket here, I offer two cautions:

1. No one mentions the inability to recognize that Luis Rivas could not play shortstop defensively, a decision that was reached based on little more than spring observation. For that matter, no one mentions that Chris Gomez was signed to a $1 million contract to be a primary backup infielder, and it was not until the spring that it was determined he lacked the range to play short. These, as it turned out because of Wilson's injury, have been costly errors -- quite literally -- in terms of wins and losses so far.

2. The greatest barometer for new management's ability to judge talent will be, in this particular year, how it assesses other professional and amateur talent, which, for the record, is where their overwhelming focus is this year for obvious reasons.

There are encouraging signs, though.

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Q: If the Pirates have only one representative in the All-Star Game, would you choose Nate McLouth or Xavier Nady at this point of the season?

Bill Harris of Boulder, Colo.

KOVACEVIC: Good thing no one has to make that choice now, huh?

No matter the state of the Pirates as a whole, if these players maintain this level of play as compared to their National League peers, it seems crazy that both would not be picked. But there is much time between now and then.

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Q: Hi, Dejan, I've been to two of the Pirates seven home wins and following both games, I was disappointed not to hear the "New Pirate Generation" victory song. Any idea why it has been replaced? It surely isn't for overuse these past few years.

Ryan Duchene of Squirrel Hill, Pittsburgh

KOVACEVIC: It has been killed, Ryan.

You are not the only one to write about this, as that song was very popular and, as you point out, very much identified with actual victory on the field, the best possible feeling the Pirates could hope to have resonating with the paying customers as they file out of the stadium.

In general, on a related note, I have noticed that the music at PNC this year has taken a decided turn toward the stodgy, WDVE, same-100-songs-we've-been-hearing-for-30-years playlist. It hardly seems like much of a way to illustrate to the few young people still coming to games that the Pirates are part of their generation. This is especially true when compared to what can be heard at other National League ballparks.

But that is nothing more than a personal view from someone who has started, for the first time, bringing his iPod to PNC to drown out the batting-practice music while typing the daily notebook.

On a far more positive note regarding the in-game entertainment, here is a piece from a couple of weeks ago that describes one superb idea by Eric Wolff.

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The chat next week will be pushed back a day, to Tuesday afternoon from St. Louis, because of the bizarre Monday matinee with the Braves. As a result, the Q&A will return Wednesday ...