Pirates Q&A with Dejan Kovacevic
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Before I get buried under an avalanche of happy-mail, I will get out of the way and let the citizens have the floor ...
Q: Pirates win! Pirates win!
Good pitching, great defense, timely home runs .... could we get 89 more wins like this one?
I was impressed with the way this game was played. Even though the big guys weren't producing early on, the pitching and defense kept it close. I hope this game boosts the confidence of the team.
Jennifer Buchmelter of Wintersville, Ohio
KOVACEVIC: It surely cannot hurt, Jennifer. You will have to trust me that the clubhouse was overflowing with satisfaction. And, given where the Pirates have been, there probably is nothing wrong with that.
Q: Dejan, how happy is Pirate Nation tonight? This was a huge come from behind win for the team. As you mentioned in the piece yesterday, a good start is a must for this team.
Also, I just wanted to comment on how well Jose Bautista played at third base, his defense kept us in this game. Let's go Bucs!
Aaron Chruscial of Arlington, Va.
KOVACEVIC: The Nation is happy. The players are happier.
Bautista was quite good. So was Jose Castillo. But Chris Duffy was the best defensive player on either team in that game.
Q: Exciting win, huh? If tonight's comeback is any indication, the supposed momentum from 20006's second half may actually have carried over. No matter what, though, a win's a win. And 1-0 sure is better than 0-1.
Despite his four strikeouts, Adam LaRoche did his job tonight: Because he was standing in the on-deck circle, Jason Bay had pitches to hit. And, correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that why we went after a Lefty McThump in the first place -- to protect our best hitter?
Jonathan Dodd of Moon
KOVACEVIC: Interesting way of looking at it, Jonathan, but I am guessing LaRoche is striving -- and will be -- more than just a fancy decoy at some point. Rough night for him, to say the least.
Q: I have three questions that a couple of us watching the game tonight are trying to determine: How many emails did you get after the game? How happy were you when McLouth went yard? Any chance you take over for Tracy next year?
Steve Blahovec of Arlington, Va.
KOVACEVIC: I will assume, Steve, you are referring to my opening-day lineup prediction way back in February in which I made the case for McLouth to start over Nady because of his success against Oswalt.
Yes, there was some gloating.
No, I should not be manager. Because, then, I would have been the idiot who benched Nady and kept him from tying the game in the ninth.
As for the number of emails, it is hard to tell because they are coming as fast as I type this. I would say 50 or so came within a half-hour or so of Salomon Torres catching that final line drive.
Q: Dejan, I was just wondering if you felt as lied to by the Bucs as I did when I read your article Saturday morning that stated that the $5.5 million owed to the A's as part of the Jason Kendall trade now would, indeed impact this year's payroll.
I wonder if it's too late to get a refund on my 20-game plan and get Penguins playoff tickets instead.
John Bruni of Downtown Pittsburgh
KOVACEVIC: I have no reason to believe a lie was involved, John. Though I cannot say for sure how it came about, I do have a theory on this.
I asked Kevin McClatchy late last season, after the team revealed that is projected payroll for 2007 would remain "flat," to use his term, if that payroll would include the Kendall payment I knew was due. He responded that I should not count that into that figure, so I followed that in all calculations I did during the offseason.
Bear in mind here that the Pirates actually spent $43.4 last season, so that was the number McClatchy surely had in mind with his "flat" projection.
Later in the offseason, I asked Dave Littlefield about a matter related to payroll, and he told me it would be "fifty-ish." Sounded like an increase to me, so that was the one I started using.
As it turns out, what I think -- and I stress think -- happened is that McClatchy's figure counted nothing more than actual major-league salaries, while Littlefield was operating from the Major League Baseball-accounted definition of payroll, which includes all expenses (buyouts, deferments, signing bonuses for major-league contracts, performance bonuses, stuff like that).
If you think about it, the Pirates would have had little to gain from a public relations standpoint by telling the world payroll would remain "flat" when "fifty-ish" would have sounded a lot better, so this makes sense to me.
But, as always, when it comes to matters of finances with a private corporation, the only people who know any of this for certain are the ones with access to the books.
I will say this: I have every cause to believe the figure of $4 million left for Littlefield to spend is accurate.
This, too: I was surprised to get no more than a trickle of mail about this. Usually, matters related to ownership and payroll bring heaps and gobs.
Q: From your article on Sunday, it sounds like the Adam LaRoche's mental lapses are similar to Jose Castillo's. Perhaps Castillo has ADD and needs a prescription drug to help him with it.
Paul Thompson of Brookline, Pittsburgh
KOVACEVIC: A handful of readers in addition to yourself had that reaction to the story, and I would be lying if I said it had not crossed my mind in researching and writing it.
That said, none of us is qualified to know that. Only a medical professional would know.
One thing I can say based on the discussion with the Pitt professor quoted in the story: Baseball lapses and regular, old life lapses probably can be two very different things. Off the field, Castillo displays an outgoing, playful personality that is not slow-to-react in the slightest.
Thing No. 24 that makes Pittsburgh great: We have birds that fight birds from Cleveland.
For all the stories that get reported about the falcons that live atop the Gulf Tower and Cathedral of Learning, none stands out quite like the ones where the birds get into these death-match scraps at high altitudes to battle over territory or, of course, females. We had one in our paper just a few days ago. Seems these birds love living that high, and the real estate up there is as rare as the air.
But nothing tops the one about the legend of the bird that tried to muscle its way into town from Cleveland and ended up being, as Monty Python's John Cleese would say, an ex-bird.
Until tomorrow ...
First Published April 3, 2007 12:00 am
