Pirates Q&A with Dejan Kovacevic
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I make remarks about the attendance at PNC Park almost never, whether good or bad. But that crowd Monday ... it is enough to make you wonder how much of an impact Major League Baseball has on the community.
Not the Pirates. The sport.
That was a really fine pitching matchup, with Tom Gorzelanny going against the always immensely entertaining Dontrelle Willis, on an absolutely spectacular night for baseball ... and fewer than 12,000 showed up.
Don't misunderstand. I get it. I get that the home team has been awful for 14 years and that its commitment to winning is seriously doubted. I paid my way into Three Rivers and PNC Park for probably 800 games over the course of my pre-beat-writer life. I get it.
But that game Monday was purely about baseball, a chance to enjoy a baseball game. And hardly anyone came apart from the dwindling core of season-ticket holders. (You can tell it was those people in attendance by the way they immediately recognized Gorzelanny's first major-league hit.)
Whatever. Not opening a can of worms here or anything. Just wanted to share a thought that passed through my head as I looked around at all the blue seats that night.
When I was a kid, nothing -- absolutely nothing -- would have kept me from getting to the park on a day like that, no matter how awful the Pirates were ...
Q: Hey, Dejan, I have been thinking about the poor Bucco offense lately. I know we need to add some offense, but who are you willing to give up on? We obviously need more from right field, but do you just move Ryan Doumit out there for good? Do you make Xavier Nady a fourth outfielder or occasional platoon mate with Adam LaRoche? Something must be done about production in center field, as well. I know Jose Bautista has been brilliant defensively, but is it enough to hold down a corner spot?
Randy Gordon of Allison Park
KOVACEVIC: Why is it necessary to "give up on" someone to make such a decision?
So much of the mail that comes this way addresses these types of things with such an air of finality, as if putting a guy in right field or in a certain spot of the batting order means a locked-down commitment to do so until September of 2011. It simply is not the case, especially not with a team such as the Pirates, which very, very clearly is not a finished product in any facet.
Move guys in and out as they are hot.
Move them around to see what works.
No crime in that.
At any rate, the primary issue that you raise, I think, is what do -- right now -- with Doumit. Jim Tracy mentioned a couple days ago how unfair he felt it would be to move Freddy Sanchez over to third base for a couple of days because his bat is so important. Well, wow, whose bat has been more valuable to date than Doumit's? Does he not deserve the same stability and clear head in taking the field?
Which brings us to someone you did not mention, Randy, and that is Brad Eldred. The next roster move is going to be one where Humberto Cota returns to the roster as the backup catcher. From there, Doumit will be freed of the emergency-catcher tag and, in theory, Tracy will find a place for him to play. That obviously will be right field or first base, which are Eldred's two positions, and no duplication seems necessary.
But I know nothing tangible to that end. Just throwing out a likely scenario.
Q: Hey, Dejan, if the Pirates had put that five-spot up in the seventh inning instead of the eighth inning Monday night, do you think Tracy would have stuck with Gorzo for another inning or possibly ride him to a complete game? The Buccos would have comfortably been ahead, 7-0, in the eighth and his pitch count was only at 96 through seven innings. I think you can stretch Gorzo out to about 110-115 pitches in this situation.
You have these young pitchers who really want to get that complete-game shutout, and I say you need to give 'em the opportunity when it comes along.
Eric Venezie of Ellwood City
KOVACEVIC: I know everyone loves a complete game, including the pitchers themselves, but I fail to see the logic in prioritizing that over, say, making sure Gorzelanny is at his best against a pretty Arizona lineup on Sunday. Only two pitchers in the majors, Barry Zito and Daisuke Matsuzaka, have topped 120 pitches so far this season, if I heard the highlight correctly on TV the other night, so it is not just the Pirates staying out of that territory.
Put it another way: If Gorzelanny were to extend himself to 115-120 and get his complete game, then get injured, what do you suppose the reaction would be?
Q: Hi, Dejan, how long do you foresee Jose Castillo being a Bucco? He doesn't seem too happy coming off the bench, and his performance this year has been subpar. Are the Buccos looking to deal him? If so, what do you think we could get in return?
Stephanie Haller of Valley Stream, N.Y.
KOVACEVIC: Judging by a chat I had Monday who is as inside as you get, the market for Castillo is negligible if it exists at all.
Anytime a player -- or his agent -- formally requests a trade, the team almost has to consider it, if only because it does not wish to keep players who are unhappy. It does not foster a winning environment, and it sometimes assures you of getting less than the best that athlete has to give.
(No, I am not talking about Castillo on either count. Simply speaking in a willful generality.)
That said, if you were the Pirates and every personnel mistake is magnified many times over, one probably would recommend strongly against trading too many players at their lowest possible value. That is what we saw in Oliver Perez and a few others and, when it happens, it chips away at the organization's overall talent pool bit by bit.
Until tomorrow ...
First Published May 15, 2007 4:30 pm
