Dejan Kovacevic's Pirates chat transcript: 7.12.2010
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Dejan Kovacevic: Afternoon to all on the first day of All-Star break. We'll get started in just a couple minutes ...
Matt A: Is Dotel making himself untradeable or are other teams just going to ignore the blown save stuff since they'll probably be acquiring him as a setup man anyways? (I'm just assuming he will be moved since he occupies a rare position of organizational depth and he might not even be the best option anymore at said position)
Dejan Kovacevic: In general, Matt, getting too built up over what Dotel will bring really doesn't match up with what any reliever -- even a closer -- will bring at the deadline. What might enhance Dotel's value somewhat is that he has an affordable option for 2011 at $4.5 million.
As for his performances in Milwaukee, no, that's not going to have hardly any effect. He's got 19 saves for a team that has only 30 wins.
Jim H: Is there any reason to believe that the mindless infatuation with Church has any end date?
Dejan Kovacevic: I'll repeat that this one is John Russell's call. I've tried to stress anytime it appears that a decision is coming from above, as it did with Aki Iwamura, Charlie Morton, the defensive shifts, etc. This is manager's choice.
Setting aside Lastings Milledge for the moment, Russell is of the mind that Church is due for a breakout based on Church being a .270 career hitter before this year. To date, Russell very obviously has been wrong.
As for an end date, Milledge might be taking care of that all by himself. I don't know if this came across on TV, but Milledge was looking very confident at the plate and just scorching the ball. Even his outs look good.
Chico Lind: The Pirates say they aren't looking to trade anybody, but if they do, don't you think they need to target hitting. As bad as their pitching is, it seems like there is more pitching then hitting on the horizon in the Minors
Dejan Kovacevic: What Frank Coonelly said, specifically, was that Dotel was not on the block.
As a refresher for those who don't follow the team on a daily basis, both Coonelly and Neal Huntington always say a player is not on the block, even if they are entertaining offers for the player. The reason is that they see the "block" term as being synonymous with actively seeking to dump a player's salary. I can recall that being acknowledged as the case with Adam LaRoche and no other player.
As for a target, the Pirates need to add better baseball players. Lots of them.
bhamilton: Do you get the impression that management feels Doumit is the long-term answer at Catcher? It seems he is well below-average defensively and average offensively.
Dejan Kovacevic: No, I get the impression that management regards Tony Sanchez in that capacity and Doumit as holding the position until then. I've gotten that impression since the day Sanchez was drafted, and that only strengthened once Sanchez showed -- maybe a little surprisingly -- his good offensive numbers.
tom: Hi Dejan, with regards to morale, I do not see this team getting anywhere above medicrity without a number 1 and 2 pitcher. Internally, I do not see anything on the horizon. Without increasing payroll immensely, how do we get out of this vortex?
Dejan Kovacevic: Not sure about your link between morale and pitching there, Tom. But you're undeniably correct about a 1 and 2. The Pirates right now have a lot of 3.
First Published July 12, 2010 3:01 pm
