Pirates Q&A: More picks needed

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By Dejan Kovacevic | 3:20 a.m. Tuesday

PHOENIX - Told you it would be back ...

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Q: If your minor league system needs restocked, why not draft 50 players where they are slotted and sign all 50. I know time is left before Aug. 15, but it looks like the Pirates have drafted several players over slot and will sign next to none of them. What good is that?

This is my only complaint about the new regime, and they still have time to correct it. Do you think they will?

Gary Podgorski of Scott Township

KOVACEVIC: I sense some optimism with the Nos. 2, 5, 6 and 10 picks, and I still happen to be in the camp that says Alvarez will get signed. If they do that, that will give them all of their top 12, and everybody except No. 13 in the top 15.

That, obviously, makes for a lot of ifs. But, as you note, there is time. And I would remind, again, that lots of posturing goes on. If all the Pirates did was write blank checks, they could not be running much of a business.

Your larger point, though, is the one I would emphasize, Gary: The Pirates are maintaining that they need to add talent to the minors, and the debacle at State College right now backs their point dramatically. The best way to do that is with the scenario right in front of them, and that is to sign not just some good players, but as many as possible from the current class.

This is one reason that, in my questioning of management on this matter, I repeatedly have brought up quantity, even as they have downplayed it.

Finally, regarding State College, a commenter in this forum yesterday did a bit of homework: The four June draftees currently pitching for the Spikes are 15^th-rounder Michael Colla, 25^th-rounder Brian Leach, 38^th-rounder Alan Knotts, 44^th-rounder Mike Williams, 45^th-rounder Allen Ponder and 48^th-rounder Owen Brolsma. Those six are a combined 3-4 with a 4.54 ERA. The rest, which Kyle Stark told me are either from the previous administration or extended spring guys, are 6-30 with a 7.39 ERA.

That seems to suggest that the draft itself is not the issue. It is that more players have not been signed from the draft.

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Q: How many NL teams have the Chicago-Arizona-Philly road trip on the schedule this year? I'm guessing just one.

Hopefully, Frank Coonelly complained long and loud about the schedule. Ridiculous.

Dave Christian of Bethel Park

KOVACEVIC: Speaking as someone who very much would have appreciated flying down to Phoenix while the club was, oh, in Denver last week, it is impossible for to me address this topic without bias.

That said, I submit that Coonelly's full tenure as team president should be judged solely (OK, not really) on his ability to present to his former colleagues at Major League Baseball extensive documentation illustrating why the Pirates are put at a competitive -- as opposed to a marketing -- disadvantage by being bounced about the continent. If he needs a running start, there is this piece from a couple months ago, when I was equally unable to address this topic without bias.

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Q: In the chat, someone asked about the last true rebuild of the Pirates. Someone else mentioned the Tony Pena trade. Wouldn't the Pena for Andy Van Slyke, Mike LaValliere and Mike Dunne, and the Bill Madlock for R.J. Reynolds, Jim Gott and Sid Bream pretty much qualify? If memory serves, that rebuild worked out pretty well.

Rick Lang of Upper St. Clair

KOVACEVIC: Some other readers, Rick, took issue with my not including the 1997 team in the rebuild category. To my mind, that was much more a salary dump than a genuine attempt to sell players at high value. Craig Wilson and Abraham Nunez made it from the trade with Toronto, but most everyone else sent out was just dumped, including Jeff King and Jay Bell. Joe Randa came in that one, as did Jeff Wallace, who looked very promising for a bit.

I guess everyone can define rebuilding differently. That team was much more about smoke, mirrors and good starting pitching already in the fold. (Getting Jason Schmidt for Denny Neagle makes a much better case, I think, for this type of deal.)

But yes, you are correct: Those deals above, at least in terms of composition, seem close to these two.

UPDATE 12:40 p.m.: A concerned reader emails this correction: Gott was not in the Madlock trade, nor did he belong to the Dodgers. The return for Madlock was Reynolds, Bream and Cecil Espy in 1985. It was one of the trades made by Joe L. Brown when he finished that season as GM following Pete Peterson's dismissal. Brown's other big deal was Mike Brown, Bob Kipper and Pat Clements from the Angels for John Candelaria, George Hendrick and Al Holland. Gott was acquired from the Giants in 1987. It technically was a waiver claim, but it was tied to Don Robinson going to the Giants. Syd Thrift made that trade.

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Thing No. 103 that makes Pittsburgh great: I have yet to eat there. Honest. Went a month ago with the family, only to find it closed.

And now, regrettably, after the Pirates not only executed a package deal, not only executed a three-team deal, not only violated every tenet that had been sacrosanct in this Q&A, I surely never will eat at Downtown's very own branch of the Soup Man chain owned by the very guy from the "Seinfeld" episodes.

As he would put it ...

At any rate, for those still allowed to have soup, word is that it is outstanding, with something approaching 50 varieties, including a couple dazzling house specials. Seating is minimal, but parking is directly overhead, as it is built into the Kaufmann's -- um, Macy's -- parking garage, directly opposite the store on Forbes.

Enjoy without me.