By Dejan Kovacevic | 2 p.m. Friday
Click here to submit question.
Never dealt with a subject matter that never seems to have enough answers, quite like this one ...
__________
Q: Hey, Dejan, once this mess is finally cleared up and we know if Pedro Alvarez will be a Pirate or not, what's your feel for how this might tarnish him with the fans?
Do you think this will have a lasting effect, or it will all blow over when he hits his first walk-off home run in a Pirate uni? I imagine it will be a hate ... no, we love you relationship.
Jason Travis of Baldwin
KOVACEVIC: I vaguely recall another prominent draft pick in Pittsburgh sporting lore who refused to pull the team's uni over his torso in a much more public, visible protest right there in front of the team and everyone else in the old Montreal Forum.
Seems to me it took exactly this long for Pittsburgh to forgive and forget ...
It will hurt Alvarez, Jason, even if he shows up the day after the arbitration. No question it already has hurt him. But perhaps the greatest divide between this example and the one above is that Alvarez will not arrive in Pittsburgh immediately to play. He will have a year, two years, whatever in the system, almost entirely out of sight. That is a long, long time for things to heal, so long as he conducts himself well in the interim.
__________
Q: Dejan, in light of the comments that Scott Boras made in response to Frank Coonelly's statement, do you have any insight into what Boras might be referring to when he says that the Pirates should "come clean" about their dealings with Pedro Alvarez?
Brian Yeager of Wexford
KOVACEVIC: Yes, and I could have done a better job of putting in context the first time, Brian, so I am glad you raised it. Boras was irked that, in his view, the Pirates had begun making public statements that went after Alvarez and made Alvarez look culpable in the matter, as opposed to acknowledging publicly that they had gone past the deadline to get the agreement.
__________
Q: Is it possible for the Pirates and Alvarez to come to an agreement before the arbitration hearing?
Say Boras approached the Pirates and says "$7 Million and this is over." Would that be allowed?
Mark Cerny of Millvale
KOVACEVIC: No. There is a verbal agreement that was received by the commissioner's office and approved by the commissioner's office. That will be either validated or rejected through the arbitration process. Nothing along the lines you describe could happen before that.
__________
Q: Hi, Dejan. Just curious: When a player like Tom Gorzelanny gets sent to the minors, do they give his locker away to whoever is called up in his place? Now that he is back with the team, does he get his old locker back, or will he be somewhere else in the clubhouse.
Mike McManus of Rossford, Ohio
KOVACEVIC: Baseball? Who wants to talk about baseball?
Gorzelanny was moved across the room, Mike, when the team began its current homestand Monday. And, generally speaking, yes, the player can lose that stall if demoted. If he is gone for injury reasons, that is different: He will stay put every time. Phil Dumatrait and Matt Capps, for example, returned to Pittsburgh last week in their same spots.
That clubhouse, on a related note, has been rearranged more in the past month than at any point in my four years of doing this. It is still outright bizarre to look over at Jason Bay's stall and see that occupied by someone else. (Steve Pearce had it for a little while, and now it is empty.)
__________
Q: Well Dejan, you've always said that you don't care about covering a winner, just so long as it's interesting. As the Chinese (supposedly) say, may you live in interesting times ...
Jason Roth of East Liberty, Pittsburgh
KOVACEVIC: Things have been interesting.
__________
There will be no Q&A next week, because of Labor Day, because Paul Meyer will be with the team in Cincinnati and because we will push back the chat until Friday, when I get to San Francisco.
Posted
Aug 29 2008, 02:00 PM
by
Dejan Kovacevic