By Dejan Kovacevic | 8 a.m. Thursday
Click here to submit a question.
We have Qs here from the home office before taking off tomorrow for a week in the Windy City ...
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Q: Hi, Dejan. How much is the Pirates' "inside track" on Miguel Angel Sano worth if someone outbids the Pirates by $25,000, $50,000, $100,000 more? Or is this completely unknown?
Paul Neuhaus of Santa Clara, Calif.
KOVACEVIC: It obviously is an unknown now, Paul, as the July 2 signing deadline is quite a ways off.
The "inside track" to which I referred was not intended to suggest the Pirates would get a discount. It is that they were given unusual access to the player -- not all teams were -- and they have established a relationship with the player, his family and, maybe most important, his respected agent, Rob Plummer. That is the sort of thing that leads to honest, upfront negotiations.
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Q: Dejan, you've written about the need for teams -- the PBC, in this instance -- to be willing to sign Dominican talent as a type of cache when approaching future Dominican talent. If that was the case, the PBC could then say, "Hey, we signed so-and-so for such-and-such amount, so here's our deal for you."
With that in mind, do you get the sense that just being in the running to sign Miguel Angel Sano will be enough for the PBC to be included in future talks with other blue-chip prospects from the island?
If the PBC comes up just a little short in the bidding process, will that have a positive effect for singing future prospects?
Wishful thinking, to be sure, but definitely a sign that the PBC is moving in a positive direction; or, at least a direction never seen before by the fans.
Paul Najjar of Louisville, Ky.
KOVACEVIC: At some point, the Pirates have to step up. Being in the running for Sano will not open any more doors than their being in the running for the Cuban player, Dayan Viciedo, who wound up signing with the White Sox this offseason.
The bottom line is the bottom line, and the Pirates never have spent more than $400,000 on any Latin American amateur. So long as those who groom and represent talent in the Dominican are aware of this -- and they most certainly are -- the Pirates are not going to get special showings of talent the way they have for Sano. And the only reason they got the one with Sano was because of Rene Gayo's connections to the player and agent, not always a possibility.
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Q: What is Neal Huntington up to with the recent wave of minor league acquisitions? Organizational depth or diamonds in the rough?
Dave Courtney of Nashville, Tenn.
KOVACEVIC: One thing Huntington repeats regularly is his desire to hunt for pitching, all the time and everywhere. He has acknowledged, including just recently, that the pitching is not close to satisfactory throughout the system, and the acquisitions of Eric Hacker and Steven Jackson from the Yankees are clear signs of that dissatisfaction: Two pitchers were added to the 40-man, two removed.
Some of it, as Huntington freely admits, is throwing stuff against the wall and seeing what sticks. But that is almost the accepted recipe for bullpen-building in baseball these days, and both of these pitchers can throw in relief.
Funny thing about Jackson: When I mentioned to Jeff Karstens the other day that the Pirates had gotten Hacker, he quickly came back: "The guy they should get is Jackson. That would really be something."
Happened the next day.
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Q: Dejan, great work, as always. Just finish reading the chat. Someone asked who will play first when Adam LaRoche is traded. Your answer was Steve Pearce, which I'm sure will be true but nonetheless pains me. My question: Is there any chance Delwyn Young ends up playing first? Clearly, the guy can hit.
Isn't Pearce, like, 35 now, anyway?
Jason R. Clare of Union High School
KOVACEVIC: No, Pearce is actually 26, and he is batting .277 with six home runs and 27 RBIs in 37 games for Indianapolis. He has 19 walks to 19 strikeouts, and he has made two errors at first base.
Not bad after a terrible opening three weeks. And there remains, within reason, cause to consider him a prospect, though that clock is ticking.
Young has not played first base, but people generally can learn the position without much issue.
Does Young have a brighter future than Pearce?
Who can see that right now?
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Q: Just curious: I haven't heard if the Delwyn Young deal has been completed. I think originally it was announced that the Pirates would give up two players or cash. Now I am wondering if, the better Delwyn plays, the Pirates will give up better players than those determined at the time of the trade? Or are the Dodgers just given a pool they choose from? How does it work?
John Taylor of Fairmont, W.Va.
KOVACEVIC: Player-to-be-named-later trades do not have to be competed for six months, and this one is not complete. When it is, in all likelihood, it will be -- as most of them are -- cause for me to write two sentences at the end of the daily notebook.
They very rarely amount to anything significant.
In this case, yes, the Dodgers have a list of who they cannot take. That list, I am told, runs quite deep. Like, really deep. Like, they-might-just-take-the-cash deep.
And no, it cannot be modified.
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Q: Dejan, this is just a follow to my recent question about the Pirates pulling their starters too early: They lost last Friday to the Rockies after pulling Paul Maholm again. Tyler Yates originally blew the save but the botched call on the tag from third saved him. Matt Capps, then, officially blew the game.
It's so obvious the Pirates' starters are their best pitchers. Why not let them stay in the game?
Jonathan McKenna of Hampton
KOVACEVIC: Before I answer, a Q from the opposite perspective ...
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Q: Hey, Dejan, I know it's early in the season but, looking at the National League's top ten ERAs, Zach Duke has pitched more innings than all but one. Is this due to John Russell trying not to use the bullpen as much, or is he keeping Duke out there due to his performance?
It is concerning to me that Duke may be shut down early, pitching so deep in the games.
Kyle Love of Squirrel Hill
KOVACEVIC: Rare are the issues that split baseball fans right down the middle, but pitch counts seem to be one of them, based solely on the feedback I get here.
For everyone fuming about Ian Snell's 131-pitch game, there is someone fuming that Maholm or whoever comes out too early and wonders why the Pirates are babying these guys' arms.
I have been over my view of pitch counts countless times -- I have seen mountains of evidence to support their importance -- so there is nothing for me to add there. But I will say this: Part of the reason this topic has arisen over the past few weeks is that John Russell and Joe Kerrigan have, indeed, been inconsistent. Ross Ohlendorf, for example, has yet to top 100 pitches, and this is a big guy who should be able to handle a horse-type load. Duke throws more than 100 just about every time out.
If the bullpen is a factor, it should not be. This season probably should mean little more to the Pirates than whatever gains can be made individually and, to a lesser extent, as a group. That means making the starters better, primarily.
By the way, to support your initial point, Kyle, Duke currently ranks 10th with his 2.84 ERA and has pitched 57 innings, most of anyone in that group and second only to the Padres' Jake Peavy, at 61 1/3.
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Q: There has been a lot of Brandon Moss bashing this season. But, after the off-season knee surgery he had, he wasn't expected to be ready by opening day. Yet, he still was running out there daily once the season started.
Has there been any indication that he may not have been fully healthy over the early part of 2009?
Phil Salvatori of Wheeling, W.Va.
KOVACEVIC: No, no one, including Moss, ever mentioned an issue with the knee or the thumb injury that cost him two weeks of spring training.
That said, his spring got off to a slow start because of the knee, and the thumb threw him out of whack just when he started swinging well down there, so that part of it might have come into play. Moss has a long swing, with a lot of moving parts, kind of like Adam LaRoche in that sense. And it takes some serious timing to get all of that going the way it is right now.
Simple guide to seeing whether or not Moss is on: Watch for balls driven to left-center. That is his power alley.
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Q: If Adam LaRoche is traded in the next couple months, is there any chance Ryan Doumit will move to first base upon his return? Especially with the pleasant surprises of Jason Jaramillo and Robinzon Diaz.
Vince Waggle of East Liverpool, OH
KOVACEVIC: No, there are no indications of a positional switch for Doumit. John Russell loves having him back there and cannot make that any more transparent than he does.
I know there are some in baseball who feel that a team's biggest bat should not be a catcher because of all the time that must be missed, the wear and tear, the injuries, the concentration on the pitchers, but I also know that there are some who view it as a premium for a lineup to have that switch-hitting power hitter back there rather than wasting the lineup spot on a glove-only type.
Joe Mauer seems to be doing just fine with the latter concept.
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Q: "A bing, a bang and a bleeder ... " Great line. I really enjoy reading your articles each morning when I get to work and log in.
I wrote a couple of weeks ago that I don't see any of the Pirates' starters as a No. 1. I know, it's a restatement of the obvious. In any event, if the Pirates expect to contend in 2010 or 2011, seems to me they will have to sign at least one veteran free-agent bopper for offense, and a true ace for the staff. The only other way to do it is via trade for someone already in the majors and on the cusp of breaking out (see the Pirates' acquisition of Jason Schmidt).
Is there anyone on the current roster who could pry such a pitcher away?
David Potters of Charleston, West Virginia
KOVACEVIC: On the 40-man, sure, but it would be the type of names I should not even place on the screen here.
The genre of trade you describe, David, is pretty much dying. Huntington has told me often about the increasing difficulty of getting teams to even discuss pitchers who are major league ready or, as you put it, "on the cusp." Those are prized commodities, no matter the teams' payrolls, because pitching is at such a premium.
And that, by the way, might make it seem even more surprising that the Pirates were able to get three such pitchers from the Yankees in the Xavier Nady trade. Never mind how the trade turns out in the long term. On that aspect alone, it is striking.
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Q: Any reason why Lynchburg is doing so much better than West Virginia?
My assumption was that they were both short on talent from the Dave Littlefield era. I would have thought we would see improvement in West Virginia first.
Jon Osborn of Wilmington, Del.
KOVACEVIC: Thanks for the easy opportunity to plug, Jon: That will be raised in this Sunday's On the Pirates feature, conveniently available for just a few quarters at all respectable local outlets.
Posted
May 21 2009, 08:00 AM
by
Dejan Kovacevic
Filed under: Xavier Nady, Ryan Doumit, Pirates Q&A, Paul Maholm, Adam LaRoche, Jeff Karstens, Steve Pearce, Ross Ohlendorf, Brandon Moss, John Russell, Zach Duke, Robinzon Diaz, Jason Jaramillo, Joe Kerrigan, Delwyn Young, Miguel Angel Sano, Eric Hacker, Steven Jackson