By Dejan Kovacevic | 8 a.m. Thursday
Click here to submit a question.
We have Qs, from a fan base ablaze ...
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Q: Why does Pittsburgh even bother to have a baseball team?
Anytime the Pirates have a good player they just trade them away. It is kind of like being a farm team for the rest of the majors. I will not even bother to follow them anymore.
Jeff Slavensky of Morgantown, W.Va.
KOVACEVIC: Emotions ran high this week, no question, first with the Nate McLouth trade, then with the drafting-for-signability of Boston College catcher Tony Sanchez.
Let us begin with the latter ...
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Q: Mr. Kovacevic, did we just draft Danny Moskos again?
I realize they did not feel there was a Matt Wieters in this draft, but again we get the usual buzz words: affordable, signable, etc. We really had to take a player who quite possibly would be there later when they drafted?
I've tried to support the new regime. I even supported the McLouth trade. And then they pull a Dave Littlefield move?
Todd Smith of Clarksburg, W.Va.
KOVACEVIC: Couple more ...
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Q: Hey, Dejan, as recently as a few weeks ago, I believed in what Frank Coonelly and Neal Huntington were doing. After not getting a top prospect for Nate and now not drafting the best talent available, I am losing faith.
As you have very clearly stated, why does there need to be a budget when you need talent?
Randy Gordon of Falls Church, Va.
KOVACEVIC: Randy's reference, for those who missed it, was to this blog entry I wrote the night of the draft.
And this was Huntington's clearly worded email reply to a question I asked him about the selection of Sanchez, published earlier this morning.
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Q: DK, it is very obvious that the Pirates' front office cares very little about the opinions of the fans or the team as it relates to franchise building. The moves they have made lately and some of their comments support that notion, even though they have said they expect this team to improve its win total, that money is not an issue, that they could spend more if they wanted, and that they would take the best player available in the draft.
Since their actions -- trades that have reduced payroll while forsaking the MLB product, not signing a free-agent starting pitcher and, most recently, taking Tony Sanchez likely because of his cost to meet some draft-wide budget -- do not support their words, don't they lose credibility at some point?
Ron Schoff of Denver, N.C.
KOVACEVIC: I went over this pretty exhaustively the other night, so, beyond giving a voice to so many who wrote in and were almost unanimously upset over the Pirates' first-round pick, I will just add this: None of all this exhaustive work that the team is doing, from Coonelly to Huntington to their lowest-level area scouts, will amount to anything without the ability to spend in acquiring elite talent at the amateur level.
The Pirates put their money where their mouths were last year, but they factored in signability with the first round -- by definition, where the best talent should be -- this year.
Now, onward to the trade ...
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Q: In my opinion, it is already apparent that Andrew McCutchen does not want to be a Pirate. His first night in the big leagues has him going 2 for 4 and playing a spectacular game. Doesn't Andrew realize that the "new" Pirates management clearly does not tolerate successful players such as Jason Bay, Xavier Nady, Damaso Marte, McLouth, etc.?
Jim Gianoutsos of Humble, Texas
KOVACEVIC: A couple more ...
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Q: What does the lineup card look like on Aug. 1 after Jack Wilson, Adam LaRoche, Freddy Sanchez, John Grabow and maybe more all traded away?
Sad! Sad! Sad!
Richard Brandt of Riverside, Calif.
KOVACEVIC: And this ...
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Q: Hi, Dejan. I loved your article Sunday entitled, "How soon is now?" It is spot on for this management team. How much longer are we going to be "building for the future" when the future could have been now (or soon) had they not made the trades of Jason Bay and McLouth?
At what point will Neal Huntington realize he is the GM for the Pittsburgh Pirates, not the Altoona Curve?
Bob Lingan of Fairfax, Va.
KOVACEVIC: The dominant majority of feedback to the trade was negative, but that was not universally the case ...
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Q: I understand people being upset about Nate being traded, but my question is why?
I know he played hard and was good defensively and had power, but, if not for a good two months last year, would we be saying the same thing now?
He ended up with a .270 average after that hot start, meaning he struggled during the rest of the year. He is hitting terrible this year and has made some mistakes in the field, not terrible ones but still. The Pirates have talent and depth in the outfield, so they could afford to trade Nate.
I am sad to see Nate go because the Pirates need more like him, Freddy and Jack, but it is not the end of the world, people.
Jason Rice of Johnstown
KOVACEVIC: McLouth's numbers hardly are terrible, especially as they stack up among the game's center fielders.
Nothing drew a stronger reaction from the people who supported the trade than the Post-Gazette's editorial on the subject last Friday ...
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Q: Hi, Dejan. Wow, the editorial on the McLouth trade was astonishing in its mindlessness.
To take one example, do the editorial writers really think that "Front-office apologists will defend the trade by pointing to Mr. McLouth's .256 average and his replacement in the field by farm-system talent Andrew McCutchen." Can they really not be aware that the defense of the trade is that it's an attempt to make us better than we would otherwise be in, say, 2011, when we might have a chance of competing for a championship?
I know fans and players can be frustrated and angry, and I don't blame them for blowing off steam. But a newspaper editorial, ostensibly a place for considered judgment, isn't a place for venting. Aren't the editors aware that such an editorial makes them look more like the New York Post than like a serious newspaper?
Who writes such an editorial?
Lee Zimmerman of Brooklyn, N.Y.
KOVACEVIC: All editorials, at our paper and others all through history, are unsigned pieces written by a person or persons on the editorial board, then approved with input from the rest of the board, to the best of my understanding. The board is a completely separate entity from the reporting/editing that is done at the rest of the paper.
The bulk of the criticism aimed at the editorial was the closing line about selling the franchise to Mark Cuban, a concept that many deemed over the top as it related to the McLouth trade. And that is the one area, where, if I had any input to offer factual background into the editorial - I did not - I would have pointed out that a) the Pirates are not for sale and b) Cuban, for many reasons, is unlikely to be owning any franchise in Major League Baseball.
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Q: Dejan, something that has bothered me about the assessments of the McLouth trade is that people act as though Andrew McCutchen came to the Pirates as a result of the trade. There is no reason both couldn't have been in the outfield at the same time.
Thoughts?
Keep up the amazing coverage.
Colin McWhertor of Highland Park, Pittsburgh
KOVACEVIC: I am very much with you on that McCutchen sentiment, Colin, and I would point the finger squarely at the Pirates on that one. The timing of McCutchen's promotion, as I wrote in my original piece on the trade, was not an accident in terms of his replacing McLouth, nor in that he might blunt the fallout to a degree. And that has carried over into comments made by team officials on the matter.
You are correct: McCutchen had nothing to do with this trade. Zero. It should be measured, good or bad, independently of how he does.
To McCutchen's credit, as a side note, he appears to have handled all this immensely well. This is a bright, tough kid who oozes confidence.
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Q: The Pirates have a glaring lack of power in their lineup. Neal Huntington seems to rationalize Nyjer Morgan's lack of power in left field by pointing to his defense, which saves X amount of runs. Given the acquisition of Gorkys Hernandez and Pedro Alvarez being the only power prospect in the minors, is that something that the Pirates are going to continue, perhaps thinking it is easier to get defenders to save runs than hitters to produce runs?
If so, this seems to be a new line of thinking that could eventually cost Huntington his job if it doesn't pay off.
Rick Rosko of Moon
KOVACEVIC: Hernandez is not known for power, actually, Rick, so your list is even thinner than you projected.
As I mentioned in the Sunday piece, power will not be easy to find in the Pirates' outfield, now or in the foreseeable future. Which makes it imperative, one would think, that they get all kinds of power from first and third base, plus the power that Ryan Doumit brings at catcher. And I'm talking 30-40 home runs, at that level.
The LaRoche brothers have some pop, but Adam is off his usual 25-30 pace, and Andy has hit one all year despite otherwise doing OK.
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Q: I wanted to comment on your article, "McLouth trade brings clubhouse backlash."
I've read and heard comments on blogs and the radio from people complaining mostly about Adam LaRoche and the way the team "whined" about losing Nate. Most were directed at the players, that they should just shut up and have better performances.
I totally read that article differently and, in fact, I thought it was a great job by you (I swear I'm not trying to suck up). I'll take honest answers from a professional athlete any day, no matter what their response is. That article gave me, as a fan of the players, a perspective to what was going on inside their heads. What I can't stand is old cliches, and those guys could have easily handed you a number of them.
The reason is also very interesting: You look at a guy like Adam, and he knows his days as a Pirate are numbered, so he's got nothing to lose. Then you see Nyjer, very much on the fringe of being an everyday major leaguer and owing a lot to current management, is a lot more careful.
I also think that the players' comfort level with you had an effect on the interviews.
I'm not sure if it's just in Pittsburgh that fans jump on their own players so hard when they open up to the media. I guess people who make millions aren't allowed to show emotions.
Dan Berty of Cecil
KOVACEVIC: I always appreciate honesty from the people with whom I deal in this business, Dan, and there was plenty of that to go around from the clubhouse this week, as well as from the front office. I heard from the players and management, and I printed all of their views in what I felt was a fair manner, though I certainly can understand where the candle-lighting and some of LaRoche's or Wilson's comments would have drawn more attention.
As far as whatever comfort level the players might have with me, I can tell you this: I did not have to go hunting anyone down for reaction. It came to me. And, again, I appreciate that the players would have this trust.
But I will stress here, too, that management was no different, and I listened no less attentively and presented their views, I hope, with no less emphasis.
It was an interesting couple of days, for sure, with a lot of feedback from a lot of corners, inside and outside the organization. The best thing, I have found from this sort of thing in the past, is to step back the first few days and simply absorb. Trades like this take time, anyway, and the reactions to trades can change very quickly. It is important for you, as the reader, I think, to be fully informed about immediate reaction. But it always should stay in that context.
To keep using the same example, if I interviewed the same players who were upset about the Xavier Nady trade last summer to gather their thoughts on it now, it might be a 180-degree swing.
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Q: I just finished reading Monday's chat transcript. What is up with the fan obsession with keeping Jack Wilson and the persistent argument that there is no internal replacement? Does the lack of a suitable replacement really matter?
Management has clearly written off this season, even if they won't admit it. So, what is the point of holding onto a light-hitting, above-average defensive shortstop making $7.4 million a year when you are rebuilding a team?
Chris Hall of Beckley, W.Va.
KOVACEVIC: I got a couple emails early in the week suggesting I was too hard on Ramon Vazquez for emphasizing his shortstop play in the series-ending loss to Houston. To me, though, that day summarized what many cite on a regular basis, which is that the Pirates have had a large falloff defensively when Wilson is out, partially because he is so good with the glove, partially because those replacing him have not been, from Vazquez to Brian Bixler back to Luis Rivas. And, really, I did not see much there from Luis Cruz, either.
Perception or reality, that is what people see or feel regarding Wilson, and it is part of what makes them fear his departure someday.
PHOTO of stadium worker removing McLouth banner: Darrell Sapp/Post-Gazette
Posted
Jun 11 2009, 08:00 AM
by
Dejan Kovacevic