By Dejan Kovacevic | 8 a.m. Thursday
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Q: How much longer is this going to go on?
I there any chance that Major League Baseball will consider having a salary cap, or are certain teams like the Pirates going to be farm teams year after year?
Shawn McLane of Wheeling, W.Va.
KOVACEVIC: There is little reason to think it will end soon, Shawn.
As detailed in my story from Houston the other day, what we are witnessing right now is one of the worst stretches of baseball in Pittsburgh not just during these 17 losing seasons but through any of the franchise's 123 years of existence. And forget the numbers. Just look at what you are seeing with your own eyes. (Or hearing with your ears, as the local TV rights-holder has found that there is a greater audience by repeating non-local college football games.)
People often discuss what constitutes rock bottom for the Pirates over these 17 years.
While there is no doubt that the minor leagues are stronger, strictly within the scope of the roster that is in Pittsburgh and its current performance, this might well be it.
Sure, they have competed. And they are young.
But sports is a pretty simple business to dissect at the end of the day: You win, or you lose. And this team loses a ton.
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Q: In your opinion do you think Brandon Moss, Neil Walker or Steve Pearce stand much of a chance of going north with the Bucs next spring?
Craig Coons of Muscatine, Iowa
KOVACEVIC: I would think all do, Craig, if only because Moss and Pearce will be out of options, and Walker clearly did well enough in the eyes of management to get promoted. Besides, as many have pointed out, if the Pirates are going to figure out what they have with Walker, it had better be before Pedro Alvarez arrives.
Which leads us neatly to ...
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Q: Greetings, Dejan. Just for the record, I was not one of these people constantly hounding you about Neil Walker getting a chance to play with the Pirates when he was struggling at Indianapolis.
Now that Walker has legitimately earned a chance in the big leagues and Andy LaRoche continues to struggle, why isn't Walker getting a regular chance to play?
Do you think this is John Russell's decision or perhaps, is Neal Huntington forcing Russell to play LaRoche to try to save some face from a trade that has turned out to be awful?
Edward Krajewski of Dravosburg
KOVACEVIC: Russell manages the team on the field in game situations, Edward, but there is no doubt that Huntington and Russell work together on major decisions such as the one you cite. That is not even remotely uncommon in baseball, though there surely are some managers more autonomous than others, like, say, Tony La Russa or Bobby Cox.
In this case, yes, I would be quite sure that Huntington has had input in the decision to stay with LaRoche rather than look at Walker. And, although no one with the Pirates would acknowledge such a thing, I would be equally sure that the trade had something to do with it.
How could it not?
If Walker fails, that is just another lousy pick by Dave Littlefield.
If LaRoche fails, that is a painful blow -- maybe the most painful one -- in what already is shaping up to be a bad Jason Bay trade.
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Q: I know that, in the past, there have been allusions to what the Pirates have requested from the league office in their schedule. Do you know what they requested this year?
My guess is that they requesting being at home for the holidays. I can't believe they got home dates for Father's Day, Memorial Day, the Fourth and Labor Day. I didn't check, but I bet we are the only team with that.
Secondly, do you think such a request sacrifices the team from a competitive standpoint?
I mean, come on, Houston to Milwaukee to LA was something Columbus' navigators must have thought up getting to India ... and we have better technology now! I probably don't need to get either of you started on playing San Francisco and Oakland or San Diego and LA on separate trips.
Craig Brewer of San Francisco
KOVACEVIC: There is no question it hurts performance, Craig, and we are talking about a team that currently cannot win on the road under the best of travel circumstances.
I have gotten no indication that the Pirates pursued anything related to this schedule other than trying to hook up Oakland and San Francisco on the same trip to try to cut out one of those California trips. That, obviously, was denied.
Frank Coonelly pledged, in the first interview I conducted with him, that the Pirates would prioritize the baseball over the business when it came to scheduling -- something his predecessors most definitely did not do -- but this schedule clearly is a step backward in that regard, even if it is solely Major League Baseball's fault.
The Pirates got the Cleveland series only by accident -- it is not part of their long-requested plea for an interleague rivalry, something that the largest cities get twice a year, not just once -- and, as you note, the travel itself is a geographical calamity.
Whichever software program is concocting this thing needs to understand that, just because teams are in the same division (Houston and Milwaukee), that does not mean they are somehow close.
And again, I will stress, this is not something personal: Chuck Finder and I split up the long trips, anyway, so it has almost zero impact on our travel. The coaches, players and staff of the team are affected quite a bit, though.
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Q: Hey, Dejan, was just looking over the just released Pirates schedule. Any idea why the Bucs play the Phillies four times in Pittsburgh but only two in Philly?
Shane Brown of Crafton
KOVACEVIC: In the end of the day, Shane, it is all done so that the two New York teams, two Chicago teams and two Los Angeles teams can face each other twice a year.
That's not being glib, either. That's really it. The schedule is unbalanced, incomprehensible and, in large part, unfair for that simple reason. And, so long as the teams at the bottom of the priority list continue to simply take this type of treatment without speaking up or uniting -- as teams have in other sports -- that is what they will continue to get.
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Q: Does Zach Duke have a decent shot at winning a Silver Slugger Award for pitcher this season?
He has a decent average for a pitcher and has proved to be quite the good bunter.
Andrés Forero of Barranquilla, Colombia
KOVACEVIC: Agreed that he has performed well at the plate, Andres -- and in batting practice, as regular blog followers know -- but a Silver Slugger will not be easy.
Duke's .231 batting average ranks fourth in the National League among pitchers with 50 or more at-bats. The Rockies' Ubaldo Jimenez and the Reds' Micah Owings each are at .245 to tie for the lead, with Owings having three home runs. Carlos Zambrano is at .213 but with four home runs.
By the way, Duke's average is only eight points lower than Ryan Doumit's, and it is within 20 points of Andy LaRoche, Brandon Moss and Ramon Vazquez.
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Q: Interesting comments from Doug Mientkiewicz regarding the Nate McLouth trade.
Any validity to Nate refusing to move from center field once Andrew McCutchen arrived?
Could that have sped up the trade to Atlanta because Neal knew Andrew was ready to come up to the bigs?
Ron Anderson of Lincoln, Neb.
KOVACEVIC: McLouth did approach management about wanting to stay in center field, and he made no secret of his wish to stay there, having discussed it with me in several interviews going back to spring training.
But an outright demand?
Never happened.
If it had, McLouth surely never would have been as rattled by the trade as he was. And trust me when I tell you he was, even a good bit after it happened. He even said afterward that he could have envisioned an outfield for many years to come with him, McCutchen and Nyjer Morgan, in some form or other, understanding fully that he might well have been outplayed in center at some point.
McLouth's contention, as I took it, was that he should not automatically forfeit the position.
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Q: What do you think the Pirates will do with Matt Capps?
Is there a chance they will non-tender him?
John Taylor of Fairmont, W.Va.
KOVACEVIC: Capps is making $2.425 million and, despite his many struggles, his 25 saves are sure to get him a raise through his second year of arbitration.
Still, the Pirates will not let that go. As was being discussed here back during a time when the team routinely released or traded players at lowest possible value, those are the kinds of de-valuing moves a franchise cannot afford to make. Assets need to be built up.
Bad as this year has been for Capps -- as he acknowledged this week in Los Angeles -- we all have also seen how effective he can be over extended stretches and, most important, how impeccable his control can be when all is right. The velocity is still there, and no one -- on or off the record -- is complaining about his shape. But the command is not there, for one reason or another, and that answer has to be one of the Pirates' top priorities this offseason.
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Q: Now that the streak has been clinched, there's nothing more to do than appreciate it for the absurdity it really is: Seventeen years is an astonishing length of time, and I'm guessing that oddsmakers will set the over/under for Pirates wins well below 82 for 2010, as well. How far can it possibly go?
Consider that a child born on October 14, 1992 may now be legally licensed to drive. Will he make it to voting age without a winning season? Drinking age? Age of eligibility to run for Congress?
Consider that Alex Rodriguez debuted in 1994. He currently has 577 home runs. Can he hit 763 before the streak ends?
Mike Piazza won the Rookie of the Year award in 1993. He retired at the end of the 2007 season and will likely be a first ballot Hall of Famer. Could he go from rookie to Cooperstown, all within the span of the Pirates' futility?
Finally, I was in kindergarten when the 1993 season began. I'm now in grad school. Could I possibly go from kindergarten to a Ph.D. without seeing a winning baseball season in Pittsburgh?
Perhaps the only thing more unfathomable than the length of the losing is the idea that it will end soon.
Brian Leary of Los Angeles
KOVACEVIC: Good luck with that degree, my friend.
We will chat Monday, and the Q&A will return in two weeks.
Posted
Sep 17 2009, 08:00 AM
by
Dejan Kovacevic