Dejan Kovacevic paints a bleak picture for the Pirates

[BuccoFla]

Link to listen to Dejan Kovacevic appearance yesterday on 93.7 The Fan radio station

http://937thefan.radio.com/2010/03/30/dejan-kovacevic-paints-a-bleak-picture-for-the-pirates/

[wvbucco]

Dejan needs to stick to reporting and stop trying to analyze.  Put Clement in the minors and bring up he and Alvarez together?  What do you do with LaRoche then, assuming he is hitting?  If they figured he was capable of being a 2B they'd have given him some reps there already.

And Church shouldn't start in right simply because he a veteran or becaus he has hits 272 over his career.  Church should be on the bench, where a 30+ corner OF with limited power should be. 

I'm not sold on Clement any more than LaRoche, but Clement has piled up more than 1000 AAA at bats.  He has, in fact, spent nearly all of his minor league career at the AAA level.  It's time to give him an extended look in the majors and see if he has any future there at all.  We may have to choose between him and LaRoche when Alvarez arrives, so they both need to play.  How is that so difficult to understand?   

[markson33]

Clement has the best combination of power and plate discipline on this team.  He is kind of a combination of Laroche and Jones in that regard.  To not give him a decent shot is to do the rebuilding plan a diservice.  If he doesn't pan out after 250 AB then so be it - move Jones to 1B.  To start Church in RF would be akin to the type of moves that DL would pull.

Dejan strikes me as not being on board with the whole rebuilding thing.  He pines for the days of Jack Wilson and Freddy Sanchez.  He should just stick to reporting the facts.

[A. Senter]

I don't understand Dejan at all.  Wasn't it just a month ago, he was comparing this Pirates team to the early 90's Pittsburgh Penguins?  He was saying how there's a serious core in place and how this team is going to surprise a lot of people who aren't expecting much.  I don't remember the exact clip, but it was posted here on OBN.  It was during a commercial break where he was talking off the record to the host of the show. 

So, now after spring training, he's completely changed his opinion?  It's the exact same group of players as a month ago.  Is he really that worried about the spring training performances of these players?

Dejan needs to take his tampon out already.

[WTM]

I don't understand Dejan at all.  Wasn't it just a month ago, he was comparing this Pirates team to the early 90's Pittsburgh Penguins?  He was saying how there's a serious core in place and how this team is going to surprise a lot of people who aren't expecting much.  I don't remember the exact clip, but it was posted here on OBN.  It was during a commercial break where he was talking off the record to the host of the show. 

That was before they had a crappy record in spring training.   

[blackmax]

A lot depends on whether Clement has any more to learn from hitting at AAA.   The FO thinks that he needs to be tested at the major league level and that there's no time like the present.  So, I can see why he is getting his shot now.  But I share Dejan's fear that the Bucs may be no better than they were for the last few months of last season.  The right side of the infield was especially horrible at the end of last year.  And when Cedeno was out, it was the weakest major league infield I've ever seen.  If Cedeno is better and if Iwamura and Crosby play solid defense, the team will be easier to watch.  But who knows what we'll get out of Clement?  This is an interesting test of NH's skills as an evaluator of talent.  If Clement isn't hitting by late May, then put Church in right and Jones at first (assuming that Jones is still hitting major league pitching).  

[aso513]

Dejan loses some respect from me for saying Church should start. Clement does have a .820 ops this spring he isn't completely lost out there.

[wvbucco]

If Jones started at 1B, I'd want Young in RF and not Church- even if he had a stone glove, lead butt, and noodle arm.  He just looks like he can hit, and he is younger with some potential future, unlike Church.

[blackmax]

I always thought that Church could hit and have not written him off.  But you're right that Young is hitting now, so he would be the natural choice for right should Jones play first.

[wvbucco]

I do like having him around as a backup, because he can hit a little and can fill in at all three OF positions, for an extended time if necessary.  But I think his chance to win a starters role on a team like ours should be extremely remote.  Maybe for an experienced team with a more potent lineup in nead of stability, he could fit in as a 7th or 8th hole hitter, but not a young and developing team like the Pirates. 

[NJBucsFan]

I could not agree more wvbucco.  He is a model fourth outfielder.

A lot of Pirates players over the years have gotten more criticism than I think they deserve, because they are placed in the wrong role.  There is absolutely a role for the Randall Simons and the Mike Benjamins and the Ryan Churchs of the world.  The problem is if you expect them to play 150 games for you.

[PMike]

Dejan loses some respect from me for saying Church should start. Clement does have a .820 ops this spring he isn't completely lost out there.

Here's a conspiracy idea.  Doesn't it benefit Dejan to cover a crappy Pirates team?  It isn't it a lot more difficult to write quality and interesting journalistic pieces on a team that is constantly winning (think Atlanta Braves)?

Plus, I do think Dejan had some "relationship" with Jack Wilson and crew.  IMO, Dejan has become a little more slanted in his writing since the middle of last year.  I would never have written a bad word about his work before then.

In his support, he is human and everyone has their biases.  Everyone makes relationships with people.  It hurts to lose people you like (and add a lot to you as a professional writer).  I can see where he is coming from.

Mike

[ECBucs]

IMO, he still does a great job of reporting and I like learning his opinions on the blog and when he is interviewed.

If he wasn't going to give his opinions in those forums he wouldn't even be asked to be there.