DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS
ATLANTA — Welcome to Tuesday Twelve Qs, our chat that takes place each week early in the afternoon … except this week, when we’ll go instead at 5 p.m. so I can bring you the freshest info from the Pirates’ clubhouse here at Turner Field.
The format is simple: Use the comments section below to submit an entry, with no more than one per person, please. Submit it anytime you want. I’ll pick from those to get the thing rolling, then monitor new entries once we go live. All topics welcome, as always.
UPDATE 5:16 p.m.: Sorry for the late push-off. Lots happening. Here we go …
jbucey: Do you believe the Pirates’ pitching staff has handled Andrew McCutchen getting thrown at properly? What are you hearing from them or him?
DK: It’s not always as simple as isolating on the pitchers. Not always. The manager and/or coaches will find a way to communicate what they want done. And it’s extremely evident after this weekend that the Pirates’ singular focus was beating Milwaukee. Which they did. It was equally evident, given the scores of those games, they were in no position to be throwing at people.
Now, that said, I just brought this up with a couple of players — they never discuss this stuff on the record — and the consensus, which surprised me a bit, was that they understood Matt Garza didn’t plunk Cutch intentionally. They reacted on heat of the moment, but all logic dictated that a 1-2 pitch there wasn’t going to hit him, especially not with a warning issued. They were furious, sure, that it happened, that Garza wasn’t more careful. But even the guys you saw freaking out the most seemed to accept it wasn’t on purpose.
So yes, there are other points in the regular seasons where such stuff must be taken care of, and the Pirates have fallen well short in that regard, which leads to messes like this. It’s got to be addressed in the future, and that ultimately has to come from Clint Hurdle.
SeanAy: James Harrison to the Steelers … desperate move, or DESPERATE move?
DK: It’s more like a no-brainer move, Sean. Adding players in-season in the NFL is extremely difficult because of playbook knowledge and terminology. Adding a player who might see regular snaps is close to impossible. But Harrison is sitting there in his usual excellent shape, they just laid eyes on him a couple weeks ago, and he sure knows the Dick LeBeau playbook. There’s nothing to overthink here, especially as compared to the alternative of adding someone from the practice squad or another free agent.
As for desperation, when two starting linebackers go down in the same game, you’ve pretty much written the definition there.
Enrico Pallazo: In your opinion, who will start a one-game playoff for the Pirates, assuming there is one? Does it matter if the game is a home game?
DK: I’ve said Gerrit Cole for a while now, but I’m starting to swing toward Francisco Liriano. He’s been unreal of late, obviously — 4-0, 0.35 in September — but he’s also got the wild-card game from last October on his resume.
Absolutely no vibe from the Pirates on this, if you’re asking. I did talk to Liriano for the column for later tonight, but he’s been given no indication.
Shawn Toth: DK, What are we to make of Lance Moore only playing one snap on Sunday? Does the coaching staff really feel Justin Brown is a better player than Moore? Is it lingering injury issues? This has left me a little befuddled.
DK: I made a glancing reference to this in the Steelers PATs Monday from Charlotte, but the coaching staff feels Brown is a very good blocker. And that was the priority against the Panthers, and it just might stay the priority depending on the situation. Moore did enter in the third quarter, and it’s reasonable to assume he still isn’t 100 percent. But I’d look much more at the blocking.
And hey, this isn’t an accident now. Brown’s actually listed ahead of Moore on this week’s depth chart.
johncwit: The Pens have a huge log jam at the blue line. if Brian Doumolin, Scott Harrington, Simon Despres, Robert Bortuzzo, Olli Maatta and Derrick Pouliot are all healthy, with Paul Martin, Kris Letang and Rob Scuderi, who goes and how soon do they go?
DK: Not seeing any logjam at all. Mentioned in the training camp preview last week that the starting seven are about as set as they can be, pending injury. Don’t expect any surprises there. Also, I wouldn’t get excessively caught up in tales of grandeur regarding the prospects. Pouliot can be a very good power-play performer. Dumoulin, Harrington and others have a ways to go.
Also, I feel compelled to add that Maatta sure looked misplaced up there in that initial group. He’s as much a lock on this roster as anyone at any position.
Jordan Falkner: DK, you said on a podcast with Mark Madden that Brooks Orpik wasn’t good in the Pens room, particularly to Kris Letang and Simon Despres. Can you give more details?
DK: I never said any such thing. What I said was that Orpik was tough on those guys, and I didn’t phrase it any derogatory way. Listen again.
Good leaders are tough on their teammates. Orpik was Grade A in every regard.
Now, what I said further, and this might be where you took something negative from it, is that Letang and Despres can both assert themselves more with Orpik not around. Which I believe that at least Letang is capable of doing, to an extent.
Michael Bailey: What do you make of the Pirates’ front office recent statement that they’re going to try to do everything they can to keep Russell Martin? Progress? Or lip service?
DK: It’s not recent. I’ve been reporting it for months, including a full column off a one-on-one interview with Neal Huntington several weeks ago. Not one aspect of their sentiment has changed from the contents in that piece. Nor has mine.
Man, this issue is hot-button, though. Every peep about it draws so, so much reaction. Haven’t seen something like this around here since … oh, the most recent Stanley Cup playoffs. Never mind.
Captain Lou: Will the collapse to Iowa on Saturday an indicator of things to come for the Panthers the rest of the season?
DK: I didn’t see a collapse, Lou. Not at all. I saw a Pitt team that fell short on some basic execution issues on defending long passes, as well as a team that just didn’t get it done offensively. I saw no cause for alarm. Really.
I hate to keep simply linking back to columns, but I elaborated quite a bit in there, and I hope you have a chance to check it out.
bucsfanintheATL: Saw the Bucs in Atlanta last night. The guys looked relaxed, and happy! I think the team chemistry can take these guys far in the postseason. Your thoughts?
DK: How about if I give you Jared Hughes’ thoughts on that instead, since I just brought that very topic up with him an hour ago?
“It’s a little different than last year, in that the pressure doesn’t seem to be there because we know, as a group, we’ve already done it once,” Hughes said. “We went through a full season, made the playoffs, broke the Streak. Now, it’s more like we just know we expect it of ourselves. We believe in the talent that’s in here. We believe that we’ll stick together. So yeah, it’s different.”
Best part of that answer was watching Jeff Locke at the next stall nodding throughout. Intense dude.
YouMeAndDupuis: Should we be worried about the complete absence of Evgeni Malkin? Or is this some sort of gamesmanship play by the Pens like how Troy Polamalu gets to miss training camp? Also, thoughts on Scuderi-Letang pairing? A ploy to raise Scuds’ trade value?
DK: Polamalu misses most of OTAs, that’s it. Not camp. Not minicamp. Just to clear that up.
Malkin, by all accounts, legitimately tweaked something in the 4-5 days leading up to camp. Rushing that makes zero sense. If you watched that preseason game last night, you’ll know it means less than nothing that he didn’t participate.
As for Scuderi-Letang, I don’t like it. At all. I know this was Ray Shero’s stated intent when acquiring Scuderi, but Shero isn’t around anymore. Letang pinching leaves Scuderi isolated on the counterattack. No one should have any reason to feel good about that.
I will add this, though: I’m also in favor of not having Maatta and Letang together. Olli needs to be his own guy, not someone else’s portable vacuum.
George Contis: What are your primary go-to sources for general sports news? Do you prefer online or print variants of traditional newspapers (Trib/PG/others) first, or other online sources?
DK: My primary source for Pittsburgh sports news, I feel obligated to say, is going and finding out stuff myself. I’ll limit what I read from other outlets to the hardest news and/or simple stuff like injury updates. That helps me keep what I hope is a fresh perspective, as well as prevents me from being reactive rather than proactive.
Really small example: Just about everyone covering the Steelers last week, print and otherwise, put this huge focus on both their and Carolina’s slot receivers, I saw from the headlines and gathered from some of the questioning overheard. I wrote about the Steelers going to more of a power game, including inside info related to Will Johnson and Matt Spaeth playing more to improve the blocking. It doesn’t always work out so well for anyone, but that one clearly did. Maybe not one reader noticed that, but I’ll confess I was happy with it.
Don’t know if that answers your question. I focus a lot more on finding stuff out. Way, way more.
supernatural187: Are the Pirates trying to make a point with Travis Snider playing every day? And what’s the point of even having Gregory Polanco on the roster?
DK: Well, the Pirates have won 10 of 12, 14 of 17, are a season-high 14 over .500 and pushing hard toward home field in the wild card, and they’ve done that largely with Snider in right. Not much to complain about. And individually, Snider is bating .277 since the break.
They aren’t saying this, but it’s evidently building toward Snider being the playoff right fielder. If he doesn’t do well, Polanco is right there, and a guy with 13 pinch-hits goes back to the bench.
It’s turned out to be a pretty good baseball team, huh?
Hey, have to get downstairs for KDKA-TV appearance on the field at 6:42 p.m..
Thanks to all for participating! Good stuff!
September 23, 2014
Tuesday 12 Qs: Cutch, Deebo, Frankie, Olli
by Dejan Kovacevic • Tuesday 10 Qs • Penguins, Pirates, Pitt, Steelers
The format is simple: Use the comments section below to submit an entry, with no more than one per person, please. Submit it anytime you want. I’ll pick from those to get the thing rolling, then monitor new entries once we go live. All topics welcome, as always.
UPDATE 5:16 p.m.: Sorry for the late push-off. Lots happening. Here we go …
jbucey: Do you believe the Pirates’ pitching staff has handled Andrew McCutchen getting thrown at properly? What are you hearing from them or him?
DK: It’s not always as simple as isolating on the pitchers. Not always. The manager and/or coaches will find a way to communicate what they want done. And it’s extremely evident after this weekend that the Pirates’ singular focus was beating Milwaukee. Which they did. It was equally evident, given the scores of those games, they were in no position to be throwing at people.
Now, that said, I just brought this up with a couple of players — they never discuss this stuff on the record — and the consensus, which surprised me a bit, was that they understood Matt Garza didn’t plunk Cutch intentionally. They reacted on heat of the moment, but all logic dictated that a 1-2 pitch there wasn’t going to hit him, especially not with a warning issued. They were furious, sure, that it happened, that Garza wasn’t more careful. But even the guys you saw freaking out the most seemed to accept it wasn’t on purpose.
So yes, there are other points in the regular seasons where such stuff must be taken care of, and the Pirates have fallen well short in that regard, which leads to messes like this. It’s got to be addressed in the future, and that ultimately has to come from Clint Hurdle.
SeanAy: James Harrison to the Steelers … desperate move, or DESPERATE move?
DK: It’s more like a no-brainer move, Sean. Adding players in-season in the NFL is extremely difficult because of playbook knowledge and terminology. Adding a player who might see regular snaps is close to impossible. But Harrison is sitting there in his usual excellent shape, they just laid eyes on him a couple weeks ago, and he sure knows the Dick LeBeau playbook. There’s nothing to overthink here, especially as compared to the alternative of adding someone from the practice squad or another free agent.
As for desperation, when two starting linebackers go down in the same game, you’ve pretty much written the definition there.
Enrico Pallazo: In your opinion, who will start a one-game playoff for the Pirates, assuming there is one? Does it matter if the game is a home game?
DK: I’ve said Gerrit Cole for a while now, but I’m starting to swing toward Francisco Liriano. He’s been unreal of late, obviously — 4-0, 0.35 in September — but he’s also got the wild-card game from last October on his resume.
Absolutely no vibe from the Pirates on this, if you’re asking. I did talk to Liriano for the column for later tonight, but he’s been given no indication.
Shawn Toth: DK, What are we to make of Lance Moore only playing one snap on Sunday? Does the coaching staff really feel Justin Brown is a better player than Moore? Is it lingering injury issues? This has left me a little befuddled.
DK: I made a glancing reference to this in the Steelers PATs Monday from Charlotte, but the coaching staff feels Brown is a very good blocker. And that was the priority against the Panthers, and it just might stay the priority depending on the situation. Moore did enter in the third quarter, and it’s reasonable to assume he still isn’t 100 percent. But I’d look much more at the blocking.
And hey, this isn’t an accident now. Brown’s actually listed ahead of Moore on this week’s depth chart.
johncwit: The Pens have a huge log jam at the blue line. if Brian Doumolin, Scott Harrington, Simon Despres, Robert Bortuzzo, Olli Maatta and Derrick Pouliot are all healthy, with Paul Martin, Kris Letang and Rob Scuderi, who goes and how soon do they go?
DK: Not seeing any logjam at all. Mentioned in the training camp preview last week that the starting seven are about as set as they can be, pending injury. Don’t expect any surprises there. Also, I wouldn’t get excessively caught up in tales of grandeur regarding the prospects. Pouliot can be a very good power-play performer. Dumoulin, Harrington and others have a ways to go.
Also, I feel compelled to add that Maatta sure looked misplaced up there in that initial group. He’s as much a lock on this roster as anyone at any position.
Jordan Falkner: DK, you said on a podcast with Mark Madden that Brooks Orpik wasn’t good in the Pens room, particularly to Kris Letang and Simon Despres. Can you give more details?
DK: I never said any such thing. What I said was that Orpik was tough on those guys, and I didn’t phrase it any derogatory way. Listen again.
Good leaders are tough on their teammates. Orpik was Grade A in every regard.
Now, what I said further, and this might be where you took something negative from it, is that Letang and Despres can both assert themselves more with Orpik not around. Which I believe that at least Letang is capable of doing, to an extent.
Michael Bailey: What do you make of the Pirates’ front office recent statement that they’re going to try to do everything they can to keep Russell Martin? Progress? Or lip service?
DK: It’s not recent. I’ve been reporting it for months, including a full column off a one-on-one interview with Neal Huntington several weeks ago. Not one aspect of their sentiment has changed from the contents in that piece. Nor has mine.
Man, this issue is hot-button, though. Every peep about it draws so, so much reaction. Haven’t seen something like this around here since … oh, the most recent Stanley Cup playoffs. Never mind.
Captain Lou: Will the collapse to Iowa on Saturday an indicator of things to come for the Panthers the rest of the season?
DK: I didn’t see a collapse, Lou. Not at all. I saw a Pitt team that fell short on some basic execution issues on defending long passes, as well as a team that just didn’t get it done offensively. I saw no cause for alarm. Really.
I hate to keep simply linking back to columns, but I elaborated quite a bit in there, and I hope you have a chance to check it out.
bucsfanintheATL: Saw the Bucs in Atlanta last night. The guys looked relaxed, and happy! I think the team chemistry can take these guys far in the postseason. Your thoughts?
DK: How about if I give you Jared Hughes’ thoughts on that instead, since I just brought that very topic up with him an hour ago?
“It’s a little different than last year, in that the pressure doesn’t seem to be there because we know, as a group, we’ve already done it once,” Hughes said. “We went through a full season, made the playoffs, broke the Streak. Now, it’s more like we just know we expect it of ourselves. We believe in the talent that’s in here. We believe that we’ll stick together. So yeah, it’s different.”
Best part of that answer was watching Jeff Locke at the next stall nodding throughout. Intense dude.
YouMeAndDupuis: Should we be worried about the complete absence of Evgeni Malkin? Or is this some sort of gamesmanship play by the Pens like how Troy Polamalu gets to miss training camp? Also, thoughts on Scuderi-Letang pairing? A ploy to raise Scuds’ trade value?
DK: Polamalu misses most of OTAs, that’s it. Not camp. Not minicamp. Just to clear that up.
Malkin, by all accounts, legitimately tweaked something in the 4-5 days leading up to camp. Rushing that makes zero sense. If you watched that preseason game last night, you’ll know it means less than nothing that he didn’t participate.
As for Scuderi-Letang, I don’t like it. At all. I know this was Ray Shero’s stated intent when acquiring Scuderi, but Shero isn’t around anymore. Letang pinching leaves Scuderi isolated on the counterattack. No one should have any reason to feel good about that.
I will add this, though: I’m also in favor of not having Maatta and Letang together. Olli needs to be his own guy, not someone else’s portable vacuum.
George Contis: What are your primary go-to sources for general sports news? Do you prefer online or print variants of traditional newspapers (Trib/PG/others) first, or other online sources?
DK: My primary source for Pittsburgh sports news, I feel obligated to say, is going and finding out stuff myself. I’ll limit what I read from other outlets to the hardest news and/or simple stuff like injury updates. That helps me keep what I hope is a fresh perspective, as well as prevents me from being reactive rather than proactive.
Really small example: Just about everyone covering the Steelers last week, print and otherwise, put this huge focus on both their and Carolina’s slot receivers, I saw from the headlines and gathered from some of the questioning overheard. I wrote about the Steelers going to more of a power game, including inside info related to Will Johnson and Matt Spaeth playing more to improve the blocking. It doesn’t always work out so well for anyone, but that one clearly did. Maybe not one reader noticed that, but I’ll confess I was happy with it.
Don’t know if that answers your question. I focus a lot more on finding stuff out. Way, way more.
supernatural187: Are the Pirates trying to make a point with Travis Snider playing every day? And what’s the point of even having Gregory Polanco on the roster?
DK: Well, the Pirates have won 10 of 12, 14 of 17, are a season-high 14 over .500 and pushing hard toward home field in the wild card, and they’ve done that largely with Snider in right. Not much to complain about. And individually, Snider is bating .277 since the break.
They aren’t saying this, but it’s evidently building toward Snider being the playoff right fielder. If he doesn’t do well, Polanco is right there, and a guy with 13 pinch-hits goes back to the bench.
It’s turned out to be a pretty good baseball team, huh?
Hey, have to get downstairs for KDKA-TV appearance on the field at 6:42 p.m..
Thanks to all for participating! Good stuff!
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