Bucs win; Kovacevic's Q & A

Kovacevic calls for some horse trading in the weekly Q & A.

I'm ready to see whatever it takes go to procure an Austin Kearns. So I'm with Kovacevic there. But Littlefield's wait-and-see approach makes sense to me. A GM has to be more patient.

For one, we don't know which one of our contenders for full-time play is the real stiff. Any deal for a hitter requires cutting someone. Who walks the plank? Ward, who homered tonight? Redman - moving who to left full-time? Or do the Pirates try to land a third baseman and move Wigginton into a supersub role? It would be easy to answer those questions sarcastically, but it wouldn't be wise. It can not be right to kill the season with another rebuilding purge. We have to make the most of what we have; we have to get some return, in PT and performance, on most of these players.

Anyway, these questions are beginning to answer themselves. Since we started the season with about six guys who had maybe a 50% chance of having a good year, it makes sense to get a better read on who is going to pan out before acquiring another player. There are question marks here and there and any success the team might have this year depends on some of those players coming through for us.

And another thing. In the best-case scenario plan, the one that ends with packed houses and meaningful games in September, the Bucs acquire help mid-season. Fans will take notice if it is the Pirates who are trading minor-leaguers.

So why not give it a little time, let the wheat separate from the chaff, and then deal whatever it takes to get the kind of bat we need now?

Well, the longer you wait, the more exposed the team remains to some kind of horrific start which will make any acquisition look like too little, too late. Maybe it's all chaff. The Bucs have a lot of tradeable talent, but even the acquisition of Carlos Beltran would not help the team if May brings only Randall Simon-shaped flowers.

Bucs won tonight on five extra-base hits and some nice defensive play in the outfield. So the Bucs are two games out of first place. And two games under .500. If the bats keep perking up ...

And who is this David Ross? Two doubles and a homer tonight. Maybe he can bat third?