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The suicidal bugs are back, and just in time for the Yankees, fittingly enough.

For those of you who rarely frequent Pittsburgh's ball field, there is a three-day period each year when these awful bugs, called mayflies, hatch somewhere up the Allegheny River and work their way downstream to Downtown. And it always is unfortunate when that coincides with home baseball games.

Not because they bite. They don't.

Not because they do anything, actually.

They just land on you, and you have no idea they are there. Or they just fall from the sky to their deaths, which is no big deal, really, because they only live for 24 hours.

In my more cynical days, I used to tie these bugs' behavior to the fate of the club around this time of year, but I have become a happier person since then ...

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Q: In your article about the Tuesday game, Doug Mientkiewicz was portrayed as a calming veteran influence on combustible Ian Snell. Before his stint with the Bucs, I always thought Mientkiewicz was merely a backup first baseman with little offense. But this year, he looks like an adequate replacement for both corner infield positions and both corner outfield positions.

With his demeanor, leadership and a suitcase full of fielding gloves, wouldn't Mientkiewicz be an excellent addition for a young contending team like Arizona or Tampa Bay?

Is Mientkiewicz happy in Pittsburgh? Does he view this season as a line on his curriculum vitae for a chance to play for a contender or start a coaching career.

Justin Tillinghast of Horseheads, N.Y.

KOVACEVIC: So many questions about Mientkiewicz's future hit the inbox yesterday that, rather than give some off-the-top-of-my-head answer, I made the issue the Notebook lead for today, and you can find his views there, as well as an audio file of part of our interview.

Let me just add this here: You mention those gloves, and it reminds me that before his pivotal pinch-hit single in the eighth-inning Tuesday, he twice was sent back to the clubhouse for different gloves in case he needed to enter to replace Adam LaRoche or Jose Bautista and, by the time, he finally was settled, he was told to get ready to hit. A few cuts later, he was out there against Doug Brocail and came through.

And I mention this as a reminder that, for all that Mientkiewicz brings in intangibles and for all that so many of you seem to have appreciated that from his first day in spring training, it still is performance that counts. He is batting .348 as a pinch-hitter, .367 in his past 15 starts and, as you note, has been good, sometimes great, defensively.

Players who have big mouths but stink on the field tend not to have much of an audience.

Mientkiewicz talks a lot, but he can do so because he backs it up.

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Q: Dejan, saw your comments in the Q&A yesterday regarding trades and rumors of trades. One thing I always ask myself when I hear them is this: Why is this information out there? The Jack Wilson-to-L.A. rumor is a good example. Assuming Fox Sports didn't just make up the story, it must have been leaked to them by one of the principles. And whoever leaked it had their reasons. Perhaps Pittsburgh did it to drum up further interest from another team? Perhaps L.A. did it to put pressure on a rival GM, who they've also been in discussions with regarding another shortstop? Or perhaps the source was even Wilson's camp, for their own reasons?

Regarding trade rumors, it's always helpful to consider the source, especially for those that never come true. Do you agree?

Tony Verdream of Shadyside, Pittsburgh

KOVACEVIC: I promise not to get repetitive on this topic, but it makes me crazy enough that I want to keep clarifying this: If there is a report that teams are in trade talks but no trade is consummated, that does not make the initial report "not true." Nor, for that matter, does it make it a rumor. That word "rumor" gets linked with trades as if they are in the dictionary next to each other, but it is not one that I ever use. (Except right here, of course.) As much as it is possible, I try to confirm any reports of trade talks to the point where they are substantively firmer than "rumor."

As for the Wilson chapter, as this story pointed out the other day, Tony, that word was leaked from Los Angeles. And no, Fox did not make it up, anymore than I did when I confirmed on the Pittsburgh end that there were talks that took place.

Why did the Dodgers leak it?

I have no idea, as that is not a team that I cover. One source in Los Angeles was not sure about that, either.

And once again, before we move on: The talks took place. They look unlikely to consummate anything, but that does not diminish the credibility of the Fox report. It was wholly accurate, and it will remain accurate if Wilson never puts on Dodger Blue. The teams talked about a trade. That was true then and is true now.

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Q: Commenting on the Brewers' C.C. Sabathia deal, some are claiming it was made with no intentions of re-signing him at the end of the year, but instead purposely seeking the high compensatory draft pick that Milwaukee would get for losing him (in addition, of course, to the benefit of having him on the squad this year).

I know you've talked generally about compensatory picks, but will this structure -- and maybe similar thinking to that of the Brewers for players on the Pirates' roster -- heavily influence the front office's decision-making going forward?

Steven Gieseler of Port St. Lucie, Fla.

KOVACEVIC: Yes, it sure sounds like it, Steven.

First, for those who do not know, teams receive compensation draft picks, usually squeezed between the first couple of rounds if they lose prominent free agents, as judged by an independent evaluation. With what are called Type A free agents, that can be as high as the first round.

I hear the Pirates discuss this quite a bit and, to be honest, I am still learning about it because it was nothing I ever really had to know previously: It just never came up.

I already have gone over Damaso Marte's situation, but there are other elements, too: For example, consider that the team that acquires Marte through trade this summer gets not only Marte but also the Type A picks, in theory. That should, by any estimation, raise Marte's trade value, as well as the Pirates' expectations for what they should receive for him.

And let me throw out another: Jason Bay and Xavier Nady are slam-dunk Type A guys in 2009 provided they do as well next season as they are doing this one. (Back-to-back good seasons, I am told, are a big deal in the independent evaluation.) Be sure, as well, that Bay and Nady are seen through the same prism, where their values have to take into account that they can be converted into Type A comp picks.

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Q: Why do you think that the public seems to be excited for Nate McLouth and his great start to the season, while at the same time basically turning a blind eye to Xavier Nady's year?

X has been arguably more consistent all year. My guess is that Pittsburgh fans are a bit hesitant to throw a ton of support his way because they are afraid that he will just take his bat and leave soon.

Mike Ruggirello of Glen Mills

KOVACEVIC: Sounds about right, Mike. Those who follow this club most closely have a natural tendency to fear players leaving, anyway, but that has to be multiplied with someone such as Nady almost certainly will stay for the long term.

That seems a shame in that regard, too, as Nady is the type of player with the type of personality that he could have become quite popular in this city under a different circumstance. He is a good one.

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Until tomorrow, I close with more on the Steve Nicosia affair ...

Bob Webb, esteemed official scorer at your city's ball field, attended that game in Baltimore in 1979, and he yesterday relayed to me that, from his view in the upper deck, he could see fans gathering near the field's edge as the game wound down. It appeared to him at the time that they were not going out there to congratulate your PBC on its fifth championship, either. They wanted souvenirs. And so they came, storming through the low gates at old Memorial and grabbing what they could.

Now, switching to a team employee who once spoke about this with Nicosia: A fan tried to take his mask and, as that happened, Nicocia's finger or fingers were caught in the mask, and that ticked him off enough to make the fan pay for that dearly.

Stay away from those bugs ...