Ideally, of course, the Pirates should sell.
Meaning, you know, sell the franchise, replace the front office, replenish the payroll, revive the drafting/developing process, rebuild trust with the city, all that stuff. Because the truly ugly underbelly of this organization won't go away until Bob Nutting, Frank Coonelly and Neal Huntington do.
Just thought I'd start there.
But going beyond that, this overwhelming three-game sweep in Cincinnati, this sudden nine-game winning streak that's rocketed this team into honest-to-gosh contention -- 51-49 overall, 4 1/2 games out of the National League wild card -- has brought about a 180-degree turn on both expectations and projections. As it should have. This manager, these coaches and, above all, these players have earned that. Slumps, simply being two games above .500 at this stage is ... yeah, absolutely nobody predicted that after the collective dumping of Andrew McCutchen and Gerrit Cole.
They've done the job at field level. They really have.
And for that matter, I'll offer up a clap or two for Huntington for having secured something for Cutch and Cole in Joe Musgrove, Colin Moran and Kyle Crick, as well as for adding Corey Dickerson. That's miles short of what another GM could have procured for Cutch, Cole and all the cash that had been freed up, but again, it's something.
So what now?
The dominant question of the day remains the same as it's been for seemingly a month now: Should the Pirates buy at Major League Baseball's trade deadline July 31, or should they sell and keep building onto what's already a young-ish roster?
Here's my answer, at least for now: Do neither.
Apologies in advance for anyone enthused about the ongoing streak, but I'm not wild about buying. That's got nothing to do with how real or phony this contention might be -- I've written all along that I liked this team's offense and saw legit potential in the pitching -- but, rather, that the buying would be unduly onerous in this context. Sure, they can add a rental or two, but pretending that this ownership group will allow for an extra allotment to payroll isn't worth the keystrokes I just wasted on this sentence. So that would mean giving up a prospect or two for a bona fide ballplayer.
News flash: They don't have the prospects to give.
When the Indians, the Pirates' next opponent, decided a couple days ago to fortify their first-place standing by acquiring closer Brad Hand from the Padres, they had to send San Diego their top prospect and the No. 15 prospect in all of baseball in catcher Francisco Mejia. That's predictable commitment on Cleveland's part, where the ownership and front office have made all the right moves in recent years, but it's done from a position of strength. The Indians can draft and develop and, thus, they'll uncover another Mejia before long.
The Pirates have Mitch Keller, the No. 12 prospect in baseball at season's outset, in Indianapolis, and the rest is a whole lot of unknown unless one would still categorize Austin Meadows as a prospect. Moving Keller won't happen, can't happen, if only because there's not exactly a wealth of starting pitching in the system. Righty Shane Baz, the No. 12 overall pick in the draft last year, is next in the hierarchy -- and the only other starter among the Pirates' top few prospects according to most lists -- and still a big-time unknown as a 19-year-old pitching in short-season ball.
Who else could they give up?
That's the dirty little secret here, and it's been that way all along. It's not that the Pirates don't want to move prospects. It's that they can't, or they'd get -- rightly -- ravaged for their system's organizational ranking. Trust me, that matters to these men a lot. If Keller goes and Meadows is up in Pittsburgh, they're left with egg on their face in the minors. And that's when harder questions -- the right questions -- finally start getting asked.
So no, don't buy. Because one price won't be paid and another can't.
And don't sell, either. Because even for this front office, pulling the rug out from under a group that's surging like this would be beyond the pale.
• All the offense is getting all the accolades in this streak -- 51 runs in these nine games! -- but no statistic stands out for me like this one: Felipe Vazquez, Edgar Santana and Crick have combined for 27 1/3 scoreless innings in July.
Clint Hurdle told me in San Diego earlier this month that he believed in the back end of his pen, and he did so passionately. Exempting Vazquez, I thought he was nuts.
• What should be worrisome to the Pirates about contending isn't so much the two current wild-card teams, the Brewers and Braves, as I see both as being ripe to fall back. No, I'd look more at what's right around them: Diamondbacks, Rockies, Cardinals, Giants and Nationals. All are at or above .500, like the Pirates, and all have much greater means to improve. The last three of those, in particular, have significantly underperformed to date.
• Serious question that should never have to cross anyone's mind but undoubtedly does: How do Nutting, Coonelly and even Huntington really feel about this winning streak?
Because all three, each in his own way, doesn't get what he wants if they can't sell off. Money doesn't get saved, and the accountability can doesn't get kicked down the road.
• The Brewers' Josh Hader was a dirtbag or an idiot or both when he was 17 years old and put out those reprehensible tweets that were uncovered this week. Here's hoping he's no longer a dirtbag or an idiot or both.
But if there's one lesson to be culled for the broader public, here's hoping it's this: Know that most prospective employers now rifle through social media accounts as part of most interview processes, as is their right. And know that infantile behavior in public comes with consequences even deep into the time capsule, even for a big-league closer.
• While on the social soapbox, there's no way the NFL and NFL Players Association can conceive of entering the coming season without a firm anthem policy. Winging it just won't work, as we already witnessed in 2017, and now with the Dolphins and Giants both publicly popping off in their own divergent directions.
Come up with a concrete set of rules and enforcement. And from there, NFL teams and players can work together to very visibly address the very real injustices by calling direct attention to them -- collectively, with one voice -- rather than sending a comparatively muted message by protesting during the anthem. Invest in TV ads. Invest in worthwhile causes. Attack the actual problems.
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Mike Tomlin speaks with Bud Dupree at minicamp last month. - MATT SUNDAY / DKPS[/caption]
• I'll get more into the Steelers' camp with a full column tomorrow, but suffice it to say for now that this will be all about tackling. And should be, in the aftermath of the Jacksonville debacle. Mike Tomlin and Keith Butler raised that flag to full mast at minicamp last month, so there wouldn't be any surprises.
But that also means people will get hurt. Possibly important people.
Can't have it both ways.
• The Steelers' breakout rookie won't be Terrell Edmunds, if only because it's impossible to imagine him bumping Morgan Burnett or Sean Davis down the depth chart no matter how Tomlin and Butler end up deploying the safeties.
No, it'll be James Washington.
Eli Rogers was in Kansas City yesterday for a tryout, this coming off major knee surgery. That's a sure sign the Steelers have advised him to check out what the market's got to offer, which, in turn, is a sure sign they feel they've got a superior replacement. Which they do. Washington showed plenty in minicamp, impressing the vets around him, and he has more dimensions than Rogers, who was limited to short range even before blowing out the knee.
Signed, sealed, delivered. He's ours.
Welcome to the team, @DGrant57! pic.twitter.com/Vbn1yzDKbc
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) July 20, 2018
• The Penguins don't have six centers in the fold. They've got seven. In addition to the somewhat surprising signing of Derek Grant, it's got to be remembered that Jim Rutherford told me definitively a month ago that he considers Teddy Blueger capable of being "a fourth-line NHL center right now."
Where will they all go?
Hey, it's not like I ever need an excuse to map out forward lines in late July:
Guentzel-Crosby-Hornqvist
Brassard-Malkin-Kessel
Hagelin-Sheahan-Sprong
That's three of the lines, anyway, and they aren't my ideal but, rather, what I think Mike Sullivan might try, and here are some random reasons why: He loves Hornqvist with Crosby, as I write all the time. ... The team's strongly hinted it'd like to get a look at Brassard on the wing in a top-six role, so a defensive conscience with Malkin and Kessel makes sense. ... Malkin and Kessel also make sense, and Kessel presumably gets happy again. ... Rutherford told me he expects Sprong to be "in the top nine," so he's also out there with a couple guys who play 200 feet. ... Rust has to bump over to the left side because that's just about the only way he can see meaningful ice time.
OK, so the ones left out are, in no order: Matt Cullen, Zach Aston-Reese, Bryan Rust, Dominik Simon, Grant and Blueger, among others further out on the fringe. The only right-handed shot among them is Rust, but he might get wasted that low. Cullen and Aston-Reese are probably locks here. Simon's no natural on the right side, but he's reliable enough along any boards. Grant would sit in the press box, and Blueger would go back to Wilkes-Barre since he doesn't have to clear waivers.
Or not. Maybe I'm way off. But that was fun, anyway.
• In that same spirit, most fun I've had gathering information for a piece in a long time was for my weekend Who Wore It Best entry on the one, the only Alexei Kovalev. If there's never been a book written about him, there ought to be.
• Today marks our site's fourth anniversary. I couldn't be more proud of what we've built and, in particular, the readership upon which it's been built. This was the first venture of its kind on the continent, and the No. 1 reason it worked -- you -- doesn't even have a close No. 2.
Thank you.
My family and I are flying to Iceland later tonight. It'll be the first vacation we've taken together in many years, since well before this site was launched. I'll be back on the first of August, ready to dive right back into everything. Maybe even relevant baseball!
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