Kovacevic: Locke's fate never mattered

MILWAUKEE -- It's safe to assume that what all of Pittsburgh's angst-ridden baseball fans would prefer to read this morning, above and beyond anything, is this: Jeff Locke and Neal Huntington carried on a lengthy conversation in a side corridor of Miller Park's visiting clubhouse late Wednesday night.

This, of course, came after Locke's latest dud -- 3 2/3 innings, five runs, nine hits -- that cost the Pirates a 9-4 annihilation at the Brewers' hands Wednesday night.

And it didn't appear to bode well for the beleaguered lefty, any more than when Clint Hurdle flatly declined to discuss his immediate future in the rotation.

"You know what?" the manager came back when that was raised. "Those are conversations we have internally, not something we'll pop up after a guy leaves after 3 2/3 innings. We're continually looking to improve our team, whether it's a position player or starting pitcher."

That's not exactly a banishment, but if you picked up any heck-yeah-he's-my-guy tone in there somewhere, that makes one of us.



It sure sounded -- and looked, given the striking sight of the starting pitcher and GM conferring at length right after a game -- like Locke is done. If I had to guess, his next start will be taken by Vance Worley, who's still due to come up from the minors, or current long man Joe Blanton or maybe even the stretched-out Radhames Liz.

And you know what else?

Who cares?

For all the fuss kicked up over the fifth starter, from the staged battles in spring training to early September, this has seemingly been among the main focal points for an astonishing percentage of this team's following. And it doesn't come close to meriting barely any of it.

Look, Locke has been lousy. It would take a fool not to have assessed that beforehand, and even the fool would have cried uncle after a 150-pound pitcher making his big-league debut smashed a two-strike single to ignite Milwaukee's decisive fourth-inning rally.

It was awful. And it was all the worse when Locke built another two-strike count on Jonathan Lucroy, only to lay on a platter the tiebreaking single.

He knew it, too:

https://youtu.be/EWu3gbfhc9g

But here's the bottom line: The Pirates are 14-12 in Locke's 26 starts this season.

I'm not talking about pitching wins, which mean next to nothing. I'm talking team wins, which mean everything.

The figure is 14-12.

Now again, that's not to suggest he hasn't been lousy. He has. But it is to suggest, and forcefully so, that this whole fifth-starter thing really hasn't mattered much when stepping back to see the broader scope.

The Pirates are 18-9 when Gerrit Cole, the unquestioned ace, starts. That's impressive, but that's also what's expected of an ace.

The Pirates are 14-10 whenFrancisco Liriano starts. That's impressive, too, if only for the fact that the figure includes winning his past 10.

And get this: The Pirates are 14-6 when Charlie Morton starts. Best of all!

What does it all mean?

Well, let's settle for this as a snappy summation: The Pirates have a pretty good overall rotation, a pretty good overall lineup and an utterly sensational, borderline historic bullpen.

But let's also go with this in lasering back onto Locke: That 14-12 record might well have been upgraded by someone better in his place. But by how much? Two or three games? And by whom? Where are these mythical, superior fifth starters? Which team has that? How many of the other 29 general managers in the game wouldn't walk 500 miles on hot coal for a 14-12 record when their fifth guy takes the mound?

Locke showed up, put in his innings, stayed healthy, had a handful of good starts, a bunch more that ended in fractions, and blah, blah.

What's more, Locke won't play a meaningful part in any of what's ahead. He won't be part of some September uprising against the Cardinals because of the simple math that six-game leads aren't easily overcome against teams streaking toward 105 wins. And he wouldn't squeeze into a playoff even if he were kept in the rotation now and somehow rattled off four straight gems.

So can we move on from this, whether or not management moves on from Locke?

Good, because if anything of substance has emerged from these two games here, one is that this Randall Simon Curse apparently comes with bona fide staying power:



(Sorry, but I might run that again tomorrow night, as well. It's just too good.)

The other is that this rotation must find a fresh gear. And soon.

That means Cole, Liriano, Morton and yes, A.J. Burnett.

The Pirates' maddening offensive inconsistencies have been overshadowed in losing these past three games, but they're very real. The same lineup that shows up to wear down a Clayton Kershaw or Matt Harvey with patient, intelligent at-bats will fall prey to a baby-faced Zach Davies -- all 22 years and 150 pounds of him -- because, as Hurdle would describe, "He did a nice job of locating his changeup, moving east-west with it."

Right. Because World Series contenders should regularly get befuddled by a teeth-chattering kid with a nifty change.

It's up to the starters to right this, to steer the Pirates back to the point where they can dominate in all facets. That's what's needed as October nears. Nothing less.

I've wondered in recent weeks if Huntington had done enough to bolster the rotation. And I did so while weighing that his lone deadline acquisition in this area, J.A. Happ, has stunned everyone with a performance miles above what was seen in Seattle. It was a wonderful acquisition, especially in a market where so many executives have been burned by high prices and low output.

I wondered, specifically, about Tyler Glasnow, the system's top prospect who dominated his first six Class AAA starts for Indianapolis before getting tagged for a quick touchdown two nights ago by Columbus.

"Not ready. He just isn't," Huntington told me before this game.

And he told me more, too, hard specifics about how and why Glasnow would be immediately vulnerable if he were called up right now. I'll keep those to myself, but the background was appreciated, and I believe every syllable of it. I've criticized the GM on many an occasion over his tenure, but I've always found him to be forthright -- and accurate -- when it comes to the rate at which he moves his prospects.

Remember how Huntington was the only person on the planet who thought Gregory Polanco wasn't ready last summer?

Well, remember that Huntington was the only one who was right.

He might be right with this rotation, too. If Cole can beat the Cubs in the wild card, Liriano can face the Cardinals in Games 1 and 5. Burnett and Cole can take 2 and 3, Morton 4.

Notice the name that's missing. Bigger storylines await.