Kovacevic: When is Cutch's slump no longer a slump?

Brief and to the Point ...

Eleven players on the Pirates' roster have taken 100 or more at-bats. Nine of them have a better batting average than Andrew McCutchen's .244. The only one lower is Jung Ho Kang's .240, but let's presume he's got a lot more on his brain than baseball these days.

Wait, there's more: Of the 19 center fielders in Major League Baseball with enough plate appearances to qualify for the batting title, Cutch's average ranks 18th, with someone named Billy Burns in Oakland bringing up the rear. His on-base percentage of .314 ranks 16th. His 96 strikeouts are tied for the most. His three steals in eight attempts -- a fair measure at a speed position -- is the worst rate of anyone. And his fielding ... well, you've seen it.

So, uh, wow.

He's been improved a little of late, with multiple-hit outputs in six of his past 17 games. But that 0-for-8 mega-egg Sunday in Washington served as one seriously ugly reminder that he's hardly home free. And his bad slump is bordering on becoming a bad season.

Which has me wondering one thing above all in this context: What's real?



No, I won't come close to suggesting any draconian action. Cutch absolutely shouldn't be considered for a drop in the order, a switch defensively or anything like that. He's only 29, and he's proven himself again and again, including through similar if shorter spells in the past. He's more than earned the chance to bounce back. He did exactly that last summer after that .194 April.

But it stopped being April of 2016 a while ago. And the fact is, if not for his 14 home runs that have accounted for a fluky-feeling half of his extra-base hits, if not for the Pirates still having a highly energetic offense around him and, yeah, if not for the Penguins winning the Stanley Cup, a whole extra heaping of criticism undoubtedly would have buried him by now.

If he doesn't fully turn it around soon, that will come.

As will much, much harder questions. Such as whether he belongs in the heart of the order. Or whether Starling Marte, a demonstrably superior defender, should slide over to center. Or even whether or not the Pirates would be best off trading one of the game's most team-friendly contracts for a mint's worth of pitching.

Not yet, though. Can't stress that enough. Not yet.

• I've generally defended the Pirates' front office on the pace of progression for their prospects, meaning how long it takes them to arrive in Pittsburgh. But for those who disagree, there's plenty of ammo to be found with Josh Bell simply by tracking his year-by-year batting average in the minors, beginning in 2012: .274, .279, .325, .317 and .321.

I mean, come on. He'll turn 24 next week. He's not even a kid anymore.

You're telling me he couldn't have skipped one of the six levels along the way?

It's ridiculous that every single box needs to be checked. It's not some military rite of passage, and it's not about proving anything to the other prospects along the way. It's about winning games at PNC Park. Or at least it should be.

• Yes, I'd have Bell starting over John Jaso. Show me a first baseman who can hit but not field all that well, and I'll show you my first baseman.

• Uplifting figure: The Pirates play 37 of their final 70 games against the Brewers, Reds, Phillies and Braves, beginning with the three-game set tonight against visiting Milwaukee.

• Reality check: Ten of those games will be you know where ...



• Jon Niese was a terrible starter for the Pirates. Neal Huntington made a terrible trade to acquire him. But there won't be one negative syllable from this direction about Niese the competitor. On Friday, he was told he'd be a reliever. On Saturday, he pitched two scoreless innings. On Sunday, within the same 24-hour span, he pitched three more scoreless innings.

I've covered a whole bunch of starters who'd have pouted instead.

• When presumably intelligent people debate whether or not the Pirates should be buyers or sellers at the trade deadline, are they even looking at the actual standings?

Or is it just a feel thing?

This team is 2 1/2 games out of a wild card spot. It's mid-July. There's nothing to debate here, nothing even to discuss.

• Since Major League Baseball went to two wild cards per league in 2012, one of those teams, the 2014 Giants won the World Series, two teams reached the Series, and three reached the league championship series. That's over four years from 16 possible wild card slots. It's not a bad ratio.

Since 2012, the number of teams that didn't qualify for the playoffs but went on to win it all were ... uh, yeah.

Seems like it's a worthwhile goal, right?

• Jim Rutherford feels 'it's time to find out about' Derrick Pouliot in precisely the same way he and the Penguins felt it was time to find out about Beau Bennett: They found out what they already knew.

• It's not about the Penguins' handling of young players, either, though that narrative could take centuries to die off. Their handling of young forwards last season was such that they were brought up purposely to pressure veterans. And then once they outplayed those veterans, they stuck right through the parade. And their handling of young defensemen was such that Olli Maatta was signed to a six-year extension, and now Brian Dumoulin is the next top priority.

Some young players have it. Some don't.

• The new Las Vegas franchise still doesn't have a name, in part because the NHL has discouraged ownership from any tie with gambling.

Yeah, wouldn't want any connection to gambling. Except, of course, when it comes to coercing casinos into funding the construction of NHL arenas in Pittsburgh and other places.

Good Lord.

• Not that anyone needs additional cause to be amped for the Steelers' coming season, but the defending Super Bowl champion Broncos will be an AFC obstacle again only if -- and boy, do I mean if -- one of Mark Sanchez, Trevor Siemian or Paxton Lynch guides them back to glory.

Oh, you bet. Those are Denver's three quarterbacks heading into camp. Siemian and Lynch have never thrown a professional pass. The same could be spoken cynically of Sanchez.

• Can you imagine if Tom Brady's appeal had reached the Supreme Court?

That was the next step, you know. He and, in essence, the Patriots were going to take a case regarding a football player being suspended for four football games for allegedly deflating footballs to the highest court in the land.

There would have been a football precedent for all time.

You know, Brady v. Bored With Edification.