BRADENTON, Fla. -- For all the questions still swirling in the Pirates' camp, even now that they're closing out their spring up in Quebec, the one that continues to tower above all is that of Tyler Glasnow.
If he's ready, and I mean really ready, then the rotation's ceiling goes through the roof. Because, as Neal Huntington put it a couple days ago, "He's been a dominant pitcher at every level along the way."
No one would doubt that. Since being drafted in 2012, he's logged a 2.02 ERA in exactly 500 career minor-league innings, to go with 645 strikeouts, 246 walks and an opponents' batting average of .172.
Yep, dominant.
But in his first four starts in the majors last summer, he was tagged with 13 runs and 22 hits in 23 1/3 innings, striking out 24 but walking 13 and hitting three batters. All because of erratic fastball command.
This spring, it's been more of the same. The stuff has still played, with 23 strikeouts in 14 1/3 innings, but it's otherwise been a toothpull of 10 runs, 19 hits and six walks. And again, as all concerned acknowledged, it's because of erratic fastball command.
It would border on the insane to assume Glasnow has '4A' pedigree, as the baseball wags call it, meaning he can always excel in the minors but no higher. Not with the numbers he's put up. Not with the stuff he still shows. So let's scratch that one emphatically off the list.
What is it, then?
"He's just a mess ... sometimes, which has to be driving Ray nuts," an American League scout told me this week at LECOM Park, referring to the Pirates' pitching coach, Ray Searage. "I've seen times this spring where he's changed his delivery on his own, going way over the top ... something you'd never have him doing. I saw once where did this Johnny Cueto (expletive deleted) and jumped toward the box. It's like you don't know what you're going to get from pitch to pitch."
And yet ...
"My God, the talent's there. But the kid's got to get it together. And asking him to do that in the bigs, that might be asking a lot."
• The chip on Andrew McCutchen's shoulder is real. I've spent a good amount of time talking with him this spring and, having covered his entire career, I can attest that his signals have tended to be a lot more transparent in the past than now.
Still, here's a summation of what I've gathered: He takes his legacy in Pittsburgh seriously. He sees it as the defining aspect of his career, much more than anything he's achieved individually. He looks around the city at Ben Roethlisberger, Sidney Crosby, Antonio Brown, Evgeni Malkin and sees how infused they are with their respective franchises and wishes for the same with his.
When I asked him about the Steelers extending AB, for example, Cutch's reply was: "That's how it's supposed to be. He's AB. That's who he is."
There isn't much more to it. Cutch was there for the Pirates' 105-loss team in 2010, and he was there for the Blackout. The franchise rode his back along the way. He feels that his part -- which he never overstates, by the way -- is what's been most important to him. He loves being a Pirate, he loves mingling with the many Pirates greats who attend camp, he loves that he was a national Roberto Clemente Award winner for Clemente's franchise.
And he hates the feeling it's probably not going to last much longer.
And he's genuinely confused between understanding the business of sports and all that emotion.
• My favorite scene in covering the Pirates this spring has been that of Tom Prince, the new bench coach and basically manager-in-training, sitting a few feet away from Clint Hurdle's media gatherings just so that he can learn that part of the job. The handful of people in management I still trust, Hurdle chief among them, vouch for Prince. They say he's a good, honest man, while also being super-serious compared to the charming, gregarious Hurdle. It'll be fascinating to watch that relationship grow.
MATT GAJTKA IN PITTSBURGH
• I was struggling to figure out what changed from the time the Pirates tendered Jared Hughes a contract in late November and this Wednesday's unconditional release. It's not like Hughes had a terrific 2016 season, so why bring him back at all if a couple poor spring outings were going to have such sway?
A reliable source of mine who works in the baseball industry had a theory, at least.
"They couldn't trade (Antonio) Bastardo and his $6 million," he told me. "It's not common to do this (release) to a guy you tendered."
• Another theory, from the same source and in the same financial vein: The optioning of Drew Hutchison and his $2.3 million salary to Triple-A made the Pirates' front office feel like they had to cut some cash from the major-league payroll, in some sort of a compensation mechanism.
In other words, to have around $6 million deployed in Indianapolis wouldn't have looked great.
"I don't think it's a coincidence," the source said.
• I often wonder what happens to the families of players who get moved midseason. For Hughes, he and his wife just welcomed a baby boy in December, and the three were all set to travel to Pittsburgh for the start of the season.
Fortunately, Hughes had the foresight to rent, not buy, so the sudden change in plans won't be too jarring for all involved.
Hughes told me early in camp that he never assumed he had a job this season, even after getting tendered a contract in his final year of arbitration eligibility. That caution turned out to be wise, as the family will head back to their winter home in Dallas, a few days after they thought they'd be traveling here. Crazy business, huh?
• One of the Pirates' young pitchers, on the game of baseball: "In 20 years, are kids going to be watching anymore?"
The observation was apropos of nothing, so it took me aback. Some players genuinely care (and wonder) about the marketing stuff, even if it doesn't affect them directly right now.
Rob Manfred appears to take seriously the challenge of keeping his product vital and lively. That's needed, or else superb American athletes like McCutchen, Glasnow and Jameson Taillon will take their talents to other sports.
JOSH YOHE IN NEW YORK
• Numerous sources have told me that Kris Letang is dealing with a back injury. There is a very strong belief among many in the organization that Letang will indeed be ready to play come April 12, when the playoffs arrive. Mike Sullivan said it after Wednesday's game, in fact.
Still, back injuries are a little tricky, especially for a defenseman who plays nearly 30 minutes per night in the playoffs and who will be targeted routinely by the relentless Blue Jackets, who almost certainly will be the Penguins' first round opponent. That Letang hasn't played in more than five weeks suggests that the injury is anything but minor.
• Evgeni Malkin's injury situation also is murky. He said he's dealing with a bruised shoulder. No one around the team has indicated that he's dealing with anything more than that.
I do believe the Penguins are being especially cautious right now. They know this isn't the time to rush players back into the lineup and I think we'll see Malkin for a game or two before the regular season ends. Still, that he isn't practicing with the team right now seems a little odd.
• Patric Hornqvist is playing hurt right now. There's not a doubt in my mind. He's as tough a player as you'll find, but the Penguins need him healthy come playoff time.
• The Penguins have a healthy amount of respect for the Blue Jackets and Capitals. This is very clear when you speak with them. But they aren't afraid of anyone. There's a sense of defiance in that locker room right now. In a good way.
MARK KABOLY IN PITTSBURGH
• People are all up in arms that Martavis Bryant’s reinstatement date has come and gone with no news being provided to either the Steelers or Bryant’s representation.
Don’t be.
What I was able to gather while spending four days at the NFL Annual Meeting in Phoenix — even though I was passed over during Roger Goodell’s press conference, wanting to ask just that question — is that the reinstatement is a mere formality.
Bryant has done everything required and it’s just a matter of Goodell rubber-stamping it, which should happen soon.
I was told by a league source that the Annual Meeting, highlighted by the move of the Raiders to Las Vegas, slowed the process and word could be coming “any day” now.
• There’s still no news from the league about the Steelers not listing Le’Veon Bell on the injury report in the week leading up to the AFC Championship Game. It’s been two months and I am sure there’s no discipline coming down on the Steelers, but why is there no official word yet?
• Mike Tomlin isn’t the biggest fan of the concept of the AFC coaches' breakfast at the Annual Meeting. All of the conference coaches are supposed to gather at 7:15 a.m. on the first official day of the event. (NFC coaches get together the following day.)
Tomlin showed up 35 minutes late to the hour-long breakfast, and don’t think for a second that wasn’t on purpose.
Yeah, 35 minutes is bad. But Bill Belichick didn’t show up at all. He was at the University of Florida's pro day.
• The Steelers will not travel to Detroit for training camp for joint practices because the Steelers will play the Lions in 2017. The Steelers will, at some point in the coming years, travel to Detroit for a joint practice.
• I caught up with Browns coach Hue Jackson, and he said something that made me chuckle.
"We have to understand where we are," Jackson said. "I think we have to crawl before we walk. We weren't even walking last year."
That's an understatement.
• One thing about Ravens coach John Harbaugh is that he respects Ben Roethlisberger. So, when Roethlisberger's retirement talk was brought up to Harbaugh, he took a lighthearted approach.
• Tomlin didn't talk to the media in two months, so when you have two half-hour sessions with the boss on back-t0-back days -- one of which included four total people -- a lot can be covered, and it was.
A lot of what Tomlin said you read on this site. But he did say a lot of other stuff that I couldn't fit into my coverage. Here are some excerpts ...
About being so close last year: “Hopefully we learn and improve based on those experiences, but I am not going to let those experiences frame my mentality as I prepare for this season, because if I do, I am setting myself up for failure. What we did a year ago has no bearing on how this year is going to play out. It never does. People that hang their hat on certain absolutes or quote unquote absolutes, based on what transpired a year ago, that’s dangerous business. We just want to respect this process that is team development in 2017. Obviously we know a lot more about some of the pieces that we have going into this year than we didn’t know a year ago. That knowledge will be food for us as we proceed, but I am all eyes right here, right now.”
About the Steelers approach to free agency: “It’s not something that has to be sold to me, if that’s your question. I buy in to it wholly. I always have. And I would imagine that’s probably one of the things that made me attractive to the Rooneys a decade ago as a potential head coaching candidate.”
About what he’s learned in his 10 years as a head coach: “Learned about myself? I don’t know. I am probably more pleased than anything that the things that were fundamentally important to me a decade ago remain fundamentally important to me. The game of football. Winning, and doing it in the right ways. Remaining focused on the variables that matter. Working to tune out the variables that don’t. The journey has been the journey. But in a lot of ways, it has been rewarding and reassuring that the fundamental things that were important to me in 2007 remain the same [today].”
About working with a stable franchise: “I feel blessed to work in Pittsburgh, to live in Pittsburgh and to work for the Steelers. And I feel that every day. But I also understand my charge, and my charge is to win games, and win games in the right way. So it’s not something that I seek great comfort in. I understand what makes the wheels turn. And I want to do my part.”
About other running backs copying Bell’s style: “If I were other running backs, I would be careful. I think that’s something that he does innately. Obviously, I think that’s just part of being a good player. People mimic your style of play. I know from a young man’s perspective that is something that is attractive to young people. If you were asking me, I would just encourage guys to be themselves and to stay in their lane. That’s something that he has developed over the years, but it has always been within his skill set, and really, probably, his natural approach to play.”
About if he pays attention to what his rivals do during the offseason: “Very little. There will be time for that as we begin preparation for them. I gain a little bit more perspective, in that regard, once the schedule comes out. But prior to the schedule coming out, in terms of the order in which we’re playing people, I pay very little attention to that. I try to focus on my house.”
About William Gay: “Will is a professional man, great communicator and a solid, veteran leader. He’s provided that for us over the last several years. And he’s always had a “steady-eddy” personality and those personality types are needed, because the journey is not without its bumps. 2017 is going to play out the way 2017 plays out. I am not going to delve into maybe how guys play or guys are going to play, or decisions that need to be made. We will cross those bridges when we get to them.”