Brief and to the Point ...
The best reporter in baseball is Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports. And I'm not telling you anything I haven't told the man himself, including during his most recent visit to PNC Park a month ago.
On that same visit, he broke news that the Pirates plan to extend Neal Huntington and Clint Hurdle at some point before the end of the current season, the final guaranteed year of both contracts:
Clint Hurdle expected to sign extension, #Orioles potentially losing key pieces after 2018.@Ken_Rosenthal's latest Full Count pic.twitter.com/VBIoLXgrX8
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) June 11, 2017
Good scoop there. The man swooped into town and, on the same day as the game he was covering, produced one of the bigger local sports headlines of the summer.
I've got a couple issues, though. And to repeat, none are with the reporter.
1. Who would be authorized to speak this way?
I can answer that one definitively: Bob Nutting and Frank Coonelly. That's it. I know this team's hierarchy, and I know there's no one outside of those two who could speak to the futures of their general manager and manager, on or off the record. There's no one else who'd even be privy to such information. It's just not how they operate.
I can state this just as definitively: The source wasn't Nutting. Sharing stuff like that with any reporter is anything but his style, even if it's behind the scenes. When he's ready to announce something, he has it announced. And that applies to subject matter that's far less significant than this.
Therefore, I can state this with robust confidence: Coonelly had to be the source. Unlike Nutting, this would be very much the team president's MO. He's incorrigible when it comes to squawking out secrets, and he's never been shy about selectively giving information to the media when he or the team might somehow gain from it.
All of which raises this question: Who is Coonelly to make such a declaration?
Nutting loves delegating. If anything, he's been an over-delegator in his tenure as the Pirates' principal owner. Even so, he's always, always deeply involved in major decisions. And few are more major than this.
Nutting will make this call. Not Coonelly. Not anyone else. Just Nutting.
2. Um, where are these extensions?
It's been nearly a month since Rosenthal's report, and there hasn't been a sliver of a sign of any extensions.
Sure, the report said Huntington and Hurdle were "expected to sign contract extensions before the end of the season." We're not even at the All-Star break, obviously, so plenty of time remains.
But why wouldn't it have happened already?
Could it be that they're waiting for some feel-good stretch for the team so they don't get lambasted for it publicly?
If so ... wow, hey, getting swept over the weekend by the second-worst team in Major League baseball, then getting blanked by the worst team Monday night ... no better time than the present, I say!
Set up that podium, gentlemen!
If that is the explanation, if they're waiting for some hollow upswing like sweeping the Reds or something, then that's a pretty poor reflection on all concerned. Because it would demonstrate that they think their fans are stupid or short-sighted and that they lack the conviction to simply stand up and state that they believe in both their GM and manager.
If that isn't the explanation, and Nutting isn't ready to give his blessing despite this leak ... that's a different story altogether.
• Never in my life, at least not that I could recall, had I ever been unable to recognize the name of a single player in a National League lineup ... until looking at what Pete Mackanin put on his card Monday night:
Nick Williams makes his Citizens Bank Park debut tonight in our series opener against Pittsburgh. #GoPhils pic.twitter.com/acMZsKNpub
— Phillies (@Phillies) July 3, 2017
Freddy Galvis at least rung a bell. Never heard of anyone else. That doesn't mean the Phillies aren't any good, though I guess their 28-53 record should speak for that. Just sharing that it was a really weird feeling.
• These are dire, desperate times for the local club.
Or are they?
I'm not a fan of bashing the manager for giving starters a Sunday off. It's a long season. Keeping your best players fresh comes with real value. But in the same breath, it's certainly OK to wonder what in the heck anyone was thinking giving Max Moroff eight at-bats over the weekend against the Giants.
Since being promoted from Class AAA Indianapolis precisely a month ago, he's gone 4 for 39 with 14 strikeouts. And well before those two starts, the poor kid was basically corkscrewing himself into the box, again and again and again. It was stunning to see his name on Hurdle's card Sunday, in particular, when every effort should have been made to avoid an embarrassing sweep against last-place San Francisco.
In the same span that Moroff's been up, meaning the past month, Jose Osuna has almost the same number of at-bats, 44, this despite batting .295 with two home runs and five extra-base hits.
Is it because Moroff is superior defensively?
Nope. He was a disaster in Indianapolis for the first two months of this season, with 13 errors.
So why, then?
Figure that out, and you've got the answer to an awful lot of what ails this organization top to bottom.
• Here's a clue: Moroff, 24, was the Pirates' Minor League Player of the Year in 2015, a rare success story outside the first couple rounds of any draft, having been selected in the 16th round in 2012. Words can't begin to describe how sensitive this management team is to criticism of its drafting -- which encompasses only the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico -- and developing. Nothing would make some of these men happier than to see someone, anyone, finally make it, outside of their big-bonus guys in the first three rounds.
Maybe Moroff will be that guy. Maybe he won't. But this past weekend wasn't the time to find out.
• Here's another clue: Look at Indianapolis' individual hitting stats, and pick someone to replace him. Their top two hitters are Eury Perez, who's 27, and Jason Rogers, who's 29 and since gone overseas. The fifth-best hitter is Phil Gosselin, who's 28. When Dave Littlefield was stocking the upper minors with over-aged roster-fillers, he was getting torched for it.
• On May 21, soon after Starling Marte's suspension was announced, Huntington was asked what the Pirates will do with the $4 million or so they'll save because of Marte and Jung Ho Kang not getting paid while on the restricted list: “As soon as that option becomes available, we will gladly pour the money back into the club.”
This front office ought to get that quote emblazoned on a big sign they reach up to touch on the way into work.
• Ten years, seven losing seasons. Analysis can be so simple sometimes.
• The one prominent sporting figure in Pittsburgh who did get an extension in the past week was eminently deserving: Justin Schultz.
In addition to all he's contributed to the Penguins' championships these past two years, securing him for the next three functions as a form of insurance for the massive investment made in Kris Letang. If Letang is healthy, he's worth every penny, and the road to another Stanley Cup is that much smoother. If he isn't, as we just witnessed, it's still possible.
• That said, there is no longer any circumstance in which Schultz should come off the top power-play unit. Not even for Letang. His ability to get shots through traffic is unparalleled.
And in case you've forgotten one such instance ...
Letang can't do that. Not consistently. It's never been a strength.
• I'm all in favor of adding Matt Hunwick in the name of playing sound defense.
The Penguins allowed 32.6 shots per game in the regular season, fourth-most in the NHL. They allowed nearly as many, 31.8, in the playoffs. That, like so much of what they achieved in this remarkable run, just flat-out isn't sustainable. Some of that was fatigue. Some of that was being less efficient in the attacking zone. But the hard truth is that, once an opponent set up in the Pittsburgh zone, they stayed there a little too long.
Hunwick won't solve that singlehandedly. Not even Letang can do that. But he's a marked upgrade in that regard over Ron Hainsey and Trevor Daley, both of whom were prone to far too many turnovers.
• Jim Rutherford's respect and admiration for Jordan Staal as a hockey player and as a person come without bounds. Same goes for Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.
Yeah, Staal's got six years left on that massive contract that pays $6 million annually. But he's 28 years old, he's coming off seasons of 82 and 75 games, 48 and 45 points, he's every bit the defensive force he was while in Pittsburgh, and his cost can be handled easily within this cap year.
What's more, Carolina can't afford him. Trust me on that part, as I know a little more than I can comfortably say about that franchise's financial situation. The Hurricanes just signed Justin Williams for two years and $9 million, Scott Darling for four years and $16.6 million. That put them just below the NHL's salary cap floor -- that's floor, not ceiling -- of $55.4 million for 2017-18, which is right where owner Peter Karmanos likes to keep them.
And now, as of late Monday night, the Hurricanes were working on adding another center, Marcus Kruger, via trade from the Golden Knights. That would add another $6.2 million in cap hit to Ron Francis' roster over the next two seasons.
Take from all that what you will.
• No one could possibly believe more firmly in the value of Staal's contract than Rutherford. He was the GM who signed it.
• One reason the Capitals have never won anything is that they never hit the reset button. Even now, with a quarter of their roster walking through free agency and cap hell on the roster -- less than $5 million left with only 14 players signed for next season -- they still lose their minds and sign T.J. Oshie for eight years and $46 million, then Evgeny Kuznetsov for eight years and $62.4 million.
Oshie will be 39 when the contract ends.
Barry Trotz told D.C. reporters this week: “Osh means a lot to us. It’s a great message not only to our team, but our fans. I think he’s a big part of our success. I think it’s a huge signing. Good job by the organization.”
Good Lord.
• The Penguins have never won a Cup without beating the Capitals in the playoffs. They might need to seek out a different route.
• I glanced at the Steelers' schedule this week, in preparing for the July 27 start of training camp, and I saw 7-1 before the bye week. I really did. And the lone loss was at Baltimore, with the lone toss-up being at Kansas City.
Injuries happen. Other stuff happens. Just a feeling.
• I'd like to wish everyone a happy and safe Fourth of July, as well as extending a welcome to stop and say hello if you're over at the Riverhounds' annual holiday match at Highmark Stadium. There will be a ton of people -- this one's always a sellout -- but we'll be the ones who look like we just strolled out of a cozy air-conditioned office!