Friday Insider: One NL exec sees Pirates as contender taken in Carlsbad, Calif. (Courtesy of Point Park University)

Pirates starting pitcher Chris Archer (24) -- MATT SUNDAY / DKPS

CARLSBAD, Calif. -- The Pirates finished with their fourth winning record in 26 seasons this year and it was still good for only a fourth-place finish in the National League Central.

The Brewers and Cubs both qualified for the postseason in 2018, and the Cardinals weren't eliminated until the last weekend of the season. With the Pirates going 82-79, it made the NL Central the only division in the major leagues to have four teams with winning records.

Thus, the Pirates face a tough task next season if they are to get back to the playoffs for the first time since a three-year run of appearances from 2013-15. However, an executive from another NL Central club told DKPittsburghSports.com this week at the General Managers' Meetings he thinks the Pirates can be contenders.

"They have good starting pitching and that always gives you a chance," said the executive, who requested to be quoted anonymously because he is not authorized to speak about other teams. "They have two guys who really came into their own this year in (Jameson) Taillon and (Trevor) Williams and they've got another guy ready to do the same thing next year in (Joe) Musgrove, if he can stay healthy. I think (Chris) Archer is going to have a really good year. I liked what I saw of him late in the season, and being there from the start of spring training will make a difference. And (Ivan) Nova is a solid, veteran starter."

The Pirates finished 19th among the 30 major league teams with an average of 4.30 runs per game last season. The executive believes the offense will be improved next season.

"They've got some guys who can hit," he said.

However, the executive also pointed out the Pirates' obvious weaknesses.

"They are sloppy," he said. "They don't pay great attention to detail like they did when they were making the playoffs. They're a horrible baserunning team. Sometimes, they remind me of kids in T-ball where they just keep running until someone tags them out. And they don't catch the ball. They have a chance to fix that this winter, especially in the middle infield, now that (Josh) Harrison and (Jordy) Mercer are gone." -- John Perrotto

MORE PIRATES

Starling Marte was selected as the Roberto Clemente Award winner, emblematic of the team's MVP, this year by the Pittsburgh chapter of the Baseball Writers of America. However, Marte continues to perplex scouts, including one who had this to say: "He might have the most overall talent in the National League, and he might also have the worst instincts for the game in the entire National League. He's 30 now. He's not a kid. He's not going to develop instincts at this point. You just have to live with the mistakes and realize it's always going to be part of the package." -- Perrotto

• Pirates pitchers have both publicly (hello, A.J. Burnett) and privately complained over the years about the Pirates employing so many infield shifts. However, it is apparently not going to change anytime soon. The 2019 Bill James Handbook reached bookstores this week and one interesting nugget is the Pirates used the shift 1,395 times this year, second in the NL to only the Brewers (1,462). -- Perrotto

• Though it has not been officially announced, third baseman Patrick Kivlehan has been signed to a minor-league contract and will receive an invitation to major league spring training. The 28-year-old has played in 132 games in the majors in the last three seasons, hitting .208/.302/.401 with 10 home runs in 242 plate appearances for the Padres, Reds and Diamondbacks. He also brings the good old "football mentality" as he was a collegiate linebacker at Rutgers. -- Perrotto

PENGUINS

• One of the more intriguing potential trade pieces the Penguins hold is Daniel Sprong. After scoring 32 goals in 65 games last season in the AHL, Sprong has shown himself to be a natural scorer. Despite going without a goal in a dozen games this season, the Penguins still believe he has the potential to put pucks in the net at the NHL level. Unfortunately for the 21-year-old, he is little more than a spare part in Pittsburgh. Sprong was a healthy scratch against the Capitals and figures to be again Saturday night when the Penguins host the Coyotes. The promotions of Zach Aston-Reese and Garrett Wilson provide the Penguins with an element that Sprong simply can't provide in a bottom six role. "He's been put in a position for obvious reasons," Rutherford said of Sprong. "We've got guys ahead of him in the top nine, and for him, playing on the fourth line is not a place where he's going to be able to succeed at what he does best. With Washington, a lineup change, the fourth line was a more suitable fourth line of what a fourth line does. Bring that energy, hard to play against. So at this point, he's just kind of in a tough place to be able to succeed." -- Chris Bradford

• With an .886 save percentage and 3.86 goals-against average, Matt Murray doesn't rank among the top 35 in either category. Still, Murray is the Penguins' unquestioned No. 1 goalie. Rutherford, a goalie in his playing days, says Murray hasn't regressed and hasn't plateaued. It's all part of a process. "The package is there to do the job. He proved it his first two years in the league," Rutherford said. "This is all part of learning to be a No. 1 goalie, which obviously brings more responsibility and more stress. As a goalie, it's not just stopping the puck. It's learning how to handle all these situations. I thought that last year ... would be the year he would go through that. But it appears that he's still making that adjustment." -- Bradford

Riley Sheahan once went 81 games without scoring a goal before recording two in Detroit's 2016-17 season finale. By comparison, his current 12-game drought is relatively small.  Sheahan hasn't helped the Penguins much this season but he's been really hurting his future earning potential. He scored 11 goals in 73 games for the Penguins last season, to earn a one-year $2.1 million contract as a restricted free agent. He is scheduled to be a UFA at this season's end.  "I think he's pressing too much to score," Rutherford said. "His focus is more on the scoring. In his role, we need really good solid defensive play and when the opportunities for goals come, they come."

• Rutherford is a hockey guy, not a doctor. But he doesn't have any concerns about Derick Brassard and says he expects to have the forward back soon.  The Penguins were 5-1-2 at the time Brassard went down with a lower body injury and are just 1-4-1 since. "We really miss him a lot," Rutherford said. -- Bradford

STEELERS

It appears Thursday night's game against the Panthers could be the last prime-time game of the regular season for the Steelers. The NFL announced earlier this week some changes to the schedule that moved the Steelers' game Nov. 18 at Jacksonville to 1 p.m. CBS also locked in four other games at their current time slots, leaving only two games unaccounted for -- at Oakland at 8:20 p.m. Dec. 9, and at home against the Bengals at 1 p.m. Dec. 30. Sources have told me that while it hasn't been announced yet, the Oakland game will be flexed out of that Sunday night slot because the Raiders are just awful. The game also is on the West Coast, so a 1 p.m. Eastern start time is out of the question. -- Dale Lolley at Heinz Field

• Walking onto the practice field earlier this week, I noticed Pitt running back Qadree Ollison standing at a corner of the field watching the Steelers practice. Someone else had noticed the Panthers' leading rusher, as well. Mike Tomlin had wandered on over to Ollison and was chatting him up on the intricacies of the Virginia Tech defense. Pitt hosts the Hokies Saturday. It's a reason why players love Tomlin. He pays attention to a lot of details, especially when it involves football. And he's willing to talk football with anyone. He's a self-described football junkie. But he's also a people person. Tomlin has done that a lot with Pitt players over the years. They're always interested in watching what's going on with the team that shares the other side of their building. -- Lolley

• One other note on Tomlin: While we all were quick to credit Randy Fichtner with making the call to have Josh Dobbs throw the ball out of his own end zone last week against the Ravens with Ben Roethlisberger sidelined, that call actually came from Tomlin. Tomlin doesn't get enough credit for being a coach who refuses to "turtle" in situations when he can go for the jugular against opponents. -- Lolley

PITT

• Pitt is still one win away from bowl eligibility, but the representatives from those games have been out in force to check out the Panthers. During the win last Friday over Virginia, I got to chat briefly with representatives from the Belk Bowl and the Military Bowl, two potential destinations for the Panthers. Pitt has played in both games before — Military in 2015 and Belk most recently in 2009, when it was the Meineke Car Care Bowl. The Belk Bowl is considered a Tier I game and easily could be the landing spot for the Panthers if they win the Costal Division but lose in the ACC title game. If the Panthers get bowl eligible but fall short of winning the Coastal, a Tier II game like the Military Bowl is most likely because of Pitt’s overall record. — Matt Grubba

• Senior defensive end Dewayne Hendrix was scheduled to talk with the media after practice Tuesday but surprisingly no-showed. Hendrix finally appeared Wednesday to talk about his 2.5-sack performance against Virginia, and it turned out he skipped the interview the day before for a good reason. One of his teammates couldn’t get his car to start in the parking lot on the South Side, and Hendrix missed the interview period while helping his teammate get the car running and make it to class on time. — Grubba

DUQUESNE

• The Dukes got a visit after practice Wednesday from Billy Hahn, the former coach who most recently was an assistant to Bob Huggins at West Virginia for 10 seasons. Hahn talked to the team away from media cameras or microphones, but the former Maryland player under Lefty Driesell could be seen getting animated while talking with the Dukes. After practice, coach Keith Dambrot smiled when asked about Hahn’s visit and said, “We always do what we can when one of Hugs’ guys is around.” — Grubba

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