What if I told you the next Tyler Glasnow was already in the Pirates' fold?
OK, what if I further told you that people who could actually evaluate such a thing -- meaning not Neal Huntington or anyone in the current baseball operations -- are the ones who feel this way?
OK, so it's ... uh, Clay Holmes.
No, really.
Amid a week of endless fuss over firings, hirings and other potential firings at 115 Federal, I also invested some fun time in discussing real baseball with real baseball players, and it was a comparative blast. Maybe the day will come again soon when more Pittsburghers are back to discussing real baseball, provided Bob Nutting and now Travis Williams make the right move and completely clean house.
We talked about possible lineups for 2020, possible rotation options, a possible new closer ... and Holmes.
No, it sure wasn't me who brought him up. Not after his 35 appearances in his age-26 season wrought a 5.58 ERA, a 1.62 WHIP, 36 walks and nine hit batsmen -- not a misprint on that one -- in 50 innings. From this perspective, he looked no less putrid than he probably looked to you.
Not so with his fellow participants in the field.
One player with whom I spoke brought up Holmes unsolicited in saying, "He's Glasnow. That's what he is. He's Glasnow when he was with us." Which, candidly, sounded about right. Except for the part where Glasnow got good the moment his plane touched down in St. Pete.
I sought more, and the player came back, "He'll bring it at 100. You'll see. If they ever just let him pitch and drop the two-seam, he'll be at 100. He'll be unhittable. You'll see. We've all seen it."
Another player also brought up Holmes on his own. Virtually identical sentiment. Neither's a pitcher, but he, too, described it as a common sentiment in the clubhouse.
All I'll add is that, in Holmes' final seven appearances, he did put forth a 1.02 WHIP in 7 2/3 innings, striking out six and walking only three. Also, for whatever it's worth in a small sample of hollow September ball, he did stay away from the sinker and, for once, stopped nibbling and fired right into the zone in allowing his natural movement to take over.
Whatever. We'll see. Thought I'd share.
MORE PIRATES
• Not really sure what to do with this information I got Thursday night, but this certainly is the place for this sort of thing: Buck Showalter would welcome a chance at being the next GM in Pittsburgh, should the job, indeed, open up. No, not manager but GM. Showalter was a finalist for the Phillies' managerial opening that earlier Thursday went to Joe Girardi, and Showalter's never held a GM post, but this wasn't smoke being blown. This was serious. -- DK
• Yes, Huntington and Kyle Stark are still being entrusted, for now, with the Pirates' search for a manager. No, I don't know why. -- DK
• Huntington told members of his baseball operations staff on a conference call yesterday that it's business as usual. Which almost immediately made the rounds to the point that it made it here. -- DK
• Almost nobody in baseball operations at any non-management level has a contract for 2020, and people are getting understandably jittery. That includes the remaining major-league coaching staff, though I've been told by several sources that the dual hitting coaches, Rick Eckstein and Jacob Cruz, are a good bet to be back. That'll be immensely popular with the players. -- DK
• I wrote late Wednesday that Ogden Nutting, Bob's father, is livid with the state of the franchise. Some readers, somewhat to my surprise, took that to mean that Ogden was pushing the son to action. I'm assured that the action currently taking place is all coming from Bob, as I'd thought upon writing it. No drama on this front. -- DK
• Feels like it's worth repeating: Huntington's job is anything but safe. I believe that more strongly now than 24 hours ago. But Nutting and Williams apparently would prefer that Williams does his own due diligence. I'll obviously ask more about this at the Monday introduction at PNC Park. -- DK
STEELERS
• With the NFL on to Week 7, the Steelers have to make a decision: Do they keep Donte Moncrief and forfeit a third-round compensatory pick, or do they let him go before Week 10 and keep their compensation for losing Le'Veon Bell in free agency? To remind, the Eagles released L.J. Fort a few weeks ago, thus throwing the Steelers' signings and losses out of balance. And because of the compensatory pick rules, the Steelers would currently receive nothing in return for losing Bell if they don't release Moncrief -- or Steven Nelson, which they're not going to do. But it's not all that simple. According to the NFLPA, the Steelers are just $3.4 million under the 2019 salary cap. Since Moncrief's a vested veteran, his entire $1.5 million base salary would count against the team's roster. And his signing bonus would push his cap hit to $3.5 million, increasing his cap hit this season an additional $250,000. If the team happens to win its next two games -- and Moncrief is a factor, which is a possibility -- will the Steelers release him and then also have to sign a replacement? Can they afford to do so? The Steelers, by the way, aren't the only team affected by this loophole. When the Titans released defensive end Brent Urban last week, it put a potential fourth-round compensatory pick in jeopardy for the Ravens. The Ravens responded by cutting special teams ace Justin Bethel, whom they had signed to a two-year, $4-million contract in the offseason, with John Harbaugh admitting the move had been made to save the compensatory selection. -- Dale Lolley at Rooney Complex
• The latest proposal by the NFL to players in negotiations for a new CBA included an idea to bump the league's regular season schedule up to 17 games and eliminate one preseason game. That 17th game would either be played at a neutral site or teams would have nine home games every other season. Steelers' NFLPA rep Ramon Foster isn't buying it. "I think it's honestly a feeler, to see how (the media) feels about it," Foster told me. "They know there's got to be a lot more than just that. There's got to be more than just money." Foster cited better benefits and more players becoming vested. The pie might grow with an extra week of regular season games, but that wouldn't change the fact players would be asked to participate in an additional game. And eliminating one of the preseason games wouldn't affect that, since it would be front-line players, not those trying to earn roster spots, who would be playing the additional game. "We're still getting paid over 17 weeks, that wouldn't change unless they added an additional bye week in," Foster said. "People could say, 'Screw the offseason. Make it just four weeks.' There's a lot that's got to be talked out about this." -- Lolley
• The NFL trade deadline will come and pass next Tuesday. It used to not matter. Teams rarely traded players in-season. But in the past couple of seasons, we've seen a marked increase in that. "I think it's a good thing," Foster said. "Teams are making sacrifices. It's not just the same old mundane. It used to be running quarterbacks weren't supposed to be good and now we've got Lamar (Jackson) and (Patrick) Mahomes. Things evolve. We might have an offensive tackle throw a ball someday. Teams are doing whatever they can do to try to win. Draft picks are what they are." -- Lolley
• Tanking a season has been a big subject this year and certainly is for the Steelers with the Dolphins coming to town Monday night. The Dolphins have torn down their roster in an effort to acquire as many draft picks as they can, including potentially the No. 1 pick next year by having the league's worst record. That included trading starting left tackle Laremy Tunsil and starting wide receiver Kenny Stills to the Texans for multiple draft picks just before the start of the season, and free safety Minkah Fitzpatrick to the Steelers after Week 2 for a first-round pick. It's something on which the NFLPA is keeping an eye. "If you're tanking, that means you're putting your players in positions to lose," Foster told me. "They're putting their bodies at risk and you're doing it for your personal benefit. Guys still have to go play. The money means nothing if you're losing." -- Lolley
• Didn't like Benny Snell's extra-curricular scuffles and emotion against the Chargers? Snell told me it's not about ego or disrespect or anything of the sort. It's just his fire for the game of football and his personality shining through. "I'm a fun guy. I like to have fun on the field. I'm living my dream. I'm 21, man. I enjoy every day. So when I'm out there — especially all the fans and the lights — I like to have fun." And when veterans such as David DeCastro and Ramon Foster are coming up to congratulate him and to hype him on the field? Yeah, that makes it extra sweet. "It's amazing. Not too long ago, I was just a little kid running around watching them on TV. And now I take coaching from them. Now they're helping me up from the bottom of the pile. It's definitely a blessing and it's definitely a learning situation every time I'm out there with them." -- Hunter Homistek at Rooney Complex
PENGUINS
• The Penguins have been looking to make a trade -- ideally, involving one of the nine defensemen currently on their major-league roster -- for a while, but Jim Rutherford said having the team be in a three-game losing streak does not add any urgency to his efforts to put together a deal. "I'm not going to make a decision based on losing a few games," he said. "I really didn't expect to win every game this year." As for his ongoing attempts to move a defenseman, Rutherford added, "We haven't done anything at this point." -- Dave Molinari in Dallas
• Sam Lafferty looks like a hockey player, and not just because he moves around the ice with speed and purpose most of the time. No, he actually looks the part, with two upper teeth on the right side of his mouth missing. That's a souvenir of his rookie season, which Lafferty spent in the American Hockey League. "I took a high stick in Wilkes-Barre, playing against Springfield, toward the end of the year," he said. Lafferty wears replacement teeth when he's away from the rink, so the gap in his smile isn't evident then. And make no mistake, Lafferty has a lot to smile about, considering how he has performed since being summoned from the Baby Penguins. His strong play has given friends and family members plenty of reason to make the drive from his hometown of Hollidaysburg any time the Penguins are at home. The best part of all for Lafferty might be that he hasn't had to absorb the cost of getting them into the arena. "We only get a few (tickets) to give out," he said. "So most people are happy, I think, to buy their own ticket." -- Molinari
• Patric Hornqvist is off to a solid start -- he has five goals and three assists in the Penguins' first 11 games -- and has shown no signs of wearing down the way he did last season. And while it's pretty much inevitable that Hornqvist's rambunctious style will take a toll on him as the season progresses, he says he has a strategy for holding up as well as possible, for as long as possible. "You have to take care of your body," he said. "We have the best (training/medical) staff in the league. If you need help, you're on the (trainer's) table. If you feel good, cold tub, hot tub. You take care of your body. It's the same with eating well. And train hard." -- Molinari
• Kevin Stevens had 295 assists in 522 games when he was a left winger with the Penguins, and he's had a few more during a couple of stints as a scout for them. One of his latest was seeing the potential of John Marino during his days at Harvard -- when Adam Fox, now with the New York Rangers, was the offensive attention-grabber on the Crimson's top defense pairing -- and convincing Rutherford to acquire his rights from Edmonton this summer. Turns out that Stevens wasn't the only one who played a part in selling Rutherford on Marino, though. "Scott Young and Kevin Stevens really did a terrific job on scouting him, reporting on where he was at in his career and projecting where he could be," Rutherford said. "Everything they said turned out to be accurate." For the record, Young had 16 assists of his own in 43 games with the Penguins during the 1990-91 season. -- Molinari
