The Pirates' good players did some good things, the Pirates' bad players did some bad things, and the bad wound up badly outweighing the good.
Oh, and then even the baseball gods had seen enough.
Seriously, anyone seeking info on the 14-3 blowout by the Braves that didn't deserve to survive a seventh-inning rain delay on this soggy Wednesday afternoon at PNC Park, feel free to scroll right on down. Read all about Wil Crowe, Kyle Crick, Chasen Shreve, Jared Oliva, Duane Underwood Jr. and a whole lot of others who'll be long erased from this process once the going gets good.
Me, I'm turning the page. And no, not just on the book I brought in the event of rain.
I'm looking ahead. I'm thinking big. I'm projecting ... beyond the No. 1 overall pick in the MLB Draft this Sunday, and all the way out to 2023.
Check this out:
1. Liover Peguero, SS
2. Ke'Bryan Hayes, 3B
3. Bryan Reynolds, CF
4. Nick Gonzales, 2B
5. Oneil Cruz, RF
6. Mason Martin, 1B
7. Travis Swaggerty, LF
8. Jacob Stallings, C
9. Roansy Contreras, RHP
OK, so maybe it's 2024, given that Peguero and Gonzales are still with Class A Greensboro, but this exercise is tons more fun if the Grasshoppers are included. That allows top pitching prospect Quinn Priester and the rest of the riveting rotation there to partake. So let's go with late 2023 or opening day of 2024.
Now, let's add into it the very, very real possibility that Ben Cherington will trade one or more of Adam Frazier, Richard Rodriguez and/or Tyler Anderson by the looming July 31 deadline. And that a couple of the prospects who come in return will displace a couple of the names on that lineup up there.
That, based on pretty much every available baseball projection -- and they're all we can have in the moment -- could be a significant lineup. And bench. And rotation, if one counts Contreras and Priester along with JT Brubaker, Miguel Yajure and, say, Max Kranick. And maybe there'll be the back end of a bullpen, too, if David Bednar blossoms into the closer I'm expecting he'll be once Rodriguez is out. Or if Mitch Keller's converted to relief to simplify his approach.
Still with me?
OK, cool, because here's where it gets stickier than Gerrit Cole's hand a month ago: See, this pick the Pirates will make Sunday night, by almost every account, will be a high school kid. Likely a shortstop. Likely Marcelo Mayer of San Diego's Eastlake High School. Maybe Jordan Lawlar of Dallas Jesuit Prep. And either kid, no matter how gifted, how mature, won't make more than a cameo appearance in Pittsburgh for 3-4 years for the plain reason that he's 18 years old.
Which, theoretically, wouldn't exactly align with my super-awesome lineup up there. Or, further theoretically, with the career peaks of Hayes, Reynolds and maybe a few others.
So, yet again theoretically, why not utilize this extraordinary opportunity to pick a prospect who can arrive a little quicker? And with a little more certainty? And, you know, be a college player rather than one coming out of high school?
Well, Cherington met with we reporter types in person before this game -- first time since the pandemic he didn't feel like CGI -- and I went right ahead and got theoretical with him, wondering if there's any semblance of a window in this equation.
"Finding the right player in the draft is really hard," he began his reply. "I don't want to make it any harder for the group by saying we've got to take this or that kind of player because it lines up with some timeline. I'd rather us just focus on who's the best player for the Pirates and how can we get 19 more of them. Let’s just focus on that. And then, in terms of building a major-league team, there'll be all kinds of other ways to smooth that out. If we're talking about who's ready and who's not at different times, then we can get to that."
Translation, at least as I took it: If the big-league roster really looks ready for a leap in 2023 or 2024, there are worse cards a GM can be holding than a wealth of prospects. They always can be traded.
I brought that up with him, too.
"You know, we're gonna take a player 1-1 with the expectation and hope of that guy's a Pirate for a long time and helping us win," he came back to this one, visibly not about to trade the No. 1 pick in public before he's even pulled over a jersey. "Yeah, to get to the winning we want to do here, we'll have to make other moves, no matter what. It’s not just gonna be a matter of drafting players and then hands off. Obviously, that's not gonna happen. That kind of to me speaks to me that let's not worry about timelines because there's going to be all kinds of other things that we'll have to do to figure out the timeline."
Makes sense. No argument here.
It's just not nearly as much fun without the fantasy component of being able to scrawl all those names out.
And that's where I feel, to be blunt, a lot of the local draft dialogue's lost its way: The players they pick in this draft, from top to bottom, don't need to fill any positional needs -- Cherington reiterated for me here that positions won't even come up internally -- and don't need to be assigned to any timelines. The No. 1 pick, if he's a shortstop, doesn't need to be blocked by Peguero or anyone else. The No. 1 pick doesn't need to be part of the literal plan for 2023 or 2024. He can either be retained as part of some revolving door of prospects, to keep the pool plentiful or, if there's greater urgency, he can be moved for whatever the need is at that time.
I know. That's no fun. I'd like to picture all the stars magically aligning and select a target date, too. It's just that it doesn't work like that. It's baseball, and all things can take a long time.
Ask the baseball gods. All it took was a glorious five hours and 26 minutes to get this classic completed:
DEJAN KOVACEVIC / DKPS
Post-rain-delay seventh inning at PNC Park, late Wednesday afternoon.
OH, YEAH, THE GAME
• There went the chance at the season's first four-game winning streak and first sweep.
• Crick was ... not OK. This was his 26th appearance, and he's now walked 18 batters -- at least one in half his appearances. He'd walk his first two batters in the Atlanta sixth and, after a sac bunt, pinch-hitter Abraham Almonte rolled a single through a shifted infield to put the Braves ahead for good, 4-3.
Ronald Acuña Jr. blistered a single to left, and that brought out Shelton.
I asked Shelton about Crick's inconsistency of late -- he's been mostly effective, but also this -- and Shelton answered, "Yeah, it's just a matter of command. He's been over the plate and around the plate. Today, he was around the plate."
• Crowe was ... OK. This was his 15th start, and he's made exactly one that lasted longer than five official innings, that one spanning all of six innings May 8 at Wrigley Field. He'd last 4 2/3 here -- two runs, six hits, an Acuña solo home run in the third, four Ks, two walks, 97 pitches -- and that was that.
"You just have to keep going, keep giving your guys a chance to win," Crowe would observe afterward.
Nice guy. He's got OK stuff, OK command, OK mound presence, and he's basically been ... OK. Feels like either 4-A or middle relief to date.
• Underwood's terrible. And he was terrible well before this one-inning, seven-run, eight-hit embarrassment. And this is where the analysis gets silly, because he's got as much a chance of being part of the Pirates' future -- heck, maybe a week from now -- as I do.
• Couple bright spots: Stallings' three-run home run in the first brought a lead that lasted until Atlanta's five-run sixth inning. And impressive new guy John Nogowski went 4 for 5 with a scoreless inning of emergency relief.
• Sorry, that's as much as I can possibly type on that.
THE REST
• Veteran infielder Dee Strange-Gordon, 33, was signed to a minor-league deal. He's spent 10 seasons in the majors, though he'd spent all of the current one in Class AAA, split between the Brewers' and Cubs' affiliates and slashing .259/.299/.361. He opted out of his contract with Chicago, seeking a chance elsewhere, and became a free agent. Maybe he'll replace Frazier. We'll see.
• Contreras and Cruz will be shut down in Altoona for at least two weeks with forearm strains, director of sports medicine Todd Tomczyk said Wednesday morning in his weekly update, adding that neither issue appears serious.
• Also from Tomczyk but at the big-league level: Steven Brault (lat) and Yajure (elbow) are throwing in Bradenton, Colin Moran (wrist) hasn't resumed swinging yet, and Gregory Polanco (core) and Ka'ai Tom (lower back) are expected to return shortly after the All-Star Game.
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
• Scoreboard
• Standings
• Statistics
THE LINEUPS
Shelton's card:
1. Adam Frazier, 2B
2. Ke'Bryan Hayes, 3B
3. Bryan Reynolds, CF
4. Jacob Stallings, C
5. John Nogowski, 1B
6. Wilmer Difo, RF
7. Kevin Newman, SS
8. Jared Oliva, LF
9. Wil Crowe, RHP
And for Brian Snitker's Braves:
1. Ronald Acuña Jr.,RF
2. Freddie Freeman,1B
3. Ozzie Albies, 2B
4. Austin Riley, 3B
5. Orlando Arcia, LF
6. Dansby Swanson, SS
7. Guillermo Heredia, CF
8. Jonathan Lucroy, C
9. Drew Smyly, LHP
THE SCHEDULE
The Pirates head to New York for four with the Mets, opening Thursday night with JT Brubaker (4-8, 4.09) vs. Taijuan Walker (7-3, 2.44). Alex is on the trip.
IN THE SYSTEM
• Indianapolis
• Altoona
• Greensboro
• Bradenton
THE CONTENT
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