Kovacevic's 21 Takes: Pirates have their manager, Penguins wasting assets, Steelers' priority

Derek Shelton was mad.

I'd swear he was. And I'd just as soon swear I'd never before seen it.

Oh, sure, he's barked at umpires, even gone a bit bonkers a couple times. But that's almost always theater, aimed at gaining some strategic advantage. It's seldom genuine anger.

And that's absolutely not what he was showing, at least from this perspective, following the Pirates' pinprick of a 7-6 loss to the Mets on this Sunday afternoon at PNC Park that, by all rights, should've seen a savage sweep of a first-place opponent that'd been curiously but unmistakably freaked out by this particular opponent for more than a week.

As it was, Shelton's entire opening statement, minutes after Richard Rodriguez blew the save by serving up a two-run home run to Michael Conforto in the ninth inning, was this: "Nice weekend with Henry Davis signing and the 1971 team. We just ... couldn't finish that game, which was unfortunate."

It actually was a wonderful weekend on the North Shore, largely because of these guys:

And this guy:

And let's not forget this guy:

And especially this guy:

The Pirates and Mets split a four-game set in New York just before the All-Star break, then resumed here with two more Ws, a fiery one Friday night followed by one of the great comebacks in franchise history the next.

Evidently, that wasn't enough, even for a team 20 games below .500. On Sunday, John Nogowski's two-run double and the dumbest play committed on Pittsburgh soil all summer -- sorry, Will Craig -- built up an instant six-run catapult.

With the fire still burning:

So when it all fizzled, with no further offense, with an embarrassing sixth inning that saw the offense leave bases loaded with three consecutive strikeouts, and then with Rodriguez's rare lapse ... it couldn't have been clearer that Shelton showed up for his postgame call with reporters prepared to do what he always does: Say something nice upfront, search for the positives, speak kindly of the other team, all that.

He tried. He failed. He barely got out the requisite mention of the first-round draft pick signing the same morning, and the 1971 heroes being back in town the previous day before he used the red-alert term "unfortunate." At least it was that for me because, again, I'd never heard him come close to criticizing his own.

It kept coming, all of it focused on that sixth inning in which Adam Frazier, Wilmer Difo and Bryan Reynolds -- his two best hitters sandwiched around his hottest -- watched way too many pitches sail past from funky lefty Aaron Loup in whiffing 1-2-3.

Shelton was asked about the weekend as a whole: "We played good baseball. We had opportunities today to win the game and take the series. We did not take advantage of those opportunities."

He was asked if the team fell flat with the big lead: "It was more execution. I'd say that, if we'd have gone the rest of the game and not had runners on base ... we just we had those opportunities when we didn't capitalize to extend the lead and, because of that, we end up losing the game."

I asked if maybe Loup's sidearm delivery presented deception issues: "I mean, that's severe crossfire. "It's very challenging, but we have got to do a better job of at least moving the ball at some point and making them catch it, and we didn't do that."

And the subject of still having zero sweeps this season, despite six chances, seemed to strike the wrongest chord of all: "It is frustrating. I'm happy that we put ourselves in a position to do that playing as well as we did against the team that’s leading the National League East. But to not finish it, especially after being up, it's frustrating."

Yeah, but was it frustrating?

And to close, when there was a pause in the questioning, Jim Trdinich, media relations guru, asked if anyone else had anything to ask ... and Shelton answered that himself:

Calm. Polite. Professional as ever. But not himself in so many other ways. No jokes. No banter. And above all, no acceptance.

Once more, to emphasize, this is without precedent. It's hardly flipping the clubhouse spread, and it barely registers a blip on the Lee Elia radar, but it's the first I've seen from this manager in his second season.

And it's awesome. I'm here to applaud it.

Actually, I'm here to applaud any progress. Because that's what the 2021 season's supposed to be about for this franchise. And I'll be damned if Shelton finally showing a few ruffled feathers doesn't represent exactly that. Because he expected to win. They expected to win. If I'm being brutally honest, they really shouldn't be expecting to win. They're not good enough. The organizational talent's still two or more years away. But that's still the expectation.

Look, every time Shelton pulls a pitcher too soon or too late, it's become a common refrain in the fan base to wonder if Shelton will be right for this role once that talent does arrive. I hear that. I'd imagine he hears it, too.

We can't have that answer yet, obviously. But I'd think it's plenty fair to weigh how relentless these Pirates have become, even amid frequent failure, as a reflection of the man at the helm. Be sure there's no more vital trait that he could be exhibiting in 2021.

• Loup, the New York lefty, had this to say of the Pirates going 4-3 against his first-place Mets: "They're a good team." Then, seemingly catching himself and after having acknowledged he'd already had a couple beers since getting to the clubhouse, "They're scrappy. They'll really battle you."

The Pirates aren't a good team at this stage of their build, at the risk of stating the flagrantly obvious. They're 36-57, and only three teams across Major League Baseball have a lower winning percentage. But they've gone 13-13 since that 10-game losing streak in mid-June that looked as if it might push the season over a cliff, and that included taking series from the Mets, Indians, Cardinals and Braves, plus splitting with the White Sox, the American League's No. 1 team.

"They'll really battle you" is a legit compliment in that setting.

• After the excruciating DFA carousel across the outfield in April and May, it could've been easy to bury Ben Cherington for either trying too hard to sift through the rubble or for not giving the rubble much of a chance. But finding both John Nogowski and Ben Gamel mid-season, plus Wilmer Difo beforehand, goes a long way toward vindicating the approach.

Expect to see more of it.

“Look at the teams getting deep into October,” Cherington spoke Sunday on his weekly radio show. “Sure, there'll be plenty of examples of players on those teams who get drafted, come up through the system and become part of their core. We absolutely have to do that. But there are also always examples of guys who those teams acquired them almost for nothing and were at a point in their careers where they needed a change of scenery, an opportunity, maybe a little different, fresh approach to coaching. Maybe they improve in some small way, and it’s enough to push them over the top. When we have opportunity in terms of playing time to give, we’ve got to be taking advantage of that by finding guys like that.”

Yet another difference between Cherington and his predecessor. Neal Huntington was so immersed in the minors, the draft and so forth that Pittsburgh seemed an afterthought at times.

• That said, Cherington's got work to do to get Gregory Polanco off the field. The sooner the better.

And yes, Nogowski can play the corner outfield. Once Colin Moran's healthy, that's a no-brainer. Enough's enough.

• What Cherington, Steve Sanders and staff have achieved in this draft can't be accurately assessed for several years, as with any baseball draft.  But Cherington's general approach to acquiring talent -- quality and quantity -- couldn't have been executed with more meticulous planning precision.

Check out this table of the signings to date, by local baseball finances expert Ethan Hullihen:

Plain and simple, got Davis, who Cherington said was No. 1 on their baseball board -- he's yet to be caught in a lie, so I'm trusting that -- and every other player signed so far below their assigned slot value. Which will allow them to add the other three prospects they chose out of Baseball America's top 32.

Again, doesn't mean they'll all make it. They won't. But they also won't all flop, and this multiplies the chances for success rather than laying everything on Davis.

• For those who reported to class late, all of the Pirates' $14.4 million allotment for the draft gets spent. It's just a question of how. This isn't about Bob Nutting cheaping out or buying ski lifts or whatever.

• Assets can't be squandered at any level. Adam Frazier should be traded only if the return includes a top-100 prospect, and I'll stubbornly stick to that. He's leading the majors in hits, he's a Gold Glove finalist in the field, and he still isn't 30. If that price can't be met, he needs to stay put, maybe even get extended.

This is way too good a ballplayer to just give away.

• This won't be popular, but I don't have a problem with the Penguins' trade of Jared McCann.

Wait, wait, at least hear it out:

1. There's no such thing as evaluating a trade in isolation in the context of an expansion draft, like the one happening Wednesday night in Seattle. If the latter weren't in the equation, McCann stays put. He wasn't going to be protected, so it was trade him or give him up for nothing.

2. The trade return, out of necessity, had to be pieces that wouldn't be exposed to Seattle. Hence, the return of a prospect, Filip Hallander, and a seventh-round draft pick. Ron Francis can't claim either, obviously.

3. Both Jim Rutherford and Bill Guerin told me, separately, they believe Hallander will be a solid, smart, skilled 200-foot player in the NHL. I was impressed with the kid, too, including off the ice. He's 21, he's got a sturdy, 6-foot-1, 190-pound frame and has long been projected into the power-forward mold. I didn't like Hallander's inclusion in the Kasperi Kapanen trade last year and wrote as much at the time. This system needs more of Hallander, not less.

• Now, all that said ... McCann didn't need to be exposed. And yeah, it's OK to analyze these on separate tracks.

Ron Hextall's protected list, released Sunday morning, is as follows:

Forwards: Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Jake Guentzel, Bryan Rust, Teddy Blueger, Jeff Carter, Kapanen

Defensemen: Kris Letang, Brian Dumoulin, Mike Matheson

Goaltender: Tristan Jarry

My stated preference had been to keep McCann and Tanev, while exposing Carter and Blueger. In particular, I couldn't stomach the potential loss of Tanev. To borrow my own phrasing from above, the Penguins need more of Tanev, not less. But I don't feel any less strongly about Carter and, in fact, the only reason I was OK with exposing him was that I couldn't see Seattle claiming a 36-year-old. Add to that Malkin's likely absence from the start of the season due to the knee surgery, and it makes more sense.

Look, these calls aren't easy. If they were, the Maple Leafs wouldn't have turned around and exposed McCann themselves. I'd never want to have to make them for anything more than a fun exercise. But in the same breath, I'm comfortable saying that any expansion draft in which a team loses two significant assets rather than the mandatory one ... that didn't go well.

We'll see.

• If Cody Ceci goes unclaimed, sign him. Better yet, just sign him, anyway. Find a way to keep this guy.

• Ran into Blueger the other day, shortly after he signed his two-year, $4.4 million contract, and I'm here to to attest he wanted nothing more than to earn those future paychecks right here in Pittsburgh. This is a self-made player, and this is where it happened for him. Good for him.

• With Carter and Blueger staying put, I'll renew my call here for Mike Sullivan to consider Carter for Crosby's right wing.

For one, the top-six will instantly come with a bigger, stronger feel.

For another, my goodness, Carter can still play.

For yet another, while it's wonderful to run four deep down the middle, Blueger's shown himself to be better than fourth-line material, and Radim Zohorna seems to be a viable option to assume that spot. His own 6-6 frame would boost the size component, as well.

• When Hextall told our Dave Molinari that he believes this roster will need only 'tweaks,' he was absolutely right. The Penguins outplayed the Islanders by every analytic, advanced or otherwise, except for goaltending. They were the better team for five of the six games. That doesn't count on the scoreboard, of course, but it does when evaluating a roster.

• Hate to pound this issue 7 feet deep, but the goaltending upgrade can't be optional. And, by the way, if McCann's cap space helps to procure that, it's got to be fairly weighed into that trade, too.

• The Steelers' training camp opens Thursday on the South Side and, from the first whistle blown, the top priority will be the same one defined by Art Rooney II way back in January: Run the bleeping ball.

All eyes will be on Najee Harris, and that's as it should be. He's the high-profile, high-pedigree first-round pick, and he's the one who told us all upon being drafted, "I would never try to blend in anywhere. I try to stand out."

Awesome. Can't wait to cover it. And I'm betting the thousands of fans who'll descend upon Heinz Field for the public portion of camp, July 28-Aug. 18, can't wait to see him, either.

At the same time, he can't hit holes that aren't there. And there's only so much jarring or juking any back can do before being blown up. So my eyes will be fixed squarely on the big bodies in front of him.

Being blunt here, the offensive line makes or breaks the coming season. It's the swing vote. The names on the big boys' jerseys might as well be Florida, Ohio, Wisconsin, Georgia and North Carolina. If they can somehow make every camp day count and come up with the camaraderie and schematic chemistry needed to succeed right from the first snap in Buffalo, the overall outlook ... wow, it soars.

And if they don't?

I've got faith in the tackles. Zach Banner and Chuks Okorafor are both capable and driven. I liked what little we were able to see of Kevin Dotson last season, I've long had respect for B.J. Finney, I'm very skeptical of a Trai Turner rebound, and I'm terrified of what's at center. Put it all together, presuming it plays out that way, and I could still see Kevin Colbert venturing to the outside for further help. Here's hoping he's still open to that.

But make no mistake: This is where it's won or lost.

• Banner spent his Saturday night tweeting up a storm in support of the Pirates' rally, then wrapped up with this:

Professional athletes being on social media includes that, too. Just no one chases the grandchildren off the lawn over it.

• Let's get this straight: Dwayne Haskins was guilty of exactly nothing when he was struck in the face by his wife last week in Las Vegas, per a police report, and lost a tooth.

Let's get this straight, too: Domestic violence runs in both directions.

And finally this: An athlete's name being part of a headline doesn't make the athlete the responsible party.

• It's tempting to take Chase Claypool as my prime breakout candidate for 2021. He might have the highest ceiling of anyone on the offense, and the offense as a whole grossly underachieved last season. Ideal formula right there.

But I'll take another receiver instead.

Diontae Johnson's bound to be undervalued, maybe even ignored, by some observers, in part because of his obscene total of 15 drops, most in the NFL, and because one such spell got him benched in Buffalo. It was a lousy look, for sure.

But he still wound up being Ben Roethlisberger's No. 1 target, and he'll be that again. Amid all the butterfingers, Johnson's also seen 46% of his targets find him as 'open' over his first two NFL seasons, per a Pro Football Focus film study, a figure that's 6-8% better than then league average. He's an elite route-runner, his quarterback trusts him, and that's a critical combination to have. Plus, he can get downfield, too.

Big, big year coming for Johnson. One that'll overshadow the rest of the corps.

• Breakout on defense?

I mean, heck, that'd better be Devin Bush, right?

The front office didn't trade up into the top 10 of a draft to settle for a reliable starter. They were looking for dynamism. They were thinking elite, kind of like what the Bucs just got out of Devin White in a brilliant Super Bowl performance. White was taken fifth overall in 2019, Bush 10th, and the two were seen as neck-and-neck by most analysts at the time. Whereas few would see it that way now.

Bush needs to pop his head through the roof right about now.

• I've got 10-7 until I'm talked out of it. This team's flawed, but it's also got generational talents on both sides of the ball. Just needs some glue.

• Yet again, the NFL leads the way:

This is how it'll have to be done, unfortunately. The vaccine doesn't bat 1.000 -- only John Nogowski does that -- but 99.5% of all COVID deaths in the United States are now among the non-vaccinated. Which is, for data purposes, pretty much everyone. And these are the types of steps that'll have to be taken to ... well, keep people from killing themselves.

Where sports are concerned, the NFL's approach will be ostracize those who don't care enough to get the shot. They'll do their work virtually. They'll be out of team classrooms. They'll be subject to voluminous testing and rigid safety standards. Not as punishment, but as common sense.

Sorry for the soapbox. This is not about politics. It's about public health. About saving lives.

Here's factual information on the vaccines from the CDC, including how and where to get them.