Kovacevic: Nutting's saying the right stuff, but still no Reynolds approach

The ball boomed off Bryan Reynolds' bat with little trajectory but also little need for any.

"Yeah," he'd tell me a lot later. "That felt good."

In the moment, anyway ...

... but not for long. Like so much else about the Pittsburgh Baseball Club's 136th home opener Tuesday afternoon at PNC Park, what began with promise wound up mostly a bummer: José Quintana's quality start set the tone for a productive pitching performance, but that didn't prevent two home runs from Chicago's rookie phenom, Seiya Suzuki. The home team would put runners in scoring position in five separate inning, but they'd go 0 for 10 in such situations. And by the time it was done, the Cubs prevailed, 2-1.

Oh, and one other thing wound up a bummer, at least from this perspective: Only a handful of hours after Bob Nutting spoke all the right stuff at the morning press conference formally announcing Ke'Bryan Hayes' eight-year, $70 million extension, going so far as to say, "It's time for us, as an organization, to put a stake in the ground," I learned that not a blessed thing's been done toward taking the same approach toward Reynolds.

Not to be a buzzkill here.

Look, no one's pushed harder for the Pirates to extend Reynolds and Hayes, plus anyone else who'd prove they fit the profile as a future fixture. I've already given appropriate credit to Nutting, Hayes and all concerned for a contract that comes with potential big-time benefits for both sides. It's everything this franchise needs to be doing.

And look, I'm on record as suggesting that now's the time for the Pirates to start firming out that foundation in Pittsburgh, both in writing and on a podcast I not-so-subtly entitled, 'Plant a freaking flag already.' What's more, I expressed this concept directly to Nutting a couple weeks ago in Bradenton, Fla., as part of an extensive talk we had down there.

Not much daylight between planting flags and stakes in the ground, right?

Great. So get Reynolds done.

There's no reason not to. None. Unless Reynolds and his representatives at CAA are being totally nutso about their dollar demands and, even there -- to make this clear again -- there's been no approach. Nothing at all's been discussed regarding dollars. And I'm not guessing at that. Had it doubly confirmed on this day. 

No, that shouldn't be seen as devastating. For anyone who doesn't know, Reynolds' rights are held for this season plus three more, all through the arbitration. Four years of Reynolds' prime is a pretty big deal in and of itself.

I'd think it's fair, though, to see it as disappointing.

I've been told repeatedly that the Pirates have zero intention of trading Reynolds, and I believe that based on voluminous precedent of these sources never once having misled me. (Also the not-so-small fact that he's, um, still here.) But that's hardly enough. Not for a young player of this caliber. Not when that player's legitimately every bit as interested in staying in Pittsburgh as Hayes was and is. And not, above all, when the money's absolutely available to make it happen.

Maybe there's a shorter-term bridge deal to be had, eating up a couple of those arbitration years. I've heard that's a possibility, and that'd be preferable to the status quo. Or maybe there's a way to broach the massive -- and really rare -- early payday the Pirates just handed to Hayes by putting $10 million into each of the first two years of this extension, versus the $1.5 million total he'd have received in pre-arbitration status. Make no mistake, that was a massive component to Hayes accepting the offer.

But there's no maybe if there's no approach.

There are two players in this fold, not one, who need to become stakes in this ground.

• Before I get to the game, allow me, please, to emphasize again that it's encouraging to see Nutting moving -- not just talking, but moving -- in the right direction.

For one, he spoke publicly for the first time since 2019. That's welcome. Everyone should hear what he's got to say.

For another, he took the uncharacteristic -- maybe unprecedented, as I can recall -- step of putting himself into positions where he can't easily backtrack.

Take this sequence from him, for example: “The organization's been through a lot over the last decade or so. We've certainly seen some successes, and we've seen some challenges. And during that time, we have realized that our greatest success came when we've had a core of young players that we believed in and we were really committed to. Core players that were winners in the field, winners in the clubhouse and strong representatives in our community. Players that make a real difference to the Pittsburgh Pirates. And Ke'Bryan is one of those players, and today is one of those moments."

At which point he finished with the aforementioned, “It's time for us, as an organization, to put a stake in the ground.”

It is. And he's now stated as much. Let's see where it goes.

Beginning with Reynolds, obviously.

• OK, to the game: Quintana was effective with the changeup, as Alex Stumpf analyzes. Awesome, but he also got away with some stuff, and a better lineup than Chicago's takes better advantage of that. I'm as nonplussed as I was about the actual acquisition. Makes no sense that he's here.

• No facet of this loss was more maddening than the stranded runners, but especially in the second inning when Roberto Perez led off with a flared double and wasn't bunted over to third by Cole Tucker to give Hayes or Reynolds a shot at a routine RBI.

I asked Derek Shelton why he'd eschew calling for an obvious bit of small-ball in that moment, and his response was ... interesting:

"Yeah, we had a couple of situations we could've done that," he'd reply. "A couple of those were not with the right guys at the plate to play small. We really just didn't have the right guys in the plate."

Right. So ... Tucker can't bunt from the right side of the box, where he was hitting against the Chicago lefty Drew Smyly?

Sorry, but that's not good enough. Anyone on any side of any box in the bigs needs to be able to put down a bleeping bunt. And if there's an exception to be made, it sure shouldn't be for a career .211 hitter who's off to an 0-for-10 start.

The other occasion, in the sixth, was understandable: Hayes led off with an infield single and stole second while Reynolds was up. It's asinine to ask Reynolds to bunt in virtually any setting.

Not so with Tucker. My goodness.

• Suzuki, the Cubs' $85 million offseason prize from Japan, will get around to adjusting to this level at some point, I suppose:

Here are both of his shots, the first off Quintana, the second off Anthony Banda:

Andy Green, Chicago's acting manager while David Ross served a one-game suspension for one of his pitchers throwing at Andrew McCutchen over the weekend at Wrigley, had only this to offer on Suzuki's early burst: "He's good. I mean, it's not rocket science. He can flat swing the bat. He's really done a good job of controlling the strike zone."

• Diego Castillo's no Suzuki, but he had another solid hit in this game, and his own career's off to a 5-for-13 start, this after a superlative spring training. It's not asking a lot to have him play more often than the various Josh VanMeter types hanging around.

• Imagine Nutting ever saying what Phil Castellini, the Reds' owner, said Tuesday morning on Cincinnati radio:

Yikes. Count the blessings.

• Official attendance was 34,458, about a thousand and change shy of a sellout. All Major League Baseball attendance figures are based on tickets in circulation, not turnstile count, but that number felt very accurate from where I sat.

As civic revolts go, I'd grade that, oh, about a D-minus.

• There was a $4.12 sale of some seats in conjunction with the 4-12, 4:12 p.m. them in our 412 area code, but those were gone a while ago. Most of what was left before first pitch was the pricier stuff down low, so it feels like the combination of beautiful weather, baseball and this ballpark did the lifting.

• Not a fraction of that will be on hand for the Wednesday finale of this two-game set, but any public statement that was going to be made would've been at the opener. And zippo.

Never forget that there's a perpetual chasm between the world of talk shows, social media and the like, and the world that most people actually live in.

• I'll be back here Wednesday to count all the heads. As ever, thanks for reading my baseball stuff.

THE ESSENTIALS

• Boxscore
• Live file
• Standings
• Statistics
• Schedule
• Scoreboard

THE HIGHLIGHTS

THE INJURIES

• 10-day injured list: OF Anthony Alford (hand), LHP Sam Howard (back), RHP Duane Underwood (hamstring), RHP Max Kranick (forearm), RHP Luis Oviedo (ankle)

• 60-day injured list: OF Greg Allen (hamstring), RHP Blake Cederlind (UCL), RHP Nick Mears (elbow surgery)

THE LINEUPS

Shelton's card:

1. Ke'Bryan Hayes, 3B
2. Brian Reynolds, CF
3. Michael Chavis, DH
4. Yoshi Tsutsugo, 1B
5. Diego Castillo, 2B
6. Kevin Newman, SS
7. Jake Marisnick, LF
8. Roberto Perez, C
9. Cole Tucker, RF

And for Green's Cubs:

1. Clint Frazier, DH
2. Willson Contreras, C
3. Patrick Wisdom, 3B
4. Frank Schwindel, 1B
5. Seiya Suzuki, RF
6. Nick Madrigal, 2B
7. Michael Hermosillo, CF
8. Ian Happ, LF
9. Nico Hoerner, SS

THE SCHEDULE

Only one more in this brief series with the Cubs, Thursday at 12:35 p.m. Zach Thompson will make the season debut he was supposed to make Monday in St. Louis before the rainout there, taking on Chicago righty Kyle Hendricks. I'll have this one, too.

THE CONTENT

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