Kovacevic: At the (much needed) break, are the Pirates any better?

DENVER -- Michael Chavis and Kevin Newman smacked three hits each for a lineup that’d been the saddest of splinters the first two nights here at high altitude, Oneil Cruz followed a four-K golden sombrero with a clutch RBI, Bryse Wilson put together another so-so start after which he’ll be bounced right back to Indianapolis, David Bednar bounced back from his Miami miseries and … man, it’s as if all this time’s ticked away and we still have not the slightest clue who these 2022 Pirates are.

Or where they are, in whatever passes for progress.

A road trip of 5,000-plus miles that covered four cities, 11 days and 12 games wound up at .500 after an 8-3 rolling of the Rockies on this searing Sunday afternoon at Coors Field, and it left the season record at 39-54 entering the All-Star break. 

Some good. Some bad.

Some legit great. Some legit godawful. 

All of which left me with one overarching thought: Has this team gotten any better?

Meaning from Bradenton to now.

I asked that of Derek Shelton on this day, and he came back with some zest.

"Yes, I think it is," he began. "I think we've gotten better and in different areas. I mean, there's still room for improvement. You know, we played a lot of close games. We've got a young group that, you know, needs to learn how to finish games. I think it's a credit to us being a better baseball team, because we've gone through ... what, 55 guys, which is a league record, in the first half?"

Right. It's 55, most in the majors.

"And to be able to do that and continue to get better and lose significant guys, especially significant veteran guys for a length of time, I think we are a better baseball team. And I think we're that throughout our 40-man roster, because we've seen almost our entire 40-man, which you rarely get to do in the first 80-some games of the season."

Also right. And it didn't hurt, as I then mentioned that most of those recalls -- Jack Suwinski, Roansy Contreras, Tucupita Marcano, Cal Mitchell, Bligh Madris, a cameo for Liover Peguero -- fared well upon their initial promotions from the minors.

"Oh, 100%. I mean, Jack ... if we'd have come into the break and said Jack Suwinski's gonna have 14 homers ... or all the other guys ... I think, in that way, we're better. You know, I understand people look at the record and think, like, OK, we need to continue to get better. And we do. But in the long run, in terms of being a Pirates fan, the fact that we're getting these guys experience is huge for us. And it's even a greater sense this year because these guys are getting experience after they missed all 2020. And I cannot stress how big a factor that is. Because the difference between Triple-A and the big leagues is probably the greatest it's ever been. So the fact that we're getting to be able to calibrate what guys look like in a major-league setting ... yeah, that's why we're better."

I asked the same question of the team's most invested player, Ke'Bryan Hayes, fresh off an eight-year, $70 million extension on opening day in St. Louis.

"Yeah, definitely," he replied. "Just from playing games -- a lot of close games -- learning about each other, coming together, a lot of the young guys like Cal, Jack, Tucupita ... it seemed like every one who came up immediately did good. And I'm probably happiest about that, because it kind of shows a glimpse into the future."

I went to JT Brubaker, maybe the team's most improved player, as well:

With all that in mind, then, here's my own breakdown of the Pirates at the break, in the form of a 10-point best/worst list:

Best win: There've been 19 comebacks, eight wins in the final at-bat and four walkoffs at PNC Park, but it's inconceivable that any outcome in the Ben Cherington/Shelton era could top the 8-4 doubling up -- and a thorough three-game sweep -- of the Dodgers, June 1 in Los Angeles. 

Taking the field with roughly 1/6 of Major League Baseball's most bloated payroll, at the sport's all-time record of $263.5 million, three mostly young lineups not only put together their first sweep of any series of any length since August 2020, but also, according to L.A. manager Dave Roberts, "These guys played their tails off against us. I thought they outpitched us. Situationally, offensively, they were better than us. They made big plays on the defensive side that flipped innings. You've got to give them credit."

"We're running out a really young group of players, a bunch of rookies," Shelton would say. "To come into this environment and to do that, it's pretty special."

Sure was. Hasn't been another sweep since.

Worst loss: There've been more lopsided scores, notably by 21-0 at Wrigley Field in the season's second week, but the 18-4 crushing by the Cardinals, May 22 at PNC Park, came with the extraordinary distinction of earning both criticism and accountability from both Cherington and Shelton.

Oh, it took another day for any of that, but it came, not coincidentally, I'm sure, after a robust public reaction, and it included Cherington making multiple moves and Shelton acknowledging that "effort" wasn't there.

Hasn't been another such response since, this despite a blowout loss basically every other week.

Best position player: By the end of May, Bryan Reynolds was batting .212 with all of a dozen RBIs. And the longer he slumped, the more he fumed, only compounding the matter, from what I experienced in our conversations at the time. Even when he'd get results, he'd complain they didn't come the right way.

Less than a month and a half later, he's once again this team's best player. By an uncomfortable margin, I should add. 

Before going on the IL a week ago, he was slashing .261/.343/.465 with 15 home runs, 35 RBIs, a team-best .808 OPS and impeccable defense in center. He's also begun to take a more vocal, visible leadership role, which I can't say I'd anticipated. Even while hurt here this weekend at Coors Field, I could see him hanging over the dugout railing, as engaged as ever, and even getting into trouble with a home plate ump for making too much noise over ball-strike calls.

No, he's not getting traded. Stop that.

Worst position player: It tears into my soul to not award this to Yu Chang or Josh VanMeter, but they'll still get their due in this column. Patience, please.

I'm not sure I've ever seen a hitter -- and pardon the liberal stretch of the term -- put into more prominent positions to fail, then follow through on that failure in the most mind-numbing ways, than Yoshi Tsutsugo.

Oh, I remember how he was Babe Ruth for a couple weeks last fall. And I remember how a lot of people -- I'm no exception, sadly -- praised Cherington for signing him to the one-year, $4-million contract over the winter. But hey, we aren't paid to make major baseball decisions, and we aren't equipped with even a fraction of the data a GM has with which to make such decisions.

It's hardly Yoshi's fault that he batted cleanup 23 times, fifth in the order 14 times. That's on management. But he's the one out there mustering 26 whole hits out of 170 plate appearances, and only two home runs and 15 RBIs.

We might never see anything like it.

Or we will.

Best pitcher: I'm delighted Bednar's representing Pittsburgh, in more ways than one, at the All-Star Game in L.A. this week. And he earned it. Until the past couple of weeks, when a lingering back issue might or might not have contributed to an uncharacteristic lack of command, he'd rated among the top closers anywhere.

But sorry, starting always trumps relief in importance, and it will with this vote, as well: Mitch Keller's past nine starts have brought a 3.40 ERA, an average 5.6 innings of length and, maybe most important, an unprecedented poise and confidence rooted in, of all things, becoming a true pitcher.

As he told me here Saturday after six more innings of one unearned run, "This feels good to have everything at my disposal."

That began with a risky switch to a sinker-heavy repertoire leading into this run, but it soon added a slider that Keller essentially taught himself in side sessions at PNC Park in early May. And once he'd command that slider -- it wasn't instant -- that 100-mph fastball he'd found in the offseason was relegated to a tertiary, keep-'em-honest offering.

Worst pitcher: Anthony Banda, Heath Hembree and Wilson made respectable pushes, but there'll be nice prizes out back for all three.

Alas, this baby's going right back to Miguel Del Pozo for a third consecutive year, as the scars still haven't fully healed from the five worst outings anyone's ever pitched in the franchise's 136-year history: 3 2/3 innings over five appearances, seven hits and eight walks over 25 batters faced and, for the cherry on top, a wild pitch that followed three of those walks in succession.

Congrats again, King!

Best play: Jake Marisnick doesn't play much, and he generally hits less, but the man might well take gold, silver and bronze for defensive gems, none superior to this:

That extraordinary effort, May 9 against the Padres at PNC Park, needs to take into account that he's sprinting full speed toward a bleeping wall, with no apparent regard for where the track begins and, uh, his life ends?

Eternal loop, baby. 

Worst play: Wait, the first baseman didn't step on first base?

Oh, no. In the name of Will Craig, how'd VanMeter pull off an equally embarrassing blunder at that bag?

Dishonorable mention, by the way, to Mike Rabelo's send of Newman in Milwaukee, and Marisnick's attempted steal of home in Miami, both on this trip. 

Best GM move: Signing Hayes at a team-record yet reasonable rate. It'll be a bargain if he's just an above-average player, as opposed to what I expect he'll become.

Worst GM move: At least when Tsutsugo was signed, there was a transparent justification for it.

But Chang?

Yet another trash-heap utility guy on top of all the trash-heap utility guys already in the fold? With young players due to arrive? With Chang having been 0 for 14 at the plate in Cleveland just beforehand?

Small wonder Shelton kept having to run him out there.

Best managerial move: Sending Bednar back out for the ninth May 31 in L.A. was maybe the first time in Shelton's tenure I felt he was managing toward winning that night's game. His closer wanted redemption. His dugout was on edge, wanting to beat that team. He might've been cornered, but what's relevant is that he responded to it.

Worst managerial move: Ironically, Shelton won't ever want to have a moment as awful as allowing Cam Vieaux to pump out 56 pitches in a single inning of a 19-2 Milwaukee romp July 1 at PNC Park, rightly earning robust criticism from across the way -- the Brewers themselves acknowledged cringing while scoring eight times on six hits and three walks -- and across the baseball world. 

To Shelton's credit, it sure sounds like a lesson was learned. He couldn't have been more contrite the next day.

Best surprise: Suwinski's arrival from Altoona as an emergency outfielder barely raised an eyebrow outside the clubhouse, but he'd proceed to belt 14 home runs over two months and still leads all big-league rookies in that category.

And within that, three of those came on an unforgettable Father's Day at PNC Park, with the last bringing a wild walkoff that was wonderfully captured at ground level by the team's videographer:

To boot, Reynolds, Suwinski and even Michael Perez had three-home-run games in June, an all-time first in baseball. 

Worst surprise: Suwinski and Perez were demoted to Indianapolis last Friday. For real. On the same day.

The former was mired in an 0-for-29 and had begun check-swing whiffing frequently, and that was seen as a red flag, considering he'd never spent a minute at the Class AAA level. No one expects him to be down for long, from what I gather, but then, not many might've expected he'd ever go back.

Best moment: In so many ways ...

Worst moment: Bednar's blown save the other night in Miami. Not pictured. On purpose.

Best tool: The Oneil Cruz tool:

Still needs some sharpening, as he showed all weekend here, but that's the comparatively easy part. Being capable of doing things that other humans can't ... not so much.

Worst tool: The effort gets an A-plus, anyway:

Best quote: Wil Crowe, May 29 in San Diego, to our Alex Stumpf:

• Worst quote: Cherington's word-salad response when asked on the afternoon of May 22 if he'd seen progress to that point can't be paraphrased, so here's every syllable: "We do see progress. We certainly have a lot of work to do to get better. That’ll never stop. But we are seeing real progress in specific areas this year. I think I’d start with, on a team level, just how we are making decisions. How we are preparing for games and making decisions inside the games. You can call it deployment. You can call it whatever you want. I’m really encouraged by the way we’re making decisions in terms of who’s in the lineup, when the pitcher's in the game, when the pitcher’s out of the game, the strategy. That is something … when you’re really good at that stuff, and you have lots of good players, then the strategy is amplified. Because you have lots of good players to take advantage of the strategy. That turns into winning."

The 18-4 loss to the Cardinals began an hour later.

Talent turns into winning. The rest is window dressing.

• Best stat: These Pirates are now 32-10 when scoring four or more runs, 7-44 when scoring fewer than four. And they're currently averaging 3.6 runs per game.

I embrace this one because it allows me to regularly repeat that it wouldn't have taken much of an effort from the front office, beginning with Bob Nutting, to have allowed this season to represent real progress at the only level of the organization that should matter.

• Worst stat: It's now exactly 15,615 days -- or 42 years, nine months -- since Omar Moreno squeezed that fly ball in center to seal Kent Tekulve's save and Pittsburgh's fifth World Series championship, Oct. 17, 1979, in Baltimore.

Remind everyone at 115 Federal.

• Wilson was the recall earlier in the day, and was OK with a 3 1/3-inning line of two runs on four hits. More relevant from his standpoint, he's allowed a total of five runs over 12 2/3 innings in his past three starts, all made on a one-and-back-down basis like this.

• The Pirates' first run saw Daniel Vogelbach launch one of the longest, highest singles anyone will see:

Because there were runners at the corners and because it appeared Charlie Blackmon had a chance at that fly, the runners had to freeze, and only Newman could score. That'd be it for the inning.

• Marisnick's 8 for 20 since coming off the IL with the thumb injury, including this two-run double in the third for a 3-1 lead:

I find it hard to believe there isn't a contender who couldn't use an exceptional defender with some bat. Late-inning replacement 'n' at.

• Chavis needs to be the first baseman every single day for as long as Tsutsugo is the only other option. He's earned it. Pass it along.

As for that brilliance I referenced at the top:

It’s not as if the manager isn’t aware. It just isn’t his choice to play the other guy.

“How about Chavis? Defense or offense? What did you like better?” Shelton beamed afterward in his office. “I mean, the offense was great. But, you know, I think this is a guy that doesn't get enough credit for as good a first baseman as he is. Even if you look at it metrically, this guy's in the top five in the game in a lot of categories over there. And today, he helped us win a game.”

• Seeing Contreras throw a simulated inning earlier in the day while being placed on the taxi squad while technically being demoted to Indianapolis while everyone everywhere knows it's being done to take away an arbitration year down the road ... yeah.

• To clear space on the active roster for Wilson, Chase De Jong was placed on the 15-day injured list with tendinitis in his left knee, the one on which he had surgery over the winter. He's fine.

• Thanks for reading my baseball stuff, all weekend and all summer!

THE ESSENTIALS

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

THE HIGHLIGHTS

THE INJURIES

• 10-day injured list: OF Bryan Reynolds (right oblique)

• 15-day injured list: RHP Chase De Jong (knee)

• 60-day injured list: OF Canaan Njigba-Smith (wrist), OF Greg Allen (hamstring), RHP Blake Cederlind (UCL), RHP Nick Mears (elbow surgery) RHP Max Kranick (elbow), C Roberto Pérez (hamstring)

THE LINEUPS

Shelton's card:

1. Kevin Newman, 2B
2. Ke'Bryan Hayes, 3B
3. Michael Chavis, 1B
4. Daniel Vogelbach, DH
5. Diego Castillo, RF
6. Ben Gamel, LF
7. Jake Marisnick, CF
8. Oneil Cruz, SS
9. Jason Delay, C

And for Bud Black's Rockies:

1. Charlie Blackmon, DH
2. Jose Iglesias, SS
3. Kris Bryant, DH
4. C.J. Cron, 1B
5. Brendan Rogers, 2B
6. Ryan McMahon, 3B
7. Randal Grichuk, CF
8. Sam Hilliard, LF
9. Elias Diaz, C

THE SCHEDULE

Although the next game's not until Friday against the Marlins at PNC Park, there's also the MLB Draft, the Home Run Derby, the All-Star Game and all else over in L.A. Alex Stumpf's there to cover it all. I'm flying home to prepare for the Steelers' training camp and to press Ron Hextall on why he hasn't traded Yoshi yet.

THE CONTENT

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