DK's 21 Takes: A flat .500 and the GM's fallen asleep ... Quarterbacks abound ... Hurricanes so deserving
Not a soul, I swear, rose from a single seat.
I scanned PNC Park from the press box perch on this steamy Sunday afternoon, seeking anyone anywhere among the 18,172 on hand who, upon Don Kelly passing the ball to Brandon Bidois, one of several Butchers of the Bullpen currently in the Pirates' employ, and I was bona fide stunned to see everyone stay put.
For a few minutes, anyway. Long enough to see Bidois tagged for four straight hits and a hit batsman. And to see what'd been a one-run deficit tripled to three:
— Marlins Radio Network (@MarlinsRadio) June 14, 2026
Drive home safely, everyone.
It'd finish at Marlins 4, Pirates 2. And for the home team, that's another series taken away. And seven losses in nine games. And a 36-36 record.
Yep, .500.
And I'm not sure what's more awful about all that's above between these three choices:
1. Kelly summoning Bidois and his 1.86 WHIP and 5.24 ERA when the game's still tight.
Why, pray tell?
"Like his stuff. Like what he’s been able to do out of the pen," Kelly'd reply to a question on that count afterward. "He has strikeout stuff. Just seemed like the slider wasn’t as sharp today. Just didn’t have his elite stuff today."
Elite?
In 14 innings, he's ceded 15 hits, four home runs, 11 walks, a hit batsman, two wild pitches and ... whatever the elite part's been, I guess.
2. Kelly and Ben Cherington locking Carmen Mlodzinski into a spring-training-style piggyback role behind Jared Jones and, thus, preventing one of the team's better theoretical relievers from participating in games like this. Games that, you know, also matter.
I asked Kelly if he's even allowed to be using Mlodzinski in situations like this, and the answer was uncharacteristically terse: "Right now, he’ll be behind Jones tomorrow. And as we go, we’ll see what changes there."
Hm. Take that how one will.
3. The GM's not doing a damned thing.
I mean, he was here. Spotted him afterward near the clubhouse. Seemed to be awake, even.
But for all the fun and fuss of Ben Cherington admirably adding a bunch of home runs in the offseason in the form of Brandon Lowe and Ryan O'Hearn, the brutality of this bullpen's now the defining story of this summer. With next to nothing being done by the one individual entrusted -- and somehow still employed -- to do something about it. It's almost as if Cherington did his part, a little like the home runs, by making a smart investment by signing Gregory Soto to a year and $7.5 million, then not putting another penny into relief, then just kinda hoping all the rest fall into place.
Well, they've fallen, all right. And the only meaningful move to date's been the dumping of Justin Lawrence. No one's been acquired from the outside. Not so much as a waiver claim. Just the same rinse-repeat cycle between here and Indianapolis, only now with the additional anchor of most of those back-and-forth types being baby-faced rookies like Bidois, Wilber Dotel and Antwone Kelly.
And so, this is the result.
These Pirates are mid. They're meh. They're mediocre.
They're better than 2025. They're better offensively, for sure, so they're more entertaining. But the starting pitching, even the portion being done by Paul Skenes, including on this day, isn't what it was. And the rest ... even though it's universally seen by executives as being the easiest to address, is just dragging all the rest down.
But hey, in fairness, it's not easy to fix anything with all the lights out.
MORE PIRATES
• Don't overthink this. Even Cherington's most ardent supporters on the inside will attest he's maddeningly slow to act. Just doesn't experience urgency as a human condition.
• To be clear, I'm not remotely down on Skenes. He's slightly askew, but nowhere near enough to account for the team losing his past half-dozen starts. Dude's got a 2.85 ERA, a 0.93 WHIP and a .199 opponents' batting average. That's still nutso.
He served up a stinker to Heriberto Hernández for the first of Miami's two home runs off him, and the second might've been too much in Joe Mack's wheelhouse, but he allowed not a thing else and struck out 10, so good for him in acknowledging afterward, as he worded it, "I thought it was a really good outing, probably other than two pitches. But I think it was a really good outing."
It was plenty good enough.
• Imagine incorrectly diagnosing significant injuries to two of a team's top talents within a two-week span. Or don't imagine it, and simply review that, in cases of both Konnor Griffin's elbow and Oneil Cruz' hand, the team not only got them wrong at the outset but also cleared both to return to play ... right away. Until each player complained of further pain, at which point they were shut down and now might not be seen again for a long while.
I remember way back when people used to think payroll was the problem. Way more to it.
• This is one reason, by the way, I'm often repeating that a salary cap system wouldn't be some panacea for a team like the Pirates. If anything, it'd only further expose what they do poorly at a management level. The cap system creates a fair economic footing, and that's it. See also 'Browns, Cleveland.'
• The cap system's coming. And I say that right now mostly because I'm told New York's NBA franchise won a championship for the first time in, like, half a century. So, yay them, and way to show that it can be achieved the right way.
• Not having Griffin or Cruz hurts the cause, obviously, but it wouldn't serve as much of an excuse. So far this month, the offense ranks 14th in runs (58) out of Major League Baseball's 30 teams, 13th in OPS (.756) and 10th in home runs (17). Still hitting.
• It's impossible to not like Henry Davis. Terrific guy. Tireless worker. Team-first in every way.
Enough's enough. I don't care if he offers to push Skenes' cart at the Downtown Target, he can't be chewing up a lineup spot and batting .135, including another 0-for-3 on this day. My God, he's got four hits and three walks in his past 46 plate appearances.
Anyone consider that the Pirates' might win more of Skenes' starts if the catcher could come up with the occasional hit? Or even just reach base?
When Joey Bart's back up, Davis needs to go down. Endy Rodriguez hasn't been hitting great of late, but he's at least capable of it. Give him a go.
• Has there been anywhere near enough attention, much less appreciation, for the bounceback Bryan Reynolds is having?
Sure doesn't seem like it.
All he did on this day was bang a home run into the visiting bullpen, tear into a 106.2-mph double to right, and reach four times in five plate appearances, raising his relevant figures to .270/.392/.441 with eight home runs and 42 RBIs. And the .833 OPS would be the third-best of his career, in addition to topping 2025 by 113 points.
Never mind robbing three home runs at the fence in the same week.
Wonderful ballplayer.
• Any clue from anybody as to why Marcell Ozuna's still here?
Other than to eat up ABS challenges?
And to cheerlead/babysit?
Is it really plausible that the same executive could author the best (Lowe) and worst offseason moves in franchise history in the same calendar year?
• No one's asking, but my All-Stars off this roster would be Skenes and Lowe. Not getting more.
• Here comes a six-game trip to Sacramento, Calif., and Denver, and, maybe, a chance at putting .500 in the rear-view mirror against the Athletics and Rockies.
Quick talk I had with Nick Gonzales about that:
He's right. They'll be OK. But OK wasn't where this felt like it was headed not so long ago.
STEELERS
• Forced to condense all the various OTAs and minicamps into a single conversation for the purpose of picking a single observation, I'd go with this: The duel between the young quarterbacks will be more legit than most might expect. Will Howard's made real strides over a year ago, and Drew Allar's blessed with even more natural talent.
It's uncomfortably possible that neither is the answer, but it's way past time for any such scenario.
• That said, to reiterate my recent exclusive reporting, management has zero intention of entering a season with a 42-year-old Aaron Rodgers backed up by two kids who've never taken a snap in a preseason game, let alone a real one. Which means Mason Rudolph's the backup, barring some superhuman summer surge from Howard.
And I'm fine with that. All Howard or any quarterback can ask is for an opportunity, and he's about to have an extraordinary one. Go make it happen.
• Can we agree the Steelers are a better team now than entering Saint Vincent a year ago?
Yeah?
You know, the huge upgrade at Nos. 1 and 2 wide receiver in Michael Pittman and Germie Bernard, the teaming up of Rico Dowdle and Jaylen Warren, the more dug-in and deeper offensive line without even factoring in first-round pick Max Iheanachor, the acquisitions of Jamel Dean and Jaquan Brisker to an already dynamic secondary ... am I forgetting anything?
Oh, right: Mike McCarthy and staff.
Listen, no matter how anyone might've felt about management's hiring process, this head coach will, at the least, represent a very real change from Mike Tomlin. And after nearly a decade of barely broaching the minimum, that's got to be welcome in and of itself.
So ... if they were 10-7 then, if they won the division then ... what's the issue now?
• Weighing in on the big boys: Here's hoping Dylan Cook can fend off Iheanachor at right tackle. Nothing against the latter, obviously, but any continuation from Cook can become a massive asset to Omar Khan now and into the future. Moreover, if Iheanachor starts and Gennings Dunker beats out Spencer Anderson at right guard, that's two rookies on that side. No thanks to that.
• If I'm a player who'd prefer to compete on real grass, if only in the name of preserving my career, I'm going wholly loco at how magnificent these grass installations have looked for the World Cup matches now being staged in NFL stadiums. Doubly so for those in domes.
Not really so much applicable to Pittsburgh. The Steelers, I've long been told, won't have a dome or roof of any kind anytime in the foreseeable future.
... with 17 years between doing so. And the Conn Smythe to boot.
A great guy in every way. A true champion. A testament to perseverance in achieving this at age 37. And exactly who events like these should be all about.
• Same goes for the Hurricanes as a whole. No NHL team has knocked harder on that door for nearly a decade now and, to the credit of all involved with the Hurricanes, they never, ever changed what they do. Just kept knocking. Then pounding. Then this.
As someone who loves the game, I'll take that anytime over a franchise that basically was bequeathed everything at birth. This was real as real gets:
• The NHL Draft's in less than two weeks, June 26-27, and the Penguins hold the 22nd overall pick. Free agency opens July 1. It'll all be upon us faster than a Logan Stankoven forecheck.
We're getting there. And it could be eventful.
Remember, Kyle Dubas has already put out a public brochure advertising the benefits of being in Pittsburgh to players elsewhere who might want to escape where they are. The money quote from mid-May: “I think if you’re one of those players that’s a free agent or your situation in your spot is not going well and you have some control, you can look at us and see very clearly that you’re going to be supported by a great coaching staff that gets the most out of players. But you’ll also have young players that are going to push from behind and older players that are going to set the tone.”
Hello, Dylan Larkin? Or Auston Matthews?
Buckle up, as a certain Ol' Two-Niner likes to say!
• Thanks so much for reading the first edition of the reborn 21 Takes. For anyone who might not know, I once wrote an all-bullets column called Tuesday Takes, which then briefly morphed into 21 Takes before fading into the ether for reasons I can't even recall.
This feature will run Monday mornings -- by far our busiest reading period of the week -- and it'll usually, not always, offer material on all three of our coverage teams. Feels like a fit.
THE ASYLUM
DK's 21 Takes: A flat .500 and the GM's fallen asleep ... Quarterbacks abound ... Hurricanes so deserving
Not a soul, I swear, rose from a single seat.
I scanned PNC Park from the press box perch on this steamy Sunday afternoon, seeking anyone anywhere among the 18,172 on hand who, upon Don Kelly passing the ball to Brandon Bidois, one of several Butchers of the Bullpen currently in the Pirates' employ, and I was bona fide stunned to see everyone stay put.
For a few minutes, anyway. Long enough to see Bidois tagged for four straight hits and a hit batsman. And to see what'd been a one-run deficit tripled to three:
Drive home safely, everyone.
It'd finish at Marlins 4, Pirates 2. And for the home team, that's another series taken away. And seven losses in nine games. And a 36-36 record.
Yep, .500.
And I'm not sure what's more awful about all that's above between these three choices:
1. Kelly summoning Bidois and his 1.86 WHIP and 5.24 ERA when the game's still tight.
Why, pray tell?
"Like his stuff. Like what he’s been able to do out of the pen," Kelly'd reply to a question on that count afterward. "He has strikeout stuff. Just seemed like the slider wasn’t as sharp today. Just didn’t have his elite stuff today."
Elite?
In 14 innings, he's ceded 15 hits, four home runs, 11 walks, a hit batsman, two wild pitches and ... whatever the elite part's been, I guess.
2. Kelly and Ben Cherington locking Carmen Mlodzinski into a spring-training-style piggyback role behind Jared Jones and, thus, preventing one of the team's better theoretical relievers from participating in games like this. Games that, you know, also matter.
I asked Kelly if he's even allowed to be using Mlodzinski in situations like this, and the answer was uncharacteristically terse: "Right now, he’ll be behind Jones tomorrow. And as we go, we’ll see what changes there."
Hm. Take that how one will.
3. The GM's not doing a damned thing.
I mean, he was here. Spotted him afterward near the clubhouse. Seemed to be awake, even.
But for all the fun and fuss of Ben Cherington admirably adding a bunch of home runs in the offseason in the form of Brandon Lowe and Ryan O'Hearn, the brutality of this bullpen's now the defining story of this summer. With next to nothing being done by the one individual entrusted -- and somehow still employed -- to do something about it. It's almost as if Cherington did his part, a little like the home runs, by making a smart investment by signing Gregory Soto to a year and $7.5 million, then not putting another penny into relief, then just kinda hoping all the rest fall into place.
Well, they've fallen, all right. And the only meaningful move to date's been the dumping of Justin Lawrence. No one's been acquired from the outside. Not so much as a waiver claim. Just the same rinse-repeat cycle between here and Indianapolis, only now with the additional anchor of most of those back-and-forth types being baby-faced rookies like Bidois, Wilber Dotel and Antwone Kelly.
And so, this is the result.
These Pirates are mid. They're meh. They're mediocre.
They're better than 2025. They're better offensively, for sure, so they're more entertaining. But the starting pitching, even the portion being done by Paul Skenes, including on this day, isn't what it was. And the rest ... even though it's universally seen by executives as being the easiest to address, is just dragging all the rest down.
But hey, in fairness, it's not easy to fix anything with all the lights out.
MORE PIRATES
• Don't overthink this. Even Cherington's most ardent supporters on the inside will attest he's maddeningly slow to act. Just doesn't experience urgency as a human condition.
• To be clear, I'm not remotely down on Skenes. He's slightly askew, but nowhere near enough to account for the team losing his past half-dozen starts. Dude's got a 2.85 ERA, a 0.93 WHIP and a .199 opponents' batting average. That's still nutso.
He served up a stinker to Heriberto Hernández for the first of Miami's two home runs off him, and the second might've been too much in Joe Mack's wheelhouse, but he allowed not a thing else and struck out 10, so good for him in acknowledging afterward, as he worded it, "I thought it was a really good outing, probably other than two pitches. But I think it was a really good outing."
It was plenty good enough.
• Imagine incorrectly diagnosing significant injuries to two of a team's top talents within a two-week span. Or don't imagine it, and simply review that, in cases of both Konnor Griffin's elbow and Oneil Cruz' hand, the team not only got them wrong at the outset but also cleared both to return to play ... right away. Until each player complained of further pain, at which point they were shut down and now might not be seen again for a long while.
I remember way back when people used to think payroll was the problem. Way more to it.
• This is one reason, by the way, I'm often repeating that a salary cap system wouldn't be some panacea for a team like the Pirates. If anything, it'd only further expose what they do poorly at a management level. The cap system creates a fair economic footing, and that's it. See also 'Browns, Cleveland.'
• The cap system's coming. And I say that right now mostly because I'm told New York's NBA franchise won a championship for the first time in, like, half a century. So, yay them, and way to show that it can be achieved the right way.
• Not having Griffin or Cruz hurts the cause, obviously, but it wouldn't serve as much of an excuse. So far this month, the offense ranks 14th in runs (58) out of Major League Baseball's 30 teams, 13th in OPS (.756) and 10th in home runs (17). Still hitting.
• It's impossible to not like Henry Davis. Terrific guy. Tireless worker. Team-first in every way.
Enough's enough. I don't care if he offers to push Skenes' cart at the Downtown Target, he can't be chewing up a lineup spot and batting .135, including another 0-for-3 on this day. My God, he's got four hits and three walks in his past 46 plate appearances.
Anyone consider that the Pirates' might win more of Skenes' starts if the catcher could come up with the occasional hit? Or even just reach base?
When Joey Bart's back up, Davis needs to go down. Endy Rodriguez hasn't been hitting great of late, but he's at least capable of it. Give him a go.
• Has there been anywhere near enough attention, much less appreciation, for the bounceback Bryan Reynolds is having?
Sure doesn't seem like it.
All he did on this day was bang a home run into the visiting bullpen, tear into a 106.2-mph double to right, and reach four times in five plate appearances, raising his relevant figures to .270/.392/.441 with eight home runs and 42 RBIs. And the .833 OPS would be the third-best of his career, in addition to topping 2025 by 113 points.
Never mind robbing three home runs at the fence in the same week.
Wonderful ballplayer.
• Any clue from anybody as to why Marcell Ozuna's still here?
Other than to eat up ABS challenges?
And to cheerlead/babysit?
Is it really plausible that the same executive could author the best (Lowe) and worst offseason moves in franchise history in the same calendar year?
• No one's asking, but my All-Stars off this roster would be Skenes and Lowe. Not getting more.
• Here comes a six-game trip to Sacramento, Calif., and Denver, and, maybe, a chance at putting .500 in the rear-view mirror against the Athletics and Rockies.
Quick talk I had with Nick Gonzales about that:
He's right. They'll be OK. But OK wasn't where this felt like it was headed not so long ago.
STEELERS
• Forced to condense all the various OTAs and minicamps into a single conversation for the purpose of picking a single observation, I'd go with this: The duel between the young quarterbacks will be more legit than most might expect. Will Howard's made real strides over a year ago, and Drew Allar's blessed with even more natural talent.
It's uncomfortably possible that neither is the answer, but it's way past time for any such scenario.
• That said, to reiterate my recent exclusive reporting, management has zero intention of entering a season with a 42-year-old Aaron Rodgers backed up by two kids who've never taken a snap in a preseason game, let alone a real one. Which means Mason Rudolph's the backup, barring some superhuman summer surge from Howard.
And I'm fine with that. All Howard or any quarterback can ask is for an opportunity, and he's about to have an extraordinary one. Go make it happen.
• Can we agree the Steelers are a better team now than entering Saint Vincent a year ago?
Yeah?
You know, the huge upgrade at Nos. 1 and 2 wide receiver in Michael Pittman and Germie Bernard, the teaming up of Rico Dowdle and Jaylen Warren, the more dug-in and deeper offensive line without even factoring in first-round pick Max Iheanachor, the acquisitions of Jamel Dean and Jaquan Brisker to an already dynamic secondary ... am I forgetting anything?
Oh, right: Mike McCarthy and staff.
Listen, no matter how anyone might've felt about management's hiring process, this head coach will, at the least, represent a very real change from Mike Tomlin. And after nearly a decade of barely broaching the minimum, that's got to be welcome in and of itself.
So ... if they were 10-7 then, if they won the division then ... what's the issue now?
• Weighing in on the big boys: Here's hoping Dylan Cook can fend off Iheanachor at right tackle. Nothing against the latter, obviously, but any continuation from Cook can become a massive asset to Omar Khan now and into the future. Moreover, if Iheanachor starts and Gennings Dunker beats out Spencer Anderson at right guard, that's two rookies on that side. No thanks to that.
• If I'm a player who'd prefer to compete on real grass, if only in the name of preserving my career, I'm going wholly loco at how magnificent these grass installations have looked for the World Cup matches now being staged in NFL stadiums. Doubly so for those in domes.
Not really so much applicable to Pittsburgh. The Steelers, I've long been told, won't have a dome or roof of any kind anytime in the foreseeable future.
PENGUINS
• What a sight, Jordan Staal lifting the Stanley Cup again last night in Las Vegas ...
... with 17 years between doing so. And the Conn Smythe to boot.
A great guy in every way. A true champion. A testament to perseverance in achieving this at age 37. And exactly who events like these should be all about.
• Same goes for the Hurricanes as a whole. No NHL team has knocked harder on that door for nearly a decade now and, to the credit of all involved with the Hurricanes, they never, ever changed what they do. Just kept knocking. Then pounding. Then this.
As someone who loves the game, I'll take that anytime over a franchise that basically was bequeathed everything at birth. This was real as real gets:
• The NHL Draft's in less than two weeks, June 26-27, and the Penguins hold the 22nd overall pick. Free agency opens July 1. It'll all be upon us faster than a Logan Stankoven forecheck.
We're getting there. And it could be eventful.
Remember, Kyle Dubas has already put out a public brochure advertising the benefits of being in Pittsburgh to players elsewhere who might want to escape where they are. The money quote from mid-May: “I think if you’re one of those players that’s a free agent or your situation in your spot is not going well and you have some control, you can look at us and see very clearly that you’re going to be supported by a great coaching staff that gets the most out of players. But you’ll also have young players that are going to push from behind and older players that are going to set the tone.”
Hello, Dylan Larkin? Or Auston Matthews?
Buckle up, as a certain Ol' Two-Niner likes to say!
• Thanks so much for reading the first edition of the reborn 21 Takes. For anyone who might not know, I once wrote an all-bullets column called Tuesday Takes, which then briefly morphed into 21 Takes before fading into the ether for reasons I can't even recall.
This feature will run Monday mornings -- by far our busiest reading period of the week -- and it'll usually, not always, offer material on all three of our coverage teams. Feels like a fit.
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