21 Takes: Should a .500-ish team buy/sell at deadline? ... Chinakhov's concession? ... Fútbol vs. football!
The Braves and Brewers are next.
Then, after the All-Star break, it's the Guardians, Yankees and Cubs.
All five of those upcoming opponents on the Pirates' schedule, beginning tomorrow night against Atlanta at PNC Park, are among Major League Baseball's top 11 teams. The Braves, Brewers, Yankees and Cubs are among the top seven. And all of this lays out between now and July 26, or five days shy of the trade deadline.
In theory, then, the answer would appear to be clear as clear gets to the question of the day: Should Ben Cherington buy at that deadline? Or, for that matter, should he sell?
Because that answer's there for the team itself to determine: Improve upon the ongoing .500-level plateau that's currently at 46-45 after taking two of threein Washington, continue to do well against those aforementioned top teams, maybe even finally get on a real roll, and the call becomes a breeze. There'd be no choice but to buy, especially in a year where Travis Williams himself declared that the goal for this season's the playoffs. And, as he'd notably add, "Period. Full stop."
Whereas, if the next three weeks see more of the flat-line flatulence that's defined this summer to date ... buying might seem like a bad idea.
But would it be?
Hear me out on this ...
See, this isn't a normal buy/sell scenario, for three reasons:
1. The GM should've been fired already.
It's Year 7, and if the Pirates proceed to finish .500, that'd be the peak performance of the Cherington tenure. Which, in a setting of actual accountability, would have him fired at season's end.
Within that, if Cherington operated with more of a competitive urgency, one might think he'd want to make a move or two or three purely for job preservation. Meaning his and that of his entire staff.
There is, however, zero precedent for this. Meaning the competitive thing.
2. This might be it for baseball.
For a good while, anyway, given the looming lockout in the owners' pursuit of a salary cap system this offseason. Maybe a full season. Or more.
Could that be of some influence?
If not to the unmovable GM, then to those above him?
3. There's legit talent at hand.
I mean, we're all engaged in real discussion/debate about who all was an All-Star snub with only Paul Skeneshaving been selected, and it's authentic. Braxton Ashcraft should be there. Bryan Reynolds. Brandon Lowe. If not for injuries, there'd be a couple more cases.
But let's also not forget that the best of this bunch are the youngest: Beyond Skenes -- who's worthy of every bet that he'll bounce back before long -- both Konnor Griffin, 20, and Esmerlyn Valdez, 22, are doing things that make a second-half burst seem plausible if not probable, since the pitching would have to be along for that ride.
Griffin, who conducted a veritable clinic yesterday in D.C., would appear to be only getting started at .276/.332/.404 with five home runs, 25 RBIs and an absurd 20 steals in 21 tries. Not to mention defense at this elite level:
Meanwhile, Valdez has been that much better, having hit safely in 11 of 12 starts with a .442 average, four home runs, five doubles, a trip, 11 RBIs and four walks.
Who'd feel comfortable pulling a plug on those two? Or any number of other hitters? Or Ashcraft?
Here's what I say: Let it play out. And if there are trades to be made, try the kind that keep the roster strong within a younger age bracket. The rebuild's long since over.
• It's not about the Pirates making the playoffs. The Reds made it a year ago, and they were 83-82, so being a game above .500 isn't prohibitive unto itself. Rather, it's that the Reds were destroyed by the Dodgers by an aggregate 18-9 in two straight in the playoffs, and they might as well have stayed in bed.
Keep making the roster better for a real bid.
Or find someone who can.
• If I sought from someone a seven-player list of the Pirates' most impactful bats this summer, there's at least a chance Nick Gonzales would be either forgotten or flat-out omitted. And that's not OK. I get that we're a long way removed from the Tony Gwynn, Wade Boggs, Rod Carew, Pete Rose bar for hitting excellence, but that alone makes Gonzales' .312 average -- seventh-best in the majors -- remarkable. Because so few guys are even trying to hit for average anymore.
I've had several talks with Gonzales on this over the year, going back to the day he showed up in Bradenton, and this was all by design. He had no wish to be identified through three-outcome baseball -- home run, strikeout, walk -- and he made adjustments aimed at consistent contact, first and foremost.
Good for him. Better for the Pirates.
• Loved the legit humility with which Skenes handled his All-Star selection, characterizing himself as being "probably a little surprised," but also the honesty: He does to deserve to go. Not on name recognition but on having the isolated numbers to support it, specifically a 1.01 WHIP -- walks and hits per inning pitched -- that's ninth-best in the majors.
• Am I misreading stuff or is the fan base semi-turning on Skenes to a degree?
If so, wow, that wouldn't be an awesome look. Maybe it bears reminding, but he's still only 24 years old, and all he's achieved since his arrival is the greatest single pitching ledger-to-date in the 146-year history of the franchise.
• Staying on that subject: Skenes told our José Negronexclusively in Denver two weeks ago that the extra risk of injury for hard throwers was at least partly responsible for his dip in velocity this season, calling it "by design."
That'll sound egregious to some, as if Skenes is holding back to prioritize his interest in the future over the present. It doesn't to me. Three years ago, after a spring game in Sarasota, Fla., he told me after firing all-afternoon heat at the Orioles that he had no wish to rely too heavily on that trait and that, sooner or later, he'd develop enough of an arsenal that he wouldn't need to.
That's where we are, my friends. Right there.
We'll see where it leads.
• So the Braves signed Andrew McCutchen to a minor-league contract over the weekend, but his first assignment was to their Florida Complex League affiliate, soon to be followed, per Atlanta management, by their Class AAA affiliate in Gwinnett, Ga.
That's too bad. Would've been cool.
Oh, and don't hold against him that he won't stop. He loves baseball. Last I checked, we loved him for that around here for the better part of two decades.
• It's wholly possible that the Penguins' most important signing of the offseason will be Egor Chinakhov's agreeing to stay for three years at an average annual value of $6.25 million yesterday, and I'm not exaggerating at all. Not with the insanity that's broken out all over the NHL in restricted free agency.
No, really, the Flyers have smashed the figurative glass with their offer sheet of five years and $18 million for Leo Carlsson fresh off a rookie year. Even if the Ducks find a way to retain, which they'd vowed to do before this salary came along, it'll do damage to their broader cause for years. (And candidly, I'm not sure parting with that much cap space and four first-round picks will wind up being a picnic for Philadelphia, either.)
More pertinent to the Penguins, it'll change how all 32 general managers do business forever. Meaning Kyle Dubas had better consistently lock these guys up, or he'll get the same grief Pat Verbeek's getting out in Anaheim right about now. Young talent's no good to you if it can just walk away.
Anyone seen Ben Kindel lately?
• Did Chinakhov not put up much resistance? Compared to his restricted peers, anyway?
I couldn't have that answer, but I can state with conviction that this character-oozing kid never stopped smiling after his arrival from Columbus. It wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if that were a prominent factor, and I mean that.
• Jason Robertson's still out there, still available, until he and the Stars would agree to terms to stick in Dallas. And as long as that's the case, Dubas should continue to ... not knock but pound on any available opening to pursue him.
Both Robertson brothers, including the Penguins' newly acquired Nick, filed for arbitration yesterday. That means they're no longer restricted free agents and, thus, can't be offer-sheet-ed, which I'm pretty sure's now become a verb in hockey. But they can be traded.
Think big, I say. Bigger than Carlson, even. Jason, the elder of the brothers, is still only 26, he's 6 feet 3 and 204 pounds, he's a goal machine -- 41, 46, 29, 35 and 45 the past five seasons -- and his intangibles are no less impressive.
There's a lot I'd give up for him. A ton, actually.
• That said, think about this: There's no way Robertson should accept less than Carlson, right? Isn't that the new bar? Or would it still be Kirill Kaprizov's $17 million in St. Paul?
• Nice to hear both Tom Kostopoulos and Amanda Kessel, key development people in the Penguins' hierarchy, praise Harrison Brunicke this past week. The latter wasn't at development camp, of course, having graduated in essence, but both Kostopoulos and Kessel were asked about the organization's top defense prospect and raved about him in strong, genuine tones.
That said ...
How might Brunicke's immediate future in Pittsburgh be taken seriously if Dubas keeps piling up right-handed defenseman such as Kaedan Korczak and Trevor van Riemsdyk to slot behind Erik Karlsson and Kris Letang?
One thing I've appreciated about management's approach under Dubas, in general, is that young players haven't been blocked. There's been that perception but not that reality. This, though, feels different. Like they're lining up Brunicke for unconditional AHL duty.
• All due respect to development camp, but if the player who's the consensus choice as having stood out in the closing tournament happens to be Zam Plante, who's 21 years old, 5 feet 9 and 172 pounds, and a fifth-round draft pick ... that's not exactly a rousing reflection of the talent pool in that specific setting.
Don’t bite my head off for this. I hope he winds up even better than his dad, Derek Plante, was for years up in Buffalo. It's just that the Penguins can and must do even better than they've done to date in this area.
• With roughly 749 contracted forwards coming into camp, I sure hope that someone pins this to the priority list: Elmer Soderblom needs to have top-nine duty. It'd be irresponsible to not at least allow him an opportunity to put up scoring numbers.
• There are now Bobby Layne days until the Steelers report to Saint Vincent College, and it can't come soon enough. It's by far the driest period of the NFL calendar as a whole, with most everyone shutting down or vacationing in advance of training camp, and this one's still somehow seemed drier than most.
Other than, of course, Travis Kelcegetting married. And even that, I'm told, was a quiet, private ceremony somewhere off in the hills.
So I'll try fútbol rather than football this week ...
• I'd really hope this'd be a rare point of universal agreement as related to politics, but, my God, keep government the hell out of sports. Regardless of president or party or any of that stuff.
For one, it's just ... gross. From the Wall Street Journal very early this morning:
New: Trump called Infantino last week and said everyone was telling him the decision was wrong, urging him to review Balogun’s automatic one-game suspension.
Infantino promised to look into the matter. Later he called Trump back and told him the suspension would be reversed.…
Gianni Infantino runs FIFA, for anyone who doesn't know. He took three calls from the head of the state of the host country, after that head of state had summoned several lawyers to see what legal action could be taken, and he conceded.
For another, now, if the U.S. beats Belgium tonight and Flo Balogun even just plays well, that'll be the worldwide focus rather than on the American team itself.
Yuck.
I wouldn't play him. Voluntarily. The asterisk that'd fairly be affixed to these players forever wouldn't be worth it. Neither the nor Balogun deserve that.
• No, not even to determine whether or not Jesse James caught that ball. Behave.
• Nowhere in global sports will there be a moment in 2026 like Cabo Verde's tying goal against Argentina Not just because of all the standard Cinderella fare -- island nation of 500,000 off the coast of Africa, no real World Cup history, no elite club players, facing Lionel Messi, etc. -- but rather, because of the overall gasp-worthy quality of everything that led to the brilliant strike itself.
Watch the whole thing, even if it's cropped vertically and accompanied by silly music:
O golaço marcado por Sidny Lopes Cabral, de Cabo Verde, na partida contra Argentina visto da arquibancada do Hard Rock Stadium, em Miami.
Crazy to me that it's close to impossible to find anywhere online, as I'd think it'll go down as one of the greatest World Cup goals ever scored. That's an entire team that just wouldn't go down without a collective fight.
Who'll buy the movie rights?
• Better hurry, before Erling Haaland and Norway steal that spotlight:
He isn't yet, because of Messi and arguably Novak Djoković, as well, but that this man-child's about to blossom into the planet's biggest sporting star.
• Anyone who watched England vs. Mexico last night and can still say soccer's boring needs to have their last rites read. And that match, a classic in every sense, wasn't exactly an outlier in this tournament. It's been a blast all the way through.
• How does England get an Oasis masterwork for its pump-up song, and we're stuck with John Denver celebrating West Virginia?
🏴 WATCH: England sing 'Wonderwall' with fans at the Azteca after eliminating Mexico from the World Cup pic.twitter.com/BvwWfUQwLN
If the goal's to be as provincial as possible, I'll take Donnie Iris' 'Ah Leah!'
• Thanks so much for reading the fourth 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.
THE ASYLUM
21 Takes: Should a .500-ish team buy/sell at deadline? ... Chinakhov's concession? ... Fútbol vs. football!
The Braves and Brewers are next.
Then, after the All-Star break, it's the Guardians, Yankees and Cubs.
All five of those upcoming opponents on the Pirates' schedule, beginning tomorrow night against Atlanta at PNC Park, are among Major League Baseball's top 11 teams. The Braves, Brewers, Yankees and Cubs are among the top seven. And all of this lays out between now and July 26, or five days shy of the trade deadline.
In theory, then, the answer would appear to be clear as clear gets to the question of the day: Should Ben Cherington buy at that deadline? Or, for that matter, should he sell?
Because that answer's there for the team itself to determine: Improve upon the ongoing .500-level plateau that's currently at 46-45 after taking two of three in Washington, continue to do well against those aforementioned top teams, maybe even finally get on a real roll, and the call becomes a breeze. There'd be no choice but to buy, especially in a year where Travis Williams himself declared that the goal for this season's the playoffs. And, as he'd notably add, "Period. Full stop."
Whereas, if the next three weeks see more of the flat-line flatulence that's defined this summer to date ... buying might seem like a bad idea.
But would it be?
Hear me out on this ...
See, this isn't a normal buy/sell scenario, for three reasons:
1. The GM should've been fired already.
It's Year 7, and if the Pirates proceed to finish .500, that'd be the peak performance of the Cherington tenure. Which, in a setting of actual accountability, would have him fired at season's end.
Within that, if Cherington operated with more of a competitive urgency, one might think he'd want to make a move or two or three purely for job preservation. Meaning his and that of his entire staff.
There is, however, zero precedent for this. Meaning the competitive thing.
2. This might be it for baseball.
For a good while, anyway, given the looming lockout in the owners' pursuit of a salary cap system this offseason. Maybe a full season. Or more.
Could that be of some influence?
If not to the unmovable GM, then to those above him?
3. There's legit talent at hand.
I mean, we're all engaged in real discussion/debate about who all was an All-Star snub with only Paul Skenes having been selected, and it's authentic. Braxton Ashcraft should be there. Bryan Reynolds. Brandon Lowe. If not for injuries, there'd be a couple more cases.
But let's also not forget that the best of this bunch are the youngest: Beyond Skenes -- who's worthy of every bet that he'll bounce back before long -- both Konnor Griffin, 20, and Esmerlyn Valdez, 22, are doing things that make a second-half burst seem plausible if not probable, since the pitching would have to be along for that ride.
Griffin, who conducted a veritable clinic yesterday in D.C., would appear to be only getting started at .276/.332/.404 with five home runs, 25 RBIs and an absurd 20 steals in 21 tries. Not to mention defense at this elite level:
Meanwhile, Valdez has been that much better, having hit safely in 11 of 12 starts with a .442 average, four home runs, five doubles, a trip, 11 RBIs and four walks.
Who'd feel comfortable pulling a plug on those two? Or any number of other hitters? Or Ashcraft?
Here's what I say: Let it play out. And if there are trades to be made, try the kind that keep the roster strong within a younger age bracket. The rebuild's long since over.
• It's not about the Pirates making the playoffs. The Reds made it a year ago, and they were 83-82, so being a game above .500 isn't prohibitive unto itself. Rather, it's that the Reds were destroyed by the Dodgers by an aggregate 18-9 in two straight in the playoffs, and they might as well have stayed in bed.
Keep making the roster better for a real bid.
Or find someone who can.
• If I sought from someone a seven-player list of the Pirates' most impactful bats this summer, there's at least a chance Nick Gonzales would be either forgotten or flat-out omitted. And that's not OK. I get that we're a long way removed from the Tony Gwynn, Wade Boggs, Rod Carew, Pete Rose bar for hitting excellence, but that alone makes Gonzales' .312 average -- seventh-best in the majors -- remarkable. Because so few guys are even trying to hit for average anymore.
I've had several talks with Gonzales on this over the year, going back to the day he showed up in Bradenton, and this was all by design. He had no wish to be identified through three-outcome baseball -- home run, strikeout, walk -- and he made adjustments aimed at consistent contact, first and foremost.
Good for him. Better for the Pirates.
• Loved the legit humility with which Skenes handled his All-Star selection, characterizing himself as being "probably a little surprised," but also the honesty: He does to deserve to go. Not on name recognition but on having the isolated numbers to support it, specifically a 1.01 WHIP -- walks and hits per inning pitched -- that's ninth-best in the majors.
• Am I misreading stuff or is the fan base semi-turning on Skenes to a degree?
If so, wow, that wouldn't be an awesome look. Maybe it bears reminding, but he's still only 24 years old, and all he's achieved since his arrival is the greatest single pitching ledger-to-date in the 146-year history of the franchise.
• Staying on that subject: Skenes told our José Negron exclusively in Denver two weeks ago that the extra risk of injury for hard throwers was at least partly responsible for his dip in velocity this season, calling it "by design."
That'll sound egregious to some, as if Skenes is holding back to prioritize his interest in the future over the present. It doesn't to me. Three years ago, after a spring game in Sarasota, Fla., he told me after firing all-afternoon heat at the Orioles that he had no wish to rely too heavily on that trait and that, sooner or later, he'd develop enough of an arsenal that he wouldn't need to.
That's where we are, my friends. Right there.
We'll see where it leads.
• So the Braves signed Andrew McCutchen to a minor-league contract over the weekend, but his first assignment was to their Florida Complex League affiliate, soon to be followed, per Atlanta management, by their Class AAA affiliate in Gwinnett, Ga.
That's too bad. Would've been cool.
Oh, and don't hold against him that he won't stop. He loves baseball. Last I checked, we loved him for that around here for the better part of two decades.
• It's wholly possible that the Penguins' most important signing of the offseason will be Egor Chinakhov's agreeing to stay for three years at an average annual value of $6.25 million yesterday, and I'm not exaggerating at all. Not with the insanity that's broken out all over the NHL in restricted free agency.
No, really, the Flyers have smashed the figurative glass with their offer sheet of five years and $18 million for Leo Carlsson fresh off a rookie year. Even if the Ducks find a way to retain, which they'd vowed to do before this salary came along, it'll do damage to their broader cause for years. (And candidly, I'm not sure parting with that much cap space and four first-round picks will wind up being a picnic for Philadelphia, either.)
More pertinent to the Penguins, it'll change how all 32 general managers do business forever. Meaning Kyle Dubas had better consistently lock these guys up, or he'll get the same grief Pat Verbeek's getting out in Anaheim right about now. Young talent's no good to you if it can just walk away.
Anyone seen Ben Kindel lately?
• Did Chinakhov not put up much resistance? Compared to his restricted peers, anyway?
I couldn't have that answer, but I can state with conviction that this character-oozing kid never stopped smiling after his arrival from Columbus. It wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if that were a prominent factor, and I mean that.
• Jason Robertson's still out there, still available, until he and the Stars would agree to terms to stick in Dallas. And as long as that's the case, Dubas should continue to ... not knock but pound on any available opening to pursue him.
Both Robertson brothers, including the Penguins' newly acquired Nick, filed for arbitration yesterday. That means they're no longer restricted free agents and, thus, can't be offer-sheet-ed, which I'm pretty sure's now become a verb in hockey. But they can be traded.
Think big, I say. Bigger than Carlson, even. Jason, the elder of the brothers, is still only 26, he's 6 feet 3 and 204 pounds, he's a goal machine -- 41, 46, 29, 35 and 45 the past five seasons -- and his intangibles are no less impressive.
There's a lot I'd give up for him. A ton, actually.
• That said, think about this: There's no way Robertson should accept less than Carlson, right? Isn't that the new bar? Or would it still be Kirill Kaprizov's $17 million in St. Paul?
• Nice to hear both Tom Kostopoulos and Amanda Kessel, key development people in the Penguins' hierarchy, praise Harrison Brunicke this past week. The latter wasn't at development camp, of course, having graduated in essence, but both Kostopoulos and Kessel were asked about the organization's top defense prospect and raved about him in strong, genuine tones.
That said ...
How might Brunicke's immediate future in Pittsburgh be taken seriously if Dubas keeps piling up right-handed defenseman such as Kaedan Korczak and Trevor van Riemsdyk to slot behind Erik Karlsson and Kris Letang?
One thing I've appreciated about management's approach under Dubas, in general, is that young players haven't been blocked. There's been that perception but not that reality. This, though, feels different. Like they're lining up Brunicke for unconditional AHL duty.
• All due respect to development camp, but if the player who's the consensus choice as having stood out in the closing tournament happens to be Zam Plante, who's 21 years old, 5 feet 9 and 172 pounds, and a fifth-round draft pick ... that's not exactly a rousing reflection of the talent pool in that specific setting.
Don’t bite my head off for this. I hope he winds up even better than his dad, Derek Plante, was for years up in Buffalo. It's just that the Penguins can and must do even better than they've done to date in this area.
• With roughly 749 contracted forwards coming into camp, I sure hope that someone pins this to the priority list: Elmer Soderblom needs to have top-nine duty. It'd be irresponsible to not at least allow him an opportunity to put up scoring numbers.
• There are now Bobby Layne days until the Steelers report to Saint Vincent College, and it can't come soon enough. It's by far the driest period of the NFL calendar as a whole, with most everyone shutting down or vacationing in advance of training camp, and this one's still somehow seemed drier than most.
Other than, of course, Travis Kelce getting married. And even that, I'm told, was a quiet, private ceremony somewhere off in the hills.
So I'll try fútbol rather than football this week ...
• I'd really hope this'd be a rare point of universal agreement as related to politics, but, my God, keep government the hell out of sports. Regardless of president or party or any of that stuff.
For one, it's just ... gross. From the Wall Street Journal very early this morning:
Gianni Infantino runs FIFA, for anyone who doesn't know. He took three calls from the head of the state of the host country, after that head of state had summoned several lawyers to see what legal action could be taken, and he conceded.
For another, now, if the U.S. beats Belgium tonight and Flo Balogun even just plays well, that'll be the worldwide focus rather than on the American team itself.
Yuck.
I wouldn't play him. Voluntarily. The asterisk that'd fairly be affixed to these players forever wouldn't be worth it. Neither the nor Balogun deserve that.
• No, not even to determine whether or not Jesse James caught that ball. Behave.
• Nowhere in global sports will there be a moment in 2026 like Cabo Verde's tying goal against Argentina Not just because of all the standard Cinderella fare -- island nation of 500,000 off the coast of Africa, no real World Cup history, no elite club players, facing Lionel Messi, etc. -- but rather, because of the overall gasp-worthy quality of everything that led to the brilliant strike itself.
Watch the whole thing, even if it's cropped vertically and accompanied by silly music:
Tremendous, huh?
Crazy to me that it's close to impossible to find anywhere online, as I'd think it'll go down as one of the greatest World Cup goals ever scored. That's an entire team that just wouldn't go down without a collective fight.
Who'll buy the movie rights?
• Better hurry, before Erling Haaland and Norway steal that spotlight:
He isn't yet, because of Messi and arguably Novak Djoković, as well, but that this man-child's about to blossom into the planet's biggest sporting star.
• Anyone who watched England vs. Mexico last night and can still say soccer's boring needs to have their last rites read. And that match, a classic in every sense, wasn't exactly an outlier in this tournament. It's been a blast all the way through.
• How does England get an Oasis masterwork for its pump-up song, and we're stuck with John Denver celebrating West Virginia?
If the goal's to be as provincial as possible, I'll take Donnie Iris' 'Ah Leah!'
• Thanks so much for reading the fourth 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.
• Hope everyone had a fantastic Fourth!
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