Felipe Vazquez goes from Pirates’ Nightmare to All-Star dream reliever

By Kevin Gorman
https://triblive.com/sports/kevin-gorman-felipe-vazquez-goes-from-pirates-nightmare-to-all-star-dream-reliever/
July 8, 2019

Felipe Vazquez pitches in the ninth inning of Sunday's 6-5 win over the Brewers. (Christopher Horner/Tribune-Review)

Felipe Vazquez was still down and out about giving up the game-winning run to the Milwaukee Brewers in the 10th inning Friday night when Pittsburgh Pirates manager Clint Hurdle called the closer into his office the next day.

When Hurdle informed Vazquez that he was chosen to play in the All-Star Game at Progressive Field in Cleveland, the left-hander initially felt even worse that it was coming at the expense of an injured player. Upon learning that Arizona pitcher Zack Greinke pulled out for personal reasons, Vazquez changed his tune.

In earning his second consecutive All-Star selection, Vazquez went from the Pirates’ Nightmare to dream reliever for the National League at the Midsummer Classic.

“It is kind of cool going to an All-Star Game two years in a row,” said Vazquez, who celebrated his 28th birthday on Friday. “Clint cheered me up with that. It was like a late birthday gift. I took it that way, so I’m pretty happy.”

Vazquez had been the most glaring omission among the All-Star selections, and this was before the left-hander earned his 20th save in Sunday’s 6-5 victory over the Brewers. Not only is Vazquez 2-1 with a 2.19 ERA and 1.15 WHIP in 37 innings, he regularly touches 100 mph and is averaging a career-best 14.4 strikeouts per nine innings this season.

No wonder Hurdle called Vazquez an exclamation point at the end of games, as his performance is the punctuation.

“I just love the stuff,” Hurdle said. “Every manager gets to look at his own closer, and I get to watch this guy all year. In a perfect world, if the manager got to pick his bullpen and you set up right- and left-handed guys, I think he’d find his way onto just about everybody’s ticket.”

That Vazquez didn’t get picked was silly. He’s one of the best closers in baseball, but rules are rules so every team must be represented at the All-Star Game. After years of benefiting from the rule, the Pirates were shortchanged when Vazquez was bypassed for San Diego’s Kirby Yates (30 saves) and San Francisco’s Will Smith (23 saves).

It also presented a predicament for the Pirates: Does a fourth-place team deserve two All-Stars? If so, does a fourth-place team really need an All-Star closer?

First baseman Josh Bell is deserving of his first All-Star honor, even if he didn’t win the vote to start in the game. By slashing .302/.376/1.024 with 27 home runs and 84 RBIs, Bell flipped the script on the Pirates pitcher known as Flip.

When teammates told Vazquez in spring training that he was expected to go to the All-Star Game every year, he started searching for another Pirates player to join him. Little did he know that it would be Bell, and that Bell would be first to find out.

“Bell started killing it every day, since day one, (so I told him), ‘Now I know who I’m going with. I’m going with you. I’m going with you,’” Vazquez said. “That was our mentality the whole season, ‘Me and you are going. Me and you are going.’ Then he was the one who got elected and I got elected later on. Then (on Saturday) I was like, ‘I told you I’m going to go with you’ when I didn’t know I was going to go with you.”

Whether the Pirates would be willing to go without Vazquez is another story. He’s probably their most valuable trade asset, given his contract (he’s signed for the next two years at $12.5 million, with club options for 2022 and ‘23) and his production (78 saves and 236 strikeouts since 2017).

But those are better reasons for the Pirates to keep Vazquez, who relishes his roles as both the closer and a leader with a killer instinct to finish off NL Central foes. If the Pirates have any hopes of making the playoffs, they need Vazquez.

“I’m trying to show my teammates, I got you,” Vazquez said. “I’m not trying to show the world. I’m trying to be the best that I can be for my teammates. I’m trying to be the best to help my team. If you take care of that, the rest is going to come.”

Vazquez has recorded saves in all but two chances this season, and that shows how delicate the difference is from having a winning record and losing record at the All-Star break. They are one game below .500 at 44-45, but remain contenders for both the NL Central title and a wild-card berth.

That’s what makes the All-Star Game so exciting for Vazquez. It’s his shot to shine on a national stage and show baseball what he can do against the game’s top hitters.

“I haven’t pitched in a postseason game yet, but I think it’s probably the same feeling,” Vazquez said. “It’s not pressure because you’re having fun in an All-Star Game. It doesn’t count toward your stats but … all the fans are there and you’re one of the best pitching against the best of the best.

“It’s fun, really, really fun.”

What would be even more fun is if Vazquez can add an exclamation point to the All-Star Game. In a perfect world, he would then pitch the Pirates into the postseason.

That’s the dream for the Nightmare.

Love baseball? Stay up-to-date with the latest Pittsburgh Pirates news.

Kevin Gorman is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Kevin by email atkgorman@tribweb.com or via Twitter .

Categories: Sports | Pirates | Kevin Gorman Columns

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PITTSBURGH GIVES COACH MIKE SULLIVAN A HUGE VOTE OF CONFIDENCE

By Ryan Kennedy
https://thehockeynews.com/news/article/pittsburgh-gives-coach-mike-sullivan-a-huge-vote-of-confidence
July 5, 2019

In announcing a four-year contract extension for coach Mike Sullivan, Pittsburgh Penguins GM Jim Rutherford thrust a delicious paragraph out into the hockey world, ripe for dissection:

“To win back-to-back Stanley Cups in this era speaks volumes of him as a coach,” Rutherford said. “His instincts in managing the inter-workings of our team both on and off the ice has been impressive.”

The first part is pretty straight-forward: Yes, Sullivan is the only coach in the salary cap era to win two straight titles and that is, indeed, quite an accomplishment. But the second part, about the inter-workings of the team? Well, that’s interesting.

It’s no secret that the Penguins had a failure to communicate between Sullivan and right winger Phil Kessel on their hands and the situation was not going to get better. With Kessel traded to Arizona recently in a package that saw center Alex Galchenyuk head to Steeltown, it is now abundantly clear who Rutherford sided with, if it hadn’t already been so before.

Because make no mistake: the Penguins gave up the best player in that deal. But if Kessel wasn’t fitting into Sullivan’s structure and the wins weren’t coming anymore, something had to give. It’s usually easier to just fire the coach then trade away a point-per-game player, but Rutherford and the Penguins made the decision to not only retain Sullivan, but to give him long-term job security.

Pittsburgh is in a fascinating position right now, because the Penguins still employ two of the best centers in the NHL in Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. They also have a young goaltender with two Cup rings in Matt Murray, who unfortunately has also been bitten by the injury bug often and is looking more mortal to shooters than he did as an unknown star not so long ago. The defense is a little dodgy and the depth up front looks a little better right now compared to the end of the season, but it’s not great. All those years of going for a title depleted the prospect pipeline and the 2019 draft was the first good one Pittsburgh had in many years.

But you can’t fold up shop, right? Crosby is still too good, as are Malkin and defenseman Kris Letang. So you hold on to what you know and hope the subtraction of Kessel makes a positive difference. Sullivan brings the consistency and familiarity to steer the ship and potentially wring one more great playoff run out of the Crosby-Malkin epoch.

It’s also worth noting just how volatile the coaching market is. We love the idea of new blood coming in, but it was pretty muted this summer. Ralph Krueger and Dallas Eakins deserved second chances and it will be interesting to see what D.J. Smith can build in Ottawa, but where were the Scott Sandelins or Rikard Gronborgs? There is still a lot of conservatism at the highest end of the sport and that favors a known quantity such as Sullivan. If you can find a bench boss with his credentials these days, you jump on him. Rutherford clearly knows this.

One more point of interest here involves another recent organizational hire: Mike Vellucci. Coming in from Carolina, where he led the AHL Charlotte Checkers to their first Calder Cup championship, Vellucci will be helming the Baby Pens in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton next season. At the time, I assumed this was a move designed to have a successor should Sullivan and the Penguins falter early in 2019-20, but that’s certainly not the case now that he is armed with a four-year contract. I have no doubt Vellucci will get his own NHL bench someday soon, but it’s less likely to be in Pittsburgh now. Of course, if Sullivan can keep the Penguins competitive for the next four years, that won’t be an issue for management anyway.

Star in the making: How Josh Bell's upbringing helped him on path to greatness

By Jason Mackey
https://www.post-gazette.com/sports/pirates/2019/07/05/pittsburgh-pirates-josh-bell-2019-mlb-home-run-derby-sports-illustrated-scout-nl-mvp-race/stories/201907030114
July 5, 2019


Josh Bell (center) is surrounded by his father, Earnest (left), sister Joy (right) and mother Myrtle (far right) after Bell signed with the Pirates in 2011.

It’s the same smile, Myrtle and Earnest Bell will tell you.

When their son Josh was 12 or 13 years old, at a tournament in Oklahoma, he clobbered a towering home run, his third of the game. The picture that was snapped when he touched home plate elicited the same sort of reaction as the 2015 Futures Game, when Josh also homered, and Monday night, when he smacked three in one game, with Bell’s parents watching and cheering back home in Texas.

Then there’s the field across the street from where Bell grew up in Irving, a Dallas suburb. Now, whenever Josh drives by with his mom and dad, it elicits laughter and memories of nervous parents who always knew they might have to apologize for a shattered windshield.

In the Bell family’s junk drawer, there’s yet another example of their in-this-together approach to Josh’s career: a rejection letter from when he failed to make a travel basketball team.

Because of the parenting work done by Myrtle and Earnest Bell, and the insatiable appetite for baseball exhibited by their only son, here we are: Josh Bell tearing up Major League Baseball, charting a path that’s actually been years — no, decades — in the making.

“I had my priorities set out for me at a young age,” Bell said. “I feel like they kind of laid that foundation for me to make it to this point.”

The son of a college professor (Myrtle) and a computer programmer (Earnest, now retired), Bell was often held to higher standards than his peers, whether that involved athletics, academics or extracurricular activities.

All told, the process created a professional athlete who’s mature beyond his years, an “old soul” in his mom’s eyes and someone capable of leading the Pirates both on and off the field, their equivalent to Sidney Crosby or Ben Roethlisberger.

“His parents did a great job,” said Brian Jones, Bell’s baseball coach at Jesuit College Preparatory School of Dallas. “They set a foundation for him early on, raising him the right way. He’s caring, he’s a loving guy, and he’s very thoughtful.”

The letter might be the most ironic thing. It’s certainly the timeliest. The letter and its retention all these years later speaks to how seriously the family has taken Josh’s athletic pursuits, how it’s most definitely a group effort. Once, when Josh was struggling in the minors and feeling worn down, Earnest texted him a screenshot of the letter, reminding him that the bounce-back ability is there.

Even though Josh thinks his parents should’ve long ago tossed it out, the mentality at play here has guided Josh this season, when an anonymous scout made waves via Sports Illustrated’s baseball preview by ripping Bell for lacking power, an assessment that seems nothing short of ludicrous now.

Click on the link below to read the rest of the article:

https://www.post-gazette.com/sports/pirates/2019/07/05/pittsburgh-pirates-josh-bell-2019-mlb-home-run-derby-sports-illustrated-scout-nl-mvp-race/stories/201907030114

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Willie Stargell's lessons are reaching Josh Bell — thanks to Kevin Young

By Mike Persak

https://www.post-gazette.com/sports/pirates/2019/07/03/josh-bell-home-run-derby-pirates-willie-stargell-kevin-young/stories/201907030062

July 3, 2019

(AP)

Two years ago, a former Pirates first baseman approached Josh Bell with an opportunity.

Kevin Young, who played 11 of his 12 MLB seasons in Pittsburgh, had participated in the Willie Stargell Celebrity Golf Tournament in Wilmington, N.C., for a few years running, and he wanted to invite Bell to the next one.

It was for a good cause — the proceeds went to the Willie Stargell Foundation, which helps ease the financial burden on those fighting kidney disease — and had a guest list that included retired athletes, Pirates manager Clint Hurdle and several other faces from the team’s front office. Bell was in.

“It was like, ‘Hey … unreal event. Can’t miss. I want you there,’” said Bell, who is playing his third full season at first base in Pittsburgh. “And I made time for it, and he was right. Awesome family, awesome cause, really good turnout and just a lot of fun.”

On its own, the invitation extended by Young to Bell was a small gesture. But in the grand scheme, the golf tournament — and Bell’s involvement in it — means so much more to Young because of the man the tournament honors.

“What connects us all is baseball and Willie,” Young said, “and at the end of the day, first base.”

Click on the link below to read the rest of the article:

https://www.post-gazette.com/sports/pirates/2019/07/03/josh-bell-home-run-derby-pirates-willie-stargell-kevin-young/stories/201907030062

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Pirates’ Josh Bell banking on potential payday in Home Run Derby

By Kevin Gorman
https://triblive.com/sports/kevin-gorman-pirates-josh-bell-banking-on-potential-payday-in-home-run-derby/
July 3, 2019


Josh Bell watches his 3-run first-inning homer in the Pirates' 18-5 win over the Cubs on Monday. (Gene J. Puskar/AP)

When Josh Bell bashed three home runs against the Chicago Cubs on Monday, it never occurred on the Pittsburgh Pirates first baseman that it happened on Bobby Bonilla Day.

In what has become the longest running joke in Major League Baseball, the New York Mets pay the retired slugger a $1.19 million installment every July 1 until 2035. The buyout of his $5.9 million contract in 2000 is spread over 25 years.

So, on a day when Bell became the first Pirates player to hit three left-handed homers in a game since Willie Stargell, Bonilla received a payday more than double Bell’s salary.

And Bonilla hasn’t played since 2001, when Bell was 9.

Can you imagine that?

“No, I can’t imagine that,” said Bell, who is making $587,500 this season. “I have no idea what that feels like.”

Maybe Bell should start to daydream.

The first-time All-Star could find out what that feels like next Monday in Cleveland, when he will be one of eight players to participate in the Home Run Derby at Progressive Field.

The contest upped the stakes by raising its prize pool from $525,000 to $2.5 million, with the winner earning $1 million. Bell has a chance to earn almost twice in one exhibition event as he will over a 162-game season.

“It was an honor, regardless, but that adds fuel to the fire,” Bell said, “wanting it that much more.”

Bell makes no bones that the potential payday was an incentive to throw his bat in the ring. Bell already has 25 home runs this season – one shy of his total in his first full major-league season in 2017 – and figures his odds of winning are better in the Home Run Derby than playing the Powerball.

“I’ll take a one-in-eight chance over the lottery any day,” Bell said. “It’s definitely a reason to go, a reason why a lot of people didn’t say no. I feel like it’s going to add to the excitement. You’re going to see a lot of really hard swings. You’re going to see a lot of sweat out there but it’s all for good reason, all for the money that’s on the line.”

The MLB All-Star Game doesn’t just showcase the game’s biggest stars but displays the disparity between the players who have hit the jackpot and those who are awaiting arbitration.

The Pirates circumvented the MLB Draft rules by selecting Bell in the second round in 2011 and convincing him to sign by offering a $5 million bonus, a loophole MLB quickly corrected by creating a bonus pool system that penalizes offenders.

So it’s not like Bell is broke.

But he likes the idea of adding another comma to his paycheck.

“That’s life-changing money. It’s cool,” Bell said. “I feel like the system is set up to reward good ballplayers. You have to be consistent at this level. You have to show that you can be on the field every day. Once you start getting rewarded, it’s life-changing money and, at times, it’s generational money. I feel like this is a good taste of that, having an opportunity to earn $1 million in one night. Then we’ll see what happens in the future.”

Bell could soon be setting himself up for the generational money, as he is eligible for arbitration for the first time this offseason and is positioning himself for a monster payday. Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant, who won NL Rookie of the Year and MVP in his first two seasons, set a first-year arbitration record at $10.85 million in 2018. Boston Red Sox outfielder Mookie Betts, the AL MVP, avoided arbitration by reaching an agreement for $20 million this season.

Bell knows he’s about to get paid, one way or another.

“It’s cool but I’m just trying to stay even-keeled and stay focused on the now,” Bell said. “You’ve got so many guys going down in this game. It’s a big roller-coaster ride. You can get cold just as quickly as you get hot, so I’m just trying to stay focused on the now and let that loom off in the distance.”

The Pirates pinned their power hopes on Bell, despite a 12-homer, 62-RBI season last season. He responded by becoming the first Pirates first baseman chosen for the All-Star Game since Jason Thompson in 1982, leading the majors with 57 extra-base hits and 77 RBIs through the first 82 games.

Pirates manager Clint Hurdle credited Bell for finding a routine that involves matching the velocity of the starting pitcher and swinging at balls in the strike zone instead of chasing, and Bell believes his maturation as a major-league hitter is the difference in the discovery of his long-ball stroke that has sent shots into the Allegheny River.

"In the minor leagues, I was constantly just trying to get to the next level and the next level and the next level,” Bell said. “Once you get here, things change. The game kind of morphs itself into your enemy almost, trying to get you out as many times as possible.

“After last year, I kind of understand what I can and can’t do and try to put my A-swing. It doesn’t take much, but I try to hit the ball square and use my levers, try to see the ball as deep as I can and still get extended on it. Everything has to happen perfectly for me to hit a homer but I feel like I’m getting to the point where it can happen more repeatedly right now.”

With the one-day payday it would produce, Bell is banking on it happening repeatedly in the Home Run Derby.

Love baseball? Stay up-to-date with the latest Pittsburgh Pirates news.

Kevin Gorman is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Kevin by email atkgorman@tribweb.com or via Twitter .

Categories: Sports | Pirates | Kevin Gorman Columns

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Like it or not, Penguins GM Jim Rutherford sticking to his plan

By Tim Benz
https://triblive.com/sports/tim-benz-like-it-not-penguins-gm-jim-rutherford-sticking-to-his-plan/
July 2, 2019

Brandon Tanev #13 of the Winnipeg Jets skates against the Toronto Maple Leafs during an NHL game at the Air Canada Centre on March 31, 2018 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Jets defeated the Maple Leafs 3-1. (Photo by Claus Andersen/Getty Images) 

Let’s not put Jim Rutherford on an aircraft carrier with the “Mission Accomplished” sign behind his head just yet.

But it appears the Penguins general manager has taken many of the steps he wanted to take this offseason.

During his season-ending press conference in April, Rutherford said he wanted to make the team hungrier, tougher to play against and one that was easier for Mike Sullivan to coach.

Those were goals Rutherford stated directly. Other goals he didn’t state as directly:

• Get faster

• Trade Phil Kessel

Rutherford is following that plan. Let’s see if he got the right guys to do it.

Perhaps more importantly, let’s see if he got rid of the right guy to do it.

Acquiring Jets forward Brandon Tanev on Monday went a long way toward the “tougher to play against” objective. His 278 hits were third most in the NHL, while his 81 blocked shots ranked third among forwards.

Tanev was one of Winnipeg’s most valued penalty killers last year. And the Jets gave up only 1.79 goals against per 60 minutes with Tanev on the ice. That was one of the best rates on the team.

Some of the other players added in recent weeks don’t exactly fit that profile. Alex Galchenyuk and Dominik Kahun are viewed as skill-oriented playmakers. And 19-year-old defenseman Pierre-Olivier Joseph needs to add to his 163-pound frame before anyone will consider him a sturdy presence on the blue line.

But their speed could be difficult to play against for opponents — something playoff foes understood when facing the Penguins in 2016 and 2017.

Hungrier? Well, all of those players are between 19 and 27 years old, and they are all looking for a first ring. Kessel has two. So does Olli Maatta. Bryan Rust may need to be traded for cap reasons. He has two titles already. Maybe that’s the facelift Rutherford was referencing.

“It’s new energy, new excitement,” Rutherford said during his news conference Monday. “The three new guys were so excited they were coming through the phone. They bring that excitement to training camp and to our room. If they bring that excitement every day to our practice, that’s what we are looking for.”

As far as coachability goes, time will tell. Kessel has never been a fan of absorbing coaching, be it instruction or lineup decisions. Here or elsewhere during his career.

We don’t know how Kahun, Tanev or Galchenyuk will accept Sullivan’s hard-nosed approach. But seeing as how none of them has the veteran standing and accomplishment Kessel does, they should.

The team also may become more coachable now that the forward lineup has become more versatile than it was to start last year.

“When you think about where we were a year ago, wondering what we were going to do with our center ice and the depth we had. Then where we are today?” Rutherford offered. “You’ve got McCann on the wing who is a natural center. You’ve got Kahun (who was signed as a center by Chicago but played the wing). You’ve got Galchenyuk (who played both spots). We certainly have a lot of depth there.”

Rutherford also praised Teddy Blueger as a guy “who has established himself as a regular NHL player.” He can play center or wing, as well. But then again, Rutherford had similar projections for Daniel Sprong a year ago.

How’d that go?

Noticeable by his absence from Rutherford’s compliments was Nick Bjugstad, who also plays both wing and center. That could mean it’s Bjugstad ($4.1 million cap hit) who is on the move instead of Rust ($3.5 million cap hit). But someone of significant contract value probably has to be moved off the roster for the Penguins to become cap compliant once the restricted free agents get signed.

“There’s a good chance we’ll have to make another move, yes,” Rutherford admitted.

All of these decisions by the general manager seem to have been made with an eye toward making Sullivan’s job easier. Kessel’s absence may aid in that regard, as well.

“Much more balance. Getting back to where we were in ‘16 and ‘17 where the coach can roll those lines on more of an even-minutes basis,” Rutherford said.

The next question becomes: When does the coach get a contract extension? That’s something Rutherford refused to nail down Monday.

So far, though, a lot of the personnel decisions being made by Rutherford are being done with Sullivan’s comfort in mind.

And with Rutherford’s vision in place.

GMJR just better hope these new skaters look as good together on the ice as they do in his head.

Tim Benz is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Tim at tbenz@tribweb.com or viaTwitter. All tweets could be reposted. All emails are subject to publication unless specified otherwise.

Categories: Sports | Penguins | Tim Benz Breakfast With

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Brandon Tanev gives the Penguins what they’ve been missing

By Joe Starkey
https://www.post-gazette.com/sports/joe-starkey/2019/07/01/brandon-tanev-penguins-free-agency-mike-sullivan/stories/201907010101
July 1, 2019

Jonathan Kozub/NHLI via Getty Images)

We need to be hard to play against.

If you’ve heard Penguins coach Mike Sullivan say it once, you’ve heard him say it a thousand times.

OK, maybe a million times.

And by “hard to play against,” Sullivan isn’t talking about his team’s star power. He’s talking about physicality and puck pursuit and shot-blocking and playing the game intelligently. He’s talking about sandpaper, grit, jam and any other hockey cliché that means “hard to play against,” and the Penguins, for the most part, have been missing it since they won consecutive Stanley Cups.

They never replaced the sheer determination and will of a Chris Kunitz or a Nick Bonino or even an Ian Cole or a Trevor Daley — guys who would crawl over broken glass to win a game. Consider the “series” against the New York Islanders. Nothing happened. The Penguins went down meekly.

Their bottom-six forwards, in particular, have lacked any definable personality over the past two seasons. Too often, they were easy to play against.

All of which is why you should be quite pleased with the club’s latest addition — winger Brandon Tanev — and not overly concerned that his contract will take him roughly to age 84.

The Penguins signed Tanev, 27, to a six-year, $21 million contract at the opening of free agency Monday because he provides what they have lacked. He is, as his father described him in a recent Sports Illustrated article, “a bundle of fire.”

Click on the link below to read the rest of the article:

https://www.post-gazette.com/sports/joe-starkey/2019/07/01/brandon-tanev-penguins-free-agency-mike-sullivan/stories/201907010101

Real or not? Josh Bell has leveled up as a league-beating slugger

By David Schoenfield
https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/27100246/real-not-josh-bell-leveled-league-beating-slugger
July 2, 2019



Josh Bell hits a three-run homer in the first inning of last night's 18-5 win over the Cubs (Gene J. Puskar/AP)

The best thing about next week's Home Run Derby at the All-Star Game might be Josh Bell getting some recognition on the national stage. It isn't easy these days to get attention playing for the Pittsburgh Pirates, a team stuck in .500-ish mediocrity ever since a 98-win season in 2015 ended in a wild-card loss to the Cubs, but Bell's 2019 numbers should not go unnoticed, and I suspect he will win over many new fans with some mammoth blasts in the competition.

In this year of the souped-up rabbit ball, it's easy to be suspicious of some of the big power numbers and attribute individual improvement to the baseball. After all, just go back to 1930 or 1950 or 1987 -- other famous juiced-ball seasons -- and you can see some of the best fluke seasons in major league history. Bell's improvement, however, appears legit. He hits the ball hard, he hits the ball far, and he looks like a player who finally understands his swing and his strength.

In the Pirates' ridiculous 18-5 win over the Cubs on Monday, Bell hit his 23rd, 24th and 25th home runs as part of a 4-for-6 night with seven RBIs. None of those home runs came off Cubs infielder Daniel Descalso, who was forced into mop-up duty late in the game. Bell's three home runs:

• First inning off Adbert Alzolay, 109.2 mph exit velocity, 402 feet, off an 0-1 95 mph fastball

• Second inning off Alzolay, 94.6 mph, 367 feet, off a first-pitch curveball

• Eighth inning off Craig Kimbrel, 109.3 mph, 404 feet, off a 2-1 96 mph fastball

Bell also singled (105.8 mph) and flied out (98.9 mph). In fact, his only weak contact of the night came on a groundout against Descalso. In other words, it was a very good night. He wasn't the only Pirates hero on this night. Adam Frazier went 5-for-6 with four doubles, making the Pirates the first team since the 1950 Red Sox (and the second team since 1900) to have a player with three home runs and another with four doubles in a game. Colin Moran also went 5-for-5, making the Pirates the first team with two five-hit players since C.J. Cron and Carlos Perez did it for the Angels in 2016.

The Pirates finished the game with 12 extra-base hits, their second-most as a franchise in the live-ball era (since 1920), though not unique to 2019, as the Twins have had games with 13 and 12 extra-base hits this season.

As for Bell, he hit 26 home runs as a rookie in 2017 but dropped to 12 in 2018 in a disappointing .261/.357/.411 season. A big key has been a more aggressive approach. Consider some of his swing metrics:

• He has a swing rate of 49.6%, up from 43% in 2018.

• His swing rate of 79% on pitches in the strike zone is up from 67.9%.

• His swing rate of 40.2% on the first pitch is up from 27.8%. He has eight first-pitch home runs.

Bell had a good walk rate in 2017 and 2018, but his passivity at the plate seemed to work against him at times. Now he's jumping at pitchers earlier in the count, and it has paid off with a much higher average exit velocity and hard-hit rate. It has cut into his walk rate a bit, but obviously, the new approach has paid off.

A reason to buy into his first half: It isn't just the home runs. He also has 29 doubles and three triples, giving him an obscene 57 extra-base hits already.

Christopher Kamka@ckamka

Josh Bell: 57 extra-base hits (3 HR tonight) is most by a National League player through the team's first 83 games of a season since Henry Aaron (57) in 1959

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10:18 PM - Jul 1, 2019

In other words, this guy is smoking the ball all over the field. He's on pace for 112 extra-base hits, which would be the third-highest total of all-frickin'-time. The only players with more than 107 are two dudes named Ruth (119 in 1921) and Gehrig (117 in 1927).

Even as the Pirates appear headed to another .500-ish season, if this is who Bell is and will be, he's obviously going to be the focal point of a better Buccos ballclub in the future. You can hopefully include rookies Bryan Reynolds(.351/.415/.541) and Kevin Newman (.327/.372/.482) in that category as well, giving the Pirates their best foundation on offense since those playoff teams from 2013 to 2015. They'll need to find another power bat or two to help Bell, and the starting rotation has been a disappointment -- even beyond Jameson Taillon's injury -- so it isn't exactly clear if that future could be 2020 or a year or two beyond that.

For the present, however, the Pirates have a new star. Make sure not to miss him next week.

Bell slugs 3 homers as Pirates trounce Cubs | Cubs-Pirates Game Highlights 7/1/19

Phil Kessel hit his sell-by date; Penguins GM Jim Rutherford acted

By Mark Madden
https://triblive.com/sports/mark-madden-phil-kessel-hit-his-sell-by-date-penguins-gm-jim-rutherford-acted/
June 30, 3019



Five years ago, Jim Rutherford traded a point-per-game player for a guy who wasn’t.

On June 27, 2014, the Penguins sent winger James Neal to Nashville for winger Patric Hornqvist. Neal had 61 points in 59 games the season prior. Hornqvist had 53 points in 76 games.

Neal’s production can’t be denied. But a disproportionate amount of his points (43 percent) came on the power play. It was worried he was a negative influence on linemate Evgeni Malkin. Neal’s commitment to much besides points was questioned.

Some of that was reality. Some was perception. (The notion of one grown man having responsibility for being an untoward influence on another grown man is laughable.)

But Rutherford, who was appointed GM just three weeks prior, wanted to change the Penguins’ culture. Neal was the sacrificial lamb.

It worked, or at least seemed to. The Penguins won Stanley Cups in 2016 and ‘17.

Did the culture really change, or was that assigned after the fact of winning? Did Neal hurt that much? Did Hornqvist help that much? You’ve got to trust the tangible and disregard the abstract.

Now, finding his team at a similar crossroads after a dissatisfying season, Rutherford has made a similar move.

Winger Phil Kessel has been sent to Arizona, where his bromance with former Penguins assistant Rick Tocchet will be reignited. (For a while. As Arizona’s coach, Tocchet won’t have time to micromanage Kessel. It’s a different dynamic.)

Forward Alex Galchenyuk and defense prospect Pierre-Olivier Joseph came from Arizona in return.

Galchenyuk, 25, is adequate. He, too, gets a disproportionate amount of his points (51 percent) on the power play, and he won’t be on the top unit with the Penguins. Kris Letang figures to take Kessel’s spot on the left half-wall, which reduces play-making from that spot but helps with zone entry and cuts down significantly on short-handed opportunities allowed. Justin Schultz goes up top.

Galchenyuk is only marginally better defensively than Kessel. He was minus-19 last season, same as Kessel. He had 41 points, half as many as Kessel.

Galchenyuk figures to play on Malkin’s left wing and, at 6-foot-1, 207 pounds, provides some size at that spot (though he’s not a dynamic physical presence).

He is in a contract year, so he ought to be motivated. The Penguins aren’t picking up any of Kessel’s paycheck, so the swap saves them $1.9 million under the salary cap.

Olivier-Joseph, 20, might be the key figure in the deal for the Penguins. A first-round pick in 2017, he’s got the skating, skill and smarts. But he’s listed at 6-2, 163. He makes Matt Murray look like Brock Lesnar. Eat something, I’m begging you.

Surrendering Olivier-Joseph makes the deal a bit odd from Arizona’s standpoint. For the Coyotes, the future isn’t now. But with new ownership on the horizon, Tocchet and GM John Chayka need to make an impression if they want to maintain employment.

For the Penguins, the deal wasn’t about acquiring Galchenyuk and Olivier-Joseph. That’s decent return, but that’s not the point.

The Penguins just needed to be rid of Kessel.

As Toronto Sun columnist Steve Simmons tweeted, “Phil Kessel’s like a bad house guest. Eventually you need him to leave. This is three teams Kessel’s scored for, and three teams that couldn’t wait for him to leave.”

That’s true. Kessel’s 31 and productive, yet he’s been traded three times. Over time, his bad overtakes his good. He just won’t change. Tocchet knows exactly what he’s getting and knows no adjustments are to be made.

Being traded doesn’t diminish what Kessel did in Pittsburgh. He contributed mightily to two Stanley Cups. But that was then.

I like Kessel. Interviewing him was a challenge. He didn’t suffer fools, or foolish questions. He liked playing the heel where the media was concerned, but that seemed an act to minimize time wasted.

Kessel has an odd sort of popularity among Penguins fans, one based largely on memes and GIFs.

He had an odd sort of popularity in the Penguins’ dressing room, too. He was embraced but as a cartoon character. Kessel socialized mostly with his poker buddies. His departure won’t cause unrest the way Carl Hagelin’s did.

Kessel wanted out. Despite his denials, he asked to be traded on several occasions but often backed off.

Kessel had an odd run in Pittsburgh. He had 59 and 70 points, respectively, in his first two seasons with the Penguins but was a plus player, and the Penguins won the Cup both years. He had 92 and 82 points, respectively, in his last two seasons but was a minus player, and the Penguins stumbled in the playoffs.

It’s cliche to say, but Kessel has a sell-by date. He hit it, and Rutherford acted. Any debate beyond that is over-complicating.

Categories: Sports | Penguins | Mark Madden Columns

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