Owner Bob Nutting made a bold move in upgrading the Pirates' talent portfolio by locking up one of their core young pieces. The question is, was it a sound strategy?
BRADENTON, FL - FEBRUARY 26: Outfielder Andrew McCutchen #22 of the Pittsburgh Pirates poses for a photo during photo day at Pirate City on February 26, 2012 in Bradenton, Florida. (Photo by J. Meric/Getty Images)
Go back to November 2000. The Pirates, on the verge of moving into beautiful new PNC Park, lived up to their promise to keep their star player by signing catcher Jason Kendall to a six-year, $60 million contract extension. "If I didn't believe we were going to win here, I wouldn't sign here, no matter how much money they gave me," Kendall said at the time. "It's going to happen here. I've just got that feeling."
The Kendall contract crippled the Pirates and set them back for years. You might have heard they still haven't won.
Go back to November 2005. The Pirates bought out the arbitration years of slugging left fielder Jason Bay with a four-year, $18.5 million contract. "This is one of the best days of my life," Bay said.
The Pirates traded Bay to the Boston Red Sox in July 2008 for what has amounted to, at least to this point, next to nothing.
And we're supposed to be excited about the Andrew McCutchen deal?
Yes, actually.
You should love the deal.
McCutchen, just 25, is one of baseball's most dynamic young players. He's much more than a singles hitter, as Kendall was, and much more of a complete player than Bay. He has a wonderful combination of speed and power, the best this city has seen in a player other than Barry Bonds in the past quarter-century. He can hit home runs and drive in runs; he had 23 homers and 89 RBIs last season. He should be able to hit for average; his .216 limp to the finish line after the All-Star break last season was an aberration. He should steal at least 30 bases, if not 40. He covers acres in center field.
It is worth repeating:
You should love this contract.
Pirates owner Bob Nutting -- much-maligned and deservedly so for his hesitancy to spend money to field a competitive team -- showed something by buying out not just McCutchen's three arbitration years but also his first two years of free agency through the 2017 season. The six-year deal, first reported Monday morning by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, is worth $51.5 million. The team also has an option on McCutchen for $14.75 million in '18.
When Hines Ward decides to call it quits -- and he should definitely consider retiring as a Pittsburgh Steeler after the team announced it will release him -- he will have completed a Hall of Fame career.
Whether Ward sees his bust immortalized in Canton is up for debate. He is certainly far from a slam dunk to get voted into the Hall of Fame, and the odds are currently against him from getting inducted. But he deserves to be there.
Ward should get in for his productivity. He is one of eight players in NFL history to reach 1,000 career receptions.
Ward should get in for his consistency. He averaged 85.6 catches during a nine-year period (2001 to '09).
Ward should get in for his toughness. He is the only wide receiver who will be remembered as much for his bone-jarring hits as his clutch catches.
Perhaps the best argument for Ward's enshrinement is that there are only two players in NFL history to catch 1,000 passes and win multiple Super Bowls: Ward and Jerry Rice. That's elite status, which is what the Hall of Fame represents. It's the best of the best.
The reality is Ward will have trouble making the Hall of Fame. Just ask Cris Carter, Tim Brown and Andre Reed. They've been waiting for years, even though their credentials say they should get in. Brown ranks fourth on the NFL's all-time receiving yards list and sixth in touchdown catches. Carter is eighth in yards and fourth in touchdowns.
One theory is that voters are split among those three receivers, so Carter, Brown and Reed cancel one another out. Another theory is Hall of Fame voters don't value wide receivers, which is something Carter believes.
Only seven receivers in the Hall of Fame started their careers after the 1970 AFL-NFL merger: Michael Irvin, Steve Largent, James Lofton, Art Monk, Rice, John Stallworth and Lynn Swann. That's fewer than quarterbacks, running backs, offensive linemen, defensive linemen, linebackers and defensive backs.
The struggles of Carter and Brown to get into the Hall work against Ward. He has significantly fewer catches, receiving yards and touchdowns than each of them. Ward also has been to half as many Pro Bowls. In many ways, getting into the Hall of Fame is a numbers game, and that's not what Ward wants to hear.
Ward's best shot at reaching the Hall of Fame is his entire body of work. He wasn't the best deep threat. He wasn't the receiver with the most touchdowns. But he was the most complete wide receiver of his generation. No wide receiver blocked like Ward, and he fearlessly made catches over the middle. His reputation will stand the test of time.
Receivers are often considered divas. Ward is ruthless. He's an old-school player who stood out because of his physical play.
"Is there another receiver in the past 12 years who has a tougher reputation than Hines?" Swann said.
Once the Hall of Fame voters resolve this current logjam with wide receivers, Ward could be faced with another one once he is eligible. (A player becomes a candidate five years after his final game.) He could be going against the likes of Terrell Owens (No. 2 on the all-time receiving yards list), Randy Moss (No. 5) and Marvin Harrison (No. 6). This could mean a long wait for Ward, who is 18th on that list.
From my perspective, Ward has strong enough numbers to put himself in the Hall of Fame conversation. It's his other credentials -- violent blocker, Super Bowl MVP and great leader -- that put him over the top.
Hall of Fame-Worthy?
How Hines Ward compares to the three wide receivers who are having trouble making the Hall of Fame:
It's just business. It isn't personal. It's business.
Keep telling yourself that.
It will help you deal with the Steelers terminating team legends Hines Ward, Aaron Smith and James Farrior last week.
There probably isn't an uglier phrase in sports than, "The team has terminated the contract of ... " One day, a player is a valuable member of an organization, maybe even among its all-time greats. The next day, he is gone. Terminated. It's an awful word.
Legend has a much nicer ring to it even if the word never should be used lightly. With Ward, Smith and Farrior, it applies. They might not join the 18 Steelers players in the Pro Football Hall of Fame -- Ward is the only one with a realistic chance -- but they will be remembered forever as football legends in this town.
It's just business ...
From a football standpoint, it's hard to argue with the release of Ward, Smith and Farrior. Ward was barely an afterthought in the Steelers' offense during the second half of last season. Smith had major injuries in each of the past three seasons and four of the past five. Farrior shared inside linebacker duties last season with inseparable pal Larry Foote, who must be having a brutal time sorting through his mixed feelings about the team deciding to keep him instead of Farrior.
Termination day comes for even the greatest of the great legends.
It's the harsh reality of sports.
"We're all on deck," Farrior said late last season.
The Steelers needed the salary-cap space, presumably to sign, among others, wide receiver Mike Wallace. They need to get younger and had to clear roster spots to do it. The moves to release Ward, Smith and Farrior -- tough as they were -- had to be made.
It's not personal ...
The Steelers' locker room will have a much different feel next season.
Ward, Smith and Farrior held prominent spots, as did popular Chris Hoke, who retired in January.
Ward was respected, not just for his catches and touchdowns but for his toughness, which rivaled any player's in the NFL.
Smith, like Hall of Famer Jack Ham from the Super Steelers of the 1970s, never made a mistake and never was out of position, according to teammates. Those same teammates drew much strength from him and the way he handled his young son Elijah's diagnosis of leukemia in 2008.
It’s a car that came into the league in 1998 and has taken me all the way around Steeler Nation and still runs pretty well today.
Well, sometimes.
It does break down every once in a while, and when I bring it to the shop the mechanic asks me, “How old is this thing?”
And I say, “How old is Hines Ward?”
And then we have a good laugh.
But the ride is over. Ward, who also came into the league in 1998, is leaving. At least he’s leaving Pittsburgh. So I may need a new car, just like the Steelers need a new beast.
Sure, it’s a clunker of an analogy, but it's hard saying goodbye to something so reliable. So all I can say to Hines is what Neil Young once said in a song about his old car: “Long May You Run.”
* I met Hines Ward at minicamp in “the ghetto” of the Three Rivers Stadium locker room in 1998. It was an annex of the locker room where the Steelers put all of their rookies, except for their first three draft picks. Ward was the fourth that year, but regardless of his status Hines was ebullient that day. You could tell right then that he had found his new home.
* What a champ, I thought. “Rookie of the Year,” I wrote.
* Ward didn’t win any awards that season, but who will ever forget the tackles he made on special teams that first preseason? Or his number 15?
* I remember the Monday night game in Kansas City in 1998, when Ward came out of the huddle trying to get the glove off his right hand, and I remember thinking that something was up just before he got the ball and threw a 17-yard pass back to Kordell Stewart on third-and-10.
* Ward’s friend Bobby Shaw once told me to ask Ward about the “target board.” It was something Ward had put up in the wide receivers’ meeting room. “If there’s a DB who wants to play dirty, trying to punk somebody out, we’ll put him on there,” Ward explained. “Once he’s on there, somebody has to go after him on every play.”
* The “target board” came to symbolize the rest of Ward’s career. It was born out of a response to a cheap shot Bills safety Kurt Schultz had put on Troy Edwards during a preseason game.
This is the era when just about everything accomplished on a football field is framed as an act of defiance: a football is spiked viciously; a breastbone is beaten repeatedly in thumping self-aggrandizement; a standard touchdown comes replete with posturing and screaming.
So let's remember this today: That is not how Hines Ward played football.
At the completion of perhaps the prettiest play in Super Bowl history, with Hines racing under an exquisite rollout pass from Antwaan Randle El to drown the Seattle Seahawks, the enduring emblem of Ward's career flashed blindingly into the annals of sports photography.
That smile.
Oh my word, look at that beaming enamel as he carries the ball like a newborn into the Ford Field end zone. The NFL put it on a raft of official publications the next year; it was that iconic, that unusual.
Here's a guy playing football ... joyously!
Apparently it was still legal then.
So really, that's the era that ended Wednesday just short of dinner time, the era when football excellence could be conveyed as unrestrained fun rather than some dutiful execution of grim responsibility, some soulless quest for vengeance.
None of this will say the Steelers erred in any way when they released Ward after 14 seasons, but neither will it avoid the truth that they did indeed wipe the smile off their face.
"I gave my heart and soul to you every down," Ward said to Steelers fans in a statement that swiftly followed Art Rooney II's announcement that No. 86 won't be back. "And I will always bleed black and gold."
Put a face on the Steelers' modern history, one that represents not only the franchise's glorious achievement but also its attitude and aura.
Art Rooney and his stogie would be an obvious choice, as would Jack Lambert and his toothless, raging scowl.
Mean Joe Greene's glare or Chuck Noll's pensive stare would work, as well.
But there is at least one more mug that deserves special mention: Hines Ward's.
In a smiling pose, of course. Was there any other?
The topic arises in the wake of the Steelers announcing they will release Hines — it doesn't seem right to refer to him as "Ward," does it? — before March 13.
It is the right move, even though Hines made it clear he'd be willing to play for allowance money. One of the reasons the Steelers perpetually reload, as opposed to rebuild, is that they remove emotion when making business decisions.
They do not believe Hines merits a spot on their roster. Therefore, he is finished as a Steeler after 14 incredible seasons.
In some 40 years of watching football, I can't say I've seen a more complete player. By complete, I mean productive, consistent, tough — a factor on nearly every snap.
I don't know that I've seen many wide receivers crack down on defensive ends. Haven't seen any break a linebacker's jaw. Never saw one besides Hines light up Ed Reed and Bart Scott in the same game.
Come to think of it, I never saw one lose a shoe and outrun DeAngelo Hall, either.
That was the big lie about Hines — that he wasn't real athletic. True, he was no blazer. But the man played multiple positions at an SEC school (Georgia), including quarterback, and even in his final decrepit season was leaping over Titans safety Michael Griffin to score.
Off the field, Hines spoke his mind. He was a self-promoter, for sure, but at the same time the ultimate team player. You could ask any of the team's younger receivers about how Hines mentored them even as his playing time shrunk.
Hines told us so many times, in so many settings, that "nobody thought I could do it." The saying became a punch line.
But you know what? It was true. When Hines walked into Steelers headquarters in 1998, a third-round pick without an ACL in his left knee, barely 6 feet tall, I'm guessing nobody looked at him and said, "That guy's going to put up better numbers than Swann and Stallworth."
Hines Ward catches a pass in front of Johnathan Wade #26 of the Cincinnati Bengals during the game on December 12, 2010 at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Jared Wickerham/Getty Images)
The Steelers took Hines Ward after 14 other wide receivers were taken in the 1998 NFL draft, and they selected him with a compensatory pick, one of four they were awarded because of free-agent losses the previous offseason. Most notably, the Steelers lost OLB Chad Brown to Seattle, which inked him to a six-year, $24 million deal.
Ward played a minor role in his first season, catching 15 passes. But by 1999, he was a starter, and he was a fixture in the Steelers' lineup for much of the next 11 seasons, thriving no matter what personality the Pittsburgh offense had taken.
Ward's career in Pittsburgh ended Wednesday, with the club announcing his impending release. Perhaps Ward, who turns 36 on March 8, will sign elsewhere. In a statement released Wednesday, Ward, according to NFL.com, said he was "looking forward to playing in the NFL, again, this upcoming season."
Smart and tough, perhaps Ward still can be effective against zone coverage. Teams looking for a possession receiver could do worse.
And he will block. Yes, he will block. It says it all about Ward that it is necessary to mention his blocking this high in the story, for if I didn't, you would say, "Well, all these numbers are nice … but what about all the times he LEVELED defensive players?"
In a 2009 game at Cincinnati, Ward famously clobbered Bengals OLB Keith Rivers with a helmet-to-helmet block. The play broke Rivers' jaw and ended his season, and the league later outlawed similar blocks.
The 6-foot, 205-pound Ward did more than his part to contribute to the Steelers' collective physicality, but his pass-catching skill and productivity ultimately will be what puts him in the Hall of Fame discussion. He caught 1,000 passes in his 14 seasons, becoming only the eighth player to reach quadruple digits in receptions. He exceeded 90 catches four times, and as recently as 2009. He was a standout in his first Super Bowl, garnering game MVP honors with five receptions, 123 yards and a TD catch. When the Steelers captured another NFL title three years later, Ward again was a key contributor, hauling in one reception of at least 38 yards in all three of Pittsburgh's postseason wins.
Those moments comprise part of Ward's legacy in Pittsburgh. The little things, though, are essential to his story. Grinding his way forward on a screen pass, working his way open for Ben Roethlisberger time-and-again in key situations — that was the essence of Hines Ward. A little more than 84 percent of his receptions went for less than 20 yards.
Ward's release is not a total surprise. His role had diminished last season, with Antonio Brown taking his starting spot. If Ward had returned to Pittsburgh, he might have been the fourth or fifth option at his position.
Whatever is next for Ward, we know this much: the Steelers were rather well-compensated for their free-agency troubles of 1997. And few have ever done more with their NFL shots than Hines Ward.
The job of an agent is diametrically opposed to that of a general manager. The agents' job, of course, is to make the players they represent look as valuable as possible. That doesn't necessarily mean wildly distorting a player's abilities — nobody's going to buy that Marion Barber is worth $40 million — but it does involve creating the best possible context for their player. A good agent not only creates demand, he creates doubt in the heads of general managers by convincing them that the player they're trying to sign is worth more than the GM's valuation.
As part of our preview of this year's free agency period, we're going to approach the market from an agent's perspective. You may be familiar with the "books" that baseball mega-agent Scott Boras prepares for his top free agents, binders with page after page of arguments detailing why Alex Rodriguez or Prince Fielder deserves a $200 million contract. Football agents, as you might expect, prepare similar sorts of packets for their players.
Well, all this week, we're going to step into the shoes of those agents. We don't have the time, staff, or obvious financial motivations of someone like Boras to prepare a 72-page document for a player, but we're going to prepare abbreviated "books" for five of the NFL's most interesting restricted and unrestricted free agents. While we often use statistics to try to get accurate gauges of a player's value or performance, that's not going to be our goal here. Instead, these books will attempt to make each player look as valuable as possible, even if we don't truly believe that the player is actually worth as much as the books suggest.
Today, we start with explosive Steelers wideout Mike Wallace. See? We've already started talking these guys up. We're basically agents already. And where did these six cell phones come from?
The Book on Mike Wallace
At 25, Mike Wallace is the most promising young receiver in all of football. He's accomplished more during his first three years in the league than any other wide receiver in recent memory, despite unfavorable conditions, regular absences from his starting quarterback, and the presence of two of the league's most decorated wide receivers ahead of him on the depth chart when he entered the league. Any team lucky enough to have Mike Wallace on its roster can expect to have the best wideout in football in its uniform for the next several seasons.
An Auspicious Debut
No active receiver has put together a more impressive résumé during his first three seasons as a pro than has Mike Wallace. If you compare what Wallace has done during that time to every other active wideout over the first three years of their respective careers, Wallace's statistical record is staggering. Consider:
• Among active wideouts, Wallace's 3,206 receiving yards are the second-most accrued during a player's first three seasons, behind only Anquan Boldin.
• Among receivers with a total of 60 receptions or more during their first three seasons, Wallace has averaged more yards per catch.
• He's scored 24 touchdowns in his first three seasons, more than any other receiver in football besides Braylon Edwards.
Wallace's performance during his first three seasons compares favorably to stars like Calvin Johnson, Andre Johnson, and Roddy White over the first three years in their respective careers. The table below lists the three-year totals for Wallace, those receivers, and other notable players, ranked by receiving yards:
Could He Be Better Elsewhere?
In addition to his impressive performance, there are reasons to think that Wallace's statistics might understate his true level of performance. While Wallace has made it through every contest in his 48-game career without missing a game and has yet to be placed on the injury report with an ailment that classified him as "Questionable" or "Doubtful," that hasn't always been true of his quarterback. Ben Roethlisberger missed one game during the 2009 season and another during the 2011 season thanks to injury; beyond those absences, Roethlisberger was a dramatically limited player during two other 2011 games because of his high ankle sprain, and was suspended for the first four games of the 2010 season.
Together, those injuries mean that Wallace has had to play just under 17 percent of his career with a backup quarterback under center. When Roethlisberger's been in the lineup and (relatively) healthy, Wallace has been a far better player. In fact, if we prorate each set of numbers to a 16-game season, Wallace has been about twice as good with Roethlisberger in the lineup as he has been when Roethlisberger's been injured and/or unable to play:
During Wallace's tenure with the Steelers, he's also been part of a team that's played at a very slow pace. In fact, last year, Pittsburgh's offense only ran 165 possessions, the lowest total in football.
Fewer possessions, of course, mean fewer chances to rack up totals. Compare that to the Jets, who had 198 possessions to work with over the course of their season; receivers on the Jets got 33 more possessions to work with, or nearly 20 percent of Pittsburgh's entire total. If you take Wallace's statistics from 2011 and adjust them for a 198-possession rate, he finishes with 1,431 receiving yards, improving his total from 11th in the league to fourth.
In addition, while other players get to pad their statistics by making plays and picking up meaningless yardage in garbage time, Wallace has rarely enjoyed such a luxury during his time with the Steelers. Over his first three seasons, just 7 percent of Wallace's receptions have come while his team trailed by 14 or more points. The league average for receivers is just under 16 percent, and similarly skilled players on subpar teams get even higher; Larry Fitzgerald has accrued nearly 19 percent of his receptions in those scenarios. Wallace's production has come when it's mattered most to his team, to an extent that virtually no other player in football can match.
If Wallace plays on a team with a healthier quarterback that moves the ball up and down the field at even a league-average pace, his performance will improve beyond his already impressive rates.
Wallace vs. Holmes
When Mike Wallace entered the league in 2009, he had little claim to regular playing time. The Steelers were coming off a win in Super Bowl XLIII, and their starting receivers were a pair of Super Bowl MVPs: Hines Ward and Santonio Holmes. Wallace was also behind Limas Sweed, whom the Steelers had chosen in the second round of the previous year's draft. Wallace quickly beat out Sweed for the third wideout job in training camp, and less than two years later, he was Pittsburgh's no. 1 receiver in the Super Bowl.
In the process, the Steelers elected to trade Holmes to the New York Jets in a decision that was clearly motivated by aspects beyond football. Wallace, regarded as a model teammate and without any embarrassing off-field incidents on his résumé, took over and allowed the Steelers to proceed without missing a beat. In fact, since Holmes went to the Jets and signed a five-year, $45 million contract, Wallace has very clearly been the better player:
The disparity between their performances is obvious, but it stretches even further when you remember the difference in possessions between the two teams; even though Holmes missed four games of the 2010 campaign because of a suspension, he's still seen action on more drives than Wallace has over the past two years. And Wallace is also playing at this superior level of performance while he's two years younger than Holmes. Wallace has clearly been the superior player to last year's free agent catch, and he should only continue to get better over the next several seasons.
Conclusion
Very simply, the chance to acquire a 25-year-old receiver with this sort of electric skills and proven track record of production does not come around frequently, if ever. Imagine that your organization could have signed Jerry Rice or Randy Moss to a contract three years into their careers while merely sacrificing a first-round pick. On the rare occasions when players of this ilk become available, they usually have baggage of some nature attached and require far more than a first-round pick. There is no such baggage surrounding Wallace, and because of Pittsburgh's salary cap situation, the league has been presented with a chance to acquire him for a price far below his true market value.
Mike Wallace isn't just a free agent. He's a once-in-a-generation opportunity.
PITTSBURGH, PA - JANUARY 06: Paul Martin #7 of the Pittsburgh Penguins passes the puck during the NHL game against the New York Rangers at Consol Energy Center on January 6, 2012 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Rangers defeated the Penguins 3-1. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
As Monday's NHL trade deadline approaches, the less-informed Pittsburgh hockey marks dream thusly: Let's trade all our bad players for all their good players.
To wit, one popular proposal suggests the Penguins send defenseman Paul Martin and goaltender Brent Johnson to Chicago for winger Patrick Sharp.
Great idea. A minus-11 defenseman and a backup goaltender that got knocked out of the box in four of his last six starts seems fair compensation for Sharp's 24 goals and 27 assists in 52 games. Who needs a sharpshooting winger, anyway?
Well, besides everybody.
Anyway, Martin isn't going anywhere. Not yet.
Martin's lackluster play makes his $5 million yearly salary (payable through 2015) difficult to unload. General Manager Ray Shero might attempt to trade Martin in the off-season.
A team lacking defensively with decent cap space (Minnesota?) might see Martin as a workhorse that would thrive on responsibility and minutes in a low-pressure situation, like Brian Campbell in Florida. Martin has a limited movement clause, but Pittsburgh has not been a good experience. He'd likely go.
But right now, the Penguins need Martin.
Martin has struggled mightily at times - witness minus-4 at Buffalo Sunday - but he's still a better option than anyone who could replace him from within the organization.
Defenseman Simon Despres was the Penguins' first-round pick in 2009. He's in his first professional season, and has played 14 games with the Penguins. He's plus-4. At the NHL level, Despres has played better than Martin this season. Few would dispute. The 6-foot-4 Despres has size, mobility and defensive acumen.
What he lacks is experience. Who would you rather have on the ice when Game 7 at Philadelphia goes to overtime, Despres or Martin? The answer, despite all his struggles, is Martin.
Martin can still be a big contributor. He's just lacks confidence. Martin has to play well to regain that. It's all on him.
The Penguins are more than adequate on defense. They have eight NHL-caliber defensemen, plus a few more that can get by. Acquiring Hal Gill would have been a luxury. Anyway, the Penguins wouldn't have outbid Nashville, which overpaid for Gill.
Some panic over the poor play of Johnson. The "experts" suggest picking up Ty Conklin, a stalwart in the Penguins net when Marc-Andre Fleury got hurt in 2007-08.
But Conklin was waived by Detroit for a reason. His current stats are worse than Johnson's. Four years can be a long time.
Johnson's travails only matter because they prevent Fleury from resting more. If Fleury gets hurt in the playoffs, it won't matter who the backup is. The Penguins would be hard-pressed to beat anybody.
So, stick with Johnson. He's come through before, and more recently than 2007-08.
Maybe we overrate the Penguins. They have precious little scoring depth, two of their top four defensemen (Martin and Zbynek Michalek) are underachieving, and Sidney Crosby has played just eight games since Jan. 5, 2011.
The Penguins are 12-11 in their past 23. That defines treading water.
But with Evgeni Malkin and Jordan Staal anchoring the center, a superb defense tandem in Kris Letang and Brooks Orpik, winger James Neal having a breakout year, good special teams and Fleury always a threat to string wins together, the season still holds promise.
Two players Shero could consider acquiring are Buffalo center Paul Gaustad and Carolina defenseman Bryan Allen.
Gaustad, 6-foot-5, is a prototype checking center who kept Malkin relatively quiet Sunday. Allen, also 6-5, blocks shots and stays at home. Each will be an unrestricted free agent at season's end. Each packs a manageable cap hit.
Eric Tangradi plus a draft pick, anyone?
Mark Madden hosts a radio show 3-6 p.m. weekdays on WXDX-FM (105.9).
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Can you just picture Ray Shero cringing all through the Penguins' lifeless, often laughable 6-2 loss to the cellar-dwelling Buffalo Sabres on Sunday at First Niagara Center?
Can you imagine how tempted he must have been, with the NHL's trade deadline just a week away, to frantically tap away at his speed-dials in search of a skilled winger, a big defenseman, even a backup goaltender to replace the still-leaky Brent Johnson?
Yeah, I can see Shero cringing. Maybe even cursing.
But calling out of desperation?
No chance.
Shero didn't get to be the general manager who built a roster this solid — 33-21-5 despite leading the league in injuries and missing Sidney Crosby — by responding reflexively to one long afternoon. Or even a lackluster stretch, such as the 4-4-1 run since that eight-game winning streak ended.
This is the GM who watched and waited a full year to acquire winger James Neal in the franchise's best trade since Craig Patrick's pickup of Alexei Kovalev in 1998, then went through six weeks of talks to sign Neal on Sunday to a six-year, $30 million extension.
The man knows what he's doing.
Which is why I'll be fine if, as I'm expecting, the Penguins aren't active at the deadline for the first time in Shero's career.
This is what Shero told me shortly before faceoff: "We're playing well, getting healthy, and that means more than anything. If I could get a 40-goal scorer or something that makes sense, I'd do that. But ..."
He didn't complete the thought, but he didn't need to. The current trade market, as viewed by this front office, ranges from awful to abysmal. The only 40-goal type is Columbus' Rick Nash, and the cap-challenged Penguins aren't in on those talks. Defensemen are scarcer still. And goaltending couldn't be called a need with Marc-Andre Fleury as the starter.
Again, look past Sunday.
Assume that Crosby returns — Shero described the captain as "busting his behind" to do that — and check out the top three lines: Evgeni Malkin will stay between Neal and Chris Kunitz, unless the team loses its collective mind. Crosby could skate with Pascal Dupuis and Steve Sullivan. Jordan Staal could be back with Matt Cooke and Tyler Kennedy. And this isn't taking into account that Dan Bylsma can mix and match, including bumping Staal up as he did a couple times Sunday.
All healthy, it's as good a group of forwards as any in the East.
As Shero suggested, another sniper would be welcome. Maybe even an older one, a la Gary Roberts or Bill Guerin. But I don't want to see another Alexei Ponikarovsky or Kovalev — or anyone named Alexei, really — added to sour things. Oh, and there isn't much on the rental market, either.
If the Penguins want to avoid more outcomes like Sunday, here are a few suggestions:
* Play like you mean it.
That's as embarrassing an effort as they've put out all winter, in stark contrast to the 6-4 victory 24 hours earlier in Philadelphia. Kris Letang correctly summarized it: "We didn't even show up."
PHILADELPHIA, PA - FEBRUARY 18: Matt Cooke #24 of the Pittsburgh Penguins scores a shorthanded goal at 13:57 of the second period against the Philadelphia Flyers at the Wells Fargo Center on February 18, 2012 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
PHILADELPHIA- It isn't every day that a hockey player stands up and brags about taking a tripping penalty. Penguins winger Pascal Dupuis did Saturday.
It really isn't every day that Penguins forward Matt Cooke is mentioned in the same sentence with franchise icon Mario Lemieux. "They're the same player, Mario and Cookie," goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury quipped.
Are you getting the idea the Penguins' room was filled with fun and frivolity after their 6-4 beating of the Philadelphia Flyers?
"I don't know, my name has been there a bunch of times with Mario's lately," Cooke deadpanned. "Not for good reasons."
You remember Cooke's 17-game suspension at the end of last season?
The one that threatened his future with the Penguins after team owner Lemieux's very public stance against gratuitous violence in the NHL?
Lemieux and the Penguins are mighty glad they stuck with Cooke, who is in the news this morning for the best of reasons. He had his first two-goal game since the opener Oct. 6 in Vancouver and his first three-point day of the season. He scored his second goal when the Penguins were down two men because of penalties. It was the first 3-on-5 goal for the franchise since Lemieux did it against the Los Angeles Kings nearly 24 years to the day.
2011 record: 72-90 Finish: Fourth place, NL Central 2011 final payroll: $51.8 million Estimated 2012 opening day payroll: $44 million Yahoo! Sports’ offseason rank: 27th
Andrew McCutchen celebrates his first inning solo home run with Neil Walker against the Houston Astros during the game on September 7, 2011 at PNC Park. (Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images North America)
To capitalize on the steps the Pittsburgh Pirates took last year, they went into this offseason with a plan: emulate the Houston Astros’ “Killer B’s” core of the 1990s. Fine, maybe not. Though what other explanation can the Pirates put forth after their big offseason maneuvers consisted of signing Clint Barmes,Erik Bedard and Rod Barajas – or, as they’re regarded around the sport, Blah, Blah and Blah.
Serviceable pieces they are. The centerpiece of a plan for a team that swears it’s committed to breaking a streak of losing seasons that could reach two decades this year? Not quite. The Pirates work within a budget. That budget calls for skinflint upgrades, if you want to call them that. Owners of bad teams have two choices: spend money in hopes of improving and drawing fans or skimp on payroll and pray management can fix things on the cheap. Pittsburgh owner Bob Nutting hails from school No. 2.
And so the Pirates gave Barmes $10.5 million (!) to play shortstop the next two years, Bedard $4.5 million for his cocktail of solid pitching and disabled-list frustration, and Barajas $4 million to not get on base. The Pirates also placed a $1.75 million bet on Nate McLouth not having lost all semblance of baseball skills, as it looked he had over the last 2½ years.
That is more than $20 million to essentially stay the same. Ronny Cedeno may not have Barmes’ pop; he also signed with the Mets for $1.1 million and has every bit the glove. Bedard replaces Paul Maholm, a homegrown player who commanded only a quarter-million more and offsets Bedard’s ceiling with consistency. Barajas certainly can catch the ball better than Ryan Doumit; he can’t hit like him, and Doumit went to Minnesota for $1 million less.
Gone, too, are Ryan Ludwick and Derrek Lee, the remnants of last season’s ill-advised go-for-it push in July. The Pirates sensed the NL Central was winnable when they were 53-47 and tied for first place July 25. They finished 24 games behind Milwaukee.
And neither of the three Blahs nor McLouth nor Casey McGehee, acquired in a trade for Jose Veras, can help change that. The Pirates exit this offseason as they entered it: hampered by, for lack of a better term, their utter Pirateness.
Reality check
The problem here, of course, is that the beginnings of a decent core do exist in Pittsburgh. Any team with Andrew McCutchen in center field cannot claim a bare cupboard. Neil Walker is among the 10 best second basemen in the major leagues. McCutchen is 25. Walker is 26. And by essentially throwing 2012, the Pirates are wasting a season of their best players’ primes and bringing them one year closer to free agency.
Pittsburgh needs to lock up McCutchen and Walker soon, which necessitates Nutting spending money, to which he has shown an aversion bordering on phobia. If Nutting throws a Justin Upton-level deal at McCutchen – six years and $60 million, buying out three years of free agency – it would be tough to turn down and guarantee the Pirates an All-Star-caliber center fielder through his prime. Walker’s case is a bit dodgier, especially since he remains a year from arbitration, but no harm in trying. The Pirates’ savvy spending in the draft and international free agency is no longer possible thanks to the new collective-bargaining agreement, which could free up a nice chunk of change for McCutchen and Walker.
Because with those two anchoring the middle of the field as well as the lineup, the Pirates can start building. Maybe Pedro Alvarez decides being fat isn’t as desirable as not being fat and regains his power swing. Perhaps Jose Tabata evolves from soft-swinging corner outfielder to something valuable. Who knows? Jeff Karstens and Charlie Morton could be late bloomers in the Pirates’ rotation, not severe regression candidates because of their awful strikeout rates. Relying on Morton in particular is risky on account of his high walk rate and almost-unsustainable home run rate.
Unless outfielder Alex Presley is a giant anomaly – the slugging 5-foot-9 outfielder – he’ll prove himself little more than a fourth outfielder in April. By which time the Pirates could again find themselves in a familiar spot toward the bottom of the division. Even if some talent feathers its way through the roster, Pittsburgh is dreadful in the field and bad on the basepaths. Its pitchers don’t strike out anyone and its hitters strike out way too much, especially for a group without the home run totals that can make Ks palatable.
“They’re sloppy,” one scout said, and that sounds about right. It takes institutional inadequacy to go 20 years without a winning season, and part of it goes back to the culture. If a team knows it can’t spend money, it must not just preach but practice the things in its realm: the defense, the baserunning, the strikethrowing – the fundamentals. It’s incumbent upon manager Clint Hurdle and GM Neal Huntington to stress this. Because even if they’re going to lose for another year – and they will – the Pirates don’t have to look like a mess doing it.
Savior
Hurry up, Jameson Taillon and Gerrit Cole. Doesn’t matter that Taillon is 20 and Cole 21, that Taillon has a year of professional ball under his belt and Cole not a single pitch. They are the best pitching-prospect duo in baseball, and even if odds say they’re not both going to be aces, the possibility of slotting them at the top of a rotation for six years makes the Pirates’ future far more palatable. Cole is the likelier of the two to reach the big leagues this season, perhaps less than a year after Pittsburgh chose him No. 1 in the draft. Taillon, the No. 2 pick in 2010, needs seasoning after spending last season in Class A. His arrival is likelier late 2013 or 2014. Still, it’s something, and with outfielders Josh Bell, Starling Marte and Robbie Grossman, plus more starting-pitching possibilities, the Pirates do boast one of the better farm systems in baseball. They’ve shown interest in Cuban outfielder Yoenis Cespedes, too, though at his expected $40 million price tag? Don’t forget: These still are the Pirates.
Pirates in Haiku
Two more losing years
And Pittsburgh’s futility
Can legally drink
