Shane Baz is 19 years old, he's got big-league pedigree, he brings 98-mph heat through a delivery that looks both commanding and repeatable, and someday he'll probably be a fine starting pitcher for the Rays. Maybe even a star.
Probably. Maybe.
For years, I've criticized the Pirates' front office for failing to prioritize the fairly certain commodity over the prospect. And I've got to tell you, after Baz wound up being the player to be named later in the Chris Archer trade yesterday, I'm not about to walk that back in any form.
Probably, Austin Meadows will be a reliable starting center fielder for years to come. He showed enough from his glimpse here to believe that'll be the case, and he's already had one spectacular moment with the Rays' Class AAA affiliate in Durham, N.C., belting a winning walkoff with his team down to its final strike:
The Bulls were down to their final strike. Austin Meadows decided to send us home a winner. #BULLieve pic.twitter.com/6m0pHJH1rn
— Durham Bulls (@DurhamBulls) August 12, 2018
Maybe, Tyler Glasnow will be a reliable starting pitcher for years to come. He's got overwhelming stuff, as his own glimpse in Pittsburgh occasionally illustrated. Crediting "physical adjustments" since the trade, he's now made three starts, spanning 12 innings, while allowing three runs and striking out ... uh, 20.
Listen to Glasnow glowing about his new pitching coach, Kyle Snyder, who's also 6-8 and has a history of tightening the deliveries of tall guys:
.@RaysBaseball Tyler Glasnow on working with pitching coach Kyle Snyder. #RaysUp pic.twitter.com/VZiX1Qojkh
— FOX Sports Florida (@FOXSportsFL) August 7, 2018
Baz will take at least a couple additional years to ascend to the majors, but he might also be talking like that someday.
Probably. Maybe.
John Schuerholz, the brilliant former GM of the Braves, once famously wrote that the most important talent any sports executive must evaluate is his own. The thinking: If you aren't thorough and honest in judging what you've got under your own roof, you'll never be able to make the right deals in the open marketplace.
The Pirates' front office under Bob Nutting, Frank Coonelly and Neal Huntington has had immense flaws exposed over their decade in charge, but none, at least from this perspective, more damaging than these three:
1. They can't draft.
2. They can't develop.
3. They pretend they can do both.
And that third one's been the killer. Because in expending so much energy trying to convince themselves -- and others -- that drafting and developing are strengths, they've hoarded assets that really weren't assets. While, as a result, shortchanging the roster at the big-league level.
If anyone wants to complain about Glasnow being traded, complain that it didn't occur after the 98-win season in 2015, when his prospect status had peaked and other organizations would have offered a mint. That's when you give up a probably, a maybe, for a sure thing.
And when you can't draft or develop, going for the sure thing is always the preferred option.
Archer wasn't easy to acquire. But there were reasons for that: He's 29, and he brings what's by far the most valued facet for a big-league starting pitcher in that he makes his starts. The modern bar for a "horse," as a durable starter is still called inside a clubhouse, is 32 starts. Well, from 2014-17, Archer took the ball for 32, 34, 33 and 34 starts. This afternoon in Minneapolis, he'll make his 18th start of 2018. All told, his 174 starts since June of 2013 rank second in all of Major League Baseball behind Max Scherzer's 176.
Fuss away over his statistics, particularly his 3.70 career ERA and 4.36 current ERA. He isn't a star, and anyone who ever labeled him as such was soaking up way too much of the trade deadline giddiness. But in these same four seasons with the Rays I cited, he ran up strikeout totals of 173, 252, 233 and 249. And that's because he keeps taking the ball when it's his turn.
What the Southwest-middle-seat-flying Pirates will never allow themselves to afford is overpaying for a starter who can't make his starts. So Archer comes with exceptional value. Financially, too. His current salary is $6.25 million, which is criminally low for a starter at his level. After that, it goes to $7.5 million, after which the Pirates hold crazy-low club options for 2020 and 2021 of $8.25 million each.
That's why everyone wanted Archer. Not because he's a star, but because he's a stalwart who won't chew up their payroll.
Not even this front office can delude themselves into thinking -- anymore -- that prospects are too heavy a price for a situation like that.
• All that said, Archer's lasted 4 1/3 and 5 innings in his first two starts with the Pirates. Today would be a fine time to do a little better. In my experience, baseball teams really, really hate losing the last game of a long trip, no matter what preceded it.
• Just in case anyone's wondering about the stuff I hear all the time behind the scenes about the Pirates' drafting/developing, there was this absolute treasure of a quote from Clint Hurdle in Minneapolis yesterday when asked about Baz's inclusion: “There’s only two types of currency in today’s game to go get players you don’t have and you’re not raising: You either buy them or you trade for them. This was the option we were able to choose.”
Oh, ouch.
That, my friends, is a manager sick and tired of being force-fed catastrophic Class AAA pitchers, then having their catastrophes unfairly pinned on him.
• Corey Dickerson, Starling Marte and Gregory Polanco, the top three in the Pirates' order, have gone a collective 15 for 93 on this trip. Analyze no further. As I wrote upon the team embarking, the one thing that can't afford to be diminished at any point is the offensive contribution of any bats, let alone the most important bats.
• Joe West thinks our nation's politics are right down the middle.
• Let Tuesday's scene in Latrobe serve as a reminder that, for all else that we ever discuss and dissect about the Steelers, one thing matters and one thing alone:
• Presuming Ben Roethlisberger's health -- and there's never a way of knowing if it turns out to be a concussion -- it couldn't be clearer that Landry Jones is his No. 2, given Tomlin announcing yesterday that Jones will get Thursday off in Green Bay. The coaching staff wants to see more of Mason Rudolph vs. Josh Dobbs before cutting Dobbs, and that's not an area where they'd want to make a mistake. If anything, by showcasing him a bit more, they might be able to parlay him into a trade -- the Broncos just yesterday made known they're seeking a backup -- rather than releasing him for nothing.
• Just for fun: Has there ever been a worse-dressed professional sports franchise than the Canucks?
This is a family site, or I'd share here all the various incarnations of terrible colors, terrible trim, logos that had nothing to do with anything, the Darth Vader flying-V unis of the 1980s and ... oh, never mind, here they are:
Flying V, Flying Skate or Original Orca?
YOU DECIDE! #Canucks50 ➡️https://t.co/9ZNHfWOYYx pic.twitter.com/rLDVwED1gu
— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) August 7, 2018
And here's the winner -- presumably by default -- of a fan vote conducted in the past week to choose a throwback alternate sweater to wear during Vancouver's 50th NHL season:
Back by popular demand. #Canucks50 pic.twitter.com/uvCSMmiBZ8
— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) August 13, 2018
To think, we still complain about the blue faux-backs, and even then only because they caused concussions.
• Come on, who else misses hockey?
What if I tried, even in the face of zero events or news, to pull off an entire Grind tomorrow on nothing but Penguins?
