LATROBE, Pa. -- The one move the Pirates made at Major League Baseball's trade deadline -- Corey Dickerson out, cash in -- was eminently predictable.
The most ridiculous remark Neal Huntington made afterward -- "We're still in it, technically speaking" -- was equally predictable. And yes, by God, he was referring to the National League standings, in which his team's currently as close to first place as the dark side of Pluto is to the sun ... of some other galaxy.
But one aspect of all this was the polar opposite of predictable.
And as such, it might be powerfully telling.
First, a necessary aside: For all else that's gone wrong for this 2019 group on the field, the one facet that's never failed them is sticking together and trying hard. Even through this 3-16 nosedive since the All-Star break, the fight, as we witnessed again, literally, Tuesday night in Cincinnati, hasn't left them.
I've credited Clint Hurdle for that and, based on countless conversations in the clubhouse, I've also consistently cited two players above all the rest in this regard: Francisco Liriano and Melky Cabrera. They're the leaders. They might not have been that had everyone stayed healthy, but they've become that.
And now the unpredictable part: They're both still here.
Two players, both well into their 30s, both on expiring contracts, both with real potential value to any and all contenders in the field at a likely nominal price, are still here.
The other two players of consequence on expiring contracts, Jordan Lyles and Dickerson, were dealt. Which means that, however little Lyles and Dickerson netted -- and it sure was little -- they at least added some value beyond this already-lost season. Which means that, since Liriano and Cabrera weren't dealt, they can walk away this winter for nothing.
Why are they still here?
This was Huntington's explanation, and there's some truth in it: "They give us a quality veteran presence, and they can help our young players continue to grow. We like them being around the club. We just didn’t feel we would have gotten enough in return to be appropriate to trade them. All things considered, the right move was to have them continue to be Pirates.”
This is my theory, and I'm confident it's got the full truth in it: This front office is panicking.
Possibly for the first time in the dozen years they've been in power.
Not a lot scares Huntington, Frank Coonelly and company. They're as secure in their positions as anyone has a right to be after all the losing they've overseen. They're employed by an owner who values profit and loyalty above all else and, thus, what matters most to Bob Nutting is that the business proceeds unabated. If there's a little losing along the way, so be it.
But this level of losing ... this is something else.
I was wondering about this while covering the Pirates' trip to New York over the weekend: Could these guys, after all this time, finally be feeling even the tiniest trace of heat if this level of losing were to continue? Another month of it? Another two months of it? And if so, could they envision a scenario in which a team already losing so much would then have two key intangible components removed?
So I sent out a text about this to someone deeply connected to the team's inner workings, and this was the text I got back: "They are in circle-the-drain mode. They are terrified."
Much as I trust this source, I set that aside while tending to business at Citi Field. (And not just because I had to look up the meaning of circling the drain.) I wanted to see how this deadline played out.
And then it played out. Precisely that way.
I'll get into Felipe Vazquez below. I see that as a separate issue. But keeping Liriano and Cabrera, that kind of maneuver, is virtually without precedent for this front office. It readily acknowledges in plain sight that they, maybe combined with Hurdle, made up their minds that wins and losses will mean something over these final two months. To someone.
Wow. Imagine that.
• Candidly, when a decade-plus passes without any actual accountability, it feels hard to fathom. It'll be fascinating now to see how it unfolds.
• I love keeping Vazquez. Kudos to whoever ultimately made that call, including if it was Huntington himself. Because if the Dodgers, indeed, weren't willing to part with what was sought, the bona fide best move was hanging onto an elite closer who's under control through 2023. Whatever anyone expects the Pirates to be in 2020, it'd be absurd for anyone planning to stink for four more years.
He's a great pitcher, it's a great deal and, for what it's worth, he'll carry virtually the same value at the next deadline.
Besides, ideally, a front office with a greater chance of succeeding with a trade of such scope would be entrusted to execute it.
• After what Vazquez had told me in New York, this was a wonderful tweet to see:
Just to be where I’m at it’s a blessing for me underrated/overrated I will always gonna be the nightmare ?? pic.twitter.com/W0ja8K0WDB
— Nightmare Vazquez (@F_Vazquez73) July 31, 2019
• There's a lot to dislike about Nutting's stewardship of the franchise. Nothing, for me, stands out like the lack of accountability. I could live with the low payroll if the accountability wasn't just as low. The combination of the two is beyond indefensible.
• The return from the Phillies for Dickerson was a player to be named, who'll be nobody special, and some international bonus slot money. There's nothing amiss with this. That's the going rate. Anyone complaining about it doesn't pay attention to baseball.
• Huntington will get raked for the "We're still in it" remark, and I get that. But it'll be for the wrong reason.
People will accuse him of trying to spin or sell something. That's really not in his DNA. Rather, and ironically, he's in the constant state of parsing, worrying about how his words might be perceived. So, in the instant he suggests that 2019 might be lost, he'll swing right back to making a statement like that as a defense mechanism.
Not that it isn't still ridiculous, but I'm at least trying to explain the root of it.
• Derek Dietrich's an idiot, and Keone Kela shouldn't have thrown at his head. Both things can be true.
Like pretty much everything else in our society anymore, it seems like the sides are extreme. Regardless of how anyone feels about baseball's unwritten rules, Dietrich knew exactly what he was doing at PNC Park when he made a horse's backside of himself in posing after his home runs. He knew he was ticking off the Pirates, and he knew that's why he was doing it. Kela and the Pirates, in turn, had every right to retaliate within those same unwritten rules. But, that said, throwing at the head is reckless.
This stuff isn't that complicated.
• Mocking baseball's unwritten rules has become increasingly common. I strongly suspect this is because, more than ever, we mix sports together in our casual conversations. So when we see a sack dance or a goal celebration, we can more easily wonder why a home run isn't handled with the same mentality.
I hate this. Baseball is baseball. Every sport's got its unwritten rules. Every last one of them. Leave baseball alone.
• If Dietrich's an idiot, then I can't come up with the proper exponential formula for what that makes Crying David Bell:
"It's a shame that this is allowed and that they're able to get away with it. They celebrate it. They support it." - David Bell on the Pirates.#BornToBaseball | #Reds pic.twitter.com/cijoC9ty60
— FOX Sports Ohio (@FOXSportsOH) July 31, 2019
Has anyone seen a manager or coach come this unglued this often?
Who gets ejected eight times in 100 games?
Above, he comes across like a third-grader who just got plunked too hard in dodgeball. It's honestly unsettling.
• Reminded me a bit of another recent scene in Cincinnati, different sport but same cities:
— Dejan Kovacevic (@Dejan_Kovacevic) July 31, 2019
• The Reds are ... different. It's a different organization. Has been for a long, long time. And as such, they've never had an issue -- kind of like their football brethren -- in employing characters of all kinds. And to understand the Pirates-Reds rivalry from there, the Pirates, in turn, happen to share a division and see them a lot. And dislike them a lot. Nothing else to it.
• A lot of dumb things came from both clubhouses after that episode, but none dumber than Amir Garrett, the reliever who made a complete clown of himself by charging the Pirates' dugout: "Nobody's protecting us."
Protecting you? From whom, exactly? From the big, bad Pirates?
Here's how it works, Amir: Tell Dietrich he could do a spectacular job of protecting the Reds from harm by not disrespecting opponents. Tell him to conduct himself like Joey Votto, like a professional.
Problem solved.
• Funny, it's as if Dusty Baker hadn't been ordering his pitchers to treat Andrew McCutchen like a piñata for years.
• Just to show I'm not favoring one side or the other, I side 100 percent in what Votto told Kela when he was barking that way after Kela's pitch, that account courtesy of this amazing YouTube analysis below.
(Warning: This isn't at all safe for work.)
• Kela's suspension will be wicked, mostly because he, for some reason, felt compelled to go on the record that his pitch to Dietrich's head came with a purpose.
Funny, I didn't think anyone else could turn himself in the way Starling Marte did to that umpire in St. Louis, but this tops it.
• Garrett will get the longest suspension, but it really should be Bell. He'd already been ejected. He violated everything conceivable by coming back out there, never mind going at Hurdle physically.
• I've got one prediction for the series at PNC Park with the Mets this weekend: Nutting will be there. All three games.
