BRADENTON, Fla. -- For all that went so awfully awry for those 2019 Pirates, there were two wonderful surprises and one very welcome outcome:
1. Bryan Reynolds happened.
2. Kevin Newman also happened.
3. Everyone got fired!
And no, I'm not ready to let that last one go, even if much of Pittsburgh's fan base apparently has flipped from that glimmer of hope that accompanied Bob Nutting ripping up his front office to ... you know, payroll, payroll, payroll. Because there remains nothing more pivotal that could've been resulted from that second fiasco. It's a blessing beyond words that Frank Coonelly and Neal Huntington are gone, never mind that more mature, more accomplished replacements were found in Travis Williams and Ben Cherington.
Between those moves and the additional replacement of Clint Hurdle with Derek Shelton, there's a bona fide new vibe around this team, whether that's felt yet by all of us on the outside or not. I've known so many of the good folks within this organization for much of my adult life, and it's rare to hear them speak with such optimism, such energy.
It's been, as one of those hardy souls recently told me, "A breath of fresh air."
Make no mistake, that's what was needed almost as much as all the tangibles. Love them or loathe them, Coonelly and Huntington had been in place for a dozen years, Hurdle for a decade. That's a long, long tenure in any professional sport, much less one that wrought little more than one spectacular night at PNC Park.
They needed to go. They're all gone. And that's still the single most uplifting event for this franchise since Johnny Cueto dropped that ball.
Look, go right ahead and fuss over the $50.1 million payroll. I won't blame you. It's laughably low, and the only way to justify that is for Nutting to someday pony up when it's most needed. And since he failed to do that following the 2015 season, he hasn't earned that benefit of the doubt.
He's assured me he'll do that. But this has to be about action.
In the interim, though, since this clearly isn't any such time, and since this is the day pitchers and catchers begin reporting to Pirate City -- right around 9 a.m. -- I'm finding myself thinking a lot more about 2020 and a lot less about how payroll will look in a couple years.
Specifically, I'd love to once again see two wonderful surprises and, through that, one very welcome outcome.
So ...
1. Cole Tucker happens.
2. Mitch Keller happens.
3. The Pirates ... get better!
See, Cherington isn't rebuilding. He just isn't. I know there's a clamor for that term to be used, but it flat-out doesn't apply for one simple reason: The oldsters don't have to be replaced by youngsters since there really aren't any meaningful oldsters in the fold.
That's what a rebuild is, by any reasonable definition.
The oldest position player Cherington inherited was Starling Marte at age 31. Marte complained publicly that he wanted away from the Pirates because he'd hoped to contend elsewhere, and Marte was traded for two prospects and enough international bonus cap space to add a third.
That's not a rebuild.
The oldest pitcher Cherington inherited was Chris Archer, who's a month older than Marte. If and when Archer rights himself -- and he showed signs of that last summer -- he'll be traded, too. Take it to the bank.
And when that happens, that won't be a rebuild, either.
Because the rest are all young enough to be part of what's coming next. Which, contrary to common perception, doesn't need to be timed with the age of the prospects recently acquired. It just needs to be about using each move, each step toward making the 40-man roster -- and, of course, the system as a whole -- more in tune with actual contention than it was before. And that, in turn, requires adding pieces that come with real upside, high ceilings.
I've been told what's above by a bunch of people inside the Pirates regarding rebuilding, not least of whom is Cherington himself, and I'm buying it.
So ... get better.
One piece at a time. And yes, one current piece at a time, as well.
Cole Tucker. - MATT SUNDAY / DKPSLet's talk Tucker. He's 23, he's athletic enough to stick everyday at short, he's maybe the most enthusiastic individual on the planet and -- to the one worry -- he slashed .211/.266/.361. That's obviously nowhere near good enough. And he knows it.
But there also were times last summer where he looked completely comfortable at the plate, like he belonged, and that's where he's placed his positive vibes this offseason.
"I'm so excited," Tucker was telling me, beaming, on the eve of this reporting day. "I mean, I took everything that I learned and experienced last year, bottled it up, digested it and, just, I've been working and learning and growing throughout the offseason. I'm really excited to get going in spring training, just show these guys what I got."
Good luck doubting him.
Mitch Keller. - MATT SUNDAY / DKPSSame applies to Keller. He's also 23. He absorbed similar bruises in 2019, going 1-5 with a 7.13 ERA and 1.83 WHIP in 11 starts. Also nowhere near good enough. And he knows it.
But he also pitched at a dominant level in spurts with 65 strikeouts rooted in wipeout stuff.
"I know what didn't go well, but I also know what did go well," Keller told me. "What I've got to do is take both of those, learn from them and come back stronger. I honestly think that everything I experienced as a rookie was really valuable for me."
Kid can really pitch. Just needs to put a couple pieces in place.
If Tucker does so, then Newman can slide to second base, which probably is a better fit for his range. If that happens, Cherington can float Adam Frazier as a trade piece to enhance other areas or, again, the system.
If Keller solidifies, he'd make sudden sense of the rotation, alongside Archer, Trevor Williams, Joe Musgrove and Steve Brault. He'd also represent the beginning of whatever the next wave would become. And here again, now Cherington can float Archer from a position of greater potential strength.
If, if, if ... I know. No one wants to hear that. But it's getting better by getting better younger players. That's the right direction, and this is the right way to go about it, whether it's popular or not.
• The right way is the Rays' way. The wrong way is the Reds' way. The Rays invest all -- and I mean all -- of their resources in youth. The Rays win. The Reds do stupid things like following a 77-win season with a swollen $131 million payroll. The Reds lose. And they'll lose in 2020, too, because they don't have nearly enough in their system to sustain the depth necessary for contention.
But hey, they'll win the talk shows in the offseason. Just like a certain NFL team in the same state.
• Speaking of the Rays, good for Charlie Morton for piping up that he knew everything the Astros were doing, even apologizing for it. Doesn't alter the reality, but it's a damned sight better than what others from that team have spoken.
• Rob Manfred's lost his mind if he thinks that scandal will softly fade away. We're talking about baseball here. We still talk about cheaters like Barry Bonds, Pete Rose ... heck, we still talk about Shoeless Joe Jackson more than a century later. Baseball scandals are eternal.
What separates this one, in my mind, is that it's institutional. The rest are individual cheating, so it'd be impossible to punish a team. But the punishment in this case -- which, I'll remind, was limited to one-year suspensions of the GM and manager, an easily affordable $5 million fine and not a thing else -- needs to be affixed to the institution, to the team.
Only one way to achieve that and make everyone else fear such consequences forever: Vacate the World Series.
Sam Lafferty scores a week ago in Washington. - GETTY• The Penguins don't just need a fourth line. They also need Sam Lafferty back. You know, the one who burst onto the scene back in October ripping up the scoresheets in St. Paul, Winnipeg and beyond.
In the spirit of some of my above points about the Pirates, production from younger players will be a must at some stage for the Penguins. They had it in 2016, and it carried them to the Stanley Cup, and then Jake Guentzel came along in 2017 to set up the sequel. To date, that hasn't happened this winter, although Lafferty at least made it seem plausible.
He and I had a good talk this weekend over in Sunrise, and he sounded ... as if he were trying to give the answer Mike Sullivan wanted to hear, to be honest.
I asked what it'd take for him to once again look that confident on the ice.
"Well, I think it just starts from playing the right way," Lafferty began. "I don't put too much weight into scoring. I think, for me, I just try to stick to the basics and what makes me tick as a player. That's when I have the most success."
I tried asking if maybe he can gain inspiration from Bryan Rust, who adopted that same approach long ago and has since become a sniper.
"Yeah, we've got great leaders on this team, a lot of great examples for me to look at. Rusty's definitely one of them. He's one of our best players every single night."
The goal Lafferty scored a week ago in Washington was gorgeous. It wasn't an accident. He's capable of that. But he needs to think that.
• That said, I'm all in favor of bumping the rest of the fourth line right off the rink. Anthony Angello might be a fit someday, but he's shown nothing to suggest that's now, and the now matters most. Alex Galchenyuk ... eh, I'm out of words on this subject.
Adam Johnson, please. Right now. He's fast, he skates in a straight line, and he's super-smart. Put it to use.
• To clear something up: When Jim Rutherford makes his presumed big trade, he'll be sending out a first-round pick or he'll do nothing.
That's because he doesn't have a second-rounder to offer, at least not in the 2020 NHL Draft. Remember, he traded that away to the Golden Knights in return for Vegas promising to select Marc-Andre Fleury rather than Matt Murray.
I know, I know. But the point is that there's no second-rounder. So Rutherford goes big or goes home.
• I've been far slower than most to praise Jack Johnson for his rebound season, wanting to wait to see if it'd last. It has. And good for him. He's not just the world's friendliest human -- except if you were wearing an opponent's sweater in any of the three games on this just-completed trip -- but also one seriously determined individual.
• The Steelers hired a 36-year-old coach for JuJu Smith-Schuster?
OK, I'll buy.
Not that Bryan McClendon won't also oversee Diontae Johnson, James Washington and the rest of a really young group of wide receivers, but let's not pretend JuJu won't be priority No. 1 for him. And as such, given JuJu's very visible, emotional nature -- for better or worse -- maybe it's right to have someone a lot closer to his age at the helm.
• The Steelers do have a second-rounder, and it'll be their top pick. That must be invested in a running back, and it's hard to fathom any disagreement on this. Really is.
• Hilarious how this blew up on Twitter:
As it stands, 31 teams won’t have Minkah Freaking Fitzpatrick. https://t.co/1W7VjmHWe8
— Dejan Kovacevic (@Dejan_Kovacevic) February 8, 2020
I mean, does anyone really think even a handful of players as impactful as Minkah Fitzpatrick will be selected in this year's first round?
• I hear and read that Landry Jones is the face of the XFL.
And then, I hear and read debate as to whether or not the XFL is a viable competitor to the NFL.
These two concepts cannot coexist.
• The Pitt basketball program has been missing a true star even longer than it's been missing team success. Justin Champagnie's blossoming into that right before our eyes, a 6-6 freshman who scores, rebounds, puts the ball on the floor, hits the jumper ... he's a throwback in the most beautiful sense of the term. Does it all.
And just wait till Jeff Capel adds a big man and pure shooter. This is all happening so quickly, it seems.
• Baseball!
