Kovacevic: The Huntington/Stark cupboard laid bare taken in the Strip District (DK'S GRIND)

Mitch Keller pitches last month in Bradenton, Fla. - AP

If the print industry's dying, then it's at least on life support in my home. Since I still insist on reading two things in their original physical form: Green Lantern comics and Baseball America.

The latter's my last remaining magazine subscription, and I'm proud to say I'll stick with the sport's standard-bearer from now till PNC Park hoists its first pennant. It's always been a joy to read exactly the way it is, front to finish, for reasons I'm not even sure I can explain.

Yesterday, the new BA hit my mailbox, and I had my customarily appropriate reaction:

Better yet, this issue was my favorite of the year, the one that ranks the minor-league systems of all 30 Major League Baseball teams. 'Org rankings,' as we baseball dweebs roll. If you're a BA subscriber, they're right here.

If not, I'll spare the suspense: The Pirates are No. 23, without a single prospect in the top 50 among individuals.

And then I'll make it worse: The only reason they're even that high is that BA's qualifier for what constitutes a prospect is anyone who's still eligible for Rookie of the Year in the bigs. As such, Mitch Keller, who's two whole innings shy of that status and is a dead-certain lock for the Pittsburgh rotation, barely made the cut and probably boosted the Pirates' ranking here by three or four notches all by himself.

The other two are precisely the two you'd expect: Ke'Bryan Hayes and Oneil Cruz.

And beyond them, it's a couple relief arms and a whole lot of Hoka-Hey-Where's-All-The-Talent?

I raise this not at all to discuss the merits of Hayes and Cruz, much less Keller. Each is exciting, each in his own way, and it'll be a blast watching them grow.

Rather, I raise it toward two points:

1. The cupboard's bare.

Common misperceptions persist that the Neal Huntington/Kyle Stark front office was OK at drafting but bad at development. That's not true. They were bad at both things, as well as many other things.

This is the Tyler Glasnow effect. Because Glasnow arrived to Pittsburgh, then was brutally mismanaged, then shined with the Rays, so at least the drafting was OK. And that only multiplied when Gerrit Cole, a No. 1 overall pick, and Charlie Morton, who actually arose through the Braves' system, followed similar scripts upon leaving for the Astros.

Here's the truth: There weren't anywhere near enough Glasnows in the pipeline at any point in time. A gazillion pitchers were drafted over a dozen years, and the only ones of any worth were Glasnow and the two pitchers taken within the top two overall picks in the draft, Cole and Jameson Taillon. That's it.

That's why, mindboggling as it might sound, the system now has not a single starting pitching prospect on any meaningful radar, at least not any who are healthy.

So before Ben Cherington gets going as a GM, it's fair, I feel, to set this aspect of the record as straight as it gets: He's taking over a total train wreck.

Which leads to the other ...

2. The cupboard comes first.

Cherington's put himself in a strange spot, and this one's squarely on him: He won't criticize his predecessors in the slightest, but he clearly recognizes that the system he inherited needs a broad infusion of higher-ceiling talent. At the same time, he's held onto all his prime trading pieces except for Starling Marte, who forced the Pirates' hand by demanding out. And still here, for example, is Chris Archer, probably in hopes he can rebound and raise his value.

This is why I applauded the Marte trade, since the return consisted of two higher-ceiling 19-year-olds, plus the international bonus cap space to sign a similar free agent from Australia. It's what this system needs, way more than the Huntington/Stark mold of shipping off Cole for four safer prospects. They might not all make it, but, if they do, they'll make a far bigger difference.

But balancing that with having a top-heavy organization that's currently housing almost all of its talent in Pittsburgh, and knowing that he'd be a fool to go with some full-blown rebuild -- you know, shipping out Bryan Reynolds, Kevin Newman and Keller, the way the Marlins might -- that won't be easy.

Cherington's got the cool, the patience to pull that off. But here's betting even he can't envision how.

• Lucky for the Pirates, most of the rest of the Central stinks in these rankings, too. The Cubs are No. 22, the Reds No. 28 and the Brewers last at No. 30 without a top-100 prospect in their system. Now, part of the reason for that is that Milwaukee emptied its system to steal Christian Yelich from Miami, which has obviously proven brilliant. But still, only the Cardinals at No. 13 are above average.

This is all the more reason for Cherington to build this up. Get ahead while most everyone else is behind.

• Baseball in May? Entirely in the Phoenix area?

There's been a lot of pipe-dream speculation for a while now, but this overnight report from ESPN's Jeff Passan definitely doesn't fall into that category. MLB and the Players Association are serious about a plan that'd have everyone, including the Pirates, playing in Arizona as soon as possible, social-distancing measures and all. Even the government's behind it.

Go read the report. It's a must.

Not really sure how I feel about it just yet, but I'll tell you this: If there's sports anywhere on the planet in May, I'm on the first flight in that direction before you can say, 'Moving walk is nearing its end.'

• The NFL Draft will be even more socially distanced than previously thought, with all teams, all personnel ordered to stay separate through the process. And everything will be A-OK.

ESPN's Adam Schefter doesn't have a peer among national NFL reporters, but this was a beyond-the-pale criticism of the league's decision to stick by the draft:

Maybe Schefter can consult with his voluminous sources to pinpoint one thing -- and his feelings don't count -- that the draft would be jeopardizing by proceeding, safely, as scheduled.

Those continuing to conduct business, again, safely, are very much doing their part to mitigate the colossal side effect to the coronavirus, meaning the impact on the economy. If Schefter doesn't like that, he can do his own small part by ceasing to do his own job ... which I've noticed he hasn't.

Antonio Brown hired an agent last night: Ed Wasielewski of EMG Sports. The goal is to help AB return to the NFL.

Know how I know that?

Yep. Mr. 'Carnage in the Streets' himself reported it. But he didn't advocate that AB cease and desist despite AB's unresolved sexual assault allegations, as well as Florida charges for felony burglary conveyance, misdemeanor battery and misdemeanor criminal mischief charges.

• AB to Baltimore is the reward we've all earned for these past few weeks, right?

• If you're a Steelers fan and you get through this day without reading Chris Carter's breakdown of two-tight-end strategy, you're definitely not doing it right. Good stuff.

• Expecting to hear from Bryan Rust this afternoon. Looking forward to that. Grateful to the Penguins' media relations for arranging the call.

• Someone on a conference call asked Paul Maurice, the NHL's most well-spoken coach, what he'd most like to see come of the current situation. The response didn't disappoint: "I want to see this Winnipeg Jets team play. But that's small potatoes to what people are going through. Losing lives, the hardships, losing jobs. All that far outweighs what I want to see happen.”

They can be one and the same, though, can't they?

We all want to see that Winnipeg Jets team play. Because it'll mean we'll also be seeing our Pittsburgh teams play. And because all the rest of civilization will be resuming normalcy.

• Anyone else noticed that, for all these fatalistic projections for when that'll occur, hardly any take into account the possibility of better managing coronavirus symptoms? And, in turn, reducing the death rate?

It's as if the medical science community exists outside our common reality when people talk about this taking several months or even years. As if there isn't already breathtaking headway being made on multiple fronts, not least of which is right here in Pittsburgh. As if every scientist and researcher on the planet wouldn't love to contribute to that solution.

Sorry, but my faith's with them. Has been all along.

• We'll get there. We will.

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