DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS
Welcome to Tuesday Twelve Qs, our chat that takes place each week. This week’s edition will have to start at 2 p.m., an hour later than usual, because of the Steelers’ schedule being messed up by the short week for the Thursday game in Baltimore.
The format is simple: Use the comments section below to submit an entry, with no more than one per person, please. Submit it anytime you want. I’ll pick from those to get the thing rolling, then monitor new entries once we go live at 2. All topics welcome, as always.
UPDATE 1:47 p.m.: OK, I’m back from Steelers HQ, so let’s get going now because we already have so many Qs lined up in the queue …
Wild Bill: Would you agree that the chaos the Ravens are going through right now gives the Steelers a Thursday night advantage? Or, is the crisis something that might help the Ravens rally together with an “us against the world” mentality?
DK: Not sure what would be the source of their defiance, if so, Bill. Really, who in their right mind would suggest the Ravens were wronged in this instance?
Overall, I’m with your initial point on this, at least theoretically. I do think the Steelers could take advantage of a distracted opponent, especially in a short week. Every minute that was wasted on Ray Rice, even away from the practice field or classrooms, was a minute that could have been invested in Thursday.
This topic came up a lot just now in the Steelers’ room and, to a man, the athletes agreed that a distraction is a distraction. “I’m pretty sure it’s chaotic over there,” Cam Heyward just said. The Steelers should know. They had one as recently as the preseason, with the Le’Veon Bell/LeGarrette Blount pot fiasco, and I think everyone recalls that they were absolutely abysmal that night in Philadelphia. It might be coincidence. It might not.
Vav: Both Jared Hughes and Tony Watson have been great, but they may be experiencing some fatigue in the same way Mark Melancon did last year. With that being said, how many more strong outings from John Holdzkom would it take before Clint Hurdle starts using him in high leverage situations to spell the others?
DK: Wait, didn’t Holdzkom make his debut in the late innings of a two-run game?
And doesn’t he already have a major-league save?
That should tell you all you need to know, I’d imagine. There’s no earthly way he’s pitching in those situations unless the manager is confident he’s got the poise, the command and the stuff to do so. Holdzkom obviously has shown all three.
That said, man, can anyone ever cut the Pirates some slack?
Honestly, this team’s won four in a row, they’ve rebounded beautifully from the St. Louis sweep, and they’re holding a wild-card spot in the second week of September. But — and I swear, I’m not picking on you here — all I get from all directions are complaints, complaints, complaints. This team is, as this is being typed, on a hard course to make the playoffs. It feels almost criminal that this doesn’t get enjoyed in Pittsburgh more by this fan base. Just misery, left and right.
So Hughes and Watson made you bite a nail or two. Big deal. It’s a pennant race. That’s part of it. Watson closed his door most of the way, and Melancon slammed it shut.
OK, hopping back off that soapbox …
Mandarino: Do you think the Steelers now regret the way they handled the James Harrison domestic violence situation, which was basically to ignore it? And if so, do you think that was one of the factors they considered in not bringing him back?
DK: I don’t believe the Steelers regret a whole lot of anything, and that’s got everything to do with Mike Tomlin. He’s openly defiant anytime anything is raised about the past. And look, if the franchise ever wanted to make any kind of statement about Harrison and his domestic violence, they sure wouldn’t have welcomed him back with that retirement ceremony this past week. The new Ray Rice video hadn’t emerged, but the other one was still out there, as was the issue.
I would hope that everyone, not just the Steelers and not just in sports, learned a powerful lesson from Rice. But, as I wrote this morning, I’m not optimistic.
YouMeAndDupuis: Sidney Crosby hurt his wrist in a meaningless regular season game, yet he finished that game and every game down the stretch. Do you blame Sid, the trainers or Dan Bylsma for playing through pain that certainly, in hindsight, needed more attention/rest?
DK: Something like that’s always on the athlete. And by that, I mean an injury that’s not severe enough to require surgery — and remember, it never was — but that the athlete is adamant he can play through.
I remember at the game up in Winnipeg late in the regular season, Crosby was telling the group of us how important it was for him to get to 82 games, even joking that if you counted Sochi, he’d exceeded that. That was supported by info I’d heard behind the scenes that both Crosby and others in his camp were pushing Bylsma hard to have him play all 82. Now, Bylsma did sit Crosby the one game very late, but know that this was not easily achieved.
Sid wanted to play. Sid played. Sid played below par. End controversy.
David Murphy: When Martin walks, do you see that as the straw that breaks the fans’ backs and they turn on management? We’ve been told over and over that, if we show up they will spend. I see this as a line-in-the-sand moment.
DK: I don’t think the Penguins will let Paul Martin walk. Especially after Matt Niskanen and Brooks Orpik just walked, with no return, an organization can’t afford to keep losing assets with nothing but cap space coming back. It might not bite you right away, but it will before long.
I’ve maintained that, for more reasons than one, Martin is a good bet to be traded during the season, not least of which is that he’ll free up space for more help up front.
As for turning on management, man, Jim Rutherford’s been in place for a couple months. Strikes me as a little fair to give him a season or two?
Josh Newark: DK, you are the Penn State president. How do you build consensus between the various stakeholders of the community? Specifically, how do you learn from mistakes, while there still appears to be cultural elements (Joe Paterno truthers, etc) working against positive growth?
DK: We have a lot of Penn State entries today, but I like the angle on yours best, Josh, because it cuts to the chase of what really needs to happen for the university to move forward and for the outside perception to improve: The wackos need to be marginalized.
If they aren’t already, that is.
I honestly believe that we’re now talking about a very small but very vocal — and very annoying — group of obsessive weirdos who live for the Paterno cause day and night on all forms of social media. That’s an easy place to multiply yourself. If you put all these people in a room, you’d have chairs to spare. But let them run wild on the Internet, and it can create the perception that they’re legion.
All it’ll take is one person in a leadership position at Penn State — heck, Bill O’Brien came close — to speak up about them, to bury them, to make people think twice before associating with them. James Franklin visibly isn’t that guy. He cowered before the Paterno mythos at his first press conference, and he strikes me as too much of a glad-hander or panderer to change. O’Brien was anything but. So it’s got to be the school president. Or prominent alumni. Or someone with a real voice.
chuckinrlp: Hiya Dejan! What in your opinion is the biggest thing keeping Ike Taylor on the field and starting: 1) fear of admitting a mistake in not releasing him earlier 2) loyalty 3) stupidity 4) all of the above.
DK: I’m pinning this one on Dick LeBeau, primarily. LeBeau actually has had a habit over the years of thinking older players can still do things they no longer can do. And he places huge value on knowing how to do stuff, compared to actually being able to do it, if that makes any sense.
They love Ike. They love the idea of Ike as the shutdown corner. And never mind that Ike is nothing close to that at this stage of his career, they don’t appear willing to let it go without a fight.
This is so illogical, it’s hard for me to come up with a better answer for you. But trust me, all kinds of questions were asked about Ike from Latrobe onward, and this is the impression that’s given.
David Petrel: Russell Martin – assume he is way over performing offensively on his walk year and the next four years he returns to historical offensive numbers. Also assume he is Grade-A defensive player. He is worth $14M a year over 4 years?
DK: I’ve written that I’d go four and $60 million. To me, if the Pirates do that, they’ll have stepped up beyond any reasonable doubt about their willingness to keep him. It would be the biggest contract in franchise history, and it would be very much in line with the elite catching market in the majors.
Ray Caliendo: Were you being intentionally glib in substituting Paul Martin for Russell Martin?
DK: Why, whatever do you mean? 
E: How much do you worry about continuing to get access to people when writing critical columns about them?
DK: (Sigh)
Joe Babik: When you started the site, you said the local teams were great to work with as far as access. How has the response been from opposing teams you’ve visited (Giants, Eagles, Boston College, Ravens) as far as providing credentials? Any difficulties at all?
DK: (Double-sigh)
I’m going to go at this one last time, hopefully once and for all: There are no issues related to credentials. None. Zero. Zip. Nada. I’ve been doing this a long time. I’m not a rookie blogger who walked in off the street, with all due respect to rookie bloggers who walk in off the street. It’s an unusual circumstance.
When I met with all of the various teams, we all discussed openly and bluntly that I was still going to be me. That wasn’t going to change. That couldn’t change. They not only understood and accepted that but welcomed it.
What a lot of laypeople don’t understand is that critical coverage fosters interest in a team. If people aren’t talking about your team — or complaining or fuming about it — then you’re nothing. Then you’re arena football or something equally irrelevant. I’ve had Mario Lemieux, whom I once exposed for voting himself a $10 million raise during the Penguins’ bankruptcy, trusts my coverage overall even more because of that. Art Rooney II and Kevin Colbert ask every time they see me how the site is doing, and this occasionally on the same day where I know they’ve read something critical I’ve written. Bob Nutting, a lifelong newspaperman, is no different. These people get it, and they get it a lot more than most in the public ever could.
Do they enjoy getting ripped?
Heck no, but they know and appreciate that it’s part of the sports business.
One other thing, and I hope this really puts the matter to rest: This site isn’t a toy. We’ve signed up 3,500 paying subscribers in two months. We’re doing something that neither of the two newspapers in town have been able to do in that regard. We’re also launching a state-of-the-art app in October, one that will be better than anything else in town from my looks at the early prototype. And the arrow on both the site and the app is pointed decidedly upward.
We don’t have to apologize for getting a credential. It’s being earned. And that’s thanks entirely to you the readers and your incredible support.
There, another soapbox to hop off …
maccreate: I would imagine the Jerry Sandusky/PSU stories were the toughest you had to write as a sports reporter. Is the Rice story second toughest?
DK: I don’t want this to come out the wrong way, but they’re the easiest by far. When emotion is strong, the writing comes much more naturally. I was able to write some of those Penn State columns as quickly as I could type. Same was true of this Rice column. Took 45 minutes, max.
The material makes any column.
zacoursa: DK, with regard to Pitt, do you see Chad Voytik’s inexperience or the defensive secondary as the larger limiting factor entering the meat of their schedule starting with Iowa in two weeks?
DK: That’s a tough one but, because Ray Vinopal is part of the secondary and because Todd Thomas and the front seven have had good pressure up front, I’ll take Voytik. There’s a lot to like about what he’s done to date — and I’ll have some of that for you in the Friday Insider this week — but it’s also clear he hasn’t really been tested. He hasn’t been made to be the guy on anything except that one drive at BC leading up to halftime.
I’d like to see that soon but, as you seem to suggest by skipping right over FIU on the schedule, it probably won’t be this weekend.
Damon: If the Pirates get a wild-card spot, who would you start in the one-game playoff?
DK: Gerrit Cole. Least likely to implode.
Johnny Styles: Do you think Roger Goodell or anyone else in the NFL front office will lose their jobs because of how the Rice situation was handled?
DK: I don’t. And if that does happen, it will be someone no one ever hears about, say, an NFL Security person who could have better put the thing to bed without it ever becoming public.
But then, that person could talk, so no, no one.
Sam Turich: Uptempo offenses give most defenses trouble – that’s one reason Ben has so much success with the no-huddle. What is the secret to stopping an uptempo attack, and is there a defense that has had success against it?
DK: I could cite Seattle, but I’m pretty sure the Seahawks are operating on some other plane these days, so that wouldn’t be fair.
In speaking with the Steelers’ defensive guys today, all they talked about was communication. I don’t want to get into that too much here because that’s going to be the game preview column, but that’s really it. It’s a matter of being ready to react quickly to signals being called at the line.
Katvocevic: DK, I think you missed the boat with the reply to Joe Babik’s question. He’s not questioning how you’re received locally, but how the places you’ve traveled have received you. Yes, you have contacts. Yes, Pitt, Pirates, Steelers can help, but this still is a new thing.
DK: You’re right, and I apologize for missing that part of it. Road credentials are always applied for by the visiting team. So, for example, when I go to Winnipeg, it’s the Penguins who put in for the credential. I don’t go to the Jets and ask. Same with all the others.
One more today …
jac101: You have been saying since the deadline the Pirates are a bullpen arm away from being a true contender, and I agree. Do you believe now that we currently occupy playoff spot, we have the corps to maintain production and reach the playoffs for the second straight year?
DK: I’ve actually cited two bullpen arms, not one, though even one above the John Axford level would have been welcome. And no, I’m still not feeling solid about the pen. Just can’t. Need to see a lot more of Holdzkom, and need to see a lot less of the regular guys. By the latter, I mean the Pirates need to blow some teams out — as they have, to their credit, in this little streak — and make things easier down the stretch.
Don’t forget: They need to be fresh not just to make the playoffs but to compete in them. All these September callups vanish once the postseason starts.
Thanks to all for participating! This was my favorite Tuesday Qs yet.
Steelers column coming tomorrow, then it’s off to Baltimore.
September 9, 2014
Tuesday 12 Qs: Holdzkom, Ike, Sid, JoePa
by Dejan Kovacevic • Tuesday 10 Qs • Penguins, Penn State, Pirates, Pitt, Steelers
DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS
The format is simple: Use the comments section below to submit an entry, with no more than one per person, please. Submit it anytime you want. I’ll pick from those to get the thing rolling, then monitor new entries once we go live at 2. All topics welcome, as always.
UPDATE 1:47 p.m.: OK, I’m back from Steelers HQ, so let’s get going now because we already have so many Qs lined up in the queue …
Wild Bill: Would you agree that the chaos the Ravens are going through right now gives the Steelers a Thursday night advantage? Or, is the crisis something that might help the Ravens rally together with an “us against the world” mentality?
DK: Not sure what would be the source of their defiance, if so, Bill. Really, who in their right mind would suggest the Ravens were wronged in this instance?
Overall, I’m with your initial point on this, at least theoretically. I do think the Steelers could take advantage of a distracted opponent, especially in a short week. Every minute that was wasted on Ray Rice, even away from the practice field or classrooms, was a minute that could have been invested in Thursday.
This topic came up a lot just now in the Steelers’ room and, to a man, the athletes agreed that a distraction is a distraction. “I’m pretty sure it’s chaotic over there,” Cam Heyward just said. The Steelers should know. They had one as recently as the preseason, with the Le’Veon Bell/LeGarrette Blount pot fiasco, and I think everyone recalls that they were absolutely abysmal that night in Philadelphia. It might be coincidence. It might not.
Vav: Both Jared Hughes and Tony Watson have been great, but they may be experiencing some fatigue in the same way Mark Melancon did last year. With that being said, how many more strong outings from John Holdzkom would it take before Clint Hurdle starts using him in high leverage situations to spell the others?
DK: Wait, didn’t Holdzkom make his debut in the late innings of a two-run game?
And doesn’t he already have a major-league save?
That should tell you all you need to know, I’d imagine. There’s no earthly way he’s pitching in those situations unless the manager is confident he’s got the poise, the command and the stuff to do so. Holdzkom obviously has shown all three.
That said, man, can anyone ever cut the Pirates some slack?
Honestly, this team’s won four in a row, they’ve rebounded beautifully from the St. Louis sweep, and they’re holding a wild-card spot in the second week of September. But — and I swear, I’m not picking on you here — all I get from all directions are complaints, complaints, complaints. This team is, as this is being typed, on a hard course to make the playoffs. It feels almost criminal that this doesn’t get enjoyed in Pittsburgh more by this fan base. Just misery, left and right.
So Hughes and Watson made you bite a nail or two. Big deal. It’s a pennant race. That’s part of it. Watson closed his door most of the way, and Melancon slammed it shut.
OK, hopping back off that soapbox …
Mandarino: Do you think the Steelers now regret the way they handled the James Harrison domestic violence situation, which was basically to ignore it? And if so, do you think that was one of the factors they considered in not bringing him back?
DK: I don’t believe the Steelers regret a whole lot of anything, and that’s got everything to do with Mike Tomlin. He’s openly defiant anytime anything is raised about the past. And look, if the franchise ever wanted to make any kind of statement about Harrison and his domestic violence, they sure wouldn’t have welcomed him back with that retirement ceremony this past week. The new Ray Rice video hadn’t emerged, but the other one was still out there, as was the issue.
I would hope that everyone, not just the Steelers and not just in sports, learned a powerful lesson from Rice. But, as I wrote this morning, I’m not optimistic.
YouMeAndDupuis: Sidney Crosby hurt his wrist in a meaningless regular season game, yet he finished that game and every game down the stretch. Do you blame Sid, the trainers or Dan Bylsma for playing through pain that certainly, in hindsight, needed more attention/rest?
DK: Something like that’s always on the athlete. And by that, I mean an injury that’s not severe enough to require surgery — and remember, it never was — but that the athlete is adamant he can play through.
I remember at the game up in Winnipeg late in the regular season, Crosby was telling the group of us how important it was for him to get to 82 games, even joking that if you counted Sochi, he’d exceeded that. That was supported by info I’d heard behind the scenes that both Crosby and others in his camp were pushing Bylsma hard to have him play all 82. Now, Bylsma did sit Crosby the one game very late, but know that this was not easily achieved.
Sid wanted to play. Sid played. Sid played below par. End controversy.
David Murphy: When Martin walks, do you see that as the straw that breaks the fans’ backs and they turn on management? We’ve been told over and over that, if we show up they will spend. I see this as a line-in-the-sand moment.
DK: I don’t think the Penguins will let Paul Martin walk. Especially after Matt Niskanen and Brooks Orpik just walked, with no return, an organization can’t afford to keep losing assets with nothing but cap space coming back. It might not bite you right away, but it will before long.
I’ve maintained that, for more reasons than one, Martin is a good bet to be traded during the season, not least of which is that he’ll free up space for more help up front.
As for turning on management, man, Jim Rutherford’s been in place for a couple months. Strikes me as a little fair to give him a season or two?
Josh Newark: DK, you are the Penn State president. How do you build consensus between the various stakeholders of the community? Specifically, how do you learn from mistakes, while there still appears to be cultural elements (Joe Paterno truthers, etc) working against positive growth?
DK: We have a lot of Penn State entries today, but I like the angle on yours best, Josh, because it cuts to the chase of what really needs to happen for the university to move forward and for the outside perception to improve: The wackos need to be marginalized.
If they aren’t already, that is.
I honestly believe that we’re now talking about a very small but very vocal — and very annoying — group of obsessive weirdos who live for the Paterno cause day and night on all forms of social media. That’s an easy place to multiply yourself. If you put all these people in a room, you’d have chairs to spare. But let them run wild on the Internet, and it can create the perception that they’re legion.
All it’ll take is one person in a leadership position at Penn State — heck, Bill O’Brien came close — to speak up about them, to bury them, to make people think twice before associating with them. James Franklin visibly isn’t that guy. He cowered before the Paterno mythos at his first press conference, and he strikes me as too much of a glad-hander or panderer to change. O’Brien was anything but. So it’s got to be the school president. Or prominent alumni. Or someone with a real voice.
chuckinrlp: Hiya Dejan! What in your opinion is the biggest thing keeping Ike Taylor on the field and starting: 1) fear of admitting a mistake in not releasing him earlier 2) loyalty 3) stupidity 4) all of the above.
DK: I’m pinning this one on Dick LeBeau, primarily. LeBeau actually has had a habit over the years of thinking older players can still do things they no longer can do. And he places huge value on knowing how to do stuff, compared to actually being able to do it, if that makes any sense.
They love Ike. They love the idea of Ike as the shutdown corner. And never mind that Ike is nothing close to that at this stage of his career, they don’t appear willing to let it go without a fight.
This is so illogical, it’s hard for me to come up with a better answer for you. But trust me, all kinds of questions were asked about Ike from Latrobe onward, and this is the impression that’s given.
David Petrel: Russell Martin – assume he is way over performing offensively on his walk year and the next four years he returns to historical offensive numbers. Also assume he is Grade-A defensive player. He is worth $14M a year over 4 years?
DK: I’ve written that I’d go four and $60 million. To me, if the Pirates do that, they’ll have stepped up beyond any reasonable doubt about their willingness to keep him. It would be the biggest contract in franchise history, and it would be very much in line with the elite catching market in the majors.
Ray Caliendo: Were you being intentionally glib in substituting Paul Martin for Russell Martin?
DK: Why, whatever do you mean?
E: How much do you worry about continuing to get access to people when writing critical columns about them?
DK: (Sigh)
Joe Babik: When you started the site, you said the local teams were great to work with as far as access. How has the response been from opposing teams you’ve visited (Giants, Eagles, Boston College, Ravens) as far as providing credentials? Any difficulties at all?
DK: (Double-sigh)
I’m going to go at this one last time, hopefully once and for all: There are no issues related to credentials. None. Zero. Zip. Nada. I’ve been doing this a long time. I’m not a rookie blogger who walked in off the street, with all due respect to rookie bloggers who walk in off the street. It’s an unusual circumstance.
When I met with all of the various teams, we all discussed openly and bluntly that I was still going to be me. That wasn’t going to change. That couldn’t change. They not only understood and accepted that but welcomed it.
What a lot of laypeople don’t understand is that critical coverage fosters interest in a team. If people aren’t talking about your team — or complaining or fuming about it — then you’re nothing. Then you’re arena football or something equally irrelevant. I’ve had Mario Lemieux, whom I once exposed for voting himself a $10 million raise during the Penguins’ bankruptcy, trusts my coverage overall even more because of that. Art Rooney II and Kevin Colbert ask every time they see me how the site is doing, and this occasionally on the same day where I know they’ve read something critical I’ve written. Bob Nutting, a lifelong newspaperman, is no different. These people get it, and they get it a lot more than most in the public ever could.
Do they enjoy getting ripped?
Heck no, but they know and appreciate that it’s part of the sports business.
One other thing, and I hope this really puts the matter to rest: This site isn’t a toy. We’ve signed up 3,500 paying subscribers in two months. We’re doing something that neither of the two newspapers in town have been able to do in that regard. We’re also launching a state-of-the-art app in October, one that will be better than anything else in town from my looks at the early prototype. And the arrow on both the site and the app is pointed decidedly upward.
We don’t have to apologize for getting a credential. It’s being earned. And that’s thanks entirely to you the readers and your incredible support.
There, another soapbox to hop off …
maccreate: I would imagine the Jerry Sandusky/PSU stories were the toughest you had to write as a sports reporter. Is the Rice story second toughest?
DK: I don’t want this to come out the wrong way, but they’re the easiest by far. When emotion is strong, the writing comes much more naturally. I was able to write some of those Penn State columns as quickly as I could type. Same was true of this Rice column. Took 45 minutes, max.
The material makes any column.
zacoursa: DK, with regard to Pitt, do you see Chad Voytik’s inexperience or the defensive secondary as the larger limiting factor entering the meat of their schedule starting with Iowa in two weeks?
DK: That’s a tough one but, because Ray Vinopal is part of the secondary and because Todd Thomas and the front seven have had good pressure up front, I’ll take Voytik. There’s a lot to like about what he’s done to date — and I’ll have some of that for you in the Friday Insider this week — but it’s also clear he hasn’t really been tested. He hasn’t been made to be the guy on anything except that one drive at BC leading up to halftime.
I’d like to see that soon but, as you seem to suggest by skipping right over FIU on the schedule, it probably won’t be this weekend.
Damon: If the Pirates get a wild-card spot, who would you start in the one-game playoff?
DK: Gerrit Cole. Least likely to implode.
Johnny Styles: Do you think Roger Goodell or anyone else in the NFL front office will lose their jobs because of how the Rice situation was handled?
DK: I don’t. And if that does happen, it will be someone no one ever hears about, say, an NFL Security person who could have better put the thing to bed without it ever becoming public.
But then, that person could talk, so no, no one.
Sam Turich: Uptempo offenses give most defenses trouble – that’s one reason Ben has so much success with the no-huddle. What is the secret to stopping an uptempo attack, and is there a defense that has had success against it?
DK: I could cite Seattle, but I’m pretty sure the Seahawks are operating on some other plane these days, so that wouldn’t be fair.
In speaking with the Steelers’ defensive guys today, all they talked about was communication. I don’t want to get into that too much here because that’s going to be the game preview column, but that’s really it. It’s a matter of being ready to react quickly to signals being called at the line.
Katvocevic: DK, I think you missed the boat with the reply to Joe Babik’s question. He’s not questioning how you’re received locally, but how the places you’ve traveled have received you. Yes, you have contacts. Yes, Pitt, Pirates, Steelers can help, but this still is a new thing.
DK: You’re right, and I apologize for missing that part of it. Road credentials are always applied for by the visiting team. So, for example, when I go to Winnipeg, it’s the Penguins who put in for the credential. I don’t go to the Jets and ask. Same with all the others.
One more today …
jac101: You have been saying since the deadline the Pirates are a bullpen arm away from being a true contender, and I agree. Do you believe now that we currently occupy playoff spot, we have the corps to maintain production and reach the playoffs for the second straight year?
DK: I’ve actually cited two bullpen arms, not one, though even one above the John Axford level would have been welcome. And no, I’m still not feeling solid about the pen. Just can’t. Need to see a lot more of Holdzkom, and need to see a lot less of the regular guys. By the latter, I mean the Pirates need to blow some teams out — as they have, to their credit, in this little streak — and make things easier down the stretch.
Don’t forget: They need to be fresh not just to make the playoffs but to compete in them. All these September callups vanish once the postseason starts.
Thanks to all for participating! This was my favorite Tuesday Qs yet.
Steelers column coming tomorrow, then it’s off to Baltimore.
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