Tuesday 12 Qs: Moats, Dumoulin, Cervelli, Pederson

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DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS

Welcome to Tuesday 12 Qs, our chat that takes place each week at 2 p.m. — allowing ample time for me to get over to the South Side for the Mike Tomlin press conference, obviously — and encourages you to dictate the discussion.

photo-150x150The format is simple: Use the comments section below to submit an entry. No more than one per person, please. Submit early if you prefer, and I’ll pick from that batch to get rolling, then monitor new entries once we go live. All topics welcome, as always.

UPDATE 2 p.m.: With the fresh news that the Pirates are bringing back Francisco Liriano for three years and $39 million — much more to come later on this — away we go:

Alan Gifford: Thoughts on the contract for Liriano?

DK: I’ve made thoughts on this clear leading up to this, and nothing changes, Alan: The Pirates needed to bring back Liriano to remain a contender. The Pirates recognized that need and took it seriously. The Pirates never took their eye off the ball, even after the Russell Martin disappointment. I thought maybe that might have gotten a bit distracted by Edinson Volquez also being out there, but last week’s Friday Insider set that straight. Frankie was the target.

Again, I’ll have much, much more on this later on the site. I just feel it’s fair to proceed with the chat at the scheduled time. But obviously, it’s a very, very good day for the Pittsburgh Baseball Club, from ownership on down.

johnny23: DK, why has Arthur Moats been a backup to James Harrison? To me, it should have been the other way around.

DK: I asked Tomlin specifically about Moats today and whether he’d earned a starting spot based on his strong showing in Cincinnati. The coach came back about as directly as he’s capable anymore, praising Moats not only for his work against the Bengals but also “going back to Week 3 in Carolina.” Most important, he didn’t rule out at all that Moats would keep playing, even if Harrison and/or Jarvis Jones is ready.

To answer your question, John, Harrison actually has graded better than Moats for the full season. He’s been very, very good, at least until the knee injury. So this was not one of those go-with-the-familiar-faces scenarios we’re so often used to seeing with Tomlin and Dick LeBeau.

Here’s hoping Moats stays in, as well as Antwon Blake, another player I asked Tomlin about and got a similar answer. Sounds like Blake could go, even if Ike Taylor is healthy.

Cap02us: How much has Brian Dumoulin hurt his trade value with his poor play?.

DK: None. Zero. Zilch. You’re not the only one to raise this point since the Penguins’ loss Monday night in New York, and it’s based on a faulty premise, one that seems to be far too prevalent: If a player is promoted from the minors, his value doesn’t diminish by struggling in the NHL. It just doesn’t. At least not in the eyes of those who matter, meaning league GMs and executives.

I ran this general concept by one of the Penguins’ execs the other day, and he wholeheartedly agreed. If Dumoulin or Scott Harrington or Derrick Pouliot are absolute hockey gods in the AHL, other teams’ GMs will still have questions until they see them in the NHL. And whatever issues they do see when the player reaches the NHL, that allows them to feel that much better about making a trade, knowing that it’s something that can be fixed with time.

Nothing could do more to enhance Dumoulin’s value than to be in the NHL right now.

Stop and think about it this way alone: By being in the NHL, he’s already been named, essentially, the most ready, the most worthy player of the crop in Wilkes-Barre. And he’s earned that during a time when the Penguins have real injuries, real needs and aren’t simply showcasing.

Trust me, that means infinitely more than whether or not some bouncing puck on terrible ice at the Garden bounced through Dumoulin’s legs and landed on the stick of a guy who only scores goals from October to December.

All that said, where is it decreed that Dumuolin will be traded?

jtusk64: Hi, Dejan. The Steelers were able to run that “Georgia Counter” almost at will Sunday, but I don’t think they gained much in positive yards if they ran to the right at all. Mike Adams looked lost on a couple of replays that I saw on runs to that side. Beyond Marcus Gilbert’s improving health, is there anything they can do to allow them to run right as well? Not sure continually running left will work week after week.

DK: I have a feeling you and Tomlin are thinking alike. The coach, unsolicited, brought up Gilbert’s health in the most hoping-against-hope tone today, and he went further than your — dead-on — assessment of the running plays mostly swinging behind Kelvin Beachum and David DeCastro to the left. Tomlin also mentioned the matchup that awaits whichever right tackle with the Falcons’ Kroy Biermann, an excellent disruptor at the left end.

Not going to keep picking on Adams, especially not as related to his run-blocking, which is ahead of his pass-blocking. But Gilbert is markedly better than both. His return would be huge.

derek.kalinosky: Is there a reason that the Penguins have never used Sidney Crosby down low on the power play for any length of time? It lets Evgeni Malkin play the half-wall and lets two defensemen play, rather than having Malkin play the point. It happened for a bit in last night’s game and completely opens up so much.

DK: Crosby has played low, and Malkin has played the half-wall. It’s happened plenty.

The greatest issue facing the power power over the years, really, has been finding a way for them to coexist. Power plays, by their very nature, are best orchestrated by one great player, not two. That’s why I’ve liked, above all, Mike Johnston and Rick Tocchet putting them on separate sides of the rink. We’ve seen individual creativity on those sides, while also less of a propensity to just defer to the other guy. (The latter requires a risky pass through the box.)

Anyway, the power play is currently No. 1 in the NHL at 29.1 percent.

What’s the problem again?

Oh, yeah, they aren’t getting enough of them anymore. Need to get a lot more done five-on-five for that. People can complain all they want about officiating, but more sustained five-on-five pressure — from all four lines — would go a long, long way.

Darth Wall: DK, I know you’re stance on #Refgate — and I agree with you on no conspiracy. However, could an official(s) simply keep his arm down on certain calls vs the Penguins or any team for that matter, if there is a certain disdain for any reason against said team? Whether true or not, there has always been a perception that the Captain (87) is a whiner. Doesn’t that resonate at some point? I’ll hang up and listen to what you have to say.

DK: In the old days of the single ref on the ice — no microphones, no multiple cameras, no eye in the sky in Toronto watching everyone’s every move — I’d believe that such a thing was possible. There were some refs visibly, blatantly bugged by some of the Penguins’ greatest players, including Mario Lemieux himself. (66 had one of the sharpest on-ice tongues around and, especially at home games, used to take a long, long time getting back on his skates after being hauled down to make sure the Civic Arena crowd chimed in.)

But today, a conspiracy is close to unimaginable, bordering on the silly. It’s too small a world anymore. Any such conspiracy, if ever exposed, would be the ugliest of black marks on the league as a whole. So toss that out. Emphatically.

A single ref out of a pairing absolutely can have an agenda. They’re human. But there are two of them out there now, each equally empowered, I might add.

Really, the more people talk about this, the closer the Penguins will come to just playing better five-on-five and earning power plays the only way they can be earned. And on the same note, getting healthier would go a long way toward that because the better teams earn power plays through the hard work of their fringe players. The Penguins’ fringe is reaching Wheeling levels.

Ray Caliendo: I fear that the Pirates’ catching platoon of Francisco Cervelli and Chris Stewart just ain’t gonna get it done. (I intentionally omitted Tony Sanchez from this discussion.) Will the Bucs pursue a free-agent option? Do you think that the Pirates feel as though they have catcher sufficiently covered for 2015, or does the position remain a high priority?

BTW, the Santa Kovacevic graphic is killer.

DK: It’s ridiculous. That’s all it is.

I do believe the Pirates feel catching is covered for 2015, based on what I’ve been told. They like Cervelli offensively and defensively, and they’re confident that a full spring plus Stewart’s direct knowledge of catching the pitchers will have him up to speed. His issue, of course, has been health. (And yes, to repeat, some players do come with such tags, and they’re justified.) He missed far too much time with the Yankees in recent years, and that has to change above all.

What’s more, Ray, the Pirates feel catching is covered into the future with Elias Diaz, who probably will open 2015 in Class AAA. That’s not to suggest they should rush him. That would be a big mistake, given his position and all that can be culled at that level from the many older pitchers he’ll catch. But they love him.

Well, now they love him. More on that in an upcoming Friday Insider.

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Pitt AD Steve Pederson has hired three football coaches since firing Dave Wannstedt. — PITT ATHLETICS

fram: Dejan, I have to ask: What is Steve Pederson doing at Pitt?

This is the second year in a row we are left out of a ACC bowl game for teams with a worse conference record, and one that we beat head to head. The AD should be in there fighting tooth and nail for his program and, instead of playing a 6-6 Penn State team in New York, we are off to Texas and the huge recruiting hotbed that it is for our program.

DK: I’m going to guess you won’t like this answer, my friend, but I’ve got to go with it: This just doesn’t matter.

If I’m the AD of a 6-6 football team and searching for bowls, I’d rather play one off the coast of Antarctica, where no recruit can see my team pretending that any such game matters. It’s an exhibition. It’s nothing more. The winner gets nothing. The loser gets nothing. And the potential impact on recruits, no matter where it’s played or the opponent or the outcome, is neglible at best.

Here again, though, it’s this type of criticism — going after symptoms rather than causes — that lets Pederson off the hook for the program’s many real problems. I can’t begin to understand that thinking, though it seems to come in full force from Pitt fans: They want the AD gone, but yet they never cite the real reasons he should be gone, and they’re all indignant when someone like me doesn’t want to discuss the symptomatic stuff.

I wouldn’t have cared if Pitt played Penn State in a bowl somewhere. That would have been embarrassing, as I stated strongly on KDKA-TV’s ‘Sports Showdown’ last week. When those programs do meet again — and they will soon enough — it should be something special, not some backstage consolation prize to see which one avoids a losing record.

Man alive, Pitt fans — and I’m being general here, my friend, not picking on you — get upset over real issues once in a while. Not the campus stadiums, script logos and 13th exhibition games.

Ken NC: DK, it’s been interesting to see your weekly postgame stop by Mike Mitchell’s locker. At times I get the sense that he’s aware that you’re one of his major critics, and he responds defensively rather than honestly. (Not to say you’re wrong. I screamed at him for most of the game this Sunday.) Do you ever get that sense — that players are conscious of your writing about them and allow that to affect their relations with the media? More generally, how much of the media that fans read is also consumed by players?

DK: He’s aware. We’ve discussed it. It’ll be discussed again. He does his job. I do mine.

This stuff, to answer your question, happens all the time. Some reporters take the easy route on their jobs and never criticize where it’s deserved. Some do. The reporters taking the easy route live much healthier lives than the rest of us.

JCSheridan226: Is there any concern with how much the Steelers are using Le’Veon Bell? He’s having an amazing year, but can he withstand all the hits through a possible playoff run? Considering the shelf life of an NFL running back, should the Steelers start to think beyond this year and protect a star?

DK: I wouldn’t mind seeing Bell spelled near the end of either clear victories or losses, but otherwise, that’s all that could happen here. And all that will happen. Tomlin has made absolutely no secret of his disdain for preserving stars, something that was painfully evident Sunday when he had Antonio Brown fielding a punt with the Steelers up by 21. Tomlin’s thought process always, always, always is to live in the now, right or wrong, and Bell isn’t about to be the exception.

It was nice to see Josh Harris sprint on the field and take a handoff after Bell’s 51-yard sprint to the Cincinnati 27, but that’s about as much as you’ll see.

Funny thing is, Bell just genuinely couldn’t care less. This is what he did at Michigan State, and it’s all he’s known in the NFL. Almost half the questions asked of him in Cincinnati were related to how long he can expect to hold up or how he keeps himself fresh, and he laughed off each one calmly.

Hey, same way we talk about guys who break down regularly, there also are these types.

BurghFan: Dejan, how would you feel if the Steelers converted to a 4-3 base scheme with the inclusion of hybrid fronts, of course after Lebeau goes?

I mean, Jason Worilds is essential a is a pass rushing DE anyway. We have Shazier/Jones/Moats and Lawrence Timmons. Good run stopping MLB and two athletic OLB. Steve McLendon and Cam Heyward plugging the middle (with Dan McCullers, too) and Stephon Tuitt at the other end position. I just feel it’s really hard to run a 3-4 without a pure or extremely athletic and strong nose tackle, and three underwhelming pass rushing LBs, one of which is a liability in pass defense.

DK: Switching from 3-4 to 4-3 and vice versa can’t be done with the snap of a finger. Pretty much every organizational philosophy, from drafting to instruction to implementation of those new techniques, would need to be changed. I’m not willing to give anyone a year or two to adjust while I’ve got this amazing offensive trio in its prime, so I’d say no way.

Look, when the front three play well, the linebackers look better. That’s finally been addressed, to an extent, with Heyward and Tuitt. One point Tomlin emphasized today — and I thought he was right to do so — was that although the D-line didn’t record many tackles Sunday, Gio Bernard had nowhere to run most of the day other than into the hands of linebackers. That’s because the D-line, in Tomlin’s words, “got a real good push, made sure everything kept moving.” A second viewing of the team really underscored this for me. They were very good.

I’ll throw this in, too: If this defense had anything remotely resembling an NFL-caliber secondary — even an average one — issues like this would never arise.

Solve that first.

One more today …

BenSchmitt: I could read 12 questions about Le’Veon Bell. Beast! Pittsburgh is fortunate to have him here.

DK: Great way to finish, Ben. Well done. It’s the truth.

Thanks to all for participating and, again, I’ll have more on Liriano in a bit. Want to process the information a bit and get in touch with the Pirates myself for more material.