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Pittsburgh Sports News & Views

News/views: Pirates win bid on Korean MVP

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Jung-Ho Kang slugged 40 home runs and was the Korean league’s MVP in 2014. — YUNHAP

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News: The Pirates have submitted the winning bid of $5,002,015 to negotiate with Korean power-hitting shortstop Jung-Ho Kang, according to CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman. They now have, per international rules, a 30-day window in which to sign a player known to be seeking a deal of three or four years at roughly $5 million annually.

Views: Well, that’s a first. The Pirates have been active in Korea, even sending their Latin American scouts there on occasion, and have turned up amateur talent. But I’d long gotten the impression from Frank Coonelly and Neal Huntington that the odds were so stacked against them in the bidding system for Japanese and Korean professional players — which is wholly separate from other international processes — that they’d never compete.

Kang, 27, batted .356./.459/.739 with 40 home runs for Nexen, a team based in Seoul. Here’s much more on his season from Yonhap News Agency in Korea.

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News/views: Pirates add Hart for first base

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News: The Pirates have signed Corey Hart to a one-year contract — $2.5 million with a chance to double that through performance bonuses — and, in their press release, refer to him as ‘first baseman/outfielder,’ even though only 107 of his 1,013 big-league games have been at first.

Views: I’m guessing that’s roughly 107 more than anyone already in the fold, right?

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News/views: Pederson out as Pitt AD

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Steve Pederson employed four football coaches in a five-year span at Pitt. — PITT ATHLETICS

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News: Steve Pederson is out as Pitt’s athletic director. New Chancellor Patrick Gallagher has appointed Dr. Randy P. Juhl, Vice Chancellor for research conduct and compliance, to serve as acting athletic director pending a national search for a replacement.

Views: Wow. Give me a minute here. Did not see that coming.

UPDATE 7:23 p.m.: OK, well again … wow. And I say wow from the standpoint of sublime timing on the part of the university administration, coordinating the timing of this — 7:04 p.m. — with the formal announcement from Madison that Paul Chryst is Wisconsin’s new head coach.

I’ve written it countless times, and I repeated it tonight on the radio: Pederson had no business conducting this coaching search. None. Not after Mike Haywood, Todd Graham and now Chryst leaving after only three years and a 19-19 record.

And when your AD has no business conducing a coaching search, he has no business being AD.

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Steelers PATs: Don’t touch those corners

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Pittsburgh Steelers v Atlanta Falcons

Antwon Blake wraps up the Falcons’ Roddy White during the Steelers’ victory Sunday in Atlanta. — GETTY

DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS

ATLANTA — One last look at the Steelers’ last game …

• The collective pass coverage of Brice McCain and Antwon Blake in the 27-20 victory over the Falcons Sunday won’t make anyone forget Mel Blount, but it was plenty good enough that they should hold onto their starting positions even if Ike Taylor regains health.

And it actually isn’t a tough call, emotions aside.

McCain took 59 of the 60 defensive snaps and was targeted four times for three catches and 58 yards, including a long of 41 by Harry Douglas. The way most of us watch football, that’s lousy. We remember what we see. But what should speak volumes here is that Matt Ryan threw 37 passes, and only four of those were aimed at the starting corner. What’s more, one of those four targets came when McCain smartly followed running back Steven Jackson.

To repeat for emphasis: McCain and Willie Gay must be the starters Sunday against the Chiefs.

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News/views: Crosby diagnosed with mumps

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News: Sidney Crosby does, in fact, have the mumps, the Penguins just confirmed.

Views: He was allowed to practice with the team Friday and cleared to play that night by the team’s medical staff. Man, good luck explaining that one, ladies and gentlemen.

For obvious reasons, I’ll focus on football today. But I’ll say this much right now: I don’t doubt for a second that lying was part of this process. And when lying about injuries/ailments is an accepted — no, mandated — part of the culture in Gary Bettman’s NHL, this sort of thing can result.

UPDATE 12:35 p.m.: Audio of today’s press conference with Dr. Dharmesh Vyas, the Penguins’ physician. And another press conference with Jim Rutherford. Also, here’s the printed transcript.

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News/views: Reports say Chryst off to Wisconsin

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News: Paul Chryst is ‘poised’ to leave Pitt and return to Wisconsin as head coach, according to a Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel report by Jeff Potrykus in the wee hours of Friday morning.

Views: The Journal-Sentinel cites one anonymous source. If there’s another report anywhere confirming this, I haven’t seen it yet. I’d rather wait for more. My own conversations with Pitt people late Friday night led me to write that something seemed amiss in today’s Friday Insider, but that’s as much as I’ve got at this hour.

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News/views: Pirates replace Wilson with Bastardo

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Antonio Bastardo posted a 3.94 ERA and 81 strikeouts in 64 innings of relief for the Phillies last season. — GETTY

DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS

News: The Pirates have acquired left-handed reliever Antonio Bastardo from the Phillies for Class AA pitching prospect Joely Rodriguez, according to several national outlets.

Views: Nicely done. Clint Hurdle loves having two lefties in the pen, and Bastardo replaces Justin Wilson as the complement to Tony Watson.

Bastardo, 29, logged a career-high 64 innings with a 3.94 ERA, a career-high 81 strikeouts, 34 walks and an eyepopping .188 opponents’ batting average. His 1.20 WHIP — walks and hits per inning pitched — would have ranked fourth-best in the Pirates’ pen last season, behind Mark Melancon (0.87), Tony Watson (1.02) and Jared Hughes (1.09).

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News/views: Pirates keep Liriano, 3 years, $39M

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Francisco Liriano had a 3.38 ERA and 175 strikeouts in 29 starts last season for the Pirates. — GETTY

DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS

News: The Pirates have reached agreement to bring back free-agent starter Francisco Liriano for three years at $39 million, according to several national outlets. This marks the most expensive external acquisition in franchise history, and it comes against a backdrop of several other teams bidding for Liriano.

Views: Well, there goes the ski lodge.

No, seriously, I’ll have much more on this after today’s 2 p.m. chat. First things first.

I will say for right now that you read in the past two Friday Insider features on this site that, one, Liriano, was the Pirates’ primary target and, two, they sounded quite confident they’d keep him. So good for them for backing up their words with real deeds.

Steelers PATs: Grasping for defensive answers

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Andy Dalton's fourth-quarter fumble Sunday was recovered by Arthur Moats. -- GETTY

Andy Dalton’s fourth-quarter fumble was recovered by Arthur Moats at the Cincinnati 24. — GETTY

DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS

CINCINNATI — One last look at the Steelers’ last game …

• This won’t be yet another spanking for the secondary. Those are stale and, what’s more, to borrow Mike Tomlin’s adverb of choice, this team’s pass defense is obviously the problem at hand.

So how to fix it?

The simple answer is that it can’t be done. Which it probably can’t. It’s too late in the season for external moves, there really aren’t any internal youngsters to promote, and the backups are worse than the starters, hard as that is to fathom.

At safety, Shamarko Thomas has potential, but he’s played exactly zero defensive snaps this season — it’s stunning to me how even some diehard fans are unaware that he’s appeared solely on special teams — and Carnell Lake strongly suggested to me last week he’s anything but ready to be tossed into a role that pivotal. Quarterbacks read off the safety. It’s their No. 1 focus at the line of scrimmage. When the safety messes up — as Troy Polamalu did, in particular, on Andy Dalton’s embarrassing 20-yard touchdown jog in the Steelers’ 42-21 win Sunday — it’s easily exposed and usually with devastating results. That’s not a smart risk at this point.

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News/views: Penguins make minor move

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Rob Klinkhammer set career highs with Arizona last season of 11 goals, nine assists. — GETTY

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News: The Penguins make a minor trade, acquiring forward Rob Klinkhammer from the Coyotes for defenseman Philip Samuelsson and a conditional draft pick.

Views: This is about as minor as it gets at the NHL level, as word this morning as that Arizona management was waiving Klinkhammer. The Penguins, with three top wingers out, preempted that with a trade in which they gave up a defenseman who was buried on the depth chart and would have to clear waivers if ever promoted again, as well as the customary draft pick. What’s more, he’s in the final year of a two-year contract that pays $625,000.

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