Barely halfway through the season, and it would appear the Pirates have had their fill of Jon Niese.
Multiple reports suggest the Pirates are actively entertaining offers for Niese. He was acquired in the offseason for Neil Walker with the idea he could be the team's No. 3 starter.
Niese has gone from "so so" to "uh oh," to "oh, I wish it was Jeff Locke's turn in the rotation."
Profiled as a ground ball pitcher, Niese has given up an alarming number of home runs and been a member of the short start club, which has taxed the bullpen.
He has two club options remaining on his contract for $10 million and $11 million. The Pirates could buy those out for a total of $1 million, but it appears they'd rather deal him now and get something -- anything? -- in return.
The New York Mets found Niese expendable because they had an abundance of young pitchers whose promise was greater than Niese's accomplishments. It appears the same thing is happening now with the Pirates.
Sometimes the unknown can be a better option than proven mediocrity.
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--SEARCHING FOR ANSWERS
There are a lot of theories on why Andrew McCutchen has underachieved through the first half of the season.
Some of them are valid. Some are just dumb.
There are two examples of the latter that have gained popularity, mostly on talk shows.
One holds that McCutchen hasn't been the same player since he got married. The other frets that his talent somehow diminished when he elected to get his dreadlocks cut off.
McCutchen got married in November of 2014. He had the dreadlocks shorn in March of 2015.
That means he played the 2015 season as a married man with shorter hair. Neither factor seemed to affect his performance adversely.
McCutchen made the All-Star team for the fifth straight season. He also finished fifth in Most Valuable Player voting, his fourth consecutive season in the top five.
Whatever's bothering McCutchen this year, it isn't his hair or marital status.
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--MISSING THE POINT
Root Sports disappoints in so many ways.
Friday night, Pirates prospect Josh Bell made his major league debut with a solid single. He advanced to third base on another hit and eventually scored.
After Bell crossed the plate, logic dictated that the cameras should stick with him. Show the reaction of his teammates as he returned to the dugout after a successful start to his career. Show how Clint Hurdle and Bell's peers reacted to his big moment.
Instead, Root showed Bell's father in the stands. Then it was two generic crowd shots. The latter was one of those where the people know the camera is on them and they mug for the shot, usually under prompting from the guy holding the camera.
By the time Root showed the dugout, whatever interaction Bell had with teammates was over.
They were so busy with cliche shots that they missed the point. Sports coverage is about people -- the ones on the field, not in the stands.
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--NO CONTEST
Locals get mad when the national talk shows have an abundance of NBA talk and very little about the NHL. It's probably an 80/20 proportion.
Pittsburgh might be hockey crazed, but most of the country isn't.
The deciding game of the NBA Finals was watched by slightly more than 25 million people. The clinching game of the Stanley Cup Final drew about 4.75 million viewers.
The NHL barely beat a rerun of "America's Funniest Home Videos" on ABC and was trounced by CBS's broadcast of the Tony Awards.
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--GOING, GOING, GONE?
There are rumors Chris Berman is headed for a reduced role at ESPN.
He's gotten incredible mileage out of an act that was stale at least a decade ago.
So if you watch the Home Run Derby at the All-Star Game, just remember that Berman may not be back, back, back, back, back, back next year.
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--HANDS ON
As much as the Stanley Cup is being handled these days, the NHL should work a sponsorship deal with Purell.
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