The Pirates will reach the halfway point of the season this weekend in San Diego.
It's fitting they'll be surrounded by palm trees, because this team is as big a mystery as it was in spring training.
There's no real leadoff hitter and no genuine clean-up hitter. There's no definitive No. 1 starting pitcher. The bullpen has a closer, but getting to him from the starter is often a path filled with peril. It's also worth noting that the closer has blown four saves and had some other late-inning misadventures.
The 2018 Pittsburgh Pirates. This incomplete team gets an incomplete grade.
Championship-caliber teams need an MVP-quality middle of the lineup thumper, a power bat who can drive in runs.
Willie Stargell did that in the '70s. Barry Bonds did it in the run of three division titles from 1990-92.
This club doesn't have that hitter. Josh Bell was given the job and held it through the beginning of this month, when it became abundantly clear he couldn't fill that role.
Now the No. 4 hitter is mostly Colin Moran. He's a nice player, but he's also a rookie and far from the biggest power threat on his own team, much less in the National League.
Hopes that Jameson Taillon was ready to replace Gerrit Cole as the staff leader disappeared in an up-and-down first half. Trevor Williams has been far less reliable than he was last year. Ivan Nova has been sharper lately, but that has come after a mediocre stretch and time on the disabled list.
Just when it seemed like Chad Kuhl might be turning a corner, the Diamondbacks blasted him for eight runs in two innings.
As desperate as the Pirates are for Bell to get on track and anchor the middle of the lineup, they're just as needy when it comes to a No. 1 starter.
Maybe that's Joe Musgrove, whose stuff and approach are impressive. So far he's been teasing with the same good/bad pattern as the other starters.
Trades will become a possibility in the next five weeks, and anything is worth considering.
There are middle infielders at the upper part of the minor league system, which should make Josh Harrison available. Fans would bombard talk shows if he's traded, but dealing him makes sense if there's any kind of return available.
The Pirates were nine games over .500 at one point this season. They're currently four games under.
Which is the real team? Halfway through this story, we still don't know what the ending might be.
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Nothing demonstrates the disposable nature of NHL coaches more than Barry Trotz's sudden departure from the Washington Capitals.
Seemed like he was gone to the New York Islanders within minutes after coaching the Caps to their first Stanley Cup championship. It didn't seem like Trotz or the Capitals were especially bothered by the move, either.
It was just business.
Trotz was coaching for his job last season. He won that battle, but the Capitals were low-balling him on money. The Islanders may have half the talent the Capitals do, but they were willing to pay him twice as much money.
That helped Trotz make up his mind in a hurry. When you're soon to be 56 and likely signing your last coaching contract, better to get something you can literally take to the bank.
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There was some news last week about the Pirates angling to get some of the money generated by legalized sports gambling.
Get ready. Every team and every league will be grabbing at that pot, which figures to be substantial.
This will be a fight that will make Ali-Frazier look like a playground dispute.
(John Mehno can be reached at: johnmehnocolumn@gmail.com)
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