U mad, bro? Fans spout about Pirates failures, Steelers moves, Penguins trade talk

Steelers, Penguins and Pirates. We spin the hits here at “U mad, bro?”

No one is spared in this edition.

This week people spout off about Steelers personnel, Penguins trade rumors and Bucco ineptitude.

We begin with William. He checks in on the woeful Pirates.

“I have followed this team for six decades. One certainty is: the leadership in this baseball franchise doesn’t care if they win or lose.

They keep adding castoffs from other teams and their pitching (stinks). They don’t sign quality free agents nor do they make necessary trades. Management seems quite content operating on a budget.

I wonder how long it will be before they sign Minnie Minoso?”

For you, William, I checked in on the potential of a Minnie Minoso signing. Unfortunately, he passed away at the age of 89 in 2015.

Now, don’t worry. That doesn’t necessarily preclude the Pirates from making a pitch to sign him. As Neal Huntington may have said, I expect them “to be competitive in the bidding process until the very end.”

Much like with Minoso, though, the good times for the Pirates also ended in 2015.

However, if they signed Jarrod Dyson, anything can happen. Maybe they can get some international signing pool money before next year’s trade deadline for Minnie, too.

But, honestly, aside from Dyson, they really haven’t been losing with other teams’ castoffs this year. I mean, a Derek Holland here and JT Riddle there to round out a roster in a shortened, pandemic season. So what?

They are generally losing with their own drafted and acquired minor league developmental talent.

Does that make you feel … better? They just may not be very good.

But your other points about not making necessary trades, and signings, and being content to operate on a budget? Check. Check. And check.

If I’m Minnie, I don’t bother making a comeback with this club.

Jim sent a few tweets, upset about Jim Rutherford allowing the Evgeni Malkin trade speculation to fester.

If Pens trade Malkin does anyone believe they will find a younger cheaper player same production without getting really high draft pick top 2 or 3 guy? Delusional. No guarantee Malkin wouldn’t head back to Russia and void the deal anyway.

— Jim Duron (@JimDuron1) September 2, 2020

Pens can’t find a decent third line center if they trade Malkin how would they find a #2 Center. Most teams are looking for a #2 or 3 guy and over pay. Trading Malkin would be a mistake imo unless someone really over paid. I really doubt anyone does considering Covid-19

— Jim Duron (@JimDuron1) September 2, 2020

Well, Jim, Malkin has a no movement clause. So that means he’d have to approve a trade. So I don’t think he’d approve it, then void it and go back to Magnitogorsk.

Beyond that, you’re right. They’ve struggled to find a third-line center, so finding a second-line center is going to be harder. And, yes, I do think the Penguins would replace him with someone younger and cheaper.

With the same production as Malkin? No. He’s a Hall of Famer. A trade of Malkin would signal a seismic shift in approach that the Penguins would be trying to win through depth and system hockey. No longer reliant on star power. And I bet if Malkin goes, they may try to trade Kris Letang as well, for those same reasons.

Someday, that realization is coming. And, someday, I bet Sidney Crosby will be the last of this group to be skating in Pittsburgh, just like he was the first to do it.

It’s only a matter of how long before the organization resigns itself to that fact. My bet is, for some of the reasons you point out, they aren’t ready to go to that place yet.

Just understand with every year that goes by, that diminishing return aspect you are alluding to on all three of these guys gets greater.

“Ivo” is a Steelers fan in Colorado. He emailed about Saquon Barkley’s suggestion that NFL players on the Giants might boycott some games.

“Hey, Tim, interesting take on Barkley’s claim that individual NFL players, or whole teams, would boycott over something that has nothing to do with their sport. If a team refused to play, of course the owner’s wallet would suffer; but players have contracts, and if they refuse to play, then they don’t get paid, right? And they’d also be subject to a fine and suspension, right? So, who’s Barkley playing to with his suggestion of a boycott?”

My guess, Ivo, is that, no, they wouldn’t get paid. And if they did, then essentially the league is sanctioning the walkout and willing to take a financial hit for the sake of optics.

And, if that’s the case, is it really a boycott?

To your other point, though, I think the players know that the quest to eradicate police abuse of minorities has nothing to do with the sport itself. I think their belief is that if they withhold their services and impact the ability to play games, that’ll make a difference.

What that difference is and how those dots connect? I don’t know.

Systemic change doesn’t happen in a week. It doesn’t happen over the course of one football season. I hope that any “boycott” that takes place by the players is done with the understanding that by the time they return to play, everything won’t be fixed to a satisfactory degree.

But if that is what they are going for, then don’t bother starting the season.

I’m not happy with the Steelers’ plan to move Matt Feiler from right tackle to left guard. I wrote a column stating that I’d rather see Feiler stay outside and give Stefen Wisniewski the left guard job. Mainly because I’m worried about Chuks Okorafor or Zach Banner as the new starter to replace Feiler.

William from Iowa is willing to let the position change play out.

“If (head coach Mike) Tomlin wants to give the two new guys a chance, that’s his prerogative. That being said, he knows he has Wiz in his back pocket. The guy started on two Super Bowl teams (Kansas City and Philadelphia) so they know he can work. Tomlin, at times, has a tendency to be just a bit head strong or down right stubborn in his ways, and that causes some to question him. They have 16 games to go through and they are going to need him at one of those spots, and you can pretty much count on it.

Many of us can say with a certain amount of certainty, he’s one of the best five at the position and even if Tomlin doesn’t want to acknowledge it now, he’s going to have to do it eventually.”

First off, William, if David DeCastro doesn’t get healthy fast, this will all be a moot point because Wisniewski is going to have to start at right guard anyway.

Not to mention, Wisniewski didn’t practice Wednesday either.

Secondly, let me say that “Many of us can say with a certain amount of certainty” is almost a Tomlin-ism in its own right.

But what I’m worried about is if DeCastro can play and Feiler moves, what’s the barometer of how bad things have to go before they move Feiler back?

Hopefully, Okorafor or Banner work out. If they don’t, though, forget the “16 games to figure it out” thing. It only takes one play in Game 1 or Game 2 for Ben Roethlisberger to get smoked because of a blown assignment on that side.

And, after last year, we know how that looks when Big Ben is out.

We’ll circle back to the Pirates to conclude. Rick has a simple solution for the “Bucco Blues.”

“Pirates. Move ‘em to Altoona.”

Why? What did Altoona do to deserve that?

I mean half the team is already there this year. You want Altoona to take on the likes of Richard Rodriguez and Dovydas Neverauskas, too?

C’mon, Rick. It’s 2020. We’re all in this together.