U mad, bro?: Fans say stop being so hard on Mike Tomlin, Oneil Cruz — but get tougher on Pirates, Steelers

I’m not hard enough on the Pittsburgh Pirates. But I’m too mean to Oneil Cruz.

The Steelers didn’t get better during the preseason. But I should stop giving Mike Tomlin a hard time.

Dang it! I can’t get anything right. That’s why I post “U mad, bro?” every week, just so you can keep me in my place.

A Mr. M. Davis emailed me during the Pirates’ 14-2 loss to the Atlanta Braves on Aug. 24. Here is our exchange.

“Atlanta leads 14-0 today. This is not a football score! When are you guys going to write about Dennis Eckersley’s ‘keen insight’ into the Pirates state of nothingness ???”

Um, Mr. Davis, I wrote about Eckersley’s comments the morning after he said them.

“Okay you wrote about it on Aug 17th. Today was Aug 24th. So where are your Aug. 18th-Aug. 21st, etc., etc., articles about the nothingness??? You’re such a prolific writer, some of those days probably deserved two Pirate ineptness articles.”

I did write about that topic on the 18th too. I had also just written about the Pirates back on Aug. 4, before Eck said what he did. And I mentioned what Neil Walker said about Oneil Cruz on the 16th.

I can’t write about Pirates ineptitude every day. No writer is paid enough to do that.

Chuck didn’t like my column about Cruz and Pittsburgh’s obsession with his exit velocity.

“We have every GM in baseball likely willing to do anything within reason to gain the rights to a once in a lifetime talent like Cruz and then there’s Tim Benz, (worried about strikeouts). Man, you are crazy negative. Always a dark cloud with you. We know he’s struck out a lot. So have many others in similar stages of their careers. He’s clearly equipped to fix it.”

I’m gonna quote myself here, Chuck, since you clearly didn’t read the whole column.

”Cruz is a rare Pirates prospect who gives this fanbase something to get excited about. A talented physical specimen with enough raw potential that he may someday become a Major League Baseball superstar. Someday.

When he figures out better command of the strike zone and isn’t hitting .206 with a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 85:16 and an on-base percentage of .261.

As his at-bats Tuesday started to show, those things will (and should) come into focus when he has more Major League seasoning.”

So, basically, we are saying the same thing. And you are proving my argument for me.

Your delicate Pirates fan sensibilities are so fragile, you can’t even handle an acknowledgment of a single negative stat, fact or truth about Cruz so you lash out at anyone who dares to advance it.

That was the crux of the column. And you proved it in one email. So … thanks!

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I’m getting the impression that Steve thinks I shouldn’t focus on any of Cruz’s negative stats. Ever.

“Why must you always be such a Debbie Downer on Oneil Cruz? I realize that Cruz has had some serious struggles to this point in his MLB career. As fans we get excited when we see some of the things he does, because virtually nobody else has done what he has, given the position that he plays.

“MLB talking heads are also clamoring over what Cruz is occasionally doing on the field. They cite Statcast stats because they expect the answer to, ‘Did you see what Cruz did last night?’ to be no, ‘I don’t watch the Pirates.’

“So they cite the Statcast to complete the picture. Readers understand exit velocity of 118 or 122 is an extremely hard hit ball, done by the likes of (Aaron) Judge and few others. Or a throw from short to first at 99 mph done by no-one else.

“Do I think Cruz will go into the Hall of Fame? No, not until he learns to hit the ball more effectively. Even if he does learn to hit better, do I think he will go in as a Pirate? Not as long as (Bob) Nutting owns the team.”

I don’t get it. Where do we disagree? On just about all points, it appears that we are on the same page. Except that you seem to think it’s my job to help promote Cruz and the Pirates instead of just focusing on the stats, games, results and plate appearances and giving my opinions on them.

My “Debbie Downer” problem isn’t with Cruz. My problem isn’t with Statcast. My problem is with a changing media landscape — and sports fans — that seem to be morphing the expectation and responsibilities of what the media should be.

We aren’t supposed to be promotional departments. The teams have those on their own. We are supposed to be reporters, commentators and opinion-makers.

Let’s get to some Steelers. I put up a Twitter poll to gauge people’s level of optimism about the team. Please, vote.

The next time we see the Steelers it'll be game-week prep for Cincy. So now that the regular season is upon us...after all the changes this offseason....do you think that are going to be...

— Tim Benz (@TimBenzPGH) August 31, 2022

Here’s how this guy responded.

I'm not sure how they improved.

— Socially Distant Since 1971 (@koonjs01) August 31, 2022

Let’s see. They are deeper at receiver. Myles Jack is better than any inside linebacker they had a year ago. The offense is more versatile because of quarterback mobility. And the defensive line is healthy.

But the offensive line hasn’t improved. The secondary still has questions. They are still thin at linebacker and at running back.

So, yeah. I voted “C” as well.

This person doesn’t seem to like the fact that I took umbrage with the lengths that Mike Tomlin went to hide Najee Harris’ Lisfranc injury.

We had a lovely back-and-forth.

I'm curious what makes media people think they have a right to the truth about injuries.

— PerfectFitAthleticRecruiting (@PerfectFitAR) August 30, 2022

If the media doesn’t have the “right” to ask, then I guess you — the ticket-buying, ratings-driving fans — don’t have the right to know, either, huh?

We aren’t asking for our curiosity. We are getting the information to post for you to read. That’s kinda how this whole sports journalism thing works, you know?

I understand completely, and, as a lifelong Steelers fan, I have no right to know. I don't need to know anything about the Steelers injuries because if I know, then their opponents know. I don't want their opponents to know. I would prefer they lie about all of it, Tim.

— PerfectFitAthleticRecruiting (@PerfectFitAR) August 30, 2022

Well, that’s essentially what I wrote in the story. But the NFL-mandated injury report says otherwise. So I’d prefer Tomlin stops using the media as a vessel for misinformation.

However, if an athlete wants to tell the world their performance is suffering due to injury, they have that “right” too — as do we in the media to ask them directly.

But if you prefer to not know, feel free to be willfully ignorant to any injury news by not clicking the headlines.

Finally, Keith would also like me to stop writing about Harris’ foot injury.

pic.twitter.com/GqcVDLRiCU

— Keith Smolkowicz (@Kmsmolk) August 30, 2022

Keith, trust me, if the horse was actually dead, Tomlin would still list him as day-to-day.