Mark Madden: It's easy to see Pirates navigating a .500 season

Refreshing Pirates notes. I haven’t done this for a long time because the Pirates haven’t been relevant for a long time. So here goes:

• At 16-7, it’s hard to imagine the Pirates stumbling to 90 losses. It’s easy to see them navigating a .500 season. But that might change once they play better teams. The Pirates have played three last-place clubs entering Monday’s games. Also the 7-15 Chicago White Sox, 9-13 St. Louis Cardinals and Houston Astros, barely above .500 at 12-10. That’s not a knock. The elementary way to avoid being a bad team is to beat bad teams.

• The big kids show up at the playground Tuesday. Los Angeles hits PNC Park for a three-game series. But the Dodgers and their $227 million payroll are a piddling 12-11.

• The Pirates are 10-4 since shortstop Oneil Cruz got hurt. They could have easily stumbled. Instead, they rallied. The “veteran presence” of Andrew McCutchen seems overhyped, but there’s little doubt it matters.

Related:

• Tim Benz: 'Gentlemen' on the base paths, Pirates race to the NL lead in stolen bases
• 1st-place Pirates are hottest team, biggest story in baseball
• Mark Madden's Hot Take: Why isn't Bucco Fever spreading faster?

• With 25 steals (second-most in MLB), the Pirates seem to be handling MLB’s baserunning changes better than most. Same goes for the pitch clock and the resulting difference in the game’s rhythm and pace. Their pitchers and hitters look comfortable.

• Two big statistical turnarounds: The Pirates had the third-most strikeouts in MLB last season but currently have the 12th fewest. They ranked 18th in home runs last year but stand ninth now. The most basic reason: They have more legit big-league players.

• Outfielder Jack Suwinski is interesting. He hit .202 last year and started this season 1 for 15 with a measly single. But he is since 12 for 32 with five home runs. The Pirates are displaying power beyond their means so far, but Suwinski has real pop. He needs to mostly play. You’re already sacrificing a corner infield spot to a fielding specialist, though Ke’Bryan Hayes is producing more since moving to the leadoff spot.

• The Pirates’ starters are pitching beyond their means. None have potential to be at the top of the rotation. They have a few No. 4 starters. The Pirates lead MLB with 14 quality starts, but that will correct itself. (Over 162 games, too much might correct itself.) If the Pirates are to be a playoff team in the next few years, they need better starting pitching. That’s hard to bring in from the outside. Their top pitching prospect is Quinn Priester. He’s promising, but does he project as an ace? If so, how soon?

• David Bednar is a lights-out closer. Nearly automatic. Of course, all things being equal, I root for the guy who looks the most like me.

• Bednar’s choice of Styx’s “Renegade” as his entrance music is inspired. It’s also over-the-top cliched, panders to the Steelers crowd and is way too yinzer, but it works. Pirates announcer Greg Brown feeds into it perfectly by quoting lyrics like he’s citing Shakespeare: “The jig is up, the news is out…”

• The Pirates have a mostly excellent announcing crew. Brown and Bob Walk stand out. It’s good to see them get a better product to work with. Former Pirates play-by-play man Lanny Frattare got worn out by all the losing.

• The feel-good story of 33-year-old Drew Maggi being called up from Double-A Altoona to potentially get his first-ever MLB action got a little too much play. Sure, it has a touch of Crash Davis about it. But when you’re 16-7, sideshows don’t matter as much.

• Whatever happened to the feel-good story of Bryan Reynolds’ contract extension? It was never going to happen and probably won’t. It’s so often the Pirates’ intention to “just miss” when it comes to spending. It got a few good headlines, though.

• Manager Derek Shelton’s new deal came at an odd time. He lost 100 games in each of the last two seasons. Does this year’s small sample undo that? But Shelton works cheap, and the Pirates won’t be luring Terry Francona from Cleveland anytime soon. (It’s weird that we don’t know how long Shelton’s extension is.)

• Some of those stupid enough to have been Pirates diehards through all the losing and low payrolls are now gatekeeping: “You’re not welcome on the bandwagon!” A better approach would be to roll out the red carpet, because the four-game sweep of Cincinnati at PNC Park drew crowds of 17,000 or lower. What a great baseball town, huh? The usual excuses of “bad weather, school’s still in” don’t cut it.

How did I do? Not bad for my first effort in years, I’d say. I even watched a few innings to prepare.