☛ THREE UP & THREE DOWN

1 The Pirates haven’t had many consistent producers on offense, but Michael Chavis, pictured below, has been a pleasant exception. He’s having a fine season. Has hits in 11 of his past 14, with a .357 average and .952 OPS during that time. Has also hit .333 with a .901 OPS against lefties. 2 It doesn’t involve positive news, but it was the right move — sending Bryse Wilson down to the minors. Long-term, it’s absolutely what’s required for his development, even though he’s probably not a happy camper at the moment. Given his stuff and how he likes to pitch, he needs to be better with execution. 3 Liked what I heard from Roberto Perez this past Monday, essentially that he really wanted to return to Pittsburgh. It makes a ton of sense. Bring Perez back on a cheap deal, let him play, then have him mentor Henry Davis whenever the Pirates’ catcher of the future is ready. You’re taking a risk, sure. But not a huge one. The upside is enticing. 1 Doesn’t make sense what the Pirates are doing at first base. Yoshi Tsutsugo is dead last among 29 qualifiers in fWAR (-0.6). Mason Martin has been great at Class AAA Indianapolis, with a .280 average, 1.259 OPS and six home runs and a 1.042 OPS over his past 14 games. What are we waiting for here?

2 Defense has been an unfortunate step backward for the Pirates — and, yeah, obviously losing Jacob Stallings (plus Roberto Perez) and Kevin Newman will have an effect there. But it shouldn’t be this bad. Their 37 errors as of Saturday morning were tied with Arizona for the MLB lead. Ke’Bryan Hayes’ seven were tied for second among qualified position players. 3 Will keep writing until something is done: The catching situation isn’t anywhere near good enough. Remove the homers Michael Perez hit in his first two games. He and Tyler Heineman are 2 for their past 44 at the plate. That’s an .045 average. Have to address this.