It's the Pirates' time to shine: The trade deadline; also the Diontae Johnson situation

Jose Quintana is probably going somewhere else; Will the Steelers Diontae Johnson eventually follow?

• Your daily look at the Pittsburgh sports scene for Saturday, July 30.

• Jose Quintana was outstanding in what was probably his last start for the Pirates.

• Diontae Johnson is following T.J. Watt’s playbook by “holding-in” as he tries to get a new contract with the team.

This is what Pirates season is all about

I went to the Pirates game on Friday night and had an enjoyable time, mostly because I like going to baseball games regardless of who is playing and who wins. I hung out with friends and family, drank some beer, and enjoyed an absolutely gorgeous summer night.

It was nearly perfect.

The lone exception, of course, was another Pirates loss. And this Pirates loss followed the script of so many other Pirates losses before it this season and in previous seasons.

You look for individual positives to try and give you hope that better days might be ahead, all while getting punched in the face with another loss.

On this particular night the positives were a rare home run from Ke’Bryan Hayes, and a strong start from starting pitcher Jose Quintana. All of that, of course, was wasted by the ineptitude of the rest of the lineup and the bullpen surrendering four runs in four innings to turn a 2-0 lead into a 4-2 10-inning loss.

We can get into Hayes on another day, because he is not going anywhere anytime soon.

But let’s talk about Quintana, who seems almost certain to be traded before the trade deadline next week. His next scheduled start is Thursday. The trade deadline is Wednesday. Do the math.

Quintana is one of the random veterans the Pirates sign every winter in the hopes of extracting some value out of them before dumping them at the trade deadline for a marginal prospect. We already saw it play once this season with Daniel Vogelbach, who was one of the maybe three good hitters on the team. He was recently traded to the New York Mets for Colin Holderman, a 27-year-old relief pitcher that could upgrade the aforementioned dumpster fire of a bullpen except he was immediately sent to Triple-A.

The Pirates might get a little more value out of a Quintana trade, but it will just be another spin in the never-ending cycle.

It is frustrating for several reasons.