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Mailbag: What's the Status of Konnor Griffin Extension Talks? · Bucco Territory: A Pittsburgh Pirates Podcast

0:09
Speaker 1: What's up, everybody.
0:10
Speaker 2: Welcome back to another episode of Buco Territory, presented to
0:13
Speaker 2: you by the Foul Territory Network.
0:14
Speaker 1: I'm your host Noa Hyles.
0:15
Speaker 2: Joining me as always are my co host Platinum Hey
0:18
Speaker 2: aka Mark and Josh Harrison.
0:20
Speaker 1: It's a mail bag Wednesday.
0:22
Speaker 2: We've got a whole bunch of questions to get into
0:25
Speaker 2: and we'll just start it off now.
0:27
Speaker 1: Mark, what's the first question of the day. Yes.
0:30
Speaker 3: Our first question comes to us from Peb who asks,
0:33
Speaker 3: between starting pitching, bullpen, infield, and outfield, which group has
0:37
Speaker 3: the podcaw been most impressed with early in the season.
0:40
Speaker 1: Josh, I'll let you start.
0:44
Speaker 4: I don't know if you all have the same answer
0:45
Speaker 4: you my and I mean starting pitching. We knew coming
0:50
Speaker 4: to the season gonna be a strength, but just to
0:53
Speaker 4: see what they've been able to do from the early
0:55
Speaker 4: part of the season, I would say from all the games,
0:58
Speaker 4: I would say, even with was you know, comments after
1:01
Speaker 4: his start, I was still that I would still say
1:04
Speaker 4: that they've been the most consistent and you know, really
1:06
Speaker 4: keeping you know, the scene where it has been, even
1:09
Speaker 4: though the offense got a little hot, I would say
1:11
Speaker 4: starting pitching for me.
1:13
Speaker 3: Yeah, That's exactly where my mind went to as well.
1:15
Speaker 3: I mean, this team's cooking right now, and Paul Skins
1:19
Speaker 3: has a nine or something Era A or seven. It's high.
1:23
Speaker 3: But they haven't allowed a single home run yet, which
1:26
Speaker 3: is crazy, longest streak for the Pirates since I think
1:30
Speaker 3: like ninety four or something. It's been a long time,
1:33
Speaker 3: and so you're gonna give up a couple here and there.
1:37
Speaker 3: But seeing the pitching staff limiting week comment or leak
1:41
Speaker 3: limiting week contact has been really exciting to see. What
1:44
Speaker 3: about you?
1:44
Speaker 2: No, yeah, I mean to be different, I guess I'll
1:47
Speaker 2: go with the infield.
1:51
Speaker 1: You can't go with the outfield, No, not right now.
1:53
Speaker 2: Yeah, even though two of the three guys in the
1:56
Speaker 2: outfield are crushing the baseball right now. I mean the
1:58
Speaker 2: outfield defense has been a trick and the anfield defense
2:02
Speaker 2: hasn't been amazing. I mean, it's gotten a lot better
2:04
Speaker 2: since Connor Griffin arrived. And you pair that with Brandon
2:07
Speaker 2: Lowe's offensive production. I mean, you're getting good hitting out
2:10
Speaker 2: of york In Gonzalez right now. And then Horowitz has
2:13
Speaker 2: been better at home as opposed to how he started
2:16
Speaker 2: on the road this year. So yeah, I'd go with
2:19
Speaker 2: the nfield just to be different. I mean, the starting
2:21
Speaker 2: pitching has been really good. I think their only weakness
2:24
Speaker 2: so far is just giving up free passes. The rotation
2:28
Speaker 2: and bullpen combined, I mean, they're they're all.
2:30
Speaker 1: Walking a lot of batters.
2:33
Speaker 2: But I mean, like what Bubba said after his start
2:37
Speaker 2: Monday night, I mean it's ironic, like even if he
2:39
Speaker 2: allowed one run, it would have mattered because they got
2:42
Speaker 2: shut out, So that loss isn't on him too much.
2:45
Speaker 2: And in a couple of those runs or just a
2:47
Speaker 2: product a bad defense. So and he still has like
2:50
Speaker 2: a three one to two RA on the season, so
2:53
Speaker 2: he's he's not the problem right now. Although you know, good,
2:57
Speaker 2: good look on him by taking accountability there, and he
3:00
Speaker 2: knows he can be better, and I think you will be.
3:02
Speaker 2: So yeah, I'll go at the enfield, and the starting
3:04
Speaker 2: pitching isn't far behind.
3:06
Speaker 3: Yeah, And just to be one more different answer, I'd
3:09
Speaker 3: say a new group would be just the newcomers outside
3:11
Speaker 3: of Osuna. Yeah, Law and O'Hearn just have been perfect
3:15
Speaker 3: fits on the field off the field, it seems like.
3:17
Speaker 3: So I've been really impressed with those two guys. All right,
3:21
Speaker 3: Next question, here comes to us from Tyler Frey, who asks,
3:26
Speaker 3: what's the status on the KG contract and do you
3:28
Speaker 3: think pirates will pull their offer or reduce it if
3:30
Speaker 3: the early offensive drought continues. Let's turn this one over
3:34
Speaker 3: to Noah.
3:36
Speaker 1: Well, I mean, I don't know what you guys are
3:37
Speaker 1: hearing from your sources.
3:38
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, So the latest conversations I've had about this
3:44
Speaker 2: came on Saturday, and I was told that there was
3:49
Speaker 2: expected to be more dialogue between the pirates in Griffin
3:53
Speaker 2: Sunday and Monday. Haven't heard anything new as of the
3:57
Speaker 2: time of this recording, which we're recording this on Tuesday
4:00
Speaker 2: one thirty seven pm right now, So if news breaks
4:03
Speaker 2: at two o'clock, then obviously things changed. But as as
4:08
Speaker 2: of Tuesday afternoon, they're still talking. So I know there
4:13
Speaker 2: were some reports that came out the day of his
4:15
Speaker 2: promotion that suggested that they were really close to a deal,
4:20
Speaker 2: and I hate like trying to discredit other reporters.
4:24
Speaker 1: I think that's very lame.
4:26
Speaker 2: But for the sake of like clarity here, I've been
4:29
Speaker 2: told by five people.
4:31
Speaker 1: I was told by five.
4:32
Speaker 2: People within twenty four hours of that report from ESPN
4:35
Speaker 2: that there was no deal. There was no handshake deal
4:38
Speaker 2: like oh, you know, like, hey, let's get this deal
4:40
Speaker 2: in place and then we'll have him play a game
4:41
Speaker 2: and it'll be signed. That I mean, leading up to
4:45
Speaker 2: that promotion, it was my understanding that the talks had
4:48
Speaker 2: been kind of slow, that they had slowed down after
4:52
Speaker 2: they optioned Connor to Triple A in spring training. I
4:57
Speaker 2: was told by people that I really try us that uh,
5:02
Speaker 2: the Pirates probably would not have promoted him if they
5:05
Speaker 2: did not feel a contract extension was going to get done.
5:10
Speaker 2: But that can be true without a handshake deal being
5:15
Speaker 2: in place, and I think that's the case here. I
5:17
Speaker 2: think the Pirates a recognize that they needed to be
5:21
Speaker 2: better defensively and that's what Connor Griffing adds to this team.
5:25
Speaker 1: So that's why they brought him up.
5:26
Speaker 2: And b they felt that, hey, if we bring him
5:29
Speaker 2: up now and we resume contract extension talks and we're
5:34
Speaker 2: you know, perhaps even more aggressive and push the pace
5:37
Speaker 2: for these things, that we can get a deal done.
5:39
Speaker 2: I still anticipate a deal getting done probably sometime this
5:42
Speaker 2: week if I had And that's just a guess, but
5:46
Speaker 2: I yeah, So the last that I've heard is I mean,
5:49
Speaker 2: a there that that that ninety I don't know where
5:52
Speaker 2: that came from. Those weren't the numbers and figures that
5:56
Speaker 2: I have been hearing, But I mean that could end
5:59
Speaker 2: up being what it was. But I had never heard
6:01
Speaker 2: that there wasn't a deal in place when he was
6:05
Speaker 2: called up. I think that's abundantly clear by now, as
6:08
Speaker 2: if there was, it would have been signed.
6:11
Speaker 1: And it sounds like yeah to me.
6:13
Speaker 2: I was told that there were gonna be some more
6:15
Speaker 2: There's gonna be some more dialogue on Sunday and Monday.
6:19
Speaker 2: We're recording this Tuesday, so I don't know how those
6:22
Speaker 2: conversations went. Maybe they went so well. By the time
6:25
Speaker 2: this posts Wednesday morning, the deal's already done. Maybe there's
6:28
Speaker 2: still work to be done, but that's the latest I know.
6:31
Speaker 2: And as far as the back end of that question,
6:33
Speaker 2: I don't think Connor's performance will have any influence over
6:37
Speaker 2: this contract excension.
6:38
Speaker 1: Now.
6:38
Speaker 2: I will say, like if he hit like five home
6:40
Speaker 2: runs in his first week as a big leaguer, it
6:44
Speaker 2: probably increased the price. But I don't think there was
6:46
Speaker 2: anything he could have done, barring getting injured that would
6:49
Speaker 2: have probably and I don't even know if injury would
6:51
Speaker 2: have heard it because like you're looking at him as
6:54
Speaker 2: a long term asset right now, you're not signing the
6:58
Speaker 2: player that he is right now in nineteen year old.
7:01
Speaker 2: You're you're signing yeah correct, Yeah, he's nineteen years old.
7:05
Speaker 2: You're you're signing a guy that you think he's going
7:08
Speaker 2: to become. So with that in mind, yeah, I don't
7:11
Speaker 2: think a poor start at the plate as a big
7:15
Speaker 2: leaguer at nineteen years old is going to hurt him much.
7:18
Speaker 1: I don't think it's going to slow down anything either.
7:20
Speaker 2: I think they're still working out the the fine details
7:23
Speaker 2: and we'll see when this thing gets done.
7:25
Speaker 1: But yeah, I nothing's done as of right now.
7:31
Speaker 3: And I'll just add in one point of clarification that
7:34
Speaker 3: I've been seeing kind of misconstrued, is this April ninth deadline?
7:39
Speaker 3: So yeah, yeah, go ahead, No, okay.
7:42
Speaker 2: So yes, because yeah, I had I became the chronism
7:46
Speaker 2: ul on Twitter by responding to one tweet yesterday, which
7:50
Speaker 2: wasn't my attention intention. But it's never fun to be
7:53
Speaker 2: compared to AI when you're a real person, unless you're
7:56
Speaker 2: getting compared to Alan Iverson, then I would say that.
7:59
Speaker 1: But artificial eligence.
8:00
Speaker 2: No, don't like that, so the April ninth date, that
8:04
Speaker 2: date was relevant for Connor's call up. He's in the
8:08
Speaker 2: major leagues now, so forget the date of April nine.
8:11
Speaker 2: It means nothing now. All that meant was in order
8:15
Speaker 2: for him to remain PPI eligible for the Pirates to
8:18
Speaker 2: get that reward pick. If Connor wins the Rookie of
8:20
Speaker 2: the Year or gets a top three finish in MVP
8:23
Speaker 2: voting in any of his first three seasons as a
8:25
Speaker 2: big leaguer, he needs to get a full year of
8:28
Speaker 2: major league service time, which means he needs to spend
8:30
Speaker 2: one hundred and seventy two days or more in the
8:32
Speaker 2: Major League. So the latest he could make that happen
8:37
Speaker 2: was if he arrived by April ninth. He's already here,
8:39
Speaker 2: so forget April ninth. Another date to keep in mind, though,
8:42
Speaker 2: I will say, is April fourteenth, and we've talked about
8:45
Speaker 2: that on this show, because if a contract extension is
8:49
Speaker 2: signed after April fourteenth, whatever the terms are, they go
8:54
Speaker 2: into effect next year, meaning Connor would play this entire
8:58
Speaker 2: season and on his rookie salary, his pre arbitration deal,
9:03
Speaker 2: which is like, I forget what the league.
9:06
Speaker 4: Now, I don't but yeah, yeah.
9:10
Speaker 1: He's he's playing exactly the salary that he's right now.
9:13
Speaker 2: Now, Yeah, he would carry that through the rest of
9:16
Speaker 2: the year, and then the deal would go into effect
9:18
Speaker 2: next year. Why is that relevant, Because if you're representing
9:22
Speaker 2: Connor Griffin, you want year one of that eight or
9:26
Speaker 2: nine year extension, however long it's going to be to start. Now,
9:29
Speaker 2: your job as an agent is to get your client
9:32
Speaker 2: to free agency as fast as possible, even within the
9:35
Speaker 2: constructs of a deal that you agree to. So the Pirates,
9:38
Speaker 2: if they wait to get this deal done past April fourteenth,
9:43
Speaker 2: what that means is that, yeah, you might get another
9:45
Speaker 2: year of Connor Griffin, but you're gonna have to pay
9:48
Speaker 2: probably more now to get that extension done because you're
9:53
Speaker 2: getting a year of Connor Griffin for free essentially. So
9:57
Speaker 2: that's that's the only date that really matters here, now
10:00
Speaker 2: that he's in the major leagues. There's no other date
10:02
Speaker 2: that really pertains to the extension or service time. I mean,
10:06
Speaker 2: if he's optioned down at any point in time, the
10:08
Speaker 2: PPI compensation just kind of goes out the window. There's
10:12
Speaker 2: not really a way because he'd have to be down
10:14
Speaker 2: for fifteen days if he's optioned, and that takes away
10:18
Speaker 2: the opportunity for him to get one hundred and seventy
10:20
Speaker 2: two days of Major League service time.
10:22
Speaker 1: So yeah, April fourteenth, that's.
10:24
Speaker 2: Probably the target date where both sides would rather get
10:28
Speaker 2: this deal done. For the Pirates, it's for the sake
10:31
Speaker 2: of avoiding you know, he'll be extensive deal, it'd be
10:35
Speaker 2: cheaper for them. And for Griffin's side of things, it means,
10:38
Speaker 2: you know, the payday goes into effect now and he
10:42
Speaker 2: starts playing under the terms of which that contract extension
10:47
Speaker 2: would be agreed to. So there's everything I know on
10:50
Speaker 2: that subject and that I've been living and breathing, and
10:53
Speaker 2: I'm ready to stop reporting on whenever this deal can
10:56
Speaker 2: get done.
10:58
Speaker 4: I was gonna say I had no comments.
10:59
Speaker 3: You've covered yeah, yeah, all right, Well real quick, we'll
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Speaker 1: Next question, All right.
12:15
Speaker 3: Our next question comes to us from Dave Thomas, who asks,
12:19
Speaker 3: because we don't often see a position player promoted as
12:21
Speaker 3: quickly as Griffin, it's hard to know what to expect.
12:24
Speaker 3: He's obviously back to being challenged at the plate by
12:27
Speaker 3: what he has seen. It is very early, no panic.
12:30
Speaker 3: But what might the Pirates approach be with patients?
12:35
Speaker 1: Josh, I'll let you start here.
12:36
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, I'll start with that one. Their approach with
12:41
Speaker 4: the patients is going to be exactly what we've already seen.
12:45
Speaker 4: You know that they're trying to just from the outside
12:48
Speaker 4: looking in, you know, not put too much of a
12:52
Speaker 4: pressure on him to feel like he's got to, you know,
12:54
Speaker 4: be Pittsburgh Pirate saver, because if that was the case,
12:58
Speaker 4: we'd see him leading off and you know, being at
13:01
Speaker 4: the forefront of everything. The patience you can see is
13:04
Speaker 4: them obviously, you know, having him at the bottom third
13:08
Speaker 4: of the lineup, you know, matchup based off of you know,
13:10
Speaker 4: some guys having the day off, whether he's sitting sixth, seventh,
13:14
Speaker 4: But defensively, he's playing well, he's holding his own so
13:17
Speaker 4: the patients that they have for him, that obviously helps.
13:21
Speaker 4: With the patients that they're that they would be willing
13:24
Speaker 4: to give offensively. But I don't really foresee their patients
13:31
Speaker 4: wearing thin because as you stated from the previous question,
13:35
Speaker 4: you know, they're looking to signs got long term for
13:37
Speaker 4: what the future is gonna hold. So these first with
13:40
Speaker 4: three games, you know, three four games. They're not looking
13:43
Speaker 4: at to be like, oh, we got to hit the
13:46
Speaker 4: panic button. They're still going to continue to patient approach.
13:49
Speaker 4: She's a nineteen year old that has never played in
13:51
Speaker 4: the major leagues before, has been a part of two
13:54
Speaker 4: spring training so there's still gonna be a lot of
13:56
Speaker 4: first that he has to cross. I don't care how
13:58
Speaker 4: many spring training games you play for big leagues, there's
14:01
Speaker 4: gonna be a lot of first he's going to cross
14:02
Speaker 4: because you only get half of the league and floor
14:05
Speaker 4: and half of that league he didn't even play. He
14:08
Speaker 4: only played against, you know, the ones that are in
14:10
Speaker 4: his general areas. So it's one thing seeing something on
14:14
Speaker 4: iPad or video how do's got pitches? But you know,
14:16
Speaker 4: the more that you play and you see familiarity and
14:19
Speaker 4: you start to get that, I think we'll see him
14:20
Speaker 4: get a little bit more comfortable. But I don't think
14:23
Speaker 4: it's anything that they change their patient approach, because I
14:26
Speaker 4: think they have been patient with this, you know, because
14:30
Speaker 4: if they were really impatient, he would have started the
14:33
Speaker 4: season in the big leagues, you know. So they're taking
14:35
Speaker 4: every precautious, you know, every precaution that they can to
14:38
Speaker 4: make sure that they're not, you know, overwhelming. You know,
14:42
Speaker 4: this nineteen year old kid who they obviously know is
14:44
Speaker 4: a big part of their future.
14:46
Speaker 3: Yeah, and it takes a little bit of time to
14:48
Speaker 3: get acclimated into MLB. That's a big jump, and we've
14:52
Speaker 3: seen it with Hall of Fame players from Ken Griffy
14:54
Speaker 3: Junior to Mike Trout who had to be optioned back
14:56
Speaker 3: down where yeah they're the super future superstar, but there's
15:00
Speaker 3: a transition period. And so I think it's perfectly okay
15:03
Speaker 3: that Connor hasn't put up the results that we've seen
15:06
Speaker 3: him put up in the minors. Yet I've been really
15:09
Speaker 3: encouraged not just by his defense, but his approach at
15:12
Speaker 3: the plate. He's seeing a lot of pitches, He's getting
15:16
Speaker 3: on base where he can, He's he's not chasing a lot,
15:20
Speaker 3: so the hits will come as he gets more comfortable.
15:24
Speaker 3: But yeah, you got to give this time kid, all
15:27
Speaker 3: the time in the world, because the more time you
15:29
Speaker 3: give him now, the better Pittsburgh Pirates are going to
15:32
Speaker 3: be for years and years to come as he gets comfortable.
15:35
Speaker 4: So before I was just gonna say, Mark, you made
15:41
Speaker 4: a good point. He's getting on base, so might not
15:43
Speaker 4: be coming and hits all the time, but if you're
15:45
Speaker 4: getting on base, that is a big thing to say,
15:47
Speaker 4: you know what I mean. I think sho Hay still
15:50
Speaker 4: has the longestone base streak right now, right, so that
15:54
Speaker 4: goes that's not a hitting streak, but that's getting on base.
15:57
Speaker 4: So that's another positive. And so to cut you off, no, no,
16:01
Speaker 4: you're good.
16:02
Speaker 2: I was just gonna say, they really don't have any
16:04
Speaker 2: other choice but to let him work through this either,
16:07
Speaker 2: I mean one for the PPI, but more importantly, I mean,
16:10
Speaker 2: this guy's making an impact defensively. He's top five in
16:14
Speaker 2: baseball or shortstops in defense shortstops were for defensive run
16:20
Speaker 2: saved and he's only played four games, so he has
16:22
Speaker 2: half the sample sizes of everyone else. And without him,
16:27
Speaker 2: their left side of the infield's a mess. I mean,
16:29
Speaker 2: Jared Triolo was the guy that they could not afford
16:31
Speaker 2: to get hurt on this team, considering that he's their
16:34
Speaker 2: only other real option to play shortstop and he's their
16:38
Speaker 2: only other true option at third base. So with him down,
16:41
Speaker 2: you already have the hot corner playing at a position.
16:45
Speaker 2: Now you can get away with that. If York and
16:47
Speaker 2: Gonzalez continue to hit, you can sacrifice bad defense on
16:51
Speaker 2: the corner for above average offense, and that's what they're
16:55
Speaker 2: getting right now. But if you option Connor Griffin down,
16:59
Speaker 2: you're every day left side cannot be Gonzales at short
17:03
Speaker 2: and York at third. It's just you're not getting anything
17:06
Speaker 2: close to what you would need defensively. And as bad
17:09
Speaker 2: as you are defensively in the outfield right now, you
17:12
Speaker 2: can't make your defense worse. So they don't really have
17:15
Speaker 2: an option. Ponter Griff was called up. I mean partially yes,
17:18
Speaker 2: because I think I think the Pirates believe.
17:21
Speaker 1: That they can get an extension done.
17:23
Speaker 2: I know the Pirates really value this PPI compensation opportunity.
17:27
Speaker 2: Those reasons for play a part in it. But also
17:29
Speaker 2: like he makes this team better even by doing what
17:32
Speaker 2: he's doing now, which I know he's hitting under one hundred.
17:35
Speaker 2: Like you guys mentioned, he's getting on base like pretty
17:38
Speaker 2: much wants a game, either through a walk or a
17:39
Speaker 2: hit batter or something like that.
17:43
Speaker 1: Essentially, if he can just be if he can just
17:48
Speaker 1: hit like.
17:49
Speaker 2: Something a little better than Henry Davis next year or
17:51
Speaker 2: last year, which obviously was not very good. But if
17:55
Speaker 2: he can hit around two hundred, his defense will make
17:59
Speaker 2: this all worth it. By the way this team's constructed.
18:02
Speaker 2: Unless they go out and make a trade for an
18:05
Speaker 2: established veteran who can play on the left side of
18:08
Speaker 2: the endfield, either at short or third, then you have
18:12
Speaker 2: to roll with Griffin here because you can't have two
18:14
Speaker 2: people playing out a position on your left side of
18:17
Speaker 2: the yournfield at the same time. You just it's just
18:19
Speaker 2: something you cannot do.
18:20
Speaker 3: Not with this outfield, especially at short stop.
18:24
Speaker 2: Yeah, up the middle, so he's here, yep, all right.
18:29
Speaker 3: Next question here comes to us from counter Griffin enthusiasts.
18:33
Speaker 3: How long of the leash do you give Azuna to
18:35
Speaker 3: figure it out?
18:39
Speaker 4: I mean, I think we kind of talked about this
18:41
Speaker 4: a little bit because, you know, because I Zuma had
18:45
Speaker 4: his comments about you know, he deserved to be booed,
18:47
Speaker 4: and obviously the money situation they're gonna is going to
18:51
Speaker 4: be a longer lease than some people probably would like.
18:54
Speaker 4: But at the same time, we're still talking with eight
18:58
Speaker 4: nine games in. I know people don't like to hear
19:01
Speaker 4: us early, which I don't like that statement either, because
19:04
Speaker 4: you'll find yourself two months in and people saying, oh,
19:06
Speaker 4: it's still early. Well, yes it is, but technically it's not.
19:10
Speaker 4: But you know, when you got guys that are veterans
19:13
Speaker 4: like that, I mean, you really can't make a judgment,
19:18
Speaker 4: especially when a guy has a track record like that
19:20
Speaker 4: without seeing at least, you know, one hundred abes, one
19:22
Speaker 4: hundred plate appearances. And I don't know if that's what
19:27
Speaker 4: the pirates are, but as you said, you get money
19:30
Speaker 4: and invested in this guy, and not a little bit
19:33
Speaker 4: of money. So they're going to try to get out
19:35
Speaker 4: of them what they signed him for. So the least
19:38
Speaker 4: is going to be a little bit longer, but I
19:40
Speaker 4: think we hit it in the last conversation about him.
19:44
Speaker 4: You'll see them try to find favorable matchups early on
19:46
Speaker 4: to try to help him get out of this early.
19:49
Speaker 4: You know, you know hornder start, you know, first part.
19:53
Speaker 3: And he has the power to turn things on really quickly.
19:56
Speaker 3: We saw it already. We had these questions about O'Neal Cruz,
19:59
Speaker 3: you know he'd be going to triple A. Well now
20:01
Speaker 3: you look at his ops after four home runs and
20:04
Speaker 3: the hot streak these past few games, and it's a
20:06
Speaker 3: completely different narrative around O'Neil Cruz. So you have to
20:09
Speaker 3: give a Zuna some time because a few games can
20:12
Speaker 3: completely shift the narrative. We saw that with Rowdy Telezi
20:15
Speaker 3: even you know, there's that little stretch of Rowdy streak
20:19
Speaker 3: where even he found his footing. But hopefully it doesn't
20:24
Speaker 3: take a Zuna that long because this team is trying
20:26
Speaker 3: to be competitive, which is different this year. So you know,
20:30
Speaker 3: if he's really really struggling, maybe he has like a
20:34
Speaker 3: something pop up where he needs to go take a
20:35
Speaker 3: ten day I elstin or something and figure things out.
20:38
Speaker 3: But you gotta give him a long leash.
20:41
Speaker 2: Yeah, I just don't want to say that Leah be
20:43
Speaker 2: too long, Like I don't think this is something you
20:45
Speaker 2: can ride out until the end of May, like we've
20:48
Speaker 2: seen no other guys and that's that's been the case,
20:52
Speaker 2: like for what this looks to be trending toward, because
20:57
Speaker 2: in other instances, like let's compare Tommy to Ozuna, fam
21:02
Speaker 2: at least was playing good defense right last April and May,
21:05
Speaker 2: and so he was providing value to Les wasn't, but
21:09
Speaker 2: they had Connor Joe as like a alternative and Rowdy's
21:12
Speaker 2: playing time, Yeah, Rowdy's playing time kind of took a
21:16
Speaker 2: big dip in May before they like ultimately pulled the
21:20
Speaker 2: plug or got close to pulling the plug, I should
21:23
Speaker 2: say so. And Michael Taylor same thing, like he was
21:27
Speaker 2: a great defender, so they got something with Ozuna. Not
21:30
Speaker 2: only does he provide no defensive value, he makes your
21:33
Speaker 2: defense worse in a way like where if you want
21:36
Speaker 2: a DH Reynolds or Cruise and have Mangum at either
21:41
Speaker 2: left or center, you have more value out there right now.
21:45
Speaker 2: So that's why I think you ride it out for
21:48
Speaker 2: this month and then you have to make some hard decisions.
21:51
Speaker 2: I don't see them completely giving up, but I think
21:54
Speaker 2: he stays a regular in the lineup for April or
21:57
Speaker 2: close to being a regular. And if this continues, then yeah,
22:00
Speaker 2: he's just a he's a platoon DH and you dh
22:03
Speaker 2: Reynolds against right handers and and Ozuna starts against lefties.
22:08
Speaker 2: And if that keeps going south, then you might have
22:11
Speaker 2: to cut bait. But I don't think you're anywhere close
22:15
Speaker 2: to that right now.
22:16
Speaker 1: Just off of the way, things.
22:18
Speaker 3: Are, sounds good, all right? Final question here comes from
22:24
Speaker 3: Dakota Smith. Do you think the pirates will ever explore
22:27
Speaker 3: crews at DH if he continues to struggle at center field?
22:30
Speaker 3: And it souna continues to struggle.
22:33
Speaker 1: Let me start here.
22:34
Speaker 2: Yeah, the reality is they have three outfielders who probably
22:37
Speaker 2: should be designated hitters right now. That's just the harsh
22:41
Speaker 2: truth of it. I mean O'Hearn, for all intentsive purposes,
22:45
Speaker 2: has been a fine outfit and he and he doesn't
22:48
Speaker 2: even belong out there like he should have been playing
22:51
Speaker 2: first base. He's signed to be a DH in a
22:53
Speaker 2: first basement essentially and be like a spot player out
22:57
Speaker 2: in the outfield, and.
22:58
Speaker 1: He's been fine. But yeah, like Reynolds, that's again.
23:02
Speaker 2: Like I remember when Ozuna was signed, I took a
23:06
Speaker 2: lot of flak on social media for kind of pointing
23:09
Speaker 2: out what's happening right now where if this dude doesn't perform,
23:14
Speaker 2: he hurts you in multiple ways. He's a hole in
23:17
Speaker 2: your lineup, and he's making you play guys out of position.
23:21
Speaker 2: And because you didn't go get someone who can play
23:24
Speaker 2: on the left side of the endfield, now you already
23:26
Speaker 2: have someone playing out of position at third base. And
23:28
Speaker 2: if you want to give Connor a day off, now
23:30
Speaker 2: you have someone playing out a position at shortstop and
23:34
Speaker 2: left field is not an easy thing to play at
23:37
Speaker 2: PNC Park, So to have someone like Reynolds out there,
23:42
Speaker 2: who has just progressed defensively over the last four some
23:47
Speaker 2: odd years. It's like, it's not hard to see that
23:50
Speaker 2: if you look at any defensive metrics, the only thing
23:54
Speaker 2: that's saving grace is is arm. And when you're playing
23:57
Speaker 2: in that big of a spot, your arm is is
24:00
Speaker 2: valuable because you're catching more stuff on the run and everything.
24:03
Speaker 1: I mean, your arm bails you out a little bit
24:05
Speaker 1: more in right field at panc Park because of the
24:07
Speaker 1: dimensions than left field. You need range in left field,
24:10
Speaker 1: and we saw Monday night what happens sometimes when that
24:14
Speaker 1: range just put the test.
24:15
Speaker 2: It's not good. And then you add into communication issues
24:18
Speaker 2: that clearly exist right now with Cruise. How he's ran
24:22
Speaker 2: into or ran in front of both his right fielder
24:25
Speaker 2: and left fielder.
24:26
Speaker 1: So do you put him at d H.
24:28
Speaker 2: Sure, but I don't even know if he's the guy
24:30
Speaker 2: that should be dhing. It might be Reynolds might be
24:34
Speaker 2: the better DH candidate out of the two right now.
24:37
Speaker 2: And that's not an endorsement on Cruise at all. I
24:39
Speaker 2: don't know if Cruise is ever gonna look good in
24:41
Speaker 2: center field. It's just you've got two guys who as
24:46
Speaker 2: things currently stand are kind of a liability when the
24:49
Speaker 2: balls hit their way. I mean, sometimes they'll make the play,
24:53
Speaker 2: sometimes they won't, and it's not fun to watch when
24:57
Speaker 2: the latter happens.
24:59
Speaker 3: Yeah, just jump in and say if Ozuna is if
25:03
Speaker 3: they cut bait with Ozuna, I think they should just
25:06
Speaker 3: revert back to the rotating DH rather than have someone
25:10
Speaker 3: at full time DH, whether it's Cruise or Reynolds or whoever, whoever,
25:14
Speaker 3: just because, like you said, no, this outfield is basically
25:18
Speaker 3: three dhs out there, and so if we can get
25:22
Speaker 3: those guys at least fresh, maybe that helps them play
25:25
Speaker 3: slightly better defense and rotate them throughout that. Uh, the
25:30
Speaker 3: DH spot maybe work Brandon low In, but Lowy's looked
25:34
Speaker 3: just fine on defense as well, so uh, yeah it.
25:38
Speaker 3: I don't think CRUs would be the first one to
25:39
Speaker 3: be dhing if Ozuna is no longer on the roster.
25:43
Speaker 1: Guys I have breaking I'm just kidding.
25:47
Speaker 3: Don't you do that to me?
25:48
Speaker 4: Now?
25:48
Speaker 1: Yeah? All right, Josh, what you got?
25:50
Speaker 4: No, I was gonna say, there's really nothing much for
25:52
Speaker 4: me to add other than I was just gonna kind
25:55
Speaker 4: of say that the revolving door. I wouldn't say it
25:57
Speaker 4: would necessarily be Cruise, but it would be kind of
26:00
Speaker 4: a committee thing based off of. Obviously Mangle Mountain. The
26:04
Speaker 4: outfield is obviously gonna make your defense better, but at
26:07
Speaker 4: the same time, it's not making it better as a whole,
26:09
Speaker 4: because we already mentioned you had three d hs out there.
26:13
Speaker 4: But I think it would be a situation of picture
26:15
Speaker 4: on the man matchups. Okay, O'Neill, you're gonna DH today, Mangham,
26:20
Speaker 4: you're going to center. You know what tomorrow, Reynolds you're
26:24
Speaker 4: gonna DH right, O'Neil Mangham, you know, just based off
26:28
Speaker 4: of and then who knows, you know, Triolo's hurt right now,
26:32
Speaker 4: as you mentioned, guy's been out of position. Who knows
26:34
Speaker 4: what the roster shake up will be. Who knows what happened.
26:36
Speaker 4: Maybe Password finds his way I know he's or not
26:39
Speaker 4: even Password, maybe somebody, you know, maybe there's a trade,
26:42
Speaker 4: who knows. I'm just throwing things out there, But I
26:45
Speaker 4: don't think it's just necessarily Oh, it's gonna be O'Neill
26:48
Speaker 4: Creuz because as you said, that doesn't just solve the
26:50
Speaker 4: defensive problem, because that outfield situation is going to continue
26:55
Speaker 4: to be a problem.
26:56
Speaker 2: It's ironic because they did acquire two pretty good defensive
27:00
Speaker 2: upuielders this offseason. Just one of them can't find his
27:03
Speaker 2: way into the lineup, and one of them can't even
27:05
Speaker 2: find his way into the major leagues right now because
27:07
Speaker 2: the other moves they made created a convoluted logjam that
27:11
Speaker 2: no one has the answers to right now.
27:13
Speaker 1: So it's like we.
27:15
Speaker 2: Tried to tell you it's so early, guys, any final
27:19
Speaker 2: thoughts before we wrap it up, Josh.
27:23
Speaker 4: You go anything, No, I'm just gonna steal you'all line
27:27
Speaker 4: and tell people to go subscribe there. Yeah, yeah, I
27:29
Speaker 4: think anything else, Go subscribe, you know, click the link
27:34
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27:56
Speaker 3: But beautiful, And I'll just end by saying it was
27:59
Speaker 3: great everyone at PNC. Awesome to see Adam uh Our
28:04
Speaker 3: listener got his tickets to Monday's game. He was there
28:06
Speaker 3: with his cone ready to go. So really awesome. Just
28:10
Speaker 3: to see everyone this past weekend and looking forward to
28:14
Speaker 3: some great baseball here to come.
28:16
Speaker 2: Uh yeah, I'll wound off by saying congratulations to Josh
28:19
Speaker 2: and Mark for winning my bracket pull.
28:21
Speaker 1: Oh wait no, I want.
28:24
Speaker 7: Third last week man quite the comeback, all right, So
28:30
Speaker 7: for Platinum g Aka, Mark and Josh Harrison, I'm Noahhio
28:34
Speaker 7: signing off saying thanks for tuning in to another episode
28:36
Speaker 7: of Buco Territory, presented
28:37
Speaker 1: To you by the Foul Territory Network