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Who deserves blame for the Pirates' lack of fundamentals? · Bucco Territory: A Pittsburgh Pirates Podcast

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: What's up, everybody?
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: Welcome back to another episode of Bucko Territory, presented to
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: you by the Foul Territory Network.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: I'm Noah Hiles.
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: Joining me as always are my co-hosts, Josh Harrison and
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: Platinum Key, a.k.a. Mark. It is Friday, September 4th. Happy
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: Labor Day weekend to everyone. The Pirates had just concluded
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: a three-game series against the San Francisco Giants. They were
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: recording this Thursday afternoon, right before the game starts, so
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: we do not know if they won or lost that series.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: And in all reality, it doesn't change much. Because, I mean,
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: they've got... A lot of ground to make up still
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: if they won or lost.
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: So we're going to talk about some of the things
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: that happened in Tuesday night's loss and just a recurring
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: theme for the season. We're going to do our weekly segment,
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: Jay Hay now, and that's going to be a pretty
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: short show as we head into the long weekend here
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: on Bucko territory. So guys, let's get right into it.
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: In Tuesday's loss, there were some more mental mistakes by
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: the Pirates. Just a couple, and we don't need to
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: highlight any specific ones, just because it's been a thing
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: that's plagued this.
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: Team all year.
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: From mistakes at third base, not covering the right bag,
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: throwing to the right position, from outfield communication to.
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: Missing routine plays in the outfield and even mistakes at
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: the plate, you know, swing decisions, situational hitting not being executed.
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: These are things that have cost the Pirates runs and
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: allowed the opposition to score runs a lot easier than
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: they should have been. It's probably lessened their greatest strength,
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: which was their pitching staff. And it's made it harder
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: for them to win very winnable games. And when we
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: look back at this season, which is more than likely
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: going to end with them probably under 500, or even
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: if they get above 500, probably not making the playoffs,
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: you're going to be able to look back at a
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: whole bunch of games where the score could have been
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: different if they just made the right play. So I
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: have a couple of questions on this topic. I mean,
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: We'll start with the easy one. I've got one for
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: Mark and then one for Josh. We'll start with the
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: easy one with Mark. As a fan, how do you
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: handle the frustration when these things are happening in September
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: compared to April? When they're happening with guys who, even
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: if they're relatively new.
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: To a position, they've been playing it all year.
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: Is there any point as a fan where you're just
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: kind of like, hey, stop playing.
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: That guy there? Give this up because it's just not working.
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: Yeah, you certainly get to a point where you're getting
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: fed up. The Pirates have the second most errors right
• 2:52
  Speaker 3: now in MLB. They have 90 errors this year. They
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: have the second worst fielding percentage. We knew coming into
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: this year that defense was going to be a struggle.
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: The front office didn't necessarily put guys in a position
• 3:05
  Speaker 3: to succeed defensively. I'm thinking of guys like Nick Gonzalez
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: or Ryan O'Hearn. who are both playing out of position
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: from where they've typically played their whole careers. So you
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: have guys learning positions, one. Two, you have guys that
• 3:20
  Speaker 3: just aren't the best defenders necessarily, so just the way
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: the roster is constructed. And then we've also had a
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: bunch of injuries as well. But at the end of
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: the day, it's inexcusable at a certain point. When you
• 3:32
  Speaker 3: have veterans, I'm thinking we're recording this Thursday, Wednesday night.
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: Brandon Lau, you know, didn't tag up on second base
• 3:40
  Speaker 3: on a fly out. that he could have advanced to
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: third and they could have scored a runoff of that.
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: Mental mistakes like that. And I can get it. It's
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: a long season. You can, you know, it's easy to
• 3:53
  Speaker 3: just kind of lose focus after in game, you know,
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: 130 or whatever it is. But at the same time,
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: you're a professional baseball player. You're paid to lock in
• 4:04
  Speaker 3: and make those routine plays. And it's just been frustrating
• 4:08
  Speaker 3: that it's a pattern. I can excuse it if it
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: happens once or twice. We're all human. Mistakes are going
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: to happen. It's part of the game. But to have
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: it repeat over and over and impact wins over and over,
• 4:24
  Speaker 3: it's been really, really frustrating as a fan to watch
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: the defense this season.
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: And Josh, I think one of the separating factors is
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: from your teams that you were on compared to your
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: competition is you guys didn't make a lot of mistakes.
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: You played pretty clean baseball. Most of the time, obviously
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: there were errors here and there, there were mistakes on
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: the bases. Um, and that's going to happen over one 62,
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: but I feel like your generation of the pirates kind
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: of understood that, Hey, we're not going to be able
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: to outspend people. We've got to win in the areas
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: that really count. And that's having quality at bats. That's,
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: you know, making sure we're on the same page as
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: far as swing decision, pitch decision, and that's making the routine.
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: Plays in the field.
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: However, like I said, there were instances throughout your career
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: where the Pirates lost games because of an error or
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: had bad stretches in the field at the plate with
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: mental mistakes. Take us into the clubhouse while that's happening
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: and take us into some of the conversations between maybe
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: players and other players, players and coaches, players in the
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: front office, on how they go about resolving these things.
• 5:39
  Speaker 4: Um it's a it's a tricky situation because um you
• 5:43
  Speaker 4: know everybody's in the clubhouse everybody's professional nobody's pointing fingers
• 5:47
  Speaker 4: so nobody's in there saying oh man you didn't make
• 5:49
  Speaker 4: this player you didn't do that but um there is
• 5:52
  Speaker 4: an elephant in the room that needs to be addressed
• 5:54
  Speaker 4: so you're having meetings of a we got to take
• 5:56
  Speaker 4: care of the ball we have to you know, do X, Y,
• 5:59
  Speaker 4: Z to give ourselves a chance. And obviously the game
• 6:03
  Speaker 4: of baseball has changed at every, you know, pretty much
• 6:06
  Speaker 4: area from scouting to, you know, what's happening on the
• 6:09
  Speaker 4: field and what is lost sometimes in translation. I think
• 6:13
  Speaker 4: we even hit on it earlier this week, just in
• 6:17
  Speaker 4: some of the conversation is, what are the expectations of
• 6:20
  Speaker 4: the Pirates? Or do they have expectations themselves? Are there
• 6:23
  Speaker 4: conversations going into every game about how they're going to
• 6:26
  Speaker 4: attack this pitcher? Conversations about, yes, we can talk about
• 6:30
  Speaker 4: playing hard and playing with grit, but are we talking
• 6:32
  Speaker 4: about playing smart and knowing, you know, heads up baseball
• 6:36
  Speaker 4: and when to do things? And obviously you talk about
• 6:40
  Speaker 4: these things in spring training and in those moments where
• 6:43
  Speaker 4: you might be going through a you know, law where
• 6:46
  Speaker 4: the team is just not playing. Well, you having those
• 6:48
  Speaker 4: mental mistakes, usually, you know, you'll come together and say,
• 6:50
  Speaker 4: all right, guys.
• 6:52
  Speaker 5: Let's lock it in, man. Let's get back to focus.
• 6:53
  Speaker 4: And let's make sure we take it one pitch at
• 6:56
  Speaker 4: a time, one at bat at a time, not get
• 6:58
  Speaker 4: too ahead of yourselves. And, uh, on the outside of that,
• 7:01
  Speaker 4: you know, daily work, you, you, you working on these
• 7:04
  Speaker 4: things and sometimes working isn't just physically working. Sometimes it's
• 7:09
  Speaker 4: getting in the video room or having a hitters meeting
• 7:12
  Speaker 4: to say, Hey, um, We haven't been our best with
• 7:14
  Speaker 4: runners in scoring position. When we're at our best, what
• 7:16
  Speaker 4: have we done? What are we thinking? These are conversations
• 7:19
  Speaker 4: that need to be had daily. And it's one of
• 7:22
  Speaker 4: those things where the game of baseball has changed. And
• 7:25
  Speaker 4: you shouldn't be here in September saying you're having meetings
• 7:30
  Speaker 4: about the same mental mistakes.
• 7:33
  Speaker 5: It's baseball 101. It's fundamentals.
• 7:35
  Speaker 4: These are things that even if you do have guys
• 7:37
  Speaker 4: playing out of position, it's the.
• 7:39
  Speaker 5: Same thing that you teach little leaguers. What do you think?
• 7:44
  Speaker 4: Where's the ball going? Think about what you're going to
• 7:45
  Speaker 4: do when the ball's hit to you. These are things
• 7:47
  Speaker 4: that seem so minor, so small that this is a
• 7:52
  Speaker 4: difference between, you know, the separator between really good teams
• 7:56
  Speaker 4: and teams that are just, you know, average. And it's
• 7:59
  Speaker 4: those small details of knowing the ins and outs of where.
• 8:03
  Speaker 5: Does the ball go?
• 8:04
  Speaker 4: Mental mistakes, they're going to happen, but you can't keep
• 8:07
  Speaker 4: having them happening every other week.
• 8:10
  Speaker 5: That's a recipe for what you have right now.
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: And that's where I get caught up.
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: As someone who's obviously written about baseball for a while,
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: I read the comments under my tweets or on my articles.
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: And a lot of people, they pin this stuff on
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: the infield coach or the outfield coach or.
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: The manager or wherever.
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: And to a certain extent, I could blame the Pirates
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: front office for forming a lineup assembling a roster where
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: they knew they were going to have to play guys
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: out of position. But at the same time, like what
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: Josh was just talking about, you shouldn't need to allocate.
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: time for meetings to talk about the basics of baseball.
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: Like, and I'm not going to sit here.
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: And compare my baseball experiences to those of a major leaguers,
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: but I can think back to when Josh was talking about,
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: you know, the T-ball thing, like, Hey, where's the, I
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: think back to when I was playing little league and
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: my dad was a coach and we're taking infield and
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: I'm standing at shortstop and he would just say.
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: One out runner on second.
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: And every kid on the field would have to think, okay,
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: if the ball is hit to me, what am I
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: doing with it? If the ball's not hit to me,
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: if I'm at second base and the ball's hit to third,
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: what am I doing? If I'm in center field and
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: the ball's hit to me on a line drive or
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: it's a high fly ball where I have the backtrack,
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: if it's on a one hop, where am I going?
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: Where are the cutoff people going? And that's just something
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: that I'm not.
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: Accusing anyone on the Pirates of not knowing, but it
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: does feel like there are so many times where the
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: game speeds up and it's just like, they can't make
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: that snap decision. And obviously it's a lot easier when
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: you play at the lower levels of baseball, like little league,
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: pony league, high school, Legion, even college pitches are slower.
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: The balls are hit slower. The runners aren't as fast.
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: And you're able to kind of break that down. But still,
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: I mean, this is your job at the end of
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: the day. This is your job. And I don't care
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: if you're new to a position. It's your job to
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: be prepared that day.
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: I mean, there's a guy in.
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: The middle of our screen who every morning he woke
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: up for like three years, he didn't know where the
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: hell he was gonna play.
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: And he showed up and he didn't make a lot
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: of those mistakes.
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: And that's why he has a nice house in Ohio
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: right now. So that's the reality of the game, especially
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: when you play small market franchise and you're not a
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: guy like Brian Reynolds or Brandon Lau or someone who
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: is paid well to play one position. If you're looking
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: to become an everyday player, or if you're looking to
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: help the team, like Ryan O'Hearn, who is going to
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: be an everyday player, or O'Neal Cruz, who's going to
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: be an everyday player, you've got to make sure you're
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: locked in. These things just cannot continue to happen, especially
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: when you're in a position like where the Pirates are.
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: It's part of the reason why they're even in this
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: position in the first place. I don't know how you
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: fix that. Like Josh said, I think it is partially,
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: and I feel like an old man saying this, I
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: think it's a reflection of where the game is now.
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: I think you just have a whole bunch of kids
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: who get drafted and they grow up playing three positions.
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: They play pitcher, they play shortstop, they play center field,
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: and they've never seen the game from a corner. They've
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: never seen the game from the other side of second base.
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: They've never seen the game really, or they've never had
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: to think of the game unless they're- Yeah, they.
• 11:37
  Speaker 4: Take it literal for just that position and not really
• 11:41
  Speaker 4: thinking the game as a whole.
• 11:42
  Speaker 5: They get That's today's specialized sports.
• 11:45
  Speaker 4: You are only worried about what you do as opposed to, yes,
• 11:49
  Speaker 4: worry about what you do in the grand scheme of
• 11:51
  Speaker 4: how it relates to the situation of the game and
• 11:54
  Speaker 4: how you use it.
• 11:55
  Speaker 5: You are a.
• 11:56
  Speaker 4: Shortstop, but know that you are a shortstop, but certain
• 11:59
  Speaker 4: plays or certain situations cause for you to have to
• 12:02
  Speaker 4: take control. And, you know, just all things that if
• 12:04
  Speaker 4: you don't play shortstop, a first baseman growing up that
• 12:07
  Speaker 4: specializes and he's worried about exit velocity is in think
• 12:10
  Speaker 4: about a shortstop having to go double cut a ball
• 12:12
  Speaker 4: and what, These are mental things that.
• 12:15
  Speaker 5: The game of baseball is losing.
• 12:17
  Speaker 4: And as you said, Noah, you're not sounding like the
• 12:21
  Speaker 4: old guy. You're sounding like a baseball guy that is
• 12:25
  Speaker 4: more than just the physical attributes. It is a thinking
• 12:28
  Speaker 4: man's game. And you can't just expect physical attributes to
• 12:33
  Speaker 4: overshine or overshadow those moments that you need to be
• 12:37
  Speaker 4: intellectually smart within the game. And that is what causes
• 12:41
  Speaker 4: things to speed up, and then that's when things happen.
• 12:45
  Speaker 4: Physical mistakes are going to happen, but the mental ones
• 12:48
  Speaker 4: are because the game is being sped up both physically
• 12:52
  Speaker 4: and kind of skipping the mental aspect of what is
• 12:55
  Speaker 4: the really important aspect of what is in front of you.
• 12:59
  Speaker 4: Clint Hurdle, my manager, he used to say it all
• 13:01
  Speaker 4: the time. The game doesn't know it is important, but
• 13:05
  Speaker 4: we make it important in certain moments. We make the
• 13:07
  Speaker 4: ninth inning more important than the first inning, the last
• 13:09
  Speaker 4: pitch more.
• 13:10
  Speaker 5: Guess what?
• 13:11
  Speaker 4: The most important moment might be in the first inning
• 13:13
  Speaker 4: when you got bases loaded, no outs. But we look
• 13:16
  Speaker 4: at the ninth inning and then we, you know, made
• 13:18
  Speaker 4: an error that scored the winning run when it's like, no,
• 13:21
  Speaker 4: bases loaded with no outs was your opportunity. You know,
• 13:24
  Speaker 4: so in those moments, the mental aspect, we don't think
• 13:28
  Speaker 4: or they don't think the game this way anymore. They
• 13:31
  Speaker 4: think just the physical assets and attributes will, as you said, Noah,
• 13:36
  Speaker 4: overshine that. And that's not you thinking, Oh man's game.
• 13:39
  Speaker 4: That's you thinking the baseball way that you have to
• 13:41
  Speaker 4: have the mental aspect to go along with the physical.
• 13:44
  Speaker 5: Physical attributes.
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: And let me ask you this, Josh, to, to build
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: off of that. Do you think it's as simple as
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: guys aren't getting paid to be thinkers anymore? They're getting
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: paid to throw the ball hard, to hit the ball
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: hard and to run really fast. And when your pre-arbitration,
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: you're thinking, okay, well, what is going to get me
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: paid whenever I get to ARP? Is it 25 home
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: runs and an OPS plus of 140? Or is it, hey,
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: we can play this guy at four different positions and
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: he won't screw it up? And I think the answer
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: is obvious. And I just think that that's kind of
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: what is allowed. And this is not just.
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: A Pirates problem, by the way. No, no, no. baseball
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: in general.
• 14:30
  Speaker 4: It's sports it's sports we live in an information era
• 14:34
  Speaker 4: and yeah everything is based off an analytical you know
• 14:38
  Speaker 4: aspect which needs to be blended hand in hand i
• 14:40
  Speaker 4: think jeff kent spoke on it a little bit he
• 14:43
  Speaker 4: had some interesting comments um which um we could dive
• 14:46
  Speaker 4: into a lot later but a lot of it is
• 14:48
  Speaker 4: also where that.
• 14:49
  Speaker 5: Is kind of not blended the game and you kind.
• 14:52
  Speaker 4: Of lose the the thing that made baseball players good
• 14:57
  Speaker 4: was them understanding themselves and being able to use information
• 15:01
  Speaker 4: as opposed to that information. Just that's what you're chasing
• 15:05
  Speaker 4: and you're chasing a number as opposed to, you know,
• 15:08
  Speaker 4: the instinctual feel of the game.
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: Yeah. And it's, I think it shows throughout the whole sport.
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: And I think, you know, for, and this is might
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: sound like a weird opinion to some of our listeners
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: and viewers, but like, if you look at a team,
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: like the Dodgers who, you know, you watch the Dodgers
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: or even like the blue Jays and like teams who
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: went deep in the postseason last year, routinely go in
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: the postseason.
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: They don't make a lot of mistakes.
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: And I think part of the reason is those guys
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: have the finances taken care of. A lot of those
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: guys are extended, they're locked up and they don't have
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: to worry about arbitration or going into free agency. And
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: they can just be the exact thing their team needs
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: them to be. Whereas some of these guys are, I mean,
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: no one on the pirates has a long contract aside
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: from Reynolds and Connor Griffin.
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: Yep.
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: Everyone else is either approaching arbitration, heading to arbitration, heading
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: to free agency.
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: Or is a year or two away from free agency.
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: So like there, you have to.
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: Play obviously your role, but you're also trying to think
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: of what's the best situation I can put myself in
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: heading into my next chance to get paid. And that's
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: just never going to change for some small market franchises,
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: but It's just the way the game works now.
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: Money has changed it. I think data and information has
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: changed it.
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: I think youth baseball has changed it with showcases and
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: all of it. And I think, yeah, we've lost a
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: little bit of what made baseball baseball for so long.
• 16:41
  Speaker 5: The game, the attention to detail.
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: Yep.
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so.
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: It's interesting to watch. And like I said, like some
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: teams are able to overcome this. The Yankees are famous
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: for like last year, they had a shortstop problem where
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: they could not get it right. And, but they also
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: had Aaron judge and Giancarlo Stanton and, you know, like
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: they were going.
• 17:04
  Speaker 5: To be okay.
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: And then you have some teams who over like they're,
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: they're all about it.
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: Like the Rays or the Marlins who, when they were competitive,
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: they were playing smart, fundamental baseball. And, The Pirates tried
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: to fix their biggest problem last year, which was offense.
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: And by doing so, they put a whole bunch of
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: guys in positions that were going to be a massive
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: challenge for them. In addition, they're already having guys who
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: are probably biting a little bit more than they could
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: chew at their normal position to begin with. And now
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: you have guys who I don't want to say aren't prepared,
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: but aren't ready to to make the right decision at
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: all times. And I guess that does reflect back to
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: preparation or comfortability or whatever it is.
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: Um, and that's why I think these things continue to happen.
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: So no ad break. Now we're just going to go
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: right into our weekly segment.
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: Jay. Hey, now.
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: What do you say?
• 18:19
  Speaker 5: All right, all right. Here we are back with our
• 18:21
  Speaker 5: weekly segment of Jay Hay Now.
• 18:24
  Speaker 4: And today I'm going to just speak a little bit,
• 18:27
  Speaker 4: just highlight my man Connor Griffin.
• 18:29
  Speaker 5: I think he might be inching his way back.
• 18:32
  Speaker 4: I know earlier this week my man Mark went to
• 18:35
  Speaker 4: go see him play in Toledo. I think he DH,
• 18:38
  Speaker 4: but nonetheless seeing him back in the lineup in AAA
• 18:41
  Speaker 4: means that he's one step closer. And I think his
• 18:42
  Speaker 4: comments earlier today, he even spoke on saying that he
• 18:45
  Speaker 4: feels ready. So my Hay Now is one of those
• 18:48
  Speaker 4: things of like, hey, it'll be nice to see KG
• 18:51
  Speaker 4: back in the lineup. You know, if he's going to
• 18:53
  Speaker 4: be back here this weekend, it'll be a nice little
• 18:56
  Speaker 4: boost for not only the team, but for the fans,
• 18:58
  Speaker 4: for the city of Pittsburgh. Need a little bit of,
• 19:01
  Speaker 4: you know, as Mark would say, a little shot in
• 19:03
  Speaker 4: the arm. But nice to see, you know, that he's,
• 19:07
  Speaker 4: you know, starting that rehab assignment and, you know, that
• 19:10
  Speaker 4: he's inching his way back. And, I mean, we talked
• 19:14
  Speaker 4: about him coming back a little bit earlier if it
• 19:15
  Speaker 4: was worth it, but he seems to be healthy. And
• 19:17
  Speaker 4: if he's healthy and he checks out, you're not going
• 19:20
  Speaker 4: to keep a gamer out the lineup.
• 19:22
  Speaker 3: Yeah, this team just desperately needs Connor Griffin back. It
• 19:26
  Speaker 3: was great seeing him down in Toledo in AAA. Didn't
• 19:30
  Speaker 3: get to see him play in the field. He just DH'd,
• 19:32
  Speaker 3: but he looks good. He was taking really good swings.
• 19:35
  Speaker 3: Worked a walk after a 10-pitch plate appearance. He's right
• 19:40
  Speaker 3: back there. He looks healthy. So I can't wait to
• 19:43
  Speaker 3: see him slot back in. Hopefully he plays in the
• 19:46
  Speaker 3: field a little With the hand injury, I'm not sure
• 19:49
  Speaker 3: how much they're going to want to play him there.
• 19:52
  Speaker 3: But it seems like his last rehab game, he did
• 19:55
  Speaker 3: play shortstop. So should be available for that at least.
• 19:58
  Speaker 3: But yeah, I'm just so excited. It's been such a
• 20:03
  Speaker 3: shame that we missed out on so much of Connor
• 20:06
  Speaker 3: Griffin this year. Just because most exciting player probably on
• 20:10
  Speaker 3: this team. So getting him back in the lineup every
• 20:13
  Speaker 3: day is it's going to be fun.
• 20:16
  Speaker 2: Remember when we said their season was in huge jeopardy,
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: when Connor Griffin went down with that injury and people thought, Oh,
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: he only has a one Oh one W WRC plus
• 20:26
  Speaker 2: they have better hitters, blah, blah, blah.
• 20:29
  Speaker 3: So much value.
• 20:31
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: So much value, man, especially he hits right-handed.
• 20:36
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: That would have been nice to have.
• 20:39
  Speaker 2: Uh, not trying to take a victory lap, just saying
• 20:41
  Speaker 2: that like, yeah, this guy is probably their most important
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: player when he's at full health, even though he's a rookie.
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: The way he played between the first.
• 20:51
  Speaker 2: Stint on the IL and the second stint on the
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: IL was, I mean, really the way he just played
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: this year when he.
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: Was available was, you can see.
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: This team was at its absolute best when he was
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: at full health and there's no, there's no refuting it. And, um,
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: I guess my take on it from here on out
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: is just like, this is a guy who probably needs
• 21:14
  Speaker 2: to be their best player next year. And he's going
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: to get close to one more month of baseball to
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: get under his belt and be prepared to be probably
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: their top guy in 2027.
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: And I'm sure he'll be ready for it. You know
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: what we're ready for? It's for you all to hit
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: that subscribe button. Maybe Mark wasn't ready. No, he was ready.
• 21:35
  Speaker 3: Hit that subscribe button.
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: We've been adding some subs lately.
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: I think we were like one... like 1600 to start.
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: Now we're at like 1.63. So we're, we're climbing up.
• 21:47
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: Let's see if we can get to a 1.8 by
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: the end of the regular season.
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: Maybe we'll think of a, an award or a prize
• 21:58
  Speaker 2: for some.
• 21:59
  Speaker 5: Some type of, yeah, for sure.
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: We'll talk about it off camera, but, and also check
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: out the Bucko territory team store, Mark, Josh, anything final
• 22:08
  Speaker 2: before we wrap up another.
• 22:09
  Speaker 5: Week of shows.
• 22:10
  Speaker 3: Really quick, check out Toledo's ballpark if you ever get
• 22:15
  Speaker 3: a chance. Great AAA ballpark. Kind of gives like Camden
• 22:20
  Speaker 3: Yards vibes almost. And it was really fun. Their bullpen,
• 22:26
  Speaker 3: they warm up on like the first base, third baseline.
• 22:29
  Speaker 3: And we were sitting over there watching Wilbur Dottel warm up.
• 22:33
  Speaker 3: And the amount of times my mom jumped, like reacted
• 22:37
  Speaker 3: from hearing the mitt pop, it was amazing.
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: Amazing.
• 22:41
  Speaker 3: I like, I'm so happy. He just got called up, uh,
• 22:44
  Speaker 3: for this weekend.
• 22:45
  Speaker 5: Uh, so happy.
• 22:46
  Speaker 3: I have Wilbur do tell back and also a shout
• 22:48
  Speaker 3: out to Derek Berg, uh, the catcher down in triple
• 22:51
  Speaker 3: a showed some serious pop, just a 440 foot foot,
• 22:56
  Speaker 3: easy home run. Uh, just knew it right off the bat. Uh,
• 22:59
  Speaker 3: it was kind of took me, it took me by
• 23:02
  Speaker 3: surprise a little. So yeah, a, uh, a fun day
• 23:05
  Speaker 3: down in triple a and got to see my, uh,
• 23:07
  Speaker 3: my guy, Joshua Palacios as well. So, Always a good
• 23:10
  Speaker 3: trip when I get to do that. So any final
• 23:12
  Speaker 3: thoughts for you, Josh?
• 23:14
  Speaker 4: Yeah, to go off of that, I was going to
• 23:15
  Speaker 4: say Toledo is a pretty decent little minor league stadium.
• 23:18
  Speaker 4: And I was actually going to say I saw Wilbur
• 23:20
  Speaker 4: Dottel get recalled.
• 23:22
  Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah. I was going to say Wilbur, nice to
• 23:25
  Speaker 5: have him back. He was a guy that I thought
• 23:26
  Speaker 5: might have been recalled.
• 23:28
  Speaker 3: Yeah, you mentioned him when we were talking about September call-ups, yeah.
• 23:32
  Speaker 5: Yep.
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: I've never been to the Toledo ballpark. Sounds great. Happy
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: to see Wilbur Dottel back. What are my final thoughts?
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: Not much.
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: Just keep watching. Keep following along. We'll see what happens
• 23:46
  Speaker 2: this weekend with the Angels under new ownership. The new
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: ownership Angels.
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: Pretty excited for them. $ 4 billion.
• 23:54
  Speaker 3: I'll just take like $ 100, 000.
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: If we can. That'd be cool for me. But He's
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: Platinum Key, a.k.a.
• 24:04
  Speaker 4: Mark.
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: He's Josh Harrison. I'm Noah Hiles.
• 24:06
  Speaker 2: We're signing off, saying thanks for tuning in to another
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: episode of Bucko Territory, presented to you by the Foul
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: Territory Network.
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: Take care.