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Is the World Baseball Classic behind Paul Skenes' struggles? · Bucco Territory: A Pittsburgh Pirates Podcast

• 0:10
  Speaker 1: What's up, everybody?
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: Welcome back to another episode of Bucko Territory presented to
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: you by the Foul Territory Network.
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: I'm Noah Hiles. Joining me as always are my co-hosts,
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: Josh Harrison and Platinum Key, a.k.a.
• 0:20
  Speaker 3: Mark.
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: It is Wednesday, September 23rd. Pirates are finishing out their homestand.
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: That's not the big news. The big news came earlier
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: this week on Monday. My co-worker Colin Beasley, second time bees,
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: produces a Bucko Territory lead topic we got to get
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: bees on the show.
• 0:40
  Speaker 4: Here he's been on maybe first off when you were
• 0:41
  Speaker 4: gone yeah he came okay he was in airport during
• 0:45
  Speaker 4: while his flight was delayed so.
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: That's right that's right that's right all right well we'll
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: get him in a sit down one he's he's a
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: good guy so uh colin beasley gets a one-on-one with
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: paul skeens and paul skeens uh kind of confirmed something
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: that a lot of people were suspecting all the way
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: back literally to opening day. I remember on opening day
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: when the game was on NBC at Citi Field, Matt
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: Baskersian said, I can see the Post Gazette headline now.
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: Did the World Baseball Classic affect Paul Skeens? Which I
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: love that he shouted out the Post Gazette. And ironically,
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: that is the headline in the Post Gazette today. And
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: it's something Paul Skeens confirmed.
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: Mark, you have those quotes. Are you able to just
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: read them off the dome right here?
• 1:26
  Speaker 4: Yeah, let me scroll back up really quick.
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 1:29
  Speaker 4: So he said when he was asked, looking back on
• 1:32
  Speaker 4: a season, he keyed in on one thing, the World
• 1:34
  Speaker 4: Baseball Classic. And Paul said, there are a lot of
• 1:37
  Speaker 4: other factors, so I don't want to put everything on that.
• 1:40
  Speaker 4: But I feel like that was kind of the root
• 1:41
  Speaker 4: of it a little bit. Then he went on to say,
• 1:45
  Speaker 4: usually at that time of year, you're kind of ramping
• 1:47
  Speaker 4: up and it's a little bit slow. You can kind
• 1:49
  Speaker 4: of get onto the slope and find your body. One
• 1:51
  Speaker 4: live batting practice, you're topping out at 97. And then
• 1:54
  Speaker 4: the next, you're 98, 99. And that wasn't the case
• 1:57
  Speaker 4: this year. Looking back, I don't think that really helps
• 1:59
  Speaker 4: with that being the World Baseball Classic.
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: Josh, when you hear him say that, is the player
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: in you thinking, okay, this is a convenient excuse now,
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: or do you think there's validity to this?
• 2:13
  Speaker 5: A little bit of both, but honestly, I don't think
• 2:17
  Speaker 5: it's him looking for.
• 2:18
  Speaker 6: An excuse now. I think that's him internally trying to.
• 2:25
  Speaker 5: You know, look at a season and where things may
• 2:28
  Speaker 5: have gone right, left and different, whatever. And that's, that's
• 2:32
  Speaker 5: what you do every year, good year, bad year. You know,
• 2:34
  Speaker 5: you look back at your year and say, what could
• 2:36
  Speaker 5: I have done better? What could I have done differently?
• 2:39
  Speaker 5: What did I do differently that may have, you know,
• 2:43
  Speaker 5: led to whatever it was good or bad.
• 2:47
  Speaker 6: And I don't, I don't think it's an excuse.
• 2:50
  Speaker 5: I think there's some validity just when you look at,
• 2:53
  Speaker 5: You know, it is before spring training, pitchers are asked
• 2:56
  Speaker 5: to ramp up. But at the same time, you know,
• 3:00
  Speaker 5: I don't want to say you got to fight through it,
• 3:03
  Speaker 5: but I don't see him using this as a full
• 3:07
  Speaker 5: excuse to say, oh, it was the WBC. But I
• 3:11
  Speaker 5: see him saying that, you know, ramping up for the
• 3:14
  Speaker 5: WBC may have, you know, led to him being a
• 3:16
  Speaker 5: little disconnected or tiring out and You know, whatever the
• 3:20
  Speaker 5: case may be, because, I mean, we all know spring
• 3:23
  Speaker 5: training is meant to get you ready for, you know,
• 3:26
  Speaker 5: your 162 plus, not, you know, the WBC. So, as
• 3:30
  Speaker 5: I say, there's some validity to it because, you know,
• 3:32
  Speaker 5: we're all professionals, all about a process. You understand, especially,
• 3:36
  Speaker 5: you know, guys that know they're making the team, guys
• 3:38
  Speaker 5: that know they're going to be, you know, number one,
• 3:40
  Speaker 5: two starter, whatever the case may be. You know your process.
• 3:43
  Speaker 5: You know how you're going about your spring and you
• 3:45
  Speaker 5: know how you're going to plan that out. So I
• 3:48
  Speaker 5: say there's some validity because all of that was thrown
• 3:51
  Speaker 5: out the window. And, you know, I experienced that myself
• 3:56
  Speaker 5: when I played in the WBC. It is completely different
• 3:58
  Speaker 5: from what a spring training is like, you know, the
• 4:01
  Speaker 5: adrenaline and everything else. So as I said, I don't
• 4:05
  Speaker 5: see him using this as an excuse. Obviously, the timing
• 4:09
  Speaker 5: of it, I honestly think doesn't matter the timing of it,
• 4:14
  Speaker 5: because as you mentioned, Vaskirjan mentioned it on You know,
• 4:17
  Speaker 5: like his opening start in New York, I could see
• 4:19
  Speaker 5: the headline. And, you know, at the same time, whether
• 4:23
  Speaker 5: it came out now at the end of the season,
• 4:26
  Speaker 5: halfway through the season, I think everybody's still going to
• 4:29
  Speaker 5: have the same reaction towards it.
• 4:31
  Speaker 6: You know, they're going to be like, dang, did that?
• 4:34
  Speaker 5: And I don't think it's about giving them grace, but
• 4:36
  Speaker 5: I think it's also maybe that is the answer to
• 4:39
  Speaker 5: some of the questions of, hey, where did he break
• 4:42
  Speaker 5: down at? And nobody better to answer than the guy
• 4:45
  Speaker 5: who experienced it himself.
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I look at it as I still think the
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: main reason Paul struggled this year was due to poor training.
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: I just don't think he was built up the way
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: he should have been built up this year. He must
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: have trained something in his offseason routine and he wasn't
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: prepared for the long haul. And I think that parlayed
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: with the WBC being at the start of this season
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: set him up. Whereas I do think he still would
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: have ran out of gas. I think we would have
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: seen what happened to him this year probably happen in
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: like August rather than June.
• 5:21
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: You know, I just think the WXB or the WBC
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: expedited a lot of the things that we started to
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: see from Paul schemes in a negative light earlier. Um,
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: I do think it probably didn't help, but I don't,
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: I don't think it is the main issue and I
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: don't think he suggested it was either. Uh, but it probably,
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: it certainly didn't help. Like, I think that that's a
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: fair thing. So Mark, we'll round this segment off by
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: me asking you, because it's a very good way to
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: transition into our next topic after the break. Do you
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: want to see Pirates pitchers pitching the World Baseball Classic
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: moving forward?
• 6:00
  Speaker 4: Yes, but yeah, I mean, I guess. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
• 6:06
  Speaker 4: I do. I love watching the World Baseball Classic, but
• 6:10
  Speaker 4: you need to figure out a way where, you can
• 6:13
  Speaker 4: incorporate the preparation for that into a preparation for 162. Yep. However,
• 6:19
  Speaker 4: Paul Skeens went about doing that this year, obviously didn't work.
• 6:22
  Speaker 4: Maybe that's just him. Maybe he's just such a creature
• 6:25
  Speaker 4: of habit that he got thrown out of his routine,
• 6:28
  Speaker 4: and that's just not something he can handle. If it's
• 6:31
  Speaker 4: a reliever, if Luke Weaver is going to pitch for
• 6:33
  Speaker 4: Team USA, I don't really feel bad about that. The
• 6:37
  Speaker 4: starting pitchers, I feel like that are going to be
• 6:39
  Speaker 4: kind of questioning whether it's worth it. especially when there's
• 6:44
  Speaker 4: so much money on the line for starting pitchers and
• 6:46
  Speaker 4: their health is just so paramount. So we'll leave it
• 6:51
  Speaker 4: at that before we get into our next topic and
• 6:54
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• 6:55
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• 8:01
  Speaker 2: All right, so I asked Mark that question. Does he
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: want to see Pirates pitchers in the World Baseball Classic
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: moving forward? I think there are plenty of pitchers, after
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: reading Paul Skeens' quote, especially the guys that haven't done
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: this before, who might think twice now about it.
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: And then there's also the chance.
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: That Major League Baseball can participate in the Olympics in
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: 2028 in LA. That's going to be mid-season. That makes
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: it even more complicated, I think. So, Josh, I'll ask you.
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: Baseball players are A, creatures of habit, but B, whenever
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: one of them starts thinking something, everyone starts thinking someone.
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: Look no further than Torpedo.
• 8:42
  Speaker 4: I was just about to say Torpedo.
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: One person swung one of those things one time, and
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: then all of a sudden the whole league had him
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: for like two weeks.
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: And that's just how this sport works.
• 8:53
  Speaker 5: Right?
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: It's, you know, everyone's using Pymtar. Someone gets a new
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: brand of a glove. Everyone wants to use that. Everyone's
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: looking to do what they think is going to make
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: them the best player.
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: And if someone is avoiding something, especially that someone is
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: Paul Skeens, other players are going to listen.
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: Do you think this has an impact on the next
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: World Baseball Classic?
• 9:16
  Speaker 5: Obviously, somebody like Paul saying something like that is going
• 9:18
  Speaker 5: to hold some weight. But given everything we talked about.
• 9:22
  Speaker 3: I don't think too much changes because he's a starting pitcher,
• 9:27
  Speaker 3: and starting pitchers have always been kind of a question
• 9:31
  Speaker 3: mark when it comes to the WBC.
• 9:33
  Speaker 5: I can think back to my time playing. I think
• 9:37
  Speaker 5: there were a couple starting pitchers. I think Chris Archer
• 9:39
  Speaker 5: left in the middle of it, not to pour salt
• 9:43
  Speaker 5: on the wound, but I think Drew Smiley got hurt
• 9:45
  Speaker 5: pitching for us. So starting pitching, which is obviously something
• 9:53
  Speaker 5: that's important to every rotation, every team.
• 9:57
  Speaker 6: There's always going to be some irrelevance.
• 10:00
  Speaker 5: Question marks about should this guy go pitch, even if
• 10:03
  Speaker 5: he's slated to throw two innings or three innings built
• 10:06
  Speaker 5: up like we do in spring training. I can sit
• 10:09
  Speaker 5: here and tell you it's completely different. The adrenaline and
• 10:11
  Speaker 5: everything is game-like. But I don't think his words really change.
• 10:17
  Speaker 5: much because I think starting pitchers are always going to
• 10:19
  Speaker 5: be the ones that you see questioning it.
• 10:22
  Speaker 6: You don't really see position players like, oh, am I
• 10:25
  Speaker 6: going to play?
• 10:26
  Speaker 5: Because I mean, you know, position players feel like they
• 10:29
  Speaker 5: can ramp up if they need to play nine innings,
• 10:31
  Speaker 5: you know, in spring training if they need to. So
• 10:34
  Speaker 5: playing WBC is different, but you also still run the
• 10:37
  Speaker 5: risk of, you know, position players, but you see more
• 10:40
  Speaker 5: of it with pitchers just being, you know, a little
• 10:44
  Speaker 5: fearful of you know what this is throwing me off
• 10:46
  Speaker 5: of my routine because pitching is the one thing that
• 10:49
  Speaker 5: you want to keep on schedule position players you know
• 10:51
  Speaker 5: we we can take a day or two or you
• 10:54
  Speaker 5: know what we missed three games in a row due
• 10:56
  Speaker 5: to being rain outs or whatever in spring training and
• 10:59
  Speaker 5: go play you know pitchers on those rain outs they're
• 11:02
  Speaker 5: still coming in during spring training throwing their bullpen throwing
• 11:04
  Speaker 5: their side um so does it make things tricky yes
• 11:09
  Speaker 5: but with the Olympics coming up, yes, that's in the
• 11:11
  Speaker 5: middle of the season, but I do think that would
• 11:13
  Speaker 5: be no different than the all-star game, but you'll have
• 11:17
  Speaker 5: guys also treating that like the playoffs or the world series.
• 11:21
  Speaker 6: So that's also the other thing.
• 11:23
  Speaker 5: Do people want to take the break for the rest
• 11:25
  Speaker 5: of their team to be off with these guys go
• 11:27
  Speaker 5: play for the country and you're going to run into
• 11:29
  Speaker 5: the same question marks.
• 11:30
  Speaker 6: So preparation, regardless of before the.
• 11:34
  Speaker 5: Season or in the middle, you're always going to have
• 11:37
  Speaker 5: question marks with that. So, I don't really think Paul's
• 11:40
  Speaker 5: words change anything too much, but I do think more
• 11:44
  Speaker 5: starting pitchers in his situation that might not have done
• 11:46
  Speaker 5: it before or, you know, not under contract are probably
• 11:50
  Speaker 5: going to be.
• 11:50
  Speaker 6: Like, you know what, this might, this might not be
• 11:54
  Speaker 6: in my best interest.
• 11:55
  Speaker 5: So people in his situation that are under contract and
• 11:59
  Speaker 5: that are, you know, haven't done it before.
• 12:01
  Speaker 6: I think those are the people that you would see more.
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: Anything you add, Mark?
• 12:07
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 12:08
  Speaker 4: Um, as far as like, I feel like the country
• 12:11
  Speaker 4: kind of matters. Um, as far as like what country
• 12:14
  Speaker 4: you're pitching for, I think if you're from like a
• 12:16
  Speaker 4: smaller nation, like a lot of, if.
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: You're from any other nation besides this one, right.
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: It means more to the Latin country.
• 12:23
  Speaker 4: Yeah, absolutely.
• 12:24
  Speaker 6: And, Oh, for sure.
• 12:25
  Speaker 4: And like, as far as like a pirates fan, like
• 12:27
  Speaker 4: if let's say like Antoine Kelly wanted to go pitch
• 12:31
  Speaker 4: again for the Netherlands or something, you know, like I,
• 12:33
  Speaker 4: I totally get that or a group, but yeah. Um, yeah. And, So, yeah, like,
• 12:38
  Speaker 4: I get that aspect of things. But, yeah, it's going
• 12:43
  Speaker 4: to be, I think, a lot of apprehension. I wonder how, like,
• 12:46
  Speaker 4: agents kind of counsel their players now. Just being, like,
• 12:50
  Speaker 4: we really, or maybe teams, even, like, organizations, if they're
• 12:53
  Speaker 4: going to try and, you know, be a little bit
• 12:54
  Speaker 4: more strict. But we did see, you know, guys like
• 12:57
  Speaker 4: Scooble that only went out and he only pitched, what,
• 12:59
  Speaker 4: one or two outings, I think.
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: He pitched one game.
• 13:03
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 13:04
  Speaker 4: And so maybe that's just the play going forward is
• 13:06
  Speaker 4: just more guys participating and just doing it for one inning,
• 13:09
  Speaker 4: say I'm here and then let the next guy go up.
• 13:12
  Speaker 4: If that's within the world baseball classic rules.
• 13:14
  Speaker 5: Well, that was, I think that was the reason why
• 13:17
  Speaker 5: Archer had left in between. Cause I think it was
• 13:21
  Speaker 5: going to throw him off of this, you know, spring
• 13:24
  Speaker 5: training schedule, even though he was slated to be Tampa
• 13:26
  Speaker 5: Bay's opening day.
• 13:27
  Speaker 6: Starter, which he was.
• 13:28
  Speaker 5: But I think it was going to have him, you know,
• 13:31
  Speaker 5: like miss a couple days here based off of the schedule.
• 13:33
  Speaker 5: So what you, you just made a good point there, Mark.
• 13:37
  Speaker 5: You could see more people like Scoogle. Hey, I'll come throw,
• 13:41
  Speaker 5: you know, this one day if it lines up with
• 13:43
  Speaker 5: where I'm, you know what I mean? So I could
• 13:46
  Speaker 5: see that. Cause as I said, Archer left in the middle,
• 13:49
  Speaker 5: just cause it was like, I mean, I want to
• 13:51
  Speaker 5: be with y'all.
• 13:52
  Speaker 6: He was like, man, I'll come back. But it was
• 13:53
  Speaker 6: also like, you got to get ready for the season.
• 13:55
  Speaker 5: And if it's not matching up and you're not pitching,
• 13:57
  Speaker 5: I understand, you know, Tampa Bay being like, you know, man,
• 14:01
  Speaker 5: you'll get a medal if they, you know, if they win,
• 14:04
  Speaker 5: you know, but so guys do want to play for,
• 14:07
  Speaker 5: you know, the country, but it's just one of those things.
• 14:09
  Speaker 5: Like you said, I could see teams being a little
• 14:11
  Speaker 5: bit more strict to say if he does, he's throwing
• 14:14
  Speaker 5: one time and maybe two innings, just treat it like
• 14:16
  Speaker 5: his first spring training start. Cause that's a lot to ask.
• 14:20
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: Sometimes you want to do a little side work, but
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: your main work says no. You know, it happens.
• 14:26
  Speaker 5: Right.
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: But no, in all seriousness, I think the way you
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: get around this is by doing a little bit of
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: what Mark brought up, but also just like, why not
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: just expand the roster size? Like why not let them
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: basically have 30 pitchers on their active roster? Cause it's
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: a preseason tournament anyway. And I understand that like some
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: countries probably can't get that many players.
• 14:48
  Speaker 4: It's a big benefit.
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: But I mean, but I'm sure at the same time, like,
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: They can, it's just they won't be as good.
• 14:55
  Speaker 6: Yeah, it's going to be minor leavers.
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: Yeah, if you're able to send away Tarek Skubal and
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: replace him anyway, why not just let them all go there,
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: let them all be a part of the experience, and
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: you just know. That way you can either have guys
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: being like, you're pitching this one game and that's it,
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: and then you get to hang out with the team
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: the rest of the time. Do your own training regimen here.
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: You can throw your bullpen. Everything's digital. Your coaches can
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: be there on Zoom watching you. Or hell, they could
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: even fly in if it's that big of a deal.
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: Or if you have that many pitchers there, it could
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: be like the All-Star game where everyone just throws one inning.
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: And that's essentially not even your live. That's like your
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: live BP day. It's just like one inning.
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: Of live, not a lot of buildup.
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: You're throwing no more than 30 pitches anyway, and you're done.
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: And I don't think that would be a huge problem.
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: So there's definitely ways around this. And I really do
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: hope that pitchers continue to participate in that event because
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: it's a great event.
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: So we're going to take a quick break.
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: As a guy who is a gold medalist in it,
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: we're going to take a quick break. When we come back,
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: final thoughts here on Bucko territory.
• 16:16
  Speaker 4: With one home stand left here at PNC park this week,
• 16:19
  Speaker 4: starting on Tuesday, I want to make sure you guys
• 16:22
  Speaker 4: all check out SeatGeek. With over $ 35 million, SeatGeek is
• 16:26
  Speaker 4: the number one ticketing app across America. And we'll make
• 16:30
  Speaker 4: sure you get a seamless experience getting into PNC Park
• 16:33
  Speaker 4: for this final home stretch Tuesday through Thursday.
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and in addition to the Pirates, there's another team
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: in town that's playing this weekend. The Steelers return home.
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: They play the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday. I'm looking at
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: two seats right here, Mark. a pair of seats in
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: the upper deck, $ 156, including fees, which.
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: Isn't necessarily a bad deal.
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: When you're talking AFC North football, three yards of cloud
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: of dust and SeatGeek gets you there.
• 17:02
  Speaker 4: Hey, can't miss that Steelers offense is what I hear. So,
• 17:07
  Speaker 4: and of course I have a code for you all.
• 17:10
  Speaker 4: You can use code territory 10 for 10% off your
• 17:12
  Speaker 4: next set of MLB tickets at SeatGeek. That's 10% off
• 17:16
  Speaker 4: MLB tickets with promo code territory 10. Make sure you
• 17:19
  Speaker 4: click the link in the description to download the app
• 17:21
  Speaker 4: and have the code automatically added to your account so
• 17:24
  Speaker 4: you can use it later.
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: All right, guys, final thoughts. What do we got to
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: close out the show?
• 17:31
  Speaker 6: Anything?
• 17:32
  Speaker 4: I'm looking over the top of my laptop. We're recording
• 17:34
  Speaker 4: in the middle of Tuesday night's game. Jared Jones just
• 17:38
  Speaker 4: walked off the mound after the seventh inning. I'm really
• 17:43
  Speaker 4: excited about that. The trajectory that Jared Jones is on
• 17:49
  Speaker 4: heading into 2027, cannot wait to see him just be
• 17:53
  Speaker 4: fully healthy. Just looks really, really good tonight. That fastball,
• 17:57
  Speaker 4: from what I was able to watch, was just going crazy.
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: Seven innings.
• 18:03
  Speaker 6: Yep. Seven innings, one hit.
• 18:05
  Speaker 4: One hit.
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: Seven innings, one hit, nine strikeouts, no walks. He took
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: a perfect game into the sixth.
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: So, yeah.
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: He finishes the year with a 3-8-7 ERA if this
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: is his last start. Pretty good.
• 18:18
  Speaker 4: Yeah, he might start Sunday for the final start.
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so if he finishes, if this is it for him,
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: that's 20 starts, 4-6 with a 3-8-7 ERA, and he
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: threw 97 in two-thirds innings.
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: My guess is they probably wanted him around 100.
• 18:33
  Speaker 6: Yep.
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: It's about as good of a year you could have
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: hoped to get from Jared Jones.
• 18:38
  Speaker 4: That's, yeah.
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: For him coming back, so good for him.
• 18:43
  Speaker 5: Josh, that's a pretty, that's, that's a pretty solid line
• 18:46
  Speaker 5: final start or no potential final start.
• 18:49
  Speaker 6: Um, I'll be honest, final thoughts off of that. I mean, there,
• 18:54
  Speaker 6: there's really.
• 18:55
  Speaker 5: Nothing for me to say other than, you know, continue
• 18:57
  Speaker 5: to build off of that. Um, not only Jared, just,
• 19:01
  Speaker 5: you know, the rest of the teams, like that's.
• 19:04
  Speaker 6: All this matters.
• 19:05
  Speaker 5: You know, you're playing for not only yourself, you plan
• 19:08
  Speaker 5: for those guys in the clubhouse, but, um, These last
• 19:12
  Speaker 5: couple weeks really matter for everybody individually. And for a
• 19:15
  Speaker 5: guy like Jared coming back from injury, kudos to him.
• 19:20
  Speaker 5: But to the other guys, finish strong. I think I
• 19:22
  Speaker 5: said that's going to continue to be my final thoughts
• 19:24
  Speaker 5: is finish strong.
• 19:26
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: To add more numbers into it, 118 strikeouts in 97
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: and two-thirds innings with a 1.12 whip. 118, big number,
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: bigger number, 3,000. That's how many subscribers we are on
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: a mission to get. Can't get there without your help.
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: Hit that button if you haven't already.
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: And also check out the team store for Bucko Territory
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: if you haven't. Guys, another good show.
• 19:49
  Speaker 4: In the books.
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: He's Platinum Key. He's Josh Harrison.
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: I'm Noah Hiles signing off saying thanks for tuning in
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: to another episode of Bucko Territory presented to you by
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: the Foul Territory Network.
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: Take care.