Latest / Bucco Territory: A Pittsburgh Pirates Podcast / Who has been the biggest surprise for the Pirates this Spring?

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Who has been the biggest surprise for the Pirates this Spring? · Bucco Territory: A Pittsburgh Pirates Podcast

0:09
Speaker 1: What's up, everybody?
0:10
Speaker 2: Welcome back to another episode of Bucco Territory, presented to
0:13
Speaker 2: you by the Foul Territory Network.
0:14
Speaker 1: I'm Noah Hyles.
0:15
Speaker 2: Joining me as always are my co hosts, Josh Harrison
0:18
Speaker 2: and Mark aka platinum Key.
0:21
Speaker 1: It's mail Bag Wednesday.
0:22
Speaker 2: We got a lot of questions to answer and we're
0:25
Speaker 2: just gonna jump right in. Uh, Mark, why don't you
0:28
Speaker 2: just pull up the first question? Let's get right after.
0:30
Speaker 3: It, all right, So the first question today comes from
0:33
Speaker 3: GMBC superfan who asks, what is going on with the
0:37
Speaker 3: left side of the infield? Assuming Connor Griffin is going
0:40
Speaker 3: to Indy? Are we really rolling with some combo of
0:43
Speaker 3: Jerry Triolo, Alika Williams, Nick and Zalaz and Nick York
0:46
Speaker 3: to start the season.
0:48
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'll start.
0:49
Speaker 2: I mean, that's what it looks like if Connor Griffin
0:51
Speaker 2: is actually going to Indy, which again I want to
0:54
Speaker 2: remind everyone, Yeah, that's not a foregone conclusion, despite what
0:59
Speaker 2: some people are, it is still very much a decision
1:02
Speaker 2: the pirates have not made yet with you know, I mean,
1:06
Speaker 2: where what like a week in a day from when
1:08
Speaker 2: this comes out on? From opening day, He's one of
1:12
Speaker 2: two non roster invite position players still with the team
1:15
Speaker 2: in major league camps. So, but if it's not Connor Griffin, Yeah,
1:18
Speaker 2: like you got to look at this left side of
1:20
Speaker 2: the enfield. They really don't have a ton of options.
1:24
Speaker 2: Like Nick Gonzalez, as I wrote about my column earlier
1:27
Speaker 2: this week, he's made twenty six starts at shortstop in
1:30
Speaker 2: his major league career. Alika Williams is a non roster guy.
1:35
Speaker 2: He's obviously a more familiar shortstop, but you're not getting
1:38
Speaker 2: a lot of offensive production there.
1:40
Speaker 1: And if you want to move Triolo to shortstop.
1:43
Speaker 2: Then really your only option at third is Tyler Callahan,
1:47
Speaker 2: who's played four career major league games, unless you want
1:50
Speaker 2: to start Nick York out of position, or Nick Gonzalez
1:53
Speaker 2: out of position.
1:55
Speaker 1: Or Alika Williams at third.
1:56
Speaker 2: So yeah, it's it's not necessarily the caliber of play
2:01
Speaker 2: that matches the rest of your lineup, right, Unless you
2:05
Speaker 2: have Connor Griffin at shortstop and Treolo at third, those
2:09
Speaker 2: two you don't know what you're getting from them offensively,
2:12
Speaker 2: but at the very least you're getting four war plus
2:16
Speaker 2: from those two just because of how good they are defensively.
2:20
Speaker 1: So that's how I see it.
2:21
Speaker 3: What about you, Mark, Yeah, I mean, I don't think
2:24
Speaker 3: it's fair to assume Conor Griffin's going to start in
2:27
Speaker 3: Indy right now. I really think he's the best shortstop
2:31
Speaker 3: right now on the roster. So if you're trying to
2:34
Speaker 3: build the best Pirates team, you need to have Conor
2:36
Speaker 3: Griffin as you're opening day shortstop. Now, the reason why
2:39
Speaker 3: you wouldn't want Connor Griffin is strictly financial, i'd say
2:43
Speaker 3: at this point. But if that's going to get in
2:47
Speaker 3: the way, maybe it does. But I really think it's
2:50
Speaker 3: gonna be Connor. And if it's Alika Williams, I'm a
2:54
Speaker 3: huge Alika Williams fan, but this fan base is going
2:58
Speaker 3: to go crazy. We saw a lot of Elika in
3:01
Speaker 3: the past. He's been DFA, but yeah, he's just not
3:06
Speaker 3: the best option. He's a great depth piece to store
3:08
Speaker 3: in the minors, but I don't see him being the
3:11
Speaker 3: opening day shortstop and playing like a guy like Nicken
3:15
Speaker 3: Zalez there. Nick and Zalez's defense is already questionable at second,
3:20
Speaker 3: I'd be kind of worried to see him playing the
3:23
Speaker 3: position he's less comfortable in. So that just all leads
3:27
Speaker 3: me back to say it's got to be counter and
3:29
Speaker 3: if it's not, it's got to be kind of really
3:31
Speaker 3: soon after opening day?
3:32
Speaker 2: What do you think, Josh, Josh, Well, I was gonna actually, okay,
3:35
Speaker 2: go ahead, sorry, because I had a question for Josh
3:38
Speaker 2: on this topic in the sense of Josh obviously made
3:43
Speaker 2: his bones as a super utility guy, right, but like
3:46
Speaker 2: when you're in the minor leagues, you kind of came
3:48
Speaker 2: up as a shortstop, and it feels like when you're
3:53
Speaker 2: a shortstop, it's easier to learn the other positions, right,
3:57
Speaker 2: as opposed to Nick, who's.
4:00
Speaker 1: A primary second baseman.
4:02
Speaker 2: Do you think that there's any validity to the difficulties
4:05
Speaker 2: in that, Like, if you've established yourself as an everyday
4:07
Speaker 2: second basement and you haven't spent a lot of time
4:10
Speaker 2: over at short after a couple of years in the majors,
4:13
Speaker 2: is there a realistic possibility of you picking up shortstop
4:17
Speaker 2: and being a better defender there than you are at
4:19
Speaker 2: second base?
4:23
Speaker 4: Yes, and no, chances are slim, to be honest, because
4:27
Speaker 4: I mean, at this point, you know, he's played majority
4:30
Speaker 4: of visitings at second base. That's not to say that
4:32
Speaker 4: he couldn't turn out to be somewhat of a decent
4:35
Speaker 4: or serviceable shortstop or third basement. But I don't really
4:40
Speaker 4: think you want to go into this season, you know,
4:41
Speaker 4: flipping a coin and say, what are we're gonna get
4:44
Speaker 4: out of third base or at a short stop defensively,
4:47
Speaker 4: especially when you've made you know, improvements offensively and you
4:51
Speaker 4: know the big question mark is defense in the outfield.
4:54
Speaker 4: You don't want to, you know what I mean, raise
4:56
Speaker 4: question mark on the infield and to go off of
5:00
Speaker 4: you know Mark's point, if it's not going to be Connor,
5:03
Speaker 4: it's going to have to be Connor soon because just
5:05
Speaker 4: hearing you know, depth is good to have, but you know,
5:09
Speaker 4: depth is not something that you necessarily want to be
5:12
Speaker 4: sitting here saying that we're starting to season with you know,
5:14
Speaker 4: without an injury. It's one thing where there's injuries, it's like, okay,
5:18
Speaker 4: we're tapping into our depth and these guys are you know,
5:20
Speaker 4: counted on the start. But if there's no major serious injuries,
5:25
Speaker 4: you know, you want your death to.
5:26
Speaker 5: Be just what it is.
5:27
Speaker 4: Depth when you need it. And you know those guys
5:31
Speaker 4: that you have mentioned that, you know, if it's not Connor,
5:34
Speaker 4: you know that's a situation where they might be hoping
5:37
Speaker 4: to strike lightning in a bottle, but that is you know,
5:40
Speaker 4: if that was gonna happen, I think it would have
5:41
Speaker 4: already happened. And hence why you still see Connor and
5:44
Speaker 4: Camp there giving an extended look. And like you said,
5:46
Speaker 4: it's still not out the question for him to you know,
5:49
Speaker 4: not go to Indy. So these last I think you
5:52
Speaker 4: said eight days or so be real interesting.
5:55
Speaker 1: All right, second question mark, what do we got?
5:58
Speaker 3: Yeah, So the next question comes us comes to us
6:00
Speaker 3: from ys Photos, who asks, Jered Triello hit pretty well
6:04
Speaker 3: in the second half last year when he had more
6:06
Speaker 3: consistent playing time. Seeing that as of now he's the
6:09
Speaker 3: starting third baseman, do you think he will keep hitting well?
6:14
Speaker 1: They're gonna need him too.
6:15
Speaker 4: Yeah, Josh, this one off as saying I'll started on
6:19
Speaker 4: this one because I want to say it was one
6:21
Speaker 4: of our earlier episodes where we actually talked about if
6:24
Speaker 4: the situation presented itself where Trillo was going to be
6:28
Speaker 4: the starting third basement. I had raised a question of
6:32
Speaker 4: you know, has he really had the consistent playing time?
6:35
Speaker 4: And you know how sometimes when you've bounced around, you know,
6:39
Speaker 4: it might take a little longer just to hitch a
6:40
Speaker 4: stride in the second half of the season definitely was
6:44
Speaker 4: a step in the right direction for him, and you
6:48
Speaker 4: know who's to see you know, building off of that
6:51
Speaker 4: this spring. He's gotten off to a pretty good start
6:52
Speaker 4: and the only hope is that he continues the build
6:54
Speaker 4: into that to start into you know, twenty twenty six.
6:57
Speaker 4: And as I said, it could be a situation where
7:00
Speaker 4: answering that question, the second half of twenty twenty five
7:04
Speaker 4: could have been something that could be the start of
7:06
Speaker 4: you know, him finding something offensively, especially you know, the
7:10
Speaker 4: thing is if he can just be average, you know,
7:12
Speaker 4: league average offensively, I believe. So, you know, it seems
7:16
Speaker 4: as if he's trending upward once again. Spring stats don't
7:19
Speaker 4: really matter, but at the same time, you do like
7:21
Speaker 4: to see guys build off of that mark.
7:24
Speaker 3: What do you think, Yeah, I mean, I don't think
7:27
Speaker 3: like Jerry Triollo is going to become an offensive jugger,
7:29
Speaker 3: not or anything. I think we're pretty sure like he's
7:32
Speaker 3: not gonna eclipse eight hundred ohps or anything in his career.
7:36
Speaker 3: But if he can just be a little bit average,
7:39
Speaker 3: get on base with the team that he has around him, now,
7:42
Speaker 3: I mean, we don't need offense from Jered Triollo. We
7:44
Speaker 3: went out and got Brandon Loud, we got Ryan o'hearan,
7:47
Speaker 3: we got Marcelo Soon. We got a lot of offensive production.
7:51
Speaker 3: What we need from Triollo is that glove and the
7:54
Speaker 3: ability to play elsewhere in the field, not just at
7:56
Speaker 3: starting third base, but having that flexibility if someone you
8:00
Speaker 3: the day off to get off their feet, if Brandon
8:01
Speaker 3: low needs a day off to go d H or something,
8:04
Speaker 3: you can slide Triolo over and be happy with it.
8:08
Speaker 3: So I'm not really concerned about that.
8:10
Speaker 5: Bet.
8:10
Speaker 3: More playing time will definitely help. I certainly can't hurt it,
8:14
Speaker 3: feels like, because I know he's always kind of been
8:17
Speaker 3: in and out for the beginning of his career of
8:19
Speaker 3: the lineup and never really had that consistency. So hopefully
8:23
Speaker 3: you can build on it and have a great twenty
8:24
Speaker 3: twenty six.
8:26
Speaker 2: Yeah, to piggyback off what you're saying, Mark, If I'm
8:28
Speaker 2: the Pirates, I'm sitting Jared Triolo down and saying, like, look,
8:31
Speaker 2: you don't need to meet a certain benchmark ops home
8:35
Speaker 2: run total. I mean, obviously you want to avoid certain ones,
8:37
Speaker 2: like if it's starting with a yeah, But I think
8:42
Speaker 2: the way this team's constructed. The best thing Jared Triolo
8:46
Speaker 2: can be for the Pirates is an annoying at bat.
8:50
Speaker 2: Like when you have a good one through five, good
8:53
Speaker 2: one through six, which the Pirates are going to have
8:55
Speaker 2: this year, even if someone goes down, they're going to
8:59
Speaker 2: have a lineup where half of it is formidable.
9:02
Speaker 1: Yeah, so, and the bat in the bottom half.
9:04
Speaker 2: You just need guys who can give you seven, eight,
9:08
Speaker 2: nine pitch at bats twice a game, right, if you
9:13
Speaker 2: can go up there and just burn pitches, and even
9:16
Speaker 2: if it results in a weak ground ball out, but
9:19
Speaker 2: if it's ten pitches, if it's you know, if you're
9:23
Speaker 2: getting a walk, or if you're able to just foul
9:25
Speaker 2: stuff off or be able to allow to advance a
9:28
Speaker 2: runner that's on base.
9:29
Speaker 1: Stuff like that.
9:31
Speaker 2: That doesn't necessarily show up in a box score or
9:34
Speaker 2: a stat line or a slash line. But that's kind
9:37
Speaker 2: of how winning teams are built, right. I mean, you
9:41
Speaker 2: look at the bottom of the order, guys, when when
9:43
Speaker 2: Josh and the Pirates are winning. Clint Barmis didn't let
9:47
Speaker 2: the world on fire. But Clint Barmis was a tough
9:49
Speaker 2: at bat. Jordi Mercer was a tough at bat. I
9:52
Speaker 2: mean you could, you could go on and on, like
9:55
Speaker 2: those are just guys that you need to lengthen the
9:57
Speaker 2: game and shorten the starting pitchers day.
10:00
Speaker 1: And that's what your bottom three of the order does
10:02
Speaker 1: on a good team.
10:04
Speaker 3: And I'll say we've seen a lot of that the
10:05
Speaker 3: spring from one guy already, Jake Ingham. I mean, yes,
10:09
Speaker 3: I would Pete to pitch against Drake Mayingham. I mean
10:13
Speaker 3: we saw it last year with the Pirates. I just
10:15
Speaker 3: remember every at that was just so frustrating. It's like
10:17
Speaker 3: another double digit at pad for pitches.
10:20
Speaker 5: It.
10:20
Speaker 3: Yeah, so that would be a great role for your trio.
10:23
Speaker 5: It grinds pictures them.
10:25
Speaker 4: And we actually used to keep a stat I think
10:28
Speaker 4: they used to keep a stat starting a spring training basically,
10:31
Speaker 4: like you know, they would tally of points like at
10:34
Speaker 4: the end of the spring, you know, leader might have got
10:37
Speaker 4: a bonus or something not like a paid bonus, but
10:39
Speaker 4: might have got you know, a steak dinner or a
10:41
Speaker 4: gift card, and they would keep track of you know,
10:43
Speaker 4: you know how many you know at bats you had
10:46
Speaker 4: in the spring that probably went more than five pitches.
10:49
Speaker 4: You know. So it's just something where like you know,
10:50
Speaker 4: what if a team was wearing you down, and everybody's
10:53
Speaker 4: seeing five plus pitches, which we know is not always
10:55
Speaker 4: gonna happen. You know, it just makes it that much,
10:57
Speaker 4: you know, tougher for that picture.
10:58
Speaker 5: And as you said, not.
11:00
Speaker 4: Looking for him to hit three twenty. But you don't
11:02
Speaker 4: have good at bats. Put the ball in play. You
11:04
Speaker 4: don't have good team at bats, and you know, do your.
11:07
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12:14
Speaker 1: All right, Third question mark what do we got?
12:17
Speaker 5: All right?
12:17
Speaker 3: Next question comes to us from Southern Yinzer, who wants
12:21
Speaker 3: to know who's got the fifth spot in the rotation.
12:25
Speaker 2: Man, I mean there's a whole bunch of thoughts on this, right.
12:29
Speaker 2: I mean, Clevenger is still with the team. Carmen Maginski
12:33
Speaker 2: is making a really good case. I think Arkidia has
12:37
Speaker 2: not made a good case. He's just not had a
12:40
Speaker 2: very good spring at all. And Barco was scheduled to
12:44
Speaker 2: start Thursday and they didn't have him listed as the
12:48
Speaker 2: starter anymore on the game notes. Now, that could just
12:51
Speaker 2: be a simple thing of like we're having him pitch
12:54
Speaker 2: on the backfields, Like that's not necessarily an indication of
12:57
Speaker 2: he's not making the team, like they've done that for
13:00
Speaker 2: Paul Schemes before, so like that that's just not a
13:03
Speaker 2: big deal.
13:04
Speaker 1: But well, uh, they have two, they have one in
13:13
Speaker 1: I believe. Yeah, it's Thursday, the spring breakout game, or
13:15
Speaker 1: is that Friday morning?
13:16
Speaker 5: I don't know.
13:17
Speaker 1: I think it's I think it's.
13:19
Speaker 4: If it's somebody he could be matched up with during
13:22
Speaker 4: the season. Sometimes as you get closer to the season,
13:24
Speaker 4: you might not, you know, put him out there, you know,
13:27
Speaker 4: just for them to get a get an idea of
13:30
Speaker 4: what he might throw. So that's why I was curious
13:32
Speaker 4: as to who he was lined up against. It could
13:34
Speaker 4: be somebody that he could potentially be facing, all right,
13:38
Speaker 4: and as you said, it could be the backfield as well.
13:40
Speaker 1: Yeah.
13:41
Speaker 2: So on this note, I'll start with Josh here by
13:44
Speaker 2: just asking when you look at this rotation, when you
13:47
Speaker 2: consider again, and we've talked about this on this show,
13:49
Speaker 2: a ton, you got schemes, you got Keller, and you've
13:52
Speaker 2: got a rookie and Bubba Chandler and a guy who
13:54
Speaker 2: was a rookie last year in.
13:55
Speaker 1: Brox and Nashcraft. What type of profile do you.
13:58
Speaker 2: Want as that number five starter? Is it worth burning
14:00
Speaker 2: a roster spot for Mike Clevenger, a veteran who's looked
14:04
Speaker 2: probably the best of this bunch this spring. Is it
14:07
Speaker 2: worth giving Karmen Magenski another chance at this starting rotation
14:11
Speaker 2: where it did not go last year, and he's approven
14:14
Speaker 2: bullpen arm is it worth calling up a top one
14:16
Speaker 2: hundred prospect too might need.
14:18
Speaker 1: A little bit more time to develop.
14:21
Speaker 2: Or is it worth trotting a guy out there in
14:23
Speaker 2: Archidi who has not looked good this spring, but has
14:27
Speaker 2: familiarated familiarity with the pitching coach and has also started
14:31
Speaker 2: major league games before.
14:33
Speaker 1: Well.
14:34
Speaker 4: Going off of what's been presented, I would be a
14:38
Speaker 4: little weary or you know, kind of hesitant with Arcadie. Granted,
14:42
Speaker 4: springsats don't matter, but at the same time, you do
14:45
Speaker 4: want to see something. And given that he's a guy
14:47
Speaker 4: that's coming off an arm injury and pitched last year
14:50
Speaker 4: as well, I would still be a little hesitant with that.
14:55
Speaker 4: Given that you're eight days out, you kind of want
14:58
Speaker 4: to start to fill that role and Majenski, as you said,
15:02
Speaker 4: it was a proven bullpen army. You really want to start,
15:04
Speaker 4: you know, and have your guys be in the roles
15:06
Speaker 4: that they are. And if the plan is not for
15:09
Speaker 4: him to continue to be that fifth starter, I think
15:11
Speaker 4: you leave him where he is, and I think you
15:13
Speaker 4: roll the dice and Clevenger right now, as you said,
15:16
Speaker 4: is pitch well, you need somebody that's going to be
15:19
Speaker 4: able to eat some innings and fill that time until
15:22
Speaker 4: you know Jones is healthy. And also that will allow
15:26
Speaker 4: him not to rush. You know, if Clevenger's throwing, well,
15:30
Speaker 4: you know, I'm like, okay, you know, take take an
15:32
Speaker 4: extra you know, start down there, or take an extra
15:34
Speaker 4: five days just to make sure everything is right. But
15:37
Speaker 4: you know, you want to head up north and by
15:39
Speaker 4: this time you want to see things clicking. And for
15:41
Speaker 4: that fifth start, you want it to be somebody that
15:44
Speaker 4: you know is going to go out there eat some innings.
15:46
Speaker 4: And you know, right now, giving the bunch that's out there,
15:49
Speaker 4: Clevenger would be the upper hand right now. I know
15:52
Speaker 4: you'd have to create a spot for him. But you know,
15:54
Speaker 4: if you're really serious about winning and taking the best
15:57
Speaker 4: guys up north, you know you'll find a way.
16:00
Speaker 2: Mark.
16:00
Speaker 1: What about you?
16:01
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think it's down to two names right now,
16:04
Speaker 3: in between Clevenger and Maginsky. We just saw the Pirates
16:08
Speaker 3: have Carmen Magensky go out and throw five innings in
16:11
Speaker 3: one of the spring training games recently, so it seems
16:14
Speaker 3: like they're stretching him out to make him be in
16:17
Speaker 3: that starter role. And if Karmen Magensky is gonna be
16:20
Speaker 3: on the Pirates roster in some capacity for the opening
16:24
Speaker 3: day roster, so that's who I would probably go with
16:28
Speaker 3: right now and then wait on Clevenger until there's an
16:31
Speaker 3: injury and you can make a roster move Adam to
16:34
Speaker 3: the forty man. That way give you a little bit
16:36
Speaker 3: more time to analyze what you have. But it seems
16:41
Speaker 3: like it's those two guys because I don't really think
16:43
Speaker 3: Parco's gonna be ready to go yet. I like the
16:47
Speaker 3: slow cooking Noah Hiles TM method with that where gim
16:53
Speaker 3: stretched out, built up in the minors so that all
16:56
Speaker 3: of his time in MLB can be where he's ready
16:59
Speaker 3: to go at full pitch it.
17:00
Speaker 5: So, uh, yeah, that's where I'm at with it.
17:04
Speaker 4: Yeah, before you don't know, Uh, I didn't mean to
17:07
Speaker 4: cut you off just with and you could probably add
17:09
Speaker 4: on it with Clevenger. The only thing with that was
17:12
Speaker 4: does he have an out before the inn spring? That's
17:14
Speaker 4: why I was so you might be able to add
17:17
Speaker 4: on that. So I don't know if that's something that
17:19
Speaker 4: because some dudes may have like a in the spring,
17:22
Speaker 4: then win like okay, because because I know there's some
17:26
Speaker 4: guys that might have one at the end of spring,
17:28
Speaker 4: then have one you know, end of you know, the
17:31
Speaker 4: first month, or whatever the case may be. I just
17:33
Speaker 4: wasn't sure if you guys were well versed with what
17:36
Speaker 4: his out was, because sometimes that'll player play a hand,
17:39
Speaker 4: you know, where he might be like, you know what
17:41
Speaker 4: if you guys are gonna put me on the throne
17:43
Speaker 4: well enough to wear another team. And that's why I
17:45
Speaker 4: was curious.
17:47
Speaker 2: Yeah, I personally think I think I would be fine
17:52
Speaker 2: with rostering Carmen as.
17:56
Speaker 1: A long reliever, but just being.
17:58
Speaker 2: Like, hey, like you are stretched out, so we can
18:02
Speaker 2: go to a six man rotation if we if the
18:04
Speaker 2: week calls upon it, like why not.
18:06
Speaker 1: Yeah, I still don't want.
18:09
Speaker 2: To give up on Barco here, but I agree that,
18:11
Speaker 2: like I don't see Barco going wire to wire as
18:14
Speaker 2: like a guy who's going to start and go five
18:16
Speaker 2: innings all the time. And if he blew you away
18:20
Speaker 2: this spring, I think you put him in that rotation,
18:21
Speaker 2: but I don't think he did. So, Yeah, I think
18:23
Speaker 2: Clevenger has pitched well enough to deserve it. Arkidi is
18:26
Speaker 2: like the last on my priority list just because his.
18:30
Speaker 1: VLO doesn't sustain.
18:33
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean it was, Yeah, it was tracking a
18:36
Speaker 2: I believe an average of ninety three in his first
18:39
Speaker 2: inning on Sunday, and by the fourth inning it was
18:42
Speaker 2: struggling to get above ninety.
18:44
Speaker 1: So it's kind of good sign.
18:45
Speaker 5: I saw him put that out.
18:47
Speaker 2: Yeah, And so that's a thing where it's like, you know, yes, yeah,
18:53
Speaker 2: I think asking him to just go one or two
18:55
Speaker 2: innings is probably the right pick there. And and also
18:59
Speaker 2: you also have the I mean, this bullpen's not super
19:01
Speaker 2: depth with experience right now. I think they have a
19:04
Speaker 2: lot of very young, live arms that don't have a
19:07
Speaker 2: lot of big league experience. We're gonna see a lot
19:09
Speaker 2: of rookies called upon in this bullpen this year, or
19:12
Speaker 2: guys with not a ton of service time.
19:14
Speaker 1: Or Kiddie has service time.
19:15
Speaker 2: So I think that if he's clearly not where he
19:20
Speaker 2: needs to be physically, at least as I see it,
19:22
Speaker 2: so I would put Urkidie in the bullpen. I still
19:26
Speaker 2: view the bullpen to be a little bit more of
19:29
Speaker 2: a weakness than a strength right now. So that's why
19:32
Speaker 2: I would probably lean to Carmen there because I don't
19:34
Speaker 2: know if I want Carmen just for long ending situations
19:39
Speaker 2: like long relief.
19:40
Speaker 1: I might want Carmen to be.
19:42
Speaker 2: A middle leverage guy at times, or a high leverage
19:44
Speaker 2: guy because he's just a good.
19:48
Speaker 5: Yeah.
19:49
Speaker 2: So I think Clevenger is the safe bet right now.
19:53
Speaker 2: Barco is ready if needed, but.
19:57
Speaker 1: I'm not necessarily sure you need him right now.
20:00
Speaker 2: So that's how I look at it. I would go Clevenger,
20:02
Speaker 2: and then you have Carmen as your ace in the
20:05
Speaker 2: hole if things don't work out or It's also like
20:08
Speaker 2: when you're talking about killing a roster spot, there's there
20:13
Speaker 2: there are guys in the bullpen that have a forty
20:16
Speaker 2: man spot.
20:16
Speaker 1: That's like, okay, well if this is for a.
20:19
Speaker 2: Number five starter, then this is this is unnecessary decision.
20:23
Speaker 1: Yeah, it is what it is. That's baseball. So yeah,
20:26
Speaker 1: all right, final question, mark, what do you got?
20:30
Speaker 5: All right?
20:30
Speaker 3: Final question comes to us from Darth Gator, who asked
20:34
Speaker 3: who was surprised the most in camp and how likely
20:36
Speaker 3: is it that the password makes the roster.
20:40
Speaker 2: I'll start with this. I mean the password has been
20:43
Speaker 2: their best hitter. Yeah, he's been fantastic.
20:45
Speaker 5: I think he answered his own question a little bit. Yeah,
20:48
Speaker 5: he did, he did.
20:50
Speaker 2: He he went over three Sunday, and I was kind
20:53
Speaker 2: of shocked that he did that because I don't think
20:56
Speaker 2: he's gotten hitless in any other spring game. I don't
21:00
Speaker 2: think he has a shot at making the roster just
21:02
Speaker 2: because of the construction. Here another name that I'll throw out,
21:06
Speaker 2: Isaac Maxson's had six and a third, uh scoreless innings.
21:12
Speaker 2: He's only allowed two hits, one walk. I believe seven
21:15
Speaker 2: strikeouts if you're going if you're going close to seven,
21:19
Speaker 2: if you're seven ups in spring and you've only put
21:22
Speaker 2: two people on base or three people on base, that's
21:25
Speaker 2: that's pretty damn good.
21:26
Speaker 3: So and he looks so comfortable too, Like the fastball
21:31
Speaker 3: is still just as unhittable. Yeah, everything new stuff was.
21:35
Speaker 1: Coming along too.
21:36
Speaker 2: I mean, like talking with him yesterday, that'd been Monday,
21:41
Speaker 2: and in wherever the Fort Myers where the Twins play,
21:46
Speaker 2: he was kind of saying, like, you know, like, yeah,
21:49
Speaker 2: I know I have a good fastball.
21:50
Speaker 1: Everyone in baseball knows I have a good fastball. I
21:52
Speaker 1: need to blend it with some other stuff. And he's
21:55
Speaker 1: done a really good job with doing that.
21:56
Speaker 2: And it's it's stuff that I'm seeing him throw with
21:59
Speaker 2: runners stuff.
22:01
Speaker 1: That like, Okay, yeah, it's easy to throw.
22:03
Speaker 2: That one year ahead O two, But can you do
22:05
Speaker 2: that when it's a one to one count with a
22:06
Speaker 2: runner and scoring position? Or can you throw your breaking
22:09
Speaker 2: ball to get a ground ball with a runner on
22:12
Speaker 2: first and one out? Like are those pitches good enough?
22:15
Speaker 2: Because that's what you need to be a high leverage guy.
22:16
Speaker 2: You need at least one other pitch aside from your fastball.
22:19
Speaker 2: And I think we're getting there with him, So those
22:21
Speaker 2: would be my picks.
22:24
Speaker 4: I think you kind of well, it's not that I
22:28
Speaker 4: had two picks. As I said. He pretty much answered
22:30
Speaker 4: his own question. And for me, you know, it's being
22:33
Speaker 4: a young guy being traded over. You never know, uh,
22:37
Speaker 4: you know how that's going to affect a young kid.
22:39
Speaker 4: And he's come right over and they said it's a
22:42
Speaker 4: long shot for him to make the roster, but he
22:44
Speaker 4: has definitely opened their eyes to say, Okay, I think
22:47
Speaker 4: we might have you know, found something and you know
22:50
Speaker 4: know that for the near future that you know, that's
22:53
Speaker 4: somebody that they'll be able to count on. Just from
22:55
Speaker 4: his spring, Shawn, I think that's something to be excited about.
22:59
Speaker 5: Mark.
22:59
Speaker 2: I think there's one more name here and I want
23:01
Speaker 2: to see if you name it.
23:03
Speaker 3: Oh, so I was gonna go yep, okay, okay, yeah,
23:11
Speaker 3: Jake Maingham.
23:13
Speaker 4: I mean that's this guy.
23:14
Speaker 5: I was gonna.
23:15
Speaker 3: Yeah, which I think we all knew like Mingham was
23:17
Speaker 3: going to come in and do well.
23:19
Speaker 5: My biggest surprise is.
23:22
Speaker 3: How well he is fit into this team from the
23:25
Speaker 3: clubhouse and everything. I mean, just like the confidence he brings,
23:29
Speaker 3: the work ethic, the way he's talking about his teammates,
23:32
Speaker 3: shout out foul territory. Was at Pirates camp today, make
23:36
Speaker 3: sure they go tune in, and they were talking with
23:38
Speaker 3: guys and everything. He was Jake Maghan was on the
23:41
Speaker 3: radio this morning on ninety three seven the Fan doing interviews,
23:45
Speaker 3: and I just love the fit of him, the grittiness
23:49
Speaker 3: aspect to his game. He does a lot of just
23:53
Speaker 3: the little things right that weren't on this roster last year,
23:57
Speaker 3: and so to have that kind of ballplayer.
24:00
Speaker 5: I don't know how much he's gonna play off the
24:02
Speaker 5: like out of the gate.
24:04
Speaker 3: He might be like your like fourth outfielder type, but
24:08
Speaker 3: he brings a lot to this lineup and I'm excited
24:10
Speaker 3: to watch Jake Mingham and some real action.
24:14
Speaker 4: You speak speaking on a lot of intangibles, Yes, exactly.
24:21
Speaker 2: Funny story about Jake Mangham real quick before we wrap
24:23
Speaker 2: this up. Well, when they played in Port Charlotte on
24:27
Speaker 2: Sunday against the Rays, all the Rays media was talking
24:29
Speaker 2: to Brandon Lau because it was his first time back
24:32
Speaker 2: this spring and they were joking, They're like, Mangham didn't
24:34
Speaker 2: make the trip, but he probably called every beat writer
24:37
Speaker 2: and was like, you need a quote from me too,
24:38
Speaker 2: because he's just like superminating.
24:41
Speaker 1: He's just that kind of guy.
24:43
Speaker 2: And then yeah, talking to I mean, I talked to
24:45
Speaker 2: Aj Perzinski today at camp because he was just I
24:48
Speaker 2: saw him in the clubhouse.
24:49
Speaker 1: I'm like, hey, hey, what are you doing here? Yeah,
24:51
Speaker 1: I saw you know.
24:52
Speaker 2: A couple of the other Foul Territory though behind the
24:54
Speaker 2: scenes people that we talked to frequently, which was really frenzy.
24:58
Speaker 2: And then talking to the ninety three seven the fan
24:59
Speaker 2: p Boll It's Pittsburgh has. If you're not a fan
25:04
Speaker 2: of Jake Mangum, you're going he's just the guy that
25:09
Speaker 2: you're you're gonna love every interview you watch him do
25:12
Speaker 2: and it's almost like annoyingly nice, like like not in
25:16
Speaker 2: a bad way like it's just like man, like your's
25:18
Speaker 2: just I'm glad you know I'm covering you because and
25:23
Speaker 2: I knew you were existed and I wasn't there'd be
25:26
Speaker 2: like I wish this dude would be here to just
25:28
Speaker 2: get quotes from, because yeah, sometimes you cover teams that
25:31
Speaker 2: don't have a guy like that, and Nick can be.
25:37
Speaker 5: Yes and really quick ahead.
25:40
Speaker 3: Just one other name I was gonna throw out there.
25:42
Speaker 3: So we saw Evan Sisk get optioned to Triple A today,
25:46
Speaker 3: and so I think one of the big surprises has
25:48
Speaker 3: been Mason Montgomery, uh fitting in pretty well. Another guy
25:52
Speaker 3: that was in that race trade right, And so it
25:55
Speaker 3: seems like Mason Montgomery is probably gonna break camp with
25:57
Speaker 3: the team. And if you can rain in that control
26:01
Speaker 3: like he has been the last few games to spring,
26:03
Speaker 3: the stuff's electric. So another shout out for him.
26:08
Speaker 1: All right.
26:08
Speaker 2: On the note of shout out, so I want to
26:10
Speaker 2: give everyone a shout out who has subscribed to this podcast,
26:12
Speaker 2: and if.
26:13
Speaker 1: You haven't, it's not too late.
26:14
Speaker 2: Hit that subscribe button if you haven't already, We're on
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Speaker 2: a mush mission three thousand subs. You can't get there
26:19
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Speaker 2: out our Buco Territory team store.
26:27
Speaker 1: We don't need to continue listening.
26:30
Speaker 2: I will say when I saw the Foul Territory remote
26:33
Speaker 2: setup in Bradington today, they had all the good stuff
26:36
Speaker 2: there as they had everything, so that was kind of cool.
26:40
Speaker 1: Guys, any final thoughts before we wrap up today's show.
26:43
Speaker 3: Yeah, just go and make sure to check out that
26:46
Speaker 3: episode of the Foul Territory today they interviewed like Don Kelly,
26:50
Speaker 3: Joey Bart, Ryan O'Hearn, counter Griffin. So I'll leave a
26:55
Speaker 3: link to that episode, that episode down below, so go
26:58
Speaker 3: check that out.
26:59
Speaker 4: After this, uh that, go subscribe And counting down, I
27:06
Speaker 4: think we said eight days, so before we know it,
27:09
Speaker 4: it's gonna be opening day. And you know, just as
27:14
Speaker 4: I said, as these rosters continue to you know, get
27:16
Speaker 4: shortened up. Want to see how the rosters, you know,
27:19
Speaker 4: those last couple of spots that we've been talking about,
27:21
Speaker 4: and you're no excited for the guys to go up north.
27:23
Speaker 4: It'll be here before we know it.
27:26
Speaker 3: Every roster update, the Pirates release, I just get a
27:28
Speaker 3: little like count Griffin.
27:34
Speaker 2: Mark all right, I'll behalf of Platinum Key aka Mark
27:38
Speaker 2: and Josh Harrison on Noah Haile signing off, saying thanks
27:41
Speaker 2: for tuning in to another episode Bucco Territory, Presented to
27:44
Speaker 2: you by the Foul Territory Network