Latest / Bucco Territory: A Pittsburgh Pirates Podcast / Injury bug strikes Pirates' offense, Pitching problems continue

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Injury bug strikes Pirates' offense, Pitching problems continue · 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 on NOLA.
0:15
Speaker 1: Hiles.
0:15
Speaker 2: Joining me as always are my co hosts, Josh Harrison
0:18
Speaker 2: and Platinum Key aka Mark.
0:20
Speaker 1: It's a Monday show. We've got a good lineup for you.
0:24
Speaker 2: We're gonna talk some injury updates as some very key
0:28
Speaker 2: important players on this team are battling through some stuff
0:31
Speaker 2: right now. We're gonna talk about how that could impact
0:33
Speaker 2: the team in the short term, pitching problems, some interesting
0:37
Speaker 2: stuff going on with this pitching staff this year, from
0:40
Speaker 2: the bullpen to the rotation, and I don't want to
0:43
Speaker 2: show our hand too much, but that's gonna be probably
0:45
Speaker 2: the bulk of this show's discussion. And then we'll wrap up,
0:48
Speaker 2: as we always do on our Monday show with our.
0:50
Speaker 1: Key of the Week.
0:51
Speaker 2: Platinum Key will give it to you and we got
0:54
Speaker 2: a fancy new graphic for that one as well.
0:56
Speaker 1: So guys, we'll start off with the injury updates.
0:58
Speaker 2: The Pirates really the only good news to come from Atlanta,
1:03
Speaker 2: a series where they got swept first losing road trip
1:05
Speaker 2: of the season, and for that to happen in June
1:07
Speaker 2: is pretty good. But Brandon Lowe went down with an
1:11
Speaker 2: injury Saturday. It's looking like he's gonna be okay. I
1:16
Speaker 2: believe he played in Sunday's game, right He pinch.
1:18
Speaker 3: Hit, Yeah, I pinch in the ninth inning, and very
1:21
Speaker 3: first pitch he saw, he rocketed a double that was
1:24
Speaker 3: one hundred and six miles per hour. Hustled all the
1:27
Speaker 3: way in the second. I mean, I'm sure it was painful,
1:29
Speaker 3: but you get it. And then they had O'Neal Cruz
1:31
Speaker 3: pinch run for him.
1:32
Speaker 2: Yes, who's also banged up. O'neo Cruz going through some stuff.
1:35
Speaker 2: Connor Griffin still on the il. When you looked at it,
1:39
Speaker 2: I mean, that's your second basement, that's your short stop,
1:42
Speaker 2: that's your center fielder. They say you gotta be great
1:44
Speaker 2: to you gotta be great up the middle to win games.
1:47
Speaker 2: And I mean those are your three probably most valuable players.
1:51
Speaker 1: On the team. Josh, I'll start with you.
1:55
Speaker 2: I mean, none of these guys look like they have
1:56
Speaker 2: anything super serious. I mean, Connor saw meister last Monday. Uh,
2:02
Speaker 2: but it seems like everything's gonna be okay. They're they're
2:06
Speaker 2: really being conservative with the timeline to bring him back.
2:09
Speaker 2: It's gonna be a couple extra days, they said. But
2:13
Speaker 2: he's asymptomatic right now. Lal playing through a knee thing,
2:17
Speaker 2: Onneio Cruz playing through it seems like it could be.
2:20
Speaker 1: A multah a risk injury.
2:25
Speaker 2: How is that when you're going through I mean, you
2:27
Speaker 2: go through bumped, you get through, you get patches where
2:30
Speaker 2: everyone's bumped and bruised. But what's it like being on
2:33
Speaker 2: a team where it's like, these are your three most
2:35
Speaker 2: important players and injuries kind of coincide with one another.
2:41
Speaker 4: Definitely unfortunate.
2:42
Speaker 5: And then you mentioned the positions they play, second base, shortstop,
2:45
Speaker 5: center field. You mentioned being up the middle. You gotta
2:48
Speaker 5: protect the middle. That that is something that you know,
2:52
Speaker 5: it's kind of hard to to land for because that
2:55
Speaker 5: is as you as I mentioned, in the middle of
2:57
Speaker 5: the field. Those are positions that you kind of want,
3:00
Speaker 5: you know, mainstays people that are there every day for
3:02
Speaker 5: the most part, because they're gonna, you know, be working
3:04
Speaker 5: with the pitcher staff there in the middle of everything.
3:08
Speaker 5: And you know, it's just a testament of how long
3:12
Speaker 5: of a season one hundred and sixty two is and
3:14
Speaker 5: how much of a.
3:14
Speaker 4: Grind it is.
3:15
Speaker 5: You know, there's ebbs and flows, and same thing as
3:19
Speaker 5: it is with offense and pitching.
3:21
Speaker 4: Same thing happens with injuries. Sometimes you go through stretches
3:24
Speaker 4: where you know.
3:25
Speaker 5: Man, everybody's just getting a little injury bug or you know,
3:30
Speaker 5: and the thing I want to tell people is everybody's
3:33
Speaker 5: playing with something hurt. You know, once spring training starts,
3:37
Speaker 5: you know, nobody's one hundred percent. You know, everybody's gonna
3:39
Speaker 5: have something nagging. Even on days that they that you
3:42
Speaker 5: would say, oh, I feel great today, there's something that's like,
3:45
Speaker 5: you know what, I ain't realize. You know, my my
3:47
Speaker 5: hip was a little tight, but it's not as tight
3:49
Speaker 5: as it usually is. But there's a difference in playing
3:52
Speaker 5: with something hurting, something injured.
3:55
Speaker 4: You know.
3:55
Speaker 5: So what you saw with Brandon Loue obviously being able
3:59
Speaker 5: to pinch hit today and run it out is you know,
4:01
Speaker 5: he wasn't injured, he was hurt and or you know,
4:05
Speaker 5: that's what it seems like. You know, injuries are things
4:07
Speaker 5: that are gonna put you on the shelf for a
4:09
Speaker 5: long amount of time. You know, being hurt sometimes it
4:11
Speaker 5: might cause you to be ten days down just because
4:14
Speaker 5: it's you know what for the long term, it's better
4:16
Speaker 5: to you know, rest this as opposed to you playing
4:18
Speaker 5: through something and creating a bad habit.
4:21
Speaker 4: You know, you mentioned, you know, even though Neil.
4:24
Speaker 5: Playing through some things, I played through some hand injuries
4:27
Speaker 5: or came back from hand injuries.
4:29
Speaker 4: It's not easy.
4:30
Speaker 5: But at the same time, you know, sometimes that person
4:32
Speaker 5: at seventy five percent, you know, just their presence in
4:36
Speaker 5: the lineup is you know enough because they play a
4:39
Speaker 5: important position on the field. So trying to fine tune
4:43
Speaker 5: that to also make sure that they're not out there
4:45
Speaker 5: putting themselves at any more risk to possibly you know,
4:48
Speaker 5: be hurt or injured even worse. So it's kind of
4:50
Speaker 5: a fine line because the player are gonna tell you
4:52
Speaker 5: I'm good to go, you know. So that's also the
4:57
Speaker 5: case where you gotta you know, kind of play with
5:01
Speaker 5: that line.
5:01
Speaker 4: You know, trust your guys.
5:02
Speaker 5: But also you got to take moments to say, you know,
5:05
Speaker 5: we need you game one sixty two, as opposed to
5:08
Speaker 5: making you play a game you know, sixty seven with
5:10
Speaker 5: something you know, banged up and you grind it, you know,
5:13
Speaker 5: in the middle of June, and now we don't have
5:15
Speaker 5: you when we really need you. So that's a that's
5:19
Speaker 5: a tough, you know, thing to kind of monitor, especially
5:22
Speaker 5: when you have a lot of people.
5:23
Speaker 4: At the same time dealing with something.
5:24
Speaker 5: But you know that that's where you need guys to
5:27
Speaker 5: step up, and sometimes it's going to be guys that
5:29
Speaker 5: are at least expected.
5:32
Speaker 3: Yeah, And I think the most frustrating part for all
5:35
Speaker 3: of these injuries is just the timing. O'Neil Cruz his
5:39
Speaker 3: past fifteen games has an OPS over one thousand. He's
5:43
Speaker 3: been he has twelve walks in his last fifteen games.
5:46
Speaker 3: He's just been looking a lot better at the plate.
5:50
Speaker 3: Brandon Lowe is the most productive offensive second basement in
5:54
Speaker 3: baseball this year so far, and so for you know,
5:57
Speaker 3: him to get knocked off of that rhythm that it stinks.
6:00
Speaker 3: And saying with Connor Griffin, where you know, after he
6:03
Speaker 3: turned twenty, he's been basically a four to five war
6:06
Speaker 3: shortstop and again he gets derailed with an injury. So
6:11
Speaker 3: that part's frustrating to me. I guess the optimistic thing is, think, God, Monday,
6:16
Speaker 3: when you're listening to this as an off day, really
6:19
Speaker 3: great timing for all these guys with day to day
6:22
Speaker 3: injuries that are banged up. You know, maybe just an
6:25
Speaker 3: extra day arrest will help heal a lot of that
6:28
Speaker 3: and prevent further injuries before we have a tough stretch
6:31
Speaker 3: against the Dodgers. So one final note, I just really
6:36
Speaker 3: really respected Brandon Loo coming out that he had the
6:41
Speaker 3: same injury happen in twenty twenty three where he actually
6:43
Speaker 3: did shatter his kneecap with the foul ball off of
6:46
Speaker 3: his knee and hit it off of that exact same
6:49
Speaker 3: knee on Sunday night and did everything possible to make
6:55
Speaker 3: himself available in whatever capacity he could be today. That
7:00
Speaker 3: a guy who is on an expiring contract. I mean
7:02
Speaker 3: I saw so many people just being like blank check
7:05
Speaker 3: extend this guy because as a fan, you love to
7:08
Speaker 3: see that. I mean, you know, he's in pain. You know,
7:10
Speaker 3: he's probably got a huge ball on his knee that's
7:12
Speaker 3: all swollen, and he's sitting there hustling his ass off
7:16
Speaker 3: the second and as a fan I loved it. Team
7:21
Speaker 3: was down to run. He hits that leadoff double and
7:24
Speaker 3: it's just like, all right, we at least have something here.
7:27
Speaker 3: And the same with o'nial checking in. He's got a
7:29
Speaker 3: risk issue, couldn't hit today maybe, but he's going to
7:32
Speaker 3: contribute to this team however he can, and make himself
7:34
Speaker 3: available do whatever he possibly can help the team win.
7:37
Speaker 3: So really like to see that from those two guys
7:39
Speaker 3: en counter. You know, even back before he was placed
7:42
Speaker 3: on the il was dhing doing whatever he can help
7:45
Speaker 3: the team win. So those three guys all got knocked
7:48
Speaker 3: down when they were really rolling, but I respect how
7:51
Speaker 3: they've handled it and continue to help the team even
7:54
Speaker 3: when they can't do it as much as possible.
7:56
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I'll just started to close this out.
7:58
Speaker 2: I mean, in most of Pirates baseball, when you lose
8:01
Speaker 2: these three cawboy caliber of players, you're cooked.
8:04
Speaker 1: You you have no chance.
8:07
Speaker 3: But I mean the caliber players years yeah.
8:12
Speaker 2: Uh really yeah, since Josh was there. This is the
8:15
Speaker 2: last time they had that type of trio. But the
8:19
Speaker 2: fact that you have, I mean, the lineups just absolutely
8:23
Speaker 2: nowhere year is good without them. But like you have
8:25
Speaker 2: a competent lineup. You still have a lineup capable of
8:28
Speaker 2: winning games. Maybe not against the Braves in Atlanta, but
8:31
Speaker 2: like you have a lineup that can hold down the
8:35
Speaker 2: fort until these guys are ready. So no, not the
8:39
Speaker 2: end of the world. So we're gonna take a quick
8:41
Speaker 2: break when we come back.
8:42
Speaker 1: We're gonna talk about the pitching staff here on bucko Territory.
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9:48
Speaker 2: All right, guys, so the pitching problem is what this
9:53
Speaker 2: topic is named. I'm gonna write a story. I mean
9:57
Speaker 2: it will be published by the time this episode publishes.
9:59
Speaker 2: You can read at postashkizet dot com. My weekend thoughts
10:03
Speaker 2: call him. I was thinking over the weekend and I
10:05
Speaker 2: was actually talking with Alex Stumpf, who covers the team
10:08
Speaker 2: for a substack. You should all check out his substack there.
10:13
Speaker 2: Just search him on it. You can find it. And
10:16
Speaker 2: we were both kind of saying, how you know they
10:19
Speaker 2: fired Oscar Marine at the end of last season, who
10:23
Speaker 2: had been around to watch this home grown pitching staff
10:28
Speaker 2: arrive in the major leagues and all experience some decent success.
10:32
Speaker 2: And the reasoning behind that is the players kind of said, hey,
10:35
Speaker 2: we think we can reach a whole nother level and
10:38
Speaker 2: they wanted a new voice at the Helm to help
10:41
Speaker 2: them get there. And this isn't necessarily attack at Bill Murphy.
10:45
Speaker 2: But the reality is we're three months into the season
10:49
Speaker 2: now and it's very, very difficult to find any pitcher
10:52
Speaker 2: on this team, starter or reliever who is better than
10:55
Speaker 2: they were last year. Braxton Ashcraft got better, but I
10:58
Speaker 2: would argue Braxon Ashtraft was just gonna be good. Paul
11:01
Speaker 2: Skeins isn't bad, but Paul Skeins isn't as good as
11:05
Speaker 2: he was last year. Right now, there's just no refuting
11:08
Speaker 2: that at all. Mitch Keller's worse than he was last year.
11:12
Speaker 2: Bubba Chandler's worse than he it was last year. Too
11:14
Speaker 2: early to make a reference or an opinion on Jared Jones.
11:17
Speaker 2: I guess he's looked fine. I mean Carlin Majinski, I
11:20
Speaker 2: guess took a step forward. You could point to Wilberd Hotel,
11:23
Speaker 2: but I mean you look at that bullpen, Santana's regress.
11:26
Speaker 1: Isaac Madsen's in triple A right now. A lot of.
11:30
Speaker 2: Guys, man, a lot of guys are worse off than
11:33
Speaker 2: they were a year ago at this time.
11:35
Speaker 1: So I'll throw it to either one of you. I mean,
11:37
Speaker 1: what's your take on this?
11:39
Speaker 4: All right?
11:40
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'll start with this one. It's been pretty disappointing
11:44
Speaker 3: because coming into the season, this starting rotation was supposed
11:48
Speaker 3: to be the crown jewel of this team. Everything was
11:52
Speaker 3: going to start with them. And this team will be
11:54
Speaker 3: as good as they can allow, essentially, and we've seen
11:59
Speaker 3: just in these past month or so, I'd say maybe
12:02
Speaker 3: like last two or two weeks where it's just been
12:04
Speaker 3: the starting rotations had some rough outings from guys that
12:09
Speaker 3: typically don't and we were spoiled to begin the season
12:13
Speaker 3: where you never saw like a blow up start from
12:16
Speaker 3: any of these starters, Like the worst start would be
12:18
Speaker 3: like maybe four runs, five runs allowed, but they still
12:20
Speaker 3: were going five, you know, outside of the schemes opening
12:24
Speaker 3: days start. And now we're seeing you know, like Skeens
12:29
Speaker 3: had to go four point two innings after he threw
12:31
Speaker 3: one hundred and nine pitches, and yes, partially it's attributed
12:36
Speaker 3: to the defense has been pretty bad. We've seen the
12:39
Speaker 3: last couple of games.
12:40
Speaker 4: At their base.
12:42
Speaker 3: You know, we had Tyler Callahan in Sunday's game make
12:47
Speaker 3: an error when Bubba was just about to get out
12:49
Speaker 3: of it, and then Bubba struck out Matt Olsen, but
12:52
Speaker 3: then walked the next two pitchers or next two batters
12:55
Speaker 3: on eight pitches, so it all kind of spiraled after
12:58
Speaker 3: that defense. Skeens had a couple of innings where Nick
13:00
Speaker 3: and Zales made those plays, but it's not all on
13:03
Speaker 3: the defense. Uh. And I think the biggest concern is
13:08
Speaker 3: the bullpen. We saw the Pirates kind of craft their
13:13
Speaker 3: own bullpen success stories under Oscar Marine. Like I think
13:18
Speaker 3: about like Isaac Mattson, a guy who you know is
13:20
Speaker 3: an independent ball and this pic they the pitching staff
13:24
Speaker 3: was able to make him an elite reliever last year.
13:28
Speaker 4: Now he's taken this.
13:29
Speaker 3: Yeah, same with down in Santana where it was a
13:31
Speaker 3: reclamation project. You pick him off up off waivers in
13:34
Speaker 3: like Junior July or something, and all of a sudden
13:37
Speaker 3: you turn him into a closer. Uh, But we haven't
13:40
Speaker 3: seen any of that from the bullpen. Maybe Evan Sisk
13:44
Speaker 3: and yeah, Dotel and like obviously Soto has been great,
13:48
Speaker 3: but uh, you know that's not necessarily the staff. I
13:52
Speaker 3: would say it's more a veteran doing what he's always done.
13:55
Speaker 3: So that's been it's just been overall concerning. And I
13:59
Speaker 3: don't want to like discount Bill Murphy. I think he
14:02
Speaker 3: still has a chance to do really good things with
14:06
Speaker 3: this picturing staff, but we just haven't seen it yet.
14:10
Speaker 2: Yeah, Josh, what are your thoughts on players pushing for change?
14:19
Speaker 4: One?
14:20
Speaker 5: I think if you've got players pushing for change, I
14:25
Speaker 5: think you gotta listen to who's saying it, you know, internally,
14:29
Speaker 5: and then listen to why they want to change, because sometimes,
14:33
Speaker 5: you know, it's just like a kid. They might want
14:35
Speaker 5: something change, but the reason may not be valid, and
14:37
Speaker 5: it's like, Okay, we don't want to change something just
14:39
Speaker 5: to change it just to make you feel better. You know,
14:41
Speaker 5: we might have this in place because there's really good
14:44
Speaker 5: value in something that you may not be able to see.
14:48
Speaker 5: But at the same time, when you're talking players, you
14:51
Speaker 5: know that there is that player coach relationship or you know,
14:55
Speaker 5: and and and sometimes some player coach relationship is a
14:59
Speaker 5: good you relationship as far as oh, this guy knows me,
15:02
Speaker 5: understands me. Sometimes it's like, man, not my favorite coach
15:07
Speaker 5: that I've ever had, but this dude knows when I'm off.
15:11
Speaker 4: He knows. The one thing that is like, hey, this
15:14
Speaker 4: is what you gotta do or this is what you're
15:17
Speaker 4: not doing.
15:18
Speaker 5: And a lot of coaching or you know, any of
15:21
Speaker 5: that is you know, you got to get to know guys.
15:23
Speaker 5: And you know, I think, as you said, Oscar is
15:27
Speaker 5: here to see those guys that homegrown and kind of
15:29
Speaker 5: developed that that relationship and kind of know maybe what
15:33
Speaker 5: this guy needs to help, you know, might need to
15:36
Speaker 5: pull him back and not that Bill doesn't. It's just
15:40
Speaker 5: gonna take some time. And at the same time, you know,
15:44
Speaker 5: as you said, defense hasn't helped. But you know it's
15:48
Speaker 5: also grass isn't always greener on the other side, as
15:51
Speaker 5: far as if you're talking, you know, hey, we we
15:55
Speaker 5: think something needs to be changed. As I said, like
15:58
Speaker 5: what was the reasoning for the change? Because I was safe,
16:02
Speaker 5: it's not broke. Don't fix it. Yes, you may not,
16:04
Speaker 5: you know, like this person or whatever. But if results
16:06
Speaker 5: are there and you know, everybody's getting better. But I
16:11
Speaker 5: also get it, who knows who said it or what's headed.
16:14
Speaker 5: But but if it's some pretty heavy hitters. I've been
16:17
Speaker 5: in some organizations where their word really means a lot,
16:20
Speaker 5: and you see some changes, whether it's you know, coaching staff,
16:24
Speaker 5: you'll see you know, training staff. I've seen you know,
16:27
Speaker 5: various staff members just based off of you know, ay Man,
16:30
Speaker 5: I think this might be beneficial, and sometimes it works,
16:32
Speaker 5: sometimes it doesn't. But you know, this is one of
16:35
Speaker 5: those situations where if it was not a necessary like
16:41
Speaker 5: change needed, sometimes you can go through a little little
16:44
Speaker 5: hiccup when things, you know, get get get rough. Because
16:47
Speaker 5: as you said earlier in the season, they didn't really
16:49
Speaker 5: get off to you know, any alarming starts. But now
16:52
Speaker 5: that they're you know, they've had some, it's kind of like, Okay,
16:56
Speaker 5: give them a chance to write the ship and see
16:57
Speaker 5: if they can, you know, get get back on track.
17:01
Speaker 5: But I don't think it's as easy when you're dealing
17:03
Speaker 5: with a guy who is inheriting a staff that he
17:05
Speaker 5: doesn't really know, and then you're also trying to inherit.
17:07
Speaker 4: A bullpen you don't really know, and then these prospects.
17:10
Speaker 5: It's a lot to deal with and then you don't
17:12
Speaker 5: you know, you got guys probably picking each other's brain.
17:14
Speaker 5: But at the same time, if he's on the funk,
17:16
Speaker 5: he's on the front. Now what's he telling you? That's
17:19
Speaker 5: a lot, especially if you don't know a guy's communication
17:22
Speaker 5: patterns or how he deals with things. So I think
17:25
Speaker 5: what you have now is a staff that is struggling
17:27
Speaker 5: as a whole. It was just the bullpen yeah for
17:31
Speaker 5: a second, but now you kind of got it, and
17:32
Speaker 5: now it's like, okay, what what are we after?
17:35
Speaker 4: What's going on?
17:36
Speaker 5: Right?
17:37
Speaker 2: And I wouldn't even say it's struggling because they're not
17:39
Speaker 2: like a bad right, But.
17:43
Speaker 1: They're not. They're not. They're not playing to their potential, right,
17:46
Speaker 1: They're just not.
17:47
Speaker 2: And and that goes from the top down, Like Paul
17:50
Speaker 2: Skins is having for his standards a B plus season, right,
17:54
Speaker 2: and like you counted on Paul Skins having an A
17:57
Speaker 2: to an A plus season.
17:59
Speaker 1: That's the goal.
17:59
Speaker 2: And you could say that for just pretty much everyone.
18:02
Speaker 2: And it really hasn't cost them a ton. I mean,
18:05
Speaker 2: they're still over five hundred, they're still in playoff contention.
18:07
Speaker 2: But it's like, I don't know, I figured by now
18:12
Speaker 2: we would see that second gear kicking in, and I
18:14
Speaker 2: still think there is a second gear here. Yeah, I
18:17
Speaker 2: mean there should be. It can't stay like this forever
18:21
Speaker 2: otherwise they are in trouble. But you know, in the
18:25
Speaker 2: beginning of the year, it was good, but it felt
18:27
Speaker 2: like they were kind of holding back a little and
18:30
Speaker 2: now it's just kind of like, all right, like you
18:32
Speaker 2: should be better than this at this point in the year,
18:34
Speaker 2: and they're just they just aren't right now.
18:36
Speaker 1: And that could change.
18:37
Speaker 2: I mean, they could sweep the Dodgers and allow five
18:40
Speaker 2: runs over three games, and I wouldn't be that shocked, like,
18:43
Speaker 2: because I know that the guys on this staff are
18:46
Speaker 2: good pitchers. It's just they haven't been that good over
18:49
Speaker 2: the last month or so. So all right, we're gonna
18:52
Speaker 2: take another quick break when we come back. We round
18:54
Speaker 2: out the show with Mark's Platinum Key.
18:56
Speaker 1: Of the Week.
19:03
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Speaker 4: Sold you?
19:32
Speaker 5: They come in bunches, So I was just right on it.
19:35
Speaker 5: I'm gonna go with O'Hearn this time.
19:36
Speaker 4: Oh, I like it, come back swinging a bat?
19:39
Speaker 3: What about you, Joah.
19:41
Speaker 1: I'm gonna stick with Spencer Horwitz. He's the best player
19:44
Speaker 1: in this team right now.
19:45
Speaker 3: Yeah, and when home runs are coming in bunches. Speaking
19:47
Speaker 3: of that nasty, nasty bat drop on Sunday lead off homer,
19:53
Speaker 3: Love that from Horwitz, And you know I'll go with
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Speaker 3: All right now, time for the Key of the Week segment. Here,
20:45
Speaker 3: we're gonna throw a little new graphic your way. Josh,
20:57
Speaker 3: I think you might have the cooler graphic. I don't know,
21:01
Speaker 3: I do yeah, yeah, yeah, maybe maybe, but yeah. My
21:06
Speaker 3: key of the week this week is the ABS challenges
21:09
Speaker 3: early on in the games. Pirates against the Braves lost
21:14
Speaker 3: I think three ABS challenges, one each game in the
21:18
Speaker 3: first two innings, and it just has a freezing effect
21:22
Speaker 3: on the rest of the game, where the Pirates know
21:26
Speaker 3: that they only have one challenge remaining and so there's
21:29
Speaker 3: increased hesdency to use it when we know that actually
21:34
Speaker 3: probably returned a couple of calls had it still been there,
21:37
Speaker 3: and just throwing out some stats, this is a somewhat
21:41
Speaker 3: unique Pirates problem. Pirates are fourth worst in MLB this
21:45
Speaker 3: year for ABS challenge success rate. They are successful forty
21:50
Speaker 3: percent of the time, and for comparison, the Houston Astros
21:55
Speaker 3: ironically are the best in the MLB challenging pitches this
22:01
Speaker 3: year at fifty nine percent, so a nineteen percent difference
22:05
Speaker 3: between the top of the league and where the Pirates
22:07
Speaker 3: are at. The Pirates challenge pretty frequently compared to most teams.
22:12
Speaker 3: They've challenged sixty eight times this year, which is within
22:15
Speaker 3: the top ten. So the fact that they're losing this
22:18
Speaker 3: often is somewhat a product of being aggressive. I mean,
22:22
Speaker 3: if you don't use the challenges, you lose them, so
22:25
Speaker 3: you might as well use them. But I think be
22:27
Speaker 3: more selective in the time and place where if there's
22:30
Speaker 3: one out, no one's on base, and it's an O
22:32
Speaker 3: two count, you don't need to challenge it. Just accept
22:35
Speaker 3: a bad call and save that challenge in the back
22:38
Speaker 3: pocket because there could be a situation later on in
22:41
Speaker 3: the game where that is going to be a lot
22:43
Speaker 3: more impactful. And we've seen the broadcast bring this up
22:46
Speaker 3: quite a few times where you know, like both Brownie
22:51
Speaker 3: and whoever is doing color on that, they're just like,
22:54
Speaker 3: why are we wasting this challenge here in the first thing,
22:57
Speaker 3: because even if you're right, what is the better fit?
23:01
Speaker 3: And I think we'll see more of that kind of
23:03
Speaker 3: grow I really like Jared jones approach. When he was
23:07
Speaker 3: on the broadcast, he mentioned he thinks everything's a strike.
23:11
Speaker 3: He thinks everything should be a strike, so he's never
23:14
Speaker 3: going to challenge because he knows himself. And we've seen
23:17
Speaker 3: a couple of those calls I think, like and he
23:19
Speaker 3: had one where it was just clear frustration where it's
23:21
Speaker 3: like and you tap your head and you're like just
23:24
Speaker 3: out of the frustration without thinking, and it's hard when
23:27
Speaker 3: it's a split second decision. Hard that it's like a
23:30
Speaker 3: brand new technology. Some of these guys didn't have a
23:33
Speaker 3: chance to, you know, in the miners come up with
23:35
Speaker 3: it and test it out. So we're seeing some of
23:38
Speaker 3: that RUSS this year. But that's my key of the
23:40
Speaker 3: week is when you're playing these really really good teams
23:43
Speaker 3: like the Braves and Dodgers, everything on the margins counts,
23:47
Speaker 3: and so having those challenges in your back pocket because
23:51
Speaker 3: if you need it for the one run game, you
23:54
Speaker 3: gotta save those. So fee a little bit more judicious
23:56
Speaker 3: with the usage of that, and that's my key of
23:59
Speaker 3: the week. Josh, I don't know what you think, like,
24:03
Speaker 3: should players be like holding each other accountable? How do
24:06
Speaker 3: you make people kind of lock in more and not
24:09
Speaker 3: waste those team challenges?
24:12
Speaker 5: Well, I think it's got to be a conversation as
24:13
Speaker 5: a team one. For the most part, I think catchers
24:17
Speaker 5: for the most part challenge when pitchers do it, but offensively,
24:22
Speaker 5: it's got to be you know, we only have to
24:25
Speaker 5: use these in moments where it really matters, Like, hey,
24:28
Speaker 5: if it's a strike three that you think is like ooh,
24:31
Speaker 5: like that's not a strike, and you know it's running
24:34
Speaker 5: in a scoring position, you know, like a big at bat,
24:37
Speaker 5: like man, if you lean off the inning and it's
24:39
Speaker 5: an or one to oh, like, hey, you might have
24:42
Speaker 5: to eat that one, you know, because it's not really
24:44
Speaker 5: worth it because if you get it wrong, you didn't
24:46
Speaker 5: gain anything.
24:47
Speaker 4: Yes, if you got it right, yes you get to
24:49
Speaker 4: keep the challenge.
24:50
Speaker 5: But you know there's a big difference in you know,
24:55
Speaker 5: you know, having that in the first inning and have
24:56
Speaker 5: it in the eighth inning where you know you might
24:59
Speaker 5: need to in the eighth inning with you know, a
25:01
Speaker 5: guy on second and third and one out and it's
25:05
Speaker 5: a one to one pitch that this borderline that gets
25:08
Speaker 5: called for strike, you want that to be flipped over
25:10
Speaker 5: to two to one, not necessarily, you know that first
25:13
Speaker 5: at bat.
25:14
Speaker 4: With nobody on and it's a.
25:16
Speaker 5: One oh count, and bro, it's the difference between two
25:19
Speaker 5: oh and one one, you know, with nobody on. Granted,
25:23
Speaker 5: you do have to be aggressive and using them because
25:25
Speaker 5: you don't want to wait till the ninth inning and
25:26
Speaker 5: be like, oh, we haven't used one, because we know
25:29
Speaker 5: through nine innings there's gonna be a lot of pitches
25:31
Speaker 5: that are going to be on the edges and close.
25:34
Speaker 5: But to challenge that many times and lose that many times,
25:39
Speaker 5: I'd be curious, is like, how many is that on
25:42
Speaker 5: the catching staff and how many is that auth because
25:44
Speaker 5: you have if it's offensively that they really have to
25:48
Speaker 5: take a look back and say, you know what, we
25:50
Speaker 5: probably should only use these runners in the position or
25:54
Speaker 5: go ahead.
25:55
Speaker 3: So those stats that I were reading, we're from the
25:58
Speaker 3: just batting. It's just that, yes, So for fielding percentages
26:03
Speaker 3: where you see a lot higher rates. So like the
26:06
Speaker 3: Cubs have the best challenge rate for fielders, So pictures
26:09
Speaker 3: and catchers at seventy one percent, and let's see the
26:13
Speaker 3: Pirates are they have the absolute worst in the league
26:16
Speaker 3: for pictures and countriers challenging at six person.
26:20
Speaker 4: They're not helping themselves in either category.
26:24
Speaker 5: So that right there to me, and it goes to
26:28
Speaker 5: I don't know if it was you know or Mark
26:30
Speaker 5: when you said Indy was frustrated. You cannot make these
26:35
Speaker 5: you can't make these decisions off of you know, emotion
26:39
Speaker 5: in the heat of the moment. Because I played the game.
26:42
Speaker 5: There's a lot of times oh that it ain't strike
26:45
Speaker 5: and you go back.
26:46
Speaker 4: You know, let me calm down. That pitch was a
26:47
Speaker 4: little closer.
26:48
Speaker 5: Than I thought, you know, but just in the heat
26:50
Speaker 5: of it, you know, I know you only got so
26:52
Speaker 5: long to challenge it. But they really have to be
26:54
Speaker 5: diligent to know that, hey, you know what, it doesn't
26:58
Speaker 5: this doesn't matter. The most important is making sure that
27:01
Speaker 5: we use these in the moments that we need to count.
27:04
Speaker 5: A one o count doesn't really matter, okay, as a
27:07
Speaker 5: hit or a two to one count where you might
27:09
Speaker 5: go three one as opposed to to two and certain
27:11
Speaker 5: that that's a big difference. But to me, it sounds
27:15
Speaker 5: like they need to collectively as a whole, need to
27:17
Speaker 5: sit down and look at the pitches that they've been reviewing,
27:21
Speaker 5: and they need to be accountable to say, you know what,
27:24
Speaker 5: go old school, don't use any unless it's a runner
27:27
Speaker 5: and scoring position. That right there, make you protect and
27:30
Speaker 5: play the do what you need to because obviously you're
27:33
Speaker 5: losing challenges and in these games that had.
27:36
Speaker 4: Been lost, you know, late in the games where it's been.
27:39
Speaker 5: A defensive place, you know, defensive, you know, misplayed ball
27:45
Speaker 5: that might have come after a pitch that they wanted
27:47
Speaker 5: to challenge, like these are things that show up and
27:51
Speaker 5: if you're if you're that bad at challenges, that's the
27:53
Speaker 5: same thing when they say when you're gonna steal, if
27:55
Speaker 5: you're still in second base, you need to be, you know,
27:58
Speaker 5: seventy percent safe. If you're doing challenge, you need to
28:01
Speaker 5: be a percent If you're in the bottom whatever from
28:04
Speaker 5: offense and defense standpoint, that is losing you games, whether
28:07
Speaker 5: you realize it or not.
28:09
Speaker 2: Yeah, and to I just like one more piece to it.
28:12
Speaker 2: I mean, what's the worst part of this team. It's
28:14
Speaker 2: the bullpen, and you're taking the opportunity for those guys
28:19
Speaker 2: challenge the It was that Wednesday when Soto blew up
28:27
Speaker 2: and the Astros came back to win. There was a
28:29
Speaker 2: point where he wanted to challenge a call and he
28:31
Speaker 2: didn't have any. And I get the you're not gonna
28:35
Speaker 2: get your challenges to the black third of every game.
28:37
Speaker 2: I understand that, but like this is the weakest area
28:40
Speaker 2: of the team. They need all the help they can get,
28:42
Speaker 2: and you're making their jobs harder.
28:45
Speaker 1: And you're making everyone's jobs harder.
28:46
Speaker 2: You're making hitting in the last couple of innings harder,
28:49
Speaker 2: although like they hit very well in the last couple
28:51
Speaker 2: of innings, so it doesn't seem like that's a big problem,
28:53
Speaker 2: but I agree. I just think it needs to be
28:56
Speaker 2: very simple, as like, if there's not a runner in
28:58
Speaker 2: scoring position, you shouldn't be using this until the back
29:03
Speaker 2: half of the game. I have no problem with if
29:05
Speaker 2: it's a tie game in the seventh then you're trying
29:07
Speaker 2: to do it just to stay alone an account perfect, Fine,
29:10
Speaker 2: this is a meaningful at bat, then every back means something, right,
29:15
Speaker 2: But like you just it's so different than football.
29:18
Speaker 1: Do you want to burn both of your challenges in
29:19
Speaker 1: a football game in the first quarter?
29:22
Speaker 2: Tomlin did, Like he did that a lot, but I mean,
29:25
Speaker 2: you know it's not the best strategy.
29:27
Speaker 1: And he also lost all his but yeah, you know
29:30
Speaker 1: he'll be great on NBC. All right.
29:33
Speaker 2: I want to remind everyone to hit that subscribe button
29:36
Speaker 2: if they haven't already. We're on a mission of three
29:38
Speaker 2: thousand subs, can't get there without your help. Also, be
29:41
Speaker 2: sure to check out the Bucket Territory team store. We
29:44
Speaker 2: got a lot of good merch and we always appreciate
29:46
Speaker 2: those who support the show.
29:48
Speaker 1: By wearing it. Guys, any final thoughts before we wrap
29:52
Speaker 1: up another episode.
29:54
Speaker 3: I'll start off real quick, guy, All Star voting has begun.
29:59
Speaker 3: If you're listening, make sure you go submit your five ballots,
30:01
Speaker 3: you know, really pack the ballot box.
30:03
Speaker 4: Uh.
30:03
Speaker 3: There's some pretty valid arguments for Pirates ulcers out there.
30:08
Speaker 3: So I think this year, more than in most Pirates
30:12
Speaker 3: fans go make an impact and show those guys some
30:15
Speaker 3: love that deserve it.
30:18
Speaker 5: Yeah, off day Monday. Dodgers coming in this weekend or no,
30:23
Speaker 5: not this weekend? Sorry about that middle week? Yeah, big series.
30:27
Speaker 5: I'm looking to be tuned in. I don't know about you, guys.
30:30
Speaker 5: I'm will be tuned in one way or another.
30:34
Speaker 3: Yeah, read between the lines there, Pirates fans. Uh, it
30:37
Speaker 3: might be something in the works.
30:38
Speaker 4: Yeah.
30:41
Speaker 1: Maybe Also, the Knicks are really good.
30:46
Speaker 4: I was just waiting.
30:47
Speaker 3: Yeah, we got how many times do you guys, say
30:51
Speaker 3: Jalen Brunson.
30:52
Speaker 4: Yeah?
30:52
Speaker 3: Should we can't take one hundred thousand on here? Jaylen Bruce,
30:55
Speaker 3: Jalen Bruns and Jayalen Brunson.
30:56
Speaker 1: We talked about the Pirates for half an hour.
30:58
Speaker 2: I can talk about the Nick Yeah yeah, all right,
31:00
Speaker 2: all right, he's Platinum Key a k A.
31:02
Speaker 1: Marquis Josh Harrison.
31:04
Speaker 2: I'm no ohio saying thanks for tuning in to another
31:07
Speaker 2: episode of Knicks Charritor I mean Bucco Territory on the
31:10
Speaker 2: Foul Territory Network.
31:12
Speaker 1: Take care