Latest / Foul Territory / MLB Power Rankings Top 10 + Pirates checkup w/Bucco host Noah Hiles

Transcript

MLB Power Rankings Top 10 + Pirates checkup w/Bucco host Noah Hiles · Foul Territory

0:05
Speaker 1: Power rankings. Let's do this. It's been a minute. The
0:08
Speaker 1: last time we did this was almost exactly a month
0:11
Speaker 1: ago May fifth, Senko to myle We'll go over what
0:14
Speaker 1: has changed, but let's start with the current list. Aj
0:18
Speaker 1: your power rankings one through ten. Go for it.
0:22
Speaker 2: Uh, well, I'm gonna start at ten because you guys
0:25
Speaker 2: know who one is already, so I don't even have
0:26
Speaker 2: to go there, but White Sox is actually you do.
0:28
Speaker 2: We'll go to the top Dodgers, Braves, Brewers, pretty self explanatory.
0:33
Speaker 2: Three best teams in baseball with the records and everything
0:35
Speaker 2: right now lined up, so I feel like those three
0:38
Speaker 2: are the best. Dodgers will stay number one until they
0:40
Speaker 2: lose in the postseason. If they lose in the postseason,
0:43
Speaker 2: the four or five is a little tougher for me
0:45
Speaker 2: because I know the Ate Rays are ahead of the
0:47
Speaker 2: Yankees and with Judge going down, but I just think
0:49
Speaker 2: over the long haul, the Yankees are gonna be better.
0:51
Speaker 2: I know this is right now, but screw it. I
0:53
Speaker 2: can do whatever I want. Then I have Phillies there
0:55
Speaker 2: on the up and up the Guardians because they're leading
0:59
Speaker 2: the Al Central and I like their team. They're pitching
1:01
Speaker 2: is a great Cardinals because their surprise. And then I
1:04
Speaker 2: love Allie Marmal and John Jay and descalso and that
1:06
Speaker 2: whole crew, so I'm happy for the Cardinals. Then I
1:08
Speaker 2: went Mariners leading the AL West. They're on the up,
1:11
Speaker 2: they look like they're getting healthy and starting to swing.
1:13
Speaker 2: And then of course ten I put the White Sox
1:15
Speaker 2: because you know what, they're the second wild card right
1:18
Speaker 2: now in the American League, so right now they're going
1:20
Speaker 2: to the postseason. They just called it Bradon Montgomery. They're
1:23
Speaker 2: fun to watch, and I got to give the White Sox.
1:25
Speaker 1: Some love, nice and a good split there. Nice balance.
1:29
Speaker 1: You've got five American League teams, you've got five National
1:32
Speaker 1: League teams. Let's go right to Eric's and then after
1:36
Speaker 1: that we can look back at how both of your
1:38
Speaker 1: lists have changed. So, mister Kratz, how does your list
1:41
Speaker 1: differ from AJS?
1:44
Speaker 3: I mean, we're very very similar. First three, actually, first four.
1:49
Speaker 3: I put the Phillies in there. I feel like I
1:52
Speaker 3: couldn't have an American League team besides the Yankees, which
1:57
Speaker 3: I think is the best in the American League in
1:59
Speaker 3: the time, outside of the Yankees. So I gave one
2:02
Speaker 3: American League team I think the Rays are built just differently,
2:07
Speaker 3: and so I think I dropped them down a little bit.
2:11
Speaker 3: I have the Diamondbacks in there because we are doing
2:14
Speaker 3: this power ranking on recently. I have the Diamondbacks and
2:17
Speaker 3: they're playing really well. Are they built enough? I think
2:21
Speaker 3: they have the bones in the structure. Yes, the news
2:24
Speaker 3: of Corbyn Burns not coming back with the significant setback
2:28
Speaker 3: that he had to his lat I think it was like, yes,
2:33
Speaker 3: I get that, but they're playing right now. They're hitting.
2:36
Speaker 3: They have two MVP type candidates in the lineup, and
2:38
Speaker 3: that's without Heroldo Perdomo. So I think putting the Diamonbacks
2:42
Speaker 3: in there, I love what I see from them. The
2:45
Speaker 3: Guardians are clearly the best team in the Central and
2:50
Speaker 3: how I have no idea, but they continue to be there.
2:53
Speaker 3: I think my next power rankings, I'll have the Mariners higher.
2:56
Speaker 3: And I picked the Cardinals just to it on the
3:00
Speaker 3: AJ's case because it probably should be the White Sox,
3:05
Speaker 3: but with more COMI down. I actually believe a little
3:09
Speaker 3: bit more in the White Sox lineup. But the Cardinals
3:11
Speaker 3: have something that I don't know how they're doing it,
3:14
Speaker 3: and I think they're pitching right now they're starting pitching
3:17
Speaker 3: especially is smoking mirrors that I think this might be
3:21
Speaker 3: the last time they're in my top ten of power rankings.
3:25
Speaker 1: Also, I'm glad you did that. Otherwise you guys would
3:27
Speaker 1: have had the same ten teams just shuffled a little
3:29
Speaker 1: bit differently. The only difference there is Diamondbacks in for
3:34
Speaker 1: Krats and the White Sox in there for AJ. Otherwise
3:39
Speaker 1: we do have a pretty defined looking top ten right now.
3:44
Speaker 2: Well that's because there's certain teams that are good and
3:46
Speaker 2: the rest of the team stink. That's why it's I mean,
3:51
Speaker 2: and I actually thought about putting the Diamondbacks in. I
3:53
Speaker 2: could have made I definitely could have made an argument
3:55
Speaker 2: for the Diamondbacks to be in the top ten. But
3:57
Speaker 2: I had to give the White Sox some love because,
3:59
Speaker 2: like Ken said, they weren't expected to be here, and
4:01
Speaker 2: here the are. They're not in the last World card,
4:02
Speaker 2: they're the second wild card, so I mean, they deserve
4:06
Speaker 2: some credit for that, and they're playing well. They're fun
4:08
Speaker 2: to watch. Listen. I know I'm a homer. That's fine,
4:12
Speaker 2: but they deserve some credit for being where they are.
4:14
Speaker 3: They totally do. But I also think once you go
4:17
Speaker 3: past the Phillies. I think on both our lists, once
4:20
Speaker 3: you're past the sixth team, AJ's rays have the AJ
4:25
Speaker 3: has the Phillies a six, either raise a six. I
4:28
Speaker 3: think there's a big gap.
4:30
Speaker 4: I really do.
4:31
Speaker 3: I think there's a big gap in talent. Maybe the
4:34
Speaker 3: Guardians are closer than I think, but we're going by talent,
4:38
Speaker 3: going by what we think. When I think of power rankers,
4:41
Speaker 3: I think of ooh, this team is this team is it?
4:44
Speaker 3: And I just don't. I think there's a big gap.
4:49
Speaker 1: Support for today's episode comes from Square, and they've got
4:52
Speaker 1: big news. During squares biannual Releases event, they launched a
4:55
Speaker 1: wave of innovative new tools to help local businesses run faster, smarter,
4:59
Speaker 1: and more profit. Square is awesome. Around to Orlando, where
5:02
Speaker 1: AJ and I live. We go to the farmers' markets
5:05
Speaker 1: around town. I go to the one near Lake Iola.
5:07
Speaker 1: It's awesome. I use Square to pay with my phone.
5:09
Speaker 1: I get the receipt right away. It's great.
5:11
Speaker 2: And so many businesses, not just small businesses, uses. So
5:14
Speaker 2: many restaurants and businesses I walk into, not only in
5:16
Speaker 2: Orlando but all over the country have these and you
5:20
Speaker 2: just use your credit card. Pops out a receipt emails
5:23
Speaker 2: it right to you. It's so fast, it's so efficient,
5:25
Speaker 2: it's so hassle free. It's one of the great things
5:27
Speaker 2: that you have going.
5:29
Speaker 1: Square launched its most powerful tools yet, designed to give
5:32
Speaker 1: local businesses a competitive edge without the complexity. If you're
5:35
Speaker 1: ready to sell smarter, run faster, and stress less, right now,
5:37
Speaker 1: you can get up to two hundred dollars off Square
5:39
Speaker 1: hardware at Square dot com slash go slash foul. That's
5:43
Speaker 1: Square dot com slash go slash foul. Run your business
5:46
Speaker 1: smarter with Square. Get started today. You guys both have
5:50
Speaker 1: the Dodgers one and then the Braves to Many public
5:54
Speaker 1: power rankings have the Braves one and the Dodgers too.
5:58
Speaker 1: What would your answer be, They're wrong?
6:00
Speaker 2: Okay, no, they want they want new teams. They want
6:03
Speaker 2: a new team at the top. Listen until someone beats
6:06
Speaker 2: the Dodgers their number one. I've said this, I've been
6:08
Speaker 2: saying this since we'd started these power rankings. They've won
6:10
Speaker 2: the back to back World Series. They still have the
6:12
Speaker 2: best team when they're healthy and when they aren't having
6:15
Speaker 2: guys you know, on the il for certain things, they're
6:20
Speaker 2: the best team. Went through twenty six I'm sorry, I
6:22
Speaker 2: went through forty. They're the best team. And if the
6:25
Speaker 2: thing about the Braves is might I love, love, love
6:27
Speaker 2: the Braves if something happens with Chris Sale or Bryce
6:30
Speaker 2: Elder something like that, and that can change quickly. So
6:33
Speaker 2: I love the back end of the Braves bullpen. I
6:35
Speaker 2: love the Braves lineup. I love Walt Weiss, I love
6:38
Speaker 2: all the things the Braves are doing. But I feel
6:40
Speaker 2: like the Dodgers have more depth, and until someone beats
6:43
Speaker 2: him in the postseason, they're gonna stay number one.
6:46
Speaker 3: I think the depth part is the biggest thing. I
6:49
Speaker 3: think you have a starting catcher as their backup catcher.
6:52
Speaker 3: I think they sent hay Sung Kim down and he
6:55
Speaker 3: could be a starting second baseman for any team and
6:57
Speaker 3: steal thirty bases. I think they have Justin Robleski, who
7:03
Speaker 3: was supposed to be a bullpen piece on this star
7:06
Speaker 3: studded rotation that's come in and been one of their
7:09
Speaker 3: most consistent best pitchers in the rotation. They the depth
7:14
Speaker 3: is something that just elevates them in any power ranking
7:18
Speaker 3: because of exactly what we say all the time. If
7:22
Speaker 3: they stay healthy, ooh, they've been injury prone, how are
7:25
Speaker 3: they going to navigate these This team's doing it with injuries,
7:32
Speaker 3: with not their best lineup out there, with not the
7:34
Speaker 3: fact that Tucker is not the best hitter that he
7:37
Speaker 3: has been yet, and they're still doing it. Freddy Freeman
7:40
Speaker 3: might hit three hundred this year and he's been he's
7:42
Speaker 3: not had his best year. Rookie Betts was out for
7:45
Speaker 3: a little while. Matt like, it's there's so much that
7:50
Speaker 3: I think elevates them. I'll give you a more strong
7:53
Speaker 3: answer than AJ just saying, well, you know, they're never
7:56
Speaker 3: gonna be out of my power rankings until they lose.
7:58
Speaker 3: I would even say if they lose the World Series,
8:01
Speaker 3: if they don't win the World Series this year, I
8:03
Speaker 3: still think they're the strongest team.
8:07
Speaker 1: Okay, so if they get knocked from the playoffs, you
8:10
Speaker 1: would still have them in the number one spot.
8:14
Speaker 3: In no way am I saying other teams should be
8:16
Speaker 3: intimidated by them. I should say other front offices should
8:18
Speaker 3: be intimidated because of what they've built, because of the
8:22
Speaker 3: fact that they have starting pitching that is able to
8:26
Speaker 3: stay healthy and ready to go, and the fact that
8:29
Speaker 3: they have Shoheo Tani who went from hitting like two
8:33
Speaker 3: point fifty to where he's at now. The fact that
8:36
Speaker 3: they have leaders galore, the fact that they have front
8:39
Speaker 3: offices and a manager, like they're just there is very
8:43
Speaker 3: few and small places that you can be like, ooh,
8:47
Speaker 3: this is maybe not up to the Dodgers standards, but
8:51
Speaker 3: this is like, it's not a weakness. Andy Paeyes was
8:54
Speaker 3: like he was taken from the lineup in the World
8:57
Speaker 3: Series last year they won the World Series, and here's
9:01
Speaker 3: a chance to start the All Star Game this year.
9:03
Speaker 3: Like there is so much depth that when guys don't
9:07
Speaker 3: do well, someone else does.
9:10
Speaker 1: Yeah, a guy at homegrown guys that have emerged too,
9:13
Speaker 1: like i'ma Chien and Justin Robleski. For sure. It goes
9:18
Speaker 1: on and on. Let's finish with this. I want to
9:19
Speaker 1: do the look back like I promised from May fifth,
9:22
Speaker 1: a month ago, when we did Power rankings, three teams
9:24
Speaker 1: fell off for AJ's list. The Cubs were at four,
9:28
Speaker 1: the Reds were at seven, the Padres were at eight.
9:31
Speaker 1: Teams that have entered, the Brewers at three, the Phillies
9:35
Speaker 1: at six, and the Guardians at seven. AJ, you kicked
9:39
Speaker 1: off your favorite.
9:40
Speaker 2: Team, Cubs.
9:43
Speaker 1: Mm hmm.
9:44
Speaker 2: They stink. They stinker right now? Sorry, they stinker right now.
9:48
Speaker 2: The Reds, they stinker right now, they're under five hundred,
9:50
Speaker 2: and the Padres stink right now. I mean, what am
9:52
Speaker 2: I supposed to do? I mean, the Brewers have jumped,
9:54
Speaker 2: they've been playing great. The Phillies were under five hundred
9:57
Speaker 2: over a month ago, they fired their manager. Look at
9:59
Speaker 2: them go now well, and the Guardians have been playing
10:01
Speaker 2: really well, so they deserve it. And three teams I
10:03
Speaker 2: kicked off, you don't like it play better?
10:07
Speaker 1: Yeah, And for Krats, I mean he kicked those three
10:09
Speaker 1: teams off as well, and he had the Pirates at
10:13
Speaker 1: nine teams that entered for Krats or the Cardinals, Guardians, Diamondbacks,
10:16
Speaker 1: and Phillies. So Krats, the Pirates haven't played that much
10:20
Speaker 1: worse since last time we did this. They're kind of
10:22
Speaker 1: just hanging around that five hundred mark. But you felt
10:25
Speaker 1: like there were other teams that deserve to be ahead
10:27
Speaker 1: of them, right, And I agree with you, Like, for example,
10:29
Speaker 1: when I'm watching the Diamondbacks right now, more complete team,
10:31
Speaker 1: and surprisingly the Diamonbacks bullpen's been really good. They've got
10:34
Speaker 1: more guys coming back on that front. So I just think,
10:36
Speaker 1: you know, the Pirates probably have the starting pitching advantage there,
10:39
Speaker 1: but otherwise the offense and the bullpen for the Diamondbacks
10:43
Speaker 1: is stronger you one hundred percent.
10:46
Speaker 3: I think when I look at the Pirates, I say
10:49
Speaker 3: good lineup compared to other Pirates teams which were not
10:53
Speaker 3: very good. Dimonbacks lineup massive, massive upgrade with kateel Marte
10:58
Speaker 3: swinging like he's swinging, Carol always doing what he's going
11:01
Speaker 3: to do. I just think they have they have more
11:04
Speaker 3: pieces Nolan. I don't know that what Nolan's doing is
11:07
Speaker 3: going to really fall off barring an injury. I think
11:10
Speaker 3: what he's doing, he's he's able to be who he
11:13
Speaker 3: is in the spot in the lineup that he's doing
11:15
Speaker 3: it in. The Pirates definitely improved, but I think a
11:19
Speaker 3: step down in their lineup. I think the rotation is
11:22
Speaker 3: clearly better than the Diamondbacks rotation. But I really I
11:26
Speaker 3: agree with you that bullpen, especially if if the you know,
11:30
Speaker 3: when Puck comes back, when Martinez comes back, the Diamondbacks
11:35
Speaker 3: they're not going to have to rush those guys into
11:37
Speaker 3: closing roles because they already have seawalled that's back in
11:40
Speaker 3: that bullpen. So I think I think they're they're both
11:43
Speaker 3: they're both playing well. I just think the Diamondbacks are
11:46
Speaker 3: playing that much better that I put them higher.
11:49
Speaker 1: The Rnado acquisition has been a steal so far this year.
11:53
Speaker 1: I think there's some teams looking at that being like, man,
11:55
Speaker 1: we could have had them for cheap, and they're kicking themselves.
11:58
Speaker 1: On the topic of the Pirates, we're about to spend
12:00
Speaker 1: fifteen minutes talking about them. Noah Hailes from Bucco Territory
12:04
Speaker 1: joining us next.
12:10
Speaker 3: My don Bella would do anything for a treat, and
12:13
Speaker 3: I want to give her a treat that will take
12:15
Speaker 3: care of her long term.
12:17
Speaker 1: And a quick message from today's sponsor, the ASPCA Pet
12:20
Speaker 1: Health Insurance Program. If you're frantically looking for what to
12:24
Speaker 1: do with your pup when they have an issue, the
12:25
Speaker 1: program offers customizable accident and illness plans, making it easier
12:29
Speaker 1: to get your pet the care they need. When you
12:32
Speaker 1: enroll in an ASPCA Pet Health Insurance plan, you could
12:35
Speaker 1: get a twenty five dollars Amazon gift card. It's a
12:37
Speaker 1: little treat for you while you're doing something great for
12:39
Speaker 1: your pet. To explore coverage, visit ASPCA Pet Insurance dot
12:43
Speaker 1: Com slash file that's ASPCA Pet Insurance dot com slash
12:47
Speaker 1: foul Eligibility restrictions apply. Visit ASPCA pet insurance dot com
12:52
Speaker 1: slash Amazon terms for more info. This is a paid advertisement.
12:55
Speaker 1: Insurance is underwritten by either Independence American Insurance Company or
12:58
Speaker 1: United States Fire Insurance Company and produced by PTZ Insurance
13:02
Speaker 1: Agency Limited. The ASPCA is not an insurance and is
13:05
Speaker 1: not engaged in the business of insurance. Hey, let's talk Pirates.
13:21
Speaker 1: Where's this team at? No hile's joining us right now.
13:23
Speaker 1: Sports comments for the Pittsburgh Post Gazette and part of
13:26
Speaker 1: the ft Fam The Great Bucco Territory Show, which is
13:30
Speaker 1: Platinum yea, sir, Go Nicks, No, Yes, next?
13:35
Speaker 2: How that game go last night?
13:38
Speaker 1: Not? Yeah?
13:40
Speaker 5: Exactly?
13:41
Speaker 1: Two? Two? Okay? So Noah. Also part of Bucco Territory
13:46
Speaker 1: Josh Harrison Noah plus Platinum key Noah, Great to have
13:49
Speaker 1: you on. What are you guys talking about lately with
13:51
Speaker 1: the Pirates? I mean, it's nice to be relevant halfway
13:54
Speaker 1: almost halfway through the season, But what are the thoughts here?
13:58
Speaker 3: Yeah?
13:58
Speaker 5: I mean it's it's kind of sir to be talking
14:00
Speaker 5: about a team that's competitive and how they can even
14:03
Speaker 5: be more competitive as to you know, oppose the last
14:06
Speaker 5: year where we're talking about who they're going to trade away,
14:08
Speaker 5: what prospects they.
14:09
Speaker 4: Can call up. But for me, right now, I think
14:11
Speaker 4: the focus is on two things. One injuries.
14:14
Speaker 5: Connor Griffin's on the IL right now, Brandon Low and
14:17
Speaker 5: O'Neil Cruz are banged up. Ryan O'Hearn just came back
14:19
Speaker 5: from the ALE. I mean, these are really important players.
14:22
Speaker 5: So the fact that they can, you know, tread water
14:25
Speaker 5: until everyone's back to or as close as possible to
14:29
Speaker 5: full health is a big storyline. And I think the
14:32
Speaker 5: other big storyline surrounding this team is pitching, not just
14:35
Speaker 5: the bullpen, which has been the team's.
14:36
Speaker 4: Achilles heel, but also the starting rotation.
14:39
Speaker 5: You had the drama earlier this month with Carmen Majinski
14:42
Speaker 5: being moved from the rotation to the bullpen. Jared Jones
14:45
Speaker 5: is back. He looked really good in one start, not
14:48
Speaker 5: so great in another. Paul Skeens has looked human as
14:51
Speaker 5: of late. We'll see how he looks tonight against the Dodgers.
14:54
Speaker 5: But overall, this pitching staff needs to be better. The
14:58
Speaker 5: bullpen and the starting rotation as a whole. It's fine,
15:02
Speaker 5: but the starting rotation hasn't necessarily taken the step forward.
15:05
Speaker 5: A lot of people, myself included, believed it would heading
15:09
Speaker 5: into this year, and the bullpen is costing. It has
15:12
Speaker 5: cost this team a lot of games. So pitching was
15:14
Speaker 5: supposed to.
15:15
Speaker 4: Lead the charge.
15:16
Speaker 5: Ironically, it's the offense leading the charge for this team
15:19
Speaker 5: and that's the reason it's above five hundred and still
15:21
Speaker 5: in the mix.
15:23
Speaker 2: No, that's my question. Is this pitching good enough to
15:25
Speaker 2: maintain in a tough National League, to stay in this
15:28
Speaker 2: Pennant race? Especially the bullpen? I think Keller, Skeens, Jones, Chandler,
15:34
Speaker 2: those guys. I think you trust those guys a little
15:36
Speaker 2: bit more because they have a little bit more of
15:38
Speaker 2: a track record. Maybe not Chandler, but the bullpen has
15:41
Speaker 2: been the surprise for me. The bullpen was thought to
15:43
Speaker 2: be maybe obviously a lot better than what it is.
15:46
Speaker 2: So is it good enough to keep them in this
15:49
Speaker 2: race over the entire season.
15:52
Speaker 4: I don't know.
15:53
Speaker 5: I mean, I agree with you like the starting pitching
15:55
Speaker 5: I think is just going to be better. I don't
15:57
Speaker 5: anticipate Paul Skeens going through this skied much longer. I
16:00
Speaker 5: think he's gonna go back to being Paul Skins. I
16:02
Speaker 5: think Brax and Ashcraft is a borderline All Star this year,
16:06
Speaker 5: probably guy who should be an All Star. I think
16:08
Speaker 5: Jared Jones is gonna make this unit better. They have
16:11
Speaker 5: the depth up front, and I expect these guys to
16:14
Speaker 5: be given a little bit more grace in a leash
16:16
Speaker 5: to go longer into ball games as the season progresses,
16:19
Speaker 5: which will take a little bit of, you know, burden
16:22
Speaker 5: off the bullpen. But the problem right now is they
16:24
Speaker 5: just don't have a lot of right handed pitching in
16:26
Speaker 5: relief situations. Their best two right handers in the bullpen
16:29
Speaker 5: or long relief guys. It's Majenski, a guy who started
16:32
Speaker 5: the season in the rotation in wilbrid Hotel, who's a
16:34
Speaker 5: rookie who they're probably gonna be using as a piggyback guy,
16:38
Speaker 5: or someone who's gonna be covering early to mid.
16:41
Speaker 4: Relief innings as opposed to leverage.
16:43
Speaker 5: Soto's been fine in the back end, but they're gonna
16:46
Speaker 5: need to make some external additions, and probably before the
16:50
Speaker 5: last week of.
16:51
Speaker 4: The deadline arrives.
16:52
Speaker 5: I think in order to stay competitive and keep the
16:55
Speaker 5: ball rolling here, they need to make a nice addition
16:58
Speaker 5: sometime in June, and it does have to be a
17:01
Speaker 5: high leverage ninth inning guy, but just someone who can
17:05
Speaker 5: come in and give you a steady presence more often
17:09
Speaker 5: than not in the seventh or eighth inning to kind
17:11
Speaker 5: of bridge it between the starting rotation to Gregorysoto. You
17:15
Speaker 5: find that eighth inning guy from the right side, and
17:17
Speaker 5: I think you're in business, all right.
17:20
Speaker 3: How much of this lack of pitching making the next
17:25
Speaker 3: progression is actually not necessarily the pitching, but the fact
17:30
Speaker 3: that they downgraded their defense to upgrade their offense, because
17:35
Speaker 3: I get it, like these are the same pitchers and
17:37
Speaker 3: Bubba Chandler needs to throw more strikes. You can't defend well,
17:41
Speaker 3: you can't defend walks. But last year, relative to the league,
17:45
Speaker 3: Pittsburgh defense was top ten in defensive runs saved. Now
17:50
Speaker 3: they're bottom half of the season, negligible, But it's a
17:54
Speaker 3: lot How much of that has affected Paul Skiing's era
17:58
Speaker 3: on opening Day and everybody else?
18:02
Speaker 4: A lot of it has. I mean, you bring up
18:03
Speaker 4: Paul Skeans.
18:04
Speaker 5: It wasn't just the opening day start, his most recent
18:07
Speaker 5: outing in Houston. Also, there was some bad defensive play
18:10
Speaker 5: on the left side of the endfield that kind of
18:12
Speaker 5: cost him and made him throw more pitches. It not
18:14
Speaker 5: only inflates the era, but doesn't allow him to go
18:17
Speaker 5: deeper into ballgames.
18:19
Speaker 4: Bubba Chandler has been.
18:20
Speaker 5: The victim of a lot of bad fielding luck this year,
18:23
Speaker 5: and he still needs to be a lot better. But
18:25
Speaker 5: it seems like every time he's pitching, something happens in
18:28
Speaker 5: the outfield or there's a costly air with runners on base,
18:32
Speaker 5: and it's unfortunate. But at the same time, I think
18:35
Speaker 5: everyone in that pitching staff would agree that they need
18:37
Speaker 5: to be better. Like Mitch Keller needs to be better
18:40
Speaker 5: right now, Bubba Chandler needs to be better right now.
18:42
Speaker 5: Paul Skins needs to be better right now. So I
18:44
Speaker 5: think it's a little bit of both. To answer your question,
18:47
Speaker 5: the fielding is not good enough. It has I would
18:50
Speaker 5: say it's better than it was in April, and it's
18:55
Speaker 5: fine for what it is now without Connor Griffin playing shortstop.
18:59
Speaker 5: But yeah, I think they need to get better defensively.
19:02
Speaker 5: But I also think the pitching staff they're walking too
19:04
Speaker 5: many batters and they're not necessarily pitching great with guys
19:06
Speaker 5: on base.
19:09
Speaker 2: I know we want to talk to defensive talk opening
19:11
Speaker 2: day on Neil Cruise. Is O'Neil Cruz an All Star
19:13
Speaker 2: this year? Is he? I've seen a lot of talk
19:16
Speaker 2: about it. Is he an All Star? I mean he
19:18
Speaker 2: has these glimpses where you see him hit five hundred
19:20
Speaker 2: foot home runs and steal bases and make incredible catches,
19:24
Speaker 2: and then you see the next high line he's missing
19:26
Speaker 2: fly balls, missing the cutoff man, missing grounders in the outfield.
19:30
Speaker 2: Is he a bona fide All Star?
19:33
Speaker 5: I don't know bona fide, but I think he's in
19:36
Speaker 5: the conversation. I know I haven't checked the projections as
19:39
Speaker 5: of late, but I know as late as last week
19:41
Speaker 5: he was the only major league player on pace for
19:44
Speaker 5: a thirty thirty season. He's also on pace to like
19:46
Speaker 5: shatter the season record for strikeouts.
19:48
Speaker 4: So I mean, that's just the epitome of O'Neal Cruz.
19:51
Speaker 5: You take the good and the bad, but overall, I
19:53
Speaker 5: think he's taking a step forward. You look at what
19:55
Speaker 5: he's doing against left handed pitching this year. It is
19:59
Speaker 5: night and day compaired to where he was last year.
20:01
Speaker 5: I think the lineup protection has made him a far
20:04
Speaker 5: more dangerous player. Last year, teams they had the game
20:07
Speaker 5: plan for two guys, Brian Reynolds and O'Neal Cruz, and
20:10
Speaker 5: Reynolds was not hitting the ball in the first half
20:12
Speaker 5: of last season, so really they could pick on Cruise
20:15
Speaker 5: and it kind of led to a season falling apart
20:18
Speaker 5: in early June. Where this year, I think having guys
20:21
Speaker 5: like Lao O'Hearn, Reynolds still here, Spencer Horowitz, who has
20:25
Speaker 5: probably been their one of the more underrated hitters in
20:28
Speaker 5: baseball this year. Having that length in the lineup has
20:32
Speaker 5: allowed Cruz to kind of settle in and find a
20:34
Speaker 5: rhythm at the plate. I think offensively he's been an
20:37
Speaker 5: All Star. Defensively maybe not so much. Overall, you look
20:42
Speaker 5: at the body of work, he's on track to be
20:45
Speaker 5: like a three to four win player.
20:47
Speaker 4: Those guys are typically All Stars.
20:49
Speaker 3: And he's fun to watch. People want to see him
20:51
Speaker 3: in an All Star Game in Philly. Hit balls to
20:53
Speaker 3: the third deck absolutely, so you know they'll seventy eight
20:57
Speaker 3: players get into the All Star Game, so he'll be
20:59
Speaker 3: one of them for sure. Hopefully he's in the home
21:01
Speaker 3: run Derby. But I want to stick in the outfield
21:03
Speaker 3: with the Pirates, and I want to compare it to
21:06
Speaker 3: the Brewers outfield. Okay, two teams that have playoff aspirations.
21:12
Speaker 3: Can the Pirates start Reynolds, O'Neil, and O'Hearn in a
21:18
Speaker 3: playoff series in the outfield against athletic best teams in
21:23
Speaker 3: the National League.
21:25
Speaker 5: I don't know, because I think their better lineup is
21:27
Speaker 5: having one of those three at DH. I mean, Ozuna
21:30
Speaker 5: anchoring down That DH spot just hasn't worked out for them.
21:33
Speaker 5: Unless there's a left hander on the mound, then maybe
21:37
Speaker 5: you think about it, but I don't think that that's
21:39
Speaker 5: probably in your best interest for all seven games of
21:42
Speaker 5: a series or however long a playoff series goes. I
21:45
Speaker 5: think you're a better team with Jake Mangum out there,
21:48
Speaker 5: just because of what he provides defensively. And I just
21:52
Speaker 5: I don't think it's the best idea to.
21:54
Speaker 4: Have Cruise and Reynolds play next to each other in
21:57
Speaker 4: the field.
21:57
Speaker 5: You can have both of them as outfielders, but if
22:00
Speaker 5: one's playing in the outfield, I like seeing the other
22:02
Speaker 5: at DH. There's just too many communication issues between that duo,
22:06
Speaker 5: and they've been playing alongside each other now for like
22:08
Speaker 5: three years, so they just haven't resolved it, and so
22:12
Speaker 5: keep it simple. I like one of those three, be
22:15
Speaker 5: it O'Hearn, Reynolds or Cruz, one of them as the DH.
22:20
Speaker 5: I think makes this team better because you can add
22:22
Speaker 5: someone in who is glove first value into that outfield
22:26
Speaker 5: and it doesn't even necessarily matter what three which three
22:29
Speaker 5: of the outfield spots it is. You just need a
22:31
Speaker 5: defense first guy to play alongside two of those guys
22:35
Speaker 5: in the field.
22:37
Speaker 2: No, do we have a Connor Griffin update?
22:40
Speaker 4: Not much.
22:41
Speaker 5: I mean he's asymptomatic right now. Per Ben Charrington on
22:46
Speaker 5: Sunday on his radio show, he met with the doctor
22:50
Speaker 5: Keith Meister in Dallas. Would have been eight days ago
22:54
Speaker 5: last Monday, and there's not any.
22:57
Speaker 4: Major updates though.
22:58
Speaker 5: It's just it seems like they're going to be very
23:01
Speaker 5: conservative with bringing him back. But the when the update
23:06
Speaker 5: is no more bad news, I think that's a major win,
23:09
Speaker 5: especially considering a guy like Connor Griffin.
23:12
Speaker 4: I mean, before he.
23:13
Speaker 5: Went on the IL, they dehed him a couple games
23:16
Speaker 5: and he was very productive at the plate. He was
23:18
Speaker 5: stealing bases, but you know, you got to take care
23:21
Speaker 5: of that throwing arm and they need him back there
23:24
Speaker 5: at shortstop.
23:24
Speaker 4: I've said this on Bucco territory plenty of times.
23:27
Speaker 5: You know how many teams can afford to lose their
23:29
Speaker 5: starting shortstop, especially a guy like Griffin who was on
23:31
Speaker 5: pace to be like a four to five war player.
23:34
Speaker 3: I tune into Pirates games, I don't watch it as
23:37
Speaker 3: religiously as Pirate fans do. Does Paul Skeens get up
23:41
Speaker 3: for a Dodgers game more than he does to dominate
23:44
Speaker 3: the Rockies when I feel like Brian Reynolds and O'Neil
23:48
Speaker 3: Cruz lost his no hitter for him? Like, does he
23:51
Speaker 3: get or do you see the same Paul Skins?
23:55
Speaker 5: I think externally you see the same Paul Skins, but
23:58
Speaker 5: something just Having covered pretty much every one of Paul
24:01
Speaker 5: starts throughout his career, I've always noted that he seems
24:04
Speaker 5: to bring a little something when it's at Dodger Stadium,
24:09
Speaker 5: or when the Dodgers are in town. When you're pitching
24:11
Speaker 5: against the Mets or you know the Yankees are those
24:14
Speaker 5: those Marque opponents, you see his velo up a little
24:17
Speaker 5: bit more, especially right now, like I expect him to
24:20
Speaker 5: put on a big performance because he hasn't had a
24:22
Speaker 5: good start in almost a month now, and he's pitching
24:26
Speaker 5: against the Dodgers. He's a California kid. He grew up
24:28
Speaker 5: an Angels fan, But I mean he grew up watching
24:30
Speaker 5: Shoeo Tani. His battles against Otani throughout his young career
24:34
Speaker 5: have Ben must watch already. So yeah, I do think
24:38
Speaker 5: he probably will never admit it. He definitely doesn't show
24:41
Speaker 5: it on the outside. But I think anyone who's human
24:46
Speaker 5: finds another gear when you're playing the best of the best,
24:49
Speaker 5: and that's what the Dodgers are. Like you guys said
24:51
Speaker 5: in your last segment, they're the best team in baseball.
24:53
Speaker 5: Paul Skins holds himself to the standard of being the
24:56
Speaker 5: best pitcher in the world. The best pitcher in the
24:58
Speaker 5: world should have a little bit of extra juice going
25:01
Speaker 5: on the mound against the best lineup in the sport.
25:04
Speaker 2: No, what's the thought about a trade deadline move for
25:07
Speaker 2: the Pirates. I mean, obviously everybody can use a bullpen,
25:10
Speaker 2: arm a bat, but will the Pirates go all in
25:13
Speaker 2: this trade deadline because they are in the playoff raise,
25:15
Speaker 2: they're above five hundred late in the year, they're in it,
25:20
Speaker 2: But are they gonna actually go for it?
25:24
Speaker 5: I think if there were ever a year for them
25:26
Speaker 5: to go forward, it'd be this year considering what awaits
25:29
Speaker 5: for the future of baseball moving forward, Considering how this
25:32
Speaker 5: team operated throughout the offseason, which you know wasn't necessarily
25:35
Speaker 5: as aggressive as other teams, but for this team standards
25:38
Speaker 5: was very aggressive. The way they've been quick to promote
25:42
Speaker 5: some of their top prospects to the major leagues this
25:44
Speaker 5: year as opposed to the recent years. I do think
25:47
Speaker 5: they're gonna be a little bit more aggressive than many
25:49
Speaker 5: would expect. It's just right now, it's assessing their needs.
25:53
Speaker 5: I mean, there's one clear need right now. It's bullpen.
25:56
Speaker 5: It's right handed relief pitching. But every team is looking
25:59
Speaker 5: for right hand ended relief pitching come July, especially the
26:02
Speaker 5: ones that are contending. So what else are they going
26:05
Speaker 5: to be looking for? I think that depends right now
26:07
Speaker 5: on who's healthy and who's not. If Griffin is going
26:09
Speaker 5: to be on the table a little bit longer, maybe
26:11
Speaker 5: you look for some left side infield depth, someone.
26:14
Speaker 4: Who can play shortstop and third base. Maybe you look
26:17
Speaker 4: for more defensive help in the outfield.
26:19
Speaker 5: Maybe you look for another everyday outfielder, and you just
26:22
Speaker 5: Relegato Zuna to being a permanent bench guy and you
26:26
Speaker 5: make Brian Reynolds your full time DH. There's a lot
26:28
Speaker 5: of different things they can go. Ironically, the thing they
26:31
Speaker 5: need least is probably another bat. They need defense, they
26:34
Speaker 5: need pitching. They'd certainly welcome another bat, but I don't
26:39
Speaker 5: know if it's necessarily just gonna be role players or
26:41
Speaker 5: rental players. Like I wouldn't be shocked if I saw
26:44
Speaker 5: this team make some sort of an aggressive move and
26:47
Speaker 5: add a guy with a couple of years of control
26:49
Speaker 5: to add on to this core that they've been building.
26:52
Speaker 1: That would be nice. That. Yeah, that's usually the way
26:54
Speaker 1: to go for a team like this. The AJ's White Sox. Right,
26:57
Speaker 1: acquire guys that you have multiple years of control for.
26:59
Speaker 1: It's going to hurt, but it gives you multiple runs
27:02
Speaker 1: and still shows your fan base that you care for
27:04
Speaker 1: this season too, So you know better, better conversation than
27:08
Speaker 1: we've had for years know about this team at this time.
27:11
Speaker 1: So I'm appreciating that part of it. About forty percent
27:14
Speaker 1: into the season, good stuff, dude, love listening to Bucco
27:17
Speaker 1: Territory often. We'll talk to you soon.
27:19
Speaker 4: Absolutely, guys, thanks for having on.
27:21
Speaker 1: Thank you. Yeah, that's no Isles from Bucco territory. Also
27:24
Speaker 1: great work uncovering all the sports in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette.
27:28
Speaker 1: But there's Josh Harrison, Platinum Key and Noah part of
27:31
Speaker 1: the Ft Network, three shows a week on the Buckos