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Will Cutch be a Pirate in 2026? · Bucco Territory: A Pittsburgh Pirates Podcast

• 0:08
  Speaker 1: What's up, everybody?
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: Welcome back to another episode of Bucco Territory on the
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: Foul Territory Podcast Network. I am Noah Hiles, and as
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: always joining me are Josh Harrison aka j and Platinum
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: Key aka Mark. Another week, Fellas to talk to Bucco Baseball,
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: and today's show, unlike other ones where we try to
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: cover a lot of ground, We're gonna hit a big topic.
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: It's a one topic show, and it's a very relevant
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: topic to really everyone on this call, and everyone who's
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: followed or everyone on this recording not call, I should say,
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: and everyone who's followed pirates baseball for quite some time.
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: It's will Andrew McCutcheon be a pirate in twenty twenty six.
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: Andrew McCutchen obviously means a lot to this franchise. He
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: means a lot to fans like Mark. He means a
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: lot to you know, people like me who grew up
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: watching him as a kid and had the privilege of
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: covering him over his last stretch here in Pittsburgh, where
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: he's given me a lot of good quotes and a
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: lot of time and everything for interviews. And then he's
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: obviously meant a lot to the guy in the middle
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: of the screen as a teammate and a close friend
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: throughout the front half of his career. Really, so a
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: lot of good points I'm sure will be made here.
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: But guys, let's look at the situation at hand. There's
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: about a month actually, I believe it's exactly one month
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: from now is the first day pitchers and catchers will
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: be made available to the media at spring training. So
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: there's one month between the day we're recording this and
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: the starter of spring training. And Andrew McCutcheon still has
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: no home. He's had a consistent home for the bulk
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: of his career, including each of the last three seasons
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: here in Pittsburgh. But you look at the additions they've
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: made over the offseason. They've added some bats that DH
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: position might look a little filled right now. And you
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: look at where Cutch is in his career. The guy
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: is creeping up toward forty. I would argue he had
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: one of the worst seasons of his career last year,
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: which it still was a fine season. It was about
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: a league average season offensively, but you could argue that
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: he's not as exactly where he would probably want to be.
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: I don't think he would be pleased with his production
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: from last season. So does he fit in here? Will
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: it happen? That's going to be what we discussed today.
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: I'm going to open the floor. We'll start with Mark here. Mark,
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: as a fan, do you want to see Andrew McCutchen
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: back or is it a Are we at a point
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: now where it just simply makes sense for them to
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: spend whatever money's left over elsewhere?
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: I mean, I absolutely would love to see Andrew McCutcheon
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: back in PNC. It wouldn't feel right if this is
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: his last year in MLB if he's not on the
• 2:53
  Speaker 3: Pittsburgh Pirates. The moments that he brings to P and C.
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: I mean, whenever he steps up to the plate, you
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: hear how much actually means the city into the fan base,
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: and he brings more than also just what he can
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: produce on the field. I think off the field, the guidance,
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: the leadership, especially for a younger ball club like the Playoates.
• 3:15
  Speaker 3: He's invaluable as far as a leader on this club. Now,
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: can you justify that with a limited budget, a limited roster,
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: You know, it starts to become a little bit of
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: a crunch. But I think there's value enough to bring
• 3:32
  Speaker 3: Andrew mccutching back for one more year, even if he's
• 3:34
  Speaker 3: not starting, and have him fill in and the outfield
• 3:38
  Speaker 3: at DH and be a leader for these guys.
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: Josh, I'll ask you this, I mean, do you think
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: Cutch has more to give here? And I know, like
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: the easy answer is yes, I think he's capable of
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: playing more Major League baseball.
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: But do you think that he can get back to.
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: Where he was maybe in twenty three or twenty four,
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: or is it more realistic to just expect him to
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: be this fifteen home run guy who is just going
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: to be DH only moving forward.
• 4:10
  Speaker 4: Well, that's something that's still gonna be.
• 4:12
  Speaker 5: You know, a question needs to be answered because even
• 4:15
  Speaker 5: last year, I want to say, the early part of
• 4:18
  Speaker 5: the season, he got caught on to play a little
• 4:20
  Speaker 5: bit more outfield than anticipated. And I'm not making an excuse.
• 4:25
  Speaker 5: But at the same time, if you're prepared to do
• 4:27
  Speaker 5: one thing and you have to do something else that's
• 4:28
  Speaker 5: a little bit more strenuous, you're gonna have what you
• 4:32
  Speaker 5: would consider, you know, a little bit of fall behind
• 4:34
  Speaker 5: or you know a little bit of drop off of him.
• 4:36
  Speaker 5: You know, maybe some numbers as you as you age.
• 4:39
  Speaker 5: But at the same time, for you to sit here
• 4:41
  Speaker 5: and say that his numbers were still average and he
• 4:43
  Speaker 5: had to do more than what he was signed for
• 4:46
  Speaker 5: is a telltale sign.
• 4:47
  Speaker 4: That he has more to get.
• 4:48
  Speaker 5: You give a guy like Andrew McCutcheon the road map
• 4:51
  Speaker 5: of hey, this is what we need from you, he
• 4:53
  Speaker 5: will give it and do it. But if he has
• 4:55
  Speaker 5: to do more, sometimes that body's not going to recover
• 4:58
  Speaker 5: as much. Right field is just as far as a
• 5:01
  Speaker 5: run from the dugout. Trust me, I played it at
• 5:02
  Speaker 5: PNC when I had to go to right field. I'm like,
• 5:05
  Speaker 5: dang man, this is far. You know, it's not an
• 5:08
  Speaker 5: issue when you're twenty four or twenty five, but when
• 5:10
  Speaker 5: you got sixteen seventeen seasons under your belt, just had
• 5:13
  Speaker 5: your fifth kid. Not that he can't do it, but
• 5:15
  Speaker 5: if you're continually asking me to do that, and I
• 5:17
  Speaker 5: would sign a you know, look at DH, I'm going
• 5:20
  Speaker 5: to have some numbers that drop off just based off
• 5:22
  Speaker 5: of the workload being put on my body. Now you
• 5:24
  Speaker 5: expect him to place in outfield and give him that cutch.
• 5:28
  Speaker 5: As a professional, he's going to put his self in
• 5:30
  Speaker 5: position to play what he needs to and that's my skill.
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think I have pretty big arguments as to
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: why you would bring him back and why you wouldn't.
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: I want to dive into both of those and get
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: your feedback on both. But before we do, I want
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: to take a quick break here to hear from our
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: show's presenting sponsor. This episode is sponsored by So Many Angels,
• 5:56
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  Speaker 2: Angels dot org. All right, So why should they not
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: bring backhand from a cutchin? That's how I'm gonna start here.
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: You look at his Baseball Savant page. There's a lot
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: of blue on it, right, I mean, the barrel rate
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: is down, the hard hit percentage is down, and my
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: biggest concern with Cutch when I'm looking at all of
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: this as bat speed, right, That's that's probably the thing
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: that I'd worry about most because if the bat speed
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: was down this past year, it was in the thirty
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: fourth percent. Tile He's not getting any younger, right, and
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: it might be able to get to where it needs
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: to be in the front half, But when we're in.
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: Those dog days of August, what can you really expect
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: from that? Now?
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: You could contend that you have a little bit more
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: depth and you can get him the rest that he
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: might require to keep those metrics where they need to be,
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: and we'll get into that side of the argument, But
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: just on its surface, you're looking at a guy who,
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: like I said, I think when you look at his
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: full body of work, that was probably his least productive
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: season as a big figure. And when that happens at
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: age thirty eight, it's hard to justify bringing someone back
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: just on paper, right, I think. Or another argument that
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: can be made as to why you wouldn't bring him
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: back is where does he fit?
• 7:43
  Speaker 4: Right?
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: It's hard to justify giving him that DH spot full
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: time when it could go to Brian Reynolds or Ryan O'Hearn.
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: I think I'd rather probably have both of those bats
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: in the lineup over his. And what's made it difficult
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: for Andrew McCutcheon over the last couple of years, I
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: would say, is his inability to really play elsewhere. I mean,
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: I think that's partially on the Pirates for not giving
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: him the heads up to say, hey, we expect you
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: to play this amount of games in the field. If
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: he had known that, well, I think in twenty twenty
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: four he's coming off the injury in twenty twenty three.
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: That's how it kind of started.
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: But going into this year, I don't think there was
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: ever really a clear expectation that he would have to
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: be ready physically to play in the field. But certain
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: things happened obviously in the beginning of the year, and
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: he was kind of called upon to play a little
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: bit more in the field than expected. And I thought
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: he held his own in April and May if you look,
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: I mean his numbers, he was their most productive hitter
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: in that stretch, and even the dvance metrics you look
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: under the hood, I mean he was getting robbed of
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: a lot of hits.
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: The exit velocity.
• 8:50
  Speaker 3: I was really about to say he I think he
• 8:52
  Speaker 3: was like second or third as far as like unluckiest
• 8:55
  Speaker 3: or he had the best yea he's played against him
• 8:57
  Speaker 3: last year, So there's justifications why his numbers look down.
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: But yes, but then I think you saw him really
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: start to run out of gas, because you know, it's
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: like when you're running a marathon and you start the
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: first half of the marathon at a faster pace, You're
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: gonna be burned out a little bit, right, Yeah, so
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: you have to worry about that durability, where he fits
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: into the lineup, all of those things. The final thing
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: that I would be concerned about is just exactly like
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: the money element of it. If you only have ten
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: million left to spend, are you gonna give half of
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: it to this guy and someone who you know might
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: not be an everyday player for you, someone who doesn't
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: have a ton of positional flexibility, or would you be
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: able or would you be better off to find some
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: positional versatility.
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: Elsewhere and spend more of that money on a pitcher.
• 9:56
  Speaker 4: Well, the money thing is interesting.
• 9:58
  Speaker 5: What he signed for last year, five million, I believe, Yeah,
• 10:02
  Speaker 5: And I know money is five over one the last
• 10:05
  Speaker 5: three years, Okay, So I know money is always going
• 10:08
  Speaker 5: to be an issue. Something tight with the Pirates, but
• 10:12
  Speaker 5: just to go off I know you just ran off
• 10:13
  Speaker 5: some metrics and things, but it also goes back to
• 10:15
  Speaker 5: where we said some of those numbers he was unlucky,
• 10:19
  Speaker 5: but the sample size in April May shows that he
• 10:21
  Speaker 5: still has value in that bad one fresh. But at
• 10:25
  Speaker 5: the same time, I don't think you can really, as
• 10:27
  Speaker 5: you said, Mark invaluables, it's hard to put a price
• 10:30
  Speaker 5: on if he's not there.
• 10:31
  Speaker 4: Who is the leader for the position players?
• 10:33
  Speaker 5: Yes, you've made these nice moves to you know, strengthen
• 10:36
  Speaker 5: your lineup and lengthen it. But who's going to be
• 10:39
  Speaker 5: that position player that's going to help these guys, you know,
• 10:41
  Speaker 5: take that next step. And if you can find somebody
• 10:45
  Speaker 5: that's going to replace that, I think it would have
• 10:47
  Speaker 5: been done a long time ago. But for one, what
• 10:49
  Speaker 5: he means to the city, if there's a way to
• 10:51
  Speaker 5: bring him back, I think with the moves that you've made,
• 10:54
  Speaker 5: it allows this team to take that step a little
• 10:57
  Speaker 5: bit closer.
• 10:58
  Speaker 4: And I think it's kind of cool.
• 10:59
  Speaker 5: What way to rig the city with the guy that
• 11:01
  Speaker 5: was able to reignite it some years ago and help
• 11:04
  Speaker 5: the city get back to you know, the win. The
• 11:05
  Speaker 5: ways that they expect and the metrics don't really bother
• 11:09
  Speaker 5: me because I said, given you know, the opportunity to
• 11:12
  Speaker 5: know what you're expecting, he's gonna produce. But when you're
• 11:15
  Speaker 5: called upon to do more, you know, sometimes you might
• 11:18
  Speaker 5: you know, backslide in other areas. But I don't know
• 11:20
  Speaker 5: if you're going to have somebody that'll be able to
• 11:22
  Speaker 5: make an impact with this city and this team the
• 11:24
  Speaker 5: way that he has, if you're really gonna, you know,
• 11:26
  Speaker 5: try to make this thing work.
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: All right, Mark, do you have anything to add on
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: that or can I go into why they should sign him?
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: Now?
• 11:35
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I would just say I guess, well, my points
• 11:38
  Speaker 3: why they should sign him. So yeah, why don't you
• 11:39
  Speaker 3: do that?
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: Okay? So I have a couple of things as to
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: why they should sign him.
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: First things, First, depth matters, right, I mean, they're they're
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: looking for at this point a guy who can hit
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: ten to fifteen home runs, and Andrew McCutchen can do that.
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: If you give him four hundred at bats, he he
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: just will.
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: And so there's the first thing.
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: And I mean the fact that you can get that
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: for five million, maybe even less if he wants to
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: come in a discount. I don't know if you're gonna
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: be able to find that elsewhere, and you're not gonna
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: find too many people who want to come here, probably
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: more than he does.
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: So the depth element of it is there where.
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: If you look at the full roster right now, it's
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: hard to see where he fits in. But no team
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: goes without injury throughout one hundred and sixty two game season,
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: and whenever someone inevitably goes down, it's a lot easier
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: to just slot him into the everyday DH roll because
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: the rest of this lineup is so versatile as far
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: versatile as far as position flexibility goes, you can move
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: Horowitz over to second, or Low over to somewhere, or
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: you know, you could put so many different guys in
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: the outfield then whatever you got to do that clears
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: up the spot to be your everyday DH And one
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: of those injuries is inevitably going to happen early in
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: the year, if not spring training, so it might not
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: be as complicated of a way lineup puzzle as some
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: people think. As far as what Cutch actually brings, aside
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: from just depth and debunking the idea of, oh, there's
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: no place for him, they're looking for a right handed bat.
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: That's what he brings. I already mentioned the power.
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: Another thing that I think people haven't really discussed a
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: ton is you're you should partially be building your team
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: around Abs, right, and this guy has one of the
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: best eyes in Major League Baseball. And every year in
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: his career, especially these last few, where you know, he's
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: become a little bit of a more patient hitter. I
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: think just because he knows that's the greatest strength to
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: his game is understanding the strike zone. He's probably going
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: to get a few more walks that he did not
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: get in recent years, simply because he has the ability
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: to challenge blown calls. Now where you know, back in
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: the day, Josh is that look he gives all the time,
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: you know, when he was yeah, there it is, Yeah,
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: he gives that.
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: Yes, he gives it.
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: And then he slowly will walk away and that he
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: just knows and he's right, like ninety five percent of
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: the time he's right. And so you're gonna get a
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: guy who will bring up the teams on base percentage.
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: You're gonna get a guy who gives a little bit
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: more from the right side of the play, who can
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: give you a little bit more slug someone who can
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: lengthen the lineup too. If he's on this year's team
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: as opposed to the last few teams, you're not asking
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: this guy to bat leadoff or second, or third or cleanup.
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: This is someone that if he was on their team now,
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: he might be batting seventh, he might be batting eighth.
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: And for Andrew McCutcheon to see his name in those
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: spots in the lineup, it might be, you know, surreal
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: for all of us, right, Like he's never been a
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: bottom third of the lineup hitter. But if that guy
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: is batting in the bottom thirtier lineup, he can provide
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: a lot different things than what you've been asking him
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: to do, Like in twenty two twenty four when they
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: moved him to lead off to try to provide a spark,
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: or in twenty twenty five when they had him in
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: the middle third. I think if you were to sit
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: him down and say, hey, we're going to bat you seventh,
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: we're going to ask you to be even more patient
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: to get on base and to maybe just focus on
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: that element of your game and that way, when the
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: lineup turns over you're standing on first base. I think
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: that is more value than what you can get. And
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: it's interesting that he's in this situation because I wrote
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: something on him at the end of the twenty twenty
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: four season about how he takes pride in being able
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: to execute in different spots of the order. When they
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: tell him, hey, you're batting lead off, he prepares differently,
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: And so I think he is a guy where if
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: you move him back, he could probably adequately handle that
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: challenge better than some other guys who are going to
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: have to be moving back in the order because of
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: the additions.
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: Of Loo and of O'Hearn.
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: So those things all considered, again, the depth is important,
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: the right side, the slug, the knowledge of the strike zone,
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: which will lead to a higher on base percentage, and
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: again the lesser workload. You're not gonna be asking this
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: guy to be your best, true right handed hitter this season.
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: You're gonna be asking him to be you know. So
• 16:19
  Speaker 2: you're gonna be asking him to essentially be the best
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: hitter in the bottom third of your lineup. And I
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: think if structured correctly, Andrew McCutcheon can do that. And
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: if you're getting a guy for five million dollars, you
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: can hit fifteen home runs, play one hundred games, and
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: bat seventh for you, and have an above league average
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: on base percentage that might be worth five million dollars
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: at this point in this season.
• 16:43
  Speaker 3: And one point I would like to just kind of
• 16:45
  Speaker 3: follow up with you on there, know is the depth.
• 16:48
  Speaker 3: I mean, look at who he would be replacing on
• 16:50
  Speaker 3: the bench right now. So you have one of either
• 16:53
  Speaker 3: Davis or bart depending on who's catching, probably Garcia or
• 16:58
  Speaker 3: Maingum depending on who's starting in life field, and then
• 17:02
  Speaker 3: you have Swinsky and Nick York.
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: Possibly the way it would look is they're thirteen position players.
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: You're gonna have Barton Davis at catcher, You're gonna have
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: your seven infielders would be o'hearne, Horowitz, Gonzalez, Loow, gonzalezlo Horowitz, Treolo,
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: and then maybe Griffin or if you want to Sacker.
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: If you don't want to start Griffin in the major
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: league season, then that spot goes to Cutch and then
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: you have Garcia, Mangum, Reynolds, and Cruise, and then maybe
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: Garcia doesn't start.
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: So I mean you have a couple of rookies.
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: There's definitely space for him to make the team out
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: of camp and if he doesn't perform, then you.
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: Address that issue. How you have to address that issue.
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: But you can make the team out of camp and
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: you have enough position versatility to kind of adjust to
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: him just only being able to play DH. It's once
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: Garcia and Griffin are here full time. Right now you're
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: getting into a sense. But then is everyone healthy?
• 18:02
  Speaker 3: There's the injury.
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: There's so many variables there.
• 18:06
  Speaker 5: Yeah, but that once is that is that is a
• 18:08
  Speaker 5: hope and the prayer. You know, you don't know when
• 18:10
  Speaker 5: that once there there.
• 18:12
  Speaker 4: Is going to happen. But uh, little other, little other
• 18:16
  Speaker 4: thing I see too, as you say, looking for Ray
• 18:18
  Speaker 4: and the bat.
• 18:20
  Speaker 5: You know, when the left he's on the mound, he
• 18:21
  Speaker 5: can spell some of those guys if they're in, you know,
• 18:24
  Speaker 5: stretch for all Man. You know, we don't want him
• 18:26
  Speaker 5: to quite face his left and we know what Cutch
• 18:28
  Speaker 5: does the lefties.
• 18:29
  Speaker 4: Yep, you know.
• 18:31
  Speaker 5: And I think you know, even if O'Hearn is going
• 18:33
  Speaker 5: to be the DH, it might be a situation where
• 18:35
  Speaker 5: o'hearan is the left.
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: You on the mount.
• 18:36
  Speaker 5: You go play first today you know to to spell
• 18:38
  Speaker 5: horror with or or whatever the case, and then cut
• 18:41
  Speaker 5: is slotting in or it might be a situation. I know,
• 18:43
  Speaker 5: mangham switch hits, but uh, you know the situations where
• 18:46
  Speaker 5: you know, baseball is all about matchups in today's games,
• 18:49
  Speaker 5: you know, and Cuts has been through a lot of
• 18:51
  Speaker 5: different errors, as you mentioned, bat in the top third,
• 18:53
  Speaker 5: middle third, bottom third. He's been able to make those
• 18:56
  Speaker 5: adjustments and sometimes having a guy on a team.
• 18:58
  Speaker 4: That you can trust me. I was a guy that
• 19:00
  Speaker 4: you were able to plug here and there. Not that
• 19:03
  Speaker 4: Couch was ever like that.
• 19:04
  Speaker 5: But now that you know he's, as you said, making
• 19:06
  Speaker 5: those adjustments, that's very valuable, especially somebody that's not the moment.
• 19:09
  Speaker 4: It's not gonna be too big for him.
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: All right, So as we wrap this up, let's go through.
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: We'll make our prediction is Andrew McCutchen a pirate in
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: twenty twenty six.
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: We'll start with Mark, I think so, I think so.
• 19:21
  Speaker 3: I want to believe it. I want to see it,
• 19:24
  Speaker 3: make it happen. Let's go I think so, Josh, Yeah, yes,
• 19:30
  Speaker 3: gotta be Noah, I'll be different.
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: I'll say no. I think I think there is Yeah, I.
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: Think I I think there's a greater chance of it
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: happening now than I believe there to be a month ago,
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: right when when they first acquired O'Hearn, I thought there's
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: no way, but just looking at where they are now
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: in this point in the offseason, I think it.
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: I think it could make sense.
• 19:57
  Speaker 2: I wouldn't be shocked if they go to spring training
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: without him, and if he's not signed halfway through spring training,
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: maybe they bring him in then and they let him
• 20:09
  Speaker 2: kind of start the year, like give him some ramp
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: up time to go play in like Altuna for a
• 20:17
  Speaker 2: week or something, and then get him going.
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: I don't know.
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: I just think that if he's still around, if he
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: doesn't get picked up elsewhere by the start of March,
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: I think there's a good chance he could be. But
• 20:29
  Speaker 2: I think they might still be looking elsewhere and he
• 20:32
  Speaker 2: might not be their primary option. I personally, I think
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: it would be a good story for Andrew to finish
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: his career here, especially if they were to have.
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: Success in twenty twenty six. I think that'd be great.
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: I think that's the ending everyone deserves, Cutch, the Pirates
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: organization fans. I'm not exactly sure if it's gonna happen,
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: but as someone who tells baseball stories for a living,
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: I would like to see it happen.
• 20:56
  Speaker 4: So yeah, it's definitely you know which you're thinking.
• 20:59
  Speaker 5: We don't know what's gonna happen, but as you said,
• 21:01
  Speaker 5: made valid points as to why it could happen, but
• 21:03
  Speaker 5: also made valid points as to why I could have.
• 21:05
  Speaker 5: But you know, it's one of those things where only
• 21:08
  Speaker 5: time will tell. And you even made a good point
• 21:10
  Speaker 5: there going into spring training. I'm not speaking anything nothing
• 21:13
  Speaker 5: that I know, but I mean, he just had another baby.
• 21:16
  Speaker 5: That's sawt of things where you know, he's he's got
• 21:18
  Speaker 5: a lot of things on his players, like you know what,
• 21:20
  Speaker 5: you know, he you know, pirates, do what you need
• 21:22
  Speaker 5: to do because I'm here, you know that could be
• 21:25
  Speaker 5: a situation too.
• 21:26
  Speaker 4: So that could just kind of.
• 21:28
  Speaker 5: Help both of them because as you said, there's still
• 21:30
  Speaker 5: probably some moves that the pirates are looking to make
• 21:32
  Speaker 5: and both of them, you know, if he's chilling like hey,
• 21:36
  Speaker 5: all right, I'm ready to go.
• 21:38
  Speaker 4: But at the same time, as we say, only time
• 21:40
  Speaker 4: will tell.
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: All right, any final words before we wrap this one.
• 21:45
  Speaker 5: Up, hit that subscribe button. I know what I was
• 21:50
  Speaker 5: gonna say, this is yeah, I was gonna say, no,
• 21:52
  Speaker 5: We're close.
• 21:53
  Speaker 4: Definitely appreciate the support.
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: Yes, hit that subscribe button as we were record this,
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: I believe we're only like ten away from our goal,
• 22:03
  Speaker 2: and the goal doesn't swop there once we get to
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: a thousand, We're going to keep.
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: Asking you to subscribe. We want to get to ten million,
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: so you know, we could use the all the support
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: we need right now.
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: Some of us could get some support a little bit
• 22:17
  Speaker 2: more than other others, so we'll leave it at that.
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: Big thank you to everyone.
• 22:21
  Speaker 2: Real quick, I want to thank everyone who did reach
• 22:23
  Speaker 2: out over the past week.
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: That absolutely means a lot.
• 22:25
  Speaker 2: Don't want to talk a ton more about everything that's
• 22:28
  Speaker 2: going on here in Pittsburgh, but thank you to everyone
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: who reached out to me over the past week. And
• 22:33
  Speaker 2: thank you to my two co hosts for holding down
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: the fort and for their kind words on our last episode.
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: So we'll wrap it up there.
• 22:41
  Speaker 2: Big thanks as always to everyone who tunes in and
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: who will keep tuning in to another episode of Bucko Territory,
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: which is.
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: Coming next week.
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: He's or later this week, I should say, he's Josh
• 22:51
  Speaker 2: Harrison aka j Hey. He's Platinum Key aka Mark. We'll
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: see you around soon here on Bucko Territory.
• 23:01
  Speaker 4: The different different level difference