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Can the Pirates Keep Winning? · Bucco Territory: A Pittsburgh Pirates Podcast

0:09
Speaker 1: What's up, everybody?
0:10
Speaker 2: Welcome back to another episode of Bucko Territory, presented to
0:13
Speaker 2: you by the Foul Territory Network.
0:15
Speaker 1: My name is Noah Hyles.
0:16
Speaker 2: Joining me as always are Josh Harrison and Platinum Key
0:20
Speaker 2: aka Mark. The Pirates just finished off a three game
0:24
Speaker 2: weekend series at Wrigleyfield. They took the first two games,
0:27
Speaker 2: blew a five nothing league in game three to prevent
0:31
Speaker 2: them from taking a sweep over the Cubs. Would have
0:34
Speaker 2: been their first sweep in the Windy City since twenty seventeen.
0:38
Speaker 1: Josh, do you remember that one?
0:40
Speaker 2: Uh?
0:41
Speaker 3: If I'm correct, it might have been right before All
0:43
Speaker 3: Star Break because I think that's where we finished before
0:45
Speaker 3: All Star Break.
0:46
Speaker 1: Yep, I think you're right.
0:48
Speaker 3: Was it was that right?
0:49
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't know off the top of my head.
0:51
Speaker 3: Oh okay, Okay, I was like that. I just remember
0:55
Speaker 3: the only reason I said that because I just remember
0:58
Speaker 3: leaving from Chicago for the All Star Game and I
1:01
Speaker 3: think we had one that day and my family flew
1:03
Speaker 3: with me. That was just my guess.
1:05
Speaker 1: Okay, it happened that year.
1:07
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's been too long the Pirates have I think
1:11
Speaker 2: they've lost I want to say, like four or five
1:14
Speaker 2: in a row like year series against the Cubs. They
1:17
Speaker 2: haven't beat them in a while. Actually, I think it
1:19
Speaker 2: goes further back than that. So beating the Chicago Cubs
1:23
Speaker 2: is a key for the Pirates just going into this season.
1:27
Speaker 2: That's the team that's the odds on favorite to win
1:29
Speaker 2: the division. The fact that they won two games that
1:32
Speaker 2: they probably should have lost, right, I mean they were
1:34
Speaker 2: getting no hit after six innings on Friday Saturday. I
1:38
Speaker 2: mean that game was a mess, and they still found
1:40
Speaker 2: a way to wiggle it out with a w and
1:43
Speaker 2: then they lost the game they should have won. Nonetheless,
1:47
Speaker 2: they get the series win. They're two to zero series
1:49
Speaker 2: against division opponents. They're nine and six overall, first place
1:53
Speaker 2: in the NL Central through fifteen games. Guys, Obviously, there's
1:57
Speaker 2: a lot of good that's easy to highlight. Their hitting
2:00
Speaker 2: the ball well, they're starting, pitching has been solid.
2:03
Speaker 1: But there are some flaws on this team.
2:05
Speaker 2: Some of these flaws will probably be corrected over time,
2:09
Speaker 2: or at least you see some possible fixes. Other flaws
2:13
Speaker 2: might be the reason that this whole first place thing
2:17
Speaker 2: doesn't stick around.
2:18
Speaker 1: So I'll ask you both to start the show.
2:21
Speaker 2: What is your biggest area of concern fifteen games into
2:24
Speaker 2: the season, We'll start with you, Mark.
2:26
Speaker 4: Yeah, so I'm gonna go with the bullpen right now,
2:29
Speaker 4: especially just the front half of the bullpen for the
2:33
Speaker 4: middle relief. It's been a concern. We've seen a lot
2:37
Speaker 4: of walks, which if you're going to point to another concern,
2:41
Speaker 4: probably one of us is gonna mention team defense. You
2:44
Speaker 4: can't have those walks with that kind of defense behind you.
2:48
Speaker 4: And we saw today the two runs that Justin Lawrence
2:51
Speaker 4: allowed to tie the game were both walks, and so
2:55
Speaker 4: it's really hard when your bullpen. I think the bullpen
2:59
Speaker 4: allowed five one today and with those windy conditions, it's
3:03
Speaker 4: it's gonna be gonna be tough. So but how you
3:08
Speaker 4: fix that would be the big question, right and so
3:13
Speaker 4: obviously you know, come June, we're gonna get Jared Jones back,
3:17
Speaker 4: either in the starting rotation. Maybe he'll start as like
3:21
Speaker 4: a like an opener kind of in the bullpen, if
3:24
Speaker 4: you will. But when we see Jones back, I think
3:28
Speaker 4: Carmen Magensky moving to the bullpen is gonna be a
3:31
Speaker 4: huge help because right now, I mean kid as your
3:36
Speaker 4: middle like relief like long relief option is not the
3:40
Speaker 4: most comforting situation. And I think we've seen really good
3:45
Speaker 4: stuff from Karmen Maginsky this year as a starter. But
3:48
Speaker 4: if you can be in the bullpen and be successful,
3:51
Speaker 4: that just makes this team overall that much better. Uh,
3:54
Speaker 4: what are you thinking, Josh, what's your biggest concern so far?
3:58
Speaker 3: Just to pick it back off yours, we could say bullpen,
4:02
Speaker 3: because we have touched on this, I think recently within
4:04
Speaker 3: the past week about and today you just we're highlighting
4:09
Speaker 3: walks with them and I think last week we talked
4:13
Speaker 3: about hard hit percentage, so those go hand in hand.
4:16
Speaker 3: Are they getting hit hard because they're falling behind in
4:19
Speaker 3: the count? So you might be able to fix that.
4:21
Speaker 3: I say, let's be aggressive in the zone. Make these
4:24
Speaker 3: guys earn it if we're gonna go down and make
4:25
Speaker 3: them get on base by swinging it. Or is it
4:28
Speaker 3: the case of guys trying to make their nastiest pitch
4:30
Speaker 3: and just not pitching in the zone and now they're
4:33
Speaker 3: two oh and they got to give up a two
4:34
Speaker 3: O heater And now you know, bullpen guys, you know
4:37
Speaker 3: only inter for an any But I'm gonna go team
4:40
Speaker 3: defense because everything that has just said about bullpen are
4:44
Speaker 3: things that can you know, somewhat hopefully be fixed with
4:47
Speaker 3: the mentality and going you know and going to guys
4:49
Speaker 3: say hey, let's be aggressive. And it's baseball. You know,
4:52
Speaker 3: bullpens are going to go through stretches where it's like man,
4:54
Speaker 3: they cannot you know, find the zone. They can't get
4:57
Speaker 3: a hitter out. Hopefully this stretch doesn't last that long
5:01
Speaker 3: because you don't want it the last long. But we
5:03
Speaker 3: know in baseball, pitching is something that can go up
5:06
Speaker 3: and down. Hitting is something that's going to go up
5:09
Speaker 3: and down based off of the season. But something that
5:10
Speaker 3: needs to be consistent is team defense. And today's game
5:14
Speaker 3: is something that really highlighted it. You don't want to
5:18
Speaker 3: make these defensive switches in the eighth or ninth inning,
5:21
Speaker 3: that really because you know it's a hitter's park and
5:23
Speaker 3: you might still need your bats in there. But real
5:26
Speaker 3: big of you know that that ball that Brian Reynolds
5:30
Speaker 3: threw in, you know you got to keep that dying
5:32
Speaker 3: run from you know, getting to the plate. And if
5:35
Speaker 3: you look at the replay, dance by Swanson wasn't thinking
5:38
Speaker 3: of scoring. He was just rounding third and saw that
5:40
Speaker 3: the throw was just thrown carelessly into the infield. And
5:44
Speaker 3: that's the situation of a guy being in left field.
5:46
Speaker 3: Maybe game speed up on he used to be in
5:48
Speaker 3: the right field and get it in and nobody's there,
5:50
Speaker 3: and next thing you know, you know, we were one
5:53
Speaker 3: pitch away from getting out of that inning with the lead,
5:55
Speaker 3: and next thing you know, you're going to the ninth
5:56
Speaker 3: inning saying let's get a run so we don't have
5:59
Speaker 3: to go into extra innings. You know, possibly, but defense
6:03
Speaker 3: is something that cannot slump, and for me, that's always
6:06
Speaker 3: going to be my biggest concern because through fifteen games,
6:09
Speaker 3: yes they're nine and six, but we have already seen
6:12
Speaker 3: a lot of defensive waes and misques and who goes
6:16
Speaker 3: to say the bullpen turns around and is making pitches right?
6:19
Speaker 3: The defense is a lot of other things, yeah, exactly.
6:24
Speaker 3: So my biggest concern is you're gonna hang with your
6:27
Speaker 3: guys on the mound because you know what, it's not
6:29
Speaker 3: easy to pitch and you know, hey, at the end
6:31
Speaker 3: of the day, be ready for the ball and they
6:34
Speaker 3: might throw one strike out of four pitches, but if
6:36
Speaker 3: that one strike gets put in play, you need to
6:38
Speaker 3: make that play. And time and time again, as this
6:42
Speaker 3: season progresses, you don't want to look up and say, oh, man,
6:44
Speaker 3: we didn't take care of the ball on the defensive side.
6:47
Speaker 3: You can deal with, oh we didn't pitch well, we
6:48
Speaker 3: didn't hit well, because those are two of the toughest
6:51
Speaker 3: things in the game. But you are supposed to take
6:53
Speaker 3: care of the ball on the on the defensive side,
6:55
Speaker 3: and you're supposed to run the bases and not give
6:56
Speaker 3: away outs.
6:59
Speaker 2: See here's where all I disagree with you, Josh. I
7:02
Speaker 2: agree with everything you said, like philosophy wise, right, Like,
7:05
Speaker 2: you can't make mistakes in the field.
7:08
Speaker 1: They have answers.
7:09
Speaker 2: Defensively, they're just not playing the right guys, right Like,
7:12
Speaker 2: if you take Ozona out of this lineup and you
7:15
Speaker 2: DH Reynolds, the defense is better.
7:19
Speaker 1: It just like yeah, like I.
7:22
Speaker 2: Think O'Neil Cruz probably plays better in center field, and
7:25
Speaker 2: Jake Mangum gives you a net difference of probably three
7:30
Speaker 2: or four defensive runs saved, yeah a month, right like,
7:33
Speaker 2: because Reynolds is gonna cost you.
7:36
Speaker 1: Yeah, And so there's that.
7:38
Speaker 2: And then you also look, I mean Billy Cook being
7:41
Speaker 2: a guy who could play more in the outfield if
7:44
Speaker 2: Reynolds is your everyday DH, or if Cruiz and Reynolds
7:46
Speaker 2: rotate at DH. Just opening up a spot for your
7:50
Speaker 2: only two actual good defensive outfielders to play more makes
7:53
Speaker 2: your outfield defense better. Jerry Triolo is eventually gonna come back,
7:57
Speaker 2: so that will improve their infield defense. And we only
8:00
Speaker 2: got to see one game of Connor Griffin at short
8:03
Speaker 2: and Jared Traillo at third. That's a good defensive duo
8:07
Speaker 2: right there. It's just they've got to get healthy. And
8:10
Speaker 2: I also think that there's I mean, if they really
8:12
Speaker 2: are desperate for it, like you could find more defense
8:14
Speaker 2: in the minor leagues.
8:15
Speaker 1: Aliko Williams is a guy that.
8:17
Speaker 2: If the defense is continuing to be bad, he's worth
8:20
Speaker 2: rostering to keep.
8:21
Speaker 1: As a.
8:24
Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly, he's he's worth rostering to be like an
8:27
Speaker 2: infield version of what Billy Cook is.
8:29
Speaker 1: Right now.
8:30
Speaker 2: I say all this to because I don't see those
8:33
Speaker 2: internal answers for the bullpen. The only way I see
8:38
Speaker 2: the bullpen getting better is the season progressing forward and
8:43
Speaker 2: they start letting the pitchers throw deeper into games.
8:45
Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly, because right.
8:47
Speaker 2: Now they have guys that just don't look like they're
8:51
Speaker 2: confident out there on the mound Hunter Barco. I think
8:55
Speaker 2: Hunter Barco is going to be a good major league pitcher.
8:57
Speaker 2: I don't know if this whole reliever thing is working
9:00
Speaker 2: for him right now. Yeah, Justin Lawrence is really going
9:04
Speaker 2: through it. I mean, it's it's getting to be like
9:06
Speaker 2: Colin Holderman level of bad right now. And that's and
9:10
Speaker 2: that's a shame because Justin Lawrence is a good guy
9:12
Speaker 2: and he has good stuff. But it's a similar thing
9:15
Speaker 2: to Colin Holderman. Holderman a great dude, has the stuff,
9:19
Speaker 2: but like sometimes it's just not working. And who knows
9:23
Speaker 2: if he's fully healthy. I mean, he missed almost all
9:26
Speaker 2: of last year and maybe he's just fighting to stay
9:29
Speaker 2: in the league.
9:30
Speaker 1: He's out of options.
9:31
Speaker 2: So if it doesn't work here, he's getting option or
9:34
Speaker 2: he's getting put on waivers dfad and the Rockies already
9:37
Speaker 2: dfad him. And when you get dfaid by the Rockies
9:39
Speaker 2: and then the team after the Rockies, I don't know
9:42
Speaker 2: how many more opportunities you.
9:43
Speaker 1: Got in major league baseball, right So that's tough.
9:46
Speaker 2: But and then to add on to it, I don't
9:50
Speaker 2: think this team wants to pitch Jose Orkidy like and
9:53
Speaker 2: you can't.
9:55
Speaker 1: You can't hide in the bullpen.
9:57
Speaker 2: You can hide on the bench if you're the twenty six,
9:59
Speaker 2: if you're the thirteenth position player, they can make sure
10:02
Speaker 2: you don't.
10:03
Speaker 1: See the field.
10:03
Speaker 2: We've seen that plenty of times, where you know, they
10:07
Speaker 2: can keep trotting out guys you aren't hitting because they
10:09
Speaker 2: can make the argument, oh, you know, if you look
10:11
Speaker 2: under the hood.
10:12
Speaker 1: He's making good swing decisions. He's just not getting lucky.
10:15
Speaker 1: Blah blah blah blah blah.
10:16
Speaker 2: There's gonna come a time. Yeah, Josh has lived it. Yeah,
10:21
Speaker 2: there's gonna come a time in every month of the
10:25
Speaker 2: season where you're gonna have to depend on every single
10:28
Speaker 2: person in that bullpen. And the Pirates due to their
10:31
Speaker 2: strategy of kind of easing these starting pitchers into the season,
10:36
Speaker 2: not letting anyone throw the more than ninety pitches in
10:38
Speaker 2: a start. Yeah, oh yeah, okay, so there we go
10:42
Speaker 2: ninety day finally. Yeah. Right, if you're gonna do that, like,
10:47
Speaker 2: you're gonna put more stress on your bullpen, especially if
10:49
Speaker 2: you keep going to xtraining games or playing into the
10:52
Speaker 2: bottom of the ninth inning, and that's what's happening right now.
10:55
Speaker 2: And while yeah, on games where you can pitch mattson
10:59
Speaker 2: SOO and Santana. You feel really good about that, but
11:03
Speaker 2: after that, it's getting it's getting a little wacky. Like
11:06
Speaker 2: Mason Montgomery did fine, uh in the Wrigley Series, but yeah,
11:10
Speaker 2: and Johann.
11:11
Speaker 1: Ramirez has been great, but you.
11:14
Speaker 2: Know, yeah, Marcos Raw he's still figuring it out. I mean,
11:23
Speaker 2: and we said Lawrence, but like Arkatie is a guy
11:25
Speaker 2: you could just tell like they don't necessarily feel comfortable
11:29
Speaker 2: going to him. It feels like, I mean, that's not
11:31
Speaker 2: me reporting anything, that's just me viewing the situation. It
11:35
Speaker 2: seems like they're they're willing to throw guys who pitched
11:38
Speaker 2: the day before instead of him when.
11:40
Speaker 4: He's fresh since Wednesday and we're recording on Sunday.
11:44
Speaker 2: Yeah, so they they send him out there and he
11:49
Speaker 2: just has not looked good. He did not look good
11:51
Speaker 2: in spring. He has not looked good in the situations
11:54
Speaker 2: they brought him in. Most of the time they bring
11:56
Speaker 2: him in, it's low leverage, and they pitched him in
11:59
Speaker 2: high leverage today and the game was over. So that's
12:03
Speaker 2: my big concern is, you know, the defense is bad,
12:06
Speaker 2: there's no denying that. But there are ways to improve
12:09
Speaker 2: the defense without making an addition, right, you just got
12:12
Speaker 2: to shuffle the lineup, and I think it'll be better here.
12:17
Speaker 2: It's like, you know, you're starting, pitching depth isn't as
12:23
Speaker 2: thick as it used to be, right, and so you
12:27
Speaker 2: obviously have to prioritize that depth ahead of bullpen depth.
12:30
Speaker 2: But you got to start asking yourself, like, who are
12:33
Speaker 2: your bullpen call ups right now?
12:34
Speaker 1: Are are they rookies? Are they do.
12:40
Speaker 4: You know another guy? Yeah?
12:42
Speaker 2: That's that's the concern right now for me. Is as
12:47
Speaker 2: currently constructed.
12:49
Speaker 1: I don't know.
12:51
Speaker 2: If there's like a proven thing that improves this bullpen internally.
12:56
Speaker 2: And that's really the only thing where like, the offense
12:58
Speaker 2: can get better if Azuna starts performing.
13:00
Speaker 1: The defense can get better if they.
13:03
Speaker 3: Because you get out.
13:04
Speaker 5: Yeah that that I mean, yea, with the losses that
13:11
Speaker 5: they've had, Yes, pitchers give up walks and this or that,
13:14
Speaker 5: But have the losses been more on defensive walls or
13:18
Speaker 5: pitching walls.
13:20
Speaker 3: They've kind of been hand in hand.
13:21
Speaker 4: It's been yeah, Watson defense meshing together mostly, that's fair,
13:26
Speaker 4: But I.
13:26
Speaker 3: Mean there's been some defensive place that the bullpen is like, dang,
13:29
Speaker 3: we got to make it out of the starting pitch.
13:31
Speaker 3: So for me, I'm like, pitching is gonna be something
13:35
Speaker 3: that yes, you're looking and you might not have what
13:38
Speaker 3: you consider, Oh who's going to be our death? But
13:41
Speaker 3: what you got is what you got. And when those
13:42
Speaker 3: guys make pitches, you got to make plays. And I'm
13:45
Speaker 3: not going to make an excuse to say, oh, well yeah, well,
13:49
Speaker 3: if that's the case, play the better defense. If they
13:51
Speaker 3: we're not having this case, you know we're not. We're
13:53
Speaker 3: not having this issue or or you know this conversation,
13:57
Speaker 3: play your better defense. That takes care of a struggling
14:00
Speaker 3: That takes care of a struggling pitching staff. When a
14:02
Speaker 3: pitching staff is struggling, they make a pitch, Oh dang,
14:05
Speaker 3: he made the play. Oh next thing, you know, something
14:07
Speaker 3: turned around and now these guys are found the zone
14:09
Speaker 3: and it but you need your defense. That's something that
14:12
Speaker 3: cannot slump.
14:15
Speaker 2: We've got more to talk about about fifteen games into
14:18
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Speaker 2: All right, So with all that concern talk, let's talk
15:27
Speaker 2: about the good.
15:28
Speaker 5: Right.
15:28
Speaker 1: The Pirates are in first place. They're nine and six.
15:32
Speaker 1: Good spot to be in.
15:33
Speaker 6: You.
15:33
Speaker 1: Look who's coming into town.
15:35
Speaker 2: The Nationals four games for very winnable games, potentially another
15:39
Speaker 2: series victory on the horizon. Josh, you've been a part
15:42
Speaker 2: of some good starts, you've been a part of some
15:45
Speaker 2: bad starts. For from your experience, what are indicators that
15:51
Speaker 2: when you're seeing in a good start that show you like, hey,
15:54
Speaker 2: these things we're doing this is sustainable. And what are
15:57
Speaker 2: some things that you look at maybe with this team
15:59
Speaker 2: where you see they won this game, but like you know,
16:03
Speaker 2: that might not be something they can depend on to
16:05
Speaker 2: happen for half of the calendar year.
16:11
Speaker 3: Something that is sustainable that you'll find with good teams
16:14
Speaker 3: is they find a way to win. And I wouldn't
16:17
Speaker 3: say that this current Powers team is a good team
16:20
Speaker 3: because they're still to be determined, but what we have
16:22
Speaker 3: seen is they have found various ways to win. It
16:25
Speaker 3: might not be pretty, but at the end of the
16:28
Speaker 3: end of the day, getting that W is the most important.
16:32
Speaker 3: So what you find in those qualities are teams that
16:35
Speaker 3: you know, battle to the end, that might be out
16:38
Speaker 3: early and come back, or you know, might have had
16:40
Speaker 3: the lead early and you know the team comes scratching
16:43
Speaker 3: back and they, you know, one way or another, find
16:44
Speaker 3: a way to get the dub and now there's been
16:46
Speaker 3: some interesting victories to start the season, which you know,
16:49
Speaker 3: good team, bad team all across baseball. That's always going
16:52
Speaker 3: to be expected, especially early part of the season. But
16:57
Speaker 3: as you mentioned, they have won nine out of fifty
17:00
Speaker 3: games with really one thing really being consistent as starting pitching.
17:06
Speaker 5: And hitting.
17:07
Speaker 3: Yes, has been coming around and having their moments, but
17:11
Speaker 3: you know, starting pitching has been the strength of this team,
17:14
Speaker 3: and I think that's something that they're going to continue
17:16
Speaker 3: to ride. But I don't think overall everything will be
17:20
Speaker 3: sustainable if we don't have the bullpen, you know, pick
17:23
Speaker 3: up in the defense, pick up. But at the end
17:26
Speaker 3: of the day, you know, if you limit those mistakes,
17:28
Speaker 3: limit those walks, limit limit those defensive errors or or
17:32
Speaker 3: mental miscues. Timing is big, and you know, hopefully the
17:38
Speaker 3: biggest of their you know, mental mistakes or defensive mistakes
17:41
Speaker 3: are going to come early part of the season, and
17:43
Speaker 3: you know, have somewhat kind of been you know, early
17:46
Speaker 3: part of the year. Not to say that there won't
17:48
Speaker 3: be any other you know, miscues, but you know, for
17:51
Speaker 3: it to be sustainable over one hundred and sixty two games,
17:53
Speaker 3: you definitely got to clean up, you know, some things
17:56
Speaker 3: in my eyes, But to say it's sustainable, you play
18:00
Speaker 3: fifteen games against some pretty decent teams. You've won nine,
18:03
Speaker 3: So that right there lets you know that you're stepping
18:05
Speaker 3: up to the plate playing worthy opponents. So to think
18:08
Speaker 3: that you can't sustain us would be, you know, in
18:12
Speaker 3: my eyes, not being confident. But to think that you
18:15
Speaker 3: will sustain it playing the way that you are will
18:17
Speaker 3: be kind of, you know, oblivious to what's at hand.
18:20
Speaker 3: So it's sustainable if you clean up your things, because
18:23
Speaker 3: you know pitching is going to be a strength of it.
18:24
Speaker 3: So you just got to continue to right that wave
18:27
Speaker 3: and bring defense and the will pin along.
18:31
Speaker 1: Yeah, some quick things I just wanted to point out.
18:34
Speaker 2: I think their offense has been you know, streaky, but
18:39
Speaker 2: even on their off days, it seems like they're getting
18:42
Speaker 2: guys on base frequently. Yes, And so the fact that
18:46
Speaker 2: you're getting streaky hitting, but you're consistently seeing a lot
18:50
Speaker 2: of pitches, you're getting guys on base, I think that
18:53
Speaker 2: that's a good trend, right, Like, Yeah, I mean, now
18:56
Speaker 2: if we're into the month of June and we're still
19:00
Speaker 2: seeing multiple games in a two week stretch where you
19:02
Speaker 2: leave fifteen plus runners on base. That's an unfortunate trend.
19:06
Speaker 2: But I think when half of your games you're scoring
19:10
Speaker 2: five or more runs, and I don't know if it's
19:12
Speaker 2: exactly half, but it seems like it's around there. And
19:16
Speaker 2: you know, every now and then when you're not scoring
19:18
Speaker 2: five or more runs, you're leaving double digit runners on base.
19:21
Speaker 2: That to me shows that, like you have a pretty
19:23
Speaker 2: good team wide offensive approach, and that's something to hang
19:26
Speaker 2: your hat on. But yeah, to look at the other things,
19:31
Speaker 2: I mean, like, you know, it's not necessarily encouraging to
19:37
Speaker 2: see these defensive things because it's it's by guys who
19:42
Speaker 2: have had these issues for a while, and like that
19:45
Speaker 2: that's the trend.
19:46
Speaker 1: Like it's you're worried about this guy playing here, this
19:49
Speaker 1: guy playing somewhere else.
19:50
Speaker 2: And then the other big concern for me too is
19:54
Speaker 2: his health. Like this team's not gonna be this healthy
19:56
Speaker 2: all year. So what happens one a pitcher needs a
19:59
Speaker 2: couple months on, you know, the il, which.
20:03
Speaker 1: Is unfortunately just part of the game. Right.
20:05
Speaker 2: How many starting rotations get through a whole year with
20:08
Speaker 2: just five or six guys. It's just not how today's
20:11
Speaker 2: game of baseball works. Or you're back into your bullpen.
20:14
Speaker 2: So how will that go? Because right now they have
20:19
Speaker 2: eight guys of their thirteen who they can depend to
20:22
Speaker 2: throw the ball well, or I would say nine. They
20:25
Speaker 2: have four in the bullpen and all five of their starters,
20:27
Speaker 2: and you figure Jared Jones is going to get into
20:30
Speaker 2: that mix somehow, So that's ten. But those three guys,
20:34
Speaker 2: can they figure out a way to decrease that number
20:39
Speaker 2: of three worries to maybe two or one because right now,
20:43
Speaker 2: like I said, you've been able to hide Jose or
20:46
Speaker 2: Kid right for the most part, you've been able to
20:49
Speaker 2: avoid Justin Lawrence in high leverage spots. But you know,
20:53
Speaker 2: someone goes down all of a sudden, those guys are
20:55
Speaker 2: going to have to take on more of a workload,
20:57
Speaker 2: and losses like we've seen, blowed leads like we've seen recently,
21:02
Speaker 2: might become a more regularity if you're forcing guys who
21:05
Speaker 2: aren't ready for the moment into that moment.
21:08
Speaker 4: And I'll just cap this off by saying, I think
21:11
Speaker 4: this is sustainable what we're seeing from this Pirates team.
21:15
Speaker 4: I don't think this is I don't think we've seen
21:18
Speaker 4: the best Pirates team that this team can be quite yet,
21:21
Speaker 4: We've seen absolutely nothing from Marcelo Zuna. He's been hurting
21:26
Speaker 4: this team if anything, right, just taking out that DH spot.
21:29
Speaker 4: Connor Griffin is still getting acclimated to the league. Like
21:33
Speaker 4: his bet is going to come around, even if it's
21:34
Speaker 4: not a lot, he's going to be hitting better than
21:36
Speaker 4: what he's doing right now. And also the production that
21:40
Speaker 4: you're getting right now. Your three best hitters are o'nel Cruz,
21:44
Speaker 4: Ryan O'Hearn and Brandon Lowe. Two of those guys are
21:46
Speaker 4: all stars. They've done this before. That's repeatable, and I
21:49
Speaker 4: think we've seen O'Neil Cruz has turned quite a leaf
21:53
Speaker 4: so far. Now is he going to sustain batting three
21:56
Speaker 4: point fifty and you know, slugging like crazy. Probably not,
21:59
Speaker 4: But I mean we've seen a step forward. At least
22:01
Speaker 4: he's hitting lefties better, he's being a little bit more patient.
22:05
Speaker 4: So I'm liking what i'm seeing Fmmonial Cruz and so
22:08
Speaker 4: I feel like the offense still has another step that
22:11
Speaker 4: can take. And then we're going to see guys coming
22:15
Speaker 4: back from injury with Jered Triolo and Jerry Jones, who
22:18
Speaker 4: are going to be two big additions make this team
22:20
Speaker 4: a lot better. So I think this is sustainable. Obviously,
22:24
Speaker 4: you know when they get back, there's probably gonna be
22:26
Speaker 4: other guys that are down with injuries. That's the way
22:28
Speaker 4: it goes. But I'm confident that this team is going
22:32
Speaker 4: to continue to win. It seems like it's a repeatable
22:34
Speaker 4: strategy with a starting rotation that just is dominant and
22:38
Speaker 4: then all start beats to back them up.
22:41
Speaker 2: All right, So with that being said, platinum key, what
22:45
Speaker 2: is your key of the week?
22:46
Speaker 4: Yeah, so my key of the week going into a
22:50
Speaker 4: four game series with the Washington Nationals is beat the
22:53
Speaker 4: bad teams. The Pirates are no longer one of the
22:56
Speaker 4: bad teams the Nationals. They've won a few games here recently,
23:00
Speaker 4: but Fangrafts gives them a one point two percent chance
23:03
Speaker 4: of making the playoffs. So not going to be something.
23:05
Speaker 4: Not a team that's going to be competitive this year,
23:08
Speaker 4: and if the players want to be competitive, I would
23:11
Speaker 4: love to see a four game sweep here and and
23:14
Speaker 4: get a couple of those guys that I just mentioned,
23:17
Speaker 4: Connor Griffin and Marcelo Zoon in particular, get him going
23:20
Speaker 4: against a really weak pitching staff from the Nationals on
23:24
Speaker 4: the screen here. If you're watching on YouTube, I've pulled
23:27
Speaker 4: off their fangrafts like team rankings, Nationals are twenty ninth
23:32
Speaker 4: in the league for starting pitchery ERA and twenty eighth
23:35
Speaker 4: in the league for relief pitcher RA. So go in
23:39
Speaker 4: to PNC Park, build off this momentum coming off a
23:43
Speaker 4: series win where you beat the Cubs. It's still some momentum.
23:46
Speaker 4: Despite you know, having the five to zero league evaporate today,
23:49
Speaker 4: I still think that's a positive takeaway for what happened
23:52
Speaker 4: in Chicago. So capitalize on that in front of the
23:55
Speaker 4: PMC crowd and get this fan base just ready to
23:58
Speaker 4: go for the Paul Skins bobblehead on Saturday.
24:04
Speaker 3: I like it, as you said, not down in any
24:10
Speaker 3: team that's in the major leagues, but as you said,
24:11
Speaker 3: win the games that you're supposed to win, and this
24:15
Speaker 3: will be a big step forward, especially with you know,
24:18
Speaker 3: the way that this year is going to the expectations
24:20
Speaker 3: of this team. And to take it a step further,
24:22
Speaker 3: you said, this offense needs to hit another gear, which
24:25
Speaker 3: you're saying Connor and you know o Zuna. Hopefully they
24:27
Speaker 3: can get on track. Hopefully they get on track with
24:29
Speaker 3: runners and scoring position. This would be a good series
24:31
Speaker 3: for that too, So that will be something that we'll
24:34
Speaker 3: be able to, you know, take that question mark off
24:36
Speaker 3: of the second, you know, header is this sustainable, because
24:38
Speaker 3: that's one of the things that will help with keeping
24:40
Speaker 3: it sustainable. And I think that's a really good kid
24:43
Speaker 3: a week starting tomorrow to you know, beat the teams
24:47
Speaker 3: you should be because that's what they used to say
24:49
Speaker 3: about the Pirates. Now no longer let the Pirates say
24:52
Speaker 3: that about other teams.
24:53
Speaker 4: Yeah, and if you're in Pittsburgh this weekend, why don't
24:55
Speaker 4: you go get some tickets in the outfield. You know,
24:57
Speaker 4: I feel like there might be a you know, first
24:59
Speaker 4: career home run coming for someone. Just my my little
25:03
Speaker 4: gut feeling here.
25:04
Speaker 2: So okay, so last year this team couldn't win away
25:09
Speaker 2: from home.
25:10
Speaker 1: It could not win.
25:13
Speaker 4: I think it's the scat Way twenty seven forty or
25:16
Speaker 4: twenty seven to forty one, something like that.
25:17
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was. It was.
25:21
Speaker 3: Yeah.
25:22
Speaker 1: This year so far five and four away from PNC Park.
25:26
Speaker 2: I mean they start, Yes, it's a good start, and
25:30
Speaker 2: so if you're going to keep that going, it also
25:32
Speaker 2: helps to win at your home.
25:34
Speaker 4: Ballparkay games, by the way, sorry, not home away.
25:38
Speaker 2: I was like that that's never half every stat from
25:41
Speaker 2: last year blends together. Yes, it was all bad, so
25:45
Speaker 2: but anyway, this team under Don Kelly last year won
25:50
Speaker 2: at PNC Park. It found a way to win games
25:52
Speaker 2: at PNC Park.
25:53
Speaker 1: You got to keep that going.
25:54
Speaker 2: I mean, they've proven to be able to at least
25:58
Speaker 2: show something on the road last year compared to last year.
26:02
Speaker 2: So this year, if you could keep the winning ways
26:04
Speaker 2: at home, especially as Mark noted against sub park teams,
26:07
Speaker 2: I mean the Rays, even which will follow the Nationals,
26:10
Speaker 2: they're probably picked to finish last in their division this year.
26:13
Speaker 2: I mean I still think, yeah, the best division in baseball,
26:17
Speaker 2: and they're never to be taken lightly. But I mean, yeah,
26:25
Speaker 2: if you're a good team, you should beat teams like
26:27
Speaker 2: this in your home ballpark. So I mean they're no
26:29
Speaker 2: more dangerous than the Orioles, who you just took two
26:32
Speaker 2: or three of from at home.
26:34
Speaker 1: So yeah, I mean these are seven games.
26:36
Speaker 2: If you win five of them, then you're coming out
26:40
Speaker 2: even further above five hundred, and you keep that mark growing,
26:43
Speaker 2: then you've really got something.
26:45
Speaker 1: So yeah, win at home.
26:46
Speaker 2: And that starts with like what are platinum key of
26:50
Speaker 2: the week is take advantage of the bad teams.
26:53
Speaker 1: In your home ballpark. Guys, any final thoughts before we
26:55
Speaker 1: wrap this one up.
27:00
Speaker 4: Cribe we uh, you know, keep that momentum going. We're
27:04
Speaker 4: trying to capitalize with the pirates on that momentum and
27:07
Speaker 4: we're trying to get to three thousand subs and can't
27:09
Speaker 4: do it without you guys. And also, if you're already subscribe,
27:13
Speaker 4: make sure to check out the Bucko Territory Shop. We
27:15
Speaker 4: have some new items here as well. You can check
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Speaker 4: it out. We got some we got bucket hat, there's
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Speaker 4: a b yeah, some baby merge. Yeah, speaking of the masters.
27:27
Speaker 4: You know, guy golf towel, it looks super nice. I
27:30
Speaker 4: zoomed in on the website, some high quality material and
27:33
Speaker 4: you know, get yourself a fanny pack, you know, show
27:35
Speaker 4: up to the roll to the golf course with a
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Speaker 4: fanny pack, a bucket head and your Bucco Territory golf
27:40
Speaker 4: towel and you'll be looking nice. Yeah.
27:45
Speaker 2: All right, So for Platinum Key aka Mark for Josh
27:49
Speaker 2: Harrison on the Ohio signing off saying thanks for tuning
27:52
Speaker 2: in to another episode of Bucco Territory presented to you.
27:55
Speaker 1: Bye Foul Territory Network, Take care
28:01
Speaker 7: Lay the name of Deacon BA