Latest / Bucco Territory: A Pittsburgh Pirates Podcast / Latest on Konnor Griffin Extension Negotiations

Transcript

Latest on Konnor Griffin Extension Negotiations · Bucco Territory: A Pittsburgh Pirates Podcast

0:09
Speaker 1: What's up, everybody. Welcome back to another episode of buck
0:11
Speaker 1: Outs Territory, presented to you by the Foul Territory Network.
0:14
Speaker 1: I'm your host Noah Hiles, joining me as always our
0:17
Speaker 1: Matuko host Josh Harrison, and Mark aka Platinum Key. We've
0:21
Speaker 1: got a loaded show today. We've got some roster cuts
0:24
Speaker 1: to talk about. As of the time we're recording this,
0:27
Speaker 1: the Pirates twenty six man opening day roster is down
0:30
Speaker 1: to twenty seven men, so we're gonna talk about the
0:33
Speaker 1: final position player group that's already been announced. We're gonna
0:36
Speaker 1: get into Mark's key of the week, what he wants
0:38
Speaker 1: to see or focus on heading into the first week
0:41
Speaker 1: of the regular season, and then to wrap up the show,
0:45
Speaker 1: a little treat from yours truly, some inside information on
0:49
Speaker 1: the latest involving Connor Griffin's extension talks with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
0:54
Speaker 1: Do not fast forward to the l because.
0:57
Speaker 2: We've got to hear the key of the week. Let's
0:59
Speaker 2: go Yeah, yes, we got to hear the Key of
1:01
Speaker 2: the week.
1:02
Speaker 1: But before we get into that, let's start off with
1:04
Speaker 1: the roster cuts. Guys. The position player group is set.
1:07
Speaker 1: The catchers will be Joey Bart and Henry Davis. The
1:10
Speaker 1: infielders will be Spencer Horowitz, Nick Gonzalez, Brandon Low, Jared
1:14
Speaker 1: Triolo and Nick York. And the outfield group will be
1:17
Speaker 1: Marcelo Zuna, O'Neil Cruz, Brian Reynolds, Jake Mangum and Billy Cook.
1:23
Speaker 1: Oh and Ryan o'heur. So that's your thirteen group of
1:26
Speaker 1: position players. Some notable takeaways at least I had from this,
1:31
Speaker 1: and then I'll throw it to you guys. Not a
1:33
Speaker 1: lot of experience on the left side of the infield.
1:36
Speaker 1: Triolo is gonna be the everyday shortstop, they said, and
1:39
Speaker 1: it'll be York and Gonzalez taking turns over at third base.
1:44
Speaker 1: That's just the bulk of your infield depth right there.
1:47
Speaker 1: And then you have two backup outfielders on this roster.
1:51
Speaker 1: Mangum is gonna be the switch hitting guy. He's probably
1:54
Speaker 1: the fourth outfielder, and then Billy Cook probably just a
1:56
Speaker 1: defensive replacement, maybe a pinch runner. Mark. I'll start with you,
2:00
Speaker 1: I mean, your thoughts on this group of thirteen.
2:04
Speaker 2: Yeah, I won't get too into it. Might have some
2:06
Speaker 2: more coming here later, but Billy Cook was definitely the
2:10
Speaker 2: surprise for me, kind of makes sense. I guess if
2:14
Speaker 2: you're still planning on having counter Griffin come up here soon,
2:17
Speaker 2: that you're not gonna have the left side of the
2:19
Speaker 2: enfield depth that you'd expect on an opening day roster.
2:23
Speaker 2: But if you're only doing that until April ninth, Okay,
2:27
Speaker 2: but yeah, so I guess Billy Cook was the biggest surprise.
2:30
Speaker 2: Not too many other big surprises. I think like Catcher
2:32
Speaker 2: could have been an argument where people were saying, you know,
2:35
Speaker 2: maybe you see Endy or Rafael Flores. But I think
2:38
Speaker 2: Bart and Davis both have, for lack of a better term,
2:42
Speaker 2: won that spot this spring. I don't know if they
2:44
Speaker 2: did enough to show they didn't. Really, Yeah, they didn't
2:47
Speaker 2: lose it, That's more what I was trying to say.
2:49
Speaker 2: So not too shocking there. Position players pretty much set,
2:52
Speaker 2: and then pitching is where I think we still have
2:54
Speaker 2: the one question mark.
2:56
Speaker 1: Yeah, Josh, just looking over this, does it feel like
3:02
Speaker 1: they needed a fifth outfielder here? If you're on the team,
3:04
Speaker 1: would you rather see additional infield depth considering that's kind
3:08
Speaker 1: of their biggest weakness right now is on that left side.
3:12
Speaker 3: Well, before you could get into it, I was gonna
3:14
Speaker 3: say you mentioned marcel O zum As an outfielder.
3:18
Speaker 1: Well, yeah, that's.
3:21
Speaker 3: No, no, I know, but I was gonna say, you know,
3:23
Speaker 3: we we we don't really anticipate them seeing many outfield innings.
3:28
Speaker 3: So yeah, to go to Mark's point, you know, I see,
3:36
Speaker 3: you know, just outside of Mangham, that been you know,
3:38
Speaker 3: being a defensive replacement and kind of being on hold
3:41
Speaker 3: till you know they feel kind of Griffin is ready
3:43
Speaker 3: or they're ready to.
3:44
Speaker 4: Bring them up. But even from a catcher standpoint, obviously.
3:49
Speaker 3: We know they didn't do anything to wow anybody to
3:52
Speaker 3: spring offensively. But at the same time, you know me,
3:56
Speaker 3: spring doesn't matter. You know, one more day to finished,
4:00
Speaker 3: to get healthy and go up north, and hey, who's
4:02
Speaker 3: to say they don't come out. You know, Bat's hot
4:05
Speaker 3: behind the plate to you know, compliment, you know the
4:08
Speaker 3: defense that you know is expected from the group.
4:11
Speaker 4: But and it's one of those things where he you know,
4:16
Speaker 4: you want to be picking at the right time.
4:18
Speaker 3: And with these final roster cuts, one more day, you
4:20
Speaker 3: know you can see the roster start to shape up,
4:22
Speaker 3: so you want to head north, but that lack of
4:24
Speaker 3: depth on the left side just lets you know that
4:27
Speaker 3: you're not going to be like that forever, something's gonna happen.
4:29
Speaker 1: So, which is a good transition into our next segment,
4:33
Speaker 1: Key of the Week. But before we get to that,
4:36
Speaker 1: a quick gad read from our sponsors.
4:38
Speaker 5: This is it krats opening weekend of the season. And
4:42
Speaker 5: if you're looking for tickets for an MLB game and
4:45
Speaker 5: they're either sold out or you're just a little bit
4:48
Speaker 5: lost and you need some help, Seekik is there for you.
4:51
Speaker 5: It's not just a spot where you buy the tickets.
4:53
Speaker 5: It's where you feel good about buying the tickets because
4:55
Speaker 5: they have your back with their features.
4:58
Speaker 6: And you know you're gonna get a good That's that's
5:01
Speaker 6: the deal that everybody's looking for. But especially early in
5:04
Speaker 6: the season up here in the Northeast, you kind of
5:06
Speaker 6: want to go to a day game where you're still
5:08
Speaker 6: going to be in the sun. It might shift during
5:10
Speaker 6: the summer, but hey, you know what, seek will let
5:12
Speaker 6: you know exactly where you're sitting and if it's a
5:14
Speaker 6: good spot to watch the game.
5:16
Speaker 4: That's right.
5:16
Speaker 5: Each ticket is rated on a scale of one to ten,
5:18
Speaker 5: so you know you're getting a good deal. So look
5:20
Speaker 5: for the green dots. Green means good, red means bad,
5:22
Speaker 5: and of course, we have a code for you. You
5:24
Speaker 5: can use code Territory ten for ten percent off your
5:27
Speaker 5: next set of tickets at Sea Geek. That's ten percent
5:29
Speaker 5: off any tickets with promo code Territory one zero. Make
5:33
Speaker 5: sure you click the link in the description to download
5:35
Speaker 5: the app and have the code automatically added to your
5:37
Speaker 5: account so you can use it later.
5:40
Speaker 1: All right, Key of the Week first week of the
5:42
Speaker 1: regular season, Platinum key, what's your key?
5:46
Speaker 2: Well, so this is more since the regular season only
5:49
Speaker 2: starts on Thursday and then we have an off day
5:52
Speaker 2: right after. My Key of the Week is focused more
5:55
Speaker 2: on that final roster spot with roster cuts cut roster
5:58
Speaker 2: cuts coming up across the league. If the Pirates want
6:02
Speaker 2: more infield depth, there's going to be a couple options
6:05
Speaker 2: coming up with guys who are kind of squeeze out
6:07
Speaker 2: of rosters, ran of options, So I just want to
6:10
Speaker 2: throw a couple names of possible infield depth that might
6:14
Speaker 2: be able to bridge the gap to Connor Griffin. Again,
6:18
Speaker 2: I think if he's going to come up by April
6:20
Speaker 2: ninth to preserve the PPI eligibility, then not too big
6:25
Speaker 2: of an issue. But if they want to give him
6:27
Speaker 2: some more time, in seasoning in Triple A, give him
6:31
Speaker 2: maybe like six weeks down there, then we could see
6:35
Speaker 2: one of these guys possibly added to the Pirates. So
6:38
Speaker 2: a couple names Von Grissom of the Los Angeles Angels,
6:43
Speaker 2: twenty five year old shortstop. He got hurt with a
6:47
Speaker 2: hand issue, so they may put him on the al
6:49
Speaker 2: just to sneak him onto the roster. Leo Jimenez from
6:53
Speaker 2: the Toronto Blue Jays another former top prospect. He was
6:57
Speaker 2: top five in the blue Jay system at one time,
7:00
Speaker 2: but out of options. Twenty four year old shortstop could
7:04
Speaker 2: be could be someone Brett Wisely with the Atlanta Braves
7:07
Speaker 2: had in a thousand ops. Another or the spring another shortstop,
7:12
Speaker 2: second base guy Vidal Bruhan, Brian Ramos, a third baseman
7:18
Speaker 2: for the Orioles who's had a really nice spring, might
7:21
Speaker 2: actually make their team with all their infield injuries, but
7:24
Speaker 2: again out of options. And then the other guy I
7:26
Speaker 2: had on my list was Jorbet Vivas of the Yankees,
7:29
Speaker 2: but they just traded him to the Nationals today, so
7:32
Speaker 2: he won't be a Pirate. So again that's kind of
7:36
Speaker 2: a dumpster dive into some like guys that were former
7:40
Speaker 2: top prospects where it hasn't worked out, have bounced around
7:44
Speaker 2: a lot this offseason, so would be good in a pinch.
7:47
Speaker 2: But that that's kind of what I'm looking at, is
7:49
Speaker 2: are any of those guys going to be better and
7:51
Speaker 2: more effective than Billy Cook on what they can bring
7:54
Speaker 2: to this team until Connor Griffin, which I don't know,
7:59
Speaker 2: what do you guys think.
8:02
Speaker 1: I'll like Josh Start.
8:04
Speaker 4: I was honestly gonna say, if they really anticipate.
8:08
Speaker 3: Connor, you know, showing up sooner rather than later, I
8:12
Speaker 3: honestly don't really see the need to go get any
8:17
Speaker 3: of those guys if you don't anticipate it been that long.
8:21
Speaker 3: But at the same time, you know me, depth is
8:23
Speaker 3: something that you can always have. And if one of
8:26
Speaker 3: those guys, one or two of those guys is somebody
8:29
Speaker 3: that seems, you know, kind of attractive to where like,
8:32
Speaker 3: you know, it's a long season, why not take a
8:35
Speaker 3: risk if you think it's gonna be able to help
8:37
Speaker 3: you bridge that gap in somebody that you don't mind
8:40
Speaker 3: possibly you know, running through the waivers if you you know,
8:44
Speaker 3: want to take them off the roster when Connor's there
8:46
Speaker 3: or right, who's to say something happens, and you know,
8:49
Speaker 3: injuries happening.
8:50
Speaker 4: It just so happened to be a good insurance policy.
8:52
Speaker 3: Not wishing anything on anybody, but who's to know what
8:55
Speaker 3: the near future holds. But I wouldn't anticipate them seeing,
9:00
Speaker 3: you know, grabbing anybody like that if they truly anticipate
9:05
Speaker 3: Condor being up soon. But at the same time, we
9:08
Speaker 3: really don't know what what could be. You know, they
9:11
Speaker 3: might want to take a flyer on somebody and really
9:13
Speaker 3: give them a chance.
9:14
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm not going to pretend to know a ton
9:17
Speaker 1: about any of the names you just said, Mark and
9:19
Speaker 1: I write about baseball for.
9:20
Speaker 2: A Liz, Yeah, which it's the bottom of now.
9:24
Speaker 4: I recognize a few.
9:25
Speaker 1: I recognize names, but I'm not going to sit here
9:27
Speaker 1: and be like, oh, like that's I remember that guy,
9:29
Speaker 1: you know, Like it's just kind of like those are
9:32
Speaker 1: those are your twenty six man type of candidates? I
9:36
Speaker 1: think right now, if you're the Pirates, yeah, you're looking
9:38
Speaker 1: to make an extra move. And that's not going off
9:41
Speaker 1: of anything source that I'm hearing. It just I mean,
9:43
Speaker 1: a you just look at their track record. They made
9:45
Speaker 1: a move for Joey Bart in early April and twenty
9:47
Speaker 1: twenty four. They brought in Alexander Canario in twenty twenty
9:51
Speaker 1: five first week of April. Both of those guys were
9:54
Speaker 1: rostered for the entirety of that season, So I think
9:58
Speaker 1: that that's tracking that they'll do something like that again
10:00
Speaker 1: this year. I don't know if that guy will be rostered,
10:03
Speaker 1: But if you're looking at criteria, I think you're looking
10:05
Speaker 1: for a left handed bat who can play shortstop and
10:08
Speaker 1: who can play third base, because right now they just
10:10
Speaker 1: don't have guys who can play those positions. Like Triolo
10:14
Speaker 1: should have been this team's opening day third base, and
10:17
Speaker 1: he's really the only guy who can play that comfortable comfortably,
10:21
Speaker 1: like Nick Gonzalez is gonna be probably their starter at
10:24
Speaker 1: third base on opening day. Nick and Zalez, I don't
10:27
Speaker 1: think he's played more than one game in the major
10:29
Speaker 1: leagues at third base or something along. It's like staggering.
10:33
Speaker 1: I actually think it's number as one. It's definitely less
10:36
Speaker 1: than ten. I think it's under five for sure. And
10:38
Speaker 1: that's not even a place that he's played a lot
10:40
Speaker 1: of time at in the minor leagues, compared to shortstop,
10:43
Speaker 1: where he actually has played some shortstop in the minor leagues.
10:46
Speaker 1: He has not played a lot of third base at
10:48
Speaker 1: really any level of professional ball. So you just need
10:52
Speaker 1: people who can play that spot. I mean Callahan, I
10:55
Speaker 1: guess kind of makes fits that description.
11:00
Speaker 4: Him. Yeah.
11:00
Speaker 1: Yeah, Alika Williams isn't on the roster. They option Callahan.
11:04
Speaker 1: So clearly like those guys didn't check the boxes that
11:06
Speaker 1: they were hoping to see checked in the spring, So
11:09
Speaker 1: go find someone else who can do that, who can
11:11
Speaker 1: be just a solid backup shortstop slash third basement because
11:16
Speaker 1: they're playing triolo at short just because they don't have
11:19
Speaker 1: anyone else who can play there. They don't feel confident
11:21
Speaker 1: in asking Nick and Zalez to be the everyday guy there.
11:24
Speaker 1: It's pretty clear and Yorke the same thing. So yeah,
11:27
Speaker 1: you need, like Josh said, you just need depth at
11:30
Speaker 1: that position.
11:30
Speaker 4: Got and you got to catch the ball at short.
11:32
Speaker 3: So they I mean, for right now, they're going to
11:34
Speaker 3: go with their best defender at short, even if it
11:37
Speaker 3: is out of position.
11:38
Speaker 1: Yeah. And I mean and you're looking around now at
11:40
Speaker 1: the diamond, you're having someone play out of position at short,
11:44
Speaker 1: third and both of your corner outfield spots. That's a
11:49
Speaker 1: lot and O'Neill O'Neill is still relatively new well as
11:57
Speaker 1: defensive second baseman. So I mean you're you're looking at
12:01
Speaker 1: half of your lineup playing out of position right now,
12:04
Speaker 1: and Treolo still playing out a position, is still more
12:07
Speaker 1: than adequate defender at short but still it's just kind
12:10
Speaker 1: of like you're asking a lot, and like there's gonna
12:15
Speaker 1: be a lot of there's gonna be a lot of
12:18
Speaker 1: singles that turn into doubles. This defensive alignment with Gonzales
12:22
Speaker 1: at third in the corner outfield being what it is,
12:25
Speaker 1: you're giving up extra bases every game by having.
12:28
Speaker 3: That, and maybe on offense they say the same thing,
12:31
Speaker 3: Our singles are about to turn.
12:34
Speaker 1: You bet that numbers the number of bases that you're
12:38
Speaker 1: allowing right real quick.
12:41
Speaker 2: One question, do you guys think oneo Cruz plays any
12:44
Speaker 2: time at short stop this year? If like the left
12:47
Speaker 2: side of the infield is that lacking? I don't think so,
12:49
Speaker 2: But I just want to get that out there.
12:51
Speaker 7: That's a question people, because if you want him to
12:54
Speaker 7: just focus on let him focus on that, because you
12:58
Speaker 7: obviously took him off for short for him to use
13:01
Speaker 7: his athleticism.
13:03
Speaker 2: Yeah, there was a reason.
13:04
Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't think I don't think you move him
13:05
Speaker 3: off a short if you really thought he was the
13:07
Speaker 3: real answer short.
13:09
Speaker 1: If if Onio Cruz plays, there are some major problems.
13:17
Speaker 1: I'll just leave it at that. That will not go
13:19
Speaker 1: well with so Okay, Yeah, I don't think we see that.
13:24
Speaker 2: I didn't think so either, but I wanted to throw
13:26
Speaker 2: it out there just because I'd seen some people like
13:28
Speaker 2: mentioning that. I was like, I don't think that's gonna work.
13:31
Speaker 1: I don't see how that would work.
13:33
Speaker 4: Who knows.
13:34
Speaker 3: Maybe maybe in a basis loaded bottom of the night, Yeah,
13:38
Speaker 3: you know we need the fifth infant. Oh no, but
13:42
Speaker 3: even then they might say, you know what, you run
13:44
Speaker 3: it down or heard you come in on the corner.
13:46
Speaker 2: Yeah, probably more likely we see Jerry Triello in the
13:48
Speaker 2: outfields or something.
13:49
Speaker 4: Yeah.
13:51
Speaker 1: All right, so we got some some more to talk
13:54
Speaker 1: about here. But before we do another break for our sponsors.
13:58
Speaker 5: Hey, it might be time to have a heart to
14:00
Speaker 5: heart with your phone and be like, I love you,
14:03
Speaker 5: but you cost too much.
14:05
Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm not paying this much anymore.
14:07
Speaker 6: That's it. I mean, why would I go more than
14:10
Speaker 6: fifteen dollars a month? Mintmobile can give that to me
14:13
Speaker 6: and I get all the same.
14:14
Speaker 5: Coverage exactly, and you don't have to deal with the
14:17
Speaker 5: crazy bogus fees or free perks that actually end up
14:21
Speaker 5: costing more. Mint Mobile plans for premium wireless start at
14:25
Speaker 5: just fifteen bucks a month, and all plans come with
14:29
Speaker 5: high speed data and unlimited talk and text delivered on
14:31
Speaker 5: the nation's largest five G network. If you like your money,
14:35
Speaker 5: Mintmobile is for you. Shop plans at mintmobile dot com
14:38
Speaker 5: slash territory that's mintmobile dot com slash t r r
14:42
Speaker 5: it o r y. Upfront payment of forty five dollars
14:46
Speaker 5: for three month five gigabyte plan required equivalent to fifteen
14:49
Speaker 5: bucks a month. New customer offer for first three month only,
14:52
Speaker 5: then full price plan options available, Taxes and fees extra.
14:56
Speaker 5: See mint Mobile for details.
15:00
Speaker 1: So we're gonna conclude this show with a look into
15:03
Speaker 1: an exclusive report from yours truly that ran online as
15:07
Speaker 1: the morning that this publishes Monday morning at the Post Gazette.
15:11
Speaker 1: You can read the full story at postdash Gazette dot com.
15:14
Speaker 1: The headline is what I've been hearing as far as
15:17
Speaker 1: the Pirates and Connor Griffin contract extension talk. Butchered that
15:22
Speaker 1: headline because I don't have it in front of me,
15:23
Speaker 1: but you guys get the gist of it, all right.
15:25
Speaker 1: So the article just starts off, but it's it's just
15:28
Speaker 1: the latest I've been hearing on this whole thing. Mark
15:32
Speaker 1: and Josh can attest to it. I've been kind of
15:35
Speaker 1: quietly reporting on this all month and kind of filling
15:40
Speaker 1: them in behind the scenes on hey I heard this,
15:42
Speaker 1: Hey I heard that. Josh just shakes his head. Mark
15:45
Speaker 1: is like has to like scream into a pillow.
15:49
Speaker 3: But here.
15:50
Speaker 1: So the latest that I've been told, and because there
15:53
Speaker 1: were some surface reports about the two having extension talks,
15:57
Speaker 1: those surface during the Spring Breakout game, which would have
16:01
Speaker 1: been on Thursday. So to give you the specific details
16:04
Speaker 1: which haven't been reported anywhere, the most lucrative deal that's
16:10
Speaker 1: been discussed between Griffin and the Pirates is eight years
16:14
Speaker 1: worth one hundred and ten million dollars guaranteed, along with
16:18
Speaker 1: some limited trade protection and incentives, and there's also a
16:22
Speaker 1: ninth year option in there as well. So all together
16:25
Speaker 1: the deals probably I mean, I don't want to give
16:28
Speaker 1: an exact number there, but it's it's more than one ten,
16:32
Speaker 1: but the guaranteed money would be one hundred and ten
16:35
Speaker 1: over eight years, but again with the ninth year option
16:38
Speaker 1: with some limited trade protection and some limited incentives. I
16:43
Speaker 1: wish I could go into more detail on all of
16:45
Speaker 1: those things, but we're going to leave it at that
16:47
Speaker 1: for now, hopefully and then yeah, hopefully soon. And then
16:52
Speaker 1: I kind of wrote about the nuts and bolts behind
16:57
Speaker 1: this situation, so to mind. Standing through talking with probably
17:01
Speaker 1: a half dozen sources on this topic, the Pirates really
17:06
Speaker 1: tried to push to get this done before the start
17:09
Speaker 1: of spring training, or before the start of opening day,
17:11
Speaker 1: I should say throughout spring training. The talks really ramped up,
17:15
Speaker 1: although the talks kind of began before spring training. If
17:18
Speaker 1: Connor would have signed this deal, he would have been
17:20
Speaker 1: on the opening day roster. But you know, like a
17:24
Speaker 1: deal didn't get done. And that's not to say that
17:26
Speaker 1: Connor was like insulted by a deal or anything. It
17:28
Speaker 1: was just a deal didn't get done. If he did
17:31
Speaker 1: sign this deal, he would have been the opening day shortstop.
17:34
Speaker 1: But the Pirates are still very confident that they can
17:37
Speaker 1: get this done. That's just the talk that I've heard
17:40
Speaker 1: from people in the organization word from people who are
17:44
Speaker 1: close to this whole thing, constructing it and brokering the deal,
17:49
Speaker 1: that there is legitimate belief that they can get this
17:51
Speaker 1: deal done before Connor plays in the major leagues, and
17:55
Speaker 1: Mark has now mentioned a couple times the April ninth day.
17:59
Speaker 1: The significant it's behind that is, of course, the PPI
18:02
Speaker 1: compensation in the current CBA. If you if you have
18:07
Speaker 1: a player that's rated a top one hundred prospect and
18:10
Speaker 1: at least two of the three notable prospect ranking lists
18:15
Speaker 1: that's Baseball America MLB pipeline in ESPN, you are a
18:20
Speaker 1: prospect that is deemed PPI eligible, and you also have
18:25
Speaker 1: to have less than sixty days service time when you're
18:26
Speaker 1: on these rankings, And I think is there another qualifier?
18:30
Speaker 1: I think it's just those two. But if you're PPI
18:33
Speaker 1: eligible and you play a full complete year of major
18:38
Speaker 1: league service time as a rookie, which is one hundred
18:41
Speaker 1: and seventy two days, it means you if you win accolades,
18:48
Speaker 1: the team that promotes you gets a reward because this
18:51
Speaker 1: incentivizes them to not manipulate your service time. So, for example,
18:55
Speaker 1: the Pirates missed out on this with all schemes. They
18:59
Speaker 1: promoted Paul's in May, being that that was way past
19:03
Speaker 1: the deadline. The PPI deadline. This year's PPI deadline, for
19:06
Speaker 1: lack of a better term, is April ninth. If anyone
19:10
Speaker 1: plays in the major leagues post April ninth to the
19:13
Speaker 1: end of the season, it will be less than one
19:15
Speaker 1: hundred and seventy two days of major league service time,
19:17
Speaker 1: meaning they did not accumulate a full year of service
19:20
Speaker 1: time because of the time that they were up in
19:23
Speaker 1: the major leagues. So Paul Skeenes's case, he came up
19:26
Speaker 1: after his PPI date, so he came up in May.
19:30
Speaker 1: If he did not win Rookie of the Year, he
19:33
Speaker 1: would have missed out on a full year of service time.
19:35
Speaker 1: But because of the current CBA, he won Rookie of
19:38
Speaker 1: the Year, he was awarded a full year service time,
19:40
Speaker 1: and because the Pirates did not promote him on the
19:44
Speaker 1: opening day roster, they missed out on a PPI reward,
19:48
Speaker 1: which is a draft pick. It's a draft pick after
19:51
Speaker 1: the first round of the draft.
19:52
Speaker 2: So the incentive is exactly like the.
19:59
Speaker 1: Yes, so yes. The goal here if you're the Pirates
20:05
Speaker 1: is knowing that Connor Griffin is going to be on
20:08
Speaker 1: this team, right like they know the way this team
20:11
Speaker 1: is constructed currently, there's just no way where this kid
20:16
Speaker 1: should not be a part of your everyday plan.
20:18
Speaker 4: Yeah, right, So.
20:20
Speaker 1: Knowing that it's in their best interest a to win games,
20:23
Speaker 1: to have Connor Griffin on the field, and if you're
20:25
Speaker 1: going to have him on the field and you're going
20:27
Speaker 1: to put him at risk to finish in the v
20:31
Speaker 1: or the Rookie of the Year conversation, you're now incentivized
20:36
Speaker 1: to make sure he gets a full year of service
20:38
Speaker 1: time because you can be rewarded by that. And it's
20:40
Speaker 1: not just for the rookie season either. If you have
20:43
Speaker 1: a PPI eligible player that gets a full year of
20:45
Speaker 1: service time in his rookie season, you can also get
20:49
Speaker 1: that PPI draft pick. If he doesn't win Rookie of
20:52
Speaker 1: the Year this year, his first three years of major
20:54
Speaker 1: league service time, if he has a top three finish
20:57
Speaker 1: in cy Young or MVP voting, you can get that
21:01
Speaker 1: draft Let's take it you can only get one pick. Well,
21:04
Speaker 1: let's say Connor that's two hundred, doesn't have a great
21:08
Speaker 1: rookie year, doesn't win Rookie of the Year, but next
21:10
Speaker 1: year finishes second in MVP voting. The Pirates would get
21:13
Speaker 1: that draft pick as a reward for having him up
21:16
Speaker 1: here for a full year of service time as a rookie.
21:20
Speaker 1: So that's the incentive there. The other incentive for the
21:22
Speaker 1: pirates extend this guy, aside from the obvious being you
21:26
Speaker 1: want to extend your good players while they're young. And
21:29
Speaker 1: if he comes up here and lights the world on fire,
21:31
Speaker 1: it's gonna be a lot harder to extend him. Yesterday's
21:33
Speaker 1: prices ain't today's prices, right, So you gotta move quickly
21:38
Speaker 1: with that. And then the incentive to also get it
21:42
Speaker 1: done early is you take a look at next year.
21:44
Speaker 1: Next year, there's a chance there's no Major League Baseball,
21:46
Speaker 1: and whenever Connor Griffin's major league clock begins is when
21:50
Speaker 1: that service times clock starts ticking. So if he plays
21:53
Speaker 1: even one game in the major leagues this year, his
21:56
Speaker 1: service time clock, I believe, yes, his time starts ticking,
22:00
Speaker 1: and you'll lose a whole year of Connor Griffin in
22:03
Speaker 1: twenty twenty seven, which you cannot risk doing. But if
22:07
Speaker 1: you have him extended, say for the deal that was
22:10
Speaker 1: reported by me, eight years, one hundred and ten million
22:12
Speaker 1: dollars guaranteed, now you have the long term future secure.
22:18
Speaker 1: It's not as big of a deal whereas there's a chance,
22:20
Speaker 1: who knows what happens in the CBA. Let's say you
22:23
Speaker 1: miss out on a year of baseball on twenty twenty seven,
22:25
Speaker 1: and then a CBA concession on the player's end is
22:29
Speaker 1: it's only five years of guaranteed control. So now you're
22:34
Speaker 1: looking at one less year of Connor Griffin and you
22:37
Speaker 1: just lost a year. You don't want to take that risk.
22:39
Speaker 1: So the Pirates have plenty of incentive to extend this guy.
22:44
Speaker 1: This offer that I reported would have made him the
22:46
Speaker 1: highest paid player in franchise history and would have shattered
22:50
Speaker 1: any other deal signed by a player prior to their
22:52
Speaker 1: major league debut. Currently, that record is held by Jackson
22:55
Speaker 1: Curio of the Milwaukee Brewers, who who signed for I
22:58
Speaker 1: believe eight years, eighty two million guaranteed. So that's blowing
23:02
Speaker 1: that deal out of the water. It's blowing Reynolds. It
23:04
Speaker 1: gets past Reynold's franchise high deal, which is just over
23:07
Speaker 1: one oh six million over eight years. So you look
23:12
Speaker 1: at this, I mean, it's a big offer for the
23:14
Speaker 1: Pirate standards, But on the other side of things, guys
23:17
Speaker 1: Connor Griffin needs to understand that he needs to be
23:19
Speaker 1: paid his work, and Josh, we're going to talk to
23:21
Speaker 1: you a little bit about this here soon after I
23:23
Speaker 1: finished kind of laying out all the details. Connor Griffin
23:27
Speaker 1: has to consider what he is worth, not just what's
23:29
Speaker 1: convenient to him. If he wanted to just make this
23:31
Speaker 1: team and secure himself a nine figure future, then he
23:35
Speaker 1: could have signed this deal. But you also have to look,
23:37
Speaker 1: Roman Anthony just signed an eight year, one hundred thirty
23:39
Speaker 1: million dollar deal worth of not the two hundred million
23:43
Speaker 1: dollars including incentives, and that was signed less than a
23:45
Speaker 1: year ago. Connor Griffin, by all objectivity on the table,
23:49
Speaker 1: should be a valued a higher value piece than Roman
23:53
Speaker 1: Anthony because he plays shortstop, because he's two years younger,
23:56
Speaker 1: and because he has the same prospect status if not
23:58
Speaker 1: but a higher prospect. Evaluation and talking to people and
24:02
Speaker 1: other organizations outside the Pirates, their evaluation systems also say
24:06
Speaker 1: that Connor Griffin is by far and away the best
24:08
Speaker 1: prospect that they've evaluated in any system in like a decade.
24:13
Speaker 1: So yeah, he's a more valuable asset, he's younger, and
24:19
Speaker 1: by him signing for a lesser deal, now that not
24:23
Speaker 1: only hurts Connor Griffin, that hurts the prospects to come
24:26
Speaker 1: after Connor Griffin. You look at guys like Kevin McGonagall,
24:29
Speaker 1: you look at guys like Max Clark, you know, Mark's
24:32
Speaker 1: best friend on Twitter. Now, guys like that, they're gonna
24:36
Speaker 1: be negotiating. They're gonna be in the same spot not
24:39
Speaker 1: far from now. And who knows what the new CBA
24:41
Speaker 1: will be like when they're negotiating in those spots. And
24:44
Speaker 1: Josh can again speak to this too. When you're talking
24:47
Speaker 1: about contract extensions and dealing in free agency, you might
24:51
Speaker 1: have a situation where the easier thing would just make
24:54
Speaker 1: you know, what, screw it. This is still a lot
24:55
Speaker 1: of money. I want this to end. I'm tired of
24:58
Speaker 1: batting with this in the back in my mind every
25:01
Speaker 1: that I just want to play baseball. I just want
25:02
Speaker 1: to be financially taken care of. But you have to
25:05
Speaker 1: value yourself to the top priority. And you have to
25:08
Speaker 1: keep in mind that you know everything that you sign
25:10
Speaker 1: not only impacts you, impacts your your player brothers that
25:14
Speaker 1: are gonna come after you. And this is what a
25:16
Speaker 1: nineteen year old's kind of dealing right now, dealing with
25:18
Speaker 1: right now. I'm not asking or insinuating that anyone should
25:21
Speaker 1: feel bad for them. I would love to have this
25:23
Speaker 1: problem when I was here. But I'm just saying that
25:26
Speaker 1: this is this is the situation that it's in, and
25:29
Speaker 1: the Pirates really only have a couple of weeks to
25:31
Speaker 1: get this figured out because if you don't get him
25:33
Speaker 1: extended before this date, it's going to make things a
25:36
Speaker 1: lot more complicated. There's another date on mind that I believe.
25:41
Speaker 1: I don't have the exact terminology in front of me,
25:43
Speaker 1: but if you and this isn't in the story, but
25:46
Speaker 1: if you don't get the extension done within the first
25:49
Speaker 1: thirty days I believe of opening day, then whatever extension
25:53
Speaker 1: you works out becomes in effect the following season. So
25:59
Speaker 1: if you what your Connor Griffin extension to come in
26:02
Speaker 1: to effect now yells within the first thirty days of
26:07
Speaker 1: opening day. So that is also why time is of
26:10
Speaker 1: the essence. So there that's a whole other factor. So
26:13
Speaker 1: there's a lot going on here, a lot of moving pieces.
26:16
Speaker 1: Probably would have been been easier if you just made
26:18
Speaker 1: the team on a champ but yeah, that's where we're at.
26:22
Speaker 1: So Josh, real quick, I want to ask you, I mean,
26:24
Speaker 1: you've you've signed a contracts extension with this team, it
26:28
Speaker 1: was with a different general manager, different team president, same
26:32
Speaker 1: ownership group, same business. Yeah, going through spring train, tell
26:39
Speaker 1: us about your experience and what how it can weigh
26:41
Speaker 1: on a player's mind when you're going through this process.
26:45
Speaker 3: It's definitely, as you said, it's not a bad problem
26:51
Speaker 3: to have, because, as you mentioned, there's a lot of
26:54
Speaker 3: people that would love to be in a situation to say,
26:56
Speaker 3: man am I going to turn down or accept you know,
26:59
Speaker 3: millions of But at the same time, you also understand
27:03
Speaker 3: those that came before you that allowed you to be
27:06
Speaker 3: in a situation to make the amount of money that
27:08
Speaker 3: you're making, and you also understand that they are gonna
27:10
Speaker 3: be people that are going to be in a similar
27:12
Speaker 3: situation as you, that are that are going to be,
27:15
Speaker 3: you know, riding the coat tails of what you do.
27:18
Speaker 3: And at the end of the day, I've always been
27:20
Speaker 3: a firm advocate that you got to do what's best
27:23
Speaker 3: for you. You know, at the end of the day,
27:24
Speaker 3: you can't please everybody, and the situation has to be
27:27
Speaker 3: what is you know, considered best for that that individual.
27:32
Speaker 3: And a person like Jose Ramierz with Cleveland, I think
27:34
Speaker 3: a lot of people think he left a lot of
27:36
Speaker 3: money out on the table, but I think his response
27:40
Speaker 3: was my family here, my family loves it here.
27:42
Speaker 4: I mean, still a whole lot of money.
27:44
Speaker 3: But I mean I get the other side where everybody's like, well,
27:48
Speaker 3: he's like, I don't need to make you know, fifty
27:51
Speaker 3: million more dollars to go to this other city that
27:54
Speaker 3: my family doesn't know, you know. So for me, I
27:57
Speaker 3: just remember I was going into my first year of arbitration,
28:02
Speaker 3: didn't think anything of a contract extension, and the first
28:05
Speaker 3: one they offered me, it was hard to not accept it,
28:09
Speaker 3: just because it was the first time I had been
28:11
Speaker 3: offered an extension. Just like you know, Connor's first offer
28:15
Speaker 3: was around one ten you said, you know, you very
28:18
Speaker 3: rarely see people accept the first offer, so that even
28:24
Speaker 3: though he didn't accept it, I'm sure in the back
28:26
Speaker 3: of his mind.
28:27
Speaker 4: He's like and you know, insane.
28:31
Speaker 3: Yeah, But at the same time, I remember when I
28:36
Speaker 3: turned my first offer down, you know my original answer,
28:42
Speaker 3: you know, because it was, oh, what if he gets hurt,
28:44
Speaker 3: what if he doesn't produce the way that he did
28:46
Speaker 3: last year? You know, they'll put all these fear things
28:48
Speaker 3: in your mind, which I mean, these are all things
28:50
Speaker 3: that really can happen, but to know you're worth and stuff.
28:54
Speaker 3: You know, I went into it to say, you know,
28:56
Speaker 3: I never played this game fearful and I don't want
28:58
Speaker 3: to accept this extension, you know.
29:00
Speaker 4: Off the basis of fear. Oh what if I don't
29:02
Speaker 4: do this again?
29:03
Speaker 3: And you know, prayed on it a lot with my
29:06
Speaker 3: wife and you know it turned it down, and you know,
29:09
Speaker 3: six weeks later, the day after opening day, we were
29:12
Speaker 3: able to announce that, you know, I accepted a contract
29:14
Speaker 3: extension where.
29:17
Speaker 4: You know, it was a lot more money than what
29:19
Speaker 4: they had originally offered me. We'll just say that.
29:22
Speaker 3: And you know, it's a situation where I was at
29:24
Speaker 3: a you know, this is this is a number that
29:27
Speaker 3: we were comfortable with and the rest is history.
29:30
Speaker 4: But uh, I'll be I'll be lying.
29:32
Speaker 3: If I said that first when I turned down, I
29:34
Speaker 3: wouldn't pace it back and forth. You know, like, man,
29:37
Speaker 3: I've never seen this amount of money before in my life,
29:39
Speaker 3: and you know that's really something that you have to
29:41
Speaker 3: think about.
29:42
Speaker 4: But because it was a real life emotion.
29:44
Speaker 3: Yeah, like you said, at the same time, you know,
29:48
Speaker 3: you bet on yourself and that's what a lot of
29:50
Speaker 3: us do. And you know, like I said, first offer
29:53
Speaker 3: was one ten. I don't think that's going to be
29:54
Speaker 3: the last offer.
29:56
Speaker 1: I couldn't imagine. I mean, I'd be walking outside wrapped
29:59
Speaker 1: in bubble. If I would sneeze, I'd be like, all right,
30:02
Speaker 1: we're quarantining. Like nothing that could happen to me.
30:05
Speaker 3: Between now and this next My daughter was eight months well,
30:09
Speaker 3: she was not even a year old yet, you know,
30:10
Speaker 3: just had a baby.
30:11
Speaker 4: It's like, oh man, we play, don't have it more?
30:15
Speaker 3: And you know, it's like, you know, it's just one
30:18
Speaker 3: of those things where you know, you take it a
30:20
Speaker 3: day at a time and you know whatever is meant
30:23
Speaker 3: to happen is gonna happen. But as I said, everybody's
30:25
Speaker 3: gonna make the decision that's best for themselves. And you know,
30:28
Speaker 3: I think Connor will get what he's doing.
30:31
Speaker 1: Mark, let me pitch you this idea here. All right,
30:33
Speaker 1: So the Pirates they open their season in New York
30:38
Speaker 1: and then they go to Cincinnati. Oh boy, April third
30:42
Speaker 1: home opener. You have the day between on April second,
30:49
Speaker 1: get that extension done, you make the roster move, MLB
30:57
Speaker 1: debut and the home opener. Where are you at?
31:00
Speaker 2: Yeah, that would be perfect, I will say the Pirates
31:05
Speaker 2: absolutely have to get this deal done. This is an
31:09
Speaker 2: opportunity that is not going to be in front of
31:12
Speaker 2: the Pirates for possibly another generation. This is you don't
31:16
Speaker 2: get a chance if you're the Pittsburgh Pirates to sign
31:19
Speaker 2: a superstar unless this is the only circumstance. Really, Yeah,
31:25
Speaker 2: I mean, and I don't think they Yeah, I don't
31:28
Speaker 2: think they even had a chance with schemes ever, Like,
31:30
Speaker 2: I won't even blame them. I don't think that was
31:33
Speaker 2: anything they ever could have done. They can do this
31:35
Speaker 2: with Connor Griffin. He's interested. He's in the perfect spot
31:39
Speaker 2: where they can get him while he's cheap enough, but
31:42
Speaker 2: still keep him while he's valuable. It makes so much sense.
31:46
Speaker 2: And so I feel like, if I'm Kndor Griffin in
31:48
Speaker 2: his camp, I'm not even entertaining one hundred and ten
31:51
Speaker 2: million because I know the Pirates will go higher because
31:55
Speaker 2: this means so much to this franchise. I mean, this
31:57
Speaker 2: is like you could have your own Sidney Crosby for
32:00
Speaker 2: the Pirates, Right. You have a guy that's going to
32:02
Speaker 2: play every single day, be the face of your franchise,
32:04
Speaker 2: a superstar face like a baseball that people are just
32:08
Speaker 2: gonna be like, oh, the Pirates, Yeah, they got two superstars,
32:10
Speaker 2: two studs. It puts you on the baseball map. So
32:13
Speaker 2: if you want to dispel all these oh the Pirates
32:15
Speaker 2: are so cheap, the Pirates are never going to do
32:17
Speaker 2: this instead of a franchise record deal with counter Griffin,
32:21
Speaker 2: I mean they're going to if they sign him, right,
32:23
Speaker 2: it's going to be more than the contract they gave
32:26
Speaker 2: to Brian Reynolds. He's not going to sign for one
32:27
Speaker 2: hundred and six million or less. So it's going to
32:30
Speaker 2: be a franchise record. It'll be more than the Chario deal.
32:33
Speaker 2: And you have to get up closer to that Roman
32:35
Speaker 2: Anthony number. I get Roman Anthony's two years older, he played,
32:39
Speaker 2: He had like two hundred Major League at bats at
32:41
Speaker 2: that point when he signed his extension. Different circumstances, but
32:45
Speaker 2: I think the ceiling for counter Griffin is way higher
32:48
Speaker 2: than a corner outfielder. This is a guy who's going
32:51
Speaker 2: to be Bobby Wood junior. I mean we saw it
32:53
Speaker 2: during the World Baseball Classic what having a goal glove
32:57
Speaker 2: shortstop can do with having that kind of hit tool
32:59
Speaker 2: and can do. So you gotta go do it, Pirates,
33:03
Speaker 2: and if they like if they let this pass them by,
33:06
Speaker 2: it'll be such a missed opportunity, and I don't think
33:10
Speaker 2: they can afford to do that. So hopefully both sides
33:13
Speaker 2: recognize that. I mean, this gets counter into free agency
33:16
Speaker 2: before he's thirty, so that's probably two nine figure deals
33:21
Speaker 2: that he'll sign in his career then, so it makes
33:24
Speaker 2: sense for him as well as Yeah. Yeah, so I
33:28
Speaker 2: really hope. So I'm kind of glad that they send
33:31
Speaker 2: them down the Triple A. I'll finish on this note,
33:34
Speaker 2: just because that's a lot to put on one guy,
33:37
Speaker 2: one kid's mind with an extension, thinking, oh am I
33:41
Speaker 2: going to make the opening day roster, Oh I need
33:44
Speaker 2: to fix my swing and hit fastballs better, like all
33:47
Speaker 2: of that's swirling around in your head and you're nineteen
33:50
Speaker 2: years old right before your first mob season. That's a lot.
33:53
Speaker 2: So I'm glad at least one thing is kind of
33:55
Speaker 2: off his plate now he can focus on this extension,
33:58
Speaker 2: focus on getting right for whenever he does make that debut,
34:01
Speaker 2: and hopefully it's in Pittsburgh Gatefril third.
34:04
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, it would be great for them to
34:07
Speaker 1: get that done. I just think there's so much more
34:11
Speaker 1: reward to it than just what we've discussed too. I
34:14
Speaker 1: think that gives a shot of morale to the whole clubhouse.
34:16
Speaker 1: Absolutely when you're talking about and I'm not sitting here
34:20
Speaker 1: and saying they think lesser of anyone else, but I mean,
34:23
Speaker 1: these guys all know that they have a better shot
34:26
Speaker 1: to win with this kid around. They just do. And
34:29
Speaker 1: not just for the guys that are only here on
34:31
Speaker 1: a one year deal, but if you're Bubba Chandler or
34:34
Speaker 1: Braxton n Ashcraft or even Paul Skans, people who are
34:37
Speaker 1: going to be here after twenty twenty six, you're thinking, like,
34:40
Speaker 1: we got to start building this core. We got to
34:42
Speaker 1: start building this core. And they have it to a
34:44
Speaker 1: certain extent, but this is going to be the centerpiece
34:47
Speaker 1: of the court, not Paul Skans, because Paul Skins isn't
34:49
Speaker 1: going to be here for another however many years. And
34:52
Speaker 1: if you have any shot and changing that narrative, it
34:55
Speaker 1: starts with nailing this extension. If you nail this Connor
34:58
Speaker 1: Griffin extension, and he shows out and it incentivizes other
35:02
Speaker 1: players to want to come play exactly to lift no
35:04
Speaker 1: trade dead deadline or no trade clauses at the deadline,
35:07
Speaker 1: you make noise in the postseason. Maybe Skemes does want
35:11
Speaker 1: to sign here. Maybe or if it's not Schemes, maybe
35:14
Speaker 1: you get an extension done with Braxton Ashcraft or a Chandler.
35:18
Speaker 1: I mean, you got to get the first guy for
35:21
Speaker 1: all this. I mean, Josh, you look back to your
35:23
Speaker 1: era of Pirates baseball. Cutch was the first one. Cutch
35:27
Speaker 1: was the first one. They got that extension done, and
35:30
Speaker 1: that incentivizes a Marte, a Polanco, a Josh Harrison to
35:35
Speaker 1: sign these extensions to make sure, like you know what,
35:38
Speaker 1: hey like, we think we can win. I think we
35:40
Speaker 1: can win with this group right now. So getting that
35:43
Speaker 1: done is I think it's imperative. I just think there's
35:47
Speaker 1: there's so much and it's never a guarantee. It's never
35:50
Speaker 1: a guarantee. But like you said, Mark, you don't get
35:53
Speaker 1: this is something that every team in baseball should think
35:55
Speaker 1: worth the rink, especially the Pittsburgh Pirates, who you will
35:59
Speaker 1: never be able to afford a player with this type
36:02
Speaker 1: of ceiling in the open market. You will never do that.
36:05
Speaker 1: And who knows what's gonna change as far as you
36:07
Speaker 1: know the way money can get allocated in the future.
36:10
Speaker 1: Who knows what the draft's gonna look like in this
36:12
Speaker 1: new CBA. You have to take advantage of this opportunity
36:17
Speaker 1: right now, and if you don't, it's gonna hurt you
36:21
Speaker 1: among your fan base, and it's gonna hurt you in
36:23
Speaker 1: your clubhouse. It's gonna hurt you with your best players.
36:27
Speaker 1: And you cannot afford to do that after all of
36:29
Speaker 1: the ground that you just made up this offseason. Take
36:32
Speaker 1: advantage of it, counts on it, put an exclamation point
36:36
Speaker 1: on it, and have forty thousand people excite it at
36:41
Speaker 1: that home opener where last year they showed up pissed off.
36:45
Speaker 1: They chase the owner through the stands, sell the team,
36:48
Speaker 1: and you can't. A plane flew over the stadium with
36:52
Speaker 1: a sell the team banner on it. Talk about a
36:55
Speaker 1: complete three sixty, the ovation of Connor Griffin making his
36:59
Speaker 1: for major league at that and that home It doesn't
37:02
Speaker 1: even necessarily need to be on the home opener, but
37:04
Speaker 1: that home series they're home from I believe the third
37:06
Speaker 1: through the ninth. Have him debut at that time. Man,
37:10
Speaker 1: I mean, my goodness, you would break a franchise record
37:13
Speaker 1: in attendance for those first six I really do think
37:16
Speaker 1: you would.
37:17
Speaker 2: That scheme start with counter Griffin starting a shortstop.
37:20
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, yeah, bubb the Chandler, all of that that
37:23
Speaker 1: would be it would be enormous. So yeah, I think
37:27
Speaker 1: we can round it up there, guys, any final thoughts
37:29
Speaker 1: before we wrap it up?
37:31
Speaker 2: One quick one PPI talk Bubba Chandler. Still PPI eligible,
37:35
Speaker 2: Still could win Rookie of the Year. Don't rule that out.
37:38
Speaker 2: Don't sleep on that because he is about to shove
37:41
Speaker 2: this year. So I think we might have a couple
37:43
Speaker 2: of pirates competing for that Rookie of the Year spot.
37:46
Speaker 1: Yeah, Braxton Ashcraft should be too, right.
37:49
Speaker 2: I think he used up his rookie eligibility last year.
37:52
Speaker 4: I want to.
37:52
Speaker 1: Say, okay, oh yeah, he threw over six years.
37:55
Speaker 4: Yes, yeah, yeah, Josh, I was gonna leave it. We're
38:01
Speaker 4: down to less than a week for opening day.
38:06
Speaker 3: Just wish you know, good health to all those guys
38:08
Speaker 3: to get ready to head up north and.
38:11
Speaker 4: Let's go.
38:12
Speaker 1: Yes, sir, I want to wish good health to all
38:16
Speaker 1: of our subscribers, of which there are many and hopefully more.
38:19
Speaker 1: Hit that subscribe button if you haven't already. Three thousand
38:22
Speaker 1: subs is the mission. You can't get there without your help.
38:26
Speaker 1: Slam that button. I have a feeling that this show
38:28
Speaker 1: is going to do good numbers. So if you're watching
38:31
Speaker 1: this for the first time, subscribe, Subscribe, subscribe. Also check
38:34
Speaker 1: out check out our team store our Buco Territory team store,
38:38
Speaker 1: where you can wear this to Connor Griffin's Big League
38:41
Speaker 1: debut whenever that happens, the Champion, or just a random
38:46
Speaker 1: April eighth game against the Padres at PNC Park. So
38:52
Speaker 1: for Platinum KKA Mark and Josh Harrison of The Ohio
38:56
Speaker 1: signing off saying thanks for tuning in to another episode
38:58
Speaker 1: of Bucko Territory, presented to you by the Foul Territory
39:01
Speaker 1: Network