Latest / Bucco Territory: A Pittsburgh Pirates Podcast / Final Report Card for the 2026 Pirates

Transcript

Final Report Card for the 2026 Pirates · Bucco Territory: A Pittsburgh Pirates Podcast

• 0:10
  Speaker 1: What's up, everybody? Welcome back to another episode of Bucko Territory,
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: presented to you by the Foul Territory Network. I'm Noah Hiles.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: Joining me, as always, are my co-hosts, Platinum Key, a.k.a.
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: Mark and J. Hay, Josh Harrison. The Pirates finish the
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: regular season 82-80. Missed the playoffs once again. Another winning season, though,
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: just the fifth one since 1992. But again, no playoffs.
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: This is our end-of-season reaction show recap. And as we
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: have done through the first quarter of the season, the
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: halfway point, post-trade deadline, and now end of season, we
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: are doing our position group report card. Guys, no need
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: to dilly-dally around for it. Let's just get into it.
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: We will start off with the starting pitchers. The starting
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: rotation was interesting this year. In one area, you could
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: argue the group got better as the year progressed in
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: some ways. I mean, Jared Jones got better, Bubba, Bubba
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: Chandler got better. Uh, it also had two all-stars, Paul
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: Skeens and Braxton Ashcraft. But I think as a whole,
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: I don't know if you could really argue that they
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: were the group that they needed to be this year.
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: So I'll start off by saying my grade, I'm going
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: to give them a B minus. Um, I think they
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: were an above average group overall, still fine rotation. But
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: if they had been as good as they were last year,
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: this is probably a playoff team. And by they, I
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: mean really one guy, Paul Skeens. This rotation, you look
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: at what Jared Jones did. You look at what Braxton
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: Ashcraft did. You look at how Bubba Chandler got better. Obviously,
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: Mitch Keller did not do well this year. But, I mean,
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: the bullpen game ended up being a reliable source for
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: them once every five days. So I give it a
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: B minus. And a big reason why I give the
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: B minus is because their best player on the team
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: wasn't the best player on the team this year. Yep.
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: I'll let Mark. Mark, you want to go next? Yeah. Yeah, sure.
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: Because I also gave the starting rotation a B minus
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: for very similar reasons that you did, Noah. I wrote
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: down two stats that stood out to me. In 2025,
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: the Pirates starting pitchers had the third most war among
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: starting pitchers in all of MLB. responsible for 15 B war.
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: This year, they were still top 10. They had the
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: 8th most in MLB, but only 4.6 war. And for
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: what the expectations were for the starting rotation, I mean,
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: we said all year, like, this rotation can carry this team.
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: You just have to give them a couple more bats
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: and build around them. Well, they got a couple bats.
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: They built around them a little bit. And we just,
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: it wasn't enough for MLB. what the Pirates needed out
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: of the rotation. Still a great year, but just for
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: how good this group can be, it was just slightly disappointing,
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: and especially with Paul Skeens not being great in the
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: second half. And just for your final point, Noah, about
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: the Pirates improving down the stretch, 3.75 ERA in September,
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: which was their second lowest all year, mostly because Jared
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: Jones went nuclear in september with uh 0.93 era best
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: in mlb um so really encouraging stuff going into 2027
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: from the rotation but just not good enough overall this
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: year what about you josh.
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: Yeah i'll uh i'll round it out at a b
• 3:45
  Speaker 3: minus as well um we had high expectations for this
• 3:48
  Speaker 3: group and um obviously didn't meet those expectations and you
• 3:53
  Speaker 3: know not just on paul you know we we mentioned
• 3:56
  Speaker 3: mitch um Had quite a few bullpen games, which actually
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: kept them afloat. But, you know, just those were two
• 4:04
  Speaker 3: guys that you were hoping were going to be, like,
• 4:06
  Speaker 3: front mainstays of this, you know, rotation that really, you know,
• 4:10
  Speaker 3: allowed what we saw with Bubba and Jarrett that they
• 4:14
  Speaker 3: came along. And, you know, still Paul finished with 200 strikeouts,
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: still finished under a four. I mean, by any means,
• 4:21
  Speaker 3: that's still a great season for a lot of people.
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: It is. Yeah.
• 4:24
  Speaker 3: Unfortunately for somebody with Paul's status, what he's been able
• 4:28
  Speaker 3: to do, you know, it's going to be a year
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: that's looked at as, you know, as a down year,
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: but I mean, nonetheless, it's still not taking a thing
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: away from what he's done, but at the same time,
• 4:37
  Speaker 3: the expectation, um, and I'm, I'm sure, you know, we've
• 4:41
  Speaker 3: already dove into this many different ways. And as I said,
• 4:43
  Speaker 3: it's not just on Paul, there's more to it. Cause
• 4:46
  Speaker 3: at one point, and we'll talk about it more when
• 4:48
  Speaker 3: we grade more, you know, it wasn't just a starting
• 4:50
  Speaker 3: pitching at first, you know, starting pitching was doing his part, but, um,
• 4:55
  Speaker 3: As you all said, B minus as well, just to
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: round it out, because, you know, the two people that
• 4:59
  Speaker 3: we thought would really lead this rotation, you know, kind of,
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: I wouldn't say led because Paul still took the ball and,
• 5:05
  Speaker 3: you know, showed up as a professional, but, you know,
• 5:08
  Speaker 3: wasn't quite the results that they were hoping for. And,
• 5:11
  Speaker 3: you know, a couple different starts here and there, who
• 5:13
  Speaker 3: knows where they are.
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: Yeah, just to round out your point, Josh, there on Paul,
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: I mean, it's just like, 18 points and 10 rebounds
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: a game is an all-star season in the NBA. But
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: when Michael Jordan or LeBron James averages that, you're just like, okay, well,
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: that's not a good season for them because their bar
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: is higher. Paul Skeens was that level of pitching. He
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: gave an all-star season. The expectation for him is a
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: Cy Young season. So that's just what it is. We'll
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: go to the bullpen now. This is an interesting grade.
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: I'll start us off again here. Because I have probably
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: a grade that will be lower than both of yours,
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: but I want to give the context behind it. I'm
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: going to give them a D. For the reason of this,
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: if the bullpen were to have taken a 100-question test,
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: the first 50 questions on this test, they missed. Or
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: maybe not the first 50, but maybe the first... 35. Yeah. So, yeah.
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: So like they, they started off over 35. So then
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: the fact that they even got a passing grade shows
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: how good they were at the end of the season.
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: But by the time they were good, there wasn't much
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: left to do. And that's just the reality. I mean,
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: the trade deadline acquisitions were really good. I mean, Duvall aside,
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: that wasn't a good pickup, but they didn't get much
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: up there. Anyway, a guy that, was going to be
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: rule five eligible. So, uh, like Weaver, good addition. I mean,
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: Montgomery's development, great. Kirby Yates, fun addition. Lake Bacher. I mean,
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: this show, this show birthed Lake Bacher and people should
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: never forget that. Uh, the bullpen turned into a weapon
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: in August and September. Um, but for as good as
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: it was for those two months, the first four months,
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: it was horrible. And it's the reason why the pirates
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: weren't really playing meaningful baseball in September. If the bullpen
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: had just been average in April, May, June, and July,
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: that August skid would have knocked them down. But this
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: September finish that they had could have brought them back
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: up into the race. And you see, I mean, I
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: think they finished six games out. I think we can
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: all imagine five or six games where they should have
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: won had the bullpen just not blown a very sizable lead.
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: And it's just one element of the team, no doubt.
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: But it was just not good enough from start until
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: 100 games in. So, yeah, it was an F quality
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: for two thirds of the season and like an A
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: quality for the final one. So, yeah, I give it
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: a D. Josh, how about you?
• 8:06
  Speaker 3: I was going to go more C, just average, obviously defensively.
• 8:11
  Speaker 3: No need to hit on what you just hit on
• 8:12
  Speaker 3: for the early part of the season. But what bumped
• 8:15
  Speaker 3: them to a C for me was, I mean, I
• 8:17
  Speaker 3: don't really want to throw them in a starting pitch.
• 8:19
  Speaker 3: And we gave them kudos for, you know, being able
• 8:21
  Speaker 3: to have those bullpen games. So in the moment, I
• 8:24
  Speaker 3: felt that they took the ball and kind of, you know,
• 8:26
  Speaker 3: when a team needed them most, they kind of stepped up.
• 8:29
  Speaker 3: So to me, yes, the games that we look at
• 8:33
  Speaker 3: and say at least five or six that we can
• 8:34
  Speaker 3: look at that they could have, you know, potentially swung
• 8:37
  Speaker 3: the other way. Some of those opening starts are, you
• 8:40
  Speaker 3: know what, we don't know how those go given that
• 8:43
  Speaker 3: they bring some random person up to start or whatever.
• 8:46
  Speaker 3: So in those moments, I thought the guys that took
• 8:49
  Speaker 3: the opening, you know, roles, they were able to kind
• 8:53
  Speaker 3: of get the bullpen maybe over that hump to where
• 8:57
  Speaker 3: they got to finish strong. It was a little bit
• 8:59
  Speaker 3: of confidence boost maybe for those guys. But I mean, overall,
• 9:02
  Speaker 3: I'll go see. Obviously could be worse given how the
• 9:06
  Speaker 3: early part of the season went, but As I said,
• 9:09
  Speaker 3: I'm going to just put it right at average because
• 9:11
  Speaker 3: I think there are so many other things that was
• 9:13
  Speaker 3: more than just the bullpen.
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and I'll round this out, go slightly more optimistic
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: than you guys. I went with a C +. Noah,
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: you mentioned how month to month this was so weird,
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: and I pulled up the bullpen's ERA for each month. March, April, 3.74. May, 4.55. June, 5.34.
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: And then July, 4.19. August, 2.77. Out of nowhere. And
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: then a 4.14 in September.
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: I wonder what happened.
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I wonder what happened. So yeah, but like you
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: have to, so the recency bias obviously makes you feel
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: really good. Mason Montgomery, 11 saves in September, most in MLB.
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: Looked really, really, really good.
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: Good.
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: But at the same time, they also held on to
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: Dennis Santana and kept throwing him out there. Gregory Soto
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: gave up some really, really awful leads when he was
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: trying to close. So just remembering how bad the bullpen was.
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: If you would have told a Pirates fan after probably
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: a couple months into the season that this bullpen, I
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: could justify a C-plus grade, I think I would be
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: called crazy for how bad it was. And maybe that
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: is crazy, but the progression and improvement they made is
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: pretty crazy.
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: Mark, just a comment on your grade. I disagree with it,
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: but the logic I see in it is this. You're
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: a super positive guy, obviously. And I think the reflection
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: of your grade is that I don't know if there's
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: an area of the team that you can feel more
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: optimistic about heading into next year than this bullpen. The
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: fact that you're going to have Weaver and Montgomery in
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: that back end as an 8-9, that is really damn good. Yeah.
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: That's really good. And then you've got other pieces. You
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: feel good about the steps that Johan took this year.
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: You feel good about some of those young guys who
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: just dipped their feet into the water, be it Dottel
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: or whoever else, Antoine Kelly. And there's still works in progress,
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: but they grew more than any other unit from start
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: to finish this year. And yeah, I think going into
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: next year, they should be expected to be an absolute weapon.
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: because they have to be based off of the horses
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: that we saw capable. Mark, I'll throw it back to you.
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: Give us your catcher grade here.
• 11:48
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• 11:52
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• 12:00
  Speaker 2: Territory is brought to you by SeatGeek. Even though baseball
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: is finally wrapped up in Pittsburgh for the year, there's
• 12:06
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• 12:09
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• 12:14
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• 12:16
  Speaker 1: They sure do. On Saturday, I'm looking at it right now,
• 12:19
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• 12:22
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• 12:25
  Speaker 1: you've been to some Penguins games during your time in Pittsburgh, right?
• 12:30
  Speaker 3: Oh, yeah, we got to go to a few.
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: Oh, okay.
• 12:33
  Speaker 3: Yeah, okay.
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: We got to go to a few.
• 12:35
  Speaker 3: We showed up. Yeah, for sure.
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly. You know how fun they are? Yeah, and
• 12:39
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• 12:41
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• 12:43
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• 12:45
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• 12:48
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• 12:50
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• 12:56
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• 13:01
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• 13:04
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• 13:07
  Speaker 1: All right. So catcher grades, Mark. I mean, I'm glad
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: that we got the SeatGeek. Yeah, you've got to give
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: them the shout out. All right. And the catchers, were
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: they worth the price of admission, Mark? What was your grade?
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: This is another weird one because, again, like the tale
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: of two halves, I feel like where The confidence that
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: we've seen lately with Rafael Flores Jr's emergence has been
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: really encouraging. We saw this group of catchers hit the
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: most home runs of any group of Pirates catchers ever.
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: At the same time, Henry Davis was batting 172. they're
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: basically middle of the pack with war. Uh, so I
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: wouldn't be minus, uh, might be a little bit too
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: generous here. Uh, but I, I was pretty encouraged. Uh,
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: we weren't really expecting much from this group. This is
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: another kind of grade first expectation. Um, I, I was
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: pleasantly surprised, uh, with what we got from the value
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: from the catcher position. Um, yeah, even Henry Davis had
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: a positive or, uh, it sucks that Andy went down
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: and might not be back in this group in the
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: future with the, the injury history. But there's at least
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: a lot of encouraging stuff going on with Rafael Flores Jr.
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: Still a position I might want to address in this offseason. But, yeah,
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: I'm B- overall. Just, yeah, no issues really with this group.
• 14:28
  Speaker 3: I'll go like a C +. And, you know, a
• 14:33
  Speaker 3: lot of what Flores has done has been really, you know,
• 14:36
  Speaker 3: exciting to see. you know, him step up in a
• 14:39
  Speaker 3: position that we had not a lot of question marks.
• 14:41
  Speaker 3: We kind of knew, you know, we were getting into
• 14:44
  Speaker 3: and he's been kind of a bright spot. You mentioned
• 14:46
  Speaker 3: the Indy injury. And then you mentioned floor is doing
• 14:50
  Speaker 3: a lot of catching and you mentioned that September, you know,
• 14:52
  Speaker 3: some of those pictures, that's him working with the staff too.
• 14:55
  Speaker 3: So a big kudos to that. But as you mentioned,
• 14:58
  Speaker 3: early part of the year, it's one of those things
• 15:00
  Speaker 3: where it's just not enough to, you know, catapult, but
• 15:04
  Speaker 3: I don't think the catching position was, a real position
• 15:09
  Speaker 3: that really hurt the team this year. Because coming into it,
• 15:13
  Speaker 3: we were like, offensively, if they can give us yada, yada, yada,
• 15:16
  Speaker 3: we're going to be looking good. And, I mean, since Flores' emergence,
• 15:21
  Speaker 3: it has been that. But that was considering everything else,
• 15:26
  Speaker 3: you know, clicking. But I still say C +, because
• 15:30
  Speaker 3: I agree it's still something you might want to address
• 15:32
  Speaker 3: in the offseason. Because While Flores has done really good,
• 15:34
  Speaker 3: it's still not enough to really put all your eggs
• 15:37
  Speaker 3: in one basket. But very promising, especially not knowing what
• 15:43
  Speaker 3: you were going to get from Flores. So it looks
• 15:45
  Speaker 3: promising for him to be really good potential number two
• 15:49
  Speaker 3: in my eyes. So I'll give it to C +.
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: Noah? Yeah, I'll also echo the C +. I kind
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: of just look at it like this. They had four
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: guys capable of making the opening day roster at that
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: catcher position, and they picked the two wrong ones. They
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: opened the season with Barton David. And their best catchers
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: were Andy Rodriguez and Roe Flores. And I get why
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: neither of those two guys, I'm not saying that they
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: should have, right? But it's ironic that their two best
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: catchers were the guys that didn't make the team out
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: of camp. And Andy was huge for them in the
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: middle of this season, his emergence at the plate. And
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: then Roe was probably top three hitters overall. after the
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: trade deadline, I probably put them behind O'Neill and Brandon Lau. So, uh,
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: he was, he was really good. Um, and you, you
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: feel like he's going to have some sort of role
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: on the team next year. So yeah, I give it
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: a C plus. They, I don't think they were amazing.
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: I think they made the team a little better, uh,
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: not by much, but like they weren't, they weren't the problem.
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: I thought they were going to be at points early
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: in this season. Um, Go to the infield now. I
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: will start us off here. I'll go with a B +.
• 17:04
  Speaker 3: Wow.
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: Yeah. I mean, Brandon Lau was fantastic. When they had
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: a shortstop, the one guy who knows how to play shortstop,
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: they looked pretty good. They got some good offense at
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: third base. First base, between Horowitz when he was healthy,
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: and I don't think Spencer was very healthy whenever he returned.
• 17:26
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: Evidenced by his numbers and O'Hearn and even you can
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: include Flores over at first as well. Um, I don't know, like, yeah,
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: the infield defense was not good this year and that
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: definitely played a role in the pitching not being as good,
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: but this infield did exactly what it was designed to do.
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: They built a team that was that they didn't score
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: enough runs in 2025 and They went out and they
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: built a team to score as many runs as possible.
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: And that's what this infield did. This infield didn't slump, really.
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: I mean, this infield got hurt. Spencer got hurt. O'Hearn
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: got hurt. Connor got hurt. But, like, Lowell didn't slump.
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: And Nick Gonzalez finished the year back in 3-0-2. So
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: that shows his steadiness as well. So, yeah, I give
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: it a B-plus because, again, it did what it was
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: designed to do. It's design flaw was obvious, but again,
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: it did what it was designed to do, and that
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: was generate a lot of consistent run production. Josh?
• 18:37
  Speaker 3: I'm going to be a little harsher. I'm going to
• 18:39
  Speaker 3: go B-. Defense is big to me. I pride myself
• 18:44
  Speaker 3: on defense, and that has a lot to do with
• 18:48
  Speaker 3: this grade because given if that's better, oh, man, we're
• 18:52
  Speaker 3: sitting pretty. But as we sit here and we say
• 18:54
  Speaker 3: six games out, games are won and lost on the margins.
• 18:59
  Speaker 3: And I get it. That's what this team was built
• 19:01
  Speaker 3: to do. But you got to take care of the ball.
• 19:04
  Speaker 3: And this isn't going to be the only position whose
• 19:07
  Speaker 3: grade is going to be affected by that. Because as
• 19:10
  Speaker 3: we sit here and look at it, we're talking games
• 19:11
  Speaker 3: on the margins. And yes, you banged. But how many
• 19:16
  Speaker 3: games did you let slip away just from? you know,
• 19:19
  Speaker 3: a careless mental mistake or just a careless routine play.
• 19:23
  Speaker 3: And granted, guys playing out of position or, you know,
• 19:26
  Speaker 3: having to fill in in spots. But defense is something
• 19:29
  Speaker 3: that we're going to see it here this postseason. I mean,
• 19:33
  Speaker 3: every postseason there's a defensive play that wins or loses
• 19:36
  Speaker 3: a game, whether somebody's in the right spot or somebody
• 19:38
  Speaker 3: throws the ball away. It's not brought up until October.
• 19:43
  Speaker 3: But for me, these teams are in October. Pittsburgh's not.
• 19:48
  Speaker 3: So I have to say that for me was a
• 19:50
  Speaker 3: really big, as much as we talk about the pitching, yes,
• 19:53
  Speaker 3: it was really big, 27 outs. I don't know if
• 19:55
  Speaker 3: they still do it at all, Kemp, but 27 outs
• 19:58
  Speaker 3: in spring training, I mean, you got to get 27 outs.
• 20:00
  Speaker 3: Don't give extra outs. Extra outs mean my pitchers have
• 20:02
  Speaker 3: to throw extra pitches, which puts them in a different position.
• 20:05
  Speaker 3: And now I got to make another play. So- A
• 20:09
  Speaker 3: lot of that is just offensively I loved what they did.
• 20:13
  Speaker 3: Loved what they did. But as a guy that really
• 20:16
  Speaker 3: took pride in defense, I have to give it a B-
• 20:18
  Speaker 3: just because they really could have gotten an A. I'll
• 20:21
  Speaker 3: be honest. They could have.
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Mark?
• 20:24
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I went B- as well, Josh. Same reasons. The
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: defense just very frustrating at times. Really, really cost this team.
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: Brandon Lau obviously just– all-star season just phenomenal not an
• 20:39
  Speaker 2: ulcer but all-star season in my head um and just
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: yeah i think but outside of brandon lau i mean
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: connor griffin was great for the what 80 games that
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: he was able to play yeah um And then, but
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: like Nick Gonzalez, yeah, that's nice offense, but the defense
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: costs them. Jared Treel was, and then you had like a,
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: the mix of guys like Tyler Callahan and Nick York's
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: just Mick.
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: I don't know. I just, I was underwhelmed by it
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: outside of Brandon Lau. And it feels like a group
• 21:14
  Speaker 2: project where one guy did all the work and really
• 21:17
  Speaker 2: carried this group to get them that B minus, but Hey,
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: it's a, it's a team game.
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: So. All right, outfield. Josh, start us off.
• 21:30
  Speaker 3: Outfield is still going to hover at that B-. It's
• 21:33
  Speaker 3: going to be very similar. I mean, you mentioned Connor
• 21:37
  Speaker 3: with the infield. It shores up a lot of things. O'Neal, obviously,
• 21:41
  Speaker 3: in the lineup, shows a lot of presence. Mangum had
• 21:44
  Speaker 3: a lot of opportunity where he showed up and did well.
• 21:48
  Speaker 3: The magician. But as we look at it, there are
• 21:51
  Speaker 3: also some games. Opening day.
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 21:54
  Speaker 3: Opening day is one, just one to think of. I'm
• 21:58
  Speaker 3: thinking of, I think one in Chicago, the ball got
• 22:01
  Speaker 3: thrown around. You know, these are just things where I said,
• 22:04
  Speaker 3: defense can really bring down a grade. Cause as we
• 22:07
  Speaker 3: sit here and we talk about end of the season grades,
• 22:10
  Speaker 3: it would have been nice to be doing that here
• 22:12
  Speaker 3: in another month or so. Even if they would have
• 22:15
  Speaker 3: made the playoffs, we probably would have done regular season,
• 22:17
  Speaker 3: but you get what I'm saying. We would have had
• 22:19
  Speaker 3: more to talk about, but, You know, you have to
• 22:22
  Speaker 3: be realistic. And yes, we talked about starting pitching bullpen
• 22:25
  Speaker 3: catchers infield. Same thing with the outfield. Yes, there were
• 22:29
  Speaker 3: some bright spots offensively did what it's supposed to. But
• 22:32
  Speaker 3: you also have to take care of the ball. And
• 22:36
  Speaker 3: while they banged, they made some defensive plays just like
• 22:39
  Speaker 3: the infield as well. But in key moments, there are
• 22:43
  Speaker 3: some plays that cause pitchers to have to make more
• 22:46
  Speaker 3: pitches in a more stressful situation due to not take
• 22:48
  Speaker 3: care of the ball. knowing where the ball needs to
• 22:50
  Speaker 3: go or communicating who's got the ball this or that
• 22:53
  Speaker 3: so as i said defense is big to me and
• 22:57
  Speaker 3: i think a lot of some of their mishaps could
• 23:00
  Speaker 3: have been taken i won't say taken away because you're
• 23:04
  Speaker 3: gonna have mistakes but if they cut some of those
• 23:07
  Speaker 3: in half because not all of them were physical some
• 23:09
  Speaker 3: of them were mental and to me that is just
• 23:11
  Speaker 3: attention to detail so d minus very very similar to
• 23:15
  Speaker 3: the infield banged you know had some bright spots but
• 23:19
  Speaker 3: just wasn't enough to really overshadow some of those defensive
• 23:22
  Speaker 3: miscues because when offense got, you know, stale, it really showed. Yeah.
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 23:30
  Speaker 2: All right. I'll follow that up. I was a little
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: bit more optimistic with the outfield. Again, with the expectation
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: in mind, we knew coming in that defense was going
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: to be an issue. I went with a B +.
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: And I did that because there was four guys in
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: the outfield that all had an OPS above 100 that
• 23:51
  Speaker 2: played significant time. You had O'Hearn, 108 OPS plus. O'Neal Cruz,
• 23:58
  Speaker 2: 131 OPS plus. Man, what if with him? Brian Reynolds,
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: 115 OPS plus. Esmeralda Valdez, still finished the year with
• 24:06
  Speaker 2: 130 OPS plus. So even with the injuries to the outfield,
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: they kept going. They kept.
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: Someone stepped up at least. Whereas like the infield, it
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: felt like sometimes you wouldn't get someone that would step up.
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: The outfield had some issues as well, but overall across
• 24:24
  Speaker 2: one 62, I felt like as Merlin Valdez stepping up
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: when Ryan O'Hearn went out.
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: Um, I feel like that kind of like balance and
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: consistent production overall from the outfield, uh, was really, really
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: key to this, uh, offense being as good as it
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: was this year.
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: I'll round us out with a B minus.
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: I agree.
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: Um, with pretty much everything Josh said, I would contend
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: that their defense was worse than the infield defense. When
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: I think of the bad infield defense, I really just
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: think of third base, honestly. I mean, shortstop.
• 24:58
  Speaker 2: That was fantastic, yeah.
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that was good. I mean, first base was iffy,
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: but how great do you need your first base defense
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: to be, honestly? So I look at the outfield, and
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: there were just, so many mistakes, especially early on. There's
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: some ugly things. In that instance, you only really have
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: one guy playing out of position. It was O'Hearn. When
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: the outfield defense was at its worst, he wasn't even
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: their worst defensive outfielder. Although, he should have never been
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: playing in the outfield all year. That's a whole different discussion.
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: The other reason I ding them is because similar to
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: the skeins thing, like Brian Reynolds was a non-factor after
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: the trade deadline, really in the whole second half of
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: the season, if he could have stepped up and been
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: what Brandon Lau was for that infield, this team would
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: probably have looked a little different. And, uh, yeah, I mean,
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: O'Neal Cruz was great, but O'Neal Cruz, when are we
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: ever going to see this guy stay healthy for a
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: full year? Uh, and, um, You know, Valdez was great,
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: but Valdez was a rookie at times.
• 26:14
  Speaker 2: It was two months, yeah.
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: Jake Mangum was good, but Jake Mangum's a really good
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: fourth outfielder, and that's all he should have been asked
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: to do. Ryan O'Hearn was a good hitter who, again,
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: should not have been playing the outfield. So, yeah, I
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: give it a B- in the sense where when push
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: came to shove, this group was unable to carry its
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: weight the way the infield did, I felt. And I
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: think that, yeah, falls largely on Reynolds. Real quick, I'll
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: give my DH grade. I just give it an F.
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: I don't care who played the position after Ozuna. Ozuna
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: was so bad that it's a failing grade. He was
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: supposed to be the DH this year. He did not
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: finish the season a DH this year. It's an F. Guys,
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: any disagreement? Anything else to add on that?
• 26:59
  Speaker 3: I mean, I was going to say NA not available, incomplete.
• 27:05
  Speaker 2: I gave it a D- solely because they actually– Got
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: rid of Ozuna, but yeah, negative 1.0 B war from
• 27:11
  Speaker 2: Ozuna this year.
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: You know how hard that is to do when you
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: only hit? That is insane.
• 27:17
  Speaker 2: War is often more influenced by what you do in
• 27:20
  Speaker 2: the field.
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: I mean, not, not strictly, obviously like, but like fielding
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: has such a big influence on your war. It's why
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: shortstops and center fielders always lead the league in war
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: because they are the two positions that get the ball
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: hit to them the most. Thus have the most opportunity
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: to provide value in the game of baseball. This guy
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: doesn't even have to worry about, sorry, I'm ranting. He
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: was so bad.
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: It was frustrating. Yeah. And $ 12 million to that.
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah. All right.
• 27:59
  Speaker 2: Crazy.
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: Coaching, our final grade as a collective. Mark, start us off.
• 28:05
  Speaker 2: I went C +. I think they've been pretty average
• 28:08
  Speaker 2: all year, but I want to give the coaching staff
• 28:11
  Speaker 2: some credit. Don Kelly got a winning record, like we said.
• 28:14
  Speaker 2: Only happened five times with this franchise since 1992. There's
• 28:18
  Speaker 2: something to that. There's something to this locker room feeling connected,
• 28:23
  Speaker 2: having each other's backs. I think you see that a
• 28:25
  Speaker 2: lot with the comments about Laos. like Jared Jones, you know,
• 28:28
  Speaker 2: wanting to bring him back. Connor Griffin, he gets asked
• 28:31
  Speaker 2: a question, and instead of talking about himself, he talks
• 28:33
  Speaker 2: about the team. There's a clear culture shift that you
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: can feel, even if the results on the field weren't there.
• 28:39
  Speaker 2: So that's why I went C +.
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: Real quick, Mark, I just want to say a stat here.
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: Don Kelly is the third Pirates manager since Ronald Reagan
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: took office to lead this team to a winning record.
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: Or since he left office, I should say. That's right.
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: Since Ronald Reagan left office, there are three Pirates managers
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: that have led the team to a winning record. Jim Leland,
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: Clint Hurdle, and Don Kelly.
• 29:04
  Speaker 2: It's a good group.
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: I mean, yeah, that group should be a lot bigger,
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: but yes, sure.
• 29:13
  Speaker 3: But you said the trajectory of where he could go,
• 29:15
  Speaker 3: he might be.
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah. I mean, there's a Hall of Famer in
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: there and a guy who'd want to pen it. Yeah,
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: and yeah. All right, Josh, what's your grade?
• 29:24
  Speaker 3: I was going to go B-. Just from a standpoint,
• 29:27
  Speaker 3: they got dealt just some unlucky stuff. Injury to your shortstop,
• 29:32
  Speaker 3: injury to your center field. Granted, regardless of the whole
• 29:36
  Speaker 3: scheme of things of people saying the percentage of games
• 29:39
  Speaker 3: without them. or their players, that's a big hit in
• 29:42
  Speaker 3: the middle. But I had those guys showing up to
• 29:45
  Speaker 3: believe from spring training. I told you I liked his words.
• 29:47
  Speaker 3: I thought he did a really good job of weathering
• 29:50
  Speaker 3: the storm. Pittsburgh is a tough place to not only play,
• 29:53
  Speaker 3: but I know it's got to be tough to manage
• 29:54
  Speaker 3: because fans are passionate. And for him to keep those
• 29:58
  Speaker 3: guys connected, even in those, you know, low times where,
• 30:01
  Speaker 3: you know, he made sure that the guys were connected
• 30:04
  Speaker 3: and that they were, you know, doing it for each
• 30:06
  Speaker 3: other and not, you know, getting disconnected and allowing things
• 30:10
  Speaker 3: to come into that clubhouse. And I honestly think the
• 30:14
  Speaker 3: grade could have been a little higher where I said
• 30:16
  Speaker 3: attention to detail, where the infield and outfield, knowing that
• 30:19
  Speaker 3: you got guys out of position, you know, that attention
• 30:23
  Speaker 3: to detail, obviously the guys are out there playing, but
• 30:26
  Speaker 3: I think maybe just a little bit on the position
• 30:28
  Speaker 3: coaches or so that just a, Hey, even if these
• 30:32
  Speaker 3: guys get, you know, upset that you treating them like
• 30:34
  Speaker 3: they don't know anything, you still have to, you know, Hey,
• 30:37
  Speaker 3: I know you, you know this, but remember you plan
• 30:39
  Speaker 3: out a position. So I have to tell you this.
• 30:41
  Speaker 3: And like some guys don't, but you know what? A
• 30:43
  Speaker 3: really good coach is going to make sure that I'm
• 30:45
  Speaker 3: across every T I'm a dot every I I'm going
• 30:46
  Speaker 3: to assume, you know, nothing. Cause the minute that I
• 30:49
  Speaker 3: do assume, you know it, a mistake may happen. And
• 30:53
  Speaker 3: I'd much rather be like, yes, we drilled this. And
• 30:55
  Speaker 3: that was just a, you know, mistake on his end,
• 30:57
  Speaker 3: you know, but I just think there were a few
• 30:59
  Speaker 3: things that could have been a little bit more attention
• 31:02
  Speaker 3: to detail, but also know the season. There's a lot
• 31:04
  Speaker 3: of things that happened, but overall B minus, I thought
• 31:07
  Speaker 3: they did what they did, what they could. And you
• 31:10
  Speaker 3: go 82 and 80 and, you know, first winning season
• 31:14
  Speaker 3: in however many years you, you, you've done something pretty
• 31:17
  Speaker 3: good to change something.
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I'll just give them a flat-out C. I think
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: it was an even wash. I think there were areas
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: where this coaching staff really screwed up this year. There
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: were some in-game decisions that cost them. I think some
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: of the things where the team was short and the
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: coaching staff received criticism for were largely out of their hands.
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: When people were ripping Don Kelly for his bullpen management
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: in June and July, it's like, who the hell do
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: you want him to pitch? Everyone in that ERA... Or
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: everyone in that bullpen had an ERA north of five.
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: Like there's just no good options. And yeah, I think
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: my biggest criticism of Don Kelly this year would just
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: be that I feel like Don Kelly let too many
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: other people make decisions for him. I would like to
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: see Don Kelly. And that's probably something that he learned
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: as the season went on, that it's OK to, you know, take.
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: take the wheel and drive your own ship. Like it
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: is your ship. That is, that's your job. And, um,
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: I think, you know, that in a way kind of
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: exposes the guy that he is and not in a
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: bad way. Like he trusts his guys. He trusts his players.
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: He trusts the people that he put in those positions. Uh,
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: but at the same time, he has to trust himself
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: a little bit more. And I think that that will
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: be something that we see from him next year. I
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: expect Don Kelly to be a better manager than he
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: was this year. And I don't think that Don Kelly
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: would say that he was satisfied with the job that
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: he did. I think you would be able to recognize,
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: I mean, since this team, you look at this team
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: and how it's played since Don Kelly took over and
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: I'm going back to all already last year, it's a
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: different team than when Sean was in charge. It just,
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: it just was. And I think the main thing that
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: Kelly provides is just that constant fight. And they had
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: no reason to play this hard in September and, But
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: they did. Even when they were eliminated, they were playing
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: balls to the wall. And that starts with the manager.
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: I really do believe that. He was not a perfect
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: manager by any means. And I could get why some
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: people wanted to see him dismissed. And I think there's
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: an argument to maybe wanting to bring in someone a
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: little bit more experienced. But these guys really do connect
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: with him and they connect with the staff. And I
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: do think that the team as a whole is trending
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: in the right direction. And so for that reason, yeah,
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: I give it a C. But I feel like we're
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: going to see better stuff from the coaching staff. It's
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: unfortunate that it had to be a first-year manager in
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: this year where the stakes seem so high. But that's
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: just the reality of it. And before we wrap it up,
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: I want to give my own personal grade here. Just
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: real quick on this. I guess we'll say the Pirates
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: franchise as a whole, but it's particularly not about the
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: players and not really even about the coaches. I'm going
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: to start from the very top. People have kind of
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: bounced around. How do you assess this Pirates season? Is
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: it a success? Is it a disappointment? Whatever. If I
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: were to give the Pirates a grade in 2026, my
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: grade is still an F. And here's why. A year
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: ago at this time, their team president, sat down or
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: stood in front of us, and you all know the
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: words that he said. The goal is to make the
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: playoffs in 2026, period, full stop. They did not do that.
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: They failed. And while, yes, there's no denying that they
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: got better this year, and there's no denying that it's
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: probably a good trend, right? Like they're getting better. They're
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: trending upward. There's a reason to believe that the playoffs
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: are not far away. from this franchise, regardless of what
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: happens this offseason and what the financial structure of baseball
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: looks like. The Pirates are getting better, but they set
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: a goal and they failed. And while the players have
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: taken full accountability for that and the coaches have taken
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: full accountability for that, their quotes have been fantastic, acknowledging
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: that they're not satisfied. I really hope to see that
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: energy matched by the people above them. I think the
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: general manager feels that way. I'm curious to see how
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: the team president feels. The guy who didn't have a
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: press conference at the end of this season. I'm curious
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: to see how the owner feels. If he can match
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: that level of commitment we saw from him this offseason.
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: Or maybe that financial commitment had something to do with
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: an impending CBA set to expire. So, we'll see. Because
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: this team isn't far away. And they need that same
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: level of urgency next year. Going into 2027. Was that
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: urgency just because they had a whole bunch of PR
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: blunders in 2025 and because the CBA was set to
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: expire on December 1st of this year? and they had
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: to show that they were trying? Or do they actually
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: give a damn? Do they actually want to win? Because
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: last year, it seemed impossible. At this time last year,
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: no one would have believed that the Pirates could be
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: even this close to the playoffs. Now it is there.
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: You do see light at the end of the tunnel.
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: It is not hard to picture this team a year
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: from now popping champagne in a clubhouse on the North Shore.
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: But it is not going to get there Unless the
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: people above Don Kelly, the people above Ben Charrington, not
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: only match that energy, but take it to the next level.
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: Continue to invest in the offseason. Find a way to
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: bring back Brandon Lau. Or if you don't, find a
• 36:42
  Speaker 1: way to get his production elsewhere through trades, through free
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: agent signings. Find a way to keep investing into the
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: future of this team. And find a way to make
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: sure these players feel supported and get what they need
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: to keep this thing moving forward. 82 and 80 was
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: a very big improvement. It is still not good enough.
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: It was still a failure this year. The good news
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: is you can get a passing grade in 2027. You
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: just have to keep going. You cannot be content with this.
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: You don't get to pat yourself on the back. Keep going.
• 37:14
  Speaker 2: I love it. Yeah, it's a pass fail test and
• 37:17
  Speaker 2: they didn't pass the test. That's it's that simple. They
• 37:21
  Speaker 2: did well. They performed a lot better. It's a significant improvement. But, yeah,
• 37:26
  Speaker 2: when you set the goal, it was very clear, period,
• 37:28
  Speaker 2: full stop. You don't accomplish that goal, it's a failure.
• 37:32
  Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, we talked about it when you asked if
• 37:36
  Speaker 3: a winning record without the playoffs was a successful season.
• 37:39
  Speaker 3: I said, anytime you don't make the playoffs, it's not
• 37:41
  Speaker 3: a success. But while you still want to, you know,
• 37:43
  Speaker 3: recognize that 80 to an 80 is an improvement. And Noah,
• 37:47
  Speaker 3: we covered it when Mark had to play the role
• 37:50
  Speaker 3: of producer when he was sick. We talked about, can
• 37:52
  Speaker 3: you build momentum? You just hit it right there. build
• 37:54
  Speaker 3: off of this momentum, the 82 and 80, and continue to,
• 37:57
  Speaker 3: as you said, push forward and, you know, be sitting
• 38:00
  Speaker 3: here next year, one of the teams that's popping champagne
• 38:03
  Speaker 3: and we're getting ready to cover talking about giving our
• 38:05
  Speaker 3: end of the season grade, but hoping that we're giving
• 38:07
  Speaker 3: our end of the post-season grade after that. I love it. Yeah.
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: Yeah. I figured that point would stick with you, Josh. Just, hey,
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: just because you got a little success doesn't mean you
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: need to take your foot off the gas. Feels like
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: you might have some familiarity with that situation. Nonetheless... Hit
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: that subscribe button if you haven't already. The 2018 buck
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: goes what could have been. Guys, any final thoughts? Go ahead, Josh.
• 38:38
  Speaker 3: No, I was going to say I think we kind
• 38:40
  Speaker 3: of covered it. I was going to say, you guys
• 38:43
  Speaker 3: got anything?
• 38:45
  Speaker 2: One quick little thing. If you're still listening to this,
• 38:48
  Speaker 2: you absolutely love the Pittsburgh Pirates. Go take Alex Stump's
• 38:52
  Speaker 2: Sporkle quiz, the name every Pirates. Yeah. And let them
• 38:57
  Speaker 2: know how you do. See how you stack up. It's
• 38:59
  Speaker 2: a tough one. There's 53 names on that this year.
• 39:02
  Speaker 2: So see if you can go 53 for 53.
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: I want to thank every single person who tuned in
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: this season, who listened, who watched, who even just consumed
• 39:13
  Speaker 1: the clips on Twitter. This was something that none of
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: us knew how it was going to go. I had
• 39:22
  Speaker 1: some familiarity in the podcast space with the Pirates, obviously,
• 39:25
  Speaker 1: having covered the team. Josh was a big name, but
• 39:29
  Speaker 1: this is his first. podcast he's ever done. And most
• 39:32
  Speaker 1: people didn't even know what the hell Mark looked like.
• 39:34
  Speaker 2: Or what Mark's actual name was.
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: So, um, and we had never done, I mean, I
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: had interviewed Josh, but I'd never interviewed him on camera
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: like this. We didn't know what our chemistry was going
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: to be like. I want to give a massive shout
• 39:47
  Speaker 1: out to Mark, the amount of work he's put in
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: behind the scenes. Josh and I just show up and
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: look pretty and talk about baseball. Uh, well, one of
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: us looks pretty. I try. Uh, but then, you know,
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: Mark puts this thing together and edits it after Josh
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: and I log off. He's worked his butt off. All
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: the people at Valve Territory who do the behind-the-scenes stuff
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: as well. Year one in the books, guys. I am
• 40:13
  Speaker 1: proud of us as a show that we were able
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: to continue to churn this out. We all have three
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: totally different schedules. We make it work, though. And the
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: reason we keep showing up other than the fact that,
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: you know, I feel like we do enjoy each other's
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: company is that we have people who we know are
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: going to tune in and they're weighing in in the
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: comment section. They're, sending us emails, they're commenting on Twitter
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: and everything when it's posted. And it's, it is really
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: cool to see the community that this brand new pirate
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: pirates podcast in a space where there are already a
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: lot of fairly good pirates podcasts that people still make
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: time in their day to hear us talk about their
• 40:51
  Speaker 1: favorite baseball team. So thank you to every single person.
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: who tuned in if it was just one time for
• 40:57
  Speaker 1: this episode or throughout the entire season from October all
• 41:01
  Speaker 1: the way to now. Thank you all so much, and
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: we hope you keep tuning in. We're going to have
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: a whole bunch of off-season content for you. Expect shows
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: every Tuesday and Thursday throughout the off-season, however long the
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: off-season lasts. He's Platinum P, a.k.a. Mark. He's Josh Harrison.
• 41:17
  Speaker 1: I'm Noah Hiles, signing off, saying thank you all again
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: for everything. for tuning in once again to Bucko Territory,
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: presented to you by the Fowl Territory Network. Take care.