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Should the Pirates clean house right now? · Bucco Territory: A Pittsburgh Pirates Podcast

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: What's up, everybody?
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: Welcome back to another episode of Bucko Territory, presented to
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: you by the.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: Foul Territory Network. I'm Noah Hiles.
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: Joining me, as always, on the show are my co-hosts,
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: Josh Harrison and Platinum Key, a.k.a.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: Mark. It is Monday, August 31st.
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: The Pirates just concluded a weekend series victory in St. Louis,
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: their fourth series win of their last five series, but
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: still didn't get the job done as to what we
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: said we needed to see them do.
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: Heading into this road stand... But some nice wins nonetheless.
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: But they're going to enter September well out of the
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: wild card race. They're going to enter September two games under.
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: 500. Or more than that, right? Is it two or three?
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: I think it's four. They're under. 500.
• 0:55
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: Regardless.
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: So that inspired me to write a column saying they
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: need to clean house. That's what we're going to start
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: the show with. Then September call-ups. Then Platinum Keys Key
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: of the Week.
• 1:07
  Speaker 4: Four games under. 500.
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: Four games under hot 500.
• 1:10
  Speaker 4: Yeah, 67 and 71. Yeah. Yeah.
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: So there we go.
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: Even further exemplifying my point or validating my point.
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: I should say.
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: For a column I wrote in the Post Gazette on Sunday.
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: You can still read it online Monday. Cleaning house, question mark.
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: I didn't have a question mark when I said it.
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: You can see the headline there. It is time for
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: the Pirates to clean house, starting with general manager Ben Charrington.
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: Last week, a week from today, actually, the Houston Astros
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: fired their general manager, Dana Brown.
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: Dana Brown.
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: And his three and a half years with the Houston
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: Astros led them to two division titles. The ALCS his
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: first year where they were just a win away from
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: going to the world series. This year when Dana Brown
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: was fired, the Astros were a game under 500, but
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: they were tied for first place with the Texas Rangers.
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: Yet their organizational standard wasn't being met. Last year, the
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: Astros didn't make the playoffs. They missed out on the
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: second tiebreaker with the Detroit Tigers, the team that eliminated
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: them in the wildcard round the year prior. And it
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: ended a long streak of postseason appearances since 2016. And
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: the Astros wanted to get back this year. They still
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: have a chance to get back. But where they were,
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: even after buying Dalton Varshow at the deadline and not
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: selling any other assets away, they had lost six of
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: their last eight prior to Browns firing.
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: They were under. 500. And while they still had a shot,
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: Jim Craig, their owner, decided– enough was enough.
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: And he pulled the plug on a general manager that
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: had a track record that a lot of general managers
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: would consider successful, but he wasn't meeting their organizational standard.
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: And I bring this up because, well, the pirates had
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: an organizational standard to Mark, go ahead and play that video.
• 2:56
  Speaker 5: We felt at the end of the day that making
• 2:58
  Speaker 5: a change is as a general manager would set us back.
• 3:01
  Speaker 5: That's not what our fans expect. That's not what we expect. Um,
• 3:05
  Speaker 5: we're looking in 2026 to make the playoffs, period, full stop.
• 3:09
  Speaker 5: And so we did not want to veer from that.
• 3:10
  Speaker 5: And we're pushing it all in and making sure that
• 3:13
  Speaker 5: we are able to make the playoffs in 2026.
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: Pushing it all in to make the playoffs in 2026.
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: Quick correction as well. Jim Crane, as I said, not
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: Jim Craig. So that's... It.
• 3:26
  Speaker 6: Sounded like Crane.
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: Okay, well, there you go. Well, hey, you know, I
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: got to be accurate. But anyway, nonetheless. So yeah.
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: Period.
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: Full stop.
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: Pushing all in to make the playoffs. As I wrote
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: in my column, the Pirates are not making the playoffs
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: this year.
• 3:41
  Speaker 5: Period.
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: Full stop. It's just not happening.
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: So, if that was the goal, and they didn't meet
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: the goal, and all the chips are in, I personally
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: think it's time for others to be held accountable. For
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: someone to be held accountable.
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: Um, and I think the.
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: Pirates would best be served if they followed the Astros
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: playbook here. Look at what's coming this off season, December 1st,
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: there's going to be a lockout. And while, yeah, you
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: could still make hires. If you're hiring a GM, I
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: think it'd be beneficial for that GM to be able
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: to talk to Paul schemes, to talk to Connor Griffin,
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: talk to Bubba Chandler and Brian Reynolds and Ryan O'Hearn
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: and maybe even Brandon Lau.
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: And the odds of that happening are lesser. If you
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: wait to make a decision in the offseason, if you
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: let whoever you're going to let go, let them go,
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: the more time to find an adequate replacement, an upgrade,
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: the better.
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: And the Astros are already searching for one.
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: So the Pirates, you know you're not making the playoffs,
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: which is something the Astros can't even say, by the way.
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: Because they're still in the playoff hunt. Yeah.
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: They recognize it wasn't good enough. The pirates should do
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: the same thing. And it's not just Ben Charrington. I
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: think Travis Williams deserves to be in this conversation. I
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: think there are a lot of high ranking front office
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: officials who came in with Charrington or even were here
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: before Charrington guys who were with the team when Josh
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: was still around. And, You know, it's tough to say
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: this about anyone, but at the.
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: Same time, it's like, what can you show? What value
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: do you provide?
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: The name of the game is winning at the end
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: of the day, and this team hasn't had a winning
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: season since the guy in the middle of the screen
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: was playing second base for the team. It hasn't had
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: a playoff appearance in 11 years. Drastic changes needed to
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: be made, and I think it needs to be made now.
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: Guys, what do you think?
• 5:46
  Speaker 4: Yeah, it's just seemed you get the feeling of complacency
• 5:50
  Speaker 4: all across the front office. Um, where they were trying
• 5:55
  Speaker 4: to like combat that with the period full stop combat
• 5:58
  Speaker 4: and comments saying, you know, we're going to go all
• 6:00
  Speaker 4: in this year. We're going to push our chips in.
• 6:03
  Speaker 4: And they, they tried and it just wasn't good enough.
• 6:06
  Speaker 4: And you cannot sit there and continue that complacency. Uh,
• 6:10
  Speaker 4: when we've just seen it not work and not work
• 6:13
  Speaker 4: and it's not, yeah, it's a small market, lower budget team.
• 6:17
  Speaker 4: Bob Nutting's not really giving a lot of people like
• 6:19
  Speaker 4: the opportunity to succeed as much as possible. But we've
• 6:23
  Speaker 4: seen other small markets work around that.
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: Mark, do you know how many, not to interrupt, but
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: do you know how many teams have made the Major
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: League Baseball postseason since Ben Charrington was hired as this
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: team's general manager?
• 6:34
  Speaker 4: I think you said all of them except for the
• 6:36
  Speaker 4: Angels and Rockies.
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: And Pirates. Pirates, yep.
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: 27 of the 30 teams have made the playoffs once.
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: The Marlins have done it twice. I mean, there's any
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: example that you can pick.
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: They've all made it. This team hasn't had a winning record.
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: It's not, yeah, so it's like, I get it. Like,
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: Nutting's a bad owner.
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: Sorry to interrupt, and I'm going to let you go
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: back to it real quick.
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: But it's like, there.
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: Has been a general manager who built a playoff team
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: when Bob Nutting owned the Pirates. Yeah.
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: Like, they've had, it's worked here.
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: They've built a 98-win team here before, and it's a
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: different era of baseball, but I'm saying it's not impossible.
• 7:15
  Speaker 5: Right.
• 7:16
  Speaker 4: Yeah, and I think the one thing that Charrington has
• 7:18
  Speaker 4: done well is draft. You mentioned that towards the end
• 7:21
  Speaker 4: of your column. That's been a success, but it just
• 7:26
  Speaker 4: hasn't been successful enough to where after seven years of
• 7:29
  Speaker 4: not posting a winning record that you can justify keeping
• 7:33
  Speaker 4: him around after this type of effort and push to
• 7:36
  Speaker 4: go all in this year. Josh, you want to round
• 7:39
  Speaker 4: this out? Yes.
• 7:42
  Speaker 6: As we sit here and we round everything out, the
• 7:45
  Speaker 6: word that I'm going to use is expectation. And when
• 7:48
  Speaker 6: you say that, we talk about the– Astros and Dana Brown,
• 7:54
  Speaker 6: the Astros felt that their level of expectation was not
• 7:57
  Speaker 6: being met. Given that the pirates haven't had a winning
• 8:01
  Speaker 6: season since I played, what have they really set a
• 8:04
  Speaker 6: real expectation? So insanity is doing the same thing over
• 8:08
  Speaker 6: and over expecting a different result. And at the end
• 8:11
  Speaker 6: of the day, something's got to change. And saying that
• 8:17
  Speaker 6: you're going all in and gun, you know, going to
• 8:19
  Speaker 6: make the playoffs in 26.
• 8:20
  Speaker 7: Yes.
• 8:20
  Speaker 6: You, You can say that's all you want to do,
• 8:23
  Speaker 6: but shouldn't that have been the expectation of every year
• 8:27
  Speaker 6: of trying to put the best team forward and getting
• 8:30
  Speaker 6: to the playoffs? And now here we are this year
• 8:33
  Speaker 6: that you feel like you finally are trying.
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: To do it.
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: Guess what?
• 8:36
  Speaker 6: It's baseball. You're going to be hit in the mouth
• 8:38
  Speaker 6: with some injuries, some unfortunate things happening, this or that.
• 8:42
  Speaker 6: But it just leaves more of a sour taste, I guess,
• 8:45
  Speaker 6: for fans. Because it's like, dang, the one year that
• 8:48
  Speaker 6: you tried, like, yes, we feel like you tried, but
• 8:51
  Speaker 6: it still wasn't good enough in Mark's case. But it's like,
• 8:54
  Speaker 6: is this the first year that the front office tried
• 8:56
  Speaker 6: to put an expectation on something when, as you said,
• 9:00
  Speaker 6: every year there should be an expectation? So at the
• 9:03
  Speaker 6: end of the day, yeah, go ahead. That was just
• 9:06
  Speaker 6: kind of what I was saying. I was like, there's
• 9:07
  Speaker 6: really no expectation until now.
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: And to build off of it. It's going to be
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: a great year.
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: To build off of everything you're saying, Josh, how many
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: teams at the end of a season can say, hey,
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: this year went according to plan?
• 9:20
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: Not many, right? Even the team that.
• 9:22
  Speaker 6: Won the World Series doesn't go to plan because they've
• 9:25
  Speaker 6: done all types of stuff.
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: It did go to plan.
• 9:27
  Speaker 5: Yes.
• 9:27
  Speaker 6: I think back to that 13 teams.
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: Like the goal was to get in, right?
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: Like you needed to see, obviously you guys wanted to
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: win the world series, but you needed to see that
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: you could do it because you had, you had something
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: going on 11 and 12 and then it kind of
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: fell apart. And 13 was like, Hey, you know what?
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: We wanted to win the world series, but that was
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: a successful year in 2013 because you had laid the
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: foundation of something. And there, but there are only a
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: couple of those stories in major league baseball. every year
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: where it's like hey you know what we are going
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: to get better we're going to win the division like
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: the chicago white socks yep that is a successful season
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: for the chicago white socks because they are going from
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: worst to first right then you have your teams like
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: like you look like the brewers and the Brewers are
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: going to win the division, but if they don't win
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: the world series, they're not going to call this year's success.
• 10:24
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: Because they're on that next tier.
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: And that's where it goes back to what you said, Josh,
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: where it's whoever wins the world series. It's so there's
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: only a handful of teams who can end their season
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: and say like, Hey, we kind of checked most of
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: the boxes that we hope to check this year and
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: feel satisfied by it. And it's, They're just not even
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: doing that. Like they're not, they're not meeting even the
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: lower standard either. And for you to only try really
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: one year and just say like, Oh, well we're.
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: Trying this year.
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: And now, but it's like, Hey man, even when you
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: try a lot of teams try and it doesn't go,
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: the Yankees have been trying pretty hard.
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: They're not meeting their standard. The Mets spent a whole
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: bunch of money this off season. They're terrible.
• 11:04
  Speaker 7: Right?
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: Like it doesn't, it doesn't work out for everyone just
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: because you try.
• 11:08
  Speaker 8: Yep.
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: So that's what happens when you wait.
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: And again, again, That's not necessarily Ben Charrington's fault or
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: Travis Williams or whoever, but it's just like, well, you
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: know what?
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: Bob Nutting can't get fired.
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: So someone else has to figure out a way to
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: work with what they have to work with. And I'll
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: make one final point here before we can wrap this up.
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: The timing thing, the timing of all this needs to
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: really be emphasized here. Waiting again until the end of
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: the year to do this the end of the regular season,
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: I should say, costs you an extra 30 days of
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: job hunting, of job searching, or just even identifying candidates,
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: having conversations through back channels. Get this process started as
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: soon as possible. The last time the Pirates fired a
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: general manager, they waited too long. They fired their manager
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: in the second to last game of the season. They
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: had him wheeled out.
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: On a freaking golf cart.
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: Front of everyone and then they waited like a month
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: to fire the gm and it was never on the
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: same page from then and then a pandemic struck and
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: further chaos ensued hopefully there's not a pandemic happening this
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: winter but there is a lockout which is its own
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: uncontrolled chaos and it is an opportunity for communication to
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: go awry if you can maximize an additional 30 days
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: to start deciding and start acting upon who's going to
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: be your next GM, who's going to be your next
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: assistant GMs, who's going to be your next manager, your.
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: Team president, all of that.
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: If you can have all that figured out before the
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: World Series is over, that is a huge win for
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: this organization.
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: The sooner you get on that, the better.
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: Because waiting to make a tough decision has screwed this
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: organization over way, way too many times.
• 13:04
  Speaker 4: Yep. And it's not like waiting is going to provide
• 13:06
  Speaker 4: you any additional clarity that you need. I think you're
• 13:09
  Speaker 4: going to be in the exact same spot.
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: Yeah. All right. We're going to take a quick break.
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: When we come back, we're going to talk September call-ups
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: real quick here on Bucko Territory.
• 13:20
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• 13:31
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• 13:33
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• 13:35
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• 14:23
  Speaker 2: All right, September call-ups. That will be happening the next
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: time the Pirates take the field. They'll have two extra
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: men on their roster. We're just going to go through
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: real quick. No need to harp on these guys.
• 14:33
  Speaker 6: They don't get to go to 40?
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: No.
• 14:36
  Speaker 6: I remember those days.
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I was going to say, man, how crowded were
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: those locker rooms back then, man?
• 14:42
  Speaker 6: Man, Wrigley Field, we used to double up. Like, the
• 14:44
  Speaker 6: new guys would double up. The coaches would double up. But, yeah,
• 14:48
  Speaker 6: definitely only a couple this time, right? Obviously, all that's changed.
• 14:51
  Speaker 7: Just two.
• 14:52
  Speaker 6: Just two. It's got to make sense, yeah.
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so. Um, we're not going to spend a ton
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: of time on this segment just because most of the
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: guys we've talked about, we're going to talk about we've
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: seen this year.
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: So we'll just go right down the line. We'll start
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: with Mark. Who's your pick?
• 15:06
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 15:06
  Speaker 4: So, uh, going with the password. Uh, yeah.
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 15:12
  Speaker 4: Just Stinson. I was blanking on how to say his
• 15:14
  Speaker 4: first name for a second. Uh, we saw the password
• 15:17
  Speaker 4: come up for about like 50 at bats, 48 at bats, uh,
• 15:20
  Speaker 4: earlier this year and it did not go well for him. Um,
• 15:24
  Speaker 4: I think his OPS plus was like a 7 or something.
• 15:27
  Speaker 4: Just really struggled. And he's been okay in AAA. OPS
• 15:33
  Speaker 4: is hovering like mid 700s right now. Only had 7
• 15:36
  Speaker 4: home runs this year in AAA. But we know that
• 15:39
  Speaker 4: he has a lot of potential. The power in his
• 15:41
  Speaker 4: bat is serious. When he does make contact, obviously the
• 15:47
  Speaker 4: chase rate is a little bit concerning and the walk
• 15:49
  Speaker 4: rate is a little down. But Giving him another opportunity
• 15:53
  Speaker 4: to get his feet wet up in MLB will be
• 15:56
  Speaker 4: really huge just to see what the Pirates have. If
• 15:59
  Speaker 4: you can count on Password to be an option in 2027,
• 16:04
  Speaker 4: just see where he's at. Give him another look at MLB.
• 16:07
  Speaker 4: See if you can give him a little confidence. Just
• 16:10
  Speaker 4: something to shake off those 48 at-bats. So yeah, the
• 16:15
  Speaker 4: Password would be one of the guys I'd expect to
• 16:17
  Speaker 4: see making his return to Pittsburgh here in September. What
• 16:23
  Speaker 4: about you, Josh?
• 16:25
  Speaker 6: A guy that I would see is Wilbur Dottel. I
• 16:30
  Speaker 6: know we saw Wilbur a little bit, and I think
• 16:33
  Speaker 6: earlier in the year I'd even spoke on having a
• 16:36
  Speaker 6: little birdie that was at the game in AAA. And
• 16:39
  Speaker 6: his times that he came up this year, I think
• 16:41
  Speaker 6: he showed a little bit out the pen. And obviously
• 16:43
  Speaker 6: we know this last month they're going to be paying
• 16:46
  Speaker 6: attention to, you know, limiting guys' starts or innings or
• 16:49
  Speaker 6: pitch count based off of what's going on. And even
• 16:52
  Speaker 6: Lake Bacher, I feel like he was talking about opening.
• 16:55
  Speaker 6: He said, man, I just want to throw. So I
• 16:57
  Speaker 6: know there's going to be opportunity, and Wilbur seems like
• 16:59
  Speaker 6: a guy who, to me, I think is going to
• 17:01
  Speaker 6: get a little extended look given, you know, bullpen issues,
• 17:04
  Speaker 6: starting issues. He was a guy that kind of came up,
• 17:08
  Speaker 6: and I thought threw the ball well for the times
• 17:10
  Speaker 6: that he came up. So he's a guy that I
• 17:13
  Speaker 6: could see coming up. you know, being kind of put
• 17:15
  Speaker 6: in that, you know, long relief role, you know, maybe
• 17:17
  Speaker 6: open up here and there for a couple of innings
• 17:18
  Speaker 6: based off of, you know, the schedule and what they
• 17:20
  Speaker 6: want to do with the staff. But I would say
• 17:22
  Speaker 6: Wilbur though too. I love it.
• 17:25
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: I like that.
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: I'll round us up by saying a name that we
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: haven't seen in Pittsburgh this year, Robert Hassel III, a
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: guy who was once a very high rated prospect for
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: the Washington Nationals. The Pirates got him in a waiver claim,
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: I believe last month, maybe even earlier this month.
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: Earlier this month in August. Um, and, uh, I mean,
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: he hasn't played amazing baseball here. He hasn't been in
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: the pirates organization for very long. Um, but he's played
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: in the major leagues before, and maybe this is just
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: a guy where you get his feet wet, just get
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: him some reps. You can use that DH spot a
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: little bit more liberally, um, this final month. And, uh,
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: you know, if he was a top rated prospect, then
• 18:08
  Speaker 2: clearly the talent's in there and maybe, you know, you
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: give him a change of scenery. you get his feet
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: wet on Pittsburgh just so he can kind of learn
• 18:16
  Speaker 2: the lay of the land in this last month.
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: And then he goes into.
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: Camp next year and maybe he's a guy who competes
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: to make the, the opening day roster.
• 18:22
  Speaker 4: So my only concern with hassle, he's not on the
• 18:26
  Speaker 4: 40 man yet. So that would require a 40 man move,
• 18:28
  Speaker 4: but obviously there's, there's room on that.
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: So, yeah, I'm not too worried about that. So, all right,
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: we're going to take another quick break.
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: When we come back, we'll round out today's show with
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: platinum keys, platinum key of the week here on Bucko territory.
• 18:43
  Speaker 3: Do you remember growing up and seeing that something was
• 18:46
  Speaker 3: sold out and it was literally sold out and you
• 18:48
  Speaker 3: couldn't get a ticket?
• 18:49
  Speaker 7: Yes, I do remember that.
• 18:50
  Speaker 2: That's not a thing anymore.
• 18:51
  Speaker 7: Cried many times over that, Scott. But now we have SeatGeek.
• 18:54
  Speaker 7: Even if it says sold out, you can find that
• 18:56
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• 18:57
  Speaker 1: Yep.
• 18:57
  Speaker 3: The official ticket marketplace of Major League Baseball is SeatGeek
• 19:01
  Speaker 3: to find that seat for you, whether it's down the stretch,
• 19:05
  Speaker 3: a team that you're following that's going to play postseason
• 19:07
  Speaker 3: ball or whatever you're going to game for. You want
• 19:10
  Speaker 3: to see a particular pitcher. Eventually, playoff tickets, same thing, right?
• 19:14
  Speaker 3: Playoff tickets generally sold out.
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: Don't worry.
• 19:16
  Speaker 7: SeatGeek has the spot. Find your green dot. Find the
• 19:19
  Speaker 7: green dot. Red dot, bad deal. Green dot, great deal.
• 19:22
  Speaker 7: There's plenty of green dots for whatever game you want.
• 19:24
  Speaker 7: Find it. Buy your tickets and go enjoy the game.
• 19:27
  Speaker 3: Code TERRITORY10. 10% off your next set of tickets at SeatGeek.
• 19:30
  Speaker 3: That's 10% off any MLB tickets with the promo code TERRITORY10.
• 19:35
  Speaker 3: Make sure you click the link in the description to
• 19:37
  Speaker 3: download the app, and then the code will automatically be
• 19:40
  Speaker 3: added to your account so that you can use it later.
• 19:52
  Speaker 4: All right, this week's key of the week may seem
• 19:55
  Speaker 4: a little counterintuitive the way we we open the show
• 19:57
  Speaker 4: off with saying time to move on from the whole
• 20:00
  Speaker 4: front office. But this team has won four of the
• 20:02
  Speaker 4: last five series, has two series against teams that are
• 20:06
  Speaker 4: very clearly not as good as the pirates in both
• 20:09
  Speaker 4: the giants and the angels, uh, both at PNC park.
• 20:13
  Speaker 4: So keep winning series. Uh, yeah, we might be out
• 20:17
  Speaker 4: of the playoffs, but continuing to win and learning how
• 20:20
  Speaker 4: to win with this young core, uh, is so important. Um,
• 20:25
  Speaker 4: and showing up and just defending your, your home turf
• 20:28
  Speaker 4: for the people that the fan base that actually shows
• 20:30
  Speaker 4: up to these, uh, these two of the last five
• 20:32
  Speaker 4: home series here against the giants and angels. So show
• 20:36
  Speaker 4: out against these two teams, show that you're a better
• 20:38
  Speaker 4: team than them. And just, you know, pad some stats
• 20:42
  Speaker 4: a little bit. Uh, I I'd love to see, uh, some,
• 20:45
  Speaker 4: some homers get this offense going again. Uh, so yeah,
• 20:49
  Speaker 4: that's my, my key of the week. Just, just keep
• 20:50
  Speaker 4: winning series. And there we go. Transfer it back.
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: Yeah. I mean, winning just, if you just keep winning,
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: who knows what happens?
• 21:01
  Speaker 6: Straight to the point.
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: Simple.
• 21:02
  Speaker 6: We talked about it. Um, As I said, so cliche,
• 21:07
  Speaker 6: take it a game at a time. But as you said,
• 21:10
  Speaker 6: they've won four out of the five series. Keep winning series.
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: Who knows?
• 21:14
  Speaker 6: Stranger things have happened. But as you said, just continue
• 21:18
  Speaker 6: to win series. Who knows?
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: Get paid. Get paid.
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: A lot of you are going into ARB next year.
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: A lot of you have incentive bonuses.
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: Get paid. Perform. Keep working. Get that money. There's your incentive.
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: In addition to winning. You play to win. But also,
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: get money. That's what September's for.
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: When you're not in the race, that's your literal incentive
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: to keep going.
• 21:44
  Speaker 6: In the race, out of the race, we talk about it.
• 21:46
  Speaker 6: Don't give away any at-bats. Same thing as pitchers. Don't
• 21:49
  Speaker 6: take any outings for granted. But even more so in
• 21:53
  Speaker 6: these times because obviously, as you say, when you get
• 21:55
  Speaker 6: to the end of the season and things don't look
• 21:57
  Speaker 6: as bright, it's easy to kind of Hey, keep winning series.
• 22:01
  Speaker 6: And when you win a series, that means you guys
• 22:02
  Speaker 6: are producing. And that means you guys are setting yourself
• 22:04
  Speaker 6: up for the future. But like you said, take a
• 22:08
  Speaker 6: day at a time and do the best you can.
• 22:11
  Speaker 6: And who knows what happens for you.
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: Or the team. You know what happens when someone hits
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: that subscribe button? I get excited.
• 22:18
  Speaker 5: Period.
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: So that's why we need you to hit that subscribe. Yeah,
• 22:21
  Speaker 2: that's why we need you to hit that subscribe button.
• 22:23
  Speaker 2: We're on a mission to 3,000 subs.
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: Can't get here. Without your help.
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: Also, check out the Bucko Territory Team Store. We've got
• 22:29
  Speaker 2: a lot of great stuff there for you to support
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: the show.
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: Fellas, any final thoughts?
• 22:35
  Speaker 4: Murph Gray just hit his 31st home run while we
• 22:38
  Speaker 4: were recording tonight here on Sunday night. Kid just continues
• 22:41
  Speaker 4: to mash. I'm really excited the more and more I
• 22:45
  Speaker 4: look into Murph Gray.
• 22:47
  Speaker 5: Nice.
• 22:48
  Speaker 6: I got nothing.
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: I gotta give a shout out to my girlfriend, Jill.
• 22:53
  Speaker 4: My.
• 22:54
  Speaker 2: house could never be this aesthetically pleasing. I look like
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: I'm glowing on camera. So shout out to her place.
• 22:59
  Speaker 4: Look at this guy.
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: All right.
• 23:01
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: Look at this. This is a very homey residence, right?
• 23:05
  Speaker 4: I mean, she set it up for you to podcast room.
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 23:08
  Speaker 5: Oh yeah.
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: She literally did. She like got the lighting.
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: All right.
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: Everything. Yeah. She was all for it. So she was
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: incredibly embarrassed.
• 23:15
  Speaker 6: By all lighting is nice.
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: Lighting is nice.
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 23:18
  Speaker 7: See, I agree, Josh.
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: All right. He's Platinum Key. He's Josh Harrison.
• 23:23
  Speaker 2: I'm Noah Hiles, signing off, saying thanks for tuning in
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: for another episode of Bucko Territory, presented to you by
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: the Foul Territory Network.
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: Take care.