Latest / Bucco Territory: A Pittsburgh Pirates Podcast / Will Konnor Griffin be the Pirates' Opening Day shortstop?

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Will Konnor Griffin be the Pirates' Opening Day shortstop? · Bucco Territory: A Pittsburgh Pirates Podcast

0:09
Speaker 1: What's up, everybody.
0:10
Speaker 2: Welcome back to another episode of Buco Territory, presented to
0:13
Speaker 2: you by the File Territory Network.
0:14
Speaker 1: My name is Noah Hiles, joining me as always.
0:17
Speaker 2: Or my co hosts Josh Harrison aka j Hey and
0:19
Speaker 2: Mark aka platinum Key. We've got a lot to talk
0:22
Speaker 2: about in today's show. One kid that you might have
0:26
Speaker 2: heard his name by now. His names Connor Griffin. He's
0:28
Speaker 2: had a pretty interesting week and spring training of really
0:31
Speaker 2: big performance Tuesday against the Boston Red Sox and.
0:35
Speaker 1: Also some Paul Skeens news to get into.
0:37
Speaker 2: But before as we get into that, before we get
0:40
Speaker 2: into Skeens again, we're gonna open up with Connor Griffin,
0:43
Speaker 2: an absolutely dominant performance hit two missiles of home runs.
0:49
Speaker 1: I think we have some clips of.
0:50
Speaker 2: Yeah, here, here's the first one, I mean, just the
0:54
Speaker 2: towering shot, and that was the shorter of the two.
0:57
Speaker 2: The second one, I believe when four hundred and forty
1:00
Speaker 2: feet it's pretty deep. Yeah, yeah, so that's going to
1:06
Speaker 2: generate some attention, and it absolutely did.
1:09
Speaker 1: Connor Griffin.
1:10
Speaker 2: By now, it's very rare when you see spring training
1:13
Speaker 2: highlights attract this type of buzz, but I mean that
1:17
Speaker 2: was talked about on the Dan Patrick Show today. That
1:19
Speaker 2: was talked about like on all like the you know,
1:22
Speaker 2: baseball internet sites. Jeff Passing from ESPN's tweeting about it.
1:26
Speaker 2: Everyone's talking about Connor Griffin, including MLB trade roomers. But anyway,
1:34
Speaker 2: So with this Connor Griffin narrative going on right now,
1:38
Speaker 2: will he make the team? Won't he make the team?
1:42
Speaker 2: I want to get your guys' thoughts on is that narrative.
1:47
Speaker 1: Worth keeping around?
1:48
Speaker 2: Would the Pirates be better off making a decision, say
1:53
Speaker 2: sometime next week early March, just to get a feel,
1:56
Speaker 2: say you make it one way or another, that way,
1:59
Speaker 2: it's not looming. Just say, all right, he's on the team.
2:02
Speaker 2: We're keeping him. It's just there. You add him to
2:05
Speaker 2: the forty man, it's over with and like start selling
2:09
Speaker 2: the tickets now, or you do what they did with
2:12
Speaker 2: like Bubba Chandler and Paul Schemes, where both of those
2:15
Speaker 2: guys were optioned down to minor league camp relatively early
2:19
Speaker 2: in the month of March. So, like, do you ease
2:23
Speaker 2: that decision because I feel like the longer that looms,
2:27
Speaker 2: you're probably adding a little bit.
2:29
Speaker 1: More pressure on him.
2:30
Speaker 2: Now. You could also argue that that pressure is good.
2:33
Speaker 2: He should have to deal with that pressure get on
2:35
Speaker 2: the team. So I want to hear both of your thoughts.
2:37
Speaker 2: Let's start with Mark, what do you think should they
2:39
Speaker 2: just make a decision now or should they just let
2:42
Speaker 2: this play out?
2:43
Speaker 1: Yeah?
2:43
Speaker 3: I think it depends if they have made a decision
2:46
Speaker 3: internally yet. I don't know if they know what they're
2:48
Speaker 3: going to do, so maybe they need more information. You
2:52
Speaker 3: hope they came into this offseason with a plan for
2:55
Speaker 3: the top prospect in baseball. Yeah, I mean I think
2:59
Speaker 3: you guys just leave them up and commit to him
3:02
Speaker 3: and say hey, behind the scenes, maybe even maybe not
3:05
Speaker 3: even go public with it, but say, hey, this is
3:08
Speaker 3: your job. Now. You're the starting day, You're the opening
3:11
Speaker 3: day shortstop. We believe in you. We know you're not
3:13
Speaker 3: on the forty man roster yet, we'll get there, we'll
3:15
Speaker 3: do that, but you're going to be our shortstop. And
3:18
Speaker 3: then just let him focus on playing defense, hitting the ball,
3:21
Speaker 3: making contact, working on his game rather than worrying about
3:25
Speaker 3: all this noise surrounding him constantly. When we had him
3:29
Speaker 3: on to interview him on this podcast, the question he
3:32
Speaker 3: asked Josh was, how do I deal with all of
3:34
Speaker 3: that noise and that in the back of his head
3:37
Speaker 3: and so eliminating all of that feedback and just let
3:42
Speaker 3: him focus on his game can only be good for
3:44
Speaker 3: both him and the pirates. I think what about you, Josh.
3:49
Speaker 4: All right, this is definitely a not touchy touchy subject,
3:55
Speaker 4: But when you're dealing with, you know, a prospect, a
3:58
Speaker 4: guy like kind of Griffin number one, since is the
4:00
Speaker 4: hype on him, you want to make sure that you
4:05
Speaker 4: cover every base and not you know, rush things. But
4:08
Speaker 4: you also don't want to not put him in a
4:11
Speaker 4: situation where you're stunting his growth. And granted we're talking
4:15
Speaker 4: he's only nineteen, but you know, Mark, you mentioned some
4:19
Speaker 4: internal conversations behind the scenes. We don't know if they've
4:23
Speaker 4: had conversations. And not to say, oh, you're going to
4:27
Speaker 4: be put on the forty man, I mean it's inevitable
4:29
Speaker 4: at some point in his career. He's going to be
4:32
Speaker 4: on the twenty six man. Forty man, we're not even
4:34
Speaker 4: gonna worry about. But you know, maybe it's a situation
4:37
Speaker 4: where that internal conversation is, hey, this is your spot
4:41
Speaker 4: to lose, not saying that this is your job, but
4:44
Speaker 4: we know that they didn't really go sign anybody to
4:47
Speaker 4: block him. You know that per Se was, Oh, he's
4:51
Speaker 4: definitely starting triple A. So maybe maybe it's conversations of
4:55
Speaker 4: you know, we're gonna give you every opportunity to win
4:58
Speaker 4: this spot, but realistically lose this spot, and you know
5:02
Speaker 4: that that's anything that anybody would ever want to whether
5:05
Speaker 4: you're nineteen twenty five, is you know, going in to
5:08
Speaker 4: compete for a job. And uh, it seems as if
5:11
Speaker 4: he's going to get an extended look because, as I'll say,
5:12
Speaker 4: if they haven't signed anybody to block them. But I
5:16
Speaker 4: think if you're, if you're ready to do it, you'll
5:19
Speaker 4: see that with an extension. I don't think it's anything
5:22
Speaker 4: that they'll just be like, oh, you're going to be
5:24
Speaker 4: the shortstop and that's that. Like, if they're going to
5:26
Speaker 4: do it early, I think we would see an extension too.
5:28
Speaker 4: That's just my That would just if you're going to
5:30
Speaker 4: commit to it, you might as well commit to it
5:32
Speaker 4: that way because other teams have done it with their
5:34
Speaker 4: prospects that aren't quite Connor Griffin just just speaking.
5:39
Speaker 1: No, Yeah, I think at the very least, if you're.
5:44
Speaker 2: Not like if they've already made their minds up that
5:47
Speaker 2: like he's not going to be their opening day shortstop.
5:50
Speaker 2: Like if they wanted, if they genuinely believe that it's
5:53
Speaker 2: in his best interest to start in triple A, then.
5:58
Speaker 1: They have the option him there and with the.
6:02
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, don't have them up here and.
6:05
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I would just say, like you know what,
6:07
Speaker 2: like hey, we gave you a week or whatever, but
6:09
Speaker 2: like yeah, like I would let him know, be like
6:11
Speaker 2: we're gonna give you one more week, but like this
6:13
Speaker 2: isn't Whereas on the other side, I think, and I'm
6:18
Speaker 2: trying to think of like I mean I think privately, yeah,
6:21
Speaker 2: you tell him what Josh said, right, like just say like, hey,
6:24
Speaker 2: this is your job to lose. Publicly, what you could
6:27
Speaker 2: say is he's gonna be around here until the end
6:31
Speaker 2: of camp. Like there, it doesn't necessarily make sense to
6:35
Speaker 2: add him to the forty man roster, uh during training camp,
6:38
Speaker 2: like unless you sign that extension, yeah, because like now
6:43
Speaker 2: you're you have to like dfa someone and create a.
6:48
Speaker 1: Yeah.
6:49
Speaker 2: So but I do think that like if you really
6:52
Speaker 2: do plan on him being there, like I do, I think.
6:55
Speaker 1: You could probably ease the whole Will he make the team?
6:58
Speaker 2: Will he won't will he not make the team by
7:00
Speaker 2: just saying like, look, this kid's gonna be in big
7:03
Speaker 2: league camp until the end of camp, like because even
7:06
Speaker 2: if he doesn't make it, like he's gonna be very
7:08
Speaker 2: close and we want him to be around our major
7:11
Speaker 2: league roster. So rather than you know, everyone's sitting on
7:15
Speaker 2: pins of needles, like, just be a little bit more transparent.
7:20
Speaker 2: And I'm not saying the pirates. I don't know if
7:21
Speaker 2: these these conversations might have already been had.
7:24
Speaker 5: I just don't know.
7:27
Speaker 2: Yeah, these this is just like an interesting conversation because
7:31
Speaker 2: especially like when you compare it to the other guys
7:33
Speaker 2: that I mentioned, like Skeens and Chandler, there's a strategic
7:37
Speaker 2: thing behind why those guys were optioned down. They wanted
7:40
Speaker 2: both of them to be built up to when they
7:43
Speaker 2: hit their like max volume of work, that it was
7:46
Speaker 2: already in the middle of the regular season, and that
7:49
Speaker 2: they could throw the bulk of their innings in the
7:51
Speaker 2: major leagues.
7:53
Speaker 1: This is different. He's a position player.
7:55
Speaker 2: There is no I mean, there's a ramp up process,
7:57
Speaker 2: but it's it's just spring training, you know, like there's
8:01
Speaker 2: that's just how guys get ready.
8:02
Speaker 1: It's not like you have to.
8:04
Speaker 5: He's nineteen, he's still learning that.
8:06
Speaker 4: So that's also the other thing of when they're giving
8:09
Speaker 4: him this extended looking spring training.
8:12
Speaker 5: You want to give him that look, but.
8:14
Speaker 4: Also he might be a nineteen year old that might
8:17
Speaker 4: get a couple side eyes because you know, my first
8:20
Speaker 4: three four camps I was making every road trip backing up.
8:23
Speaker 5: You know, they want to give him extended looks.
8:25
Speaker 4: But at the same time, you don't want to send
8:27
Speaker 4: him three four days in a row in a road
8:29
Speaker 4: coming back.
8:30
Speaker 5: You want to be smart about.
8:31
Speaker 4: It because he's also a nineteen year old that this
8:33
Speaker 4: is first full big league camp potentially going into a
8:37
Speaker 4: first full season. But you know, he if he continues
8:40
Speaker 4: to do what he's doing this spring, and I'm not
8:42
Speaker 4: even talking home runs, like the home runs are those
8:45
Speaker 4: two are that's a beautiful swing big leaguers. But I
8:49
Speaker 4: look at the first one off Rangers for as I
8:51
Speaker 4: played with Ranger, face them, strike through. It was a
8:53
Speaker 4: two to one breaking ball, not a two to one fastball.
8:56
Speaker 4: Second one, I think was a two breaking ball. So
8:58
Speaker 4: you're talking hidden mistake pitches. He continues to do that,
9:03
Speaker 4: it's gonna be hard to you know, talk about the
9:06
Speaker 4: latter part of his he going a triple A because
9:09
Speaker 4: if he forces their hand, it might be a situation
9:11
Speaker 4: where we're sitting here like the conversation we had is
9:14
Speaker 4: you know, non existent. But at the same time, you know,
9:17
Speaker 4: those are our questions that will continue to try to,
9:20
Speaker 4: you know, see if they unfold as this spring goes.
9:22
Speaker 4: But you know, Mark, you hit on it our last episode.
9:25
Speaker 4: We're talking to two home runs that he hit just today.
9:28
Speaker 4: But last episode you talked about the hard contact he
9:31
Speaker 4: was making.
9:31
Speaker 3: With with no you can see it.
9:33
Speaker 4: So yeah, so coming into it, we had already said
9:36
Speaker 4: just seeing him have good at bats, but at the
9:37
Speaker 4: same time seeing some results, he could very well be
9:41
Speaker 4: forcing his issue and forcing a hand.
9:43
Speaker 2: All right, Well, we're going to talk about another star
9:46
Speaker 2: here on this show, Paul Skeins, But before we.
9:48
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11:04
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11:07
Speaker 3: Quick before we move on. I have one question for
11:10
Speaker 3: you know, how much do you think the prospect prospect
11:13
Speaker 3: promotion incentive factors into what the Pirates are thinking with
11:17
Speaker 3: Connor Griffin? What do you mean just where if he's
11:21
Speaker 3: on the opening day roster and he wins Rookie of
11:23
Speaker 3: the Year, you get that that extra first draft pick
11:26
Speaker 3: that I don't.
11:28
Speaker 5: Think like, but he has to be on opening day
11:31
Speaker 5: roster for that.
11:32
Speaker 3: Opening day roster.
11:33
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think all of the Super two stuff and
11:40
Speaker 2: like all those deadlines, I don't think they really apply
11:42
Speaker 2: to Connor because.
11:43
Speaker 1: Like I just I just don't like with it.
11:46
Speaker 2: Because if they were really worried about his service time,
11:49
Speaker 2: he would not be in the major leagues this year, right,
11:51
Speaker 2: because you might not have a whole season next year,
11:54
Speaker 2: and if you activate him, you lose a year of service. Correct,
11:59
Speaker 2: So if there were to of service time, this guy
12:01
Speaker 2: would start the year in double A and they would
12:03
Speaker 2: drag it out in triple A. That's how it would go,
12:06
Speaker 2: and they would be crushed for it. And I don't
12:09
Speaker 2: think they really.
12:10
Speaker 1: Have that option.
12:11
Speaker 2: So because he is done so well and he is
12:15
Speaker 2: so clearly at the very least a couple games in
12:20
Speaker 2: Triple A away from being ready. The fact that he's
12:23
Speaker 2: gonna be a big leaguer this year, I think you
12:27
Speaker 2: just have to start him now he's ready, if he's ready,
12:31
Speaker 2: and I think that every other move that they made
12:33
Speaker 2: indicates that, like.
12:36
Speaker 1: He will right, and.
12:38
Speaker 3: If he wins, he's going to lose the year of
12:41
Speaker 3: service time, so you might as well get the bonus
12:43
Speaker 3: out of it. And yeah, it makes a lot of
12:46
Speaker 3: sense for him to be on the open roster.
12:48
Speaker 2: This is more similar to a Jared Jones situation than
12:52
Speaker 2: it is a Paul Schemes in my opinion, where Paul
12:55
Speaker 2: there was a plan for him to not make the
12:57
Speaker 2: opening day roster, same for Bubba Chandler last year. I
13:00
Speaker 2: think there is a clear need at Connor's position. If
13:04
Speaker 2: they had, you know, uh, a three war shortstop on
13:08
Speaker 2: the team, this would be different because it's like, all right,
13:11
Speaker 2: let's get a spot for him before he comes up.
13:13
Speaker 2: But there's a demand here. They need offense, they need
13:16
Speaker 2: everything that he can provide. He can provide better defense,
13:19
Speaker 2: he can steal bases, he can.
13:20
Speaker 1: Hit for power average.
13:21
Speaker 2: You can bat him at the top of the lineup
13:23
Speaker 2: if you want to nurture him a little bit and
13:25
Speaker 2: bat him in the bottom third. That also lengthens your
13:27
Speaker 2: lineup too, So there's just a million reasons why. It's like,
13:31
Speaker 2: if he's ready, there's no reason to hold him down.
13:33
Speaker 2: Like the financial the money you're saving isn't really gonna
13:38
Speaker 2: pay off.
13:38
Speaker 5: In the long run.
13:40
Speaker 1: All right, Just that's my thought.
13:43
Speaker 3: I mean, I completely agree.
13:45
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, it was a good question.
13:46
Speaker 5: Though I wouldn't even aware of that, but I mean, yeah,
13:48
Speaker 5: that is a good question.
13:50
Speaker 3: All right.
13:51
Speaker 1: So let's talk some Paul Skins.
13:52
Speaker 2: Now, some recent news reported by the Athletic I believe
13:56
Speaker 2: was it Rosenthal who reported it. Yes, and that's Paul
13:59
Speaker 2: Skin is gonna be two starts for Team USA. I
14:02
Speaker 2: said it would be more than one on our last show,
14:04
Speaker 2: so credit credit to me.
14:06
Speaker 1: I was right. It is exactly two. Uh, he's gonna
14:09
Speaker 1: just pitch.
14:10
Speaker 2: I believe his next two scheduled start days are gonna
14:12
Speaker 2: be pitching for Team USA.
14:15
Speaker 1: I'm not too surprised by this. It seemed like he
14:19
Speaker 1: kind of left the door open for a little bit
14:21
Speaker 1: more too.
14:21
Speaker 2: Kevin Gorman from The Trip asked him, you know, like,
14:24
Speaker 2: if you get into the championship game and they need
14:26
Speaker 2: one inning and you're there, like.
14:28
Speaker 1: Do you think you get it?
14:29
Speaker 2: And he's like he just like gave him a wink
14:31
Speaker 2: and a spile and said, yeah right.
14:35
Speaker 1: Which I don't know how that would work.
14:37
Speaker 2: I don't think, Like I think, if you're making these
14:40
Speaker 2: predetermined agreements with teams, that's kind of set in stone.
14:44
Speaker 2: But yeah, I would also think that maybe if it's
14:46
Speaker 2: one inning, like if you get to that championship game,
14:49
Speaker 2: maybe there would be a conversation like, hey, if it
14:52
Speaker 2: happens the lineup and everything, yeah.
14:59
Speaker 5: Really worth it, depending on you know, it all depends
15:03
Speaker 5: on the timing and everything. And I mean they say
15:05
Speaker 5: the one in and win. Is that one in?
15:07
Speaker 4: Do they want him to start or you know, coming
15:10
Speaker 4: out the Penn that's not beneficial for you want it
15:13
Speaker 4: to be as similar to his you know, to a
15:17
Speaker 4: start date. But at the same time, you know it's
15:19
Speaker 4: the WBC, you want to win USA. But at the
15:22
Speaker 4: same time, Pittsburgh pirate fins are more worried about that
15:27
Speaker 4: six opening day in that season. So like, while it
15:30
Speaker 4: would be exciting to say, yes, he might suit up,
15:33
Speaker 4: if it doesn't pan out, you know, the main goal is, hey,
15:36
Speaker 4: go take those two stars for Team USA, do what
15:38
Speaker 4: you do, and get ready to look forward to seeming
15:41
Speaker 4: in black and yellow. But it'll be interesting to see
15:44
Speaker 4: how it shapes out.
15:46
Speaker 2: My other thing is, I mean, Josh, I think, were
15:48
Speaker 2: you on the team with on your World Baseball Classic team? Okay,
15:53
Speaker 2: but I know he played on it before I believe,
15:55
Speaker 2: or maybe he didn't. But the point I'm trying to
15:58
Speaker 2: make is if this was like a Sureser or a
16:01
Speaker 2: Kershaw or like someone who's been around the game for
16:05
Speaker 2: a long time, been a part of the same org
16:08
Speaker 2: for a long time, and like you're paying him a
16:10
Speaker 2: lot of money, Like I feel like you have a
16:12
Speaker 2: little bit more demand where Paul. I mean, Paul has
16:15
Speaker 2: a ton of demand obviously in Pittsburgh, Like every time
16:18
Speaker 2: he speaks, everyone listens.
16:20
Speaker 1: But like it's like this is the Pirates.
16:22
Speaker 2: And this is Paul Skin's Like this is their hope, diamond,
16:25
Speaker 2: this is their baby, like.
16:27
Speaker 4: You can't yet.
16:29
Speaker 2: And they are going to be very protective as they
16:31
Speaker 2: should be. Like now, if Paul has shown the ability
16:35
Speaker 2: to do this for a decade in the major leagues
16:38
Speaker 2: and he knows his body like a Max Scherzer, a
16:41
Speaker 2: Clayton Kershaw would have like five ten years ago, they
16:44
Speaker 2: could say, like you know what, no, like, hey, I
16:46
Speaker 2: can handle this.
16:47
Speaker 1: I'll be okay.
16:49
Speaker 2: And I think that probably gives you a little bit
16:52
Speaker 2: better odds to get that extra start in the World
16:56
Speaker 2: Baseball Classic or at least maybe a relief appearance.
16:59
Speaker 1: But the fact that the guy.
17:00
Speaker 2: Still just two years into the majors and the'act that
17:03
Speaker 2: he plays for franchise that if it does not go well,
17:06
Speaker 2: if this forget like the worst case scenario, even if
17:09
Speaker 2: it just screws up his build up, if it throws
17:11
Speaker 2: off his calendar, that makes things so much more difficult
17:16
Speaker 2: in the Pittsburgh Pirates, and they're just not in a
17:19
Speaker 2: place where they can risk that, So no margin for
17:21
Speaker 2: It'll be interesting to.
17:22
Speaker 4: See though, But I mean we all can sit here
17:25
Speaker 4: and even here in Aja speak on it. I think
17:28
Speaker 4: he'd be fine. You know, he's a guy that takes
17:31
Speaker 4: his craft serious. But you know it's also the thing
17:34
Speaker 4: of ay, we talked, Hey, they're gonna protect the asset.
17:37
Speaker 4: You know, we've told you two starts now three. You're
17:39
Speaker 4: pushing it. You're lucky we don't take.
17:41
Speaker 5: It down to one. Yeah, yeah, you got.
17:45
Speaker 1: To wear the red, white and blue. You know you're there.
17:49
Speaker 1: We're done.
17:50
Speaker 2: The other thing I wanted to bring up with Schemes
17:52
Speaker 2: before we wrap up this show is, uh, having covered
17:56
Speaker 2: Paul like the last two his whole big league career,
18:00
Speaker 2: it's relatively obvious to notice, like he is a very
18:04
Speaker 2: big fish in a small pond, right, Like Pittsburgh is
18:07
Speaker 2: a small city in general, and like when you're a
18:10
Speaker 2: sports star here, like you are an icon in a
18:13
Speaker 2: lot of ways. And while you know, there were names
18:16
Speaker 2: obviously in that clubhouse, like obviously Andrew McCutchen, a huge
18:19
Speaker 2: name in the Pirates organization, played with them the last
18:22
Speaker 2: two years. I mean, Brian Reynolds was an All Star
18:25
Speaker 2: in twenty twenty four. He's had some other guys as well,
18:27
Speaker 2: David Badnar, All Star reliever. There's never been anyone who's
18:32
Speaker 2: come close to experiencing that level of attention while Paul
18:37
Speaker 2: was here. Kutch obviously had that attention.
18:42
Speaker 5: Well no, no, no, but like.
18:45
Speaker 4: During Paul's time, like, yeah, oh I was, because I
18:49
Speaker 4: was gonna say, would have been the closest that I
18:50
Speaker 4: would have.
18:51
Speaker 2: Well know that, And that's that's what I wanted to
18:53
Speaker 2: ask you about Josh is like Cutch absolutely was the
18:57
Speaker 2: closest to that during his prime, right. I was more
19:02
Speaker 2: saying that, like when in that twenty four and twenty
19:05
Speaker 2: five clubhouse, like everyone has already interviewed in for McCutcheon,
19:09
Speaker 2: and while we know we're going to need to interview
19:11
Speaker 2: him again, it's like this is shiny, this is new,
19:15
Speaker 2: and everyone wants to read about him. And so like
19:18
Speaker 2: you know, reporters wrote tractors, did this guy like the
19:21
Speaker 2: moss to life? When you have something new that's also
19:26
Speaker 2: like that, how much easier does that make your life?
19:29
Speaker 1: And that's like with Connor Griffin.
19:31
Speaker 2: Connor Griffin is the shiny new toy in the Pirates
19:33
Speaker 2: clubhouse right now. Like I go down to Bradenton on
19:36
Speaker 2: Sunday and my editors are going to be asking me
19:39
Speaker 2: to write about him every day when I'm down there,
19:41
Speaker 2: just as the editors at the Trip are going to
19:44
Speaker 2: be doing, just as the editors at every other outlet
19:46
Speaker 2: are going to be doing. He's the story here because
19:48
Speaker 2: we've already written about Paul a million times and Paul
19:52
Speaker 2: Skin's a spring training, isn't that, Like he's it's down
19:55
Speaker 2: to a science, Like his interest in spring training is
19:58
Speaker 2: the World Baseball Classic, So Jo I wanted to ask you.
20:01
Speaker 2: You were around for Cutches prime, and honestly, you might
20:06
Speaker 2: have been like the second biggest star sometimes in.
20:09
Speaker 1: That clubhouse it was yous Russ, it was aj.
20:13
Speaker 2: Do you think that, like, you know, your your rise
20:16
Speaker 2: to becoming an All Star and the attention that you
20:19
Speaker 2: garnered in twenty or twenty fourteen, do you think that
20:22
Speaker 2: made life for Cutch a little.
20:23
Speaker 1: Bit easier because it took some attention away from him.
20:28
Speaker 4: Yeah, it made it easier for me too, you know,
20:31
Speaker 4: having somebody that had gone through it. And obviously I
20:34
Speaker 4: wasn't on the same level as Cuch was, but you know,
20:39
Speaker 4: I think that year going to the All Star Game
20:40
Speaker 4: was met him and Tony Watson, but you know, being
20:43
Speaker 4: able to have you know a few people on the
20:47
Speaker 4: team that you know, I'm just thinking times that we
20:49
Speaker 4: were in Saint Louis where we used to stay directly
20:51
Speaker 4: across the street. You know, we used to try to
20:54
Speaker 4: take a cart across or you know, find ways to
20:57
Speaker 4: you know, because the fans would be waiting right in between.
20:59
Speaker 4: And you know, when you were rookie, ain't when I
21:02
Speaker 4: was wearning sixty two. Ain't nobody asking for Josh Heberson,
21:05
Speaker 4: you know, autograph at number sixty two, or you know
21:08
Speaker 4: when boy Jordie Mercer came up. But like once we
21:11
Speaker 4: were up for four or five years, you know, Couch
21:14
Speaker 4: was like, I'm not walking across the street alone. You know,
21:17
Speaker 4: it was like, well, I mean, I guess you know,
21:20
Speaker 4: I'm gonna walk with you. We made it the whole
21:21
Speaker 4: team thing. But it was a thing where like, man,
21:25
Speaker 4: it wasn't just Cutch, you know, be Me, be Pedro,
21:28
Speaker 4: be Neil, but I mean it was really Cuch. We
21:31
Speaker 4: was walking with Cutch because it was like if it
21:33
Speaker 4: was five people that wanted us, we knew one hundred
21:35
Speaker 4: wanted him. So we was gonna fall through the cracks.
21:38
Speaker 3: You know.
21:39
Speaker 5: We kind of used Cutch as a disguise when realistically.
21:43
Speaker 4: We kind of you know, we would see sometimes get
21:46
Speaker 4: pulled left right, Hey we signed here, we signed there,
21:48
Speaker 4: take a picture, and it's like, oh, man, the little
21:51
Speaker 4: five to ten people we thought it was, it was
21:55
Speaker 4: on a bigger spectrum. And to see how he handled
21:59
Speaker 4: it was amazing. And to see how Paul is handling,
22:03
Speaker 4: especially in the city like Pittsburgh that is so prideful
22:07
Speaker 4: with their athletes, especially you know, guys that are are
22:10
Speaker 4: on that tier. You mentioned it being a small city,
22:15
Speaker 4: Like it's cool for those guys to get that national
22:18
Speaker 4: recognition to come back to Pittsburgh because you know, Pittsburgh
22:22
Speaker 4: is gonna be what it is. But to go go
22:24
Speaker 4: around to different cities and see the same love for
22:27
Speaker 4: those guys, Oh, it definitely helped made it easier.
22:30
Speaker 5: And I know it made it easier on them too.
22:32
Speaker 2: What was it like when you know, in fourteen, when
22:36
Speaker 2: it wasn't just four or five guys coming up to
22:38
Speaker 2: you for autographs anymore, where they're yelling Cutch and hey
22:41
Speaker 2: j two. You know, like, what was it like the
22:45
Speaker 2: how was it like handling that extra attention?
22:49
Speaker 4: Honestly, I learned a lot from Cutch when to handle
22:53
Speaker 4: it and when to kind of focus on your business
22:57
Speaker 4: because sometimes, you know, you want to sign for people,
23:00
Speaker 4: is sometimes that you just physically can't. And there are
23:03
Speaker 4: a lot of times that I called him in moments
23:04
Speaker 4: where you know, spring training purposes where oh, you know what, Hey,
23:07
Speaker 4: I'm gonna get you when I come out. You know,
23:09
Speaker 4: he might tell a kid, Hey, I can't do it.
23:11
Speaker 4: I'm running on the line. But when I come out
23:13
Speaker 4: in the fifth in and meet me down here, I'll
23:15
Speaker 4: give you my bat, you know, and like I would
23:17
Speaker 4: see him hold, you know, be a man of his worthy.
23:19
Speaker 4: Now he might only walk down there and interact with
23:21
Speaker 4: that one kid, you know, because it was gonna be
23:23
Speaker 4: a million other people, but then he might oh, you
23:26
Speaker 4: get my bat and gloves, and just to see how
23:30
Speaker 4: that was, Like, Okay, you can't please everybody, because you know,
23:32
Speaker 4: when you're in that situation, you're like, man, I don't
23:35
Speaker 4: want to say no. I don't want nobody to be like, oh,
23:37
Speaker 4: he's a rude person. But at the same time, you
23:40
Speaker 4: can't please everybody. And watching him go, you know, I'm
23:43
Speaker 4: gonna take care of some kids for sure, you know,
23:44
Speaker 4: and if I get to some adults, you know, it's cool,
23:47
Speaker 4: but you know, just can't please everybody. To me, I
23:49
Speaker 4: was like, oh, I can do my little five to
23:51
Speaker 4: see and I know I'm gonna be done before he is.
23:54
Speaker 5: And then you know, when he's all right, bro, let's
23:55
Speaker 5: go ahead. All right, y'all, we gotta go.
23:57
Speaker 4: So it's kind of a thing where he was like,
23:59
Speaker 4: I'll sign when you when you're gone, I'm gone, and
24:01
Speaker 4: it was kind of one of those things where you know,
24:03
Speaker 4: you don't want to be the one guy that ain't signing.
24:05
Speaker 4: So we kind of made it a package where we
24:07
Speaker 4: would always group of us walk together, we all signed together,
24:09
Speaker 4: we all leave together. And that's what we did as
24:11
Speaker 4: a team.
24:13
Speaker 1: That's a good strategy.
24:14
Speaker 4: I mean what I mean made it easy on the team.
24:18
Speaker 4: No fans could be like this guy did that. It's like,
24:21
Speaker 4: as a team, we made a rule. And you know,
24:25
Speaker 4: just like when we were signed, when we wouldn't sign,
24:27
Speaker 4: just that way, like oh we're going to the bus
24:29
Speaker 4: if one person signed, everybody signs and then it's gonna
24:32
Speaker 4: make the bus laid. So you know, just kind of
24:34
Speaker 4: those things where it's like, hey, if we do it
24:37
Speaker 4: as a team, they can't make it. Seemed like one
24:39
Speaker 4: person was you know, like the bad apple with the bunch.
24:42
Speaker 4: You know, we was a team and it made it
24:45
Speaker 4: easy for him, made it easy for us.
24:47
Speaker 2: One last question, what was the craziest excuse you've ever
24:51
Speaker 2: made up not to sign?
24:55
Speaker 5: Oh? Crazy excuse I've made up.
25:01
Speaker 4: Honestly, I don't know what the excuse was, but I
25:07
Speaker 4: have to and not really an excuse. Somebody asked me to, like,
25:11
Speaker 4: you know, sometimes we do like those fan meet and
25:12
Speaker 4: greets and stuff on the like yeah along the field,
25:16
Speaker 4: and sometimes somebody would like want you to sign a baby,
25:20
Speaker 4: and like like no, no, I mean people ask some
25:25
Speaker 4: like you know, each his own. But I'm like, you know,
25:28
Speaker 4: babies are some of the most like fragile things to
25:31
Speaker 4: where like the smallest thing can make them sick. I'm like, man,
25:35
Speaker 4: I'm not trying to I said, I'm not trying to
25:37
Speaker 4: have you suit me for giving your baby like leve
25:39
Speaker 4: Put or Mark, you know what I mean, like not
25:41
Speaker 4: being punny, but I don't want to sign.
25:43
Speaker 5: And they be like, man, Josh Harrison signed that baby.
25:45
Speaker 4: On the stomach of the forehead, and now the baby's
25:48
Speaker 4: got you know, like sick. Like I wasn't gonna be
25:50
Speaker 4: that one, so I would anytime they asked me. And
25:53
Speaker 4: I got asked to sign a couple of babies and
25:54
Speaker 4: I was like, you know what, I'll take a picture.
25:57
Speaker 4: I can hold your kid. But at the same time,
25:59
Speaker 4: you know, we made a lot of people. I wasn't
26:01
Speaker 4: trying to pass germs from people, but yeah, I'm you're
26:03
Speaker 4: not about to sue me.
26:06
Speaker 3: That's such a relatable experience. You know, know and I
26:09
Speaker 3: we've been asked to sign babies too, you know, dude that.
26:13
Speaker 2: I'm I'm so glad I asked that follow up question
26:17
Speaker 2: that one of the best answers you've ever given me, Josh,
26:20
Speaker 2: and having covered you and now doing a podcast with you,
26:23
Speaker 2: that is.
26:25
Speaker 1: I felt signing baby.
26:29
Speaker 3: One thing. I won't sign babies.
26:31
Speaker 1: Yes, babies, I agree. That's also kind of like that's
26:34
Speaker 1: a person.
26:39
Speaker 4: Byby don't even know who I am, grow up being
26:43
Speaker 4: a Red fan.
26:45
Speaker 5: You grew up with jas signature on you. I don't remember.
26:50
Speaker 3: It's too funny.
26:52
Speaker 2: All right, guys, before we wrap up, any final thoughts,
26:57
Speaker 2: go ahead, Josh, I was.
26:59
Speaker 4: Just gonna say, Spring still an action. Nice to see
27:01
Speaker 4: the boys out there, you know, swinging it, pitching it,
27:06
Speaker 4: and we'll see if my prediction of Grapefruit League champs uh,
27:11
Speaker 4: you know, I like, I like my adds there. I'm
27:13
Speaker 4: not one to really speak on it, but you know,
27:16
Speaker 4: any little bit of success that the guys are.
27:17
Speaker 5: Having to Spring, it's always good to see.
27:19
Speaker 4: We know it doesn't count, but you know, when you
27:22
Speaker 4: working towards the season, it's nice to see guys swinging
27:24
Speaker 4: the guys making plays, guys playing hard. And I saw
27:27
Speaker 4: the play of I'm sorry, I remember I forget the
27:30
Speaker 4: guy's name, but you know in Clearwater playing yea. Yeah,
27:36
Speaker 4: just just just seeing guys like that man, just you know,
27:39
Speaker 4: not taking anything for granted, you know, rooting for the
27:41
Speaker 4: Fellas and hey, keep swinging the Fellas, keep pitching it.
27:46
Speaker 3: Yeah, and I'll just end on. Nice to see all
27:48
Speaker 3: these young guys making impact, from counter Griffin to just everyone.
27:54
Speaker 3: And so the the buckle fever is real and I'm
27:58
Speaker 3: getting excited love seeing the national attention. That passing tweet
28:03
Speaker 3: just sent me to the moon. So that that's awesome.
28:07
Speaker 3: We have one of the top reporters in the sport
28:10
Speaker 3: is calling a pirate a superstar and it's not Paul Skins.
28:14
Speaker 3: That's awesome. So exciting times.
28:18
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm gonna use this opportunity to take a stand here.
28:21
Speaker 2: I will also not be signing any babies joining Josh
28:26
Speaker 2: Harrison on that.
28:27
Speaker 3: So don't tune in next week to find yeah, yes, yeah, subscribe, I.
28:34
Speaker 4: Will say ye, yeah, I was gonna say finish subscribe
28:37
Speaker 4: and I want to say something after that.
28:39
Speaker 1: Okay, so hang on, we got to do the subscribe thing.
28:42
Speaker 3: We got it.
28:45
Speaker 1: We're on a mission to three thousand subs.
28:47
Speaker 2: We can't get there without you. We're growing every day
28:49
Speaker 2: and we appreciate your support. When I encourage everybody also
28:53
Speaker 2: to hit up the Pirate or the Bucco Territory team
28:56
Speaker 2: store where we got all of our merch there. Unfortunately
29:02
Speaker 2: no sharpies for babies to be signed.
29:06
Speaker 1: We can work on that.
29:07
Speaker 2: We just had our monthly check in, so put that
29:11
Speaker 2: in the in the notepad there.
29:13
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's getting sent to the slack ray after this.
29:15
Speaker 1: Yeah, bring that up to Old Scott. All right. What's
29:19
Speaker 1: your final thought, Josh?
29:21
Speaker 4: And just the final thing was I think on Monday
29:25
Speaker 4: we didn't get a chance to highlight Massah. Yeah, it
29:29
Speaker 4: was something that kind of slipped through the cracks just
29:31
Speaker 4: with everything going on. I just wanted to, you know,
29:33
Speaker 4: take a second. You know, he was a Pirate's legend,
29:36
Speaker 4: you know, Sindh heartfelt condolences to the family, and that
29:39
Speaker 4: was something that I just wanted to say before we
29:41
Speaker 4: got off this broadcast.
29:43
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm glad you remember that. I spent all Saturday
29:47
Speaker 2: talking to Josh. I'm sure you're aware of this group.
29:50
Speaker 2: Every year there's a group of people who gather at
29:53
Speaker 2: the old Forbes Field site and listen to the Game
29:56
Speaker 2: seven on the radio. Yeah, so I talked all of
29:59
Speaker 2: them a story about it and spent some time there
30:03
Speaker 2: in Oakland where the Wall is on the day that
30:06
Speaker 2: Mas passed, and very sad, but I mean, what an
30:09
Speaker 2: incredible life to have lived. Made a lot of people
30:12
Speaker 2: very very happy. Yes, so, And you know, like covering
30:16
Speaker 2: this team being around.
30:18
Speaker 1: You hear who's a good guy? You hear who's maybe
30:20
Speaker 1: not the best guy, And he was one of the
30:23
Speaker 1: good ones. I've never heard about it.
30:25
Speaker 4: I got, I got memories of pulling in them with
30:27
Speaker 4: Cachnic spring training. He's out there smoking cigar, you know.
30:32
Speaker 5: So like him. I think it's spanky. A couple guys,
30:34
Speaker 5: so like you know, Mas will be around.
30:36
Speaker 4: But that was just something that it slipped through the
30:39
Speaker 4: cracks last episode, and I wanted to make sure that
30:41
Speaker 4: we highlighted.
30:42
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a great call.
30:44
Speaker 2: Well, that will do it for another episode of Bucco Territory.
30:48
Speaker 2: We thank you all for tuning in. Be sure to
30:50
Speaker 2: tune in next time for this show, which is presented
30:52
Speaker 2: to you by the File towards the Territory Network.
31:00
Speaker 5: Then they took the demand.
31:01
Speaker 4: Little Japan