Latest / Bucco Territory: A Pittsburgh Pirates Podcast / Nicolas traded, Cutch signs with Texas
Transcript
- 0:09Speaker 1: What's up, everybody. Welcome back to another episode of Bucko Territory,
- 0:12Speaker 1: presented to you by the Foul Territory Network. My name
- 0:14Speaker 1: is Doah Hiles, and joining me as always are my
- 0:16Speaker 1: co host Josh Harrison and Platinum Key aka Mark. We
- 0:21Speaker 1: got a loaded show today. Pirates made a trade late
- 0:25Speaker 1: Wednesday evening. We're gonna get into that first, have some
- 0:28Speaker 1: World Baseball Classic talk as always, and the debut of
- 0:32Speaker 1: a new segment Jay Hanow where Josh Harrison gives a
- 0:36Speaker 1: shout out to something he likes her maybe doesn't like
- 0:39Speaker 1: going on with the Buckos throughout the week. And yeah,
- 0:43Speaker 1: so guys, a lot to get into. Let's start off
- 0:45Speaker 1: with the news that interrupted my lovely Italian dinner last night,
- 0:49Speaker 1: and that is a trade. The Pirates traded Kyle Nicholas
- 0:52Speaker 1: to the Cincinnati Reds for utility man Tyler Callahan. Callahan
- 0:57Speaker 1: and twenty five year old He made his MLB debut
- 1:00Speaker 1: last year, only played four games, had a very gruesome injury.
- 1:03Speaker 1: Mark wanted to play the highlight on that show and
- 1:05Speaker 1: Josh and I both yelled at him and said that's
- 1:07Speaker 1: a bad idea. But this is a guy who this
- 1:11Speaker 1: is a guy who could play left field, he could
- 1:13Speaker 1: play second base, he could play third base. Hits from
- 1:15Speaker 1: the left side of the plate probably a more hit
- 1:18Speaker 1: for average guy than a power bat, but someone who
- 1:21Speaker 1: can do a lot of things the Pirates are probably
- 1:23Speaker 1: looking for. Josh, you had a chance to work with
- 1:26Speaker 1: this guy in spring training back when you were helping
- 1:30Speaker 1: out the Reds a little bit, or when you were
- 1:31Speaker 1: playing for the Reds. I should say, what was your
- 1:35Speaker 1: experience like when you interacted with this guy in the
- 1:37Speaker 1: ball field.
- 1:39Speaker 2: Well, I had attempted to help the Reds. They could
- 1:43Speaker 2: have used my services, but they declined their loss. But no,
- 1:48Speaker 2: I was actually a spring training with the Reds and
- 1:50Speaker 2: I got the meat Tyler. We were actually taking ground
- 1:52Speaker 2: balls to get that second base and he was a
- 1:56Speaker 2: fairly younger kid that you know. One my brother was
- 1:59Speaker 2: coaching in the Reds organization, so there was a little
- 2:01Speaker 2: bit of familiarity when I met him that my brother
- 2:03Speaker 2: was like, Oh, yeah, man, you know, he's a guy
- 2:06Speaker 2: that's kind of bounced around and he's picking my brain
- 2:08Speaker 2: because to my knowledge, I think, as you mentioned, he's
- 2:11Speaker 2: a utility guy. So being a younger guy, I think
- 2:14Speaker 2: he was kind of thrown into a role that they
- 2:17Speaker 2: wanted him to say that your best chance of you know,
- 2:19Speaker 2: making your debut is going to be able to play
- 2:22Speaker 2: multiple positions. I think I saw him play second, third, first,
- 2:27Speaker 2: maybe a little bit of outfield too so and outfield
- 2:31Speaker 2: is where he got hurt. And I mean he was
- 2:33Speaker 2: a young athletic kid that I think was just trying
- 2:35Speaker 2: to find any way that he can help a team.
- 2:37Speaker 2: And you know, here's a situation where you know, might
- 2:41Speaker 2: not have worked out for the Reds, but he got
- 2:42Speaker 2: traded to the Pirates. And we mentioned it all the time.
- 2:45Speaker 2: Depth is something that you need. And I don't really
- 2:47Speaker 2: know where he fits as far as the plans of
- 2:49Speaker 2: you know, spring training. Who knows, but I don't think
- 2:52Speaker 2: they're going to trade for him and not at least
- 2:54Speaker 2: give him a look. But you know, knowing that he
- 2:56Speaker 2: can play multiple positions and that he's coming back from
- 2:59Speaker 2: a D think is something that you know, it might
- 3:01Speaker 2: be a fresh start for that.
- 3:05Speaker 3: Yeah, I think this is kind of a extra, like
- 3:09Speaker 3: a Manual vald As type of player on the roster.
- 3:12Speaker 3: I don't think this is going to be a guy
- 3:14Speaker 3: who's fighting for the opening gay roster, but in case
- 3:18Speaker 3: of injury on someone to the infield, or if you
- 3:20Speaker 3: need a little bit more outfield depth that things really
- 3:22Speaker 3: go hey while you're there. It's a nice option to have.
- 3:25Speaker 3: He was the nineteenth ranked prospect for the Reds and
- 3:29Speaker 3: MLB pipelines top thirty. He probably won't even crack the
- 3:33Speaker 3: Pirates top thirty. But at the same time, like a
- 3:37Speaker 3: lot of bullpen depth, it's tough to see Kyle Nicholas go.
- 3:41Speaker 3: He's got a lot of excellent stuff, but the command
- 3:44Speaker 3: was just always an issue. So you know, maybe he
- 3:47Speaker 3: figures it out with Oscar Marine as the bullpen coach
- 3:51Speaker 3: now for the Reds. Uh So rooting for Kyle there,
- 3:54Speaker 3: but yeah, we'll see what Callahan brings.
- 3:58Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it it's I mean, I think if
- 4:02Speaker 1: I were to say who has the higher upside, it's
- 4:04Speaker 1: probably Kyle. But trading depth for need here and they
- 4:09Speaker 1: need just more infield depth here. They need guys who
- 4:13Speaker 1: are big league worthy players to be in Triple A
- 4:17Speaker 1: at the start of the season in case someone goes
- 4:19Speaker 1: down and they don't have a tremendous dip like we
- 4:22Speaker 1: saw last year when they had injuries in April. So
- 4:25Speaker 1: I think we covered that we'll move on now to
- 4:27Speaker 1: the World Baseball Classic segment of the show. So on
- 4:31Speaker 1: Thursday morning, I had a column run about the World
- 4:34Speaker 1: Baseball Classic. And I don't like to talk about my
- 4:37Speaker 1: work all the time on this show, but I wanted
- 4:39Speaker 1: to get you guys to weigh in on my opinion.
- 4:42Speaker 2: Here.
- 4:43Speaker 1: I wrote about how the World Baseball Classic it's a
- 4:45Speaker 1: big deal right now, people are interested, but it can
- 4:47Speaker 1: be an even bigger deal, and I think MLB has
- 4:51Speaker 1: the opportunity to do that. My argument was, first things first,
- 4:56Speaker 1: March already belongs to one tournament, right like, that's just
- 5:01Speaker 1: the reality of it. We have March Madness here, we
- 5:04Speaker 1: have the women's tournament, which is gaining in popularity every
- 5:06Speaker 1: single year, and even the wrestling tournament is pretty big
- 5:10Speaker 1: in certain parts of the country, So you're competing against
- 5:13Speaker 1: that even though the World Baseball Classic ends this year
- 5:16Speaker 1: before March Madness begins the first round of the men's tournament.
- 5:20Speaker 1: And in addition to that, yes, you're getting a lot
- 5:23Speaker 1: of great players playing in this, but it's a preseason
- 5:26Speaker 1: tournament and no one's at mid season four So my
- 5:30Speaker 1: argument was that once every four years, when this event
- 5:33Speaker 1: comes MLB should take a page out of the NHL
- 5:37Speaker 1: playbook and shut down play for two weeks mid season
- 5:41Speaker 1: and make this the All Star Game. Make the World
- 5:43Speaker 1: Baseball Classic your All Star Game. You don't have to
- 5:46Speaker 1: do it every year, but for two weeks every four years,
- 5:49Speaker 1: you essentially make this your World Cup. What was it
- 5:53Speaker 1: called the face off? The Four Nations face off is
- 5:56Speaker 1: what THEO called it. And there is an appetite for this,
- 6:02Speaker 1: I think. I mean, you look at how invested fans
- 6:05Speaker 1: are in Japan and how big of an investment Dominican
- 6:09Speaker 1: Republic fans have made. I mean you just look at
- 6:11Speaker 1: the atmosphere obviously in the Championship game last year, as
- 6:15Speaker 1: we're watching Hero Tawny strike out trout or not last
- 6:18Speaker 1: year the last World Baseball Classic tack kay, I mean yeah,
- 6:21Speaker 1: I mean the crowd, the atmosphere was incredible. You can
- 6:24Speaker 1: make this even bigger when guys are in mid season form,
- 6:27Speaker 1: and it can also be a showcase for the game. Right,
- 6:31Speaker 1: the All Star Game is supposed to be a showcase
- 6:33Speaker 1: of storylines for the first half of the regular season.
- 6:36Speaker 1: What if instead of one exhibition game for that you
- 6:40Speaker 1: had an entire two week tournament where pitchers are completely
- 6:45Speaker 1: stretched out and you can have bigger roster sizes to
- 6:49Speaker 1: make sure you have more arms and healthy bodies to
- 6:51Speaker 1: get as many people reps as possible.
- 6:53Speaker 3: And the attention of the sports world.
- 6:56Speaker 1: Right and all the attention of the world. Yeah, because
- 6:58Speaker 1: it's July and nothing else is going on. And the
- 7:02Speaker 1: final point that I think goes in my favor here
- 7:04Speaker 1: is there's an appetite for something like this already because
- 7:09Speaker 1: Rob Manfred has gone on record saying his desire for
- 7:12Speaker 1: MLB players to participate in the twenty twenty eight Summer
- 7:14Speaker 1: Olympic Games, which are in Los Angeles. So if you
- 7:18Speaker 1: can carve out a structure to make that work. It's
- 7:21Speaker 1: the same concept here in the World Baseball Classic, and
- 7:25Speaker 1: you have control over the location. In the World Baseball Classic,
- 7:28Speaker 1: MLB has a say in that, as opposed to the Olympics,
- 7:31Speaker 1: where it does not. So, guys, I want to obviously
- 7:34Speaker 1: start with Josh on this, just because you know, as
- 7:37Speaker 1: a gold medalist in this event, do you think it
- 7:39Speaker 1: would be better for the game to have a midseason
- 7:42Speaker 1: or as a former player, do you think, hey, just
- 7:44Speaker 1: keep it preseason, keep it to what it is. It
- 7:46Speaker 1: makes sense that way.
- 7:50Speaker 2: It all sounds good, but I gotta be honest, I
- 7:52Speaker 2: don't know if it's able to work through some of
- 7:57Speaker 2: the hurdles that I just am thinking of. For one,
- 8:01Speaker 2: like the preseason obviously guys aren't you know, stretched out.
- 8:05Speaker 2: But in the middle of the season, I think it
- 8:07Speaker 2: would be a dope concept because you really feel like
- 8:11Speaker 2: you're part of the Olympics. I mean, you just have
- 8:13Speaker 2: the Winter Olympics, you know, hockey team just one goal,
- 8:16Speaker 2: so you got that buzz going. But hockey has already
- 8:20Speaker 2: had it established. I think baseball is gonna be a
- 8:22Speaker 2: little tougher to do that because you'll start to have
- 8:26Speaker 2: teams and people questioning what guys are playing for. And
- 8:30Speaker 2: I think on top of that, I think there's gonna
- 8:34Speaker 2: be a lot of insurance issues as far as guys
- 8:38Speaker 2: can be like, man, what's the pay because guys have
- 8:40Speaker 2: incentives of oh, if you make the All Star team,
- 8:43Speaker 2: if you make this or or is now going to
- 8:46Speaker 2: be a contractual thing where if you get put on
- 8:48Speaker 2: the Classic team during these four years, is there and incentive?
- 8:53Speaker 2: And I'm just thinking of all things that you got guys,
- 8:56Speaker 2: as you say, fully stretched out, which means they're gonna
- 8:58Speaker 2: be fully stretched out more adrenaline, But how many more
- 9:02Speaker 2: injuries will you sit in the middle of summer because
- 9:03Speaker 2: somebody's trying to win go for the country that a
- 9:06Speaker 2: team is like, we didn't sign that guy to have
- 9:09Speaker 2: to pitch, you know, eighteen of his one hundred plus
- 9:13Speaker 2: innings in this So while it all sounds good on
- 9:17Speaker 2: the forefront, I just think there are a lot of
- 9:20Speaker 2: hurdles that if MLB is willing to do it, I mean,
- 9:23Speaker 2: it can be done, because I'm sure guys, I mean,
- 9:27Speaker 2: that's a once in a lifetime opportunity. You know, I've
- 9:30Speaker 2: been on the World Baseball Classic team and win to
- 9:32Speaker 2: go to something I'll always remember. But I think doing
- 9:35Speaker 2: it in the middle of season is going to be
- 9:37Speaker 2: a real big hurdle just given the demands of you know,
- 9:41Speaker 2: some guys don't pitch in the All Star Game due
- 9:43Speaker 2: to work low rye. So you know, it is a
- 9:45Speaker 2: guy going to say, oh, I'm a pitch in the Classic,
- 9:47Speaker 2: but if I pitch too much, then I'm not going
- 9:49Speaker 2: to be good for October, you know, And nobody's ever
- 9:52Speaker 2: going to say that, you know. But I think it's
- 9:55Speaker 2: just a something that I don't disagree with it bringing
- 10:00Speaker 2: the attention to you know, all the you know, more
- 10:03Speaker 2: fans because it's right in the middle summer, like how
- 10:05Speaker 2: the Olympics would be. I just think there are a
- 10:08Speaker 2: lot more hurdles that teams will be saying, no, you
- 10:11Speaker 2: can go get the guys that are in High A
- 10:14Speaker 2: and Double A to go play, But anybody that is
- 10:16Speaker 2: under contract, I just think it'd be a real big issue.
- 10:21Speaker 1: Mark is a fin Does this get you excited or
- 10:25Speaker 1: is do you like Let's take Paulseyans for example. Yeah,
- 10:29Speaker 1: all right, Let's say the Pirates are in the middle
- 10:31Speaker 1: of a Pennant race in mid July. Do you want
- 10:34Speaker 1: to see Paul Skiings making two five inning starts for
- 10:37Speaker 1: Team USA?
- 10:38Speaker 3: Yeah. I think you would start to get a little
- 10:41Speaker 3: bit more nervous in that scenario as a fan. I mean,
- 10:44Speaker 3: the timing sounds great if it's just like you take
- 10:47Speaker 3: all injuries out of it, of course, but yeah, I
- 10:50Speaker 3: mean that would be especially pitching multiple games. It's not
- 10:53Speaker 3: like the All Star Game where it's you're going out,
- 10:55Speaker 3: pitching in and you're done. This would be you know,
- 10:58Speaker 3: maybe four or five inning a couple times, and so
- 11:02Speaker 3: that's ten innings almost you could say that, you know,
- 11:04Speaker 3: like it's still happening this year, like he's still pitching
- 11:07Speaker 3: ten innings before the season. But the timing of it
- 11:10Speaker 3: does make me a little questionable. But I love your point.
- 11:13Speaker 3: Know that the pictures are stretched out where it feels
- 11:17Speaker 3: like that would at least negate some of the injury risk,
- 11:20Speaker 3: but the risk is always going to be there. And
- 11:23Speaker 3: really quick, I wanted to Josh you mentioned insurance. There's
- 11:28Speaker 3: a great video that podcasts doesn't exist. Just put out
- 11:32Speaker 3: the former like baseball doesn't exist, guy, and he digs
- 11:35Speaker 3: into all of these details as of how the insurance
- 11:39Speaker 3: process works behind the scenes. And so like MLB, the
- 11:43Speaker 3: way they set it up is they fully guarantee the
- 11:45Speaker 3: contract of any player participating in the World Baseball Classic.
- 11:50Speaker 3: For position player, that's two years fully guaranteed. For a
- 11:53Speaker 3: picture it's four years guaranteed if they get hurt. And
- 11:58Speaker 3: it's a little different than like the FIFA World Cup
- 12:01Speaker 3: where they ensure up to seven point five million euros,
- 12:04Speaker 3: so there's like a cap, so it's easier to get
- 12:07Speaker 3: guys insured. And so there's all these processes behind the
- 12:11Speaker 3: insurance aspect, but they really need to clean that up,
- 12:15Speaker 3: because basically, if they're gonna have contracts that are fully
- 12:18Speaker 3: guaranteed be insured, you're gonna see a lot of situations
- 12:22Speaker 3: like Puerto Rico where half their team can't get insurance,
- 12:25Speaker 3: or like Mike Trout, We're not gonna be able to
- 12:28Speaker 3: see Mike Trout because insurance denied him, and that takes
- 12:33Speaker 3: it out as a fan. So that's another thing that
- 12:35Speaker 3: they need to iron out and something they can talk
- 12:37Speaker 3: about in twenty twenty seven.
- 12:39Speaker 2: But yeah, maybe just that not to cut you off. No,
- 12:43Speaker 2: And I was gonna say, just to go to maybe
- 12:44Speaker 2: treated like travel ball where there's something in the spectacum,
- 12:47Speaker 2: you know, in the rules that say starting pitchers can
- 12:52Speaker 2: only throw this many pitches in xt amount of days.
- 12:54Speaker 2: I know it's trivial, but I mean remember travel ball
- 12:57Speaker 2: days where oh yeah, hey, you said in a Little
- 12:59Speaker 2: League World Series, you know what I mean.
- 13:06Speaker 1: I was gonna say, that's that's I think the approach
- 13:09Speaker 1: to take. Like, I don't think you have to change
- 13:11Speaker 1: how you would approach pitching as it is, in like
- 13:15Speaker 1: the same way they're going to have schemes in Schooble
- 13:17Speaker 1: and all these guys pitching this event in March. You
- 13:20Speaker 1: could do the same thing in mid July, and honestly,
- 13:22Speaker 1: I think that'd probably be better for them, right to
- 13:25Speaker 1: give you're giving them a lesser day. It's like, all right,
- 13:28Speaker 1: go throw your two or three innings and then go
- 13:30Speaker 1: finish the rest of your outing in the bullpen afterwards.
- 13:35Speaker 1: It wouldn't be as entertaining, right, Like we would all
- 13:37Speaker 1: want to see schemes in Schooble try to throw a
- 13:39Speaker 1: complete game against the Dominican Republic, But like, yeah, I
- 13:42Speaker 1: think there would have to be some good give and take.
- 13:44Speaker 1: And if you could schedule it to be where, you know,
- 13:47Speaker 1: because during the All Star break there are guys who
- 13:49Speaker 1: do they throw a live bullpen or they throw a
- 13:52Speaker 1: simulated bullpen, I should say, yeah, exactly. And if you
- 13:56Speaker 1: can keep guys on schedule without having them throw one
- 14:00Speaker 1: hundred pitches in a game, I think that actually would
- 14:02Speaker 1: be better. And I think there's more to gain here
- 14:06Speaker 1: than the Olympics. And the fact that Manfred is already
- 14:09Speaker 1: on record saying he's for the Olympics. It's like, well,
- 14:12Speaker 1: the Olympics. You guys don't make direct money from that,
- 14:16Speaker 1: like you are a partner of the world Baseball classics,
- 14:19Speaker 1: So like these, this is making MLB more money, and
- 14:24Speaker 1: I just think that there's if there's a will, there's
- 14:27Speaker 1: a way, and I think there should be a will
- 14:29Speaker 1: for this just once every four years. I think it
- 14:32Speaker 1: would make the game a lot better. And again, like
- 14:36Speaker 1: it's it's Major League Baseball has a say, and they
- 14:39Speaker 1: don't have the full say. But if you could make
- 14:42Speaker 1: this a two week tournament mid season, and if it
- 14:44Speaker 1: meant it all had to be in North America, it
- 14:47Speaker 1: would be a shame that games aren't played in Japan
- 14:49Speaker 1: or you know, in Asia. But at the same time,
- 14:52Speaker 1: I think even those nations could recognize the opportunity that
- 14:57Speaker 1: exists in having that in the middle of Major League
- 14:59Speaker 1: based ball season, and I think they would pause their
- 15:02Speaker 1: baseball season. The KBO would pause their season to do
- 15:04Speaker 1: this mid season, like it would be it'd be the
- 15:07Speaker 1: baseball equivalent of the World Cup, which was the whole
- 15:10Speaker 1: idea of this when it started in what two thousand
- 15:12Speaker 1: and six and eight. Yeah, so that's just my take
- 15:17Speaker 1: on it. You know, former player Josh Harrison hates my opinion,
- 15:22Speaker 1: but it's not a big deal, no big deal.
- 15:24Speaker 2: I don't totally dislike it. I just think it's gonna
- 15:26Speaker 2: be a tough hurdle. It would be cool though, but
- 15:29Speaker 2: we can see we don't know, he.
- 15:33Speaker 1: Said, Jay hay No, but I want to hear what
- 15:35Speaker 1: he has to say. Now, Jay, Now, our first debut
- 15:39Speaker 1: of the new segment here on Bucko Territory. Josh, I'll
- 15:42Speaker 1: throw it to you. What's your first? Jay? Now?
- 15:45Speaker 2: All right, j Hay Now, segment is where I get
- 15:48Speaker 2: to highlight something that I maybe like or dislike, and
- 15:53Speaker 2: for my first week, I am gonna kind of teeter
- 15:56Speaker 2: on both and not necessarily dislike. But first we'll start
- 16:01Speaker 2: with what I like on the heels of Don Kelly's
- 16:05Speaker 2: speech about you know, playing with grit, passion, playing hard.
- 16:09Speaker 2: Uh Hey. Now the positive is Mangum seeing the energy
- 16:14Speaker 2: that he's brought the first you know, a couple of
- 16:16Speaker 2: games that I've seen. Uh, he's created some you know
- 16:20Speaker 2: pressure on the base paths, he's putting the ball on
- 16:23Speaker 2: you know, bat on the ball, you know, playing that
- 16:26Speaker 2: that like grinder, gritty mentality. So I think that is
- 16:29Speaker 2: a thing that I really like to see because coming
- 16:32Speaker 2: out of spring, you want to be able to have
- 16:34Speaker 2: an identity and uh, you know everything that DK talked
- 16:36Speaker 2: about I've seen Jake, you know, exemplify a little bit this,
- 16:40Speaker 2: you know, first early on part and he's not the
- 16:42Speaker 2: only one, but that was the first one. And before
- 16:45Speaker 2: I get to my next one, is there anything that
- 16:47Speaker 2: you guys want to ask to that or y'all good
- 16:49Speaker 2: with that?
- 16:50Speaker 3: Jacob is such a ballplayer, so much fun to watch.
- 16:53Speaker 3: I mean, the like amount of clips of him just
- 16:56Speaker 3: sprinting with his helmet flying off and it's marked and
- 17:00Speaker 3: he's just trying to get to first base. Like he's
- 17:03Speaker 3: exactly what Pittsburgh fans love. Uh, just that max effort
- 17:08Speaker 3: all the time, gives you everything he has and then
- 17:10Speaker 3: some he's a fun guy to reofor. And yeah, he's
- 17:13Speaker 3: made a great impression on everyone I think this spring.
- 17:17Speaker 1: Yeah. I also I met his parents at spring training
- 17:19Speaker 1: the other day. They're a delightful couple. That's all I
- 17:22Speaker 1: have to bit. Yeah. Yeah, he's a funlayer. Yeah, it's
- 17:26Speaker 1: a fun ballplayer to watch. But like we've we've established that,
- 17:29Speaker 1: so shout out to the man.
- 17:29Speaker 3: Yeah, you won't find a nicer guy, all right, Josh.
- 17:35Speaker 2: But my second part of the hay now is uh,
- 17:38Speaker 2: I think I don't think I can go without the
- 17:40Speaker 2: show without highlight and uh my boycotch signing with the Rangers.
- 17:44Speaker 2: I think we all kind of saw, you know, the
- 17:46Speaker 2: ridings on the wall there you see is you know,
- 17:48Speaker 2: got the little horse in the background, got the cowboy hat,
- 17:52Speaker 2: you know, happy form, my boy excited. I know at
- 17:54Speaker 2: this point, man, he just want an opportunity and uh,
- 17:56Speaker 2: you know might not get that opportunity in Pittsburgh. But uh,
- 17:59Speaker 2: I think we all, as I said, we all saw
- 18:00Speaker 2: the writings on the wall somewhat when Ozuna was signed.
- 18:04Speaker 2: But you know that that was just the hay Now
- 18:05Speaker 2: that I wanted to highlight because you know, he was
- 18:08Speaker 2: such a vital part of you know, pirates organization, and
- 18:11Speaker 2: we even highlighted him a little bit. You know what
- 18:13Speaker 2: he returned? Would he not? I think we got well,
- 18:15Speaker 2: I don't think I know we got our answer. So
- 18:17Speaker 2: that was just my other part of my hate now
- 18:19Speaker 2: is you know, officially Cutch won't be back in the
- 18:22Speaker 2: Black and Yellow. You know, officially his error has come
- 18:25Speaker 2: to an end. But uh that's my dog, always wishing
- 18:28Speaker 2: them well, wishing him the best. But uh those are
- 18:30Speaker 2: my two hay Now seconds.
- 18:33Speaker 1: Mark, what was your reaction to the news this morning.
- 18:36Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean we all kind of knew it was coming.
- 18:39Speaker 3: There is a little part of me that was just
- 18:41Speaker 3: holding out hope that maybe the Pirates would offer him
- 18:44Speaker 3: a non roster invite spot and say, hey, if you
- 18:47Speaker 3: think you're good enough, come earmit and we'll give you
- 18:49Speaker 3: the opportunity and a fair shake. I get that would
- 18:53Speaker 3: be a little tough for the Pirates as far as
- 18:55Speaker 3: optics go. You don't want to be offering one of
- 18:58Speaker 3: your the legends of a guy who's and have his
- 19:00Speaker 3: jersey retired, probably a statue outside of PNC. You don't
- 19:04Speaker 3: want to give him a non roster invite like that.
- 19:07Speaker 3: So I get avoiding that, but it is tough to see.
- 19:10Speaker 3: You don't want to see touching anything besides black and
- 19:13Speaker 3: black and gold. So but I am happy for him,
- 19:16Speaker 3: going to be rooting for him. Would love to see
- 19:19Speaker 3: him actually catch on with the Rangers and have a
- 19:22Speaker 3: great season. I know he still has that in the tank,
- 19:25Speaker 3: and so I'd love to see that.
- 19:27Speaker 1: Yeah, I think my big takeaway is just it's unfortunate
- 19:31Speaker 1: that it ended this ugly, right, I mean, like it
- 19:36Speaker 1: I didn't anticipate Cutch being back, like I think if
- 19:41Speaker 1: you go back to like the earliest shows, I've kind
- 19:43Speaker 1: of been on that side just from the conversations I've had,
- 19:48Speaker 1: But yeah, I think it could have probably been approached
- 19:52Speaker 1: better on both parties, right, Like I think there, I
- 19:55Speaker 1: think if we could go back in time and show
- 19:58Speaker 1: everybody involved, like how this is going to play out,
- 20:01Speaker 1: different decisions would have been made on both parts. And
- 20:04Speaker 1: I think Cutch had every right to be upset with
- 20:07Speaker 1: how things went down. I think the Pirates also, I mean,
- 20:11Speaker 1: you could defend a lot of the reason, like some
- 20:13Speaker 1: of the actions, not a lot of the actions, but
- 20:15Speaker 1: I mean they got an All Star designated hitter in
- 20:17Speaker 1: free agency, and they signed Ozuna who had more home
- 20:21Speaker 1: runs last year at that same position, and they're trying
- 20:25Speaker 1: to win, and they're trying to do something different. So
- 20:29Speaker 1: I could see that side of it. I just wish
- 20:31Speaker 1: there was probably better, more clear communication throughout the whole process.
- 20:34Speaker 1: It probably would have made everything a little bit more
- 20:36Speaker 1: smooth and a little bit less messy in front of
- 20:40Speaker 1: the entire fan base.
- 20:41Speaker 3: So it's unfortunate, Yeah, there is communications going on.
- 20:47Speaker 1: Yeah, and you know what, it's unfortunate, but they had
- 20:51Speaker 1: at the end of the day. Andrew mccutchey wanted an
- 20:52Speaker 1: opportunity to continue playing major League baseball, and he has one. Now.
- 20:56Speaker 1: It's going to be an uphill battle probably if he's
- 20:58Speaker 1: just starting spring training right now, but he knows what
- 21:02Speaker 1: he's signing up for. He's been around this game since
- 21:04Speaker 1: I was before I could drive a car, So yeah,
- 21:07Speaker 1: he's ready for it, I'm sure, guys. Any final thoughts
- 21:10Speaker 1: before we wrap this one up.
- 21:13Speaker 3: Nothing for me, just excited, cheer for touch and we
- 21:17Speaker 3: get World Baseball Classic games here next week. I guess Friday, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
- 21:24Speaker 3: yeah yeah, Today yeah, today, I say, I'm gonna just
- 21:31Speaker 3: leave it with what Mark said.
- 21:32Speaker 2: I hit my Jay hay Now segment, So those was
- 21:34Speaker 2: kind of my finishing, you know words with what I
- 21:36Speaker 2: was leaving, and you know, looking forward to see, you know,
- 21:40Speaker 2: how spring finishes up, because I know I keep saying it,
- 21:43Speaker 2: but it's going to be over before we know it,
- 21:44Speaker 2: especially with the Classic already here. So looking to see
- 21:48Speaker 2: how these guys get ready for these last you know,
- 21:51Speaker 2: two to three weeks as they ramp up, because things
- 21:53Speaker 2: will get ramped up.
- 21:54Speaker 1: Oh yeah, My final words are I want you all
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