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🚨EMERGENCY POD🚨 Konnor Griffin Signs Extension through 2034 · Bucco Territory: A Pittsburgh Pirates Podcast

0:09
Speaker 1: What's up, everybody, and welcome back to another edition of
0:12
Speaker 1: Bucco Territories, presented to you by the Foul Territory Network.
0:15
Speaker 1: I'm Mark aka platinum Key. In joining me today is
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Speaker 1: Josh Harrison aka aka platinum Key. When am I saying
0:23
Speaker 1: this is why Noah does these things? Josh aka j Hey,
0:27
Speaker 1: And I'm a little jitterary today this morning because I'm
0:30
Speaker 1: pretty amped up. We got some huge, massive Pirates news
0:34
Speaker 1: this morning with Connor Griffin and signing the biggest Pirates
0:37
Speaker 1: steal in team history nine years, one hundred and forty million.
0:41
Speaker 1: He's going to be a Pirate through twenty thirty four. Josh,
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Speaker 1: what's your instant reaction to this?
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Speaker 2: First and foremost congrats to go in this family. And
0:54
Speaker 2: I mean, like I don't want to say bout time,
0:57
Speaker 2: but bout time for you know, getting this deal done
1:01
Speaker 2: with Connors. We just spoke on our episode of Eric
1:03
Speaker 2: this morning. You know time was ticking, but also about
1:08
Speaker 2: time for you know, the Pirates continuing to be in
1:11
Speaker 2: the you know news forefront for doing things you know
1:15
Speaker 2: a little differently. You know, not only this all seem
1:17
Speaker 2: but currently in season and just building on the momentum
1:21
Speaker 2: that they've kind of created this off season into the
1:23
Speaker 2: early part of the season, and don't want to say
1:26
Speaker 2: it was inevitable, but I knew that this was on
1:28
Speaker 2: the brink, and to wake up to it, you know,
1:30
Speaker 2: and and for it to be announced kind of first
1:32
Speaker 2: thing this morning, I think that's some good buzz that
1:36
Speaker 2: one has already been around the city and just one
1:40
Speaker 2: of those things that to know that, man, you got
1:43
Speaker 2: a piece that's going to be here for nine years,
1:44
Speaker 2: but not only nine years. They're they're they're focused on
1:49
Speaker 2: it now, so that that's that's exciting to see.
1:52
Speaker 3: Yeah, and just focusing on the now here. We'll poke
1:57
Speaker 3: pull up.
1:57
Speaker 1: Noah's currently at the press conference right now, so he's
2:01
Speaker 1: unable to join us, but he does have some details
2:04
Speaker 1: to share here with us. So we mentioned the nine year,
2:08
Speaker 1: one hundred and forty million, but there's also ten million
2:10
Speaker 1: in escalators. Connor's due to receive a twelve million dollars
2:14
Speaker 1: signing bonus, but that's going to be paid out over
2:17
Speaker 1: the next three years, with five million due in twenty
2:20
Speaker 1: twenty six this year, and then three point five million
2:22
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty seven and three point five million in
2:25
Speaker 1: twenty twenty eight. Also, as we mentioned on this morning's episode,
2:30
Speaker 1: the steal is going to take effect beginning this year,
2:34
Speaker 1: so that was a big push by both Connor and
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Speaker 1: his team and the Pirates as well to get this
2:40
Speaker 1: steal done before April fourteenth. So glad they got that done.
2:44
Speaker 1: And he remains PPI eligible because he's debuted, which is
2:49
Speaker 1: for anyone unfamiliar. That's the prospect promotion incentive where if
2:53
Speaker 1: he wins Rookie of the Year this year, or if
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Speaker 1: he finishes top three in MVP voting in the next
2:58
Speaker 1: three years, the Pirates will receive we've one first round
3:01
Speaker 1: pick compensatory first round pick at the end, but they
3:04
Speaker 1: only get one, so if he wins Rookie of the Year,
3:06
Speaker 1: forget about the MVP voting. But Pirates were really interested
3:09
Speaker 1: in that part of the reason why he's up here.
3:11
Speaker 1: But also, as we saw last night, he's already contributing
3:15
Speaker 1: to this team with he was he went two for four,
3:18
Speaker 1: I had two RBIs a run scored after O'Neil Cruz
3:21
Speaker 1: drove him in.
3:23
Speaker 3: He went first to home.
3:24
Speaker 1: So we saw a little glimpse of what Connor is
3:26
Speaker 1: going to be bringing to this club for the next
3:28
Speaker 1: nine years, And Josh, I want to get your thoughts
3:32
Speaker 1: on this. I was thinking one of my initial thoughts
3:36
Speaker 1: was I think Ben Charrington's job just got a lot
3:39
Speaker 1: easier in the upcoming offseason. Do you think free agents
3:44
Speaker 1: are gonna like change how they view the Pirates organization
3:47
Speaker 1: a little bit after this deal. I mean, it's the
3:49
Speaker 1: biggest deal in history, it's a superstar prospect. Are guys
3:55
Speaker 1: gonna be more willing to come to the Pirates or
3:57
Speaker 1: do you think there's still gonna be some apprehension and
3:59
Speaker 1: they're still going to.
4:00
Speaker 3: Have to overpay. As we were talked about all off season.
4:04
Speaker 2: I don't want to say that I have to overpay
4:06
Speaker 2: because I think one we talked about, you know, multiple times,
4:11
Speaker 2: is winning saws everything. So as we said, they're focused
4:15
Speaker 2: on the now and if they continue this you know
4:19
Speaker 2: trajectory that they're on, you know, they're they're going to
4:21
Speaker 2: be winning in the near future and that's always going
4:25
Speaker 2: to be appealing to free agents. And by then, you know,
4:28
Speaker 2: you're not looking at the overpay because by then, hopefully
4:32
Speaker 2: you've caught up to the market, because yes, you were
4:34
Speaker 2: able to extend Connor Griffin and that that speaks volumes
4:38
Speaker 2: about the direction that they're headed, but not only that. Yes,
4:43
Speaker 2: this offseason they were able to, you know, make some
4:45
Speaker 2: moves through trade, some free agency. It'll be interesting to
4:49
Speaker 2: see what they do going forward, because I don't think
4:52
Speaker 2: you take this momentum and as you say, I don't
4:54
Speaker 2: think it makes Ben sharing Toon's job any easier. I
4:57
Speaker 2: think it makes it harder at least, you know, you
5:00
Speaker 2: have to justify making these and I'm not saying the
5:05
Speaker 2: money wise, I mean like you can't do this, not
5:07
Speaker 2: in year extension.
5:08
Speaker 3: And there's there's less left. Yeah.
5:10
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know over the next nine years we're like, okay,
5:12
Speaker 2: well we extended counter uh, and not do anything to
5:17
Speaker 2: put the pieces around right, you know, to win. So
5:20
Speaker 2: when I say it got harder, just because you know,
5:23
Speaker 2: when you're going for something, it's always going to be hard.
5:27
Speaker 3: You know, it's not going to be easy, and pressure.
5:29
Speaker 2: Is pretty much hardy. You're starting from pretty much the bottom.
5:33
Speaker 2: So I think that makes your job harder. But at
5:35
Speaker 2: the same time, it can make it somewhat easier in
5:38
Speaker 2: ways once you start to build that momentum, because it's like, okay,
5:41
Speaker 2: this is a place that is starting to be a pill.
5:43
Speaker 2: Look at what they're doing, and uh, they've already kind
5:46
Speaker 2: of created that kind of wave and that mark this
5:49
Speaker 2: off season heading to you know now with this you know,
5:51
Speaker 2: extension of Connor. So it's a little bit of both,
5:55
Speaker 2: and I think that's just going to be depending on
5:57
Speaker 2: how the rest of this season plays out, because obviously,
6:00
Speaker 2: you know, we've spoken on the podcast about you know,
6:03
Speaker 2: the additions that they've made this offseason, how they're already
6:06
Speaker 2: making an impact and you know that's already been seen
6:09
Speaker 2: around baseball. So they continue to do what they're doing
6:13
Speaker 2: is gonna make Pittsburgh a pilling, which you know, it's
6:15
Speaker 2: one of those cities that should always be a piling
6:17
Speaker 2: because it's an amazing sports Now.
6:19
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, John Hayman this morning was just tweet out,
6:22
Speaker 1: is this the Year of the Pirates? So just that
6:25
Speaker 1: kind of national recognition already is starting to come to
6:28
Speaker 1: fruition and it's really cool to see. One other topic
6:32
Speaker 1: just kind of I wanted to bring up was how
6:34
Speaker 1: much I appreciate Connor Griffin off the field as well.
6:37
Speaker 1: He really seems like a genuinely good guy with a
6:41
Speaker 1: great role model for a lot of kids in the city,
6:43
Speaker 1: great head on his shoulders, seems like a great teammate.
6:46
Speaker 1: You can tell just the way guys are reacting to
6:48
Speaker 1: him in the clubhouse. It's not like, Oh, this superstar
6:51
Speaker 1: prospect that's just got his head full of helium just
6:54
Speaker 1: thinks he's like the man out there now.
6:56
Speaker 3: He's humble, he's down to.
6:58
Speaker 1: Earth, and I I just really like to see that.
7:01
Speaker 1: It seems like the culture of this team is going
7:04
Speaker 1: in a great direction now with him as one of
7:07
Speaker 1: the pillars of it alongside Paul Schemes. So really liking
7:11
Speaker 1: what the culture is. And I don't know if you've
7:13
Speaker 1: seen that at all, Josh, And you can speak at
7:15
Speaker 1: that better than I could with what vibes in the
7:17
Speaker 1: dugout mean to like a team's chances of winning. But
7:21
Speaker 1: have you seen like a cohesion that could continue to
7:24
Speaker 1: build for this team?
7:26
Speaker 2: Oh?
7:27
Speaker 3: Yeah, for sure.
7:28
Speaker 2: You know one anytime somebody new comes up, whether they've
7:31
Speaker 2: been in spring train or whether they haven't, they've been traded,
7:34
Speaker 2: it's always going to be you know, the thing of
7:37
Speaker 2: as you mentioned, cohesiveness, How does this person blend in,
7:40
Speaker 2: you know, with what they already have and how does
7:43
Speaker 2: this person add to it? If they do, and how
7:45
Speaker 2: do the guys rally around them? And yes, it's easy
7:49
Speaker 2: to automanics nineteen as you say, as a prospect, you know,
7:52
Speaker 2: he cares himself really well. So I think that also
7:54
Speaker 2: makes it easy for guys to root for him and
7:57
Speaker 2: allow them to you know, say, come on right, you know,
8:01
Speaker 2: jump aboard, like you come along with us. And that
8:05
Speaker 2: probably does a lot for him as a nineteen year old,
8:09
Speaker 2: you know, being two years ago, everybody in school with
8:12
Speaker 2: him is around his age to where now it's like, oh, yeah, man,
8:16
Speaker 2: you're still looked at as they're like, yeah, man, you
8:19
Speaker 2: are a young pup. But you know so so those
8:23
Speaker 2: moments for him is probably rewarding to know that, oh man,
8:27
Speaker 2: these guys have you know, welcomed me. So I think
8:30
Speaker 2: that speaks measures on not only the team and what
8:33
Speaker 2: they're trying to build, but just you know, the more
8:36
Speaker 2: that you can allow him to come up and be
8:38
Speaker 2: himself and help you'all win ball games, I think it
8:40
Speaker 2: helps them. And there's no rhyme or reason because you know,
8:44
Speaker 2: I've seen teams that are really good. They keep it
8:48
Speaker 2: together in the you know, dugout. And that's not to
8:51
Speaker 2: say that you know there isn't things that happen, you know,
8:54
Speaker 2: behind closed doors where people are holding each other accountable.
8:56
Speaker 2: Hey man, you didn't run that ball out or but
8:58
Speaker 2: you know they don't make get a blow up moment
9:01
Speaker 2: to where it's like, oh man, there's some trouble within
9:04
Speaker 2: you know those walls where you know you want to
9:08
Speaker 2: be in that position to say, yeah, they hold each
9:10
Speaker 2: other accountable when you know there's effort things involved, Hey man,
9:13
Speaker 2: you gotta do this, you gotta do that. But you know,
9:16
Speaker 2: look at them, they're the best of friends because you know,
9:18
Speaker 2: when you have that respect for each other, you can
9:22
Speaker 2: you know, get on each other in those moments, but
9:24
Speaker 2: know that it's coming from a place of like, bro,
9:26
Speaker 2: we all want to win, right, that's what you need
9:29
Speaker 2: to build.
9:29
Speaker 3: Yeah, and trust with your teammates that yeah, you can
9:32
Speaker 3: get those.
9:33
Speaker 2: Hands eighteen of twenty six.
9:37
Speaker 3: You know you want it to be twenty six of
9:38
Speaker 3: the twenty six.
9:39
Speaker 2: You know, and that that that's ultimately kind of where
9:45
Speaker 2: you want to be. And that's what you see them
9:46
Speaker 2: building and start up. When we talked about Don's you know,
9:50
Speaker 2: DK's message to the boys in sprint, but to pivot
9:54
Speaker 2: before I go a little bit more. I want to
9:55
Speaker 2: ask you, how does it feel just you know, all
9:58
Speaker 2: things aside. You don't have to be speaking. You know
10:01
Speaker 2: Noah's numbers that we as a fan, Yeah, what what
10:05
Speaker 2: is this feeling like? You know, because as players we
10:07
Speaker 2: know what it's like when you but but as a fan,
10:09
Speaker 2: especially when it hasn't really been much to cheer for,
10:13
Speaker 2: you know, in so many years, to hear's something like, oh,
10:16
Speaker 2: the Pirates have signed you know, largest extension to a
10:18
Speaker 2: you know, prospect, Like what what was going through your head?
10:23
Speaker 3: It's surreal? Yeah?
10:24
Speaker 1: I pinched myself like, am I did I oversleep? Is
10:28
Speaker 1: this a dream? Like it? It's crazy? Even knowing that
10:32
Speaker 1: it was coming, it still is feels so surreal. Like
10:36
Speaker 1: I was trying to mentally prepare myself for, like, all right,
10:38
Speaker 1: the Pirates are going to sign the superstar for the
10:40
Speaker 1: next decade, and like we have our own Sydney Crosby,
10:45
Speaker 1: the own Ben Roethlisberger, like a face of this team
10:47
Speaker 1: that's going to be here. Yeah, we have Paul schemes,
10:49
Speaker 1: but we all know he's going to be way out
10:52
Speaker 1: of a price range of not just the Pirates, a
10:55
Speaker 1: lot of baseball.
10:56
Speaker 3: Teams in the current market. Uh.
10:58
Speaker 1: I don't think the Pirates have fifty million that they
11:00
Speaker 1: can give to one guy, and that's probably what it's
11:02
Speaker 1: going to take. So having that kind of like now negated,
11:07
Speaker 1: like all right, we might lose schemes down the road
11:09
Speaker 1: maybe who knows after the CBA, who knows, But at
11:14
Speaker 1: least now you have a superstar face to the franchise,
11:17
Speaker 1: Like kids can go out and get a counter Griffin
11:20
Speaker 1: jersey and confidently wear it to the ballpark for the
11:22
Speaker 1: next decade. And that's a great feeling as a fan.
11:26
Speaker 1: And the Pirates really haven't had a lot of that. Sure,
11:29
Speaker 1: they've signed Brian Reynolds and Mitch Keller and Key Brian
11:32
Speaker 1: Hayes too extensions in the past, and those are great,
11:35
Speaker 1: those are great building blocks, but none of those guys
11:38
Speaker 1: were perennial all star, superstar like MVP conversation level. As
11:44
Speaker 1: much as I love Key Brian Hayes, they're very good
11:48
Speaker 1: in their own right, but I mean, this is a
11:49
Speaker 1: different kind of level, and it just has catapulted the
11:54
Speaker 1: Pirates onto the national stage where you know, obviously Pat
11:58
Speaker 1: McAfee's like from Pittsburgh, but we've seen all these clips
12:01
Speaker 1: of the Cone on ESPN constantly every morning, like it's
12:04
Speaker 1: getting all this national recognition, and it's because this team
12:08
Speaker 1: is one fun and talented and that's just not anything
12:13
Speaker 1: that we've seen in the past five years at the
12:15
Speaker 1: very least. So it's so refreshing, Like it it's hard
12:20
Speaker 1: to not just wake up and be optimistic every morning
12:23
Speaker 1: and then you look at like the start your rotation
12:25
Speaker 1: and be like, oh, we have another guy who's just
12:27
Speaker 1: gonna shove, Like Mitch Keller's going out there this afternoon. Great,
12:30
Speaker 1: we're gonna get six innings. Another qualities start. The bullpen's
12:33
Speaker 1: going to be great. Gregory Soo is absolutely shoving. Dennis
12:36
Speaker 1: Santana's going to pitch two innings because he hasn't pitched
12:38
Speaker 1: at all because he hasn't needed to.
12:40
Speaker 3: Yeah, we're in a great spot as a fan base.
12:43
Speaker 1: Yeah you can just yeah, just this this has got
12:46
Speaker 1: me going right now. I have one one other question
12:50
Speaker 1: for you here at least Josh, Now that counter is signed,
12:54
Speaker 1: what kind of weight does that take off of his shoulders?
12:56
Speaker 1: Like when he's coming up to play these past few games,
12:59
Speaker 1: do you think you obviously signed your extension just a
13:02
Speaker 1: couple of just a couple of days after Opinion day
13:04
Speaker 1: Rader right before it got announced.
13:06
Speaker 2: After it got announced, the second game of the season,
13:10
Speaker 2: so I played opening, had an off game between when
13:13
Speaker 2: it got my physical next day showing them to the ballpark.
13:17
Speaker 3: It gets announced, like you know, just like like Connor
13:20
Speaker 3: last night, exact game. Yeah, you speaking.
13:24
Speaker 2: The game. Yeah, a lot of emotions, a lot of
13:27
Speaker 2: thoughts because you know, keeping everything to yourself because one,
13:33
Speaker 2: you don't want anything to be leaked on your part.
13:35
Speaker 2: You know, obviously you and your family know, you know,
13:38
Speaker 2: but it's like mom, dad, like you tell Grandma, grand
13:43
Speaker 2: who they or just let them be surprised.
13:47
Speaker 3: If you were right. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
13:51
Speaker 2: But also you know, it's one of those things where
13:52
Speaker 2: it's like everything that led up to it, you know,
13:56
Speaker 2: all the conversations that their talking and media reports, Hey
14:01
Speaker 2: you're answering questions about contract extensions and you.
14:04
Speaker 3: Just want to play.
14:07
Speaker 2: You know. It's one of those things where Okay, now
14:09
Speaker 2: that it's out, I don't have to you know, walk
14:13
Speaker 2: around and act like you know, we're not talking or
14:15
Speaker 2: this or that, like I can take a deep breath,
14:18
Speaker 2: not that I haven't, but you know, kind of like
14:21
Speaker 2: the cat is out the bag and now okay, we
14:23
Speaker 2: can really rock, not that you know, he wasn't rocking before,
14:26
Speaker 2: but you know, that's that's a lot to deal with,
14:30
Speaker 2: especially in a quick time frame, because you're still managing
14:33
Speaker 2: you know, as I said, day to day you know,
14:36
Speaker 2: playing in day to day life. You know, his life
14:39
Speaker 2: isn't just revolved around you know, playing for the Pirates
14:43
Speaker 2: and you know, signing the contract extension.
14:45
Speaker 1: He doesn't just shut down and then reboot after like
14:47
Speaker 1: the two and a half hours of the game.
14:49
Speaker 2: He just got married. Yeah, you know, he just got married.
14:52
Speaker 2: He's a husband, he's a son, like you know, there's
14:55
Speaker 2: more to it. So it's like managing all that is
14:57
Speaker 2: a lot. So you know, I I think it'll be
15:01
Speaker 2: a big weight off of his shoulder to know, like,
15:04
Speaker 2: all right, I don't have to answer these speculations anymore,
15:07
Speaker 2: you know, we can.
15:08
Speaker 3: We can just let it be and just focus on us.
15:10
Speaker 2: Exciting, exciting for him, exciting for Pittsburgh. And I'm not
15:15
Speaker 2: gonna speak it. I think Pop's already spoken. But I
15:17
Speaker 2: think they might have to do something with that condish corner.
15:20
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, yeah, I think that's gonna be like next week.
15:23
Speaker 1: They need to get that done. Yeah, some kind of branding.
15:26
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, So all right, well, thank you so much
15:30
Speaker 1: for everyone for tuning in for this emergency episode. If
15:33
Speaker 1: you are new here, I'd like to just remind you
15:35
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15:38
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15:41
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15:44
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15:47
Speaker 1: love to see you in some Bucco territory merch walking
15:50
Speaker 1: around PNC Park maybe you know where you're Josh Harrison,
15:54
Speaker 1: Jersey with a nice Bucco territory beingie. If it's cold
15:58
Speaker 1: out there, you can bring your cone in our Bucko
16:00
Speaker 1: Territory bag or maybe sip some hot chocolate on the
16:03
Speaker 1: sidelines with your Bucko Territory mug. Any final thoughts here,
16:08
Speaker 1: Josh uh not.
16:11
Speaker 2: Just as we said, mergency episode exciting, very big congrats
16:16
Speaker 2: to Connor and his family, and you know, excited for
16:20
Speaker 2: the pirates and you know they got their shortstop of
16:23
Speaker 2: the future and shortstop of now, so continue to build
16:27
Speaker 2: off this momentum.
16:28
Speaker 3: Beautiful.
16:29
Speaker 1: All right, Well, I'm Platinum Key and he's Josh Harrison
16:32
Speaker 1: aka j Hey. Thank you for listening to another episode
16:35
Speaker 1: of Bucko Territory presents it to you by the Foul
16:37
Speaker 1: Territory Network.