Latest / Bucco Territory: A Pittsburgh Pirates Podcast / Esmerlyn Valdez called up, Braxton Ashcraft continues to shove

Transcript

Esmerlyn Valdez called up, Braxton Ashcraft continues to shove · 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 Foul Territory Network.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: I'm Noah Hyles.
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: Joining me as always are my co host Josh Harrison
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: and Platinum Key aka Mark. The Pirates take two games
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: out of three in Saint Louis. They get their big
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: series win. We're gonna talk about that. We're gonna talk
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: about the guy who got them that series win on
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: Wednesday or Thursday afternoon. Braxton Ashcraft. Another really good performance
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: from him. He's almost too good for his own good
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: right now, considering what situation he's forcing the Pirates to
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: put themselves in. Esmerlin Valdez is getting the call out
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: of the show. He will join the Pirates in Toronto
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: on Friday for their weekend series against the Toronto Blue Jays.
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: We'll talk about that as well, and then we will
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: round up our Friday show as we always do with
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: the Jay segment. So guys, we'll start off with Brax
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: and Ashcraft. Another really good performance, seven strong innings of work.
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: I believe he only allowed the one run. Yeah, and
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: uh man, he.
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: Just keeps getting better and better.
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: I don't really even want to talk about the performance,
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: because I mean, it was good, but.
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: We've talked about how good he is.
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, we've talked about how good he is all season.
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: My question is this, like, what do you do with
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: this guy if he keeps giving you seven inning quality starts?
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: And I say that because I mean to the uneducated listener,
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: you would say like, why is that even a question?
• 1:38
  Speaker 3: Right?
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: Like what what do you mean? What do you do
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: with him? He keeps in the rotation? But I mean, this.
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: Guy is like approaching his He's gonna obliterate his career
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: high in innings pitched. Last year he threw one hundred
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: and eighteen innings between Triple A and the major league level.
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: And I heard from ORG sources that, yeah, they felt
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: like they kind of overdid it a little bit with him.
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: Uh, and that with that amount.
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: Of workload, because what was it the year prior?
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: It was seventy three. It was the year prior, and
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: that was his career high.
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so he goes from seventy three to one eighteen
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: and right now, I mean he's trending to be like
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: a one hundred eighty inning guy.
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: That just can't happen for him, right, Or do you.
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: Just say like, yeah, Josh, I'll just pass.
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: It over to you.
• 2:25
  Speaker 4: It definitely can't have happened going from one eighteen to
• 2:29
  Speaker 4: one eighty, but you can obviously, as I mean, I
• 2:33
  Speaker 4: can't remember what the number was, but I know we
• 2:35
  Speaker 4: expected it to be up to maybe one fifty at
• 2:38
  Speaker 4: the max.
• 2:39
  Speaker 5: I think we had spoke about.
• 2:40
  Speaker 3: Yeah, Pason, I think, yeah, things are going we're out.
• 2:44
  Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, right, And obviously you don't want him to
• 2:47
  Speaker 5: go one eighty.
• 2:48
  Speaker 4: But there are different ways to monitor that because you
• 2:51
  Speaker 4: look at his one eighteen last year and as you
• 2:54
  Speaker 4: mentioned that he's shoving, he's going seven innings.
• 2:56
  Speaker 5: Sometimes innings can be misleading.
• 2:58
  Speaker 4: That's why I said they're gonna have to be really
• 3:00
  Speaker 4: careful because look at the amount of pitches he through
• 3:02
  Speaker 4: last year, one hundred and eighteen innings.
• 3:04
  Speaker 5: Look at it for the pace.
• 3:05
  Speaker 4: So I would I would kind of compare it to that,
• 3:07
  Speaker 4: because you know, he could get to seven innings, you know,
• 3:10
  Speaker 4: on eighty pitches, where last year he was getting the
• 3:12
  Speaker 4: seven innings on one hundred and you know pitches or so,
• 3:15
  Speaker 4: so you want to limit you know, what his innings
• 3:19
  Speaker 4: may be. But I think at the same time, they'll
• 3:21
  Speaker 4: take it a step further to you know, a he's
• 3:23
  Speaker 4: looking like he's approaching the innings, but at the same time,
• 3:26
  Speaker 4: how many you know what we call bullets, how many
• 3:28
  Speaker 4: has he thrown?
• 3:29
  Speaker 5: So if he's you know that.
• 3:31
  Speaker 4: At that innings, but it's like you know, he's still
• 3:33
  Speaker 4: throwing less pitches than last year, you can kind of
• 3:35
  Speaker 4: play with that number, but it definitely does you know.
• 3:40
  Speaker 4: I don't want to say, give you calls for concern
• 3:42
  Speaker 4: because you don't want to him want him to exceed
• 3:45
  Speaker 4: his limits so fast. But at the same time, you know,
• 3:48
  Speaker 4: you got to be very diligent and you know the
• 3:50
  Speaker 4: amount of pitches that he's throwing, because if he's thrown
• 3:53
  Speaker 4: six to seven innings and they've been pretty you know,
• 3:56
  Speaker 4: stress free, you know, those innings and stuff aren't as
• 3:59
  Speaker 4: harsh on the body as you know, he's had to
• 4:02
  Speaker 4: get out of two to three gems and he's gone
• 4:04
  Speaker 4: six innings. So it's definitely a situation where they're gonna
• 4:09
  Speaker 4: be very careful because you don't want to, as you say,
• 4:12
  Speaker 4: overuse this guy. But at the same time, if he's
• 4:15
  Speaker 4: going seven innings and his pitch count is within reason,
• 4:18
  Speaker 4: those innings don't really you know, dictate his real body
• 4:22
  Speaker 4: of work. That means he's getting early contact, early outs.
• 4:25
  Speaker 4: So I think they're gonna they're gonna have to be
• 4:26
  Speaker 4: smart about it. But I think that one fifty number
• 4:29
  Speaker 4: that we floated out there may be you know, kind
• 4:32
  Speaker 4: of flirted with, just based off of all the things
• 4:34
  Speaker 4: that I said. You know, if he's keeping his pitch
• 4:36
  Speaker 4: count down, I mean as sometimes getting quick innings is
• 4:40
  Speaker 4: gonna be you know what. I'm sure a lot of
• 4:41
  Speaker 4: guys would trade quick innings, you know, for for some pitches.
• 4:45
  Speaker 4: So I think they're gonna have to get creative to
• 4:48
  Speaker 4: to find out what that number is. But I think
• 4:50
  Speaker 4: you can look at his number of pitches last year
• 4:52
  Speaker 4: in one hundred and eighteen innings and kind of you know,
• 4:55
  Speaker 4: I didn't go to school for this, but I know
• 4:57
  Speaker 4: they have some type of formula that it could say, okay,
• 5:00
  Speaker 4: we would expect him to throw x amount of pitches
• 5:02
  Speaker 4: more than he did last year.
• 5:04
  Speaker 5: So I think that's something that you would want to
• 5:06
  Speaker 5: pay attention to and just look at, you know, the
• 5:09
  Speaker 5: stress of his innings.
• 5:10
  Speaker 4: If it's been pretty stress free, you can be kind
• 5:12
  Speaker 4: of smart to say, okay, well, you know we're still
• 5:14
  Speaker 4: going to manage it, but not you know, overuse this guy,
• 5:17
  Speaker 4: because if there is playoff implications, you're gonna want him
• 5:20
  Speaker 4: Male's playoffs.
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's the real thing.
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: Before Mark chimes in, it's just like you got to
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: keep that in the equation because that's the goal. If
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: this was a rebuild year, it's totally different, and you're like,
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: all right, well we'll just option him then and have
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: him sit and do nothing in triple A for a
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: couple of weeks.
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: But like, no, like, if your goal is to make
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: the playoffs, you.
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: Want Braxton Ashcraft to pitch in the playoffs because he's
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: really really damn good.
• 5:43
  Speaker 3: You're getting ye, so your plan.
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: Has to include ten to twenty innings of work at
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: least in October as well.
• 5:51
  Speaker 3: And so my point is, how do the pirates go
• 5:54
  Speaker 3: by doing this? Right? How do you manage his innings
• 5:57
  Speaker 3: when he's already halfway to what the inns he pitched
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: last year or more so?
• 6:04
  Speaker 5: Uh?
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: Right now, so he's he's ten away from matching his
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: like career high.
• 6:12
  Speaker 3: Yeah yeah, so you're gonna have to slow him down somehow,
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: and how do you do that? Like, do you move
• 6:18
  Speaker 3: to a six man rotation. That's obviously a little concerning
• 6:22
  Speaker 3: though when you have Paul Skins as part of that mix.
• 6:25
  Speaker 3: You know, you don't want to skip a skiing start.
• 6:28
  Speaker 5: You need everything everybody else, everybody else. Yeah, yeah, but
• 6:34
  Speaker 5: I know though it's kind of awkward, yeah to cut
• 6:36
  Speaker 5: you off.
• 6:37
  Speaker 3: Yeah, no, no, okay, good to know, But like do
• 6:40
  Speaker 3: you move into the bullpen? Uh? Like do you send
• 6:43
  Speaker 3: him down the triple A for a little bit. It
• 6:46
  Speaker 3: it's a great problem to have, but I just I
• 6:49
  Speaker 3: don't know what the solution is. I don't know if
• 6:51
  Speaker 3: the pirates know what the solution is. But he's put
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: them in a predicament that I think any team would
• 6:57
  Speaker 3: have right now. So uh, I.
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: Don't know if it's like something that any team would
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: welcome though, I mean, because it's like you have this
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: great thing, but you can't use it, you know, Like that's.
• 7:09
  Speaker 4: It's like it's at that.
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: Point, yeah, and you're you're making your team worse. Wilbird
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: Hotel over Braxton Ashcraft and that's not a slight Wilbird Hotel,
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: but brax and Ashtraft is just a better picture right now.
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: And so it's like, yeah, like what's the goal here?
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: So yeah, it's kind of like, yeah, he's like getting
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: like a PS five for Christmas, but your parents are like,
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: you can only play it for one hour limit.
• 7:39
  Speaker 4: You really.
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: Got to be mine.
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: It's heaven or otherwise we're screwed here. So I don't
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: know what you do. I mean, I think a six man.
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: I think you It might.
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: Be all the above. Honestly, it might be skip a
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: start here and there. It might be all right.
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: Like let's look at this one month, Like I don't
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: have the schedule in front of me, but like let's
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: just say July they only have like two off days.
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: There's always that one month in the year where like
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: you see the players are like, oh craps straight. Yeah,
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: and so like if that's if that's still ahead of them,
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: then that's your sixth man rotation month, like and that
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: that follves a problem. Like when Jared Jones gets back,
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: it's like, Okay, maybe do you just piggyback these two
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: guys on top of each other, Braxton and Jared, Like
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: you probably cover eight innings by doing that, and that
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: would help your bullpen too, So like maybe you do that,
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: but then like you're really kind of stretching everybody else
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: a little thin like I don't know, I don't know
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: what the answer is other than.
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: I guess you take it day by you take it
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: week by week.
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: And but I just don't see how you can cool
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: this guy off, Like the idea of the idea of
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: him missing a start is brutal for this team because
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: they give he gives them such a good chance to win.
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: I would I think I would probably rather them give.
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: Him like a hard cutoff, like the you know, like
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: they did that with Paul a couple of times, where
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: it's like you get five ups, this is it, like
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: you're you're you're done after seventy five pitches, And that'll
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: piss fans off. But at the very least, you know,
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: it allows him to get through half the game.
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: And you need you need this guy.
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: You need this guy not just this year, but years
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: down the road. It is not worth blowing his arm
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: out forever for I mean, this team ceiling is in
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: a World Series.
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: I'm sorry.
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: So like if they were, if this was there, if
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: this was really their year and I thought they could
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: like win a World Series, maybe you think about it.
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: Still probably not because it's not fair to the individual.
• 9:47
  Speaker 3: But risking the opportunity. Yeah, exactly this year we might
• 9:53
  Speaker 3: not have a World Series chance, but a healthy Braxton Ashcraft,
• 9:56
  Speaker 3: who's doing this along with Paul Skins. You know it
• 9:59
  Speaker 3: developed Bubba Chandler, Mitch Keller shoving Jared Jones back, Harmon
• 10:03
  Speaker 3: Maginski like, yeah, there's there is a huge future here
• 10:07
  Speaker 3: and if you take Ashcraft out of that equation, you
• 10:11
  Speaker 3: lose a lot of confidence. Yeah. I will just finish
• 10:14
  Speaker 3: with one quick note, one point nine one era. This
• 10:16
  Speaker 3: month in his four starts, twenty eight point one innings
• 10:20
  Speaker 3: and hand and Mers today shared that the staff from
• 10:24
  Speaker 3: the sports Net Pittsburgh team Ashcraft has the most starts
• 10:27
  Speaker 3: that have gone six point two innings or more this
• 10:30
  Speaker 3: year in Major League Baseball. He is five, So good
• 10:33
  Speaker 3: stuff from him. All right, right now, a word from
• 10:37
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• 10:41
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• 11:41
  Speaker 2: All right, so some big news on Thursday after the
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: win es Merlin Valdez joining the Pirates in Toronto.
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: He will make his major league debut.
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: I would assume sometime this weekend in Canada. That's really interesting,
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: you know, Like, I mean, I'm sure they didn't map
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: it out that way. That it's like you're not only
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: debuting on the road, but in a different country.
• 12:02
  Speaker 3: And a guy that Pirates signed internationally and developed themselves.
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: Yes, an international development success for the Pirates. There haven't
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: been a lot of them, so like this is a
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: big step forward for them.
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: Only twenty two years old. Last year, this guy was
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: in High A.
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: No one knew anything about him, and then he started
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: crushing the ball. He earned an opportunity to play in
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: the futures game. He ended the season in Double A,
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: started this year in TRIPLEA, had a pre solid ops,
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: especially against left handed pitching, and now he's joining the team.
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: Billy Cook gets optioned. Mark, I want to start with you,
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: I mean, what's your reaction. Obviously you're mister pirates Twitter
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: and es Merilin Valdez is mister minor league pirates.
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: Yes, how happy are you to see him joining.
• 12:43
  Speaker 3: The big Bah's so happy. I mean you're not going
• 12:45
  Speaker 3: to find like an easier guy to root for than
• 12:47
  Speaker 3: as Really Valdez. He plays the game in a way
• 12:50
  Speaker 3: that like you want to watch, just constantly having fun,
• 12:53
  Speaker 3: loves it like posts himself like watching fireworks. He just
• 12:57
  Speaker 3: enjoys baseball and exudes that and it's contagious. So love
• 13:01
  Speaker 3: that from a fan perspective. Really excited. We've when like
• 13:06
  Speaker 3: the password was coming up, We've mentioned that, hey why
• 13:09
  Speaker 3: not as Merillin Valdez as well, so it's great to
• 13:12
  Speaker 3: see him bringing that power that he brings. He plays
• 13:15
  Speaker 3: pretty decent defense, pretty much like a fifty grade defense
• 13:19
  Speaker 3: in right field. He's been has been the primary focus lately.
• 13:23
  Speaker 3: He hasn't played any games at first base this year
• 13:25
  Speaker 3: in Triple A, but he has played eighty one games
• 13:28
  Speaker 3: at first previously, so that leads me into like where
• 13:33
  Speaker 3: my next reaction was, is where is he going to
• 13:35
  Speaker 3: play at Billy Cook? Yeah? Yeah, Billy Cook only had
• 13:39
  Speaker 3: twenty one at bats.
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: Oh, go ahead, Oh I was just gonna say. I
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: got a text message about that.
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: So it is basically they said they they see him
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: as an outfielder, but they're not ruling out first base
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: in the future.
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: But problem right now, it's going to be outfield.
• 13:58
  Speaker 3: Makes sense, like maybe if Spencer Horwitz cools down.
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: I don't. I don't think it was yet. I don't
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: think he's gonna play any first base in the majors
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: this year.
• 14:05
  Speaker 3: Okay, okay, this is at all interesting.
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: The information I was related sounds like it's more of
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: like that's a next year thing.
• 14:11
  Speaker 3: Okay, because I was wondering, like, he hits lefties really well.
• 14:14
  Speaker 3: He has an OPS over one thousand this year and
• 14:17
  Speaker 3: the year prior in Double A. So could he platoon
• 14:21
  Speaker 3: with Horwitz maybe maybe in the future, but solid defense
• 14:25
  Speaker 3: and right field and so yeah, it the question really is, then,
• 14:29
  Speaker 3: especially if he's not going to play any first base,
• 14:31
  Speaker 3: where do you play him? Like? What how many at
• 14:35
  Speaker 3: bats is he actually going to get while he's up
• 14:36
  Speaker 3: here right now? Billy Cook, the guy he's replacing twenty
• 14:40
  Speaker 3: one at bats this entire year only was only played
• 14:43
  Speaker 3: in thirty two games. Uh, you know, so, like, I
• 14:46
  Speaker 3: don't think you're going to be bringing in Valdez in
• 14:48
  Speaker 3: that same role. So does you shift like Valdez give
• 14:53
  Speaker 3: him an opportunity with what Jake Ingham has been playing
• 14:55
  Speaker 3: since Ryan O'Hearn went out.
• 14:58
  Speaker 4: I I mean to me, he's twenty two.
• 15:03
  Speaker 3: Mm hmm, yeah.
• 15:05
  Speaker 4: I don't think you bring a twenty two europe like
• 15:08
  Speaker 4: him to not play him right now now to play
• 15:11
  Speaker 4: every day. I don't know if that is, but this
• 15:14
  Speaker 4: might be a case where we talked about O'Hearn being down.
• 15:17
  Speaker 5: They are literally.
• 15:19
  Speaker 4: Guys are getting their opportunity and a little sooner than,
• 15:22
  Speaker 4: you know, maybe before than what people might have imagined.
• 15:25
  Speaker 4: But you know, it's also a case of if this
• 15:28
  Speaker 4: guy is going to be a part of the future plans,
• 15:30
  Speaker 4: you know, get him around the team and see what
• 15:33
  Speaker 4: he's got. Because this is almost an extended trial. You know,
• 15:35
  Speaker 4: when O'Hearn comes back, he's gonna be in the right field.
• 15:39
  Speaker 4: But that doesn't mean that, you know it doesn't you know,
• 15:43
  Speaker 4: shape up the lineup in other ways, you know, for
• 15:46
  Speaker 4: opportunities as we mentioned, you know, with O'Hearn going down,
• 15:50
  Speaker 4: you know, knock on wood, you know, somebody may you
• 15:54
  Speaker 4: know that these are all things that they're looking for
• 15:57
  Speaker 4: the future to say. You know what, we know he
• 15:59
  Speaker 4: can play multiple positions right now, there's a need, you know,
• 16:02
  Speaker 4: for this spot, but multiple guys.
• 16:04
  Speaker 5: Can do it.
• 16:04
  Speaker 4: It might not be a clear cut pull away guy
• 16:07
  Speaker 4: right now. So this might be a situation where there's okay,
• 16:10
  Speaker 4: guys that are deserving of the spot, but who do
• 16:13
  Speaker 4: we give it to. Hey, let these guys battle it
• 16:15
  Speaker 4: out for the next couple of weeks and see where
• 16:18
  Speaker 4: it lies. But I don't think he's gonna come up
• 16:21
  Speaker 4: and get the Billy Cook treatment. And I don't even say,
• 16:24
  Speaker 4: I don't even want to say the Billy Cook treatment.
• 16:26
  Speaker 4: But if that was their plan for him, I think
• 16:29
  Speaker 4: they would have just kept Billy there. You know, a
• 16:31
  Speaker 4: guy that's already been in that role. So I think
• 16:33
  Speaker 4: it's an opportunity for him to play same thing for
• 16:36
  Speaker 4: the password. I think it might be a situation why
• 16:38
  Speaker 4: to fire under a couple guys, to say nothing is guaranteed, nothing.
• 16:42
  Speaker 3: Is given with the competition.
• 16:44
  Speaker 5: Competition is always a good thing.
• 16:46
  Speaker 4: And if these guys are well deserving of a shot,
• 16:48
  Speaker 4: I mean, by all means, go get your shot, young man.
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: The way I look at it, I think I think
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: Mangum's probably the man out here.
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: I think Mangham probably.
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: Gonna slide into that Billy Cook exactly, and I think
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: it'll come with more opportunity. Like I don't think Mangum
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: is gonna get that limited of opportunity. But I think
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: Mangum is pretty much their defensive sub right now and then.
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: And and that's a pirate.
• 17:18
  Speaker 5: He's a nice option to be able to quote on too.
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: He's better than Billy Cook at everything that Billy Cook
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: does well and two like that means you have a
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: really good wrench if Mangum's your last guy off the bend.
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: I see Valdez probably playing in the role that Garcia
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: was in for a series, and I think Garcia is
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: probably gonna get the Mangum role, which to me is
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: probably an everyday outfielder somewhere, and it could be in
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: right field one day, it could be in center field
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: one day, it could be in left field one day.
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: As Merlin, I think is probably gonna play right field,
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: uh and probably just gonna play against left ease, maybe
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: maybe a couple of games against right e's as well,
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: and then Mangum's. Yeah, Ingham's probably getting the least amount
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: of playing time. I think when these three guys are
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: up together now, I think if someone's getting optioned, it
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: probably will be either Password or as Merlin, just because
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: Ingham has more service time and he has more of
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: like you just know what he provides at the major
• 18:19
  Speaker 2: league level.
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: Yeah, but right.
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: Now, exactly like you're seeing it, like they're clearly looking
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: for something different in the outfield right now, like they're
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: and they're using ohearn being out to get different looks,
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: and you're seeing Cruz DH more, you're seeing Reynolds DH more.
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: And I expect I expect all three of these guys
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: to get a lot of playing time, especially Valdez and Garcia.
• 18:48
  Speaker 2: Over these next couple of weeks, I think we're gonna
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: get a clear look at both of them. And I
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: think that makes a ton of sense because you know
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: that they deserve it.
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: If they can make the team better, let's see it.
• 19:00
  Speaker 3: And one quick note on just Hinton, Uh he likes
• 19:03
  Speaker 3: playing center field more than the corner outfielders, he said,
• 19:06
  Speaker 3: that's where he's more comfortable. So you know, if we're
• 19:10
  Speaker 3: looking to get corner outfielders playing time, shifting him to center,
• 19:13
  Speaker 3: moving Cruise to dh Leno Zuna sit for a few days,
• 19:17
  Speaker 3: I don't think you're going to hear too many complaints.
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: Yeah, And one final thing here on this their lineup's
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: a lot better against left handed pitching now, Yeah, Like
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: I mean, you can you have Cruise in center, Mangum
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: or excuse me, Garcia and left and Valdezan right and
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: then dh Ozuna I guess, or or Reynolds.
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: I guess you got to find a spot for Reynolds.
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: But I mean that's it's still like those are the
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: problems you're facing now where it's like, man like they've
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: got they've got real options here against lefties, where like you.
• 19:49
  Speaker 3: Know, Jared Trio Jared True in right field.
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: Right, So all right, final segment of the show. Jay Hey, Now, Josh,
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: what do you got for us?
• 20:00
  Speaker 5: All right?
• 20:01
  Speaker 4: Jay Hay Now, coming on the heels of just a
• 20:05
  Speaker 4: big series win against the Cardinals, My highlight is getting
• 20:09
  Speaker 4: that series winning Saint Louis, coming off of a think
• 20:12
  Speaker 4: you know, Philly sweeping them at home, and then you
• 20:14
  Speaker 4: go on to Saint Louis and Louis the first one,
• 20:16
  Speaker 4: which meant you lost four straight. But at the same time,
• 20:19
  Speaker 4: taking this step further. You know, they got swept at
• 20:22
  Speaker 4: home against the Cardinals, so that was a five game
• 20:24
  Speaker 4: losing streak against the Cardinals. So to do that and
• 20:27
  Speaker 4: then to come back and still win the series on
• 20:29
  Speaker 4: the road. I'm highlighting that just from a standpoint, some
• 20:32
  Speaker 4: tough losses this past weekend at home, then you go
• 20:35
  Speaker 4: to Saint Louis, where you know these are must win games.
• 20:37
  Speaker 4: I believe Noah, you sent out a tweet saying this
• 20:39
  Speaker 4: is a big series. You know they dropped the opener
• 20:42
  Speaker 4: and then uh to win the next two on the
• 20:45
  Speaker 4: road in division. That's highlighting you know that, That's something
• 20:50
  Speaker 4: that I wanted to highlight because it's not the first
• 20:52
  Speaker 4: time this year that I think they've had to, you know,
• 20:54
  Speaker 4: stop a skid. And you know that that's the that's
• 20:58
  Speaker 4: the thing that you know when you want to stay
• 21:00
  Speaker 4: in that hunt, you want to stay around. You want
• 21:02
  Speaker 4: to prevent those long skits where you know, ten twelve games.
• 21:08
  Speaker 4: You know, all teams are gonna lose a series. Sometimes
• 21:10
  Speaker 4: you're gonna get swept. But the more.
• 21:13
  Speaker 5: That you minimum minimum minimize those, the better off you
• 21:16
  Speaker 5: will be.
• 21:17
  Speaker 4: And coming off some tough losses, tough series, and then
• 21:22
  Speaker 4: coming off and off day and then you lose one,
• 21:24
  Speaker 4: it's like, oh man, that's a big series to win,
• 21:27
  Speaker 4: you know, to win that series after losing five straight
• 21:30
  Speaker 4: to the Cardinals, who, as we said, coming into the season,
• 21:34
  Speaker 4: a team that we feel that they should be. But
• 21:37
  Speaker 4: you know, baseball is a funny game. Every game is different,
• 21:40
  Speaker 4: and you know, kudos to them, you know, taking two
• 21:44
  Speaker 4: out of three after you know, starting off with a
• 21:47
  Speaker 4: little sider patch.
• 21:50
  Speaker 3: Yeah, what a response on Wednesday night to come out
• 21:53
  Speaker 3: where I think every single Pirates batter got on base
• 21:57
  Speaker 3: and it was just everyone has been contributing. The Pirates
• 22:02
  Speaker 3: are the I think the only team in MLB right
• 22:04
  Speaker 3: now with three players who have hit thirty RBI and
• 22:08
  Speaker 3: Ryan o'hearns right there at twenty nine. So it's not
• 22:12
  Speaker 3: just one guy doing it. It's everyone picking up there
• 22:14
  Speaker 3: and doing what they need to consistently. And it's been
• 22:19
  Speaker 3: great to see as a fan that have that kind
• 22:21
  Speaker 3: of response where I feel like pirates teams of the past,
• 22:24
  Speaker 3: we've just been like this Cardinals team has our number,
• 22:26
  Speaker 3: you know, like let's get out of Saint Louis, get
• 22:28
  Speaker 3: to Toronto and maybe we can bounce back then, you know,
• 22:31
  Speaker 3: kind of just roll over. And this team hasn't done that,
• 22:35
  Speaker 3: and we've seen that a couple of times now where
• 22:37
  Speaker 3: they hit a skid and no one loses faith in
• 22:40
  Speaker 3: the clubhouse. They all still believe. They're all still happy still,
• 22:44
  Speaker 3: you know, enjoying what they're doing, and it's reflective and
• 22:47
  Speaker 3: it's been impressive to see them not allow themselves to
• 22:52
  Speaker 3: really let these kids be too extended.
• 22:56
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean that's echoes what I said on Twitter
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: and what I've said kind of in like previous situations,
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: like good teams don't allow things to snowball, you.
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: Know, oh you're injured, oh your aston pitch.
• 23:08
  Speaker 2: Well, earlier in the week, Bullpen's not playing well like screw.
• 23:13
  Speaker 4: It did mention with o'hear going down, you know, yeah,
• 23:18
  Speaker 4: you know, next man up.
• 23:19
  Speaker 5: So that was that was another piece of you know,
• 23:21
  Speaker 5: the Jay now of winning that series.
• 23:22
  Speaker 4: If you lost of key back, key player what you're
• 23:26
  Speaker 4: saying that, it just popped back up in my head.
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: Yeah, good teams, it's so what when right? That's how
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: it That's how it should be. That's how that's how.
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: This works when you're when you're a playoff team, doesn't
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: matter who's hurt, doesn't matter who's on the schedule, doesn't
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: matter what happened yesterday or last week or what's.
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: Going on with the bullpen or whatever, show up and win.
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: That's how this works.
• 23:46
  Speaker 2: And that's what they did. That's what they did. It
• 23:49
  Speaker 2: looked like the sky was falling until it wasn't. And
• 23:51
  Speaker 2: now you're going into a really tough weekend in Toronto.
• 23:56
  Speaker 2: I mean, the Blue Jays are really freaking good and uh,
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: I mean at the very least, all you got to
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: do is win one and you return home with a
• 24:04
  Speaker 2: five hundred record.
• 24:05
  Speaker 3: Patrick Corby Saturday, Yeah, circle that one. There's your lefty
• 24:13
  Speaker 3: mm hmm, yep. I think we'll see Valdez for sure
• 24:15
  Speaker 3: Saturday if we don't see him the night that this
• 24:18
  Speaker 3: releases Friday night, So so we'll see him.
• 24:21
  Speaker 5: So you said, we'll probably see him Saturday night. But
• 24:23
  Speaker 5: you know what I'd like to see subscribe.
• 24:27
  Speaker 4: But yeah, subscribe, but you know, make sure you hit
• 24:34
  Speaker 4: the Buckle Territory shop as well.
• 24:36
  Speaker 5: We're on our way to three thousand subs.
• 24:38
  Speaker 4: Uh. I think last we were close to one point
• 24:40
  Speaker 4: five uh subs.
• 24:42
  Speaker 5: But making our way up.
• 24:44
  Speaker 4: Hit the shop a lot of cool gear and I
• 24:46
  Speaker 4: don't know about you guys, are still a little chilly
• 24:48
  Speaker 4: out this way. So the hoodies and the scullies and
• 24:50
  Speaker 4: stuff for right in season as long as you know,
• 24:53
  Speaker 4: as well as the warm items. So plenty of swag
• 24:57
  Speaker 4: to get. So, as I said, we'd like to see
• 24:59
  Speaker 4: you all hit the subscribe button. Fellas you got anything.
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: Else, I'm so proud of you.
• 25:05
  Speaker 3: Yeah that was.
• 25:08
  Speaker 5: Yeah, you know I got. I got a couple of
• 25:11
  Speaker 5: co hosts that have been showing me the way.
• 25:14
  Speaker 2: I haven't got that excited about something Josh Harrison did.
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: Since you know, come on now.
• 25:20
  Speaker 5: The opening day home for twenty fifteen.
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: Yeah, oh yeah, I think we're all good here for
• 25:29
  Speaker 2: Platinum t A. K. Mark and Josh Harrison on NOA
• 25:32
  Speaker 2: Ohio signing off, saying thanks for tuning in to another
• 25:35
  Speaker 2: episode of Bucco Territory.
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: Take care,