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Offseason Position Reviews: Infield · Bucco Territory: A Pittsburgh Pirates Podcast

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: What's up, everybody?
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: Welcome back to another episode of Bucko Territory presented to
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: you by the Foul Territory Network.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: I'm Noah Hiles.
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: Joining me as always are my co-hosts, Platinum Key, a.k.a.
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: Mark and Josh Harrison. It is Thursday, October 15th. We
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: are continuing our outlook on the Pirates' upcoming offseason as
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: we review all the different position groups on the roster.
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: And today we're looking over the infield. Guys, very interesting
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: position group this year. We saw a lot of successes.
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: We saw a lot of clear.
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: Flaws as well.
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: We'll go around the diamond real quick and just take
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: a look at what they have coming back. First base
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: is obviously a position where where they will not need
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: to do any sort of additions. They will have Ryan
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: O'Hearn playing there along with Spencer Horowitz and Rafael Flores
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: can contribute as well, potentially as Merlin Valdez as well.
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: A guy who played a little bit there in the
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: minor leagues and with an injury, maybe first base makes
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: a little bit more sense for him in the future.
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: Second base is a topic of discussion, obviously.
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: Brandon Lau, a gold-glove finalist at that position, plus 30-plus
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: home runs.
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: At the plate.
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: He was their best hitter all season, no doubting that,
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: but he is a free agent. Can they get him back,
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: and what do they do if not? The shortstop position,
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: that's taken care of. Connor Griffin extended for the foreseeable future.
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: He's a big part of the franchise's future, obviously. Third
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: base is going to be the main area of focus here,
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: second and third base, really. You have a guy, Nick Gonzalez,
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: who played a lot of third base last year, probably
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: shouldn't have played a lot of third base last year.
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: Do you move him to second? Do you shop for third?
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: You have a pretty good prospect coming up who can
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: play third.
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: Base as well.
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: So, guys, let's just get into it. We've already assessed
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: this infield. We gave him the end-of-season grades. We talked
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: about all these players. We talked about the idea of
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: bringing Lau back the idea of filling third base with
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: a stopgap, maybe going in and getting a high-paying rental.
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: I'll just start by.
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: Asking you, what is the biggest area of focus here
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: between these two items? Item number one is replacing Brandon
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: Lau's offensive production, assuming.
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: You can't get him back.
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: I guess even if you can get him back, you're
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: replacing it by bringing him back.
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: So finding a way to get that offensive production from
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: the infield that you got from Brandon Lowe last year,
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: is that priority number one or is priority number one
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: getting better infield defense? Which is the bigger issue of
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: the two?
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: We'll start with Josh.
• 2:44
  Speaker 4: Replacing Brandon Lowe or, you know, finding that because even
• 2:49
  Speaker 4: if you somewhat sure up, you know, defensively, you just
• 2:54
  Speaker 4: mentioned their best offensive hitter. So replacing that has got
• 2:59
  Speaker 4: to be number one on the list. And you just
• 3:02
  Speaker 4: mentioned Gold Glove finalists. That right there in itself, that's
• 3:06
  Speaker 4: a vital part of your team. Hopefully replacing him with
• 3:11
  Speaker 4: himself is what you're doing or planning to do. But obviously,
• 3:15
  Speaker 4: if not, You have to try to pivot to try to,
• 3:18
  Speaker 4: you know, replicate those numbers, whether it's through, you know,
• 3:22
  Speaker 4: multiple signings, whatever the case may be. But replacing Brandon
• 3:27
  Speaker 4: Lau is going to be my answer because, you know,
• 3:30
  Speaker 4: his offensive production, you know, goes without saying. But then
• 3:33
  Speaker 4: you just mentioned go glove finalists. Now you throw somebody
• 3:36
  Speaker 4: in that's, you know, sure-handed, making routine plays, getting outs.
• 3:40
  Speaker 4: That's both sides of the ball. So that to me
• 3:42
  Speaker 4: is going to, you know, kind of take the trump
• 3:44
  Speaker 4: card of, you know, getting somebody just defensively for that
• 3:47
  Speaker 4: other position or whatever isn't going to cut it. You know,
• 3:50
  Speaker 4: you got to make sure that you get some offense,
• 3:51
  Speaker 4: even though defense, I know coming from me is probably,
• 3:55
  Speaker 4: you know, I'm usually the defensive guy, but, you know,
• 3:59
  Speaker 4: in this case, you know, it's got to make sense. And,
• 4:01
  Speaker 4: you know, if that defensive guy is bringing some offensive
• 4:04
  Speaker 4: numbers to where it's going to allow you to, you
• 4:06
  Speaker 4: know what, go elsewhere to help, you know that, but
• 4:10
  Speaker 4: if it's just a pure defensive guy with, not much
• 4:14
  Speaker 4: offensive upside or anything, you've got to replace Brandon Lyle
• 4:18
  Speaker 4: with hopefully Brandon Lyle.
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think bringing back Brandon Lyle checks both those boxes,
• 4:24
  Speaker 3: as Josh said. It continues to help the defense, which
• 4:28
  Speaker 3: was a struggle for this infield, but also bringing back
• 4:32
  Speaker 3: 96 or 95 or whatever RBI, as my cat jumps
• 4:36
  Speaker 3: up here. But at the same time, I feel like
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: if you do address third base, that allows... flexibility that
• 4:44
  Speaker 3: isn't going to cost as much because you can shift
• 4:46
  Speaker 3: Nick Gonzalez back to a position where he's more comfortable.
• 4:49
  Speaker 3: So you're improving your defense that way. But yeah, I mean,
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: it's going to be a tough offseason for the infield
• 4:56
  Speaker 3: if you can't bring back Brendan Lau just because the
• 4:59
  Speaker 3: options outside of him are kind of limited, at least
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: for the free agent pool.
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I just... I don't know.
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: I want to be very clear when I say, like,
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: the Pirates are obviously a better team with Brandon Lau.
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: But I really do think that you can be an
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: okay team without him still. It's just going to have
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: to look different in the value that you get.
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: I mean, first, a big part of that equation is health.
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: I think by playing Ryan O'Hearn at first base every day,
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: you ensure that he's probably going to be in the
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: lineup more and you're getting more value out of him.
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: He's going to be more than what he was, like
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: a sub-1 player. win player. Like he's going to be
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: a two or player at minimum.
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: I think if he plays 130 games at first base
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: slash DH, um, and then you have Spencer Horowitz to
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: be like a DH first baseman as well. You can
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: kind of switch them based off of health and matchups.
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: So like you're, you're, you're going to get better production
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: at first base than you even did this year. And
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: I thought you had pretty good production overall at first
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: base this year. It's just, you're going to be better
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: because you're going to have O'Hearn playing more first base.
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: this season and that's i think a good thing for
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: the pirates second base i'm not necessarily concerned with losing
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: lao's defensive value at second base because on a team
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: full of right-handed starting pitchers i'm not concerned with the
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: infield defense on the right side as much as i
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: am the left side and while it's certainly important no
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: doubt about it um if i'm gonna worry about improving
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: the defense for this infield. It's, it's definitely on the
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: left side, even if it involves Lau, I'm still worried
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: about fixing.
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: If Lau comes back at second.
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: Base, I'm honestly probably more worried about the left sides
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: infield defense, because that means you're probably going to have
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: to play Nick Gonzalez summit third next year.
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: Which I just don't think can happen. So in reality,
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: I mean, I.
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: Think the idea of moving Gonzalez over to second in
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: the absence of Lau, yeah, you're losing some offensive value there,
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: but you might be gaining some power back by a
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: full season of Ryan O'Hearn. You might be gaining some
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: defensive value as well by just having a full season
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: of Connor Griffin. He's going to make your offense as
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: a whole better in the infield, him just being in
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: year two, and he's going to help that defense just
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: get better, his presence better. The left side infield defense
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: was so much better when he was on the field.
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: But I think that kind of hits on my point
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: a little bit more, is adding just that depth that
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: was missing to the left side of the infield is
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: so important this year, in my opinion. And that's pretty
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: cost-effective for a team that's probably going to have a
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: tight budget this offseason. If you look at the arbitration projections,
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: they're going to be a nine-figure payroll before they even
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: dip their toes into free agency. So you're going to
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: be looking at cost-effective moves you can make. You have
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: Murph Gray coming up. That helps your offensive production. Don't
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: know how much that helps your defensive third base. Getting
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: Nick Gonzalez off third base in general helps your third
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: base a defense defense and you can just find some
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: rotational guys i would be looking at players who can
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: play shortstop and third base at an above average level
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: defensively that way if griffin does go down or just
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: needs an off day you have a legitimate backup at
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: shortstop you have someone you can parlay at third base
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: although you already have triolo who can play great defense
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: at third Get some more options there. I think shoring
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: up that defense, I just think that there's still a
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: lot of offense to be had, even without Lau on
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: this team. If guys stay healthy and you would like
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: to assume that Griffin and O'Hearn are going to be
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: able to make it through a season together in crews,
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: that they won't be as injury riddled. And I've already
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: expressed other areas of the team where you can add offense.
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: So for me, I think infield defense is paramount here.
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: For a team that has so much stock invested in
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: its pitching staff, getting that defense right and not giving
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: away outs, getting those tough plays. Forget the plays that
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: you should be making, the routine ones that they screwed
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: up so many times this year. This needs to be
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: an infield defense that steals outs, that makes plays it
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: shouldn't make. That's how teams like the Milwaukee Brewers and
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: the Tampa Bay Rays and the Cleveland Guardians find themselves
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: deep in the postseason year after year is because they
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: make plays that a lot of infields do not make.
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: And the Pirates need to build their team like that.
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: They already have, I think, a lot of the hitting
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: pieces figured out, even without Lau. I think they need
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: more of the under-the-radar guys who... or candidly, a lot
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: more in their price range.
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: That's what I would be looking at for this infield.
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: We can talk about it more, though, as far as
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: external additions, because there's a lot of different routes they
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: could take.
• 9:42
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• 9:44
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• 11:03
  Speaker 2: Alright guys, so we talked about, we gave our thoughts
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: on replacing the offense, upgrading the defense.
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: Is there a way they can do both?
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: I mean, when you look at it, obviously, again, Lau,
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: I think we can all agree that Lau is the
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: best player that they could add to this infield this offseason.
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: Because even if.
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: You go back and get him, if you go out
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: and get him.
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: You can fix the defense completely. through cheap moves. Is
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: there a player out there where you can get both?
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: That maybe you go get a really sure-handed third base?
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: Is it Nolan Arenado? Could you make a move at him?
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: Could you spin the block again on Isak Paredes? I
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: don't know if he fixes both of those issues. But
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: are those moves that make sense for the Pirates? Or
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: is it a simple thing of, you know, you go
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: get platoon guys at third base.
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: You have a good defender with Triolo. You have Murph
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: Gray coming up.
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: Maybe find someone from the left side who can play
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: shortstop in third base. And you just kind of piece
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: that together. And then collectively, like you saw from the
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: catcher position this year, if all three of those guys
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: hit 10-ish home runs and one or two of them.
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: Played pretty good defense, then overall you get a valuable
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: position group. Which would you like to see? We'll start
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: with Mark.
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 12:16
  Speaker 3: So I think the first thing I would do is
• 12:17
  Speaker 3: try and find like a one-year rental type that you
• 12:21
  Speaker 3: can pay a little bit more that might go a
• 12:23
  Speaker 3: little bit out of your price range. Just because I
• 12:26
  Speaker 3: feel like with Connor Griffin, you know, making $ 2 million, yeah,
• 12:29
  Speaker 3: the salary is already up to over $ 100 million for
• 12:32
  Speaker 3: next year after arbitration deals all get worked out.
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: Projected.
• 12:36
  Speaker 3: Yeah, projected.
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 12:37
  Speaker 3: So it should be above, yeah, $ 100. But I still
• 12:41
  Speaker 3: think that's like the best spot that you could find
• 12:45
  Speaker 3: move that would help this team. Like a Luis Arias, maybe,
• 12:48
  Speaker 3: if you can't get Brandon Lau, another guy whose defense
• 12:50
  Speaker 3: really improved. Not from the right side of the plate,
• 12:54
  Speaker 3: but yeah, I don't know. So I would go for
• 12:57
  Speaker 3: a one-year rental, right side of the plate, good defense.
• 13:00
  Speaker 3: That would be my ideal candidate. What about you, Josh?
• 13:06
  Speaker 4: Obviously, we talked about Lau, and I said if you
• 13:10
  Speaker 4: can't resign him, you have to try to replace his,
• 13:13
  Speaker 4: you know, offensive other ways. And obviously if, you know,
• 13:16
  Speaker 4: those things are Ryan O'Hearn and those guys, you, you
• 13:19
  Speaker 4: want those guys to be able to help replace, um,
• 13:22
  Speaker 4: defense has to be shored up as we've mentioned, and
• 13:25
  Speaker 4: you want it to be somebody that, um, Noah, you said,
• 13:28
  Speaker 4: if you can sign guys that if they all hit 10,
• 13:31
  Speaker 4: you know, home runs, it's, it's a big word. Um,
• 13:35
  Speaker 4: and in my eyes, this is not a case where
• 13:38
  Speaker 4: we want to bank on if, if, So if we're
• 13:41
  Speaker 4: hypothetically speaking and Nick Gonzalez is going to be the
• 13:44
  Speaker 4: second baseman, you need that third baseman to be sure handed.
• 13:48
  Speaker 4: But you also need that third baseman to be able
• 13:50
  Speaker 4: to give you 15, you know, to come with a
• 13:54
  Speaker 4: little bit of thought. But, you know, if you somehow sign,
• 13:58
  Speaker 4: you know, Brandon Lyle, obviously, you know, you still have
• 14:01
  Speaker 4: to shore up third base because you're not really worried
• 14:04
  Speaker 4: about offensive production, but at the same time, it does
• 14:08
  Speaker 4: put you in a position where they were tested this
• 14:10
  Speaker 4: year infield depth. Hence, when Connor went down and when
• 14:13
  Speaker 4: he made the trade, you're still going to need somebody
• 14:16
  Speaker 4: that can, to Noah's credit, cover the left side of
• 14:20
  Speaker 4: the field for off days. You're not really worried about
• 14:23
  Speaker 4: the bat, but if you have not re-signed Lau, you're
• 14:27
  Speaker 4: going to need somebody whose bat can do a little
• 14:29
  Speaker 4: bit of talking.
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm just looking at alternatives to Lau and guys
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: who can maybe do a little bit of both.
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: I see someone like a J.P. Crawford that maybe can
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: make sense for this team. A guy who is moving
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: over to third base now. I was just about to
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: say moved a little bit.
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: Yeah, but then if Griffin misses some time, you can
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: play Crawford at short, not for a.
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: Whole season anymore, I don't think, but he can hang on.
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: I'd rather have J.P.
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: Crawford being an everyday shortstop if Connor Griffin goes down.
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: than Jared Trio or Jacob Gonzalez.
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: Exactly.
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: And again, and the other thing that JP Crawford provides
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: is he's played on some very good baseball teams, teams
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: that have.
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: Been close to going to the World Series.
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: I mean, just last fall, he was a game away
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: from winning the American League pennant.
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: So you get some veteran leadership there.
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: It's like a guy like that where, you know, I
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: don't think he should be expecting any long-term deals at
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: this point in his career. He probably wants to go
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: be what I just described, kind of a veteran presence
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: on a team that's looking to take that next step.
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: He was there for Seattle. as it was being built
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: and kind of ushered in a whole new wave of
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: young infielders.
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: And now you get that opportunity.
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: If you're JP Crawford to mentor a young Murph gray
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: to play alongside a Connor Griffin as well. Um, and that's,
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: I think a guy that makes a lot of sense
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: where it does use defensive metrics look amazing.
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: No, they don't.
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: But I do think he's probably a better defender at
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: third than anyone that they had last year, aside from
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: Triolo and you still have Triolo. So you want to
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: go the route of, Hey, you know, we'll get a
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: little bit of offense here. Uh, we'll get some veteran
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: veteran leadership. We'll at least play someone at third who
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: knows what they're doing. Right.
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: You have all of that in JP Crawford.
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: And if he's that big of a concern, he's still
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: going to be good enough to play for at least
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: six or seven innings. And then you can put Triolo
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: in at the end of the game, a much better
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: option to a strategy that they essentially did with Nick
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: Gonzalez this year, which proved to be incapable.
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: I still, again, I want to make the record clear.
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: I think Nick Gonzalez needs to play like 130 games
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: for this team next year.
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: It just should be at second base.
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: Or if Brandon Lau is back, then it should be
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: at DH in second base in the games where Brandon
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: Lau doesn't play, preferably against left-handed pitching.
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: That's how I.
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: Look at it. Any notes on what I just had
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: to throw out there, guys?
• 16:53
  Speaker 3: I love the J.P. Crawford idea. That's exactly the type
• 16:56
  Speaker 3: of player I think that this infield needs is just
• 16:59
  Speaker 3: a veteran guy that can fill in on that left side.
• 17:02
  Speaker 3: The Nolan Aronado name, super interesting as well. Obviously, great
• 17:06
  Speaker 3: defense at third. A little bit older, but had a
• 17:08
  Speaker 3: good year for the Diamondbacks. Probably a little too expensive
• 17:12
  Speaker 3: for the Pirates' taste, I would imagine.
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: Is he, though? I mean, that's the thing.
• 17:16
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm not sure if he's under contract for next year.
• 17:19
  Speaker 3: Is he a free agent?
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: No, I think they would have to trade for him.
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: But nonetheless, it's just like, that's the type of player.
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: That you go get if you have these issues.
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: Like, he's going to fix your defense, he's going to
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: be a veteran in the clubhouse, and he's not going
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: to stink at the plate.
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: And even if he does, I mean, I don't know.
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: I just think that that's the type of investment you
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: make if you're serious.
• 17:40
  Speaker 3: Right, if you swing and miss on that, at least
• 17:42
  Speaker 3: it was a good swing to take, yeah. Right now,
• 17:47
  Speaker 3: anything else, Josh?
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: No.
• 17:50
  Speaker 4: Obviously don't have a ton of names off the top
• 17:52
  Speaker 4: of my head, but somebody, when you mentioned JP, I
• 17:55
  Speaker 4: was like, yes, a guy who's you know, currently going
• 17:58
  Speaker 4: through a position change that obviously can, you know, fill
• 18:03
  Speaker 4: that role. So there are going to be other guys
• 18:05
  Speaker 4: that we obviously don't have off the top of our
• 18:07
  Speaker 4: head or that we have in front of us. But
• 18:09
  Speaker 4: guys are in this situation that, as you mentioned, all
• 18:12
  Speaker 4: things that make, you know, a ton of sense. He's
• 18:14
  Speaker 4: been on teams that have been, you know, in a
• 18:16
  Speaker 4: playoff hunt. He has played in the AL West, which is,
• 18:21
  Speaker 4: I got a chance to play there. It's a tough division, man.
• 18:24
  Speaker 4: You away from everything three hours behind um travel sucks
• 18:30
  Speaker 4: um you know so it's just one of those things
• 18:32
  Speaker 4: where a new change of scenery for him with a
• 18:35
  Speaker 4: team that is up and coming you know might you
• 18:38
  Speaker 4: know allow him or somebody in his similar situation to
• 18:41
  Speaker 4: you know kind of help bridge that gap of you
• 18:44
  Speaker 4: know the missing link of you know where things may
• 18:46
  Speaker 4: have fell down you know in the infield this year
• 18:50
  Speaker 4: and um You know, he's one of a few guys
• 18:53
  Speaker 4: that could be out there, but a guy like him
• 18:55
  Speaker 4: definitely makes this infield better.
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: All right, so we'll round it out with this. Aaron Otto,
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: first off, is slated to make $ 6 million next year.
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: So that's just not a lot of money. So if
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: you want to go trade for him, he's 36 years old,
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: but $ 6 million is not. For one year of remaining control,
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: he's an unrestricted free agent in 2020.
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: Knows the NL Central. And knows the NL Central, and again,
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: he's just... He's kind of what you need here.
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: The other point I want to make before we wrap
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: this show up is this. This is really the only
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: area of the team that the Pirates cannot afford to
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: go untouched this offseason. Yes.
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: If they do.
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: Nothing different with their outfield, the outfield's still going to
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: be fine. Because you're going to have Cruz, hopefully healthy
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: for a whole year, and if not, Mangum's proven to
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: be a capable fourth outfielder.
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: You have Esmeralda Valdez coming back.
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: You have.
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: Ryan O'Hearn who can play out there.
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: And ideally, you know, you can go get minimal additions defensively.
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: Even during the regular season. And you'll be okay there.
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: Catching position, fine. Pitch starting rotation, fine.
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: Bullpen, fine. All of these spots, yes, they could use
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: an addition. They could use some help. They're not perfect.
• 20:13
  Speaker 2: But the infield is really the area of this team
• 20:16
  Speaker 2: that I think, depending on how aggressive they are at
• 20:19
  Speaker 2: addressing the needs, the departure, all of it, That's going
• 20:24
  Speaker 2: to determine how good this team is next year. If
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: they can successfully find a way, if Brandon Lau gets away,
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: to replicate his offensive production, doesn't even necessarily need to
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: be by other guys in the infield entirely, but just
• 20:37
  Speaker 2: his value. They're going to be losing a five-war player
• 20:39
  Speaker 2: if Lau leaves. How do you make up those five wins?
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: Do you do it through defense? Do you do it
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: through additional offense? How do you figure it out? But
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: this is the big piece of the puzzle. They have
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: some guys here. Again, I expect Griffin to be much
• 20:51
  Speaker 2: better than a 1.8 war player next year. I expect
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: Ryan O'Hearn to be far more valuable as an everyday
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: first baseman. Spencer Horowitz is a hell of a backup
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: first baseman slash DH. Nick Gonzalez will be better at
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: second base if that's where he ends up playing. If
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: he's not playing there, then you've got to figure out
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: a way to keep him involved. But that third base
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: position is a big question mark. And how they go
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: about fixing that, I think, will answer a lot of
• 21:14
  Speaker 2: questions as to, A, how serious this team is when
• 21:17
  Speaker 2: it comes to trying to win ballgames this upcoming season, and, B,
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: how effective that mission will be.
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: So I think that's all we got for today.
• 21:25
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• 21:27
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• 21:30
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• 21:32
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• 21:35
  Speaker 3: Mark.
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: He's Josh Harrison. I'm Noah Hiles.
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: We're signing off, saying thanks for tuning in to another
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: episode of Bucko Territory, presented to you by the Fowl
• 21:42
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• 21:43
  Speaker 1: Take care.