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Who starts at 3B when Triolo returns? · Bucco Territory: A Pittsburgh Pirates Podcast

0:09
Speaker 1: What's up, everybody.
0:10
Speaker 2: Welcome back to another episode of Bucco Territory, presented to
0:13
Speaker 2: you by the Foul Territory Network.
0:15
Speaker 1: My name is Noah Hiles. Joining me as always are
0:18
Speaker 1: Josh Harrison and Platinum.
0:19
Speaker 2: Key aka Mark. It's a new week of Pirates Baseball.
0:23
Speaker 2: We've got a lot to talk about. We're gonna talk
0:24
Speaker 2: about Connor Griffin. We're gonna talk about third base in
0:27
Speaker 2: the future of what that position looks like this year.
0:30
Speaker 2: And then, as always on our Monday shows, we have
0:33
Speaker 2: Platinum Keys Key of the Week. So we're gonna start
0:37
Speaker 2: off with the kid, Connor Griffin. What a weekend for him?
0:41
Speaker 2: He before this Milwaukee series has been that on the road.
0:47
Speaker 1: I mean, he.
0:47
Speaker 2: Struggled in Wrigley, he struggled in Texas, but he really
0:51
Speaker 2: heated up this weekend in Milwaukee. He played a big
0:55
Speaker 2: part in both Pirates victories, helped them get a series
0:59
Speaker 2: win over the Brewers. And Josh, obviously you know more
1:02
Speaker 2: than anyone anytime you can take two or three in
1:04
Speaker 2: Milwaukee and leave you feel really good about that. But
1:09
Speaker 2: I'll actually throw it to you, Josh, I mean, what'd
1:10
Speaker 2: you see from the kid this weekend? Did you see,
1:14
Speaker 2: you know, any adjustments or is it just you know,
1:16
Speaker 2: what can you say about him kind of hitting his
1:18
Speaker 2: stride and how difficult is it when you're a rookie
1:20
Speaker 2: to kind of figure out how to.
1:21
Speaker 1: Play on the road as a play as opposed to
1:23
Speaker 1: playing at home.
1:25
Speaker 3: Man, I see that the kid not a kid anymore
1:28
Speaker 3: you turn twenty. I think that might have turned a
1:30
Speaker 3: little leaf for him. He got his first home run
1:32
Speaker 3: on his birthday. But but honestly, man, he's just a
1:36
Speaker 3: testament of just playing the game and showing up every day.
1:39
Speaker 3: I think I've seen a little bit of an adjustment,
1:42
Speaker 3: and you know, just his set up at the plate
1:44
Speaker 3: maybe looking a little bit more grounded. I think I've
1:47
Speaker 3: seen a little bit of video of you know, just
1:49
Speaker 3: a little bit of how he's using the ground maybe.
1:51
Speaker 4: Just a little bit different.
1:54
Speaker 3: So I think it's just a combination of him getting
1:57
Speaker 3: a little bit more comfortable and baseball is such a
1:59
Speaker 3: weird game here we are, we still in the first month,
2:03
Speaker 3: So for him, I wouldn't worry too much about what
2:06
Speaker 3: we saw in the early part because those are struggles
2:08
Speaker 3: that you would expect, you know, for anybody to have
2:11
Speaker 3: early part, you know, coming up, but just to see
2:14
Speaker 3: I think me and Mark hit on it, you know,
2:16
Speaker 3: last week, just some of the adjustments he's made, and
2:20
Speaker 3: I think, you know, as he continues to play, he's
2:22
Speaker 3: going to continue to slow things down, not only on
2:25
Speaker 3: the defensive side, but even at the plate, because I
2:28
Speaker 3: think we can say that the plate, as you said,
2:30
Speaker 3: on the road, probably been sped up a little bit
2:33
Speaker 3: in between pressing a little bit. Hopefully that first home run,
2:37
Speaker 3: getting that off his you know, back probably helps a
2:40
Speaker 3: little bit and uh, you know, kind of settles him down,
2:43
Speaker 3: because that's the one thing when you're talking about a
2:45
Speaker 3: guy like him, everybody, oh, when's he gonna his first
2:47
Speaker 3: home run?
2:49
Speaker 4: You know.
2:49
Speaker 3: And he's had some big RBIs late in games and
2:52
Speaker 3: had some you know, some good hits, and I think
2:54
Speaker 3: getting that monkey off his back sometimes can kind of help,
2:57
Speaker 3: you know, loosen loosing you up. And at the same time,
3:00
Speaker 3: you have a good series like you had against Milwaukee,
3:02
Speaker 3: sometimes you just need to face, you know, a team
3:05
Speaker 3: where you get a series that gets you, you know,
3:08
Speaker 3: feeling good and you know, finding some outfield grass getting
3:10
Speaker 3: on base. And sometimes it's not just one thing that happens.
3:14
Speaker 3: Sometimes it's a matter of saying some some balls, you know,
3:16
Speaker 3: find outfield grass and it's not a matter of changing things,
3:19
Speaker 3: just you know.
3:20
Speaker 4: The ebbs and flows of baseball.
3:21
Speaker 3: And he got off to a start that was you know,
3:24
Speaker 3: you knew this time was gonna come for him.
3:27
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, going five for ten in the series
3:30
Speaker 5: against the Brewers. He had a home run for RBI,
3:34
Speaker 5: a walk, two stolen bases. I mean, played great defense
3:38
Speaker 5: all the way around as well, and did it off
3:42
Speaker 5: guys like Jacob Minzarowski and like Aaron Ashby. I think
3:45
Speaker 5: he had a hit off of who's pretty good out
3:47
Speaker 5: of the pen as well. So against solid major league competition,
3:52
Speaker 5: and we've just been waiting for you you've seen it.
3:54
Speaker 5: You know, he's gotten unlucky quite a few times where
3:57
Speaker 5: he struck balls well that have like a high XP
4:00
Speaker 5: and most of the time those are gonna be hits,
4:02
Speaker 5: but they haven't been for him. And that's baseball. And
4:05
Speaker 5: so it's nice to see him finally have some fall
4:07
Speaker 5: and really make an impact on this team. I really
4:10
Speaker 5: want to highlight Paul Skins showing off his leadership after
4:14
Speaker 5: the game, you know, ribbing Connor a little bit with
4:16
Speaker 5: like the Bounty House but also saying like the league
4:20
Speaker 5: bear or beyond notice because he's coming. So I love
4:23
Speaker 5: that from Skins, where it was showing that he's part,
4:26
Speaker 5: you know, accepted into that clubhouse enough to you know,
4:29
Speaker 5: kind of rib a guy and give him a little shit.
4:31
Speaker 5: So I love seeing that, and it's it's a nice
4:35
Speaker 5: vibe in the clubhouse when you can have faith like
4:37
Speaker 5: that and guys and see the belief and you know,
4:40
Speaker 5: still supporting him throughout and say, you know, you might
4:43
Speaker 5: be down a little bit, but we're teammates. We're gonna
4:45
Speaker 5: pick you up, build you up when you do things
4:47
Speaker 5: that are great, and really like really celebrate you.
4:52
Speaker 4: That's the way I was looking for.
4:53
Speaker 5: So yeah, what'd you think?
4:54
Speaker 2: Noah, Yeah, I agree with everything you both said. I
4:59
Speaker 2: just want to hit on And one thing that Josh
5:01
Speaker 2: mentioned before we wrap this up, I love Connor's late
5:05
Speaker 2: game approach, like his bats. Even it's one thing to
5:09
Speaker 2: have a better approach against a guy when you've seen
5:10
Speaker 2: him once or twice earlier in the game. But like
5:15
Speaker 2: I don't have the numbers in front of me, it
5:17
Speaker 2: feels like a lot of his hits are coming in
5:19
Speaker 2: the back half of a ball game. He's hitting relievers
5:21
Speaker 2: really well, and they're coming in leverage situations.
5:25
Speaker 1: Right, It's not against you know.
5:27
Speaker 2: I mean, he's had some hits when they're up by
5:29
Speaker 2: like five runs and they have probably a lesser bullpen
5:32
Speaker 2: arm out there. But he's got he's tallied some hits
5:34
Speaker 2: against some really impressive relievers who are paid to make
5:38
Speaker 2: rookies look very silly. Yeah, And so I like how
5:42
Speaker 2: his approach has been in late games. It seems like
5:45
Speaker 2: he's making hard contact. It seems like he's really recognizing
5:49
Speaker 2: his pitch when he's up there.
5:51
Speaker 1: And those are the characteristics.
5:53
Speaker 2: That you're looking to see from Connor Griffin at this
5:57
Speaker 2: stage in his career. I mean, if he can hit
5:59
Speaker 2: the already home runs this year, if he could bat
6:02
Speaker 2: three hundred, that's great. I don't anticipate him doing those
6:05
Speaker 2: things yet because he's still just very, very young. But
6:08
Speaker 2: when you can recognize the intangibles, you can recognize the
6:12
Speaker 2: mind for the game and just those little things that like,
6:15
Speaker 2: like I said, like just seeing him be able to
6:17
Speaker 2: lock in in in a moment and control your heart rate.
6:20
Speaker 2: There are a lot of guys who play a long
6:22
Speaker 2: time in Major League baseball and they struggle. Yeah, they
6:25
Speaker 2: struggle in those situations. And when a nineteen now twenty
6:29
Speaker 2: year old can kind of seem like he belongs in
6:33
Speaker 2: those moments, that that's something that makes an impression on me.
6:36
Speaker 5: So and doing it at the tail end of a
6:38
Speaker 5: six game road trip as well, yes, you know, I
6:40
Speaker 5: mean he's still he's not used to that with the Miners, right,
6:43
Speaker 5: they're not traveling every three games or you know, going
6:46
Speaker 5: from Texas and then playing the next day in Milwaukee.
6:49
Speaker 5: That and it was a night game before they traveled
6:52
Speaker 5: to Milwaukee. So figuring out that aspect of the game
6:56
Speaker 5: as well and finding success while he's dealing with all
6:59
Speaker 5: the other things that come with being the major league
7:01
Speaker 5: baseball player has been encouraging to see.
7:03
Speaker 1: Yeah, so we got it.
7:06
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Speaker 1: All right, Oh there we go, shout out to.
8:18
Speaker 2: So third base has obviously been a position that's got
8:22
Speaker 2: a lot of attention on this team right now, the
8:27
Speaker 2: guy who's playing third base the best is Nicking Zalez.
8:30
Speaker 2: He's swinging a hot stick. He's been a difference maker.
8:33
Speaker 2: Jared Triolo is on a rehab assignment right now. He's
8:36
Speaker 2: probably going to be back sooner rather than later. He's
8:39
Speaker 2: obviously the best defender on this team. He is a
8:42
Speaker 2: Gold Glove winner and his best defensive position is third base.
8:46
Speaker 1: This team needs defense, but.
8:50
Speaker 2: Has Nick Gonzalez not earned the job right now over
8:54
Speaker 2: Jared Triolo? Is Nick Nzalaz hitting the ball well enough
8:58
Speaker 2: to provide more value and Jared Triolo would defensively all
9:02
Speaker 2: open the floor to you guys.
9:04
Speaker 5: Yeah, I'll kick this off and say, I mean nickings
9:07
Speaker 5: also is hitting well in clutch moments. Overall, he's been average,
9:13
Speaker 5: and he's been playing a pretty decent third base. I
9:16
Speaker 5: can't really recall any time where I'm like, oh, that
9:19
Speaker 5: that's a ball that he should have gotten to, or
9:21
Speaker 5: a misplay that happened, or I don't think he's even
9:24
Speaker 5: had an error this year that I can recall. So
9:27
Speaker 5: he's been serviceable on the defensive side. And the Pirates
9:32
Speaker 5: need a guy in the like that second half of
9:34
Speaker 5: the lineup who's going to be coming up in the
9:37
Speaker 5: clutch moments, and Nick Nzalez has been that for them.
9:41
Speaker 5: And I think a lot of the fan base has
9:43
Speaker 5: just kind of had a moment of realization, like, wait,
9:46
Speaker 5: why are we discounting this guy and write in him off.
9:50
Speaker 5: I think he's won over a lot of supporters in
9:52
Speaker 5: this past week and really since Triolo has been out.
9:56
Speaker 5: And also if Nick Nzalaz can consistently man third, we've
10:00
Speaker 5: said before on the show that it allows Trillo to
10:03
Speaker 5: do what he does best and be that utility guy
10:06
Speaker 5: who can fill in all over the diamond and provide
10:08
Speaker 5: that elite gold glove utility defense that we've seen before.
10:13
Speaker 5: And if he's just stuck at third, you're taking away
10:16
Speaker 5: a lot of the benefit of having Triolo on this roster.
10:19
Speaker 5: So I think that's one thing that actually factors in
10:22
Speaker 5: Nicking's also his favor, is just how versatile Triolo can be.
10:25
Speaker 3: On the other side, Nick has definitely, as you said,
10:32
Speaker 3: open some eyes, but he's also put hisself in a
10:34
Speaker 3: good position because you know, we can think back to
10:37
Speaker 3: spring training and we're talking where does he fit in,
10:40
Speaker 3: you know, especially once Connor comes in. Like obviously we
10:43
Speaker 3: knew he was gonna be getting some playing time pushed
10:46
Speaker 3: to the side based off of where he was gonna be.
10:49
Speaker 3: But we've hit on this time and time again. You're
10:52
Speaker 3: only as good as your depth, and what this is
10:54
Speaker 3: gonna do Triollo coming back is gonna give you depth
10:58
Speaker 3: with whichever way you want to go. When he was down,
11:01
Speaker 3: one of my questions was who is your utility guy?
11:03
Speaker 3: I remember I asked that question. And while Triolo may
11:08
Speaker 3: be your best defensive option at third, I'm a firm
11:11
Speaker 3: believer that you gotta ride the hot hand and not
11:14
Speaker 3: saying that when Trio comes back, he's not gonna play,
11:17
Speaker 3: because he'll be back sooner rather than later. But you
11:19
Speaker 3: can have a guy like Nicki G. Who's had some
11:22
Speaker 3: you know, clutch hits in the late innings, and you
11:24
Speaker 3: know that's about that. You know he's earned some playing
11:29
Speaker 3: time when Triolo comes back, and I think they're gonna
11:32
Speaker 3: have to I don't even want to say get creative,
11:36
Speaker 3: because as you said, Triola can bounce around. Obviously, we
11:39
Speaker 3: know we have a plethora of left handed hitters. We
11:42
Speaker 3: got some guys that are playing out of position, so
11:44
Speaker 3: I think they can be creative based off of matchups.
11:47
Speaker 3: But even with that, as you said, Nicki G has
11:50
Speaker 3: done everything he can to you know, kind of ride
11:52
Speaker 3: the course and fill that void while Triolo's gone and
11:56
Speaker 3: he's done nothing, but you know, I think earned himself
11:58
Speaker 3: a shot to say when Trioli comes back that it's
12:00
Speaker 3: not a given that Triolo has taken that there's gonna
12:04
Speaker 3: be some matchups, there's gonna be a right the hot hand,
12:07
Speaker 3: because we already are playing down Defensively, Yes, Triolo makes
12:11
Speaker 3: a defense better, but offensively has always been a question mark.
12:15
Speaker 3: And just because you make your defense better, is that
12:17
Speaker 3: you're going to be trading a stick.
12:19
Speaker 4: But needless to.
12:20
Speaker 3: Say, Triolo could also come up and compliment and swing it,
12:23
Speaker 3: and then now you got two guys that can bounce
12:25
Speaker 3: around and that makes the team that much better.
12:27
Speaker 5: Yeah.
12:28
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I think at the very least you
12:31
Speaker 2: get what you get from Triolo regardless of he hits
12:34
Speaker 2: or not. I think it's probably an uphill battle for
12:38
Speaker 2: him to get going offensively. I mean, I didn't play
12:41
Speaker 2: major league baseball obviously, but like just going off of logic,
12:45
Speaker 2: April seems like, in a way, one of the hardest
12:48
Speaker 2: times to get injured, because you're just kind of getting
12:51
Speaker 2: into the swing of things after spring training and then
12:54
Speaker 2: you go on the shelf and everyone else is easing
12:58
Speaker 2: into mid season form are getting better and you're not
13:02
Speaker 2: because you're not playing baseball, Whereas like if you're if
13:06
Speaker 2: you go down on the fifteen fifteen dayil.
13:09
Speaker 1: In June, you've.
13:11
Speaker 2: Had a little bit more runway and you're ready to go.
13:13
Speaker 2: So you know, in the counterpart of that is you
13:15
Speaker 2: have a long road to get your you know, get
13:19
Speaker 2: yourself together because you're still yeah, exactly, but.
13:24
Speaker 1: It's it's tough. It's tough when that happens.
13:27
Speaker 2: So yeah, I think that Triola is probably gonna need
13:29
Speaker 2: a little bit of grace when he does come back.
13:31
Speaker 2: And I'll give props to both Knicks because they needed
13:37
Speaker 2: to do this. They weren't going to be Gold Glove winners.
13:41
Speaker 2: They weren't going to be you know, Mike Schmidt over
13:44
Speaker 2: there either. You know, they weren't going to be the
13:46
Speaker 2: best hitters on this team. But when one's been hot
13:51
Speaker 2: or you know, when one's been cold, the other's been hot,
13:53
Speaker 2: and they've consistently got solid offensive production from third base,
13:59
Speaker 2: and that's what they need it because there have other
14:01
Speaker 2: spots where they're not getting it, and they're not getting
14:04
Speaker 2: great defense over there, even if they're not screwing anything up.
14:07
Speaker 1: Those guys just aren't natural third basement, so.
14:09
Speaker 2: You're not gonna get you know, a lot of defensive
14:12
Speaker 2: runs saved there. But if you can hit a bubvely
14:15
Speaker 2: gaverage or close to it at that spot. With those
14:18
Speaker 2: two guys, you're getting what you need. And right now
14:21
Speaker 2: you're getting what you need from Nick York and Nick
14:24
Speaker 2: and Zalez. Uh they've been good enough to get by
14:26
Speaker 2: and that's that's all they needed.
14:28
Speaker 5: So and uh, just one question for you know, do
14:32
Speaker 5: you think Billy Cook is going to be the roster
14:34
Speaker 5: move when Trio comes back, especially with Nick York being
14:38
Speaker 5: able to play corner.
14:43
Speaker 2: Billy Cook, Like I will say this, Billy Cook has
14:47
Speaker 2: been stellar in the role that he's been given.
14:50
Speaker 1: And that's that's something that I don't think a lot of.
14:52
Speaker 2: People understand about professional sports, is, you know, not everyone's
14:56
Speaker 2: a superstar. I just covered the NFL Draft these last
14:59
Speaker 2: three days, and most of the people picked in that draft,
15:02
Speaker 2: they're not going to be Pro Bowlers or All pros.
15:04
Speaker 2: They're being picked to be a kick returner or to
15:06
Speaker 2: run downfield on kickoff, or to be a nickelback, or
15:09
Speaker 2: to be a slot receiver or a third down running back.
15:12
Speaker 2: And it's the same way with baseball. A lot of
15:14
Speaker 2: the people, you know, not everyone who plays major league
15:17
Speaker 2: baseball has a career like Josh Harrison, and I'm not
15:19
Speaker 2: saying that like as a joke because he's on the
15:22
Speaker 2: screen with me, Like it's serious.
15:23
Speaker 1: Like a lot of people who stay in this league
15:26
Speaker 1: for a.
15:26
Speaker 2: Long time, they identify a role in spring and they
15:30
Speaker 2: excel in that role. Billy Cook, he's been told, hey man,
15:33
Speaker 2: you're probably gonna get three at bats a week. If that,
15:37
Speaker 2: you need to make the most of them. You need
15:39
Speaker 2: to be ready to play defense every day. You need
15:41
Speaker 2: to be able to run the bases. And I mean,
15:44
Speaker 2: I don't think anyone told him this, but like he's
15:47
Speaker 2: a good vibes guy. Yeah, and that's how you also
15:49
Speaker 2: stay around. If you're not a pain in the ass
15:51
Speaker 2: and people like you and you do your job well,
15:54
Speaker 2: you're gonna be at worse an updown guy.
15:57
Speaker 1: And that's what he is right now.
15:58
Speaker 2: So yeah, he's the odd man out for sure because
16:01
Speaker 2: he just doesn't play a ton of baseball.
16:03
Speaker 1: But when he's been called upon, he's been fine.
16:06
Speaker 2: However, if it's him or Jared Triolo, I'm gonna take
16:10
Speaker 2: Jared Triolo.
16:11
Speaker 1: Because I think Triolo.
16:13
Speaker 2: I wouldn't be shocked if we ended up seeing Triolo
16:15
Speaker 2: play a little outfield at some point this season.
16:18
Speaker 1: They flirted with that last year in spring training.
16:22
Speaker 3: I wouldn't. I wasn't going to say him. I was
16:23
Speaker 3: going to say, maybe somebody does, whether the majors.
16:27
Speaker 5: Yeah, he made that one, like diving catch.
16:29
Speaker 2: He right field in Arizona because they they just got
16:34
Speaker 2: into a crazy ext rading game and they.
16:36
Speaker 5: Didn't even give him heads up, just be like, hey,
16:38
Speaker 5: hang on out there.
16:39
Speaker 4: Yeah.
16:39
Speaker 2: I think I think you could use but theoretically, like
16:43
Speaker 2: I mean, you have York to be a late game
16:45
Speaker 2: sub at the corner outfit spots. But I do think
16:47
Speaker 2: Triolo if they wanted to, they could get him to
16:50
Speaker 2: be Like I think he could probably be their second
16:54
Speaker 2: best defensive centerfielder on the team behind Mangum. Like I
16:58
Speaker 2: I just think I think Jared Riola could be a
17:00
Speaker 2: great defender just about anywhere.
17:02
Speaker 3: Yeah.
17:02
Speaker 1: So yeah, that's that's my answer on that. All Right, We've.
17:08
Speaker 2: Got another topic coming up. We got the Platinum Key
17:11
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18:20
Speaker 5: sea Geek. All right, so this week's key of the
18:27
Speaker 5: week is going to be the starting pitchers. I really
18:32
Speaker 5: want to see the starting pitchers step up. This bullpen
18:36
Speaker 5: got text a little bit towards the end of this
18:38
Speaker 5: Brewer series, and with Braxton Ashcraft going on the bereavement list,
18:44
Speaker 5: he's not going to be able to be back until Tuesday,
18:46
Speaker 5: and he was scheduled to start on Monday. So the
18:49
Speaker 5: day of record or the day this releases, you're going
18:52
Speaker 5: to be seeing Mason Montgomery start, and then he'll probably
18:55
Speaker 5: pitch an in just as an opener, and then you'll
18:58
Speaker 5: see Wilburd hotel for a couples. I don't think they're
19:01
Speaker 5: gonna throw them out there for you know, more than
19:04
Speaker 5: four I'd say, even if he's pitching well, I think
19:08
Speaker 5: they'll probably pull him around there, and then the bullpen's
19:12
Speaker 5: gonna get used a lot again. We saw Siscs throw
19:15
Speaker 5: twenty three pitches on Sunday, Sanders through thirty two pitches
19:18
Speaker 5: on Sunday. Santana, Soto, Matts, and Montgomery and Johann Ramirez
19:23
Speaker 5: all pitched on Saturday. And it's a four game series
19:26
Speaker 5: against the Cardinals, so you need these next three starts
19:31
Speaker 5: coming up So you have Brax n Ashcraft Tuesday, then
19:35
Speaker 5: you have Bubba Chandler and then Paul Skins. So you
19:38
Speaker 5: have three of the top pitchers in your starting rotation
19:42
Speaker 5: coming up against a division rival. So my key of
19:45
Speaker 5: the week is see those guys go deep, be efficient,
19:50
Speaker 5: pitch the contact, be aggressive, be confident, pepper the zone,
19:55
Speaker 5: throw a lot of strikes and give this bullpen a rest.
19:59
Speaker 5: Rely on your defense, Rely on your offense. The Cardinals
20:03
Speaker 5: not that great. Take advantage of that. Uh, you know,
20:07
Speaker 5: lean into that. Be a lot more aggressive than you
20:09
Speaker 5: would be against the Milwaukee Brewers or the Texas Rangers.
20:13
Speaker 5: So that my key of the week is just seeing
20:15
Speaker 5: the starting pitchers step up and be the centerpiece of
20:19
Speaker 5: this team that they are.
20:21
Speaker 1: Yeah, I just wanted to piggyback off of that mark.
20:26
Speaker 2: They got to take advantage of the opponent this week. Yeah,
20:28
Speaker 2: that's a good team. Good teams beat bad teams. I mean,
20:31
Speaker 2: the Cardinals are probably their record is probably better than
20:35
Speaker 2: what they will actually end up being. And right now
20:40
Speaker 2: you look at it, they're in there. They've lost their
20:42
Speaker 2: last four and three of those four losses they've scored
20:46
Speaker 2: two or less runs. So they're they're not hitting the
20:49
Speaker 2: ball right now, and this is a good time for
20:53
Speaker 2: your pitching depth to be tested if it were to.
20:55
Speaker 2: I mean, there's never a good time when you're you know, thin,
20:59
Speaker 2: but like this is, You're at home and you're playing
21:03
Speaker 2: probably a last place team. So that's that's what you
21:07
Speaker 2: got to make out of it.
21:08
Speaker 3: Here.
21:10
Speaker 2: The other takeaway I have on this just pitching wise
21:13
Speaker 2: in general, it seems like a move is coming, and
21:17
Speaker 2: I'm that's not going off of anything that I've heard.
21:20
Speaker 1: I want to make that very clear. I'm not reporting
21:22
Speaker 1: that I'm hearing anything.
21:23
Speaker 2: If I were to text Ben or ask for a
21:27
Speaker 2: comment or something, they would give me the whole We're
21:29
Speaker 2: always open to making moves, and you know.
21:31
Speaker 1: Like that's just how it always is, that's how every team.
21:35
Speaker 2: Yes, yes, but it does feel like this would be
21:40
Speaker 2: a good time to add another long relief like a
21:43
Speaker 2: tweener guy, right, like basically go find someone who you
21:47
Speaker 2: thought Jose or Gidi would be. And we see trades
21:51
Speaker 2: like that made all the time in April.
21:55
Speaker 1: In yeah, a wave a waiver claim could be another option,
22:00
Speaker 1: but yeah that you know, yes, that hapened in the
22:06
Speaker 1: end of April sometimes.
22:08
Speaker 2: So yeah, I I just look at it, like, I
22:11
Speaker 2: think it just makes sense that this is a time
22:15
Speaker 2: to do that, uh, because they could just use another boost, right.
22:18
Speaker 2: It feels like they're gonna have to call someone up anyway,
22:20
Speaker 2: just because of the sum of the arms they're gonna
22:22
Speaker 2: have to burn throughout this whole process. And then one
22:25
Speaker 2: other final thing in order to avoid what I just said,
22:28
Speaker 2: and in order to avoid having to make an external
22:31
Speaker 2: addition like what Mark said, you got you gotta cover
22:35
Speaker 2: your innings if you're in the starting rotation. There have
22:38
Speaker 2: been some guys who have done that really well. Paul
22:40
Speaker 2: Skeins obviously done that really well. Mitch Keller done that
22:44
Speaker 2: really well. Braxt Ashcraft done that really well. Bubba Chandler's
22:48
Speaker 2: got to be a little bit more consistent. He's looked good,
22:50
Speaker 2: he's looked bad. Into Bubba's credit. When he's bad, he
22:53
Speaker 2: owns it, he will and he doesn't even beat himself up.
22:57
Speaker 2: He just says, like, I screwed our team, I screwed
23:00
Speaker 2: the bullpen up. Like he understands what his job is
23:05
Speaker 2: as a back rotation starter right now. It's to cover
23:07
Speaker 2: innings and to keep your team in the game. You
23:09
Speaker 2: don't have to be a superstar at this point in
23:12
Speaker 2: your career. But he's got to fill that role, and
23:15
Speaker 2: he's done that. Sometimes he hasn't done that. This is
23:17
Speaker 2: a week where I'm not sure what day he slated
23:20
Speaker 2: to pitch on this week, but whenever he does during
23:25
Speaker 2: his home stand, because they're home for like next seven,
23:29
Speaker 2: they're gonna need him to cover his innings because the
23:31
Speaker 2: rest of these guys, like Carmen, is looking like Carmen
23:35
Speaker 2: did in late April last year. I don't understand why
23:37
Speaker 2: they don't use an opener for him. It worked the
23:40
Speaker 2: one time they did it really well. But when you're
23:44
Speaker 2: going to bullpen games this early in the season, you
23:46
Speaker 2: need your true starters to cover innings. That's gonna be
23:49
Speaker 2: a big key. Otherwise you're gonna have to start making
23:50
Speaker 2: some external additions.
23:52
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, I don't think you're off mark. Pitching is
23:55
Speaker 3: going to be important. As you said, Braxton, that's the
23:58
Speaker 3: miss Monday, which pushes him back, which means Montgomery got
24:01
Speaker 3: to open up.
24:02
Speaker 4: Dotaeil, as you said, will be following.
24:04
Speaker 3: It's gonna be a big day just because, as we've mentioned,
24:08
Speaker 3: we know what the other three guys can do. But
24:10
Speaker 3: this bullpen obviously being taxed on Sunday. You need guys
24:13
Speaker 3: to go out there and not only eat, and they
24:17
Speaker 3: have to pitch aggressive, you know, and for that just
24:21
Speaker 3: going a little bit off, Bubba, I don't think it's
24:23
Speaker 3: in non aggressive approach with him pitching. It could just
24:28
Speaker 3: be a thing where a he's gonna learn from that
24:31
Speaker 3: because if he's owning up to it and he knows
24:33
Speaker 3: he's got to be better, hopefully you know he's checking
24:35
Speaker 3: in and say, okay, not where can I be? He
24:38
Speaker 3: knows where he's got to be better. Sometimes it's just
24:40
Speaker 3: locking in and fine tuning. And he's still young enough,
24:43
Speaker 3: but it's early enough. But the wherewithal for him to
24:46
Speaker 3: know that, you know, he's wearing that. I think he
24:50
Speaker 3: knows what's at hand. So hopefully, you know, not only him,
24:54
Speaker 3: guys themselves are taking it upon themselves to say as
24:57
Speaker 3: a starting rotation because you know, they spoke on a
25:00
Speaker 3: big this off season you know about you know, those
25:03
Speaker 3: guys wanting to set the table and you know they've
25:06
Speaker 3: done a good job so far, and I think you know,
25:08
Speaker 3: this is a testing week just with everything going on,
25:11
Speaker 3: you know, for moves to be made, you know, obviously
25:13
Speaker 3: something's happening. But if not, as you said, those guys
25:17
Speaker 3: that's taking the ball tomorrow, you got to you gotta
25:20
Speaker 3: go after these guys, especially a team that hasn't really
25:22
Speaker 3: had much offense to success lately. I'm not saying you
25:25
Speaker 3: got a group them fastballs down the middle, but you
25:27
Speaker 3: cannot allow these guys to have you know, what has
25:30
Speaker 3: haunted the Pirates early on is lead off walks or
25:33
Speaker 3: you know, not not not making guys earn it. And
25:36
Speaker 3: this pitching staff, starting staff's too good to let that happen,
25:41
Speaker 3: which they haven't. But you need a little bit of
25:43
Speaker 3: help from these guys, obviously with openers, and you know,
25:46
Speaker 3: you call them upon arms that necessarily haven't been caught
25:49
Speaker 3: upon at the stage. But you know what, that's what
25:51
Speaker 3: next man up is about. And as you said, go handle,
25:57
Speaker 3: go handle your business, take the ball, take it into
26:00
Speaker 3: however deep you can and see what can happen.
26:02
Speaker 4: Because I think pitching is something that can can bring.
26:05
Speaker 3: Us together because they are right there and when you
26:10
Speaker 3: back and forth with games, as I said, pitching is
26:13
Speaker 3: something that can can definitely seal some wins for you
26:16
Speaker 3: in offense, may not, you know, come with that big hit.
26:19
Speaker 5: And one final question just on this topic, would you
26:23
Speaker 5: guys like bring Hunter Barco back up, say if you
26:26
Speaker 5: want to send like Dotel back down after if he
26:29
Speaker 5: throws a lot, they've been stretching Barco out in the minors.
26:34
Speaker 5: I think he had six strikeouts with like a scoreless
26:37
Speaker 5: outing in his one start down in Indy recently. Obviously
26:42
Speaker 5: he hasn't just fixed everything, and he looked pretty shaky
26:45
Speaker 5: coming out of the bullpen. But is that someone that
26:48
Speaker 5: you would bring up, give him a chance to start,
26:51
Speaker 5: and then maybe move like Majinsky to the bullpen as
26:54
Speaker 5: that tweener guy or.
26:58
Speaker 3: I think I will say, given where he's been and
27:02
Speaker 3: what he's doing and what they have right now, I
27:05
Speaker 3: think they're just playing things by ear with what they
27:07
Speaker 3: have because obviously, you know, if the tail god forbid,
27:11
Speaker 3: you know, has to throw a lot of pitches on Monday,
27:14
Speaker 3: they're gonna have to, you know, make a move. And
27:16
Speaker 3: I've been in situations where hey, man, this guy was
27:19
Speaker 3: just what his last week, but then you know, or
27:21
Speaker 3: ten days ago, now this guy just we had to
27:24
Speaker 3: bring up a guy he threw thirty pitches more than
27:26
Speaker 3: what he needed to. Now we need a fresh arm,
27:28
Speaker 3: and I think it's going to be based off of
27:31
Speaker 3: how they have to be creative with using the bullpen
27:33
Speaker 3: and if they really want to move Majenski to I mean,
27:36
Speaker 3: because now obviously he might be better served for long reliever.
27:39
Speaker 4: But then now you're putting bark on the situation that
27:41
Speaker 4: he hasn't get you. Yeah, you know what I mean.
27:44
Speaker 3: So at some point is he going to remain your
27:47
Speaker 3: fifth star? So I don't those are things that I
27:49
Speaker 3: think the situation will dictate how these next couple of
27:52
Speaker 3: days go. But I think him pitching well definitely helps
27:56
Speaker 3: his case because we've already seen the rotation that they've
28:00
Speaker 3: hand a bullpen. Theer's got sisk Sanders, So they're gonna
28:05
Speaker 3: move off of the availability of what guys are and
28:08
Speaker 3: I think they're just gonna have to play it by ear,
28:11
Speaker 3: but we will see what you got Noah.
28:14
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think.
28:16
Speaker 2: I think he ideally would try to ride it out
28:19
Speaker 2: through this homestand with the guys that you have, give
28:22
Speaker 2: him just a little bit more.
28:23
Speaker 1: Time in triple ah.
28:25
Speaker 2: But I don't hate that idea, Mark, especially because like
28:28
Speaker 2: I do think that they did plan to have him
28:32
Speaker 2: in this rotation.
28:32
Speaker 1: At some point this year.
28:34
Speaker 2: It's just I think they would probably like him to
28:37
Speaker 2: stay once he gets it. I don't think they wanted
28:39
Speaker 2: Hunter Barco to be an updown guy this year.
28:41
Speaker 1: I think they they.
28:42
Speaker 2: Wanted him to ease his way from the bullpen in
28:46
Speaker 2: the rotation.
28:46
Speaker 1: The bullpen thing wasn't working.
28:48
Speaker 2: They said, Okay, that's fine, let's get you ready to
28:50
Speaker 2: be a starter, and when you're ready, we'll call you
28:53
Speaker 2: up and you'll be ready to go, or you know,
28:56
Speaker 2: at the very least, and then maybe you'll be better
28:58
Speaker 2: in the bullpen if not, but right now, yeah, like
29:02
Speaker 2: he's looking fine in triple A. I feel like if
29:07
Speaker 2: you cut that time short, you can some some guys
29:11
Speaker 2: are are not updown guys, and especially for pitchers. And
29:16
Speaker 2: if you're if you're going up down, up down, and
29:18
Speaker 2: then you're going between the bullpen and the rotation, you
29:21
Speaker 2: know there there are certain guys who can handle that
29:24
Speaker 2: very well.
29:24
Speaker 1: There are certain guys who can't.
29:26
Speaker 2: And I don't think that's an indictment on anyone if
29:28
Speaker 2: they can't. Uh, it's just you know, people, baseball players
29:32
Speaker 2: are people, and people need routines, and some people don't perform.
29:37
Speaker 1: Well roue is consistently being altered.
29:40
Speaker 2: So I think the Pirates, to their credit, they've done
29:42
Speaker 2: a really good job with development on the mound. They
29:46
Speaker 2: connect with these guys on an individual basis. It's why
29:49
Speaker 2: we've seen so many development successes UH in this organization.
29:54
Speaker 2: And they're from their pitching group, So I think they're
29:56
Speaker 2: gonna handle Barko the right way, and to me, that
29:59
Speaker 2: indicates that they're probably gonna want to give.
30:01
Speaker 1: Him just a little bit more time before he's up.
30:03
Speaker 1: But I don't think.
30:06
Speaker 2: I think Hunter Barko will be in this starting rotation
30:09
Speaker 2: if he keeps pitching the way he is in Triple A.
30:11
Speaker 2: I think he'll be in the starting rotation before Jared
30:13
Speaker 2: Jones is back.
30:15
Speaker 5: I like that, so, and.
30:17
Speaker 1: Again that's not going off on anything I've heard.
30:20
Speaker 2: I've been covering hockey and football primarily these last two weeks,
30:24
Speaker 2: so I haven't even been around the team a ton.
30:26
Speaker 2: I mean, I'm still talking to people and following obviously,
30:29
Speaker 2: but I'm not trying to break news or give easter
30:32
Speaker 2: eggs here. I'm just saying that like the way I
30:35
Speaker 2: see it, and having under having covered this organization for
30:38
Speaker 2: a while and kind of having a decent idea of
30:41
Speaker 2: how they operate.
30:42
Speaker 1: That's how I see this plan.
30:43
Speaker 5: Out makes sense? All right, Well, if you've listened this
30:47
Speaker 5: whole time, make sure to hit that subscribe button, give
30:49
Speaker 5: us a a like, leave us a comment, let us
30:52
Speaker 5: know what you would do with Hunter Barco, or how
30:54
Speaker 5: do you fill out that fifth spot in the rotation,
30:56
Speaker 5: or if you keep Carmen macginski there and check out
30:59
Speaker 5: the bucket Terry two remerch store. We got some new
31:01
Speaker 5: items in there. We have like a bucket haat. You
31:05
Speaker 5: got some sweaters, some layer stuff coming here with the
31:09
Speaker 5: warmer weather, so make sure to check that out. Any
31:13
Speaker 5: final thoughts here, Josh Renela, No, I got nothing.
31:19
Speaker 2: I just gotta say shout out to the city of Pittsburgh.
31:22
Speaker 1: I live. I live in the city.
31:25
Speaker 2: I was one of many skeptical insers about how this
31:28
Speaker 2: event would go from the NFL Draft.
31:30
Speaker 1: I thought it was gonna be a mess. I thought
31:32
Speaker 1: I was gonna hate it. It was really cool.
31:35
Speaker 2: It was really cool to see a whole bunch of
31:37
Speaker 2: people come to my hometown and everyone pulled me aside
31:40
Speaker 2: and say this, this city is awesome, because I think
31:42
Speaker 2: it is awesome. I think it's a place that a
31:44
Speaker 2: lot of people probably you know, it's not high up
31:46
Speaker 2: on their vacation list.
31:48
Speaker 1: But when you come here, especially for sports, when you
31:51
Speaker 1: come here for sports, we do sports right.
31:53
Speaker 2: We make it fun to watch them and be around it.
31:57
Speaker 2: And you know what, We're gonna boo you if you're
31:59
Speaker 2: in the opposing teams Jersey, but we're not gonna jump you.
32:02
Speaker 1: You're still gonna have a fun time.
32:03
Speaker 2: Yeah, And I'm really proud of how our city's leaders
32:07
Speaker 2: coordinated everything. I'm very proud of how our city citizens
32:11
Speaker 2: hosted hundreds of thousands of people. It was an awesome
32:14
Speaker 2: event and I am very lucky to have been one
32:17
Speaker 2: of the few people who.
32:18
Speaker 1: Got to cover it here. So that was really cool.
32:21
Speaker 4: I love it.
32:21
Speaker 5: Yeah, No, it ditched us to take pictures of the
32:24
Speaker 5: mayor at Permantes or Oh yeah, yeah, so that's that's
32:29
Speaker 5: what he was doing on Friday, Yeah, when we were recorded.
32:31
Speaker 2: Yeah, all right, Well he's platinum key, He's Josh Harrison.
32:39
Speaker 2: I'm the guy who takes pictures of the mayor on
32:41
Speaker 2: Thursday afternoon. Noah Isle signing off sad thanks for tuning
32:45
Speaker 2: in to another episode of Bucko Territory presented to you
32:48
Speaker 2: by the Foul Territory Network,