Latest / Bucco Territory: A Pittsburgh Pirates Podcast / Top 5 Pirates Who WON'T Be Back in '27

Transcript

Top 5 Pirates Who WON'T Be Back in '27 · Bucco Territory: A Pittsburgh Pirates Podcast

0:09
Speaker 1: Welcome back to another episode of bucko territory i'm mark
0:12
Speaker 1: aka platinum key and joining me as always is my
0:15
Speaker 1: co-host josh harrison aka jay hey uh noah once again
0:19
Speaker 1: still in france i think he was uh like having
0:22
Speaker 1: lunch up on top of the eiffel tower or something
0:24
Speaker 1: today uh so yeah just uh Really thinking about Noah.
0:27
Speaker 1: You just try and hang in there, bud. I know
0:29
Speaker 1: it's tough over there in France and Paris. Yeah, he's fine, everyone. Yeah, no,
0:35
Speaker 1: he's really enjoying himself. So shout out to Noah. He'll
0:38
Speaker 1: be back here next week at some point. But today's episode,
0:42
Speaker 1: we're going to talk about the five pirates who are
0:45
Speaker 1: not going to be back here. As I pull up
0:48
Speaker 1: the right topic bar, there we go. So five pirates
0:51
Speaker 1: who aren't going to be back in 2027, who are
0:52
Speaker 1: on the 2026 team. Uh, we have five names for you.
0:56
Speaker 1: There might be a few others that we, we sprinkle
0:58
Speaker 1: in here. Um, we're going to start off talking about
1:01
Speaker 1: some bullpen pieces that aren't coming back specifically Gregory Soto
1:04
Speaker 1: and Kirby Yates. Uh, then we're going to talk about the, uh,
1:08
Speaker 1: the big, big name of the pirates off season, Brandon Lau.
1:11
Speaker 1: What happens if he can't come back? Are the pirates
1:14
Speaker 1: going to be able to bring him back? How can
1:15
Speaker 1: they do that? We'll talk about all of that. Then
1:18
Speaker 1: we will go into two more names possibly, uh, tied
1:25
Speaker 1: into this loud conversation. How are the pirates going? If
1:28
Speaker 1: they're going to sign him and the pirates want to
1:31
Speaker 1: continue the same payroll they've had in the past, where
1:34
Speaker 1: are they going to find that money? So are they
1:36
Speaker 1: going to do that by trading and Brian Reynolds, a
1:39
Speaker 1: Mitch Keller possibly? Uh, so two more names there, but
1:42
Speaker 1: first Josh, let's get into the bullpen here. Gregory Soto
1:47
Speaker 1: and Kirby Yates, two guys who are veterans, uh, Gregory Soto,
1:51
Speaker 1: a left-handed pitcher, um, who honestly didn't have too bad
1:56
Speaker 1: of a year, had a lot of innings pitched, a
1:58
Speaker 1: lot of strikeouts, but also had six blown saves that
2:03
Speaker 1: when Pirates fans hear the name Gregory Soto, that's where
2:06
Speaker 1: they're thinking. So I'm not expecting Soto to be back,
2:10
Speaker 1: but that also opens up a gap in the bullpen
2:13
Speaker 1: because right now you have Mason Montgomery, who's a left-handed pitcher.
2:17
Speaker 1: You have Evan Sisk, And I'm not really sure if
2:21
Speaker 1: you feel like you trust anyone else outside of those
2:23
Speaker 1: two that are a left-handed pitcher right now. So, Josh,
2:26
Speaker 1: my question to you is, are you looking at another lefty?
2:30
Speaker 1: Do you think that's something this bullpen needs? Or do
2:33
Speaker 1: you feel confident that the righties that they have are
2:35
Speaker 1: talented enough where you're not really caring about handedness?
2:41
Speaker 2: I think we kind of alluded to it a little
2:43
Speaker 2: bit when we covered the relievers that, you know, obviously
2:45
Speaker 2: the relievers are, you know, that group. is probably the
2:49
Speaker 2: least worse of the groups presented in front of us.
2:54
Speaker 2: But given that Mason Montgomery could be going to that
2:58
Speaker 2: closer role, or even doing an 8-9 based off of
3:01
Speaker 2: matchups with him and Weaver, you really don't want to
3:04
Speaker 2: put everything on Evan Sisk, who didn't have a bad year.
3:08
Speaker 2: But nonetheless, you would still like to have a lefty
3:12
Speaker 2: back there that has some experience that can go get
3:14
Speaker 2: some outs later in the game. If Montgomery's down, can
3:18
Speaker 2: fill in in the eighth inning, possibly the ninth. Just
3:22
Speaker 2: depending on the matchups and who's coming up and vice versa.
3:26
Speaker 2: But I think getting at least one more lefty out
3:29
Speaker 2: the pen that's been around the league that's established would
3:32
Speaker 2: do this bullpen some good. Just one, you allow Mason
3:35
Speaker 2: Montgomery to settle into the role he's going to be in.
3:38
Speaker 2: And then, you know, you got that other lefty that
3:40
Speaker 2: has been in that role or going to be assuming
3:43
Speaker 2: a role that they've been in previously. And it just
3:46
Speaker 2: makes your bullpen that much better, especially as you mentioned,
3:49
Speaker 2: Soto didn't have a terrible year, but you mentioned the
3:52
Speaker 2: blown saves. Obviously, those are going to be some sore
3:56
Speaker 2: thumb moments or whatever you call it to where those
3:59
Speaker 2: are going to pop out. But when you're a reliever,
4:02
Speaker 2: they say you got to have a short memory. Anybody
4:06
Speaker 2: that's going to fill that role, there's going to be
4:09
Speaker 2: outings that you got to forget. Obviously, the bad ones
4:11
Speaker 2: are the easy ones to remember for fans. I think
4:14
Speaker 2: adding a lefty possibly to you know, this bullpen, you know,
4:22
Speaker 2: and not just any lefty, as we've mentioned, you know,
4:25
Speaker 2: somebody that's been around that can assume, you know, some
4:27
Speaker 2: high leverage situations that can bridge the gap. I think
4:31
Speaker 2: we'll do this bullpen, do this team some justice. And
4:36
Speaker 2: I know we spoke a little bit, I think off
4:38
Speaker 2: air before there were a couple of names thrown out.
4:40
Speaker 2: You could probably throw a couple of those out. But
4:43
Speaker 2: just that, that's just my, my thought. Cause I, As
4:46
Speaker 2: I mentioned, Montgomery's a power lefty, came into his own. But,
4:50
Speaker 2: you know, if you're really using him for that eighth, ninth,
4:52
Speaker 2: whichever one, you still need another one or two to
4:56
Speaker 2: be able to, you know, compliment whatever, you know, the
4:59
Speaker 2: game or the series may present you. Yeah.
5:01
Speaker 1: And just those names that you referenced, Josh, there's Sean Newcomb,
5:06
Speaker 1: who's 34, had 3.5 war this past year in 2026.
5:08
Speaker 1: Steven Okert, Tyler Alexander, Alex Vessia. All those guys are
5:15
Speaker 1: left-handed pitchers, relievers who also have been in the league
5:19
Speaker 1: for a while because this Pirates bullpen is rather young.
5:25
Speaker 1: And they had Kirby Yates, that elder statesman who is
5:29
Speaker 1: back there who could provide some veteran leadership. But that's
5:32
Speaker 1: kind of lacking now in this bullpen. And so I
5:34
Speaker 1: feel like bringing in one of those guys who's been around,
5:37
Speaker 1: who's comfortable, who knows what a bullpen is like to
5:41
Speaker 1: go through 162 games all year, who's done it multiple,
5:44
Speaker 1: multiple years would really, really help just give this team
5:48
Speaker 1: some guidance. You know, maybe Mason Montgomery hits a rough patch,
5:52
Speaker 1: having someone to lean on and be like, Hey, I've
5:55
Speaker 1: been here. This happened to me. This is what I did.
5:58
Speaker 1: I got through it. You'll get through it too. Just
6:00
Speaker 1: hearing that I feel like could really help this younger
6:03
Speaker 1: bullpen continue to build, continues to succeed. So I would
6:07
Speaker 1: look to replace Kirby Yates as well. I think two
6:10
Speaker 1: additions to this bullpen would be having you feel a
6:13
Speaker 1: lot better just to counter the volatility of the bullpen.
6:17
Speaker 1: Cause you never know someone might regress. One last thing
6:21
Speaker 1: while we're talking bullpen, it seems like David Bednar is
6:24
Speaker 1: probably going to get a qualifying offer from the Yankees,
6:28
Speaker 1: which is going to be around like a one year,
6:30
Speaker 1: $ 23 million deal. He could decline that if he wants
6:34
Speaker 1: years over the one year option, but, That might be
6:37
Speaker 1: a significant hurdle, because if I'm David Bednar, getting paid
6:42
Speaker 1: $ 23 million to be a reliever sounds pretty good. So
6:46
Speaker 1: that ship might have sailed, but who knows? I'm still
6:50
Speaker 1: holding out hope that the Renegade will be played back
6:53
Speaker 1: at D & C Park here, but we'll see. So
6:55
Speaker 1: it should be a fun off-season either way. We're going
6:58
Speaker 1: to take a quick, quick break here, and when we
7:01
Speaker 1: come back, we will be discussing Brandon Lau. It's time
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Speaker 1: own Esmeralda Valdez, who we discussed in our last Stock
7:29
Speaker 1: Up segment. But today, we're going to be talking about
7:32
Speaker 1: another Pirates player whose stock is up, Rafael Flores Jr. So,
7:36
Speaker 1: Rafael Flores Jr., just like Esmeralda Valdez, really stepped up
7:40
Speaker 1: for the Pirates when some injuries happened in front of them.
7:43
Speaker 1: And to the extent now that it seems like Rafael
7:46
Speaker 1: Flores Jr. has really solidified himself going into 2027 as
7:50
Speaker 1: a member of that catcher group for the Pittsburgh Pirates,
7:53
Speaker 1: maybe even catcher one. So Josh, tell us a little
7:56
Speaker 1: bit about what really got your attention with Rafael Flores Jr.
8:00
Speaker 1: here and why his stock is up right now.
8:03
Speaker 2: Well, catcher is the most important position on the field.
8:06
Speaker 2: But more importantly, the Pirates came into the season with
8:09
Speaker 2: catcher needing a boost. And the two guys that were
8:12
Speaker 2: there before him Didn't, you know, really provide what they
8:15
Speaker 2: were looking for. And then an injury allowed him to
8:17
Speaker 2: be called up when, you know, second half of the
8:19
Speaker 2: season he hit 10 home runs in part time. So
8:24
Speaker 2: I would say that his stock was risen just from
8:26
Speaker 2: being a guy that was next man up to hitting
8:28
Speaker 2: 10 home runs after the All-Star break to having an
8:31
Speaker 2: OPS to over like 800 after I think the All-Star break.
8:35
Speaker 1: Yeah.
8:35
Speaker 2: All those things that they were looking for offensively from
8:38
Speaker 2: the catcher, you know, Rafael Flores Jr. was able to
8:42
Speaker 2: provide from the second half. So I would say his
8:44
Speaker 2: stock has risen because, as you mentioned, a lot of
8:46
Speaker 2: people have him possibly number one on their depth chart
8:49
Speaker 2: as it stands.
8:50
Speaker 1: Oh, yeah. And Pirates fans, when they first heard of
8:53
Speaker 1: Rafael Flores Jr., he was just a prospect from the
8:56
Speaker 1: Yankee system and coming over as the headline of the
8:59
Speaker 1: David Bednar trade. And so expectations were high. Those are
9:03
Speaker 1: big shoes to fill. and Rafael Flores Jr. definitely stepped
9:06
Speaker 1: up in the second half. He only played 43 games,
9:09
Speaker 1: like you mentioned, Josh, and those 10 home runs came
9:12
Speaker 1: in 43 games from a catcher. 825 OPS in the
9:16
Speaker 1: second half. Yeah, I'm very excited to see what Rafael
9:20
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9:48
Speaker 1: All right, and we are back. So the big, big
9:51
Speaker 1: story of the 2027 offseason for the Pirates, Josh, what
9:55
Speaker 1: happens with Brandon Lau? Obviously, Pirates fans, we all want
9:59
Speaker 1: him back. The guy just had such an impact, over
10:02
Speaker 1: 100 RBI, over 30 home runs.
10:05
Speaker 2: Are you sure you want him back?
10:07
Speaker 1: Yeah.
10:08
Speaker 2: No.
10:08
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm sure. Oh, yeah. Played fantastic defense, got nominated
10:13
Speaker 1: for a gold glove, was a leader on this team
10:17
Speaker 1: for a lot of the young guys, maybe not the most, like,
10:20
Speaker 1: outspoken guy but that like quiet leadership were led by
10:24
Speaker 1: example he was always you know locked into what was
10:27
Speaker 1: a pitcher doing i saw so many times where you
10:29
Speaker 1: know he pulled pulled like brian reynolds to the side
10:32
Speaker 1: and be like hey this is what i'm seeing this
10:34
Speaker 1: guy doing um and then reynolds would go up and
10:37
Speaker 1: hit a double or something and so you want brandon
10:41
Speaker 1: lau back but it's a business it's As much as
10:46
Speaker 1: Brandon Lau wants to come back, he wants to make
10:48
Speaker 1: sure his family's taken care of. This is his first
10:50
Speaker 1: time entering free agency. Projections are, I've seen like four years,
10:54
Speaker 1: 92 million, around that range, which the Pirates can do.
11:02
Speaker 1: But it might be a little hard. First, before we
11:05
Speaker 1: talk about the Pirates doing that, though, let's talk about
11:07
Speaker 1: what happens if Brandon Lau doesn't. come back to the pirates.
11:11
Speaker 1: Let's say the Yankees just give them a crazy, crazy
11:14
Speaker 1: offer to fill their second base hole, bring him back
11:17
Speaker 1: into the ALEs makes a lot of sense for New York.
11:21
Speaker 1: So let's say he signs with the Yankees. What would
11:24
Speaker 1: you did it to it as like the pirates front office, Josh,
11:27
Speaker 1: is there a player that is out there that you're
11:29
Speaker 1: focusing on that might have that kind of like power production?
11:33
Speaker 2: So given that he plays second base talk, his numbers are,
11:39
Speaker 2: I don't know. I mean, we know there's not another
11:41
Speaker 2: second baseman out there that's going to be on the market.
11:43
Speaker 2: Jazz isn't maybe. But no, no, no. I'm just saying
11:50
Speaker 2: as far as the body of work, you still wouldn't
11:52
Speaker 2: put Jazz where Lowe. And that's not taking anything away
11:56
Speaker 2: from Jazz. Jazz is an exciting player. But Brandon Lowe
12:02
Speaker 2: is due to put himself in a good position going
12:04
Speaker 2: into free agency. And if you can't replicate that you know,
12:09
Speaker 2: as second base, maybe you go elsewhere. I don't know
12:12
Speaker 2: if there's, and granted, we know the corner market, third
12:16
Speaker 2: base might be a little different too. Cause as we
12:18
Speaker 2: talk and Nick Gonzalez, possibly shifting back to second base,
12:21
Speaker 2: maybe there's a third, third baseman bat that maybe is
12:25
Speaker 2: available on the market, you know, whether it's trade free
12:27
Speaker 2: agency or something, but you want to try to find
12:30
Speaker 2: some production while not giving up too much defensive production
12:33
Speaker 2: as well. Cause you mentioned a gold glove finalist. So
12:36
Speaker 2: if there's a bat out there, um, that it doesn't
12:40
Speaker 2: necessarily have to be a second baseman if you can't
12:42
Speaker 2: sign Lyle, because you have to remember, you still have
12:45
Speaker 2: Nick Gonzalez that is, you know, possibly, you know what
12:49
Speaker 2: I mean? So, um, obviously you, you mentioned jazz, there's,
12:54
Speaker 2: you know, Cattell Marte who had a whole lot going on, um,
12:57
Speaker 2: whose name has been in trade, you know, discussions, you know,
13:01
Speaker 2: every year. So not to say anything doesn't happen, but
13:05
Speaker 2: you know, those are players that, okay, you can revert
13:07
Speaker 2: back to, but as I said, it doesn't have to
13:09
Speaker 2: be a second baseman. And I'll leave this.
13:12
Speaker 1: Next one up to you.
13:13
Speaker 2: Cause I know there was somebody that you kind of
13:16
Speaker 2: been keeping tabs on that could possibly, you know, make
13:18
Speaker 2: us make sense where it's not a second baseman, but
13:21
Speaker 2: this is somebody that, you know, could potentially be an interesting,
13:25
Speaker 2: you know, piece to add that could, you know, might
13:27
Speaker 2: necessarily not necessarily be Brandon Lyle, but, you know, could potentially,
13:31
Speaker 2: you know, be, you know, lightning in a bottle.
13:33
Speaker 1: Yeah. So we talked this whole pass off season about
13:38
Speaker 1: the Pirates signing Japanese ballplayers with Okamoto and Murakami. Third
13:42
Speaker 1: baseman were like, oh, this would be such a great fit.
13:45
Speaker 1: And it didn't happen. But there's another Japanese third baseman
13:50
Speaker 1: coming to Major League Baseball. He was just recently posted,
13:53
Speaker 1: Teruaki Sato. Hopefully I'm pronouncing his name correctly. But he
13:58
Speaker 1: hit over 300 in MPB last year, hit 39 home runs,
14:02
Speaker 1: had 106 RBI. He's 27. His defense at third base
14:07
Speaker 1: is okay. He was a gold glove finalist or won
14:10
Speaker 1: a gold glove in 2025. But I've seen some comments
14:13
Speaker 1: that it might not stick at the hot corner long term.
14:17
Speaker 1: So very, very similar profile to Munataka Murakami. Sato also
14:24
Speaker 1: kind of has a high strikeout rate, but has a serious,
14:27
Speaker 1: serious power. And so there's, there might be some questions
14:30
Speaker 1: to how will that translate to MLB? Uh, right now
14:34
Speaker 1: Sato is like projected. They're thinking maybe around like six years,
14:38
Speaker 1: 120 million, uh, which might be out of the pirates
14:42
Speaker 1: price range, especially when you take into account that doesn't
14:45
Speaker 1: include the posting fee, which would probably be like 20
14:47
Speaker 1: million itself as well. But a 27 year old third
14:52
Speaker 1: baseman who can hit 39 home runs or, have that
14:56
Speaker 1: kind of power would really help replace a lot of
15:00
Speaker 1: that vacancy left by Brandon Lau. Again, that six-year 120
15:05
Speaker 1: million mark, if that's what he's getting, probably not going
15:09
Speaker 1: to be in Pittsburgh. But if something similar happens to
15:11
Speaker 1: what happened to Murakami, where there's a lot of apprehension
15:15
Speaker 1: from teams, where they weren't sure how well it would translate,
15:19
Speaker 1: coming across the Pacific, and is that strikeout rate going
15:23
Speaker 1: to be amplified? Is that power going to dampen? And
15:27
Speaker 1: obviously we saw with Murakami it worked out. And after
15:30
Speaker 1: his two-year deal is up, he's going to get a
15:33
Speaker 1: very nice contract. So maybe something happens with Sato like that,
15:38
Speaker 1: where a two-year contract would be perfect for the Pirates,
15:41
Speaker 1: where you have Conor Griffin. He's only making $ 2 million
15:45
Speaker 1: this year, right? Brandon Lau is coming off the books.
15:47
Speaker 1: $ 8 million of Gregory Soto is off the books. $ 12
15:50
Speaker 1: million from Ozuna is off the books. yeah, you still
15:53
Speaker 1: have a payroll that's probably going to be $ 100 million
15:57
Speaker 1: without any additions after arbitration. But if you can get, say,
16:02
Speaker 1: the one-and-two-year deal, I feel like that's manageable for the
16:05
Speaker 1: Pittsburgh Pirates. So that's where I would be looking. But, yeah,
16:09
Speaker 1: go ahead.
16:10
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, I was just going to add to that
16:12
Speaker 2: to say projections are projections, you know, but that doesn't
16:15
Speaker 2: necessarily mean that is what it is. So, as you said,
16:19
Speaker 2: if that was to potentially happen where, you know, Their
16:22
Speaker 2: teams are apprehensive and it turns into a possible two-year deal.
16:26
Speaker 2: You know, that might be right up the Pirate's Alley,
16:28
Speaker 2: given the range. And, you know, we already talked about
16:31
Speaker 2: third base being a spot that could be a potential
16:33
Speaker 2: stopgap position for, you know, Murph Gray. So that's another
16:38
Speaker 2: thing where you don't want to commit. If you don't
16:40
Speaker 2: sign Brandon Lyle, which is what you're trying to do
16:43
Speaker 2: to lock down second base. right now we talked about
16:46
Speaker 2: reverting to, you know, finding help at third base, but
16:48
Speaker 2: you still don't want it to be committed too long term,
16:51
Speaker 2: especially with knowing that you got somebody knocking on the door.
16:54
Speaker 2: So if he was to, you know, the projections aren't
16:57
Speaker 2: six years and they fall down to, I was just
16:59
Speaker 2: going to say that's kind of right into that range.
17:01
Speaker 1: But yeah.
17:03
Speaker 2: So that was just where I was going. Yeah.
17:05
Speaker 1: I think that's the only scenario where Sato is a
17:08
Speaker 1: Pittsburgh pirate. But again, that's, well within the realm of possibility,
17:14
Speaker 1: I think. Right. And, and also I think just having,
17:18
Speaker 1: you know, Japanese players like to like kind of have
17:19
Speaker 1: their own team, not to like steal the spotlight necessarily
17:23
Speaker 1: from the other players. So like, I don't know if
17:26
Speaker 1: Sato would, obviously the position with Murakami, I don't think
17:29
Speaker 1: the White Sox are going to be in, on Sato
17:32
Speaker 1: unless he's going to play corner outfield or something, but
17:35
Speaker 1: either way, it's going to be an exciting off season.
17:38
Speaker 1: One last note on Sato, now that he was posted,
17:42
Speaker 1: if he doesn't sign before December 1st, his like, yeah,
17:47
Speaker 1: his 45 window pauses. So he can still negotiate after,
17:51
Speaker 1: but we may see him signing like around Thanksgiving just
17:56
Speaker 1: with like teams trying to get in before the CBA.
18:00
Speaker 2: Yeah. That's, that's what I was going to say.
18:02
Speaker 1: So we'll see it. His things like with his market
18:05
Speaker 1: could heat up very, very quickly right after the world
18:08
Speaker 1: series completes. So, Keep your eye on that after December 1st. Obviously,
18:12
Speaker 1: things are going to slow way down. But that might
18:15
Speaker 1: be one of those moves that happens before then. So
18:18
Speaker 1: keep your eye on that. All right. And now transitioning over,
18:23
Speaker 1: if the Pirates were to try to keep Brandon Lau,
18:26
Speaker 1: they're going to have to find some money somewhere probably,
18:29
Speaker 1: which means getting rid of guys on existing deals, trading
18:33
Speaker 1: them somewhere for something. Those two names, probably Brian Reynolds.
18:39
Speaker 1: or Mitch Keller. Josh, of those two, who would you
18:44
Speaker 1: think makes more sense for the Pirates to move on
18:47
Speaker 1: from right now, taking into account what they get in
18:49
Speaker 1: return and all of that?
18:53
Speaker 2: Just as things stand right now, you know, those are
18:56
Speaker 2: two guys that when you mention Pirates, they probably have
18:58
Speaker 2: the two longest tenure on the team. So it's like,
19:02
Speaker 2: it's not going to be easy to just part ways
19:05
Speaker 2: with either of those guys because they have, you know,
19:07
Speaker 2: longstanding within a relationship, you know, within the organization, front office,
19:11
Speaker 2: all those things. So it's one of those things where
19:13
Speaker 2: they're going to not necessarily tread lightly, but, you know,
19:15
Speaker 2: it's going to make sense. But given where they are,
19:18
Speaker 2: it's one of those things where I said, whose value
19:22
Speaker 2: is higher right now would probably be Brian Reynolds because
19:25
Speaker 2: he's healthy and, you know, he still has somewhat of
19:28
Speaker 2: a productive season. Mitch Keller may be on the lower
19:32
Speaker 2: end of value just due to not that great of
19:35
Speaker 2: a year this past year, tailed off a little bit
19:37
Speaker 2: the year before, but more so injury.
19:39
Speaker 1: Right.
19:40
Speaker 2: But it's one of those things of you might be
19:45
Speaker 2: a little underwhelmed with what you could get for Mitch Keller,
19:48
Speaker 2: but you might want a little bit more for Brian Reynolds.
19:51
Speaker 2: But a team may say, well, if we're giving you this, well,
19:53
Speaker 2: you got to eat this much salary or vice versa.
19:56
Speaker 2: So it might be a little easier to maybe unload,
20:03
Speaker 2: you know, Mitch Keller's contract per se. But. you also
20:07
Speaker 2: know going into the season that you're trying to fill
20:09
Speaker 2: that fifth starter and Mitch was a question mark. So
20:13
Speaker 2: does that make it easier to say, okay, let's part
20:15
Speaker 2: with that and start fresh? Or do you, you know,
20:19
Speaker 2: as I said, Mitch is the longest tenure. They want
20:21
Speaker 2: to make sure, you know what I mean? So there
20:23
Speaker 2: is not that easy of a move to say, okay, yeah,
20:25
Speaker 2: let's just get rid of riches, you know, money, or
20:27
Speaker 2: let's just get rid of Brian Reynolds. There's things that
20:29
Speaker 2: go along with it. And especially for Mitch coming back
20:31
Speaker 2: from injury, if a team is taken on a trade,
20:34
Speaker 2: they're going to, you know, medical, records um what's his
20:38
Speaker 2: progress like um so these are things but if you
20:42
Speaker 2: were to go around i would say probably more that
20:44
Speaker 2: route because you can try you're already in the market
20:47
Speaker 2: looking for a fifth starter um reynolds is going to
20:51
Speaker 2: be hard to find that production if you were to
20:53
Speaker 2: trade him especially given that the outfield is one of
20:55
Speaker 2: the stronger suits right now maybe not defensively but if
20:58
Speaker 2: you're not going to be that good defensively reynolds also
21:01
Speaker 2: slots into that dh where I just think it makes
21:03
Speaker 2: more sense to where if you have to make a
21:06
Speaker 2: move with one of those two, just what have you
21:09
Speaker 2: done for me lately? Mitch has been injured and it's
21:12
Speaker 2: going to be a little easier probably to make something
21:14
Speaker 2: work with him as opposed to, I mean, not saying
21:17
Speaker 2: you got to let Mitch walk because that's a guy
21:19
Speaker 2: that's done some things for you, but it's going to
21:21
Speaker 2: be a little tough sledding with, with Reynolds trying to
21:24
Speaker 2: replace his production. Right. Yeah.
21:27
Speaker 1: I think just at the offset, like, or at the outset,
21:31
Speaker 1: I wouldn't trade either of these guys unless you're going
21:33
Speaker 1: to do something with that savings. Like if you're just
21:37
Speaker 1: trading them to get their contracts off the book, I
21:39
Speaker 1: don't want anything to do with that. If you're going
21:41
Speaker 1: to use that money then to go improve the team considerably,
21:46
Speaker 1: just reallocate that where it's a better expenditure that you
21:49
Speaker 1: think like a Brandon Lau, then I would fully be
21:53
Speaker 1: on board. But yeah, these guys are just too important
21:55
Speaker 1: to the franchise and I've been through so much of
21:58
Speaker 1: the mud of these, the, this whole, whole rebuild. And
22:03
Speaker 1: so you want to see them get to the end
22:05
Speaker 1: and see them make it to the playoffs and be
22:08
Speaker 1: part of that celebration, just from the human element, from
22:11
Speaker 1: the leadership that they bring. So I get that. But
22:15
Speaker 1: at the same time, I think if you're going to
22:18
Speaker 1: save money, I think Mitch Keller is the move.
22:21
Speaker 2: And if they can end up being part of a
22:24
Speaker 2: piece that helps you get to the next step. Yes.
22:27
Speaker 2: You want them to be a part of it, but
22:29
Speaker 2: you know what, if that person is allowing you to
22:31
Speaker 2: get to the playoffs, right. That's, that's business. That's part
22:34
Speaker 2: of it. You know, for us, former players, the game
22:38
Speaker 2: is going to continue to move on. You know, injuries
22:41
Speaker 2: are part of it. Trades are part of it. That's
22:43
Speaker 2: the business side. But as a fan, as you said,
22:46
Speaker 2: the personal moments, these guys have tenure. You want to
22:49
Speaker 2: see them see it through, but you know, at the
22:51
Speaker 2: same time as a fan, it's like, if that helps
22:54
Speaker 2: our team gets better, you know, sometimes that's, that's the,
22:57
Speaker 2: that's the sucky part of baseball, the human element. Dang,
23:01
Speaker 2: this person would have been nice here, but at the
23:03
Speaker 2: same time, you know what? I, I haven't felt this
23:06
Speaker 2: feeling in a while, you know? So it's one of
23:08
Speaker 2: those win, win, lose, lose. And it's just, you know what? That's,
23:12
Speaker 2: that's the sport. That's sports. That's the beauty of it.
23:16
Speaker 1: Oh yeah. Pirates fans would give up quite a bit.
23:19
Speaker 1: I think for just one more chance at the playoffs again, So, yeah,
23:23
Speaker 1: if that requires a Brian Reynolds or a Mitch Keller,
23:27
Speaker 1: then you got to do it. You got to make
23:28
Speaker 1: the tough decision, bite the bullet and continue to improve
23:32
Speaker 1: this team because they are just so, so close. And
23:35
Speaker 1: I think bringing a Brandon Lau back, you know, instead
23:39
Speaker 1: of a Mitch Keller would make that team way, way better.
23:43
Speaker 1: But yeah, I don't know what you're going to get
23:45
Speaker 1: from Mitch Keller, given his contract and the injury history
23:48
Speaker 1: and what happened before the injury. it's probably the worst
23:52
Speaker 1: time to trade Mitch Keller. I think it's a really
23:56
Speaker 1: good time to trade Brian Reynolds, but obviously that's a
24:00
Speaker 1: lot of production that then you also have to fill
24:02
Speaker 1: because if you're trading Reynolds to get Lau, it's like, okay, well,
24:07
Speaker 1: you filled the one hole, you whacked one mole, and
24:09
Speaker 1: now another one popped up that you can't fix. So
24:13
Speaker 1: I don't know if that would be easier to fix
24:15
Speaker 1: in the outfield. They obviously have more depth, I think,
24:18
Speaker 1: in the outfield than infield. But yeah, it's going to
24:22
Speaker 1: be tough. And just final thoughts here. Some other names
24:26
Speaker 1: of players that I thought we possibly could include that
24:30
Speaker 1: might not be back. We previously mentioned Andy Rodriguez. He
24:35
Speaker 1: might be non-tender given the serious hip injury and then
24:40
Speaker 1: re-signed to a minor league deal. So maybe not back
24:42
Speaker 1: with the Pirates per se, but hopefully still within the organization.
24:46
Speaker 1: I always love me some Andy. And then as well,
24:50
Speaker 1: Carmen Majinski possibly another trade candidate. If you want, if
24:56
Speaker 1: he's still demanding to be a starter, if he hasn't
25:00
Speaker 1: bought into the bullpen, I think we could see Carmen
25:02
Speaker 1: Majinski moved. Also just a solid trade ship. I feel
25:06
Speaker 1: like for the pirates who, if you're going to bill
25:09
Speaker 1: them as a starter teams might bite. We saw what
25:12
Speaker 1: kind of return Mike Burrows got, you know, from the
25:15
Speaker 1: Rays and Astros that brought in wow Montgomery and all that. So,
25:20
Speaker 1: Another young pitcher with control. Who knows? You might be
25:23
Speaker 1: able to get a team to buy.
25:24
Speaker 2: Something on that. Everybody's got their own scouting report, scouting department,
25:29
Speaker 2: and they all see things differently. And, you know, as
25:32
Speaker 2: you said, it might be one of those things. And
25:35
Speaker 2: this time of year, you know, some of the names
25:38
Speaker 2: you mentioned, there will be some other guys on other teams. Like,
25:41
Speaker 2: there's going to be some moves made that just, you know, are, hey,
25:44
Speaker 2: this is– part of, you know, the off season shuffling
25:48
Speaker 2: of trying to fill out a roster for the next
25:50
Speaker 2: season and years beyond. So you see trades, you see
25:55
Speaker 2: non tenders, you see extent, like you see, you see
25:58
Speaker 2: things that just, okay. And maybe this year before December 1st,
26:03
Speaker 2: it could get a little crazy.
26:05
Speaker 1: I'm hoping so. Yeah. And we will be here for
26:08
Speaker 1: you for all the craziness up until December 1st and beyond.
26:12
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26:16
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Speaker 1: It's some pretty nice stuff on there. Josh, any final thoughts?
26:39
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, keep hitting that subscribe button. Go get some
26:42
Speaker 2: swag from the store and me. I got on since
26:45
Speaker 2: he had his home, his homecoming weekend for the Bearcats.
26:50
Speaker 2: Four and two. We got a big team coming in.
26:52
Speaker 2: Texas Tech number eight. That'll be a fun one. I
26:55
Speaker 2: think this run. I think this runs a stretch of
26:57
Speaker 2: like four or five of some of our next opponents
27:00
Speaker 2: are all top 25. We got them. Then we got Utah.
27:04
Speaker 2: We got BYU. But let's start. Let's start with Texas Tech.
27:09
Speaker 2: But a homecoming weekend. You see you see me representing.
27:12
Speaker 2: Let's go, baby.
27:14
Speaker 1: I would say I love that, but I'm a Xavier grad,
27:17
Speaker 1: so Josh and I have a little Cincinnati rivalry here.
27:21
Speaker 1: So whenever I see him wearing that, it's like, ugh.
27:24
Speaker 1: But yeah, we only have football.
27:26
Speaker 2: He knows where he wants to be. Yeah, yeah.
27:28
Speaker 1: All right, well, I'm Platinum Key, a.k.a. Mark. He's Josh Harrison.
27:32
Speaker 1: We're signing off from another episode of Bucko Territory, presented
27:35
Speaker 1: to you by the Foul Territory Network. Take care.
27:40
Speaker 2: Thank you.