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Will the Pirates bring back Brandon Lowe? · Bucco Territory: A Pittsburgh Pirates Podcast

• 0:10
  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, Josh Harrison, a.k.a.
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: Jay Hay, and Platinum Key, a.k.a.
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: Mark. It is Monday, September 21st.
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: The Pirates just concluded a very successful weekend against the
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: Kansas City Royals.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: They're a couple games over 500 now.
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: But the big story to come out from this weekend
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: was reported by my pal, Colin.
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: Beasley of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: He had a nice interview with Brandon Lau over the
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: weekend about the idea of Brandon Lau returning to the Pirates.
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: And that's how we're going to open today's show. Basically,
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: he said, I'm all ears. That he enjoyed his time
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: with the Pirates. He's open to just about anything. He
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: said he's going to listen to all the offers, as
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: he absolutely should. But he said the Pirates haven't reached out,
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: or to his knowledge, haven't reached out. and he kind
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: of hopes they do because he thinks this team has
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: a future.
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: So, Mark, I'll start with you. How do you feel
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: in reading this story? Does it give.
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: You any hope that this is actually going to happen,
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: or was it just like, oh, it's nice to see
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: Brandon Lau cares about the Titans? Yeah.
• 1:23
  Speaker 3: So, yeah, I mean, that story didn't change too much because, frankly,
• 1:26
  Speaker 3: just watching Brandon Lau, I think you can see that
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: he enjoys being a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Just
• 1:31
  Speaker 3: watching his interactions in the dugout, His comments after the
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: game talking about how much this team has continued to improve.
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: I actually believe that he would absolutely sign a contract
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: if the Pirates offered him a competitive deal at market value.
• 1:46
  Speaker 3: That's a big if, considering it's going to take a
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: lot to sign him. He's not going to be cheap.
• 1:51
  Speaker 3: But I tweeted this out earlier today. One of the
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: biggest hurdles we saw the whole offseason with the Pittsburgh
• 1:59
  Speaker 3: Pirates last year was that they had to pay more
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: than everyone else to sign the big names. And they
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: lost out on a lot of guys because they offered
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: them what the market value was. But they had to
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: pay more if they really wanted them to come to
• 2:11
  Speaker 3: Pittsburgh because they've lost every single year since 2018. You know,
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: it's not like the most appealing franchise if you want
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: to come and win a championship where you could go
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: sign with like the Blue Jays or someone else. And
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: so you've already overcome that big initial hurdle with Brandon Lau.
• 2:28
  Speaker 3: You've convinced him that this is a franchise that he
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: can succeed at, that he can contribute at, that he's
• 2:32
  Speaker 3: a good fit for. And so I feel like that
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: is significant. If you're actually just going to get him
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: at market value, I feel like that's a great expenditure
• 2:40
  Speaker 3: of money. But I, again, that market value is going
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: to be a lot.
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: Well, it's just like, why should he be expected to
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: sign for market value? Like what, what, why in the
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: world would Brandon Lau not get the most money possible?
• 2:55
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: Like, I'm sorry. Like, I get it.
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: Like, he likes Pittsburgh. His bat plays well in this ballpark.
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: He thinks the Pirates don't have promise. What of those
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: things do you not get with the New York Yankees?
• 3:09
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: Or the Dodgers, right? Like, the Yankees have a very
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: short porch in right field, too. They're a lot better.
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: Yeah, taxes, I guess. There's that, right.
• 3:20
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: Taxes, I mean, but I mean, you go to.
• 3:22
  Speaker 4: Go to.
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: The Rangers. I don't know.
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: There's plenty of other places that you could explore. And
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: it's just like, to build off what you're saying, Mark,
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: he wants to be here So do what you need
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  Speaker 2: to do to get them.
• 3:39
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: And again, it's not just market value here because Brandon
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: Lau shouldn't be a guy who just settles. Like Brandon
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: Lau deserves to get the highest paid deal. And if you,
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: the pirates recognize this, think of the message. And this
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: is where I want to bring Josh in after I
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: finished this point. Think of the message this sends to
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: your team that this guy goes out, has this awesome
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: year right before free agency. Everyone on the team loves him.
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: Everyone on the team thinks he makes the team better.
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  Speaker 2: And you go out and you outbid large market teams
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  Speaker 2: and get.
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: Him to sign here.
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: And maybe, yeah, he doesn't take the absolute highest offer.
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: But maybe you overpay for what his expected AAV is.
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: And part of that is rewarding Brandon Lowe. for what
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: he will provide, not just on the field, but off
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: the field in the future. But also it's maybe just
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: a statement to your organization. It's like, hey, you know what?
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: We're still making up for lost time. We got to
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: overpay a little bit here.
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: This is a statement and we're making an investment.
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: And think of the message that sends to the clubhouse,
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: just to baseball as a whole, that the Pirates were
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: not going to let Brandon Lau leave no matter what. Josh,
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: I mean, you've been on small market teams like this.
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: You've seen some of your teammates get poached. What would
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: that mean for a team like this with a whole
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: bunch of young guys for the team to go out
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: and do anything necessary to retain its leader?
• 5:13
  Speaker 4: It's in the big message. Obviously, you said one, you
• 5:17
  Speaker 4: mentioned him being a leader. He's been a guy that
• 5:19
  Speaker 4: stepped in and, you know, one way or another been
• 5:23
  Speaker 4: a very, you know, prominent figure in that clubhouse, you know,
• 5:27
  Speaker 4: through the whole season and he's, you know, strapped it
• 5:29
  Speaker 4: on every day. So that would be something that would
• 5:31
  Speaker 4: be a sending a message to say, Hey, let's run
• 5:33
  Speaker 4: this back. No things might have not have, you know,
• 5:36
  Speaker 4: gone the way that we wanted to this year, but
• 5:39
  Speaker 4: here's a message to say that, you know, we're trying
• 5:42
  Speaker 4: to continue to the momentum that we did gain and,
• 5:46
  Speaker 4: What better way to say that than sending a message
• 5:48
  Speaker 4: by signing, you know, like one of your guys that
• 5:50
  Speaker 4: you consider, you know, a big leader in that clubhouse.
• 5:54
  Speaker 4: And obviously, you know, he's putting on a career year,
• 5:57
  Speaker 4: obviously heading to a free agency. You're going to have
• 5:59
  Speaker 4: to pay. You're going to have to pay. So there's
• 6:01
  Speaker 4: no way around it. But when you have a guy
• 6:05
  Speaker 4: like Lau, you know, speak to the media about the
• 6:10
  Speaker 4: way they did, about how he likes Pittsburgh, how he
• 6:13
  Speaker 4: likes the guys there, his belief that there's something special there.
• 6:16
  Speaker 4: That right there is a sign, too, that, hey, there's
• 6:19
  Speaker 4: mutual interest if there is mutual. You know what I'm saying?
• 6:21
  Speaker 4: So not saying you need to go into this to say, oh,
• 6:24
  Speaker 4: this guy wants to be here. He likes it here.
• 6:26
  Speaker 4: Don't lowball him, as you said. You have to do
• 6:29
  Speaker 4: what you have to do to keep this guy here.
• 6:33
  Speaker 4: And I'm not speaking it, but who's to say that
• 6:37
  Speaker 4: if it's a competitive offer, like you said, Noah, and
• 6:39
  Speaker 4: you overpay a little bit, who's to say that he's like,
• 6:42
  Speaker 4: you know what, I don't even really need to talk
• 6:45
  Speaker 4: to other teams. Cause this was a place that I
• 6:47
  Speaker 4: mentioned to the media that I like being, that I
• 6:49
  Speaker 4: like being here. I like this place here. So, you know,
• 6:52
  Speaker 4: them kind of putting their money where their mouth is,
• 6:54
  Speaker 4: if that's the case, you know, um, would definitely send
• 6:58
  Speaker 4: a message, especially to those guys in that clubhouse. Cause
• 7:00
  Speaker 4: he was a guy that I highlighted on the J
• 7:03
  Speaker 4: now about, you know, speaking to the media in those
• 7:05
  Speaker 4: rough patches and leading by example. So that was another
• 7:08
  Speaker 4: reason why I said, sends a message to the clubhouse,
• 7:10
  Speaker 4: but if it's to happen, we know it won't be easy,
• 7:13
  Speaker 4: but I mean, And it's not going to. Yeah, to
• 7:16
  Speaker 4: y'all point is, I mean, that's kind of their own
• 7:19
  Speaker 4: doing too.
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: Yep. Yeah, it's not going to. You could do it.
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: I mean, you could get creative.
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: Maybe it means trading Brian Reynolds to offload some salary
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: to have some extra money or trading Mitch Keller, which
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: I think fans would probably be cool with either of
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: those moves. You know, I mean, you could just also
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: just spend money.
• 7:42
  Speaker 4: That's, but yeah. Bottom line, you're saying bring him back.
• 7:46
  Speaker 4: Do what you have to do to bring him back.
• 7:48
  Speaker 4: Do what you've got.
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: To do to get him back here. Right. All right.
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: He's not the only player that deserves an extension on
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: this team, though. We're going to talk about other offseason
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: extension candidates here on Bucko Territory. But first, a word
• 8:03
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• 9:07
  Speaker 1: Alright, so.
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: Other offseason extension candidates. This last offseason, it was all
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: about the Connor Griffin extension. There have been offseasons where
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: it was Mitch Keller's extension. It was Brian Reynolds, Brian Hayes.
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: There have been talks about other guys who extensions never
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: came to fruition.
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: I think there are more than a few.
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: Guys that would be wise to extend this offseason.
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: Let's get into them. Josh, who do you think? Who's
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: your first pick?
• 9:38
  Speaker 4: My first pick that I would say is going to
• 9:41
  Speaker 4: be O'Neal Cruz. I know a lot of the media
• 9:45
  Speaker 4: and everything, the biggest person, biggest name is obviously going
• 9:48
  Speaker 4: to be Paul. We know the dynamic between that is
• 9:51
  Speaker 4: going to be something that we're not even going to
• 9:52
  Speaker 4: go down. But O'Neal, I think he'd be a good
• 9:57
  Speaker 4: candidate just given, you know, I think he just, secured
• 10:00
  Speaker 4: what his third 2020 season. Yep. Which is, that's not
• 10:05
  Speaker 4: easy to do. And given that he missed time this year,
• 10:08
  Speaker 4: I think he's missed some time in the past due
• 10:10
  Speaker 4: to injury. You know what you're getting if he's healthy.
• 10:13
  Speaker 4: And he also plays center field, which I think he's
• 10:16
  Speaker 4: gotten better at. You've extended Conrad short. you extend him
• 10:19
  Speaker 4: in center field, you do something about the catching, whether
• 10:23
  Speaker 4: you go sign somebody as we talked about in the
• 10:26
  Speaker 4: previous episode, or, I mean, that's all directly in the
• 10:29
  Speaker 4: middle of the field, but that's where you want to
• 10:31
  Speaker 4: protect the ball. And that's some of your marquee positions.
• 10:33
  Speaker 4: And O'Neal is a guy for me that, you know,
• 10:35
  Speaker 4: kind of jumped out to me given how he's come
• 10:37
  Speaker 4: back from this injury. I will put O'Neal there.
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: I like it.
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: I mean, if, Again, we said, you offload Reynolds, you
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: just bring all that money right to O'Neal Cruz. My
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: only hesitancy is, I believe his number was like $ 200
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: million the last time they talked extension, and I don't
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: anticipate that number going any lower.
• 11:01
  Speaker 4: Big lower.
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so good luck.
• 11:07
  Speaker 4: Anyway.
• 11:08
  Speaker 3: I feel like O'Neal Cruz is one of the hardest
• 11:09
  Speaker 3: players in baseball to offer a contract extension to. Just
• 11:13
  Speaker 3: because that ceiling of what he can do is so high,
• 11:18
  Speaker 3: but also he hasn't really had the production to back
• 11:20
  Speaker 3: up that ceiling quite yet. We've seen the flashes of it.
• 11:24
  Speaker 4: Position change.
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: He's also had four agents. That does not help.
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: Josh knows this.
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: In baseball, there's that guy in every clubhouse who switches
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: agents every year. That is difficult for the front office
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: because normally an extension is.
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: A process that takes time.
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: Like you're, you're floating it out and then you talk
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: a little bit of numbers and then like, okay, like, you.
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: Know, Hey, if this happens this year, then we'll talk more.
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: And when you're switching agents every year, it's a little difficult.
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: So that's where we stand on that one. I'm going
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: to go ahead and give one real quick.
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: Josh kind of mentioned the Paul schemes extension idea. We're
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: not going down that road, but what about a different route?
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: What about Bubba Chandler? Um, I think Bubba Chandler took
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: a big step forward this year, uh, as, as the
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: year progressed. I mean, I think you could argue of
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: all the starters who benefited from internal pirates coaching.
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: He might be number one on that list. Um, and
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: he's still so young.
• 12:32
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: I think he has the highest ceiling out of anyone
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: in this rotation, not named Paul Skeens. And, uh, yeah,
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: if you can't keep Paul, why not keep the next
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: best option? This is a guy who's probably going to
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: be an all-star has ACE quality stuff. Um, and I
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: think it has probably the athletic build to avoid a
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: lot of injury concern. So, and it's still too early
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: to like talk about a Seth Hernandez extension.
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: I think this is like the happy medium here with
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: Bubba Chandler.
• 13:01
  Speaker 3: And I think it's probably the last year that he's
• 13:03
  Speaker 3: going to be like within the Pirates wheelhouse. Because if
• 13:07
  Speaker 3: he has a blow up year, like where he actually
• 13:10
  Speaker 3: is an all-star next year, I just, I don't think
• 13:13
  Speaker 3: he's going to be within the Pirates price range for
• 13:14
  Speaker 3: much longer. So if you believe in his ceiling, which
• 13:18
  Speaker 3: I personally do, I think this is the off season
• 13:21
  Speaker 3: where you actually go out and get that inked with
• 13:23
  Speaker 3: Bubba Chandler, because that really helps your rotation down the
• 13:27
  Speaker 3: line once Seth Hernandez is up here.
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 13:31
  Speaker 4: Yeah. I mean, I don't disagree with, you know, Everything
• 13:35
  Speaker 4: that y'all said, Bubba would be a good candidate, as
• 13:37
  Speaker 4: you said, young, still early in his career, but has
• 13:40
  Speaker 4: shown taking those strides. And you still want to solidify,
• 13:44
  Speaker 4: you know, your starting rotation. And some of those other
• 13:47
  Speaker 4: guys are going to be a little trickier. And if
• 13:48
  Speaker 4: you can get somebody that has been making strides that
• 13:51
  Speaker 4: you know is, I don't like using this word, but controllable,
• 13:55
  Speaker 4: you know, it makes sense, especially with a guy with
• 13:59
  Speaker 4: Bubba's arsenal. And, you know, if he's only going to
• 14:02
  Speaker 4: get better, as you guys mentioned, this is the time
• 14:04
  Speaker 4: to do it.
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: All right, Mark, bring us home.
• 14:07
  Speaker 3: I'll round us out. Coming in at the end here,
• 14:11
  Speaker 3: you know, makes sense that we bring up the guy
• 14:13
  Speaker 3: who's been coming in at the end of games with
• 14:15
  Speaker 3: a slow heartbeat. Mason Montgomery has been so refreshing to
• 14:20
  Speaker 3: watch in the second half here. The Pirates have their
• 14:23
  Speaker 3: closer to the future, it seems like. And frankly, just
• 14:27
  Speaker 3: like we were saying with Bubba, you know, get him
• 14:29
  Speaker 3: locked up while you still can. He's looking like one
• 14:32
  Speaker 3: of the best relievers in baseball today. but he also
• 14:35
  Speaker 3: has only shown that for a limited sample size. So
• 14:38
  Speaker 3: you have some negotiation power as the pirates just get
• 14:41
  Speaker 3: this guy extended possibly while you can. He's under control.
• 14:46
  Speaker 3: He's not even in arbitration yet. He won't even be,
• 14:48
  Speaker 3: he's still pre-arb. So, you know, maybe this is too early.
• 14:51
  Speaker 3: Maybe this is a guy you look down the line, see,
• 14:53
  Speaker 3: is this just a flash in the pan or do
• 14:56
  Speaker 3: you want to wait? I feel like that he, of
• 15:00
  Speaker 3: the three guys we've mentioned, I feel like he was one,
• 15:03
  Speaker 3: he's the one that makes the least sense to extend
• 15:05
  Speaker 3: this off season. I'd focus.
• 15:09
  Speaker 4: I mean, yeah, but I still wouldn't be, I was
• 15:11
  Speaker 4: gonna say, yeah, but I still wouldn't jump the gun
• 15:14
  Speaker 4: on that. Cause a full season next year, he could
• 15:17
  Speaker 4: very well be super two to where it's not uncommon
• 15:21
  Speaker 4: for relievers to work out multi-year arbitration deals. Cause sometimes
• 15:24
  Speaker 4: those are, you know, it's not like they're going to
• 15:27
  Speaker 4: have this record breaking starting pitcher, you know, but you know,
• 15:33
  Speaker 4: I think keeping a tap on him is not, is
• 15:36
  Speaker 4: not the worst idea, especially knowing that, you know, the
• 15:38
  Speaker 4: bullpen is something that they want to continue to make
• 15:41
  Speaker 4: sure is good. And if that's your closer to future,
• 15:45
  Speaker 4: you know, that's something that if he does pitch well
• 15:48
  Speaker 4: next year again, and he's doing that, I mean, you know,
• 15:51
  Speaker 4: he's going to be past, you know, going to his
• 15:53
  Speaker 4: first year arbitration. So it doesn't make, I mean, I
• 15:56
  Speaker 4: don't think it's completely out of the question if he
• 15:58
  Speaker 4: continues to do what he's doing that, you know, he
• 16:01
  Speaker 4: could be a potential one next year for sure. what
• 16:04
  Speaker 4: were you going to say, Noah?
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: I was just going to say small market teams typically
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: don't extend relief creatures. Uh, that, that is a luxury
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: that is almost exclusive to, to large markets. And cause
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: in the sense where they just look at it, it's like,
• 16:19
  Speaker 2: all right, like we can replicate what happened with Mason Montgomery.
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: And in a way, I don't think that that's an
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: arrogant thing to believe. I know that like you look
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: at their bullpen this year and how bad it was, but, um,
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: I mean, before him, they turned Dennis Santana into a
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: really good pitcher until he wasn't.
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: And he used to say that won't happen. Johan Ramirez.
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: I mean, David Bednar was a throw-in in a trade
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: and became probably the most successful trade acquisition prior to
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: Brandon Lau or maybe Mason Montgomery.
• 16:51
  Speaker 4: So....
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: It's just, that's just a luxury where it's like, if
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: you're going to invest, I don't disagree with what Josh said.
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: I don't disagree with the notion of doing it. It's
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: just kind of like, they only have so much money
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: to throw around. And they look at that. I think
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: they would rather him become elite and flip him for something.
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: Then try to find.
• 17:16
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: Right. Then that's just how it works. Cause they're at
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: the end of the day, they're just thinking we need
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: him for three outs. Now, it also depends on where
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: they are as an organization. Like, if they get to
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: a point in a couple years where they have a
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: couple of starters locked up, they have Conor already signed,
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: they find a way to extend O'Neal. Like, if that's
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: like the final piece, then maybe it's a different conversation.
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: But right now, I mean.
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: They have a couple of guys.
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: Yeah. They have a couple of guys signed along extensions
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: and two of them are guys that you probably want
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: to consider trading. So yeah, it's, it's just kind of
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: like not in the cards for them right now. And
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: the good news is it doesn't need to be because
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: he is extremely controlled. Yeah. There's a lot of time
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: for them. But like, I look back, like they probably
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: regret not signing Bednar to an extension because at that
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: point in time, it made sense because they had just
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: locked up Mitch and, They had just locked up Q.
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: Bryan and Reynolds, and they thought that was going to
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: be their core. And then they had their guy that
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: they weren't going to be able to extend.
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: That was O'Neal. So they could have got Bednar. But
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: who knows? Then they wouldn't have Ro Flores. And where
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: would they be without him? All right. We're going to
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: take another quick break.
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: When we come back, we'll round out this week's show,
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: or today's show, I should say, with Platinum Keys, Key
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: of the Week.
• 18:44
  Speaker 3: With one homestand left here at PNC Park this week
• 18:47
  Speaker 3: starting on Tuesday, I want to make sure you guys
• 18:50
  Speaker 3: all check out SeatGeek. With over 35 million downloads, SeatGeek
• 18:54
  Speaker 3: is the number one ticketing app across America. And we'll
• 18:57
  Speaker 3: make sure you get a seamless experience getting into PNC
• 19:00
  Speaker 3: Park for this final homestretch Tuesday through Thursday.
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and in addition to the Pirates, there's another team
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: in town that's playing this weekend. The Steelers return home.
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: They play the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday. I'm looking at
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: two seats right here, Mark. A pair of seats in
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: the upper deck, $ 156, including fees, which.
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: Isn't necessarily a bad deal.
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: When you're talking AFC North football. Three yards of clouded dust,
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: and SeatGeek gets you there.
• 19:30
  Speaker 3: Hey, can't miss that Steelers offense is what I hear.
• 19:32
  Speaker 4: Oh, God, I can't.
• 19:35
  Speaker 3: And of course, I have a code for you all.
• 19:37
  Speaker 3: You can use code TERRITORY10 for 10% off your next
• 19:40
  Speaker 3: set of MLB tickets at SeatGeek. That's 10% off MLB
• 19:44
  Speaker 3: tickets with promo code TERRITORY10. Make sure you click the
• 19:47
  Speaker 3: link in the description to download the app and have
• 19:49
  Speaker 3: the code authorized. added to your account so you can
• 19:51
  Speaker 3: use it later. All right, fresh off some talk of extensions.
• 20:04
  Speaker 3: I feel like we haven't mentioned the guy's name in
• 20:07
  Speaker 3: a while who was extended, as we just said. Connor Griffin,
• 20:11
  Speaker 3: since he's come back, I just wanted to highlight how
• 20:13
  Speaker 3: much improvement there has been in the Pirates' defense, just
• 20:18
  Speaker 3: overall mindset having him batting leadoff. His bat hasn't really
• 20:22
  Speaker 3: gotten hot yet. We saw the 4-for-5 night against the Royals,
• 20:26
  Speaker 3: his third time doing that, third time with four hits
• 20:29
  Speaker 3: in a night, and he's only 20.
• 20:31
  Speaker 4: Crazy.
• 20:33
  Speaker 3: But just his defense, he's only had one error since
• 20:36
  Speaker 3: coming back from injury. Obviously, that was a hand injury.
• 20:39
  Speaker 3: So the fact that he is already comfortable already looking
• 20:42
  Speaker 3: great and just, you can see the flow of the defense.
• 20:46
  Speaker 3: I just wanted to give a shout out Connor Griffin.
• 20:48
  Speaker 3: We love to see it. I want to see one
• 20:51
  Speaker 3: or two more home runs. This these final two series
• 20:54
  Speaker 3: here from him and on a high note and really
• 20:57
  Speaker 3: going to 2027 and just tear, tear it up.
• 21:02
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: I mean, it, it just makes you wonder what could
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: have happened if he was healthy.
• 21:08
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: And, and, and again, not blaming Connor Griffin, like injuries happen.
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: That's just a part of the game.
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: It sucks. But like.
• 21:17
  Speaker 2: There were so like the, the expectations for him were
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: like so ridiculous this year. And it's kind of crazy
• 21:23
  Speaker 2: to like watch him play and be like, he probably
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: could have exceeded them.
• 21:27
  Speaker 4: Oh yeah.
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: And it's like moving forward.
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: It is the reason why you think this team can
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: be really good because it's like, They're going to have
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: an MVP candidate playing up the middle for them for
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: the next decade. And that's something not a lot of
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: teams in baseball can say.
• 21:46
  Speaker 4: Yeah, just shows his presence being out on the field.
• 21:49
  Speaker 4: As you said, offensively might not have gotten on a
• 21:53
  Speaker 4: tear like you would like to see him. But defensively,
• 21:56
  Speaker 4: that's been a lot of the struggle of this team.
• 22:00
  Speaker 4: You got your shortstop back that can control. a lot
• 22:03
  Speaker 4: of that, you know, controlling the ball, taking care of
• 22:05
  Speaker 4: the ball shows just how valuable he is, you know,
• 22:08
  Speaker 4: on the defensive side. And then offensively, you said, you know,
• 22:11
  Speaker 4: he went four, five, and I know you said you'd
• 22:13
  Speaker 4: like to see another home or two, which would all
• 22:15
  Speaker 4: be good. But, uh, I also know a little bit
• 22:18
  Speaker 4: about coming back from hand injuries. Um, long as he's
• 22:20
  Speaker 4: making contact and he's getting back to the flow of it,
• 22:23
  Speaker 4: you know, the, the power will come back. And, um,
• 22:27
  Speaker 4: I'm sure that's one of the things that, you know,
• 22:29
  Speaker 4: I'm sure he liked to see one or two as well, but, uh,
• 22:32
  Speaker 4: you know, keep building on those four for five hits.
• 22:33
  Speaker 4: Hopefully one of those fall in or fall over the fence.
• 22:36
  Speaker 4: But as you said, Noah, just a big piece of this,
• 22:40
  Speaker 4: you know, team and definitely makes you wonder what if. Yeah. Yeah.
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: Well, you know, it's something I wonder. Oh, my God.
• 22:52
  Speaker 3: Just put the thing on the screen.
• 22:55
  Speaker 4: Put it on the screen. What if you hit that
• 22:58
  Speaker 4: subscribe button? Yeah, that's what I was going to say.
• 23:01
  Speaker 4: What if you hit that subscribe button?
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: This show makes me sick. Hit the subscribe button. Go
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: to the Bucko Territory team store.
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: We're all tripping over each other like an Aaron Rodgers
• 23:12
  Speaker 2: fumble trying to get off of a creative little transition.
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: Golly that was gross guys any final.
• 23:21
  Speaker 3: Thoughts oh that was just too funny oh man um
• 23:27
  Speaker 3: go ahead john.
• 23:27
  Speaker 2: The audio of that's gonna be disgusting yeah we're just
• 23:30
  Speaker 2: screaming yeah i'll try and lower that for everyone yeah
• 23:35
  Speaker 2: uh a final thought just.
• 23:38
  Speaker 4: I was gonna say nice weekend um and they got
• 23:41
  Speaker 4: what three more at home yep or yeah three more
• 23:45
  Speaker 4: at home um We said it last week, finish these
• 23:48
  Speaker 4: last three at home and finish strong. That's my message
• 23:53
  Speaker 4: to the boys, finish strong.
• 23:54
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I love it. I got nothing else. I just
• 23:57
  Speaker 3: wanted to highlight again, Josh referenced it, but O'Neal Cruz
• 24:00
  Speaker 3: going three back-to-back seasons, 2020. The only Pirates to do
• 24:05
  Speaker 3: that besides him, Barry Bonds, Andrew McCutcheon. Pretty cool list
• 24:09
  Speaker 3: to be on. So I just want to finish with
• 24:11
  Speaker 3: that as my final thought. Anything from you, Noah?
• 24:14
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I've spent time around all three teams in Pittsburgh
• 24:19
  Speaker 2: this week, and I could comfortably say I'm most optimistic.
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: About the Pirates' future. I don't know.
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: What that's actually saying, but I think they're going to
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: be the least likely to suck next year.
• 24:34
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: That's something.
• 24:37
  Speaker 3: Take that to the bank, Pirates fans.
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: Take that to the bank. There we go. Mr.
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: Negative is positive there, or at least not as negative.
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: He's Platinum Key, a.k.a. Mark. He's Josh Harrison.
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: I'm Noah Hiles, signing off, saying thanks for tuning in
• 24:50
  Speaker 2: to another episode of Bucko Territory, presented to you by
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: the Fowl Territory Network.
• 24:54
  Speaker 4: Take care.