Latest / Bucco Territory: A Pittsburgh Pirates Podcast / Brandon Lowe is a Pirate, is Kazuma Okamoto next?

Transcript

Brandon Lowe is a Pirate, is Kazuma Okamoto next? · Bucco Territory: A Pittsburgh Pirates Podcast

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: What's up, everybody? Welcome back to another episode of Bucco Territory,
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: presented to you by the Foul Territory Network. I'm your host,
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: Noah Hiles, and as always, joining me are my lovely
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: co hosts Josh Harrison aka j Hay and Platinum Key
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: aka Mark Fellas. I don't know about you, guys, I'm
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: feeling festive. It's the holiday season and the Pirates they
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: gave us a gift a little earlier to talk about.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: Mark and I broke it down breaking news Friday evening,
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: the Pirates acquired Brandon Low, Jake Mangum, and Mason Montgomery
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: and a three team trade involving the Houston Astros and
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: the Tampa Bay Rays, and all they gave up was
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: Mike Burrows. Mark, like I talked about, we had the
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: instant reaction to this on Friday, But Josh, I'm really
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: excited to get your thoughts on this trade. They add
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: a rental power bat. They add a long term switch
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: hitter with some speed and a good glove in the outfield,
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: and a left who can throw one oh two on
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: the mound but struggles to get it into the zone consistently.
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: And all they gave up was a guy who's probably
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: gonna be at best their number five starter this year.
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: What's your takeaway on the trade?
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: Sitting here looking back on the trade, I think it's
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: a good trade. One we need to get the power
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: bat low with somebody that was on the radar. Who
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: knows if that's just going to be the end of it,
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: who knows if they try to extend them hopefully goes well,
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: you know this one year potentially down the road, but
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: also getting as a mangam. I believe the outfitter and
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: Montgomery was it Montgomery Montgomery is the left YEP, don't
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: want to mess up any names. I think that's not
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: a bad fit, especially you mentioned a switch hitter, somebody
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: that can you know, potentially match up against both rightis
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: and lefties. Some speed that's one thing that you want
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: to continue to have in this game, and some speed
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: that can put pressure. And for reading his tweet, from
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: what I saw, he's excited to be there. So that's
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: something that I think is you know, something to look
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: forward to. You know, anytime somebody gets traded, you never
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: know how they feel or whatever. But to see somebody
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: that excited to come to Pittsburgh. I think Pittsburgh is
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: gonna be pretty excited about somebody that's, you know, wanting
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: to play for the Black and Gold. And I think
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: that's being able to get three for one and for
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: somebody that's gonna be maybe the fifth starter. You said,
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: I don't think it's a bad trade, and you know,
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: only time will tell, but I think it's a step
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: in the right direction.
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: I agree, I mean, and you look, I mean, Pittsburgh
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: fan should be excited about Mangum because their exposure to
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: him was the first game he ever played against the Pirates.
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: He went five for five, so that's that's a pretty
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: good first impression for them.
• 2:52
  Speaker 3: The second series of the season two yeah.
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, early in the season. And then the other
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: connection is, of course, he went to the same high
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: school as Connor Griff and they trained together at Grit
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: Training down in Jackson, Mississippi. I had a chance to
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: tour that facility. It's really cool. So they'll be working
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: out all off season together and they'll be playing baseball
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: together on the North Shore soon enough. Mark, we've had
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: a couple more days for this to digest. Just any
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: additional thoughts on this move and maybe some reactions to
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: what Brandon Lao had to say. He spoke with both
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: the Pittsburgh media today over Zoom and he joined our
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: Our Mother show, I guess you could say on Foul
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: Territory at two thirty pm Eastern Time on Monday afternoon.
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: So what were your takeaways from just what you saw
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: quote wise and just overall. Any additional thoughts on this trade.
• 3:45
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean it's not just Pirates fans that are
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: excited about this trade. I think we've seen both Lao
• 3:50
  Speaker 3: and Mangum now react pretty positively. You know, Lao is
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: talking about how he's excited to be in the lineup
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: with Brian Reynolds and O'Neil Cruz, the protection that's going
• 4:01
  Speaker 3: to offer just him, but all three of those guys.
• 4:05
  Speaker 3: So yeah, it's that part's exciting. I want to touch
• 4:08
  Speaker 3: back on Jake Maingum. The more I look at him,
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: the more like the fit makes sense to me, even
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: if he's just off the bench. I mean, Josh brought
• 4:18
  Speaker 3: it up elite speed, I think ninety first percentile on
• 4:21
  Speaker 3: stack as he also plays amazing defense in the outfield.
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: I was clicking through just a couple of his like
• 4:28
  Speaker 3: five star and four star catches and there's some impressive,
• 4:32
  Speaker 3: impressive jump off just like reading the ball, so he
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: can play all over the outfield. So the flexibility that
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: he opens up, I mean, maybe he starts in left
• 4:40
  Speaker 3: field while Garcia gets his footing. But I really really
• 4:44
  Speaker 3: like the Manga audition, especially with the years of team control.
• 4:48
  Speaker 3: He was just a rookie last year, so even if
• 4:50
  Speaker 3: Lao ends up leaving, there's still stuff moving forward, while
• 4:54
  Speaker 3: Paul Skins is here for the Pirates to rely on
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: in this trade. And then Montgomery. Obviously the stats aren't
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: the prettiest thing, but you have a lefty probably gonna
• 5:05
  Speaker 3: be out of the bullpen who has similar extension to
• 5:08
  Speaker 3: like a guy like Bailey Falter, but then throws ninety
• 5:12
  Speaker 3: seven instead of I think Falter was sitting like ninety
• 5:15
  Speaker 3: one ninety two. So crazy extension, crazy speed that that's
• 5:20
  Speaker 3: gonna be tough. He can figure out a way to
• 5:25
  Speaker 3: improve his command in his control look out, it could
• 5:28
  Speaker 3: be an absolute steal and another guy who you know,
• 5:31
  Speaker 3: lots of years of control left, so if it does
• 5:34
  Speaker 3: work out, it's gonna look really good a few years
• 5:37
  Speaker 3: down the line. So overall, I really encouraging trade.
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: Maybe a change of scenery or being around a you know,
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: different pitching coach or pitching philosophy may help him. And
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: as you said ninety seven plus, with some good extension,
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: there's somebody out there, hopefully with the Pirates that will
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: help him tap into something that allows him to command
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: that and that makes that bullpen that much dirtier.
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and bullpen guys more than any other position in
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: the sport, they go to a different team and it
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: is a completely fresh start because I think coaching has
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: the opportunity to reshape up career in the bullpen way
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: more than it can at probably any other position. And
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: I might be way off on that, but I just
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: think their bullpen pitchers, their production is so circumstantial that
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: finding the right way to utilize those guys, finding a
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: staff that knows the exact leverage spots to bring them
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: in the exact matchups, all that matters so much. And
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: it's a really simple fix if you look at it.
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: For what the Pirates have with Montgomery, he's a two
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: pitch guy. He's high v low fastball snider. He has
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: the extension and mark throughout that name. Bailey Falter, Bailey
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: Falter's metrics were fantastic at PNC Park. His game translated
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: great there. And if you get a guy who can
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: deliver the ball like him with a lot more velocity.
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: We saw how effective that fastball was at PANC Park
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: and Bailey's two and a half seasons with the Pirates,
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: I mean that's encouraging. And even if you don't get
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: him right, he's the third piece of that deal. Mangum.
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: Like you said, Mark, I don't know if you could
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: pick a better platoon partner. Yeah for Garcia because they're
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: so yin and yang. I mean, the one guy's not
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: high contact, but a lot of power, a lot of
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: raw power. He's super young. Mangum's an older rookie, right,
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: I mean he was twenty eight as a rookie last year.
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: He's someone who can He's gonna be probably your best
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: defensive glove out there in the outfield. A lot of speed,
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: not a lot of power, but really good back theball.
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: I think both Garcia and Mangum can end up being
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: everyday outfielders for you one day. But Mangum is a
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: guy who regardless of what Garcia does. Garcia probably has
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: the higher upside, but Mangum's a guy who's probably gonna
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: end up starting one hundred ish or more games for
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: you for the foreseeable future, just because of versatility, because
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: he's a switch hitter, because of his speed, because of
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: his defense. You can hit him ninth, you can hit
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: him lead off, you can match him up however you
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: want in the lineup. And he's a guy where if
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: someone goes down, you can you can find a way
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: to put him in. Yeah, plug him in. So it
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: makes a lot of sense there, And I guess now
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: the question is Okay, So they went out and got
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: lu That's that's the thing we've been talking about in
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: recent shows, right like the trade was gonna be the
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: first domino that fell. It's pretty clear that they're probably
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: not gonna trade Killer now. They might make a couple
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: of other trades, but it seems like the next big
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: step here is a free agent signing, and the national
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: reports indicate that the Pirates aren't backing away from this.
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: I want to clear a couple of things up before
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: we get into Okamoto. I've thrown some I've thrown some
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: names out there recently on shows, and I need to
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: be a little bit more correct. I've thrown Nester Kortez's
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: name out there a lot. It's been pointed out to
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: me that Nester Cornet Cortez was injured and he will
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: not be available since until August. That changes my stance
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: on the Pirates. Yeah, this is the first time I'm
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: hearing this. Yes, so yeah, that's my bad. And then
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: the other one is Alec Baum. I said he had
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: two years of control. I guess he only has one.
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: So again, hey guys, breaking news here. I'm human. I
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: make mistakes, So that's my bad. Yeah yeah, well yeah
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: I felt bad because I was like, well, shoot, now
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: I gotta sit on this and be wrong for the
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: whole weekend. Or rather I could have just waited a
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: day and got at the next show. But it is
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: what it is. But it seems like the big free
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: agent that they're locked in on right now is O Kamono.
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: My co worker at the Postcazette, Colin Beasley, wrote an
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: insider report a couple of days ago talking about how
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: they have had multiple meetings with him over Zoom. I
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: would assume that that's how he would just meet with
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: everyone because he lives in Japan, But it does show
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: like not to make light of Collins reporting it does
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: show that, I mean, if they've talked to him multiple times,
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: there is some smoke there. I mean they're continuing to
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: check in. And now that we see what the market is,
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: Mark Kami was supposed to be the guy who got
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: paid more, and the fact that he only got what
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: two years thirty four million yep from the White Sox
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: and the team is also interesting because I kind of
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: talked about it earlier on this show, like in recent weeks.
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: I got a hunch that it was going to be
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: these small market teams, not that Chicago's a small market,
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: but small spending teams. I should say that might be
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: players for these guys because they are a bit more
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: of a gamble with their advanced metrics. And seeing what
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: Mark Kami went for, I think we have a better
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: idea of the price range that Okamoto is going to
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: go for, and that's right in Pittsburgh's wheelhouse to a
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: point where I think they could sign this guy to
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: a multi year deal and still have money leftover for
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: an outfielder or a DH However you want to go
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: about it. If you want to go one year for
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: Marcelo Zuna, if you want to go multi year for
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: Ryan o'heurt, or if you want to make another big trade,
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: maybe trade some prospects and try to get another controllable
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: back here as well. But it seems it clearly seems
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: like Okamoto is one of their main targets. They have
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: a couple of weeks to go get them. Mark, what
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: do you think does this guy fit in here? Is this?
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: Is this the missing piece?
• 11:23
  Speaker 3: Oh Okamoto makes so much sense, especially if he can
• 11:27
  Speaker 3: continue to play third base. That would be kind of
• 11:31
  Speaker 3: my question. He played over four hundred innings at third
• 11:34
  Speaker 3: base last year, but also two hundred innings at first base.
• 11:37
  Speaker 3: He's coming off an elbow injury that shortened his twenty
• 11:42
  Speaker 3: twenty five season. But this is a guy who in
• 11:45
  Speaker 3: Japan in six of his eight seasons hit thirty plus
• 11:48
  Speaker 3: home runs. He had forty one home runs in twenty
• 11:51
  Speaker 3: twenty three. He has a career three sixty one on
• 11:55
  Speaker 3: base percentage, six time All Star, three Gold gloves. So
• 12:02
  Speaker 3: there's a lot a lot to like about Okamoto. He's
• 12:05
  Speaker 3: twenty nine, has that higher floor than Murakami. I think
• 12:09
  Speaker 3: a lot of the concerns over Murakami that we were
• 12:12
  Speaker 3: reading about really came to fruition when it came time
• 12:15
  Speaker 3: to sign. It seemed like that strikeout rate really scared
• 12:19
  Speaker 3: some teams off. But with Okamoto that's a lot less
• 12:23
  Speaker 3: of a concern. He's far far more patient. He basically
• 12:27
  Speaker 3: strikes out as much as he walks. I think he
• 12:30
  Speaker 3: had like a twelve percent strikeout rate or eleven percent
• 12:32
  Speaker 3: around there, and had a two hundred and ten WRC
• 12:36
  Speaker 3: plus in twenty twenty five. So this is a guy
• 12:40
  Speaker 3: who's dominated over in Japan. Obviously, it's a little bit
• 12:43
  Speaker 3: of a risk with him transferring over to the United States.
• 12:48
  Speaker 3: Will he be able to hit that high velocity that
• 12:50
  Speaker 3: he's going to see in the majors that he hasn't
• 12:53
  Speaker 3: in Japan. But at the same time, if you're going
• 12:56
  Speaker 3: to get him for three years fifteen million a year,
• 13:01
  Speaker 3: all right, I'll take that risk.
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 13:04
  Speaker 3: Wait about you, Josh, what do you think?
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: I know you've been high on him since we've talked
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: about you know, the possibility of the payer has been
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: involved with him, and uh, listen to you talk to
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: him to have those numbers over there talking the power
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: numbers to go with the OBP. Not that much of
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: a strikeout rate obviously, that that's something that is appealing,
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: and there is gonna be a question mark, how will
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: that translate, you know, over to you know, major League baseball.
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: But anything baseball is a game of adjustments. So anybody
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: that's coming over, anybody that's coming up from the trip
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: from Triple A, whatever the case is, the game is
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: going to be a game of adjustments. So if he's
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: already proven that, you know, over his however many years
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: he's played over there, that he's got this what of
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: a track record, you see what he's capable of and
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: given the opportunity right.
• 13:54
  Speaker 3: Every year, yep, so he's capable of doing that.
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: And given that, I think that, you know, that is
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: something that people will be willing to say, Okay, he's
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: not a twenty three to twenty four year old, he's
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: you said, twenty nine. Yeah he's going you know, so
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: it could be one of those things where're like, you
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: know what, this guy seems to be pretty established as
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: far as himself, not major maybe in major League Baseball,
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: but could be a little bit more appealing and say,
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: you know what, we are willing to take this risk
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: because he's shown that he can be patient, he's shown
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: that he has power that can you know, change the game.
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: And you know, with the acquisition of Wow and then
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: the guys that he was talking about protecting, you had
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: another guy at Okamoto. Okamoto that makes that lineup not
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: only a little bit more patient with him being in there,
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: but that much more you know, powerful as well. So
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: I don't see it as being a bad signing if
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: they can pull it. I touch you between those two
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: listening to him go with the proven bad especially now
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: that Murakami's gone. If you can make this happen, this
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: is a power back that seems to you know, be
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: able to know the strike zone. And the only question
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: mark is the translation. But as I said, I played
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: with guys that have made that translation, and it wasn't
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: pretty at first. But as I said, baseball is a
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: game of adjustments. Once they got adjusted to it. You know,
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: they were battling just like everybody else, coming up with
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: big hits, and you know, playing a game. It's like, okay,
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: I'll see why this guy was having the numbers he
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: had wherever.
• 15:13
  Speaker 3: He came from.
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: I mean, that's like, I don't like to just make
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: the comparison based off of former Pittsburgh pirates who came
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: from overseas, but I mean, the profile here is very
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: similar to Jung Ho right, where there's pop in the bat,
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: patient patient at the plate, like a very very good
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: understanding of the strike zone, a very fundamentally sound defender
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: who can in a good year run into twenty five
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: at minimum, is going to hit you fifteen, fifteen, and yeah,
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: and you can bat them anywhere second through seventh in
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: the lineup, and you feel pretty good, like that's what
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: they need right now. They need more competent right handed hitting.
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: And if you have to overpay a little bit for that,
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: I mean, you're underpaying for Connor Griffin right now. You're
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: underpaying for O'Neil Cruz right all schemes, You're underpaying for
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: so many other Jared Jones, Bubba Chandler, Hunter Barco, like Garcia,
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: like Manga, like any of the production you get aside
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: from Brandon Lowe and Brian Reynolds. Offensively, you're probably gonna
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: be underpaying for, right Like if any of the other
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: guys in the lineup are gonna produce all of the
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: other guys in the lineup or they're on their rookie deals,
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: so you're gonna get above values. So if you have
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: to overpay for it a little bit. This is the
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: type of guy you overpay for, in my opinion, because
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: this isn't someone where the Dodgers are gonna get stuck
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: in a bidding war over him. They'll just go get
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: a proven commodity to play third base for them or
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: another team. You're gonna be bidding against teams who you
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: can afford to outfit, or at least afford to compete
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: with as far as bankroll is concerned. So I think, yeah,
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: this is the opportunity where I mean a third year
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: after seeing what Marcami got offered at age twenty five,
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: maybe you go two years with a third year option.
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: I don't know. But if you can just get league average,
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: if this guy is just a two war player, this
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: is a wink. That's what you need if you're the
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: Pirates right now. Again, the bar should be a lot higher,
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: but this is a player where if you can just
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: get him to be a league average defender in a
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: slightly above average bat at third base, and then as
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: he ages, maybe a platoonum with Spencer Horwitz maybe becomes
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: your full time DH. That's a good problem to figure
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: out later on in life. For right now, it seems
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: like this is kind of perfect for what they're looking for.
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: He seems to be well in their price range, and
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: he might be a little more attainable than anyone else
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: who plays his position. It might be an easier signing
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: to get done than a Gino Suarez and might have
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: a better long term impact than someone where Suarez is
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: in his career. So I think it's a no brainer.
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: And again, the most appealing element of it all is
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: that you can sign this guy to a multi year deal,
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: and if you're operating under the assumption that this team's
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: going to have a payroll of around one one hundred
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: and ten million, you still have money left over to
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: go get yourself as it need. It might not be, Yeah,
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: it's not going to be a twenty million dollar a
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: year aav guy, but you you can figure out you
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: still have prospects to trade, You still have a little
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: bit of money to spend, and now you've successfully addressed
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: You've added two young, controllable outfielders. You've added a thirty
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: home run back to your infield, you added a top
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: two international prospect to your infield, and then you have
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: money or money or prospect capital to add at least
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: one more power back, ideally from the right side. Now
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: you're really looking at oh and by the way, the
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: best prospect in baseball's coming up to be your shortstop.
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: You're looking at what six ish guys six or I
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: don't want to say the following number because I don't
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: want to commit to the meme. But between six to
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: eight you guys coming in that could be a difference maker.
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: And that's entering the offseason what we all said needed
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: to happen. It needed to be an overhaul. It was
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: the worst offense in baseball, and we all agreed that
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: no one's job should be safe. And while guys like
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: Nick Gonzalez, sure they could absolutely have a spot here
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: next year, but it's not a guarantee. And if a
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: Brandon low comes in and takes their job, and that's
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: is what it is, and that applies for pretty much
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: everyone else on the team. Brian Reynolds might have to
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: shift to DH full time, or you know, maybe commit
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: more to right field or vice versa. Maybe they end
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: up putting Mangum in centerfield and they have to find
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: a new spot for O'Neil Cruz. The point is they're
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: acquiring a whole bunch of new looks at the plate,
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: and that's what they need because you would think at
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: least like probability would indicate at least a few guys
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: are gonna work out here, and their odds of improvement
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: are drastically better the more they keep doing this.
• 20:06
  Speaker 3: This is a better team than last year already, and
• 20:09
  Speaker 3: there's still more additions to come hopefully. I think if
• 20:14
  Speaker 3: you make one of like Okamoto and Marcello Suna, I
• 20:18
  Speaker 3: think that's both within budget and they both fit you
• 20:21
  Speaker 3: have it was in a DH and then that's a
• 20:24
  Speaker 3: lot of power added to this line up just right there.
• 20:27
  Speaker 3: And you don't have to rely on Garcia to just
• 20:31
  Speaker 3: being an instant impact kind guy.
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: Let them develop.
• 20:34
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so I'm I'm excited things very You can see
• 20:39
  Speaker 3: the picture starting to form here of where they're going
• 20:42
  Speaker 3: to be competitive.
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: And on top of that, yeah, yeah, you're right right,
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: you know, still got to do it, which you know,
• 20:50
  Speaker 2: all signs indicate that they're trying to move in the
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: right direction where you know, what we said talk is cheap.
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: They are you know, definitely trying to you know what
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: am I what's the word I'm looking for, you know,
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: trying to negate that or you know say that's not
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: the case. So you know we're gonna you know, put
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: put actions to it. And as you said, you know,
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: if Okamodo signed and you know, they could still do more.
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: Not meaning they're gonna go sign somebody for twenty million AAV,
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: but you can definitely find some complimentary winning baseball by
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: you know, piecing together knowing that you've addressed some of
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: the needs that you've needed to especially uh and you
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: know we still don't know, but you know you've filed
• 21:28
  Speaker 2: on the Mitch Keller, so your pitching is still intact.
• 21:31
  Speaker 2: That's a strength that you really haven't dealt from that.
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: We kind of thought that Keller would have been gone,
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: that you were going to deal from that. If he's
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: standing around, that just makes your team that much better.
• 21:41
  Speaker 3: Yeah, all much rather. I'd much rather keep Mitch Keller
• 21:45
  Speaker 3: than both Burrows and oviego.
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: Right, So I'll make one final point before we move on.
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: Two guys have been heavily criticized, as you know, the
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: reason why the Pirates have not been compared to since
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty, Ben Cherrington and Bob Nutting. They've both taken
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: a lot of crap on social media. One of them
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: has done his job. So far, Ben Cherrington has made
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: two solid trades. He flipped a guy who is a
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: back end starter for a top one hundred prospect, the
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: highest rated prospect he's brought in in seven years now
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: is this team's general manager. And then he flipped another
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: back end starter for three major league contributors, one of
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: them being a thirty home run bat, all star second basement.
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: Those are probably two of his best trades he's made
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: in Pittsburgh. Now it's time for the other guy to
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: step up. We've heard all this talk about how this
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: money is going to be spent, all right, Well, Ben's
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: made the trades. He's dealt away some capital that he
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: worked to accumulate, right Like he acquired Johanno Viedo. He
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: didn't draft Mike Burrows, but he held on to him
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: this long, and he made sure when he got rid
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: of him that he got a pretty good return for him.
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: So Ben's done his job, and I think they'll continue
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: to make a couple more trades. And I'm not sitting
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: here saying Ben Sherrington should be Manager of the Year.
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: But what I'm the point of this is simply to
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: say that all right. Well, this is a two way
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: street here, So they've made the trades. Now it's time
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: to spend money. And if you're not gonna go out
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: and sign a free agent, then the talk is cheap
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: thing still applies. It cannot just be trading away all
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: of your pitching. It cannot just be trading away all
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: of your farm system because that, in a way ends
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: up hurting you in the long run. So you need
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: to invest. It needs to be the signing. That's why
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: they moved David Bednar, right, that's why they moved on
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: from Cabrian Ays is to clear up money to spend. Granted,
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: they signed a seven and a half million dollar reliever
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: and they added what eleven and a half million dollars
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: in salary without something around there, but there's room for more.
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: There's all these reports about how is gonna go up
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: and all that. All right, now's the time to do that.
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: With free agency, you could keep trading people away, but trades,
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: obviously that includes some form of subtraction, whereas when you
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: sign someone, you're just adding, and it's time to just add.
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: It's been way too long. I think back to that
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: face Josh made when we brought up the evon Novastat
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: and it's time to erase that stigma. And if you
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: do that, they they if they pony up and sign
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: a multi year free agent in addition to the moves
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: that they've made, you're going to win back some of
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: the fans that have walked away. Ultimately, it's gonna take
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: winning on the field to truly win this city back.
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: But when I go on social media right now and
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: I see some of the biggest critics of Pittsburgh Pirates
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: baseball in my lifetime giving a head nod and a
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: hat tip saying this is a step in the right direction.
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: That says something to me. And so they need to
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: keep it going. And the next step is make that
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: free agent signing. And then fans like Mark former Buckos,
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: like Jay Hey, they have a real reason to believe
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: that this is this is a serious ball club that's
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: worth contending uh and worth believing in. So well, and
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: you are watching, Oh, go ahead, I say, before.
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: You get to where you go to not cut you off.
• 25:20
  Speaker 2: What that signing will do is what we've ultimately said,
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: It'll make Pittsburgh desirable. You sign a free agent. Now,
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: other people go Okay, people are signing there.
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: They look like.
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: So you're ultimately not saying you want to make it desirable,
• 25:31
  Speaker 2: but that's what it should be. Show that you want
• 25:33
  Speaker 2: to win, show that you're trying to win these trades,
• 25:36
  Speaker 2: and then you sign a free agent, So what're you
• 25:39
  Speaker 2: can change the stigma of what has been around Pirates Baseball.
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: And positivity can spread like wildfire. Oh yeah in this
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: game when you when you get hot, you Josh, you've
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: been a part of it here multiple times where you've
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: been a part of seasons where like fourteen you guys
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: are dead until you guys weren't right and just people
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: can get all in and all of a sudden it
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: becomes an attractive place when there's Paul Skins and some
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: bats and you win a little bit and you make
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: some noise and the front office doesn't seem so out
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: of touch and okay, well I actually can make a
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: little bit of money here. Stigma can be a raised.
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: I just really hope for the sake of all of
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: our lovely viewers and subscribers that they don't feel content
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: after making two good trades in seven years. All right,
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: like you got to keep building here, and it's time
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: to spend some money not trade capital.
• 26:36
  Speaker 3: We'll make it that much easier next offseason. And we're
• 26:39
  Speaker 3: still going to have Paul Skins, still going to have
• 26:41
  Speaker 3: this young core that we can build around and compete with.
• 26:44
  Speaker 3: So yeah, I mean keep it going, but also look
• 26:47
  Speaker 3: at investing now is investing in the future and just
• 26:50
  Speaker 3: makes things easier.
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: So I'm excited, all right, you know if the people
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: are excited or excited for Mark. Oh, I'm ready for
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: our final giveaway of the holiday season. I'm wearing my
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: Santa hat. It's time to give a gift away, all right, Josh. Uh,
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: you showed him in our last episode an autographed bobblehead
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: of yours truly, the Guy in the Middle, the two
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: time All Star Jay Hey, the Hall of Pretty Gooder. Uh.
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: He will sign it, send it right to your house,
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: along with some arm bands. Is that is that?
• 27:25
  Speaker 4: Yeah? Yeah?
• 27:25
  Speaker 2: One one one one of my on Field. It's a
• 27:29
  Speaker 2: mems band wristband with my with my face on it,
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: the one that I Warner Field. So yeah, I'll get
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: that out too.
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: Awesome, So multiple signed items by Josh Harrison. This is
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: the this is what we've been building up to. We
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: we had free tickets, we had a couple of cards
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: and autographed j Hay card of Paul Sken's rookie card.
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: Now it's this the big drawing something everyone's been waiting for.
• 27:57
  Speaker 3: Mark all right, so I guess to either random number
• 28:01
  Speaker 3: generator here on my phone, and ironically enough, twenty one here.
• 28:06
  Speaker 3: So there we go. Let's see and on the list,
• 28:10
  Speaker 3: twenty one is going to be Margaret Elias.
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: Elias y oh okay. I believe they sent me an
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: email explaining how big of a Josh Harrison fan they were,
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: so I am really excited for them. Congratulations, Margaret Elias,
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: I believe is their legilation. Congratulations. Shoot me another email
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: and send us your info. I'll forward it over to
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: my lovely co host, Jay Hay, and we will get
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: you that bubblehead. Congratulations winning, and guess what to the
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: people who didn't win. We're probably gonna have other giveaways
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: like this at some point in the season, and even
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: if we don't, I hope he'd get a little something
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: from subscribing to this show. We really appreciate everyone who
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: does subscribe. What to remind everyone to debscribe if you
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: haven't already. We're still on that mission to one thousand.
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: We were we're flirting with eight hundred right now, which
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: again crazy that we're building up this quick. Hopefully we
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: can eclipse that one thousand mark early on in the
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: new year and keep building to newer goals. It's been
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: what is it now, about two months since we started
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: this show. It's been a lot, yeah, and it's been
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: a lot of fun so far, and we haven't even
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: had actual baseball to talk about trade and a whole
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: bunch of athletic columns to react to. So I'm excited
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: as we get into the thick of things, you know,
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: pictures and catchers report and less than one hundred days
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: from now, it's it's getting real.
• 29:44
  Speaker 3: So I think ninety three days or so.
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I think that actually might be until opening day.
• 29:49
  Speaker 4: Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, I guess I can counting down
• 29:53
  Speaker 4: that I used to not counting down, and then it
• 29:59
  Speaker 4: was like, dang, we're back and spring training now.
• 30:01
  Speaker 2: Oh man, dang, it's been two months since we've been recording.
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: This time goes fast, guys. Any final thoughts before we wrap.
• 30:08
  Speaker 2: Up, Uh no, just let's get Okamoto done so we
• 30:13
  Speaker 2: can keep it moving.
• 30:14
  Speaker 3: Well more present under the Christmas tree, and I'd be
• 30:16
  Speaker 3: a very happy boy. So yeah, Okamoto would be awesome.
• 30:20
  Speaker 3: Let's we'll see uh with this like little mini pause
• 30:24
  Speaker 3: leading up to Christmas if we get any hot stove
• 30:26
  Speaker 3: of activity, and if we do, we'll hop on here
• 30:30
  Speaker 3: and break it down with you guys. So looking forward
• 30:32
  Speaker 3: to it. Thanks again to everyone that subscribed.
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: Absolutely. I just want to wish everyone a happy holidays,
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: whatever you celebrate around this time, and if you're just
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: celebrating good vibes, I wish you that too. It's a
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: good time to just smile and feel good about the
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: world we live in. And if talking baseball for a
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: little bit here on YouTube brings that to you, then
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: I'm very grateful to have had that opportunity. So four
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: Platinum Key aka Mark and he Hey aka Josh Harrison.
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: I'm Noah Hyles, signing off for another episode of Bucco Territory,
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: presented to you by the Foul Territory Network.