Latest / Bucco Territory: A Pittsburgh Pirates Podcast / Konnor Griffin to IL, Mailbag Trade Targets

Transcript

Konnor Griffin to IL, Mailbag Trade Targets · 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
0:19
Speaker 2: and Platinum Key aka Mark. It is Wednesday, It's a
0:22
Speaker 2: mailbag Wednesday. We actually already recorded our mail bag show,
0:27
Speaker 2: I'm coming to you live Tuesday evening from PNC Park.
0:30
Speaker 2: I believe it's like the Seventh Inning where we have
0:33
Speaker 2: to redo the intro of the show because not long
0:36
Speaker 2: after we recorded, the news became officially Connor Griffin is
0:40
Speaker 2: going to head on the IL for eight to ten
0:43
Speaker 2: weeks with a finger injury ligament in his finger, his
0:47
Speaker 2: ring finger on his left hand. That's gonna require some
0:50
Speaker 2: time in a splint. So he's basically going to be
0:53
Speaker 2: out for the long haul all the way into September,
0:56
Speaker 2: which is a big injury for the Pittsburgh Pirates. And
0:59
Speaker 2: after ordering a mailbag episode where we took your ideas
1:03
Speaker 2: for trade candidates, it kind of felt silly because guys,
1:06
Speaker 2: let's call spade a spade, this really alters their needs
1:10
Speaker 2: at the deadline. So I'll just open up the floor.
1:12
Speaker 2: We'll actually just start off with Josh. Here, Josh, I'll
1:15
Speaker 2: ask you. I mean all three players that we talk
1:17
Speaker 2: about later in the show, which we'll get to after
1:20
Speaker 2: this segment.
1:21
Speaker 1: Our relief pitchers. Is the bullpen still their main need?
1:25
Speaker 2: Or when you look at this team now without its
1:27
Speaker 2: star shortstop, is filling that void up the middle now
1:30
Speaker 2: the top priority as they head into the deadline?
1:34
Speaker 3: Filling that void is definitely top priority. You're talking shortstop.
1:38
Speaker 3: That's middle the diamond, most important position out there besides
1:41
Speaker 3: the catcher that's supposed to, you know, hold things down.
1:45
Speaker 3: And we talked about it this year. It was six
1:48
Speaker 3: or seven games before he was called up to be
1:50
Speaker 3: that guy. So with knowing that your guys down, you
1:54
Speaker 3: have to find a way to you know, try to
1:56
Speaker 3: weather the storm fill his spot. Obviously, you know this
2:01
Speaker 3: is a position. This is a guy that means a
2:03
Speaker 3: lot to this team, and I don't think they're in
2:04
Speaker 3: a position that.
2:05
Speaker 4: They are without him.
2:08
Speaker 3: And in an episode earlier day, I spoke about being
2:11
Speaker 3: able to catch the ball because our infield is one
2:13
Speaker 3: of our strong points on defense. It instantly just took
2:17
Speaker 3: a big hit and you have to address it because
2:20
Speaker 3: even if it's eight to ten weeks. That eight to
2:22
Speaker 3: ten weeks is if he as far as like, how
2:25
Speaker 3: healthy he's gonna be, how good he's gonna be looking
2:28
Speaker 3: at my injuries are nothing to play with. I know
2:30
Speaker 3: a little bit about something. I tore the ligament in
2:32
Speaker 3: my thumb and I made it back, you know, a
2:35
Speaker 3: little bit before time. But that wasn't to go without
2:38
Speaker 3: saying that. We were also in a playoff hunt twenty fifteen.
2:42
Speaker 3: It was our third year in road going for so
2:44
Speaker 3: a little different situation as to why I rushed back.
2:48
Speaker 3: But I'll tell you hand, injuries are a little funky
2:52
Speaker 3: to deal with. So they're gonna have to replace him
2:54
Speaker 3: because I don't think you want to rush your twenty
2:56
Speaker 3: year old, you know, face of the franchise for something
2:59
Speaker 3: that may be a possibility for September. So they're going
3:03
Speaker 3: to do everything diligently to have them ready. But if
3:06
Speaker 3: it doesn't make sense, I don't think you know, they're
3:10
Speaker 3: not in the position to really push him like that,
3:12
Speaker 3: So you have to address it.
3:15
Speaker 1: Mark before you weigh in. I just want to get
3:17
Speaker 1: your thoughts.
3:17
Speaker 2: I mean, I'm sure you're on the same wavelength with
3:20
Speaker 2: Josh here when you think about shortstop. I mean, this
3:23
Speaker 2: isn't really a position that you can kind of cheap
3:25
Speaker 2: out at, right, So is this something where as a fan,
3:29
Speaker 2: would you be willing to see them give up a
3:30
Speaker 2: little bit more to get someone with multiple years of control,
3:33
Speaker 2: maybe a guy like Willie Castro who can slot over
3:37
Speaker 2: to another position, or do you kind of think, okay,
3:41
Speaker 2: just get a rental someone who's a little bit better
3:43
Speaker 2: than Jared Triola.
3:44
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, I think there's an argument to go
3:46
Speaker 5: and get a guy that does have control. The depth
3:50
Speaker 5: issue at shortstop's not going to go away next year.
3:53
Speaker 5: That's going to be a position that we need. By
3:56
Speaker 5: the way, apologies if I'm stuttering here. Ryan o'harn just
3:59
Speaker 5: hit his third home run of the game as i'm speaking,
4:03
Speaker 5: So yeah, a little distracted there, But no, I mean
4:06
Speaker 5: I think there's quite a great argument to go out
4:08
Speaker 5: and get that a longer term shortstop. If they don't
4:12
Speaker 5: get that, though, the one benefit is I like the
4:15
Speaker 5: flexibility that you have with Nicknzalez and Jerry Triolo on
4:19
Speaker 5: the left side of the infield, where both of those
4:21
Speaker 5: guys can play third base. I don't know if you
4:24
Speaker 5: want to put Nick Gonzalez at shortstop. No, probably not,
4:28
Speaker 5: but so you at least have some guys there. But yeah, no,
4:32
Speaker 5: I mean this is your knee number one now, way
4:35
Speaker 5: more than a reliever. Still need a reliever, obviously, but
4:39
Speaker 5: I would be addressing this first.
4:41
Speaker 2: Yeah, And I tweeted this right after it happened, and
4:44
Speaker 2: some Pirates fans were disagreeing with me online, and a
4:47
Speaker 2: lot of people's contention was, oh, you know, he was
4:50
Speaker 2: just above a league average hitter. He had like a
4:52
Speaker 2: one oh one ops plus. And I said, guys, it's
4:55
Speaker 2: not about the offense. It's not just about the defense,
4:58
Speaker 2: it's not just about the base running.
4:59
Speaker 1: It's all of it.
5:00
Speaker 2: Right, You can't lose your starting shortstop, especially when you
5:04
Speaker 2: don't have another shortstop on the roster. Connor Griffin was
5:07
Speaker 2: playing at a three to four war level at the
5:10
Speaker 2: most important position in the infield, and your best replacement
5:13
Speaker 2: is replacement level at that position. You can't afford to
5:16
Speaker 2: become a team that is three to four wins worse
5:20
Speaker 2: for eight to ten weeks, especially these eight to ten weeks,
5:24
Speaker 2: because they're you know, eight to ten of the final
5:27
Speaker 2: weeks of your season, and you look at the competition ahead,
5:32
Speaker 2: you gotta be better than replacement level up the middle,
5:34
Speaker 2: especially with O'Neil Cruz. And I know O'Neil Cruz and
5:37
Speaker 2: Spencer Horwitz they're going to eventually be back, Like you
5:40
Speaker 2: need to stay alive until they get back. And even
5:43
Speaker 2: when they come back, yeah, they're not back yet. And
5:46
Speaker 2: the offense has been fine without them. It's not about
5:49
Speaker 2: the offense, it's it's what you're losing defensively, It's what
5:52
Speaker 2: the defense. How the defense as it currently is assembled
5:57
Speaker 2: hasn't been good enough to help your starting pitch all
6:00
Speaker 2: the time, It's going to be worse. So that's why
6:03
Speaker 2: I look at it, and we can. We're obviously going
6:05
Speaker 2: to have to cover a million infielders now in the
6:09
Speaker 2: future Wednesday trade mail bags. But I'm looking at guys
6:12
Speaker 2: like Ezekiel Tovar, Willie Castro, two guys on the Colorado Rockies.
6:16
Speaker 2: But like people who have Jeremy Pana may be like
6:19
Speaker 2: people who have control, who can slide over to third
6:22
Speaker 2: base next year, Like this is a position where I
6:26
Speaker 2: think they could use infield depth anyway.
6:29
Speaker 1: And I mean, I think Connor is still.
6:32
Speaker 2: The future of this team, but he's now had two
6:34
Speaker 2: injuries in his rookie year, and it's like, all right, well,
6:36
Speaker 2: if injuries are going to be a continued thing, which
6:38
Speaker 2: I'm not suggesting they will be like you, but you
6:41
Speaker 2: still need an insurance policy on your most important player,
6:46
Speaker 2: and they don't have that right now with Triolo, they
6:49
Speaker 2: don't have that with Gonzalez. Those guys can play other
6:51
Speaker 2: positions in the infield, but when you move them to shortstop,
6:54
Speaker 2: they're a worst baseball player. So that's why I agree wholeheartedly.
6:58
Speaker 2: It seems like we're all on the same page. Shortstops
7:00
Speaker 2: now the number one position.
7:02
Speaker 5: Of need for this team, absolutely, And I actually have
7:04
Speaker 5: a one quick question for you. No uh yes, I've
7:08
Speaker 5: been seeing a live chatter on Twitter, people saying, well,
7:11
Speaker 5: the players have a guy that used to play shortstop
7:14
Speaker 5: coming back from injury. Is O'Neil Cruise an option at shortstop?
7:19
Speaker 4: No? Thank you?
7:20
Speaker 2: Okay, No, I mean he like, you can't do that
7:23
Speaker 2: to him mid season, right, Like, he hasn't played there
7:25
Speaker 2: in two years, and.
7:27
Speaker 5: When he did, there was a reason why they moved
7:29
Speaker 5: him to the outfield.
7:30
Speaker 1: Like thirty errors. So I mean, I don't know, I
7:33
Speaker 1: don't know, so I wouldn't do it. Just go get
7:36
Speaker 1: someone who can play shortstop's exactly. That's as simple as
7:39
Speaker 1: it gets.
7:40
Speaker 4: Yeah.
7:41
Speaker 2: Yeah, you normally go in field out film, you know, yes.
7:47
Speaker 5: Yeah, unless you're like Mookie Bets or something.
7:49
Speaker 3: Yeah.
7:49
Speaker 4: Yeah.
7:51
Speaker 3: Me and the seventeen in the game against Saint Louis
7:54
Speaker 3: where I started it, Yeah, after the ninth and he
7:56
Speaker 3: went to right field and finished the last like three
7:58
Speaker 3: innings at second base.
8:00
Speaker 4: That's different.
8:01
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, no, you're right quickly the other way around,
8:04
Speaker 3: so I would stay awake.
8:05
Speaker 4: Yeah.
8:06
Speaker 2: So all right, Well that concludes this emergency intro segment.
8:10
Speaker 1: We're going to take a quick break.
8:11
Speaker 2: When we come back, you'll see the rest of the
8:13
Speaker 2: show that we recorded earlier today. So thanks for everyone
8:17
Speaker 2: tuning in and enjoy the episode we just recorded here
8:20
Speaker 2: on Bucko Territory.
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9:23
Speaker 2: It's Wednesday, which means it's time for another mail bag,
9:26
Speaker 2: and it's July, which means we're doing.
9:28
Speaker 1: A trade deadline mailbag.
9:30
Speaker 2: We ask you on Twitter every Tuesday to send us
9:34
Speaker 2: some trade candidates of which you would like us to review.
9:37
Speaker 2: Today's three are lukewaver Dan You'll Lynch the fourth and
9:41
Speaker 2: John Schreiber Shreeber Shreiber Streiber sounds right, yeah, all right?
9:46
Speaker 2: So three relief Yeah, three relief pictures all from clear sellers,
9:51
Speaker 2: and we're gonna get right into it. Mark has Lukewaver,
9:55
Speaker 2: So Mark, please bring your notes to the class.
9:58
Speaker 5: Yeah, so Weaver, currently a relief pitcher for the Mets,
10:04
Speaker 5: was mentioned by three different people in our suggestions and rightfully.
10:08
Speaker 5: So just pulled up his stackcast page here and there
10:11
Speaker 5: is a lot of dark dark red. He is just
10:15
Speaker 5: having a phenomenal year, a zero point eight to four
10:17
Speaker 5: whip right now one point eight nine era. He hasn't
10:21
Speaker 5: allowed an earned run in his last fifteen starts or
10:25
Speaker 5: not start, sorry, fifteen games. I should say he's mostly
10:29
Speaker 5: a two pitch guy with a four team change up.
10:33
Speaker 5: He'll mix in the cutter as well against right handers
10:36
Speaker 5: right handed batters a little bit. But this guy is
10:39
Speaker 5: just having one heck of a year. Previously was pitching
10:43
Speaker 5: for the Yankees as a reliever before that, former starter,
10:48
Speaker 5: former first round pick of the Cardinals, and yeah, he's
10:51
Speaker 5: just really stepped up in this bullpen role. He's going
10:54
Speaker 5: to be one of the most sought after relievers on
10:57
Speaker 5: the trade market this year. Mets seem to be the
11:00
Speaker 5: pretty clear sellers where they're just gonna tear down the
11:03
Speaker 5: whole team, and that bullpen has some options in it,
11:07
Speaker 5: and Luke Weaver is one of my favorite ones, especially
11:10
Speaker 5: adding another right handed reliever with we have a lot
11:14
Speaker 5: of depth that lefty already in the bullpen, so I
11:17
Speaker 5: feel like adding a trusted backhanded or back end reliever
11:21
Speaker 5: that's right hander would be really really awesome. Super high
11:27
Speaker 5: chase rate, strikes out a lot of guys, doesn't really
11:30
Speaker 5: give up too much hard contact. Just everything you want
11:32
Speaker 5: from a bullpen guy. So yeah, toss it over here.
11:36
Speaker 5: At No, you got any thoughts on Luke Weaver?
11:40
Speaker 2: I do? I mean, yes, everything you said is great.
11:43
Speaker 2: He's a really good pitcher. He would make this team better.
11:46
Speaker 2: I see one, actually twelve and a half million reasons
11:49
Speaker 2: why they would think twice.
11:52
Speaker 1: So next year.
11:54
Speaker 2: He's making nine and a half million this year, so
11:56
Speaker 2: that's in addition to the payroll right there.
11:57
Speaker 1: That's a pretty steep addition.
11:59
Speaker 2: I mean, he'd be making more than every picture on
12:01
Speaker 2: the team not named Mitch Keller, I believe.
12:04
Speaker 1: I don't think they have another.
12:05
Speaker 2: Picture like seven, yeah, seven or eight, so yeah, yeah,
12:11
Speaker 2: which I mean he's your closer, and maybe Luke Weaver
12:14
Speaker 2: would be. But next year for that to go up
12:17
Speaker 2: to twelve and a half million, you're I mean that's
12:23
Speaker 2: the Pirates. Yet that's that's about ten percent of their
12:26
Speaker 2: preioal and you're paying that to a thirty three year
12:30
Speaker 2: old reliever, which I mean, he's really good this year,
12:33
Speaker 2: he's been solid, but you never know year to year, right,
12:38
Speaker 2: And it seems like the back end of these big
12:40
Speaker 2: time reliever contracts, yeah, never really age as well as
12:44
Speaker 2: you would like them to, unless you're in.
12:45
Speaker 1: That like elite elite class, which.
12:48
Speaker 2: I'm not sure he's in. I'm not also sure that
12:51
Speaker 2: he can't be. But I'm not saying I wouldn't do it.
12:55
Speaker 2: I'm just saying that it's like, is that the type
12:59
Speaker 2: of contract team is looking to take on right now
13:01
Speaker 2: when it seems like they've already spent to an uncomfortable amount,
13:05
Speaker 2: And then you look into this offseason that's approaching, You're
13:08
Speaker 2: gonna have to have money to replace Brandon Law. Paul
13:11
Speaker 2: Skeens is heading into arbitration. I mean, you're already probably
13:15
Speaker 2: gonna have to explore the idea of offloading a Mitch Keller,
13:17
Speaker 2: like you already have a lot of money tied up
13:19
Speaker 2: in the Mitch Keller, and who knows what Mitch Keller
13:21
Speaker 2: is going to be for the remainder of his deal
13:23
Speaker 2: and is twelve and a half million dollars a commitment
13:26
Speaker 2: you can make to Luke Weaver next year or unless
13:29
Speaker 2: you're willing to just eat his contract this year and
13:32
Speaker 2: try to trade him in the off season.
13:33
Speaker 1: Well you even have an opportunity to do that this offseason.
13:36
Speaker 2: So that's that's the complexity of trading for someone like
13:40
Speaker 2: Luke Weaver. And when you compare that to a lot
13:42
Speaker 2: of other guys that we've mentioned, like Garrett Whitlock has
13:47
Speaker 2: his contract has money, but it's club options, right, I
13:50
Speaker 2: think Chapman is the same thing.
13:52
Speaker 1: Or it might be a mutual option or a playoff
13:53
Speaker 1: for Chapman.
13:54
Speaker 2: There's yeah, so you have a little bit more control
13:57
Speaker 2: where it's like, this is a big commitment and I
14:01
Speaker 2: don't know, I don't know if they'd be willing to
14:02
Speaker 2: take that on. Josh, what do you think?
14:06
Speaker 3: Yeah, y'all kind of handled everything there. I was looking
14:10
Speaker 3: at everything. You know, obviously on the Savant page that
14:13
Speaker 3: you know Mark hat put up.
14:14
Speaker 4: There's a lot of things that you know pop out
14:17
Speaker 4: that are to like.
14:18
Speaker 3: And when you said there are some things that you
14:21
Speaker 3: didn't like, Noah, you said, like twelve and a half reasons.
14:24
Speaker 3: I thought you were gonna go seventeen because he doesn't
14:27
Speaker 3: have that much extension.
14:28
Speaker 4: You know how much the Pirates take extension.
14:30
Speaker 3: Yeah, but no, there's a lot obviously to like when
14:35
Speaker 3: you look at his body of work this year and
14:38
Speaker 3: what he's done the past couple of years. But Noah,
14:40
Speaker 3: a lot of things that you said, obviously I think
14:42
Speaker 3: hold a lot of weight. Even though his page looks
14:46
Speaker 3: really nice and like, yes, he would definitely boast of
14:49
Speaker 3: the bullpen.
14:49
Speaker 4: I think he'd help a lot of people, But I
14:51
Speaker 4: just don't know if it.
14:52
Speaker 3: Would happen with the Pirates given his you know, pretty steep,
14:55
Speaker 3: you know, price tag, and the uncertainty of if you'll
14:58
Speaker 3: be able to offload that, as you said, offseason, if
15:01
Speaker 3: you want it to or if you're gonna keep it.
15:03
Speaker 3: A lot of things that come with that. So he
15:07
Speaker 3: would be nice to have, but I think he's gonna
15:10
Speaker 3: be a little bit harder to reach just from a standpoint,
15:14
Speaker 3: are they willing to, you know, give up what they
15:16
Speaker 3: would have to give up band take on salary or
15:18
Speaker 3: however that will work? So little dicey, But I think
15:22
Speaker 3: there's a lot to like. But I don't know if
15:24
Speaker 3: it really gets done, it's gonna be tough.
15:26
Speaker 2: Yeah, And like to just kind of conclude my thoughts
15:29
Speaker 2: on it, I think there is a world where, like
15:32
Speaker 2: the Pirates are willing to take on a deal like this.
15:34
Speaker 1: I don't think they're in that place right now, though.
15:36
Speaker 2: Like if the Pirates were what the Milwaukee Brewers are,
15:40
Speaker 2: and they're in first place by like eight to nine
15:43
Speaker 2: games or however far they are, and they're twenty games
15:46
Speaker 2: over five hundred, and it's like, oh, okay, like this
15:49
Speaker 2: is the year, then.
15:50
Speaker 1: You're willing to overspend on something.
15:52
Speaker 2: It's like you might take on a contract that you
15:54
Speaker 2: will ret next year or get your payroll to an
15:57
Speaker 2: uncomfortable level. I don't think think you do that when
16:00
Speaker 2: you're one game over five hundred and three games out
16:02
Speaker 2: of the final wildcard spot, right when you can't catch
16:05
Speaker 2: the Saint Louis Cardinals in Miami Marlins, two teams who
16:08
Speaker 2: just aren't really even close to even entering their window,
16:12
Speaker 2: or maybe they are now, but they didn't intend to
16:14
Speaker 2: be in their window this early. I just don't think
16:17
Speaker 2: that this is a transaction that makes sense for the Pirates.
16:20
Speaker 2: I know pirates fans are going to hate hearing that,
16:22
Speaker 2: but that's just kind of the harsh reality of it.
16:26
Speaker 2: If they were a big market team who didn't care
16:29
Speaker 2: about what they spent, like the Dodgers could take this
16:32
Speaker 2: on and it's like, Okay, if we have to pay
16:34
Speaker 2: him twelve million dollars to suck next year, who cares.
16:36
Speaker 1: The Pirates aren't a team that.
16:37
Speaker 2: Can afford to pay a reliever who might stink next
16:40
Speaker 2: year and you don't know what you're getting next year
16:42
Speaker 2: with him.
16:43
Speaker 1: You know he's good this year. If he was a
16:44
Speaker 1: rental no brainer.
16:46
Speaker 5: Yeah, And it's going to probably cost like two top
16:48
Speaker 5: twenty prospects because this is one of the top relievers
16:51
Speaker 5: on the market. Maybe not that much, but yeah, it
16:55
Speaker 5: would be expensive with the two years of team control.
16:57
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, I mean it might be less expensive prospect
17:01
Speaker 2: wise because of the money, true, But either way, it's
17:05
Speaker 2: not going to be a treat transaction. Yeah, like you're
17:09
Speaker 2: gonna it's gonna hurt you somewhere. So I would love
17:13
Speaker 2: to see it. He makes the team better. I don't
17:15
Speaker 2: know if it's like something that makes sense for where
17:18
Speaker 2: the Pirates are right now financially, which is unfortunate.
17:22
Speaker 1: So we're gonna take a quick break.
17:24
Speaker 2: When we come back, we'll get into my guy who
17:27
Speaker 2: I was assigned Daniel Lynch, the fourth here on Bucket Territory.
17:31
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18:33
Speaker 1: All right.
18:33
Speaker 2: Daniel Lynch the fourth was a name that was thrown
18:36
Speaker 2: out left hander for the Kansas City Royals. This is
18:39
Speaker 2: an interesting guy. Got a really good frame for a pitcher,
18:42
Speaker 2: six foot six, two hundred, two hundred pounds, twenty nine
18:45
Speaker 2: years old, a lefty. Probably not your closer. But you
18:52
Speaker 2: look at that savant page. It's a pretty good looking
18:54
Speaker 2: savant page right there. I don't see any dark blue
18:57
Speaker 2: at all. I see a lot of red. I see
18:59
Speaker 2: a seventies, eighties, nineties, and I see someone who's a
19:05
Speaker 2: little bit of an affordable acquisition as well. Guys, I mean,
19:09
Speaker 2: you look at his contract status. He is only making
19:13
Speaker 2: just over a million a million in a one point
19:17
Speaker 2: two five this year, and then the next he's got
19:20
Speaker 2: two remaining arbiers and then becomes an unrestricted free agent
19:23
Speaker 2: in twenty twenty nine. So this wouldn't be a rental.
19:26
Speaker 2: But this is also not a super expensive guy. I mean,
19:29
Speaker 2: I would assume he'd probably be making around like three
19:32
Speaker 2: million next year in ARB with how well he's pitched.
19:35
Speaker 2: He's another lefty, which I don't necessarily love. But if
19:39
Speaker 2: Evan Sisk is gonna miss time. You need another southpaw
19:43
Speaker 2: on the pen, and this is a better pitcher than
19:45
Speaker 2: Evan Sisk, So I don't hate it. I am curious
19:50
Speaker 2: to see what his price tag would be because of.
19:53
Speaker 1: Those extra years of control.
19:56
Speaker 2: And overall though, I mean, it looks like he's gotten
19:58
Speaker 2: better every year. You look at twenty two, twenty four,
20:01
Speaker 2: three point thirty two ERA over sixteen games. Last year,
20:04
Speaker 2: pitched fifty seven games or a three oh six ERA
20:06
Speaker 2: one point three to six whip. And now in twenty
20:08
Speaker 2: twenty six, Yeah, he's pitched thirty seven times. He's got
20:11
Speaker 2: a two and two record, two five O ERA, a
20:13
Speaker 2: very good looking Baseball Savont chart, and a whip under one.
20:16
Speaker 2: So there's a lot to like here. It seems like
20:19
Speaker 2: he's continuing to get better. He's got a lot of control.
20:21
Speaker 1: It's just he's left handed, and you know he's he's
20:25
Speaker 1: just not a righty. I guess, guys, what do you think?
20:27
Speaker 4: Right right?
20:30
Speaker 3: As you said, lefty is not something that obviously probably
20:35
Speaker 3: looking at because we have some lefties. But you mentioned obviously,
20:39
Speaker 3: if guys are gonna miss time, you want somebody that
20:41
Speaker 3: can step in. Obviously that's been around and I see
20:45
Speaker 3: he's in a bull pen. I remember him early parts
20:47
Speaker 3: of his career being a starter. So when you when
20:51
Speaker 3: you speak of him having good control as probably a
20:53
Speaker 3: guy who you know, coming up, had to have a
20:56
Speaker 3: mix in a field for all of his pitches. And
20:59
Speaker 3: sometimes you know guys like that that have kind of
21:01
Speaker 3: been that fifth starter, because I remember being kind of
21:04
Speaker 3: like the fifth starter, you know, up and down a
21:06
Speaker 3: little bit. Sometimes those guys can make nice, you know,
21:10
Speaker 3: relievers when they get an opportunity to you know, pitching
21:13
Speaker 3: some different leverage situations because it's no longer trying to
21:16
Speaker 3: sustain it for you know, one hundred pitches, especially.
21:20
Speaker 4: When you're not an overpowering guy.
21:22
Speaker 3: Because he wasn't a guy to my knowledge that was
21:24
Speaker 3: throwing like ninety six ninety seven. It was kind of
21:27
Speaker 3: like low to mid nineties if that. But you know,
21:31
Speaker 3: just kind of found his nch. You know, ground ball
21:33
Speaker 3: is probably part of it is a big part of
21:35
Speaker 3: his game, and I don't dislike it because it's a
21:40
Speaker 3: different lefty from what they have. Obviously, Soto firepower. Sisk
21:45
Speaker 3: has a little bit of you know, funkiness to him.
21:47
Speaker 3: Montgomery some firepower too. You know this is a guy
21:50
Speaker 3: who I mentioned has been a starter before, but is
21:53
Speaker 3: gonna pitch with a mix of all his pitches and
21:56
Speaker 3: has a feel for everything.
21:57
Speaker 4: And I can say their stadium is very similar to Pittsburgh.
22:02
Speaker 3: You know, it's kind of picture friendly to where you
22:04
Speaker 3: know it can be a little forgiving, So I don't
22:07
Speaker 3: dislike it. I think it would be a good move
22:09
Speaker 3: because I think it will bolster depend you know, right
22:12
Speaker 3: or left, because starters are facing lefties and rights when
22:15
Speaker 3: they start anyway, so I.
22:16
Speaker 4: Think you'd be a guy that'd be able to help
22:18
Speaker 4: in that aspect.
22:19
Speaker 3: But you know, it's just is a lefty something that
22:21
Speaker 3: they'd be going for.
22:26
Speaker 2: I just want to present this idea because I think
22:28
Speaker 2: it would really get your brain turning, and I'd.
22:30
Speaker 1: Love to hear what you have to say about it.
22:32
Speaker 2: What if they acquired him with the idea that maybe
22:34
Speaker 2: he would start games? Yeah, yeah, that's like I was
22:41
Speaker 2: getting what you're saying, and it's like, you know, you're
22:42
Speaker 2: not going to ask him to pitch four innings, but
22:45
Speaker 2: it's like, right, maybe you have him or some leverage stuff,
22:50
Speaker 2: but open once a week as well, and then next
22:53
Speaker 2: year because you have two more years of control.
22:56
Speaker 1: Maybe that's your lefty starter next right.
22:58
Speaker 5: No, I absolutely love.
22:59
Speaker 2: That, make him your left handed Karmen Magenski in a way,
23:03
Speaker 2: and maybe he doesn't get to that all the way
23:06
Speaker 2: this year. Like, I don't think the Royals are asking.
23:09
Speaker 2: I mean he's only thrown like, what thirty something innings.
23:11
Speaker 5: Yeah, thirty six innings this year.
23:13
Speaker 1: He's clearly not like going multiple ups right now.
23:17
Speaker 2: But I don't think it would be crazy to ask
23:19
Speaker 2: him to see if he could, like not even two
23:21
Speaker 2: whole innings, but just like, hey, you think you get
23:23
Speaker 2: us the first five batters, right, and if that gets
23:26
Speaker 2: you into the second, that's fine.
23:28
Speaker 5: I love that idea.
23:29
Speaker 2: I'd like that transaction a little bit more than just
23:31
Speaker 2: trading for a leverage.
23:33
Speaker 5: Left em M. No, the flexibility of Lynch would be great.
23:37
Speaker 5: I think that's a great idea, especially the comparison you
23:40
Speaker 5: made to Karmen Magenski, where it's a swing guy that
23:43
Speaker 5: what the team needs depending on who's pitching. Well, how
23:47
Speaker 5: many innings they've thrown this year. I mean he's only
23:50
Speaker 5: thrown thirty six innings, so there's a lot left in
23:52
Speaker 5: his tank. Yeah, but yeah, No, I think that would
23:55
Speaker 5: be great to have that kind of flexibility of a
23:57
Speaker 5: guy who's started in the past, even even though it
24:00
Speaker 5: didn't go well in the past. We've seen, you know,
24:03
Speaker 5: guys go to the bullpen, find their footing and then
24:07
Speaker 5: go back to starting, like I'm thinking, like Clay Holmes, right,
24:10
Speaker 5: So we've seen it work out, and especially with an
24:13
Speaker 5: off season of prepare and stretch him out, it could
24:16
Speaker 5: look really really good.
24:19
Speaker 2: Yeah, let me tell you a little secret about relief pictures.
24:22
Speaker 2: All of them would love to go back to being
24:24
Speaker 2: a starting pitcher unless they're a high paid closer, especially
24:28
Speaker 2: guys who are entering their second and third years of
24:31
Speaker 2: arb Oh. Yeah, going to a new team, that's I mean.
24:36
Speaker 2: I remember having a conversation with Caleb Ferguson last year
24:39
Speaker 2: about that last step, because when they acquired him, he
24:42
Speaker 2: was going to be there lefty out of the pen,
24:44
Speaker 2: but they were like, you know, maybe he could start
24:45
Speaker 2: games for us. And I asked him about that and
24:47
Speaker 2: he's like, yeah, dude, everyone's yeah to start games because.
24:51
Speaker 1: That's where the money is.
24:52
Speaker 2: So and when you're an arbitration having a great you
24:55
Speaker 2: were so good at being a reliever that they considered
24:59
Speaker 2: making you a part your rotation like that's good.
25:02
Speaker 1: For his wallet. I think he would be receptive to
25:05
Speaker 1: that idea.
25:05
Speaker 2: Don't know if the pirates would be, obviously, because Josh
25:08
Speaker 2: just kind of floated that out there, and I picked
25:11
Speaker 2: up what he was putting down on and then Mark
25:14
Speaker 2: stamped it and sealed it.
25:15
Speaker 1: But I don't know. Maybe we just fixed the pirates.
25:17
Speaker 1: Who knows?
25:17
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, all right, well, we're gonna take another quick
25:22
Speaker 2: break when we come back. Final name here, John Schreiber, Schreiber.
25:27
Speaker 2: Mark will tell you about yea and who he is
25:30
Speaker 2: when we come back here on Bucko territory.
25:33
Speaker 5: All right, now, onto John, it is Schreiber. I just
25:37
Speaker 5: looked it up on his baseball reference page, so Shreiber,
25:40
Speaker 5: and this suggestion came from Nicky Bobby, So take it away, Josh. Here,
25:44
Speaker 5: I'll pull up his statcast page.
25:46
Speaker 3: All right, Nicky Bobby, John Schreiber. I've been, you know,
25:52
Speaker 3: looking at his Baseball Savant page, and obviously nothing like
25:56
Speaker 3: what we just recently looked at with the two previous guys.
25:59
Speaker 4: But the one.
26:00
Speaker 3: Thing that I saw for him is that eighty three
26:04
Speaker 3: percent ground ball percentage, and the big.
26:08
Speaker 4: Thing with that is right handed reliever.
26:10
Speaker 3: Is what I saw right handed relievers what I think
26:13
Speaker 3: the pirates something that needs to boast of the bullpen.
26:15
Speaker 3: And you're looking at the ground ball percentage as somebody's
26:17
Speaker 3: going to keep the ball in the parking on the
26:19
Speaker 3: ground plays very heavily into P and C Park. Obviously,
26:24
Speaker 3: as I mentioned, a lot of the other things might
26:26
Speaker 3: not be eye popping that you may look at as
26:28
Speaker 3: what they deem is sexy. But you know, it's kind
26:30
Speaker 3: of hard to argue that ground ball percentage. And sometimes
26:33
Speaker 3: with that you might have some luck go your way,
26:35
Speaker 3: maybe not go your way with how balls you know,
26:37
Speaker 3: maybe trickle through the infield. But I'm a big fan
26:40
Speaker 3: of keeping the ball in the infield or ball in
26:42
Speaker 3: the park, but more.
26:44
Speaker 4: Specifically, you know, letting your infield work.
26:46
Speaker 3: And granted we know that if there was one that
26:50
Speaker 3: I would say the strength of I would rather the
26:52
Speaker 3: ball be hit to the infield than our outfield.
26:55
Speaker 4: With just a lot of things that have.
26:57
Speaker 3: Been going on, and just looking at how this team
26:59
Speaker 3: is construct that he is a free agent next year,
27:01
Speaker 3: I believe, so I was looking at the price tag
27:04
Speaker 3: might not be that much of an expensive rental and
27:07
Speaker 3: somebody that you can come in and Hey, go out
27:10
Speaker 3: there and say, get us some ground balls, you know,
27:12
Speaker 3: get us out this jam. You know, maybe inher some
27:14
Speaker 3: runners might pitch you know, to to Bridge, to you know, Soto,
27:18
Speaker 3: some of those guys in the back end of the bullpen.
27:20
Speaker 4: But just the right handed reliever that.
27:22
Speaker 3: You know is gonna be a free agent next year,
27:24
Speaker 3: that has been around for I think five years or so.
27:27
Speaker 3: That's been around and as you said, he's on an
27:31
Speaker 3: expiring contract. A lot of the numbers, as I said,
27:34
Speaker 3: don't look sexy, but that groundball percentage to me was
27:38
Speaker 3: something that I said coming out the pen, I want
27:40
Speaker 3: somebody that's gonna, you know, pitch with the strengths and
27:43
Speaker 3: PNC arc plays to groundball strengths.
27:47
Speaker 4: What do you guys think.
27:49
Speaker 5: Mark, Yeah, the one thing that really stands out to
27:52
Speaker 5: me is he doesn't walk a lot of guys. He's
27:56
Speaker 5: he's the most he's ever pitched her sixty five innings
27:59
Speaker 5: in one year, but he's never walked more than twenty
28:01
Speaker 5: five batters in a season. That's encouraging. And also the
28:06
Speaker 5: price tag, I don't think it's going to cost a
28:08
Speaker 5: whole lot to get this guy from Kansas City. And
28:13
Speaker 5: so I mean taking a flyer on a right handed
28:16
Speaker 5: bullpen piece that at least gives you more depth another option.
28:21
Speaker 5: I'm all for it. But yeah, it's uh, it's definitely
28:24
Speaker 5: not as sexy as the other two names that we
28:26
Speaker 5: brought up.
28:29
Speaker 2: I uh, while you were talking, Mark, I looked up
28:34
Speaker 2: Johann Ramirez's savant page and there's actually a lot more
28:39
Speaker 2: red than I expected. Oh take a year, yeah, yeah,
28:42
Speaker 2: but the walk crate is in the sixth percentile. Yeah,
28:46
Speaker 2: because my thought was, it's September, you're in a pennant race.
28:52
Speaker 1: You keep a starter in too long? He loads the
28:54
Speaker 1: bases with one out.
28:56
Speaker 2: Who are you bringing into the in the game right
28:58
Speaker 2: now to get out of this am and you need
29:01
Speaker 2: a right.
29:02
Speaker 1: That's that's who it was, right He's running like.
29:08
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, but like that's that's what this guy is.
29:13
Speaker 2: That's what you that's that's who you go get. That's
29:15
Speaker 2: what his role on the team is. Because right now,
29:18
Speaker 2: like Johann has kind of been the guy who's been
29:21
Speaker 2: thrown into that situation. Like you're not putting Dennis, I mean,
29:24
Speaker 2: it's it's Mattson honestly, But like this guy's ground ball
29:29
Speaker 2: rate I think makes the most sense.
29:30
Speaker 1: To be another candidate for that, and.
29:34
Speaker 2: I think acquiring him allows you to make sure you're
29:37
Speaker 2: never putting Johann Ramirez in a game in the middle
29:39
Speaker 2: of an inning or with a runner on base, which
29:43
Speaker 2: I just think is a horrible idea.
29:44
Speaker 1: When you give yo on his own inning, or just
29:46
Speaker 1: at least a clear.
29:49
Speaker 2: Breathing yeah yeah, yeah, like allow him the freedom to
29:53
Speaker 2: walk about her and be okay, yeah yeah.
29:56
Speaker 1: So this makes your bullpen better.
29:58
Speaker 2: And the thing that I like most about it is
30:00
Speaker 2: like it's such a cheap deal, Like there, this will
30:03
Speaker 2: cost you nothing. This is this is the trade that
30:06
Speaker 2: you could you could trade somebody who's in the Dominican
30:09
Speaker 2: League four right now, or like yeah, just a very
30:11
Speaker 2: very very Florida Gulf or yeah Florida.
30:15
Speaker 1: Yeah, some eighteen year old who might make the major leagues,
30:18
Speaker 1: might not.
30:19
Speaker 2: We'll never know about him, and when he does, we'll
30:21
Speaker 2: forget that he was even in thisization. So that's that's
30:25
Speaker 2: the kind of deal where it's not sexy, but it
30:27
Speaker 2: makes the bullpen a little bit better.
30:29
Speaker 1: That's why I like it, love it.
30:31
Speaker 2: So you know what I like even more is when
30:34
Speaker 2: people hit that subscribe button and they've been doing it.
30:38
Speaker 2: They've been doing it three thousand subs. We were on
30:40
Speaker 2: a mission to get there. We can't get there without
30:43
Speaker 2: your help, and we want to recommend you also head
30:46
Speaker 2: to the Team store and get your Bucco Territory Merch
30:50
Speaker 2: got a lot of good stuff there. I always love
30:52
Speaker 2: when people are supporting the show, guys. Any final words
30:56
Speaker 2: before we wrap up another episode.
30:58
Speaker 5: Right before we started record, we had a passing bomb
31:03
Speaker 5: where Conner Griffin's left ring finger got hurt. So I'm
31:08
Speaker 5: just gonna be focused on hoping he's okay. There's a
31:11
Speaker 5: possibility he could play through it, sounds like he's probably
31:13
Speaker 5: gonna get shut down for a month. The pain never stops,
31:17
Speaker 5: buckle fans, so hang in there. Hopefully these injuries stop
31:21
Speaker 5: happening and things improve quickly when we get horwits and
31:25
Speaker 5: cruise back after the all start break. Any final thoughts, Josh.
31:30
Speaker 4: Hang in there. And final thought is a happy early
31:33
Speaker 4: birthday to myself.
31:34
Speaker 5: Hey, there we go, Wednesday, July eighth.
31:38
Speaker 3: Happy birthday to myself? Right, but no, I'm sure I
31:44
Speaker 3: will be. I just want to say thank you to
31:46
Speaker 3: everybody that's going to wish me a happy birthday. You
31:48
Speaker 3: always tend to not respond to them, not on purpose. Hey,
31:54
Speaker 3: you know, family times, sometimes it's hard to respond. And
31:56
Speaker 3: also pre thank you to those that do. Wish me
31:59
Speaker 3: a happy birth birthday.
32:01
Speaker 1: Absolutely, happy birthday to Josh. I mean, I'm assuming he's
32:05
Speaker 1: gonna be.
32:05
Speaker 2: Watching this tomorrow on his birthday. That's what he's gonna
32:08
Speaker 2: spend your birthday doing, is maybe Troy when you're watching
32:10
Speaker 2: this episode, So Josh, Josh, while you're watching this, happy.
32:14
Speaker 1: Birthday might take away that end. Yeah, the pirates might
32:18
Speaker 1: be screwed.
32:19
Speaker 2: But we'll talk about that on another episode of Buco Territory.
32:22
Speaker 2: He's Platinum Key aka Mark, He's Josh Harrison oh no
32:25
Speaker 2: ohile signing off saying thanks for tuning in to another
32:28
Speaker 2: episode of Bucker Territory presented to you.
32:29
Speaker 1: Bye without Territory Network. Take care