DK’s Double Shot of Pirates: The almighty home run?

0:00football is back and this is believed your home for NFL and college football news and analysis all season long. Now let's start the show. Hey guys, welcome to Double Shot of Pirates. I'm day on co-watch of each of DK Pittsburgh sports. He over there in the box. I'm going to show you guys a little bit of the little bit of the game. I'm going to show you guys a little bit of the game. In this video piece, he out there, over there on the box is Jose Negra, our bea keeper, he's in Chicago to cover pirate's versus white socks. Then he's going to stay in Chicago, as long as he's in the neighborhood To cover pirates versus cubs. One of those teams plays on the southeast an し Foi lup into the north I digress hi Jose. Hi DK. Let's see what the pitching matchup is tonight. Oh, it's Lake Bacher for an ining or two

1:03Boeing against Davis Martin and I saw you reported on our on our app overnight that After Bacher it looks like it'll be some Christian clouds, right? Yeah, I imagine that that Curtis is Curtis we actually have a subscriber to our app named Christian Klaus They least I was thinking with my thinking yeah, it's Christian Curtis. Yeah, and who's been very good? I should add yeah, yeah, I'd imagine That he's available because he the last time he pitched was the last time that they went with a bullpen game When he was called up for for the injury. So Yeah, it's it seems like that's kind of the plan of you know go with Bacher I mean they've won their last two bullpen games with Bacher as the opener And you know dies of have contributed to you know those wins every fifth day and Encouraged like you mentioned. I mean he's been he's been really solid for them I mean the latter to that last appearance was when he gave up his first runs as a big league pitcher

2:05But you know he's played he's pitched very well against some some self-opponents too with with the guardians the Dodgers mixed in there as well So yeah, interesting to see how he treats appearance number four I usually just want to see him exposed Yeah, and I don't even mean that in a bad way More than anything when somebody comes up You remember Wilbur Dotael Did that earlier this season that was about to call him Octavio Dotael At least Octavio Dotael wasn't a subscriber Octavio Dotael actually pitched for your club But you remember Dotael came up early and I was like wow he was dominant where's this guy been and And then he gets He gets his rear end knocked around a little bit. Yeah Somebody notices something in a pitch that he has or a tip that he's That he's showing out there on the mound and they hit him around a little bit and then you have to do what Clint Hurtle would refer to as the counter punch When you make it to the majors That's all good stuff. That's all good stuff

3:07But now's the time to see things like that And in Curtis's case I don't mean to be talking about him more than Bachar when Bachar's the one who's opening the game But he's gonna be out there for whatever he's gonna give them the length that they need in this one. He's yeah as far as Bachar goes though since I mentioned him This has been pretty good find You know I don't really don't know still what the marlins were thinking like other than that we're out of it when they actually weren't out of it Yep, technically speaking they're not still out of it but Whatever you know, I guess it just goes to show further that these players could have been had a lot earlier than August 3 Yeah, yeah, and I think with with with Bachar. I mean he's he's whatever role if they've put him in whether he's coming out of the bullpen whether he's opening games And that was something that he did in Miami a few times too. He's he opened four games

4:08He's obviously done a lot more with the pirates. I think This will be his fifth Opening appearance out of ten with the pirates so far so You know, they've used him kind of primarily in that particular role, but Yeah, I mean he's a guy who's who's been able to give them some quality and things the walks have been Kind of up there, but um, but yeah, I mean he's he's a good find. He's a guy who Is gonna be under control so you have him beyond this season? Which was a big thing for you know some of those guys that that you had You know coming in from the deadline. I hadn't realized that Yeah, yeah, I believe he's eligible for arbitration I gotta look it up real fast, but um, yeah, I mean he's he's a guy who who you're not just counting on in the season Yeah, he's he's got he's pre-arboned 27 arbitration Unentertricted for age in twenty-three one Oh Okay We'll say it again. What were the marlins?

5:09Okay, yeah, yeah, I mean he's a good arm. You know, I mean he's a guy who you know, he's he's a man a few words as our good Number of guys within that clubhouse, but yeah, he's out there to just get the job done You know regardless of of what the role is and um, you know, that's what you need you need those types of guys in your bullpen What I wanted to bring up with you today on the program Jose Was the home run and by that I'm not referring to the home run singular That Rafael Flores hit last night As part of that nine run eighteen hit bombing the fires laid on those guys I'm referring to the home run in general. I'm not sure what I Began this one never knows when it comes to social media subject matter But it feels like there's all of a sudden a lot of discussion about Getting baseball back

6:09To where It was or where it needs to be or making it once again a base to base sport, which is what it was supposed to be laid back when It was conceived about 150 years ago When I think of the pirates place within this and this has been true through now three four regimes So this is not new to the bed chairings and regime Pires are always the last one on the train If there's a trend in baseball toward this They'll be the 30th team to get on board Okay, that's just been that's not it believe it or not it's a rare non-shot at Charington at least not comparing him to his various predecessors Pires were the last ones on to the on base percentage trade everything all the the money ball stuff everything They were the last ones and now here they are

7:10Officially in the year 2026 the last ones to get onto the home run train How do we know that last year dead last Actually all the years before that really close to dead last this year they They hit a ton of them and their offense went crazy and everything else here But guess who actually did the money ball thing and went in the other direction And decided not to hit home runs this year In favor of just scoring a bunch of runs a bunch of different ways Is it happen to be Does it happen to be the does it happen to be a team that leads the naturally central and is the best team at baseball Best team at baseball was where I was headed. Yes. I want to get both in there. That's right Yeah, that's right. They're leading the nationally central by The span of a solar system Okay, I think they're either eight or nine games up on the cubs and the cubs are having a great season That's how great the brewers have been

8:11so the brewers Are Not hitting home runs in fact They're dead last They have 134 home runs in 146 games played not even one per game Your buckos who just got all stoked and Jumped on this train Are now middle of the pack they were a lot higher than that earlier in the season whenever they had everybody healthy going on But they're now middle of the pack in home runs They're 15th the literal middle of the pack with 166 What what did the brewers figure out that nobody else could And they just I think if there was an answer to that everybody else would would jump and jump on and do exactly what they're doing I mean, you know You mentioned what the pirates were able to do at the beginning of the season they were I think a top 10 team in terms of home runs Which was quite impressive considering they were dead last last year But since the all-star break their seconds will last a major league baseball in home runs So that's the reason why they've declined and they've you know gone back to 15th amongst them

9:18I'll be teams in that category but Yeah, I mean the brewers just yeah, they haven't figured out they have guys You just get the job done without having to put the ball over the fence They play small ball they do everything that you need to do to win not to mention the fact that Regardless of who's in that pitching staff They're just superb. Um, I mean the guy who is dominated the pirates and who starts the season is Kyle Harrison and I'm pretty sure there was recently the brewers had considered putting him in the bullpen Like that's because he'd gone through some things that's that's how deep they are Where they're like, you know, we can afford to put him in the bullpen because we just have so many different assets that can contribute It's the same thing on the offensive side of the ball I mean, especially when you have you know, you have so much young talent there They draft well they develop well and then you have the the right veterans in that group with you know Christian Yelich and William Contreras and just you know different guys who are capable of leading a young group and

10:19They just have the perfect mix and they they just do it all well David bats says that the brewers are probably managed better if you're still thinking about field managing when it comes to It's this just not it. It's about the general managers always about the general manager Matt Arnold was the guy who could have had the Pittsburgh job It came down to Arnold and Ben Charringson and you've never seen a worse fork in the road and uglier fork in the road than the pyres choosing Charringson over that guy The brewers are run really really really smartly The brewers lead the majors Since they're dead last in home runs. It's worth pointing out what they're good at right As Jose indicated they do the small stuff right They're on base percentage is number one the majors at 340 they're just getting on base their walk total Is number two behind only the cups

11:19That's also really impressive by the way They're batting average anybody remember batting average Remember when that was the thing station to station baseball remember that They're batting average is the second best in all of baseball guess who's number one Jose don't peak It's batting average I think that it's definitely got to be another it's in the imagine league Probably another small is another small market team that also gets another small revenue team It is and they're also excellent and that would be a raise of course Generally speaking this is what I would do if somebody just put a gun to my head and said you're running the pirates Okay, first of all I'd be just horrendous at this Because I'd like trade all my prospects like right away Okay, I don't work GM of all time I would I take to borrow from the hockey reference here. I would be their gym rutherford

12:19I just walk in and say anybody under 21 get out of here get out of here. I'm here to win a Stanley Cup. No two Stanley cups uh Between the raise and the Brewers and other teams that are smartly run and boy if the Dodgers didn't spend a gazillion dollars I think a lot more people would appreciate how smartly run they are which they are The cups are really well run and they have been for some time I would just look at them and I would just copy them But I wouldn't wait ten years to do it. Yeah, I wouldn't be the last one on the train In the pirate's case there's no independent thinking there's nobody saying over there saying hey How can we do something how can we get value out of this guy or that guy That maybe somebody else is that's what money ball is all about people equated it Strickly with remember remember remember this it was just always just about uh

13:21Fat guys who have good on base percentages or who work walks remember that was the perception at the time For money ball Money ball was just about changing gears. It was about zicking when everyone else is zagging Yeah, yeah, and I mean you look at what In addition to What we had mentioned about the brewers and what makes them good, you know I saw someone mentioned Andrew Vaughan as a guy who was a top prospect here in Chicago and It we got to the point where they gave up on him and the brewers gave him an opportunity and saw something in him And he's become a very important asset for them like they they know how to get the best out of The guys they have there on the field and whether they're top prospects whether they're veteran players whether they're You know reclamation projects. They know how to get the best out of them to Be consistently not just good, but elite teams and then of course, you know you have to be good in the playoffs

14:23That's something that's kind of you know held them back as they haven't gotten it done in the postseason But it's a team that just knows how to get the job done during the regular season and put themselves into position to At least contend for a championship because you never know what's gonna happen in October John steris as I thought DK was talking about the 2013 to 15 pirates dear god no john oh no Don't fall for any misperceptions about what happened in those three years The pirates had themselves some super smart regular old baseball men Near the top of their food chain Okay And those guys were the ones who instigated Lane old Trades and free agent signings. That's how they brought in Russell Martin and Jason Grilly and AJ Burnett and the list is a lot longer than that Travis Snyder these are guys who were pivotal to that there was nothing About that management group that was even remotely analytical or by the way smart

15:29Then these guys left do you remember that they got hired for like a gazillion dollars by the marlins Yes, what happened when they left That's all that happened in 2013 to 15 one fool Made a book about how smart He thought these guys were you'll notice nobody brings up that book anymore because it was proven to be sheer idiocy That's as far as I'm gonna go on this subject because I can't keep it clean from there Marshall Wood says DK Jose let's pretend here that the pirates earn that final wild card spot It's a big pretence, but let's try it How do you think they're gonna fare in the playoffs marshals ready for playoffs Jose? What do you got for them? I mean if they were to somehow sneak in there. I mean if if if the rotation is at its Best and is actually getting the most out of what it is. I mean

16:33Yeah, they'd be they'd be a threat You know if you if you had your guys you know guys like Paul schemes the way above a Chandler has been throwing the ball Braxton Ashcraft obviously has been their best pitcher all season long and then in addition to you know having If you want Jared Jones to you know pitch and relief in the in the postseason or you want you know Majinsky Yeah, like they they have guys who are capable of being good in the postseason and and being threats like if you're another team and you look at those guys at their very best You know you you say hey, yeah, that's not a team. I I really want to be facing and in a playout and a healthy offense too You know having a healthy conno-grip and having a healthy Ryan O'Hern like you know that's it. It's a good team. Being at end in theory When this team is at its optimal meaning Let's say that you know they've taken care of the bullpen. Let's say they hired a pitching coach

17:33Or brought Oscar Marine back whatever it would take right to get these pictures back to where they were in 2025 The pirates are built for the three game series Yeah for the best of three It wasn't that way It wasn't that way from 2013 to 15 Especially the latter two of those years they won 98 games and the season was over in one night Yeah You know whether it was Madison Bumgarner the the strangely bloated neck version of Jake Arietta I'm saying that That's somewhat accusatory way Whether it was any of those things it never should have come down to one game But if it was going to come down to one game it was going to be Their best against your best And the pirates weren't armed with that not with a young Garrett Cole And they tried it with who is Edison Volkets. They did it with was it Frankie didn't Frankie get one of those scolars? Oh, yeah

18:35But now If you set yourself up for a best of three and your first two pitchers are an on the mark Paul schemes and Braxton Ashcraft and game three You really shouldn't happen Okay, but if it does you're still rolling out You know a Bubba Chandler or you're finding another way to get a hand a couple innings out of Paul schemes on the day that he would you know what I mean They kind of the Arizona Diamondbacks tricks from 2001 You just found a million different ways to rotate Randy Johnson and Kurt Schilling throughout the entire playoffs You know what even knew who else pitched for Arizona. Yeah, like I really do think you know if they were to to sneak in like they could When a series based on it if the pitching is living up to the expectation of you know what it should have been coming into the season Because everyone expected it to be one of the best for better rotations in majorly baseball Um with with the young talent that's there and obviously with with scenes being

19:38Being who he is of a sub to ERA coming into the year. So um You know, it Hasn't worked out that way and that's a big reason why they're in the position they are in because of you know Not just the scutt the struggles of the Rotation as a whole with guys like Mitch Keller having you know his struggles before getting injured and you know Chandler learning along the way Jones, you know coming back from from surgery Schienes not being Paul Schienes. That's the biggest of them all So it hasn't worked out the way you know, they they anticipated but if it did you know, yeah, I think this team could could good win a series or two We'll take a couple more from you guys today Uh Greg mark says you better hope they're not facing a A bunch of lefties though the rest of the way or the pirates are through I'm again, I don't mean to rain on anybody's parade here even marshals. He's such a happy guy But you're five and a half games back in the wild card. You've got two teams that you need to pass and I think there's only 17 games left

20:44Is that right Jose? Halt the top of my head. This is what 146 the club is 72 and 73 so it's 17 games. Yeah. Yeah Talk to me if they sweep the entire Chicago trip Okay, yeah, I mean You need perfect I mean you in terms of them taking control of what they can control That's what they can control is winning every single game And that's what it is like somebody asked us yesterday like what if they split on this trip and they come back and now man You know who they're facing when they come home Second time they're coming up today Okay, it does every that team that does everything well The team that's better than any other team Yeah, that's who they're facing And I mean you're you're in a situation like they're they they're ahead of the barlands and cartels down and the wild card standings like they're the the first team behind the two legitimate teams that are Are contending for this final wild card spot

21:45But it's not it doesn't matter When the diamond backs of one four in a row the pod race of one three in a row they keep finding ways to win You know like the pirates can take care of what they can control and that's that's all they can do like there's Whatever that happens with Arizona and St. Louis. That's you know, they they can't control that but It's not going to matter if those two teams just continue to So roll here. I mean the pirates do have another series against the Cardinals At home. I think it's the last home series of the season um Well the Cardinals yeah, I'm not gonna talk about the Cardinals talking about the podries and the diamond backs But yeah, it's it's they can only do what they can do um and If those teams keep keep winning it's not gonna matter Our last question for the day I'm gonna interject on this one before before we throw it to Jose even us for him, but I'll explain why here a Christopher Miller Ask Jose have you had any follow-ups with Paul skiing saying that the fastball velocity drop Is quote by design and quote is that still his stance

22:46uh background here Jose asked Scenes this was one-on-one out in Denver as a couple months ago now About the velocity drop the skins gave a really rational well-worded and handed it he usually is response including That it was done by design that he wants to make sure that he can do all kinds of things uh, it was the Most Monthly worded he'd ever stated that but he has been saying all along including before he even made it to the majors that he wanted to be A picture with an expansive arsenal now Chris to ask the reporter to go back to him and say Hey, did you actually mean that thing that you told me This is This is that that's not journalism Geens already spoke to the subject He already did that and it was a it was a moment in time Okay, that's what Jose was referring to when he asked the question So to say is that still your stance is asking him if he wants to rewrite something that he already spoke

23:51So you basically you're walking up to him and saying are you a liar? Go ahead Jose. I'm not being down on you here, Chris either. I'm just trying to explain to you why Things that you see on these cheesy HBO movies where the reporters get in somebody's face and poke in their finger and try to make them mad That's not real life Yeah, I mean in this isn't a stance that he's Going to change, you know, it's it that's been the belief of what he's wanted to do um, you know all season and really I mean even You know, he he They were invested in that being the goal and and what they wanted to do and make sure that he was able to get through another You know full season of pitching because this is a guy who's pitched a lot over the last two years and Obviously it hasn't got his way. There have been more than just the velocity that's gone wrong for him You know the command has has not been there. I mean the velocity has actually Dicked up at times to compare the bad says here. It looks like schemes might have changed his philosophy. No, he's just throwing strikes

24:57Yeah, that's all the only difference is that he's got his command back That's it. That's not a change in philosophy That's not a let's think of something different here. Oh, I know. I'm gonna throw strikes Yeah, it's it's not that at all he he talks so much about execution and you know when he's not pitching well He's like yeah, I didn't execute and that's exactly what it is. I knew what I wanted to right and he is It's not leading to commands not leading to him being able to Finish guys with two strikes which the last two seasons. I mean he's had no issue with that So there it's there have been other things that have you know gone wrong for him in addition to the velocity not being where it's been Yeah, it's it's not a stance that I would anticipate him saying oh yeah, I'm I'm not behind that stance anymore. He he mentioned it and I I think he's he's always stuck to his his belief and and stuck to his guy Guys check out Jose's coverage on our app. That's the DK Pittsburgh sports app download it for free

26:01An apple and on android you will not be disappointed by anything that's there at least of all Jose's fine coverage Of that really big game tonight at whatever the hell they're calling that stadium this week. We'll see you guys tomorrow You