This Pirates Team Feels Different: Are The Moves Already Paying Off?

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Yo, yo, yo, welcome to NSNLive.

Presented by Fandoo, I'm your host, Anthony Denardo.

To my right is Dougie Fresh.

And to my left is Alex J. Stump.

What's up, fellas? How you doing tonight?

Doing good.

We're at the cut.

This place is fantastic.

We love it.

That's why I couldn't be happier.

Yeah, I got to add to that.

So again, I was jealous seeing that you guys,

this is your second time.

I'm really jealous about you now, but I saw week one crew was here

and the food looked tremendous.

So of course, I was like, hey guys, can we come back?

Like of course.

So first off, shout out to the cut for welcoming us back for the second week here.

And yes, I got to experience the food and it's fantastic.

They're so nice.

The service is outstanding.

The food is great.

It's unbelievable, but we're in a world

that customer service doesn't really exist anymore.

And these people are fantastic.

Absolutely.

What's your thoughts on the food?

I liked it.

But so we have some like breaking news, I guess, that put on here.

And we were getting ready for this show.

I mean, I felt like all day we were talking about,

what should we talk about tonight?

Because that's like the gift and the curse about being here

for two weeks for a spring train,

when you're doing Bucko Brew in the morning.

And it's not in live at night.

A game, a pre-game show if you made before.

Then a wrap up.

I mean, there's that time during two, three shows a day.

What do you talk about that's different?

And you know, we thought about it's like, you know what?

Let's kind of revisit other moves that happen this off season.

And like after two weeks of seeing spring training,

like what do we think about that?

But then, Ben Jarrington said, hold up guys,

we're going to give you some news.

So thank you, Ben.

We have something to talk about.

It's the winner of Ben.

It is the winner of Ben.

So Calnicklis was traded to the Reds.

And I thought, who better to bring on, right?

Alex is right here.

Let's talk Alex about this trade.

So yeah, the Pirates swing a trade with the Reds.

They send Calnicklis to them.

And they get back a second outfielder third baseman, maybe?

Yeah.

Infielder outfielder makes right there.

Left-handed hitter, which has been kind of the M.O.

this entire off season.

Some offense of output.

I mean, or in potential, too.

What's his name?

Tyler Calahan.

Tyler Calahan, there we go.

I can remember.

I'm sure about Calahan.

Make sure.

Oh, and 90 something percent on Tyler.

It's Calahan.

You're throwing me off my, my brother, me or me.

I am sorry, Alex.

I just, we haven't mentioned his name yet.

It is Tyler Calahan.

There we go.

Or is it Caya?

Caya, hand.

We get a confirmation on the last name here.

I did not get confirmation.

We haven't been the best number over this past week.

No, but this is someone who I think is going to factor

into the infield mix, maybe even third base, which

is something that they look to add this off season didn't

really do until this point, assuming

that he is going to be part of that mix.

Can play the right side of the infield, can play some outfield.

Like I said, some upside offensively

from the left side of the plate, probably not the most

out of homers, but double some pop in the mix there.

So I could see the appeal here.

I would be lying though if I expected

Calonick list to be traded right now.

OK.

Yeah, so let me ask you my first question on this.

Because when you see it, now I've never

been high on Calonick list as it is.

And obviously, the way this bullpen shaping up

seems like he wasn't outside looking in any way.

So I mean, you can understand why they're

looking maybe trade him away.

And some degree, if there's something that can fill in,

but look at what he has traded for, I don't know.

Again, I'm kind of looking, of course,

just fan grabs right away.

What is, who is this guy?

And you're not seeing a whole lot of pop.

I mean, it's 25.

I'm going to be 26 this year.

Is this what you utilize Calonick list for?

I mean, is he true actual depth?

Or is this just like another guy?

It's like, hey, we like this guy.

I'm not sure if it's this team.

I'm not sure the talent's truly there.

But this is a team that does need depth at their base

or around the infield for sure.

So I don't know.

I mean, what's your first take on this?

I mean, I think you nailed it with, you know,

you need depth in the infield for sure, especially

on the left side.

Like we've talked so much about, you know,

Wilk Karner Griffin make the opening day team.

What if he doesn't?

Like what if he just, I mean, he's looked great so far,

but if he doesn't or, you know, for whatever reason,

you don't have a lot of options before this trade.

You had like Trio, you had Nick Gonzalez,

who I did not want to see every day at shortstop.

I don't think he could really do right position.

Well, every, so this adds a little more depth.

Adds a little more either in triple A depth

or if you, if you do call up Connor to start here.

And if you don't call up Connor,

it's not as dire and thin as situation as it was before.

But they're so like, I see the appeal there.

And also, even if he's got to play like third base,

like that would be a good platoon partner potentially

for Trio, who is crushed left-handed pitching,

but it struggled against right-handed.

So if you want to go that route, there's that option there.

I could see a couple different ways

where he couldn't make an impact with this team.

And as for Count Nicholas, like you said,

I mean, I figured he was going to kind of be

on the outside looking in to start the year

just because they have some other guys they like in the bullpen.

I figured he was going to be some form of up down

to start the year, not saying that, you know,

you can't just stay up at some point.

Like someone like Isaac Mattson's a good example

enough dog guy who just showed him, like, no, he's just,

he's just up.

But I think we all know the stuff is there,

but the ERA hasn't been.

So like, if you could sell relatively high

to another team that values that type of arm

that the pirates do, like, you got to export.

Yeah, no, for sure, I appreciate that.

So you make some good points here,

because again, like Count Nicholas,

I know he has enticing stuff, right?

But he's never really put it together.

So right, you know, this guy is some depth.

Now, you're putting this conogryphan,

what if he doesn't start into the egos?

I don't like that.

Let's not speak it into existence, but I understand it.

You have to assume I get it.

If there are a hundred different reasons

why he could, there are a hundred different reasons

why he couldn't.

Sure, sure.

So again, in this world that I don't live in,

that does exist in this outfit that conogryphan does

start off in AAA.

Which again, like, you can make that argument.

I understand, I don't agree.

But I guess it does that, because in that scenario,

what do you think transpires in?

Like, do you foresee this is like a Nick Adolfs

at short-sopping starting off,

or is this maybe like, hey,

this situation with Jared can now take over short,

and maybe this is happening a third base?

I mean, just pure speculation,

I would think it would be more likely Jared play short.

Like, we haven't seen Call of Hand play short

in a professional game before.

And like, even then, he hasn't played,

he's played like one game of third base since 2022.

So like, it's just based off of what I believe,

and you know, just a couple of texts to shut out.

Like, I think he is going to be a potential candidate

for a third base right there.

We don't know for sure though, right now,

but even if he's just gonna stick on the right side,

that's more Jeff that gives you more flexibility

on how you wanna deploy, you know, Nick Gonzalez,

how you wanna deploy maybe like Spencer Horowitz

or someone like that.

So, there are ways that I could see him fitting

into this team.

The position of flexibility is only a plus.

Sure.

And again, man, the people, Doug,

I mean, what was your first thoughts on this?

Well, you know, I had hoped that Bill Murphy

could get a hold of Nick Lister and make something out of him,

but I really didn't expect that.

They seem to be putting together a nice bullpen,

and they've done that now the last, say, year two.

You know, I don't know much about Nick Allen.

He seems like a Ben Turington special.

We're getting a guy that played second base most

was career, and we're gonna put him

in a different position, because that's what we like to do.

You know, he's gonna play some outfield.

He's gonna, you know, maybe play third base.

I imagine it's probably, he's probably not gonna have

a lot of impact.

I also imagine that Nick Gonzalez and Nick York

don't like the idea of this trade.

It's more competition for them.

And sometimes they like the shiny new toy

more than what they have in front of them.

So, you know, hey, look, the kid can run a little bit.

It's always nice to have some speed.

He does have a little bit of pomp in there.

I don't care who produces, as long as they produce.

I don't wanna get too attached to, you know,

we've had a lot of sort of middling players

where they're like, oh, how can we let him go?

Oh, we let him go, because he's not very good.

And that's kind of the situation.

I think with Kyle Nicholas, right, great stuff.

But I mean, there's a million baseball players

that we said have a great stuff

that you don't remember his name anymore,

because he never wasn't able to do anything.

Shout out to the 2021 Pittsburgh Pirates.

Exactly, I mean, there's more to it than great stuff.

There's more to it than exit velocity.

I know you guys don't agree with me.

There's, but you know, you actually have to translate it

into production.

And Kyle Nicholas hasn't been able to do that

and hopefully Tyler tie your hand.

I think he's the son of Tommy Boy.

I think it's Tyler Callahan.

He was in the break business and got it at baseball.

Yeah, so again, I think that's all valid.

You know, I'm interested in that.

You mentioned the kids again.

I don't really know much about him.

I'm setting up as just the trade happened.

You know, you talk how he got injured.

Broke his arm, I believe.

Randy Alfield wall.

Yeah, arm's gone short.

Yeah, right.

So I mean, is there, again, where I look at it,

the first glance is you look at the numbers.

They're not fantastic.

And it's 25, gonna be 26.

Is this something more of like, you know,

he probably was gonna see the big leagues last year

and get a lot of run or something.

Because of the injury, that's, you know, to be out of it or.

Yeah, the injury, I think it's safe to say

he would have gotten a lot longer run.

Yeah, and since he if it not fit for that.

Okay, and again, like you're talking that,

that was a playoff team.

You know, this wasn't just like a, you know,

the run of the milk team that I mean,

he was gonna see some action again, a little bit late,

but so maybe there is something there with this.

Yeah, I mean, like, I, like I said,

not to sound like a broken record.

I do see upside here.

Like, like, I know what you said,

like the numbers aren't the sexiest,

but it was like a 126 WRC plus in 2024,

like a 150 something in his month in 2025

before he got called up.

Like, I'm not saying that's set in the world on fire,

but he wasn't overmatched at the highest level of trip away

and then comes up to the major leagues

and you know, buses asked trying to make a play.

Like, I can't fault a guy for that.

So, and he did mention to you, like,

he was the number 20 prospect.

Next year or 20, yeah, like, so like, it's not like,

this is a waiver wire.

This is, I don't get Josh Rehmeter vibes.

Okay.

You know what, that's fair.

Yeah.

That's to put it in his blood-term pocket,

because shout out to the 20-21 Vince McMahon.

Two, 22, my bad, yeah.

Where's first place?

I know it's here somewhere.

But okay, so then again,

we're talking about a reliever.

Pob was gonna make the club anyways with the depth.

Though there is some stuff there.

Like, he is a guy that I think a lot of pitching coaches

and baseball will say, like, let me get my hands on him

and I can fix Kyle Nickless.

Oh, for sure.

But at the same time, you have to recognize

what if he doesn't do it here.

And are you servicing your team the best,

just with that, you know, hoping that he does?

Are you servicing the player the best

of just hoping that all comes together?

So, I do see a scenario where Kyle Nickless

would have been really good in Pittsburgh,

and he would have been a good part of the bullpen.

But like Doug said, we've seen a lot of guys

who have great stuff that just can't bring it all together.

And at this point of his career,

he kind of fell into that camp.

So, if you can cash out and get someone

who could contribute at a potential position of need

who has offensive upside,

you have to seriously consider that trade.

And that's what they did here.

Okay.

Yeah, and I guess my thought maybe Doug input on this too.

I mean, again, you're talking about Kyle Nickless.

He's probably just depth.

But, and you've talked about Antoine.

You've talked what we had on the point.

I think you've talked about Antoine Kelly,

Wilbur Hotel.

I mean, we mentioned them on Buckebrew.

There is some depth out there.

There's not a whole lot of depth on the left side of the field.

Next, you know?

So, I guess maybe you can look at this.

Like, it's kind of the depth for depth.

I mean, is that how you kind of proceed as maybe too?

Yeah, and also, I think how what we've seen

from our Keati and Clevverger.

It's like, we may have some bullpen arms, right?

I mean, someone's a fifth starter.

Someone's in the bullpen.

Right, and then maybe they really like what they're seeing

from Bidwah, which we've like Montgomery.

There are some guys there that could step right

into the Kyle Nickless role.

So, yeah, like I said, they're putting together

what looks to be, could be a very effective bullpen.

And you're right, we've not been get production

from the left side of the field.

If you get someone with a little bit of upside,

I mean, I think it's a good trade.

You take a chance.

They don't all work out.

But the idea behind it, I think, is right.

It's the winter of Ben.

Right, you know, we've traded a name we're familiar with.

And a guy who, again, we've sent someone

to channelize about the potential

for someone we don't know much about.

But it seems like a very low risk move to me, right?

You know, we're not counting.

No one said that Tyler Caroline's going to come in.

He's going to start a third phase

and we're expecting 30 homeruns and 100 RBAs.

That's fair.

We just added another guy, throw into the mix.

You know, I wish I could stay another week

and maybe see him play.

The only real risk I see is with just the bullpen death

because whatever we talked on the point,

whenever we just talk in general with this bullpen,

I think a lot of people feel good about a couple of pieces here.

But you're also counting on someone has to emerge

and take that next step.

And like, Kyle Nicholas was one of those potential guys.

Ryan Harvin was one of those potential guys

that he's hurt right now.

So yeah, kind of, you still have plenty

of potential lottery tickets here.

You only need one or two to hit, you know,

to really be in a really great spot.

But it is one less one.

Sure.

Okay.

Yeah.

I mean, I guess to me, I'm counting this too.

Like, can you see it?

Again, I wasn't that high on counting

because to begin with, I don't know much about this guy.

He doesn't look that sexy, but again,

like it's, it's death for death in my eyes.

It gave someone who had, you know,

you had some death that to some level, right?

To get some death out of the position you don't have.

They didn't really strike anything at third base.

So like, it is go, be true a little heading in here.

Yeah.

Probably have chronographen starts.

And if not, it gives them options at third base still.

So, all right.

I think that's fair enough.

And I just want to say again,

before we let you go here, Alex,

I mean, you are down here in three days about it, right?

So how's, how's my training going for you?

It's, it's good to be around the ball club, you know?

See some players, see some coaches of different vibe

than last year is kind of, I mean,

we're just talking like the Pepsi test here, you know,

I've seen it.

Bob seemed pretty good this year.

So, well, that's, that's good to hear because again,

but that's something that like we've been hearing.

And I'm in just here, but also like physically taking in as well,

you know, you see, yeah, I mean, I said,

I've been down here almost two weeks now.

I'm seeing it is dramatically different than it was last year

that does not necessarily translate into wins.

But it, I've become more optimistic based on what I've seen.

Like a base post a long 162 game grind.

And if you're feeling good about it going in rather than,

you know, your head drag and your, you know,

that sort of thing, I think they can only help.

It certainly can't hurt, right?

That people are feeling a little more optimistic,

they're feeling a little better,

a little more excited about what's going on.

And yeah, I'm buying in, I'm getting sucked in.

I try every year, I try to tell myself that, you know,

dial it back and slow your roll, all that sort of thing.

But, you know, we got, we added three actual hitters

and a fourth in Mangum, right?

And it looks, you know, again,

we can get on with other stuff, but Garcia,

and I like what I'm seeing.

I like what I'm seeing.

And the way the team has produced March 4th,

and still the guys that you want to see hit,

except for maybe Henry Davis,

the guys that you want to see hit are hitting, right?

Like Jake Mangum looks like he's going to be a,

you know, impactful player.

And so does Laugh, and so does O'Hern,

and so does Azuna, and Brian Reynolds looks better,

and O'Neal Cruz looks better.

Hey, I'm enjoying every minute of it.

It is much different than last year,

where everybody was a hospital waiting room, I think,

right?

Tyler said it was a morgue, you know?

I mean, it's, yeah, it didn't seem like anybody wanted

to be here last year, except us, so.

Sounds like Doug's Pirates piled.

But, he bought into the winner.

He bought it.

Yeah, he bought into the winner.

Winner of it.

Yeah, I got to trade my period full stop shirt

for Winter of Ben shirt, right?

But, no, it is nice here from your perspective again.

Here's our perspective.

You're certainly in the thick of things

from last year and beyond,

so you coming back to screen training this week,

seeing feelings of different vibes,

it's good to hear that perspective as well.

Before I make the switch off,

and let's you go ahead and enjoy the cut some more

with their fantastic food and drinks.

Any last words you want to say?

I've been treated by the trade.

We're good.

And with that, we're just getting with the very,

I'm not saying good trade, bad trade.

I'm intrigued by it.

All right.

And we'll all belong cute like it compels me though.

All right.

We appreciate you coming on.

Little work from our sponsors

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And we're back.

So we got Nate back on with us.

Yeah, so you're making your NS9 Live debut basically

right here as well, right?

I guess so.

He's like, I guess so.

But yeah, so now you've been here for this week as well.

Doug has been here for the week and a half, almost two weeks.

I've been here last weekend.

Now this week, you know, and again, I get it.

Like it's almost two weeks of spring training.

I mean, spring training numbers don't matter to begin with.

Right?

And certainly as we keep phrasing everything of like,

well, it's only February 28th.

Well, it's only March 3rd, right?

I know these numbers don't matter too much,

but we're starting to see some sample.

We're starting to see some production.

And you know, since we've talked about conno-griffing

38 times in the past 13 days,

you know, maybe we could talk about something different.

You know, we kind of collaborated and it's like,

you know, why don't we kind of revisit these moves?

And now we're seeing them emotion, you know,

you're picking up on the vibes.

Let's kind of talk about that.

And I mean, the first move was making the trade with Boston

for the password, right?

And I know we all talk about,

I was like, well, this can't be the answer.

I don't hate the trade itself,

but I can't be the answer, which of course it wasn't.

Right.

But, but, I know there's a couple of people here

I want to talk about him specifically.

So I'm going to give you to the floor.

Let's start with Doug.

Right.

The biggest reason that we didn't work through with that trade

is because it was the first move of the offseason, right?

And we, you know, we're being told, you know,

we're going to the playoffs, period full stop.

We're trying to win this year.

We are going to spend more money this year.

And then we trade, you know, a guy that I expected

to start the, you know, season in the rotation,

Johan Oviato, a guy we all liked a lot,

a guy who had done quite well here,

for a minor league outfielder.

So, you know, and then it was a minor league outfielder

that had some contact issues.

And, you know, just like, oh, here we go again.

We've got another outfielder, another player who can't hit.

And so, so I was, I don't want to say it was down on the trade.

You know, they were, they had to add stuff.

They had to get in some people other than

G1 Bay of Jack Sawisky.

You know, so I wasn't really down on it,

but I wasn't that enthused about it.

Then as we made these other moves,

they're like, okay, now, all right.

So now he's not just being handed the starting job.

Now he has to earn his spot, that sort of thing.

And he's impressed me more every time I've seen him.

He is a good baseball player.

He's making good contact.

He's got some pop that he can run.

He, he, he feels the position as well.

He's thrown a runner out.

He, he couldn't do any more than what he's done so far.

And, and so, you know, now my question about him

isn't, you know, Kenny play, you know,

he's, I don't think he's going to languish in Triple A,

all you're, he's going to get opportunities here.

It's, it's going to be challenging, right?

Because you, if you, he's up here,

you want him having bats.

I don't, you don't want him in the Alexander Canario row

and it starts once every 10 days.

And obviously have Reynolds, Cruz, O'Hern and Mangum.

So, you know, the only way that he gets up here

is, you know, probably if somebody gets hard

or someone becomes very effective and, and because you want him

getting really consistent at bats.

But yeah, I, I, I liked it.

I'm more on board with the train.

I'm going to miss Oviato this year.

I know I am.

I'm going to miss when we'll talk about him later, Mike Burrows.

I'm going to, those are two guys that I had high hopes

for this year.

But on, on, from what I've seen from the train so far,

Joe Stinson Garcia is a good baseball player.

He seems to be putting in the work.

He's, you know, he's got all the, the, the raw skills.

And, you know, just going to, you know, keep working at it.

I can see him improving and being better.

And I can see him playing for the Pirates for a long time.

So, let me pass over to you.

And before I do, you know, I think it was valid.

And Tyler, I felt was like the forefront of this.

You know, he's one actually made a graphic on Instagram.

Got some reception with that good and bad.

But I think it's, it's fair to say.

I mean, this trade could of course end up being good for the Pirates.

Like, it could absolutely be good for the Pirates.

But I think the question is, is it going to be good for the Pirates in 2026?

You know, go back to Doug said, Oviato, I think there's a lot of hopes for Oviato.

You know, like he was, he could be a workhorse.

You know, the injuries derailed him, but like he has the body.

He could certainly be a workhorse for a team that needs someone to give him innings.

I think there's upside for him.

And again, he is, he's in the rotation this year.

Where Garcia, he was a prospect and he's still has to develop.

And, you know, is he going to even start on the opening day team?

You know, so there's a lot of thought of like,

does this team, this is trade actually even helped 2026?

Or is it just a future thing?

I think you have some interesting takes.

You definitely want to talk about Garcia.

So give us your thoughts and feedback on that as well.

Yeah, I really like the trade and I still do.

I think Johan Oviato was a great addition to the pitching staff to have.

But of all the pitchers you could have traded at the time,

he was probably the top of my list just because the injury history.

Okay.

Something that he has dealt with in the lack of innings last couple of years because of that.

Now, just since in Garcia, when he was traded the pirates with a top five prospect

of the Red Sox organization and a top 100 in MLB.

So I was like, we just got a top 100 pitcher player I get is for a pitcher

that has been injured multiple times, fine with me.

Now, here's the question with just since in Garcia after all these moves.

Or it's like, I know Tyler brought this up saying like, do you traded pitching depth?

At the time, we didn't know the other moves were going to happen.

Right.

We didn't know Brandon Lau was happening.

We didn't know burrows are getting moved.

But at the time, you traded probably the least of that pitching depth

that you can maybe afford the move.

Outcarrier.

And I like the Oviato too.

Don't get me wrong.

Sure.

But he was the pitcher that I think I was most comfortable with moving this off.

He's rather than burrows.

Because I kind of like the upside of burrows more so than Yohan Oviato.

Okay.

But what Joe Sincarcia, I like his upside.

I know Jim was really kind of 50-50 on him because he has some strikeout concerns

in the minor leagues.

I personally don't care about that because he has been really fun

to watch this like spring trading.

And my vibes on him were already very high when the trade happened.

But seeing him, he's hitting 538 in spring right now.

Sure, it's only two weeks.

Don't get me wrong.

Two weeks.

But this is also the best shape of his life here.

So as you told me yesterday.

What about the hair though?

Yeah.

It's great.

Okay.

I got a good picture of him too.

I was in mind home play yesterday.

But it was funny.

Like you told me yesterday, like your password pill.

I got Cody password pill too.

Because here's the question I have to ask about just Sincarcia.

If he rakes this spring, still hits very well.

If he hits better than Jake Mangal, for example, I don't want him going to triple A just

so he can get the reps.

If he's good enough to be on the team, he should be on the team.

He should get that opportunity because he clearly, like the Red Sox had that outfield,

James.

People were like, he's going to get more opportunities in Pittsburgh.

Right.

They had Roman Anthony.

You had Will, you're a brave.

You had Rafael.

Where was he going to play?

Now you come to Pittsburgh, there's more opportunities.

I would say not great defensive outfield right now besides Jake Mangal.

You have Oher.

You have Reynolds.

You have you have Cruz.

And of course, Mangal's your fourth outfielder.

But per se, just Sincarcia hits better than your Mangal's.

It's better than some of these guys that maybe take a benchmark.

Like, you brought up Billy Cook before we even started.

Like, I rather have just Sincarcia on the roster than a Billy Cook.

I like the higher upside, but the question is with Garcia.

And I understand the premise is like you want him to get the reps.

And that's what we would do.

I'd rather a weird situation they put themselves in.

I'd rather have Garcia on the roster, the Billy Cook, too.

But if he's only going to get one start every 10 days, if he's only going to pinch hit

once or twice a week, I would rather have him to play honing his crap.

So I do it.

And you know, there's all sorts of reasons why the better or more talented player doesn't

make the roster much to do with options, much to do with him getting his reps and developing

his game.

So it's right.

Look, they've got some tough decisions ahead of them.

And I'm excited about that because they haven't had a lot of tough decisions.

They've handed jobs out to whatever body was there and kept running it back with the

same guys who had 700 played appearances kind of proved that they couldn't hit.

So yeah, I mean, Garcia looks terrific.

He really does.

To me, again, with the age of some of the guys and the, you know, like O'Neill Cruz, you

know, he could sit twice a week against the left, he wouldn't be the end of the world.

So there's some of that's right there, right?

O'Hern is going to play some first base against left-enders.

There's some of that.

I mean, it seems to me that, you know, you can get creative.

You know, Brian Reynolds gets a game off every week.

He gets a game of D.H.

every week.

There are ways that Donnie Kelly could find it that's for both Mankham and Garcia.

And if they can hit, right, those are your defenses improved.

So there's lots of way.

I hope, you know, I hope they find ways to play him.

I mean, I hope he continues what he's doing in spring.

I hope it's for real.

And I hope we get to see it in Pittsburgh.

Yeah, I want what's best for a pastor because I'm a big fan of what he can do.

And if it is going to AAA, it's going to triple it.

Because at the end of the day, that's where definitely the reps are going to be.

So at the end of the day, as well, like if he's a better, if you're stuck between Billy Cook or Garcia,

I'm saying Garcia, but at the end of the day, as well, that's probably your fifth outfielder at that point.

It's a very weird situation that they have put themselves in.

And I want to add the point with Garcia.

I don't like the trade just now for this year.

I like it for the future.

But I like to see a very big piece where like next year's team, if there's baseball or a 2028 team, by the way,

I think he could be a very interesting piece.

And like I like the upside, sir, the swing and miss need some adjustments.

But I like what he can do with the power.

I like he can add power.

I like Doug brought up.

I'm more optimistic about the hitting than I ever have been before.

And that's without Garcia seeing much major league time.

It's not just him.

It's the other stuff they've done as well.

Yeah.

Don't we sort of say everybody has some swing and miss issues now, right?

I mean, that's baseball now.

Yep.

Almost everybody strikes pretty much unless.

Right.

I mean, you know, you're like, lose your eyes.

Yeah.

I mean, it's a, there's a lot of guys in the pirate's team is filled with guys that have some swing and miss issues.

But to your point, most teams, that's the new age base.

Right.

That's that's the way that I mean, I mean, we had G1 Bay swinging for the fences.

If nothing ever made less sense to me than that, like that guy should have been forced to butt every time he came up,

but we had him swinging for the fences.

But he also could have but.

Yeah.

Exactly.

He had, he had swinging miss issues, he had a lot of issues, he had a miss, miss issues.

Yeah.

So yeah, it's again, you don't, I don't want to have a team full of 200 hitters either.

So.

Sure.

No, I'll fair, I'll fair for sure.

And you know, again, I guess, grab this up too.

Like, I do agree with you.

Like I do like this trade, especially for the future.

I think the question is, does it help now, like you mentioned, you want what's best for Garcia?

I don't like the Doug's point.

I think what might be best for Garcia is to continue his development, getting loads every day at bats, you know,

maybe not getting the ones or two a week in a potential like.

Pinch hit here and there, you know, so like, is the answer to the Billy Cook probably not either me personally.

I think the perfect answer is the answer to my cushion.

Yeah.

I mean, that's how you do it, right?

Passwords in triple A, getting his reps.

You have the answer to my cushion here, the Major League team, getting those at bats that you're not worried about his.

I believe he's on the line to Florida right now.

He's 30,000 feet above right now.

He's on his way just circling, just forever circling, waiting to land.

We saw Bob letting his story.

He looked like he was looking for Andrew McCutcheon.

I'm not sure he was scanning the plays.

I get the feeling he was looking for Andrew McCutcheon.

All right.

He was holding me up that he didn't sign them.

Well, let's go ahead and move over to the race trade.

You know, so like that was the first.

That was the impact.

That was like the, oh, okay, you know what?

They're not going to sell us on Garcia being the move.

We really like this prospect.

He's going to be the answer, right?

It was like, hey, you know what?

You got Brandon Lau.

That's a headliner.

That's guy who had 30 home runs last year.

Middle infield, second baseman.

All star last year.

All star, right?

But he also got Jake Mangum, who, I mean, like the best way I look at it is,

he's not going to be Brandon Lau.

He's not going to help carry this offense, but he raises that floor.

You know, he's not going to be the guy that's hitting 40, 50% below league average.

You know, he'll hover around that.

He plays good defense.

All three spots.

Some of the pirates can use.

He just does all the little gritty things that you like on there.

And then they also get this made.

So I'm not going to worry guy.

There was a pretty enticing picture.

Everything we said about Cal Nicholas, like to that to the next level.

And he's like, yes, they're honing and stuff.

But there's that enticing stuff that you feel like you can work with.

So, you know, I think we all liked that trade of the time.

Now you did give up Mike Burrows and that was the other thing.

Now you get up two pieces in that rotation.

So it's getting a little interesting now in that sense.

But all three of those guys are looking pretty good so far as well.

I love, I love, love, love Mike Burrows.

I mean, I was, you know, I was driving the train.

And this is a good trade, right?

This is a good trade.

This to me is one of Ben's better trades.

Typically, we're the one that keep up so many people and get one guy back.

You know, I mean, the old video trade is a, yeah, I mean, on and on.

There's a bunch of them in history.

Spencer Horowitz.

Yeah, yeah, Spencer Horowitz.

Which doesn't work that well, look too.

And it looks, it looks really good now that.

Well, now that he hasn't.

For other circumstances.

This is not even a problem.

But I mean, you got, I mean, you know, quite simple.

What did we get out of second base last year?

It wasn't a positive war.

Right, we're going to get a positive war out of second bases here.

Brandon Lau is good.

Brandon Lau has power.

Brandon Lau has played in big games.

Brandon Lau is a hit.

He's an all star.

And so yeah, he's going to help.

But then, you know, he might only be here for one year.

But then you've got what looks like could be a lights out reliever.

And and Jake Magnum is going to impact this team in positive ways throughout.

He, you know, he, we watch him a bunch of times, you know, get a hustle, double,

steel, you know, throw somebody out in the airfield, run balls down.

And I'm telling you, I have new respect for anybody that can catch a ball in that

outfield.

That would have been placed havoc with it.

And you want to talk about violence.

He's captain vibes.

I did Jake Magnum.

Well, it's the mayor.

That's the reason.

Right.

He was called the mayor.

And I was offended to Sean Casey's the mayor.

Right.

And he came into town and I'm, oh, I mean, I met him watching him with the fans.

And I'm like, oh, he's got my votes.

I'm ready to handle his campaign.

Now, I'll be the campaign manager.

I mean, he seems like a terrific guy, you know, so, and this is a

good trade.

At least two of the guys are going to have positive, and I get the feeling all three of

them.

That are, you know, this is not a trade for the future, although it will help in the

future with the two, you know, the two younger guys.

But you know, this was a trade made to help this team right now.

And I think all three guys are going to help this team right now.

It's improved this roster.

It's improved the depth in the lineup.

We haven't had hitters.

We have not had a hitter like Brandon Lowe during the venture care.

It's up one year of Ryan Reynolds, yeah, right?

And again, there's, to me, what I kind of love about adding these guys is what it does

for the guys that were here last year.

How much better I think it's going to make crews and Reynolds, you know, and Spencer Harwood

said sort of thing.

I mean, we're watching these spring training line.

It comes up and it's like, oh, look, the first six and seven guys can hit in this lineup.

We have not seen that at all in the Bencherington era.

So I'm excited about this trade.

I hate losing boroughs.

Boroughs is going to pitch.

Boroughs is going to make an all-star team for Houston.

I believe that.

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Gambling problem called 1-800-Gamber.

You want to do a hot takes video again?

Get that on there?

Oh yeah.

All star?

Mike Rose has some really good stuff to that change up.

That's going to be missed.

But yeah, let's kick it over to you.

Yeah, so this was the trade of the offseason for the parts.

This started, I think this is what actually started the offseason.

Password trade was great.

Don't get me wrong with this.

This was the trade they got fans excited.

Now, it's definitely not a trade for the future.

It's a trade to, this is a, the first trade we've seen Ben Charrington make.

Basically, that is we need to win now.

This is the first sense of urgency trade I've seen Ben Charrington do as a part of

the game.

I think all of us fire fans can agree with that.

You're like in a grand and loud for one year, because I don't see a, like, maybe there's

a world where he excrees signs, hey, they extend them, who knows, but like, that might,

that's why not come until later if it does happen.

Now he also has injury issues.

He's had some concerns in the past.

That's worrisome.

And you gave up burrows to get them.

You have to give to get it and you have to live with it.

Jake Mangum, he's a guy.

Well, also, I want to add this about loud really quick.

When's the last time you've been confident enough to have a 30 home run hitter in your

lineup?

As a pilot.

And that was years ago.

This first time in the Ben Charrington era, I'm confident, like, oh my gosh, the pirates

have a guy that can hit you 30 plus home runs.

That was closer to MVP coach than not even on a baseball team coach.

And I think loud is going to be really solid.

And we all made this point.

Like, he's a lot smaller in person than what, like, it's kind of one of my biggest takeaways.

Like, this guy has all this power and he's like, really tiny.

It's kind of interesting to look at.

But Jake Mangum, we brought it up before.

I don't have much on it.

We can add on him on top.

He's scrappy.

He's going to give you those, like, I like to say Sean Rodriguez, Josh Harrison, mixed

vibes.

I mean, hopefully, hopefully he's not punching him together.

Oh, yeah.

Pullers.

Contacting good defense.

That's all you can ask for.

You said it best.

I touched the ball and run.

Yeah.

And you've seen that.

And we've seen it a lot already this spring.

So, yeah, I'm excited.

I'm excited about this.

It's like, like you said, you said, this is the first train of the Ben Charrington

race, where the people are actually going to be on the Major League roster.

Right?

All three of them.

Yeah.

I mean, so often we've made trades.

We get Billy Cook.

We get Nick York.

And they go right to AAA.

And we keep wondering when they're coming up.

And we keep wondering.

And it doesn't happen.

This is, these guys are going to be, you know, in the lineup, they're going to play

on day one, day two.

That sort of thing.

Yeah.

Brandon Lau.

He is tiny.

Like track record.

Yeah.

Like, if he was coming from AAA, I'd be like, oh, no.

I want to ask something interesting about this train, Mason Montgomery, we were watching

him.

Actually, he came in yesterday against Colombia, I think it was.

But the day before I was sitting in behind home plate, just watching the game, they're

playing the race.

I had an older race fan behind his cane and we walked over with him.

And we had a nice, like funny conversation to pass my shoulders.

Like, who's half my shoulders?

This guy's like, man, you don't know what it feels like to be a race fan.

I was like, sir, are you sure about that?

Who we were talking to?

He was like, you're right.

It was when Mangum stole, it was right after Mangum stole second.

It went into the outfield, cause chaos and bases, illegal Williams comes in the score.

And he's like, we're going to miss that in Tampa because there's a lot of Tampa fans

there.

And they were all cheering for Jake Mangum.

They're all looking at Brandon Lau, too, but like it was always, let's go.

Jake, he seems like that type of player that they all gravitated towards.

And we've all kind of reiterated the point.

He's going to be the type of player that I think Pittsburgh, Pirates fans kind of just

gravitate towards that likable personality.

Take away from hearing a fan tell you, we lost the trade is a great feeling as a Pirates

fan.

Cause we've had our history with the Tampa Bay race.

And it's always like, we lost.

It's always like, oh, we made a trade with the race.

Well, who'd they get?

It's not who do we get.

It's food to dig it.

And hearing a fan that's been around definitely for a while, seen some things, saw his team

make a world series of notes.

It was even though, even though it was the COVID year, we got to see that team make the

world two.

He's got to see some prime branded loud too.

And he was like, man, all we got was a bunch of prospects.

I mean, they're pretty solid prospects from the Asher's don't get me wrong.

But like, the fact that a fan is not excited about this trade and makes it like, this is

a great feeling to have.

And he was giving me like some insights like, you're going to like this bell man, you're

going to like this bell out.

He thought Mason Montgomery was a big loss in that trade because he really liked what

he could do.

Now, I'm not really as high on Montgomery as maybe some people are, I want to see it

first because I know last year wasn't the greatest year for Montgomery, but like, seeing

what he's done before, like, the stuff looks pretty good as well.

And he has a lot of heat on his, like, fastball as well.

So I'm intrigued by it.

I want to see it though with the pirates, I want to see what he can do, but I believe

in what he can do.

But yeah, the big piece of this trade is definitely brand and loud over, like, mangum

over your Montgomery's because mangum, let's be honest, is an older type, he's older

towards 30s.

He's an older rookie, basically, brand and loud.

You need to hope you're getting the best out of brand and loud.

I mean, I think we will, and I hope we do.

And like, we're talking about, you know, playing all three of them playing quite

objectively, right?

I mean, like, mangum is hitting, making contact, doing all the dirty stuff, so is

brand and loud, but also like, we've been talking about the vibes and I think that's

something that's like, like, it's still like with this team, like, you're getting those

guys that come from organizations that have won, right?

We're starting with the Tampa Bay Race because of course, passwords come with the red

socks, but like, he's been in triple A at the time, right?

This is like the first one.

It's like, okay, they've been organizations that know how to do it, you know, brand

and loud has been on teams that have won the division two years in the NL or AL East.

That's stuff that they do in the World Series.

Right.

So, you know, they're coming in here and they're trying to instill things in this organization.

You know, they're talking about the vibes we're doing, and then you move on to the next

one, right?

So again, we, I think we always talked about two is like, this team's going to have to

make a train.

They're going to have to force someone to come on here.

You know, they're not really going to entice for ages to come play for them.

It's probably going to have to be in trades.

That's where the brand will allow and come to play.

And then, right?

Right.

So, we had conversations with these three.

We were in on.

Right.

And then we were like, was the Justin Garcia trade enough to entice someone?

Right.

So, is the brand in loud one enough?

So, they make that trade and it's like, okay, like you mentioned, now banjoing excited,

but now it's also kind of making baseball looking and say, okay, what are the pirates up

to?

And then, within the next week, they're going to make the two-year, $29 million deal to

Rhino Hurn.

And that was like, okay, now maybe they actually are serious.

Because you could just also do that trade and say, we're done.

You know, you could have done it.

You could have sold that.

Right.

But they said, no, we still are going to spend some more money.

Right.

They traded for Garcia.

And then, added loud.

And I'm like, okay, now they could say they did something.

Right.

It made improvements.

Plus, when you consider man, you know, saying, like, well, there's two outfielder's,

they brought it.

And I'll start second baseman of, you know, potentially terrific reliever.

We've had a good offseason.

Exactly.

We've been the best offseason that Ben had ever had.

Right.

We saw that with the Horowitz smooth last year.

Right.

It was Horowitz and Tommy Fam.

And that, and that, and that's how you've got to sell it.

Like, hey, we, we believe in this guy is the answer to what happened.

So, right, like, they didn't stop there.

And they went out and spent real money.

Right.

Close to $30 million in a free agent, Rhino Hurn, who it's funny to mention,

mentioned Spencer Horowitz.

He kind of just like the upgraded Spencer Horowitz.

Right.

But like, I will take nine of Spencer Horowitz's on this team, any team, really.

Right.

What he did last year is not.

He's got a ton of power.

But like, he's just a good hitter.

Yeah.

And ironically, he also plays really good first base.

He's the first base.

But we don't know where he's going to really play.

It seems like I'll go.

But regardless, like, they went out there and they got the free agent.

So that right on her.

Right.

We know he's done the past.

I mean, he was a solid prospect.

Didn't really click at first.

Then it starts to click with the Orioles.

We made the all-star last year also.

Right.

We've got to trade the pyres now free agent.

Now the pyres.

So again, another guy who's performing.

But we're also still talking vibes.

Like, here's a guy that's coming and said, like, you know, I look at this team.

And it's like, I'm getting the sense of what we're doing in Baltimore.

And again, that was a team that won 100 games.

Not to say this team's going to win 100 games.

I don't believe that.

But again, like, you're getting perception of like, you know, hey, there's something

that is actually brewing here.

Yeah.

And then the Rhino Herndtrain signing might probably be one of my favorite foods

in pyrexidisopsy.

Well, of course.

It's special.

It's super.

Yeah.

The leader of the horse.

So it's funny.

Like, I was seeing like people like MLB kind of like, these were the moves of the off season,

whatever.

They didn't use the brand in loud trade as the pyres.

The deal.

It was Rhino Herndt.

And I was like, you got in the span of a week around Christmas time.

The pyres brought in two all stars.

Now, they weren't just like your, oh, they were all stars back in 2021.

Like we've seen in the past.

It was two all stars last season that have had productive years.

Now Rhino Herndt is probably going to hit you 30 home runs.

He hit you probably upwards of 20 in his best.

I don't think he's hit 20.

He hit 18 last year.

I think.

But he definitely have that upside with the pyres.

And he signed for two years.

Now, sure, next year, maybe we have a lockout.

Maybe that's part of it.

But like, there's no lockout.

He's a pirate next year unless something horrible happens with this team and it all falls apart,

which I hope not.

And that he still might be a pilot.

Yeah.

But like, still, they went out gave a guy 14 million per year.

We have not seen that the highest before.

I think it was a roadish Chapman.

Was that 10 and a half?

I was going to beat that later.

So like 10 and a half was your previous high.

Then you popped out with 14 per and you went out and got a guy that you were actually linked to.

It was not a, oh, the pirates are in on it.

It wasn't short.

It wasn't the shorter situation, which I didn't think they were ever getting shorter.

It was a fun ride though to go on for a week.

See all the fans having fun with it.

But it was like, you see, oh, the pirates are interested in Ryan or Herndt.

I mean, the pirates are interested in Jorge Polanco.

And it's like, oh, they missed out.

They missed out on Polanco.

Can they get a herndt?

Probably not.

And then you're at work and says, oh, my gosh, they actually made it happen.

And it was that initiative.

And maybe the Brandon Loudrey kind of sparked that.

And like hearing Ryan or Herndt, he showed up the pirates specifically as zoom.

And it's kind of talked about like the excitement.

He wanted to make sure he was there.

You know, like the weather was an issue, but he wanted to make sure he was present.

And he talked about like he was talking to Don Kelly about it coming to the pirates.

And immediately after he basically called his agent and said, I want to be a pirate.

He seemed to like the vibes.

And like that's kind of like the effect Don Kelly.

I've seen has had on this team.

You brought up Dester with Cody.

He basically came over to all of us and said, I got a fist bump from very affirmative.

Like fist bump.

And like you can tell them I wasn't here last year for Derek Shelton's last spring training.

From what you guys have said with other fans and like players have basically seemed to have said about it.

The vibes are a lot different with Don Kelly at the helm.

But like, I'm excited about this last year.

No.

But I also understand why you might not.

You're right.

I'm excited about Ryan or her can do.

And I like the leadership.

You could bring to this.

Yeah.

And like let's talk about leadership.

You know, again, we've been over two weeks talking about the vibes and stuff.

Like, what are you seeing that Ryan or her?

It's like maybe helping for this team.

Well, I mean, he's a professional hitter.

He's a professional baseball player.

He's immediately said, I'll play anywhere you want me to play.

He's like, okay.

All right.

I've been a D.H. in the first basement.

I'm happy to go to the outfield.

And he's looked pretty good.

I mean, he's early.

He's not had a lot of chances.

But he hasn't done anything, you know, terrible.

But you're also the one that brought up.

You know, like me.

I'm playing like you're going to credit for him.

Anyone can play out there right now.

So like you're saying, like you're seeing some positive things from any of the outfield right now.

Yeah.

And it's just, you know, he's.

Again, we he's families here.

And every time you see him, every chance he has.

He's got a newborn.

He's holding that newborn.

And he's just like, how can you.

I know.

It's why he won't walk by and give us an interview.

Right.

It's been hard to get him with the interview.

He's using that family as a crutch.

I know.

Like you said, just.

That's something to like.

He's cheering for that guy.

You know, it's just.

Right.

And like you said, like he's signed with us.

And it was literally like a week later.

He had the newborn.

Yeah.

And then he's Aaron spring training.

Yeah.

He's here.

And it's.

Again.

And it seems so silly to be talking, you know, just about vibes.

But it's also good vibes and good production.

Right.

It's spring production.

We know.

You know, guys have had lights out springs and immediate, you know,

I think Jack and Henry both look fantastic last year in spring.

And, you know, them did not look very good in the regular season.

So.

You just can't put any stock in spring production.

But these are.

It's a little easier when it's a professional hitter.

A guy who's had a track record of the success.

We get.

We signed two.

All stars from last year.

And, you know, it's like they said, these weren't guys that were.

It's not rowdy to Les who was an all star four years ago and is coming out four bad years.

You know, it's not Tommy fam who had a last season, his last good season was in 2019 or something.

Right.

You guys had good seasons last year.

And there's no reason to think that they're not going to at least come close to replicating those season.

Right.

You know, Brandon Lown might hit 27 home runs instead of 31.

That's fine.

Right.

Because that's dramatically more than we got out of second place last time we had that.

That's right.

Exactly.

That's the same.

We haven't had a 30 home run hit in a while.

We had one 20 home run hitter last year.

Right.

It was what 21, 22.

Barely.

Yeah, barely.

It was on pace hit like four.

They thought they put that out there.

Yeah.

It was like, you know,

the league and on base percentage in home runs and.

And they're shouting got fired and it all went.

So, yeah, it's.

Again, remember how frustrated we were last year with so many policy games.

Or he would give up a run for two runs and then lose.

I don't see that happening this year.

Right.

I mean, maybe the biggest beneficiary.

All this is going to be Paul schemes.

Paul schemes is going to pitch as great as he always does.

And it's he's not going to have a 10 win season.

So we're just saying it's not young MVP.

I'm sorry.

Just Paul schemes MVP.

I'll say say young.

It's hard for me.

I heard MVP.

And we had a fan say MVP yesterday.

You know, you got Kyle Schwerber.

It's not hard.

It's not Schwerber.

Yeah.

Exactly.

Got a place for Philly.

Yeah.

And you know, Otani.

Listen, I'm on board.

Look, he might win.

Paul schemes might win 20 games.

All right.

You don't see that a lot anymore.

Yeah.

Maybe.

It was the last fire.

It's 20 game.

Let's not go there.

I think it was John Smiley.

You might not be born.

Yeah.

I think it was John Smiley.

I'm not in which would have been in 92.

Yeah.

So, yeah.

So, so then, right.

This, this signing happens.

And now we're all getting excited.

Okay.

Like, what's the next move?

What's the next move?

They're on every third basement.

You can imagine.

Think of.

And then just silence.

Silence.

And then the.

The.

We.

It's real money too to get him.

It's martial o' zuna.

Now, I understand he's a little bit different.

He's not the All Star coming off of, you know, last year.

He had it down your last year, but.

But even that down year, he's leading the team in home runs.

Right.

MVP as a D H as a D H who I mean last year he would have been the best hitter on the team

hitting to E at 240 I think it was a 2017 home runs 20 hours I mean he would have been

the best hitter on the team except I guess Spencer Horowitz could have given them but I'll

say him yeah but yeah and again we're talking vibes people are just drawn to this guy you

what you watch him when he walks you know out of the I guess the clubhouse or whatever

anything I mean players are running up to him like it just wanted to talk to him want to be

around him and he's looked good this spring he looks healthy I you know let's go there because I

want to get your viewpoint of this because again you have been here the longest that is something

you hear let's just put the numbers aside because again we're kind of revisiting this we nobody

could do this production in a sense but now that you're seeing him in real life you're seeing

the interactions and we know there's a guy there oh no cruise that you're hoping like if this

team's gonna go somewhere we mentioned that too like it starts as Ryan Reynolds no no cruise still

you could bring these guys but if those two aren't moving anywhere you're still not really going

far with this club right oh no cruise you're hearing a lot of good stuff this all season yes he's

working out with another former Ray defensively in the outbuild but there seems to be a lot of

gravitation to hear so again like taking out the numbers we're top of impact we're top of

stuff like now we're seeing this two weeks in do you see that's this great impact that Azuna is

bringing that isn't numbers related that could really benefit this team again it's hard to judge

that without being in the clubhouse but it seems like it seems like that again that he has an

impact and you know people say oh oh Neil cruise should not need a mentor that's fair criticism

right yeah it sure it's fair Chris but guess what if he needs what he needs what and if he needs

one the pirates need to provide him one right he is your highest upside player maybe except other than

counter them so yeah so they went out and got him a mentor right and you can be old and

crusty and complain about that my day I don't care if he's going to help and I love what I've

seen from O'Neill cruise I don't know how much of that is a direct influence of Marcel O'Zuna

I don't know how much of it's from Kevin Kiermeyer as I always look for you Kevin Kiermeyer I don't

care where it comes from I want results right we can talk about all the other stuff O'Neill

cruise is approached has been spectacular this year he's not swinging for the fence that he recently

hit that three run home run he's just he's just going with the pitch he's making contact he's getting

he's getting walked he's getting singles the first base he's almost automatically over the second

he's been knocked in by a herni's been knocked in by O'Zuna I'm here for sure yeah this is like I

don't care if he only hits 20 home runs again you know this year but but he scores 120 runs because

he's getting on base he's stealing bases and he's letting the big boys bring him in right and

before he was easy to pitch around right you didn't have to pitch to him you didn't have to

pitch to Reynolds it's who was who was behind him yeah right I can't remember there you go it was

Jack it was Henry it was exactly yeah it was sad that's what it was um so now if he's back

especially if you're playing him in the lead off position you he's got five guys there's five

more guys that could knock him in line up so much better yeah we said that I still find it hard

to believe it's not what we've had it's not what we've had during the Ben Cherington era and suddenly

it's like you're not we've made it so easy on opposing pitchers you know for three seasons I've

been joking about how every tournament pitcher every guy off the disabled list every guy out from

the minor leagues has had the best career of a start against the park right right right you know more

guys have had their career high strikeouts against the five and stand the other team point where

guys have gone the longest amount of enemies they've got all this sort of stuff it's not happening

this year this year you're you maybe at the very end of the lineup you you might be able to

to navigate in a little easier but it used to be from you know four five six on you you it was just

game over yeah you're easy right right you know so yeah it's I don't know how much the credit

Marcel Azuna but I love what I'm saying from Cruz I'm I love how the other players are reacting

to him you're one of your questions for the yeah yeah that Jim Reeves who's been down here the

almost the whole time that we've been is a great fan of ours and you know he says that he's

going to provide more leadership and production than Andrew McCutcheon and that's a that's a hot

tape and that's something I want to say like like again like we're talking leadership and stuff

I think we're seeing it yes I would prefer or no Cruz not to have to have one but that's what he needs

that's great but I think the thing to do about this is you're not finding and just a glue guy right

you're not finding and just like well he's going to provide leadership but we're not expecting any

offensively but he's also a guy who can play that's providing that leadership to him right so I'm

going to turn to you right I know we had it down year what is it about Marcel Azuna I think

that he makes you think that he can be closer not going to be but closer to 2020 for 2024 version

than 2025 I just believe he can do it because he's hitting he can play multiple

I don't know I don't need to be here that Yasmani you just got to believe no he like he's been

an iron he's played a full 162 game season just a few years ago he's a guy that's and even with

that bad hit last year or whatever the interview is something like he's still hit them over 20 home

runs and like it's funny I did some math a couple weeks ago on my Twitter it was like you had

a her and Lau and Azuna's homerun together pretty sure the number was a good old number 69

nice but still the Pirates of Teen hit a total 117 home runs if you do the math 3 I think it was

about 59% of those would have been hit by just the three editions that they brought in Brandon

Lau's 31 would have just tied the cardinals for 29th place there it is so that right there

adds to you a lot of home runs that you did not have I'll add this about Azuna though Doug brought

up the leadership towards like crews and stuff I remember I had like Noah Hiles on my YouTube

couple months ago we were talking about like crews and what he needs and we brought he brought up

like Latin leadership yeah and that's something the Pirates haven't had hitter wise since like

Carlos Santana right they've had it with the pictures with our oldest Chapman you had it with

and then Santana definitely has been that leader right now yeah right up into the Dominican wise

and Spanish speaking wise hitter wise you haven't really had much of that besides Carlos Santana

we haven't had much of English speaking hitters we haven't much of Italian speaking hitters we have

not had any Korean speaking hitters you know playing on maybe I don't know but we have a lot of

hitters but it's very interesting that like they bring in Marcelo's do and I like crews is

immediately working with him and like wanting to learn from him and sure like I was doing has

done some things in the past I might make some fans think the wrong way and where I remember Doug

Cody and I talked about it like we're not going to tell you how to fan I don't think it's in our

right to tell you how you should react you're a lot of hate them you're a lot to like them

I'm going to be rooting for the guy to like help this team win and that's kind of like all I care

about the pirates pirates by themselves I want this team to win if he helps this team win

it's a good situation to have and I'm excited to see what he can do like Doug brought up and it was

kind of my first takeaway from spring training watching him walk out in his first the first bp group

it was him Brian Reynolds Jake Mangum now Jake Mangum was hitting home runs like a zoo

but he also had to burn and ran and laugh but the next group that came over was Elika Williams

actually Mangum was in the Elima Williams group but then Rafael Flores was over there too big boy

they're all going over to just talk to Marcelo Zuna Marcelo Zuna's presence and we bring up Cody

the golden retriever the pirates might look at him like that because they all gravitate towards

and he's even talking to some fans that speak Spanish as well he was talking to a fan

yesterday from a Colombian fan it was very interesting to watch it's just the players seem to love

them and that's a type of leader so that I think the pirates definitely desperately not definitely

desperately needed on this team and he's had a lot of big league experience he's been good in

the big leagues he's not one of those washed up veterans like a man over there thinks he's still

washed by the name Alex stump not to call him out oh man not the ones we're all wanting right now

but like I don't think he's washed up yeah I think it's fair I think that it's a fair argument to

have he had a bad hip last year but like he can still be a productive hitter and the fact of the

matter is even with that injured hip he was or would have been a top hitter on the Pittsburgh

pirates last year and that just shows how bad the hitting was but like still he was not a bad hitter

in major league baseball still hit over it was like 240 to 41 around there yeah still competent

enough to be league average right and it's all the pirates needed league average offense that's

all we asked for last year isn't it like I remember you guys on post game no not only the league

guys I mean really they have to be just just low just be just be just be bad not very very very bad

it's been our mantra if Henry could just be average if could Brian Hayes could just be average if

if if if now we've got guys that have been above average all starts yeah all starts MVP

right it's it's it's a good vibe and I'm excited to see what I was doing I can do though I'm

excited I hope he can work with three line of crews going to WDC yeah I'm excited to see what he

can do they're learning from some of these guys because that was the thing with the home run Derby

he wasn't good after the home run Derby thing and I'm a big one well he wasn't also good before

the home Derby I just say that because I don't want to put the home on Derby on yeah so if he

were to participate I'm not going to say oh well that could be a problem he wasn't good before

that I one of that no one's really talking about like he's going to get to talk to is Nelson

Cruz who's managing the Dominican Republic in the WC that's a well respected that is a very well

respected major league baseball player Nelson Cruz you're going to have to be a teammate with

lad junior and I like we name a plan in talking about O'Neal Cruz today so I'll just cut it off

there but like still like O'Zuna I'm excited to see what he can do to help this team not just

Cruz but maybe some of the other Spanish speaking players maybe talk to an N.D. Rodriguez it might

not be his position of excellence to be a catcher but like still talk to the guy like is everything

good how are we doing today concerned about how these guys hit yeah and he needs to hit yes so

O'Zuna is a good guy to talk to about and I love about it he could talk to someone out he could

talk to Fort about catching he could talk to Adorning you know there's there's there's other people

for him to talk to about their Jacob Stalin's in the organization but O'Zuna is a good guy to

talk to about how to hit for sure so I think but again right now two weeks into this what we're seeing

is a lot of good vibes looking back at these trades seems like they're already paying some dividends

yes we still want to see what happens for the roostering training and of course what also

matters once over the day starts but again right now good vibes good things happening let's let's

continue to see what the fire's gonna do yeah I'm excited all right well guys let's get out here

once again want to thank the cut for having us come out here great food good time uh and we'll

see you guys tomorrow because the fires have another game so 12 o'clock will be live we see you then

bye bye see you guys all right that wraps up this episode of North Shore 9 thanks so much for tuning in

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This Pirates Team Feels Different: Are The Moves Already Paying Off?

About this Episode

Hosts & Guests

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