Urquidy vs Mlodzinski vs Barco: Who Wins the Pirates’ 5th Spot?

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Yo, yo, yo, welcome to Buckebrew Power by DeFair Coffee and T. This is the Norton Rine podcast

presented by Fandall. I'm your host, Anthony Denardo. With me, we have, oh,

we don't have Jim. We have Neil with us. Neil, welcome to Buckebrew. I think this is

your Buckebrew debut. Second time. Second time. I was on a little, a long time ago, for pirate

fest. You know, the one where they had all the balls, they'll use controversy with all the

people they were selling. They were selling, it was, yeah. Yeah, that one. I do recall, because

you were there. Yeah, we had you on to talk to your Pirates Fest experience. Yeah, this year

was a lot better than that one. So that's good. This off season seemed a lot better than that one.

And therefore, the spring training seems a lot better than that spring training. I mean,

they're eight and two. They're, oh, I mean, like I said, Buckebrews are going to the world's

areas. Yes. Yeah, there is no team better than the Buckebrews right now in baseball. Absolutely.

So with this Buckebrew, we figured we'd talk a little about like the fifth starter role.

And then from there, maybe lead into the depth of the pitching. Because I mean, again,

we've talked about, well, I shouldn't say we, because we haven't been here, but like us as the

brand, I feel like we talk about Conna Griffin every single day. And there's at least two shows

a day. So that's at least twice a day. Mhm. Rightfully so producer Cody says sometimes three shows.

I mean, like he has taken full attention at spring training. I mean, it makes sense. Like,

you know, I think what is it? He's the first teenager to home or three times in the history of

spring training. Like that's a pretty big deal. And we're rightfully excited. Yeah.

After watching that offense last year, having like a phenom shorts out prospect is a

cool thing to have. Right. But we have talked about him a lot or the last week. Yeah. But again,

like I mentioned, like rightfully so. I mean, just hit his third home run yesterday. Of course,

it was his third hit all homers. But I mean, you look at the numbers within the numbers. I mean,

he's had what seven hard hit as well over seven over a hundred miles an hour, which is what

you're looking for. Like a spring training results don't matter. It's about the process. Yeah.

And even though he's not getting like singles or whatever, and I think Doug yesterday was like,

I wish Connor Griffin would hit a double. And you know, like it's everything you want to see

from a kid that young. And you know, I don't think there's anyone in this way from getting

the opening day shortstop position if he continues like this. It's all on him. You know,

and we're going to probably use that quote over and over over again from Colin Beasley,

where like leave no doubt. And and that's the thing. Like obviously you can say like it's been

just three hits. You know, I'm like, what's that's not great? The batting area isn't great.

But when you look at exit velocity, while we talk about with seven over a hundred miles an hour,

that's something that's predictive. Like you mentioned, that's what you want to see in spring,

spring training stats don't matter. Well, the thing in baseball too is small sample size. Yeah.

Like extreme small sample size. What can you take from the small sample? You know, there's been a

little bit of unluckiness, right? Like that one also could have been home run. He could have we

could talk about this fourth hit, which is four home runs. Yeah. Um, you know, like he's been hitting

the ball very well. So again, we talk about baseball. Once the sample starts to normalize,

because of what he is doing right now, you assume and expect things will look obviously better.

And you know, that average will be there. He'll hit actually more than, you know,

what he hits for home runs this year. Yeah. You would think so. I mean, I'm forever scarred by

Kevin Newman in terms of spring training stats. Sure. Like 2021 has been the like, I can't

ever trust anything that happens. Results for us in the field. But I can tell, you know,

I like to think my eye test is good. Connor Griffin passes the eye test. Yeah. Even in spring training.

Yeah. When you have like 30 hit balls, they're all like 60 miles an hour and you're

bad batting average of 750. Yeah. That you might look and say like, maybe this isn't sustainable.

No, it wasn't. But on the other side, when you look and see seven balls hit over a hundred miles

an hour, you know, one was robbed at the at the fence, also, which could have been the fourth

home run. Maybe balls will start dropping for him in the real world. So again, we're not going

to talk about Connor Griffin as we open about Connor Griffin. We do want to talk about the fifth

starter spot here. You know, yes, 800 barcode had to start. He was excellent. He was

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Christmas gift. It is. It's a very good Christmas gift, but don't wait 10 more months to do so.

No, I think they take the deal right now. Yeah. It's also a great spring training gift. Yeah.

But yeah, so again, getting back to like that fifth starter spot, you know, there's a few names

that are battling for it. And again, like when you mentioned Hunter Barker who did have a start

yesterday, we talked a little bit about yesterday on the recap, but you know, to go a little bit

further, I think about the starter position. I mean, there's Jose Irquiti who they signed.

He has experience. He was with Houston system. Bill Murphy, obviously very familiar with them.

You would look at some degree. He's the veteran now. He doesn't have a whole lot of major

league innings log behind him. No, but you know, he is the presence that comes in. Like I've been

here before and I've won. And I mean, we hired guys from Houston to work on the pitching staff.

He's probably very familiar with the guys on the staff. If I had to guess, I would say he's

probably got the inside track just based off his veteran presence and like familiarity with pitching

in the majors at a start level as opposed to Maginsky or Barco. But I think a lot will run like,

you know, what we see, especially tomorrow when he played face off against the Colombian team.

But if I had to guess, I think the pirates are probably looking at him. I've heard that like,

the pirates really, really like this guy. I mean, as they they should, I mean, he's been a fine

pitcher. It's really just been the injuries that have been derailed him through the past few years

and such. So he hasn't had those innings. Like when he was with Houston and, you know, he's part

of the rotation. He was a mainstay there. He was productive. You know, I mean, there was nothing.

There's nothing that shine. It wasn't like, you know, Garrett Cole when he was in Houston back in

the day. Like this guy was just a complete ace and solid in that sense. But he was,

he was exactly what you want. And not even a fifth starter, like a fourth starter, even a

three starter. Yeah. You know, I'm in the ERA mid threes. You logged some innings. You know,

the the strikeouts weren't high, but it was just effective pitcher. And we know what this rotation has.

It has a lot of, I keep saying, like the sexiness. There's a lot of stuff in there, right? But there's

not a whole lot of, we've done it before.

Healthy. This is going to, here's what like 70 innings since 2023. Something like that. And so,

like that's the big problem that you don't know exactly how much that's you can really give you

in terms of that. But I could see him as like kind of like a nice thing that gets you through,

like April, May, potentially even June. And then if you're worried about like the arm load,

then like you can, that's when you bring up Barco or you start piggybacking him with Vaginski.

Because I know they like Vaginski as a starter as well. And so just like trying to find ways,

the bridge gaps kind of way that used to be sort of tease before they traded him to the Cleveland.

So I would be interested if he even has a rotation spot for the whole year. But I definitely do

think he starts on the MLB roster. But I'm excited to see him pitch because it's always cool to see

like what guys look like coming back from injury that long, especially when he used to be a good

pitcher. He was a good, reliable pitcher. And like I think he make a really good point too.

Like I do think in the best situation, maybe that's the best way to put it. I mean, I could probably

the best situation is the most talented pitcher to start there from day five or day one. But like I

think what makes the most sense, like what the pirates probably wanting to see is him to kind of

reclaim a bit of that form, to show like, you know, hey, I can handle that five spot because in

like this ideal world, you want him when he's healthy. Like if you're concerned about the healthy,

what he's healthy now, give me the innings, you know, because like you mentioned about maybe

calling 100 barker up late. Like that's why I think of this is ideal world. 100 barker doesn't have

the innings. He has that injury passed as well. You know, it's like you're still ramping him up.

You're still trying to get him to where you want him to be like maybe next year's the year we

start thinking like full load. But this year's not the year. So like I keep caught talking to like to

some level, you probably want him on that like blah, blah, that skeens low where it's like, you know,

hey, we're going to put you in triple A, go out there and pitch three innings. Yeah. And come out.

To save those innings for later in the year, you have equity giving you those those innings now,

right? Hopefully effective, but also like you remind the Jared Jones come back at the end of May.

So it's like, let's get those innings now while you're healthy in here because we do have some

reinforcements coming. Yeah, I also kind of was afraid about Jared Jones, but yeah, he's probably

coming in, or he doesn't, but it doesn't have a spot in the rotation. But even so, I feel like he's

a good guy that can slot into your bullpen. Like I know we talked about this at Jared Jones,

it's like with an image in ski like, you know, making sure he doesn't have to go six innings each

time he's coming back from major injury. So I think when you have all this pool of like talented,

but like injured pitchers, it's not ideal. But you can finagle it where like you're you're

you're basically kind of like creating starts out of the aggregate with multiple people instead of like,

you know, burning through people's arms like like Oviedo in 2023. Right. And that's that's

that's what I really want to know what I want to see like, you know, I equity like suffer in

to 150 innings. His body clearly can't handle it. Right, right. Absolutely. But again,

you mentioned a good point there too. Like if he is healthy, like can you have arms come in? Like

he's also a guy that could give you like the bulk gettings in the bullpen. You know, it's

eyes of like he's just gone and thrown away. I mean, Jerry Jones comes in and he's still pitching

effectively, right? Or how the work comes in like, you can still put him and he's also like,

I mean, in the bullpen at a much different look, you know, I think he could be effective. It's not

going to be like, I'll call him a jansky where he goes from, you know, the rotation of the bullpen,

he just turns it up a whole other notch. But I mean, he'll certainly be a completely different look

in the bullpen and and right. Like obviously he could give you those multiple innings, you know,

you know, he's in a different way. We saw how they've been using that that really for roll for

the past few years. Like maybe he's a starter for two innings and then you bring in yeah,

Hunter Barco or my just get whoever it is, you know, Jerry Jones. But um, but yeah, I mean,

there's certainly a role in him, but I do think it makes sense. And you know, again, it was just one

start. You didn't see much. If you mentioned tomorrow, we're starting against Colombia. You do

want to see more out of him and see what he has, but I do think he has effective stuff to be a

starter for sure. Yeah. Um, and I think, you know, in terms, when the market is what it looks

like right now in terms of free agent starting pictures, I don't really blame them for like sticking

with equity instead of like trying to go drop like 17 million on Lucas Giolito. I feel I feel

I feel I feel like I feel like I feel like I made sure Bob is feeling pretty good about that. And

Bob doesn't want to get that either. Yeah. So I'm excited to see him and because it's kind of

like a new shiny toy, you don't exactly know what we're going to get out of him. But I am excited

so yeah. And you know, again, we talked about Hunter Barker or something. And to talk a little

more about him, you know, we spent a lot on Jose at this point because we think he's going to be there.

But Hunter Barker, I think obviously like when he does make the rotation, it's most likely going to

be, you know, after the first few months in my point of view, but like when he does, we're seeing

what he can do. And this is why there's a lot of talk about this rotation, you know, how good they

can be because Hunter Barker yesterday, I know we didn't get to actually watch it. So I can't say

like a that perspective, but seeing what transpired, looking at that casting, the swing of misduff,

seeing how many strikes he threw, how effective he was, you know, like this kind of reiterates and

doubles down of like how good of a pitcher he actually can be. Yeah. I mean, it sucks because I

really want to really want to watch him. Like we wanted to watch Ashcroft pitch against Houston.

We wanted to watch Barker yesterday. And we couldn't watch either. But no, and this have on bubbles

and this stuff. What's great. I'm 11 whiffs. 100% whiff rate on the fastball, I think.

And seven seven seven out of seven on the slider. Slider was two out of three. Maybe, well,

maybe 11 lives regardless. Yeah, just like a really, really good performance. He went three in

his zero runs. He gave up zero hits. I think it was just a walk. And I mean, the stuff looks

filthy. There was one hit in the game yesterday. I think there's one one earned run out of it too.

Okay. So I mean, like everything you want to see out of the young prospect, like good stuff,

striking people out, making people look stupid. Like I feel like Barco has surprised me. I didn't

think he looked good coming out of spring training. Yeah. For sure. And I want to highlight again,

like you mentioned, like the fastball, you know, seven swinging misses out of 15 swings on the

fastball. Yeah. This wasn't like the secondary stuff, which also did look good, according to that.

But like he said, he threw predominantly fastball as well. Yeah. He attacked these hitters,

and they still could not hit it. You know, they could make any type of contact. So,

so yeah, I mean, like he has the stuff. It's just like, can he log the innings? Can he last?

That's something you're probably looking this year to still like rebuild, you know, build up,

or I should say, we're like maybe next year. A lot of these guys you feel more comfortable with.

That's like that's the worry this year with this rotation. You know, the rotation is there's a

lot of really good talented pitchers. It's just like, are there are there innings there? How

are we going to get the innings? So again, we talk about these guys. But to throw in that too,

like, so there's Hunter Barco we talked about, we haven't really talked too much about Karam

Rajinsky. Yeah. And that was put out there that the Pirates got approached him. Like we're

interested in looking at you as a potential starter as well. Is that is that just like, you know,

hey, let's see what happens. Is it also just like, you know, hey, we're going to need some innings

and spring training as well because it's WBC that's happening. We're going to do some pictures.

So let's say let's entertain you as a starter to see what happens. You know, like Jason Mackie

put out there an article and just talking about the stuff that he's like revamped and how

comfortable he felt more at the second half of the year with his pitches that he didn't have

the first year. Like he incorporated splitter. He was talking a lot with like David Bednar about it.

The pitch sequence thing like the first half when he was the starter, he wasn't real comfortable

with a lot. And then the second half when he went back to the bullpen, all that also came together

where it's like, well, if I had this, I probably could have been an effective starter. Yeah.

Also the curveball incorporated like so he was a different pitcher second half. And with that,

he didn't really get the opportunity to start again to prove like, hey, I can't do this. So again,

like I'm not opposed to seeing it. You know, I firmly in my mind, I'm like, hey, Karam,

just be the do that you are in the bullpen because that's an effective weapon. But I'm willing to

entertain seeing it. Yeah. I don't know how you feel on that. I mean, if there was another starter

here, like if they had managed to get Contana back or something like that, I think it'd be, no,

you're going to the seventh and end roll. That's just where you're going to be. And we're going to

be really good in the seventh and end because of that. Right. But I think, you know, with Jared

Jones coming back from injury with Barco and Erkwoody, like not necessarily having like the best

bill of health, it does make a lot of sense to try this out again. Yeah. And my convinced it's

going to work. Not really. I think he's just, he's so good focusing and locking in for those

one to two innings when you really need it. And when I've watched him last year, I know he

didn't have like all the pitches, but you could kind of tell you really started running out of steam

after that second and in. And that's okay. I think he's going to be a really, really effective

reliever, but that said, the pirates would be dumb not to try it. Like that's what we're

in training is for. Like you should be trying this type of stuff out. Do I? And so I'm going to say,

we'll watch him. I'm excited to see him in the bullpen this year. And if he wins that fifth

starter spot, it means that he beat two good pitchers. Like Barcos look good. Yeah.

And Erkwoody helps me add like a, you know, good career books at this point. So it can't be too

mad no matter what happens. Yeah. No, again, like that, that is a really good perspective. If he does

win it, he beat out some dudes that you thought could win it too. So that's probably means that's,

you know, he looked really good doing so. Yeah. Last year, did he have any competition for that

this spot? Bubba. Bubba. Yeah. I guess you could argue, Bubba. Yeah. Which it was, you know,

there were some up and downs, but was he going to make it out there and he didn't? I mean,

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You could maybe say, but it wasn't like this year, I think. It wasn't like how it is this year

where some of these guys, like Hunter Barker, could make it. Absolutely. I don't think there's

a worry of service time innings, but I feel like it's almost like he has the Jared Jones.

If he goes out there and proves it, he's going to start.

Yeah. And if not, again, if other people beat him out, then it makes them more comfortable

and AAA to do this thing. So it's a true competition. I know. It is.

And it's one of the more exciting things is like watch because you can't take much result

lies in pitch and fraternium, but you can take what pitchers look like and how their pitches look

as even though they're kind of going out and just messing around their stuff. It does show what

is been work on how their pitches have developed. And so if Carmen Maginsky has actually developed

a couple new pitches like that curveball, like you said, and it makes an effective starter,

that's just another huge win for us. And so that's going to be fun to watch too. So I'm excited.

And like eventually, like obviously when these guys come, maybe he is relegated the bullpen,

like it's that's still the weapon there. Like you still want to see this stuff. And it's kind of

what's take away here as though it's oddly enough, like we haven't really seen Carmen.

No, it's weird. So we're 10 games in and he hasn't really pitched at all.

Right. So hopefully we get to see more of him. Again, obviously with the WBC, hopefully,

you know, we'll see more of that. But like going back to we said to you about like what they're

what they're trying to see who's pitching well. It's like, again, understand results don't matter.

Yeah. They know what they're working on. The team knows what they're working on with a

trying to accomplish. They're zoomed in seeing how that's going. Like hey, do this with a fastball

or you know, this week's sequencing with whatever it might be. They're looking on that. They're not

focused on the results. And it's like, okay, he's doing this. We feel comfortable. Like yeah,

that fastball is nasty in this way. That will play. Even though the seconder stuff might

got lit up, that's not what we're worried about today. You know, or like if it was the curveball.

Like how do I fill out the curveball? That that curve balls that's coming in. That's what I need

to be in effect of pitcher. And that's working. Okay. Now we feel more comfortable. So again,

it's not so much the results that are mattering. Yeah. It's what they're trying to accomplish.

And how well they're doing with that. I was like going back to the bubble quotes. Hey,

what I did that first thing is exactly what I wanted. And that first thing looked great. Yeah.

The set of gaming was toast. Yeah. It was trash. But like in Bubba's eye, at least in that sense,

like that didn't matter. I did what I came out to accomplish. Now, to some level, like I

still want to throw strikes, but yeah, that's what I'm trying to put there. I'm not trying to

absolve Bubba. I'm trying to say that's that's the mentality. Like what are they trying to do?

Did they accomplish that? That's what they're kind of looking into at some level.

But like I want to bring this up. So it's a good question. Steele City does ask. Does

ask is the ideal fall rotation, schemes, color, ashcraft, Bubba, and Jones. And I would say,

yeah, like I think ideally that's that's what you're hoping to have. It's hard to dispute. I mean,

like if Jared Jones is coming out as your fifth starter, that's a really, really good rotation.

Like yeah, that it is a playoff rotation. And as cool as like an equity like research

would be your barcode research. And like I think those are your five core guys.

All of them in some capacity approved. They've been able to pitch at the MLB level. I know like

in Chandler's case and some a little bit of Jones's case. It's been a little bit of a short sample

size. But you know the stuff is there. And like all of the schemes, Jones, and

schemes, Jones and ashcraft and all those guys have shown the ability to pitch

with sub three R a stuff. Oh, for sure. And that's something most teams don't have. So

yeah, these guys are just trying to bridge the gap until we get that fully healthy rotation.

If we ever get that fully healthy rotation. And that's why it's always an if. And that's why

you always need arms. We're talking like it would still be nice if they add another starter

into the mix. Yeah. Doesn't seem like that's going to be the case at least at this point of time.

But but absolutely, I think that's the ideal thing. Like you mentioned, like

numbers are numbers. I mean, those five guys that's the thing about them that the talent those

five guys have, all of them can be one, two, or three's like in a rotation. So you talk about

some of those being like a four or five, whoever that might end up being, you know, like this is a five,

these are five guys that you trust, like they can go out there, they can compete. Hands down.

They want you off there and win you a game. And what's really fun about the playoffs if we get

there, like big if, right. But like, you know, it's like you're not pitching a full five man rotation.

Like you're kind of going like one through three, one through four. And then you might just have

Jared Jones come in in pitch two to three and in twice a week and just shut people down with

this fastball and slider. And that's also really cool tool you can have. You can do that. Bob,

you can do that with Ashcraft, whichever way you feel comfortable. And then you can even bring

him Barco and Erkwood is like guys like that to the bridge that gap. And so you kind of have like

this army of starters who all have great stuff. I've all proven they have the ability to pitch well.

And they really helped bridge those long playoff games together, especially if you're in a seven

minutes. Yeah. It's having a game series. So yeah, for sure. Really really looking forward to that.

But like if we make the playoffs, I feel like it's a very distinct possibility.

Absolutely. Absolutely. So, you know, we're talking about this fifth starter battle.

I think it would be kind of cool to touch a little bit on like the depth as well outside of people

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the fair coffee and tea yeah IQ bar you're set yeah perfect so yeah so going back again we talk

about the fifth star going back to talk a little more about the depth of pitching because you know

that's something we talked that like this team doesn't have a whole lot of depth but I know Jim's

argued this point and again that doesn't determine for one to go like get another fifth starter but

there are some like that next tier of prospects like these interesting arms like the Antoine

Kelly's who pitch right the Christian Curtis's who pitched yesterday right the Wilbur Dottels

that pitched the other day like I feel like that next tier of pitchers they're not really very yet

like they're not fighting for a opening day roster spot you know I mean they're not ready they're

not present enough but there's one I was I was a Brandon Bedouard might be fighting for

an open day spot besides that I agree most of these guys are still like a year or so away yeah

by that that's fair but I look at that more like in the in the bullpen yeah for sure okay so and

that's fair and that's that's a guy yeah like keep an eye on yeah but yeah and I think that like

when you talk about Curtis you talk about uh Dottel you talk about all these guys like they're

definitely like a year away but they have been fun the wash and like a lot of their ERAs aren't

the best but like you can just tell like these guys have at the very least a bullpen in the major

league ceiling like don't tell don't tell specifically what before yeah that changes things a lot

definitely before you're right um and like you know what did you know tell Dottel gets the

first start of the spring training and yeah he comes out and like shocks everyone because I

mean explode I had never heard a Wilbur Dottel okay um I maybe I should pay more attention to

prospect list but for me it's like he wasn't even on my radar it's like oh this is fun yeah

and then he comes out and pitches like that and no I mean I don't know what the pirates have

tapped into but clearly they have learned how to properly develop pitching because you're

getting guys like popping up every single year about guys to get excited about and all three of

the guys that you just mentioned have really good quality stuff um and you know in a little bit

of we've able to watch of them it's nice it's a lot of fun yeah um no complaints yeah absolutely

you know the thing that pirates have done well is develop pitchers yeah that's what we're talking

about these starters right now you know a lot more developed by this regime uh any of the ones

that weren't you know like your Mitch Keller's Mitch Keller was really really bad to begin his career

you know it's like you got a hand to this regime to some level I know they you know go to tread

you can you can give tread a lot of credit as well and went up but like there's a lot of you know

hey this regime allowed that he did this turnaround under this regime and whatever you feel about

Mitch Keller you know I know he's polarizing as well yeah but like he's and he's a very effective

pitcher for what he does and he's gonna this team needs a Mitch Keller this year we desperately need

a Mitch Keller right but like what they have done well is develop pitchers and you know we've talked

so much about the guys we talked about earlier and I feel like these guys need to be talked about

the some level as well because like you mentioned they're probably your way however I do think there's

there's definitely a world where you could see any one of these three helping out the team this

year at some point yeah I said they're not battling for an open day spot but like there could be a

day you know we're talking about that for injuries happen you know there could be like you know hey it's

it's July you know I'm not trying to jinx anything but X player went down this one's happening like

we need to make you know some spot starts and you're seeing Antoine Kelly make that or Wilbur to tell

make that our Christian Curtis make that um you talked about I know you jokingly said you're

sealing the accident but like there's also like the possibility like we do think they certainly

could be starters but they could also maybe they need help in the bullpen and like what if you

had Antoine Kelly in the bullpen yeah like all the three of those guys I think the thing about them

is if they're not starters they have this stuff to be really good bullpen arms as well I fully expect

Antoine Kelly to be in the bullpen at some point this year okay like I feel like he he's probably

gonna project that way anyway but like he's just that good and if you look at like how the pirates do

bullpen or how any team around the league does bullpen there's going to be what 15 20 guys or so

who are going to take bullpen and ins we've all taken Alex dumb sparkle quiz at the end of the year

at minimum and so like whatever you see like the eight guys that are on the roster are not going

to be there the whole year but we're gonna DFA guys some guys are gonna get injured and so no I

100% think some of these guys maybe not to tell because like he's been starting his whole

minor league career and I imagine they want to keep that way but I definitely think Kelly or

Bedouin or other guys like that well 100% get be called up at some point to you know into dog days

of July try to get us through some games and I think because I would just be like a bad band-aid

I think they should actually be pretty solid guys in that role oh I mean I think yeah I think

all of them right now could be solid in that role yeah yeah that's what we're saying like

they're it's not like they're not you want to make them starters you're you're hoping you're

developing those starters right you haven't made a decision on anything like okay this guy's

not a star all the one can absolutely starters which why you'd say like yeah more you know

is at least a reliever because if not they could be effective believers and I think

almost all of them all three of them I feel like if they're fighting for actual like bullpen spots

there's a real battle there too like that I feel comfortable I mean one of them in the bullpen like

today to some level but yeah like they pump gas too at least the Wilbur and and and

Antoine Kelley they pump some gas Wilbur to tell add that splitter last year I mean I've

struggled a little about it his control got better like there's again there's some interesting stuff

so we're talking about the depth I do want to talk about them a little bit because they like

Christian Curtis look really good yesterday you want to talk about that we you know Antoine Kelley

look pretty solid um these guys have this stuff that like I also think there are some possibilities

where you might see these guys make some starts in the year you know it's nothing can be

part like the main state rotation hopefully hopefully not there that's a big problem yeah but like

I feel comfortable where if you're not going out there to get the other fifth starter to really get

you like if these guys you know one or two of them gave you like two to four to maybe five stars

I'm like that like I'm probably okay with that yeah and like and it's kind of like they're

kind of like break the glass in case of emergency type starters yeah but like sharing right now

right now for change I mean yeah top of Antoine Kelley or you know

yeah hotel or Christian Curtis you know in two months like holy crap with these guys like

it might change but as of today the perspective is right yeah but like as Sharon

Tin's gone on a lot about how he wants like what nine or 10 guys who can take the ball at any given

time and start right and when you trade away guys like a V8 guys like burrows which are going to

be lost is I think both are going to be good MLB pictures this year you do have to replace that

depth and this kind of been next man up and that's really cool and that's really good to see and

I mean I'm not really compares to the Yankees because I'm not sure it's like a big like comparison

but like you know the Yankees keep loading up on guys like every year the Yankees are shipping off

highly touted prospects for MLB talent because they just are able to keep replacing people in the system

and so if the pirates are able to do this where they're able to bring in cows every year by like

trading from the surplus and then bringing in three more guys like a Kelly alike a hotel this

as as more depth and that's close to like your MLB talent like that's a really good system to have

especially for a team like the pirates that can't develop hitting in the same way they can't pitching

yeah I mean you mentioned the Yankees I always go back to the Dodgers different reason but I think

the Dodgers give the perspective of this is exactly why you need arms even the Dodgers can't get

through the season without telling us pictures at least you know like 75% of the Dodgers

at rotation is on the aisle at any given point right yeah I mean it was a one point like yeah like

their aisle had more of a payroll than the pirates entire payroll that's a story another topic

another thing we're talking a looting here but like yes like you absolutely need arms because guys

will get injured you know so it's always been like are worry about this rotation like adding another

starter wouldn't hurt but let's also maybe talk about the depth that is there and you know there

there certainly is talent so again I do want to bring up especially there's three at this point

because I think that's that's next year where there's a lot of people that don't really know who they

are right and I think this year could be a big year of like you're going to find out who they are

yeah it's like for the personal development but also for the team because there could be

situations where they're needed and I don't say I'm confident that would be there but I'm confident

that at that point of time it'll be okay yeah it's not like a white flag and it's like oh god we

got to throw in I don't want to say names because we've done a lot of stuff behind the scenes about

guessing the best parts from 2020 to 2025 and it's been sad so I'm gonna bring up names that like

I had those roles in the past so we'll just forget it but you know I'm going with I feel better

that it's those guys than some of these retreads that we brought in like 2021 that have to give you

innings well that's gonna be my next point is like I wonder if the pirates are all just kind of

burned from like Rich Hill and Andrew Heaney like you know like not that they're good guys but like

you know those guys were leaving Pittsburgh with ERAs close on six and so I wonder if the

calculus in the front office right now is we could go out and burn five million on Patrick

Corbin or Rich Hill type or an Andrew Heaney type or we could simply just let our young guys who

have better stuff work their magic and see how that goes instead yeah and I think that's a

valid way to go about this because like I don't like since Cantana has there really been like a good

veteran one-year deal that we brought in that people like for the whole time he's been here

with people of likes I mean that's a good point yeah you know that that is a good point um

I guess no yeah I guess no that is the answer that that true veteran like that guy you're talking

about specifically they brought in arms that weren't veterans but like I go to Bailey fault

in the sense like I know it's not the same situation yeah Bailey fault to was that guy it's like

well who is he and then it's like oh okay this trade isn't so bad after all it actually worked out

very very well yeah to the point when he got traded to Kansas City last uh traded line I blew up

what are we doing here what's going on yeah um so I guess what I'm trying to hear say also is like

but it's debatable yeah you know you can absolutely have this debate like what you are saying

and that perspective if that size more the higher to thinking that's a true debate that you can

have I mean there's merit to that um and it does seem at this point I mean there's not another

star that's come in I I was always fully anticipating there would be yeah since it's already

March it still can happen yeah it still can actually have there's still guys available I mean

even the comments they can talk about Patrick Corbin Tyler Anderson I mean if we still there if

we got Zach Latel on a one year deal I'd be the happiest man in the world yeah that would be great

all three of those you know I think the other two are gonna make like I'm not the happiest man in the

world okay I mean I'm sorry I am saying exactly Zach Latel is your fifth starter yeah that's a

that's a really good and that's all lute you like that'll certainly make me feel safer and maybe

what they're doing is because there's still you mentioned three guys that are still available

that would make you feel the way maybe it is waiting it out I mean this it makes sense I know it

sounds cheap but like the parts way like we're comfortable with any three of you so whichever one's

left you know and now you're desperate and you're willing to take this three million dollar deal

you know whatever in their eyes is like then you're the guy yeah because it's like it could be either

one of you we don't really care so whoever's last and desperate that's the one we want

maybe maybe that is the case yeah find out because I know people have stated here like it's been

still looking for a fifth starter I mean he said he is but the action show like nothing's happened yet

yeah not hearing too much about it so in my eyes maybe that's just what happening they're just saying

who's gonna get desperate and take this this piece of pie that we're offering which is very below

market yeah but you know at that point of time that's what you're just going to take yeah there's

like at the play baseball I would be a little worried just because like when you look at guys like

Jordan Montgomery and other guys who signed so late in spring training recently like they almost

never have good seasons there's something about being an MLB camp clearly like from the beginning

of spring training that helps guys like get ready for the for the season like you pitching your

own like simulated games and then some effect is being inspiring games and so I would be like a

little like concerned about that but at the same time again like you know if geolito or let's

tell her they're for a fair price you have to go get those yeah yeah very fair so again I think

that kind of wraps up what we want to discuss here and talk about because again we have so much

content give you will be live today of course at noon for our podcast at lecom where it's a whole

mostly on new faces there's still some carryover the dog still here Cody still here but we got

Neil in the house we have Nate in the house at this point of time so noon we'll do that we'll have

of course our wrap up and I don't know if there's an emergency podcast for fifth starter we'll be live

for that too so make sure you're of course subscribing following along with all our socials

anything else if you wanted to stay here not just excited to be here all right me too me too so here

for the full week four home games Monday Tuesday Thursday Friday Wednesday night will be live at the

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definitely do so be a good time and then outside of that I guess we'll just we'll see you in like

three hours three hours you see us at lecom say hi we'll see you guys later bye bye

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