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Speaker 1: What's up, everybody?

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Speaker 2: Welcome back to another emergency episode of Bucco Territory presented

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Speaker 2: by the Foul Territory Network. He is Platinum Key aka

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Speaker 2: Mark I and Noah Hayles, and we bring you some

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Speaker 2: reactions to more Pirates related breaking news. Mark, for the

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Speaker 2: second time in the same calendar week, your Pittsburgh Pirates

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Speaker 2: have signed or have acquired an All Star and this

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Speaker 2: one comes, believe it or not, via free agency. They

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Speaker 2: sign All Star first baseman Slash outfielder Slash dh Ryan O'Hearn.

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Speaker 2: The deal as two years, twenty nine million dollars plus

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Speaker 2: some incentives.

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Speaker 1: It is their.

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Speaker 2: First multi year free agent deal since evon Nova. They

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Speaker 2: can finally put what's that stat to bed and that

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Speaker 2: that is something that this franchise is desperate needed to

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Speaker 2: take care of.

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Speaker 1: They did it.

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Speaker 2: Mark, just the last time we recorded, I went out

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Speaker 2: of my way to say, you know, Ben Cherrington has

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Speaker 2: spent his capital right, he's he's traded away pitchers that

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Speaker 2: he's acquired that he's you know, hired people to develop.

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Speaker 2: It was time for them to spend a little bit

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Speaker 2: of money and they did that. This was, Yes, this

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Speaker 2: is one of the best free agents out there this offseason. Now,

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Speaker 2: I'm not gonna sit here and act like he is

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Speaker 2: a franchise altering talent. This is an above average baseball player,

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Speaker 2: a guy who would make any lineup better, and they

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Speaker 2: can find a spot for him. Yeah, he's an All

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Speaker 2: star baseball player. There's still a lot more work to

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Speaker 2: be done. I don't think they're a playoff team just yet,

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Speaker 2: but I do think they're a better baseball team right now. Again,

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Speaker 2: I'll ask you the same question I asked you last Friday?

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Speaker 2: How excited are you about this news?

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Speaker 3: Even more exciting? This is over the moon, Like I'm ecstatic.

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Speaker 3: We might not be there yet, but we are right

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Speaker 3: on the door step of being a competitor baseball team.

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Speaker 3: These the Pirates just added twenty twenty five all Stars.

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Speaker 3: They added two guys that if they were on the

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Speaker 3: Pirates last year, would have been the two best hitters

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Speaker 3: in the lineup. Yep, they added two left handed bats

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Speaker 3: that both bring power, that both have ops's around eight hundred.

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Speaker 3: This is a fantastic move. This is everything we were

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Speaker 3: begging for the monthly and up to these this week.

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Speaker 3: This is exactly what we've been saying. Hey, if the

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Speaker 3: Pirates want to compete. They need to trade for Brandon

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Speaker 3: Lowe and go sign Ryan O'Hearn.

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Speaker 1: What they do.

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Speaker 3: They traded for Brandon Lowe and they signed Ryan O'Hearn,

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Speaker 3: and so it's it's refreshing to put it, I'll put

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Speaker 3: it that way. Still a lot more to be done,

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Speaker 3: but every seple of the way so far, they've been

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Speaker 3: making the right moves and it's just a really really

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Speaker 3: exciting time to be a Pirates fan.

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Speaker 2: Having covered this team obviously for a few years in

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Speaker 2: the off seasons, I would write these these wishless right that, like,

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Speaker 2: you could say, Okay, here are fifty players the Pirates

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Speaker 2: should try to acquire. And it was pretty dejecting after

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Speaker 2: spending like a whole week writing something like that, to

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Speaker 2: see not one of those fifty players. But these are

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Speaker 2: guys that would have been on those lists if I

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Speaker 2: was still on the Pirates beat, right Like, these are

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Speaker 2: guys that you look at and you say, this is

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Speaker 2: a fit that makes sense. They're in their price range,

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Speaker 2: either through trade acquisition, price tag or just free agency,

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Speaker 2: and they went out and got them. And if I

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Speaker 2: would have told any Pirate fan, you know, a couple

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Speaker 2: of minutes after Travis Williams stumbled over his words.

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Speaker 1: Full stop.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. And if I would have said, you know, a

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Speaker 2: couple of minutes after that, like it, well, guess what,

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Speaker 2: Like that was bad? And I know you're upset that

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Speaker 2: Sherrington's back and Williams is back, and they won't commit

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Speaker 2: to even saying they're going to spend more money.

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Speaker 1: They're going to acquire two all stars.

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Speaker 2: They're going to acquire a top one hundred prospect who's

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Speaker 2: major league ready.

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Speaker 1: They're going to acquire, uh, like.

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Speaker 2: A fourth outfielder platoon guy who hit two ninety six

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Speaker 2: as a rookie and is a plus defender at all

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Speaker 2: three outfield spots and steals twenty plus bases, and then

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Speaker 2: a young left hander who is a project but throws

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Speaker 2: one hundred miles per hour and has a solid slider.

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Speaker 1: And they're gonna do all of this before Christmas. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I would no one wanted to believe that.

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Speaker 3: No, Yeah, I'm optimistic, And I would have still called

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Speaker 3: you probably crazy.

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Speaker 2: Yes, And so you look at the big picture now here, Mark,

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Speaker 2: I mean, they still have prospects to trade. They have

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Speaker 2: not traded away any of their farm unless you would

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Speaker 2: to include Mike Burrows or you know, the few low

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Speaker 2: level prospects.

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Speaker 1: They threw in in the Oviedo deal.

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Speaker 2: They still have if depending on you know what projected

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Speaker 2: payroll right reports have been out there, probably still have

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Speaker 2: a little bit of money to spend. Don't know if

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Speaker 2: it's O Kamodo money anymore. Maybe it is, maybe it's not.

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Speaker 2: And obviously that payroll can be adjusted. If you move

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Speaker 2: a guy who's in arbitration away, then you have more

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Speaker 2: money to spend. So we'll figure out what that budget

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Speaker 2: will end up looking like.

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Speaker 1: But for all.

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Speaker 2: Intentsive purposes, this is the best offseason they've had on

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Speaker 2: paper in the many years that Ben Harrington's been here,

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Speaker 2: and there's still room to improve. There's even small signings.

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Speaker 2: You look at some of the other moves they made

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Speaker 2: last year. If they were to add the equivalent of

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Speaker 2: like a Caleb Ferguson who signed like a one year,

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Speaker 2: three million dollar deal or something like, moves like that

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Speaker 2: for the bullpen make a ton of sense. They still

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Speaker 2: have room for that. And if you want to go

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Speaker 2: trade for a year of Alec Baum or a couple

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Speaker 2: of years of Adley Rushman, or you know, sign a

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Speaker 2: free agent, if you want to extend your payroll a

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Speaker 2: little bit and sign an Okamono, like there's still room

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Speaker 2: to get better. And yeah, they're they're they're doing everything

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Speaker 2: fans would have.

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Speaker 1: Hoped to see them do so far, I think.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean it. I was just got home from

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Speaker 3: a home I just got to Wisconsin from a drive,

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Speaker 3: So I really haven't gotten to see like the fan

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Speaker 3: reaction on Twitter yet, but I'm so excited to take

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Speaker 3: a look because I've never seen a Pittsburgh Pirates offseason

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Speaker 3: where the fans are celebrating the moves the teams are making,

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Speaker 3: where the team's making moves that are making waves. Like

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Speaker 3: I saw someone left a comment that's like, I'm going

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Speaker 3: to go spend some money on Bob Dunion's baseball team

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Speaker 3: after this offseason. Now that wasn't playing on doing before.

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Speaker 3: This is exactly what this fan base needed. Who knows

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Speaker 3: if it's actually going to come to fruition, if anything's

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Speaker 3: going to work out next season here coming out, but

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Speaker 3: at least they're putting together an offseason that gives the

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Speaker 3: team a chance, which I haven't seen the past two

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Speaker 3: off seasons, and so it's really really refreshing to see

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Speaker 3: the correct moves being made, confidently being made, and done

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Speaker 3: so in a way that doesn't completely strip this team

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Speaker 3: of the future either. Outside of losing Paul's Skins. I

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Speaker 3: mean pretty much everyone on this team still intact. You

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Speaker 3: still have minch Keller locked up, you still have a

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Speaker 3: lot of your young pitching prospects, you still have Bubba Chandler,

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Speaker 3: you still have seth Ornandez, you still have Connor Griffin.

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Speaker 3: So there's there's a lot of reasons to believe in

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Speaker 3: this team.

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Speaker 2: All of a sudden, I want to say one thing

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Speaker 2: as well, real quick, these moves I don't know if

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Speaker 2: they happen without Paul Skins. And I'm not even saying

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Speaker 2: that the verbal pressure that Paul kind of put on

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Speaker 2: them when he spoke with me in Denver last year,

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Speaker 2: and and and he did some other interviews as well

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Speaker 2: where he kind of suggested, like, I really hope we

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Speaker 2: had some bats.

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Speaker 3: You know.

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Speaker 2: I just think the national attention that comes from having

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Speaker 2: Paul Skins on your team prevented the Pirates from being

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Speaker 2: able to be incompetent, and the background right, they couldn't

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Speaker 2: fail quietly anymore, and the noise got so loud that

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Speaker 2: it became a national story to sell the team shirts

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Speaker 2: and chants, and and the that the disaster that was

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Speaker 2: Pirate Fest, and the Bucco bricks and surf side, and

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Speaker 2: just the horrible vibes that surrounded this team at the

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Speaker 2: end of the season, and you know, the reports about

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Speaker 2: how players didn't necessarily believe that they were trying to win,

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Speaker 2: Like all this stuff, right, would have probably just been

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Speaker 2: a Pittsburgh story if they didn't have the best baseball

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Speaker 2: player or one of the best baseball players in the world,

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Speaker 2: the best pitcher in the world maybe exactly on their

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Speaker 2: team and the rest of the baseball world saying get

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Speaker 2: this guy out of there. They're not trying. I think

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Speaker 2: it did put additional pressure on them. Now, I'm not

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Speaker 2: saying that people in their front office weren't trying. I

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Speaker 2: think Ben Sherrington's always been trying, but it does seem

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Speaker 2: like there have been more green lights than in past years.

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Speaker 2: I and I one hundred percent believe that the pressure

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Speaker 2: not not the losing, because they've lost so many times, right,

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Speaker 2: I think it's the pressure that came from that losing

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Speaker 2: that came from there is that absolute joke of a

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Speaker 2: twenty twenty five season that finally forced the man at

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Speaker 2: the top to say, all right, we've got to.

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Speaker 3: Do something different.

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Speaker 2: And it might just be to make himself look good

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Speaker 2: heading into a CBA negotiation.

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Speaker 1: It might just be so people stop chasing them through

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Speaker 1: the conference.

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Speaker 2: Regardless of the reasoning, they're doing the things that their

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Speaker 2: fans have been begging them to do for a long time. Now,

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Speaker 2: it's still not enough. They still need to do more.

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Speaker 2: The way I see it right now, this is about

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Speaker 2: a five hundred ball club with the pitching. But your

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Speaker 2: mission this offseason was to turn the worst offense in

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Speaker 2: Major League Baseball into an average offense. If you can

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Speaker 2: do that, your pitching is good enough where you're probably

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Speaker 2: gonna be able to sneak into a wildcard berth.

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Speaker 3: Especially with this division.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, yes, I don't know if they're an average offense yet,

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Speaker 2: but when you look, Oahearn is going to be in

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Speaker 2: a above average bat more likely than not.

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Speaker 1: Lao is going to be an above average bat.

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Speaker 2: More likely than not. Connor Griffin you feel pretty good

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Speaker 2: about his offensive capabilities. And then the platoon of Mangam

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Speaker 2: and Garcia, you feel pretty good about those two as

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Speaker 2: a platoon. Not to mention what they're capable of achieving individually,

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Speaker 2: you feel good about that compared to anything else you've

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Speaker 2: had in left field for recent years. And then when

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Speaker 2: you add all of those newcomers right, that's more lineup

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Speaker 2: protection for Brian Reynolds and O'Neil Cruz who have essentially

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Speaker 2: had to carry this team on their back offensively.

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Speaker 1: And if you look at their best months.

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Speaker 2: Offensively, it's typically when a Rowdy to Lez is rad

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Speaker 2: hot or Henry Davis has a good stretch, or a

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Speaker 2: Jared Triolo has a good stretcher, Spencer Horowitz turns it

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Speaker 2: on when people around them are hitting the baseball. Those

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Speaker 2: guys produce a lot better. And now they've added people

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Speaker 2: to length them that lineup to get some lineup protection,

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Speaker 2: and I think make their competent hitters that they already

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Speaker 2: had better. So yeah, and I will.

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Speaker 3: Say of newcomers really quick, we have a new advertiser

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Speaker 3: on the podcast. We're gonna cut to you real quickly

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Speaker 3: to hear a word from our sponsor.

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Speaker 2: This episode is sponsored by So Many Angels, a nonprofit

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Speaker 2: photo experiences for children facing cancer and other life altering

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Speaker 2: medical diagnoses. Their photo sessions are designed to help kids

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Speaker 2: see themselves as strong, confident, and heroic. The next Pittsburgh

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Speaker 2: Experience is February first, and they're currently looking for families

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Speaker 2: who could benefit. Visit so many Angels dot org to

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Speaker 2: learn more, share the link, or find ways to support

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Speaker 2: this incredible Pittsburgh nonprofit.

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Speaker 1: That's so many Angels dot org.

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Speaker 2: All right, Mark, So now as we wrap this up,

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Speaker 2: I'll ask you the same thing I asked you again

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Speaker 2: on Friday.

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Speaker 1: What's next?

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Speaker 2: They signed, they made the trade, they signed a multi

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Speaker 2: year free agent.

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Speaker 1: What's next? What's the next piece of the puzzle?

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Speaker 2: And what are you hoping like when you're looking at

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Speaker 2: your wish list right, what's the biggest item remaining on it?

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Speaker 3: I'm still getting greedy and saying one more free agent,

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Speaker 3: one more free agent. Bet to be more specific, either

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Speaker 3: a third baseman. I mean, I love Jered Triolo. I

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Speaker 3: don't know if that's going to make me feel confident

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Speaker 3: if that's the starting third basement for opening Day. So

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Speaker 3: I still think, you know, like Juhanio Suarez Okamoto, if

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Speaker 3: he's cheap, I still think there's room in the pirates budget,

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Speaker 3: if you just open up that wallet just a tiny

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Speaker 3: bit more, just like ten twenty more million, and I

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Speaker 3: don't think that's gonna impact the Pirates too negatively. I

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Speaker 3: think if you build a world or a team that

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Speaker 3: can make the playoffs, whatever dollars you spend this offseason,

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Speaker 3: you're gonna get right back. I mean, this is a

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Speaker 3: sports town that's going to fill up PNC Park and

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Speaker 3: when we saw that in twenty thirteen, so like, if

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Speaker 3: you build it, they will come, and you just got

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Speaker 3: to put those final bricks together to build that for

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Speaker 3: those people to come. And I think in Okamoa Okamoto

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Speaker 3: would do that. I think a Uhenio Suarez would do that.

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Speaker 3: I really like the third base edition, but you could

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Speaker 3: get away with another outfield edition too this and maybe

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Speaker 3: o'haran can play like a little bit of right field.

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Speaker 3: But yeah, that's where I would go. I still think

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Speaker 3: you got to add a third base and if not,

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Speaker 3: maybe catcher jt. Real Mudo is still out there, maybe

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Speaker 3: bring in like a veteran presence like him, a really

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Speaker 3: good clubhouse guy to just keep everyone on track. So

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Speaker 3: that would be where I would head. Is free agency still,

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Speaker 3: but I think trade is probably the more likely of

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Speaker 3: the two options. But I just I like how many

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Speaker 3: free agents are still out there to still go out

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Speaker 3: and pursue that route.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I think my hesitancy would be if they go

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Speaker 2: the free agent route, then they might be more inclined

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Speaker 2: to clear up some salary. And I don't know exactly

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Speaker 2: how you all right, Mark, So I asked you this

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Speaker 2: question last week.

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Speaker 1: I'll ask it again. What's next?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, So, I mean I still think free agency again

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Speaker 3: is the way to go. Trades might be a little

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Speaker 3: bit easier still, but I think there's still so many

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Speaker 3: decent free agents there out there there available right now

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Speaker 3: that you have to still pursue them. I mean, you

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Speaker 3: still need a third baseman, so look at u Hainio

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Speaker 3: Suarez or look at Okamoto add more power to this lineup. Yes,

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Speaker 3: O'Hern and allow both help, but this team desperately needed thats.

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Speaker 3: It wasn't just a few bats. This team needed three

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Speaker 3: four impact bats to really just become an average lineup

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Speaker 3: in the MLB. So go out and add one more

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Speaker 3: free agent, probably a third baseman, maybe a corner outfielder

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Speaker 3: that can also DH like maybe a Marcelo Suna could

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Speaker 3: be another option too, more power again, but at the

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Speaker 3: same time, trades are probably going to be easier. I

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Speaker 3: don't know how willing the pirates are to be to

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Speaker 3: continue to open up the pocketbooks, but I think that's

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Speaker 3: the best path forward for now. That's what I would want.

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Speaker 3: Next would be a third basement. So give me o Komodo,

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Speaker 3: gimme Suarez one of the two.

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Speaker 2: I'm looking at the trade market. I think that's what

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Speaker 2: makes complete and total sense. You haven't traded away any

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Speaker 2: of your prospect capital. And I know I've said that

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Speaker 2: earlier in this show, but I'll reiterate it again because

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Speaker 2: you've been able to get so much from two guys

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Speaker 2: who might not have even been in your starting rotation

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Speaker 2: by the final week of the regular season in twenty

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Speaker 2: twenty six.

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Speaker 1: So now you have prospect capital to move.

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Speaker 2: And I would look at third base, I would look

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Speaker 2: at catcher, and I'm trying to find a plus value

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Speaker 2: bat there that doesn't I mean, I personally don't care

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Speaker 2: what the price tag is financially, but if you can

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Speaker 2: find a plus value bat there that's within your budget,

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Speaker 2: I think it's a no brainer. So that's where I'm going.

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Speaker 2: I'm looking at the trade market. I'm looking at a

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Speaker 2: guy like Adley Rushman. I'm looking at a guy like

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Speaker 2: Alec Baum who can help you win now and probably

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Speaker 2: won't have a huge cost to get here. Those are

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Speaker 2: the two guys I'm looking at.

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Speaker 3: I think that makes a lot of sense. He would, ye,

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Speaker 3: I think he would be really cheap. One year left

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Speaker 3: on this deal Philly, I think kind of seems like

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Speaker 3: they're ready to move on from him, and he might

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Speaker 3: not be the biggest trade that they acquisition that the

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Speaker 3: Pirates could make at third, but he's still better than

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Speaker 3: what they have right now. He would be an improvement

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Speaker 3: to Jared Triolo, and then that would also let Triolo

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Speaker 3: back up everywhere else in the indfield and yeah, the

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Speaker 3: utility player where that's really his strong suit, rather than

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Speaker 3: just sneaking him at third. So yeah, I think third

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Speaker 3: base makes a lot of sense. Maybe another former Philly,

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Speaker 3: you know, JT real Mudo still out there. He could

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Speaker 3: also bring up some a lot of a decent bat

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Speaker 3: to catch her, with some good athleticism and a lot

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Speaker 3: of great leadership in clubhouse present. So there's still plenty

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Speaker 3: of options out there to improve this team.

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Speaker 2: That's that's the big takeaway I have from this it's

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Speaker 2: we're still two days before Christmas. The Pirates are a

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Speaker 2: better baseball team. They have a I think their rotation

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Speaker 2: will be better than it was last year, simply because

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Speaker 2: you're able to retain Mitch Keller and have Bubba Chandler

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Speaker 2: for a full year and Braxton Ashcraft for a full.

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Speaker 1: J and you get Jared Jones back.

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Speaker 2: So your greatest strength is going to be stronger the bullpen.

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Speaker 2: I don't see being worse in your lineup. You've already

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Speaker 2: just added two all stars, two young talents that can

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Speaker 2: platoon together. You have the number one prospect in baseball

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Speaker 2: coming up at some point this season, and you still

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Speaker 2: have a lot of time to keep adding. Again, I

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Speaker 2: don't think they're a playoff team yet, but I don't

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Speaker 2: think they're crazily far away, especially when you consider some

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Speaker 2: of the teams that snuck in in recent years in

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Speaker 2: this NL wild card, I don't think they're that far

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Speaker 2: away from being a twenty twenty five Cincinnati Reds.

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Speaker 1: If not better.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and that's that's a reason for Pirates fans to

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Speaker 2: be excited.

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Speaker 3: Oh yeah, I mean this whole just this one week,

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Speaker 3: uh is it's got to give you some encouragement. It's

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Speaker 3: this is unlike anything we've seen from the Pirates in

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Speaker 3: a really, really long time. And so I if this

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Speaker 3: isn't getting you excited as a Pirates fan, you might

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Speaker 3: need to check yourself a little bit because these are

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Speaker 3: concrete moves that we've been asking for and they're doing them.

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Speaker 3: I just how can you criticize that? Yet? We know

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Speaker 3: they're not going to go out there in gettish Warber

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Speaker 3: or like a Pedalanso or one of these big big names,

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Speaker 3: like they're not going to be in on Kyle Tucker.

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Speaker 3: But this is everything. But this is as close as

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Speaker 3: I feel like the Pirates can get. This is their

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Speaker 3: ceiling for what their offseason looked like to me. So

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Speaker 3: I'm very mary please as a fan right now, still

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Speaker 3: more work to do, but where they should be at

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Speaker 3: this point, I feel like they're ahead of the curve absolutely.

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Speaker 2: All Right, Well, I think that's all we got for

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Speaker 2: this one, Mark. I want you to enjoy the holiday season.

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Speaker 2: I want all of our listeners to enjoy it too,

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Speaker 2: and want to remind everyone to subscribe if you have

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Speaker 2: not already. As we continue our mission to one thousand

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Speaker 2: subscribers hit that button subscribe, subscribe, subscribe, and we want

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Speaker 2: you all to have a merry Christmas and a happy

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Speaker 2: New Year.

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Speaker 1: We'll be seeing you.

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Speaker 2: We'll be seeing you next week here on Bucco Territory,

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Speaker 2: presented by the Foul Territory Network