Speaker 1: You only have so many more years of Paul Schemes
Speaker 1: for cheap, Jared Jones for cheap. This is the time
Speaker 1: to start building around these guys.
Speaker 2: Here we go Noah Hailes, Pittsburgh Post Gazette, joining us
Speaker 2: to talk about the Pittsburgh Pirates. But first, Noah, did
Speaker 2: you enjoy your Super Bowl experience? I saw you doing
Speaker 2: a little bit of live tweeting action.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I always enjoy the Super Bowl. I'm like a super
Speaker 1: Bowl nerd one year when I was sick. When I
Speaker 1: was little, I watched like every NFL film stock for
Speaker 1: every Super Bowl, so it's like one of my favorite
Speaker 1: days of the year.
Speaker 3: Didn't win many bets, but still had a good.
Speaker 2: Time, perfect way to pass time. And if you somehow
Speaker 2: had access to watch every World Series of all time,
Speaker 2: you'd be very old by that point. So good thing
Speaker 2: you are with NFL for the younger league to baby league.
Speaker 2: All right, we're going to dive into a team that
Speaker 2: definitely causes some frustration but also has some promise in
Speaker 2: terms of young talents. So let's hit the storylines with Noah.
Speaker 2: Top four storylines in our minds A full season of
Speaker 2: Paul Skeins. He was ridiculously good. And he started his
Speaker 2: season obviously a little bit late because he was marinating
Speaker 2: in the minor leagues. Now you get a full season
Speaker 2: of skins. How's that gonna look lineup?
Speaker 3: Flat?
Speaker 2: Is it boosted with Spencer Horowitz and Tommy fam Is
Speaker 2: there enough on base for them to do more damage
Speaker 2: this year? What about the bullpen? David Bednar was kind
Speaker 2: of a mess last year and they don't have big names.
Speaker 2: So can they get it together? And the theme in
Speaker 2: Pittsburgh when you talk about the pirates for the past,
Speaker 2: I don't know fifteen years. Please, Bob nuttings sell the team.
Speaker 2: So let's start at the top here. Noah Paul Skeens
Speaker 2: full season? What do you think and how much will
Speaker 2: they let him eat?
Speaker 1: I think they're gonna let him eat a lot. If
Speaker 1: you look at the way they built him up last year.
Speaker 1: He finished with about one hundred and sixty total innings
Speaker 1: between the minor leagues and the majors. I think that
Speaker 1: puts him on track to throw close to two hundred
Speaker 1: this year. I also think that they were pretty conservative
Speaker 1: with him, where they might let him eat a little
Speaker 1: bit more, take on a little bit more of a workload.
Speaker 1: But the big things with Skeens entering year to his
Speaker 1: first full season to me are one. I think we're
Speaker 1: gonna get to see him pitch in a five day
Speaker 1: rotation now where last year for the bulk of his
Speaker 1: time up in the Majors, they were using a six
Speaker 1: man rotation and that extra day of rest. Yeah, that
Speaker 1: aided him a little bit, but that also kind of
Speaker 1: hurts the team because you want Paul Skeens to pitch
Speaker 1: as much as possible because.
Speaker 3: He gives you a really good chance to win when
Speaker 3: he's on the mound.
Speaker 1: So getting him, you know, five man rotation will make
Speaker 1: the team better, I think, and it'll be a new
Speaker 1: challenge for Skins to attack. And then I think the
Speaker 1: other thing you get from Skiens in a full year,
Speaker 1: with it being year two, is he's going to be
Speaker 1: a leader for this team, something that I think the
Speaker 1: Pirates are missing a little bit.
Speaker 3: He was a rookie last year. He was willing to
Speaker 3: be a rookie. You know, he knew his place. But
Speaker 3: now he looks around and he kind of sees the
Speaker 3: writing on the wall. I mean, this is his team,
Speaker 3: and I think that you're getting a guy who's gonna
Speaker 3: make an impact more frequently because of him being able
Speaker 3: to pitch on four days rest now and make an
Speaker 3: impact in the clubhouse as a leader and kind of saying, hey,
Speaker 3: get on my back. I'm gonna take you as far
Speaker 3: as I can.
Speaker 4: Okay. I got to ask this because I saw what
Speaker 4: they did with Skeens. Excuse me, last year, we all
Speaker 4: saw what they did. They kind of held them back. Well,
Speaker 4: now they have Skins, they have Jared Jones, they have
Speaker 4: Mitch Keller. When's Papa Chandler going to get there? Because
Speaker 4: you throw those four in the top of a rotation
Speaker 4: in that division before we get to the next storyline,
Speaker 4: which I'll ask you about after he has this one,
Speaker 4: But that's a pretty good force him to start your
Speaker 4: rotation with. Are they gonna baby Bubba Chandler the way
Speaker 4: they kind of did Paul Skins, Or are they going
Speaker 4: to Jared Jones them and say, hey, you made the
Speaker 4: team out of spring, go get them.
Speaker 1: I think it'll be something in the middle there. Jared
Speaker 1: Jones made the opening day roster last year because they
Speaker 1: didn't have a choice. I mean, if you look at
Speaker 1: this time last year, it's kind of ironic. By the
Speaker 1: way things played out, But starting pitching was the biggest
Speaker 1: question mark for this team heading into spring training twenty
Speaker 1: twenty four, and they needed a guy to step up,
Speaker 1: and Jered just happened to be that guy.
Speaker 3: Where this year.
Speaker 1: I mean, you look, you just named Skeens, Jones, Keller,
Speaker 1: and then you have Bailey, Falter, Johann Oviedo.
Speaker 3: Those will probably be your four or five.
Speaker 1: They don't necessarily need to rush Bubba Chandler into the
Speaker 1: starting rotation. I think if he has a great spring,
Speaker 1: he could earn a spot. But I think that this
Speaker 1: is a guy they probably still want to see him
Speaker 1: make five seven starts in Triple A, get him built
Speaker 1: up where you know, come June, when he's firing on
Speaker 1: all cylinders, that's when we're gonna see him make his debut.
Speaker 1: And it's also interesting with Chandler is he's not the
Speaker 1: only arm in Triple A that can come up and.
Speaker 3: Give these guys a boost.
Speaker 1: I mean, you have Mike Burrows, who I could see
Speaker 1: getting time in both the bullpen as a starter, and
Speaker 1: then you have other top one hunder prospects like Braxton Ashcraft.
Speaker 1: He's already on the forty man roster and Thomas Harrington,
Speaker 1: a guy who I think will come after Chandler, but
Speaker 1: could also be, you know, a back end rotation starter
Speaker 1: for a lot of years into the future, so they
Speaker 1: have options. I don't think they're gonna rush Bubba, but
Speaker 1: I do think they're excited to get them up here because,
Speaker 1: like you said, I mean that one, two, three, four,
Speaker 1: it's gonna be special, agreed.
Speaker 4: I mean, if I listen, if I'm the Pirates and
Speaker 4: I'm the Pirates fans, I want them there now because
Speaker 4: I want him to learn from schemes and from the
Speaker 4: big leaguers that they have there, Jared Jones, So listen,
Speaker 4: they know more than me.
Speaker 5: So we're just gonna go with that.
Speaker 4: Now offensively, what are they gonna do offensively, because they
Speaker 4: didn't really I mean, yes, but Cutching coming back is
Speaker 4: is cool, and Horowitz coming over from Toronto. But who's
Speaker 4: gonna hit? I mean, They're big moves last year were
Speaker 4: IKF and Dala Cruz. Dala Cruz. They fired into the
Speaker 4: into orbit, and the IKF is gonna be their starting
Speaker 4: shortstop no offense. I KF, but he's not known for
Speaker 4: his bats, So who's gonna hit for the Pirates?
Speaker 1: That's a big question, and I think the answer, if
Speaker 1: it's gonna be a good answer that the Pirates are
Speaker 1: hoping hoping for, it's gonna come from from internal improvement.
Speaker 1: There's a lot of guys who are coming off of
Speaker 1: a really bad season last year for one reason or another.
Speaker 1: You look at Kibrian Hayes, a guy who is one
Speaker 1: of the best fielders at his position, if not the sport,
Speaker 1: but has trouble staying healthy. And in twenty twenty three,
Speaker 1: when we saw him at full health in the second
Speaker 1: half of the season, that bat looked better than it
Speaker 1: ever did. But we never saw that bat in twenty
Speaker 1: twenty four because he had a lot of health concerns
Speaker 1: and issues. And if he can stay healthy, then they
Speaker 1: get some more offense at third base. You move around
Speaker 1: the diamond, you look out in the outfield. Actually, Jack
Speaker 1: Swinski was a guy that they depended on for a
Speaker 1: lot of power last year, and he didn't give him much.
Speaker 1: He was coming off of back to back twenty plus
Speaker 1: home run seasons. I think you only had nine last year.
Speaker 1: He got sent down to Triple A multiple times and
Speaker 1: finished the season in Triple A. He's a huge question
Speaker 1: mark they're gonna need him to really step up, because
Speaker 1: if you look around the lineup, yeah, they added some
Speaker 1: on base with Spencer Horowitz, who I think, will you know,
Speaker 1: give them a nice little top of the lineup presence
Speaker 1: that they were missing in the leadoff spot. They're really
Speaker 1: lacking slug here, and you would hope that Oneal Cruz
Speaker 1: gives you a little bit more in his second full
Speaker 1: big league season. You're gonna get what you normally get
Speaker 1: from Brian Reynolds. McCutcheon's gonna give you something. Joey Bart
Speaker 1: maybe a full season of him can give you a
Speaker 1: little bit more. But guys like Sawinsky, guys like Henry
Speaker 1: Davis figuring it out at the major league level, Guys
Speaker 1: like to Brian Hayes, they're all gonna have to rebound
Speaker 1: after very poor showings in twenty twenty four if this
Speaker 1: lineup hopes to produce enough runs to make a push
Speaker 1: for the postseason.
Speaker 5: Back to back All Stars in twenty two and twenty three,
Speaker 5: bed Nark came in looking like twenty twenty four was
Speaker 5: just gonna be another All Star season. Solidified closer role.
Speaker 5: His ERA was five seven seven, which in era whatever
Speaker 5: his whip was almost up forty percent. Is there bounce
Speaker 5: back in him? Is there something in the metrics that
Speaker 5: we don't know that's like, ooh, he's gonna solidify this
Speaker 5: closer role again.
Speaker 1: I don't know if it's in the metch if you
Speaker 1: look through I mean, the metrics weren't pretty last year.
Speaker 1: But I think it's just the story of David Bednar's
Speaker 1: twenty twenty four. It was kind of everything that could
Speaker 1: have went wrong went wrong. He had a very limited
Speaker 1: spring because of injuries. I think he only threw twice
Speaker 1: in a game. I'm not sure why when they they
Speaker 1: didn't give him a rehab assignment. They just put him
Speaker 1: on the opening day roster and they immediately threw him
Speaker 1: into leverage situations in the first month of the season,
Speaker 1: despite having little to no build up throughout spring, and
Speaker 1: it showed he was rusty, and then he found a rhythm.
Speaker 1: If you look in late April May June, he saved
Speaker 1: I think nineteen straight he converted nineteen straight save opportunities,
Speaker 1: and it looked like the guy that we were more
Speaker 1: familiar with. But then another injury hit and he never
Speaker 1: found his footing. I think injuries led to this guy
Speaker 1: experiencing some major inconsistencies, the first of which he's experienced
Speaker 1: since he's become, you know, that all star caliber player
Speaker 1: that we know him to be, and then get hit
Speaker 1: his psyche a little bit. The command really struggled. And
Speaker 1: I think the key for him is coming into Bradenton.
Speaker 1: They report Wednesday, and he needs to have a really
Speaker 1: good spring training. He needs to lay that found out foundation.
Speaker 3: To get off to a good start.
Speaker 1: He needs to prove that twenty twenty four was just
Speaker 1: a fluke and this is still, you know, an above
Speaker 1: average reliever who for the last couple of seasons prior
Speaker 1: to twenty twenty four was among the best closers in baseball.
Speaker 4: Okay, now let's get to the real storyline of the
Speaker 4: Pittsburgh Pirates. All right, Bob Nutting in the payroll, Well,
Speaker 4: when's he gonna spend money? This is the time. You
Speaker 4: look at their pitching rotation. We talked about it. They
Speaker 4: got some back end guys that they like, right, and
Speaker 4: if you look at their top four again skens Chailor
Speaker 4: when he gets there, Jared Jones and Mitch Keller and
Speaker 4: then whoever that fifth guy is, Right, that's a pretty
Speaker 4: good baseline to start off of. Then you look at
Speaker 4: their bullpen. Bennar comes back the rest of their bullpen.
Speaker 4: They found some pieces in the back end of the bullpen.
Speaker 4: But then you have the offense. When are they gonna
Speaker 4: spend the money? Because this tweet came out this weekend,
Speaker 4: I'm gonna read it to you. I don't know if
Speaker 4: we have it to show, but here it is. December
Speaker 4: twenty sixteen was the last time the Pittsburgh Pirates signed
Speaker 4: a free agent to a multi year contract. That means
Speaker 4: it's gonna be ten years, ten years because twenty five
Speaker 4: is basically done. They ain't signed anybody this year, so
Speaker 4: it's gonna go from ten years if they have not
Speaker 4: signed a free agent to a What the holy bleep
Speaker 4: are they doing? They got to sign somebody at some point.
Speaker 4: I know they're making money and they're Pittsburgh fans are man,
Speaker 4: they are loyal to a fault, But what the bleep
Speaker 4: are they doing? And how is this a human? How
Speaker 4: is this possible?
Speaker 3: I don't know.
Speaker 1: It's something that we ask quite regularly. It's something that
Speaker 1: I thought. I thought that streak would come to an
Speaker 1: end this offseason. Personally, I wrote about it numerous times
Speaker 1: throughout the offseason. If you look at the market for
Speaker 1: positions that they really needed, corner, outfield, first base. I
Speaker 1: thought there were a lot of guys they could have
Speaker 1: either acquired via trade or signed through free agency that
Speaker 1: would have made an impact. You look at the last
Speaker 1: time this team was competitive. Yeah, it came with a
Speaker 1: crop or a big wave of prospects coming up, your mccutcheons,
Speaker 1: your Garrett Coles, your Starling Martees. But that was also
Speaker 1: matched with some multi year free agent signings AJ Burnett,
Speaker 1: Russell Martin. Those guys were as big as an impact
Speaker 1: as all the other prospects that came up. And yeah,
Speaker 1: they weren't here as long. But you need that veteran presence,
Speaker 1: guys who have done it before and who are still
Speaker 1: capable of doing it in the present day to mix
Speaker 1: with that clubhouse. And they haven't really added that. It's
Speaker 1: always been one year contracts. Right now, the payroll is
Speaker 1: slated to be lower than last year, which surprises me
Speaker 1: because I agree with you, agam, I mean, this is
Speaker 1: the time to invest. You only have so many more
Speaker 1: years of Paul Schemes for cheap Jared Jones for cheap.
Speaker 1: This is the time to start building around these guys.
Speaker 3: And while yeah, they have.
Speaker 1: Invested in internal extensions with Hayes, with Reynolds, with Keller,
Speaker 1: that's just not enough. You've got to find a way
Speaker 1: to get guys in here to build around what you have.
Speaker 1: Even if you're confident in what you have internally, you
Speaker 1: can always add and they haven't done that, and it's
Speaker 1: a big question.
Speaker 3: I don't know. If guys are reluctant to play here.
Speaker 3: I don't know.
Speaker 1: And if that's the case, then maybe you got to
Speaker 1: pay a little bit more money. But they've got to
Speaker 1: do something moving forward, because yeah, I think they owe
Speaker 1: it to this group of players, and they owe it
Speaker 1: to the fans to put forth a little bit more
Speaker 1: of a presence in the free agent market.
Speaker 2: No I can state this as a fact. Players want
Speaker 2: to play in Pittsburgh. Okay, they enjoy the ballpark location.
Speaker 2: I'm generalizing, but there are some places where players are like,
Speaker 2: you're gonna have to pay me more to go there.
Speaker 2: Pittsburgh's not one of them. I think the problem is
Speaker 2: the phone call goes, hey, we've got a one year
Speaker 2: offer for you, and they.
Speaker 3: Go, okay, cool.
Speaker 2: Well, the rest of my offers are three or four. Right.
Speaker 2: So my question is, do you remember five or six
Speaker 2: years ago when the tank slash rebuilt began ben Cherrington
Speaker 2: took over. I think it's been six years now since
Speaker 2: Charrington and some of the things that were said and
Speaker 2: how they haven't lived up to the accountability there where
Speaker 2: it was Okay, we're gonna tank, We're gonna start from scratch.
Speaker 2: I think the bar is so low in Pittsburgh that
Speaker 2: they're okay with that as long as they said, Okay,
Speaker 2: this is the time when we compete, We're going to
Speaker 2: up the payroll by like twenty thirty million dollars, which
Speaker 2: in baseball terms is absolute pebbles for any team, any
Speaker 2: of the thirty teams. Otherwise you should not own.
Speaker 1: A ball club.
Speaker 2: Right. The Pirates are always in the bottom five really
Speaker 2: of payroll, and they're causing a lot of these payroll
Speaker 2: disparity concerns in baseball. So my question for you is
Speaker 2: what is the excuse right now from the front office
Speaker 2: to try and protect the owner when we've gotten to
Speaker 2: this point. The front office has done a nice job
Speaker 2: with some young talent, but they just refuse to play ball.
Speaker 3: I there haven't been many excuses.
Speaker 1: I mean, they've been asked numerous times, you know, why
Speaker 1: hasn't there been a multi year free agent signing? And
Speaker 1: their comment is it hasn't been from a lack of trying.
Speaker 1: So they say they're trying, and I you know, and
Speaker 1: what can you respond to that, like, well, how hard
Speaker 1: are you trying?
Speaker 3: I don't know.
Speaker 1: It's it is puzzling because you look there, there are
Speaker 1: bones of a good baseball team here, I think. I mean,
Speaker 1: you look at this rotation and if you're an impact
Speaker 1: that and you think, okay, with a little bit more
Speaker 1: lineup protection, guys like Reynolds, guys like Crews, they could
Speaker 1: be even more dangerous.
Speaker 3: And they are a couple of pieces away.
Speaker 1: But for one reason or another, they're just haven't been
Speaker 1: those pieces arriving yet. And I guess it's maybe maybe
Speaker 1: the front office is really into what they think is right.
Speaker 1: They have a lot of self belief, but it's got
Speaker 1: to a point now where they're entering spring training looking
Speaker 1: to prove to everyone that they were right in everyone
Speaker 1: else's right, that they didn't need help. And I still
Speaker 1: even think that that's maybe not the best outlook, because
Speaker 1: you know, everyone needs help. Everyone can always get better,
Speaker 1: and there just hasn't been enough addition externally.
Speaker 4: He's very our other team we're previewing today, as the
Speaker 4: Mariners and their GM came out and said we have
Speaker 4: a World Series winning team, So maybe maybe the Pirates
Speaker 4: feel that way. All right, I got to ask you
Speaker 4: one more before you go, No, I see behind you.
Speaker 4: Are you You're obviously a Steelers fan, right? Or a
Speaker 4: Pittsburgh guy?
Speaker 1: Right?
Speaker 4: Yes, Steelers fan? So would you rather have Mike Tomlin
Speaker 4: who goes nine and seven, nine and eight, ten and seven,
Speaker 4: loses in the first round every year? Or the Pirates
Speaker 4: who are in a constant rebuild?
Speaker 1: I mean, as far as coverage wise, I'd like to
Speaker 1: cover a team that's always in the playoffs because that's
Speaker 1: just better for my career, I guess, And I also
Speaker 1: just think that it's for the Steelers. The expectations are
Speaker 1: just so much different. I mean, I've lived in Pittsburgh
Speaker 1: my whole life. I turned thirty next month. I've been
Speaker 1: alive for four Pirates winning seasons. They have won a
Speaker 1: Playoff series in my lifetime, So the bar is just
Speaker 1: so much lower. Whereas the Steelers every year you're expected
Speaker 1: to win the Super Bowl, So going ten and seven
Speaker 1: and losing in the first round.
Speaker 3: For a lot of organizations.
Speaker 1: Throughout all of sports, they would take consistency in getting
Speaker 1: into the playoffs, even if it meant an early exit.
Speaker 1: But the Steelers they have a higher bar, whereas the Pirates.
Speaker 1: Pirates fans, they just want a winning record. They want
Speaker 1: they want to be able to, you know, watch the
Speaker 1: team in September in those games to mean something.
Speaker 3: It's been a while since that's been the case here.
Speaker 3: It hasn't happened once in this regime and we're entering
Speaker 3: year six.
Speaker 1: So if I were to pick, I would pick that
Speaker 1: for the Pirates simply because it shows progress. It shows
Speaker 1: a reason for people to remain invested in this team
Speaker 1: once the Steelers report to training camp, which has been
Speaker 1: a struggle for them to remain the top of the town.
Speaker 3: Once you know, the big Dog gets its season going.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't even think they're in the same stratosphere.
Speaker 2: I mean, the Steelers have been Super Bowl champs during
Speaker 2: your lifetime. You haven't even seen playoff series win with
Speaker 2: the Pirates.
Speaker 4: Yeah, so, yeah, they didn't win that one wild card
Speaker 4: game or Johnny not a serious I'm just saying they
Speaker 4: won that one wildcard game. The Twins counted, so the
Speaker 4: Pirates can.
Speaker 2: Count it to Okay, fine, we'll count it. It's still misery,
Speaker 2: so no, thank you for the time, appreciate it. Hoping
Speaker 2: that this team takes the next step, but we'll see
Speaker 2: what happens.
Speaker 3: Hey, guys, thanks for having me on