Speaker 1: Welcome back everybody to the Alex Dump Show live here
Speaker 1: in Cleveland. We are on the field, Alex. We've been
Speaker 1: doing the show every week. If you don't believe us,
Speaker 1: check your algorithm. I don't know if people are just
Speaker 1: not caught up with how consistent we've been with this venture.
Speaker 2: I've been keeping someone on the cunning room floor make
Speaker 2: sure that it's only the best episodes. Lets see the
Speaker 2: light of day, right right.
Speaker 1: We're all about quality here at Bucko Banter and the
Speaker 1: Alex Dump Show. Alex, we're here in Cleveland. Last night's
Speaker 1: game got banged due to the air quality. You got
Speaker 1: two weeks, three weeks. Within three weeks, you get two
Speaker 1: double headers. How do we feel going after the break
Speaker 1: into Cleveland?
Speaker 2: I mean, you'd like to not have to burn your
Speaker 2: bullpen so efficiently right out of the gate, But you
Speaker 2: know what, the way the cards are played, they got
Speaker 2: six games in five days, and these are six very
Speaker 2: important games. You kind of hope that they win three
Speaker 2: or four of them if you want to stay in
Speaker 2: that wild card race. Alex.
Speaker 3: We just heard Donny Kelly talk in the dugout and
Speaker 3: O'Niel cruise was answer to the sixty day IL to
Speaker 3: make room for Wilbert Hotel. And also Christian Curtis is
Speaker 3: here as a twenty seventh man. We'll get into the
Speaker 3: cruise trade rumors later, but any concern about you know,
Speaker 3: O'Neill cruise's like overall health. Do you think there's he's
Speaker 3: going to be back still on time for August eighth?
Speaker 2: First of all, Christian Curtis has the roster spot open.
Speaker 2: That's why Cruz is going to the sixty day. All along,
Speaker 2: they maintained that this was probably gonna be late July
Speaker 2: early August, and if you look at look, we need
Speaker 2: to open up a roster spot right now, that's a
Speaker 2: way to do it, you know, you just push him
Speaker 2: back at theoretically like a week or so. It still
Speaker 2: stinks that this was supposed to be just a day
Speaker 2: to day injury and now it's required a sixty day
Speaker 2: IL extent. I do expect him to probably come back
Speaker 2: in early August, because Don Kelly just said there wasn't
Speaker 2: a setback and that was always the timeline.
Speaker 1: So we'll see how big was that week going into
Speaker 1: the ulcer break. Obviously a disappointing series versus the Braves
Speaker 1: where you feel like you should have won that series.
Speaker 1: You ever opportunity iku and then the Brewers come into
Speaker 1: town and it just feels like must win, right, maybe
Speaker 1: we take two games here, got it right the ship
Speaker 1: and you get a sweep. How big was that for
Speaker 1: this squad that was a must win series?
Speaker 2: Like to get a sweep there, that puts some of
Speaker 2: they win in their sales like that could have been.
Speaker 2: I think we're having a very different discussion over this
Speaker 2: whole last week. If they were forty seven and fifty
Speaker 2: after getting swept by the Brewers, like that's three big
Speaker 2: wins against a divisional opponent, they are right in the
Speaker 2: mix still for the wild card. I've maintained this entire time,
Speaker 2: they just have to keep their head above water, come
Speaker 2: to trade deadline, and hope that they supplement it through
Speaker 2: a couple trades. They've done that so far, Alex.
Speaker 3: The big story through June and most of early July
Speaker 3: was Paul Skins. Right, they didn't win a game with
Speaker 3: him on the mound from May twelfth, I think, until
Speaker 3: the fourth of July week or slightly after. What did
Speaker 3: you see from him from his last two stars? Do
Speaker 3: you think he's back to the old Paul Skins.
Speaker 2: You know that last start, and I know he had
Speaker 2: a long hour long break because of that ten run
Speaker 2: inning one of those days, but he still threw sixty
Speaker 2: percent forcing fastballs and the four seemer was at ninety
Speaker 2: six miles per hour. Like if he had a bad start,
Speaker 2: people would be saying, he just threw a ninety six
Speaker 2: mile prior fastball sixty percent of the time right here.
Speaker 2: So like, I don't know if there's really any change
Speaker 2: from what we saw in the first couple of weeks.
Speaker 2: I'm very intrigued to see how he's gonna do this.
Speaker 2: You know, these first starts out of the break whatever,
Speaker 2: he actually does have a little time to unplug, to reassess,
Speaker 2: to look at some stuff. But no, I can't look
Speaker 2: at you know, ninety six mile prior fastballs and be like, yeah,
Speaker 2: he's bad.
Speaker 3: Do you think most of that has to do with
Speaker 3: fatigue and he's throwing more than he ever has in
Speaker 3: his life, Because you know a lot of people point
Speaker 3: to when the average spin rate on the fastball goes down,
Speaker 3: usually either a it's an injury or the guy's just
Speaker 3: fatigue and he's off mechanically. Would you lean more than
Speaker 3: it's it's because of fatigue.
Speaker 2: I I mean, if I had to take a guess,
Speaker 2: that'd probably be it. I mean, I stand by last
Speaker 2: year he threw more innings than he ever threw before
Speaker 2: in his life. It was the first time he ever
Speaker 2: threw six months in his life. And maybe that's just
Speaker 2: led to a different it challenges whenever it came to
Speaker 2: conditioning and prepared for the year, like what he did
Speaker 2: to prepare in previous years maybe wasn't enough. Like that's
Speaker 2: just pure speculation on my part, But I'm looking at
Speaker 2: a guy who's fastball is trended down every month, you know,
Speaker 2: vlo wise fin wise that that's a red flag for me.
Speaker 1: Do you see them making a move for another starting pitcher?
Speaker 1: I know the focus has mostly been in the bullpen.
Speaker 1: Haven't made any bullpen moves. Brought in Robert Hassel, the
Speaker 1: third on a minor league gil. Obviously Jacob Gonzalez is
Speaker 1: here with the squad. But what about a rotation army.
Speaker 2: I think you have to seriously consider it because with
Speaker 2: Mitch Keller, the quality has been an issue. With Brax
Speaker 2: n Ashcraft and Bubba Chandler, you have to worry about
Speaker 2: the quantity yeah, so like, if you're not Paul Skeins,
Speaker 2: I don't know who you're going to where It's like,
Speaker 2: I feel really good about how many innings he's gonna
Speaker 2: throw and the quality of the innings he's kind of throw.
Speaker 2: I think you have to look just as another guy,
Speaker 2: like you don't need to trade for an ace. You don't.
Speaker 2: It doesn't even have be the top of your shopping list,
Speaker 2: but you have to look at the market, especially a lefty.
Speaker 2: In my opinion, what are your.
Speaker 3: Thoughts on the Robert Hassele trade? Just a low risk,
Speaker 3: you know, gamble and a guy that was a former
Speaker 3: first round pick.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, it never hurts and not on the
Speaker 2: roster spot. There's literally no way this turns out to
Speaker 2: be a bad trade. I think my big takeaway is
Speaker 2: this guy was, you know, posting bat speeds sub seventy
Speaker 2: miles per hour and that was still good enough to
Speaker 2: be the number eight pick out of high school in
Speaker 2: twenty twenty and to be the headliner in the Won
Speaker 2: Soto trade. How much have we value player development and
Speaker 2: certain metrics more than just even a couple of years ago.
Speaker 1: Look at that draft though, I mean the first round
Speaker 1: you can make an argument it's not great, but the
Speaker 1: Pirates did pretty well in that draft. Nick and Zalez
Speaker 1: is here, Karen Jones is here, Carmen Macchinski's here. You
Speaker 1: could go back and look and be like, that's a
Speaker 1: solid draft for the Pirates.
Speaker 2: And then they traded one player to get Gi Manchoy,
Speaker 2: they traded another player to get Connor Joe Like they
Speaker 2: were efficient with that draft. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Ben likes to get his guys too, for sure.
Speaker 1: Going back to the trade deadline, any bullpen arms that
Speaker 1: you've been intrigued by throughout the league.
Speaker 2: I really like Luke Weaver, and I know that's not
Speaker 2: new opinion or anything. It will cost a lot in
Speaker 2: terms of prospects. It'll cost a lot in terms of
Speaker 2: dollars and cents next year. You need a stud right now.
Speaker 2: You can't go into these games with the eighth or
Speaker 2: ninth inning and have those type of backbreaking losses in
Speaker 2: August in September. You have to have that inning lockdown.
Speaker 2: I don't think Mason Miller is you know, an option
Speaker 2: for anyone, or if they do, they're just go, you know,
Speaker 2: package Bogarts with it in the parts. Obviously would not
Speaker 2: take on that contract. So I'm looking at Miller. I'm
Speaker 2: I'm not Miller of Weaver. Thank you.
Speaker 3: What do you think the return is there? Because I
Speaker 3: thought I saw something online the other day that it
Speaker 3: would be a top one hundred prospect plus two arms
Speaker 3: that are close to the big leagues.
Speaker 2: I could buy either or of that, like I could buy.
Speaker 3: You know, are you comfortable giving up an Edward Florentino
Speaker 3: for a Luke Weaver?
Speaker 1: No?
Speaker 2: No, I would much rather give up the two major
Speaker 2: league arms. I could deal with losing Hunter Barco and
Speaker 2: maybe Antoine Kelly, you know, to make that trade happen,
Speaker 2: rather than Edward Florentino.
Speaker 1: I mean, how do you feel about prospect hugging right
Speaker 1: now and dealing with the farm system when it comes
Speaker 1: to the trade deadline.
Speaker 2: I've got two guys I'm not trading, and that's Edward
Speaker 2: Florentino and seth Rnandez. Every other prospect, in my opinion,
Speaker 2: is on the table for the right price.
Speaker 1: How close is Murph Gray to that untouchable?
Speaker 2: I think Murph Gray is the second best hitting prospect
Speaker 2: in this system. Yeah, like excluding As Merlin, who is
Speaker 2: like a dozen at bats away from being you know,
Speaker 2: graduating off prospect lists, Like there's a lot of bats
Speaker 2: feed there. We have seen him every time he's faced
Speaker 2: a higher challenge. He's frisen to it so far this
Speaker 2: year great head on his shoulders. Got to know him
Speaker 2: a little bit last year, Like I really think he
Speaker 2: is someone that you hang on to. But you know what,
Speaker 2: if it's Murph Gray for Luke Weaiver, I think I
Speaker 2: would pull the trigger on that.
Speaker 3: I'm a little offended as the biggest Callen Moss podcast
Speaker 3: that he's not on your no trade list, But we'll
Speaker 3: deal with that off camera. Going back to the bullpen.
Speaker 3: You need more than one arm right.
Speaker 2: Oh, absolutely, Like you need three four Like maybe iSER
Speaker 2: can be one of those guys Hunter Stratton's kind of
Speaker 2: that up down role that Cam Sanders was in. But
Speaker 2: you need quality at the out of these games. Like
Speaker 2: if Dennis Santana clicks and you, you know, get back
Speaker 2: what he is in previous year and he's here like
Speaker 2: your sixth or seventh inning guy, that is just a
Speaker 2: spoil of riches. At that point. You need to go
Speaker 2: into next into the next month knowing you're not gonna
Speaker 2: blow games in the eighth You're not gonna blow games
Speaker 2: in the ninth.
Speaker 1: Talk about Cleveland real quick after the All Star break.
Speaker 1: What are the keys to winning this series? Alex's scoring
Speaker 1: more runs at the end of the game than the
Speaker 1: other game. Obviously you have to do that.
Speaker 2: I mean, whenever you look at doubleheader like this, it
Speaker 2: comes down to how many eatings are you go to
Speaker 2: get out of your starting pitchers Like Rain in the forecast,
Speaker 2: it's crazy, but just the stretch they're in right now,
Speaker 2: they need to get innings out of this rotation, especially
Speaker 2: with all the questions in the bulb Penn.
Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely. Last question from me, Alex Jacob Gonzalez, how
Speaker 3: do you feel about his future role on this team
Speaker 3: and could this be a guy that maybe slots into
Speaker 3: your future third basement when all of a sudden done.
Speaker 2: I mean potentially, Like, I think there is some potential there,
Speaker 2: some ceiling there. I think he could be a good
Speaker 2: utility type player right now. Eager to see how he
Speaker 2: handles shortstop. You know, with Connor Griffin on the IE
Speaker 2: for right now, he's got the opportunity to show that
Speaker 2: he belongs as part of this team for years to come.
Speaker 1: Awesome, Alex, appreciate you joining the show again. Hopefully we'll
Speaker 1: be back next week when the Pirates are at home
Speaker 1: for yins or for losers, so we'll get a show.
Speaker 1: And then so next time, raise it.
Speaker 4: Best seats at the pirates gain and let me run
Speaker 4: the base. Yeah, my time is like my money because
Speaker 4: I can't afford to waste. Uh whyfe he is a
Speaker 4: lloyers my date to my dates or to stick by
Speaker 4: the plates