Speaker 1: What's up, everybody?
Speaker 2: Welcome back to another episode of Bucco Territory, presented to
Speaker 2: you by the Foul Territory Network. I'm Noah Hiles, joining
Speaker 2: me as always on my coast Josh Harrison and Platinum,
Speaker 2: Kyak and Mark. It is Friday, July thirty. First, the
Speaker 2: trade deadline is approaching. The Pirates are in the midst.
Speaker 1: Of a tough week.
Speaker 2: We don't know what happened Thursday evening in Cincinnati because
Speaker 2: we're recording this Thursday afternoon.
Speaker 1: So the latest tist on our mouths.
Speaker 2: As far as Pirates Baseball is concerned, is them finishing
Speaker 2: off a home stand, their biggest home stand of the season,
Speaker 2: where they went two and four, lost a pair of
Speaker 2: series in a row to the Cubs and the Diamondbacks,
Speaker 2: two teams ahead of.
Speaker 1: Them in the wildcard standings.
Speaker 2: A big reason for those losses wasn't on the pitchings
Speaker 2: end this time, it was the offense. The offense failed
Speaker 2: to get going despite having an overall pretty good week
Speaker 2: of starting pitching support them. So we're gonna talk about
Speaker 2: the offense and you know how they got to get going.
Speaker 2: Paul Skens is on the mound Friday when this show
Speaker 2: comes out, he will look to bounce back from his
Speaker 2: only really underwhelming start since July. Arrive really or at
Speaker 2: least the half part of July at the back half
Speaker 2: part of July, and then we will round out this
Speaker 2: week's show as always with Jay Hay now our weekly
Speaker 2: Friday segment.
Speaker 1: But guys, yeah, the Pirates again.
Speaker 2: They could have easily scored ten runs Thursday night in Cincinnati,
Speaker 2: and if they did, they'll make this segment look silly.
Speaker 2: But overall, regardless of what happens Thursday night, I still
Speaker 2: think that Homestand is going to be on the mines
Speaker 2: of a lot of fans, a lot of people covering
Speaker 2: this team, following this team, because the Pirates had a
Speaker 2: really big opportunity to gain some ground on teams ahead
Speaker 2: of them.
Speaker 1: Instead, they fell further back.
Speaker 2: And a lot of these games were winnable. You got
Speaker 2: a good start from Mitch Keller, you got a good
Speaker 2: start from Jared Jones. I mean every game they were
Speaker 2: in it and they couldn't get going. They did not
Speaker 2: have a really good showing offensively against any starting pitching
Speaker 2: aside from Jamison tywn in that Homestand, and Jamis and
Speaker 2: Tyrone got DFA the next day. So of the five
Speaker 2: other starters that they saw who are still actively with
Speaker 2: their club, those guys.
Speaker 1: Shut the Pirates down.
Speaker 2: And three of those pitchers were left handers, which we'll
Speaker 2: talk about later in the show, but they weren't all
Speaker 2: left handers, and some of those guys just haven't had
Speaker 2: good seasons. So let's talk about it. The Pirates offense
Speaker 2: had a really bad week mark I'll start with you.
Speaker 2: Are you concerned or is that just kind of like
Speaker 2: a frustrating thing where we've seen that in the past,
Speaker 2: where I think back to the homestand against the Marlins
Speaker 2: where they just didn't score a lot of runs that
Speaker 2: one weekend and then they turned it around and came back.
Speaker 2: Is that what we're seeing now or do you think
Speaker 2: that maybe the offense is running out of gas a
Speaker 2: little bit?
Speaker 3: No, I think it's just a weird collective slump. In
Speaker 3: the last seven days, there's only two Pirates players who
Speaker 3: haven't ps over eight hundred, Brandon Low and Sean Ross,
Speaker 3: who is no longer with the Pirates, So it's just
Speaker 3: everyone across the board is slumping right now and it's
Speaker 3: been frustrating. But I don't think I think we've seen
Speaker 3: enough from this offense throughout this whole year. I'm not
Speaker 3: gonna hit the panic button quite yet, but at the
Speaker 3: same time, it's been frustrating to watch. It's been concerning.
Speaker 3: It just feels like they can't get anything going and
Speaker 3: that confidence that you have. Yeah, we saw like the comebacks,
Speaker 3: but they just haven't been able to start early. It
Speaker 3: feels like like a first inning run. I can't remember
Speaker 3: the last time we've seen them score and play with
Speaker 3: the lead, So they've just been constantly chasing, trying to
Speaker 3: come back. Not a great way to hit, honestly, but
Speaker 3: hitting is contagious. I'm hoping that, you know, maybe a
Speaker 3: series against Cincinnati in Cincinnati smaller ballpark, maybe that's what
Speaker 3: they need to wake up a little bit and pick
Speaker 3: up right where they left off before this home stand.
Speaker 4: What do you think, Josh, Yeah, obviously, you know you
Speaker 4: look at this home stand and you saw a lot
Speaker 4: of opportunity out there, missed opportunity. But given where this
Speaker 4: offense has been, you know to this point of the season, I,
Speaker 4: as you mentioned, Mark Dot, need to panic. It's just
Speaker 4: one of those stretches. It's just an unfortunate time to
Speaker 4: be going through the stretch. But more than anything, as
Speaker 4: you mentioned, going to Cincinnati Division opponent, a smaller ballpark,
Speaker 4: a team that you know hasn't necessarily played as well.
Speaker 4: You know, these are teams that you want to go
Speaker 4: into and not count anybody out. But this is where
Speaker 4: you can, you know, go and try to get a
Speaker 4: little bit of that confidence back, because you know, having
Speaker 4: those opportunities that you miss, you know, obviously leaves a
Speaker 4: sour taste in your mouth. But you know that's the
Speaker 4: beautiful game about this game is you're gonna be presented
Speaker 4: with that opportunity again, and you know, the Pirates are
Speaker 4: right in the thick of it, and you know, obviously frustrating,
Speaker 4: you know, from winning the first game against Arizona's been
Speaker 4: dropping the next two. You know, with a team that
Speaker 4: you're literally neck and neck with, you know, obviously, those
Speaker 4: those are losses that are gonna stick with you, especially
Speaker 4: at this point of the season. But you would hope
Speaker 4: that these bats, you know, turn it around, because they've
Speaker 4: been you know, top offense thus far throughout the season,
Speaker 4: so no reason to you know, hit the panic button.
Speaker 4: But at the same time, you know, winnable games, you know,
Speaker 4: we we've had this saying enough winnable games. And you know,
Speaker 4: for one, this wasn't on the bullpen, you know, or
Speaker 4: the starting staff.
Speaker 5: So you know that those kind of stick.
Speaker 4: With you, you know, because like dang, all you can ask
Speaker 4: for is your pitching staff to keep you in these games.
Speaker 4: And when the pitching staff is doing their job, you know,
Speaker 4: more than likely with an offense like this, you know
Speaker 4: you you'd be looking pretty but you know, right now
Speaker 4: things just aren't clicking as a whole. But hopefully the
Speaker 4: Cincinnati series gets them back to you know, that swagger
Speaker 4: that you know, that confidence of a right here we go, guys,
Speaker 4: pitching has been doing what they're doing.
Speaker 5: Let's let's join them.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I don't think there's a ton to worry about here, right,
Speaker 2: I mean, this just happens.
Speaker 1: This happens.
Speaker 2: It's gonna happen to teams for one to two weeks,
Speaker 2: regardless of how good you are. It happens to the Dodgers,
Speaker 2: it happens to the Yankees. It just happens, and I
Speaker 2: mean it. It is tough though when you're seeing it
Speaker 2: happen in such important games, like the timing of it
Speaker 2: was poor.
Speaker 1: But on the flip side.
Speaker 2: Their offense was clicking on all cylinders right before the
Speaker 2: All Star break, and those were some very important games too.
Speaker 2: When they had that six game homestand against the Braves
Speaker 2: in the Brewers, they were scoring runs, they were getting
Speaker 2: the job done. So you know, it comes and it goes,
Speaker 2: and that's just how it is. And for the most
Speaker 2: part it's been fine. I think my only concern.
Speaker 1: About it would be two things.
Speaker 2: One, I mean, as Merlin Valdes is the league is
Speaker 2: adjusting to him. I'm not sitting here saying that anyone
Speaker 2: should be panicking. I mean, he had another home run
Speaker 2: on Sunday, which was you know, earlier this week, so
Speaker 2: but it's just something where it's he's not gonna bat
Speaker 2: three point fifty and hit thirty home runs this year
Speaker 2: probably and that is okay.
Speaker 1: He is a rookie. He shouldn't be expected to do that.
Speaker 2: But that was the firepower that had their offense at
Speaker 2: that next level while they were without Spencer Horwitz and
Speaker 2: O'Neal Cruz. The good news is those guys are gonna
Speaker 2: be back soon, probably within the next couple of weeks,
Speaker 2: both of them, and if they can pick it up
Speaker 2: where they left off.
Speaker 1: They're gonna be okay if guys like I mean.
Speaker 2: Brandon Law was struggling entering this week and then he's
Speaker 2: had a really good week. Ryan Reynolds had a big
Speaker 2: home run in this last Arizona series. If he can
Speaker 2: get going in the second half, that will be massive
Speaker 2: for them. They have too many guys for I think
Speaker 2: this thing to fail collectively. My only concern would just
Speaker 2: be how much of that failure was just not hitting
Speaker 2: the ball where they weren't, versus how much of that
Speaker 2: failure was getting out game planned, versus how much of
Speaker 2: that was them getting in their own way?
Speaker 5: Right?
Speaker 2: Those were big games, and did they maybe maybe put
Speaker 2: too much pressure on themselves. I can't answer that. No
Speaker 2: one can except for that only Yeah.
Speaker 4: I was gonna say only they can, but yeah, sometimes can't, right, Yeah,
Speaker 4: you know, yeah, like.
Speaker 2: They might be able to answer that way down the road.
Speaker 2: But Josh, you know when you were playing in twenty
Speaker 2: eighteen or the moment, Yeah, you're in the moment, You're like,
Speaker 2: what do you mean? Yeah, every game matters to me.
Speaker 2: You know, that's not how you're thinking. But then I think, yeah,
Speaker 2: as the season goes on, you can maybe look back
Speaker 2: and be like, yeah, I think we were pressing a
Speaker 2: little too much, and I'm not saying that that is
Speaker 2: the case, right right, Yeah.
Speaker 3: I got it interesting that Yeah, I gots sat right here.
Speaker 3: They have only drawn thirteen walks in the last seven days.
Speaker 3: They've struck out forty four times in that stretch.
Speaker 5: Yeah, that's right there.
Speaker 4: As pressing or not being patient or as you say,
Speaker 4: being out gained what you know, hitters meaning.
Speaker 5: Are you talking about working counts? Are you you know
Speaker 5: what I mean?
Speaker 4: But at the same time, injuries, guys popping in and
Speaker 4: at the same time, you don't want to say pressure,
Speaker 4: but you also know this time of year things get
Speaker 4: magnified a little bit around trade deadline because oh man,
Speaker 4: we got to win these games to make our you know,
Speaker 4: if we want to you know, not saying guys are pressing,
Speaker 4: but as you said, Noah, in the battle of the moment,
Speaker 4: you might not realize it, but just you know, all right,
Speaker 4: and there you go, thirteen walks as opposed to forty
Speaker 4: something strikeouts.
Speaker 5: That that right there is not going to get it done.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, that's part of it, and it's learning
Speaker 2: how to play like this and for a lot of
Speaker 2: guys on this team. This is the first time they
Speaker 2: played in a big game, in a big series like this.
Speaker 1: So we are going to.
Speaker 2: Take a quick break. When we come back, we're going
Speaker 2: to talk about Paul Skeins. He pitches Friday.
Speaker 1: We're going to break it down down here on Bucco Territory.
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Speaker 2: All right, Paul Skeen's back on the bump on Friday.
Speaker 2: The last time we saw him was over the prior
Speaker 2: weekend against the Chicago Cubs. He looked really good to start,
Speaker 2: look like they caught up to him the second or
Speaker 2: third time through, and then the moment he left the
Speaker 2: game went to hell. Overall, I still think Skeens is
Speaker 2: trending in the right direction. The start against the Cubs
Speaker 2: was a little concerning, considering a he typically pitches very
Speaker 2: well against the Chicago Cubs, and B the velocity was
Speaker 2: down again and it's it was dipping again, and probably
Speaker 2: dipping more so than we've seen it at any other
Speaker 2: time this month.
Speaker 1: So Mark, again, I'll start with you, what are you
Speaker 1: looking to see from him. Do you need to see
Speaker 1: seven to feel good from Skins this weekend.
Speaker 3: I'd love to see that, obviously. I don't know if
Speaker 3: you need it, but the Pirates are going to be
Speaker 3: They're starting Johann Ramier's Thursday before, prior to or after
Speaker 3: we're recording, so it sounds like a bullpen game going
Speaker 3: into Skeens start Friday. Yeah, that's that's what you need
Speaker 3: from him this he's the team's ace. He's the best
Speaker 3: pitcher on this roster. You gotta have him pitch like
Speaker 3: it and the velocity dipping. He doesn't seem concerned about
Speaker 3: it at all. I am starting to get to a
Speaker 3: point where he sat ninety five point six in his
Speaker 3: last start, was the average, and that at a certain
Speaker 3: point you get a little concerned. I don't know if
Speaker 3: he's fatigued. I don't know if it's just that's what
Speaker 3: he wanted to do that day, but it is. I'm
Speaker 3: starting to get to the point where that's a level
Speaker 3: of a little bit of concern for me. But also
Speaker 3: that Cup start, he got unlucky, a lot of just
Speaker 3: like bloop singles. It felt like a lot of weak
Speaker 3: contact that found grass and that'll be baseball. But at
Speaker 3: the same time, you just need Paul Schemes to be better.
Speaker 3: So yeah, against the Cincinnati Reds, you need him to
Speaker 3: step up and dominate. And it would be awesome, especially
Speaker 3: for this team with coming off that series in Arizona. Uh,
Speaker 3: just a shot of arm, a shot in the arm
Speaker 3: of momentum of you know, belief in this team. Be like, yeah,
Speaker 3: oh yeah, we do have one of the best pitchers
Speaker 3: in baseball and he's going out there and shoving for
Speaker 3: us every five days. We can win this thing, we
Speaker 3: can make the playoffs. So I just want to see
Speaker 3: him in. Still a little bit of confidence in this team,
Speaker 3: but easier said than done. Joshua, are your your thoughts.
Speaker 8: On Schemes here?
Speaker 3: Looking to bounce back against the Reds.
Speaker 4: You need your ace to be your ace, be a stopper, yep,
Speaker 4: especially especially in moments like this where Sam is you know,
Speaker 4: not had success that they wanted to pass, you know,
Speaker 4: week or so.
Speaker 5: You need your ace to be your guy.
Speaker 4: And regardless of you know, losing you know v Low
Speaker 4: here or there. This is the beauty of baseball, especially
Speaker 4: guys in his position.
Speaker 5: He's a pitcher.
Speaker 4: This is where you learn to pitch and not saying
Speaker 4: that learns to pitch. But you know I can remember,
Speaker 4: you know, just a small story Tyler Glass.
Speaker 5: Now I remember Triple A.
Speaker 4: I think I was rehad the one game, and you know,
Speaker 4: at one point he kept looking back at the you know, velocity.
Speaker 5: And it wasn't saying ninety eight ninety nine.
Speaker 4: You know, his fastball was like ninety three ninety four,
Speaker 4: And I'm like, you do realize, like you're not always
Speaker 4: going to have that ninety nine in a tank, But
Speaker 4: what you can learn is to pitch with what you have.
Speaker 5: And you know that was from playing with guys at
Speaker 5: you know a J.
Speaker 4: Burnett, you know that used to throw a hundred who
Speaker 4: ended up pitching at ninety two ninety four. You're not
Speaker 4: going to have that in the tank every day, but
Speaker 4: you know, real pitchers know how to get out. And
Speaker 4: what you'll see with Paul, as you mentioned, still having
Speaker 4: success not throwing his herd because he knows how to
Speaker 4: pitch and tone of his pitchers. So with that being said,
Speaker 4: he knows he doesn't I don't want to say he
Speaker 4: knows he doesn't have his velocity, because only he knows
Speaker 4: what's really going on. Whether it's fatigue or something mechanical.
Speaker 4: A lot of things can be going on. But one
Speaker 4: thing that I know is he's a competitor. He's a pitcher,
Speaker 4: and he still knows how to put the ball where
Speaker 4: he wants and at the end of the day, that's
Speaker 4: the name of the game on the mound. So I
Speaker 4: have no doubt that you know, he's every fifth day,
Speaker 4: it's like, you know, whether I got the vlo or not,
Speaker 4: I put pitches where I need to.
Speaker 5: I'm gonna get the outs.
Speaker 4: And as I said, you need your ace to be
Speaker 4: a ace Friday, whether he's throwing one hundred or ninety six, yea,
Speaker 4: do what you do.
Speaker 5: Get your outs and pitch.
Speaker 4: And I expect Paul to do what he does because
Speaker 4: I mean, as you said, he's still trending up or
Speaker 4: just might not be what we've seen in the past.
Speaker 4: But that's part of baseball, that's part of the wear
Speaker 4: and tear of you know, you got to make adjustments,
Speaker 4: and he's going through an adjustment period that most people
Speaker 4: probably didn't think he would have to. But everybody has
Speaker 4: to go through this adjustment period.
Speaker 2: Yep.
Speaker 1: It's time, that's all it is. It's time. It's time
Speaker 1: to be the ace like you. For as good as he.
Speaker 2: Looked in those three starts prior to the Cubs one
Speaker 2: where they won three in a row, he got crazy
Speaker 2: run support in all three of those games. I mean,
Speaker 2: the first one was when O'Hearn went nuclear and drove
Speaker 2: in ten runs himself. The last or the second one
Speaker 2: was right before the All Star break where they were
Speaker 2: up by ten runs by like the third or fourth inning.
Speaker 2: And then in Cleveland, not only did they put a
Speaker 2: whole bunch of runs up on the board, they also
Speaker 2: made a lot of big defensive plays, or maybe the
Speaker 2: Guardians just made a lot of stupid plays on the bases.
Speaker 1: I think they made four.
Speaker 2: Outs on the base, so right, And you know, he
Speaker 2: had the most ideal situations. And I'm not taking away
Speaker 2: from his production in those starts because he did his
Speaker 2: job too. But now the offense is struggling, so it's
Speaker 2: time for Paul Skeins to return the favor. They've given
Speaker 2: him crazy run.
Speaker 1: Support in three of his last four outings.
Speaker 2: His last outing, the one against the Cubs, they didn't
Speaker 2: score a run from him for him, and he kept
Speaker 2: them toe for tow for a little bit. But you're
Speaker 2: the ace. If that other guy has a zero, you
Speaker 2: need to match that zero.
Speaker 1: That's how this works.
Speaker 2: When you the ace, when you're the cy young, when
Speaker 2: you're the best pitcher on a pitching staff and on
Speaker 2: a team that's trying to make the playoffs, sometimes you
Speaker 2: got to put the team on your back. We just
Speaker 2: haven't seen Paul do that a ton this year, and
Speaker 2: this is the time to do it against a team
Speaker 2: that you typically always pitch very well against in a
Speaker 2: ballpark where you have pretty good numbers despite it being
Speaker 2: a hitter's part.
Speaker 1: This is the time. This is the time for Paul
Speaker 1: Schemes to carry the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Speaker 2: And if it's not now, then when is it gonna be.
Speaker 2: Is it gonna be your next start in Milwaukee? Is
Speaker 2: it gonna be in August and September? Or is it
Speaker 2: just not gonna be your year? Because if it's not
Speaker 2: his year, this teammate't make in the playoffs. It's got
Speaker 2: to start now. So that's all I got, unless you
Speaker 2: guys have anything to add. Nope, all right, we're gonna
Speaker 2: take another break. When we come back, we'll round it
Speaker 2: out with Jay hay now here on Bucco Territory.
Speaker 9: There is one place to be on trade deadline day
Speaker 9: watching Foul Territory.
Speaker 5: Of course. A. J.
Speaker 9: Perdinski, Eric Kratz, and Scott Brown will be live all
Speaker 9: afternoon speaking with insiders, reading tea leaves, and reacting to
Speaker 9: unfolding deadline drama. Join us on the FT YouTube channel
Speaker 9: at one pm e T and stay locked in through
Speaker 9: the six pm deadline next Monday, Foul Territory Network, It's
Speaker 9: baseball the way it should be covered.
Speaker 8: All right, and now our j hay Now segment, what
Speaker 8: do you say?
Speaker 4: All right, here we go, Jay Hay Now, this segment
Speaker 4: is just gonna be I'm gonna be straight to the point.
Speaker 4: Deadline is Monday just didn't have that grade of a
Speaker 4: you know, offensive showing, especially against lefties. My segment is, hey,
Speaker 4: we we've seen a little bit of struggles this past week.
Speaker 4: Nothing to be too panicked about with this offense, but
Speaker 4: we've hit on how adding you know, a potential bat
Speaker 4: may help, especially facing lefties. You've tried it internally and
Speaker 4: nothing against those guys, but if you're really trying to
Speaker 4: make a push and you really want to better this
Speaker 4: team and give it an opportunity, you got to go.
Speaker 5: Get some help.
Speaker 4: And as I said this, this past home stand, you
Speaker 4: tried things internally, nothing against those young guys, but you
Speaker 4: know this team is in a position to you know,
Speaker 4: make a wild card and you you you need to
Speaker 4: shore up some things. And if this pass home stand
Speaker 4: wasn't enough to show that, you know, you need to
Speaker 4: make a move somewhere to help bolster this offense, which
Speaker 4: is already good. But you can't be that inconsistent, especially
Speaker 4: when you're getting you know, good pitching. That's all you
Speaker 4: can ask for. And to me for my j hay
Speaker 4: now segment, something's got to be done. Time is ticking.
Speaker 4: Not to rush and make an overpay, but you got
Speaker 4: to do something because too many games are too many
Speaker 4: winnable games are not being won. And granted we know
Speaker 4: it's been more bullpen that has you know, caused that,
Speaker 4: but at the same time, where at the end of
Speaker 4: July and the struggles against lefties have you know pretty
Speaker 4: much been there. So if this home stand wasn't enough,
Speaker 4: especially with only a couple of days left, you gotta
Speaker 4: make a move to help bolster this offense and not
Speaker 4: waste these pitching starts because you're only as good as
Speaker 4: you can do. When your pitch is good. You gotta
Speaker 4: get timely heading. You got to put runs up, otherwise
Speaker 4: you're gonna strike out forty four times and walk thirteen.
Speaker 3: Yep, go ahead.
Speaker 2: No, Well, I was just gonna say, yeah, they just
Speaker 2: need something. I don't know if I mean, obviously they
Speaker 2: have multiple areas of the team that need addressed by August.
Speaker 5: Third people that helps an offense.
Speaker 2: But give them a new face in the clubhouse in
Speaker 2: Cincinnati this weekend, and let it be someone who wasn't
Speaker 2: promoted from Triple A or someone who wasn't claimed off
Speaker 2: waivers or just recently DFA.
Speaker 1: Like, let it. Let it be someone you need to
Speaker 1: show this team.
Speaker 2: Not that I don't I don't get the sense that
Speaker 2: this team doubts that the organization believes in it. Like
Speaker 2: I think they are in lockstep. I think the organization
Speaker 2: has made that very clear that they believe in this group,
Speaker 2: and I think the players believe that organization sentiment, like
Speaker 2: I think.
Speaker 1: There's no distrust there.
Speaker 2: But we're getting to the point in the year where
Speaker 2: every day where something isn't done, yep, it feels more
Speaker 2: prevalent to do something the next day, and you feel
Speaker 2: the way like loss is weigh more right now than
Speaker 2: they do in April.
Speaker 1: You're looking at the standings.
Speaker 2: Even these guys, even though these guys say they're not,
Speaker 2: they are, or people are around them are, and people
Speaker 2: around them are telling them where they are in the
Speaker 2: wild card who you know what the Cardinals just did,
Speaker 2: What the Padres are doing, what the Nationals are doing, Diamondbacks, Cubs,
Speaker 2: all these teams. It's the world that they live in,
Speaker 2: and they know that they haven't been good enough. And
Speaker 2: while they all individually know that they need to be better,
Speaker 2: there's nothing more that's gonna give them another boost than
Speaker 2: the organization going out and saying, hey, here's some help.
Speaker 2: We've got more on the way, but here's the first
Speaker 2: little taste. And while they can, I'm sure they can
Speaker 2: appreciate guys going up and down in the minor leagues
Speaker 2: and saying like, look like that's.
Speaker 1: You trying to and to their credit, sometimes that's worked.
Speaker 1: This year.
Speaker 2: They called up Carter Griffin in the first week of
Speaker 2: the season. Their team looked a lot better. They called
Speaker 2: up as Merlin Valdez, team looked.
Speaker 1: A lot better.
Speaker 2: Wilbrid Hotel help for a little bit there have been
Speaker 2: some other guys as well. Now you're running out of
Speaker 2: cards to play on that side of the table, so
Speaker 2: it's time to make a bigger move. It doesn't have
Speaker 2: to be substantial, but just somebody a little bit more
Speaker 2: established to go to the bullpen or somebody who can
Speaker 2: just say, Hey, you know, I'm not gonna play a lot,
Speaker 2: but I'm gonna play against lefties and I'm gonna give
Speaker 2: our lineup a better chance.
Speaker 1: That's gonna go a long way.
Speaker 2: I mean, I revert back to the comments Brian Reynolds
Speaker 2: made to my coworker Colin Beasley in spring training, and
Speaker 2: he said, it's easier. We've always said that we believe
Speaker 2: we compete, we can compete.
Speaker 1: He's like, it's.
Speaker 2: Easier to believe that this year because you look around
Speaker 2: there are guys that allow us to believe it there.
Speaker 2: And I'm obviously paraphrasing, but he essentially just said, yeah, like,
Speaker 2: we're a better team. We see it. We look around
Speaker 2: in the clubhouse, we see we're just a better team.
Speaker 2: And that allows us to believe we can go out
Speaker 2: and do things that we haven't achieved before. And they
Speaker 2: need to double down on that belief and the way
Speaker 2: you do that is by bringing in and because there
Speaker 2: are no top prospects that you're calling up to provide.
Speaker 2: There is no Garrett Cole you're throwing in here like
Speaker 2: they did in twenty three team, right, those guys have
Speaker 2: already come up, So now you got to go find
Speaker 2: it elsewhere and give them a spark. Just give them
Speaker 2: that cup of coffee, put a battery in their back,
Speaker 2: and allow them to find a second win for this
Speaker 2: you know, two month stretch. That's going to be the
Speaker 2: most important two month stretch the Pirates have played in
Speaker 2: probably a decade, if not longer.
Speaker 1: So mark anything to wrap us up here.
Speaker 3: Yeah, just that shot in the arm would go a
Speaker 3: very long way. I think with this team, it's a
Speaker 3: they're a good team there. We know that it's very
Speaker 3: clear what pieces they need to become great and they
Speaker 3: just have to go out and add them. So that's
Speaker 3: I think a little bit frustrated as a fan when
Speaker 3: you see, you know, the bullpen impact another loss and
Speaker 3: it's like, well, we know we need bullpen help, go
Speaker 3: out and get it. What are you waiting for at
Speaker 3: this point? I get you don't want to overpay and
Speaker 3: you're trying to wait for the best deal. But every
Speaker 3: day that we're waiting is you know, that's one more
Speaker 3: loss that could impact And finally, I mean we're right
Speaker 3: on the margins. So it's it's a little frustrated right now,
Speaker 3: I'm excited. Uh, it's big, big trade deadline, biggest one
Speaker 3: of Ben Sherrington's tenure as general GM here and it
Speaker 3: could be a make or break deadline for him if
Speaker 3: he sticks around. You know, it's a full stop period.
Speaker 3: We need to win, make the postseason. Uh, this city
Speaker 3: wants it. So now is the time. We have a
Speaker 3: good ball club. Let's become great and make that final
Speaker 3: push here.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 4: No, I was just saying the final push was pretty
Speaker 4: much what I was gonna go off of, is you know,
Speaker 4: give something to help with that final push and you
Speaker 4: to go along with that. You know, it's not a
Speaker 4: final push, but we'd love for you to push that
Speaker 4: subscribe but to give us. Yeah, but yeah, push that
Speaker 4: buttonbscribe on our way to three thousand, working our way there.
Speaker 4: Every little bit helps appreciate the support and why you're there.
Speaker 4: Hit the team store a lot of great things to
Speaker 4: choose from T shirts, so these mugs, bucket hats, list,
Speaker 4: goes on, but yeah, appreciate the support, continue to spread
Speaker 4: the word. And is is it still the all star
Speaker 4: shirts or no?
Speaker 8: I think we does.
Speaker 3: We're goet on nose.
Speaker 4: Yeah, okay, goods but yeah, working our way to three
Speaker 4: K as I said, not the final push, but keep
Speaker 4: pushing that button mark.
Speaker 3: Any final thoughts, I just want to give a quick
Speaker 3: shout out behind the scenes, George makes a lot of
Speaker 3: our our thumbnails and he's just been going above and
Speaker 3: beyond for us. Uh, So shout out to George. Really
Speaker 3: appreciate the hard work he's been doing for this show.
Speaker 3: A lot of people behind the scenes help us out.
Speaker 3: So I wanted to give him a little bit of
Speaker 3: shining because he's really been going above and beyond for us.
Speaker 3: So thank you George. Any final thoughts, Noah.
Speaker 1: I don't really know. I mean we're we're at the
Speaker 1: point of.
Speaker 2: The year now where it's just like there's there's nothing
Speaker 2: left in the brain here. It's all it's all up
Speaker 2: front when make moves, keep winning. That's that's what we
Speaker 2: got to talk about. That's what we need to see
Speaker 2: from the Pittsburgh Pirate.
Speaker 3: And hopefully we'll be talking to you guys soon with
Speaker 3: like an emergency trade podcast, So if the pirates make
Speaker 3: a move, we'll be here to cover it as soon
Speaker 3: as we possibly can for you guys.
Speaker 2: So absolutely, he's Platinum keyak Mark, He's Josh Harrison, I'm
Speaker 2: Noah Hiles. We're signing off saying thanks for tuning in
Speaker 2: to another episode of Buco Territory, presented to you by
Speaker 2: the Foul Territory Network.
Speaker 1: Take care,