MLB Free Agency Is Here. What Will the Pirates Actually Do?

Yo.

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I'm your host, Anthony DiNardo.

With me, we got Jim Rosati.

And Jim, as always, happy Monday.

Most importantly, on the screen, what's that say?

Can you see that for me?

The first day of free agency today.

Boom.

Powered to win the World Series.

Starting today.

Yeah, the one thing that I do wish that...

Major League Baseball had that the other sports do.

I feel like in the NBA, this is a huge day.

You've got superstars coming off the board left and right.

Huge deals.

Baseball, I don't know.

Everybody just works a little bit slower.

Today's the first day.

It's the agency first day.

You can talk to other teams.

Odds are we're not going to see any We're not going to see any moves today, right?

We're going to see some we're going to see some forty man roster moves today, probably.

But we're not going to see any big free agent signings today.

That would be my guess, just based off of past years of going through this.

right yeah man it's i don't know i don't know i think we discussed and we compare and contrast like the different leagues and such and obviously the nfl mba is different from

mlb in different ways in the off season certainly is one of them twelve oh one you would have signings happening right it's alluding to like as soon as free agency opens you have some

signings happen people stay up at midnight And there's no point to stay up at midnight.

Ethan's probably up at midnight.

He's the only person up at midnight.

So free agency doesn't start until five p.m.

today.

So there is that.

So in baseball, you can't even do anything until five.

So it's really staying up until midnight doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

Well, true.

Because NFL, I believe, and NBA is that way.

At midnight, it opens up.

Yeah, I don't follow the NBA enough to really care, but I do recall.

Yeah, it's just a frenzy right at the start.

So at any rate, though, that's not what happens in MLB.

We stay asleep.

We don't wake up.

We don't do anything.

The day comes and whatever.

Let me know when something happens.

So yeah, that's a little bit different.

And again, I don't know if I do wish that.

But I think it'd be pretty cool to be like right off the bat.

Yeah.

Big names.

Now I guess the difference is, I don't know if the NBA, if you're allowed to like negotiate with people before the signing period time, but like, Technically, none of these players are allowed to talk to anybody until five p.m.

So, right.

It's probably hard to get a deal done, in like one or two minutes.

Yeah.

Five p.m.

Start a free agency today.

MLBPA put out their official notification last week.

Everybody's a free agent.

Right.

So Brandon Lowe is a free agent.

Gregory Soto is a free agent.

Yeah.

You've got, technically, Kirby Yates is off the, Kirby is off the, is off the man.

He's technically retired now.

keller mitch keller and Endy Rodríguez are gonna have to be added back to the forty man because there's no il you know as of today as well so that you know the pirates don't necessarily

need to make any room for those guys there's some teams out there was a tweet last night i think the giants need to like create ten forty man roster spots so like there's gonna be some teams that have to trade with the

nationals yeah like there's just some there's some teams out there that have to do like a whole lot of things and the pirates don't really need to do anything like i said they've got the three guys who fell off the forty man they got the two guys with endy and keller that

need to be added on and then you know there is going to be according to sources there is going to be one other forty man roster move that we'll find out

about later today.

I'm not going to report it because that's not my job to report news, but the Pirates are going to be removing one other person from their forty man roster today.

So we'll hear about that later as well.

Sorry, Paul.

Sorry, Paul Skenes.

That's what you get for being part of the union.

Yep.

Paul Skenes cleared.

Nobody even wanted him.

They outrighted him.

Yep.

No.

Yeah.

So yeah, big day though.

Big day.

It's the deadline for the pirates to give Brandon Lowe his twenty three point one five million dollar qualifying offer.

So I'm assuming he's going to receive that officially.

And then he has until November seventeenth to decide if he wants to accept or decline that.

But yeah, today, five o'clock official.

The gates are open.

Yes, sir.

That pretty much that sums up the day right there.

Yeah, let's put it this way.

It's very clear that they will offer a qualifying offer right now.

Right.

Let's get out the window like that's going to happen, correct?

Yeah, Lowe's going to get a qualifying offer.

Right.

So that qualifying offer is twenty three point one five million dollars.

Just put it out there.

So, again, not the part too much about this Jim

Bowden stuff, but like three to forty five just doesn't seem right.

You're getting a qualifying offer for twenty three point one five and the odds that you're turning that down three for forty five doesn't make a lot of sense to me for Lowe.

But at any rate, He'll get the qualifying offer, twenty three point five, like you mentioned, till November seventeenth.

He has to decide if he's going to accept it, which I'm sure if he's getting through forty five, he will or decline it and get a bigger contract.

But, one of the things we're going to talk about today and we'll get we'll get back to this.

we are talking about the gold glove finalists and such, too, beforehand to get that out of the way.

But what was I just going with this?

Yeah, just real quick.

the gold gloves were announced last night.

So Brandon Lowe and Jared Triolo were finalists.

Neither of them won.

I don't think anybody expected them to win, but they did not win.

Yeah, Brandon Lowe had an excellent season.

And I think what made it excellent was the fact that he was so bad last year that many people thought when the trade happened, he's going to end up playing some first base and DH and such.

And he comes out here and he has, what, fifteen outs above average?

Twelve?

Plus twelve building run value, fourteen defensive run saves, like an excellent season.

It's just there's this guy named J.J.

Wetherholt that's pretty good, too.

Yeah, well, Turang ended up winning, so.

Oh, is it Turang?

I didn't realize that.

Yeah.

Oh, yeah, Turang's also really good, too.

Yeah, I wouldn't expect their person to win.

Right.

It's no surprise that they didn't.

Mauricio Dubón won the utility gold glove instead of Triolo as well.

And there you have it.

So, yeah, no gold gloves, but two finalists.

two very worthy finalists, I might add.

Yeah, they deserved it.

They deserved to be finalists, yeah.

So I guess we'll talk about free agency now that it's upon us.

it's the first day again, nothing's probably going to happen.

We realized that, but we do want to talk today and especially, well, that's like, what does the team need?

Right.

And like, what do we think that, will happen?

Maybe entering in free agency to target those needs.

So.

I think obviously we know that offense, right?

Like last year, think about a year ago, right?

We knew it was going to be offense.

We had to get offense.

This team has to get offense.

You have to find a way to get offense.

Pitching is going to carry them.

We're about pitching.

Joke now.

But regardless, that was our thought last year, right?

Just go.

We need offense.

And the Pirates had a very good offense this year.

Very good.

It wasn't even something like, hey, they made a formidable offense.

Like, this isn't just a weakness anymore.

It's like, this is a good offense.

But they're only losing Brandon Lowe.

And Brandon Lowe had thirty five home runs.

They had, what, one sixty eight in total.

Yeah, I'm sorry.

One hundred eighty six home runs in total.

So, like, he had a good portion of those home runs.

are they going to go out there, Jim, and try to replace Brandon Lowe or bring Brandon Lowe back?

What's like?

What do you anticipate this team doing?

I think they're going to try to bring Brandon Lowe back.

I don't know if they're going to be successful in it.

Yeah, he was a big part of the offense this year.

And I think if you're the Pirates, your offense was in a pretty good spot this past season.

It was better than anything that we've ever seen the Pirates do in a really long time.

really ever offensively, especially from a power standpoint.

But I don't think this offense can...

They can't afford to get worse.

you look at the end.

Yeah, the runs were there, but weighted runs created plus are right in the middle of the pack.

I think they had a one hundred weighted runs created plus on the season.

This team was average offensively.

They were average.

And...

It was enough to carry them to an above-five-hundred team, but this offense could still have been quite a bit better.

They struck out a whole lot.

If there was something I could see that they do this offseason in terms of offense goes, they need to figure out a way to...

to hit left-handed pitching.

That was a problem.

Right.

And like the one, the number one priority that everybody's talking about in Brandon Lowe, like Brandon Lowe doesn't fix that issue.

If anything, he makes it worse.

Right.

Like Lowe could not hit left-handed pitching last year at all.

so yeah obviously i think you gotta do everything you can to bring Brandon Lowe back he just provided a ton for you offensively but you've got to go out there and figure out a

way to bring in a right-handed bat to help yourself against left-handed pitching like i think Konnor Griffin being around for a whole year Esmerlyn Valdez being around for a full year rafael flores jr being around for a full year

You hope that gives you a little bit of a boost against lefties, just those three guys to go along with Reynolds, who had a good year against lefties as well.

You hope that those guys can help, but I think you need someone else because the current roster construction just isn't good enough against lefties.

It's not like you're playing a lefty all the time, but you play a lefty twenty percent of the time.

so you can't just punt twenty percent of your games because that's essentially what they were doing this past year.

Like no matter who the left handed pitcher was, it was the sloppiest slop garbage left handed pitcher from Triple A making a spot start to whether it was Chris Sale.

This team couldn't hit him.

So you got to do something to address that problem.

Yeah, that's that was a huge problem.

And that's really what brought the numbers down.

if you want to say to like that type of offense.

But again, like I want to put this in perspective too, because I know you were up with a bunch of weighted runs created plus, they were a 101 and that's correct.

They were like thirteenth in MLB, like you mentioned about average, but like with that said, they had a six most runs, the six most, I'm sorry, like six most runs, the fifth best average fourth best on base

percentage, ninth best slugging, Like, the offense was good.

So I want to actually ask it this way, Stu.

Like, when you said they can't get worse, if they end up being, like, thirteenth or fourteenth weighted runs created plus, do they go from being, like, the sixth most runs in MLB to, like, the eighth most runs?

Like, is that – is essentially saying about the same, even though they're technically worse, okay-ish?

Or are we talking, like, they can't go from, like, sixth most runs to fifteenth most runs?

Yeah, I guess I'm not looking at the runs total because there's a lot of factors that play into that, like parks and things like that.

I'm looking at more of the weighted runs created plus.

What are they doing as an offense?

Because that's something that can carry from ballpark to ballpark.

They were average this year.

Yeah, they scored some runs.

But they were average offensively this year.

you look at the lineup top to bottom, they were average.

Okay.

Like the Rockies, if you look at the Rockies, they score a lot of runs, right?

It doesn't mean their offense is any good.

It just means they score a lot of runs.

So, yeah, I'm looking at, like, this was an average offense last year.

They can't be worse than that next year.

Okay, so I guess you're making a point.

Again, if they're talking from last year to the fourteenth or fifteenth, that can't happen.

That's pretty much in the same spot, I guess.

That's what I was asking about.

They can't drop them like thirteenth to twentieth.

That's what we're talking about.

They can't be the number twenty offense.

Right, okay.

So we addressed all of the biggest, one of the biggest reasons that happened too was when they faced lefty pitchers.

So I want to ask this also.

So we talked about the hitting side, right?

Now let's talk about the pitching side a little bit.

That's one thing that they didn't have also was more or less like a lefty starter.

So is a lefty starter something that we think this team needs to target as well?

what's the priority?

Are we going hitting or are we going lefty starters?

I think hitting is the priority.

Right now, you don't necessarily need a left-handed starter because you still have Mitch Keller.

If things change and Mitch Keller ends up not being a pirate anymore, then you have to fill that spot.

I think the natural fit is to go with a left-handed starter.

That's something that I think is just going to have to play out.

I don't think we're going to get an answer on it right away.

I don't think a Mitch Keller trade is going to happen right off the bat.

I don't think...

And if you're the Pirates, I don't think you can go out there and sign a left-handed starter when you have Mitch Keller.

There's just not really a need.

Right now, you have five starting pitchers.

Your rotation is filled.

If you go out there and get another guy...

you maybe you have to trade somebody like then it forces you to trade Keller but I also like I want to wait and see that what happens with the CBA before deciding on exactly what to do with Keller too like if you're the Pirates and you're in shout out I was

watching Bridge of October last night and they mentioned this and but like if you're the Pirates and all of a sudden next year you have to spend a hundred and seventy million dollars then like you keep Mitch Keller.

There's not even a question, right?

Like he's on your team.

But maybe if yeah, because if you trade them now, you've got to go out there and you have to spend ninety million dollars.

And like, it's going to be hard to even find people to spend ninety million dollars on.

But if you're going to say maybe, though, is because other teams spend that also.

So I just say not that many, though, not that many.

Like, but seems what all I'm saying is that could make his trade value a little more because it's like, well, now it's not.

But I think before you do anything with Keller, you have to know what next year's got to look like.

Yeah, I think that's fair.

I'm not in a hurry to trade Mitch Keller unless somebody wants to – unless an opportunity falls in your lap where you – it just makes sense to.

But I'm not in a hurry to trade Mitch Keller.

So December second, lockout's coming.

I think Mitch Keller's still going to be a pirate on December second.

And I don't think the Pirates are going to do anything to address their starting rotation up to that point.

Yeah, I don't know.

I don't know.

Like, that makes sense, too, but on the other side of things, if we envision free agency is going to have a bit of a frenzy before the lockout, the Pirates aren't doing much of anything with Mitch Keller on this team.

And that's the problem because we're going to miss out.

like that's, I guess the catch-twenty-two in that, like what you're saying doesn't make sense.

I'm not taking it away.

Right.

But in doing so, like you just said, like they're probably not adding lefty starters, Mitch Keller's on here.

I'm not saying they need to in a sense, but like, they're not adding much at all.

I think if Mitch Keller's on this roster.

So if you're working before the CBA, Right?

And before the CBA happens, you're working under the terms of there is no salary cap.

There is no we have to spend with such and such a million dollars.

I don't know if they're making a whole lot of moves.

And if the CBA comes about and this frenzy happened, they missed the boat.

So I guess that's just the other side of holding on to Mitch Keller.

Now, do we do it?

I guess my thing is that... Anyways, probably not.

That's the thing.

They're not participating in a free agency frenzy.

This is the pirates we're talking about.

I get it.

But even...

a lot's happening less happening so and anyways all right so let's talk about so the first decision keep your own guys more or less right your head, Brandon Lowe

here you know we talk about the prediction three to forty five about and more other things are looking more like three, four, sixty eight ish,

which sounds more about right.

Right.

Closer to qualifying offer per every single season.

Let's talk about a little bit like I know it's probably not going to happen.

Right.

But do you envision a place where they can and should bring them out back?

I envision a place where they should bring Brandon Lowe back.

I'm finding it hard to believe that the Pirates...

have the biggest offer on Brandon Lowe.

I just find it incredibly hard to believe.

You look at a team like the Yankees, you look at a team like the Phillies, you look at, a team like the, I think the Giants are, said to be like in on Lowe as well,

as far as like a potential fit.

But you look at the teams that are good fits for Brandon Lowe and they've got a lot more money than the Pirates.

got a lot more money like the pirates the pirates may go ahead and offer Brandon Lowe an extremely fair three-year seventy million dollar deal and that's an extremely fair deal but like if the

yankees come in and say but if the yankees come and say okay we'll give you four one hundred well then the pirates gotta go and offer four one oh five And the Yankees will always give you four, one, ten.

I feel like this is what they're going to find themselves into with Brandon Lowe.

Because, Jazz Chisholm is probably going to be the second baseman that gets paid the most on the market.

He's going to get paid the most.

But he's not going to the Yankees.

The Yankees don't want Jazz.

Not anymore.

did I just, it's lost.

Okay.

But the Yankees can't lose out on both.

Like the Yankees aren't going to let both of the top two free agents for a position that they need not go to the Yankees.

That's the situation that I see this coming down to is like the Yankees aren't going to let Brandon Lowe play for anybody else.

What's funny for that.

Cause that's basically what touch said as you grew up on.

And it's not live.

I didn't even see it happen.

That Tyler told me about.

Yeah.

Touch of grease.

Whoever's missing out on Jazz is going to throw a boatload on Brendan Brandon Lowe.

The Pirates aren't the team that throws a boatload of cash at people.

Not at the number one or number two type of free agent on the market.

They all see got Ron or Herm services.

They must have paid other people, but we're talking a two-year, seventeen million dollar deal.

That's not...

a four one ten that we're talking you know two four what was it thirty six i guess you know something like that yeah the yankees are going to give Brandon Lowe a deal that i don't think he

can refuse and if the pirates decide that they want to beat it the yankees are just going to keep beating it right and that's what happens when you have spending power people

I'm not, no, it's not an excuse.

Like I'm not giving the pirates an excuse.

Like they need to figure out a way to make it happen.

Right?

Like they, the pirates, if they want Brandon Lowe, they got to figure out a way to make it happen.

You can't just use the excuse.

Well, the Yankees have more money than us.

That's an excuse.

Figure out a way to convince Brandon Lowe to sign in Pittsburgh, say, Hey, you know what, Brandon, what's really the difference between.

A hundred and ten million dollars and a hundred or, what's, wouldn't you, don't you love raising your kids in the beautiful Cranberry, Pennsylvania, right?

Whatever you need to do.

You don't get any better.

Hold on.

Hold on.

Exactly.

Right.

Like, yeah.

Brandon, your cost of living in New York city, man.

don't you want to, don't you want to send your kid to North Catholic or something like that?

Yeah.

See, that's where they got to, that's where they got to go.

Because the Yankees are going to be able to outspend them.

The pirates just need to figure out a way to convince Brandon.

Wow.

There it is.

We'll move on to Gregory Soto, another guy, potentially they can keep, who's linked to them.

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So Gregory Soto, also a free agent, a lefty reliever, something this team could certainly use still, even with the revamped relieving core they come about with, right?

They're going to lose Gregory Soto, a lefty pitcher.

Now, obviously, there's Mason Montgomery.

People are listening to this day.

What about Mason Montgomery?

Well, he's the closer.

Like, that's a little bit different.

It's not the lefty pitcher you're going to put in different situations that you need a lefty pitcher.

He's the closer.

You still need a lefty, right, to be in those type of situations here.

Gregory Soto, sixty seven innings pitch, three point six three ERA, a one sixteen whip, seventy nine strikeouts in those sixty seven innings.

He had a really solid season.

I know a lot of people still envision that month he had that was really bad.

And that's how they label Gregory Soto.

But like outside that month, he was outstanding.

He was actually really good.

and the numbers he put up this year, even with that bad month, were, I think, a lot better than most people anticipated.

previous seasons when they signed him.

So with that being said, I want to put out here, again, without him, he anticipates a two-year, twenty-two million dollar deal.

Is that a price range that you're bringing Gregory Soto back on, Jim?

Yeah, I think he's right around.

He's worth that, and if you want to bring in somebody for that set-up left-handed pitcher role, you're going to be around eight to twelve million dollars.

I think that's...

just what those guys cost.

We saw what Soto signed last year and it was, right in that range.

Seven point seven five million dollars was that deal last year.

So, yeah, if you want somebody of Gregory Soto caliber and I know Pirates fans, I think just they've got PTSD or what.

But, Soto.

So it was the only competent pitcher in this bullpen for a solid two months.

And.

Yeah, he blew some games.

He blew some games.

But he was the only one in the game who could actually hold a lead for a while.

And he blew some games.

But you look at the overall body of work, he did a good job.

According to War, he's the fourth best relief pitcher on the market this offseason.

third best left-handed reliever on the market this off season.

And if you look projected war, he's the third best lefty reliever on the market this off season.

So you can do a whole lot worse than Gregory Soto and you can't really do a whole lot better.

There's, Adrian Morejon who's up there.

Sean Newcomb, is the other guy who had that better season than Gregory Soto, but then it's Soto.

so yeah i would welcome soto back with open arms i think eleven million maybe a little bit too much i would i would say like if you can get soto try to get him like that eight

eight to nine million dollar range it's like a two years eleven seems high yeah i would even be open to a two-year deal with soto like two sixteen if he's willing to do that i'd sign me up for that but i

do think you need a quality left-handed reliever the good thing is like the market is filled with these guys this off season.

I said, you have those top three that I mentioned, but like Alex, Vessia is a free agent.

Steven Okert, Tyler Alexander, Brock Burke, Brent Suter, Jose Alvarado.

Brooks Raley is a free agent who the Pirates almost traded for this season.

So there's a decent amount of lefty relievers out on the market right now.

So if you do have to, say, drop into that category where you're getting a Tyler Alexander reliever, instead of a Gregory Soto.

I don't think you have to bring Soto back, but I would welcome it.

my stance is I'm not on the Tyler side of things.

I do believe in Gregory Soto.

I believe he was a better pitcher this year than given, right?

He was a factor.

He was actually one of the important parts of this bullpen.

Like you mentioned, he carried it for a while.

And, of course, he's not designed to carry a bullpen.

And it got to him.

And then...

He got better.

He got much better.

So I would welcome him back.

Like, I'm not the type of person that's saying get rid of Gregory Soto.

He sucks so long.

And we're his team.

He can help his team.

He has helped his team.

And I know you talk about PTSD.

And it's true.

It is true for Pirates fans and a lot of things.

But the realization is, Jim, this team has already had like a hundred and three million dollars.

That's without Brandon.

That's without anything basically happening.

when you go through the projected arbitration numbers and everything, like this team's going to be over a hundred million to start without making a move.

If you had a Gregory Soto for eleven million dollars, you're also right now at a hundred and fourteen-ish million dollars.

by just bringing this lefty back.

I don't know what this team's going to do to get back.

and the thing about Gregory Soto is he was, he was on the team last year.

like that's in a sense, running it back.

Like that's ensuring you have what you had last year.

How are we going to get back?

You mentioned this offense can't get worse.

They're losing a Brandon Lowe type of production here.

They've got a hundred and fourteen million dollars.

how are you getting that's just where like to me i would welcome gregory soto back but to me i fall along the lines of if you only have this finite amount of resources that you're going to utilize for twenty twenty seven i don't

know if eleven million dollars of that can be used towards gregory soto even if it was eight million you know we can maybe talk about cutoffs and the thing is like millions certainly just three million

dollars it's better than eleven but it's like i still don't know if that's wise to use towards this team for next year like this is where you have to be a good gm it's like you have to find someone not someone out there to find

another mason montgomery you know but it's like you need to find someone who you can replace that production for get here because it's also like you're not asking and looking for the closer

i'm asking for like this setup man like if you bring in Gregory Soto back it's still maybe like the third best believer on this team maybe the fourth you know do you really want to allocate eleven

million dollars and that's what you're paying for the total bullpen right now basically like do you want to allocate that for one player and that's just where i'm at like yes i think gregory soto back on his team is fine

I just don't know if this team is in a situation to give it eleven million dollars when there's still other things that they really need to address.

Yeah, I think eleven is probably too high.

But I think they do need to address the left handed issue in this bullpen.

Brandon Eisert can't be your number two lefty out of the bullpen.

And that's including Montgomery.

Right.

It can't be Eisert.

It can't be Sisk.

It's got to be someone else.

And whether you go out there and you acquire that guy via trade or you sign them to a free agency deal, I think you've got to do something there.

Yeah.

Eleven million is probably a little high, but they got it.

They got to do something.

Like I said, the good news is like that's the one position that's there are a lot of options.

There are a lot of viable lefty relief options out there.

Yeah.

Okay.

Outside of that, do we want to – again, we talked about the guys that are on the team.

Do we want to go shopping now for some players in free agency?

yeah, let's do it.

Let's just talk about a few names out there.

You brought up lefty starters earlier.

There's like the cream of the crop, guys, and when Jim Bowden did that article that you guys talked about on NS9 LIVE! last night, last week, the Pirates were mentioned as good fits for – all the top lefty starters and then he mentioned like foster griffin trevor

rogers robbie ray was in that mix too i think if you're looking at that mold too you know you can throw in like Kris Bubic in the mix i'd like to bring him

in if that's a route that you're going to go let's say i think right now with Keller on the team, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to go after these guys.

but you look at, yeah, and there's Shota Imanaga, a free agent.

He's going to be expensive though.

David Peterson, free agent, Patrick Sandoval, Matthew Boyd.

Like these are all guys that, would be decent fits in the backend of your, of your rotation.

Kyle Freeland, another one, maybe, Jordan Montgomery coming off a season where he's been hurt.

yeah.

So like, there's some options there.

I'm not, I'm not really sure like what it would take to bring in like Kris Bubic, like this Kris Bubic get paid.

Like he's a guy who, gives you a sub four ERA every year.

Is he a guy who gets paid?

Like, yeah, you've been hurt pretty much forever now.

So maybe he gets a one year deal just to prove it.

Like, If Keller's gone, yeah, I'd sign Kris Bubic to a one-year, ten-million-dollar deal if that's what it's going to cost.

I don't know what that would cost, but he'd be somebody I'd be looking to bring in, somebody of that mold.

I don't think you're bringing in Trevor Rogers or Foster Griffin or Robbie Ray or any of these guys who are going to be signing for like twenty million dollars a year.

Correct.

this is where so obviously we're on the assumption if you're signing anybody it's because you traded Mitch Keller correct and like some of the names you mentioned

I would love Trevor Rogers on this team.

I would really like Foster Griffin on this team.

Robbie Ray on this team.

Robbie Ray is maybe a trade target that people were talking about last year.

Well, actually, all three of these were, but certainly Robbie Ray was.

I just... To me... Again...

way the pirates operate what they need to do this year like adding a lefty starter makes a lot of sense right give other teams that same problem you have the pirates have right like why are all the teams afforded to have readies all the time and the pirates have to face

your one or two lefties every series so like give them a taste of the old medicine this year you're getting right but i think what benefits the pirates is they're outstanding of addressing undervalued lefties

like that's like what their MO is because the ballpark plays that way as well.

it's like you can get an undervalued lefty to play up at PNC Park.

So to me, it's like why pay a premium price for somebody if you can go out there and find someone.

They might not put up Robbie Ray numbers or, Bubic numbers and such, but like they could come close.

And if they're going to give you like a third of the price for it, like my mind is like that's also where you go and you get value.

So that way you can have more money to spend in other needs, right?

Because again, we're talking about, it's still like this lefty starter is probably gonna be a good starter for this rotation, or a four star.

Like that's also not, like I need a ace type pitcher or a number two or number three.

Like you envision that you have those.

So you want like a backend guy who can need some innings and, play off, you know.

I don't see a need to go after those top lefties.

I'm not spending more than ten million dollars.

Again, you're trading Mitch Keller.

He's getting what?

Seventeen and a half million this year.

I believe it is maybe closer to eighteen.

It's like right around eighteen.

Yeah.

So I'm bringing up eight million dollars to get someone.

So now I have that eight million dollars to go out there and address the Brandon Lowe problem.

go final up the reliever.

So, you know what?

Like that's where I'm not trying to break even on the Mitch Keller trade.

I'm trying to gain more funds by trading Mitch Keller.

That's the idea of trading Mitch Keller.

That's what makes Mitch Keller trade enticing.

Cause other than that, like, are you, I don't know, man, like you said about Bubic, like, would you just rather keep Mitch Keller?

If you're basically saying being the same price, like I know he's lefty, I don't think, I don't think Bubic would cost the same.

Like I think Bubic being somebody who has injury issues, like, I don't know.

I don't know what that would look like.

and I said, we got to see how that plays out.

Kris Bubic has, hasn't started over twenty games in a year since twenty twenty two.

So how does the market value that?

I don't know.

he's been hurt.

But he's been good.

When he's been on the field, he's been good.

That's why I think that upper echelon of lefties is out of the equation.

I think if you're going to bring in a lefty, you're going to bring in one of the more guys on the bottom of this list.

If you're just looking at a list of free agents and sorting by war, I think you're going to be looking at a guy more in the one war range than a three war range guy.

And again, I don't think this is something that happens early in the offseason.

I think your top free agents will sign before December second.

But I think your middle of the pack guys who are going to be more – where the pirates are going to be targeting.

I think if it, if it comes down to it, I don't think those guys are signing that early.

I just, I don't, that's not how it happened last time.

Like it was, it was the big name guys off the board first and everybody came in behind them.

So I anticipate that being the case here.

That's fair.

I just want to put this out.

I'd be wrong.

I want to put this out there again, just for perspective, because I think a lot of us too, like when we saw that deal happen, we were just like, what?

And this is also to show that I think people are thinking Mitch Keller has no value at price point.

Matthew Boyd signed a two-year, twenty-nine and a half million dollar with the Cubs.

Well, a two-year, twenty-nine million dollar deal with the Cubs back in twenty twenty five.

His previous year's totals and starts in twenty four, eight and twenty three, fifteen and twenty two, zero and twenty one, fifteen and twenty twenty twelve.

He had sixty innings, seventy eight, thirteen, seventy one, thirty nine.

Then he signed a two year, twenty nine million dollar deal with the Cubs.

So that's why you put it out there, because like, I don't know, it's just a one year, ten million dollar deal.

but also, again, like that to show like, Mitch Keller isn't just totally a waste.

Matthew Boyd, that's what Boyd did.

And he's had a two year basic thirty million dollar deal close to what Mitch Keller is getting for two years.

So like there's certainly value.

There's certainly money being thrown at pitchers that have shaky track records.

And so like, yeah, I don't know who, which is a winner.

He could be, but it certainly could be about what Mitch Keller is getting right now too.

And you're still on the risk of he hasn't pitched a whole lot of innings since twenty twenty two, as you mentioned, where Mitch Keller has every year outside of last year.

Yeah, it's a good point.

okay but i think we're both under the impression and thought that this team also again should not be spending a whole lot of money on the rotation for a lefty starter it's waiting out get some undervalued guys of course trading this code to do so all right so

then outside of pitching let's talk You're muted.

You're on mute.

There we go.

Now, you're unmuted on StreamYard, but I cannot hear what you're saying.

You can't hear me?

Now I can.

You sound like you're on your AirPods, though.

Your audio is really bad.

Yeah, I'm trying to change it.

There we go.

Now it's back on.

All right.

Now it's way better.

I think you've been on your AirPods the whole time.

You know what's funny is I think I was.

Yeah.

Now your audio is way better.

Damn.

All right.

Yeah.

Well, my earpod died.

That's why I switched them in.

There you go.

Yeah, I was probably on my AirPods the whole time.

Cool.

Here we go.

All right.

Well, anyways, getting back to the show.

So Brandon Lowe is gone.

How are we replacing him?

We're assuming Brandon Lowe is gone?

Yes.

I don't think there is replacing Brandon Lowe.

It's going back to that Moneyball scene where like, you can't replace Brandon Lowe.

At that point, you've got to figure out a way to try to replace the production of Brandon Lowe, which is what, how many home runs is Brandon Lowe hit last year?

Yeah.

it's, there's, there is, there is no replacing Brandon Lowe.

Thirty five.

Thirty five home runs.

Ninety six RBI.

If you don't get Brandon Lowe, Nick Gonzales is your starting second baseman.

Like, I think that's that's that's what you got to go with.

That immediately probably upgrades your defense a little bit on the left side of the infield because he was a problem over there.

And then I do think you have to go out there and you have to get a third baseman, which if we're going to look at who that would be, I think.

I don't love any of the third baseman options out there other than the guy who was just posted with Teruaki Soto or whatever.

And he's going to be way too expensive, I think.

I don't like Alec Bohm.

I don't like any of these third basemen that are out there.

The only guy I like, the only one that I like, And who I want on this team is Edmundo Sosa.

And, like, that's not a Brandon Lowe replacement.

Edmundo Sosa is a Jared Triolo upgrade.

Like, let's be real.

That's what he is.

He's a guy who can play third.

He can play short.

He can play – He can play second.

He can play corner outfield.

He can hit a little bit.

He can hit lefties a little bit too, like for his career against left-handed pitching, weighted runs created plus of one-nineteen.

So he solves that problem for you, and he can play third base, and he can do it effectively.

He can do it well.

If you're the Pirates and you miss out on Brandon Lowe, you sign Edmundo Sosa.

He's your third baseman.

You hope Murf Gray can hopefully be ready at some point.

But Edmundo Sosa is your third baseman.

The thirty five homers that you just lost with Brandon Lowe.

You got to hope Sosa gives you ten.

Konnor Griffin maybe gives you another ten.

Esmerlyn Valdez gives you another ten, and Rafael Flores gives you another five or ten.

That's the route you got to go.

There is no replacing Brandon Lowe with another person.

You have to replace Brandon Lowe with your three rookies from last year getting better and Edmundo Sosa.

I'm going to be banging the Edmundo Sosa drum all offseason.

So you're going to be annoyed how many times you're going to hear me say Edmundo Sosa's name.

But I think you've got to get Edmundo.

Hell, you know what?

Even if you sign Brandon Lowe, you need a Jared Triolo upgrade, and his name is Edmundo Sosa.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, I say you can throw Cruz in there too, for home runs.

it's two months.

Yeah.

Like he could easily give you ten more home runs.

You could certainly see that next year.

Yep.

That's what.

You said you're going to be annoyed by hearing this.

I've been pounding the table to maybe not pounding.

That's maybe too much, but like.

Yeah, I would welcome Brandon Lowe back, but I still don't know if that's the best route for this team.

Again, because of the lefty pitcher situation, and he's part of that problem.

So it's like maybe just find someone else.

It might cost a little less.

You might dip a little bit in production, but it evens your team out a little bit more, right?

So it's not just totally futile against left-handed pitchers.

So again, like I'm perfectly, I shouldn't say perfectly, but I'm okay.

I see the vision.

I'm fine not bringing Brandon Lowe back.

again it's not simply to save the money though right it's not just to not bring it back it's to utilize what you would do with Brandon Lowe to get better in another way right and that's again fine maybe like an actual righty hitter and you

find it somewhere again it's gonna be hard to do on a third base we see what the market is it's not really happening free agency but again also i'm also on the side of like you could probably find yourself a corner outfielder or something like things will work its way out maybe that's how you find it but

at any rate Third base is very weak.

Edmundo Sosa is probably one of the better targets here.

The thing is, he's really like a part-time utility guy.

That's what you best... Again, he is everything that you want Jared Triolo to be.

There's some things that Jared Triolo can do that Edmundo Sosa does, but there's a lot of things that Edmundo Sosa does that Jared Triolo can't.

And that's why he's valuable in that sense.

So...

I like Sosa as well, but I really like him more as like, okay, that's a way to maybe get rid of Jared Triolo and upgrade that.

You still need to find a third baseman.

And I get what you're saying.

Maybe it's like he's a third baseman for now, and you're counting, you're putting all your eggs in the basket for Murf Gray for this year.

That's tough.

Now he is a good prospect.

Like there's certainly talent there.

I'm not ready to put all of it in for this year.

That's what I talked about.

Like, I'd rather have like a stop gap and then see where we're at for twenty twenty eight with him.

But at any rate, that might be what this team is doing.

I don't, I don't know, man.

Like that's just rough.

Like adding Sosa again, makes sense for this club, but adding Sosa to be your third baseman.

So that Nick Gonzales to play at second run it back.

I don't know.

I don't know.

You're asking for this ten home runs.

Like it could be, it could be possible, but like the same time, like Esmerlyn Valdez had seventeen home runs last year, he had a phenomenal run.

If he had seventeen again, playing mostly like a whole year, I don't think that would be bad.

I don't think that's like, that's still probably a productive season by him.

But like you're asking, he has to do twenty seven home runs now for next year.

If Esmerlyn Valdez only hits seventeen homers next year while striking out thirty nine percent of the time like he has been, that's not going to be a good year.

Like, well, if I'm also assuming if he's out that much.

Yeah, he's got to do that.

But like Valdez needs to hit more than seventeen homers, like plain and simple.

Like he needs to be a twenty five plus homer guy.

He's going to strike out a lot.

And if you're striking out that much, you've got to hit the ball over the fence occasionally.

Well... Like Flores, right?

That's why Flores' end of the year was so good.

Yeah, he strikes out a lot, but when he was hitting the ball, it was going over the fence.

Right.

At any rate, though, this team has to find a way to make up the production in some ways.

And again, it's not even just making up the production, but it's also...

being productive against left-handed pitching.

So yeah.

So does help that.

But I think this team really does need to find something that they need to go on that trade market.

Like that's the difference.

We're talking about the free agency, right?

I don't think they're going to get what they need in free agency.

I think they need to make a trade somewhere to try to help the Brandon Lowe production problem.

Yeah.

Like, can you go out there and find this year's Brandon Lowe?

Right.

And maybe that's ESAC Paredes.

I don't know.

Right.

And Paredes obviously not built for PNC park quite like Brandon Lowe was, but like, yeah.

Can you go out there and you, can you find, can you find a three plus war player on the trade, just on the trade block, the team that's looking to unload them before they hit free agency, after one year or whatnot.

sure, if that guy's available, I'd rather have them.

But I also think you need to go out there and get Edmundo Sosa too.

I'm not going to stop the Edmundo Sosa.

I think you need someone better than Jared Triolo to step in because as much as we go into every year saying, oh, well, you know what?

Jared Triolo is fine on this team.

as long as he's not getting over two hundred plate appearances or whatever, he's getting that.

He's getting three sixty two, three seventy six, four forty six.

Like he's playing a lot because stuff happens over the course of the year.

Like people get hurt.

And if Jared Triolo is your next man up, then Jared Triolo is your next man up.

Like.

We need an upgrade.

We need to hit the upgrade button on Jared Triolo, and that's what Sosa represents, in my opinion.

And then you go back into where the Pirates, and can you afford the luxury of going out there and spending six or seven

million dollars on a utility player?

I feel like that's something that would help them out a lot.

And again, there's no replacing Brandon Lowe one for one.

It's not happening.

right probably not but just how about funds like i think the six million on sosa is better spent than like the eight to eleven million on soto like for

this team like that's where i'm coming from like i would much rather them have the luxury of having edmundo sosa than i guess like gregory soto if that makes sense it's like that meme why not both

Well, that's almost twenty million dollars on a utility guy and a left hand specialist.

Yeah, I am curious to see where this payroll ends up, though, because what was it last year?

Like one oh five.

Well, I think it ended last year ish free agent.

Last year's payroll ended at exactly one.

Twenty twenty two.

Let me pull up Ethan spreadsheets here.

One oh seven point six.

where last year's ended so yeah how far can you push that a little bit more can you go to you have to yeah again you're already at one of the three right now yeah

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So, come to find out, this free agency is going to be a dud for the Pirates, right?

let me ask this too.

I understand what we talked about we wanted.

We've talked this to some level, but like Alec Bohm is going to be out there.

If you talk about free agent third baseman, he's probably like the best option.

If not, he's like one A, one B, one C type out there, right?

do we...

Do we want Brandon Lowe?

Is that someone that you do want to see them sign?

Or if they did, you'd be like, okay.

Or you mean Alec Bohm?

Yeah, what'd I say?

You said Brandon Lowe.

You said, do we want Brandon Lowe?

Yeah, they're all the same.

Brandon Lowe, Alec Bohm.

They're basically the same person.

I don't, I don't love Alec Bohm.

he's, he would represent an upgrade over what they have right now.

I'm curious to see what he gets in free agency too.

if Alec Bohm can be had for less than million, then he's probably worth it.

But if you're paying more than that, probably not like, He's put up one point eight war over the last two seasons combined.

Like he's not he's not worth a lot of money over there.

Sure.

He had a decent season against lefties and that's what you need.

But I think you can get you can get as good, if not better production for less just without the name value of Alec Bohm.

Yeah.

And like I would I don't know what name value he even brings.

It's Alec Bohm.

I don't know.

But he's been certainly a player that's been talked about for like the past few years, like a trade chip.

And, it's like there is that to some level.

But we're also about Alec Bell.

Yeah, I.

He doesn't he doesn't really interest me.

Gotcha.

All right.

Yeah.

So let's maybe like wrap this up.

The Pirates basically have what?

Twenty nine days.

Yeah, that means a month.

A month until midnight, well, eleven fifty nine p.m.

on the night of December first is when it expires.

So the CBA.

And we all envision anticipate the lockout happening, of course, because these two sides are very entrenched on.

What they are asking for.

for now so with that said november tenth starts the gm meetings and that's usually that usually kicks off a lot of things like you mentioned like nothing really happens now it seems like the gm meetings is like where the legs start on some

moves whether it's trade free agent signings and such we know obviously november seventeenth the qualifying offer has to be decided so it's gonna be offered to them today they gotta decide if they're gonna accept it or decline it

technically it's a rule five protection deadline.

Do we also want to talk like, do we envision that there's going to be even a rule five draft this year?

Yeah, that's a, it's an interesting one.

I am under the impression and this is, I have no sources.

I've, I even tried, I've tried to get this out of some people on whether or not they think there's going to be a rule five draft and I've had no luck.

just going off of precedence, right?

The last time this happened, there was no Rule 5 draft.

So I am expecting there to not be a Rule 5 draft.

But I think you unless you know one way or the other, you have to operate under the impression that it's happening just in case.

Mm-hmm.

it's a weird situation this year though, because like, you've got these prospects and there's some interesting guys who are rule five eligible.

Like Axiel Plaza is a guy who is like a borderline top one hundred prospect in a lot of circles.

And, nowhere near the majors.

I don't think anybody would pick him in a rule five draft, but you never know, like a crazy team, like the A's might do something weird.

Right.

And so like, you can't afford to lose a prospect like him.

So yeah.

Do you add them?

So I think it'll be, I think we'll know more about what's likely to happen come November.

Cause right now I have no idea.

Like, I don't know if they plan on having it or not, but if the plan is to skip the rule five draft, then yeah, know just don't add anybody because if you add somebody then you can't contact them

for starting december second like they gotta go and do you want it would be cool to be working with these prospects you know over the off season as opposed to not talking to them so i think we'll know a lot more

about the rule five situation come november i agree and also like just envision you know you get added and now you're in a, like now you're in a lockout.

Now you're not playing baseball next year just because now you're not getting a paycheck.

And it's like, damn it.

Yeah.

I wish that was excited to be on the forty man, but then, he doesn't get paid anything or he's not talked to anybody.

And yeah, no, like, man, I just want to play baseball and get my minor league paycheck.

Now I don't get anything.

November, the non-tender deadline.

And of course, as you mentioned, the CBA expires December first, eleven fifty nine.

We know.

Winter meetings, like we mentioned, the GM meetings typically start these things, right?

That's the legs begin at.

And then it seems like the winter meetings picks up and either takes it to the.

Finish line, right, or it's that next step, and then you're seeing like the runner and sign like the next week or two and the Brandon Lowe trades happening and such.

Yeah, this is why it's like there might just be a frenzy.

There's no winter meetings this year, so that's not going to happen.

There's not going to be anything that's going to be before the CBA, and then who knows when.

So this is going to be an interesting twenty-nine days.

Yeah.

What's one thing you want to see the Pirates do before December second?

Man, I don't like this thing is I don't know how to answer that because I guess what I want.

What I want is them to sign Brandon Lowe like that.

I think your answer.

But that's also the easy answer.

This is the cop out.

that's just so easy.

But also like there's a lot to that.

They did it.

you talk about the fans, you're talking about the fan base, you're talking about the team, how much they want them.

Like, I think that would be an impactful, meaningful signing.

They still need to do more.

As we mentioned, like, they still need, like, Edmundo Sosa on this team if they do that or something else.

But there's going to be a lot of animosity.

There already is.

it's the Pirates, right?

We know the fan bases.

But then you go into a lockout, you're missing baseball.

If they went and got Brandon Lowe before that even happened, I think there'll be some pirates fans that are like, all right, I can't wait for the lockout to end.

Like maybe this is something this year.

This is cool.

I can't believe they did that.

I'm with you.

I feel like if they, if they were to go out there and just sign Brandon Lowe, like that's a message that's being sent to not only the fan base, but the rest of major league baseball that like, maybe we're not the same pirates as we

were before.

I think we will know by December second whether or not Brandon Lowe is a pirate.

I'll say that.

Brandon Lowe will either be a pirate or he will be on some other team.

come december second i do not think Brandon Lowe will still be a free agent when the lockout begins my only my only hope here is that before december second we have we have one move that's worthy of an emergency podcast give

me one move where it's like oh shit we gotta go live yeah give me one move where we gotta do that yeah no i'm with you I'm with you.

Brenna Brandon Lowe makes a lot of sense in that.

But yeah, if there's something impactful, for sure.

We'll make a mountain out of a molehill on a few emergency podcasts, I'm sure.

But give us the one that is like, oh, damn.

Again, when they made that trade last year for Brenna Brandon Lowe, that was a, oh, shit.

Who is available now?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Like if you sign Steven Okert, we're probably not doing an emergency pod.

Maybe we are just because we might.

That's what I'm saying.

We might like they traded for Garcia.

They tried a guy for had like what?

Ten.

Ten.

Borderline top one hundred prospect.

But yeah, but you know what?

If they sign, if they sign Steven Okert, I'm Steven Okert signing emergency pod.

One hundred percent.

Absolutely.

Nailed it.

All right.

Yeah.

What about emergency podcast David Bednar signing?

That ain't going to happen.

I don't know if people realize how much money David Bednar is about to get paid.

I don't think people realize just how much they missed the boat on a David Bednar extension because of how much he's about to get paid.

Anyways.

Yeah.

All right.

Is that it?

I think that's it.

Let's get out of here.

Listen to Alex.

Listen to Alex Stumpf.

Listen to Alex.

He's coming out still in this offseason.

Every Monday through Friday, we'll have a show.

So you always can have Alex Stumpf in the morning to listen to.

We'll be back again for NS9 LIVE! and or an emergency podcast.

There we go.

All right.

We out.

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Bye-bye.

All right.

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