Pirates Lose Ground at the Worst Possible Time

Yo. Welcome to the North Shore Nine podcast presented by FanDuel. This is Bucco Brew powered by Defer Coffee and Tea. I'm your host, Anthony DiNardo. With me, we have Jim Rosati. And Jim, as always, happy Monday.

Happy Monday, DiNardo. Happy trade deadline day, as the bottom of the screen says.

Yeah, for all those who do celebrate. This year, we might be celebrating. Maybe. But I'm cautiously optimistic. Boy, is that the verbiage that's used for this team over and over again every time they enter something?

I'm not.

I'm not.

No? Okay.

yeah, if you're cautiously optimistic, that's great. I am not.

I have a feeling this is going to be a dud.

I have a feeling today's going to be a dud. And I think a lot of people are going to be very disappointed with what happens. And that is my expectation. Here it is. If I keep my expectations low, maybe I'll be disappointed less. That's where I'm coming from.

Yeah, I guess. That's a good way of putting it. I just know what the hell this team needs to do. I know what somebody needs to do if they want to keep their job. If they want. This doesn't even guarantee they keep their job because they could be aggressive and still miss out on the playoffs where they're at right now.

So that's why I'm cautiously optimistic because there's so much that's on the line right now.

There's so much that's on the line right now.

Yeah, they're fighting.

You don't do this.

They're fighting for their lives.

There you go.

It was a terrible week. It was an absolutely terrible week.

And they got to turn things around relatively quickly.

So, yeah, we'll see if they do it or not.

It's been rough. It's been rough for them.

I posted on Twitter last night, just like, pretty much all the teams that are battling for those final.

Like, I'm just going to assume that the Cubs are in.

Right.

But you look at all the other teams that are battling for that last wildcard spot.

And here, let me actually share this just so they can have it up on the screen.

But it's not looking great.

you've got the Pirates, the Marlins, the Padres, the Diamondbacks and the Phillies.

Those five teams fighting for two spots.

at the beginning of the week, the Pirates had a forty seven point six percent chance of making the playoffs.

According to fan graphs, they were the number two team out of these five.

And guess what? Two of these teams are going to make it now.

Five days later.

Twenty one point three percent.

So that's a that's a drop of twenty six point.

Three percent.

And you're now the least favorite team in this group to make the postseason because Miami and San Diego both had great weeks.

Arizona had a great week.

And you had a terrible week.

So it was it was it was a bad week to go two and five.

DiNardo.

Yeah.

Arizona is now sitting second in the wildcard.

They're above the Phillies at this point in time because they are eight.

I'm sorry.

They're six and four while Phillies three and seven.

And again, like Phillies is a team that was out of it while back.

They've crept up.

they're not they're not the Phillies they used to be.

I'll put it that way.

it could be the Phillies you're battling here and not the Diamondbacks to get in either way.

the talk is like the Padres, right?

how do you how the how are the Pirates going to get Miller?

the Padres are just sitting right outside the wildcard, too.

That's why they've always been like, well, I don't know if this is actually going to come true.

The Marlins are above you.

The Cardinals only a half game behind you.

The Nationals who have been selling everybody and anyone that they can.

They're sitting just a game behind the Pirates.

Like that's I put that perspective like that's where the Pirates are.

The Pirates are sitting in sellers territory to some people.

And again, it's so tight.

I'm not here to tell you the Pirates should be and will be sellers by any means like they're going to be buyers.

What level?

We'll find out.

But let's put some perspective on things.

It's a tough hill to climb.

There are three and seven of the last 10 Padres, eight and 10 Marlins, six and four.

Remember the orange on that 12 game skid or whatever?

There they are sitting above you.

They're above you.

So, yeah, that's where they've climbed themselves into this little hole.

Yeah.

So you're optimistic, Brock.

Thanks for the super chat here, Brock.

He says over under two and a half trades made today by Ben.

So where are you?

Where do you stand on that?

Well, let's be fair.

I don't think the number of trades correlates to being optimistic or pessimistic.

He could make five trades and it's still a dud.

Yeah.

because if you're yeah, I agree.

Yeah.

If you're getting like three more C tier relievers and then some crapo bat and then you decide to like trade Marcelo Zunoff, to get some cash back.

Like that's five trades and it was a dud doesn't do anything for you.

I'm taking the over, though.

I'm going to take the over.

I'm going to take the over, too.

I think there's going to be quite a few trades made today.

I think they're going to be quite aggressive.

But, yeah, the level of aggressiveness in terms of quality of player that I am that I'm still waiting to see.

Because like Doval was a fine addition, right?

That's he improves the bullpen.

But if they keep out, if they go out there and just get like two more Doval's going to be very underwhelmed, extremely underwhelmed, they Doval needs to be the floor of the guy that they're acquiring.

Like they can't go out there and get more of those guys.

They got to get better players.

Yeah, for sure.

So I guess let me ask you this, like what would make you happy?

Jim, why are you so what the hell do I do to make you happy?

What the hell do I do to make you happy?

You're just always so down.

You're always so pessimistic, Jim.

What can I do to finally make you happy?

They got to get at least two more bullpen arms, and one of them needs to be someone that you feel very comfortable.

With saying, all right, that's my closer.

So is it Weaver or bust in that situation?

I would say it's Weaver or bust.

Like if Jansen ends up being that guy, then you're probably okay with that, too.

But yeah, Weaver definitely is the guy who I've been talking about for maybe months now about how he's the guy that I want.

So I wouldn't say it, like I said, not Weaver or bust.

If they land Weaver somehow, I'll be pretty excited.

But I don't think they're going to.

I've yet to see Ben Cherington pull off a deadline deal where I was like really enthused about the return.

Whether he was buying or selling.

I can't remember a deadline deal where I was like, damn, Ben cooked.

You cooked.

Like there hasn't been one.

Right.

Even when he's been selling, it seems like he's getting underwhelming returns.

When he was buying, he was getting underwhelming returns.

So this one has to be a little bit different.

Yeah, I would say I would say, you got to get you got to get that closer.

You got to get one more reliever.

You have to get some option to hit left-handed pitching, whoever that may be.

And I think at this point, you also need a starting pitcher because after yesterday, I don't know how much longer you can keep throwing Mitch Keller out there.

Like that's, I don't know, like Mitch Keller may need to go to a long relief role for a little bit.

Or maybe you even get super creative and you figure out a way to keep Ke'Bryan Hayes, Mitch Keller, and you can replace him with somebody even better.

Like that's right.

Like there are a lot of ways to go about doing this.

I don't know if they're going to do it or not, but like at this point, if you can dump Keller's contract and pick up a Keller replacement and add more, like I'd probably be okay with that at this point.

Keller's very interesting.

And it's like, I hate to see where we're at with Keller at this point in time.

However, we are here.

We are here.

I, someone brought this up and yeah, like Ke'Bryan Hayes happened at the trade deadline.

It could happen.

It could happen.

But someone brought this up and I just feel like Keller's probably, if it's going to happen at an offseason type of deal that has to be made like right now, how are you really dumping this contract?

I don't think any playoffs.

I guess I'll take a step back.

I don't think any playoff team is going to trade for him.

However, Freddie Peralta was dealt.

Freddie Peralta has been bad also.

However, Freddie Peralta doesn't have all the.

Contract tied to him as well.

Like that's easier to move.

And that's why I feel like Keller's going to be tougher to move.

If you want to move them at this point in time.

Yeah.

Tyler, maybe also dealt like that name in.

Like, so there have been multiple starting pitchers with ERAs over five that have been dealt already.

Sure.

Yeah.

So, yeah.

Like, I want to throw out some numbers here real quick.

91 way to runs, creative plus, first lefties.

And some of these we've talked about, the trade deadline preview on.

And it's not live.

But 91 way to runs, creative plus, first lefties.

It's 24th in MLB.

Well, that it's now 20 blown saves, right?

Technically by MLB.

There's just, yeah, we thought there's this discrepancy between MLB and fan graphs in this one game back in April of whether it's a blown save or not.

But depending on who you're talking about, 19 blown saves by fan graphs, 20 blown saves by MLB, which is either fifth or fourth in baseball.

The bullpen ERA, 4.34 ERA, 21st in baseball.

Now, here's the big thing, too.

And, yes, a lot of this is because of Mitch Keller.

However, since June 1st, the starting pitching ERA is a 4.91.

And that's 24th in baseball.

Like, going back to your starting pitching thing, this isn't even a let's get by staff at this point.

Like, the starting pitching has been bad.

And I think it goes back to it's not really the sense of every pitcher is bad.

It's just every pitcher is putting up so many clunkers.

There's just no one that's reliable.

you don't feel confident at all going into a playoff series with his pitching staff because every one of these can absolutely lose a game for you at any time.

Jared Jones put together a hell of a July.

So I think it's not fair to lump him in with the rest of the staff.

That's fair.

But everyone else has been inconsistent at best, I think, is the way to put it.

Like I said, you saw Ashcraft finally put together a really nice start the other day.

But you just had a series against a bad team.

And I said the same phrase twice during the postgame shows this series.

One was for Paul Skenes and one was for Mitch Keller.

And the phrase that I said was, that may have been the worst I've ever seen them.

That's not good.

No.

It's an enormous four-game series for your team.

And we may have seen the worst starts from Mitch Keller and Paul Skenes, who are two guys that you really relied on going into this year.

Yeah.

And maybe not the worst I've ever seen Mitch Keller because of how 2020, 2021 went.

But since Keller's established himself as a quality major league starter, I don't know if I've seen him worse than I saw him yesterday.

And it's the same with Paul Skenes.

I don't know if I've seen a worse Paul Skenes than what we saw Friday night.

So, yeah, the starting pitching staff needs to step up.

they are every bit to blame for where this team sits right now as the woes against...

Like, right now, there are three issues.

Like, the starting pitching staff has been terrible the last month or so.

The team can't hit left-handed starters.

And the bullpen continues to blow up.

I think you can address all three.

You're not going to fix all three.

But you can address it and, hope that your incremental improvements add up to a few more wins over the rest of this season that can somehow squeak you into the postseason.

Like, that's where we're at right now.

Yeah.

Well, let's be honest, too.

Like, this team isn't going to the postseason if Paul Skenes has, like, a 5 ERA.

like, they need Paul Skenes.

They need Ashcraft, or, like, at least one other guy.

You weren't sure at the beginning of the year if it was going to be Ashcraft or Bubba or, they need some other guy to be very stable.

And then the rest would be fine.

What was that ERA for starters again, you said?

4-9-1.

Yeah, like, if that keeps up, if the starting pitchers have a 4-9-1 ERA the rest of the way, they're not making the postseason no matter what they do today.

And that's the point I'm making.

Like, it doesn't matter how aggressive they are.

Internally, things have to be changed.

Things have to be fixed.

Things have to get better.

So, absolutely.

like, they could have gotten Skubal.

If the rest of the pitchers are doing what they're doing, like, they're still probably not sniffing the playoffs.

So, that's where we're at.

Like, yeah, they have to be aggressive today.

They have to make some moves.

I would assume that at least four have to be made.

As you mentioned, a starting pitcher, a bat that hits lefty as well, and then probably two more relievers.

Like, that's probably where they have to be right now.

But, again, the other guys need to step up.

Ryan O'Hearn's now out for six to eight weeks.

Cruz will be coming back soon.

Horwich did just come back.

Konnor Griffin's still going to be out for a while.

So, there's two big injuries to your lineup, even though you're getting a little bit of reinforcements right now.

I almost feel as if, like, with the Ryan O'Hearn injury, that almost truly forces Ben to say I have to get a bat.

You could have, again, because of how you feel, Jim.

Like, you understand where I'm getting at.

Because of exactly how you feel right now.

You could envision Ben walking into this deadline and not getting a bat.

hey, they're one of the best offenses in baseball.

Let's just skip that part.

Now, because of Ryan O'Hearn, it almost makes me feel as if there has to be some offense on a bat for sure.

That they will get a guy who can hit lefties.

Hoping that's what happens here.

Yeah.

I agree.

With O'Hearn being out, that's just another guy that just keeps adding up.

So, I'm with you.

I think you need to add some bat somehow to replace O'Hearn being out of the lineup.

And if you can address the left-handed pitching issue simultaneously with that, then go for it.

Yeah.

And again, I think it just makes sense.

That's how you do it.

You're going to replace him.

Get a guy who's going to hit some lefties.

There you go.

Yeah.

Because when it comes to like, Oneil Cruz isn't too far away.

We got the update yesterday that he should start rehab games this week.

So, you've got to think that by this time next week, you're talking about activating Oneil Cruz, which is a big addition.

Horwitz came back yesterday, which was big.

And so, like, if you need to get by with, an outfield of Reynolds, Cruz, Valdez, like that, you can live with that.

Or if you want to DH Reynolds and you go Mangum, Cruz, Valdez, Reynolds at DH against righties, like that's just fine.

Like, Jake Mangum has performed well enough right now that I'm quite comfortable with him playing almost every day, especially against right-handed pitching.

Maybe not left-handed pitching, but I guess, I guess right-handed pitching, you can, you can go ahead and put Jake Mangum in there most days.

I have, I have no issue with that.

Yep.

Yep.

Well, let's get back talking about the trade deadline and such.

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Yep.

So, again, back to this trade deadline and such.

I don't know.

I guess what worries me, and again, I think I'll make a few trades, probably over the two and a half.

I'm cautiously optimistic because, again, I understand what needs to be done, and I assume the powers to be also understand.

didn't take much, excuse me, didn't take much, but this offseason, they did some things that surprised us.

Again, they did the bare minimum, but they've never done the bare minimum before.

But they did things that surprised us, and they have one of the better offenses in baseball.

You don't really do that offseason and then go into this trade deadline where you're at to just say, let's just screw it.

But what does worry me is how Ben operates, and also just, once again, how they use that draft pick.

I am worried they are going to Brian De La Cruz this up.

Like, that is my biggest fear.

We're looking at rentals.

We're looking at guys that can help and be, an impact type of bat for the cheap.

for the cheap, you're looking for a platoon against just lefties.

Like, you can't get much cheaper than that.

And I just feel we're going to, but he's got the five years of control.

We believe in him.

Let's go get this bat.

That is where I feel they are going to screw this up.

I think where I'm most hesitant on believing in Cherington here is it seems like the people he's been able to land,

whether it's in free agency or in trade deadlines, and maybe Ryan O'Hearn is the exception here, but it seems like Ben Cherington is really good at acquiring people where he's just bidding against himself.

And like nobody else, right?

Like, the guys where there's not really all that much interest in, Ben can land those guys.

Where he has a problem is landing the guys where there are options available to the people he is negotiating with.

Whether that's a free agent or whether that's a trade partner, it seems like he constantly gets outbid.

when the Pirates are in on somebody, you always see that player get moved to another team, and you look at the return and you're like, man, like, we couldn't beat that.

We couldn't beat that deal.

And so I'm afraid that we're going to see that a lot.

last night at 1.30 in the morning, yeah, the Mets traded Waskar Brazabon, a B-tier reliever, right?

A nice addition.

Like, that is a guy that you would have loved to have added to your bullpen.

Got traded to the White Sox last night for the White Sox number 20 prospect and another guy who isn't in their top 30.

So it just goes back to, hold on, this is a, this is a, the Pirates were in on him.

I know that for a fact, the Pirates were in on Waskar Brazabon, for a fact.

They were, they were interested.

You weren't, you couldn't beat that?

Yeah, that package you couldn't beat.

All right.

So my fear is that continues to happen throughout the day, whether that's with another reliever, whether that's with Jo Adell, Taylor Ward, Tyrone Taylor, whether that's with a starting pitcher.

they need an arm and you know what?

Kevin Gossman would have been, Kevin Gossman would have been a nice addition.

The price on that one too.

Gubs didn't give up any top 10 prospects for Kevin Gossman.

I think they gave up a number 14 and like a number 28 or something like that.

So it's like that's where I'm at where, excuse me, the Pirates have these needs and you're seeing, you're seeing, I guess if there's, if there's something to be optimistic about,

it seems like it's a buyer's market where it's before we thought there may have been a seller's market.

Like these guys are being acquired for almost nothing.

But is Ben willing to trade these people?

Because again, he couldn't beat that deal for Brazabon.

I don't know if they were in on Gossman at all.

I don't know if they were, they were wanting to take on that salary or not, but like he would have been a useful piece.

There are other useful pieces out there.

Let's see if he can beat other teams for him, but yeah, so far you're, I have not been impressed with his ability throughout his career as the Pirates GM to outbid other teams.

Yeah, that's fair.

And circumstances might be different.

I think this year, even to go back a few years ago when they were buying and they had a Brian De La Cruz trade, things were a little bit different.

as far as urgency and your belief into the team, but this year, again, I think you have to, if you're like, again, if you're not doing it this year, when are you doing it?

when are you going air quotes all in and maybe not all into the degree of, like this is the 2015 Pirates where like you're one of the better teams in baseball, but all in the sense of this is important.

This year absolutely matters.

And again, this matters for a lot of jobs, not just the players at hand that, you've given advantage.

Some help to this year to get better with.

So, but you're absolutely right.

Like, that's what's, that's what surprised me when I'm seeing these returns.

Like you can even argue Skubal was light relatively to maybe what you had thought it was going to be.

still, it's still a big package, but obviously, when one of your prospects are 28 years old coming off of an arm injury.

Yeah.

I seem to be the only one, I seem to be the only one that I've talked to so far where I'm, if I were a Tigers fan, I'd be quite happy with that.

Oh, I'm happy.

I do believe that.

Like I, yeah, I thought it was, I thought it was pretty strong, but no, I'm with you.

Also real quick, Kevin Gossman, apparently the pirates were on his no trade list.

I just checked that.

And yeah, so the pirates would have, if the pirates were to trade for Gossman would have had to, would have had to approve it.

So just wanted to throw that out there.

But of the way, it's still a nice look to see again, like what the return was on that type of player.

Like you're just getting at like a lot of the deals right now that you're seeing, it's not a steep cost.

Like this is again is in Ben's favor because if you are going to be aggressive and have to give up prospect capital, it seems as if you don't have to give up a whole lot for it.

And you've done this job over the seven years of acquiring prospect capital.

Like here you are, here's your opportunity to use it.

So, excuse me.

yeah, I guess again, the price of this stuff makes me somewhat feel comfortable that again, like they can get something done here.

But again, I do worry that they're going to say, screw the Jesse Winker screw the, like, this guy's having a really good year this year.

He's killing lefties.

Let's just go over this guy though, because I could have them for four more years.

And then you DFA him in 2028 or 2027 by the new GM who took your job.

anyway, I want to bring something up here though.

I thought this was fun, cool to see, let's test pirates fans and see what they're thinking.

So I put out a poll last night and again, this isn't about will the pirates buy or sell, but it's about what do you want the pirates to do?

You as a fan, what do you want to see the pirates do?

Do you want to see them buy or sell tomorrow?

And I was shocked by the results.

62.3% said yes, 1274 people voted.

So 62.3% said, go buy, but almost 40%, like 37.8% of the people said sell again, like almost 40% of the fans who voted on this.

So they want, they want to see the pirates sell.

Jim, do we have a problem?

loser.

You're all a bunch of losers.

No, not to be mean here, but like, what are you thinking?

Like why I, this shocked me as well.

I can't understand wanting to sell at this point.

I could understand thinking, eh, it might not be worth to like buy heavily.

Like I understand, like, don't trade Seth Hernandez.

And Edward Florentino right now.

Like I get the, I get that, but that's not what this question is.

It's, do you want the pirates to buy or do you want them to sell?

Selling means trading Brandon Lowe, trading Gregory Soto, trading, probably, maybe shopping around Bryan Reynolds.

Is that's like, that's what sell means is, trade or even if you just want to go to the rentals, right?

It means trading the guys who at least aren't going to be here next year.

And quite frankly, that's just waving the white flag.

It's yeah.

That's just giving up that you're giving up at that point.

And as much as like, I put up the playoff odds there.

Like it's three and a half games.

They're three and a half games out.

There's 50 games left, you guys, and you play all the teams that are around you.

You can't sell right now that you, regardless of how well Paul Skenes is pitching, currently, you only have this guy first for a certain amount of time.

You can't just kick the can down the road another year.

Like you've got to try this year.

So I was very surprised that over a third of Pirates fans voted that they want to sell.

I just, and you're looking at these returns, right?

It's not like if you were to trade Brandon Lowe, you're not getting anything of impact back.

If you trade Gregory Soto, who would be another guy you would quote unquote sell, you're not getting anyone of impact back.

Like, so like, why are you wanting to sell?

It makes no sense to me whatsoever.

like none, absolutely none.

They have to buy right now and they will buy right now.

And the fact that a third of people are willing to just punt the season with two months left and they're three and a half games out of the playoffs is, it's crazy talk to me.

DiNardo, I don't, I don't understand why you would want to sell at this point.

Like I said, I could, I could see saying seasons over sell, but like that doesn't do anybody any good that you're not getting anything.

If you sell and you're getting nothing, no, you're just giving up on the season with two months left.

And you are technically still in it.

Like as much as you want to think they're two and seven, the two and five in their last seven there, they've lost four straight series.

Like they're three and a half games out.

They're in this thing.

You buy there's no, there's no other option at this point.

This regime, like you've waited seven years for this moment, seven years for this moment.

And you're going to let it pass by because of like, I get where they're at right now.

Like I don't feel confident in this team.

I get that, but they could, they are a strong week away from getting right back in there.

it can happen.

Like a week ago, they were in the wild card.

They were literally in it.

They were the last team in the wild card.

Then they had to play the other two games in there with Arizona, but like they were the team in the wild card.

It was just a week ago, essentially.

And here we are a week later where they seem like that can flip.

You don't wait this long to sell again.

And like it's been 10 years.

It's been a decade since the pirates have been in the playoffs.

2015 is a while ago now to just want to give up and sell this point.

I want to, I want to put this in perspective too.

Cause I think again, what you're getting at Jim is if you're going to punt and wave the white flag already, not even try.

Is it really worth it to gain someone's number 47 prospect to tool up?

Like, what are you retooling for next year for?

That's still an uncertainty.

Like they might not be in baseball next year.

So now you have another pro for a fan base that gets on the pirates for being so cheap and kicking the can.

That's what you're promoting right now.

That's what you want them to do.

Let's go back to 2012.

And the reason I'm doing that is because that was a team that bought and it wasn't the team that was like all in.

And I'm not sorry to tell you that this team is going to be like 2012, but even if, even if at least they tried, right?

At least they went to the deadline.

They did something here.

And I know they collapsed.

They didn't make the playoffs, but is anyone looking back at 2012 and saying, Oh man, if they just would have sold, then, they wouldn't have lost those prospects.

They made the big trade for Wandi.

They made the big trade for Wandi that year.

Like that was like the biggest thing in the world.

They traded for someone and it was Wandi Rodriguez.

They gave up Rudy Owings, Rudy Owens, Robbie Grossman, and Colton King.

Robbie Grossman had a major league career.

I give you that.

He had two seasons over one war.

It took him like four seasons to get a war season.

Are they missing Robbie Grossman by any means, by trying for it in 2012?

No.

Okay.

So nothing there.

They added Travis Snyder.

They gave up Brad Lincoln.

Anything lost there for trying for it that year?

No.

Okay.

They gained Gabby Sanchez.

They lost Gorkus Hernandez.

Anything lost there for the future by trying big Gorkus Hernandez fan.

DiNardo.

So that's, I guess what I'm getting at.

And we see the cost of acquiring pieces this year.

Is there anyone that you're going to be like, damn it.

If we just kept that person, maybe 2027, we could be good.

But because we decided to buy this year in a iffy year, we've now ruined the future.

And also, if you decide to trade Brandon Lowe, is Gorkus Hernandez changing the impact of 2027 and above?

Is Colton Cain changing the impact of 2027 and beyond?

No.

Bye.

What are we doing here?

Yeah.

I'm with you.

100%.

I think you're looking at the trades that are being made.

And yeah, I'm not saying mortgage the future for this year.

But what I am saying is you can add to this team.

And you can add players that will impact it and not give up very much.

As we're already seeing.

Right.

Yeah.

Oh, boy.

Well, we have a packed day.

Yeah, we do.

We do have a packed day.

If you haven't already, make sure you check out Alex's offbeat.

He talks about this topic a little bit about, the pirates and their decision heading up to this trade deadline.

So that's up for everybody.

But yeah, we will be live at 530 discussing, whatever's happened up to that point.

And then also leading up to the deadline, rapid reaction to last minute trades.

And yeah, so it should be it should be a fun should be a fun day.

Hopefully it's not an excruciating day.

But I don't know if I'll say should be.

It can be.

It has the potential.

A fun day.

Somebody in the comments here is saying that Ken Rosenthal is saying that the pirates are kicking the can on Hunter Goodman, which I.

I've heard the same thing, but back to my original point, I the cost for Hunter Goodman is going to be outrageous.

And I don't see Ben doing something like that.

I'm also trying to find that anywhere and I can't find it.

I can't hold on.

Here we go.

The Pittsburgh pirates have been engaged in some fancy full pursuits, even pondering a deal at one point for Colorado Rockies catcher Hunter Goodman.

Now, I think that was an older and older report, though, but.

Yeah, I don't I don't know how serious I don't know how serious those talks are.

I'll say this.

I don't think I know a lot of people have been talking about catcher.

I also don't think people understand how not terrible the catching situation is for Pittsburgh.

They're actually one of the top.

One of the I should say top, but more the upper half of catcher production.

When you're looking offensively, just overall war like it's not it's not terrible.

I think a lot of people just have this vision of pirates.

Catchers are really bad and they need upgrading.

I don't think they have the perspective of catching is bad in baseball.

I'll say this.

If Hunter Goodman's available to like to be added, I think you have to look into it.

Not only is Hunter Goodman a significant improvement at the catcher position, but he absolutely destroys left handed pitching.

So like he does solve he's an upgrade at that position.

You could also use him at DH if you need to or move, somewhat like it's I.

I would be in full favor of adding Hunter Goodman to this team.

I just know it's going to cost quite a bit.

Like if you're if you're adding Hunter Goodman, it means at least Edward Florentino is gone.

But if you're adding Hunter Goodman, I'm probably fine with that at this point.

So, yeah, I am for sure.

I don't I don't know about that.

Like you're talking about a 30 plus homer guy like a walking 30 plus homer guy.

Who crushes lefties like he fixes quite a few problems on this team.

And with O'Hearn out like there's that's a that's a really solid.

I don't know if you can get much better of a replacement than that.

So, no, if Hunter Goodman is available, I think you I think you.

Yeah, do your due diligence there.

Yep.

I don't I'm not I don't Henry Davis or Endy Rodríguez aren't keeping me from.

aggressively looking into Hunter Goodman.

Yeah, no, again, though, I.

People tend to think the catching position is worse than it is.

With that being said, we know they're going to.

Again, you're talking about Hunter Goodman.

Like, yeah, I guess that's what I'm getting at.

that type of three homers.

I know, but like we've already talked about like this isn't the deadline to give up a Seth or Edward.

like I just I've seen.

But if the opportunity presents itself, I'm not saying I get it that is off the table.

But if the opportunity presents itself to where you can land this guy and he's got three more years of control after this, like.

Then that's maybe something I look into.

Looking into absolutely.

Again, if he does it like he does it, that's great.

Again, like I'm not here telling you, like, don't do this thing at all or I'm against it.

What I'm just saying is.

All the problems they have, all the issues that Ben has and making deals or whatever, like I don't think that's happening.

Oh, I think the focus certainly needs to be elsewhere.

And if that happens, again, that's a luxury.

Like if they're able to do all this and that, like that's fantastic.

I just don't.

I don't think Ben is capable of trading away a package that lands Hunter Goodman.

Right.

And I don't again, like I'm getting at two is I don't think the first look is I need to upgrade the catcher position.

The first look is the other things we talk about that.

Now, this also solves the left hander one, like you mentioned.

Right.

But again, like I think a lot of people are like, oh, we need to catch up, we need to catch up, we need to catcher.

And that's like focus number one, because the catchers are so bad.

And it's like, well, they're not really that bad.

That's not the biggest problem on this team.

Anywho.

Yeah, if you can get Hunter Goodman, you go get him.

I guess that's what I'm saying.

That's what I'm saying.

But again, I don't I that's not happening.

It's not happening.

The cost is going to be way too high.

All right.

Anything else?

I want to just pull something up here, too, as I do this.

No, it's a big series against the Brewers coming up, too.

again, they will hopefully have some additional people on their team starting tomorrow.

But.

This is a big four game series that they can't lose another four game series.

They have to at least split this series.

And if you can win this series in Milwaukee, that is huge.

They don't think Jacob Misiorowski, they miss him, which is a huge positive.

They've got to capitalize on that alone.

The Brewers do have.

if there is an issue with this Brewers team, it's the starting rotation.

They will get Kyle Harrison back.

So he will be starting against them.

But you're looking here at this at this rotation that the Brewers are putting out there.

Brandon Sprout, Logan Henderson, Kyle Harrison, Shane Rohan.

Like those are the four guys that you're facing and you're putting out Bubba Chandler, Jared Jones, Paul Skenes and Braxton Ashcraft.

So, like, you've got to you got to do something here.

You can't lose three or four.

You can't have a you can't have a six and you can't have a two and six road trip.

Yeah, I'm going to say those are the four that you want facing this situation.

I'm not saying the boat's confidence, but like those are the four you need to for sure.

Yeah, man, it's like that's what's that's what's tough.

That's what's tough.

Now you're going out here and having a four game series against Milwaukee, who's just absolutely good.

You've taken care of business with them, too, this year, but.

They're not playing their best baseball right now.

It's going to be rough if they go in there.

And like you mentioned, they drop three or four and further put themselves in a hole, even after the deadline.

But yeah, I want to put some numbers out here.

Just go back to the catcher thing real quick.

This team is 15th in catching war, 16th in weighted runs created plus as far as a catcher position.

Again, that's what I'm looting to that.

The bottom three teams, the White Sox, Yankees and Phillies, those are teams that are going into the playoffs right now.

They are the three worst at the catcher position.

Then, Boston's 26th, Houston's 24th, Seattle's 23th, Cleveland's 21th, Texas is 19th.

The Padres are 18th.

Again, what I'm alluding to is like the catcher position isn't this black hole that people, I think of it as where obviously we understand that this bullpen is a complete black hole.

Yeah, the black hole is how they face left-handed pitching.

And I guess my argument is Hunter Goodman has a 136 weight runs creative plus against lefties.

Oh, I get that.

And away from Coors Field, he's actually significantly better.

He has a 922 OPS away from Coors Field.

He has more homers away from Coors Field than he does at home.

He's really good.

I think that's just where I'm at.

Like, he's I'm willing to give up a whole lot for him.

He's a perennial all-star.

He's the best catcher in the National League, probably, right now.

Probably.

So, yeah, if you can, if he's available, you gotta, you gotta look into him.

Yeah.

Again, I think this is also going to, like, me trying to say, like, don't get him.

That's not what I'm going at.

But I don't think he's priority number one on their list.

And I can understand that.

Yeah.

That's all.

Anyways, so, going to the website, countdown is 10 hours, 10 minutes, 25 seconds till the trade deadline.

Is Ben awake?

Were we up before Ben today?

Ben's definitely, I think Ben is awake.

We'll see, we'll see what he does today.

I hope he's got his affair.

I hope he does.

Fuel up.

And if you haven't yet, go to, this is on the website and this is on the app, by the way.

But the trade deadline hub, right?

It's up there.

So, it's got all the trades that are made up to this deadline.

You can vote on them.

You can say you liked them.

You didn't like them.

the Camilo Doval trade, I think everyone's pretty happy about that one.

So far, the meatball we're on trade is the only one that doesn't have a pretty overwhelming approval rate.

And then also right here, we've got our trade deadline show that you can watch right in that, right in the same screen.

So, that's available on the app.

It's available on the website.

So, make sure you check that out.

Lots of cool stuff coming to you on the app and the website.

I am shocked about the approval ratings on those trades, by the way.

There's just way too many happy people.

I thought we were Pirates fans.

Yeah, 97% approval.

it makes sense.

I think it was a good trade.

They didn't really give up anything to get Doval.

Yeah, 97% approval rate on the Doval trade.

That's, it's hard to get 97% approval rate on anything.

Like, you could say, yes or no, you like adorable puppies.

And like, you're gonna, I don't know if you're getting 97% approval on that statement.

So, yeah, it's pretty, I agree.

impressive.

Yeah.

All right.

We done?

We're done.

I don't know what else to talk about.

So, yeah, we got a lot of stuff today.

So, we talked about the post.

We talked about the Red Series, talked about the Brewer Series a little bit.

I don't think we need to dive too deep into the Brewer Series, but it's a big one.

It's a big one.

We'll dive deep the four nights that we talk about it afterwards.

The four nights that we talk about, we'll dive into it.

But yeah, today is all about the trade deadline up until 6 p.m.

So yeah, stick with us today.

5.30 will be live.

Join us.

React with us.

Cry with us.

Cheer with us.

Whatever it ends up being.

Crash out with us.

Yeah.

Like, we'll see you.

We'll see you this afternoon.

There it is.

Like, subscribe.

We love y'all.

Bye-bye.

See you in a few hours.

See you guys.

All right.

That wraps up this episode of North Shore Nine.

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