What Are the Pirates Planning? GM Meetings & Baseball America’s Top 10

Yo! Welcome to the North Shore Nine Podcast. This is NS9 Live. I'm your host, Anthony DiNardo. With me, we got Tyler. We got Jim.

Fellas, how's it going? It's going great. Just lovely, buddy. Not real happy that Jim cheats on our NS9 app, but, you know. Hey, you know what? It's, it is, I'm really enjoying the games on there because it's proving how much more ball that I know than both of you. It is abundantly obvious that Jim is a cheater. And it's the only, like, you can't cheat. You can't cheat on those games.

You 100% can cheat. I guess you could cheat, but, nah, that's just pure skill.

And in all, like, I'm talking about the lineup draft here, guys. Yeah, the lineup draft. Jim is blatantly cheating on it.

Just crushing it. Day after day. It is blatant because he beats me.

There you go. Be like, be like Blake. Blake right here in the comments. Good evening. Played the games on the app today for the first time. I'll be returning each day. I feel like, that's the consensus is once you play once, like, you're hooked.

So, if you haven't gotten on there yet, get on there tonight.

Today, so, speaking of the play, I think today I was the highest scorer.

I think today was me. Yeah, you beat me by one game.

So, you cheated.

Yeah, Denaro cheated.

It was a good day. It was a good day for me.

I had a total of 116. Oh, I was tied. Zach. Zach tied me.

There you go.

He didn't cheat.

Zach, he was in.

But it's awesome. Definitely MS9.

It is great. Make sure you check it out.

Northshore9.com forward slash play.

All the links in the description, all that good stuff.

But, yeah, we've got a lot to talk about.

We've got two guests.

This may be the first NS9 Live where we've, like, scheduled multiple guests.

And so, it's going to be hard.

Like, it's going to be on us.

We're going to have to stick to some timetables here.

But we've got two guests today.

General GM meetings are going on right now in Las Vegas.

So, joining us live from Las Vegas will be Colin Beasley from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

He'll be hopping on here just any second now.

Once we're done talking to him, Baseball America released their newest top 10 prospect list.

So, we're going to be meeting with Mark Chiarelli from Baseball America later in today's show to just discuss that as well.

But, yeah, lots of stuff hopefully happening here soon.

It seems like these GM meetings are a little bit different than normal.

So, without further ado, do you want to bring Colin on to talk about what he's seeing?

Let's bring Colin on.

Let's do it.

There you go.

Colin, partying in Las Vegas.

How are you doing?

I'm good.

I'm good.

Thanks, you guys, for having me.

So, for those who don't maybe know what the GM meetings are, let's just start off with this right now.

So, you're there.

You're in Vegas.

GM meetings.

You've covered a winter meetings before.

Before we get into what the Pirates are doing specifically, like what's the atmosphere like out there?

I feel like it doesn't seem like a normal GM meeting.

So, what are you hearing from people around the industry?

Is the looming lockout changing just how everyone is operating right now?

But, yeah, like what are things like out there?

Well, first of all, every single person I've talked to from agents to Pirates Peoples to whatever, they're all devastated that North Shore Nine is not in attendance.

They're like, man, we had such a good time with them at the winter meetings last year, and they're not here.

So, what do we even do?

But if Tyler wasn't banned from Vegas from the last time we were there, maybe we're going to have it happen.

That's reasonable.

But, yeah, usually the GM meetings are like a super relaxed thing where everyone's just seeing each other for the first time in a little bit and wanting to lay some groundwork.

It's an off-season kickoff where maybe you're like laying the seeds for a trade you're going to make in a month and you're having initial conversations on free agents where you're not even talking money.

You're generally just like, we're interested and just generally seeing what's going on.

And this year it's a little bit more accelerated.

Obviously, there hasn't been too much, just two signings.

But everyone's saying that, yeah, this lockout is coming.

We have to be more – we have to operate with more urgency than we did in the last couple of off-seasons and differently than we would in a normal off-season.

So, yesterday we talked to just about every single major league GM or president of baseball operations.

Obviously, I didn't talk to every single one, but they were all available.

And from those I heard and the coverage I've read, pretty much everyone is publicly saying this is business as usual and we're acting as if nothing's going to happen and you can only operate with what you know is going to happen.

But then privately, everyone's just like, yeah, this is coming.

You have to be urgent.

You have to make moves now.

You have to be ready to make moves now and you have to be ahead of where you usually would be in a typical off-season.

So, certainly is a little bit of a different feel.

Usually, there's not that many media that actually go and attend these events.

This year, pretty much everyone is here the way they would be for winter meetings.

And, yeah, it's certainly a different feel than it usually is at this event, I'm told, because this is my first one.

Yeah, I feel like if I had known it was going to be like this, we would have made some plans to maybe try to get out there.

But I saw your picture yesterday about, before you talked to Ben Cherington, I was like, man, it's full.

There's tons of people there and they got a whole setup and all that.

So, yeah.

Also, cherry-picking a little bit because the biggest teams that didn't want to be in the one room where everyone was around, like the Dodgers beat, didn't want to all cram into a room, so they stuck to the hallway.

Same with, like, the Yankees and the Mets and whatever, which led to it being a little bit busier.

But still, there's been a lot of media here.

There's been a lot of baseball folk.

So, starting off with that.

Colin Beasley.

Yeah.

I didn't hear what you said.

Say that one more time.

No, there was one important guy there, Colin Beasley.

Oh, thank you.

Thank you.

The most important.

I got you.

Very important, for sure.

But you got 45 minutes with Ben Cherington yesterday.

One quote stood out to me there.

He said, I don't feel like we're hamstrung or constrained, but it's a different offseason.

There are different commitments on the books, different arbitration class.

It's going to have some effect on how they approach getting better, but that part's not changing.

That's our priority.

So, I want to ask you just about that comment, particularly.

Did he says he's not constrained, but then the second half of that comment makes him seem like it's a little constrained.

So, how did you read that?

Like, did he seem confident that he's going to have the resources and everything that's going to be able to put together a winning team here in Pittsburgh?

Or is he going to be constrained?

Like, what's your read on that?

Yeah, well, I found that to be an interesting comment because it came to my question asking if they can afford to be, and if they have the flexibility to be in some of the conversations they were in last offseason.

And I mentioned Ryan O'Hearn, who they obviously ended up signing.

And I mentioned Kyle Schwarber, who they didn't end up signing.

And, yes, those are two very different tiers of free agents, but those are both somewhat significant signings.

That's neither of those are, like, neither of those players came cheap.

You still need to actually go out and put a legitimate offer together.

And what I took from that is that they have some room to make moves, but it's also, it isn't quite the same comments about flexibility they had last offseason.

Last offseason, they were talking as if they could do a whole lot of stuff that they'd never really done before.

And they showed that by being in the Schwarber conversation, and then they went and got Ozuna and added Brandon Lowe and added O'Hearn and added payroll there.

I haven't really, like, through all the conversations I've had, I haven't been able to necessarily get anyone to say, like, oh, we're only spending to $110 or $115 or $105 or exactly what the payroll range is.

However, it does seem like they have at least a little bit of flexibility to be in some conversations.

That doesn't necessarily mean, like, they're obviously not in for Skubal or anyone in close to that tier, but it does seem like they can make some moves.

I don't know.

I heard there was a mystery team for Skubal, Colin.

It's not the Buccos?

I've heard from people.

I think I know who that mystery team is, and it is not the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Damn it.

Darn.

Sorry about that.

Get the story written.

I'm sure we'll see that.

Pirates not in for Tariq Skubal.

It might not be the mystery team for Skubal, but are they a team in the Brandon Lowe market?

Because, obviously, that's going to be the hot topic, and I know he's talked about they've had conversations with him and such.

what do you feel, how competitive is, like, his market in general, for one?

So, I'll start off by saying I'm actually writing about that right now, so I'll have something that is more detailed than whatever answer I give right now on the Post Gazette website, but I will answer your question.

I do believe they're in on Brandon Lowe.

I do believe that they have a shot there.

From talking to Pirates people, it does seem like they are going to be – a lot of their offseason depends on whether Brandon Lowe re-signs or not, and there are some things that they have to wait until the qualifying offer decision is made,

and then you can go on and move forward.

But it does seem like they are going to be able to make a legitimate offer for Brandon Lowe beyond whatever the qualifying offer is.

Now, that doesn't mean that they're necessarily going to be the highest bidder.

I've seen that the – I've seen reports that I think the Mets are in.

I think I saw the Blue Jays are in.

I've seen some big market teams mentioned.

The Pirates can't necessarily be the highest bidder when you've got those teams out there.

If they reach a certain level, if they reach, say, throwing out numbers out there, like a 4-1-10 or 4-100 or five years or that thing, that isn't necessarily something that I believe the Pirates would be able to do.

And if that were to happen, then, yeah, you'd understand, okay, he's making his money.

He's got to go somewhere else to get a fourth or a fifth year, then sure.

However, I do believe that the Pirates have the room and the want to make a legitimate offer to him and something that he very well could consider.

And then if that doesn't end up happening, Colin, where do you pivot?

What's the market after that?

Because obviously there's going to be a need either at second base or third base and some other spots.

Where do the Pirates go from there?

I was hoping to hear some more names.

And to be honest, I haven't heard much.

It seems like it's not that they're putting all their eggs into the Brandon Lowe basket.

I'm sure that there is a backup plan.

I'm sure that there are other names that we just haven't heard and that I haven't heard.

However, Brandon Lowe is definitely plan A for this team.

That's the sense I get.

And those are the conversations that I've had both with Ben Cherington publicly today and with any background conversations I've had over the last couple of days.

It definitely seems like Brandon Lowe is plan A.

And a lot of what they do this offseason will depend on when he makes his decision and whether he comes back or not.

I was going to ask you something to that effect where, like, do you feel like they're almost waiting on Brandon Lowe?

Like Brandon Lowe's decision is going to dictate what they can do and when they can do it?

Yeah,.

That's the sense I get.

And I tried to ask around on if they expect Brandon Lowe to sign before the lockout or after the lockout or exactly what it is.

And I got there's two sides to that.

Maybe this isn't sourced, but maybe Brandon Lowe is someone who wants to sign before the lockout so he knows where his family is going to be and where his kids are going to be and they can get to looking at houses in whatever market he's in.

Or maybe they think that after the lockout there will be more teams that can spend more money.

Maybe there is a cap and floor system where all of a sudden teams have to spend a little bit more and teams that weren't interested in Brandon Lowe now are interested in him later.

There's really two different ways you can go on that.

And I don't know if I expect him to sign before or after.

I think that's something we'll get more of a sense on as we get closer to Thanksgiving and closer to this lockout actually happening.

But I do expect that a lot of what the Pirates do this offseason will depend on what decision Brandon Lowe ends up making.

It's also possible that they end up out of the bidding sooner rather than later.

If this skyrockets to a point where the Pirates can't spend, then yeah, you can pivot.

But for now, they're certainly in on Brandon Lowe.

They certainly want to bring him back.

That is certainly plan A.

But at any rate, you're alluding to it.

Probably sounds like the known of Brandon Lowe and his Pirate status will be probably pretty soon than later.

Because again, if they're out of the market, then they're moving on.

Or if he's going to sign early, as it sounds like maybe that's going to be the situation, they'll know and be able to pivot sooner than later.

I don't expect Brandon Lowe to sign over the next week.

I don't think that this is something that is – I don't think his market – I think he's got a lot of interest, but I don't think that he's necessarily days away from signing.

I think this is something that will be closer towards whenever the lockout happens.

And yeah, theoretically, I could be wrong and he could take the qualifying offer.

I don't think there's any chance of that.

But I do get the sense that Brandon Lowe's market is something that will be deeper into November at the very earliest.

Do you get the sense that – because he made another quote yesterday about how there wasn't necessarily a single position that they were honing in on and that they

were just going to look to improve the team however they could, which is a little bit surprising because a lot of us have been spending the whole offseason saying, hey, you need to go out there and you need to get a third baseman.

Third base is a problem right now.

Second base without Brandon Lowe, maybe Gonzalez just moves over there, but then you've got to figure out third base.

But he even mentioned it could be outfield, could be infield, could be pitching.

He just went across the board on things that can improve this team.

So I guess right now it seems like – it just seems like it's really early in the process and they haven't really just pinpointed into like these are our targets yet.

Is that what you're sensing?

I think two things are true there.

One is it is really early.

Like in a normal year, if I'm talking to you from the GM meetings, like very little is happening.

This is a little bit accelerated, but it is still very early.

The season only ended, what, like two weeks ago officially for Bruce and Rays?

Obviously a lot earlier for the Pirates that we watch.

But still, it is something where we're very early in the offseason.

So that's true.

However, the other thing that's true is that this is how Ben Cherington operates, especially publicly, where he likes to be open to all possibilities and likes to say that anyone is on the table and wants to hear whatever anyone else is pitching.

Because who knows?

Maybe the best way to improve this team is some pitcher.

Maybe the best way to improve this team is a catcher or a first baseman or really any number of different ways.

It's certainly a different feeling than last year.

I remember the winter meetings last year.

He was just like, yeah, in his exact words, we're a perverse good way.

We can improve our offense with any position because the offense had been so bad the year before.

This year, it's not quite the same way, but they don't want to rule out any specific way to improve.

They don't want to say, oh, we're for sure not looking at, say, catchers or we're for sure not looking at center fielders or anything like that.

They want to be as open to anything as possible.

And I do think that's a little bit necessary when you're operating under payroll restrictions in a place like Pittsburgh.

So last year, we saw them trade a good bit of starting pitching in order to supplement this offense here.

Do you still think that starting pitching is the spot that they move him to, I guess, replace a brand allow if that's what ends up happening?

Or is it maybe going to be some of these prospects that aren't exactly the starting pitching depth?

I actually had an interesting answer to that today with someone I was talking to who suggested that the Pirates might be deeper position player-wise than pitching-wise at this point in the offseason, or at this point this year,

which is something that I found interesting.

I think that they realized that the pitching wasn't quite as deep as they hoped it would be, especially as we saw in September.

And that's why they'll look to go out and be more left-handed.

And they're at least looking at left-handed starting pitchers and that thing.

That doesn't necessarily mean that they're actively looking to trade away from their position player depth.

I think that they would love to do something similar to what they were doing in the trade deadline where they're trading from minor league depth and prospects.

I think that's a way to get better in 2027.

But at the same time, I also wouldn't rule out them moving a pitcher.

I wouldn't rule out them trying to deal a Mitch Keller or something along those lines.

I feel like they're really trying to keep just about everything open just because you never know where the opportunities will end up being.

Well, that's where I go here.

you did bring up his name.

And we talked about how pitching isn't really that deep anymore.

But one side of the coin, pitching's not all that deep.

Mitch Keller has a big contract, too.

Another side of the coin is, like you mentioned, that they're not going to have the active offseason as they did last year, right?

There's some flexibility, but maybe not like they did last year.

And if you're signing a Brandon Lowe, we all know he's going to cost nearest $20 million, give or take something, right?

So, like, if you're doing all of that and you still want to improve, what do you think?

Have you heard anything?

Or what do you think the chances are of a Mitch Keller being dealt this offseason?

Yeah, so that was something I directly asked Ben Cherington yesterday.

That's something that I don't think the quote has made it into anything I've published quite yet, but I think the – let me see if I can find the exact quote or anything like that.

But he was essentially saying that the best outcome for the Pirates and for Mitch Keller is that he is available and pitching as part of the rotation next year and productive and pitching in the best way,

in the way that Mitch Keller can pitch, the way that all-star form.

So, that – it's certainly not saying, oh, we're shopping Mitch Keller.

It's certainly also not saying we wouldn't listen if a team were to come and be interested in him.

And I haven't gotten really any indication either way on whether bringing back Brandon Lowe means Mitch Keller has to go.

Like, I haven't heard that they for sure would have to.

I haven't heard that they don't have to.

You could go either way on that.

So, it's certainly something I'm interested in.

I was hoping to hear a little bit more about Mitch Keller this GM meetings.

Haven't heard too much on him, but it does sound like they are hoping that he can get back to being what he was in 2024 and 2023 and earlier in his career.

Before we let you get back, you know we're sickos here, right?

I think two weeks ago I said that we would do an emergency podcast if we sign Stephen Okert.

So, my question to you, my question to you, Colin.

Before the lockout happens, are we doing an emergency podcast for the Pirates making some transaction?

I do believe so, yes.

Okay.

I do believe – I don't expect them to go in to the lockout with the exact same market they have before.

I don't think it's going to be an in-hap level signing or something on that thing, but I would expect them to be able to make some – at least some minor signing

to – especially to strengthen that bullpen like a Stephen Okert-type player.

I think that going out and adding some lefty, that would absolutely be on their list and something that would improve this team.

100% having an Okert emergency podcast.

Thanks.

The Okert emergency podcast will do numbers.

Feed all the famous numbers.

I really hope I'm at work if that happens.

All right, Colin.

Before you go, where can everybody find your work?

You can find all my work on post-gazette.com.

You can also follow me on Twitter at Colin underscore Beasley.

And, yeah, thank you guys for having me.

I always appreciate coming on.

Yeah, appreciate you coming on.

And, hey, before you head home, play some craps or something, blackjack, whatever.

At least get in and out.

Don't let it all be work.

I got in and out for lunch.

Play war.

I got in and out for lunch.

I have played war before at a Vegas casino, and that was one of the places I've made more money than anywhere else, which shows I'm cards and casinos are not my strong suit, which is why I was playing war.

But you can't be at MLB GM meetings and not play war.

We'll see.

We'll see.

I hope so.

Hopefully tonight.

Hopefully.

Thank you, guys.

All right.

Everyone, go follow Colin on Twitter.

Go subscribe to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Lots of good stuff.

And it looks like he's about to drop a Brandon Lowe article.

Should be up in the morning.

There you go.

Thanks, Colin.

Thanks.

See you guys.

Appreciate you.

Bye-bye.

All right.

That was cool.

We should have gone to Vegas.

We should have gone to this.

Maybe we shouldn't have.

Maybe we shouldn't have.

honestly, we shouldn't have.

This would have been a nice excuse to go to Vegas.

Well, like, winter meetings would have been fun in San Diego.

I feel like if we would have gone to this, it would have just been us talking to a bunch of people.

We probably wouldn't have really accomplished anything.

No.

Not like the winter meetings.

But again, like, we didn't realize, I guess, internally it was going to be as popping as it is for what it is.

But, by the way.

Talking to people instead of gambling and drinking.

That's what I said.

It just would have been an excuse for us to go out there and do all that.

It's basically what it would have been.

Yeah.

Yeah.

But.

Oh, well.

Well, hey.

Before we go on to our next guest, I'll tell you all about Larine.

A lot of my friends that I know use nicotine pouches.

And the part they miss most isn't so much the nicotine as the routine.

Larine just launched a pouch that keeps the routine but leaves the nicotine out.

Larine Co-Pouches are pouches that swap out the nicotine and give you clean focus and support your enamel the whole time they're in.

And because this is Larine, every pouch also has nano hydroxyapatite, the mineral your teeth are made of, so it gives you daily enamel support in between brushings.

Every pouch out there makes you pick between something that helps you focus and something that's actually good for your teeth.

This is the only one designed to do both, and it comes from a brand that's leading the way at supporting your oral health.

Give Larine a try.

Right now, Larine Co is offering our listeners up to 50% off at buylarine.com slash Northshore.

That's buylarine, L-A-R-I-N-E dot com slash Northshore for up to 50% off.

So, all right.

Well, guest number two.

Guest number two.

Baseball America released their, they're in the process of releasing their top 10 list for 2027, and they dropped the Pittsburgh Pirates yesterday.

So, figured it'd be a great time to talk about some Pirates prospects and bring on from Baseball America, Mark Chiarelli.

I got that right.

Right, Mark?

Chiarelli, but I've been called much worse.

So, that works too.

Mark Chiarelli.

Okay.

That's my bad.

Way to go, Jim.

That's my bad.

I'm a, I'm a fellow Italian too.

I got that wrong.

That's what I had.

But no, Mark, thanks for, thanks for joining the show.

So you did the chat yesterday on Baseball America.

You wrote the article for the top 10 list, but real quick, before we start diving into the list, the first thing that I noticed about it is coming into, the previous years, it was always like really

pitcher heavy.

Like you had a lot of pitching coming through this system and making impact at the major league level.

You look at the top 10 list this year and there's quite a few hitters sprinkled throughout.

Obviously the number one player is a pitcher, but a lot, a lot of hitters sprinkled throughout.

So what's your feel on just like how the system has changed over the past couple of years?

Is it, is it getting better?

Is it getting worse?

Is it doing its job by making people graduate and actually contribute at the major league level?

like what's just your overall sense.

I feel the same way.

I can't remember a top 10 or even a top 30 once we finalize that list.

So we'll have this many hitters on it.

I think it mostly speaks to, I feel like the org has done a better job the last two or three years starting to develop hitters.

I think they've done a really good job.

One thing that always stands out in talking with the pirates and also people outside of the organization, they're doing a pretty good job blending like strength and development gains with some of the, EVs getting a little more contact out of guys.

And I think they're starting to show that they can work with different types of hitters too.

And I know that it's only now just starting to show itself in the majors, but I think our list this year definitely reflects that there's more on the way as far as where the system stacks

up against the majors or even past years.

I think the way that we end up doing our farm system ranking tends to really prioritize guys in the top 100.

So I don't know if in February when we roll our list out, this will be the highest ranked pirate system of the last couple of years, but I feel like having gone through this, the depth of it and some of the guys who might be just off that list are pretty interesting.

So I think there's a little bit more there beneath the surface this year.

Even if it doesn't necessarily have as much high end talent as it did a year or two ago when you had Konnor Griffin, Bubba Chandler, you had some guys up there near the top of the list.

Let's talk about the headliner there.

Yeah.

I would say, let's talk about that high end talent.

Sure.

Yeah.

And number one, there is Seth Hernandez, an 80 grade changeup on him.

Personally, I'm a big changeup guy myself, but when you look at the entire Seth Hernandez package, how rare is he as an arm in the minor leagues?

Yeah, we don't put eighties on too many individual pitches.

I was trying to look up the last 80 we put on a changeup.

It's been several years.

Rookie Suzuki had an 80 grade splitter, but obviously not a one for one.

I think that any comparison that you've seen to say like a Hunter Green or a Jackson Jobe or some of these high school arms who were drafted at the top of the first round and have reached the majors, I think are very apt.

I think what we saw this year is if you go beyond the changeup, which is, it's almost unfair, honestly, the way that he's able to utilize it against some of these lower level hitters.

But especially low A hitters and even in high A, they really couldn't handle either his slider or his curveball in the strike zone.

I think that the depth of his arsenal and we project that he'll have, four plus pitches when it's all said and done is very uncommon.

And I think it led to an interesting thing, especially early in the year where it's like, it's a 19 year old kid just getting his feet wet.

But at the same time, you need to find hitters that you can start to learn from or read off of and start to figure out what you need to do to get better.

And he was just so advanced.

Obviously, the injury took some of the momentum out at the end of the year.

But it was really loud feedback.

And I think obviously the Pirates are quite excited.

But even when we went out to other teams, you'd get feedback.

we had multiple scouts come in that put all star level grades on them, A level grades.

It was pretty resounding.

And he certainly, for my money, and I know it's easy to say, is the guy who does the Pirates list and has to focus very intently on the Pirates list.

But I think he's the best pitching prospect in baseball.

Well, you mentioned best pitching prospect in baseball.

What do you need to see or what's it going to take for Seth Ramirez to potentially be the best prospect in baseball?

Because he's pretty damn close right now.

Pitchers are risky.

Pitchers will break your heart.

So it might take some movement or some graduations around him to get into that conversation.

I think right now we have him in the top 10 range.

We become, I think, more and more hesitant to go to that number one spot with a pitcher just because there is so much respect in there.

And especially with the high school right-hander demographic is as risky as you get.

But he'll certainly be up there in that conversation.

So I want to talk about the hitters because that's what comes next, right?

Two, three, four, five.

And they're all lumped in there, either a top 100 prospect or borderline top 100 prospect, really.

Edward Florentino, number two.

Derek Curiel, number three.

Wyatt Sanford, number four.

Murf Gray, number five.

I want to do an exercise here.

And this is with Tyler and DiNardo and myself, too.

But I want each of you two and myself, like, who do you think is going to have the best major league career out of these hitters?

And then we're going to have Mark tell us who's right and who's wrong.

So, Tyler, if you were to bet on one of those four, who's it going to be and why?

If I'm to bet on one of those four of who is going to be the best, I think I'd have to go with Curiel, to be honest with you.

And it's just the contact part of it.

I think the floor is probably the highest there.

I think the position issues with Murf Gray potentially could be an issue there.

Wyatt Sanford, I'm not exactly high on because of the swing and miss.

Florentino, I still think, has a ton of upside.

But I think I'd have to go Curiel.

Okay.

DiNardo?

Wow.

I guess if I'm going to bet who's going to be the best, I'm going to bet Florentino just because of the upside and, like, the overall game.

I think, like what Tyler says, Curiel's safe.

Like, he will be a major leaguer.

Like, if I'm going to pick one person, although maybe that'll look at a foreshadow, but, like, I get Tyler's point.

But if I'm going to bet, right?

If I'm calling, I'm in Vegas right now, and I'm going to bet who's going to have, who's going to be the best major leaguer, I think it's Florentino.

That's where the odds are, in my sense.

Yeah.

I was going to say Curiel, but just for the sake of arguments here, I'm going to go Murf Gray.

I think he's going to be able to switch.

He's going to be able to keep.

He's going to be able to stick at third base.

He's going to be able to hit enough that, you get a third baseman who can play adequate defense, and it's a right-handed bat in the middle of a lineup for multiple years.

So that's who I'm going with.

So, Mark, who's right here?

I think that you all make compelling points.

I can also make the case, I guess, for Sanford if you don't have to.

Yeah, I was going to say why.

I was like, flip a coin between the two.

Well, it's funny you say that, because even when we went out and asked, you could ask five people in the Pirates to line these guys up, and you're going to get five different answers.

They're very close.

I wouldn't be surprised if all five of them are on the top 100.

I wouldn't be surprised if maybe one or two.

They're all going to be in that like probably 60 to 100 range once the grading comes out.

I think so we have Florentino, too.

And I think the things working in his favor, obviously the power.

Power is immense.

He's still super young.

I know that last year was a struggle.

There were strikeouts.

There were some issues within the zone.

I think with both him and Sanford, it's an interesting conversation of who is the real guy.

we're only 12 months removed from Florentino having as much helium as any guy in the complex or even who got to low A.

And he's definitely displayed some ability, even with a swing that is steeper.

And I think he's always going to battle strikeouts.

But he has displayed ability at points off and on to manipulate the barrel, to get to contact in the zone, to allow himself to make enough contact to flex that power.

So I think the age power.

And I also think that he, while it doesn't always look aesthetically pleasing, is a better defender than he gets credit for.

I know that centerfield is probably not the long-term home.

But I do think it's very plausible that he's a long-term left fielder at PNC.

So that's why he went with Florentino.

But I think you could make obviously cases for any of those guys.

And the guy we have last of that group, Murf Gray, might be the first to get to the majors and prove us wrong.

So it's a fun group.

So with that group, who would you say has the highest ceiling versus maybe the highest floor of those four guys?

I'll go a little off the board here.

I think from a purely ceiling perspective, I actually think you can make a great case for Wyatt Sanford.

Because I think this year, there were a lot of folks, myself included, who almost had to recalibrate what you thought about him.

When he came out of the draft, he was a defense first, contact oriented, pretty good bet to stick at shortstop.

He's not that guy anymore.

his exit velocities, when you stack them up against some of the guys in our top 100 that you think of as, pure power hitters, he's not quite like a Lazaro Montes or an Alfredo Duno.

But he's closer to those guys than your like contact mavens.

The amount of impact that they've unlocked with him in a relatively short amount of time is pretty striking.

And I think the piece that really separates him is that of all those guys, Curiel's a solid defender too.

But I think there's some defensive value there, especially if he ends up moving over to second base, where I think he could be an above average second baseman.

You combine some of the defensive value with some of the impact.

And if he can find that middle ground and net out where maybe he trades back a little power for contact, I think all of a sudden you have a guy who can make, can bring you value in a couple different ways.

So I think from a ceiling perspective, he's an interesting answer, but he's also the guy with the lowest floor.

Because if he keeps missing like he did last year, it's not going to work.

So I'll go, I'll go Sanford for highest ceiling of the group.

no idea if the rule five drafts going to happen or not this year, but number six on the list, Axiel Plaza, I feel like we've been talking about him for a really long time.

Like anytime you get these guys into the system when they're 16 and you've been watching them for like five years, we've been talking about Plaza forever.

Cause he, just tore up rookie ball when he burst onto the scene.

But like, is he so far away from the majors that like, if you're the pirates, you don't really need to worry about protecting him just in case, or is he someone where I got to protect him just in case?

This is an odd year to answer that question because we don't know, what's going to happen.

I think, in past years, I would maybe be a little bit more likely to protect him because the bat is that special.

The issue is that the defense is not ready.

And so you are essentially 40 manning someone who probably cannot help you defensively, next year.

It's a, it's a really special bat, but there are some big positional concerns there.

And that's why I think we've been, a little bit more cautious with him or a little bit more wait and see, wait and see if the defense can catch up to where the bat is.

So I would say it's probably more likely than not that he goes unprotected, but I also wouldn't feel comfortable making that decision.

That's a really tough one.

if I'm in the pirates front office, especially this lockout, cause then you can't even talk to him.

That's the other thing too.

You add them.

And then all of a sudden you lose all your, all your contact with them too.

another guy who we got to see a little bit of this year, he made his debut just after the all-star break, but Khristian Curtis, mixed results at the major league level, but the stuff's always been really good.

And like when he's on, he's really on, I think you guys released your stuff plus article about a week or two ago.

And he was on there as like one of the highest stuff plus pitchers in the minor league.

So with, in the major, we didn't, we didn't see the dominant Christian courtesy would have liked to see it and strike out a ton of batters, but, is that what did you see out of Curtis this year to bring him to, you have him at number seven on this

list.

I think last year, he started around 10, right around 10.

So he's moved up.

Is that just from attrition or, did he get better looking as a prospect?

I think that to reach the majors, it, that carries weight with us.

I've always been a fan of Curtis and he's been, he's been a struggle to evaluate at times because to your point, he will always pop on stuff models.

He's always going to, the stuff's always going to look pretty good.

If you just look at each pitch independently, you're like, it's above average fastball.

He's got a little feel for spin.

He added a cutter last year that I think was really helpful for the arsenal.

the problem has just been putting it all together.

he's in and out of the zone more than you would like.

But I think when we look at all of our lists or look at the types of guys who end up getting longer looks in the majors or end up figuring it out and finding value, generally it's safer to bet on the stuff.

And so I think that whether it's as a depth starter option next year, or you put them in the pen and maybe it's a multi-inning guy who can help you help you right away.

There's a role for him.

I was listening to the show, before I came on and Colin mentioned it.

It's certainly people are talking about how it's more position player heavy than maybe pitching heavy right now.

we feel the same way, not only with this list, but when you look at the depth chart.

And so I think him or a guy like Wilbert hotel, I think they're going to be important to this team next year.

sans, a free agent acquisition or something like that.

speaking of like betting on the stuff real quick, right on Navarro, just insane.

I, high a debut and I was sitting right behind home plate.

There were like three scouts around me.

And I think the first, the first pitch he threw is just, everybody just looked at each other and was just like, Holy shit.

Like, how, obviously there's red flags everywhere here with him too, but like how exciting of a prospect is he right now?

Oh, he's, I love Ronald.

he's the, he's the guy that, he sticks on near the top of a list for a long time, just because of the fastball and some of the pure stuff.

It's funny that you mentioned that, last year when Bubba Chandler was still prospect eligible, we also do a best tools exercise, or we pick the best fastball in the system.

and we had a couple of folks come back and say, I know Bubba's fastball is good, but you guys really need to take a look at Ronald Navarro.

And at that point, he's just coming out of the complex league and it stops you in your tracks, but it all backs up.

It's, I think it's one of the best fastballs in the minors.

it's a really good pitch.

I think I touched on this a little bit yesterday in our chat.

Fortunately, the group or the sample size of productive major leaguers who throw his little strikes as Ronald does, it's a really small group.

but I think if you're, if you're hoping for like a best case scenario and you just watch the playoffs and you, I'm not saying that he's even remotely close to where these guys were yet, but you look at what like an Aaron Ashby did or like Mason Montgomery obviously

was closing out games, for the pirates, but at the end of the year, I think that's maybe the blueprint, it's just electric stuff and you keep giving them reps and you keep hoping that the strikes get to it.

Just a passable point where it's valuable to you in a bullpen one day.

Well, I think it's interesting because, he really came up, gave notice a lot of people, how electric he is and such.

And you do have them ranked at ninth.

So I want to ask you like Aiden Ruiz, he's above him and I think, he was like the second round pick last year and it's like one of those moments, like, what's really there, but it seems like the pirates really like them.

You have them eight.

So like, what do you see in Ruiz that, puts him at eight for you without even really entering, getting any pro ball yet.

Sure.

so we have him graded as a 70 grade defensive shortstop.

I think he was, possibly the best defensive shortstop in the draft last year, college or high school.

I think that sets a really high floor.

It's like a real, it's an interesting conversation.

cause obviously the ceiling and the stuff of Navarro is so tantalizing, but that defensive floor, I think will take him a long way and buy him some time to figure out, how to access a little bit more impact.

One thing that we try to take as much as, we think through the list on our own, we try to take, industry feedback into consideration.

And I was surprised at how high the pirates were on Ruiz, heard that they had a first round grade on him.

Obviously it's easy to say after you take the guy, but, they were pretty effusive in their praise of Ruiz.

We have some guys on staff who were big fans.

And sometimes you see with the New York, the cold weather high school guys, the hit tool, those would be some questions with it because of level of competition and just, exposure.

And then they get into pro ball and they can surprise you.

so I think, with the glove and some of the contact skills that still gets him a spot, within the top 10.

So we talked a little bit about Khristian Curtis, Seth Hernandez, Navarro, who, or I guess, is there another pitching prospect that we're not talking about?

Sure.

I am really fascinated speaking of the draft to see what Jason DeCaro looks like when, baseball comes back.

he's not 40 men, so we'll get to see him in the spring, draft a North Carolina this year.

If you're a college baseball fan, you're probably like, I saw that guy pitch a thousand times because he was in North Carolina's rotation for three years.

But we heard a lot in the draft or leading up to the draft that if the right team got their hands on him, there's some low hanging fruit there, that could, that could,

it could be pretty interesting.

he has high spin rates pretty much across his arsenal.

He's, he throws enough strikes.

He has a lot of experience.

I think that there's some delivery work there, that can unlock a little bit more, velocity across the board, clean up the strikes.

And once the pirates drafted him, it's like a light bulb moment goes off and it's like, yeah, there aren't.

There aren't too many organizations that are as good as the pirates at doing this.

So, I think that, across the board, when you look at their draft class, it seemed like an acknowledgement to me that pitching depth has weakened across the system.

I think after the third round, it was pretty heavy on college arms.

So, there are a couple of interesting guys there, but I'm very curious to see what he looks like.

and he would probably be my pick to click.

I know, I feel like there's always one pirate's arm that sneaks up on you.

he would be mine.

at least at this point in the off season.

One more question and we'll let you go, but this is more big picture.

you do the projected 2030 lineup.

Right.

And I saw that.

And the first thing that stood out to me was like, damn it.

There's no Paul Skenes on this.

So it's like, that's creeping up on us.

Right.

That's creeping up on us now.

So I guess big picture question here is like, is there enough impact talent in this system right now to help the pirates win with Paul Skenes on the team?

Or should the pirates, because they have Paul Skenes on the team right now, should they look at these guys as trade ships to be like, we need to go and get people who can help our team win right now?

Yeah, I was trying to, I was thinking about this question coming on.

So blanket statement, I am always in favor of trading from prospect depth to help your team now.

And I feel like, especially over the last year or two, it's never been, easier, I guess, or cheaper to acquire good big leaguers.

If you're willing to part with prospects.

I think a lot of teams right now are valuing prospects very highly the same way, et cetera.

So I do think there's opportunity there.

I don't know how satisfying this answer will be because I don't know how patient pirates fans are right now.

I don't think that this group is necessarily helping in 2027, but I think if you can hold on until 2028, that's when it gets really fun.

I, it's very possible that, one or two prospects in our top 15 have triple a experience when we roll this out.

So, and even when we, as chatting with someone from the pirates, like our upper level depth is not there right now.

So next year, I don't know, but I also do think it's possible that the top six prospects on our list spend most, if not all next year in double a or above.

So it's not too far away, but I don't know that there's enough satisfying impact to help you on opening day or help you early in 2027.

All right.

Trade them all.

Burn it down.

Anti-Pokemon.

No, thank you so much, Mark, for hopping on.

great stuff.

Great stuff, Mark.

We're gonna have to have you on again.

but where can everybody find your work?

Yeah.

Oh, I was listening before.

I will definitely be back, whether as a guest or an audience for the Steven Okert emergency pod.

So for sure we'll be on tuning into that.

you can find our work at baseball, America, baseball, America.com.

if I could plug us for a sec, we're a subscription driven business.

We rely really heavily on our subscribers, to power what we do.

I think, obviously I'm not objective on this, but I think that we cover the minors as thoroughly as anyone.

And it's because of the subscribers that we have.

So, come check us out.

Hopefully you like it, especially if you like prospects.

And, like you mentioned, when I came on, we're rolling out top tens right now.

And before you know it, we pirates top 30 online and, well, the season will be here before you know it.

Love it.

And just to add to that plug guys, if you're not subscribed to baseball, America, I don't really know what you're doing.

It's, it is by far like the most bang for your buck.

You're going to get out of a subscription that covers baseball online.

In my opinion, like if you're a baseball fan, whether it's the majors, the minors, amateur baseball, college baseball, like it's just top notch.

So you guys do outstanding work over there.

It's, I will never cancel my subscriptions.

Baseball America.

I'll tell you that.

We appreciate it.

We appreciate your support.

All right, Mark.

Appreciate you coming on.

And, yeah, we'll have you back on here.

Maybe when top 30 comes out.

Absolutely.

See you fellas.

And ochre and ochre.

Yeah.

All right.

So that was Mark.

I pronounced his name wrong the first time.

Mark.

Shirelli.

Mm-hmm.

Like Steven Shirelli.

Good job.

Rosati.

Yeah, that's my bad.

Right.

No, that was good stuff.

That was good stuff.

Seth Hernandez is so enticing.

The changeup.

Like, you mentioned the 80 grade changeup, Tyler.

And like, when I got the chance to talk to Seth, he won the minor league pitcher of the year.

so, and I was on that zoom call that he had.

And I asked him like, where do you, like, which of your pitches do you feel like improve the most over the course of the season?

And he was like, I feel like my changeup was really good coming in, but he's like, I think it got better like as the season went on.

So, yeah, I have a feeling he can just, he can be scary.

I'm so mad that he missed those last, two months of the year.

It would have been nice to see what he could have done over a full season.

It feels like with him, it's just health, man.

Like, he's just got to stay healthy.

Cause it isn't really a problem yet, but I think that too, but any, this innings pitched because if he had the full season is 20, 27 in the cards, 20, 28, how early, you know what?

Like how quickly can he get here?

And it was a fluke injury that, it was like, it was a, it was a rainy day, messed up mound.

And he, and he, it was a, it was an oblique, I think is what it was.

It was, it wasn't like an arm, but it's just these darn 18 year olds that throw a hundred miles an hour that worry me.

Well, and like he said, that's why they don't really see number ones as pitchers.

Cause there's risk with any one of them.

So that's always going to be, if they can stay healthy when it comes to a pitcher, but yeah, I'm excited about him.

All right.

So just to recap, cause we back to back guests there.

What did we, what did we learn from our conversation with Colin earlier?

Not much.

Nothing against Colin, right?

It's just, I just don't think there's a lot going on.

I think what I learned was like, there's, it's just so early that there's just not a lot going on right now.

Like as much as we want stuff to be happening right now, it's just not.

Like I'll say this, just hearing from him, Brandon Lowe is option a, like it, they're in on him to some level.

He's option a, I guess just some reassurance that like, Hey, you know what?

Maybe Brandon Lowe actually is a possibility.

again, I'm not here saying they will sign them.

I'm just, they haven't written it off.

It's like, yeah, we're done.

It's not going to happen.

We're going to move elsewhere because we'll have the funds or whatever.

They're making some effort.

So I guess it's a little bit reassuring, just at least hearing that before we get let down.

All right.

Fair.

Yeah.

You know what?

I'll go a little off the wall here.

And I don't even know if Colin really confirmed this for me, but at least just the vibes I'm getting at this point, based on everything we're reading from Ben Cherington.

Mitch Keller's not being moved.

I don't, I don't see it happening.

Or do you think it's more of a poker move where he's like, I'm, I don't need to deal him.

But in reality, he's thinking in his head, I need to deal him, but he doesn't want other teams to know that.

I honestly, though, I do think it's more of a, we are not moving him literally right now.

We'll talk again when the lockout's over.

Let's see what happens with the financial situation of baseball and go from there.

A Mitch Keller move, I think is just not happening until it almost has to happen.

At least I'll say this, like, if they do get Brandon Lowe, that takes payroll to $120 million.

I don't know about you, but I doubt that's the budget.

But if they get Brandon Lowe, that's going to be after the lockout.

Maybe.

I think Brandon Lowe's, I think Brandon Lowe's all going to be off the, I think Lowe's going to be off the board by December 1st.

I do too.

But I guess my take on that though, Tyler, is it's almost as if anyone's on the table, but no one's absolutely on the table.

Like, I'm just getting this vibe.

It's just like, it's not that there's not a plan.

It's just Keller could be traded or he might not.

Let's see how the cards unfold.

You know what?

Like, even when we're talking about like positions, it's not so much like there's a position we need.

We just know we need to get better.

So let's find ways to get better.

It's not like, okay, we have to improve catcher, right?

Or we have to improve second base.

It's just, we know we need to get better.

Let's find ways to do that.

Maybe that means you're trading Mitch Keller.

Maybe that means you're keeping Mitch Keller.

I don't know.

that's like the vibe I'm getting from this is just, it's not so much that he is definitely here, but they're not maybe pushing that he has to go.

It seems like they're sitting back and waiting for things to come to them.

And like, we've been through off seasons and watched off seasons where it is abundantly clear that a guy is getting moved.

Right.

We're not in that boat with Mitch Keller.

And I thought we would be.

See, my thing is, if they don't, if they don't move, like, cause I'm operating under the impression that payroll next year is not going to be over 115.

Like maybe 120 tops.

And that means that they have 15 to $20 million to spend if they keep Keller.

Cause there's not really anywhere else to cut from.

you can maybe trim a million here, a million there trade, some pre-arb guys, some arb one guys.

Like there's not a lot outside of Keller that you can trim off this team.

And so I'm, I agree with you, Tyler, in that I don't think they're like actively shopping Keller or actively looking to get rid of him.

But I could see once we're on the other end of all this stuff, I could see, I could see a trade happening.

I don't think a Mitch Keller trade is happening in the next three weeks though.

Rub it up.

I'd agree.

What about Mark?

I thought Mark was great.

That's the first time we've had Mark on as a guest.

He's like the Steven Oker.

Yeah.

Jason DeCaro.

That wasn't the name I was expecting.

Yeah.

And I think, I think on the top 30 list, DeCaro's somewhere in like the mid to back end of the twenties there.

Actually, no baseball America on the, on like last year's top 30 has DeCaro 15th.

So there's something there that they like.

We haven't really gotten.

That was like he said, like there's quite a few of them that mentioned, like if he gets in the right system, that'd be really good for him.

And again, to be honest, the pirates, my eyes lit up when he said that.

Cause like, that's the one thing the pirates have been good at is developing pitching.

So maybe not even just him, but the fact that he's also in their system bodes well for him.

So that was cool.

Yeah.

Maybe I think that my main takeaway was everybody who's not named Seth Hernandez.

We don't shopped like, no, can be like, Oh, like I want to win next year.

I don't want to wait.

And I said that 2030, like I said, they did that projected lineup for 2030.

And when I saw that Paul Skenes wasn't in the starting rotation, I was like, Oh crap, we got to hurry up.

Like we can't just keep taking our time here.

Like it's running time is running out.

Brother, when he said these guys can help in 2028, how long we've been hearing about two years in the future.

But he was like, I don't know how patient pirates fans are.

So my thing, if your name's on Seth Hernandez, you are allowed to be traded for a major league talent in my opinion.

Yeah.

But again, that's what I was saying too.

It's like, you don't know because everyone has their flow.

there's a lot of upside, a lot of guys, some risk, and like everyone for it is not like that sure thing.

Like he was last year.

We talked about, the balloon he had.

So I'm keeping Seth.

I'm keeping Seth.

There's only like a handful of people I'm trading Seth for.

Parts are people.

I'm trading for ESOC Parades.

I'm trading for Reid Detmers.

Give me all the, give me all the guys who have one or two years left on their deal.

And I'm just going to trade for him.

I'm with you.

I'm burning this thing down.

Well, I'm burning it straight to the ground for, you got to win right now.

You have to win right now.

Yeah.

You basically got three years to do it here.

That's your window.

Maybe.

And it also goes, it's going a little bit adjacent to what we're talking about, but this is something that you and I were talking about last night.

I think Jim or another night, but it's like this division still is not getting any easier.

like Milwaukee's not going away.

The Cubs are still the Cubs.

Like the Pirates are still fighting for hopefully we can be third best.

like it's, you don't want to say like, it's a no, right.

Or just never.

But the chances of winning this division are still fairly low.

Like it's a wild card for this team that we're even entertaining.

So, yeah, like you gotta, you gotta get good.

You gotta get good.

You gotta.

Cause you're not fighting with the whole NL.

You just gotta believe.

Oh, hold on.

We still got that.

Come on, Jim.

And you guys needed to keep believing.

That was three years ago.

We're still here.

Yeah.

I feel like we get that message every like August to every August, there's a big win and players are like, you guys got to keep coming out.

Cause who was it?

Was it Mangum that said that Mangum and Flores both?

I feel like we're big.

You guys got to just keep supporting us.

That's right.

Cause another catcher too.

Yeah.

Buddy.

All right.

Brandon Lowe was just named second team, all MLB, by the way.

So I'm sure that helps out the pirates chances of signing him.

Yeah, absolutely.

All right.

Just some dates to keep in mind.

November 17th is Brandon Lowe's qualifying offer.

He needs to accept or decline it by then roll five protection deadline is November 17th.

We, that was an interesting time.

Plaza is an interesting guy in that aspect where this he's so far away from being major league ready, but he's also really enticing.

and he's roll five eligible and we don't know if there's even going to be a roll five draft this year.

So you take, you take the gamble, just not Adam.

So you can keep developing him or do you gamble and just hope that a team doesn't just have him sit on their roster for a full year.

Anything about that too, is we don't know what the, what a full year is this year.

No idea.

Yeah.

It's just, yeah.

that's such a risk.

I don't think they're having a rule five draft, just precedent, but are you taking that gamble that Axel Plaza, you give away for free.

And then he turns into something and it's just like, damn, it could have been a trade chip.

Like you can't just let him go away for free.

Like, right.

If you have any, if you have any thought in the back of your mind that he might get picked, you got Adam.

So you're adding him.

I don't know.

I am a hundred percent not adding him.

Okay.

I don't think gamble.

I don't.

Why would you take him?

Cause he's a borderline top 100 prospect.

He's you already said he's so far away.

You've got to stash him for a year.

And I know this is a little weird year, but just, I can't imagine anyone being able to hold him for an entire year.

He's just not ready.

I agree.

I do too.

But I'm going to roll the dice.

Like there's that, but if you, if you leave them unprotected and he gets taken in a roll five draft that happens that we didn't even know that was going to happen, then like that's on you.

Like you messed up the Rockies.

Take them.

Whatever.

Then he just backs up Hunter Goodman hits.

Yeah.

You have a great catcher there.

And he just more or less hits DHS for the 60 game season.

And that's what I'm talking about.

Like, we don't know how long this season, like for the full year.

Well, how long is the full year even going to be?

So I don't know, man.

I get it.

It's just all weird.

This whole year is just, I hate, I hate this off season.

Damn.

Well, luckily for you, it's almost over.

It just started.

It's almost over.

Yeah.

And then just about to begin the treacherous lockout.

Yeah.

I don't know, man.

That's going to be tough.

It's going to be interesting what they do.

Ethan says, what's the actual math of a rule five guy actually working out?

It's not high.

There's not too many players who are.

Major league caliber guys who were rule five picks.

Unless you're the Pirates who take one and then send them back.

And then he's a three word pitcher.

That's true.

Yeah.

Forgot about Jose Soriano.

Yeah.

You know.

Tell me Jones later.

Still.

Or the Pirates' most recent acquisition.

Akil Badu.

That's right.

That's right.

A five pick.

So again, leave him unprotected.

I don't care.

Have him.

All right.

Well, do you guys think we're doing an emergency podcast before December 1st?

Before we get out of here?

Yes.

Yes or no?

Because we're going to be thirsty.

So whatever it is.

Yes.

Tyler, yesterday.

Yes, because we'll at least do one about the lockout or something.

We'll figure out a reason to do an emergency podcast.

I think.

I think.

Jeez.

We're going to have emergency podcast over some.

I called Murphy Ethan, too.

That's rough.

That's sorry.

Sorry.

Sorry, Murph.

No.

Say sorry to Ethan.

Yeah.

Sorry.

Sorry to both of you, actually.

No, you know what?

I think the Pirates are going to sign somebody.

I think the Pirates are going to make a free agent signing, a major league free agent signing before December 1st.

I think they're going to sign a left-handed relief pitcher.

It could be.

Something will happen.

again, I think this is going to be a little more advanced this year before the lockout happens.

And I just think, playing the odds, the Pirates will sign somebody.

The Pirates will sign somebody on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.

Yeah, I'm calling the Stephen Okert.

Stephen Okert signing is happening.

We're going to be doing a Stephen Okert emergency pod on Thanksgiving Day.

Yeah, it'll be the day of.

It's the day.

I think it's absolutely.

This is absolutely the year you go back to doing the holidays again.

And then he's going to have a Black Friday sale.

There's going to be like some waiver claim.

Download the app if you haven't yet.

Make sure you're playing NS9 Play.

It's something to keep you, occupied over the offseason.

It's fun.

We've gotten great feedback on it.

So make sure you're either going to Northshore9.com slash play.

Play the daily games.

There's a card game.

Yeah, play all that stuff.

It's fun.

It gives you something to do.

Or cheat out if you're Jim.

And you won't be able to beat me at the lineup draft.

It's because he cheats.

I did.

I did.

Also a cheat.

I did.

Yeah, I think you cheated.

100%.

I did.

You did?

You did cheat.

How did I cheat?

I don't know.

You probably know the years before you see him.

theoretically, I guess theoretically I could cheat, but no, I didn't.

Okay.

Only cheaters admit to possibly cheating.

No, cheaters absolutely deny it.

You're like the OJ Simpson, if I did it.