Pirates’ 2027 Bill Is Coming… Will They Actually Spend?

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 the movie guy, Jim Rosati.

Jim, welcome to Monday, baby.

Good morning.

How you doing?

How we doing?

I'm doing good.

Same.

Same.

Watching some football, some MLB playoffs.

Dodgers lost last night.

There have been some really good.

There have been some pretty good games so far this postseason.

Yeah, Brewers up to Dodgers Braves are tied.

one thing, though, that just annoys me.

All these there's you've got half of the games in the postseason are openers.

Yeah, that's crazy.

It's driving me nuts.

like.

Get the idea of it.

Especially during the season.

But playoffs?

We used to be a proper country.

We used to be a proper country, DiNardo.

Right.

But no, for real.

like, getting through a season sometimes is tough.

And you have a bullpen game.

You have openers, this and that.

But again, like, and it comes to playoffs.

But it worked.

It worked for the Braves.

I don't know, man.

Like, I understand.

I get it.

But, like, if it works...

It works.

Braves actually used less pitchers, I believe, than the Dodgers last night, right?

Yeah, I don't know.

But yeah, I'm just not a fan of it.

Give me some starting pitching.

And guys are getting taken out so early.

Everything's just turning into a bullpen game.

It's frustrating.

I don't like it.

I want to see the starting pitchers go more than four innings.

Bring me back like the Curt Schilling, Bloody Sock, Pedro Martinez.

Oh, are they going to take him out yet?

He's at one hundred and thirty pitches.

Give me give me that stuff.

I don't even remember what I was watching, but it's going back to the Kevin Brown versus Randy Johnson game.

And I was like, yeah, you're never going to see that again.

it was like, yeah, like twenty seven strikeouts, like combined sixteen innings combined or more that something like that.

Shout out to Drew Rasmussen.

Eight innings.

Yeah.

that was.

There was Austin Wells.

Yeah.

And he won.

He won.

So there you go.

All you need is your starting pitcher to go eight innings and you're going to win.

And think about this.

And that was the Rays.

That was the Rays.

They're the ones that we should be complaining about for doing all this, and then they're the one that has the guy that goes deep into the game, the true starter.

Yeah, that's actually wild.

But what a performance.

And then, yeah, what a performance, Austin Wells.

Yeah.

What's up with the catcher's name, Austin?

That's just...

I don't know.

Kill your team.

Austin Wells is the guy who, and if you're watching this, you're on Twitter, but Open Creations on Twitter does art and stuff.

Austin Wells, he says, looks like me.

Oh, that's right.

I forgot about that.

Which I think if you took the gray out of my beard and just made my beard darker, I see the similarities.

It was very close.

Good call.

Good call.

All right.

Well, that's our show.

I could easily play on the Dominican Republic World Baseball Classic team.

I forgot he did that.

Oh, dear Lord.

Anyways, let's talk some Pittsburgh Pirates.

obviously not a whole lot going on in their world, but I would say there's two big things that went down this week.

So let's talk about that.

One is MLB trade rumors dropped their arbitration estimates for the ten Pittsburgh Pirates players who will be receiving arbitration next year.

Some big names in there, right?

Paul Skenes' first year in arbitration.

Oneil Cruz is due for a raise.

Yeah, like Jared Jones, first year arbitration, a bunch of other younger guys who debuted back in the twenty twenty three or twenty twenty four.

So, yeah, a lot of a lot of guys move into arbitration.

And that's the theme of today's show is.

This team that had brought up a lot of young players the last few years, those young players used to be really cheap.

Now they're starting to cost a little bit of money.

So it's interesting to see just the starting point.

And we'll go into what the Pirates payroll looks like just as the team stands right now.

Friend of the show, Ethan Houlihan.

MLB spreadsheets all this is from him.

Make sure you're following him on Twitter or on patreon He does outstanding work and he's gonna be doing a lot of stuff, especially with the upcoming CBA But these numbers that we're gonna be looking at So

there's so we're gonna be looking at that Arizona Fall League started this past weekend DiNardo yeah our interviews have started so you know those should start coming out here somewhat soon as well so not a

whole lot to talk about but the arizona fall league yet they just started i think they've played two games but we'll get into that a little bit and then you said that the pirates signed Jose Urquidy last week i said they said

you did You said the Pirates signed Jose Urquidy last week.

You got everybody into a frenzy.

Now, the MLB transactions page, which is a pretty good source, directly from Major League Baseball, said the Pirates signed Jose Urquidy last

week.

Turns out the Pirates did not sign Jose Urquidy last week.

It got removed that night, by the way.

It was up there all the day.

Yeah, it's not on there anymore, but it was up there for a day.

You were spreading fake news.

You were bamboozled.

MLB.com was spreading fake news, and you spread it.

You were the one who actually started spreading that news, though.

I did.

I did.

I did.

Yeah.

But again, it's not as if I looked at a Facebook meme that had Andy Reid image on it in a Pirates uniform.

It was Pirates.com.

And it was saying from the day before even.

I posted this on October second.

It was showing the transaction happened on the first day that he actually was DFA, or not DFA, but elected free agency after he was DFA'd.

And I was like, that's interesting.

Well, apparently it's not interesting at all.

Yeah, you had MLB trade rumors on it.

You had... it was a widespread report and then came out in the afternoon that the Pirates had not actually signed Jose Urquidy.

It was an error on the website.

How do you make that error?

Again, I'm just trying to process this, too.

Like, how...

Who's like, oh, Jose Urquidy signed back with the Pirates.

Let me update that.

Do they have an AI working?

Is Grok behind the scenes on MLB.com working transactions?

I'll bet.

You know what?

It probably is some AI that connects things.

Yeah, maybe the AI made it up.

mlba anyways i did think it was pretty interesting at the time i was like yeah i don't hate this but it's wild that they're making this transaction already yeah i take Jose Urquidy back on a minor league deal i guess yeah absolutely you

know like yeah why not just wild was happening on october first yeah didn't happen didn't happen right all right but yeah the story

i guess what we're really gonna dive into today are these arbitration estimates they're gonna they're gonna really give us a good idea into just the overall payroll of this team heading into twenty twenty seven so you

wanna dive into this dinardo yeah let's do it absolutely you know what the man's here ethan has showed up he's saying hi in the comments hey ethan Welcome to your Super Bowl.

Speak his name and he arrives.

So, yeah, let's get into it.

So...

According to Ethan's estimates, where the Pirates sit right now is a total payroll of, and this is the LRD projection.

This is like actually money out the door for the Pirates.

So they're sitting at one hundred point three five million dollars now.

currently and this is before you do anything with brandon Lowe this is before you bring in any bullpen arm this is before you address anything at

third base this is as the team is sitting right now yeah so Yeah.

What's interesting about this is like, okay, if they're already at a hundred million dollars, then how much do we actually have to work with here?

Last year's payroll, I'm pulling up his twenty twenty six total right now.

So end of year payroll after everything said and done this past year.

was one oh seven point seven.

Let's call it one oh seven point seven million dollars is what the pirates get a radio station on payroll in twenty twenty six.

So the question now is how much higher can you go than that?

Because that is the highest number that the pirates have ever had.

Pirates have never spent that much money in a season before.

And it looks like if they want to be in a position to actually make this team better, that number is going to have to go up, DiNardo.

Or does it, Jim?

I'm going to say it has to go up.

Bob likes to hear.

I guess it doesn't have to.

You could have everybody just...

There could just be massive internal improvements across the board.

But yeah, you can see the breakdown here, right?

The Pirates have five guys who are...

Signed, sealed.

You're making this much money next year.

And that's, Mitch Keller's making eighteen million.

Bryan Reynolds is making fifteen million.

Ryan O'Hearn's making fifteen million.

Luke Weaver's making eleven million.

But the Mets are paying six million of that.

So the Pirates are only on the hook for five.

and then Konnor Griffin's making two million next year so they've got fifty five million dollars on the books has to be paid and then with mlb trade rumors estimates that came out this week it's another twenty eight point seven

million dollars now here's the thing with these guys you got to figure out are they ones you want to keep or do you non-tender them because you don't have to tender all of these guys a contract But it really starts with Paul Skenes going to arb,

and they're projecting seven point two million dollars.

I was thinking he was going to be right around eight.

So that makes sense there.

And then O'Neill said this was fifty thousand dollars off of Dallas Keuchel's year one record, by the way.

OK, so this isn't even breaking records with Skenes.

That's interesting.

But it's like right there.

So, yeah, it'd be interesting where they go with that.

But yeah, these are ten guys where, yeah, twenty eight point seven million.

So you look at this and, Paul Skenes, you're obviously tendering a contract to Oneil Cruz.

You're obviously tendering a contract to, Nick Gonzales at three point one million.

Probably tendering that, right?

Horwitz, two and a half.

You're doing that.

Jared Jones, two point one million.

You're doing that.

Jared Triolo.

This is like where I guess some questions start coming up like Jared Triolo.

They're projecting at one point eight million dollars.

Do you move on from Jared Triolo or do you give him one point eight million dollars?

Mlodzinski's at one point six here.

Yohan's at one point five.

I think you're obviously keeping both of those.

Henry Davis is one point four and the one point two.

So.

I think you're keeping.

Everyone on this list, Triolo's the one guy where I'm like, okay, we could debate that.

But I think there's also room on the roster for Jared Triolo.

But if you feel like you can upgrade him, you're certainly looking to do that, I think.

Yeah, if you want to start with Jared Triolo here,...

Think about, Jim, one point eight million dollars is nothing like that.

It's nothing.

You're talking about twenty six players on LB team, have a backup reserve to have a guy to pay one point eight million dollars for that is nothing.

But I get it.

I understand.

Again, we're talking about a team that's at one hundred point three five million.

starting point for the payroll.

Essentially, estimate, if these arbitration numbers come true, right?

I'm sure there'll be some wiggle in there, but regardless, that's the way you can save one point eight million dollars.

Maybe that's the good dollars, help out other places and whatnot.

So I can see this one going either way.

I guess it just comes down to like, if it's not Jared Triolo, one point eight million, then what is the replacement of Jared Triolo?

Right.

like, are you going on the free agent market and getting a similar percentage product or better like are you getting something better for one point eight million or are you getting like hey we don't need to invest that much to get something worse for less I don't know I

mean I just feel like you're probably just bringing him back you know what he is the system it's one point eight he has defensive flexibility certainly positions that you need right now you don't really have a backup shortstop

you don't really have a backup third base you don't have a starting third base you know I think he's coming back Yeah, unless you can find a backup shortstop that is as good or better for one

point eight million dollars.

I bet.

Yeah, I.

I got to imagine Triolo's coming back.

And if he doesn't really make any improvements next year, like it's probably the last year you're keeping him, like you're probably not Triolo back once that one point eight becomes two point five.

Right.

But I think one point eight, you're probably you're probably sitting OK.

Yeah.

but yeah these numbers are those are the estimates so you can you can assume like when it's all said and done that those arbitration estimates are probably going to be within

they'll be within two million dollars total or so you know give or take so you're looking at anywhere between probably twenty five to thirty one million dollars in arbitration payments that you've got to do and then you've got a bunch of pre-arb guys who you

know they're making eight hundred thousand nine hundred thousand one million whatever it may be but they're but they're gonna be sitting rounding out that total there's a one point five million dollar buyout for Marcell Ozuna's option that they obviously

aren't picking up and then a two million dollar signing bonus to Konnor Griffin that needs to be paid out next year as well so yeah right now one hundred million bucks so when you look at this and you see where do

they go from here I want to bring this part up, too.

I want to bring something here, too.

Because, again, we're talking about money and if they can or whatever.

And I want to put some perspective on this because we always know, like, revenue is tied with, payroll a lot.

Or payroll is tied a lot with revenue, right?

And obviously tickets, you know.

They sold one point seven million last year.

The attendance last year is one.

one million seven hundred four thousand twenty nine.

The year before that was one million five hundred twenty five thousand and twenty five.

So roughly close to about two hundred thousand dollar increase.

One seventy one hundred seventy five thousand people increase in attendance.

So you would assume there's more revenue coming in this year.

But also with that being said, the one million seven hundred four thousand is actually less than they had in twenty twenty four.

So I just say that because, that's interesting.

It's not any more than it was in twenty twenty four.

So coming in twenty twenty five, we saw how they operated.

So it's like I don't this is also a game where it's like I don't know what they're going to do.

we had a game last year.

Well, when attendance drops, are they actually going to increase payroll?

Well, they did slightly.

again, you mentioned is one of seven.

It's not like is that they.

it to like one twenty wasn't you know some ungodly number out here but it did increase so given the nature of this year over last year that it's up by a hundred and seventy five thousand in attendance i would assume it could

increase but of course like what's that level so i just won't put that perspective out there because again like we're starting right now a hundred million dollars essentially again that's without making any additions here so or knowing

what this budget is and what this payroll is allowed to be, shows you how this team is going to be able to maneuver next year.

But like you said, with all the arb numbers, I don't think anyone's really in question.

It's like, okay, well, we're not going to tender Paul Skenes, a contract here because we can't afford seven million dollars.

You're absolutely doing all these.

I think outside of Jared Triolo, I'll say this.

Henry Davis could also be a question as well.

Yeah, I agree with that.

So in twenty twenty five, payroll ended at eighty seven point three million dollars.

So they increased payroll by twenty million last year.

Yeah, now it's just a matter of like, OK, is that your tippy top?

Is that the best you can do or can you push it even farther?

I still think we're probably looking at if this team wants to do anything impactful over the offseason, you got to get rid of the guy on the top of the left hand part

of this graphic here.

Mitch Keller making eighteen million dollars.

That's a big chunk.

that's you look at the that's eighteen percent of your payroll right there spent on one guy who is looking like he's going to be your fourth or fifth starter.

right so like can you justify spending eighteen percent of your budget on a fourth or fifth starter i don't know if you can if you're if you're the past

so i think what we're what we're looking to do here is like my guess is that payroll will go up i think it will go up again I don't think it's going to go up

that much.

I could see like one fifteen being that final number, which is about an eight million dollar increase from where we were last year.

Now, one fifteen, if you don't do anything, gives you fifteen million dollars to spend.

Right.

And you got to go out there and presumably you're trying to bring Lowe back.

You need to bring in a lefty reliever.

You probably want to bring in a right handed hitter of some sort.

You'd love to bring in an additional starter.

It's just like, what can you do with that?

Fifteen million dollars spread pretty thin.

But if you take eighteen million off of this, that gives you.

thirty three million dollars to work with as opposed to eighteen or as opposed to fifteen so i think i think that's probably the move here

because i don't know i just don't see him going much past one fifteen like i do you see these guys pushing like one twenty one twenty five like i just i as Pirates fans, that's what we've been asking for forever.

We're not asking you to spend two hundred million dollars.

That's not what we understand.

It's not possible.

If this team could push one twenty, one twenty five, then you're getting into territory where you probably do a little bit of damage.

You could keep Keller and do something else, entertain, bringing back Lowe and whatnot.

Or, you trade Keller and you bring Lowe and you get another very impactful bat, and you can do two things.

You can really improve this team.

So absolutely.

Like that would be marvelous, Jim, but I don't see it.

I think one is that really nice number.

If we're doing over and unders, that's where I'd say, Oh, that's really good.

Is it going to be over and under one?

I would go with the under, but I think that's probably right where it's maybe going to be at.

I think that's a very good safe number.

Again, I think it could certainly be less, especially if they do trade Keller.

But it just shows you probably where they're operating it.

again, given like, where they're at, they're at, what do you say?

Well, the,

I don't think they would increase by twenty million again.

Again, just given by we talked about the attendance, where it stands and everything.

they're basically essentially where exactly where they're at in twenty twenty four.

So I would see me to go up, but maybe not enormously.

So I think one fifteen, a slight increase makes some sense.

If you're Bob Nutting and what they're going to do, it makes some sense if we're trying to predict and get the mindset of the pirates.

Not saying it makes sense because that's what I want to see.

I'm saying it makes sense because that's how they operate.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Now all of this is also assuming that the status quo pretty much remains, when it comes to the CBA too.

So there's that whole wrinkle in this as well, where, none of this could matter.

It's possible that none of this could matter in more ways than one.

We might not even have baseball next year.

Who knows?

And if we do, it may look completely different.

So we're not even discussing payroll numbers because it's like, hey, everybody's got the same amount of money to spend.

Imagine that though, Jim.

Imagine seeing this now, right?

And then say in four months, five months you're told well you have to spend a hundred and seventy five million yeah you imagine this team could look like

if they're forced to spend seventy five million dollars forced just to get to like to a floor forced to spend seventy five million dollars holy shit

Yeah, now one thing I'm pretty sure, and I'm looking through the numbers here with Ethan, but I'm fairly certain when they were talking any numbers with the CBA, it was referring to the CBT payroll,

which includes benefits and things like that.

So it looks theoretically, if they're like, okay, you got to spend one seven.

Yeah.

Like it's still not, it's more than, obviously than what we're at right now.

But yeah, that, and who knows what, like I said, who knows what that looks like?

I've, I, we won't know.

We won't know for quite some time if that's going to be the case, but still I would welcome that.

yeah obviously they had to spend they had to spend forty ish million dollars wow yeah i would love like if there is going to be a cap and a floor like i'd love that floor to be pretty high

and yeah, like the pirates are in a position where if that happens, they're going to be in a pretty good spot because they're going to be one of the teams that it's like, okay, you've got to add talent to this team.

and you got it, you've got to add money.

So yeah, the pirates are in a good spot if that becomes the case.

but yeah, we won't, we won't really know.

some comments in here too.

I want to talk about, I think it's... Let's see.

No one is taking Keller at eighteen million after how he finished the season.

So B-Ray, welcome to the trade rumors.

I could see that too.

I still think there are teams out there that would welcome a Mitch Keller type pitcher with open arms.

Now, I could see the Pirates maybe either needing to add to Keller.

It's like Keller and a prospect for nothing, really.

Or...

They've got to maybe pick up some of that money.

I think the Pirates, I can't remember the last time the Pirates traded a guy and sent a lot of cash with them.

I can't really remember too many instances of that happening, especially recently.

It's not how they operate.

Yeah, I feel like there are.

I think there are teams out there, though, who would love a pitcher who historically has shown that he can give you one hundred seventy to one hundred ninety innings with, league average ERAs.

Last year, obviously, was outside his norm.

But I think there's teams that would take Keller.

Like I said, maybe you add something to him.

Like you say, Keller and a mid-tier prospect, Keller and a low-tier prospect, just so like they're getting something else with them.

But I think you can unload Keller if you really want to.

But Bryan Reynolds is another person that is certainly a possibility here.

Like he's making fifteen million dollars.

He's completely worth that money.

Like that's the that's the difference here.

Right.

Where it's like Mitch Keller, can you afford to pay eighteen million for what you're getting out of him?

Bryan Reynolds, you can probably do that.

Like Bryan Reynolds is giving you fifteen million dollars worth of value is giving you more than that for the most part.

But.

I don't, if somebody wants to give you a really good package for Bryan Reynolds, I think you gotta, I think you gotta listen to it.

You have to, because of how you operate and.

I'm with you in the sense that I think teams, I think you can, if you want to trade Mitch Keller, you can now, I'm not saying it's going to be easy and you'll probably have to be a creative to do it.

And that's just unfortunate because of how he did finish.

And now you're thinking, there's the unknown, the uncertainty with Mitch Keller because of the injury and how he was last year.

But yes, he does have that track record and that track record shows like you're worth eighteen million dollars.

So yes, that makes absolute sense.

does he fit on this team right now?

especially the team, you open this up with, you're paying your fourth or fifth starter, probably not.

You do have some actual depth this year.

Guys did give innings this year, so you're more comfortable going into twenty twenty seven with the other four guys.

you're not bringing Mitch Keller back because, well, how do I find innings?

You still have to, but it's not as much of a need, not eighteen million dollars worth of a need, not eighteen percent of your payroll type of a need.

So, yes, like starting that makes sense.

But.

It is going to be tough.

And you are selling Mr.

Keller at your lowest.

So do you have the mindset of, do I want to bottom out here?

Do I want to do the Josh Bell thing all over again to a different degree?

But it's like, I'm selling him at ground zero.

There's just no value here.

We're completely dumping him.

Where maybe...

Bryan Reynolds is coming off of a really good season.

This could be your way of cashing out high and maybe getting out from that contract because Mitch Keller has one more year after this year for his deal.

Bryan Reynolds still has some years and he's not a young buck anymore.

So this could be your opportunity to say, let's, That's how we're going to do it.

I'm not here to tell you that's right, but I'm here to tell you that Mitch Keller is at his lowest value, so let's keep him.

We can entertain trading him at the deadline once he shows himself or next year.

Let's maybe get out of Bryan Reynolds today because he does have this value, and that's essentially about the same, I could see that being entertained.

This is a good question I hear.

What if you had to choose?

Trading Bryan Reynolds means they get Brian, Brandon Lowe back, right?

Like what would, and obviously that's not the case.

Like trading Bryan Reynolds doesn't guarantee the pirates have, are going to resign Brandon Lowe, but like, that's a good question.

who would you rather have?

They're probably doing one of the two Keller.

Who would you rather have the next three years?

Bryan Reynolds or Brandon Lowe?

That's tough because recency bias.

we're going to have this amazing season, but there's a reason why Tyler and I took the under.

This isn't that.

there's a reason.

The reason is the injury history.

this is the first year he's really done this.

And he's not getting younger and he's terrible against lefties.

And Reynolds has been the complete opposite where, you look at the last, you look at the last six seasons for Reynolds, hundred and fifty nine games, hundred forty five games, hundred forty five, one fifty six,

one fifty four, one sixty two.

So I ran the one thing Bryan Reynolds has shown that he is doing year over year over year is he's available.

He plays.

He laces up his shoes and he goes out on the field and he plays.

He had obviously a down year in twenty twenty five.

But every other year has been pretty good for Bryan Reynolds.

And yeah, Brandon Lowe, again, the opposite.

One fifty one thirty four one oh seven one oh nine sixty five one forty nine.

So he's going back like he's only he's only played over one hundred ten games three times ever.

So it's like that.

Like either way, I think if you, if you go with Brandon Lowe, it's a gamble.

Like you're saying I'm trusting you to stay healthy.

Cause I think if, I think if all things are equal, you're saying, I'm going to give me a hundred and fifty games of Brandon Lowe or a hundred and fifty games of Bryan Reynolds.

Give me a hundred and fifty games of Brandon Lowe.

Right.

Yeah, that's absolutely fair.

But that's not, that's not really the question here.

It's, Brandon Lowe or Bryan Reynolds, and the two are tasked with however many games played, they end up going out there for.

So, yeah, that's a tough question.

I think right now, as people might be upset for me for saying this, but if you're telling me, if you're going to ask me, who's going to have the better.

So that's four years, right?

and you're going to add up just the total war over those four years.

Give me Bryan Reynolds over Brandon Lowe.

It's tough.

Yeah, it's tough.

I would probably go with that, too, just because the safety net.

It's a risk.

It's a risk with Brandon Lowe.

Can he certainly be better than Bryan Reynolds over that time frame?

Yeah.

Actually, will his...

Will his actual performance be better on the field when he is playing?

That could be.

Like, if you're judging, like, who has the higher weighted runs created plus, it could definitely be Brandon Lowe.

But is it with thirty three percent less games?

And then if that's the case, right, like who's the more valuable person?

So, yeah, that's where I'm at.

they're both and neither of them are young.

Like Brandon Lowe's thirty two.

Reynolds is thirty one.

Yeah.

And Brandon Lowe is six months older than Bryan Reynolds.

But again, it's recency bias.

But like if you're a Pirates fan and you're thinking of this, like just historically their careers.

Right.

Like Brandon Lowe.

We can follow this.

Brandon Lowe debuted in twenty eighteen.

Bryan Reynolds debuted in twenty nineteen.

Brandon Lowe has put up point five more war in his career than Bryan Reynolds.

Brandon Lowe's twenty one point eight.

Bryan Reynolds is twenty one point three.

Brandon Lowe has one more season.

So it's like historically up to this point, they've been pretty they've been pretty even in terms of value.

It's just one's on the field more often.

Right.

In that time frame, I'm just trying to pull up real quick here.

Brandon Lowe's played eight hundred and ninety five games with that additional season, as you mentioned.

And Bryan Reynolds has played in.

One thousand one hundred and ten.

There you go.

One thousand one hundred ten.

So like that's what we're talking about.

Yeah.

But to Alan's point, we really should just keep both.

Yeah.

And that's why Mitch Keller makes the most sense.

That's why Mitch Keller makes the most sense.

But again, that's that it's worth having a conversation about Reynolds for those reasons.

The big reason why I wanted to share this, though, is because I see a lot of comments where it's like, we can bring Brandon Lowe back.

We're not paying.

And they're using it as like, we're not paying Ozuna anymore.

And Brandon Lowe's dollars are off the books.

So just use Ozuna's money to re-sign Brandon Lowe.

And it's like you can't do that because Ozuna's money is going to Paul Skenes and Oneil Cruz and Nick Gonzales and Jared Jones and all these other guys who are now due for big raises where before you

were paying them nothing.

Now you've got to pay them multimillion dollar contracts.

So it's like you can't just take the Ozuna money and give it to Brandon Lowe.

That's not an option because that money is already spoken for.

It's gone.

Like it's well gone.

Yeah.

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Yeah.

It's going to be something to watch.

They are starting off from a spot that's higher than they've ever started off from before.

Yeah.

You're going to have to either spend significantly more money to do the things that people are wanting you to do, or you're gonna have to get creative with some of your current roster,

to free up some money to go do something else.

Yeah.

Hey Amanda.

Yeah.

Let's move along.

I guess we have all off season to talk about.

Yeah.

We've got all off season.

Yeah.

And I said, we don't need to be here for, forever.

Arizona Fall League starting the two games in.

Wyatt Sanford hit the first home run of the Arizona Fall League.

So Wyatt Pilled.

Great work there from Wyatt Sanford.

Yeah, I don't think there's any reason to get into results or anything like that.

I guess just real quick, just to go over, what are you...

most looking for in this arizona fall league there's eight guys out there we mentioned last week you know cameron keyshock not able to go out there because of the rib injury so brian main is going in his place but

like what give me give me the two things that you're hoping to see out of these guys well damn that's interesting I guess the most notable prospects in this

sense is probably Wyatt Sanford and Easton Carmichael.

They're the top prospects in the system.

They're going to be out there, both fairly newer to the system.

It's not like they've been here for four years or such.

They're like how Esmerlyn Valdez was last year.

Esmerlyn Valdez's been in this system, and you want to see him, what he's going to do out there.

So I guess just seeing how they continue, Wyatt's out there more or less because he did miss some time.

And he had a very interesting season.

Very interesting.

he had a lot of exit velocity.

The power came through.

Strikeouts crept up.

So, just seeing how he does and performs out there with this type of talent.

Easton Carmichael did have a full year.

He got, promoted to Altoona.

struggled a little bit in Altoona compared to what he's doing in Greensboro, which is expected, of course.

But just seeing him, adding some more time out there, what he does.

I don't think anyone's going to have, like, the Esmerlyn Valdez tony blanco experience out there that they're just not those type of dudes but you know there's a reason why tony is tony no one's that type of dude

so i guess like for me maybe just see more of those two i guess neither of them you have to worry about like rule five that's the thing neither of them you have to worry about world five it's not like it's not interesting in the sense

of what are you going to do with them next year there's some of those players but I don't know.

Florentino.

Or not Florentino.

Sorry.

Oh, God.

I'm going to blank Severino.

Yeah, sorry.

Severino is also he's interesting in that sense.

Severino certainly has the most power of everyone in the group, I think.

Thirty-one homers this year.

He did play at Greensboro, so you've got to take that into account.

I think for Wyatt, what I'm most looking forward to is, especially being in Arizona, you're getting StatCast data on all these guys, too.

Wyatt Sanford, Baseball America, just put out an article this past week that He increased his exit velocities this year by five point three miles per hour.

That was his is his ninetieth percentile average exit velocity.

That's the fourth largest increase in all of minor league baseball this year.

So he took a pretty big jump in terms of just the amount of impact he can do to a baseball this season.

So just looking to get more data on that, I think will be fun to see with Wyatt.

He's the guy in the position, I think, to...

because you mentioned like Valdez and Blanco, right?

Like Esmerlyn Valdez took his twenty twenty five season, which was outstanding.

And then he went into Arizona and he just crushed the baseball.

And like he was like really put on the national radar at that point.

I think we have been talking about him, obviously.

But I think a lot of more people found out who Esmerlyn Valdez was during the Arizona Fall League.

And he started getting a little bit more hype than what he had before.

think wyatt sanford is in a similar position to that where i think he's got like the most to gain here in terms of like prospect status right because the

tools like he's so he's tooled out right he's got the speed he's got the power he's got the glove like He is everything you want to see in a prospect.

There's some flaws to his game.

Obviously, like the swing, the swing and misses is a clear flaw.

But like, I think putting Wyatt Sanford in an environment where he's going to be surrounded by like four hundred scouts every day and eight and one hundred front office members like every day.

if he's able to go out there and just ball out i think it could do a whole lot for his just his stock his prospect stock because of the athleticism and just everything that

he has to offer so he's got the most to gain here i think you mentioned severino i'm not like super high on him i feel like He just didn't put up outstanding numbers

in Greensboro for like what Greensboro is.

I know he hit thirty one homers and people are going to be like, Jimmy hit thirty one homers.

It's like, yeah, but it was like with a juiced ball in Greensboro.

So it's like how many of those even count?

Yeah, technically they count.

among his peers still.

Sure.

Yeah.

but yeah, I would say, you brought up the two most interesting guys, Sanford and Carmichael are the two most interesting.

I do want to see Zander Mueth get some innings under him, his belt as well.

He was injured this season.

He didn't look very good.

So, being able to go out there, get through the fall league, healthy, And even look good doing it.

That's what I want to see from Zander Mueth.

His prospect status has fallen off a cliff these last couple years.

Because he was getting a lot of hype coming out of high school.

He was one of the better prep arms in that draft.

And he just hasn't really put it together.

Hasn't really been able to stay healthy.

I would love to see him do something out there to make people notice him.

That would be nice.

I agree.

Just going back to Severino, though.

I felt like the thing about him, just to say, is he...

I felt like he dropped off, thinking he was going to be a prospect.

And then because of this year, reinvigorated that to some level.

But yeah, I get he was thirty-one home runs in.

with Greensboro.

But also, the thing that's going to be funny about that is this isn't going to help that because he's going to be an Arizona Fall League and the ball travels out there.

It's funny because this isn't going to help those.

Because that's what we were talking about last year with Esmerlyn and Tony Blanco, too.

It's going to heighten what they already do.

And I feel like it's going to be his case as well.

So it's not really going to help.

But I think he has the potential to put up a show there.

Yeah, again, he's got the most power.

So it won't do anything like Wyatt Sanford.

It won't solidify his prospect abilities, more or less.

But he could be interesting to see out there.

Yeah, he could put up numbers.

I agree with that.

We're going through the process right now of talking to everybody.

So you'll have interviews coming out with all of these prospects in the next week or two.

I know the Easton Carmichael one's already done.

You handled that one.

Did a great job.

It's a great interview.

I'm excited for everybody to watch it.

And then everybody else is coming on later this week.

Yeah.

So get ready for all those to get to knows.

We'll be interviewing most of the prospects going out there.

I'll have some fun, lighthearted, discussions, learn more about them as people and a little bit about players.

And we'll be out there as mentioned the twenty first to the twenty fourth.

Fourth.

Yep.

We watch three games.

We there for three games in total.

Outside of that.

So it's the offseason.

Let's enjoy some LA playoffs, I guess.

Yeah, let's do it.

Again, I don't think we need to continue on the conversation.

We're done with talking about everything we want to talk about.

You've got something else, DiNardo.

I'm ready to start my Monday.

Real quick, I want to look at what's FanDuel have the odds at now?

Again, I know it's nothing Pirates related, but where are we at with baseball?

So the Brewers are plus two ninety.

Dodgers two fifty.

Braves plus seven hundred.

They tie things up.

Might be some interest there.

Chicago plus one thousand.

Chicago looks good.

Murakami baby.

What could have been I guess.

Dude he's he is so enjoyable.

Yeah.

Anyways.

No that's all I have.

So.

We'll be out of here, Jim.

Let's do it.

Yeah, like the video, subscribe to the page if you haven't.

Appreciate everybody watching us on a Monday in October.

You guys are awesome.

Like I said, we'll keep at it all offseason long.

Off Beats every day this week.

NSNine Live coming up on Wednesday.

And then, yeah, stay tuned for those get-to-know interviews with all the Arizona Fall League players.

Those will be coming out here soon.

Yep.

Boom.

All right.

We're out of here.

We'll see you guys later.

We love you.

Bye-bye.

See you guys.

All right.

That wraps up this episode of North Shore Nine.

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