Would You Trust the Pirates in October?

yo welcome to the north shore nine podcast presented by fanduel this is NS9 LIVE! i'm your host anthony dinardo with we have Jim Rosati we have tai taking a big drink of water what's up fellas how are we doing tonight

my bad dinardo decided i got thirsty as you started talking these pretzels are making me thirsty no what is this week two no baseball for the pirates for the pirates i gotta clarify that again

basically A little weird.

Yeah, we're in the divisional round.

So, yeah, a few teams have already been eliminated.

And, yeah, some good baseball being played right now.

Yeah, I've been watching games.

Well, Jim and I have been pretty much out of it all day and night so far until now.

The Dodgers are about to advance, it looks.

They're up by three runs.

Yeah, it's four to one.

Damn.

It seems that way.

Damn, I really thought the Braves were going to do something.

When they won game two, I was like, oh.

They took one.

They took one in LA.

They're going back to Atlanta.

Nope.

Nope.

Dodgers are advancing.

But, depending on who you're voting for, which side, like Jim said, this could be a great year to have the Dodgers versus Yankees.

I don't know if that's going to happen.

Yeah, I don't know if it's going to be Yankees.

Yankees are going to have to make a big comeback for it to be that.

just by the looks of things, the White Sox fought today.

First game that they've lost since getting a decree from the Pope blessing everyone's family and friends and all that.

So the White Sox finally drop a game, but they're up two to one.

Yeah, Dodgers are one.

Actually, the Dodgers just advanced right now.

So the Dodgers are going to the NLCS.

They beat the Braves three games to one.

Padres Brewers are two games to one.

How about yesterday?

Mason Miller going on paternity leave in an elimination game.

Let me start by saying this.

That was wild.

I'm just happy it was them, and we didn't have to discuss it.

Because... Man, I'll... Yeah, that would be a topic.

That's for sure.

Holy crap.

Could you imagine the Pirates being in an elimination game?

And let's just use our equivalent.

Let's say Mason Montgomery.

Congratulations, Mason.

You just had a baby.

and the Pirates are without their closer in a lose-and-go-home game.

Oh, man.

I have a feeling there would be some takes.

And the thing about the takes that would make it so great is that both sides would be so angry at the other sides.

I don't think there's a rational...

There's no seeing the other side, I think, on this one.

you could.

You could be both sides DiNardo.

You could see both sides.

But no, you're right.

that's absolutely, that's immensely polarizing.

Here's what I would do.

If the Pirates, if I were running the team right now, if I were running the team, say, listen, we've got big aspirations next year.

No one touch a woman the month of January or February.

Hands off.

That's in.

You are not allowed.

You are not allowed.

None.

You got to be celibate for at least six weeks.

At least give Prego Reynolds some credit.

He makes sure he's out in June or July or May.

It's the dog days of summer for the most part.

He's ready for Bucktober.

Be a team player.

Hands off.

I can sit here and act like I'd have a heart and would be like, no, he needs to go see the birth of his child.

And I can tell that to you guys all day, but if it's October seventh, and Mason Montgomery is not available because he's having a kid, I can't promise that's going to be my take.

Like, imagine if they had lost yesterday on a blown safe, it was close to that situation.

Like that's the thing.

The realization of that was right there.

Yeah.

I would have lost my mind.

I would, I would lose my mind.

And it's a totally stupid reason to lose your mind, but yeah.

But as a fan, as a fan, like that's where, like, again, like seeing both sides of this, like, listen, that's, the big moment it's your first that's a child like to see your birth like that's

be there for your wife be there for yourself just to be there i get it but in the same sense like this is an elimination game and there's a

reason you're still on the team and weren't traded at the deadline it was for this moment and you have twenty five other guys behind you're like yeah we could use you

I don't know if you heard Bill Cowher's, someone close to home, but he was on a show today.

They brought that up to him even, because the situation is like, what would you got to do?

And he said it.

He had a birth of a child.

It was on a Friday, I think.

He was in and out.

I'm like, okay, I get that, but that's Friday.

What if this was Sunday?

He's like, we didn't have discussions if it was going to be Sunday.

They're like, okay, but what if it was?

And he bluntly said, he was like, Just let me know in between calls if it's a boy or a girl.

That answered it.

Just let me know between plays if it's a boy or a girl.

At least let me know that.

He gave you his answer.

He's going to be at that game.

And he's not even playing.

He was a coordinator.

That's when he was at Kansas City.

Yeah.

Let's hope the next time, if the Pirates are ever back in the postseason, we don't have to deal with that.

Because I don't know if I could take the takes.

I'm just saying that the Pirates...

There are more people...

People have had more kids than I've seen Pirates elimination games.

So, just have another kid.

That's a good point.

That's a really good point.

I don't see many of those.

It's like a birth of a child to me.

Yeah.

Or touching a woman in January.

Exactly.

Or all twelve months.

So, playoff baseball, right?

The reason why we're going through this is because the point of today's show is, you know what?

There's not a whole lot happening.

Let's just pretend the Pirates were in the postseason right now.

I like that.

Let's just, yeah, let's just use some make-believe here.

And really, it comes down to, like, if this team were in the postseason...

One, would you trust them?

And two, would other teams fear them at all?

Is this a team that you think could be capable of making some noise in the postseason?

And you look at the way that this team ended, right?

Jared Jones.

that dominant in September, Mason Montgomery established himself as one of the best closers in baseball.

the second half of the season bullpen was improved.

Ashcraft ended the year hurt.

So you got to also include that, Konnor Griffin's back.

Oh, no, Cruz is back.

So you've got all these people back.

But let's dissect this.

If this Pirates team was in the postseason, one starter, is it automatically Paul Skenes's just because it's Paul Skenes's?

Or are you going with something?

Are you saying, you know what, Jared Jones, you're so hot right now?

We're going right in the hot arm.

Or is it Skeen's?

It's just an easy answer, and it's Paul Skenes's.

Well, let's just say this.

Under these current wildcard formats, I don't think that decision is as difficult.

If it was back in two thousand thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, that makes this question even more.

But like if it's game one or game two, is it the biggest deal in the world?

I'll say this.

Like, you were the one who quote tweeted boob.

That was two years.

Yeah.

Wait.

And that was what?

Like.

Twelve of thirteen game one winners in the wildcard have advanced.

It's like game one is important.

Well, they're all important.

That's also game one is important test.

But not in our pretend world.

No, you got to win.

You want to win games, right?

Well, you don't have to.

But let's say you don't.

Who's your game one starter?

That's my question.

Who's your game one starter?

Well, that's how the answer.

I just want to throw that in there.

I don't think it's like as important now as like, again, we're talking like the old.

wildcard rules that do or die like it really is important but they're each pitching a game in a three game series it's obviously not as important as a winning playoff but i think it's still very important so ty

Sure, I'll just go, as you nitpick the entire question, DiNardo.

I just got out of it.

I said a lot of things without having to answer anything.

I said a lot of words.

Now it's on you.

I'm still giving the ball to Paul Skenes.

And it might be the wrong call.

Jim, you mentioned the way that Jared Jones finished the year.

And I think him building up his pitch count as the year went on, and especially at the end of that year, it makes it a lot more enticing to go to Jared Jones, but...

It's still Paul Skenes.

I'm handing the ball to him.

I'm not going out without giving the ball to Paul Skenes.

And as those stats said, game one winner wins the series.

So it is a very important game.

Anyways, I'm still going Paul Skenes also.

But that's why I wanted to say that part, because if it's a do or die, I don't know if that's my answer.

because Jared Jones is the dude right now.

As he rolled in September going into October, if this was thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, I'm probably making sure Jared Jones is my game one starter because that's the guy who's balling out right now.

But again, it's a three game.

I'm making sure they're both starting in the first two games.

And at this rate, then I'm going Paul Skenes, I think, just because he...

It's not that any of them...

None of them are pitching big games.

he did in college.

He's also Paul Skenes.

I believe in trust in his preparation and that he is going to be ready for game one and handle game one more than I do Jared Jones in that sense.

But as far as ability, Paul Skenes is not who he was, but I'm still, that's my dog.

Like that's who I'm going with for game one.

And then I'll have Jared Jones for game two.

And if you lose game one, Jared, you better ball out.

And I have faith that Jared will be the guy that balls out.

Who's starting game three then?

Let's say Paul loses game one, Jared wins game two.

Well, we can't lose any games.

Do you want the real answer?

Who's starting game three?

Yeah, who's starting game three?

After our decision was wrong and Jones wins games two, who starts game three?

This is the interesting part because as much as I freaking hate it, I'm going bullpen game three, I think.

Oh, no.

It is.

I'm going bullpen game.

I'm playing matchups.

I'm making every inning like a high leverage inning, and that's how I'm going out in game three.

my game might turn into a bullpen game because I'll probably just go Bubba.

Now Bubba's probably pitching at some point.

However, it might be two, three innings because if he gets in an ounce of trouble, he's gone.

Yeah.

It might just be a bullpen game anyhow, but not a true...

Like we ain't starting Kirby Yates.

Yeah.

It's interesting because...

I think the one thing that you're seeing in this postseason is you're seeing a lot of sweaty managing taking place, like playing the matchups, putting pitchers in the right pockets that

fit their expertise.

And you are seeing some pitching duels.

You're not seeing a ton of really high-scoring games this postseason.

It's a lot of pitching and defense and the runs that are happening.

You're seeing some home runs.

But I'm with both of you, actually.

I'm going to go ahead and I'm going to start Paul Skenes's game one.

He's Paul Skenes's.

He's...

This is what he's here for, is that.

So I'm going Skenes, I'm going Jones, and then I'm playing the matchups game three.

There's not a guy I trust right off the bat to just hand the ball to and say, go five, go six, go seven in that situation.

I'm letting everybody pitch one to two innings.

But let me ask you, who's leading off?

Who is the air quote starter for your bullpen game in game three?

I think it depends on who you're facing.

If you're facing a lineup where it's like lefty, it's going to depend on the opposition.

But I'm going to play matchups for nine innings.

What is your intention of Bubba?

And I ask this because are you using an opener for Bubba?

Or are you just strictly bullpen?

Because that's where I'm at.

Because I almost feel like let's...

And matchups make sense, but maybe let's use Lake Bachar.

and then put in bubba so at least he's using like he can maybe get you to three and then you can really hammer the matchups going forward because then also you like you have Yohan at your disposal you have Carmen at your disposal of course you have you know the

dogs but it's like you have also guys that can give you innings and hopefully bubba can at least maximize some of the innings with the opener and that way you're still using bubba but you're not relying Because I'm with you both.

Bubba could give you five strong innings, but also Bubba could certainly not.

And that's the thing with Bubba Chandler at this point in time.

You don't trust him.

I'm maybe not even putting Bubba in the game.

Okay, well, hot take.

Because if you're playing matchups here and you're thinking right-handed pitchers at this point, You would rather go Mlodzinski.

The other route, the bullpen guys.

Yeah, I'm going to go bullpen guys, I think, for nine innings.

I think I'd rather go Bubba than a Lake Bachar.

Yeah, I could see that.

I could see that.

If you're going bullpen game, I think Bubba's still one of your better arms if you give him two innings, if that's the route they would choose to go in this hypothetical world where the Pirates are good.

But again, quick yank.

You have them ready to be pulled.

Well, game three, everybody's a quick yank.

Yeah.

at this point, especially with these...

You look at where the Pirates were at the end of the year.

No Keller, no Ashcraft.

But, you basically have three starting pitchers.

Not basically.

You only have three starting pitchers.

Do you just hand the ball to Bubba?

I'm putting Bubba in the bullpen.

If I need to go to somebody in the twelfth inning...

because it's extras bubba it's your game until it's over you know that type of deal like after i've exhausted most of my of my bullpen arms but i think wow i think the bullpen was in a

really good spot i'm gonna trust most everyone in that end of year bullpen outside like the maybe like the Antwone Kelly's of the world

over Bubba.

In like a do or die situation, I need you to get three outs.

So a do or die situation, do you not bring Paul back in?

I don't know.

Also, why you use him for game one and not game two?

I am...

I'm seeing how he feels.

If Paul is ready to go in a potential game three, then he's absolutely available if I need him.

He's got the cleats on.

Yeah.

He's not like Carmen with the hoodie and no uniform on in June.

But I'm not going to Paul unless I have to.

That would be a Yamamoto situation almost.

in order to get there.

Chris Sale.

Speaking of guys who were just lights out in the postseason, Yamamoto.

My God.

So good.

That's why I got on my TFL team.

Yeah, he's been really good.

Okay.

Your boy's got Paul Skenes and Yamamoto in his Strat League.

Yeah, no one cares about the Strat League team.

I do.

But I'm the only one who cares.

Because one thing that we've also seen this postseason is managers putting in their high leverage arms earlier in the games and trying to get those five, six out saves, and it's backfired on them for the most

part.

Montgomery was somebody at the end of the year who's just a clear three out guy.

I think he got four outs maybe once or twice.

Are you pushing?

Are you stretching those guys out in the postseason too?

If you need Mason Montgomery to give you six outs in a one-run game in game three of a wildcard series.

it's all hands on deck.

So do I trust it?

No.

But if that's my best option, that's my best option.

You got to do what you got to do.

like we talked about earlier, it does depend on the matchup.

I don't imagine you're going to have six lefties up in a row.

That's going to be an ideal matchup for Montgomery, but if he's the best guy I got available and I need six outs and my only other options, Brandon Eisert, we're rolling with Montgomery.

Yeah.

I think that nails it.

just a blanket statement like that.

You got to add more context.

I'm ready to do so, but also I'm ready to do so if I need to, if it, lends me i like tyler said is it my choice is Eisert because i want to you know i'm going to go with

just three outs i'll roll with montgomery and roll the dice like it is what is these are the cards i have That's the best-case scenario.

If you lose, you lost because you lost, not because you decided to go with Montgomery for six outs as opposed to Eisert or five outs or whatever.

But I guess what I'm alluding to here, too, is like – but that's the one thing that pirates – this is like the one situation, the one scenario when we talk about could it even be Bucktober, right?

The starting pitching is not what we thought it was going to be.

When we said that if this team could just get to the playoffs, the starting pitch is going to put the fear of life in people, that's not what it is.

But this bullpen is – So, to answer your question, there probably should be options available that you don't have to do that.

The strength of this team right now is the bullpen.

There's a lot of options.

There's also options that can cover six outs if they needed to.

You have a few guys that could give you six outs if you needed to.

So, I would assume they're probably not in a situation where you'd have to go to Montgomery for six outs.

But, if they were...

That's a better choice.

That's a better choice.

Make the call.

I just put a pull up for everybody who's watching.

I'm curious on what people think.

Really more so.

in terms of like would this team actually make some noise in the postseason like would this team actually scare anybody does the rotation does the Skenes-Jones rotation combo scare you or does the team

look at this lineup and say yeah you know what i think if i play my matchups right i can just throw out my two best left-handed pitchers and dominate these guys.

Are there too many holes in this lineup to actually make any noise in the postseason?

Is the pitching good enough?

Is the hitting good enough where this team could have actually made some noise had it made it?

Personally, I think there's a cap on this team.

And the cap is because they just cannot hit left-handed pitching.

You run into the Phillies, they're going to light you up at the plate.

And hitting, you're just screwed.

There were just too many flaws, I think, with this team that the pitching wasn't good enough to be able to carry it.

Paul Skenes not being Paul Skenes, if he's the last two years version of himself...

and you have a healthy Ashcraft, I think you can probably squint a little more and you can see the pitching carrying on my thing, but the way it ended and what they'd

be walking into the postseason with, I don't think they were very dangerous at all.

And they went, yeah, like fifteen and nine in September.

Beat the White Sox.

Here's my rebuttal to that.

playoff baseball is a different beast and that's just where like I'm with Tyler like I guess my take on this and thought is what I expect the powers to advance no because it's the plot and

like every pitch every at-bat every situation matters so much and Tyler just talk about this let's just talk about the defensive blunders that could cost this team you know in that moment right like

Would I expect them to advance?

Do I think they're dangerous and they should?

No, I don't.

But if they did, I wouldn't be shocked because there is something to this team.

There is talent on this team, especially offensively and such when there's not a lefty on the mound.

We talked about the bullpen.

So could Paul Skenes put up a good start and then this bullpen shuts down?

Sure.

And then does Jared Jones come in for game two and do what he did in September and this bullpen does what they do and this offense?

Sure.

It could happen.

But there's so many things that this team has, just fundamental flaws, that when it comes to playoff baseball, the way they look right now, and again, especially because Braxton Ashcraft is on the IL.

Ashcraft maybe has another dynamic, and maybe you're not feeling something.

If it was Paul Skenes, Ashcraft, and Jared Jones at this point in time, you'd probably feel a little bit better.

But it's not.

It's not.

This team did not have the starting pitching depth, especially at the trade deadline when Mitch Keller was down, and they just punted on that.

Going into the playoffs with the way they are, it's going to be tough.

I'm not saying the bullpen games weren't good.

They probably were some of the better starts that they had, for that second half.

But it's a tough task for this team, the way they're constructed right now, to really consider Bucktober.

You mentioned something that I think is very important, and it's the defense.

Because something I've noticed in a lot of these games, and it's not everyone, but a lot of these games, they're very close.

they're low scoring like there's a lot of four to threes and three to twos and you know two to ones and if you look a lot of these games are being

decided by the team who just isn't making any errors like no errors they're making the plays you know you saw the Braves make some bad plays

yesterday that led to led to a run led to an unearned run so Bogaerts doesn't make that play it short late that's the thing i think that's the thing

that concerns me the most with this team just like from a like you've got to win this ball game standpoint is that They're just so flawed defensively.

And at any point in time, someone can screw up something out there.

Colossal failure out in the field or on the base paths.

And it costs the team a game.

Where over the course of one sixty two, you have that every now and then it's like, yeah, whatever.

We saw how many times that whatever added up this year.

Right.

How many games did they lose this year just because of being freaking stupid and doing dumb stuff?

Right.

you do that once in the postseason and like your season's over it's the lights are a lot brighter and when the lights are a lot brighter a lot of times those issues get magnified and i think that's that would be my biggest

concern going to the postseason it wouldn't be that they can't hit lefties it wouldn't be that they you know that they maybe don't have the strongest deepest rotation It would be,

I would not trust this team to do the things that you fundamentally have to do day in and day out to win a baseball game.

That's my biggest fear.

So with that being said, we all said we would start Paul Skenes's game one.

Would Henry Davis be your starting catcher game one?

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

Yeah, that's another thing.

I guess we haven't gotten there yet, but maybe this is a good transition.

We're talking about who would play whatever and such.

What do you do with that catcher spot?

Because Rafael Flores was hitting the ball well, but do you trust Rafael Flores behind the plate?

One pass ball, that could be your season.

Right?

Margin for error is very small.

Yeah, I think what you do in that situation is, Skenes has been pitching to Davis all year long.

He's comfortable with him.

You need good defense in that situation.

Henry Davis is going to have to be that guy.

He's going to have to be.

Jared, you're throwing a lot of fastballs today.

You got Rafael.

Keep him hot.

Keep him hot.

That's what he was doing, though.

So, like, maybe that's... Rafael, you started game two because Jared Jones is throwing sixty percent fastballs.

But that one, he spikes in the dirt.

Yeah.

Like I said, that's my biggest fear with this team.

If they had made it, just something dumb.

Something dumb happening.

Very fair.

But again, absolutely.

Regular season baseball is much different than playoff baseball.

You talk about managers getting sweaty.

that's why every play matters so much.

This is do or die.

This isn't we got to get through one sixty two.

This is we have to win today's game at all costs.

I don't know if this team is built right now to do that.

Yeah.

Now this team's also capable of, like you said, just handling, just handling business, cause the offense is pretty good.

Like there have been games where the offense is just, it doesn't matter that they make a mess up or two in the field or on the base pass.

Cause the offense was so good that they scored enough runs to win the game that could happen, you know?

It's just the postseason is a little bit different.

Managers manage different.

You don't get to face those starting pitchers a third time through the order in the postseason.

Unless you're Yamamoto.

You don't get to face the eighth guy out of the bullpen in the sixth inning just because everyone else has pitched the past few days.

It's like that guy doesn't get into the game.

You're facing a starting pitcher, typically, once or twice, unless he's just flat-out dealing and then you're in trouble.

But you're facing him once or twice, and then you're turning to very skilled, high-leverage relievers for four innings to end the game every single time.

It does make it a little bit tougher.

We're their fourth starter who's ramped up in the bullpen, which also is not fun.

No.

Well, let's do this.

Let's take a little break.

I'll come back and talk some more about this team.

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There we go.

Let's do this, too.

Real quick, before we go into the other side of this, we do have...

A super.

So I want to, of course, say thanks to DeanDean.

He says, what's y'all's favorite song out?

No Pirates talk.

Now I get it.

Trust me.

I'd rather talk about this for the next forty minutes than if the Pirates are Bucktober or not.

So what's your favorite song?

this is a favorite song of all time.

What's your favorite song of all time?

No, it's O-A-T, of all time.

Of all time.

Oh, yeah.

That's a really difficult question to answer because it really just depends on what mood I'm in.

God, that's...

I'm a big, just from my high school days, big Linkin Park fan.

Huge Linkin Park fan.

There's some pretty good options there.

But I'm going to go faint by Linkin Park.

Like Meteora album.

Okay.

Great album.

I'm going to go with that.

Great album.

those two albums, right?

Like Hybrid Theory and Meteora, just back-to-back incredible albums.

But yeah, I'm going to go with one of those.

Meteora clears Hybrid Theory, though.

And that's no disrespect to Hybrid Theory.

They're both awesome.

They are.

So you pronounce that like you were Canadian.

Your favorite song out.

I think I just go with my standard answer here.

And it's Tracy Chapman, fast car.

Knew it.

Great tune.

That's a good song.

Now, if we're going like favorite song out, like we're Canadian, eh?

Gary by Stephen Wilson Jr.

is really good.

No idea.

Figured.

The chat can also add in your favorites too while we're doing this.

DiNardo, you probably got some Kanye song.

Well, here's the thing.

You see my wall, right?

You probably anticipate where I'm going with this.

Hands down, like...

The best song that was ever created.

The best song that's ever performed.

Like, Seventy-Six, Madison Square Garden.

Stairway to Heaven.

Like, hands down.

There is not a better song than Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin.

I would not have thought you said that.

I would not have expected that from you.

I think you lied and pandered.

With ease?

No.

Mm-mm.

that's on my, again, the lie that masses were guarding.

You don't get better than that.

Yeah, I think you're pandering.

You are pandering.

You don't want to test my music.

My seventies rock.

Everybody, how much you love Kanye?

Have fun.

Oh, I do.

Actually, so again, I thought it said out.

I didn't see the out of all time.

I thought it was out.

I was going to say Brothers and Sisters by Kanye West.

I've been in a big Kanye West song in New Orleans last month.

I've been just going through this catalog actually of recent too.

So I haven't listened to a whole lot of new stuff.

But Brothers and Sisters by Kanye right now is such a good song on his latest.

But we're talking about all time.

Stairway to Heaven, Led Zeppelin, with ease.

There we go.

Thank you for the super chat.

Are the pens losing?

Someone just commented, pens blow.

That was the comment right above it.

I just accidentally clicked it.

Still, this is so funny.

Well, they're up.

They're what?

Two and O's?

They're two and one.

Never mind.

All right, so let's get back to this topic.

Do we have to?

We do.

I just want to wrap up what we were talking about before we get to the last part of the show.

But if you could only improve one specific trait about this current Pirates team, what would it be?

Stop being stupid.

Okay, so just better fundamentals or better decision-making?

Yeah.

Can I add wealth?

No.

Is that a trait?

It could be.

I can't have more money?

It's not a trait.

No, you can't say that.

DiNardo's was be less stupid?

Yeah.

Intelligence is a trait.

Love that.

If I could have one trade on this Pirates team.

Like, if you could just hit, like, you're on MLB The Show, and you're looking at, like, the team ratings, like, offense, defense, starting pitching.

So, DiNardo's would be, like, awareness.

yeah.

Like, what category would you hit the boost button on?

You could boost one category.

Contact against left-handed pitching.

Okay.

Not power, just contact.

I think we're okay power-wise.

Yeah.

That's pretty specific.

Very good one.

May I add?

That is a good one.

It's definitely one that is needed.

I think mine would either be that or it would just be defense.

So I'm going to go ahead and just say defense.

I got a better one.

I'm going to increase their injury so that they don't get hurt.

Oh, yeah.

That makes sense.

Okay.

Everybody stays healthy.

That's for just an October team, though?

The team is heading into October with the traits they have.

Everyone is pretty much healthy outside of Ashcraft.

Do you still think this team right now?

Braxton Ashcraft or what?

I'm thinking of it throughout the whole year.

I don't think you can do that.

That's against the rules.

You can't heal anybody.

Can I give him steroids?

You can't just make someone better at defense either, Jim.

He's giving them the attributes.

He's hitting boost on injury.

That's the boost.

He's hitting boost on injury, so Braxton Ashcraft doesn't get injured.

He's already injured.

That's what I'm saying.

Maybe he's not.

He got the boost.

It sped up his recovery.

It maybe increased Paul Skenes's fastball velocity.

Just a few notches.

Okay, yeah.

Is that it?

No, I'm saving some of my contact against the lefties.

I said you could boost one thing.

Is that for everybody?

So wait, what if he boosted everyone's fastball?

You can boost team velocity.

You can boost fastball velocity.

And the Pirates, by the way... No, that might be sick.

The Pirates, by the way, do have the fastest fastball velocity in Major League Baseball.

I was going to say, that might be sick.

Yeah, but imagine an even faster.

Right?

Actually, this is a real conversation now.

This is legit.

If every pitcher on the Pirates...

What's the boost?

One mile per hour.

everybody gets a mile per hour.

That's the boost.

I just made that up, but that's the rule.

How's that?

So like, how's that compared to everyone's like hitting left-handed contact?

It goes up.

Everyone, everything goes up one.

Yeah.

So then we still suck.

Yeah.

That's not a boost gym.

Not as much.

What if I super fracture them?

It's one of those deals where the higher it is already, it doesn't go up as much.

The lower it is, it goes up more.

I disagree.

Oh, so stupidity.

I'm making the rule here.

So that's going to be a big improvement.

Yeah.

Yeah.

No, I don't like that.

Come on, Tyler.

You live with this every day.

Jim makes up his own rules.

I got a big one.

Fine.

I gave like three options.

you got to pick one i get it would be contact versus left-handed pitching if we're going very specific thank you i think those are the perfect three answers awareness contact versus

lefties and defense that's it all right can i fire my gm no get a new one your gm's not going to do much for you in october anyways yeah but

i want to be the gm you can't be the gm You said it was like it won't be the show.

Yeah, not in that aspect.

Okay.

All right.

Last question.

If the Pirates make the playoffs in twenty twenty seven.

One person who's going to be the biggest reason why.

Who's it going to be?

Go ahead and say it.

You got one answer.

Rob Manfred.

For giving us a salary cap and a floor and Bob Nutting has to spend...

Player.

You got to name a player.

Mine is... Oh, you know what?

That's actually not, I guess, a bad answer.

it's a pretty good answer.

Mine's Konnor Griffin, though, if we're talking about players.

They won eighty two games basically without him.

I think the answer is Konnor Griffin.

Did we say playoffs to get into the playoffs to get into the playoffs?

The biggest reason why I think it's Konnor Griffin or it's Oneil Cruz.

And I'm going to say very good answers just because I think, yeah, like there was a, there was a fan graphs article, no baseball America article at the beginning of this year where it basically

said, if you've got two, five war players on your team, It's really hard to not make the postseason.

And the Pirates had, I think, this year, I think Skenes did clear it, but barely.

Five or?

Skenes now, four point two.

Okay, so Skenes had four point two.

Brandon Lowe had four point nine, I think.

Mm-.

Brandon Lowe was four point nine.

Let me just double check that Brandon Lowe was four point nine.

So the Pirates didn't hit that number.

But I think the recipe really is Skenes gets there.

And then Konnor Griffin gets there like that's your recipe for success.

I think the other part of it is that the drop off so significant after Griffin.

They're like an Oneil Cruz, for example.

Jake Mangum's capable enough to hold it down.

There is nobody capable enough to hold down shortstop.

Yeah, that's fair.

And then we saw that this year.

Again, when O'Neill went down, Mangum was very capable.

He did a very good job replacing that.

Most teams wouldn't have that type of production if their center field went down.

Pirates were fortunate in that aspect.

They didn't have that with Konnor Griffin.

So, Konnor Griffin's a very good answer, and that's why to get to the playoffs is also different.

Oneil Cruz is basically going to be that if he wasn't injured.

So that's why I don't know if I want to say Oneil Cruz.

I think Connor's probably the biggest reason for that.

I think Paul Skenes deserves some consideration there because if Paul Skenes becomes that dude once again, you're also probably winning a lot more games than you did this year.

Now, is it more than Konnor Griffin becoming that dude?

Konnor Griffin's an everyday player.

Like Tyler said, that's one position that's a shortstop.

It probably is Konnor Griffin.

It probably is.

And the thing is, Konnor Griffin could be that dude next year.

He absolutely could.

Yep.

By the way, Bucko Mike is here.

In all reality, you need one of those guys.

You have to have one of those guys.

All three of them just weren't able to be that guy this year for different reasons.

Skenes because of performance, the other two injuries.

Not having all three and winning eighty two games, albeit frustrating and annoying and how much I want to yell and scream.

That's pretty close for all the issues that they had.

But not good enough.

Not good enough.

Yep.

That's all I got.

We just wrapped up all the AFL interviews.

We did.

Arizona Fall League is in full force.

I believe Glendale has played three games so far.

Yep.

Wyatt Sanford's balling out right now.

Three of the top four hitters for Glendale are Pirates players.

According to OPS.

In three games.

Stop the count.

There you go.

No, I am excited about that.

We did wrap up.

We just finished up Get to Know You shows with everyone out there who speaks English.

At least we didn't get the non-English speaking folks.

Last year we did that and we tried.

It just didn't, it wasn't very, it was a lot of translating and it just wasn't very smooth.

So this year we stuck with the English speaking guys.

So those are all done.

Look for those to be out here soon.

Should be, should be.

I know I had a blast recording the ones that I did.

So there, I think you guys are going to like them a lot.

It was, it was a lot of fun.

It for sure was a lot of fun.

So yeah, I'm excited to see yours, actually, that you did.

It's been a long day for me.

So I recorded three podcasts before this show.

I woke up, DiNardo and Tyler, I woke up this morning at four forty five to catch a flight out of Shreveport, Louisiana.

I got on the plane, and then they say, and I'm flying to Houston.

That's my connecting flights in Houston.

Get on the plane, and they go, hey, we haven't been cleared to take off yet.

Houston is saying we need to wait an hour because they're too busy.

What is that?

The plane is scheduled to go to the airport at that time.

Like, what are we talking about here?

So, yeah, we sat there on the runway in Shreveport, Louisiana, in this tiny plane for an hour.

Then I get to Houston.

I get on the train because I got to change terminals.

By the way, you know who was on my train?

Guess who was on my train?

Booker T.

No.

Swear to God.

Swear to God.

Booker T was on the train with me in the Houston airport.

So we're riding the sky train or whatever.

I look over.

I'm like, holy shit.

That's Booker T.

And it was definitely Booker T.

Do a little spin-a-roonie for us.

I was going to do the spin-a-roonie, but I didn't want to embarrass him.

The Jim-a-roonie.

I was like, he's in public.

Let him be.

Old man going to be doing a spin-a-roonie.

I don't want to embarrass Booker.

But then I get on the plane.

Luckily, it was like an hour and a half connecting time in Houston, so I didn't miss my connecting flight this time.

Get on the plane in Houston.

Guess what?

maintenance on the plane.

Sat on the plane in Houston for another hour.

It was a disaster of a day.

But the podcasts were fun.

This was fun.

Cheers, Jim.

And yeah, now I can't wait to just unwind a little bit.

We play each other in college football.

We doing it tonight?

We play each other?

Yeah.

Yeah, we're not doing that tonight.

That's going to be our unwind.

Nah, that's too...

That's not a way for me to unwind.

I get too ramped up for that.

You run the ball for... I do.

Seriously.

Pathetic.

That's the way God intended football to be played.

Just pound the rock.

I do love that.

You are talking to the triple option guy.

Yeah.

But no, so that was my day.

So now this is how I'm ending my day with you guys, with everyone out there watching and listening.

Appreciate you all.

Yeah, so check out those.

Get to Knows.

They're awesome.

We'll be in the Arizona Fall League.

Well, we'll be in Arizona for the Arizona Fall League.

The twenty first to the twenty fourth.

We'll have three games out there.

Excited for that.

But also that.

Check out Offbeat tomorrow.

Alex Stone.

And then we'll probably, hopefully, have the very first of the Get to Knows on Friday with Easton Carmichael.

And then the rest of the next week, we'll have all kinds of shows.

So, again, it's the offseason.

The Pirates have no baseball going on.

We got you guys with a ton of content.

And more to come.

Download the app.

Download the app.

Download the app.

Anything else, guys?

Or are we out?

I think we're out.

Well, anybody give odds yet?

Tyler, my man.

Because Jim might get his wish with the Dodgers that plus one fifteen through FanDuel Yankees down at plus sixteen hundred as the World Series winner.

These are.

But I think we're going to get a Dodgers World Series here, Jim.

It's looking that way.

I don't know.

Those brewers just get the raise that plus three.

Those rays can't happen.

That can't happen.

Brewers-Rays.

It can't happen.

Yeah, Brewers-Rays can't happen.

I'm with you.

That absolutely cannot happen.

Nope.

Sorry, Mason Miller.

It's your fault.

Miller got activated for tonight.

Miller's active tonight.

Oh, is he back tonight?

Okay.

Yep.

Oh, just bad juju.

He's off his game.

He's going to go in and give up.

He's going to give up the game-winning home run.

Mason Miller with dad strength.

He's going to be throwing like one Oh eight now.

Did you give him the boost?

He got the boost.

You got the boost.

Yeah, I got the boost.

All right.

Fastball boost.

Well, since I'm not going to play college football, I guess we'll watch that.

Yeah, we're out of here.

We'll see you guys later.

We love you all.

Bye.

See you guys.

All right, that wraps up this episode of North Shore Nine.

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