Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - Pittsburgh Pirates | Profile & Projection | 605

Episode Date: February 19, 2023

Use code TALKIN for $20 off your first SeatGeek order. https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/TALKINFor the first time in Talkin' Baseball history, the Pittsburgh Pirates were not voted to finish last in their division by our audience! After adding a bunch of vets in free agency like Andrew McCutchen, will this be the most fun summer in Pittsburgh in years? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello. And welcome to talking baseball, another team profile and projection. We are going episode today, every day until opening day. And today, talking about the Pittsburgh Pirates, rated fourth worst team and MLB by you guys. Is that the highest they've been in a while in these rankings since we've been doing PPPs? Do you think they've ever fallen higher than not being in the top five worst? I think every time we've done this, they've been one of the probably two worst.

Yeah, one or two, I think. So, hey. It's called progress, James. Way to go. Pirates. Jake, did they have a big off season? Fellas. And these TPPs are brought to you by Seat Geek,

code talking $20 off your first order with Seatgeek. Pirates, is it the year before the year? They added some vets at every level kind of. Austin Hedges, find the dish, R. Guy Guy, Rich Hill, twirling it for the Pirates. Carlos Santana and the return of Andrew McCutcheon, you've cat to be kidding me. How about a little G-man, Choi, Vince Velasquez, all right, these are MLB guys playing for the Pittsburgh Pirates, who they lost. They lost Kevin Newman and Bryce Wilson and Boy Park via trade. Diego Castilla, Zach Thompson, they're out.

couple waivers guys including Migi Yahoo Mariznik Su Su Su go and a couple other bodies but I think they brought the bodies in to replace them and Trev that lineups fun man This is a fun lineup

I'm pretty optimistic about this Pirates team Got some guys I like starting off with The Alien can I call them that? Is that bad? I don't know O'Neill Cruz you are a stud off the chart, stat cast measurements, a great player. He's going to be at shortstop. Brian Reynolds, we'll see how long he sticks around.

He's asked for a trade, and the pirate said no. Sorry, that's not how things work around here. He'll be manning center field. He's a switch hitter. Okay, Brian Hayes, my guy named my marijuana plant after him. Shout out that. Third basement, he's holding it down. G. Manchoate at first base, my guy, Kutch in left field.

Santana, as he mentioned, a D-H. Jack Swinsky in right field. Rodolfo Castro, another switch. hitter at second base and as you mentioned, Austin Hedges behind the dish on that bench. We got a guy named Bay, which I know you like. Left-handed bat, he's kind of utility guy. Tyler Heineman, former workout partner of mine, he'll be back with some catching duties, hopefully. Connor Joe coming over from the Rockies, which is really nice, kind of like a corner infielder

slash outfielder guy and Cal Mitchell, left-handed bat. And James, let's talk about that rotation. familiar names in the rotation as well. Our guy Mitch Keller, we hung out with him. He changed his fastball repertoire last year because it was the worst fastball in MLB and then went to a two seamer. Forget which way he went, but it got better after that. J.T. Brewbaker, Rich Hill, Vince Velazquez,

Roanzi, Contreras, and Hilhon Oviedo. Aviado? Oviado? Luis Ortiz is there. You got Bednar in the bullpen. Stevenson, Crow, Dwayne Underwood Jr. I remember that name. Some names. I mean, what the pirates have done here is

built a good farm. I believe they hired the guy, the Ray's pitching farm developer guy. Good job. Seems like a no-brainer. But the kids aren't fully ready yet. So they hired guys to stop them from promoting the kids.

and it's a ton of one-year deals to guys that I don't think are going to make them contenders or that much better, but they can play them and have fun without starting the prospects too early. I think this is a team that we've grown accustomed to just kind of shooing the pirates off and not really paying attention to them. You know, safety Brian Hayes, no Neil when they came up. And, you know, we've been paying attention to them. And obviously Brian Reynolds is always all over the news. But I think this is a team that's going to be much more enjoyable to watch because of the veterans that they brought in.

And they do that for a couple different reasons. If you ever listen to talking baseball, you've heard me say this before. But when you got a young bunch of guys who really haven't experienced any sort of winning at the big league level, you've got to bring in some guys that have so they can teach them the way and how to be big leaguers and how to have some sustained success. So you're bringing in Cutch, you're bringing in Ridge Hill. You're bringing in Carlos Santano, who I think is a really good mentor for young hitters. and I think this is going to be palatable and I don't mean that in a negative way

I think you're going to watch these games and you're going to say look this is do you remember the play we had with the first baseman against the Cubs when was that? Was that last year and year before? 20201 yeah

like that's not palatable like that makes you as a Pirates fan yeah it makes you just want to turn the TV up I don't know how much we're going to see of that and I know that's not saying much but I think that when you're watching these games and I know we were going to a balanced schedule. They're going to be better than the Reds, I think.

And we're going to see some really good play during the season. I think we're going to see some stretches from this team. They're like, okay, this is cool. And then as you mentioned, you got the farm system. I believe there's seven kids in the top 100 in the farm system. I saw Tomar Johnson get drafted this year. He's a little spark plug. He's a little bit of ways away.

But you can kind of hang your head on that. Look, we're about to enter our window. Is it going to be this year? No. Is it going to be next year? I think the window will start to open and then we start to go. And I think there are good times ahead

in Pittsburgh. Let Brian Reynolds go, by the way. Trade him. Let's go. I don't know about all that. You can't say both those statements at once. I don't know about all that. Yes, you can.

You want them to win and the window's opening up, but you want them to get rid of Reynolds who they have for the next two years? Three years? Yeah, give them to the Marlins and get some young pitching. I want to see a full season of O'Neill Cruz.

87 games last year. He racked up about a two and a half war. If he gets a tick better and he plays a full season, I mean, you're looking at a pretty special dude there. He, Brian Hayes, the stick was down last year. He was picking it. I think that should come back up a little bit. Brian Reynolds had a really slow start to the year,

maybe due to constant trade rumors. That's just my theory, but. He ends with a decent, with a good offensive number. Even for him, he can have more than that. G. Man, Choi, that one's getting slept on a little bit. I know he's had some injuries. The last two years, he's been a 114 OPS plus on the nose. Like, if he can be out there, he can give them a better effort than they've had.

With the veterans in Cutch and Santana, we'll see what they've got in the tank. Maybe they're a little rejuvenated. Maybe they feed off the young guys. Those guys are going to see a lot of pitches either way. That's where they're at in their career. I love them throwing the arms around. on the shoulder. I love hedges working with the pitchers and stealing pitches. The other side of what I said with some of the lineup, Jose Quintana gave them 20 really good

starts last year, and then they trade them away. I wonder how much they'll miss that. But Keller, it seemed like things started to click last year for him. Jimmy mentioned the fastball. Rowancie, he's a young dude. Brewbaker's been out there for a few years. Now, Rich Hill slinging it probably for the first half of the season. I don't know, man. I think it's going to be a fun mix. I wouldn't say it's going to be the Orioles last year, but I think it could be an Orioles light.

Like, I think we're going to run into some wins. I think there's going to be some good energy. I do think at the trade deadline, I think we're going to ship away some of these parts. And let's call up some kicks. Andy Rodriguez. Call them out. Go check out his minor league stats.

Holy smokes. and it is building up for a jazzy 2024, and you guys know I don't like to say that. Jazzy or 2024? Yes. Yeah, Mitch Keller started his four-scene fastball was like his number one pitch in April and May by a landslide. And then in June, he completely did shit.

He did work it back into the repertoire, but he had to develop his sinker, which helped him out. Because I believe the first two months, it was the worst forcing fastball in baseball. So good job, Mitch. that's changing it up. Adjusting. Making the adjustments.

Do we know if Andy is going to have a chance to start the year on this team? Seems like probably should unless they're going to play the service time game. But there is, you know, we put some stuff in the CBA to kind of combat that, even though I don't think it really did. Although Rushman got a full year last year because he finished whatever he finished, right? Here's what I, here's all I know. And Pirates fans, you know your Pirates better than me, but not. my uncle Rick. So back off.

Text Uncle Rick. And Charlie Bloom. They fast tracked ND a little bit last year. 88 games in high A, 936 OPS, boom. They send him up to AA. 31 games 1.1.

Bang biscuit. He gets a drink at AAA. Six games. I don't know. I think we're going to be interested to see on the Pirates end. When the trade deadline comes around, And maybe some of those vets we've talked about, maybe they head out of town. We'll see where the pirates are really at standing-wise.

But yeah, I guess it turns into organizational philosophy. Do they value a guy like ND coming up for the last two months and playing 40 games and getting his feet wet? Or are they going to go full service time, full service time and drag him into the next year? I don't know. I don't know. I like when they get that cup of tea because I think that gets you ready for the next year and you know what the show is going to be like. I'm getting jazzy.

This team did like pretty much nothing well last year. I'm looking at their 22 team. No, listen, let me finish, bro. I mean, their hitting was bottom of the barrel. Their starters were bottom of the barrel. The relievers were bottom barrel. There's a couple guys in there that, you know, we're okay. But as a team, not very good.

I think it's going to be different this year. Okay. Let me finish. Nice. I wish I shared your guys optimism. I never know if you're doing it just because you want to put good vibes into the universe. What do you mean by, I mean, then we get to the over under, like what do you guys mean by you're optimistic about this team?

I guess here's what, O'Neill Cruz, you see it, right? Yeah, I need them to get on base more. I mean, under 300 OBP, I don't think that's sustainable over a full season. Sure. Brian Reynolds, you like that. Yeah, like Brian. Brian knows very good. Brian.

We're in on it. It's what is it? You're in. Make or break year on offense. Everything like, you know, because he was really good. And then if he doubles last year, you're like, oh, boy. Then, you know, make or break year. He's under contract for a long time.

No, no. In like, is he who we believe him to be? Who can he be? What can he be? Because if he has already an elite defender. The goal is just to get him back to where he was when we was awesome. But when he was there, you wanted him to step up. So you hope he gets back to there and then steps up next year, something like that, you know?

And I guess, you know, young Jack Swinsky, he hit 19 homers last year. Could that be 20 next year? I don't know. Well, I mean, G. Man, Choi, McCutcheon, and Santana. Can those guys give you a good half a baseball? I think so. If not a little more than that. Floor and ceiling, then.

Floor and ceiling, I think this team, if everything started to go, young guys veterans were drinking the Kool-Aid, I think they could approach 500. Whoa, bro. So sealing is approach 500? Yeah. What about division, third place? Um, yeah.

A lot would have to go. Hey, I'm talking. You're optimistic. Orioles light from last year. I'm not saying it's going to happen. I hope that's the case. Yeah, I don't know if I have pirates. I don't know if I have 500 on the radar for them.

I think they were, I think they were 62 and 100 last year. Them improving 19 games is, that's a lot to improve by. I think there are going to see some improvements. I think that they're going to finish in front of the Reds. I don't think they have enough to catch the Brewers or the Cubs or the Cardinals. The Cubs made some pretty significant additions this offseason. Beat the Reds. They're going to beat the Reds.

I don't think that's a question. You know what, Jake, I think approaching 500 is the right word. Approaching. Well, that's got to go right. And that's the story of baseball. A lot has to go right. If you're a Pittsburgh fan, all you want right now this year is for the veterans to help your young guys out.

And then probably you're hoping to like ship them off the contenders, get that farm system stocked even more. And then let's see some of these young guys. You got a couple, a couple pieces you can trade. I mean, you got like Santana. He's been traded a lot lately. I don't know if they're going to trade. I don't know if they're going to trade cuts because it's like a fun return.

It's a little bit of like a he would have to really, really be playing well and also agree to it obviously has the rights and ask for it and all that. But otherwise I think it is like kind of like no mentorship role. Yeah. Go through the whole season with these guys. And then Velasquez, I don't think they should trade Reynolds if they think their windows opening. I don't really think their windows opening it that quickly. I think training Reynolds could still benefit them.

It looks very much to me like a holdover year. Let's improve on the margins and let's get veteran guys to help our young guys as they come up and make their debuts, which is important in a rebuild and I like it. But I don't think they're close to doing anything about having fun moments. I don't know the pitching debt necessarily all throughout the minor leagues. They're going to need some guys like that. We talked about Cutch and if they would trade him. I think the only way they would trade him is if he asked.

And he was like, look, man, like, I want to go to a contender. I want to try to win a World Series. Then possibly it happens. But I agree if that's not that case, if that's not the case, he'll be there all year. So, 23, I said I think they could approach, which means like 75 wins to me. They could approach the 500 mark. And then if we're looking in 2024, if we get some pitching in there, some guys that I like, I guess I don't know about, and maybe I should.

Are we talking wild card, or is that too soon? Too soon. Let's get through this year. I mean, you know, I don't know where our Orioles landed in the standing. Also very different divisions. But, you know, I guess here's what I'm saying. When we do these every year, you know, the rankings aren't going to be perfect. Where were the Orioles last year?

They were probably, what, bottom three, bottom five? And they ended up putting together that perfect kind of dream rebuild season. I'm not saying it's happening, but I think of the teams we've covered so far, I don't see kind of the light for this year. I think Pittsburgh can see some light this year. I think they, I mean, they had fun last year when O'Neill came, Cruz came up and he's breaking the stat cast records

and you had some other fun moments. Yeah, I mean, I think fourth place is the ceiling. Yeah, a couple guys in the pipeline. Luis Ortiz has had a cup of coffee. He'll be part of this rotation at some point of the year. I'm pretty sure. Hey, we didn't make these rankings. You guys did.

Don't yell at us. Yelling at you. Orio's between my head and everyone's always yelling at 30th in our voting. And our fans voting. Yeah. I mean, Orioles had a really good first half of the year and they made fun, but they weren't, they were just above 500. I think they had a wild card spot one day in August.

But, yeah. But I mean, for them, it was incredible from where they'd been and where they're going. It was unexpected. It was a big jump. Right. Completely off the map. Move the wall, had some pitching. I think moving the wall had a lot to do it.

They should try and, hey, how can you change the field to better suit your team? Don't need to. It's already beautiful. Yeah. Hey, Camden was nice too, and they uglied it up to make a better result. Yeah. So true. I don't know what they did with that wall.

Hey, guys, one last thing on this. We always like, like, teams, when you go into some of these really good organizations, do you steal a player away? They rule five the guy named Jose Hernandez from the Dodgers last year. Let's see what happens to that one. Yeah, the Dodgers and Ray's every Rule 5 candidate should be getting taken. Everyone. Tell us the secrets.

Ray's Dodgers, Cuban players for Trev's team. Oh, my gosh. Shout out Neil Walker. Shout out. He's calling some games this year. He is. And he's also on cameo. Go check it out.

I saw him tweet that. out. You're welcome, Neil. Like that a lot. What's this owe you at? 64.5. Four and a half. So they got to be... I'm over, baby. I'm going over. Two and a half games. Trabb going over.

You got to believe in some things in sports, right? And if bringing some vets in, especially Cutch, Santana, they can, Treve, you always talk about how important it is to be a pro and bring it every day. I think those guys have that rich hill for the pitchers. Does the same thing apply to you for the Reds Where they don't have as many games in division They have more games Against tougher

They were in the weakest division It's if I use it for the Reds I have to use it for the Pirates, right? But it's at the same time I think what the Pirates have done as a team Compared to what the Reds did as a team I'm in on what the Pirates are doing I think you know you mentioned O'Neill Cruz

They got that spark from him 87 games you know if he can play a buck 40 this year, especially at a tick higher level, that's a huge ad. So I'm in on it. I'm taking the over. I'm pretty torn between the two of these teams. I don't know which team I think is better. The Reds are the Pirates.

Wow. Interesting you say that. I don't. I guess the Reds have had more players that have had good seasons in their career. Like there's more muscle memory on the Reds than the Pirates. I've like, oh, he's done it before. I think there's one team head in this way and I think there's one team head in that way.

I think the directions are different. Yeah. So my vibes wise. But they're kind of intersecting right now. The same record last year. Like Myers has had a good year. Newman's had a good year. Stevenson had a great year last year.

Votto, obviously, India. Like you got, they are. I think they're at intersecting points in different paths. So I just don't coin flip. But over, they win 68 games. Let's go! Can I point a picture Or point a picture

Yeah you can't I don't think that makes sense With what I said I like the Reds bullpen more Pointalism Can I paint a picture for a other starter I think this is gonna happen okay I think our pirates

I'm gonna call them our pirates I think we're all in a green Our pirates Our pirates Shout out Teddy who just had a pirate grammar Play I think they're gonna start the year out just fine And then I think they might hit a lull

And then I think what's gonna happen is we're going to get a story from one of the beat riders saying Andrew McCutcheon and Carlos Santana and Rich Hill had a closed door meeting meeting and blew the whole fucking clubhouse up. Carlos Santana's already done that. He took bats to the TVs when I was in Philadelphia. That was kind of interesting. I think we're going to get a story like that. And then I think we're going to get a freaking run from these guys. The veterans are going to help this team so much. I'm excited about it. Let's have them bump up. up in attendance. That would be my damn

goal for this team. I mean, they were 14th in the NL in attendance last year and they're first in beautiful ballpark. Yeah, it's gorgeous. I've got it. Jim, your attendance thing? Yep. That's why I was excited about the Orioles. Like, I don't think in the end, they made a big jump,

but Baltimore fans had the summer. Like, Orioles gave, they packed the house, they wore bucket hats, they had fun, chaos was coming. They had an identity. It'd be cool. if the pirates could form that because they are on their way up and it will help them keep going up. The pirates are going to have their most wins since 2018.

They got to beat 69 for that. So I'm on the chase for 70 with the pirates this year. Okay. They open up against the Reds. They become with a cool home run celebration. That'd be nice. Massive series to start the year. Yeah, they open up against Reds and then Red Sox.

So they're just burst the Red. I would paint the locker room red. Yes. What? Go Pirates. I got a hat.