00:00But now we get to the Central Division and those Pittsburgh Pirates.
00:03All we ask for the Pirates to do is hold on to some of your players
00:06and you probably would be challenging for World Series,
00:08but it just feels like a rental organization.
00:10Looking at the lineup here, O'Neal Cruz, Brandon Lau comes over there
00:13in a trade from Tampa Bay.
00:15Reynolds, O'Hearn, Ozuna Horowitz, Gonzalez, Trio, and Bart.
00:18I got to tell you, I'm getting a little feelings for this lineup, Tom.
00:21I like some of the damage they might be able to do.
00:24The name that's not on this list is Connor Griffin,
00:27the Pirates' top prospect who is, I'm not sure if there's a proper way
00:34to describe it besides blistering, blasting, destroying the ball thus far
00:39in spring training through five games in spring training
00:42in extremely small sample size.
00:44He has a 545 ISO, which is insane.
00:48And there's already been some talks that they're talking to Connor Griffin,
00:51the Pirates, that is, about an extension.
00:52So I expect him to make the starting roster.
00:57He is only 19, so he has to take everything with a grain of salt.
00:59But adding him to that lineup, we're actually cooking with something.
01:03We talk about the Pirates on some of these bad teams.
01:05You can take two of those players, O'Hearn, Ozuna, Connor Griffin makes it,
01:10Brandon Lau because of the lefty when they're facing righties.
01:12And HRR market, Donnie, is looking pretty good for them.
01:16It is.
01:17And again, looking at the lineup, some of the things they can do.
01:20We don't know how many wins they're going to put across the plate,
01:22but at the same time, you look at that lineup and say,
01:24you can do some damage.
01:25Now we flip it over to the pitching staff.
01:27It doesn't get any better than Paul Skeen's last year.
01:29I have a 32 starts, 187.2 innings pitch time, an ERA of under two.
01:33He was sensational.
01:34But the question is always, what are we going to get behind him here?
01:37Mitch Keller, Braxton Ashtraff, Bubba Chandler.
01:39You know, a lot of these guys have high upsides.
01:41And also, like, I know we have Jared Jones listed down there, Tom.
01:45But yeah, brace surgery last year.
01:46He probably expected to come back at some point at this season,
01:48but it all feels like it's on Skeen's.
01:50Can they just get somebody to come behind and be a decent pitcher?
01:54And maybe they can move forward here and actually rack up some wins.
01:57That's really what it comes down to.
01:59Mitch Keller's a good pitcher.
02:00Like, he's not great.
02:01I mean, he's just a fine starter.
02:02Like, he's a fine middle of the rotation guy.
02:04But if you're asking him to be, like, a pure number two, that's a bit much.
02:09You know, seeing that Bubba Chandler, we actually need to see a full season out of him.
02:12Can he elevate?
02:13Can he actually pitch in the majors?
02:14Jose Urquidy, who hasn't pitched in years in the majors after his injuries, after his stint with Houston,
02:19is just a complete unknown.
02:21And Ashcraft is just not a good pitcher, in my opinion.
02:23So, can Mitch Keller be good enough?
02:25And then can Bubba Chandler actually cement himself to the majors and elevate his game?
02:30Yeah, we'll see what happens there.
02:31The Pittsburgh Pirates last year.
02:3271 wins, 91 losses came in last place here.
02:35One of the more interesting teams on a year-to-year basis, Tom.
02:38And you love the ballpark they play in.
02:39It's the Cincinnati Reds.
02:41Looking at the sign of Friedel, McLean, Ellie De La Cruz, Eugenio Suarez comes back as a free agent
02:46who had 49 bombs last year to be in the middle of that lineup.
02:50And a lot of young players all the way throughout.
02:52We'll get to the pitching staff, which is interesting in just a few moments, Tom.
02:55But again, this is one of those teams at Cincinnati Reds.
02:57Where they play, typical pitching staff they have, the power they have in that lineup.
03:00Always a fun team to back, regardless of which way you're going.
03:03On a money line, a total, or more importantly, a team total with some props here, Tom.
03:07Yeah, the lineup's good.
03:09The lineup's good.
03:09It's fun.
03:10We know that they made the playoffs last year, obviously, a quick out to the Dodgers when it's all said
03:15and done.
03:15But it's a fun lineup.
03:17Adding more power, bringing Suarez back after a number of years is good.
03:21Top to bottom, I think it's a top half of the league type of lineup.
03:27But it's at that bottom end of it.
03:29Like, we're talking middle of the league.
03:30But once it gets hot there, the great American ballpark, the ball is jumping off the bats there.
03:35And we love that for run production.
03:37By the way, pitching staff, Tom, Hunter Green, 27, excuse me, 276 ERA last year.
03:44Only 19 starts, 107.2 innings.
03:46But it looks like he's rounding back in the form.
03:48Andrew Abbott, another younger pitcher there.
03:50287 ERA last year through 29 starts.
03:53Then you take a look at Singal Adolo and Chase Burns, who is the number two overall draft pick in
03:572024.
03:57Tom, this is one of those teams that if they can get right and stay healthy with that pitching staff,
04:03why can't they do some damage?
04:05I think they can do some damage.
04:06Here's how I would put things.
04:08Hunter Green's awesome.
04:09Absolutely fantastic.
04:10Chase Burns needs to kind of find a level of stability instead of, you know, struggling on nine batters in
04:15his first start and then walking five as he did in the second start, I believe, against Boston or third.
04:20Andrew Abbott was awesome last year.
04:21He really was.
04:23But it was a little bit of smoke and mirrors.
04:24And I think he's due for some massive, massive regression this year.
04:28He's still a good pitcher, but he's not a sub-3 or ERA pitcher.
04:32And if you were to tell me this year he's actually not a sub-4 ERA pitcher, I'm not going
04:36to be surprised.
04:37I think he's going to be in that 4 or 4.1 range.
04:39I think he's going to be in that 4.1 range.
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