00:00Curious about this one, too. You like Pittsburgh, the steam on the Pirates this season, signing a couple of guys,
00:06adding to the payroll here, Peter, a little bit. Man, you know, I got to tell you, you know, I'm
00:11not going to say I'm against you here. But gosh, like, I feel like if we didn't an autopsy on
00:17all of these teams that jump back into free agency with all these one year deals and two year deals
00:22and trying to fish in this little pool of adding a little money.
00:26I don't know, man, like, to me, it doesn't always work out. I know that the Pirates are more talented
00:31this year on paper. Sell me them being a 500 team this year.
00:36I will. So my win total projection for them is exactly 81 and 81, which is not asking a lot.
00:44And if we're talking about steam, when it comes to signing free agents, there's also been steam in the market.
00:49I bet this at over 76 and a half, and it's all the way up to 78 and a half.
00:54And I think a big reason why is the market is realizing, hey, this Pirates team can finally hit. And
00:59if they can finally hit, they're likely going to be a 500 team. Why? The starting rotation could be a
01:07top five rotation in Major League Baseball. Maybe that's going a little bit too far, but let me explain.
01:12So you got Paul Skeens at the top of rotation. Pretty good, right? And then coming in at number two,
01:18you have Mitch Keller, who's always been just a solid innings eater, run a four ERA over 180 innings.
01:24But as you go deeper, it gets even deeper. Most notably Bubba Chandler, who is one of the best pitching
01:30prospects in baseball.
01:32And Bubba Chandler, even last year, told Paul Skeens, you better watch out because I'm going to be the opening
01:38day starter.
01:38He has that type of confidence. Top draft pick, throws 100 miles an hour, incredible arm.
01:44But then you also have Jared Jones returning from injury. And Jared Jones, when on, is a top 25 starting
01:51pitcher in baseball.
01:52Another guy who lives at 100 miles an hour at the top of the zone.
01:56And in their five spot, they have Braxton Ashcraft, who's one of the most underrated pitchers in Major League Baseball.
02:02A team we talked about in the last segment, the Houston Astros, Mike Burrows.
02:06They're pretty similar. The thing is, Ashcraft is the Pirates five.
02:10Burrows might be the Astros two or three. That's the difference.
02:16The one problem with the Pirates is they are going to be bad defensively.
02:21I mean, they added a lot of bats on short-term deals to hit, but on defense, not so much.
02:27So how do you hedge a team that doesn't play great defense?
02:31You're starting pitching staff. Your bullpen has to strike out a lot of guys.
02:35What do the Pirates have? A lot of guys who can strike out a bunch of batters.
02:40So I think it's all going to even out and result in an 81-81 type season.
02:45But also, if you want to take a little bit of a sprinkle on some Pirates' long shots,
02:51let's say they can pull a Cincinnati Reds from last year and sneak into the playoffs
02:56and basically get into the playoffs for the first time since 2015.
03:002015, I took Don Kelly 15-1, and this was about a month ago.
03:05I'm not sure what the line has done now, to win manager of the year.
03:09Because if he can snap that playoff drought in his first season,
03:12I think Don Kelly's a great pick for manager of the year at 15-1.
03:15This is a great pick for manager of the year at 15-1.
03:15So, I think the first time he's going to win it at 15-1.
03:15So, you know, it's going to have to win it at 15-1.
03:15So, as a great pick for manager of the year at 15-1.
03:16You
Comments