00:00But I got to ask you, you saw Pittsburgh up close and personal,
00:05did you not here this week?
00:06I did.
00:07And a lot of talk with Paul Skeens, a lot of, once again, made it five.
00:14I mean, what were you seeing with him there?
00:17Is it just, is it a command, a mechanics thing, do you think?
00:21Is there something else going on?
00:23Like, how did they not win his games?
00:27Yeah, well, look, I think there are definitely,
00:30I don't want to make too much of velocity
00:33because there are definitely pitchers that pitch in the big leagues
00:36that top out at 95 as starting pitchers, and they succeed.
00:40Like, Zach Wheeler is a good example of one of those.
00:43You can throw 95 any day of the week in baseball
00:46if you are a good pitcher and succeed.
00:49Skeens, the problem is, Joe, is that Skeens was overpowering guys
00:54with 99, 98, and 100 a lot, and now he's not.
00:59And at least from what the pirates seem to be saying is,
01:03is that if you don't have the velocity,
01:06then you have to find a way to beat guys differently.
01:09You can't, you know, if the key doesn't fit in the door,
01:14you can't just jam the key in.
01:15Like, you got to figure out another way into the house, so to speak.
01:20And, look, some of this has been made about his weight.
01:24Look, I don't know if any of it is true, Joe.
01:27I would tell you this.
01:28No one seems to have the answer.
01:30No one knows the answer, right?
01:32They don't.
01:32They don't know, or else we would know
01:34because somebody would say something.
01:36So it just seems to me that if I had to guess,
01:41and I don't know this to be factual,
01:45I think Skeens is putting on the right moves right now.
01:50I think he's saying all the right things.
01:52I'm going to speculate, I don't know this to be true at all,
01:56that he will condition better in the offseason.
02:00And the weight that he put on in the offseason,
02:03I'm guessing it was with good intent to keep him through
02:06and keep him healthy for an entire season.
02:09But sometimes there could be, you know, bad weight with a guy.
02:13And I think he's just pitching, in my opinion only,
02:17heavier than he's used to.
02:18I think it may be potentially costing him in terms of velocity.
02:22And I think maybe he, again, my speculation only,
02:26that maybe he doesn't feel as comfortable as he did when he was,
02:30you know, maybe in a little bit better shape without the weight.
02:33So I can only guess that this will go on.
02:37I don't think much will change, Joe.
02:40I would tell you, also in my opinion,
02:42the second the Pirates are eliminated,
02:44whether it's two weeks to go, a week to go,
02:47you will not see Skeen's pitch the rest of the season, without a doubt.
02:50They will shut him down.
02:51I think they would love to do it now, but they're still in the race.
02:55And they will figure out exactly what is going on.
02:57I don't think it's arm slot.
02:58I don't really even think it's mechanics.
03:01I think it is just physical.
03:03And if you think about it,
03:05there are guys that like to pitch heavier, Joe.
03:07There are guys that like to pitch lighter.
03:10Remember, remember,
03:11CeCe Sabathia when he lost all the weight was horrible.
03:14And then he had put it back on and he was good again.
03:16Lance Lynn on the Cardinals was horrible, thin, better, you know,
03:20a little with more weight on.
03:23It's the only thing that we could point to.
03:24Now,
03:25I know they showed those beach photos of him and Livy Dunn.
03:27I mean,
03:28come on,
03:28like in the end,
03:29there's a lot of pictures that do look like that.
03:31But Joe,
03:33don't you remember Paul Skeen sort of being like a specimen,
03:35like this big hulking kind of guy that would overpower you with his stuff?
03:41I think he's still trying to do that.
03:43And he doesn't have the same stuff.
03:45And,
03:45and it's not easy to reinvent yourself in August,
03:48you know,
03:49like as a pitcher,
03:50do you,
03:50can you just change everything that you're going to do?
03:53You know,
03:53four fifths of the way through the season,
03:55you can't do it.
03:56I bet you Skeen's is awesome again next year.
03:59I would not expect good results the rest of this year,
04:02Joe.
04:02He did not look good in Miami.
04:03I don't expect,
04:04and he got lucky on a couple of plays too.
04:07So I bet more on Ashcraft than I would on Skeen's moving forward.
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