The Porch Is Live - The Buccos are Not!

00:00 Chris Uh, yeah. And that was real wishful thinking. All right. Oh, yeah. Let me tell you something. We are live on the sports porch Pittsburgh. Thank you for watching on Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, Twitter, all over the world. We are live on social media. And if you're listening to us on the podcast, you're probably listening to the sports porch on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcast, Spotify, or anywhere you get your friggin podcast podcasts. And, and not to be left out, the World Wide Web, you can always grab yourself a little sports We're worldwide. at theporcheslive.com, theporcheslive.com theporcheslive.com theporcheslive.com That's exactly right. And we are so happy you're here. We will drop the podcast right after the show. So you can listen to it on your way down the sheets to get an MTO. Oh, yeah. So you know what an MTO is, right Schwaber? You know what an MTO is? Refresh my memory.

01:03 Steve That's a hard no. It's also known as a made to order.

01:07 Marc Yeah, sheets made to order. You know that screen that you touch? So there's now so there's now a what do you call it when you is that called an acronym when you have like the letters represent something? Yes. So we now So we now have an acronym for takeout. Yeah, no. I mean, come on. This is ridiculous.

01:33 Chris It's not take. It's been around forever. The MTO has been around forever.

01:37 Steve You know, I still don't have a sheets card. Really? Yeah, I'll give you I don't have a sheets card. Max just got one. So I'm just going to

01:45 Chris bum his. Yeah. Well, you don't have a sheets card Schwaber, but you sent us a text saying go down the sheets and get gas for 17 or 77 or whatever. And I did. I took advantage of it. Figures. That's why you're so fortunate because you save

02:01 Steve gas every July 4th. Did you see there was a some guy in concert. He was wearing like a wah wah shirt or something like that.

02:09 Marc I like it. I love it.

02:11 Steve It seemed like one of your one of your type of guys, Mark, you know, not a rapper, but kind of like you know, a wannabe rapper.

02:19 Chris Well, DG is in the house and he says let's get this show on the road. That would be the that. Yeah. You guys can't hear that. That's my got a doorbell. Yeah. My front door doorbell just rang. I'm hoping somebody is somebody's here. It's never

02:37 Steve it's gotta be food. I don't know. Mark, he finally got food delivered and you're not in the studio. Yeah.

02:45 Chris I mean, honestly, Amazon truck. It's the Amazon truck.

02:49 Steve Ah, just Amazon. Yeah.

02:51 Marc I just yeah. I just hope that there isn't a you know, home invasion

02:55 Chris while you're down in the basement. No, Sassy would protect us. Oh yeah. Sassy would be all over the I don't think so. Here's the comment that Mark doesn't want to see. No, but this is a great mark. Doesn't eat Sheetz food because his wonderful wife cooks him great dinners.

03:11 Marc Yes. I've never I've never come home with an MTO from

03:17 Steve Sheetz. Have I? Neither do I. It always gets eaten in the car. Really? Oh yeah.

03:23 Chris I never make it home. I don't want to I don't want to jinx us and I hope somebody from Sheetz is listening and they find this a valuable medium with which to spend their money to kind of get the MTO message out there. Of course, everybody knows what an MTO is. I've never had an MTO at Sheetz. I used to go there when I landscaped and I would get a gallon of chocolate milk and drink the whole thing. And that's weird. It is weird. It is weird. And I would go to I would go there. I went there once with my daughter. We went to a late night ghost hunt in Gettysburg and she was really hungry. It was like one in the morning and we stopped at Sheetz. Late in Gettysburg you could go to a Wawa or a Sheetz. Well, there was a Sheetz near my mother's house on the way home. Anyway, let me just tell you I will never buy that food again. You're not buying food. This was cooked food. So I guess we're not going to be the Jared

04:11 Steve of Sheetz. Actually, it's very, it's very

04:15 Marc simple. Your your go to when you get an MTO from Sheetz is you get the BLT. It's impossible to mess up. Okay.

04:25 Steve And then you get the

04:27 Marc TOTS. How does that? Yeah. And that's the thing. You got to tip your cap to, you know, to Sheetz for just employing TOTS

04:35 Steve as an option. Yeah. I mean, when you have TOTS, it doesn't really matter

04:39 Chris if you get a BLT. How do you know about the MTO and the BLT? Are you just thinking like

04:43 Marc everybody's going to offer a BLT? No, I've gotten it plenty of times from Sheetz. I actually won't get it from Giant Eagle Getgo's, but I do get it from Sheetz

04:53 Chris because I think their food's a little better. So then you've always gotten the MTO from Sheetz. I've got

04:59 Marc I would say I would say each year I probably I'm going to say per year. I maybe hit the MTO seven times from Sheetz.

05:09 Steve Wow. That's significant. I don't say that significant.

05:13 Chris I don't at all. I'd rather eat Arby's.

05:15 Steve Seriously. That's disgusting. And of course you and Burger King. That's slug in a bun.

05:23 Marc You rule.

05:25 Chris You rule. All right. Let's move on. This show is supposed to be about sports.

05:29 Steve This is what happens in the dead zone. You just go off on tangents. Yes. Just enjoy it. Yeah.

05:35 Chris Come along for the ride. This is better than a roller coaster at Kennywood in the rain. All right. Listen, guys, the pirates. OK. I want to thank everybody who listens to the Pirates Report, the Buccos report after every Buccos game. It really is a joy to do mostly because I enjoy mostly because

05:55 Marc I enjoy. You talk bad about the pirates. I'm not giving you

05:59 Steve any stars. I don't really care. I don't want any of your stars. You can talk good. You'd be good cop.

06:05 Chris I'll be bad cop. OK. Well, I can't. Man, I don't want to be good cop. I want to be. It's so hard to be good cop these days. It is hard. It is hard. So we want to hear. We want to hear how you think. We want to hear what you think. You can give us a call at that number on the bottom of the screen. 412-805- 7236. We have lines open. So feel free to call into the show. It's a great time to get in right now. It is. It really is.

06:35 Steve So here's. Do it the old fashioned way. Send us a chat.

06:39 Chris Yeah, that's true. You can do that. Here's the thing about the pirates that I'm really It's frustrating. I'm totally frustrated. I'm completely frustrated.

06:53 Steve With lack of winning? Well, yeah. Lack of wins. Yeah.

07:01 Chris 152. Right now there's a rain delay. The Guardians are in town. Tonight, Quinn Priester is pitching. They just brought him up. Quinn Priester. He's got a blazing like 431 ERA and AAA for the Indianapolis

07:15 Steve Indians. I heard he can't throw a fastball, but he's got a lot of junk.

07:19 Chris I have no idea. No, seriously. That's what I heard. I heard that about Schwabber too. But so I And Andy Rodriguez is catching. Okay. I want to I want to know what you guys have. Think about this. I think DG is thinking like a There he is. Right. Priester DG says, Priester is starting. Holy crap. Rodriguez to catch. Henry hasn't even caught yet. What in the hell are they doing? What are they doing? I look, I I feel like I'm watching a schizophrenic baseball team. Okay, I get it. There is no chance. And let's just be realistic and I'll be realistic. There was no chance this year that the Pirates were going to make the playoffs. There was no chance. There was in the first month. I don't think there was ever a chance. Okay, because we saw

08:15 Steve There was a hope. How about that? Right. Right.

08:19 Chris There was a hope after the first Right. Fool's gold Schwabber. So But what I can't figure out is when you're bringing up all of these players

08:33 Marc Let me see if I can bottom line. What the hell is going on out there? That's what you're

08:37 Chris saying. I'm going to bottom line it. Right. They've given up on the season already. They've given up

08:43 Steve on the season already. Yeah, but I think that's a good thing for the Pirates and let me tell you why. Because to your point, they never were that good to begin with. So ultimately, you just want to see all their prospects come up and play together because the only chance they have at being a contender for a wild card and maybe it's division because the division is really horrible. Right. Right. And it's schizophrenic too. I mean, look at the Reds. They were zoom in and now they just got swept by Milwaukee. Now Milwaukee's back on top. Right. And it's looking like the Reds kind of I don't know, like they imploded, like they had some kind of record of futility over the weekend, which was ridiculous for this team. So that being said, I think by bringing up and I get the Henry Davis thing. I mean, I get that I don't get it because he should have been the starting catcher, but they have two catchers. So they're in a predicament where they have to play somebody. I wish they would have brought up Henry Davis. They just would have put him in for catcher. Then that way, if he didn't perform well at the catcher position, they still have Indy Rodriguez who could come in and then catch. You know what I mean? Like if they would have brought in, I think they should bring up their prospects and these two guys are clearly the top of their prospects. And this priest, I say let them play together the rest of the year and see what happens. I don't disagree with you. Because I think that's the best thing they can hope for. I mean, they can't get any worse. I mean, for God's sakes, they were what? Twenty and nine? Yeah, twenty and nine. And they've only had twenty-one wins since then. They had as many wins in the first month of the season as they have since. You know what I mean?

10:35 Chris They're twenty-two and forty-three since. Which was what they were basically

10:39 Steve the year before. So clearly that's a fluke. And the other thing that's going to start happening is all these older players that we don't like, that we don't even want to even name, they're all going to be gone off the roster in the next three weeks.

10:51 Chris I want to get some good comments in here from we have a viewer on LinkedIn, Stephen. I do appreciate this. He's got two good comments that I've actually had questions on. First of all, he witnessed what he thought was one of the dumbest managerial decisions ever in the bottom of the seventh yesterday. You're right. Guys on first and third with the infield in, Davis did not steal second base in Marcano. That's who he's talking about. Marcano was bunting. Right. But these are young players at the major league levels. I'd give him kind of a pass on that. Maybe he missed a sign. Who knows? But right. I want to talk about Davis here in a second though and what's going on. But what Stephen does say, and Stephen again is watching on LinkedIn, thank you so much for being here. Most scouts think Davis cannot catch the major league level. Okay. So if that's the case, I get it. He can't play right field either. Well, he only played 13 games in right field as in the minor league. So he's got speed. He's got an arm. Now what he has to learn to do, and I mentioned this on the Buccos report last night, now what he's got to learn to do is he's got to learn to glove the ball differently because when all you do is catch, you use a catcher's mitt. I mean, this sounds really rudimentary, but you kind of got to give him a pass from the standpoint of he's trying to field balls and come up and throw them with a different glove. They come at you at a different speed, a different angle. It's a whole new position. Okay, fine. But you've got what I see is I see them starting hedges, pinch hitting for hedges near the later in the game by putting in delay and Davis is in right field. Okay. Why do you have that big hole at number nine? And in the other game, in the last game where they did that, everybody says, well, hedges is a good defensive catcher and he steals the most strikes in the National League. And so what? He can't hit the ball. And the last game they just played against the Giants the game before because delay played the whole game yesterday. The game he played against the Giants, they ran all over him and the Giants are like second to last in the National League and stolen bases. They stole like two or three bases. Delay came in and he threw a guy out. Yeah. You know, so fine. If Davis is not touted to be a good major league catcher, he's definitely going to be a good major league player. Maybe not a superstar. You never know. But I think he can be solid and he definitely plays to win. He plays all the way to the end of the game. That's good. But now you bring up Andy Rodriguez and you put him in catching right away. Why didn't you bring Rodriguez up first? Send who is what is up with hedges? What kind of contract does he have? I mean, and I'm not a contract expert, but I know some contracts say you can't send me down. You can't option me. Maybe that's what it is. But that's fine. It doesn't mean you get to play every game.

13:57 Marc You know, he's just a coach's favorite. Maybe. Right. Yeah. But you know, one thing

14:05 Chris first off, I don't disagree with you, Steven. Yeah, actually

14:09 Steve by the way, Steven's perfectly

14:11 Marc in my head. But by the way, Steven does have a point up that I was just going to bring up myself, which is you know, typically when people can't play a position, you try to put them at first base, right? Because that's supposedly the easiest position to play. And if you think about it, if you're a catcher and you're used to, you know, catching balls in the dirt all the time with a bigger mitt, that's what first base is. I agree. You know, so what, you know, why is he not playing first base? Well, I mean,

14:43 Chris I think the reason I think the reason he's not playing first base is because Carlos Santana. Right. Well, he's going to be traded

14:51 Marc soon. Probably. That's the thing. I mean, pro Santana.

14:55 Chris He's been playing a now now your Pirates announcers are talking about how it's gold glove level first base. I'm playing for the Yankees or somebody else. But I mean, I've I've watched just about every game Santana's played first. He has made some great plays. He is a solid first baseman and his glove is pretty good. Exactly. But it's not gold glove, but it's damn good. So I think that's why. And also they're showcasing him. That's what they're doing. He's easy to trade. They're showcasing him. So maybe you know what, Steven, maybe you're right. Maybe that's where he ends up moving. But now basically you do have four catchers. Here's you know, but here's the other thing too. So they send delay or hedges.

15:41 Marc They probably have another prospect. It's a catcher. So I don't. Right. How old? How old? How old is Henry Davis?

15:49 Chris Twenty one. Davis. I don't know.

15:53 Marc But we could always. Why all of a sudden are we giving up on him being a catcher?

15:59 Steve Well, I mean, you know, I understand that most scouts think he can't catch. I just say give him a chance. Why not? Just give him a chance.

16:09 Marc How do you know? I mean, you know, players do, and especially in baseball, players really do develop over time. You know, players are much better their third year than their second and their first and their rookie year. You know, I mean, the guy's been a catcher all his life. He was calling games in the minor

16:29 Steve leagues. Well, you know, they say scouts know best. Hey, look, look, look, look.

16:35 Chris It's the property. We have a real baseball expert with us. Of course, our biggest sponsor, the Pittsburgh Property Diva is here. And do you are you going to try to get into Steve's camera there? Oh, yeah. There we go. Look at that. Make sure my mic is on. It is. It is. And and I think we can we can probably this is a live show,

16:57 Steve guys. Oh, yeah. And there we go. Tell us your thoughts on Carlos Santana, not the singer. That's dumb.

17:11 Chris Black magic woman. Yeah, come on, honey. You know how to talk into the microphone. The Property Diva had her own radio show, so she this is like riding a bike

17:19 Steve for her. There you go. Carlos Santana is I'm really sorry. Well, you know, the guitar player. I do. Right. So what's your favorite Carlos Santana song? I would have to say Black Magic. Yeah, it is.

17:35 Marc It's everybody's. Leave the lights on. Your day job.

17:43 Steve Oh, man. Spank. OK.

17:48 Chris Laying it down on me. A couple a couple comments. Is that volume too high for you or too low?

17:53 Steve Are you good? No, it's good. I just wanted to pop on and interrupt you.

17:57 Chris Oh, you did. Is that what you're doing? You're doing a very good job of interrupting. I'm so happy you did. In the house. Hey, Brad. Brad Trombley. Hey, Brad. What's up? Steven says, thanks, guys. Great work. Thank you so much. He also says, remember, Neil Walker was drafted as a catcher 18 pass balls later.

18:15 Steve He was an all I have to say about Henry Davis is just put him in the line up. Just keep him going in one position. If that's what it is, if they're waiting for Carlos Santana to, you know, pass his music career on to somebody else in first place.

18:31 Chris Yeah, I will be done with it. That's what we said. You know, they're showcasing him. Well, Property Diva. Is there any real estate advice you'd like to give us before before you head upstairs to?

18:42 Steve I'd just like to give everybody a heads up that there's no inventory. Ah, yeah, I think they're finding that out. Is it a good time to buy a home? It's a seller's market. Oh, so you could make you could make some. You hear that, Susan, if you're out there in cyberspace listening. It's a seller's market. Time to sell the house. Time to sell the house.

19:07 Chris I mean, Keifer's moved in next door, so might be time to move in. His house is big enough for all of you.

19:15 Steve Well, and there's no air conditioning. How about you, Mark? Mark, can I move in with you if I sell my house? Well, you can stay with us for a couple of days if you have an air conditioning issue like Keifer. Ah, yes. Excellent point. Does Keifer have an air conditioning issue?

19:32 Chris Yeah, he doesn't have one. He doesn't have central air. He's got those units. Yeah, but they work. All right. Let's not go down that road.

19:40 Marc Okay. Where can we where can we find you, Property Diva? If we're selling our house, where can we get ahold of you? Propertydiva.com. You can call me on the phone. You can text me. Pittsburghpropertydiva.com. Can we Instagram you? Bella and me are building La Scow. Oh, it's a family affair tonight. Yeah. Yeah. Hey, DG. DG says he's seen some of your recent listings and they look really nice. I appreciate that. Oh, Amy said you cannot move in with us, Steve. That wasn't very nice.

20:18 Steve I don't blame her. This podcast is going to turn it into a frat house again. This whole thing is going to ship right now. I bet you let Susan move in. This is like friends and family hour.

20:28 Chris It is really it is. It is really. Oh, and Brad Trombley says makes me want to move to Pittsburgh after seeing those lists.

20:34 Steve There you go. Hey, Brad, you're going to be in for the game.

20:37 Chris You know, check out some houses. He's in Minnesota, right? Brad. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He's Minnesota. Shane. Where is Shane? Shane from Utah said he was going to be here.

20:45 Marc So well, over and out. Thank you, darling, for being here. Bye, Diva. Bye. I like her beside me better than you, Mark. I think you should stay there. Yeah, I agree. I like her across the table. That's the way it's got to be. That's the way it's got to be. She is actually she is much better looking than you are, Mark. Oh, foe show. Yeah. As a woman, I would say as a man, I'm better looking.

21:08 Chris Thanks, honey. Thank you. Well, maybe if you dressed up like a woman, you'd look better looking. Yeah. And apparently that's acceptable.

21:15 Marc It is trendy. I think you sound sick. Nobody ever denied that. Yeah. Sick in the head. You better stop talking or there could be a Netflix documentary coming up.

21:25 Chris Possibly. OK, let's get back to the Pirates here. So still in a rain delay. So we're not going to have any updates right now. But, you know, I continue to be to be confused about what the plan is. It seems to me, actually, if you're going to pull a plan out of this year from the Pirates, it was let's see how things go. And if the shit hits the fan, we'll bring up our entire Indianapolis team and see how they do, you know, because I don't see, you know, anything. And I said this last night on the Buccos report as well. Is there anybody in this lineup who anybody is afraid of? And the answer is no. You know, there's just not. You've got you've got the young players that are rookies and they're aggressive at the plate. But, you know, there's no track record. Nobody's afraid of them. Nobody is afraid of Andrew McCutcheon anymore. And, you know, 10 years ago, he was a great player. Now, you know, he's at the tail end of his career. He's going to give you solid at bats. He's going to have that veteran presence. He's going to make very few mistakes. That's good. But he's not the guy in the lineup that anybody's going to worry about. And Brian Reynolds is I'm starting to believe he's a little above average Major League Baseball player, little above average. He plays a decent left field and he's got a decent bat, you know, with runners in scoring position. He's OK. We just don't get a lot of them. And, you know, that they they brought McCutcheon in for press. They signed Reynolds to avoid a mutiny. True. And then when you got a guy like Swinsky batting first, what in the hell are you doing?

23:06 Steve That doesn't make any sense. He's a power hitter. You got to put him in the three, four, five spot somewhere down. Just look, I've watched the five spots right for him.

23:14 Chris I've watched him sitting in the five spot and do really, really well. Oh, Steve, now it's two Penguins games, a Steelers game in between so you can catch up. Hey, Brad, one of those ascends game, right? And DG says the show takes a big dip when Lauren and Amy Lee. Yeah. And the dog, Bella. Little above average, which much bigger than average contract for Brian Reynolds. Yeah, I mean, I don't know that his contract is much bigger than average, but it's it's it's bigger.

23:45 Steve Yeah. But in today's salary, it's it's an average. Yeah. And it's probably a really good contract for him the way he the way he's been playing this year. Yeah. Hopefully it pans out a little bit more next year when they actually need him. I that's right. The Ducks got it, Brad.

24:01 Chris I'm just but when I look at it going forward, I'm I'm very there's a lot of people in the media that are optimistic. And here's what they're optimistic about. OK, you've got all the young players we brought up, you know, Triolo Gonzalez. Now, Rodriguez, like Triolo, right? I love Triolo, actually. I really do. And can you play first base? No, he's a third baseman. Yeah, he's a third baseman all the way. He won the gold glove in the minor leagues for third base in the minor leagues. It's all it's all leagues. Yeah. Single all the way back to me now. And I watched him make some incredible. I mean, in Brooks Robinson like plays at third base. Now he's he's made a couple of mistakes because he's a rookie. That's a little hyperbole. His now I'm telling you, his range is incredible and he's got a great arm and he's got a good head. And he also has a pretty aggressive bat. He's like six or seven for eleven with runners in scoring position. And I will have the Triolio Aglio Olio and a Caesar salad, please. There you go. It's the new Rothfuss burger. So so there was a story that came out in the last couple of days. A couple of different media outlets have covered it where they have said that both Key Brian Hayes and his father, Charlie Hayes, are not really happy with his situation in Pittsburgh and that he might not want to be here. Now, who knows how much of that is conjecture and somebody taking so. But I have a feeling who really wants to be in Pittsburgh right now. Well, yeah, I get it. But I have I have a feeling that Key Brian Hayes is is on his way out for two reasons. One, he seems to have this recurring back injury and they just can't get him back on the field. How much of that is positioning as well for like they did bring up this guy, Jared Triolo, who he is a Major League third baseman. And when I say that, what I mean is he can be an everyday Major League third baseman. He can hit the ball. He can feel the ball. That's it. You know, Tom Hanks baseball is running, running is what throwing the ball, catching the ball, hitting the ball. He can do that. Hayes to me, I didn't see anything out of that guy that made him jump out at me this year. I mean, yeah, he had a couple pretty good plays at third base. That's what everybody was talking about. But he's such a streaky hitter. So I just don't I just don't know what the plan is going forward other than we hope that like Ronzi Contreras, who they sent down, he's only 23 in the beginning of the year. He had some stuff that was lightning and then he lost it. You know, he just couldn't get back on track as a pitcher.

26:38 Steve Well, with the new rotation is going to be coming in the play with Priester and then, you know, eventually, right. And you still got your ace. He could be a target for that middle relief. They need a good middle relief guy. Yeah.

26:51 Chris Well, and the other thing is at the All-Star or at the trade deadline, we're going to be sellers. I don't care what anybody says. Yeah, they're definitely going to get rid of some guys. So who are they going to sell Bednar Keller?

27:04 Steve They might say they might keep Bednar. I don't see them keeping Bednar. I mean, why not? You got him signed for three years. I mean, he the three year windows where I see this team right now. Who do you who do you? Yeah. But who are you going to get your greatest return for Bednar or why do you need return? You don't need return anymore. This team doesn't need any more return. That's what how they're going to justify it. I know. But that's what's bullshit about the Pirates organization. They always think about what kind of return can we get for this guy? Well, how about the return you'll get from the next two years when you actually are contending and you have a guy who can save games and could potentially get 40 or 50 saves if if if everything strikes gold with right with your pitching, right? With your starting pitching, you potentially have three really good starting pitchers, right? Keep him just fucking keep him. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like I get the return on investment for Kutch. Kutch is not going to be the guy who's going to be here when this team is actually going to be good. They might be OK next year, but that's about it for Kutch. So you would trade Kutch? I would. I would. I would. You know what? Only because they absolutely have no chance at it. And unless he is really good in the locker room with these with these kids, which I'm sure he is, maybe he is. That would be the only reason I keep him. And I have no I have no way to know that right? You know, nobody really does. But you don't keep him because Kutch wants to stay. You keep him because you think about your prospects at this point and making your prospects the best coming into the next season. So they don't leave this season with like a bad taste in their mouth. They leave this season with like, man, we've got a really we've got a lot of really good talent. We're going to get some great pitching next year.

28:51 Chris We can get the hitting together and then, you know, you see what next year is about and you've got a full season to figure it out. I want to hear what Schwab or the the the non pirates fan. He's a fan of the Phillies. He follows the pirates because he lives in Pittsburgh. Schwab or your screw all the stuff we've just been talking about because that's all in the weeds. As an outsider looking at the pirates right now, knowing that they are definitely going to be sellers at the trade deadline.

29:20 Marc I'd be shocked if they weren't. Who would you trade? Who do you think they're going to trade or who would you trade? Well, if I'm an opposing if I'm an opposing team, I would want Keller, Badnar and maybe McCutcheon if I need another outfielder with pop. What about Santana? No interest. I mean, look, I mean, Santana played for the Phillies a couple of years back, maybe five years back at this point, kind of like at a point where the Phillies were where the pirates are now. And he did the same thing. He hit 240. You know, he ended up getting like maybe like 18 home runs. He walked a lot and he played average in the field. I never thought he was anything special in the field. I just think he's a below average ballplayer, you know, maybe a little closer to average, but below average. I think he sucks. Are those your are those your three guys, Keller, Badnar and who was the other guy? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, there's there's there's no there's no one else that, you know, I think would really do much for you. I mean, you know, and I think that's kind of like a sad state of affairs.

30:45 Steve I agree. Yeah. They don't go out and get anybody and all their prospects right now are too young to give up on. You know, right. You don't have any aspect the last two years who's been promising and they only have for another year or two. They know they're not going to sign them. Now would be the time to get rid of that person. They just don't have that person on the roster right now.

31:06 Marc So there is one wild card in this and that wild card, of course, is O'Neill Cruz, who is actually let me back up on that for a second. I would also say Brian Reynolds. But, you know, I would imagine after they locked them up to a hundred million dollar deal there, that's the idea behind that was showing Pittsburgh. We're going to keep one of our own. So I'd be really surprised if they would.

31:31 Steve Yeah, now see, that's the kind of guy I think they would dump because they signed them to a pretty big contract. They got somebody else who can fill who may be even better than him, at least as good as him and is half the price. So that would be the kind of guy the classic Pittsburgh organization would would sell off.

31:51 Chris And in this case, I might agree. Yeah. You know, what's funny is that would be I don't think that the idea that Brian Reynolds would be traded is on anybody's radar at all.

32:02 Marc And you have seen them make moves in the past that we did not think were on the radar. Yes. See, see here now. Here's now here's the thing, honestly, that if you really think about it, it's kind of crazy. But part of the reason why a lot of fans are disappointed with Brian Reynolds right now is because his contract says he's the best player on this team. Yeah, right. You know, but if he goes to a serious playoff contender like like the Phillies or like, you know, the the Giants or the Diamondbacks or even the ones who are definitely going to make it like, you know, like the Braves and Houston. You know, he might be the seventh best player in their lineup.

32:47 Chris So he's got so he's got no pressure. He's batting either seven, eight or nine, probably. And, you know, if he gives you, you know, 20 home runs and hits 275 and gets you 80 RBI eyes and plays a decent defense, you know, as your seventh or eighth best position player, then you feel like you've hit a gold mine. Yeah, that's a good point. Yeah. You know, the other thing that I brought up last night, as far as the pitching goes, is all the talk about Mitch Keller being a Cy Young candidate in the beginning of the year. And I've reevaluated this this thing. First of all, he's no longer a Cy Young candidate as far as I'm concerned. But he he's not that great. He's just not. He's not a number one starter on another team that has a good pitching staff. He could be a solid number two on a team that has a good pitch, like the Braves that has a good pitching staff. He might actually even be a number three. Now, I know that's pushing it. But I don't think Mitch Keller at this point, he's definitely better than he was last year. And his first couple of years, he is he has made some serious progress. But I don't think that he is that number one ace that everybody thinks he's going to be. And I think that with drafting Paul Skeens, which, oh, my God, if you're in Pittsburgh, this guy is the second coming of Cy Young, leaves them open to make that move because his value right now is higher than it's ever been in his career. And yes, we need pitching. But again, there's that two, three year window, you know, and he's up he's eligible for arbitration after next year and he's going to get paid. So they're in a they're in a bind right now where they have to try to figure out whether or not they want to offer an extension right now or let him go to arbitration. And I think the pirates lose no matter what, because they don't want to pay Mitch. If they have to offer him a contract right now and he continues to pitch just the way he's pitching right now, they're he's he's going to say no to anything they have to offer, because on the open market, he's going to get a hell of a lot more money if he can keep this pace up. So why not trade him right now when his value is probably highest to you as an organization? Like the Yankees wouldn't trade him right now. Do you know what I mean? Like other teams wouldn't trade him right now, but the pirates, they could trade him.

35:25 Steve They really could. Yeah, they might because they don't really have them locked up. That's absolutely true. Yeah, that would that would make some sense unless you think you need three starters in this league because they're not going to have it. And who even knows if this Quinn Priester is going to be any good. So yeah, I think what they'll do is they brought Quinn Priester up to see what he's got. And if he's good enough, they might let they might let him go. Yeah, they might. They might trade Miller. I think they're going to get their highest return. How much is he going to make an arbitration? Like is he going to get a ten million dollars? I don't know. I don't know. You know what? I mean, I don't think it'll be I don't think it'll be so ridiculous. You're like there's no way we'd keep him for that money. Yeah.

36:07 Marc Well, let me let me put to you like this, you know, Zach Efflin, who pitched for the Phillies last year, and he was their fourth slash fifth starter. And he just had an average year last year, but he's always had good stuff. It's just sort of, you know, hasn't really materialized with injuries and stuff like that. Tampa Bay paid him 15 million a year. Yeah. I mean, like I don't know off the top of my head, but I'm going to guess his ERA was in the fours last year.

36:34 Steve Right. So is it or is going to pay a guy 15 million a year to be a pitcher? I don't know. No, no. The question is, is that what he'll get in arbitration? Well, right. They get he can go to arbitration the next two years and they can keep it.

36:45 Chris Yeah, I know. But that's what I'm saying is, do they want to pay that amount a year for a pitcher? I mean, they they had a lot of trouble forking over 10 million plus for for Brian Reynolds, who's an above average player. And Mitch Keller has shown nothing other than at the end of last year and the first part of this year, you know, that that that he's a great pitcher other than this small sample size.

37:10 Steve I mean, I do. My philosophy with the Pirates are if it costs them money, they're not going to pay it. That's what I'm saying. But I think he's gone. If they want to be a playoff contender, probably not next year, but the year after they're going to have to keep guys like this who are going to be in the organization for one or two years. And when they get to that third year, and maybe he's making maybe you'll end up making 20 million that year. You know what? If he's if he's a good starting pitcher, that's worth it. It's absolutely worth it to keep him. But this is my problem with the Pittsburgh Pirates organization. They never do the right thing. They never are patient with these guys. They let them go. And you know what? They do get rich elsewhere, to Mark's point, and he will get rich elsewhere. I would just for once like to see the organization change the way they do business when it comes to situations like this.

38:09 Marc And that's why I'm watching. There you go. Yeah, I agree. I mean, you know, the bottom line is, is that if they are going to get good in the next three years, they need Mitch Keller to be one of the top three starters. Exactly. Yeah, I agree. That's why it would be foolish to let him go. But I will also agree with their mindset is probably more towards yours than, you know, me and Steve in that they're probably saying, you know what? He's he's kind of at his peak of, you know, most desired right now. We should get all we can for him.

38:47 Chris Yeah. Yeah. And that's that's the history. I think he's gone. I'll make that prediction. I know that buckos nation is going to hate me for that. But my prediction is that unless the Pirates turn around and win like seven straight, you can kiss Mitch Keller goodbye.

39:02 Steve Well, and this is why the Pirates end up being so awful, terrible for so long, because maybe Quinn Priester has a good outing tonight. And maybe the next time he's out, he has another good outing in there. Yeah. Oh, we can afford to let Mitch Keller go. And then Quinn Priester now becomes your number one pitcher and he's garbage.

39:20 Chris Yeah. And, you know, and that's happened. That's happened quite a few times. And as of right now, they did start playing baseball at PNC Park. It's the middle of the second inning at zero to zero. Yeah. Quinn Priester has pitched two innings. He's throwing a no hitter after two innings, but he hasn't struck.

39:37 Steve No, he said he's going to have trouble from, you know, striking people out because he doesn't have a fastball. Yeah. So he's not really fooling anybody because he's throwing junk all the time. So they're just kind of waiting for whether it's a slider curve. Why don't we talk so highly about a guy that doesn't have a fastball? I know. I know. It's getting better. Here's the. It actually kind of does.

40:00 Marc You know what? Just as sort of an aside, it does actually. Like, I can't understand why, like to me, the hardest thing to do in baseball is to hit, you know, a 99 mile per hour fastball. Which is why they got schemes. Right. But I don't understand. Like they're they these junk ballers come up there and I don't care if it's a slider or curveball. I'm sorry. You're throwing it like 80 miles an hour, man. Like they should be able to destroy those base.

40:30 Steve Unless you have a heater that you can bring. Right. And then it grows off balance. That was always think, Chris, you played pony ball, right? You know, those guys that could really throw a wicked curveball. They were the hardest one to hit because it might be like the first couple of times you've ever seen a curveball in your life. Well, you're in that age. Yeah. A real curveball.

40:51 Chris A real curveball. You saw a lot of attempts at curveballs. Right. Right.

40:54 Steve But so so like when somebody has a good one, that's all they want to ever do. Yeah. Yeah.

40:59 Marc You know, and I tried to throw one when I pitched, I tried to throw one and I guess that's why I didn't pitch. So are we in agreement that 40 minutes is too much on the pirates? Yes, it always is.

41:13 Steve But, you know, we get in this rabbit hole because we want the pirates to be better. Yeah. Yeah. We want the organization to do the right thing. And we always know what's going to happen. By the way, you guys might you guys might find this interesting.

41:25 Marc Speaking about our little league days when I played Little League, I was a pitcher. And what kind of made me different that a lot of people couldn't hit what I had was I was doing the Dan Quisenberry sidewinder. Oh, yeah. I used Colby. Yeah, I would pay good money to do video.

41:44 Chris I was I was I was actually pretty darn good at it for a little bit. The Giants have a pair of twins. They have twins on their roster that are pitchers, which I think is super corny. Taylor and Tyler Rogers. And one of them is a submariner. And they showed he literally when he throws the ball, his knuckles are two inches off the ground. That's crazy. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So I was a little bit of a wimp. That's crazy. Yeah. Yeah. So one last thing I want to say about baseball in general out here in Pittsburgh, the media state there. Of course, everybody's on the where's where's Otani going to go? Where's Otani going to go? Right. OK, not here. Not Pittsburgh. Why is this even a debate? Why? You know where Otani is going. You know where he's going. He's going to the New York Yankees.

42:40 Marc I think Boston's going to make a run. Not necessarily. Boston will try. Atlanta will try. The Rangers will try. No, yes.

42:49 Chris Everybody will try. I will try to have him over for dinner. OK, he is going to the New York Yankees. Why? Because he's a player from Japan. He's the best player ever out of that country. He's an absolute phenom. He's going to get the most money for a contract in the history of baseball. And probably the most for a long time because nobody can do what he does. And you know who pays for that? The Yankees. They're going to have an escalation clause. They're going to tell him whatever you want, whatever you get offered, we will double it. Because New York, that's where I and I hate the Yankees, but that's where he belongs. And he's from Japan. And the New York Yankees are huge over there. So I don't know why these morons in the media are speculating. Hey, look, if he ends up in Boston, I got egg on my face. I get it. Mariners closest flight home. Mariners close. Yeah, yeah. He's got a close, he's got a close flight now in LA. It's not that different. San Francisco is pretty close. Or San Fran, right. I mean, I don't know why it's even a frigging debate.

44:04 Marc He's signing with the Yankees. Not necessarily. You'll be surprised.

44:08 Chris When Mike Musina ended up being a free agent, who signed him? The Yankees. OK, he was a lifetime Baltimore Oriole, grew up in central Pennsylvania, always proclaimed he would play for the Orioles. And as soon as they showed him the money, he signed with the Yankees. What did Mark Tashara do? Same thing. He was from the Baltimore Washington era. All of a sudden, he's a great big player on the Rangers. What did he do? He signed with the Yankees. What did Alex Rodriguez do after he dicked around in Seattle and then dicked around in Texas? The Yankees gave him the farm. He signed with the Yankees. What did Roger Clemens do? He signed with the Yankees. Do I have to go on? Well, you haven't really named anybody recent though. That's because I haven't named anybody. Well, that's because they have Aaron Judge. Well, right, right, right. No, listen. Mark my words, Mark my words, which is surprising for the Yankees. OK, hockey Jesus, you got five minutes. You got five minutes. Hockey Jesus preaches on the podcast after every Penguins game during the regular season. And he bestows upon us his wisdom when it's not the regular season. And if you have something you want to say about hockey, you can call us at 412-805-7236 and join the program.

45:22 Marc If you're watching live right now, go ahead. So, Steve, I think the question everybody wants to know is will Eric Carlson be wearing the black and gold?

45:32 Steve I think the answer to that question is undoubtedly yes. Oh, OK. Here's why I think so. I it really is coming down to Carolina and Pittsburgh. I mean, everybody saying that, everybody who's anybody is saying that. And a lot of people are saying that Carlson doesn't want to play second fiddle fiddle to Brett Burns again. And that makes a lot of sense to me because Carlson's got a big ego. He liked being out in San Jose all by himself. But what he doesn't like about San Jose is there's no chance for winning out there. So I think he'd probably have a better chance of winning the Cup with Carolina. But I think his ego is big enough that he realizes if he comes to Pittsburgh. And if you look at the style of play of the offenses, Carolina, he's not going to have the ability to just release into the offensive zone whenever he wants in Pittsburgh. He can do it every frickin play if he wants to. And I think he loves that style of play. I think it fits his what he wants to do on the ice perfectly. The only thing I think for Pittsburgh is and I think this is a good thing that it's taking so long is they know they're in the catbird seat. So I think they probably took a probably a number one pick off the off the board and probably took Pederson off the board and said, look, if you want if you want to dump his salary and you want to get something in return, we're going to give you Petri. Probably going to give him somebody younger, like maybe an O'Connor or maybe even somebody from their farm system. I hope they don't give him Owen Pickering. He's their draft pick from two years ago. But if they had to, I wouldn't say it's terrible and probably a number one. But I think they're looking to try and get two number ones in Pittsburgh's like, no, we're not giving you that second number one. And they don't have anybody else who's going to who's going to who's going to be able to offer that. So I think in the end, Pittsburgh gets him and I think it's going to be probably more than a lot of people want to spend.

47:38 Marc But I think they have to get him if they want to be considered playoff contenders. OK, so, Steve, I've got an Eric Carlson question for you because I knew we were having this this banter tonight. And let's just be honest, Steve. Carlson's a pretty common hockey name. There's a few there's a few Carlson's out there. So I'm like, which Carlson is this guy? OK, so so I looked him up. OK, the first thing that stands out to you is like, wow, did he have an unreal season last year? He had 25 goals, 76 assists and 101 points.

48:18 Steve I know you're going with this. I already know where you're going with this.

48:21 Marc And then I was just like, wait a minute. You have to go all the way back to 2017, 2016 since he had 71, 82, 66, 74. Yeah, there's this there's this time between 2018 and 2022 where now injuries are a part of it because he only played a little over 50 games each year. But, you know, still, we're talking some low point totals like, you know, in 52 games in 2021, 22 points in in 2022. Fifty games, 35 points, you know, in 2020, 56 games, 40 points. Not terrible. But, you know, like, for example, 20, that was before he when did he go to the San Jose? That was actually when he did go to San Jose. He went to San Jose in 2018, 2019. What was the decrease in points from his last year in Ottawa or yeah, Ottawa, Ottawa versus. Yeah, 62 last year in Ottawa to 45.

49:24 Steve Right. So I think that's exactly why he's going to go to Pittsburgh because San Jose, they just didn't play the same game that Ottawa played. And remember, this is the Ottawa Senators without without a lot of talent. They had no talent left without Alfredson. Right. Remember, they took the Pittsburgh Penguins when they won the second cup, I believe, to the Stanley Cup, to the Eastern Conference Finals. And then they fell off the face of the planet because that was all their guys and they were that was basically their last hurrah. And they were done after that. And Carlson was last man standing. And that's why he ended up in San Jose. So I don't think he's going to make that mistake again and go to Carolina, then maybe only score 40, 50 points. I think he wants to finish his career on a high. He wants to show he's a goalscorer slash playmaker and he'll be he'll fit in perfectly in Pittsburgh. The problem is, and I know Pittsburghers think that they need to go get a defensive guy, somebody who's a stay at home defenseman. That position doesn't exist anymore. I actually thought you were going to go to the plus minus. Yeah, because it's bad. Yeah, it's pretty bad. It's minus one or three lifetime. It's coming from the non hockey guy. I knew that I'm catching up this year. I'm telling you. Yeah, but I would I would agree with I would agree with Jesus. Baby hockey. No. Yeah.

50:50 Marc I mean, he's a hockey mini hockey Jesus. I would agree with Steve, though, on this one. If you if you have a defenseman that can score 20 goals like he did last year, it doesn't matter really how well they defend. It doesn't because they're scoring on the power play.

51:08 Steve You're going to score three or four goals. And if you give up one or two, who cares? You know, OK, let's move.

51:14 Chris Besides, they signed Jari and he's going to be a brick wall back there now. Yeah, I love I love your confidence. OK, last segment of the evening, something we like to call What Are We Watching? And we'd love to hear what you are watching for one to eight or five, seven, two, three, six. And this is what are we streaming? What are we enjoying? I'm going to give Mark the go ahead on this one this week. Mark, you are watching Platonic. So I don't know that I'm not familiar with that word. Roseburn Platonic means men and women, friends together, but nothing on the flippity flip. Like I said, first of all, I'm not familiar with Platonic and I'm also not familiar with flippity flip. But anyway, you know what the flippity flip is. I can make assumptions.

52:11 Marc Well, no, you did. So it's on Apple. It's on Apple TV plus. And it's 10 episodes, 10 episodes. Seth Rogen, Roseburn, hilarious, definitely highly recommend. It's basically about two people kind of in. They used to be friends over in life, but then, you know, you get married, you have kids, you drift apart. Seth Rogen is like a brewmaster at a brewery. He kind of sounds familiar to me. He's still he's still kind of lives the bachelor type lifestyle. You've got Roseburn. She's like a stay at home mom and, you know, her husband's like a big time lawyer and she feels lost, you know, because she doesn't work and blah, blah, blah. The two of them get together and kind of get back to their old shenanigans, you know, of being like wild and crazy, you know, in the after hours. But the number one reason why this has to be watched for those who participate in this program is that the last episode, I would say, has a pretty significant scene based around UFOs. And and it is and it is the classic. Are there UFOs? Are there not UFOs? Did we see a UFO? Did we not see a UFO? And it is tailor made for Chris Klein. I'm actually surprised right now. He hasn't finished it. Well, I told him this about a week ago. Yeah, that's true.

53:48 Steve He's just going to jump right to the last episode.

53:50 Chris Yeah, yeah, screw the rest of it. I want to watch the part.

53:55 Steve It sounds like it's equal to this. Am I right about that?

53:58 Marc You know what? I'm not sure because it did. It did end at a pretty good spot. I like it. It will sense to come to come back for a second season.

54:07 Steve But I will tell you that it was good enough that I imagine it would have the audience for a second season. OK, platonic show about aliens on Apple TV plus half a show about. I know Steve is watching something that is finally, finally the man in the high castle. That's been around a while in Amazon original. So I've been watching it a while and I actually thought I want to really talk about this show because when I first started watching it, I was really into it. Like I was like, oh, this is going to be great. Yeah. And then they like like episode two, three, three, four, five. It's like they got so we in the things they did. And things were so like weird. Like you can't tell if they're talking about which future they're talking about because clearly, you know, as far as I know, I don't think the SS run the United States now. OK, they don't. OK, they don't. OK, I was just checking. I mean, I have it on good authority that they try. I mean, I haven't been west of the Mississippi in a while, so I thought maybe things have changed out south of the Mason Dixon. Yeah, maybe. But OK, so let's assume that the real reality is that the United States won the war and Hitler didn't. Yeah, we know that we know that.

55:33 Chris Right. You're correct on that. This is the way you're correct. But but like been reading Wikipedia.

55:40 Steve But like in the movie or in the series, it's like they're constantly flipping around like, well, maybe this didn't happen or maybe that didn't happen. And at the beginning, you get confused by it. But after a while, you just are like you embrace the confusion. Right. And that's where I got to. And then I started watching it again. And I'm like, oh, this is actually really good. Now that I got that confusion out of my head and like, is it just propaganda? You know, that sort of thing.

56:08 Chris So I'm into the second season now and I feel like I've got a good I've got a good momentum to take me to the end. Well, you haven't gotten to did you watch the man in the high castle, Mark? I have not watched it. No. OK, so you there's a pivotal moment. I cannot. I've watched it a couple of years ago, but there's a pivotal moment. Well, I made it to the point where she makes it to the guy with all the films. OK. OK. You haven't reached the pivotal moment.

56:39 Steve OK. There's a pivotal moment to me that was like, OK, that makes a lot of sense. But there's more. I know there's. Yeah.

56:46 Chris Yeah. So well, and I'm not going to obviously I'm not going to ruin it for you, but you haven't hit that moment yet where the confusion and the the real past and the what the hell is this? Yes. They kind of merge them together. You'll hit that moment forward to it. I'll be very curious to see what your reaction to that moment is. Yeah, definitely. OK, the man in the high castle. I would classify that as far as streaming life goes on TV now as an oldie but goodie already. Yeah, it is. It's old. Yeah. So I am watching something on Apple TV Plus. It is called Echo 3.

57:22 Marc And so I would before you get into it, Chris, I want to say thank you for not being a selfish watcher. I'm sure you remember during off the grid when I presented Echo 3, you took me up on it and tell us how you feel.

57:40 Chris I actually I actually did remember you recommending it. Thankfully, I didn't remember a whole lot about what you said about it. So it's it isn't ruined for me. But basically on Apple TV Plus, it's about a woman who goes into the jungles in Venezuela as a scientist to collect fungus samples for study. She ends up getting kidnapped, you know, the standard kidnapped for ransom.

58:05 Marc Yeah, by the way, like never a good idea to go into the jungle, Colombia by yourself. Yeah. You know what I mean?

58:11 Steve You're looking for fungus.

58:13 Chris You actually not a way to go. You actually said that on off the grid. That was your big thing. Like, it's probably not a good idea. But but makes for good. But all the people get kidnapped there do it. Yeah, that's true. Obviously, obviously. That's like everybody who gets an MTO is disappointed. Obviously. So sorry, she's feel it's an opening for get go. So she goes into the and she gets kidnapped for ransom. But what happens is her husband is a special forces guy. Her brother is a special forces guy. Her husband's family is very well connected and very wealthy on the political front. And so it turns into this like at first they think they've kidnapped these American this American scientists, blah, blah, blah. We'll get some money. But then they find and I won't I won't blow this for you. But then they think they come up with a reason that, oh, this woman must be a little bit more important because she has something with her. And then it's this kind of back and forth like now we're going to kind of hold on to her and figure out what she's really doing here. And she's like, I'm a scientist and my husband, you know, and I'm only on my I think I'm on episode seven of season one. So it sounds very like the Americans. With the deception. Well, there's there's something about her that I'm not going to talk about because I know you don't really find this out until like two or three episodes in. But there's something about her that is that makes you believe, or at least has me believing right now that she may or may not be exactly what she says she is. But they don't give you any. You know what? Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. OK. All right. All right.

01:00:05 Steve We have you seen the silo yet? I haven't.

01:00:09 Marc You're the only guy who hasn't seen the silo in this room. You have to know I did actually I proposed it to the Amy May, but it wasn't going to be something for her. So I got to watch it on my own. I'm watching like four things on my own. Yeah. And I started watching. I started watching the second.

01:00:25 Chris I'm going to start watching the second season of Foundation. And there's a new one coming out called Extrapolations. Which kind of makes it kind of makes it actually makes my insides hurt. Extrapolations.

01:00:38 Marc I don't like things that get a strap. I need to know more about that. That's about it for us. Thank you.

01:00:45 Steve That was a saving grace.

01:00:46 Chris We could drag this on forever and ever and ever for another hour. Yes.

01:00:51 Marc And we get to keep going and going and going and on and on and on. We're the Energizer Buzzy.

01:00:56 Chris We would love it. If you would pay me to do this 24 seven, I would not sleep. I just wouldn't. Would you?

01:01:03 Marc I would be. I would find time to sleep. OK.

01:01:07 Chris Thank you for watching the Sports Porch podcast live on social media. Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitter and all over the world. And of course, we're going to drop the podcast as we always do on the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, Spotify or anywhere you get your friggin podcast and always visit us. It's all one word, folks. The Porch is live dot com. The Porch is live dot com. That's it. That's it. Football season is almost here. It's almost here. One week away. We are out.