What's up, everybody?

Welcome back to another emergency episode of Bucco Territory presented by the Foul Territory Network.

He is Platinum Key aka Mark I and Noah Hayles, and we bring you some reactions to more Pirates related breaking news.

Mark, for the second time in the same calendar week, your Pittsburgh Pirates have signed or have acquired an All Star and this one comes, believe it or not, via free agency.

They sign All Star first baseman Slash outfielder Slash dh Ryan O'Hearn.

The deal as two years, twenty nine million dollars plus some incentives.

It is their.

First multi year free agent deal since evon Nova.

They can finally put what's that stat to bed and that that is something that this franchise is desperate needed to take care of.

They did it.

Mark, just the last time we recorded, I went out of my way to say, you know, Ben Cherrington has spent his capital right, he's he's traded away pitchers that he's acquired that he's you know, hired people to develop.

It was time for them to spend a little bit of money and they did that.

This was, Yes, this is one of the best free agents out there this offseason.

Now, I'm not gonna sit here and act like he is a franchise altering talent.

This is an above average baseball player, a guy who would make any lineup better, and they can find a spot for him.

Yeah, he's an All star baseball player.

There's still a lot more work to be done.

I don't think they're a playoff team just yet, but I do think they're a better baseball team right now.

Again, I'll ask you the same question I asked you last Friday?

How excited are you about this news?

Even more exciting?

This is over the moon, Like I'm ecstatic.

We might not be there yet, but we are right on the door step of being a competitor baseball team.

These the Pirates just added twenty twenty five all Stars.

They added two guys that if they were on the Pirates last year, would have been the two best hitters in the lineup.

Yep, they added two left handed bats that both bring power, that both have ops's around eight hundred.

This is a fantastic move.

This is everything we were begging for the monthly and up to these this week.

This is exactly what we've been saying.

Hey, if the Pirates want to compete.

They need to trade for Brandon Lowe and go sign Ryan O'Hearn.

What they do.

They traded for Brandon Lowe and they signed Ryan O'Hearn, and so it's it's refreshing to put it, I'll put it that way.

Still a lot more to be done, but every seple of the way so far, they've been making the right moves and it's just a really really exciting time to be a Pirates fan.

Having covered this team obviously for a few years in the off seasons, I would write these these wishless right that, like, you could say, Okay, here are fifty players the Pirates should try to acquire.

And it was pretty dejecting after spending like a whole week writing something like that, to see not one of those fifty players.

But these are guys that would have been on those lists if I was still on the Pirates beat, right Like, these are guys that you look at and you say, this is a fit that makes sense.

They're in their price range, either through trade acquisition, price tag or just free agency, and they went out and got them.

And if I would have told any Pirate fan, you know, a couple of minutes after Travis Williams stumbled over his words.

Full stop.

Yeah.

And if I would have said, you know, a couple of minutes after that, like it, well, guess what, Like that was bad?

And I know you're upset that Sherrington's back and Williams is back, and they won't commit to even saying they're going to spend more money.

They're going to acquire two all stars.

They're going to acquire a top one hundred prospect who's major league ready.

They're going to acquire, uh, like.

A fourth outfielder platoon guy who hit two ninety six as a rookie and is a plus defender at all three outfield spots and steals twenty plus bases, and then a young left hander who is a project but throws one hundred miles per hour and has a solid slider.

And they're gonna do all of this before Christmas.

Yeah, I would no one wanted to believe that.

No, Yeah, I'm optimistic, And I would have still called you probably crazy.

Yes, And so you look at the big picture now here, Mark, I mean, they still have prospects to trade.

They have not traded away any of their farm unless you would to include Mike Burrows or you know, the few low level prospects.

They threw in in the Oviedo deal.

They still have if depending on you know what projected payroll right reports have been out there, probably still have a little bit of money to spend.

Don't know if it's O Kamodo money anymore.

Maybe it is, maybe it's not.

And obviously that payroll can be adjusted.

If you move a guy who's in arbitration away, then you have more money to spend.

So we'll figure out what that budget will end up looking like.

But for all.

Intentsive purposes, this is the best offseason they've had on paper in the many years that Ben Harrington's been here, and there's still room to improve.

There's even small signings.

You look at some of the other moves they made last year.

If they were to add the equivalent of like a Caleb Ferguson who signed like a one year, three million dollar deal or something like, moves like that for the bullpen make a ton of sense.

They still have room for that.

And if you want to go trade for a year of Alec Baum or a couple of years of Adley Rushman, or you know, sign a free agent, if you want to extend your payroll a little bit and sign an Okamono, like there's still room to get better.

And yeah, they're they're they're doing everything fans would have.

Hoped to see them do so far, I think.

Yeah, I mean it.

I was just got home from a home I just got to Wisconsin from a drive, So I really haven't gotten to see like the fan reaction on Twitter yet, but I'm so excited to take a look because I've never seen a Pittsburgh Pirates offseason where the fans are celebrating the moves the teams are making, where the team's making moves that are making waves.

Like I saw someone left a comment that's like, I'm going to go spend some money on Bob Dunion's baseball team after this offseason.

Now that wasn't playing on doing before.

This is exactly what this fan base needed.

Who knows if it's actually going to come to fruition, if anything's going to work out next season here coming out, but at least they're putting together an offseason that gives the team a chance, which I haven't seen the past two off seasons, and so it's really really refreshing to see the correct moves being made, confidently being made, and done so in a way that doesn't completely strip this team of the future either.

Outside of losing Paul's Skins.

I mean pretty much everyone on this team still intact.

You still have minch Keller locked up, you still have a lot of your young pitching prospects, you still have Bubba Chandler, you still have seth Ornandez, you still have Connor Griffin.

So there's there's a lot of reasons to believe in this team.

All of a sudden, I want to say one thing as well, real quick, these moves I don't know if they happen without Paul Skins.

And I'm not even saying that the verbal pressure that Paul kind of put on them when he spoke with me in Denver last year, and and and he did some other interviews as well where he kind of suggested, like, I really hope we had some bats.

You know.

I just think the national attention that comes from having Paul Skins on your team prevented the Pirates from being able to be incompetent, and the background right, they couldn't fail quietly anymore, and the noise got so loud that it became a national story to sell the team shirts and chants, and and the that the disaster that was Pirate Fest, and the Bucco bricks and surf side, and just the horrible vibes that surrounded this team at the end of the season, and you know, the reports about how players didn't necessarily believe that they were trying to win, Like all this stuff, right, would have probably just been a Pittsburgh story if they didn't have the best baseball player or one of the best baseball players in the world, the best pitcher in the world maybe exactly on their team and the rest of the baseball world saying get this guy out of there.

They're not trying.

I think it did put additional pressure on them.

Now, I'm not saying that people in their front office weren't trying.

I think Ben Sherrington's always been trying, but it does seem like there have been more green lights than in past years.

I and I one hundred percent believe that the pressure not not the losing, because they've lost so many times, right, I think it's the pressure that came from that losing that came from there is that absolute joke of a twenty twenty five season that finally forced the man at the top to say, all right, we've got to.

Do something different.

And it might just be to make himself look good heading into a CBA negotiation.

It might just be so people stop chasing them through the conference.

Regardless of the reasoning, they're doing the things that their fans have been begging them to do for a long time.

Now, it's still not enough.

They still need to do more.

The way I see it right now, this is about a five hundred ball club with the pitching.

But your mission this offseason was to turn the worst offense in Major League Baseball into an average offense.

If you can do that, your pitching is good enough where you're probably gonna be able to sneak into a wildcard berth.

Especially with this division.

Yeah, yes, I don't know if they're an average offense yet, but when you look, Oahearn is going to be in a above average bat more likely than not.

Lao is going to be an above average bat.

More likely than not.

Connor Griffin you feel pretty good about his offensive capabilities.

And then the platoon of Mangam and Garcia, you feel pretty good about those two as a platoon.

Not to mention what they're capable of achieving individually, you feel good about that compared to anything else you've had in left field for recent years.

And then when you add all of those newcomers right, that's more lineup protection for Brian Reynolds and O'Neil Cruz who have essentially had to carry this team on their back offensively.

And if you look at their best months.

Offensively, it's typically when a Rowdy to Lez is rad hot or Henry Davis has a good stretch, or a Jared Triolo has a good stretcher, Spencer Horowitz turns it on when people around them are hitting the baseball.

Those guys produce a lot better.

And now they've added people to length them that lineup to get some lineup protection, and I think make their competent hitters that they already had better.

So yeah, and I will.

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All right, Mark, So now as we wrap this up, I'll ask you the same thing I asked you again on Friday.

What's next?

They signed, they made the trade, they signed a multi year free agent.

What's next?

What's the next piece of the puzzle?

And what are you hoping like when you're looking at your wish list right, what's the biggest item remaining on it?

I'm still getting greedy and saying one more free agent, one more free agent.

Bet to be more specific, either a third baseman.

I mean, I love Jered Triolo.

I don't know if that's going to make me feel confident if that's the starting third basement for opening Day.

So I still think, you know, like Juhanio Suarez Okamoto, if he's cheap, I still think there's room in the pirates budget, if you just open up that wallet just a tiny bit more, just like ten twenty more million, and I don't think that's gonna impact the Pirates too negatively.

I think if you build a world or a team that can make the playoffs, whatever dollars you spend this offseason, you're gonna get right back.

I mean, this is a sports town that's going to fill up PNC Park and when we saw that in twenty thirteen, so like, if you build it, they will come, and you just got to put those final bricks together to build that for those people to come.

And I think in Okamoa Okamoto would do that.

I think a Uhenio Suarez would do that.

I really like the third base edition, but you could get away with another outfield edition too this and maybe o'haran can play like a little bit of right field.

But yeah, that's where I would go.

I still think you got to add a third base and if not, maybe catcher jt.

Real Mudo is still out there, maybe bring in like a veteran presence like him, a really good clubhouse guy to just keep everyone on track.

So that would be where I would head.

Is free agency still, but I think trade is probably the more likely of the two options.

But I just I like how many free agents are still out there to still go out and pursue that route.

Yeah, I think my hesitancy would be if they go the free agent route, then they might be more inclined to clear up some salary.

And I don't know exactly how you all right, Mark, So I asked you this question last week.

I'll ask it again.

What's next?

Yeah, So, I mean I still think free agency again is the way to go.

Trades might be a little bit easier still, but I think there's still so many decent free agents there out there there available right now that you have to still pursue them.

I mean, you still need a third baseman, so look at u Hainio Suarez or look at Okamoto add more power to this lineup.

Yes, O'Hern and allow both help, but this team desperately needed thats.

It wasn't just a few bats.

This team needed three four impact bats to really just become an average lineup in the MLB.

So go out and add one more free agent, probably a third baseman, maybe a corner outfielder that can also DH like maybe a Marcelo Suna could be another option too, more power again, but at the same time, trades are probably going to be easier.

I don't know how willing the pirates are to be to continue to open up the pocketbooks, but I think that's the best path forward for now.

That's what I would want.

Next would be a third basement.

So give me o Komodo, gimme Suarez one of the two.

I'm looking at the trade market.

I think that's what makes complete and total sense.

You haven't traded away any of your prospect capital.

And I know I've said that earlier in this show, but I'll reiterate it again because you've been able to get so much from two guys who might not have even been in your starting rotation by the final week of the regular season in twenty twenty six.

So now you have prospect capital to move.

And I would look at third base, I would look at catcher, and I'm trying to find a plus value bat there that doesn't I mean, I personally don't care what the price tag is financially, but if you can find a plus value bat there that's within your budget, I think it's a no brainer.

So that's where I'm going.

I'm looking at the trade market.

I'm looking at a guy like Adley Rushman.

I'm looking at a guy like Alec Baum who can help you win now and probably won't have a huge cost to get here.

Those are the two guys I'm looking at.

I think that makes a lot of sense.

He would, ye, I think he would be really cheap.

One year left on this deal Philly, I think kind of seems like they're ready to move on from him, and he might not be the biggest trade that they acquisition that the Pirates could make at third, but he's still better than what they have right now.

He would be an improvement to Jared Triolo, and then that would also let Triolo back up everywhere else in the indfield and yeah, the utility player where that's really his strong suit, rather than just sneaking him at third.

So yeah, I think third base makes a lot of sense.

Maybe another former Philly, you know, JT real Mudo still out there.

He could also bring up some a lot of a decent bat to catch her, with some good athleticism and a lot of great leadership in clubhouse present.

So there's still plenty of options out there to improve this team.

That's that's the big takeaway I have from this it's we're still two days before Christmas.

The Pirates are a better baseball team.

They have a I think their rotation will be better than it was last year, simply because you're able to retain Mitch Keller and have Bubba Chandler for a full year and Braxton Ashcraft for a full.

J and you get Jared Jones back.

So your greatest strength is going to be stronger the bullpen.

I don't see being worse in your lineup.

You've already just added two all stars, two young talents that can platoon together.

You have the number one prospect in baseball coming up at some point this season, and you still have a lot of time to keep adding.

Again, I don't think they're a playoff team yet, but I don't think they're crazily far away, especially when you consider some of the teams that snuck in in recent years in this NL wild card, I don't think they're that far away from being a twenty twenty five Cincinnati Reds.

If not better.

Yeah, and that's that's a reason for Pirates fans to be excited.

Oh yeah, I mean this whole just this one week, uh is it's got to give you some encouragement.

It's this is unlike anything we've seen from the Pirates in a really, really long time.

And so I if this isn't getting you excited as a Pirates fan, you might need to check yourself a little bit because these are concrete moves that we've been asking for and they're doing them.

I just how can you criticize that?

Yet?

We know they're not going to go out there in gettish Warber or like a Pedalanso or one of these big big names, like they're not going to be in on Kyle Tucker.

But this is everything.

But this is as close as I feel like the Pirates can get.

This is their ceiling for what their offseason looked like to me.

So I'm very mary please as a fan right now, still more work to do, but where they should be at this point, I feel like they're ahead of the curve absolutely.

All Right, Well, I think that's all we got for this one, Mark.

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