Hold My Cutter
Email: Holdmycutter@gmail.com
Hold My Cutter
Jason Mackey on Baseball Insight, Pittsburgh's Loyalty, and Baseball Strategy
Jason Mackey from the Post Gazette steps up to the plate, bringing a wealth of insight into the captivating world of baseball. Together, we journey through the layers of strategy, athleticism, and drama that make baseball a unique spectacle. Jason's tales from his time as a college pitcher add a personal touch of humor, offering an inside look at the sport's lighter moments. We also examine the demanding nature of covering baseball as a beat, drawing comparisons with the perceived intensity of reporting on other sports like football and hockey.
Pittsburgh's love for baseball is a saga of passion and pride, captured beautifully as we discuss the city's unwavering support for its teams. Despite fluctuating attendance figures, the city’s enthusiasm remains strong, especially when the victories come rolling in. We reminisce about past legends who have left an indelible mark on the city's sports culture and ponder how today's Pirates might inspire a similar fervor. Jason also highlights the enduring dedication of older fans who continue to engage with the sport through traditional media, showcasing Pittsburgh's everlasting commitment to its teams.
Dive into the intriguing debate of spending in baseball, where money doesn't always equate to success. Our conversation touches on the Pittsburgh Pirates' financial strategies, emphasizing that efficient spending is the key to triumph rather than just a bigger budget. Discover the stories of players who chose to stay in Pittsburgh for less, drawn by the city's unique allure. We also explore the evolution of team identities and how recent rule changes have stirred both nostalgia and controversy in the sport. This episode offers a rich blend of humor, insight, and a passionate debate about baseball’s future, ending with a call for fan engagement and transparency in officiating to enhance the experience for everyone involved.
THANK YOU FOR LISTENING!!!!
www.holdmycutter.com
And we welcome you to another episode of Hold my Cutter here at Burned by Rocky Patel on the North Shore, just a few blocks away from PNC Park. Hold my Cutter brought to you this episode by Berkshire Hathaway Home Services. Finding a home is much like selecting the perfect cigar it takes time, expertise and a discerning eye to ensure it suits your taste and budget. Expertise and a discerning eye to ensure it suits your taste and budget. So before you think of anyone else, remember to check out askerracatscom. Ask Era Cats that's Era with an H at the end, k cats and ask Era because she knows. Ask Era Cats with Berkshire Hathaway Home Services, your real estate aficionado. Call her for unparalleled guidance and expertise whether you're buying or selling. Remember to ask Ara, because she knows, at askaracatscom.
Speaker 2:And our guest we've had him before?
Speaker 1:Yeah, ask Ara. Our guest has suggested not only the gold label were heavy into the Rocky Patel gold label cigar, but also the white label started by our man, michael McHenry. But the Gold Label? Earthy nuances, luscious caramel undertones and a bold flavor of coffee with a lingering sweetness that leaves a lasting impression. Wrapped with an Ecuadorian Habano leaf, the gold label exudes elegance and sophistication, and our thanks to our guests here for again recommending both the gold and white labels. And our guest is ooh.
Speaker 2:Play that funky music, white boy. Ah, that's the other episode, make sure you tune into that one Cross-reference way to go.
Speaker 1:Yes, Wild Cherry, well done. Yep, that's cross-reference. Way to go, hunter. Yes, Wild Cherry, well done. Yep, that's cross-promotion. Jason Mackey of the Post Gazette is our guest and we've talked in the past about his story, but this episode we're getting into the sport, the game of baseball. Yeah, because that's what ties us. By the way, do you get the double reference? To Hold my Cutter, because some people don't get it.
Speaker 3:Hold my cutter Cutter, yes. Holding a cutter yes, and then a cigar cutter yes. Thank you very much.
Speaker 2:We've had some people say why do you get hold my cutter? He's intelligent, he gets it.
Speaker 1:I'm not intelligent but I get the reference. He gets it Well, thank you. Yes, or listen to these podcasts, but Hold my Sweeper doesn't have the same.
Speaker 3:No, exactly.
Speaker 1:I guess it would work in. Pittsburgh, but not in the cigar place.
Speaker 2:New podcast coming, Sweeper Keeper that's an idea.
Speaker 3:Save that, All the ideas I've heard for it. That's definitely one of them.
Speaker 2:Whoa Butter Knife.
Speaker 1:Hold my Cutter, hold my Butter Knife yeah, now what is it about?
Speaker 3:baseball that separates it from the other sports. And you've covered the ball, yep, um. I've heard you say this, brown, and I agree with it that there's no sport that combines athleticism, drama, all of this stuff with strategy thinking, and that's part of it to me. I, I tell my kids this, I I give them old baseball quotes. I, I don't know, I'm probably a weird dad for doing that, but baseball is only dull to a dull mind and when I see baseball I see a bunch of things that go into it how you position an outfield, an infield, what goes into pitch sequencing, how a catcher is working, what a pitcher is throwing, that sort of stuff. There's so many layers to baseball, it's so complex. That sort of stuff. There's so many layers to baseball, it's so complex. I love numbers. We talked in the other episode about my background as a math major. I love the math behind it.
Speaker 3:Another thing I've really grown to love about baseball I didn't know this as much covering it is the culture behind it and that's something that I will take to my grave loving about baseball the decency, the relationship that you have with a team, with player and reporter, the access that you get, the understanding. It's unlike any other sport as close as you can get to it, as much as you're entrusted with, and just it's intimate. I guess that might be a way of putting it. You get to see the game better, you get to understand the game better. You get to understand the game better. You get to ask questions of people that you're closer to the game.
Speaker 3:To me, covering football is not the same. Covering hockey is not the same. Those sports are also easier to cover. As a beat writer, I've done them all. Covering baseball is sometimes flat out insane with the workload, the travel, what you're expected to write, how long the season is. Baseball writers need their heads examined sometimes, and I'm one of them. But I love how intimate it can be the people, how they treat you, the game itself. So I can go on and on.
Speaker 1:I'm a baseball guy at heart. I always will be Well, because you did some pitching in college too right. I pitched poorly.
Speaker 3:Tell me your best pitch.
Speaker 2:I didn't have one. No, split finger.
Speaker 1:A split finger For this episode. I want him to say cutter, Cutter.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I wish I could. I couldn't throw a cut. Here's the problem I couldn't throw anything that moved Brown. That's why I'm sitting here talking to you and I had no hope of ever making the major leagues. I pitched Division III, probably through 85, topping out. I could not throw a curveball, could not throw a slider, could not throw a cutter, but I did throw a splinker. I swear to you what. I did not know it, so I'm.
Speaker 1:You couldn't throw any moves.
Speaker 3:OG, splinker, OG. I swear I'm not making this up. So Paul Skeen's splinker his fingers are on the seams right. He splits them halfway across the ball. I did the exact same thing. I'm getting the ball.
Speaker 1:Please, he's getting the ball.
Speaker 3:Actually, if you're watching on YouTube, you've seen Michael just left. I've had this conversation with Paul, and so you're throwing it like this, you take it and you throw it like this right, this is how Paul is throwing it, and so your thumb's underneath here, sort of guiding it, and this I would throw. This is my best pick split finger fastball that functioned like a splinker. And so you throw it, and then you know this sport, you know this brownie, you pronate, you flip it like this, and so I was able to do that throw it as hard as a fastball and I would snap it and sort of snap outside and get it to drop and run, and I can get it.
Speaker 1:Oh, you did have movement on that pitch.
Speaker 3:I had movement on that, but not true spin pitches, but I could throw a splinker. And so when people, what is that? How do you throw that? Like I know exactly what they're talking about Show it again.
Speaker 3:You start right here and then take it like this when you have big hands, that's a true split. That is a true split. But if you can throw it and manipulate the ball and control it enough because you have big hands, it functions the same. And so that was my out pitch, that was my ground ball pitch. I pitched as a reliever. I didn't fare well as a starter because I didn't have a deep enough pitch mix, but I could throw a fastball decently hard, I could occasionally locate it and I could jam my fingers around the baseball and throw was a what was effectively a splinter. Well, how'd?
Speaker 1:you do in that role?
Speaker 3:I did okay. Yeah, I mean I wasn't. I didn't make all conference. I wasn't one of our team's best pitchers. I pitched a lot. I was durable. We probably played a 35 or 40 game season my junior and senior year. I probably averaged 22 appearances, something like that. I think I pitched in probably over half of our games. I pitched pretty regularly In college. I would always try to convince our coach that I could catch which I could but he would always say, like I need you in the bullpen, you're not going to do this. Until our final series of my senior year, we were out of the playoffs and he went to all the seniors and said what do you guys want to do? And like my buddies who were starting pitchers, they wanted to start. I said I want to catch. I want to catch for the weekend.
Speaker 2:Homer.
Speaker 3:And so I ended my college career saying he really is Paul Skeets.
Speaker 2:He took the opposite direction.
Speaker 3:And so I ended my college career thinking you know what I could have done this? I could have caught the Division III level. It's Division III. I'm not saying I'm some great thing, but I could have handled myself at deep Well you loved the game then, before you became all right you know, oh yeah obviously you got into the game you love.
Speaker 1:You played college ball. How about the relationship that tinsberg has with baseball and the pirates? Yeah, uh, probably unlike any anything else, because I think jason anxious to get your comments of the relationship it has had with the other two sports as well. It's an interesting dynamic because baseball was the king here forever until the immaculate reception. Yeah, and you can almost point to that moment when Franco Harris catches that ball against Oakland and goes in for the touchdown and they love the Steelers but not like they did after that moment. Yeah, agree or disagree.
Speaker 3:I think they're separate conversations. Browning and the people who are older than me have a better perspective on this, but here's where I come at it. I still think this is an unbelievably passionate baseball town, which I know you agree.
Speaker 1:I'm going to reverse that.
Speaker 3:I'm not suggesting no, but I'm saying I don't think that's died off in that generation. I think those people carry that with them absolutely, but it's a matter of when.
Speaker 1:It's a winner's town. I've said this time and time again, I've said it forever. I spent five years in buffalo. I did bills football and I you. They love the Bills as much as they love the Steelers here. That's not a knock on Pittsburgh. The point is it is a winner's town. Look what's happening in St Louis right now. It's still a great baseball town, but attendance has dropped dramatically in the last two years, obviously because the Cardinals have not won the last two years.
Speaker 3:But I think attendance and caring are not the same thing. Explain. I think there are people who don't want to go to a game now, maybe because they're older, maybe because they don't want to give the current regime money, I'm not sure. Maybe they don't want to deal with hassles of going to the game. Who still follow it and still care.
Speaker 3:I can't tell you the number of emails I get on a daily basis from older people, usually sent from their iPads. I always joke with my wife like the old guys with iPads they're fired up man, because they all have iPads and they all email the beat writer complaining about what the team's doing. I haven't checked my email. After this loss we're talking after the Pirates lost 14-10, they get mad man and they will tell me about. They've watched games since Forbes Field. They've listened to Bob Prince and they educate me on things, which I appreciate. It's not complaining, but I think there's a large group in working for the Post Gazette.
Speaker 3:We look at who's reading our stuff for how long, how they get to it. A lot of times older people aren't going to come to our stuff via Twitter, facebook, social media. They're going to come to it via desktop my Pirates stuff one. The traffic on it is very good, and a lot of it arrives via desktop or the iPad, so you have an older generation of people. That, yes, I think what you're saying is true. I'm not disagreeing with you, but I think that there's. I'm continually impressed by how passionate Pirates fans are and how they've maintained that passion.
Speaker 1:I don't discount that at all, I guess I'm I'm just talking about, over the years, how the pendulum has has kind of swung. They're always there, the Pirate fans are there, the Steeler fans are there, the Penguin fans are there, I guess. Maybe more specifically, it is attendance and that you can point specifically to what happened with that and Mario Lemieux, because I tell people. I used to go to Penguin. I'm old enough. I went to games before ML, before Mario.
Speaker 1:And it was not a thing, it was not a thing, to be a Penguin fan and I tell people I could sit at center ice with my heavy winter coat on the empty chair to my left and with a beer on the empty chair on my right.
Speaker 2:Did you not have any friends? Come on, Brownie.
Speaker 1:No, I didn't. Okay, not past tense, present tense. And then Lemieux comes along and then they win and people start playing hockey like never before. I used to go around here, believe me, people would be playing baseball out in the summertime and then they started playing hockey. Yep, uh, they never played hockey before the penguins won.
Speaker 2:It was not a thing and now they can't get ring time or rink time. Yeah right.
Speaker 1:So that that's. I guess that's my point. It's always there. I agree 100. I mean the. The tv and radio ratings are always in the top half in baseball, forever, regardless of how many games the team wins or loses but it's a winner's towel like.
Speaker 3:Imagine if the pirates had their version of mariel lemieux and sydney cross, which they kind of did like. Maybe you can put that label on kutch. That's fine. But you know, in my lifetime the steelers have won championships. The penguins have won championships. The Penguins have won championships. If the Pirates would have won five championships the way the can you imagine what this place would be like? Like the Pirates would have remained king.
Speaker 1:I think, or they would have been.
Speaker 3:It might have been a 1A, 1B sort of situation.
Speaker 1:Well, we got a taste of it.
Speaker 3:We got a taste of it 13, 14, and 15. Yeah, but it's a taste it the situation. We got a taste of it 13, 14 and 15 but it's a taste.
Speaker 1:It wasn't the meal right, but it keeps you addicted, it's all about the winning, though, and you can see the attendance, even at steelers games, has waned over the years. Yeah, you go to a steeler game, you see 20 000 empty seats, because it's also a rotten experience, oh sorry what yeah, I don't like the experience it's nothing against the steelers, just like I don't love going to NFL games. But people did, people would put up with the traffic.
Speaker 1:People would still go despite it all, and so it's a matter of it's a winner's town. That's basically what I'm getting at, and the relationship between this city and its baseball team is quite unique and, as you said, aside from the attendance numbers which we saw, they will come when they build it. They built the ballpark and they won in 13, 14, and 15. And we saw what happens and you talk about, you know, lebue and Crosby. Well, skeens and Jones and Keller might be just what we're talking about Could be that and Cruz.
Speaker 3:And Cruz, that's right Must see TV man. I mean, I know it from this season and I'll speak from a newspaper content generation perspective Like we couldn't put out enough Pirates content. That's all people wanted to consume. And I firmly believe that if the Pirates win, if they put a consistent winner on the field, that appetite will be there. And I think we talked about this a little bit. Going over to Steelers, that Steelers, the draft, their summer activity, all that stuff, even them going to training camp, kind of felt a bit off because of how much in contention the Pirates were. Everybody's attention was on baseball, justifiably so. And if you continue that, if you have a postseason, people aren't going to give that up. They want the Pirates to be good. They might be mad about it, I understand that, I respect that, but I think at everybody's core they just want to see winning baseball. They get so excited.
Speaker 1:Every city wants to see their teams win. It's not like some magical formula. It's been as old as time. People love winners.
Speaker 2:Something I don't hear often is what's the goal? World Series or bust? Yeah, you know what I mean. Like we don't talk like that here.
Speaker 1:Well, and, and, and I've never really understood it, not yet.
Speaker 2:No, no, but why not now? Like I don't I've never cause, like if you've lost anybody in your life. Life is short, a lot shorter than you even believe, and the reality of it is. It's like tomorrow may not come and I why you don't speak it into existence, like we are going to win the division. Let's just say that we are going to the World Series.
Speaker 1:I would love for them to come out and say that in 2025, their goal is to win the division.
Speaker 2:I would love for them to say that If you're pitching an idea or a thought and you want people behind it, you put that out there for accountability, and I've never understood like that's Bob's personality. So I don't really understand why the city doesn't just go all in and say this is what we want, this is what we're going to do Well.
Speaker 1:the city wants that. I know the organization has to come out there in 2025 and say it, and I think I wouldn't be surprised if they don't do it in 2025.
Speaker 3:They kind of did that this year.
Speaker 1:Well, they certainly said the goal was to make the playoffs.
Speaker 3:I think they said winning the division, oh did they.
Speaker 1:And I want to reference something. Well, I guess that's always the goal, but with all these extra playoff teams, if you don't reach that goal, you can still get in the postseason.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but I hear so much more about being over 500.
Speaker 3:You know what I mean. I dug this up for a column that I wrote today At Pirates Fest, derek Shelton. Our goal is to play playoff games in October. Whether that's winning the NL Central, which is definitely the goal, or being a playoff caliber team, that's something we're striving for. Now, I understand you could use more direct language in that, but I mean that's a hint of it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's true, I just want that everywhere.
Speaker 3:I want to see them and I think that's in there. This isn't saying it doesn't exist, but I want to like we've been through a rebuild. You've been through times where you realize the ultimate goal was not the playoffs, the ultimate goal was not. They can't say that, but you can look at the players here. There are players here. There is talent here. There is are players here. There is talent here. There is pitching here.
Speaker 3:The goal should be now yeah, and they should be graded accordingly as far as I'm concerned, like that's that's how I formulated my coverage plan at the post, because that like I wasn't going to sit there and kill them for not making the playoffs when they're running out, philip evans, you know, god bless philip philip evans, the right field. Like that's, that's clearly not the goal. But like right now, where you say our goal is to get into the playoffs and you're falling short of that. I think I'm doing my job to point out that you're falling short of that goal.
Speaker 1:I agree with that.
Speaker 3:That's only taking you at your word.
Speaker 1:That's what it should be right now, this time in a real world. I wouldn't think anybody would disagree with that. I hope not. If you fall short of your goal, it's not good, obviously, yeah. But it goes back to the point about baseball and the passion people have for it and as you talk about all the traffic you get and even when they lose the anger, the angst, that's good, that's a good. I say embrace that. The worst thing in the world is apathy. The worst thing in the world is apathy.
Speaker 3:I say that to people too, and I think maybe it was the other podcast. I brought up something I hear about and it's not my traffic, it's our traffic and it's because of the fans. I think I framed that in a way that I'm trying to brag on myself. I'm not, but yeah, people care. And I would hear nobody cares about the Pirates. Yes, and I would hear nobody cares about the pirates yes, they do. Yes, yes, they're mad about the pirates. There's actually I'll tell you what, but they care.
Speaker 1:If they were apathetic, that would be a problem. People that say that they don't care those people are lying to themselves or they're jealous. There's a lot of jealousy, oh yeah, a lot of jealousy about people that are angry that people care about the pirates. Yep. People that are angry that people care about the pirates yep, which is kind of weird, but there is that. Do you notice that at all now that you say it? Yeah, I do.
Speaker 2:people get angry that other people care so much about the pirates which just shows what it can be and should be at some point. You know what I mean? Like absolutely that's what. Let me. Let me ask you guys something that drives me insane. We've got to spend more money, we've got to do this, we've got to do that. What is it going to take Jumping up on a nerve for the fan base? It's that I know these people. I know their intention, but my devil's advocate. We play this a lot.
Speaker 1:You be the guy or gal that says they got to spend more money.
Speaker 2:They got to spend more money. Okay, how?
Speaker 1:much more money, exactly, no, no, no, I want you to play along.
Speaker 2:That's where I want to go, because I've had this discussion with people I know I ask the same question and I say how much more they go?
Speaker 1:I don't know and I go. No, no, no.
Speaker 2:How much more money?
Speaker 1:Yeah, is it million, is that 120, 140 150, 180, 200 million.
Speaker 2:What is money by you? You, you don't know, unless you bet on a human being. The bottom line is one otani, there's one trout, they're 280 to a billion dollars and the reality of it is is like you need to have people buy into this city. These people, like we're about to play cleveland ramas what is it? It Ramirez, he took $50 million, $60 million less because he loved Cleveland. That's the effect Pittsburgh has. Brian Reynolds great example. Mitch Keller those guys took less money to stay in a city they love and I don't think we played that well enough.
Speaker 1:I don't think the city's represented the way it could be, because this place is awesome, all right, but taking it down the road not to end the discussion there since you brought it up, yeah, I think it's important I'm sitting out.
Speaker 3:I have my own point to make. I want to hear it. That's why we're asking. I want to hear what you say, because when.
Speaker 1:I say how much more money? Because my point I've had discussions with talk show hosts in town who brought this up and people call me a bob nutty shill. That's not the point. I've been around, I've been through three or four owners. I know them all. I've been there.
Speaker 3:I'm an expert on the ownership life other than dealing with the pirates, you get called a shill. I've not been called a shill in any other thing that I do in my life, but well, pirates?
Speaker 1:well, bob prince was shilling. Bob bob prince was called that and wore it proudly. He loved being called that. That.
Speaker 2:So I wear it proudly. Have you ever heard the quote like money makes it easier, but it doesn't ever fix a problem?
Speaker 1:But I go back to the question that needs to be answered of these talk show hosts. When you say and I hear it a lot on these talk shows he needs to spend more money, they need to spend more money, I say, hold them accountable for exactly how much. I need a number, because then, and where do you spend the money? If he were to spend that, if they were to spend that number? And I still haven't gotten a number. Jason, have you gotten a number? I haven't gotten a number.
Speaker 2:Browning, okay, Whatever that number would be. That's why I stop every time too.
Speaker 1:And he spends it in the winter. They spend it in the winter and then the next year they don't win, which is a good chance, because 30 teams of baseball 28 don't get to the World Series Best record in baseball last year. The second best record in baseball in 2015 was the Pirates Baltimore.
Speaker 2:Orioles spent less than us last year, less than the Pirates 100 games.
Speaker 1:Yep, the point is, if you don't win the following year having spent that amount of money, then the retort is they didn't spend enough money. Yeah, yeah, and you're chasing your tail. That wasn't the right guy. Jason Mackey's our guest and you and I are no, no, no, no, no, go ahead. No, no, no, no, I can see him spinning and letting it all fester.
Speaker 2:No, it's okay, no, no.
Speaker 3:Here is where I come down on this. Let's go. You're both right, you're both. I understand what you're both saying. How about spending it wisely? That's where I'm. What does that mean? You can get this down to a number Ford, this is mathematical. If the Pirates spend this offseason, they spent what? $34 million, something like that, in offseason additions. Have they gotten the requisite bang for the buck for those dollars spent? Yes or no?
Speaker 1:You'd have to say no, no.
Speaker 3:They have not been efficient in their spending the past two years. They have spent enough to create what should be a competitive ball club. A lot of those expenditures have not worked out. They added a starting catcher for $2.5 million in Yasmany Grandal I'm sorry, I'm sure he's added some things. That mentoring a young pitching staff, whatever, it has not been worth $2.5 million for whatever reason. Michael A Taylor he's played some good defense. Has that been worth $4 million? No, martin Perez $8 million. What he did here. Was that worth that money? No, it was not. Rich Hill, I like Rich Hill, great guy. Was he worth his balance of $8 million? No, he was not. And so a lot of this money that they've spent the past two years, it's been inefficient spending. So I want them to spend a reasonable amount of money, but I want that money to be spent wisely. I want it to go to players who come here and get better and contribute Along with that.
Speaker 3:To me, the thing with the Pirates need to do well, because they need to do all of this stuff well the reality of where they're at in the business of baseball, which I largely hate. I largely hate how this is run, how it's not. I don't want to say not fair, but it's not a level playing field. Let's not pretend that it is. The Pirates don't have things the same way the Dodgers, the Red Sox, the Cubs, the Yankees do. They just don't live in that world. That's okay, but their margin for error is thin. They need to draft, they need to develop, they need to get guys internationally, they need to be efficient for spending. Their margin of error is thin, and so if you don't do those things exceptionally well which I would argue lately there's been an alarming number of things that have not gone right.
Speaker 3:I don't think it's a final product, but I can't look at their young players and say you know what? Yep, they're getting the most out of young guys based on their developmental system and how they're bringing them up through the minors. No, they haven't. That's not a personal slight on the Pirates. That's not saying that these are bad people or they don't want to win or they're not trying. Of course they are, but the available talent you have, you're not bringing them along in a way that allows these young guys to contribute to the major league club. Ie Jack Sawinski 26 homers last year, next to nothing contributed this year. That's what I want the Pirates to do. It's not a dollar amount. I'm not going to feel better if they spend $130 million. I'm going to feel better if they have five different buckets and they're able to actually fill them with meaningful content.
Speaker 1:Well, again, and that is a different discussion, it is yeah, it is, it is. It's not just about the dollar amount spent.
Speaker 3:I don't get wrapped around the actual about the dollar amount because I don't think it's ever. I think it's part of it. I think when they have a need, when they have a major league need, there are going to be times where they have to spend money.
Speaker 1:And they should, and they should spend it better than they have. They showed 10, 11, 12.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 3:So, I mean you want to see them keep their best players here, and you know what A credit to Bob nothing to spend $256 million total in contract extensions over the past three off seasons to keep their best players here. That's great. You should be commended for that. They also need to figure out what the heck's going on with key Brian Hayes and why why he's having continued back issues Like that's. That's not Bob's fault. I'm just saying that's like if you spend that money, you want to get what you're paying for. You want the return, yeah.
Speaker 1:I mean, therein lies the rub, because that's the biggest difference between teams like the Pied. They're not the only smaller market team that can't spend a ton, but that is the difference. Those that can spend a ton and this is elementary they can afford to make mistakes, they can afford it. They can afford.
Speaker 2:Great example is when we just played the Dodgers, did you see their staff? That was on the IL, right, I mean it'd be one of the best staffs in baseball and they were all in the IL.
Speaker 3:I mean, yeah, I mean you can afford to make mistakes, you can afford to have guys hurt, you can spend your way out of trouble and the Pirates can't.
Speaker 1:That's as simple as that.
Speaker 2:They're also spending more money on everything else, too, which isn't talked about enough. That's where I think there's even bigger misconception that like well, their analytical department in LA is an entire floor that used to be the visiting locker room. We have a department, but you cannot keep up with that type of spending and their ability to coach every single individual position in a very specific way.
Speaker 3:Okay, I get you, but like, how does that compare to what the Rays are doing? How does that compare to what the Guardians are doing? How does that compare to what the Orioles are doing?
Speaker 2:You have to be who you are.
Speaker 3:I guarantee it's bigger than them, but those teams do that more effectively, absolutely, and I think the Pirates have moved in that direction. I think that's probably the model.
Speaker 3:But a team like that, you don't have a margin for error and you have to be innovative, you have to be on the cutting edge, you have to see things in players, in situations that other teams do not see, and I think the Pirates to some degree, have done that and I would argue that in other cases they haven't done that. You know, they've missed on things and guys and they go on elsewhere and the players get better. And you know the Tampa Bay Rays figure out what to do with Robert Stevenson that the Pirates could not better, and you know the tampa bay rays figure out what to do with robert stevenson.
Speaker 2:That the pirates could not. But they also took a huge risk because he had so many health issues with. Probably a lot of people didn't know, true, but they were willing to take that's not like the boi they had. They knew what they were going to get back.
Speaker 3:But yeah, I mean, I mean but look at the amount of what cleveland has gotten through its drafting, development, international signs, what it's brought up through the farm system. Like they lose guys financially. They're unable to keep everybody, but they're growing things and they have ways to backfill those positions to where if they lose a guy, fans aren't that upset because they have someone coming up through the monitor. Or you make a trade on a guy who's exceeded your salary framework wouldn't make sense for good business and then you flip that trade into three or four good prospects.
Speaker 2:Okay, so I will roll you all. Wouldn't make sense for good business. And then you flip that trade into three or four good prospects. Okay, so I will roll you all the way back. Doing the prep work.
Speaker 2:Me and Broderick are talking about Cleveland right before we do the postgame he goes. Do you know? They have one of the best bullpens in baseball? I said I didn't have to look. They've always had one of the best bullpens in baseball. It's an identity they've always, always carried and that always, always carry. And that's what I ask about the Pirates what identity do we carry? Tampa Bay so if you're a free agent and you're looking to be something, maybe they call, and they called me hey, we want you to play outfield, we want you to play first base, we want to get you at bats in these situations, and they have this huge reasoning why that is a difference maker, right, and it's just figuring out that, and I think they're starting to put that all in place. But that's the biggest thing I see is the identity within the city of the old, the new and then mixing it all together.
Speaker 1:Is, is, is what we have that no one else can touch I, I I've heard you and others say it and and this is a great thing about hold my cutter is it's a discussion, an opportunity to free flow. I don't know what that means. What they've got to find their identity. Identity for me is winning. That's the identity I yeah, it's a good identity to have teams that win have an identity. How do you win? Well, yeah, but you don't. Let's have an identity. How do you win? Well, yeah, but you don't say, oh, let's get an identity, and then you win. No, you win and that's your identity.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but how do you win? Before you even create, before you walk on the field, you have to have an understanding of who you are as a player. Where do I fit on?
Speaker 1:this team, I guess because you played. But I would question also, even what that?
Speaker 2:means, but you can't just show up with the best players and win.
Speaker 1:We talked in an earlier episode about Steve Glass, and Steve always talked about— we are family. No, he talked about the mirror. Is the best judge? Go buy a $5 mirror at Costco.
Speaker 2:Because of the accountability of an identity they created. They had a standard.
Speaker 1:But your job, is it not? Your identity is brought with you when you get to Pro Bowl or the major leagues.
Speaker 2:No, they give it to you. Would they create your identity? You didn't know your identity. They tried to create your identity based on algorithms.
Speaker 1:Michael McHenry did not know his identity when he got to the big leagues.
Speaker 2:No, I would have been such a better player if somebody told me how good I could be.
Speaker 1:Oh, michael, I'm sorry, I will debate that. Someone has to tell you how good you can be. Brownie, you're in. You jump in there whenever you want. This is a free-flowing discussion here.
Speaker 3:That's fine. That's fine. I don't think you're framing it appropriately.
Speaker 2:I don't think I am either.
Speaker 3:I don't think it's identity. I think it's the organization, helping players realize what they don't even know about themselves. Yes, and it's potential. You're both right. I mean, I agree with you, brownie, your identity is winning and when you win, you have a certain culture set. And I draw this parallel a lot with the penguins when, when I was covering them, they were winning a lot, that identity and that culture of winning set by sydney crosby, of getting malkin pat Hornquist. There are certain expectations that when you go over there, this is how we do things. This is established. Don't argue with it, don't try to deviate from it. And I think, when you're in a team in a different competitive state which the Pirates have been the past couple of years a lot of times, you have guys who arrive there that they don't know where they fit within. That, which is what you're saying, fort. And so once the organization can help those players realize how they can contribute which that's not necessarily creating an identity, that's like a way to create an identity You're reaching those players, you're getting up to the big leagues.
Speaker 3:Fort, you're thinking what can I do? How can I help? Where's my best avenue? I would liken it to if I work in a newspaper? I don't. Am I a good beat writer? Am I a good columnist? Maybe I should try laying out pages. What if I take photographs Like I don't know what my skillset really is? Now, if you have a culture where there's a you're winning and you know where every piece fits and here comes Michael McHenry, here, here's the opportunity. You don't really need to search, you need to figure out. How do I fit with? This team needs exactly this team needs a catcher who can hit left-handed pitching, can go seven, eight, nine in the order, can play strong, deep, whatever it is, yeah, whatever it is, or maybe you're stuck in the middle.
Speaker 2:Maybe it's earlier defense.
Speaker 3:I'm going to be a pinch hitter and swing for the fences sometimes and add some I don't know. But I mean a lot of times winning, and that's because it is winning brownie's right.
Speaker 3:It is winning, that's how you win your players contribute to specific rules that all add up toward the end game of winning. But that takes a lot of ingredients and when you you have a winning club and a winning culture, those things are established. When you don't, you're throwing a bunch of crap against the wall and you're hoping that it sticks and some of it is stuck. But the pirates are working toward having that culture where they can say we need this, we need this piece. This is what we do here. This is the way it works. These are our veteran leaders. This is the way it works. These are our veteran leaders. This is the way things work. When you walk in here, you don't do this, we don't do that here. They're not there, they're not there. That's not a slight against the Pirates. I think that's just where they're at in the journey.
Speaker 1:Let's go back to 13, 14, and 15. What do you think was the identity of the Pirates?
Speaker 2:I think it shifted because of guys like Rod Baraz, aj Burnett, clint Barmas that came in with an idea of what the game was expecting of you, and Neil Walker telling me and helping me as a rookie. Hey, this is what I see, this is what the organization is saying, but this is what I see. This is unfair, this is fair. And then I was like, oh, this is the player I need to be for this team in this moment, just like Mackie was saying and when you get a collective.
Speaker 1:I agree with you. I think it happens organically, and it happens when you get the players Correct, and, and it happens when you get the players Correct. And the pieces that they got you just mentioned it Walker, alvarez, mccutcheon, they traded for Liriano, they got AJ Burnett.
Speaker 2:But you're talking about a really yes.
Speaker 1:But they brought it. But I don't. I mean, I suppose that they have a blueprint, they acquire the players they think will fit.
Speaker 2:Honestly, blueprint I think it's a little bit of dumb luck. Honestly, I do think it's dumb luck because you're talking about a bunch of personalities, that we talk about a team sport, but they've made it more individualized than ever before with analytics. So you're chasing to stay in the big leagues and we just saw this. We just saw a kid come up, throw give up 1,000 runs. He got one day in the big leagues. That'll never be taken away from him, but now he's gone. He was fighting for his life that day. So he has no identity.
Speaker 2:And if you're over there and you're like, why didn't I get called up? You're in the minor leagues and you've got a 1-3, and nobody says that kid deserved it. He worked hard and the Pirates are going to reward him for working hard and doing well right out of independent ball. That creates a standard, that creates identity, that we're different. You come here, you do your job. You're going to get rewarded for it. That's all I'm saying. I knew if I didn't do my job, bandy was going to pin me against the wall. If you are not enthusiastic, if you're not loving your teammates and being the guy when you're not playing even if you deserve to play you are doing a disservice to yourself and not having that accountability. And having a lot of young guys I mean the leader in our clubhouse is Paul Skeens and when that erupts, when that volcano goes, it's game set match Because he's creating a scene everywhere he's been.
Speaker 1:I agree with you. That's what I'm saying.
Speaker 2:It's just time, but we have an unprecedented dude in him. Yes, and like we talk about AJ Burnett and everything else, clint Barmas and Rod Baras started that. They started something where Barmy became something off the field that you needed to get you away from the game and literally tell the truth. He called out all of it, and then Baras did the same thing and then AJ took over as I'm the pirate, the tattoos, the mean, and they took on that identity and that's kind of what I'm trying to say is like the identity of who are we? That's why the Reds, I feel like, can't win, because they got a lot of dudes that have a lot of talent running all over the place, but they have no common goal.
Speaker 2:Now go to the Diamondbacks. You see those dudes fighting through at bats, bunting when they need to, understanding where they fit in the organization. If they can't hit that day, it seems like they bunt, they hit and run. It's incredible and a lot of these teams aren't even given signs. They're running the game as they see fit because they understand where they fit, and that takes time and it's it is a little bit of luck yeah, I mean I would brought up the point earlier, brownie, about what was the identity of the 13, 14, 15 pirates and I.
Speaker 3:I think of a team that did a lot of the little things well, did a lot of the unappreciated things well. You had a good and reliable bullpen. You caught the ball well defensively. You had a pitching staff that pitched into a strength. I think that's one reason why you saw the pirates well defensively, you had a pitching staff that pitched into a strength. I think that's one reason why you saw the Pirates move O'Neal Cruz out of shortstop. It's nothing against O'Neal Cruz, but you have a pitching staff that needs defense behind it. You needed a shorthanded glove man behind him that is more Isaiah Kiner-Falefa than O'Neal Cruz. You need to understand how all of these parts fit together. I do think that identity kind of gets overused. It does In sports. I think it's like one of those catch-all terms.
Speaker 1:We have great chemistry in the clubhouse. No kidding, you're winning. I don't want good chemistry in the clubhouse when you're losing.
Speaker 2:Where does that come from? Responsibility Accountability Right?
Speaker 3:It comes from winning. If you win, everybody's going to get along, and that comes from individual performance and that comes from having a lot of guys who are delivering good individual performance. How many good teams do you hear about having bad clubhouse chemistry or people not knowing their identity, like they're vague, nebulous terms? Hockey is the worst of them.
Speaker 2:How about the standard and expectation of when you show up? If you go to the Dodgers, you don't have any questions. You go to the Braves, you don't have any questions. You know what I mean. And that's a long history. But we have a longer history, right? And that's what I'm trying to say is we have something that is so unique.
Speaker 1:I agree with that, and that's what I'm trying to say. It's like why not dive so deep into that identity? That identity, that identity and I'm doing the air quote thing if you're not watching on YouTube has evolved and changed over the years. You know the lumber company was the identity with Oliver and Zisk and Parker and Stargell.
Speaker 1:I mean, they were mashers and when you went to Threeper Stadium you were in for good luck. Then it changed. In fact, when Chuck Tanner came on board, they changed the. It was a marketing thing lumber and lightning, omar Moreno and Frank Tavares, and they were running along with hitting the Shark Tank, the Shark Tank, the Shark Tank.
Speaker 2:But that evolved, I know, and that's what I'm saying is like, but the game, the way it's evolved, they have to take on that themselves.
Speaker 1:They have to feel I guess I'm just saying Ford that if you throw out a label right now, just a little bit of WB.
Speaker 2:Let's make it the.
Speaker 1:Shark Tank, shark Tank. No it's the players. Your bullpen's terrible, it's the players.
Speaker 3:The identity. What you guys are talking about is something if you know, let's say, the Pirates were at home and the Cleveland Guardians were coming into play tomorrow. I know that's not true.
Speaker 1:Hey, matt, hold my cutter, past my cutter, go ahead, Keep going.
Speaker 3:So you would ask that team, any member on the team, what does this team do? Well, what are they going to bring about in a scouting meeting? Yes, what should we be aware of with this team? I don't know what they would say for the current group, but I'm saying for 13, 14, 15,. They're going to bring up hey, these guys play really good defense. They're going to try to throw sinkers at the bottom of the zone. They're going to shift you. They're going to have a good bullpen. They're going to try to scratch out three or four runs and win a game four to three. Yep, you know they're going to. They're going to do things that are fundamentally sound. They're not going to beat themselves. Whatever and like that can be an identity. Hey, maybe, maybe the pirates one day evolve into a force where you say look, these guys are looking to take everybody, yard man, they're going to hit, you know 300 home runs or something yeah like when you play the Yankees.
Speaker 3:You know, and that's the lumber company or whatever you know, these guys are big boppers. They're looking to hunt fastballs over the middle of the plate Like, all right, you know, they maybe don't pitch it that great, they're okay in the field. But like man, these guys can really just they've got some dudes in their plate and you know, to be fair, this group right now is probably a little caught in between on what they are. Like you're trying to see a lot of pitches not working out great for everybody. There is some pitching. Defense has been, yeah, it's been kind of hit and miss, wouldn't say the fundamentals have been great. So like you're shooting yourselves in the foot when you're trying to create an idea, and that's what I'm saying.
Speaker 2:It in the foot when you're trying to create an identity. That's what I'm saying. It's more in between. Maybe identity is not the right word but it's like that's something you can hang your hat on. Yeah, exactly, at the end of the day, we lost our game today. We got beat because they were better, but we lost our game. How many times can you say that there's a lot of teams that are like that because of analytics you want?
Speaker 1:the best player. But does that best player enhance your team? Is it part of the puzzle, Right?
Speaker 2:Everybody talks about. We need a first baseman? Do we need a defensive first baseman? Do we need offense? Because it doesn't have to be first base If you're getting into other places. You want to create a collective that ends up being like oh man, this is a monster, and it's a little bit like, oh, they can beat you in a bunch of different ways because of X, y, z. You know what I mean and that's where because I get all these questions like why do we have so many utility players? Like because of the versatility and you have so many options. But options sometimes can beat you in the face.
Speaker 1:I'm not a fan of that either. I've gone down a different path.
Speaker 2:I've never been a fan of that, because but they don't end up being utility most of the time. I say that about Jay Hayes. I'd rather have a guy that can play a position and play it well, but Jay was an all-star and he can go to other places.
Speaker 1:That's fine, but I don't want to bring guys in. I'm sorry, the buyers say this a lot. I want guys that bounce around.
Speaker 2:I want a guy that has a position Ben.
Speaker 1:Zobris is once every 20 years.
Speaker 2:That's what I'm saying. It's a unique position.
Speaker 1:You just don't create a Ben Zobris. Yeah, and he created it, josh Harrison, correct. Maybe, IKF is like that.
Speaker 2:But Josh Harrison actually took a step backwards when he became the everyday second baseman.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and there's a reason for that because he had an identity of.
Speaker 2:I'm super athletic, I do things different, but he wanted to be the guy, but nobody ever told him that, hey, you may have an even better career if you do this, because this is unprecedented right now. Like we have Ben's over us, you can be the next one. You know what I mean. Like it's just a different skillset and it's saying this matches our need and if it doesn't, you get rid of them and you move on and that's.
Speaker 2:I think they're in that shuffle right now because they have a lot of talent, a lot of ability, a lot of it's young and what do you do with it? Because you got to make, you have so many players, you got to make the decisions. That's the hardest part I just had to do at usa baseball and there's so many good players. I'm like what do you do you? We pick the identity. We said character. Are they going to be able to eat crap, play at 7 30 in the morning with no bp and all these things? Because that's what happens when you go to other countries. So that literally took off 50 kids in a heartbeat because they weren't going to do it, because our agent already said he can only throw two innings every four days where you're out, and that's what I'm saying.
Speaker 2:It's like it's just saying what's the standard? How are we going to do this and rerun? We may they may have that I have no clue, but the reality of it is. It's like I think that's what fans search for. It's like what's the difference? Because if we don't identify it, it's money, it's always money, it always goes back to money. But money been in business. Money never actually solves the problem. It covers it. It may solve it for minute, but it's not you don't need.
Speaker 1:You don't need more money to run the bases properly. No, and not make stupid mistakes and get a bunt down yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:By the way, you're usa baseball. Why are you guys eating crap?
Speaker 2:there's no better dietary program no, when you go overseas, they want to beat the crap out of you oh, it's not what I was talking about oh, like you talk about like providing meals for these young men, for why are you feeding them?
Speaker 2:no, the stories I've heard, is like you don't get to. It's not about like providing meals for these young men. Why are you feeding them? No, the stories I've heard is like you show up and you don't have a post-game spread, you don't have screens on the field, the water it's flooded so you can't take BP, and that's kind of what I'm saying is like. But every team that goes and wins, they pick the guys that are going to be gritty and don't care.
Speaker 3:Thank care, thank you, thanks for your time on this episode. You went down a passion for me because we all got each other triggered here.
Speaker 2:No, that's great.
Speaker 1:No, but I think it's real because I think we're close and, by the way, I don't think this happens enough anywhere. Truth Argue, debate with passion, because that's how you learn and I think too often I could be wrong in a lot of organizations they're not enough give and take. Too many people hold their ground. They don't want others talking about oh, don't step on my toes. But I think you get better overall as an organization, as a person, when you have give and take and debate.
Speaker 3:And disagreement. I tell people all the time, time you can email me, disagree with me, tell me I'm wrong, state your case. I I respond to most every email that I get. Unless it's derogatory or demeaning, I will. I usually always respond and I have no problem people disagreeing with me telling me they're wrong. But like the minute you start calling names, insulting, swearing, making it personal, we're done, yeah, but like the three of us can have a civil debate and disagree and talk things through.
Speaker 2:It's not hard For you guys. I do have a question Where's the game going Like in your all's mind? Because you've gotten to see different styles and generations, and I mean no knock to your age, brownie.
Speaker 1:I know you're only 32 years old, but you've seen a lot. I'm 42. Don't say 32. You've seen a lot. Come on, let's make it realistic, don't insult him here.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you're right. Where's the game going? Because it seems a cycle. Even the mustache is in right now. I feel like that came back from the 80s, early 90s.
Speaker 1:I don't think we know where the game is going. One thing I do fear about the game is too many people are trying to push it in a certain direction without letting it breathe. That bothers me, it worries me. I think they've made some. I think the pitch clock is the greatest invention since the Magna Carta.
Speaker 2:It's a hitting clock. I'm bound to determine to get that changed.
Speaker 1:It's a hitter's clock. Well yeah, initially I called it just a clock or a timing, whatever. You're right, it shouldn't be called a pitch clock. But the point is I thought that was really well done they needed it Agreed but I don't like it. You know. What they're talking about now is they're talking about having circles around the outfielder so that they can't be positioned certain ways oh gosh. No, I mean, it's insane. Just stop for a little bit, that's what I'm saying, let it breathe.
Speaker 3:You don't need to stop anything, you don't need to change something every year, but if you're gonna go that far.
Speaker 2:Why not have a moat with alligators and get weird like let's? If we're gonna go in, let's go all the way absolutely so if you go over, get eight and then oh, no cruise can jump over, so we'll be fine I love the pitch clock and I love what they did, like the disengagements if the larger bases.
Speaker 3:But that's great. I don't understand. Maybe this is a controversial opinion the banning of the shift. If you want to play seven guys at shortstop, I don't care well no, I would.
Speaker 2:I don't care it has not worked.
Speaker 1:No, no look at how the averages have soared. The batting averages throughout baseball have soared.
Speaker 3:Look at all the 300 hitters we have now. I thought you were being serious.
Speaker 1:It's the same way. Thank goodness they brought the designated hitter into the National League. Look at the averages have skyrocketed.
Speaker 2:Look at it.
Speaker 1:I was so tired of those pitchers being automatic outs.
Speaker 3:And Brown. You know what else.
Speaker 1:I'm glad you know the one thing pitchers could do Bunt. Somebody's going to have to do a story on that. That's the one thing pitchers could do. They could at least bunt, and now nobody can bunt.
Speaker 3:Well, I was going to say I'm really glad that there's all this extra care, paid attention to arm care and, you know, making pitch limits, not going to overuse guys yeah, no prior work anymore all this stuff for the long-term safety of the game.
Speaker 3:I'm very thankful that those rules restrictions best practices have been adopted, along with sports medicine wings and hospitals and every other sports science thing that has gone on, to prevent injuries, because I don't know if you guys have looked there's been. Just I don't remember the last time there was an injury, especially an arm injury. They're not happening anymore.
Speaker 2:They don't happen anymore yeah, trust the science guys. Yeah, that's another sarcasm there that's another episode.
Speaker 1:And speaking of all-stars, Eric Katz like the business school not sure there's any affiliation, but that's spelled the same way she's our MVP in real estate and a top producing realtor at Berkshire Hathaway Home Services. If you're thinking about buying or selling, you need to call Eric Katz. She has been knocking it out of the park for a decade, Actually, really over a decade. She handles your home like she would handle your own. You're in good company. She's good people. So don't forget to call Eric Katz. That's Eric Katz with Berkshire Hathaway Home Services. Or, better yet, go to her website, askerikatzcom. This has been a treat.
Speaker 2:I don't want it to end. I don't want it to end. It's so good.
Speaker 3:Well, what's funny about this is it's what we do a lot of the time anyway. Yeah, we stand around. When we get a chance, we smoke cigars and we talk baseball. That is the essence of Hold my Cutter. There happens to just be cameras going out.
Speaker 2:I do want to ask you guys, with your wise souls and your sarcasm, what's one thing you wish you see in the game? What's one thing outside the DH? Bring back the pitcher, which is funny, because another rule is six innings. I think that's priceless, because with the DH, that kind of enough said Yep, what's something you'd like to see adopted in the game? Or like thought through a little bit more in the game Like Bob walk had a really good one that we talked about one day is no, no, no gun, no velocity anywhere on the field.
Speaker 1:Yeah, eliminate the gun everywhere, throughout baseball, everywhere except maybe in the concourse Right. So the fans can have it, but get rid of the the so the people don't know how hard they're throwing Jay Mack, do you?
Speaker 2:have one.
Speaker 1:For me, a lot of it would be going back, unfortunately.
Speaker 3:I know we're never doing that but that's the way life is.
Speaker 1:People always want to be progressive. Go forward. Forget about the past, move forward. Well, when you forget about the past, oftentimes you're worse off.
Speaker 2:History's told you the wrong I have two.
Speaker 3:Neither are going to happen. One is outside of the game it's more on my side of the media side and the other one is in the game. The media side one is writers people in my position who are obsessing over stat cast metrics. I think they make sense. I think they can illuminate our understanding of the game. They're not gospel, it's not everything. Write, tell me things, tell me what you see as a writer, as somebody who covers a team, you have the unique benefit of being around there all the time.
Speaker 3:I don't need you to read from a spreadsheet and tell me what the launch angle was, average exit velocity, all this stuff and turn this into a math problem. This is coming from a former math major. I want you and this is just not a Pittsburgh thing, it's just like a baseball writ large thing where use your own brain to take the data, parse through it, talk to people and explain to me what is happening. I understand what a spreadsheet looks like. I like cover baseball. I know what baseball savant does, but use that and apply baseball wise. I would say starters going longer in games. I I I've had this debate with derrick shelton. I'll have this debate with anybody. I don't like seeing guys pulled out of a game at 55 pitches because he's gone through the order two times. If he's found it it that day, don't take it away from him.
Speaker 1:They're talking about introducing that down the road. I mean it's going to take years. They're talking about a minimum six innings or something. It's just de-emphasizing the value of a starting pitcher.
Speaker 3:I hate it. I hate it. I am very much pro. Throw more. I think the more skittish you get with arm usage, with pitching, with, oh they can't do this, can't do this, can't throw this, this has to be coordinated. No, I mean, it's almost like hitting in football. I think you have to build up some calluses. You have to, you know, allow the arm to get conditioned. It takes some time. It's like every single throw. Also that you have doesn't have to be maximum effort and you don't have to pitch 12 months of the year. Take time off, Let your armor cover. There's no reason to be going to tread in November. So anyway, I could probably keep going.
Speaker 2:Do you have one for it? I'm going to piggyback him. It's like everybody's different, so I know, guys, that I mean Chapman should be the greatest example. He should be a science experiment. Malcolm Wood 15 years, he does 105. He's never had an arm injury. He looks like a Marvel character. He looks like he could play tight end in the NFL. We've heard all the things when I first came in you're too bulky, you can't do that. Now it's like get bulky, get big and do these things Throw hard. Now it's like get bulky, get big and do these things Throw hard. And it's like there's a balance to every human.
Speaker 1:Every human is different too.
Speaker 2:Every human is different To your point. Max Scherzer didn't get hurt until recently. He throws 365 days a year and everybody is completely different and I hope that gets adopted and we see more of the competing. And I'm not talking about the major league level, I'm talking about the minor league level. I ended my career in AAA. We were incredibly good. We won the national championship in AAA Because we were incredibly good. We literally had me close two games. There was not competing on the mind and I forget. We beat multiple teams because I knew the pattern they were doing with their pitchers. So I said third pitch fastball in every single time with this guy and I want that to change because I want that kid to figure it out, because when he gets to the big leagues, when it really matters, nobody's going to tell him what to do he's going to have to fight through Home, like Cutter also brought to you by Point Park University.
Speaker 2:Sports Arts.
Speaker 1:Entertainment and. Music Business Point Park. Go to Point Park guys.
Speaker 2:Pittsburgh is among the most innovative business programs in the United States, but he's going to use his education right now to tell us exactly. You're not running away from it About what. What would you like to see changed?
Speaker 1:I already said it, a lot of it would be going back. Oh, holy vague. Well, I mean we talked about the dh I I'd get rid of instant replay I know that's, that's a good one, brian.
Speaker 2:I love it, yeah, but like I asked that, because I've learned more from you. I learned a ton from you talking to bob, walk and rock. They bring that and it's like we can have this communication. Like man, this is unbelievable, because that's the.
Speaker 1:I don't know why, I don't know when, when baseball and sports, first of all. Baseball chased football and hockey and the NBA, which I can't stand, but baseball stand alone. And so what if it doesn't happen? So what? It's not perfect and everything has to be perfect and society is not perfect.
Speaker 2:It's still not perfect and they still don't get it right. By the way, Replay and it holds up.
Speaker 1:So anyway, it's here to stay and it's not going back, so it's silly. I guess the one thing you could do that is here to stay, since it is, I want umpires. I finally screamed enough and I wasn't the only one. Enough people where they finally are using the microphones to tell fans in the stands and at home what's going on. But that's just a. I wanted to do it everything. A balk tell us what's going on in the game, let people know, let people learn the game, learn the rules, and by umpires telling us that they'll learn the game. That's a small thing.
Speaker 3:That's an attainable thing, Brownie.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's attainable.
Speaker 3:Explain the game to your fans Explain what's going on. I would like that from a media perspective, it's very hard to interview an umpire after a controversial call. A lot of times Major League Baseball even teams will think that you're out hunting controversy, like no, this has become a part of the game.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 3:And it's our job as reporters to bring those voices to your fans. Yes, to bring those voices to your fans.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 3:And so we're not looking to make this person bad. We're looking to explain his reasoning behind why something was the way it was.
Speaker 1:Everything, because otherwise nobody knows and it becomes a part of the game. I remember growing up as a fan and watching and I still see it to this day little things and it may seem so elementary and like, oh my gosh, it's baseball. Things. And it may seem so elementary and like, oh my gosh, it's baseball. A little foul tip on with two strikes and the crowd goes crazy, thinks it's a swing and a miss, because they don't see the ball. They can't possibly see the ball, nip the bat and come out of the catcher's glove or hit the dirt, but so they're thinking strike three. They have no idea what's going on. Yeah, little thing, umpire could easily go foul ball, yep, yeah I would love that the nfl doesn't.
Speaker 3:It makes the nfl more enticing to fans, I think because they explain the process well, transparency is always king yep, yeah, thank you again all right, yeah, thank you, my pleasure jason and how.
Speaker 1:Hey, by the way, we get a lot of questions on the how that this is a big controversial episode, it is. What should people do?
Speaker 2:like, subscribe and give us your controversies right. Okay. So, we can have some conversation and debate some more.
Speaker 1:Debate yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because that's healthy.
Speaker 1:And that's Hold my Cutter, mm-hmm.
Speaker 3:That was awesome.
Speaker 1:Hope you enjoyed that episode of Hold my Cutter. We come your way. Every week Another episode drops, been a lot of fun.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the only way we can do this is because of you guys, so please like, subscribe, follow us and send in any questions you have. You can do it with an email or just in the comments below. Thank you.
