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Jason Mackey's Pirates chat: 02.10.21
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Jason Mackey
12:25
Hey Justin. And thank you. I like to use the word "tools," but what I mean by that is this: Does he throw hard? How dynamic is his stuff? Does he know how to pitch? What sort of mileage is on his arm, or has he battled injuries? If a guy can't control his curveball, to me, that's fixable. If he wants to be coached but has flaws in his delivery -- maybe not using his legs enough or having his front side fly open -- I'm good there. If there are things that can be molded but he has what's important, that's how you project it. There's hardly a tried-and-true method. Oh, and if there are, say, mechanical shortcomings and an inability or unwillingness to change them, that would obviously be pretty bad.
Wayward Eer
12:25
What's the AAA Staff at Indy going to look like?  I think there is going to be a lot of back and forth.  Guys with options are going to be huge.
Jason Mackey
12:27
Good question. Right now let's the major league staff looks like this: Keller, Kuhl, Brault, Brubaker and free agent. I'd go for the Indy staff maybe Ponce, Crowe, Kranick, Bolton and Yajure, maybe James Marvel? Might be missing one or two, but that's a sketch off the top of my head anyway.
david s
12:28
any idea where the pirates farm system ranks after the recent infusion of talent?  my general understanding they were considered somewhere in the middle of the pack before the spate of trades.
Jason Mackey
12:31
Baseball America -- my go-to for this sort of stuff -- put its latest ones out today, and BA had the Pirates 13th. Keith Law from The Athletic had them 16th. I think that's fairly standard around the industry, with a chance for things to take a bigger jump once the season starts.
Jeff
12:31
I don’t think Tucker will ever hit major league pitching. Have you seen anything at all watching him bat that could change my mind?
Jason Mackey
12:32
He improved from 2019 to 2020 in terms of consistent contact, but yeah, I understand the concern. It's fair. Here's what I know about Tucker: He's extremely motivated, talented and athletic. He's also aware of what he needs to do to hit and hit with more power. Obviously just because you're smart and athletic doesn't guarantee things will pan out, but it's also a pretty good bet that they will. I just see too many tools in him to think he will go bust.
Eric V
12:33
No question only a comment that I loved your Morton Steak House analogy from your article the other day regarding ownership free agent spending or, in the Buccos case, the lack of it.
Jason Mackey
12:35
Thank you, Eric. Appreciate that. I use that one quite a bit with Nutting. Shoot, I work for a newspaper. I'm not going to Morton's. And I'm not ashamed of it. If you own a team, it's my belief that you should spend on that team ... or don't own it. I understand what the Pirates are doing here, and I'm fine with that. But they will need to order dinner eventually, and I hope for the city's sake that Nutting isn't seeing what he can get with $15. I don't think that's how he's going to treat this, either, to be fair.
Jack
12:35
Don't you think there's something anti-labor about a cap? Why make the player's acquiesce when the onus should be on the owners to just spend money that's probably there?
Jason Mackey
12:36
You can call it anti-labor if you want. It's anti-common sense to me. Cap and a floor. NFL has it. NBA has it. Those guys are doing just fine. Not sure  it's a labor issue to them.
Jamie
12:36
The Health and Safety protocols are using language like "Alternate Training Site" and only 28 players that can be called up...basically, things like we saw last year. Does this mean it's more likely we see a set up similar to last year than an actual MiLB season?
Jason Mackey
12:37
No, there's gonna be an MiLB season. It's just TBD when that will be. I have not seen anything about an alternate training site, though maybe I missed it. Just a taxi squad.
Jeff
12:37
Can you let us know in the next month or so how the Pirates plan to allow fans in the park?
Jason Mackey
12:38
Sure. But they would have to be willing to tell me first. And in their defense, we're talking about Pennsylvania here. Hardly the beacon of organization and common sense when dealing with COVID-19. There will be fans at LECOM Park for spring training -- roughly 2,100 -- but plans have not yet been finalized for PNC Park.
Dennis Dixon
12:38
Jason- Which Pirate team will do better this year; the minor league team in Altoona or the minor league team in Pittsburgh?
Jason Mackey
12:40
If you're trying to make fun of the MLB club, I know you can do better than that. If you're talking about wins and losses, it's hard to say because I don't know who's on the Altoona team. If you're talking about progress toward the future, I would say it's probably a push. There are important storylines in Pittsburgh -- Hayes, Keller, Reynolds and Newman bounce-backs, what happens with Polanco, who's the SS -- but also plenty in Altoona. There, I wanna watch Canaan Smith-Njigba, see if Quinn Priester makes it to Class AA, monitor the maturity and consistency of Oneil Cruz and much more.
Dennis Dixon
12:40
Or Indianapolis?
Jason Mackey
12:41
Same three things apply. There's a ton to monitor at the major leagues. If you're gonna make jokes about the Pirates struggling, I get it. But it's not really worth wasting my time or other peoples' times in this setting.
Dustin
12:41
Why does everyone continue to say that Bauer will make more than the Pirates when that probably won't actually be the case?
Jason Mackey
12:44
I guess because it's a funny storyline that speaks to how little they're spending on the major league club? Also, if they spend $42 million and Bauer makes $40 million, is that really changing anything? And if you're talking about projections, yeah, you could go to seven different sites and get seven different projections. Projecting the Pirates' payroll right now is like timing turtles with a stopwatch -- not terribly necessary.
Dennis Dixon
12:44
Sorry if my question was inappropriate.  I'm just a very frustrated Pirate fan who thinks we could do much better sooner.
Jason Mackey
12:45
I don't blame you for being frustrated. But literally every day of my life I'm presented with bad jokes about how they stink. OK, might be true. But I'm still going to do my best to cover them. Also, payroll isn't their only issue. Rays don't spend. But they're smart. Pirates can win. They just need to be smart. So I get being pissed, but I don't see why we're fixating on it just being about the money spent. There are other things to talk about, other things they can do better, other things they have done better.
Dustin
12:48
Who's the player who isn't on the roster right now who's most likely to make the Opening Day roster?
Jason Mackey
12:49
Hmmm ... that's a good one ... if you're talking not on the roster at all, like not even on the 40-man, I think I would go with Chasen Shreve, the left-handed reliever they signed Sunday. I like his stuff, especially his sinker, and I think there's an opportunity for someone like him in the bullpen.
Dennis Dixon
12:49
Thanks Jason- Have a great day?
Jason Mackey
12:49
You too, Dennis.
Dennis Dixon
12:49
dang- I meant great day!!
Jason Mackey
12:49
All good. I knew what you meant.
Pirates Fan
12:49
Do you think the Pirates will sign a starting pitcher? If yes who could they sign.
Jason Mackey
12:50
Yes, I think they will sign a starting pitcher. Tough to predict, honestly. I'd like to see them give Rick Porcello a chance. In reality, it will probably be a lesser-known name.
Wayward Eer
12:50
Jason, thanks for your coverage and the chats!  You do the best job of giving thoughtful answers and humorous redirects to  the borderline questions.
Jason Mackey
12:51
Ha. Thanks, Wayward. "Humorous redirects to the borderline questions" is my middle name.
GPT
12:51
Cole Tucker.  Bust?
Jason Mackey
12:52
I don't think so. Addressed this before, but I think there's too much there to just automatically say he's going to bust. I think he could actually be one of the best stories of the season for them if he pans out.
Ryan
12:52
Thoughts on the Chasen Shreve signing?
Jason Mackey
12:53
Big fan. Tells me they might try some non-traditional stuff, which I think they need to do. Shreve told me they talked about a number of different roles. But the Pirates have done with guys who have a particular strength and accentuating it. Shreve has that with his splitter, and it's a different look coming from a lefty.
12:58
OK, folks. Thanks for doing this. Sorry to have to jet right at 1, but work calls. Will look forward to chatting again next week!
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