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Jason Mackey's Pirates chat: 06.16.21
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Donna
12:44
Hi Jason.  There are a few players the Pirates may take with the first pick.  Who would you select with that pick?  Hope you get a chance to enjoy the sights in DC .  Thanks!
Jason Mackey
12:45
Hey Donna. Have not been able to enjoy nearly as much as I would like, believe me. Have had to work pretty much the entire time. But I do love it here. I would take Leiter. I would be enticed by the high school guys, and I very much am right now. But I just don't know if I could pass on who I think is going to be the best long-term pitcher available to me. You need starting pitching. Can never, ever have enough.
Ryan
12:45
good afternoon Jason what’s going on with the pirates now let’s win today let’s go Bucs
Jason Mackey
12:46
What's going on with the Pirates? How much time and bourbon do you have?
PrinceBob
12:46
Why the "Saturday" start time on a Wednesday?
Jason Mackey
12:47
No clue, Gunner. I don't make the schedule, and they don't give us reasons behind why they do what they do.
Trish
12:47
I was on the "Adam Frazier needs to be traded" bandwagon for a while, but now I'm off it. At this point, would it be stupid or prudent to trade the team's best hitter?
Jason Mackey
12:52
I think because it's smart business. He'll be a free agent after the 2022 season and will 100% leave for a better opportunity and more money. So, it's incumbent on the Pirates to get something for him. Knowing that, to make the smartest deal possible, they should trade him when his value is the highest. Not only is he playing well, but the Frazier has another year of team control, which is often attractive for acquiring teams.
David
12:52
Do you have any feel for the new front office and whether or not we could see some more aggressive promotions based on good seasons, i.e. AA straight to MLB? The player who I most have in mind is Castro, maybe as someone to take Frazier’s spot, or perhaps in September if Tucker gets a brief MLB trial and Newman slides over just curious if this type of thing is something we could expect, or if the Castro cup of coffee earlier in the year was just an early season fluke.
Jason Mackey
12:53
I think we might see some aggressive promotions -- we saw aggressive placements to start the season --  but I don't know if we'll see someone just bypass Class AAA. If Castro has to, because there's a need, maybe. I don't think he would be out of his element, to quote Big Lebowski. But I think it will be individual and based on the player.
Gus
12:54
I know Newman has played a solid short this season, and by service time standards he’s still young, but his bat just isn’t MLB quality. Personally I’d rather see Gonzalez be the every day shortstop until Tucker or Cruz (if he sticks at short) takes over. My long winded question is, does Newman need to fear being DFA’d?
Jason Mackey
12:55
No, he doesn't at all. Newman hasn't hit much, but he's been fine defensively. He's given them MLB-caliber defense and has functioned fine as a No. 8 hitter on a better team. You can play Gonzalez. I won't argue. But I can't say he's markedly better than Newman. To me, they're both here to hold the position before someone like Cruz or Peguero takes over long-term.
Don
12:55
Good Afternoon Jason,  Thank you for your time.  Can you explain the process of when the Pirates draft a player and sign them?  Trying to understand how long they can remain in the minors and the arbitration process.  I guess I’m just wondering how much longer a player like Ke’Bryan Hayes will be with the Pirates, before he is traded for more prospects.  Have no faith that Bob Nutting will ever spend money at the Major League level to improve the team.
Jason Mackey
12:59
Don, this is a lengthy explanation, so I'll do my best. Baseball adheres to what is called service time. The clock does not start upon drafting. It starts when the player is promoted to the big leagues. So, when Hayes come up, his clock starts. I'll spare you the Super 2 diatribe, but most players have 3 years of team control, 3 years of arbitration. Hayes is very much under team control, though he will likely be Super 2 at some point. Again, trying to stay general here. Once he gets to arbitration, he will get a raise, but the Pirates still can and will pay that. Or they could sign him long-term, giving him a raise over those team control years and probably arbitration and giving Hayes guaranteed dollars in exchange for maybe taking less than he otherwise might earn. And this isn't a Pirates thing. It's a league-wide trend for teams to sometimes do deals like this.
AJ
12:59
Are there any names to keep an eye on for the 37th overall pick, especially if the Pirates go underslot at #1?
Jason Mackey
1:00
I think there are too many variables there, frankly. There are names -- look at top 100 rankings, for instance -- but predicting what 36 other teams will do is tough. And not something I really have the time to work through right now.
Gus
1:00
How does Oliva look since he’s returned from injury? Could he maybe get a look at the bigs soon over Tom? Please?
Jason Mackey
1:00
Have not seen him, as he's at Indy. Mike Persak will have more later in the week. But, by all accounts, I don't think there are any complaints.
DJS
1:00
Hey Jason, a few weeks back when we were discussing lower list prospects, I asked about Matt Frazier in Greensboro, college guy drafted in 2019. Seems like he’s continued to hit for average and power, swing looks nice now that we can finally see Greensboro this week. Have you talked to anyone about him in digging in on the prospects? Don’t mean to narrowly focus on one player, but due to the layoff year, it seems like the 2019 draft guys could be flying under radars a bit. I know you mentioned Shackelford and his big power, but it looks to me like Frazier has seized an opportunity and become a fixture at the top of that lineup.
Jason Mackey
1:01
I agree. He's been very, very good. However, no, I have not had a chance to speak to anyone specifically about him. I do intend to soon because he's been really good. But there are only so many hours in the day, and I have not had enough of them lately to do that.
Bill
1:01
I know the Pirates love EGon's versatility and defense but hes 29 and most likely not part of the future. Would it make sense at some point to let Tucker assume that role so you can find out what he can or can't do? This winter there will be a big 40 man roster crunch and need to find out about Tucker.
Jason Mackey
1:02
Yeah, I think that's fair. But you also need to bring Tucker up at a point when he's in a good spot. And playing Gonzalez now doesn't hurt you. Maybe someone else finds him attractive, I don't know. I also don't think they're overplaying Gonzalez. Heck, another reader thinks they're underplaying him. They do need to see what they have in Tucker, although I'm OK with him working some things out at the minors because what we saw last time wasn't good enough.
PrinceBob
1:03
In football and basketball first round draft picks immediately make the team and often contribute right away. What is it about baseball that makes it take years until talented kids are ready?
Jason Mackey
1:04
Several things. Football, you don't go right from high school to the pros. That's easy. Maybe sheer athleticism in basketball taking over and being developed at that time? I don't know. I'm not a big basketball guy. I know with baseball, it's such a more advanced game in pro ball. Those things aren't immediately learned. Look at the years and years of troubles people have had. Whether it's recognizing pitches, having your weaknesses exposed, the every-day grind, all kinds of stuff is different.
Rafferty
1:04
Hey Jason.  If the Pirates were to draft the catcher Davis, would they still be able to draft someone under slot?  Thanks.
Jason Mackey
1:05
I think so, yeah. Independent of anything else, I absolutely think they could save some money on Davis. Don't know if it's the right move. But just answering your question.
george
1:05
derek shelton is not a very good manager
Jason Mackey
1:06
I feel like this is probably a fairly common opinion at this point. I also don't know if we really know. Look at the team he has. Yeah, I hate when he takes pitchers out early. But his margin for error is also razor thin.
Guest1in SF
1:06
Barring those due to injury, who do you believe will be the Pirates next position player call up? The Pirates have shown extraordinary patience (inexplicable in my view) with Kai Tom, especially given his many bad reads in the field.  Given the Pirates anemic offense, shouldn’t they focus on bringing up a player who is at least solid in the field so as not to place more strain on the offense?
Jason Mackey
1:06
I think Anthony Alford can and will be the next position player called up.
Wayward
1:06
I need to start by stating that I am not a Polanco hater as I would really like for him to figure something out but how long is the rope with him?   We know it is a throw away year but do they play him through the trade deadline or all year?  At this point no one is pressing him for playing time.
Jason Mackey
1:07
Right. I think you answered your own question. When someone else deserves to play. Now, I do think -- as crazy as this sounds -- they wanna give him runway up until the trade deadline, hoping and praying that someone gives them something for him. That said, if Oliva, Alford or both play well, I think you might see Polanco's playing time decrease. It will definitely decrease -- or maybe disappear -- after the deadline passes.
Ben
1:07
To play the what if game, where do you think the pirates would be right now had they done the Cherington strategy and traded Cutch, Cole, etc,. for high risk high reward prospects and started the rebuild fully right then and there?
Jason Mackey
1:09
They would probably be competitive again already, honestly. Now, the Cutch trade wasn't awful. They did fine with Reynolds, although you probably would have liked to have gotten more than just him. The Cole trade has layers. One, he was more easily tradable because they didn't get enough out of him. Two, the best we can say about the trade is that Moran might be a serviceable player, and Musgrove netted a nice haul of prospects -- although it obviously delayed the timeline of everything.
Drew
1:09
More of a comment than a question...I went to Altoona on Saturday to see the doubleheader with Akron.  After reading your article last week about what some of the Altoona coaches are saying about  Oneil Cruz' future at shortstop, I wanted to see him play. He doesn't move like he's 6'7", he's quick, very coordinated and has a very strong arm. He made all of the routine plays on Saturday and nearly pulled off a highlight worthy play when the ball deflected off the third baseman and he nearly through the runner out at first.  He also hit a homer into the roller coaster again on Saturday, but I was most impressed with a bloop he hit just over the second baseman's head and he legged it into a double, that was really not even close.  He's an amazing talent and I would not be disappointed if he stayed at shortstop.
Jason Mackey
1:10
Thanks, Drew. Just to give credit where it's due, Mike Persak wrote that article. And did a very good job, if I may say so myself.
Scott
1:10
At the beginning of the season there were reports that players wouldn't be able to be promoted straight from AA due to Health and Safety issues (not being Tier 1). Do you have any idea if that was ever the case, and if so, is it still? If it is, is it possible that's something that goes away when the Pirates reached 85%?
Jason Mackey
1:10
Yeah, this is a non-issue now, as I understand it. Honestly, I don't know about the previous thing you're talking about. But I don't know of any instance where promotions will be affected by COVID.
Guest
1:11
Trey McGough, a PA kid, got promoted to Altoona. I’ve been following him cause I think it’s a cool story, good arm as a lefty. Have you seen anything about him?
Jason Mackey
1:12
I've seen that he's pitched well and got promoted. That's about it, and I know that's not helpful. But again, it's hard to keep track of every player on five teams, which is essentially what we're trying to do here. I like to think that I crank out a decent amount of work. I'm working almost all the time. And I'm not able to keep up with it all. I promise you it's not out of laziness.
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