JotCast | Jason Mackey's Pirates chat: 11.13.25

Jason Mackey's Pirates chat: 11.13.25

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Jeff

1:25

What $ do the Pirates actually have in your opinion to spend on free agents? Meaning that the payroll now is something stupid like 20 million, but that doesn’t take into anccount all the arbitration contracts that have to come up.

Jason Mackey

1:26

It's akin to the past couple years, Jeff. Could see it being around $30 million or so. I need to do the nitty gritty math involved here, but my understanding of their payroll is that it will be somewhere between $90-$100. Probably right in the middle there.

JollyRoger8

1:26

As Allen Ludden Would say: The password is Jhostynxon. Garcia is a beast. I would be very happy if we were able to trade Keller for either Garcia or Abreau from the Red Sox. Do you see that as a possibility? I also like your thoughts on Westburg

Jason Mackey

1:26

Yes, I do see it as a possibility. Garcia might be squeezed out of a spot. Red Sox liked Keller at the deadline. Makes plenty of sense.

Cullen

1:26

You made a comment that you believe the Pirates front office reads these chats sometimes. If Cherington is reading this, most reasonable Pirates fans just want a genuine attempt to sign legitimate players. If you swing big on a guy and he doesn't pan out, fans will understand. What irritates us is taking on reclamation projects and waiver claims and hoping for the best. That's just my opinion on this, but does that track with what you hear from fans?

Jason Mackey

1:27

There you go. FWIW, not that you shouldn't voice your opinion, Cullen. But Cherington and others are aware of this. They've just done a poor job executing. I agree with you, too. Give people someone they know, echo their passion, speak to them like humans. This shouldn't be as hard as they seem to make it.

Wish upon a star

1:28

To pay skenes you have to 1. Win and 2. Invest in team. To then be able to potentially invest in him. You'd think signing his buddies like jones and Davis would help but paying any of them would take a complete change in spending philosophy for them

Jason Mackey

1:28

Yeah, I don't see it happening. Wish I did. But they have to win first, then who the heck knows. Maybe PNC is filled all summer, and they make a run at Paul. If the Pirates win 98 games, then the convo will actually go somewhere.

Frustrated

1:29

Pirates brass reads these chats? Travis Williams are you there? He has a twitter, I bet he doomscrolls.

Also, the Reds just announced Oscar Marin is gonna be their new bullpen coach, any particular closing thoughts on his departure, especially now that he's seemed to accept a lesser role with another team?

Jason Mackey

1:31

My answer wasn't any more than this: Teams keep tabs on what we do. I've always operated like that. Is Travis Williams in this room right now? Probably not. But word circulates. Organizations email clips to everyone. They all follow what we say and do on social. It's just part of the job. I'm accountable to everyone there for everything I say or write. I'll walk into the clubhouse, they're welcome to rip me, and we all need to get along.

Chase Maceiko

1:31

Hi Jason, we've seen the Pirates development improve specifically on the pitching side since the disastrous pitching in 2021, and last year Ben Cherington mentioned a strong portion of the budget going towards player development. Is there anything out there that says that this is going to improving hitting or anything specific at all?

Jason Mackey

1:32

Not that I've seen, Chris. That said, they're well-aware they need to do things differently on the offensive side. Would imagine that informs any potential changes or expenditures.

Jason Mackey

1:34

Chase. Sorry, I just caught this typo.

Intl market

1:32

I agree they have not been good enough internationally but cheringtons starting to see some seeds blooming with bidois and valdez along hopefully coming soon with strides in development from de los Santos bros, Blanco and emergence of Florentino. Not to mention some of the pitching.

Jason Mackey

1:33

Maybe. We'll see. And trying to rain on any parades here, but we've seen minor league production before. It's not major league production. Until that makes its way onto the big league roster, my point remains.

JollyRoger8

1:33

I see that extending Konner Griffin has already been brought up. I definitely think the Pirates should take a page out of the Brewers playbook and give Griffin a similar extension that the Brewers did for Chourio. The risk appears to be small and it would give the fans at least a little hope forvthe future

Jason Mackey

1:33

No doubt. A no-brainer for me. It's also not my $80-$90 million. Ha.

Chase Maceiko

1:34

Hi Jason, appreciate the work. After the 2021 season we began to see an emphasis on pitching development by hiring guys such as Brent Strom and Dewey Robinson. With part of the budget going to player development, are we going to start to see a mentality shift into the hitting development side?

Jason Mackey

1:34

Think you asked a slightly different version of this before. I wanted to add this: Those guys were very good on the pitching front. They need to find similar minds for hitting.

Intl market

1:34

They are all still young and question marks but I just felt he was starting a better track record. Thank you for the discourse !! Much love

Jason Mackey

1:35

I like the guys you mentioned a lot. But we also talked a lot about Endy, Castro, Marcano, Matt Fraizer ... who bunch that didn't amount to much.

JollyRoger8

1:35

I would like to see both Griffin and Valdez fast tracked to help take advantage of our time with Skenes. No reason to hold them back especially since you could get an extra pick if either one won ROY.
Thoughts?

Jason Mackey

1:36

I wouldn't go with both, personally. I'd like more certainty. If you wanna trust Griffin, if he earns it, cool. But go spend money to buy two major league hitters. And if Valdez pushes, awesome. Great problem to have.

No sweat

1:36

No error brother! Keep up the good work

Jason Mackey

1:36

Thank you.

Baron Dionis

1:36

Any buzz around hires across the organization? I mentioned Tony Beasley in past chat rooms being a great fit in the dugout. But any buzz on who will replace Horowitz or any open positions?

Jason Mackey

1:37

Buzz, buzz, buzz. Nothing on Horowitz. They're due coaching staff hires. I wouldn't be surprised if Beasley was part of that. There's been some off-field stuff that has delayed the staff composition, nothing more than that.

JollyRoger8

1:37

For as much that BC has been ridiculed for the lack of offense deservedly so, we have Esmerlyn Valdez, Florintino, and Blanco making their way towards Pittsburgh. That is a ton of incredible talent.

Jason Mackey

1:38

They're OK Double-A and below when it comes to minor league offensive talent. They also haven't had enough of it impact the big league club.

Early guess

1:38

Who's winning first? And overall for season in pierogies' race? Lock in now

Jason Mackey

1:38

Cheese Chester. Poised for a big year.

Baron Dionis

1:38

Have you heard anything related to what Mark Feinsand reported about the Pirates having around $30-$40 million to spend this offseason? Feel like we haven't heard a number like that in a while with some quotes from Cherington that don't feel like what he has said in the past. Encouraging stuff, but curious if you have any inside information to back that up

Jason Mackey

1:39

You need to remember that it's $30-$40 million on top of current commitments, putting it where we expected. They've spent about that much the past few seasons, too. I've been saying I expect payroll to be $90-$100 million this year. This tracks with that.

Baron Dionis

1:39

Do you expect the Pirates to DFA more players to open room for Rule 5 eligible prospects or will they non tender guys earlier than the deadline to open room?

Jason Mackey

1:40

I would think the non-tender stuff takes care of it. They have several candidates and not a ton of R5s to add.

PrinceBob

1:40

Let's say that the Pirates win enough that Scenes is seriously considering a long term deal here. It would be for massive money on a long term deal, probably at least $300 million, at least. Does it make sense to do a deal like that given how often pitchers are injured? Let's say that in the third year he has an injury and is never the pitcher he was up to then and they're needing to pay him $30 million a year to be Mitch Keller ( no knock on Mitch.)

Jason Mackey

1:42

It's a waste of time. Seriously. We need to move away from the hypothetical, fanciful stuff here, gang. Pirates spending $300 million on a pitcher? I get that it's normal baseball-wise. Call 'em cheap all you want. Not defending them. But that move ain't happening here. It's just not.

Clark Johnston

1:42

Jason, for a high-leverage lefty, what about Caleb Thielbar?

Jason Mackey

1:42

I wouldn't hate it.

JollyRoger8

1:42

Jason, great follow up articles in the PG on the Skenes-Yankees leak. It put my mind at ease that he is determined to win IN Pittsburgh!

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