DK’s Daily Shot of Pirates: Is Jared Triolo an answer?

DK’s Daily Shot of Pirates: Is Jared Triolo an answer?

[Music] [Applause] Okay, so Ben Cherington believes that Jared Triolo can be significant part of this team’s future. But hey, don’t hold that against him. Good morning to you. Good Wednesday morning. I’m Dan Kawaj of DK Pittsburgh Sports. This is Daily Shot of Pirates. It comes your way bright and early every weekday if you’re into football andor hockey. I also offer daily shots Steelers and Penguins in the same place that you found this Pirates nine Dodgers 7 last night at PNC Park. Opener of that series and an uplifting one at that. Anytime you can win a ball game in which Show Otani homers and doubles twice and the other guys are starting Clayton Kershaw and the other guys have the gazillion dollar payroll and everything else. Yeah, nice night at the yard. Doubly so for the guys with the bats. Tommy Fam with two more hits, two more RBI’s. Andrew McCutch and Nick Gonzalez each reached base three times as did Triolo who ever since the KBrian Hayes trade and his return to Pittsburgh from the minor leagues has looked like a pretty good ball player. Before the Hayes trade, he was batting 158 with three home runs and 10 RBI’s over 139 at bats since then. 323. I mean, you want to talk about a spike with a 425 on base, two home runs, 10 RBI’s, over 96 at bats, and I don’t have to tell anybody who’d push play on a show called Daily Shot of Pirates that he can really pick it wherever it is that you put him. He’s an actual gold glover. So, between that and his being 27 years old, and let’s always remember this factor, he doesn’t cost anything. Yeah, you could see something to what Cherington has said. You could also, if it was pretty much any other executive, maybe praise Cherington a little bit for having glanced into the looking glass there a bit and gotten this result. But, and you knew I was coming with this one wonderful month and it’s been that doesn’t change can’t change anybody’s overarching narrative. Not in baseball. If it could, Josh Bell would have made us forget Willie Stargel. As it is, Triolo’s 27. He’s got 810 major league at bats, through which his 2025 numbers very closely reflect his career numbers. Current average 226, career average 237. Current on base percentage and career on base percentage both exactly 325. OPS current 682 career 671. He is as the old baseball scouts like to say who he is meaning for better and for worse except to re-emphasize here with a glove where he’s always better. He is just so so good defensively. So that’s one part of the problem here with Triolo. another, this should be obvious, is the GM who’s saying these things about him and acting upon it isn’t going to be here next year. So, what he thinks, plans, or hopes, doesn’t matter. Third, and this one really does matter, there happens to be a kid coming up through the system who’s going to play the position that Triolo is currently playing. Yeah, Connor Griffin’s only 19, but when you rock it through the system, your first real professional season to make it to Altuna at age 19, it’s convenient to say that he’d start next season or at least have a chance to start next season in Indianapolis. But that’s also precluding that he could just show up at Bradenton and obliterate everybody and create his own. Paul Skeen’s path to the majors, in which case Triolo either slides across to third base or goes back to the bench. If it’s back to the bench, we’re not really having much of a dialogue here, are we? If it’s to third base, then once again, you’re stuck talking about how the Pirates can’t get any power from the corner positions. In those 810 career at bats, Triolo has 17 home runs. Don’t make me do the math on that. What’s more, in that same span, he’s got 35 other extra base hits, which isn’t a lot either. So, you’re talking about somebody who’s going to hit a lot of singles, and you’re talking about somebody who most unfortunately fits the offensive profile of the third baseman he’d be replacing. Now, can you live with that? If Griffin in fact turns out to be this godlike talent and goes bombs away for the rest of his life, I I guess because you’d have yourself certainly a strong defensive infield. But does that make Triolo I don’t want to say the answer. Does that make him an answer meaning to any question that you’d have other than who’s really really capable of providing real real depth? Triolola would be a piece. And I say this in the most positive way possible on any team in the majors. There isn’t a team that wouldn’t carry a Triolo. But that’s not the talking point here. The talking point is having him be significant everyday contributor. And between where he’s been and what’s coming up the pipeline, meaning pretty much the only hitter the Pirates have, let’s just say he’d need a whole lot more of the August that he just had. When we come back, J1Q, [Music] if you’re looking for a great dining experience, look no further than Northshore Tavern. Located directly across Federal Street from PNC Park, next door to Mike’s Beer Bar, Northshore Tavern is Pittsburgh’s home for Steak on a stone. Enjoy your steak finished on a hot lava stone in front of you, where you ensure each piece is cooked to exactly your liking. Or try their rotating selection of entre, hot sandwiches, salads, and burgers, all while enjoying the ambiance dedicated to the great players and history of the Pittsburgh Pirates all around you. Come see why everyone’s talking about Northshore Tavern and Steak on a stone. It’s Gun Storage Check Week. Help prevent unwanted access to your firearms. 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Message and data rates may apply. [Music] Today’s J1 Q comes from Michael who says, “Can Tommy Fam be resigned before the season is out?” Michael posted this on the DK Pittsburgh Sports app and the first response underneath it from another commenter is, “Wow, who would have thought we’d be saying this three months ago?” Fam, as I mentioned in the opening segment, went two for four with a double, a couple of RBI’s last night, and that’s just become who he is. Unlike Jared Triolo, he’s done it for more than a month. Unlike Triolo, he’s done it to the point where his season statistics look pretty good. He’s batting now 267, 343 on base, 736 OPS, eight home runs and 47 RBI’s in 333 at bats. And his defense as well has been nothing short of exceptional in left field by every available metric. And he’s doing that at age 37 when you’re usually if you’re hanging around that long in the majors, you’re either at first base or you’re dhing or actually you’re just not in the game anymore. All of that is to his credit. A few weeks ago in Seattle, he and I were the only two people sitting in the visiting dugout. This was before batting practice. and he went over with me in remarkable detail everything that went wrong with him in the opening part of the season. And everything everything everything he said pointed to the now well-known vision issue. But the part that I found most compelling was that the way he told the tale, even once he had the actual vision addressed, he still didn’t adapt properly. And those of you who’ve had uh eye work or glasses or contacts or what have you, any anything at all done to adjust the way you see things, it’s not instant. The brain takes a while to process it. And in an ultra precision sport like baseball, you can only imagine how much greater that factor is. But he did it. He battled through it. He made himself not just a contributor. He made himself the team’s best hitter. I mean, that’s what he is now. He is this team’s best hitter. Now, I can say all of that and say a whole heck of a lot more and even toss in that he obviously wouldn’t cost very much at his age. His current term is for one year at 4.025 million. And if he were to get a raise on that, not necessarily from Pittsburgh, but from anybody, it couldn’t be more than five. If you followed the career trajectory of somebody similar, let’s say for example, Carlos Santana. That’s the range in which those guys are getting paid. It’s the four or five range. But I can’t answer anything. I can’t even speculate on it because who the heck knows. Have you noticed that Ben Cherington hasn’t signed anybody into 2026 and that in fact a lot of what Cherington did at the trade deadline was to continue to clear out potential commitments for 2026. Wonder why that is. I appreciate the question. I appreciate everybody listening to Daily Shot of Pirates. We’ll be back with another one of these tomorrow. [Music]

Is Jared Triolo an answer to anything?

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