DK’s Daily Shot of Pirates: Can’t be shamed

DK’s Daily Shot of Pirates: Can’t be shamed

[Music] [Applause] I try I really do to keep this thing levelheaded. Whatever it is that that would entail. I try to get you something that’s based on interview, some background information, a historical number, some other data. ideally offering at least one thing about the ball club that you wouldn’t have known before listening to a particular episode. Today I’ve got nothing of the kind. Good morning to you. Good Thursday morning. I’m Dan Kvach 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 of Steelers and Penguins in the same place that you found this. Cubs ate Pirates 4 yesterday at PNC Park. Official attendance was 13,488. A big bunch of that. The usual Chicago contingent. The game itself was whatever. The Pirates did score four runs. All of those in the first two innings on 10 hits. So that was something of an uptick. Cubs got to Johan Oedo early, but Odo impressively bounced back and completed five full innings. Joey Bart hit home run number three. Count him. One, two, three. That was a three-run shot in the first inning. And whatever. Team’s off today. team faces the athletics in the final home series of 2025 beginning tomorrow night. So, what’s my oddity thing for the day? The Cubs clinched a playoff spot. It’s their first time clinching one in a non-COVID setting since 2017. So, unlike when they clinched one in 2020, they were actually free to celebrate it and do fun things. And they did. They whooped it up in the visiting clubhouse. All the pirates people in advance know how to deal with that. They put saran wrap and other protective entities across the stalls and the carpets and so forth so that the damage that’s done is minimal. And they’re actually pretty good at this. Kevin Conrad and his crew, they’re the ones that take care of the other clubhouse in general. They’re experienced at setting up celebrations for the other guys. So, the Cubs get done in there. They go out onto the field onto the field and they’re doing one of those, you know, Stanley Cup looking gather around while you’re sitting. Some are sitting, some are standing. They’re holding up some signs that say W, which I presume is some sort of Cubs thing this year. I don’t care. And there they are. and their team photographer who’s on the trip is snapping all kinds of photos of this with the Pittsburgh skyline in the background and they put it out on social media. And here again, I’m not coming close to criticizing the Cubs. They can celebrate as long as we’re comparing this to the Stanley Cup. You know, teams that win the cup in somebody else’s rank, like the Penguins have won all five of theirs. Incidentally, you’re going to do what you want to do on the other team’s ice. But I got to tell you, and I don’t care if it’s just me. I don’t care if it’s me being weird or in a mood or whatever. If I’m the people running the pirates, that would have my blood boiling. And this is why it’s probably a good thing that I’m on this side of the fence when it comes to covering professional sports as opposed to partaking in them in any capacity. I would be the worst administrator of any team anywhere because that would have me running onto the field and chasing everybody off the grass. Like I would get into one of those giant mowers that they have that they store out in the outfield and I would just go flying at these cubs and get them out of there. But you don’t have that. You as a fan of this franchise don’t have people who even have some dark thought like that cross their mind. These are people who trade within the division in year six. And it’s not that they do so without apology. It’s not that they do so without concern for how it could come back to bite them. It’s that they do it without it’s it’s that they do it without having it ever pass through their craniums. Like it doesn’t occur to them. I’ve been in settings where Ben Cherington has been asked about trading within the division. I wasn’t the one who asked on that particular occasion, but I’ I’ve been in at least one of those. And his initial reaction when asked is to kind of tilt the head at the questioner as if to wonder, “Hang on a second. What do you even mean here? What do you mean? What’s what do you mean by trading in the division?” And then, and only then, once it hits him, he formulates a response. Here, I’ll ask you a question. Who’s the Pirates rival? Or maybe a better way to word it, who’s been the pirates rival at any point of the past 30 or 40 years. Give it some thought. Give it some thought. Go back to even the three years that they made the playoffs. Who’s that team where you said, “Man, I really can’t stand those guys.” Or way more interestingly, who’s been that team in the reverse? Like, they’ve had some physical fights and so forth with the Reds, including that amazing incident at Great American where Amir Garrett decided randomly that he wanted to take on the entire Pittsburgh dugout. But would you call Pirates and Reds a rivalry? They wouldn’t. They see you see the Brewers as being that. No, that’s a nemesis relationship. That’s different. The Brewers own the Pirates and have done so for a very, very long time. Cubs, you don’t like them. They’ve had some annoying characters. But are they a rivalry? No. Cardinals? You’d think something would have been built up over that insane 24-year streak in which the Cardinals finished ahead of the Pirates in the standings like every single season. But that ended in 2023. That was almost entirely a nemesis-based relationship. And the Cardinals right now are kind of meh. And they’ve lost their their arrogance, the St. Louis way and all that Adam Wayne, right? Yadier Molina, Albert Pooh’s aura that they had for a thousand years. This team doesn’t have a rivalry. This team isn’t even in the realm of having a rivalry. This team doesn’t even acknowledge that certain opponents matter more than others. And that’s in any context. when the team got off to that pretty good start a couple of springs ago, you’ll recall, like really good start, like one of the best teams record-wise in baseball through the first few weeks. Nobody, nobody, nobody above the player level, beginning with Derek Shelton, but working up to Cherington and Bob Nutting and everybody, nobody would look at that and see it as a real thing. Nobody used it as any kind of motivation. It was just another piece of data to add to the pile. When we come back, Sh. 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. No one wants their unsecured gun to be used in an accident, a suicide, or a crime. Use lock boxes, safes, and locks to secure your firearms. Learn more at gunstoch checkck.org. That’s gunstorage check.org. Brought to you by NSSF, the firearm industry trade association. Hey guys, if you’re planning to see a Pirates game, use the Game Time app to get your tickets. You can snag new ticket deals before anyone if you set it into app alerts. The app is easy to use. No surprise fees at checkout. You can see your seat view before buying. And you’re getting legit tickets delivered on time. Now, if you’re not much of a planner, you can get lastminute deals on tickets right up to the start of the event. Lowest price guarantee or game time will credit you 110% of the difference. Download the Game Time app and enter the code DK Pirates in your app profile for $20 off your first purchase. [Music] Today’s J1Q comes from Richie Mchuan, who asks DK, would a quality general manager even consider coming to Pittsburgh? Would they look at Paul Skins in the rotation as enough of a strength that they could fix it and convince Bob Nutting to spend money? Or will the Pirates have to rely on an unproven hire because it’s undesirable? I welcome getting this question every once in a while because it comes in so often that I feel like every time I answer it, it’s going to come with a whole new feel to a whole new audience. There are only 30 of these jobs on the planet. The longer time listeners are now mouththing along with me. Only a couple of them come available every fall or winter. There’s nowhere else you can go to become a big league general manager. You can’t do it in the Dominican. You can’t do it in Japan. You certainly can’t do it at any other level of the sport in our country or on our continent. So when you look at the number of people who would be legitimate candidates, like real live qualified candidates, people who’ve been in the business, who are smart enough, who are bold enough, who have experience running things, and yeah, all that on top of the baseball acumen, however many of those people exist, that is exactly How many are ready to throw themselves in front of a moving locomotive to become a big league GM? I don’t know where this line of thinking originates, but it comes up so often in these J1Ques that I have to think it’s getting repeated somewhere by somebody or that it’s possibly the byproduct of something that gets discussed more commonly in another sport. But even that’s not any different. Now, if you’d prefer a response that’s a little bit more specific and a little bit more in the moment, I’ve got a couple of ways to go here. One, I hear from these people myself. They are seeking out from me information. What’s the situation look like in Pittsburgh? Do you think they’re going to get rid of this guy? How is this and how is that? They’re not doing that to scout out whether or not they’d be interested. They’re doing that to scout out their chances. They’re eager for the work. They will take the job and gleefully so. Number two, you talk about nutting as being some sort of handicap in this process and I could see that because he’s made some not great choices over the years and he obviously hasn’t spent much money. But if you’re a baseball executive right now of any worth, then you are intensely informed of what’s coming in this next labor pact. The owners want a salary cap system. The commissioner wants a salary cap system. In that cap system, your owners/payroll concern becomes a zero. Why? Because in all other sports that have the cap system, the cap of course having a ceiling, a floor, and immensely expanded revenue sharing so that everyone can afford to be in that range. That range ends up being right around 20 million. That’s what it is in the NFL. That’s what it is in the NHL. That’s not much of a range at all. In fact, it’s outright immaterial. So to those people, and boy, there are a bunch of these out there too, who say things like, “The worst thing that you could ever do to nutting is put in a salary floor.” No, it would be the best thing. You’d trap him in a range. He’s got nowhere to go with it. And yes, absolutely. He’d be colossally in favor of that because he would be getting the revenue sharing that would make the floor and the ceiling and the range itself totally affordable. People in baseball know this is coming. They also know it’s going to come with a fight, but it’s coming. If you’re going to have a concern about a new GM as it relates to nutting, have a concern because this would be wellfounded that he would hire the wrong guy. That’s real. I appreciate the question, Richie. I appreciate everybody listening to Daily Shot of Pirates. We’ll be back with another one of these tomorrow.

These guys just can’t be shamed.

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