The 2025 Pittsburgh Pirates Were Doomed From The Start

The 2025 Pittsburgh Pirates Were Doomed From The Start

The 2025 Pittsburgh Pirates. Were they doomed from the start? We will discuss Noah Ohio’s recent article detailing this, plus Alex Stump’s annual sports sport sparkle quiz. You’re listening to the Northshore 9 podcast presented by FanDuel. [Music] Yo yo yo. Welcome to Bucka Brew powered by Defa Coffee and Tea. I’m your host Anthony Donardo. With me we have Jim Rosati. Jim, how are you doing? I’m doing great. I’m doing great. Uh, I was wondering if you were gonna bring me on there, if it was just gonna be a solo show. I was just gonna sit on the sidelines. I want to do solo. I was making it up for you for that one day that I missed and you went solo. Yeah. Um, you know what? It’s nice to It’s nice to be back. It’s nice to be back. I don’t know if the the if the people the viewers or the listening audience has noticed, but I’ve been MIA for a bit. Last night was the first night I slept in my bed in over a week. It was glorious. So, yeah, I’m feeling good this morning. That’s awesome. I’m feeling good as well. I’m refreshed. 162 games is over with. Um, no. I mean, it’s funny like you and I were on the postgame show yesterday and yeah, it’s like this bittersweet right now feeling more sweet than bitter. But, uh, I don’t know. Oh, it just Yeah, it’s just kind of like refreshing like it’s We are done. We made it. Yeah. Well, like the the daily postgame grind is done, but but yeah, we still we’re not done. We still we still got a lot to do. Um but uh but yeah, like the the daily watching watching the games for three hours just to uh to to talk about them um in a miserable way most nights. That’s all gone. So, now we can start talking about what went wrong and uh how we’re gonna fix it. Yeah. You know, I love the off seasonason much more abstract, right? And and again, like the the grind of this 162 game season like you mentioned postgame and such and again this team just not being all good. And let’s say this, like if we feel this way, I mean, I can’t imagine how the players feel right now this morning, but maybe we’ll talk a little bit about that because Noah House released an article. Um, and yeah, pretty insightful about how the players, some coaches, some some things that went on this season, how they feel. Uh yeah, I guess to kind of put it like was was this season doomed from the start? Um I guess we’ll we’ll talk a little more about that. Uh and of course Alex Stump’s sparkle quiz, right? That was released that was dropped yesterday. Big bombshell. So you know how we do that. We love to play that game on uh on this show here. So we’ll have 10 minutes basically to decide and name every Pirates player. Um, I’m going to fail spectacularly. Yeah, I made sure I avoided like all spoilers yesterday. Like everybody was posting their sparkle quot sporal scores yesterday and I was like, I don’t want to see any of this. I don’t want to see it. I want to see how we do. Yeah. And what I like about today’s show is there’s really no need to look up any players. So, it’s not like I’m like reviewing and going, “Oh, yeah. Let’s There’s this guy, there’s that guy.” Yep. Let’s Let’s test this out. 62 games we endured. Can we name all is it 57? I don’t remember a number. I remember a number because I remember seeing people like say I got this out of that. But before we do, let’s go ahead and tell you about our sponsor of the show. Safare is a family and employee owned and operated business. They believe that coffee and tea are one of life’s simplest and most accessible pleasures. And when enjoy thoughtfully can open your eyes to the here and now. They have five locations across the city of Pittsburgh, including their flagship in the heart of Pittsburgh’s historic strip district. Don’t forget to stop by Defair’s new location downtown on Penn Avenue, right across from the Benedom. Grab a cup of fuel, grab a cup, and fuel up your walk to the PNC Park. Mobile ordering is available. Check out their Instagram for more details. And of course, that is the fair. Coffee. So, Jim, tell everyone what they can do when they go to that website. Yeah, if you put in promo code NS930, NS930, uh you’ll get 30% off your first order, um you can pick up a bunch of bags of coffee, whatever you want. They got merchandise, they got tea, all all the all the things your heart could desire, uh is at is at the website. So, go to defair. Coffee uh use promo code NS930. Let me add this, too. Um so, I was in Pittsburgh this weekend. There was a football game that that I attended. Um, it was a great football game by the way. Just No need to gloat. Get to cut to the chase. Excellent refereeing. You know, it was just a well played game by both sides. And the Louisville football car Louisville football team just they came out on top. They were the better team for 60 minutes. So, uh, but before the game, uh, my wife and I, we stopped at the fair in the strip district and, um, it was the first time my wife had been there and she’s now obsessed. She’s So now every time we go back to Pittsburgh, we’re gonna we’re gonna have to go down to the strip district and and go to the fair. She was very nice. Yep. Very nice. Yeah. I mean that the the shop looks incredible. I mean I love the inside of that place. Um it’s a recorder one bucka brew when we were in the in the area. But um yeah, I say it’s funny. Allen’s already dropping how many days until the home opener and season opener. And there you go. I’m not there yet. I’m not quite there yet. I I’ll laugh. I actually dropped that two days ago, but it was more of like it was more of a thought like let’s get the hell out of here. Let’s move on to the next season. But uh yeah, so 177 days until they play the New York Mets. That’s going to go go by so quick. Yeah. But yeah, probably. So long but yet so quick. But um yeah, so I’m glad you went to the fair. We’ll stop there. Yeah. So, how about how about these quotes, Jim? How about this article that Noah just dropped? Yeah. So, um so let’s let’s dive into this. Uh there I kind of want to he he he kind of broke it into three sections. So, let’s sort of break it down into three sections and we can we can kind of have our discussions on this. um lots of insight into yeah like what what went wrong here. And the title of the article, if you haven’t seen it yet, is the 2025 Pirates never had a chance and the players knew it. Kind of a kind of a damning title that sort of sets up what it’s about. But uh yeah, so if you haven’t read it, we’ll put a link down in the description, but uh it’s on the Post Gazette. Just dropped this morning. Uh full of quotes and sources pretty much just talking about what a disaster this team was. Um like from the get-go. Uh so so yeah, we’ll we’ll get into that. He kind of starts off talking about Derek Shelton. Um then moves more into just like the organization as a whole. Uh and then really just like what um you know what the players are are hoping happens whenever uh you know you know this off seasonason to get to get better. So u but yeah lots of lots of interesting stuff in here. Um they they talk about let’s I mean do we want to start with the coaching situation? It says here that you know Noah um Noah sourced more than you know 12 about a dozen players. talked to coaches, talked to team employees, talked to league sources to pretty much put this this thing together uh to kind of piece together what what happened. But um he really just starts off with with with Derek Shelton. Um starting off here with you know there there was obviously a lot of pressure on Shelton at the beginning of the year to perform which we all knew that. I mean this was year six of the rebuild. there was actually expectations here. Um, right? You know, it’s time to win, right? That was the quote in spring training. So, yeah, like there was pressure early on for the Pirates to uh to win. He even goes in to say like, you know, there this was Shelton’s sixth year. The losing was not necessarily encouraged, but it was very much tolerated, you know, in the early part of Shelton’s tenure. Um, he was heavily involved in in pretty much the entire process. Um, but you know, it says here, “One player told the Post Gazette uh that it was all when something went wrong, it was always someone else’s fault. It was never it was never Derek Sheldon’s fault. It was always someone else’s fault.” Um, and I think that’s when like that if when that’s the sent when that’s the sentiment like among an organization or a team where like your leader isn’t accepting any of the blame. Like that’s it’s a problem. It’s a problem. I mean like when when you’re in charge, you’re in charge. If something good happens, it’s it’s because the the people underneath you performed. if something bad happens, it’s it’s your fault. Like that’s just kind of what leadership is. And you know, I think we saw that a lot in like his postgame interviews early like kind of towards the end of Shelton’s tenure there where he he he really just kind of was like, I don’t know what’s I don’t know what’s going on. These guys, you know, we need to be better. They need to be better. like and and so I guess when you just kind of have that sentiment over and over and over again, you do start losing the clubhouse a little bit and I think that’s what happened here for sure. And you know, like you said, it was there was pressure, but rightfully so. I mean, it is time to win. And I guess you just bucked under the pressure, you know, like for for all the talk about Shelton, should he go, should he not go? Derek, you know, leaving is not going to change anything and the new guy, whatever new guy comes in, what are they going to do? I mean, again, like this is part of it. I mean, it’s just like you you probably just needed a new voice regardless. And I think this kind of shows exactly what we’re talking about in that regards. You know, it’s not so much that like Derek Shelton is just such a terrible coach and he makes such an impact and difference, but these are the things that we’re talking about. Like it’s not so much the X’s and O’s on the field. It’s behind the scenes. It’s getting those guys ready and stuff. And they’re filming like, you know, like he said, like you you couldn’t make a mistake. The fear of making a mistake was just palpable, you know? I mean, like they they couldn’t um you’re playing so tense and under pressure. I mean, the clubhouse, the team, like they’re not playing to the best performance. And it kind of seemed like it was starting with with Derek Shelton. He had so much pressure to perform and they weren’t. And like, you know, you know, your job is being lost. If you can’t get this team to win and like he just wasn’t handling it well. I think it’s very clear where this article is set up to to show that. Um, you know, we argue should he be back because of that. I mean, we we’ve we’ve talked about this time and time again about the losing and how complacency h you know, like they need to start winning and it seemed as if it was okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay. Which again isn’t all on Shelton, of course, but like it’s been okay for five years and then all of a sudden, oh, you got to perform now. And to Derek’s credit, they didn’t give him anything to do it with. You know, it’s not like this team was better. So, he just felt the immense pressure of making the impossible have to happen. and he wasn’t doing it. So, yeah, I mean that’s that’s my biggest take from here. I mean, I think everything was justified in the firing, but again, like obviously it’s it’s not to put this team the blame on this team’s performance on Derek Shelton, right? It starts from the top, but yeah, I mean this he didn’t have this clubhouse. It’s it’s very clear. No, and and I mean and I mean someone asks here like why are we talking about Sheldon? you know, it’s like, well, this season was over. We’re recapping the season here and and Shelton played a big role in this season just being over from the get-go. Um, and and I mean there’s just I’m not going to like read this entire article here, but it says here that, you know, Shelton was discouraged by the lack of of of of additions this off season. and he was discouraged by the lack of of major league ready players, which hey, you know what? I agree. Like I agree with like I was also discouraged with the lack of all that. Um the problem is that like once your team senses that you’re discouraged that like you’re not good enough, well then that’s where you get this this this um you know you’re you’re afraid to make a mistake. That that’s kind of thing that happened. And um you know there’s a quote in here too. One player said that he should have been gone at the end of last year. Like when you have a player saying that, like I don’t even know why this guy was back. He should have been gone at the end of last year. That’s that’s a big thing. And then uh Nick Gonzalez, who’s actually named in here, said that the team just essentially they they lacked an identity and an overall goal like as a group and because of that you’re going to underperform. Um, and that he thinks that there was there was there was that going on where like there was just there was wasn’t like a unified goal from the get-go. So, yeah, it I I I sympathize with Sheldon a little bit in that. Yeah. Like, dude, you didn’t get much you didn’t get much help here. But I think towards the end there, he sort of let that frustration boil up because yeah, as much as you may believe that, like you can’t really you can’t really let other people know that, right? Like if I I run a I run a sales team, right, with with with sales reps, you know, if we’re underperforming, I can’t be just out there saying, you know, well, these sales reps suck. You know, if this team was made up of better sales reps, we’d be doing better. like that’s not that’s not how you should be leading a team. It’s like okay, how do I get the most out of these guys? And it just seems like towards the end Shelton moved away from that. And it was more like how am I supposed to do anything with this group that that that’s and that’s what ultimately if that’s the sentiment of the leader, that’s going to be the sentiment of the team underneath him. And when he was fired, I mean this the season was over in early May. Mhm. It was over. Oh, it was. Yeah. I mean, right. Exactly. And like what I want to say to that is like if I’m your superior and I’m talking to you about that, like that’s your excuses and stuff you’re telling me. I mean, again, this is what you’re saying. You’re sympathizing with Eric Shelter because there’s a lot of truth in what he was saying, but like, okay, what are you doing to change that? Like, what what what strategies you’re implementing to improve this team? This person has this opportunity in this area. Like, how are you how are you ultimately challenging them? How are you improving them? how you getting to where they need to be to help you out. And if it just ultimately, hey, it’s not me. Well, then we’re lost. You know, we’re lost. There’s a disconnect here. Yeah, they might part of the problem, but you’re also a problem as well. Um, and that’s exactly Yeah, like what I see in this, right? So, again, like talking about leadership and talking about making the change, it wasn’t ultimately just because, well, Derek Shelton’s a bad manager. Derek Shelton’s got to go because the manager is can create five to 10 wins, whatever. Like, this kind of shows it, right? This is more than the X’s and O’s on the field. This is behind the scenes. This is getting the group of guys together. This is being a leader. And Derek Shelton was no longer being that leader that was needed. He was no longer having a voice in the clubhouse they respected. As much as so like you mentioned like guys were saying he shouldn’t have been back. You’re coming into the year with guys saying why are you here again doomed from the start almost like like they’re questioning why are you even here? You don’t have this clubhouse on day one. And with that being said, the pressure is on to win. And from the get-go, you had guys questioning if you should even be here. That’s that’s a tough situation. That’s a really tough situation. So again, ultimately like moving on from Eric Shelton just sounds like it it was exactly the right thing to do. Too late. Too late. We thought it was too late, but again, some of the players thought it was too late. And yeah, so um again, I think Derrick Shelton’s a great guy. I like Derek Shelton. Nothing against Derek Shelton, but I felt it was time to move on. You felt it was time to move on. This whole offseason, we were kind of puzzled why he was back. And again, a lot a lot of this argore right here just cosigns on that. Yeah, it’s um and again like I it was the season was over two weeks in essentially just because of how bad this team started. Uh so things things turned very very quickly there. Um, and then I mean they moved to Don Kelly and I think you immediately saw some some responses like I they they weren’t good under Don Kelly. Like let’s not sugarcoat it. Like the Pittsburgh Pirates under Don Kelly were not a good baseball team which leaves me to believe that hey there’s some deeper problems here than just the manager. That that’s probably not the only thing that’s wrong here. Huh? there’s something else. And and to kind of segue that, like that’s what it says here. But even those who felt though Shelton was hurting the team, they understood there was bigger problems at hand. So like even the players and people I was talking to addressed that. Yep. Yeah. Which which brings us to the second part. I don’t know if you’re if are we done talking about Shelton kind of moving on here? I think so. Yeah, I think we move on. I think it’s clear that the players uh you know what Jim they thought this was a a fresh of breath air if I might add one of my famous quotes. Yeah I think the um the the quote of this part of the article sort of comes at the end but we’ll we’ll we’ll talk about the whole thing but um I mean I mean this quote this is a million-dollar quote here. This is an anonymous player, but it says, “We laugh at all this blank behind closed doors. It’s just a bad organization.” Yeah. Can I well we will expand upon that but you know the thing about this this is coming directly from a player for all the you fans are bad for all the you fans are the problem for all this and that and blaming the fans and this whatever just it starts from the inside I can’t express how much if you want to change the culture you can change the culture if you want to get free agents in here I mean players talk. This is coming from a player. The player sensing this is a bad organization. If anyone has any stupid thought about the players and fans and whatever and like no, that’s a byproduct of the problem and the problem is the organization and just kind of damning that yeah, a player is actually going out there and just saying like on the off the record clearly, but still like this is a bad organization. That’s damning. Yeah. And and I think what’s what’s interesting here is all off season we sort of talked about how like 2024 wasn’t good enough and that changes needed to be made. Like we we talked about that all towards the end of last year. Like like they can’t go into 2025 with the same people leading this team that did it in 2024. And that’s it seems like the players agreed with us because it says here that you know after falling short last year players and coaches expected changes to occur over the off season. And then it says, “Some hoped for new leadership, more hoped for roster additions, but instead hardly any moves of significance were made.” That was our gripe all off season was like, “This was a 76- win team. You went out there and you just ran it back essentially.” They ran it back and they were like, “You know what? These guys are just going to get better. Well, they got worse. They were led by the same people. They trotted out the same players and they got worse 100%. And again, this is this is coming from like you mentioned players, coaches, execs around baseball. Like this is this isn’t just Noah having a feel. This is coming from them. And the fact that the players are, you know, are saying this, you talked about a million- dollar quote. If that was a million dollar quote, then this is a $999,000 quote, Jim, because, and this is go to that comment you just posted by Jeffrey, the players should look in the mirror first. Well, coming from the players, this is banger of a quote. People think we’re underachieving. Look around here. We’re playing to our potential. This is what $90 million gets you. Holy Like honestly, honestly, you know, the one thing and I talk about with Paul Skins, like you know, and of course things behind closed doors are different than out in public. But Paul Ske isn’t going to say, “Get me something or trade me.” He’s going to say, “I look around. We need to do better. We need to improve. we need to do what we can control, get better, you know, such, but at the end of the day, players look around and it’s not about looking in the mirror. They’re are looking in the mirror. They’re saying we’re not good enough. And again, like let’s let’s let’s go down this path here. You know, we started from from the get-go like IKF playing it short wasn’t smart. Like you’re taking his abilities and making him worse. He’s good by being around the diamond. He’s now making becoming the the starting shortstop. You bring in Tommy Fam who again he had a nice second half, but like that was your big outfield acquisition. You know, Kabrian Hayes is still there and he’s been struggling. Nick Gonzalez first base, not sure. Like when you look around who who who is the good guy like yeah Brian Reynolds and On Cruz should have and they struggled and that is correct. If you want about talk about looking in the mirror 100% like players still should and absolutely those two absolutely need to look in the mirror this year but ultimately look at like as a general statement as a team when you look in the mirror I think the players ultimately look and say we’re not good we’re not so right like this quote is 100% accurate and that’s how the players felt So, they’re feeling like, hey, we wanted to be better. We we challenged the ownership group to to get us there, get us better, make some additions, make some changes. That’s something we’re kind of expecting. They didn’t. And now Derek Shelton’s tighter than ever running around and we can’t make a mistake. We’re not that good and we’re afraid to make a mistake and you know, all this pressure to win. Again, we’re not that good. It’s just a bad environment. And again, like I think it showed. And when Don Kelly took over, did they get better? Yes. Was it some really good team still? No. But they did get better. They just weren’t terrible like they were at first because they were just in a even more toxic environment than they ended the season with. Yeah. I mean, players know how good they are, right? And players know how good their peers are. They’ve been playing this game their entire lives. How does a player know how good they are, Jim? Well, they’re they’re that player. They’re It’s quite But wouldn’t there be also something to kind of like stamp how good you are? Well, there’s stats. There’s how much you’re paid. There’s there’s all that. Oh, so it’s like almost how much you’re paid. So, like if you’re not a $20 million player, you’re probably not $20 million player. Huh. So, if you have a million, the $20 million plan, I think, if you’re a free agent, I’ll I’ll say this, like I’ll take a little like I’ll push back on that quote a little bit, the $90 million quote, because it’s like you can be better than this with $90 million. It’s just harder, you know? You just got to you just need to do better as an organization to be better than the Pirates were with a $90 million payroll. Um, it’s not like a team with a $90 million payroll has has never made the playoffs, right? It happens almost every year. Didn’t happen this year, but it happens almost every year where like a a really low payroll team will sneak in there somehow. Um, so I’ll I’ll say that like but but but the overall sentiment is correct. Like you spend $90 million, this is you’re going to get a $90 million team, right? All I’m getting at, right? You bring in free agents and they’re all $5 billion free agents. you’re going to get a five a $5 million free agent is not is not an ideal candidate, right, to add to your team. It’s not like they’re looking here saying, “I’m the dude.” Right. Right. Um Yeah. Th this this specific part of the article I feel like is the is the the biggest piece because it seems like not only were the players upset about just like the leadership, the players around them. It seems like they were also just upset with just like almost all aspects of the organization because they even go on to say here too about like they they felt like if they they were pissed off that Bubba Chandler and Braxton Ashcraft weren’t given a legit shot to make this team out of spring training and that service manipulation had had a reason had a reason to do with that is is is kind of what this this is also implying here. Uh again, like if you’re a player and the message is, you know, it’s time for us to win and you blatantly see your your your team’s leadership not play the best players that they have. That would piss me off. I’d be like, “Hey, hold on. You’re trying to tell us that we need to win, but you’re over here not giving us the best shot to win. That would make me angry.” And it seems like that was the sentiment of the team as well was like, “Hey, these two studs we got, why why aren’t they with us?” Yeah. The other part of that that I found interesting, and it continued to say, another player contended that Thomas Harrington’s season was thrown out of rhythm due the team’s desire to get him back to the minor leagues after a pair of appearances in early April. I I think ultimately we saw Thomas Harrington’s season. It wasn’t all that great. The way I kind of look at this is I mean maybe that’s how they felt. Maybe that was true. But but also it’s it’s the fact that the players are thinking this way that kind of means something again like they’re in the environment. If they’re almost like conspiracy theory minded, it’s because they feel like this is a bad organization. You know, they’re not giving them the benefit of benefit of the doubt either. These are coming from the players. That again, I don’t know if I totally totally believe that. However, that’s those are players thoughts internally. They’re getting conspiracy- minded as well. Tells you what they think about this organization and the leadership here. Yeah. And and all this is just kind of reinforcing what what us as fans have been saying for for so long. It’s just a bad organization ran by by people who aren’t good at their jobs. And again, like I kind of take this back. I know you can’t it’s hard to compare baseball to like a your real life job, but like when you’re working for an organization, you know, if they suck. Like it’s pretty easy to tell based off internal communications and interactions with with co-workers and and leadership. Like I’ve worked for, you know, a few different companies and I mean I can rank them in terms of which ones are are are ran the best. Like it’s pretty easy to do that, you know, as a person within that organization like these people got their stuff together or these people have no idea what’s going on, right? And so it’s it’s no different here. And it’s it again based on this article, it seems like the players are very well aware that this is a poorly ran organization with multiple problems kind of spread across the board 100%. Again, it’s coming from the players says a lot. Says so much. It just says so, so much. I’ll say this. This is one thing I thought was funny. Are you going multi the the batter’s eye? Yes. Yeah. And the one part of this is that a lot of Pirates players apparently said that they couldn’t see the ball in 400 PM afternoon games. Um so they asked if they could paint the batter’s eye black instead of green and the team said no. Right. Which I get it. That would that would kind of mess with the aesthetics of the ballpark. And and I I guess I’d have to go I would have to dive into this a little bit cuz you can look like like day night splits. Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You know, it’s like I wonder deeper dive like is there actually anything to this? Like do do players hit poorly at PNC Park during the day? Um so I’ll find that out for you real quick. But what I was gonna say is yeah because it says the 4 pm and then some like the pirates did change their times. I mean they’ve always been like night and then all a sudden like Saturdays which again we kind of bark about because when we do the post or the the tailgates and such that kind those 400 p.m. Saturday games are stupid. I hate them. But they’re saying it’s 400 p.m. So like with the sun like yeah they it affects them. So there’s like two things involved. It’s like well because you changed this now this is affect so can you change that instead? And it’s like, well, just know. Well, they batted 215 at home and 248 away. So, I’ll say that. And again, what you always found ironic is like how poorly they played at home, but yet they won at home a lot. It’s because it was pitching shutouts. So, I guess actually there you go. It’s probably we should check the the splits for the the away team also, right? Well, I think there’s a way to actually just check like splits during like for the entire ballpark. Um I I I’d have to dive into that a little bit, but I really want to I don’t think we have time to necessarily do this right now, but um yeah, later today I’m going to dive into that and I’m going to I’m going to look to see, hey, what are what do players hit at night at PNC Park versus the day just across the board and we can do, you know, home, away, combined. I’m curious on that because it does say that that was a thing that they asked and the club was like no which right I mean if the batter’s eye was painted black it would mess like and the whole ballpark’s green so like you you put a black batter’s eye out there and you know it would mess with it a little bit. So like I understand I understand it. I I do. And I guess probably at that point it’s like, well, who cares? But like if the goal is to win, don’t you just like, well, if this is going to help you win, we need to do it. So, so I guess my question is like what what comes from this next year? Like, do 4 PM starts go away if this is a thing, right? Is is does the batter’s eye change to black? Like like does a change happen at all because of this? I can understand maybe this year to some level. Of course, maybe at that time it’s like, well, I mean the guys the season’s over. I’m not changing this batter. You guys are are 20 and 40, you know, like there’s no point. But next year the goal is to win. Does something come out from this? That’s to me what’s going to be kind of interesting to find out. Um, one other thing too in this section is the they also mentioned that um the Pirates lack resources that could improve performance. Players claimed the Pirates lacked the information and technology to help adequately game plan for opposing pitchers um which have been available to them with their time while on other clubs. So, it it really just seems like people come to the Pirates and they don’t get the stuff that they’re used to getting in other in other places. Um, what’s interesting is about comments like that is there aren’t a whole lot of teams. There aren’t a lot of players on this team hitting wise who have played for other organizations. So, you can narrow that list of people down to like this offense is not full of many uh acquisitions. So I mean how many players on have hit for other organizations? There’s Horwitz, there’s FAM, there was IKF, there was McCutchen and Bart. Like that’s it. Yeah. Yeah. What I think is funny is multiple from Toronto. Yeah, that too. But like so like there’s only guys came up from Toronto I was like oh god what is this place there’s only like five guys who could even really say this. Um right but uh yeah that and and I guess that’s that’s another alarming thing like you you want to make sure you’re you’re keeping pace with the rest of the league in those aspects. And I think one of the things that people have kind of at least assumed is that, you know, Bob Nutting keeps saying that he’s he’s there’s more money given to the baseball operations department than is spent on payroll. And, you know, Ben Sherington’s in charge of how those dollars get get divvied up. And Ben Sherington spends a lot on analytics and things of that nature. Um, if that’s the case, like how are you still lagging behind? I guess you could go back to saying, hey, the capital investment still might not be high enough. Like that’s that’s also a very a very real thing that could happen. Well, as we all know, according to Bob Nutunning, I think I’ve done everything that I can to provide the tools and resources to the team. There’s a point where it becomes execution and that’s why you play the games. But to your point, like wasn’t that why payroll wasn’t as high as it was this year? Because and then not that this was the right thing to do with it, but because they want to allocate it towards resources like analytics and whatnot. So like if that’s where the money was going, what happened with it? What are you doing? And right like that’s again like the damning point about this is this is clearly this isn’t just like a perception. This isn’t like I guess like Nick Gonzalez coming up and say, “Shouldn’t we have more?” This is clearly guys who have been around, right? They’ve been to other teams because they’ve said like, “I was fed other information or this or that or whatever.” Like we had all this stuff somewhere else. You guys don’t have that here. So like there’s there is a clear like point of view of like we we this is done in major league. Why isn’t it done here? So, like once again to prove this is just a bad organization. They’re behind the times. Yeah. And um yeah, that I mean it’s it’s true. It’s it’s just it it’s this is this is a bad remember that story that that Nesbbit wrote a couple years ago where it was kind of just all the bad things here. This one doesn’t go into as as detailed like like specific things, but it it it does give you a good vibe about a good sense of what the vibes were in this clubhouse kind of all season long. And it seems like it was just seems like it wasn’t a good place to work. Same old pirates, you know. Um, also I’ll add in here, Noah says that the pirates declined to comment on this story. So, I guess they were given an opportunity to respond to these to these quotes from players and they had no comment. Yeah. Yep. Yep. And he does highlight some things that have already been like out in public. I mean, Ski’s been talking a little bit. Cut’s been talking about that. So, like we kind of know that. He highlights it against. But like Yeah. Like Cut says, I feel like we’re beating the same drum. Third year back kind of feels the same just from the instance that we are. Kind of does feel the same. And from that in this instance just looking where we have to improve or we need to get better and kind of feel the same same answers that you have internally. Yeah. It just leads to me think like what’s the plan moving forward? What is this going to look like next year? So again like Cut is kind of coming out and saying the things that are saying behind closed doors to the public, you know, like we’re expecting change. We want change. What’s going to happen? Cut says and for all those people want you to discuss like well it starts with you Cut. I mean that could be fair. That that that is fair. Cut has to be better also. I get that. I think he probably gets that and feels that way also. But he’s saying the right things. Like it doesn’t mean he can’t say this. He shouldn’t be allowed to say this. I mean, do you guys want the players that challenge leadership? Like he should. It’s kind of saying like he wants to retire and when he retires, he wants to retire from a winning team. And obviously we know he wants to play in Pittsburgh still. So, I think he’s trying to send the message like, “Hey guys, I still want to play. I can play. I want to retire from a winning team and I want to be here. How do you think those two get accomplished? You need to do what you need to do to get me back here to send me off on a winner. That’s a challenge.” Yeah. And I agree like Ander McCutchen needs to be a little bit better. He didn’t have his best season. It it was he was a slightly below average hitter, but at the end of the day, Andrew McCutchen was the fourth best hitter on this team. He’s never been less than fourth ever. Like the problem is the, you know, next year Cut is going to be 39. Actually, he’s going to be 39 in 11 days. So, like he’s gonna he’s about to turn 39. He shouldn’t be your fourth best hitter. This guy should be lower on the totem pool. You shouldn’t have to rely on Andrew McCutchen in the three or four hole to spark your offense night in and night out. This isn’t 2015 anymore. Like he’s he’s not that guy anymore, right? And I love Andrew McCutchen. I want him to be here as long as possible, but you’ve got to you’ve got to make the people around him better. You, like I said, he’s he he is no longer the guy who can carry your offense. That’s just not the type of player that he he is. And he hasn’t really been that guy for six years or so, you know, that still a good ball player. Yeah. And he Yeah, exactly. Like he’s he knows he knows that. You know how he knows that? He’s he’s a $5 billion player. Yeah. Uh so like I guess my point is is like the problem with this team isn’t that Andrew McCutchen is on it and performing like an average hitter. The problem is that Andrew McCutchen’s on this team and his average hitting is the best this team can do. There are so many spots and especially with the universal DH now and how they limit the the amount of pitching spots, there’s room on a roster for a guy like Andrew McCutchen where you can, you know, play him every now and then. We And Alexander Canario somehow was on this roster all year long. If Alexander Canario just didn’t exist, would we have noticed or missed anything at all as a team? No. Like, and that was with Andrew McCutchen as a full-time DH occupying that for 500 plus played appearances. Yeah. So, like there’s there’s room on a roster for guys like this in today’s baseball. Um, Andrew McCussen played 135 games this year. Like, next year, he he doesn’t need to do that. Maybe he does depending on what they do, but he shouldn’t have to do that. Should be a little bit more of a part-time player. and contribute because you did see like when he was getting more rest early on like that first half of the season, he was also hidden a lot better. Yeah. So like maybe maybe it’s not best to have Andrew McCutchen in the lineup every single day. Fully fully agree on that. I I mean really I I do there is room for him. The goal should be making him your seventh or eighth best hitter and allowing him to be the the not everyday guy, but still being there. I mean, he still can be an asset. Like he still he still makes this team a better hitting team on it. Well, however you look at it, he makes his team better than what they are. So, when you are able to be better than him, then you can discuss that, hey, we’ve outgrown Andrew McCutchen. We got to move on. outgrow the bad players. Yeah, the Pirates had an 82 weighted runs graded plus as a team this year. McCutchen was 95. So Andrew McCuten was 13% better than the average Pirate. McCutchen’s not the problem. But yeah, I mean, we can kind of end this this piece of it with, you know, Paul Ske has some quotes in here and he’s he’s been talking a little bit more this year than than he has been, but you know, he goes on to say that, you know, he didn’t really see much in terms of of major league acquisitions at the deadline, which there there weren’t any. Um, and he also goes on to say hopefully that frees up space for for us to go out there and get some bats this off season. And with that, I just say, “Oh, Paul, young, naive Paul.” I don’t know. I just I’ll see it. I I’ll believe it when I see it, you know. Um first time. Yeah. Right. Uh but but like I said, there there is a lot of deflecting in here, players blaming others and and skins. I mean it does end like Noah ends this with a skins quote where you know he talks about how we need to consciously and intentionally make moves to get us better and he says I think that’s something that we might have been a victim of in the off season a little bit. So um I’ll say this like Paul Skins is a leader like you you notice like the quotes from skins are all we and us. um he he gets it and we’re lucky to have a guy like him. It’s just now you you need to bring in some other guys who one are a little bit better and just are accountable to their actions. And that’s just not not just from a player standpoint, but from a from a leadership standpoint as well. um you know the managers, the coaches, the the front office like everyone needs to be better and I think there are are there there are some folks who have given who’ve been given the opportunity and ample time to show that they can be better who haven’t been better and it’s time to move on from some people namely the general manager. Yep. I agree. I agree. Speaking of skins and and whatnot, um I guess the the post on Instagram and Facebook, whatever, will drop it in seven minutes. But yeah, like he had another banger I felt like with uh Alex Dump had an article came out and it was basically like, you know, should you guys be optimistic with all the young pitching that’s coming around? And that’s when Paul said, “Yeah, but we thought that coming into this year, too.” And again, it’s like that accountability like sure, but same thing we thought this year. Clearly more needs to be done. We can’t just be optimistic because of all this pitching here. So, yeah. I mean, I love everything that Paul’s saying. I love everything he’s in such a professional leader way, right? He’s taking that accountability, but not blaming, but also like, you guys know what you need to do. You have something here. Let’s do it. Yep. but also challenging it to the players that also need it. So again, looking in the mirror part like Paul is saying those things also. We need to get better. We need to make those sacrifices. Great article. Like I said, watch let me make sure you read it. Um if you haven’t yet, like I said, we’ll we’ll put the link here in the description of the podcast and the video, but yeah, make sure you go to Post Cassette and check that out. Um, I actually just got a text from Noah just for some added context that I’ll share. Uh, he says that that more than 20 different sources contributed to writing this um with um nearly a dozen of them being players from this year’s team. So there you go. So it was actually 12 players but 20 that’s half the roster sort of sort of helped him write this. Yeah. And I’m sure it’s not the uh the Hunter Barcos of the world. So yeah, I just hope I really hope that um that there’s changes made. There’s there there’s got to be changes made. It’s just it’s this isn’t working. Will Ben be back? That’s the what I didn’t interject then, but I thought was funny is how, you know, you talk about all all last offseason, you know, are things going to change? And it’s just funny because now we’re heading into the 2026 season and we have literally the same questions. It’s the same thing we were talking about last year. I mean, how we joke about all the postgame shows, you could probably hit record and play the same one over again. We didn’t really have to do it. We just play the same postgame show every day and just change the name of the picture. Well, this off seasonason, we could probably just go ahead and replay every show we had last year. NS9 Live on November 13th last year. Let’s just go ahead and play it next month. Let’s just see if anyone knows the difference. I guess the only difference is you replace Shelton with uh Don Kelly. that might be the only difference in what we’re talking about. So that again like that’s the damning part. People went into this year thinking like and again talk about players but like nothing changed. What what are we doing here? And we ultimately have the same question a year later. So is 2026 about to be doomed before it starts also. So let’s go back to Douggee Fresh. Let’s go back to Doug’s videos, Doug’s quotes, right? It’s a great day to fire Ben Harrington. Let’s make that change ASAP. Let’s actually make a change and move forward and maybe not have 2026 doomed with Paul SK still there and potentially Connor Griffin coming up. Yeah, like I said, you just you can’t run it back. This team won. You can. It is a choice. You can This team won 71. Absolute choice to do. Can’t run it back. Can’t run it back, man. Sure you can. Depends what your goal is. Depends what you want to do. But you can run it back. That is a choice you’re allowed to make. Let’s just hope we get like a like a tweet sometime this morning that says like, “Hey, a press conference has been called at PNC Park for 3:00 this afternoon or something like that.” Yeah, that’s all I got to say. That’s what we want from you, Noah. Do that one next. You have to You have to make Ben get fired. Be the change you want in this world. Ask the tough questions. Like, when’s Ben getting fired? You stupid beat reporters. Come on. Ask the tough questions. It’s your fault that Ben’s still there. Anyhow, um should we Are we ready? Uh, yeah. So, that’s story of the 20. Yeah, that’s the story of the 2025 Pirates. Um, I’m ready for this sporal quiz. Yeah, this is a this is a fun activity. I feel like we do it every Bucko Brew after the season’s over. Um, 57 players played for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2025. Can we name all 57 players? I I’ll I’ll say this. This is going to be tough. At least there’s only 57 this year. Yeah, sure. How many have like there’s been like I mean there was like the most ever what two years ago? I think they broke a record. I forget what it was, but it was it was over 60. Yeah. Yeah. So, like at least we’re not in that territory anymore where there was like 90,000 relievers, but no, since I’m done asking the tough questions this year. Yeah, I um I I feel like I’m going to get I think I’m going to be okay here on the position players. Like I I feel like I’ve got a pretty good grasp on position players. the there’s going to be a couple relievers I feel like that I’m I’m gonna completely forget existed. Yeah. So, ah, we ready to do this? We got 10 minutes. Let’s God. No, I’m not ready. But yeah, we’re just going to do I’m clicking the button. All right. Do we want to start with like just go by like position? We’ve already wasted five seconds. Yes. Let’s do Let’s Okay, so catcher, right? So, we’ve got we got Henry Davis, Bart. Bart, Andy, uh Rodriguez, um oh god, what was his name? Flores. What was his name? Um Brett Sullivan played a little bit. Sullivan. I think that was all the catchers though. Wait, wasn’t there five? Yeah, that’s five. Davis, Flores, Rodriguez, Sullivan. Oh. Oh, I’m missing Bard up top. Okay. Yep. Okay, I think that was everybody. All right, I agree. Move over to first base. We had Horwitz. Horwitz naturally. We had Triolo played some first. Um Nick Soak played some first base. Who? Who? First Nick York played some first base. Who um who was the left-handed option at first? Was there a left-handed option at first when Horowitz was injured? Did Billy Cook never He never made it. Billy Cook never got called up, right? Oh, he did. Billy Cook got He was there. What? What? Yeah. Wait, Billy Cook was on the major league team this year. You know what? I Billy Cook was up for like a week. Yeah. Oh, here’s a good one. James on Facebook. Uh, and Manuel Valdez. Oh my god. Stop it, James. But that would have been one I I’m pretty sure I would have com that was one I would have completely forgot was I’ve totally forgotten that guy’s a pirate. He actually still is a pirate. Yeah, he’s still a pirate. Like he’s got years everything. Wow. Um, okay. Well, that kind of seeps. I think that’s everybody who played first base. Yeah, I guess Paul is the one we’re thinking, though. Yeah, Andy plays first, too. Um, okay. So, second base, though. Gonzalez. Gonzalez. We already got Give your boy Soul. There’s Pigaro. Uhhuh. Um, let’s go ahead and throw in here. Yeah. Okay. Um, where’s the kitchen sink out now? I guess IKF technically. Kinder Falefa. Okay. Uh, who was the who was the other guy who Oh, Chang Chang. Yeah. Yep. He did did get a call. He’s on the 40, man. We’ve already got Triolo. Mhm. I think that’s everyone for second. And that should cover everyone for short. That covers everybody for short, too. So, Cabrian third base, Hayes, and then that should cover everyone there, too, that we’ve listed, right? Hayes, Deainy, Triolo. Um, yeah, I think that’s probably all the infield. Yeah. Okay, I guess. Don’t touch. He’s DH. He’s out the way. McCutchen. All right. Left field was Fam. Yep. Sawinsky. Canario. A Canario. Um trying to think any other um like I know I don’t know if he totally played left, but to get the dude’s name um put in Simon as well. Oh, Ronnie Simon. Good one. Uh, okay. Let’s just go Cruz Reynolds. That’s 25 position players. That sounds Yeah, sounds right. Sounds good. Um, we got Jack. Trying to think any any other like random outfielders who played just were there any was there anyone that was just on this team for like a week? Soak we got him. Um I want to say that’s it. I don’t think they brought up anybody else for just like a minute. Oh this Gorski. Oh yes. Good calls. Okay, we’re five minutes deep. Let’s stop there. Let’s go to the pitch and that way. Okay. All right. Skins, Keller, uh, Heeney, Ashcraft, Burroughs, Odo, Odo, Majinski, Majinski, Harington started a game. Um, uh, Barco, we’ll just throw him in there. relievers. Santana, Bedar, Holderman, Moretta, Holderman, Justin Lawrence, Lawrence, Lefty, Ferguson, Ma, Matson, um, uh, Evans Cisk. Yep. Any other lefties? Mesa uh Baraki Bari and um um Kansas City CIS the trade um CISK from Philly extension. So we need 10 more. We got we need we got some relievers here. So like let’s think of the the random guys who got called up for like a second. So Cam Sanders um Oh, this is getting tough. Okay, nine to go. Yeah, let’s let’s let’s buckle down here. We already got Matson still. Did Kryler ever get an bat? No. Uh, Tanner Rainey was one. Oh my god. Tannerini existed also. Um, why am I drawing such a blank on the relievers now? I feel like those relievers are in this. Oh, um, also with the Braves, we just saw him. Um, oh, Hunter Shrenton. Yeah. Um, okay. We got 2 minutes and 25 seconds left. We’re 50 out of 57. We are cooked. Oh, come on. Come on. Oh, what about that dude with the the long name? Richardson something. Oh, Simeon. Simon Richardson or Yeah, Simeon. Simon. Is it Simon? I’m sorry, sir. I don’t remember your name. What was his name? Woods. Woods. Woods Richardson. That’s what it was. Or Richard Woods or Simeon Woods or Woods Simeon or Woods. I thought it was something. Woods Richardson. I don’t know. I don’t know either. God, we got a minute and a half left. We’re We’re 50. Also, remember that one year that Alex made a typo in someone’s name? Shoot. Simeon Woods Richardson. Was that his name? Richardson Woods. Is Simeon a real first name though? Isn’t it? I don’t That’s what I’m saying. I don’t know. I feel like those three combinate that combination of those three exist in some form. Who are we missing here? We’re missing We got to be missing somebody like really like Did we say Keller? Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Si Simeon Woods Richardson or something. Oh, Daryl Hicks. Wait, was it This game’s dumb. Who created this? There. Michael Derek. Michael Daryl is Wait, wait. Simeon. Isn’t he a twin? Yeah. Yeah. I just knew it was a Wait, we’re thinking of a whole another um Oh, Bubba. Oh, god. Bubba. Yes. How do we miss Bubba? Bubba. All right, we’re 52. We have 20 seconds left. Oh god. Oh god. Johan Ramirez. Oh, Chase Sugert. Oh, shoot. The chat’s the chat’s helping out a lot right now. Oh, we got we got three more. 10 9 eight. Um h I think we’re cooked. We got 54. We miss Kyle Nicholas. That’s that we miss Kyle Nex. Oh my god. Kyle Nicholas this year too. And then Cabrera Kyle Nicholas, Joey Wentz and Yenus. Yenis Cabrera. I’ll say this. I was never getting the Cabrera one. I was never getting the WZ one. I don’t think I would have gotten Cabrera. I don’t think I I think I maybe could have eventually gotten Wentz, but yeah, I completely forgot he was on the team this year, like the um the the the Michael Daryl Hicks. That was that was a good that was a good Simeon Woods Richardson. I I I knew there was a hyphen. I just knew there was a I was like, I know there’s there’s one guy with a hyphen and Simeon Woods Richardson was the only guy I knew with a hyphen. It was funny as it is. It is Simeon Woods Richardson and he’s a freaking Minnesota twin. He was also never a pirate. He also doesn’t have a hyphen. It’s just three names. We’re like, who’s someone with three names? Oh, that’s that’s pretty hilarious. I’m not going to lie. I’ll say that 54 out of 57. That’s not bad. I mean, it’s bad at all. Early in the morning. Yeah. I I think we we should be ashamed about Kyle Nicholas. We should Kyle Nicholas. Yeah, that is a shameful neglect. The other two and like the chat came through. The chat helped us a lot. Like we we we would have I would have missed Dave. I would as far as the 10 minutes go, I don’t know if I would have came up with Bubba. Like that one somehow completely slipped my mind. That’s crazy, too. I don’t Yeah. How do you forget Bubba? And he just pitched, too. Like, it’s He’s here now. I mean, I I love I love Bubba. The best prospect pitcher in baseball for how long? We talk like You just miss Bubba. Yeah. Hennis Cabera. Sure. I understand that. Yeah. Yeah. Cabrera, I get put into next year. Well, yeah. Sorry, Kyle Nicholas. Sorry, Joey Wen. Sorry, Genesis Cabrera. That’s that. That’s that. All right. Well, um, thank you all for for sticking with us. I said we’ll we’ll be doing the Bucko Brew isn’t going away. So, every Monday morning, we’ll be right here to talk about the Pirates, whether there’s a season going on or not. Uh, NS9 Live not going away. Uh, we’ve got, I said, lots of stuff planned for this off season. So, yeah, stay tuned. We’re not going to inundate you with, you know, daily stuff. I think we all kind of need a little bit of a break from the Pirates from from like a a 247 standpoint, but we’ll be uh we’ll be making sure that there’s there’s fun stuff for you guys. Oh yeah, we definitely have things lined up. Uh and again, like just for this month, all that stuff. Also, we are going to Arizona Fall League, so we’ll have some content beforehand leading up to it. When we’re out there, have some content afterwards. And of course, when we do return, we will have the fanboy awards also. So, like, start getting these things ready. We had a sparkle quiz. You guys know usually the the the little things we have out there, the awards and such. So, start thinking about your nominations. We’ll have that out here shortly to get that put together because the fanboys are coming. It was also always a good fun time. So fanboys will be very fun. Yeah. So get your get your nominations. Yeah. Just start thinking about your nominations there. Correct. Well, that a wrap for the 2025 season officially. Good article, Noah. That does it. Yeah, shout out Noah. Good. Good stuff. We will be back. I guess also like Wednesdays officially and it’s not live now that season’s over. There’s no like if there’s an off night or whatever. It’s it’s Wednesdays and it’s not live. So, we’ll be back again on Wednesday with Tyler. I think the three of us, right? I think that’s the plan. All right. All right. Jim’s back. We’re gonna have some fun. Not really. So, uh, stay tuned. As always, we love you. Go ahead and like the video. Subscribe if you haven’t. Hit the bell. Also, make sure you get the notifications because especially now this offseason, you never know we’re go live. Never know when things might happen. Hey, we might have an emergency podcast to talk about. We just might. So, hit the bell. That way you don’t miss it. So, uh, yep. We’ll talk to you guys later. Bye-bye. See you guys. All right, that wraps up this episode of Northshore 9. Thanks so much for tuning in. Whether you’re listening on the podcast or catching us on YouTube, if you enjoyed the show, please give this video a thumbs up. And don’t forget to hit that subscribe button if you haven’t already. It really helps us grow. And if you’re listening on the podcast, a quick review goes a long way in helping others find the show. Plus, be sure to tell a friend about us. There’s always room for more here in the NS9 community. And for those looking to support us a little more, consider joining our Patreon. become an MVP member and get exclusive perks while helping us continue to bring you more of the Pirates content you love. Thanks again for all your support and let’s go Bucks. [Music]

Bucco Brew Powered by De Fer Coffee & Tea. The North Shore Nine crew dives into the Post-Gazette’s hard-hitting story on the Pirates’ frustrating 2025 season—spotlighting Paul Skenes’ pointed comments, Bob Nutting’s ownership decisions, and the growing calls for Ben Cherington’s job. We break down the best quotes and what they mean for the front office, the clubhouse, and the future of the franchise.

To lighten things up, we also take on Alex Stumpf’s year-end Sporcle challenge, trying to name all 57 Pirates who suited up this season—with plenty of laughs and a few surprises along the way.

Noah Hiles’ article: https://www.post-gazette.com/sports/pirates/2025/09/29/mlb-pirates-bob-nutting-ben-cherington-paul-skenes-andrew-mccutchen/stories/202509290003

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