DK’s Daily Shot of Pirates: Inside the Meetings

DK’s Daily Shot of Pirates: Inside the Meetings

[Music] [Applause] Major League Baseball’s winter meetings begin this morning in Orlando, Florida. And the Pittsburgh Baseball Club seldom discussed that these things might actually come up a time or two. Good morning to you. Good Monday morning. I’m Dan Kachovich with DK Pittsburgh Sports. This is Daily Shot of Pirates presented to you by our good friends over at the Northshore Tavern. If you’re into football andor hockey, I also offer daily shots of Steelers and Penguins, the other two teams in town that I cover. Hope you’ll check those out as well. Kyle Schwarber’s name was connected again to the Pirates yesterday. This one was kind of loose. Not really even worth mentioning, but I’m going to do it anyway because it’s really how this whole event goes. I’ve covered a bunch of winter meetings and they’re incredibly uncomfortable for a reporter who boy, how do I say this? a reporter who doesn’t want to feel tempted to just take something that they might have heard in the most random conversation and try to turn it into a headline or worse just makes it up because you’re there under one gigantic roof where these events are always held. these monstrous almost city blockwide hotels and all of the executives and all of the managers and all of the assistants and scouts and everything else. They’re all there. They’re all there as are most of those who cover baseball for a living in the journalism world. So when there’s a report as there was yesterday that the pirates have made an offer to Schwarber that’s four years somewhere in the range of 100 million. If you know what you’re doing with this stuff and you have direct experience in having produced this kind of stuff, you can read between the various lines and between the words a lot more comfortably than somebody obviously who wouldn’t have a background in the business. And what this report yesterday was, I can just write the whole script out for you as to how it was arrived at. The agent wants to pump up the notion that there’s some sort of bidding war. There’s a misnomer out there that the pirates are the ones putting this stuff out. They legitimately aren’t. Take it from somebody who’s been on this end of having the stuff leaked to them. Not by the teams. Usually, in fact, almost always by the agents. The Pirates, believe it or not, have absolutely zip to gain from having you think or I think that they’d have an offer out to Schwarber because chances are really, really, really good Schwarber is not coming to Pittsburgh. By every indication, Schwarber wants to stay with Philadelphia. But the Phillies are run by smart people, and the Phillies aren’t going to negotiate against themselves. So, the agent understands he has to have other teams who look like they could really swoop in and pirate away their 56 home run guy from last season. Brief parenthetical interlude. The Pirates name originated by having stolen or pirated a second basement away from the Philadelphia franchise named Lewis Beerbower. a century and a quarter ago and parenthesis. I don’t believe that’s going to have a sequel in this case. So, all that’ll happen in that event is, you know, the Pirates will be that team that gets blasted on social media and wherever else for pretending that they were interested in somebody and then, oh, we tried and we fell just short. and that’s not this. In fact, that’s not reality. So, the thing yesterday comes from an agent. The agent takes the dollar figure. He makes sure that the reporter has that. The reporter prints it, prints the term, and then and I’m using a little bit of license here, goes back to the Phillies and says, “Now listen, you do this and a fifth year and we’re gold.” because the estimates anyway all along have been that he would be a $25 million a year guy. He’s 32 years old and that he would be getting something like four or five years agent needs to present Philadelphia with something that feels at least like real pressure. That’s all this is. It has nothing to do with the Pirates. I don’t doubt for a second that the Pirates made if not an outright offer than at least something that goes onto a slip of paper that says how about if we talk something in this range and I think it’s important to advise that in advance of the coming three days and that’s all the winter meetings are this year by the way Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, the rule five draft which is usually a Thursday thing is instead going to be done on Wednesday and everybody’s out of there that When you see, hear, or read things that suggest the Pirates are in on every hitter everywhere, that’s just how it goes. They have a specific, obvious, and universally known need, and it is a great need. They need hitting, and they need powerful hitting, and they need lots of it. as the team that finished dead last in home runs in the majors by a gazillion miles. If you popped Schwarber into the middle of that lineup and he hits, I don’t know, it doesn’t have to be 56. It can be 40 and he’d be the first person to ever hit that many for the Pirates at PNC Park or in the PNC Park era. He’d be the first of the Pirates to top 40 uh in any era, in any ballpark since, unless I’m mistaken here, Willie Stargel hit 48 in 1973. I’m doing this live and without script as always, so don’t hold it against me if I whiffed on that. So for the analytically minded or those who purport to be analytically minded like Ben Cherington’s people, you can just say, “Hey, what we really need here is another 50 or 40 or 50 home runs and we can just buy those home runs by paying Schwarber. It’s like just going to the shop. Need a dozen eggs. Going to buy a dozen eggs. How much do they cost? Here’s what they cost. here’s what I’m paying. So, yeah, they’ve got their tentacles out everywhere. It doesn’t mean they’re actually interested in all of those players. It means that they want to make sure that once the agent gets closer to really wanting to consummate a deal or seeing what kind of market they’ve amassed for themselves, is it four teams, five teams, 20 teams? Make sure we’re on your call list. get back to us. We’ll see where everything stands and see if we can make something move further along. Just some stuff I thought I’d share from the number of times that I’ve done these winter meetings and done them of course specifically covering this team when we come back JQ. 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 lockboxes, safes, and locks to secure your firearms. Learn more at gunstoch checkck.org. That’s gunstoch checkck.org. Brought to you by NSSF, the firearm industry trade association. [Music] Today’s J1Q comes from Matthew who says, “Jeff Kent, really? I enjoyed watching Gary Sheffield play more than Harold Baines and Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens really did this to themselves. There’s a lot of different viewpoints that you’re expressing there, Matt, about the vote that occurred yesterday among what’s called the contemporary era committee of the Hall of Fame. The result of that was that Kent was the only one selected. The remainder of the players on that ballot who were not selected of course were Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Don Mattingley, Dale Murphy, Carlos Delgado, Gary Sheffield, Fernando Valenuela. I’m a voter for the Hall of Fame. I’ve been one for a few years and I make a policy when I’m doing my own ballots and I actually have one sitting here on my desk that’s due in a couple weeks that I need to get around to. I get a chance to catch my breath a bit from all the football and hockey I’m covering a lot of traveling. But I I I I like to not discuss reasons that I don’t take somebody because it ends up looking a lot like I’m taking shots at them or criticizing them or trying to den if you’re even in the discussion for the Hall of Fame. Chances are excellent that you’ve had one heck of a career, one that’s worth applauding. And I try to respect that. I’ll talk about the players. I picked and I’ll do that in all contexts, positive and negative. But if you haven’t if if you haven’t made it, if you’re not one of the guys that made it onto my ballot, I’m just I’m just going to stay quiet about it. Except for the cheaters. So, the first thing that I have to say today is congratulations to Kent. He never ended up on one of my ballots and he and by that I mean he was an option while I was a voter. I just didn’t happen to vote for him. He batted 290. That’s for his career. OPS of 855, 377 home runs. He was probably best known for a couple of things. One is that he was a powerhitting infielder, middle infielder at a time where that was really still kind of breaking some ground. Not dramatically so, but enough that that was part of his identity. And the other part was that he was Mr. beneficiary of batting behind Bonds. No one wanted to pitch to Bonds. They had to pitch to Kent because now there was Bonds and somebody else or multiple somebody else’s out there on the base paths. That happened in six of Kent’s 17 seasons in the bigs. The other thing he was known for is he really didn’t like Bonds. like that was not some insider thing. Everybody knew about it. They had no use for each other off the diamond. Also in relevant, and this most unfortunately applies to a big big chunk of the elite statistical hitters from that era, Kent was spotless with his record. Never once even peripherally attached to peeds. But here for probably the billionth time is what I have to say about Bonds. He cheated. It’s been proven. It’s been intensely, spectacularly detailed, unlike that of any other cheating by any other athlete in human history. The evidence is there. All you have to do, if you’re really interested in the subject, is read it. Because he cheated, he is quite literally not eligible to be selected into the Hall of Fame based on the guidelines that were created by the Hall of Fame in 1936 when the original class was put together. The one that of course featured the pirates own Hannis Wagner. the character clause that some people try to concoct as being a creation of the writers to play judge, jury, and executioner and be on their high horse and whatever else. It was in this document. It’s in this guideline. The character clause, the verbiage of the clause has never changed. It’s never been adapted. Not one syllable is different than what it was in 1936. And something that’s very little known about the character clause is that it was never intended to be purely some negative thing. I’m going to read you the official wording, which by the way became official, officially adopted in 1945 by the Baseball Writers Association of America, of which I’ve been a member myself for more than 20 years. Quote, “Voting shall be based on the player’s record, playing ability, integrity, sportsmanship, character, and contributions to the team or teams on which the player played. end quote. Now, when I say that it also could be used in a positive context, it could apply, say, to honoring a Jackie Robinson, meaning that if Robinson might have been just a good or a very good player, that there would have been merit to applying the character clause and getting him anyway. Fortunately, Robinson was actually really, really that good. Same thing goes for Roberto Clemente. Very obviously a Hall of Famer in every context. But even if he hadn’t been that with his numbers, you could have used the character clause. You could have made an argument that says, “Wow, this guy just transcended baseball. He changed lives. He died trying to save lives.” It’s not new. It’s not put in there to go after the steroids guys. is it was written way before there were steroids guys and it’s always had a place in some form in my view in all sports even though baseball is the only one that had the common sense to include it. Did you know for example that OJ Simpson is still in the Pro Football Hall of Fame? You can still go to Canton and see OJ there. double murder and he’s in the hall. Is that what anybody wants in baseball? No, I don’t think so. I really don’t. Now, Bonds didn’t do anything like that, of course, but he he not other people, not writers, not the commissioner. He violated this vital requirement to get into this hall. And in the process, he cheated his way to overtake a true great and iconic baseball legend and human being in Henry Aaron, the real home run king who was alive to watch this sham which even the commissioner of baseball refused to attend when Bonds would overtake Aaron. Here’s how this goes. This this committee I don’t even know what this is about. I don’t know why they need to have a committee do it the equivalent of a factchecking when the writers hundreds of them partook in this process for 10 full years never once getting bonds the votes that he needs to get in. I don’t know why this was necessary, but it’s their hall and it’s their business and they set the rules. So, if I follow the one, I’m going to follow all the rest and pretty much shut up about this. But with bonds being left off of this vote, he now isn’t eligible to be considered for the next one in 2028, meaning of this contemporary era committee. He can be nominated again in 2031. But if again he doesn’t get on to at least five ballots, and he didn’t on this one, he won’t be allowed to be added to any future committee’s ballots. And all I have to say to that is good. It’s about time. This isn’t complicated. I don’t even think it’s controversial. It’s right there in black and white. You show crappy sportsmanship or integrity or character and using these substances to artificially enhance performance hits all three of those terms, then you’re out. That’s it. You’re out. Although, apparently, like in baseball, it’ll take three outs to get him all the way out. I appreciate everybody who listens to Daily Shot of Pirates. Gonna be back with another one of these tomorrow.

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