DK’s Double Shot of Pirates: Time to worry?

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1:00The college basketball playoffs are here and now you can trade the tournament in all 50 states on CalShi. Miami is currently trading at 55% to beat Missouri. That means a hundred dollar trade pays out 170 if they win. On CalShi, you're trading against peers in a live market, meaning there's no house. And as the odds move, you can buy in and out of your position all tournament long. For a limited time, download the CalShi app and use code hard to get $10 when you trade 10 KAL SHI CalShi trade on anything. Hey guys, welcome to Double Shot of Pirates here on DK Pittsburgh Sports. My name is Chris Halik. I will be probably gently guiding you through today's show. Sorry, we're getting off to a late start. DK is in route to Las Vegas for the penguins. They're they're gigantic road trip that they're on right now. Jose might be. How does it negar on our beat reporter

2:06from Florida right now? Well, he's not from Florida. He's in Florida. He's hoping to call in from Florida, but he's kind of busy. He's actually working. So if not, if he can't join me, you're stuck with me today. But the one thing we probably need to talk about no matter what, whether Jose's here or not here, is something he reported today, which is pretty significant. Brain and Lyle was scratched from today's lineup. And for this game going on between the Pirates and Orioles right now, he was scratched with lower body tightness. And that's an update from the Pirates medical team. According to what Jose put on our app in our Pirates feed, he's expected to go through the normal practice session with the group staying back in Bradenton. Lyle was originally slated to play second-based. And bat second against the Orioles at a Smith Stadium. And actually to fill us in further on this itself is Jose from Bradenton. Possibly. No, that's my point. There's Jose. Can you hear me, Jose? Yes, can you hear me? Yes. All right, you got to fill us in

3:17on the spring and Lyle stuff, Jose. What's going on? Yeah, so just a little bit discomfort looks like for that lower lower body for brain and Lyle. Doesn't seem to be anything serious. I mean, it's spring training. This is a guy who has had an injury history. So you know, you know, you keep him off his feet. He's practicing back in Bradenton with the group that stayed behind here today. And it doesn't look like anything major. It's just something that precaution. It's something that they want to keep him from being in game action today. And hopefully he had a good practice today over there. And hopefully things are good moving forward. Yeah. You talked about the injury history and for those who don't know, I've got to pull it up here. Last season, he missed 16 games in July with left with left oblique tightness and a left foot slash ankle tendonitis. 2024. He was sidelined for 38 games early in the season with a right oblique

4:18strain. And then you can continue to go back and you still see some other seasons in which he's missed either a little bit of time or some significant time. So this was a risk when we're you're talking about acquiring Brandon Lau. We know the bats there. We know he's a pro hitter. He's going to provide pop. But there's also legitimate concern is like, hey, how many games is he actually going to play? And the fact that this is happening on March 11th, you know, 15 games or 15 days before opening day against the meds, it's something to be concerned about. Even though there seems like they're being precautions, it's still something to be concerned about, isn't that? Oh, yeah, definitely something you have to monitor, especially for a guy who is going to be such an instrumental part of this lineup in this, you know, every day, you know, being in every day position player over at second base. Like you said, I mean, you know, what he can bring with the bat defense has to be better. But you know, this is a guy who I think has played in a hundred plus games. I want to say in four of his eight seasons in the big leagues.

5:23And of those four, they've all come in the last five years. So, you know, it is encouraging that he has played in over a hundred plus games, you know, pretty often over the last five years, even though he has been through some injuries. But yeah, I mean, when it's when you get closer and closer to opening day and you hear that one of your big offseason acquisitions is removed from the lineup going into a game, you know, it raises, you know, some type of alarm of like, okay, this is something that we need to be aware of and this is something that we need to monitor. But, you know, like I said, I do think that it'll, it's kind of a minor thing. It's more of a just, hey, it's spring training. We got to get this guy, you know, we're not going to force him into playing a meaningless game when there's much more to play for here in the next coming weeks. Well, I know who you're going to stay on top of all this stuff with Brandon Lau. And so definitely, you know, keep, you know, keep tuned in to our app to right here on this YouTube channel, where we keep everybody updated everywhere. So we'll keep you up to date as much as we can on

6:28this situation with Lau. If this just really does remain like, hey, this is just out of an abundance of caution, or if this actually turns into something more concerning. Jose, the pirates are playing a game right now, are they not? And last I checked, the Orioles were winning three, nothing, not that results in great, really matters that much. But, well, what's happened with today's game outside of Brandon Lau being scratched? Well, it was three, nothing. And then some of the Orioles hit a home run as I was running back and forth around Ed's this stadium trying to find a place to not only record. And he a guest here on double shot, but also went into the clubhouse. We talked to Joey Bart, did some other things in there. So kind of been running around the last inning or so. I'm not really seeing what was going on, but someone did hit a home run for the Orioles. So not sure if it was Sol of Home Run or two run or three run, to be honest, got to check, get back in there and check on that. But yeah, I mean, Noah Davis did get the start here today. Noah Davis is not the name that pirates fans are probably like super familiar with,

7:31just because, you know, he hasn't started in all this spring. This is his first start of this spring. He made two multi inning relief appearances prior to this one. And honestly, he looked pretty good four and two thirds innings. He did allow a three run home run to Taylor Ward. That one was actually his last pitch of the entire outing that he so it happened in the fifth inning where he was, you know, pretty solid through his four two thirds and then ended up giving up a hit walk and then are hitting the batter and then giving up the home or the Taylor Ward. So strong outing for Noah Davis had five strikeouts. You have two hits, walked a batter, hit a batter. God, I think I'll tend with with his breaking pitches with his keeper and his curve ball. So, you know, good to see that from me. Listen, this is a guy who's probably going to make the opening day roster. You know, he looks like more of a death piece and non roster invite here to spring training. But in order to get through a season, you know, I saw some subscribers, you know, making the point of like, in order to get through a season, you're going to need a good

8:32amount of arms, you know, whether they're pitching, you know, out of the bull 10, he's kind of more of a multi inning relief, you know, slash, you know, starter type of guy that they can kind of utilize, but you're going to need as much depth as you can get. And, you know, if Noah Davis is number eight or nine 10 on that list, and he can maybe provide some results like he did today. And he has struggled in his major league career. His ERA is above nine in, I believe, 27 major league appearances. He's played for the Dodgers. He's played for the Rockies. Played for a couple of different teams, but, um, but yeah, I mean, you know, if you can get, you know, production from guys, you know, kind of down the depth chart in terms of pitchers, whether it's in the big leagues or in AAA, that's a big plus. The home run you spoke of that you heard was a three run shot. So it was now six nothing Orioles, Jose Barrero, uh, homer and uh, Drovein,

9:33Leody Tavares, former Texas Ranger and World Series champion. Leody Tavares was just named a popped up, a popped off off the page for me. Uh, that was given up by, uh, I believe by Bimby. I found out mistaken. Yeah, Bimby gave it up. Raising that ERA to 40.5 for the, yeah, there's three ERAs can get pretty hot. They're really, really fun, aren't they? And I will say, uh, I believe the Pirates only kind of brought like two major league AAA, like they had no adavis. They had Justin Lawrence beyond that. It was going to be just kind of minor league guys filling innings. Yeah. Um, so yes, you kind of kind of expect that from the later innings. You know, Pirates of ever form, the minor leagueers have actually performed pretty well this spring in terms of, you know, maintaining leads, late in games and things like that. Uh, but I think that's why they, they have the record that they have in, in group for league play. So yeah, it's, uh, yeah, I mean, you and we talked about that yesterday. Deakin, I talked about that yesterday.

10:34It's like, you know, it's not like they have this good record in the, in group for league group freedom. I can't say group great fruit, great fruit. In spring training, it's not like they have a great record in spring training because they're keeping their starters out for the entire game. And while everybody else is pulling their depth, they're doing the same exact thing. They're playing with their depth to and they're still maintaining leads or winning games. That's encouraging for sure to show that, hey, maybe their depth does match up quite a bit with some of the other teams in the great fruit league. Set it correctly. That's on my thing. Very good. Thank you. I can say Justin Garcia. Thank you very much. The maps app that came with your phone. It's fine. If you enjoy waiting and guessing and inefficient routes, or you could use MapQuest, MapQuest is back with live directions. Real-time traffic and faster routes. It moves when you move. Best of all, no prints are needed, no paper,

11:34no more misterrads. Just you and the app. Get there fast with MapQuest. Download the MapQuest app on the app store or visit MapQuest.com. MapQuest, still getting you there. Our yoga instructor challenged us to find inner peace. I found it faster than anyone. After four seconds, I stood up and screamed. I found Irvana. I win! They asked me to leave. I guess they don't respect winning. Bet365 does, though. New customers get $365 in bonus bets just for betting $10. Now I must stay losers. Bet365. Winning is everything. A gambling problem called 1-800 gambler. 21 plus only. Must be physically located in Virginia. TNC's apply. In app only. We need anything, any updates from Sarah Soto where you are right now. Just before we let you go. Yeah, I mean, the loud news is definitely the big thing. Honestly, you get through spring training and I feel like I should knock on wood here,

12:38but the pirates have been pretty fortunate to be, can you hear me? I can. I'm just, I don't want to hear what you have to say. I'm trying to, I'm trying to exude the fans not wanting to ever be like, don't say it. Don't say it. Because all of a sudden, you're going to succeed Jose. I mean, you know what I'm going to say. I don't. So if we, you know, but it's just, yeah, they've been fortunate. Left unsaid and I'm going to knock on wood right here. There you go. You knocked on it. It's fortunate that they're, they've been helping. It's fortunate that they've actually had this amount of health, you know, this long in the spring. It seems like guys are well prepared at this point. They're doing the things that are necessary to maintain that health and also get prepared for a season. Like, you know, spring training is valuable as much as the games don't matter and, and you know, spring training results are kind of, you know, you don't look at it. For some guys, maybe it's more important than others, but for the most part, it's just, you know, guys are trying to ramp up, trying to get ready for the season, especially the pictures, you know, with every out and guys are getting more and more prepared.

13:41So, you know, I think that's the big thing right now is, you know, obviously, hope that this is a minor thing for Brandon Lau. We'll, you know, we'll see more tomorrow, hear more tomorrow to see if, you know, what kind of is the deal with him. And if things are as minor as they appear, the fact that he was practicing today of Embrayton kind of spoke to me of like, okay, you know, why play him in this game when he can just be back in Braytonton and just get his work in there, you know, it doesn't make sense to have him here if that's the case. So, you know, other than that, not a ton of offense today, which, you know, it is what it is. I hate to say it, but I'm used to it. I've actually been spoiled with the amount of runs that have been scored this spring, but, you know, for Root Awakening, once they get back to very, very cold Pittsburgh in April. Cold weather. I don't really know what that's like. Yeah. All right, Jose. Well, you get back to work and joy that son that you are getting in

14:42Florida before you have to come back and deal with opening day and flushing New York. But Jose, I appreciate you taking the time to give us all the updates from there. We're going to take a really quick break where we come back. We'll keep talking pirate space while here on Pirates Double Shot. This episode is brought to you by IQ Bar. IQ Bar protein bars, IQ mix, hydration mixes, and IQ Joe mushroom coffees are the delicious, low sugar, brain and body fuel that you need to win your day. All IQ Bar products are clean-labeled certified and entirely free and gluten, dairy, soy, GMOs, and other artificial ingredients. IQ Mix is a zero-sugar drink mix that hydrates with electrolytes, it proves mood and boosts clarity. IQ Joe is a mushroom coffee designed for mental clarity and packed with 200 milligrams of natural caffeine. Right now, they're offering our listeners 20% off all IQ Bar products,

15:43including the ultimate sampler pack plus free shipping to get your 20% off, text MLB to 64,000. That's MLB to 64,000 to be a text message and data rate you might apply. See terms for details. Thanks for coming. Thanks for actually tuning into this show today. And thank you very, very much to Jose Negron for giving us all the updates out of Florida with what's going on with the Pirates of Brain and Laugh. By the way, I actually got these IQ bars in and I just had a bite of one of the wild blueberry ones and it's like really, really good. Like when you're talking about getting like a snack you're on the go, pretty delicious. I'm just glad I swallowed before we came back from breaking that we don't have to hear, you don't have to hear me chew in a microphone. That would be nails on a chalkboard. I'll mute you, don't worry. I'll just be muted and it'll just be a show of

16:44just watching Chris Eden IQ are. Oh, man. Well, I can definitively say that yes, I don't think, especially from Jose's reporting that this situation with Brain and Laugh probably isn't anything to get all up in arms about. But again, it's one thing if it's a player that has like no injury history, oh, they had some lower body discomfort and you just kind of, okay, you know, whatever, it's spring training, these things happen. It's another thing when it's a guy who's known to deal with the stuff you're just like, okay, we go again. All right. And especially when you look at the fact that, okay, this is one of the guys that they brought in. This is one of the guys that brought in to help bolster the lineup to provide the runs that they need. And you know, as we've talked about on the show, when you look at what they brought in, yes, it's, these are some good players bringing Laugh, Marcelo Zuna, Ryan O'Hern, you know, some really good players. Jake Mangum could be a really good player that could fit into the bottom third of the lineup.

17:49These are some, you know, and Justin Garcia having a great spring as well. But they need other things. They need Brian Reynolds to get back to being Brian Reynolds. They need O'Neill Cruz to finally figure it out. Become elite at something other than stealing bases. Like hit a boatload of homeruns. You can bat 200, but hit 40 home runs. Something along those lines. Be dangerous, like legitimately dangerous at one thing. Like if you're going to, like, just some sort of, and what he's doing, what he's done this spring is very encouraging. What he's done in the world baseball classic, encouraging, like that matters. But they need this lineup to be at least, at least average. And as DK pointed out yesterday, that's a far leap for them. They were near the very bottom of all of Major League Baseball in a lot of offensive stats. They have a long way to go to even get to average.

18:49And even average doesn't guarantee that, hey, this is a playoff team. No matter what, if they have an average offense, well, that's also expecting the rotation and the pitching staff to be just as good. If not better than it was a season ago. That's relying on health. That false games is going to start 32 games for you. That Mitch Keller is going to continue to be Mr. I'm just going to start calling him Tony Stark, because he's just Mr. Ironman. He just takes the ball every fifth day. And he's just as reliable as it gets, but he's also got to pitch quality innings that this there is some risk with this pitching staff. Bubba Chandler, Braxton Ashcraft, he's just some very talented arms, but very talented arms that have that are not built to log 150 innings in a Major League season. So they've got to, they've got to keep like I think health is a really important factor into this now. As I was they said, I'm not going to look

19:51again. They they've been relatively healthy this spring. But yeah, and David watching says, hopefully not another, not another combined hay scenario. That's a really good point. Now, granted, like he was like a obviously like a glove first guy. He never really like repeated what he did in 2020 with the bat. But you need like you need this lineup to produce. You need this lineup to actually be a lineup that you can go into almost any game and be like, all right, I think they have a chance. Like maybe you'll go into some games where they just go up like the Dodgers where they go up to, you know, against certain teams or like even though the pirates play the Dodgers pretty well. But you understand what I'm saying. Like they go up against the lineup where you're like, okay, the pitching staff's going to really have to do his job today. We're going to have a chance. But if this lineup can be potent enough for it's like, hey,

20:52just about any series we can go in. I can see winning two or three games, but you're winning two or three games. That's what this lineup has to be and that requires everybody to stay healthy, that requires guys internally to either realize their previous form when we're talking about some guys like Brown Reynolds, guys who have to take actual steps forwards just on your crews and Henry Davis has got to hit. And then a really, really big one kind of Griffin's got to like, he's got to actually become the player that he's projected to be. And that also really, really stresses the pirates to do everything that they need to do correctly with Connor Griffin. Very, very important. Again, it sounds like with Brandon Lau that it's precautionary that it doesn't sound like it's going to be anything crazy. We'll see, but yeah, we'll see. Just keep tuned in right here on our YouTube channel in our in our posts. I was able to put everything

21:55there. If you have our app, obviously all of the information to be on our app, you can follow us on Twitter, Facebook or everywhere. The R updates will be everywhere. So thank you guys for tuning into double shot of pirates. I'm going to go hop over and do our Penguin show at 330 coming off of the shootout loss against hurricanes and Carolina last night. So we have plenty to talk about there. I hope you join us over there and also hope you join us for a double shot of pirates right here tomorrow, same time, three o'clock. See you guys then. The Maps app that came with your phone, it's fine. If you enjoy waiting and guessing and inefficient

22:58routes, or you could use MapQuest. MapQuest is back with live directions, real-time traffic and faster routes. It moves when you move. Best of all, no prints are needed, no paper, no more misterns, just you and the app. Get there fast with MapQuest. Download the MapQuest app on the app store or visit MapQuest.com. MapQuest, still getting you there.