The Fan Early Morning Show
What were some of Cherington's best and worst moves with the Rex Sox?
Nicholas "Harry" Callas reacts to the Pirates' 9-5 win over the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday. Also, he looks at some notable moves made by Ben Cherington when he was with the Boston Red Sox in an effort to predict what he may do with the Pirates at the dwadline this season.
- Duration:
- 26m
- Broadcast on:
- 26 Jun 2024
- Audio Format:
- mp3
- It's the most anticipated WNBA season in history. - And you know what that means. - Court is back in session. - Welcome to Queens of the Court, an Odyssey original podcast. - I'm your girl, Cheryl Swoop. - And I'm Jordan Robinson. All WNBA season long will be bringing you interviews with star athletes, analysis on your favorite teams. - And lots of hot tape, order, order in the court. - Follow and listen to Queens of the Court on the Free Odyssey app, or wherever you get your podcasts. - Sports Radio 93-7, the fan, hello and welcome. My name is Nicholas Harry Callis, this is the fan early morning show. It's for the average Joe, and the average Joe wants to shop like a pro, the average Joe, can go to see you at our wholesale, our fan early morning show sponsor. Nice to be with you this morning. Talking about the Pittsburgh Pirates. Although, you can really start any top of your conversation if you so choose it for one, two, nine, two, nine, three, seven, zero. You also talked about an X, sat callus_33, that's C-A-L-L-A-S_33. You can watch us on YouTube now if you haven't heard yet. That's a thing, so go to youtube.com and search 93.7, the fan, you should see all of our black and yellow branding there. And you'll see a live stream, and you can see me kind of. I'm in the little window at the top in the back with my head cut off. But you can see the studio too usually when they, you know, 'cause most hosts throughout the day are in the studio, so you'll be able to see them on that live stream. So, non-youtube.com and as always, if you wanna watch two, you can on 93.7thefan.com. And so the Pirates went nine to five yesterday. Pirates though, do not have a great track record this year of rubber matches. They've lost a good chunk of rubber matches this season. And, you know, that can get frustrating. They can never salvage what feel like big games. They can never win games. I can't say never. They struggle at winning games that they should win. And I was having a conversation with some people yesterday and I was just talking about the Pirates. And I'm thinking about how this season they're feeling a lot like the Steelers. Just maybe without, you know, the one or two big splashes that you can see the Steelers make from time to time. Like the Steelers do, like, how the mechanics of their seasons have gotten recently too, which is they play down the competition, but then they win the big games. They win the, you know, the big games that they need to. They play up with some of the toughest teams on their schedule, but then against the weaker teams, they have been known to struggle and lose games that they should win. So I'll last season with them. They're the same idea with the Pirates right now. The one, the series against the Dodgers. They kept up, I believe split with the Phillies earlier in the year. They won two out of three against the Braves. So they're going to play soon here too. They're playing the Braves next. They're going to Atlanta. Braves came to Pittsburgh though for the first matchup of the year, but the Pirates won two of three at PNC Park. And so that's cool. But then, you know, you get blown up by the Ritz. You know, really aren't that much better, if at all better, structured than your team. You know, they just, they've been dropping rubber matches like crazy. I think it was, they were over the last six rubber matches throughout May and June. You know, Cardinal series that you could have had if you drive in more runs and and drive in guys who are in scoring position who are on base. So we're going to sweep the Rockies too. That's a big one. There's no business. The Rockies have no business sweeping the Pirates. They're not sweeping the Pirates, blowing out the Pirates in one game, 16 to fourth. Pirates the one that series, but like, you know, that's just when you feel like that they should have. So reviewing all of these games. Then there are more games that they should have won that would put them over the top of it. Again, it just reminds me of the, of the Steelers in a way that sometimes they play down to competition, but they do play up to other teams, some of the better national league team. So it's, it's odd. There are many reasons to be frustrated. I like to find what I'm grateful for from this team a lot because, you know, them being in the chase also, I think is important. Them being in it, the fact that we could talk about them and relevancy is important, but it's just extra frustrating too when, when they're there, you know, when they're on the doorstep, they are in breathing distance of a playoff spot. And, you know, they play down to certain teams and they can't quite get over that hump. So we're gonna go over yesterday's game. Yesterday's game was a good one. That one seemed like a well-rounded game. The bullpen gave up some runs later on. And, but otherwise, I mean, the offense was, was where it needed to be in this game. Brian Reynolds and O'Neill Cruz went deep. And so that's exciting. Just real quick, Pirates not still two and a half back, but they've separated themselves now from the Reds and the Cubs. The Reds are 37 and 42, three and a half out of the third wildcard spot right now occupied by the San Diego Padres. The Cubs are 37 and 43, four games out. Pirates are two and a half back. They've got the Mets and the Diamondbacks to hurdle. And then they have to catch the Padres to get the third wildcard spot. All qualifying playoff teams right now though, the National League are over 500. Could not say that two weeks ago. And now you can. So that's, that's cool. And then, yeah, most of the teams are close. Pirates are 38 and 41. So they're close and then the Diamondbacks and the Mets, they're the closest to 500 now. The Mets 38 and 39, the Diamondbacks 39 and 40. So they're both close there. So what a turnaround for the Mets by the way. They're quite a, quite a story. Grimace throughout the first pitch in one of their games and he's become a sensation and they, they went on a winning streak after that. Now they are a formidable opponent. It is good though for the Pirates to separate themselves from National Central teams too. The Reds lost, that was in direct correlation with buying the Pirates. The Cubs have lost three in a row. So that's good. You'll have to see it. So, let's just take a quick review of this game too. Look at the black score. We'll look at what went well, what might not have went well. I cannot speak enough to the greatness of Andrew McCutchen. I think that it's underrated too. Now the Pirates, sometimes it's hard to appreciate because the Pirates sometimes they don't drive in runners and that can be frustrating. But McCutchen gets on base to the lead off spot and that, that helps this team tremendously. At least sets them up for success. You walked twice. They didn't get a hit yesterday. But he walked twice, he was on base twice. That's what you want him to do out of the lead off spot. I can't, I mean, I've heard people calling too. I mean, we've heard some people on the reaction show after pirate games. You know, there's immediate reaction shows. Talking about how McCutchen might be washed up but I don't know if he's worth the investment. He's not McCutchen MVP, but we're not paying him like McCutchen MVP. Pirates are paying McCutchen to be, you know, one of those just reliable veterans. For five million, you're getting them on base. Seemingly every game it's been right now, he's got to be on a streak for that. I mean, he's been on base a lot. And I think that's important. And I think sometimes that gets underrated too, just how effective, you know, he can be. I mean, he's putting together solid at bats and putting hard contact on the ball. And many of his at bats, he's been up there and he walks. And so all of those eventually lead to being on base and he's a guy that's been able to be on base and that's somebody that I, that I just want to highlight. I mean, for some of you that don't think he's a value, it's hard to argue with how often that he gets on base from that lead off spot. And for those of you that already know he's good, well, okay. I'm preaching to the choir. Somebody, or the entire team, they need to, they need to do some sort of prank on Brian Reynolds where they try to convince him that June is still the month. Whenever the month turns over because I don't want anybody to tell him that July is July when it turns over. He's been so well in June here, two for five, a home run, two runs batted in and two runs scored for him in five at bats. That's tremendous. He's batting great in June. Seems that that's always been a habit of his is to bat. Well, in June and this June is no exception. It makes you feel a little more confident in the contract that he got. Some, you know, sometimes it takes guys, the opera, you know, where they need the time to heat up. Brian Reynolds may have been one of those guys and it seems that that's true. I mean, Neil Walker talked about that last week, just sometimes it's a freak thing. Sometimes guys just need a couple of months to warm up and then once the summer hits firm, then they start producing better. Brian Reynolds, one of those guys, and I hope he continues to start the season, of course, but nobody needs to inform him that July is going to end in a week. You need to just keep him hitting, keep him hitting. You know, have that June mentality throughout the rest of the season, for sure. I don't know, Cruz hit his 10th yesterday too. So that was pretty good. Raadi had a couple hits and he drove in a run. So that's, I'm still, I'm still at a tug of war on my own head, whether he's worth it or not, whether it was worth him just having absolutely atrocious of bats and bad and really poorly at the beginning of the year. But either way, looking at it in the moment, I mean, he was on base three times and five plate appearances. He walked once got two hits yesterday. Great American ballpark is a great place for lefties to hit. It's a great hitter's park. And so he got his hits. He's not doing the thing, though, that he's paid to do, which is hit home runs. I feel like that was his primary focus was to be one of those middle of the order hitters who hits home runs. Now, he batted fourth yesterday. So that's middle of the order and he got on base three times. So not the long ball run production from him that I think was designed, which hurts the perception of him a little bit, I think. But, you know, he can't argue with the three. You can't argue with being on base three times in a game. So that's, well, we'll let it slide. It's there. But I mean, when he, when Telez is on, when those three guys are on, I mean, those two, three, four in yesterday's lineup, when those guys are on, it has a direct correlation with, I think how the pirates do in a lot of cases. Now, sometimes when one of them is not hitting well, you need like a Nick Gonzales and all of Eris or hopefully a Sawinsky who was a defensive substitution yesterday, but did not get an official at bat. You know, you want him to do well too, but he's been atrocious and that's been exploited. Nick Gonzales has been cold as of late, but that may be turning around 'cause he had three hits in yesterday's game. So sometimes you need some of those other role players in the lineup to take, you know, a couple of games, maybe when the, when the big guys are struggling and have them, you know, lift the team and carry the team a bit. But like when Reynolds Cruz and Teles are on, and if they're batting in the middle of your order like that and they're producing like that on a regular basis, you're set up for success. 'Cause I think that was the design originally for those three guys to be the toughest of the hitters in your lineup. So I'm with it. I mean, Teles not being able to hit at the beginning of the season, I think hurt them greatly because you're batting them in the middle of the order. Most of the time expecting that he's gonna be your run producer. And when he wasn't, it was really hindering the team. Reynolds starting off cold, didn't help and Cruz, you know, coming back from injury and just needing to get back into the rhythm of things, I don't fault him for some of the struggles he had early on, but they were giving him some consistent off days and batting him lower in the lineup. He's eventually figured it out. He's turned it around and here he is now. So all good signs. Now this may be an outlier of a series as well 'cause Great American ballpark is a hitter's park. But the pirates aren't playing poorly. They're not hitting poorly in this series so far. They got five runs in the 11 to five loss on Monday and yesterday they scored nine to win nine to five. So, you know, it's not, you know, that they're not hitting at a place where you're supposed to hit. So that's good. They're doing what they're expected and that's great. Zopa carries over to some point and I hope that they can sweep a series. Sweep a series here. Just one. Give me one sweep. They haven't had a sweep in a long time. Give me a sweep. That's what I want to see. My name's Nicholas Harry Callis. This is the fan early morning show. I got a break coming up here but you're welcome to call and talk to me for one, two, nine, two, nine, three, seven, zero. That's the phone number. You can talk to me on X at Callis underscore three, three. That's C-A-L-L-A-S underscore three, three. I responded to those as well either in typed form or sometimes I'll read those on the air as well. So if you have comments, if you have opinions about the Pirates at all about yesterday's game or about the season in general, I take those. So again, four, one, two, nine, two, nine, two, eight, three, seven, zero and on X at Callis underscore three, three. Quick break. I'll be back. My name's Nicholas Harry Callis. This is the fan early morning show on Sports Radio 93. This season the W is going to new heights and that means the queens are ready to take it to court and the court. Welcome to Queens of the Court and Odyssey Original Podcast. I'm your girl Cheryl Swoops and I'm Jordan Robinson. All WNBA season long. You can count on us to bring you interviews with some of your favorite WNBA stars, analysis of all teams and hot takes you can only find in this courtroom. Listen to Queens of the Court, a WNBA podcast presented by AT&T on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. Seven the fan, Sports Radio 93, Seven the fan. Hello, welcome to the fan early morning show. My name is Nicholas Harry Callis. If you're just joining in or you've been with me the whole time. Thanks to hear from you. You know what we're talking about right now? The pirates. Pirates won yesterday. They won nine to five against the Cincinnati Reds that splits the series. Now one game of peace going into the rubber match which is going to be played today at 110 in Cincinnati. So we'll see. Pirates haven't done too well this year in rubber matches but to get a series against the division team. I'd like to see it. I know you'd like to see it. So let's go buckles. Let's see. Yeah. We're one, two, nine, two, eight, nine, three, seven, zero on X at Callis underscore three, three. That's C-A-L-L-A-S underscore three, three. So it's kind of thinking about this a little bit just about Ben Charington and some of the things that he said and Bob Nutting. Pirates owner talking about winning now. The goal is to win now. And you know, that's, that's big when he talks. It can't be emphasized enough. It's, you know, he doesn't just go out there and say, hey, we want to start winning now. Sometimes, you know, they'll, they'll avoid the question. They'll avoid the conversation. They'll just say, hey, you know, we're getting better. We're trying to develop guys. But that's not it this year. Now, now this year is we want to win. And that's the message of being sent there. And I feel like it's genuine. I'm looking though at, and the Crowley and Doran talked about this last week. Crowley and I got to be here today, by the way, if you haven't heard, he's on vacation. So he's going on vacation. So we won't see him for a little while, a couple of weeks. But they talked about this last week. It's like, you know, Charington. What's, you know, what's his history? What is he known to do? What, what did he do on his, during his time with the Boston Red Sox? And so they had a World Series Championship in Boston in 2018 when he was the general manager. And in 2013 too. So two, that is when he was general manager. But really the 2018 team was, no, excuse me, I had that wrong. He wasn't a part of them. He was the GM from 13 to 15, 2012, 13, 14 to 15. There, those are the years that he was there. And then, yeah, then he was hired by the Pirates a few years later, but, you know, while he was there, I mean, he put together a championship team and then he also made some of the worst decisions, very criticized decisions of, you know, any general manager's tenure. Because they were, they were broken down. The Red Sox were, 'cause in 2011, they missed the playoffs. 2012, they missed the playoffs. It was real bad. That was when they tried Bobby Valentine, his manager after Terry Francona. You know, Valentine didn't do so well. They let him go. They brought in John Farrell and John Farrell, you know, in 2013, led them to a World Series with a bunch of guys who were not expected to make them win or help them win. I mean, they had acquired Adrian Gonzalez and got rid of him almost immediately. They sent Josh Beckett to the Dodgers and a long time starter for them and had a lot of success with them. They were just cleaned house after they realized that all their acquisitions, Carl Crawford went to the Dodgers too and then, you know, and that deal, same deal with Gonzalez and Beckett. So really you look at it and they did a really good job and Jerrington at the helm did a really good job of cleaning house. You know, figuring out, okay, this isn't working. This isn't meshing. This isn't helping us. And bringing in some veteran guys and also having some young talents. Andrew Bogart was a breakout player in 2013 and was a big part of their World Series run. But just brought in guys who, there was a mix of veterans and young guys who made them really good. And that, again, that 2013 Team World Series champion team. It was a good team. It was a good mix of players. And the team had heart too 'cause that was, you know, your Boston had that tragedy and that marathon. And so there was a little bit of that too, a little bit of heart, a little bit of conviction from the players to give them something to be happy about, come fall, come post-season baseball. So, but with that though, I mean, that team was constructed, again, of a good balance of players and a passion to be able to win. And then, so that was the compliment that I'll give Charington there. So I'm trying to compare him too to his time in Pittsburgh and just see what similarities are there, what differences are there, you know, is there any correlations that you can find? Because, you know, I think some people are just blindly mad at him for, you know, not doing certain things. But when 2014 came around, there was just this odd signing of Hanley Ramirez who, my, you know, nature was a short stop, but they already had Xander Bogart's. So Hanley Ramirez was attempted to be converted to a left fielder, which did not go very well. So then they eventually made him a first baseman and a DH, but they were paying him a pretty large amount of money and I believe he ended up getting released in 2016. So that was a year after Charington was with Red Sox, but still, yeah, I mean, not, not a great deal. Then there was Pablo Sandoval, who was, he's great in the postseason and great with the Giants. Red Sox picked him up on a huge contract and he ended up not doing well. They ended up trading him back to San Francisco for peanuts. I think in 2018, but it was, I mean, he was, he was injured for a good bit there too. He wasn't healthy enough to really be productive. So it was just a bad situation there. And so he spent a lot of money with the Red Sox, like a lot of money in that time. You know, there's hundreds of millions of dollars don't seem very large now in terms of how contracts get dished out now, but there were large amounts of money at the time for guys who did not really do well. Now, in the Ramirez is kind of up and down. He wasn't a good left fielder. He hit well and spouts for them. So maybe you can make the argument that he was productive enough, but he also wasn't productive enough to stay on the team for their, their run in 2016 when they made it to the playoffs. They end up getting rid of them after that. So maybe Cherrington's learned from the spending money, blindly mistakes that he made in Boston and doesn't want to do that with the pirates. No, again, actually, I can't even say that because the spending money thing, they're spending money, but they're allocating it toward players that you feel like could help the team long term. The Brian Reynolds contract, I think was smart. The key Brian Hayes, I mean, before we knew about his back injuries, but that seemed like a smart decision. And it's a team friendly deal as well. It's what $9 million a year for, for a young guy who's, who is a gold glove award winner. So there's that. The trades though that they're making in the acquisitions that they're making, I think, you know, I have a lot to be desired. The development of prospects, I think, has a lot to be desired, at least from a hitting standpoint. Cherrington's great with the pitchers. I mean, we've talked about that plenty of times that he has been great acquiring pitchers and getting pitchers in here to be productive. You know, maybe he's not all about though, just like getting the big name guys, just blindly getting the big name guys, just because they're big name guys. Pablo Sandoval was one of the worst, one of the worst signings of all time. He was really great in the playoffs, and he was really great when he was a San Francisco giant. He was not very good anywhere else. So maybe he's learned from that, and he's like, you know what? I'm not just going to acquire big guys, big name guys, these guys that you expect to do well, you know, the top end guys, because they don't always work out. And when he was in Boston, there were a couple of examples there where they didn't work out, and that may have, you know, cost him his opportunity with the Red Sox moving, you know, moving forward there. Maybe he's learning from that. Maybe he wants to handle the pirates a different way because he's already seen what has happened before in his time where he tried to give exorbitant contracts to guys just because they had the name and the brand, not because they could still play or do it, you know, very well. So that's just food for thought there as we talk about what Charington's motivations are, but food for thought for you on what he may be doing as we go down the stretch here, trade deadline approaching, and the pirates having the goal to win. So who's the right guy? Who's the right guy to acquire? We'll see. My name's Nicholas Harry Callis. This has been the fan early morning show real quick. I gotta give you a fan weather. Fan weather is brought to you by Sun Shev Relay 24. Silverado LT crew cab up to 7500 in rebates. Full terms and qualifications at sunshevvy.com. Today, high of 87 low of 67 cloudy skies expected. 70% chance of rain too in the forecast. Trying to figure out what to eat for dinner yet again? With no sides and bullion as you're not so secret ingredient, you can skip the drive through and do dinner at home. No taste combos provide a menu of delicious, affordable, and well-balanced meals that you can prepare in 30 minutes or less. Visit noir.com to get quick and easy recipe ideas for your home cooked weeknight dinners. It's not fast food, but it's so good. It's the most anticipated WNBA season in history. And you know what that means. Court is back in session. Welcome to Queens of the Court, an Odyssey original podcast. I'm your girl, Cheryl Swoop. And I'm Jordan Robinson. All WNBA season long will be bringing you interviews with star athletes, analysis on your favorite team, and lots of hot tape. Order, order in the court. Follow and listen to Queens of the Court on the Free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts.