Kevin Gorman

Well, I mean, there's there's a couple of stories here.

You know, the big one is Carmen Maginski on the mound for the Pirates.

This is a guy who, you know.

opened the season last year in the starting rotation, was sent to the minors, came back in the bullpen, and by season's end, he was, you know, doing multi-inning opening roles for the Pirates.

He's competing for one of those final spots in the rotation with Braxton Ashcraft and Jose Urquidy.

So this is our first chance to see him and to see whether, you know, he's going to be a legitimate contender.

I think he's on the team either way.

His numbers are better out of the bullpen, but with the seven-pitch mix, he certainly has

what it takes to be a starting pitcher if he can get through the, you know, the lineup a third time, which is the big question.

You know, another thing is there's several guys on this Pirates team in this lineup that came from the Red Sox that were acquired.

You know, one is Nick York.

He's starting at third base.

Another, Emmanuel Valdez, batting designated hitter.

And then you also have Joe Stinson-Garcia, the password.

He's starting in right field today.

So they're playing, you know, their former team and the Pirates are playing a team that has Isaiah kind of left a second base in the starting lineup.

But I think the story that everybody's going to be writing today is that Connor Griffin is starting a shortstop for the Pirates and batting seventh.

And so it's really kind of a chance to see him, you know, in action as a starter for the Pirates in a great prelude game.

for me, for the first time, because he played Sunday in a split squad game in Clearwater and was impressive in that game, even though the results didn't go his way.

He had what should have been an infield single.