Blair & Barker
Inside the Pirates with Ben Cherington + Rotation Questions with Shi Davidi
20 May 2026
Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What are the implications of José Berríos' Tommy John surgery?
I don't know why I sounded so surprised. We're back. Small mercies. Yeah, there it is. Welcome back to Blair and Barker brought to you by Capital One. Capital One giving Canadians credit for 30 years. We have Jays Marlins tickets to give away during this segment. And Shai Davidi joins us as well. And Pittsburgh Pirates are in town this weekend.
I think we get to see – do we get to see Paul Skeens on Saturday?
I'm pretty sure. I think Dan Shulman said that a little while ago.
I could do.
Chapter 2: What insights does Ben Cherington share about the Pirates' season?
I think.
I could look at the Pirates game.
You probably could look it up and just say probable pitchers. So, I want to say Dan said Saturday, but I may be wrong. There's a lot going on between my ears. A lot. A lot. It's hard to keep it track. Keep it track? That's not even English.
It's hard to keep it on track. That's okay. We're all entitled. We're all entitled. We're all entitled. Yeah, well, it's a month. Anyhow, so, yeah, Paul Skeens and the Pirates will be in town.
Chapter 3: How has Brandon Lau impacted the Pirates' lineup?
Yeah. You didn't look it up?
Chapter 4: What is Alejandro Kirk's current status with the Blue Jays?
No, I'm too lazy. The Pirates, 24-24. Yeah. They've got three dudes with more than 30 RBI. Am I reading that right? No. Three, two, two.
They have two.
Chapter 5: What adjustments has Konnor Griffin made in the majors?
They have four guys. They have four guys with at least 28. That's it. Sorry. Brandon Lau has 12 homers and 31 RBIs. O'Neal Cruz has 10 homers, 33 RBIs. Ryan O'Hearn, who is a really good hitter, is driving in a bunch of runs. He has 29 RBIs. Brian Reynolds, who we all know and love, has 28 RBIs.
Yeah, that Ryan O'Hearn pickup was low-key smart. That was such a smart offseason move.
He's a good hitter. You watched him hit. You watched his bats. You know, it just...
Chapter 6: What is Paul Skenes' mentality like as a player?
Well, those good hitters don't grow on trees.
See the guy, the BP guy? Was that Ryan O'Hearn? No, I'm thinking of the other Orioles guy we saw during BP that had the world's worst BP and then hit two homers.
Oh, no, that was Mount Tassel. Yeah, boy, it was awful. And then he hit two homers off the desk. Breaking his bat.
Oh, they were making fun of him. Hammering his bat against the batting cage.
He literally didn't hit a ball out of the infield. It was awful. I thought it was like one of them, you know, you can win on the field batting practice.
I thought it was like maybe some hockey player or something that was coming out. But anyhow.
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Chapter 7: What are the expectations for Trey Yesavage against the Yankees?
No. So, yeah. And that division is just kind of swirly enough. Yep. You know. Baseball's better when the Pirates are good. Yeah, I mean, I've always had a soft spot for the park. Me too. I just like the city, like the ballpark. Ballpark is beautiful. You know, the vibe around that city when they are doing well is really something. It's been a good vibe lately. It's been a long time.
Well, I'm just looking at the, as we wait for Ben Charrington, just looking at the NL Central standings. Okay, I mean, we're talking about how bad the American League East is. Everybody in the NL Central is over 500. Brewers are 28 and 18. Cardinals did not see this coming. 28 and 19. Nice rebuilding job.
Chapter 8: How is Daulton Varsho adjusting to his role at the plate?
Cubs are 29 and 20. Reds are 26 and 24. The Pirates are 24 and 24, but they have a plus run differential. And... Against teams with records of 500 or more, they're just one under 500 against them.
Yeah, right now the National League is way better than the American League. Yeah. Way better. Yeah, and it's not even – But the National League is still pretty top-heavy. I mean, I don't think people thought the Braves were going to be this good or get off to this kind of start. So that might be like the one upper-end team that's kind of a surprise. Yeah. But everybody else –
It's kind of top-heavy. I didn't see the pods coming. You know, the Padres are always going to be a factor. I just find the National League intriguing because, to me, it's got two of the most disappointing teams, too, in the Mets and, well, the Giants. I don't know if the Giants are really disappointing. I may have been guilty of taking too deep a look at the Giants.
They're not a good – they're – That's a team. That is a team that's got to back up the truck and start moving some bodies out pronto.
I don't think they got it in their DNA, especially who's running that team now.
I mean, he's invested a lot. Buster Posey's put a lot of his reputation on the line between who he hired for manager, the Devers deal.
Well, I think the manager thing is I've tried everything else. I might as well try this. And I'm in the camp. Now, I got to be fair. I don't pay that much attention to that team enough to know what the manager looks like on an everyday basis. But, boy, what you read and what I do watch, sometimes it does look a little college, which is a tough look for a team and an organization of –
Especially who's running that organization in Buster Posey. I don't know.
Here's the thing that we can debate how important a manager is, but here's one thing I think we both agree on. A manager can really take a bad situation and turn it into a five-alarm fire. The wrong guy in the wrong place at the wrong time can make matters worse.
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