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The Pomp And Joe Show

Pirates insider Jason Mackey from NY before Opening Day

25 Mar 2026

Transcription

Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.

Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?

0.689 - 15.01 Joe

Bob, it's time for Pirates Insider Jason Mackey. Social media's biggest loser brought to you by Awaken 180 Weight Loss. Visit them at awaken180weightloss.com. Before we get to Jason, who is social media's biggest loser? Limits today.

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15.27 - 23.021 Limits

Oh, man. It might be me with the team that I picked, Joe, for the best Pirates of the 21st century. Have you put it up on Twitter yet? No, you said you were going to do it.

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23.622 - 27.587 Bob

I didn't say that. You did say that. You said you were going to do it.

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27.607 - 37.08 Limits

All right, then I will. Yeah, you're right. I think I'll run out of characters. I don't have enough characters. Bob should put it out there because he pays for Twitter. So, Bob, you should put it out there.

37.1 - 38.322 Joe

Yeah, Bob, you should put it out there.

38.362 - 49.377 Bob

I don't have enough characters. You have more characters than us. What do you mean you don't have time? I leave here. I take a shower. I go to the TV all day. Do it right now. All right. I'm as busy as Jason is, running around every which way.

49.357 - 62.66 Joe

Jason, tell us about Connor Griffin. He had trouble hitting the fastball, according to John Wainer, and he's starting in the minors. What was the precise problem, do you think? How does he fix it? When do we see him?

64.042 - 83.312 Jason Mackey

Yeah, I talked to Connor about this yesterday, Joe. Pitchers adjusted about midway through spring and started throwing him a lot more spin stuff, and he started chasing it, and I don't know if that impacted him hitting the fastball. I mean, last year, he hit the fastball a heck of a lot better than he did this year.

Chapter 2: What insights does Jason Mackey share about Connor Griffin's performance?

143.767 - 153.947 Jason Mackey

I know when I talked to Connor yesterday, I said, kind of, what did they tell you in the exit meeting about, you know, what might be next or whatever? And he said they didn't really tell him much that was firm. And that's not in a bad way.

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Chapter 3: What specific challenges has Connor Griffin faced with fastballs?

153.967 - 172.555 Jason Mackey

It's kind of just go down there and play and let's see where this takes us. I don't think there's a magic answer, Bob. I mean, it's wanting to see better results. It's wanting to see more confidence at the plate. I know they went into this spring perfectly amenable to him earning a major league job. If he would go out and do it, I would argue that he didn't do that.

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172.735 - 178.463 Jason Mackey

He certainly teased us and showed what he's capable of doing. I think they just want to see that consistent production.

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Chapter 4: How can Connor Griffin improve his hitting mechanics?

178.503 - 184.111 Jason Mackey

They want to see him hitting fastballs. They want to see him be an offensive force. And if that happens for a couple of weeks, I think you probably see him.

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184.591 - 188.737 Limits

How much does the PPI incentive to have him up by April 9th matter to the pirates?

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191.06 - 209.212 Jason Mackey

I mean, not a ton. I don't want to say it doesn't matter limits, but I mean, it, it matters in conjunction with everything else. Like he needs to play baseball well, and not that he didn't play baseball well in spring, but like, If there are holes in his game, then the Pirates are doing a disservice to him by bringing him up before he's ready.

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209.672 - 227.492 Jason Mackey

And the argument can absolutely be made that he's just simply not ready. And so you sort of put everything else there on the shelf. I mean, you know, is that something the Pirates value? Is that something that maybe bakes into the equation if everything else is equal? Sure. But like, I just don't think they're going to put him in a position where

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227.877 - 232.983 Jason Mackey

on the roster if they don't feel like he's where he needs to be baseball-wise, and I don't think he is.

235.626 - 248.421 Limits

Do you think that Jared Triolo, who was batting sixth in the final spring training lineup, do you think that that is just a preview, that lineup was in general, of what we're going to see tomorrow? I would be stunned if Triolo bats sixth. Why would they do that?

249.522 - 269.007 Jason Mackey

I don't think he'll hit sixth limits. I think that's probably a better spot for Spencer Horwitz. But, like, I do think Jared Triolo is a very important part of this team. I think the internal opinion of Jared Triolo is probably a little bit different than the external opinion. And I'm not ruling out sometime this season where he does hit six.

269.027 - 286.734 Jason Mackey

Like, if they have a lefty on the mound and they want to bring Jake Mangum into the lineup, they really like that sort of second leadoff presence. So you might go a different direction. It depends on if they bring O'Neal Cruz out of the lineup, but like if Mangum's in there, they kind of like him in the nine spot and that might bump Jared Triolo up a little bit. I'm not sure.

286.754 - 306.48 Jason Mackey

Cause you still got to figure out Henry Davis and then maybe Nick Gonzalez in there, whatever. But I, you know, Triolo needs to hit that, that much is fact. Like if he's hitting in that six spot, if he's hitting in that seven spot, it doesn't really matter. Like what he found over the final 52 games last year, I think he had a seven 75 OPS and, and was actually a productive player at the plate.

Chapter 5: When can we expect to see Connor Griffin back in the majors?

474.608 - 475.812 Bob

Thanks for having me. Yes, sir.

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476.254 - 477.739 Joe

Pirates insider Jason Mackey.

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477.759 - 480.608 Bob

I'm anxious to get this going. Me too. I can't wait for the game, Bob.

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480.629 - 502.885 Joe

I want to see some real games. You know what else I'm anxious to get going? Your golf game. Is voting on our teams here. The teams you vote on. Pirates hitters since 2000. We each drafted five. Bob, Kutch, Marte, Walker, O'Neal, Cruz, Kevin Young, Matt Clement, Jason Bay, Ramos Ramirez, Reggie Sanders, Jose Bautista, Craig Wilson.

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503.827 - 532.171 Joe

Me, Giles, Freddie Sanchez, Brian Reynolds, Josh Harrison, Jung Ho Gung. Pedro, Jason Kendall, Josh Bell, Jack Wilson, and Russell Martin. How about that, Bob? And now it's up. We'll get some early lines here. So quite a day it was, wasn't it? Thank you, Jules, for coming in. Jules, the Baldwin basketball player, we enjoyed your presence very much.

532.291 - 541.864 Bob

Yes, indeed. And hopefully you enjoyed this experience of sitting here listening to us BS for four hours. And good luck moving forward, right?

541.944 - 566.369 Joe

Penn State Barron, for you, that's awesome. And maybe you'll come back someday. Right? Maybe you'll be a basketball coach, or maybe you can teach Limits how to shoot. Could do that. Although I will say, Limits and I went and played, or shot a round with Megan McConnell. Yeah, I know her. Yeah, from Duquesne, and Limits made a half-court shot that day.

566.429 - 569.955 Limits

On the first try, yes. That's pretty good. He has to throw in on the first try.

569.995 - 572.619 Bob

The odds of that were not very good for anyone, and you made it on the first try.

Chapter 6: What factors influence the Pirates' decision on Griffin's promotion?

610.332 - 632.67 Joe

What's cooking? Brought to you by your local Geico rep, Tim Hester. Thank you, Mr. Hester. Very kindly. Cloudy in Ohio, 63. Dramati Dawson, low of 36. Jerome Bettis, fan weather. Brought to you by Secure Money Advisors. Looking to retire soon. Let Secure Money Advisors get your retirement on track. I'll talk to you guys tomorrow. And I don't have any. My team's unbelievable. It's the best team.

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633.051 - 636.354 Bob

You'll get it, Joe. It's not how you drive. It's how you arrive.

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636.454 - 641.239 Limits

No, I see a couple of Joe votes now. They're coming. They're going to start going to your Twitter and voting for you.

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641.259 - 651.489 Joe

Does Matt have any? No votes for Matt. I think the Bautista pick may have hurt him. Bob, I'll see you tomorrow. It's an abbreviated show. I can't wait to get ready for baseball.

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651.549 - 653.23 Bob

I'm looking forward to it, Joe. See you guys.

653.691 - 653.991 Joe

Bye.

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