The pros and cons of having Konnor Griffin on Pirates Opening Day roster
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Why does Donny believe Konnor Griffin should be on the Opening Day roster?
Donnie, Limits believes that if Connor Griffin is signed, obviously that would wipe out the concern about free agency years on the other end of his deal. He's all for bringing him up right away. But if he's not signed, Limits doesn't want to trade one month of Griffin now for a whole year on the back end of the deal. What's your response to that?
I get that argument when people make it, but that's not how I'm going about this if I'm the person in charge. You have a real finite amount of time that you have the best pitcher in baseball that leads what looks like a pretty promising staff that if it sacrifices something in the year 2032 – I'm not going to worry about it. If Connor Griffin gives the Pirates the best chance to win and you have to sacrifice a year because of that, I'm not going to be concerned. I think it should be treated the same way that they treated Paul Skeens, where they brought him up, and I know that wasn't opening day. but they brought him up in May, and since he won the Rookie of the Year, that year went away anyway.
Ideally, that's what Connor Griffin does, no? Ideally, they bring the guy up, and you could bring him up on March 26th, you could bring him up on June 26th.
What concerns does Limits have about Konnor Griffin's service time?
If the guy wins the Rookie of the Year... That goes away anyway. Top two.
Even bigger than that, there's never been a time when it's more about now for the Pirates. We could be looking at no baseball next year because of labor stoppage.
And then who knows if Skeens is even around.
Skeens' team time is running out. It's just all about now. 2032 seems like a long ways off, and I know it'll hurt then, or it might. I don't know what state the Pirates will be in, or Major League Baseball, or the planet Earth for that matter. In 2032. I just want to win right now. Don't you if you're a Pirate fan? Come on. And two or three wins. Could make all the difference. It often does. When you get down to those final wild card spots. And if Connor Griffin is the guy.
How does Donny justify sacrificing a year for the team's current success?
And he is the guy. I shouldn't even say if. He's the guy. I don't care how his spring training goes. Unless he looks totally overmatched.
Well yeah. That's an entirely different.
I don't care if he hits 190, though, and his at-bats are good. He has to look horrible for me not to want to bring him up here right away.
Yeah, he has to look lost. He has to look like he just does not match up to any of the major league pitching that they put in front of him. But the guy in every other hurdle he has had to jump over to get to this point, Not only has he done fine, the guy has shredded at every single level. He has been the best player on the field every single time he has taken it at every stop he's made so far. I was hoping that they would have him play a little bit in AAA last season. They did not do that. which is why they could make the easy push to, well, we'll start him out there first month or two. We'll see how that goes, and then we'll bring him up. I would have liked to see him finish there, even if it was for only a couple of weeks, because I got a feeling he's going to go to AAA and just continue to rake.
Yeah, and why can't they ever be the team that has somebody rocket through the system and make a very brief stop or none at all at AAA? Why can't this be the one guy? Limits, you wanted to say something?
Oh, I was just letting you know that we had somebody on the air. Somebody on the phone line to chime in on this. Oh, that's interesting.
A fan or a media type?
No, a fan.
What parallels are drawn between Konnor Griffin and Paul Skeens?
Oh, well, go ahead. Steve is in Washington. Hello, Steve.
Hello. I would like to say, who are we really trying to fool here? The Pirates aren't going to have these guys for as long as they're supposed to have control of them. Because as soon as they hit arbitration, the Pirates are never going to pay what they're going to be worth. Steens hits arbitration next year, $35 million or maybe $25 million. They're never going to pay that. He's going to be gone. So why are we worried about having these guys six years down the road? We're not.
Only limits is.
I would say bring them up and play them, all of them.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
Why does Donny believe Konnor Griffin should be on the Opening Day roster?
0:01–1:24
2
What concerns does Limits have about Konnor Griffin's service time?
1:24–2:14
3
How does Donny justify sacrificing a year for the team's current success?
2:14–3:52
4
What parallels are drawn between Konnor Griffin and Paul Skeens?
3:52–5:10
5
How do the hosts view the importance of immediate success for the Pirates?
5:10–11:26
Speakers
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