Michael Hardt / Antonio Negri - Imperio

No niin, pelataan tää läpi ja hankitaisuille enkusta eee. Okei. Ja jos se ei nappaa niin voi et jäävän tää rahattakas. Okei valmina? Ja. Ja alkaa. Käännä, kestävyys. Ähm. Resistens. Melkein. Tää on su final boss. Resilience. Yes! Hyvä! Woohoo! Faippaaalallelläfki on. Vaikka on vaikka Henry! Tää on fuut! Ohhh! Baby! Your buck those leaded! Unbelievable! Wow! His first in the big leagues! They're gonna bring the house down! Fan hotline presented by Sullivan Super Service Pittsburghs trusted plumbing an HVAC provider for over 50 years. That call, that intro means it is time to talk to just one man. The former Pirates Catcher current analyst Michael McKenry is with us here on 93/7 the fan. For it, I don't know if you caught it on Friday night. It was that Apple TV game, so Brownie was on the radio. He dropped the rare O-baby on the walkoff for Brian Reynolds. Well deserved and Brownie has some of the best calls in all baseball. Good to be with you. Pop looks good as always. I know he's been working on his physique. Looks very stout today. Ha ha ha ha! I love that. Yeah, Pop and Jill are both at Oakmont today, so they get to enjoy that and the perfect weather. So you're gonna be stuck with me. But the Pirates coming off a sweep. They take down Derek Shelton's twins Friday, Saturday, Sunday. That had to feel pretty good for everybody in that clubhouse, Michael, after they end up splitting with the Cubs. Absolutely. I don't know if you saw it on Twitter, but the Pirates kind of trolled the twins. They took up the W in their logo, which I thought was outstanding. Yeah, I mean, it's always good to beat up the guy that's, you know, your former manager. And I'm sure those guys wanted to, you know, say something or have a big statement with their bats and they did. And the day it's just fun to watch the Pirates go out and play right now. The offense has been incredible. If you look at what we're doing, comparative lasher, we've scored 102 more runs, Donnie. At this point, last year 102 more runs. Think about that. That's insane. They have gone from an offense that was pretty much the worst in the game in 2025. They're a legitimate top five offense this year for. You see this coming. I mean, they made some good additions. No doubt. Brandon Lau, Ryan O'Hern, great outside additions. But, man, it's like night and day difference what we saw last year compared to now. No, I mean, I think if you put it on paper, you're like, all right, we're going to be a lot better offensively. But you really don't expect kind of all these things to hit. O'Hern goes down for 17 days and we're still one of the best offenses in baseball in the month of May. So, I think it's just worked out absolutely perfect. I will go back to that Brandon Lau trade, especially since we're facing boroughs tonight and that's how that trade kind of all got started. That is the best trade I've seen the Pirates make in multiple decades. I mean, you talk about getting three players for one. I hate that we have to give away our access pitching, but at the end of the day, that dude has been phenomenal for us. Yeah, I mean, I really don't know how they pulled it off. It felt crazy at the time and now that it's played out a little bit, we're seeing Brandon Lau who was on pace to set the Pirates single season record for home runs by a second baseman. Mason Montgomery has been a solid left hander in the bullpen. And Jake Mangum has been that, you know, dude, you can kind of put anywhere in the outfield, good base runner. That type of guy, Emburros has not been good for the Astros. We'll talk about him more in a minute because they face him tonight. But I mean, that in the Spencer whore, which trade, I know that Ben Charington's track record isn't perfect far from it. But man, I mean, I got to tip my cap to him. The two big offseason trades he's made in 2025 and in 2026, masterful stuff from him. Yeah, I mean, masterful, you go back to 25, I mean, Ortiz is out of the game. He's in a lawsuit right now trying to figure out his life. So talk about a slam dunk because we could have lost a player and really got nothing for it. Horror, which has been phenomenal dating back to last year. One of the best OPS isn't all baseball, one of the best on base percentages. The dude still has not struck out more than he's walked. I mean, his numbers this month alone, 326, 966 OPS. I mean, he's showing out in every different way, but then we got to talk about his defense. His defense has gone through the roof when it comes to how much better it's gotten as his lous. I mean, lous has been phenomenal, but you think about what he's done in a pirate uniform. Yes, he has absolutely crushed in the baseball. The big question mark a lot of people had, especially evaluators across MLB. And I did too was what was the defense going to look like? You know, Horowitz never been a positive defender. Loud never been a positive finder. We're going to bring up a rookie, even though he's phenomenal in just about every single way. Not sure what you're going to get. Now you're going to put Nick, Nicky G at third base. All those dudes are in the positive when it comes to defensive run saves. Loud and horror, it's leading the way you couldn't ask for better guys to push themselves, push this envelope, push this team. The two guys I had circled once they made their moves this off season, especially Lou and Elhurn. I mean, you could count OZuna in there, even though he has been, you know, really just one of the only negatives, even though he still has time to turn it around 46 games in for him, 60 games in for the team. But I circled Brian Reynolds and O'Neill Cruz and I told myself we could really see bounce back seasons for these guys because they finally have line up protection. I mean, is it just that simple? Like why things have gone so well for those guys at the plate? Not for O'Neill Cruz, but yes for Brian Reynolds. Brian Reynolds is absolutely reaping every single award, having Lou in front of him. We saw Nicky G hit behind him and O'Neill Cruz just the other day. The depth of our lineup has completely changed. Excuse me, Elhurn was actually behind him that day. You think he's getting sandwiched in between the guys that we went out and got and both guys have a great years and you have to pick your poison. In last year, Brian Reynolds had a swing and miss rate that was through the roof, comparative to years past. He was trying to force the issue when he had guys on base. He realized who was hitting behind him a lot of times. And I think now he's slowed it down. He's walking at a clip we've never seen. He's starting to really rake again. His month of May just below Horowitz when it comes to the numbers he's producing. But yeah, he's doing some big things and it's just now June and this guy loves June. O'Neill Cruz, you could put him on Mars. He's going to hit at the end of the day. It's where's the balance? Where's the focus? And for me, if you put him in the worst lineup at baseball, he's going to figure it out because the bad ball hit her. But yeah, I think he still has more to show. I think he's still going to do some big things this year. Joe Block just put out there a stat on O'Neill Cruz who was on pace for 35 home runs and 51 steals and the three other players all time that are in the 35 50 club show. Tony did it in 2024 Ronald Acunia, Jr. did it in 2023 and then you got to go all the way back to Eric Davis back in 1987. Do you just accept these strikeout number if you're going to get that kind of production out of O'Neill Cruz. I mean, I'm certainly fine with it. 100% in this lineup. If we have the same lineup as last year, you understand we need guys to get on base and him on base is an absolute terror. But if we have this type of lineup, we have a very balanced lineup. Or her and his right hand really brought his swing a mess down. There's a lot of guys in our lineup that kind of balanced out so O'Neill Cruz, I don't necessarily love him at the lead spot. I love that he's down. Put him in that five six hole kind of like we had when I was there with Alvarez. And now it becomes a run producer. So you can throw out but then also you're creating havoc for the bottom of the order guys to maybe get better pitches when he's on base. So I think he fits perfect now. I would honestly love to see it go down. But if we're getting this production is producing in the ways never produced when it comes to driving and runs, I'm perfectly fine with it. Should we be worried about Connor Griffins injury or do you think it'll be shorter term. I think it'll be shorter term and I don't know all the specifics, but they seem really positive. I know the family, I know him, I really believe it's really a precaution more than anything. The fact that he went out in D.H. two days in a row. I'd love to see him do that for 10 days straight until he could come back. But our lineup and our roster is really not conducive that because of O'Neill. So it's going to probably be 10 to 11 days. I hope you're right back. I hope he doesn't go to rehab. They may send him there just to make sure get a couple extra bats. But yeah, I think he's just fine or a praise just fine. You never know nowadays. But we really need that guy in our lineup. He's been so good over the last month and a half. We saw in 2024, Rowdy, Talezz, Slow Start, turned it around in the second half, 2025, Tommy, FAM, Slow Start, turned it around in the second half. Are we thinking the same thing could happen with Marcelo Zuna because given how good this offense already is, that could be a huge boost. Ja, näin, että haluaisin tosi kertaa tarjota. where he's gonna have to go bonkers, which he has done before. The problem I'm having is, if you look at that Twin Series, as a team, we hit 304. I mean, we just annihilated the baseball. We had seven homers, 24 RBI's, eight stone bases, and he didn't play. He didn't play a single game to get a single a bat in that Twin Series, and what we did to their pitching staff was absurd. So the question is, is it here? Is it somewhere else? Can we offload that contract, bring back a better arm for the bullpen? There's a lot of question marks, 'cause we're trying to win now, and I think the Griffin thing really exposed, hey, he doesn't really play any other position. He's only a DH, and he hasn't been swinging the bat well. He's not coming off the bench and doing much. So they have a lot of question marks there, but I would never bet against the dude and what he's done in the clubhouse throughout his career for his teammates. He speaks volumes. I still think their production's got to come up on the field and he knows that. Talking to former pirates, Ketchcher, current analyst, Michael McKenry here on Sports Radio 937, the fan. Ford, I got to ask you about what's going on with Carmen Mijinsky. Is he good to go? Like, do we have to worry about this, dragging on anymore after the little drama that popped up over the weekend? Man, I hope not. I hated on both fronts. Obviously, some miscommunication on both sides, and the Carmen Jadeski is said for the last two years. He wants to start, but you can't throw your teammates under the bus. I know he's probably dealing with a lot through his family, his agency, he said his camp. That's a really tough situation. We are very blessed to have a guy like Ashcraft go out and do what he did on Sunday. The fact that he got through six innings, they wanted to have him have a shorter start, not really put that much stress on his arm, because they were really reliant on Mijinsky to be that backup guy in that situation. It's start to mitigate these guys' innings. So hopefully he's talked to the boys. They figured some things out, and he can get back out there and pitch. At the end of the day, this guy could be a starter in a lot of different places. Right now, the best fit for us in the buckos is him and the bullpen. He linked himself up in. He can have a high leverage situation for two to three innings to close out games. This guy could be really special out there. I got to play with Josh Haydard. I watched him try to start. He wanted to start. He really did everything possible to start. They finally pushed him up in. He's got $100 million as bank account, and a lot of all stars under his wing. So the day it's all about being in the big leagues and performing wherever that is for Carmen Mijinsky, he just needs to go out and do it. - Do you think this entire situation, Michael puts a little bit more pressure on Baba Chandler? Like obviously there is some now, but does it increase the amount? - Yeah, I think it does on all the guys. I think even Jared Jones. I mean, this didn't just happen over the last three or four days. It happened prior to Jones coming back. There was all the speculation, all the talk between the players. And yeah, I think it's gonna put pressure on everybody. 'Cause if you look at who had the second best month in our starting rotation, now these are all the main numbers of the underlying numbers. Carmen Mijinsky had the second best month out of any starter on our staff. So he has an argument, but at the day it's a team. It's not about Carmen Mijinsky. It's about Pittsburgh pirates. So yeah, you're putting pressure on your teammates. There's a lot of things that are probably underlying that aren't good. They responded extremely well, especially offensively. So if they can continue to do that and kind of let this thing push to the side, we'd be a bit out for it. - Was the Jared Jones 2026 debut about what you expected? You know, coming back looking a little bit rocky, getting beat up a little bit. - Yeah, I wanna make sure that fans really understand the expectations for a guy coming off Tommy John or any surgery for that matter. They're not gonna have Phil consistently. They're gonna miss spots dramatically at times, just because that's part of the surgery. You lose a lot of fill in your fingertips. Sometimes your arm gets a little bit numb and you don't have the fill you want. So yeah, I think so. I would love for him not to give up the homers. The fact he didn't walk four or five was outstanding and you saw that swing of mess stuff but the slider wasn't as good as you'd want it to be. But the reality of it is, I think him going out and dominating in the minor leagues and showing that he could have feel with the sinker and a change up and a curve ball is a great sign. And we wanted that immediately. If we give this guy time, he's gonna be at his best. Maybe in September, going to October and that's what we're really looking for. - Someone that I think is really growing a fan base here is Wilbur Dotelle. Is this a fluke of any sort or is this guy this legit because he has been awesome so far in a bucket as uniform? - Dude, he's terrifying. I mean, if he could be in the WWE, I mean, I'm pretty sure he'd be the undertaker. Dude doesn't smile. When he's out there, he just goes out and does business, gets up a hit and he just looks right into the soul of the next batter. I love the kid, he had a huge month, especially when you think about the revolving door of going down the triple A and coming back. I think he's gonna be a huge asset. And to be honest, guys, I've talked to us about this quite a bit. I thought this is how they were gonna set up this bullpen where multiple guys that are starters in the minor leagues that have stuff are gonna be in that bullpen to save these starters down the road because they've tried to mitigate innings, they've tried to mitigate pitches, ups and downs over the last four or five years. So they're gonna do it again. Guys, I could tell, Barco Vaginski being in the bullpen, you're getting a lot of innings and a lot of stuff thrown out to you. And I hope that's what they do with him the rest of the year. The way he's been through those off-speed pitches in his demeanor, oh, I'm obsessed. - You mentioned Braxton Ashcraft earlier because he was great again on Sunday. And you wanna talk about a guy who doesn't change his demeanor on the mound, no matter what's happening. The guy has been awesome, but I don't even know if he saw this coming. Like did you see him being this good with the buckoes his first full year as a starter? - No, I'll take that back. Yes with stuff, I'd giant question marks with health. I mean, most people don't realize this guy was hurt 24, 23, 22. He had a hard time stay healthy. They were all kind of weird injuries, nothing with his arm. That was really a concern. So I didn't know how he was gonna hold up, but he's holding his velocity, his pitch shapes or outstanding and probably getting better. His command has been phenomenal. And what he did over the month of May, I mean, he let all of Major League Baseball and innings pitch for a starter. Let me think about that, right? You're talking about a guy first full year in the big leagues really, and he's leading the league in a month innings pitch, you don't see that. And that's why there's a lot of concern about, hey, where are they gonna be in August and September because he's throwing a lot of pitches, a lot of innings. I think he's gonna be fine to your point. Really no emotion. I called him a machine for a reason because they just fine-tune him and throw him back out there. - What do you think they're going to do to get creative with him in the coming months to make sure he's good in case we are seeing meaningful baseball in September and even into October? - Honestly, I think watching it unfold, start to start. So the starting out against the twins, there's really no stress there. Until they had that long-fit inning, it was about 28 minutes and he went out back out for the six. He's throwing 95. Well, that's not because his arm's hurt, that's because he's been sitting on the sidelines for 28, 30 minutes has to go back out there. As soon as he gave it to the home, where he's 97, 98 again. So obviously he's holding his velocity. It's sticking from pitch one to pitch 100. Now if that starts to kind of fade in a start, you pull him, or if he has high stress innings where he's constantly out of the stretch and he's got runners on, those are the games, maybe you pull him to try to save him from those high stress moments. I don't think the innings or the pitch told a really matters for a guy, Kim, it looks like he's gonna hold true and he's built like an ox. Let's be honest, just an absolute ox. - The pitching matchup tonight, it is Bubba Chandler against Mike Burrows. Who do you think gets the best of it? We got two offenses that can hit the baseball a long way and two pitchers that are struggling going into the month of June. I really think Bubba is gonna kind of turn over that new leaf unless he puts added pressure on himself. He's been really hard on himself. I think he probably thought he was the guy gonna go to the bullpen because of the numbers. So this is his opportunity to go out and do his thing. I want him to, in my mind, if I'm catching him, I'm like, dude, let's go out and punch tickets. They've got swing and miss, they've got power. Let's go get him. And if he does that from the gate, he's gonna be just fine. It's really just the middle of the lineup in Christian Walker and Alvarez. He's gotta stay away from it. But I think Burrows, I mean, he's gotta throw his heater and because he's got to throw that heater, he's gonna have problems with the pirates. Michael McKenry, former pirates, Ketchcher, current analyst, the fort. Thanks for taking the time, man, appreciate it. Absolutely, Mr. Football, you take care of yourself. There we go. Michael McKenry, the man who got an old baby dropped on him on the home run way back when it caught me off guard when Brownie dropped one the other night. Oh yeah, that's a rare baby. That's how you know it's a big moment that you get the oh baby. Now, unfortunately for the team that McKenry was playing on, they did not parlay that into a playoff appearance. And maybe that happens with the 2026 buckles and we can think back to that home run on that Friday night.