Poni had a question for everyone to start today’s show – where did the Mason Rudolph love come from? How much of the heavy lifting does the end of the 2023 season do? Chris said people love a comeback story going back to biblical days. Did he get a raw deal? People haven’t seen him play bad football in Pittsburgh for a little while.

Where does the love for Mason Rudolph come from? One caller, missing the point, wondered why the guys were ‘praising’ Duck Hodges in 2019.

Pirates/Penguins reporter Jason Mackey from the PG joined the show. Jason confirmed that the Pirates did offer Josh Naylor a contract, but doesn’t think Naylor was close to leaving Seattle. Jason thinks they will spend some money this off-season, but players like Naylor and Kyle Schwarber are probably too rich. Jason questioned why a free agent worth $30M/year would come to Pittsburgh. Jason believes it’s ‘very possible’ that Konnor Griffin begins the 2026 season on the Pirates roster as their starting shortstop. Jason thinks the Pirates payroll will be right around $100M, but doubts it gets any higher than that. Jason thinks Eugenio Suarez could be the big move of the off-season, coming off a 49 HR season.