I had a problem with the Gregory Soto signing.

For time over the winter, I don't have that problem anymore.

Good morning, too you could.

Tuesday morning, I'm Dan Kovach, which of D.K. Pittsburgh Sports.

This is Daily Shot of Pirates, presented by our friends at the North Shore Tavern,

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Program comes your way bright and early every weekday.

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you found this. Pirates hit the road for all week. They're in Phoenix tonight against the

Diamondbacks. It'll be a 9.40 p.m. Eastern time first pitch. Bubba Chandler taking the mound against the lefty, Ed Rodriguez.

It's another lefty that I want to focus on today, in particular because I cast doubt on the acquisition.

Now, it doesn't mean the season's over and all evaluations are final, but it's been a month and change, and Soto has been everything that the pirates themselves

had expected upon signing him out of free agency for what I thought at the time was a pretty

bulky 7.5 million for one year.

For one thing, Soto's 31 years old.

For another, he hadn't been anybody's closer since 2022 in Detroit when he had 30 saves

and 33 opportunities.

After that, never more than three saves in a season.

Maybe most ominous of all in 2025, which he split between the Orioles and the Mets. His time with the Mets, 25 appearances, he had a 1.63 whip. He was not good. Now, I'm going to say this again. We're just a month in, five weeks, so he could still end up being not good. And I could still be right, going back to that time, that the $7.5 million

would have been better invested into a bat, which, as you'll recall, was all anyone wanted out of the offseason.

Oh, you got some bats? Okay, get some more bats. Oh, you got some more bats? Keep going.

But right now, right now, we're already 17 Soto appearances into this season. Most of those

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