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Speaker 1: Welcome to the Hammer Territory Podcast. My name is Sean Coleman.

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Speaker 1: Always a pleasure to be with you, hope, wherever you

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Speaker 1: are and wherever you are listening, you're having a great

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Speaker 1: week so far entering Friday into the really fun college

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Speaker 1: football weekend coming up. But you know what, Yeah, it's

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Speaker 1: college football season. Yes, the braz baseball season is over with,

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Speaker 1: but we do not stop talking Brazze Baseball here at

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Speaker 1: Hammer Territory twenty four seven, three hundred and sixty five

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Speaker 1: days out of the year, not necessarily talking about it

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Speaker 1: every day, but you'll always have content to enjoy as

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Speaker 1: part of the Foul Territory family of podcasts, and it's

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Speaker 1: always a pleasure to hear the to hear the excellent

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Speaker 1: perspective of my podcast partner, Stephen Tolbert. Stephen, it's been

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Speaker 1: a while, but good talking with you again, sir. I

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Speaker 1: hope you've been well.

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Speaker 2: Hey what's up, Sean? Yeah, man, it's been a minute

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Speaker 2: since you and I have done one of these. I

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Speaker 2: know you've had a bunch of stuff going on. You know,

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Speaker 2: that's the beauty of having a four man podcast is

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Speaker 2: you know all of us have stuff going on at

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Speaker 2: some point, and there's always other people here to still

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Speaker 2: put out contact even when the season's over, and even

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Speaker 2: if we got stuff going on. So yeah, man, it's

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Speaker 2: good to be on and you know, it's an interesting

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Speaker 2: show to know, we've got some interesting things to talk about.

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Speaker 1: Absolutely gonna talk about a few things that I know

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Speaker 1: have already been discussed, but I think that it's fun,

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Speaker 1: you know, to look at different perspectives and then also

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Speaker 1: talk about what I think is going to be an

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Speaker 1: under rated subject matter, an underrated but very significant area

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Speaker 1: of focus for the Braves this off season.

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Speaker 3: But Steven, I.

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Speaker 1: Wanted to talk with you for a second about something

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Speaker 1: that we discussed, and I know that Scott and Brad

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Speaker 1: talked about it as well. But of course, the biggest

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Speaker 1: storyline so far for the Braves this offseason was the

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Speaker 1: firing of both their hitting coaches, including Kevin Sitzer, as

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Speaker 1: well as catching coach South Asano.

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Speaker 3: Now you know the dismissal of salth Asanto.

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Speaker 1: I think that he was a very well respected, well

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Speaker 1: thought of part of the Braves organization. Understand though that

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Speaker 1: you know, the Braves probably felt that, you know, moves

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Speaker 1: had to be made, and I don't necessarily know if

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Speaker 1: I was that vocal about it, but up until the

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Speaker 1: very end of the season, I was not on board,

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Speaker 1: was not on board with the dismissal potential dismissal of

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Speaker 1: Kevin Sitzer. But eventually I just got to the point

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Speaker 1: to where I always found it that Kevin Sitzer's ability

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Speaker 1: to be able to extract value from players on the margins,

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Speaker 1: those players who had performed well in the past, but

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Speaker 1: before they came to the Braves in the present they struggled.

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Speaker 1: But then when they came to Atlanta they did so well.

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Speaker 1: You know, Ramon Loreano and whit Mirrorfield this year, for instance,

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Speaker 1: the twenty twenty one season, we saw it on multiple occasions.

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Speaker 1: That was a great, great contribution. I think that Kevin

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Speaker 1: Sitzer for years added to this lineup, but that was

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Speaker 1: to supplement our core, to supplement our main players. But

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Speaker 1: at the end of the day, is awesome of a

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Speaker 1: I guess you could say skill that was of Kevin Seitzer.

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Speaker 1: The value added there does not overcome the questions getting

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Speaker 1: louder and the frustrations that came from the Braves offense

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Speaker 1: number one struggling when it needed to perform the most

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Speaker 1: in postseason play and also the bigger and bigger sample

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Speaker 1: size that we were seen that if the Braves are

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Speaker 1: not hitting home runs at historic levels, there were plenty

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Speaker 1: of flaws in the lineup. So ah, yes, I was

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Speaker 1: not that big of a fan of the idea of

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Speaker 1: Kevin Sitzer moving on for most of the seas. I

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Speaker 1: think at the end of the day, it's the right move.

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Speaker 1: And just at the end of the day, Steven, this

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Speaker 1: team needs a new voice to come in and say

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Speaker 1: the things that we need to be said, which is

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Speaker 1: that the Braves need to find a way to improve

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Speaker 1: their approach at the plate so that they have multiple

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Speaker 1: ways offensively to win games.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean this was a significant move, like this

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Speaker 2: is not something that the Braves have done in a

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Speaker 2: long time since the Dabolas has been there. I mean

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Speaker 2: they you know, their their coaching staff has been rock

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Speaker 2: solid and the only time they ever replace anybody is

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Speaker 2: if if they go out and get better, better jobs elsewhere,

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Speaker 2: like they did with Eric Young, Eric Young Singer and

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Speaker 2: uh Senior and Ron Washington this last offseason. But the

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Speaker 2: idea of firing three coaches off of this staff, and

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Speaker 2: this was a firing, Let's not get it mixed up.

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Speaker 2: I know a lot of times teams use, you know,

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Speaker 2: creative language to avoid using that word, but this was

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Speaker 2: a firing. They had another year left on their contract,

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Speaker 2: they wanted to come back, They were probably expecting to

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Speaker 2: come back after the postseason press conference that Alex and

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Speaker 2: Snid gave and they were let go, and so they

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Speaker 2: were fired. And you know, I do think it's a

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Speaker 2: little bit of vindication for us who have spent all

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Speaker 2: years saying it's not just the injuries, there's something wrong

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Speaker 2: with the approach of this team that needs to be better.

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Speaker 2: You know, if if you you know, I know you

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Speaker 2: and I have talked about it a bunch during the season,

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Speaker 2: but you know, if you're somebody out there that has

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Speaker 2: shared that opinion along with us, then you do feel

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Speaker 2: a bit vindicated by the team agreeing with you, essentially saying, yeah,

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Speaker 2: I know we had injuries, but even with the injuries,

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Speaker 2: that offensive performance in twenty twenty four was just not

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Speaker 2: up to par. Like that was just that was miserably

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Speaker 2: bad and it had to be. I mean, Sitzer was

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Speaker 2: one of the most respected hitting coaches in baseball and

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Speaker 2: has been for a long time coming into this season

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Speaker 2: and to dream up a scenario where he would get

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Speaker 2: fired at the end of the twenty twenty four season

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Speaker 2: would have been pretty far fetched, you know, back in

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Speaker 2: spring training.

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Speaker 4: But that's what happened.

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Speaker 2: And you know, I probably could have made an argument

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Speaker 2: for keeping him. I probably could have made an argument

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Speaker 2: for getting rid of him. That probably means it was,

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Speaker 2: you know, a fifty to fifty proposition in my mind.

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Speaker 2: I don't I'm not really I don't really have a

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Speaker 2: strong opinion either way on the fact that they did it.

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Speaker 2: It was very weird how they did it, where they

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Speaker 2: came out very very strongly four keeping all of those guys,

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Speaker 2: and then six days later firing three of them.

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Speaker 4: You don't typically see that.

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Speaker 2: I mean, you know, alex Atopolos will lie through his

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Speaker 2: teeth about the roster, but you don't typically see gms

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Speaker 2: and presidents of baseball ops lie about you know, coaches

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Speaker 2: jobs like not not that directly where you know, the

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Speaker 2: question was asked, are they are they back? And Snith

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Speaker 2: and Alex both gave very clear YEP, they're coming back.

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Speaker 4: Like it wasn't There wasn't a lot of ambiguity.

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Speaker 2: In those answers, and then not even a week later,

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Speaker 2: they fired three of them, So yeah.

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Speaker 4: It was it was.

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Speaker 2: It was pretty a pretty big one to eighty from

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Speaker 2: the team in a very short amount of time. But

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Speaker 2: ultimately I don't necessarily disagree with it. I do think

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Speaker 2: this team, like you and I have said, you know,

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Speaker 2: a lot of the year, even when you account for

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Speaker 2: the injuries, there was something wrong with this team offensively,

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Speaker 2: and they approach, you know, the preparations. Something needed to

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Speaker 2: change going into twenty twenty five, and obviously now you

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Speaker 2: know it will They fired both of their hitting coaches

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Speaker 2: and they're on the look for new ones.

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Speaker 1: And here's the other aspect of this that I think

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Speaker 1: is interesting to talk about, and I think that's worth

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Speaker 1: certainly bringing up. You know, the thought is is that

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Speaker 1: okay with the firing of Kevin Sinzer especially, you know,

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Speaker 1: is it just the braves kind of you know, moving

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Speaker 1: around deck chairs and yeah, they'll bring in they're gonna

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Speaker 1: bring in two new hitting coaches, But is the same overall,

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Speaker 1: you know, organizational philosophy towards you know, slug at all

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Speaker 1: costs going to be there. And the reason that I

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Speaker 1: say that is because last year that's the thing that

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Speaker 1: I think may not be talked about enough. It's just

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Speaker 1: how amazing that it is that a year ago we

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Speaker 1: were coming off this team having arguably one of the

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Speaker 1: five best offensive regular seasons that a lineup had ever had. Like,

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Speaker 1: that's how good this team tied the all time team

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Speaker 1: record for home runs, that's how spectacular this offense is.

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Speaker 1: Any year later, we're talking about the hitting coach being fired.

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Speaker 1: When you think about it from that perspective, it's pretty

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Speaker 1: eye opening. But a year ago, also, Stephen, what stood

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Speaker 1: out to me is that I don't think there was

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Speaker 1: hardly anyone who believed more in what the Braves did

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Speaker 1: in twenty twenty three being sustainable than Alexanthopolis in terms

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Speaker 1: of how how he responded after another early exit from

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Speaker 1: those twenty twenty three playoffs.

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Speaker 3: But with that being.

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Speaker 1: Said, how eye openingeded is with the fact that Seitzer

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Speaker 1: was fired just a year removed from a historic offensive

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Speaker 1: regular season for this Brave's team. That's why I'm a

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Speaker 1: bit encouraged that this isn't a situation where the Braves

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Speaker 1: are just going to come bring guys in. Yet the

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Speaker 1: organizational philosophy is going to stay the same. I think

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Speaker 1: that Alex and Thoppolis, even despite the fact that we

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Speaker 1: had that historic season in twenty twenty three. He moved

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Speaker 1: away from a coach that had been here for what

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Speaker 1: nine years, just under a decade. He moved away from

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Speaker 1: one of the biggest reasons why offense had been the

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Speaker 1: calling card of this Braves era so far. He moved

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Speaker 1: away from that because I think that Alexanthopolis realizes, Listen,

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Speaker 1: whatever you need to have going in the playoffs for

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Speaker 1: this Braves team to be successful, it's not there right now.

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Speaker 1: So something needs to change. So I think that Alex

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Speaker 1: and Topless probably has shifted his perspective a bit. I

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Speaker 1: think he certainly still believes in this offense. That he

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Speaker 1: believes it's a championship worth the offense, and I believe

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Speaker 1: that as well. But I think that he knows it's

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Speaker 1: got to have depth to it, it's got to have

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Speaker 1: multiple ways to be able to win. And I think

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Speaker 1: that he realizes that means that there's got to be

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Speaker 1: another voice or two to come in and help that out.

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Speaker 1: So the point that I'm getting at is for anybody

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Speaker 1: who thinks that, oh, well, this is just them making

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Speaker 1: a move to make a move because they felt they

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Speaker 1: had to, No, I feel there's a good chance that

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Speaker 1: some things are going to change, and that could be

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Speaker 1: a great development for this core because this core is

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Speaker 1: still young enough, still talented enough to be able to

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Speaker 1: make the changes that it needs and be highly successful

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Speaker 1: as a championship corps. They just need to find the

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Speaker 1: right voice to bring in. But overall, I think this

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Speaker 1: can signal that the needed offensive changes, the needed offensive

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Speaker 1: approaches this lineup needs. I think we can see it

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Speaker 1: if they find the right person.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean talking about walking into a dream scenario, right,

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Speaker 2: I mean, whoever they hire as a hitting coach, and

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Speaker 2: you've got as much talent as any hitting coach has

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Speaker 2: ever walked into. Maybe ever you got a lineup full

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Speaker 2: of guys that had you know, massive underperformances relative to

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Speaker 2: their bad at ball data. That's you know, should just naturally,

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Speaker 2: you know, regress to the positive. You know, the guy's

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Speaker 2: gonna come in, whoever it is they hire, and you

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Speaker 2: know he has a very good chance of looking like

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Speaker 2: a genius without having to do much. So it's gonna

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Speaker 2: be a nice you know, I'm sure the Braves are

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Speaker 2: gonna have ample, ample number of you know, prospects to

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Speaker 2: look at in terms of you know, hitting coaches that

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Speaker 2: are interested in the job.

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Speaker 4: I think there's gonna be quite a few candidates.

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Speaker 2: I know a lot of people will be interested in

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Speaker 2: the job. You know, it's tough to really know anything

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Speaker 2: about a hitting coach, you know, relative to what they're

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Speaker 2: gonna teach. They don't really get into that stuff publicly,

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Speaker 2: So you know, you're really gonna have to just wait

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Speaker 2: until the twenty twenty five offense shows up and see

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Speaker 2: how it looks and if it looks any different before

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Speaker 2: you can really make any judgments. And even then you

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Speaker 2: got to wait a little bit. So, yeah, it is

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Speaker 2: a fascinating situation. It was fascinating the way they did

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Speaker 2: a complete one eighty not even seven days later. And again,

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Speaker 2: I do think there's some vindication for us that have

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Speaker 2: said all year, something's up, something's wrong, something needs to

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Speaker 2: be better, something needs to change. Yeah, the injuries are

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Speaker 2: definitely part of it, but there's something going on with

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Speaker 2: this offense that isn't right. And you know, the team

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Speaker 2: obviously agreed, and so we're gonna get a whole new

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Speaker 2: h hitting staff in twenty twenty five.

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Speaker 1: So Steven flipping the page from what didn't work a

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Speaker 1: lot of the time, in twenty twenty four to the

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Speaker 1: part of the team that did work far better than

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Speaker 1: I think anybody anticipated, And that of course is the

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Speaker 1: starting rotation for the Atlanta Braves, the starting rotation for

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Speaker 1: the Atlanta Braves that edit the majors in f war

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Speaker 1: as a starting unit in e er A is a

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Speaker 1: starting union, and FIP PHIP as a starting unit, and

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Speaker 1: an x FIP x FIP whatever you want to call it,

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Speaker 1: as a starting unit. It's very rare where you see

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Speaker 1: the same starting unit leading all four of those categories,

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Speaker 1: and that just goes to show how awesome this starting

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Speaker 1: staff was.

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Speaker 3: But then you get into.

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Speaker 1: The injuries that this starting staff dealt with, losing Spencer

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Speaker 1: Strider after two starts, Ronaldo Lopez and Max Freed, losing

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Speaker 1: three to five starts in the second half of the season,

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Speaker 1: and we still got excellent results. Now, of course, the

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Speaker 1: reason why was Chris Sell having won the best season

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Speaker 1: we've seen really in the past half century or more

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Speaker 1: from a pitcher his age, a cy young pitcher who

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Speaker 1: won the NL Triple Crown. That definitely helps out. But

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Speaker 1: the reason that I bring this up, Steven, is because

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Speaker 1: twenty and twenty five it was a or twenty twenty

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Speaker 1: four was a year defined by the Braves pitching. And

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Speaker 1: even though you're losing Max Fred, even though you're probably

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Speaker 1: going to or probably gonna lose Max Freid, probably gonna

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Speaker 1: lose Charlie Morton, you have to feel pretty good about Sale,

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Speaker 1: Ronaldo Lopez, and Spencer swelling back is being three fists

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Speaker 1: of your rotation with Spencer Strider coming back for two

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Speaker 1: thousand and twenty five.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, they're definitely in a better spot. You know,

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Speaker 2: last year, before we knew about Chris Sale, before we

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Speaker 2: knew about Ronaldo Lopez, and before we knew about Spencer Schwellenbach.

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Speaker 2: You know, all three of those guys were kind of

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Speaker 2: major developments in twenty twenty four that we didn't really

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Speaker 2: know about before the season happened, or at least how

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Speaker 2: good they could be before those three guys, you know,

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Speaker 2: looking ahead, the twenty twenty five rotation looked pretty scary

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Speaker 2: like and not in a good way. Like it looked

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Speaker 2: like Spencer Strider and then a bunch of question marks because,

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Speaker 2: like you said, almost certainly losing Max this offseason, Charlie

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Speaker 2: Morton gave every indication possible this season that this season

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Speaker 2: would be his last.

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Speaker 4: Now it might not be.

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Speaker 2: He might come back, but I think the smart money

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Speaker 2: right now is on him not coming back. And so

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Speaker 2: before we knew about Sales Schwallobach and Ronaldo Lopez, it

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Speaker 2: was like who who in the world is going to

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Speaker 2: pitch for this team in twenty twenty five and beyond.

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Speaker 4: And obviously in.

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Speaker 2: Twenty twenty four we got, you know, massive upgrades in

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Speaker 2: some unknown spots. Spencer Schwallobach came out of nowhere to

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Speaker 2: be awesome. You know, if it wasn't for some unbelievable

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Speaker 2: rookie campaigns in the National League this year, he would

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Speaker 2: have been a lock for Rookie of the Year. But

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Speaker 2: you know, I don't even know if he's gonna get top

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Speaker 2: three with some of the incredible rookie seasons that were,

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Speaker 2: you know, put forth. In twenty twenty four, Renaldo Lopez

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Speaker 2: was a converted reliever. No one knew how good he

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Speaker 2: would actually be as a starter. Again, if it was

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Speaker 2: going to be kind of a a short lived experiment, Orf,

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Speaker 2: it was gonna be something that actually, you know, held

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Speaker 2: and went throughout the whole season, and he was, I mean,

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Speaker 2: he was ten times better than I thought he could

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Speaker 2: be as a as a full time starter, and then

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Speaker 2: even after the Chris Sale trade, you know, there was

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Speaker 2: a lot of concern about his health about could he

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Speaker 2: stay healthy, could he actually produce for this team over

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Speaker 2: multiple years. You know, they immediately gave him a new

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Speaker 2: contract where he basically got two guaranteed years twenty twenty

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Speaker 2: four and twenty twenty five, and Noboe knew what to expect,

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Speaker 2: and all he did was go out and probably win

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Speaker 2: the cy Young in twenty twenty four. So the rotation picture,

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Speaker 2: while still pretty murky for twenty twenty five, certainly looks

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Speaker 2: better now than it did at this time last year.

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Speaker 2: Because at this time last year, we knew we would

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Speaker 2: probably lose Max, we knew we'd probably lose Morton, but

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Speaker 2: we didn't know about Sale, we didn't know about Lopez,

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Speaker 2: and we didn't know about swallow Back.

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Speaker 4: So the the.

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Speaker 2: You know, we're gonna talk about a little bit more

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Speaker 2: here in a minute, but the picture is certainly better

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Speaker 2: than it was twelve months ago.

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Speaker 1: The picture is definitely better than it was twelve months

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Speaker 1: ago for twenty and twenty five and beyond, there's no

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Speaker 1: doubt about that. Even with Max Reid probably going in

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Speaker 1: free agency, the chance that Charlie Morton is to retire. Yes,

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Speaker 1: it is much better now than it was twelve months ago.

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Speaker 1: But here's the thing that I will say to that

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Speaker 1: throwing a bit of cold water on this discussion. I

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Speaker 1: feel that the offense is going to have an easier

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Speaker 1: chance of returning to an elite status in twenty twenty.

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Speaker 3: Five for the Braves.

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Speaker 1: Then I feel the pitching staff is going to be

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Speaker 1: able to repeat being at the top or near the

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Speaker 1: top of the majors in pitching in twenty twenty five.

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Speaker 1: That is a statement that I feel comfortable making right

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Speaker 1: now because it was spectacular to see what Seal and

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Speaker 1: Schwellenbach and Renaudo Lopez did. It was awesome, and each

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Speaker 1: and every one of the cases of those pitchers they

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Speaker 1: did far better than expected. But being able to repeat

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Speaker 1: those performances it becomes very hard to do when you

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Speaker 1: start to break down factors that need to be in

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Speaker 1: place again for them to be able to repeat those performances.

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Speaker 1: For one, in the case of all three pitchers, they

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Speaker 1: each threw more innings in twenty and twenty five. In

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Speaker 1: twenty twenty four than they ever had before in the

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Speaker 1: case of Fincher Swelling Block or than they had in

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Speaker 1: many years. In the case of Ronaldo Lopez and Crisale,

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Speaker 1: Chris Sale and Ronaldo Lopez both dealt with injuries at

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Speaker 1: some pretty inopportune times.

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Speaker 3: So could they potentially be.

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Speaker 1: Able to handle heavy workloads again in twenty and twenty five?

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Speaker 1: What about the potential for regression because Chris Sale, I

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Speaker 1: think is going to be an ace. I don't know

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Speaker 1: if he'll have another season like he did again in

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Speaker 1: twenty twenty four. But in the case of Sales, Schwellenbach

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Speaker 1: and Ronaldo Lopez, this was the first time the National

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Speaker 1: League really got to see them as a whole, seeing

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Speaker 1: them again. Will each of these pitchers have the same success.

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Speaker 1: It's hard to say. And the other thing about it

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Speaker 1: is is that you throw all those things into the mix.

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Speaker 1: Chris sells age again, Spencer swellenbat being able to do

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Speaker 1: it a second time, third time through the National League

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Speaker 1: in baseball in general. But I don't think what's talked

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Speaker 1: about enough is everybody's.

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Speaker 3: Talking about Ronald Acuna Junior.

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Speaker 1: You know, what's he going to look like when he

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Speaker 1: comes back? Well, what's Spencer Strider going to look like?

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Speaker 3: When he comes back.

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Speaker 1: It's very rare that you see in a pitcher's first

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Speaker 1: year back from Tommy John's surgery, if they were a

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Speaker 1: star pitcher before that, they immediately returned to being a

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Speaker 1: star pitcher the year after they come back from Tommy

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Speaker 1: john surgery. So, yes, the Braves, the franchise, the fan

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Speaker 1: base should feel very very strongly about the starting rotation,

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Speaker 1: much better than they did twelve months ago. But I

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Speaker 1: also think that there are a ton of legitimate questions

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Speaker 1: that are worth asking that could stand in the way

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Speaker 1: of this pitching staff. I think they'll be very good,

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Speaker 1: but them being truly elite and the best in baseball,

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Speaker 1: a lot of factors are gonna have to go in

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Speaker 1: their favor again, and I don't think it's as much

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Speaker 1: of a guarantee as some may feel.

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Speaker 2: No, yeah, it's a fair I mean it's a it's

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Speaker 2: a fair point. I actually made this point on the

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Speaker 2: show that that Brad and Scott and I did a

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Speaker 2: couple of nights ago about the DH that I think

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Speaker 2: the starting the starting pitching staff could sneakily come up

387
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Speaker 2: to be the biggest question of the all season, because

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Speaker 2: I mean, let's just you know, let's just say, hypothetically,

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Speaker 2: because this is very realistic, Let's just say Max Freed

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Speaker 2: and Charlie and Morton are both gone. Let's say Max

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Speaker 2: signed somewhere else, and let's say Charlie retires. We don't

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Speaker 2: know that for a fact yet, We'll have to see

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Speaker 2: how it plays out. But both of those are very

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Speaker 2: realistic possibilities. So let's just put those two guys aside.

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Speaker 2: Like you said, Spencer Travis coming back from Tommy John surgery,

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Speaker 2: you have no idea what you're gonna get. You don't

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Speaker 2: know when he's gonna come back, you don't know when

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Speaker 2: he's actually gonna enter the rotation, and you don't know

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Speaker 2: what he's what you're gonna get from him once he does, right,

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Speaker 2: So that's a big question. Chris Sale has thrown, you know,

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Speaker 2: through more innings in twenty twenty four than he's thrown

402
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Speaker 2: in a.

403
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Speaker 4: Long, long, long, long time.

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Speaker 2: And what is the cumulative effect of that going into

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Speaker 2: twenty twenty five. Is he gonna stay as healthy as

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Speaker 2: he did this year? That was kind of a unicorn

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Speaker 2: for him to stay healthy pretty much all season, right

408
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Speaker 2: up until the very last two weeks. You know, that

409
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Speaker 2: doesn't happen for him a lot, and is it gonna

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Speaker 2: happen again in twenty twenty five?

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Speaker 4: I don't know.

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Speaker 2: Smart money is probably not. It's not gonna you know,

413
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Speaker 2: odds of him having a fully healthy, sigh, young level

414
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Speaker 2: season again are probably pretty low, if I'm being honest.

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Speaker 2: Even if he's good, I don't know if he's gonna

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Speaker 2: be that good. You know, Ronaldo Lopez again, same thing.

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Speaker 2: Through more innings last year than he's thrown in a

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Speaker 2: long long time. What's the cumulative effect of that gonna be?

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Speaker 2: You know, he had a fit up about a run

420
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Speaker 2: higher than his er, so he also dealt with some

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Speaker 2: pretty good batted ball luck that's probably going to regress.

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Speaker 2: You know, there's this many innings on his arm. Does

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Speaker 2: it have a negative effect in twenty twenty five? That's

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Speaker 2: a big question. And then you got the rookie, the

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Speaker 2: you know, Spencer Swallenbach. Ironically, I think his performance might

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Speaker 2: be the most repeatable because there wasn't any big underperformance

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Speaker 2: or overperformance relative to expecting numbers.

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Speaker 4: He's still very young.

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Speaker 2: Now. He did throw more innings last year than he's

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Speaker 2: thrown ever before, but again he's a very very young pitcher.

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Speaker 2: So it might not be as a big, big a

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Speaker 2: deal for a young guy like him, But that is

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Speaker 2: a question, right that many innings does it have an.

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Speaker 4: Effect on you next year?

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Speaker 2: So you add it all up, and even though the names,

436
00:22:46,760 --> 00:22:48,800
Speaker 2: you know, if you just read out the name Spencer Strider,

437
00:22:48,880 --> 00:22:51,120
Speaker 2: Chris Saille, we're not a little best Spencer swall Back. Yeah,

438
00:22:51,119 --> 00:22:54,360
Speaker 2: that's a really good four to go to to camp with.

439
00:22:55,040 --> 00:22:59,040
Speaker 2: All of them have big questions, and it leads me

440
00:22:59,119 --> 00:23:01,240
Speaker 2: to believe that the brand are probably gonna have to

441
00:23:01,280 --> 00:23:06,119
Speaker 2: be somewhat aggressive on the pitching market this offseason. You know,

442
00:23:06,160 --> 00:23:08,600
Speaker 2: when Alex talked about it in his postseason presser, he

443
00:23:08,960 --> 00:23:11,959
Speaker 2: kind of waved it off and said, you know, starting

444
00:23:12,000 --> 00:23:12,720
Speaker 2: pitching is not going.

445
00:23:12,640 --> 00:23:15,199
Speaker 4: To be a huge priority. I wouldn't.

446
00:23:15,320 --> 00:23:17,040
Speaker 2: I don't believe that for a second. You shouldn't believe

447
00:23:17,040 --> 00:23:19,240
Speaker 2: that for a second. That's one of those classic Alex

448
00:23:19,400 --> 00:23:23,560
Speaker 2: Entopos answers that is almost certainly not true, not even

449
00:23:23,560 --> 00:23:25,240
Speaker 2: remotely true. I do think they're gonna have to go

450
00:23:25,320 --> 00:23:28,440
Speaker 2: get some help. I think they're gonna get You need

451
00:23:28,480 --> 00:23:31,240
Speaker 2: to get you know, a veteran somebody that can eat

452
00:23:31,240 --> 00:23:33,639
Speaker 2: some innings, you know, if you are dealing with a

453
00:23:33,680 --> 00:23:36,240
Speaker 2: Strider injury, if you are dealing with a Chris Sale injury,

454
00:23:36,240 --> 00:23:39,439
Speaker 2: if you're dealing with Ronaldo injury. You know, if if

455
00:23:39,480 --> 00:23:42,040
Speaker 2: Schwallenbach backs up a little bit as a second year

456
00:23:42,040 --> 00:23:46,080
Speaker 2: player after the league has seen him, you need somebody else,

457
00:23:46,160 --> 00:23:49,560
Speaker 2: I think, and maybe two more guys, quite honestly, because again,

458
00:23:49,600 --> 00:23:51,960
Speaker 2: you don't know when Spencer Strider is ever gonna come back,

459
00:23:52,000 --> 00:23:54,720
Speaker 2: Like you don't know. I mean, you know, you don't

460
00:23:54,720 --> 00:23:56,320
Speaker 2: want to think about this, but it's a whirl where

461
00:23:56,320 --> 00:23:59,440
Speaker 2: he has a setback and he's not back till June July.

462
00:23:59,680 --> 00:24:01,800
Speaker 2: I mean, you just don't know when it's this far out,

463
00:24:03,240 --> 00:24:04,879
Speaker 2: and you gotta have some insurance there, and you can

464
00:24:04,920 --> 00:24:05,960
Speaker 2: never have too much pitching.

465
00:24:06,840 --> 00:24:08,200
Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm gonna be fascinating to see.

466
00:24:08,200 --> 00:24:10,399
Speaker 2: I do think there's a chance the Braves could be

467
00:24:10,440 --> 00:24:13,600
Speaker 2: pretty aggressive in the starting pitching market, either trade or

468
00:24:13,640 --> 00:24:17,520
Speaker 2: signing this offseason, because you look at each of their

469
00:24:17,560 --> 00:24:20,200
Speaker 2: four guys and the names look good, but there are

470
00:24:20,200 --> 00:24:23,480
Speaker 2: some pretty big question marks behind those four names, and

471
00:24:24,600 --> 00:24:26,960
Speaker 2: I think there's certainly an argument for being aggressive and

472
00:24:27,200 --> 00:24:29,119
Speaker 2: adding a couple more arms to the rotation.

473
00:24:30,400 --> 00:24:33,600
Speaker 1: So this is a segue to you know you and

474
00:24:33,640 --> 00:24:37,760
Speaker 1: Brad and Scott again had a fantastic conversation about the

475
00:24:37,840 --> 00:24:41,000
Speaker 1: DH You may want to call it a conundrum scenario,

476
00:24:42,200 --> 00:24:45,560
Speaker 1: you know, just it's going to definitely be a very

477
00:24:45,640 --> 00:24:49,200
Speaker 1: very interesting situation to play out when we're talking about

478
00:24:49,240 --> 00:24:54,720
Speaker 1: Jorge Selaire and Marcelo Zuna and Ronald Acuna Junior. I

479
00:24:54,840 --> 00:24:57,560
Speaker 1: actually feel that there is some sense about keeping all

480
00:24:57,600 --> 00:25:02,080
Speaker 1: three going into next season, especially with again the strengths

481
00:25:02,080 --> 00:25:05,360
Speaker 1: of Hoorgeesler as an offensive player really match up well

482
00:25:05,359 --> 00:25:07,720
Speaker 1: with some of the weaknesses of this Braves lineup that

483
00:25:07,720 --> 00:25:10,320
Speaker 1: we've seen over the past couple of years. But at

484
00:25:10,359 --> 00:25:12,040
Speaker 1: the end of the day, I think that it's clear

485
00:25:12,680 --> 00:25:16,040
Speaker 1: that when you're talking about hey probably can't go into

486
00:25:16,080 --> 00:25:18,800
Speaker 1: next season with all three of these players likely being

487
00:25:18,840 --> 00:25:22,320
Speaker 1: at a D eight status to start the year, probably

488
00:25:22,400 --> 00:25:23,560
Speaker 1: doesn't make too much sense.

489
00:25:23,560 --> 00:25:26,840
Speaker 3: And of the three, Orge Celaire is the most sensible

490
00:25:26,880 --> 00:25:29,760
Speaker 3: to trade. I bring up though his.

491
00:25:31,440 --> 00:25:35,200
Speaker 1: Potential to be traded because I feel that that may

492
00:25:35,280 --> 00:25:39,320
Speaker 1: be the most sensible avenue for the Braves to go

493
00:25:39,640 --> 00:25:46,320
Speaker 1: get a veteran starter with some reliability and upside at

494
00:25:46,320 --> 00:25:47,679
Speaker 1: a pretty reasonable cost.

495
00:25:48,680 --> 00:25:49,400
Speaker 3: And the reason that.

496
00:25:49,400 --> 00:25:51,520
Speaker 1: I say, that is what we've seen in the playoffs.

497
00:25:53,280 --> 00:25:57,639
Speaker 1: Y'all talked extensively about what potential market Hoorge Celaire would have,

498
00:25:57,760 --> 00:26:00,159
Speaker 1: and I don't think that Hoorge Celaire obviously, you know,

499
00:26:00,240 --> 00:26:02,600
Speaker 1: look at the cost of the Braves acquired him at.

500
00:26:02,640 --> 00:26:04,199
Speaker 1: Even though they took on all his money, he's not

501
00:26:04,200 --> 00:26:06,879
Speaker 1: going to get a big return, right. But I do

502
00:26:07,080 --> 00:26:10,760
Speaker 1: think you look at the AL Central, you look at

503
00:26:10,800 --> 00:26:13,199
Speaker 1: the three teams that made the playoffs. The Indians are

504
00:26:13,240 --> 00:26:15,880
Speaker 1: still in it, the Tigers were in it, the Royals

505
00:26:15,880 --> 00:26:21,119
Speaker 1: were in it. Every one of those offenses were far

506
00:26:21,160 --> 00:26:23,960
Speaker 1: from being the typical level of offense that you would

507
00:26:24,040 --> 00:26:26,120
Speaker 1: expect to see on a playoff team. In other words,

508
00:26:26,280 --> 00:26:28,879
Speaker 1: you put horgees Ceilire in any of those three offenses,

509
00:26:28,960 --> 00:26:30,520
Speaker 1: he automatically is a top three hitter.

510
00:26:30,680 --> 00:26:32,119
Speaker 3: In any of those three offenses.

511
00:26:32,160 --> 00:26:35,159
Speaker 1: In my opinion, you put hogees Silaire in one of

512
00:26:35,200 --> 00:26:37,880
Speaker 1: the NL Central lineups that want to compete next year,

513
00:26:37,920 --> 00:26:39,879
Speaker 1: the Cubs or the Reds, to compete with the Brewers,

514
00:26:40,119 --> 00:26:41,680
Speaker 1: he's a top three hitter, and I think in any

515
00:26:41,720 --> 00:26:44,520
Speaker 1: one of those lineups, I feel there's a market out

516
00:26:44,560 --> 00:26:47,879
Speaker 1: there for hoarhey Silaire, especially in the two central divisions

517
00:26:47,920 --> 00:26:50,959
Speaker 1: for teams that want to go after the playoffs. And

518
00:26:51,000 --> 00:26:54,320
Speaker 1: so with that being the case, two years twenty six

519
00:26:54,359 --> 00:26:57,480
Speaker 1: million that he's owed, what the Braves could do is

520
00:26:57,560 --> 00:27:01,240
Speaker 1: use him in a trade to two teams three team

521
00:27:01,280 --> 00:27:04,440
Speaker 1: deal and potentially bring back a veteran starter that they're

522
00:27:04,480 --> 00:27:08,639
Speaker 1: intrigued by. But then, Steven were just coming off a

523
00:27:08,720 --> 00:27:11,840
Speaker 1: year where the Braves got far more value out of

524
00:27:11,880 --> 00:27:15,160
Speaker 1: Chris Sale than anybody anticipated, They got far more value

525
00:27:15,160 --> 00:27:18,680
Speaker 1: out of Renaldo Lopez than anybody anticipated. If you could

526
00:27:18,800 --> 00:27:21,920
Speaker 1: use jorgees Celaire to go get a picture who may

527
00:27:21,960 --> 00:27:25,320
Speaker 1: not necessarily be leaving up to expectations elsewhere, but you

528
00:27:25,440 --> 00:27:27,960
Speaker 1: bring him into the fold in Atlanta and he could

529
00:27:27,960 --> 00:27:31,120
Speaker 1: be a reliable veteran starter. That could be the most

530
00:27:31,200 --> 00:27:33,560
Speaker 1: valuable way for the Braves to utilize hoogees Ceilaire this

531
00:27:33,600 --> 00:27:37,959
Speaker 1: season and make this rotation even stronger moving forward.

532
00:27:39,080 --> 00:27:40,959
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, there's nothing an argument for it, right,

533
00:27:40,960 --> 00:27:42,600
Speaker 2: It's kind of a two birds one. Ston't think you're

534
00:27:42,640 --> 00:27:45,920
Speaker 2: solving your DH problem while also bringing in a starter.

535
00:27:47,600 --> 00:27:50,119
Speaker 2: I do think Soilaire has the most is the most

536
00:27:50,200 --> 00:27:53,040
Speaker 2: logical to be traded. You know, if you missed the

537
00:27:53,080 --> 00:27:55,600
Speaker 2: show a couple of nights ago and me Brad Scott,

538
00:27:56,119 --> 00:27:57,639
Speaker 2: I first suggest you go listen to it.

539
00:27:57,600 --> 00:27:58,600
Speaker 4: It was a really fun show and.

540
00:27:58,520 --> 00:28:02,040
Speaker 2: We did a deep, deep, like fifty over fifty minute

541
00:28:02,680 --> 00:28:09,480
Speaker 2: conversation on this one topic. And you know, I do

542
00:28:09,520 --> 00:28:13,080
Speaker 2: think Solaire makes the most sense to be traded. You know,

543
00:28:13,119 --> 00:28:16,320
Speaker 2: we talked about with Marcel about you know, Scott brought

544
00:28:16,400 --> 00:28:18,320
Speaker 2: up a great point about him have potentially having ten

545
00:28:18,400 --> 00:28:21,560
Speaker 2: five rights, and by the way, on that, we actually

546
00:28:21,600 --> 00:28:25,359
Speaker 2: did did a little bit more research after that, and

547
00:28:25,440 --> 00:28:27,400
Speaker 2: it looks like it does. He does have ten five

548
00:28:27,480 --> 00:28:30,360
Speaker 2: rights from what everything I was able to find. There

549
00:28:30,400 --> 00:28:32,600
Speaker 2: was some question about whether his time on the restricted

550
00:28:32,600 --> 00:28:36,280
Speaker 2: list in twenty one, you know, caused him to miss

551
00:28:36,320 --> 00:28:38,760
Speaker 2: out on five full years of service time with the Braves,

552
00:28:38,800 --> 00:28:41,880
Speaker 2: but the way service time is calculated, I'm not going

553
00:28:41,920 --> 00:28:43,120
Speaker 2: to get into the whole thing right now, but the

554
00:28:43,120 --> 00:28:45,200
Speaker 2: way service time is calculated, it looks like even with

555
00:28:45,320 --> 00:28:50,120
Speaker 2: that suspension, he would still have enough service time to qualify.

556
00:28:50,200 --> 00:28:52,080
Speaker 4: So I do think he has ten five rights.

557
00:28:52,200 --> 00:28:54,040
Speaker 2: And of course that only matters if they want to

558
00:28:54,040 --> 00:28:55,560
Speaker 2: trade him, and I don't.

559
00:28:55,600 --> 00:28:56,440
Speaker 4: I don't really think they do.

560
00:28:56,560 --> 00:29:01,280
Speaker 2: I think Solaire is the guy that that makes more sense.

561
00:29:01,320 --> 00:29:03,240
Speaker 2: And that's kind of the conclusion that we reached the

562
00:29:03,320 --> 00:29:06,200
Speaker 2: other night. And yeah, listen, if there's a team, if

563
00:29:06,240 --> 00:29:08,760
Speaker 2: there's a team like the Royals, you know, the Braves

564
00:29:08,800 --> 00:29:12,920
Speaker 2: originally traded for so Laire from the Royals. If you

565
00:29:12,960 --> 00:29:16,240
Speaker 2: remember in twenty one, you know who needs more offense,

566
00:29:16,280 --> 00:29:19,840
Speaker 2: who's got a decent some decent pitching. You know, there's

567
00:29:19,840 --> 00:29:22,000
Speaker 2: a bunch of teams like that. Offense was down so much.

568
00:29:22,200 --> 00:29:25,040
Speaker 2: And this was the point I made a couple of

569
00:29:25,080 --> 00:29:27,640
Speaker 2: nights ago, is offense was down so much in twenty

570
00:29:27,680 --> 00:29:29,680
Speaker 2: four there's gonna be a lot of teams looking for power,

571
00:29:29,680 --> 00:29:31,280
Speaker 2: and there's gonna be a lot of teams looking for offense.

572
00:29:31,480 --> 00:29:34,520
Speaker 2: And you know, sol there's at thirteen million for the

573
00:29:34,560 --> 00:29:38,360
Speaker 2: next two years, which is pretty reasonable. You know, twenty

574
00:29:38,400 --> 00:29:40,600
Speaker 2: six million over two years, that's very reasonable.

575
00:29:41,320 --> 00:29:41,560
Speaker 4: Yeah.

576
00:29:41,560 --> 00:29:43,360
Speaker 2: I mean, if there's a picture that you know, the

577
00:29:43,400 --> 00:29:45,360
Speaker 2: other team needs to maybe clear some money to get

578
00:29:45,440 --> 00:29:48,360
Speaker 2: him to make so Lair fit, and the Braves are

579
00:29:48,400 --> 00:29:50,520
Speaker 2: interested in that guy and think they can maybe extract

580
00:29:50,760 --> 00:29:54,120
Speaker 2: extract a little more value out of I could absolutely

581
00:29:54,120 --> 00:29:56,440
Speaker 2: see it. I mean, that's that's on the face of it,

582
00:29:56,520 --> 00:29:58,240
Speaker 2: just on the logic of it, that makes sense. Now,

583
00:29:58,320 --> 00:29:59,800
Speaker 2: of course you got a match up name for name

584
00:30:00,160 --> 00:30:03,040
Speaker 2: for team the Devils and the details on those things.

585
00:30:03,080 --> 00:30:05,520
Speaker 2: But yeah, just on the face of it, that makes

586
00:30:05,560 --> 00:30:08,280
Speaker 2: sense to me. So Laira's the most likely to be traded.

587
00:30:08,320 --> 00:30:09,600
Speaker 2: I do think the Braves are going to be in

588
00:30:09,680 --> 00:30:11,760
Speaker 2: the pitching market. You know, it's a bit like the

589
00:30:11,840 --> 00:30:14,000
Speaker 2: von Grisom situation last year where we kind of all

590
00:30:14,080 --> 00:30:15,640
Speaker 2: knew he was going to get traded at some point

591
00:30:15,720 --> 00:30:18,560
Speaker 2: and the Braves needed a pitcher. So you know, people

592
00:30:18,600 --> 00:30:20,200
Speaker 2: kind of connected the dots, like what if they traded

593
00:30:20,240 --> 00:30:21,840
Speaker 2: him for a pitcher, And that's exactly what ended up

594
00:30:21,840 --> 00:30:24,440
Speaker 2: happening obviously in the Chris Sale deals. So that does

595
00:30:24,560 --> 00:30:26,240
Speaker 2: make sense. I would not be surprised at all if

596
00:30:26,280 --> 00:30:29,440
Speaker 2: it happens. And if it does happen, then you know,

597
00:30:29,480 --> 00:30:31,120
Speaker 2: we can give Seana big patt on the back for

598
00:30:31,280 --> 00:30:34,880
Speaker 2: being the first one to speaking into the existence because yeah,

599
00:30:34,920 --> 00:30:36,960
Speaker 2: on its face that that makes perfect sense to me.

600
00:30:38,320 --> 00:30:40,480
Speaker 1: Yeah, and you know, again, like I say, you know,

601
00:30:40,560 --> 00:30:43,960
Speaker 1: I've been a strong advocate for years of you know,

602
00:30:44,400 --> 00:30:47,280
Speaker 1: you know, Alex and toopless being a master on the margins,

603
00:30:47,360 --> 00:30:50,200
Speaker 1: going to find these offensive players. The best example is

604
00:30:50,280 --> 00:30:53,720
Speaker 1: Jorges Shilaire going to find these players who have struggled

605
00:30:53,760 --> 00:30:56,640
Speaker 1: elsewhere in the president of their careers. They come to Atlanta.

606
00:30:56,920 --> 00:30:59,360
Speaker 3: They do so well. Loriano and Mirrorfield.

607
00:30:59,360 --> 00:31:01,520
Speaker 1: The latest exams samples that they were huge for us

608
00:31:01,560 --> 00:31:04,200
Speaker 1: in the second half of last year. But I do

609
00:31:04,280 --> 00:31:06,640
Speaker 1: think also that we're seeing that the Braves can do

610
00:31:06,720 --> 00:31:09,720
Speaker 1: the same type of stuff with the pitching, and you know,

611
00:31:09,800 --> 00:31:11,800
Speaker 1: they just don't have room for Slaire. We'll go get

612
00:31:11,800 --> 00:31:14,000
Speaker 1: you some more reliable pitchers to have. Not only can

613
00:31:14,000 --> 00:31:16,720
Speaker 1: he never have enough pitching, you certainly can never have

614
00:31:16,840 --> 00:31:19,520
Speaker 1: enough reliable pitching. And if Jorge Celaire could be the

615
00:31:19,520 --> 00:31:21,760
Speaker 1: ticket for the Braves to potentially find another option to

616
00:31:21,760 --> 00:31:23,920
Speaker 1: be just that for him, I think it would definitely

617
00:31:23,960 --> 00:31:26,280
Speaker 1: be worth the move. But I know that we love

618
00:31:26,320 --> 00:31:28,600
Speaker 1: to talk about the Braves, Steven, but I think it's

619
00:31:28,640 --> 00:31:30,320
Speaker 1: also fun to be able to talk about, you know,

620
00:31:30,400 --> 00:31:32,239
Speaker 1: just baseball in general, because I know both you and

621
00:31:32,240 --> 00:31:33,920
Speaker 1: I are are fans of the sport.

622
00:31:34,040 --> 00:31:36,520
Speaker 3: Just because we love the game. You know, it's just

623
00:31:36,640 --> 00:31:38,000
Speaker 3: it's awesome to.

624
00:31:38,040 --> 00:31:41,880
Speaker 1: See we've got the NLCS and ALCS going on right

625
00:31:41,880 --> 00:31:45,400
Speaker 1: now as of right now, that the Indians in an awesome,

626
00:31:45,440 --> 00:31:48,320
Speaker 1: awesome game, David Fry the two run home run for

627
00:31:48,360 --> 00:31:50,360
Speaker 1: the to beat the Yankees seven to five. You know,

628
00:31:50,360 --> 00:31:52,040
Speaker 1: I know the Indians are now down or excuse me,

629
00:31:52,120 --> 00:31:55,200
Speaker 1: the Guardians saying Indians. The Guardians are now down two

630
00:31:55,200 --> 00:31:57,920
Speaker 1: to one to the Yankees. And I think that the

631
00:31:57,960 --> 00:32:00,400
Speaker 1: Dodgers and the Dodgers we were moving on up against

632
00:32:00,440 --> 00:32:02,760
Speaker 1: the Mets. They're probably about to make it a three

633
00:32:02,800 --> 00:32:06,160
Speaker 1: to one over the Mets. But the thing that I'll

634
00:32:06,160 --> 00:32:08,640
Speaker 1: say to this is Stephen, is that how do you

635
00:32:08,680 --> 00:32:09,680
Speaker 1: want to see this play out?

636
00:32:10,080 --> 00:32:11,640
Speaker 3: Now? The number one thing I wanted to see this

637
00:32:11,680 --> 00:32:14,400
Speaker 3: postseason when the Braves were.

638
00:32:13,600 --> 00:32:15,680
Speaker 1: Eliminated, was the Phillies be eliminated.

639
00:32:15,960 --> 00:32:18,600
Speaker 3: That happened. How do you want to see this playoffs

640
00:32:18,640 --> 00:32:20,680
Speaker 3: play out with the four remaining teams?

641
00:32:22,000 --> 00:32:25,400
Speaker 2: Yeah, I guess I have a different opinion than most.

642
00:32:25,480 --> 00:32:28,880
Speaker 2: You know, Brad Scott throughout this prompt on a show

643
00:32:28,920 --> 00:32:32,520
Speaker 2: they did last week, and everybody answered, and pretty much

644
00:32:32,520 --> 00:32:35,719
Speaker 2: everybody answered, you know, Guardians won, Guardians one, Guardians one.

645
00:32:35,760 --> 00:32:38,680
Speaker 2: Everybody wants the Guardians to win. And I understand that.

646
00:32:38,720 --> 00:32:41,080
Speaker 2: It's you know, what happens this time of years. Basically,

647
00:32:41,080 --> 00:32:44,000
Speaker 2: we look at payroll and we kind of ranked the

648
00:32:44,040 --> 00:32:47,040
Speaker 2: teams from smallest payroll the biggest payroll, and whoever is

649
00:32:47,080 --> 00:32:51,200
Speaker 2: the smallest payroll, it kind of becomes the people's champ, right,

650
00:32:51,200 --> 00:32:53,320
Speaker 2: that's kind of their team. Everybody roots for the underdog,

651
00:32:54,880 --> 00:32:57,480
Speaker 2: and you know, if you've got a small market team

652
00:32:57,560 --> 00:33:00,520
Speaker 2: versus three Glias, then everybody roots for the Godardians. And

653
00:33:00,560 --> 00:33:03,880
Speaker 2: so I understand that, but that's not really how I

654
00:33:04,120 --> 00:33:05,560
Speaker 2: look at it or how I view it. You know,

655
00:33:05,600 --> 00:33:10,200
Speaker 2: baseball is an uncapped sport. You know, the amount of

656
00:33:10,200 --> 00:33:12,560
Speaker 2: money that these small market teams don't spend on players

657
00:33:12,640 --> 00:33:15,800
Speaker 2: is entirely their choice. You know, every single team in

658
00:33:15,840 --> 00:33:17,840
Speaker 2: baseball is owned by a billionaire. If they wanted to

659
00:33:17,840 --> 00:33:19,959
Speaker 2: spend more money on players, they could if they. You know,

660
00:33:20,680 --> 00:33:22,760
Speaker 2: there is a large contingent of owners in the sport

661
00:33:22,800 --> 00:33:26,520
Speaker 2: that that run their franchises like use car.

662
00:33:26,400 --> 00:33:28,560
Speaker 4: Dealerships, quite honestly, and.

663
00:33:30,320 --> 00:33:33,200
Speaker 2: I don't I don't love rooting for those franchises, to

664
00:33:33,240 --> 00:33:35,000
Speaker 2: be honest, I'm not saying the Guardians are one of those.

665
00:33:35,040 --> 00:33:37,000
Speaker 2: I don't actually know a ton about the Guardians ownership.

666
00:33:37,120 --> 00:33:39,800
Speaker 2: I've heard it's actually pretty good. But again, there is

667
00:33:39,840 --> 00:33:41,920
Speaker 2: a there is a bunch of these really small market

668
00:33:41,960 --> 00:33:45,880
Speaker 2: teams that I don't love the way they run their franchises.

669
00:33:45,920 --> 00:33:49,720
Speaker 2: The Marlins are in that group as well, Pirates, you know, Reds,

670
00:33:49,840 --> 00:33:53,440
Speaker 2: Twins just you know, again like it's almost like it's

671
00:33:53,440 --> 00:33:56,400
Speaker 2: a pawn shop. And on the other side, you have

672
00:33:56,440 --> 00:33:59,040
Speaker 2: these owners that spend a ton of money and they

673
00:33:59,040 --> 00:34:00,880
Speaker 2: don't care about anything except winning.

674
00:34:01,040 --> 00:34:03,160
Speaker 4: They're all in committed to winning baseball games.

675
00:34:03,240 --> 00:34:06,600
Speaker 2: The Dodgers, the Yankees, the Braves are in that category now,

676
00:34:06,720 --> 00:34:10,000
Speaker 2: the way they spin the Mets, And I know this

677
00:34:10,080 --> 00:34:14,120
Speaker 2: time of year we villainize those teams and we you know,

678
00:34:14,200 --> 00:34:16,759
Speaker 2: turn the small market guys into our underdog stories. But

679
00:34:16,840 --> 00:34:18,960
Speaker 2: I view it the other way. I root for the

680
00:34:19,080 --> 00:34:20,920
Speaker 2: I root for the owners and the teams that are

681
00:34:20,960 --> 00:34:24,960
Speaker 2: all in committed to winning, and I have a hard

682
00:34:24,960 --> 00:34:27,600
Speaker 2: time rooting for teams that don't really put you know,

683
00:34:27,760 --> 00:34:30,160
Speaker 2: kind of put the bare minimum into their team and

684
00:34:30,400 --> 00:34:33,040
Speaker 2: then just hope for the best. So yeah, I'm I

685
00:34:33,520 --> 00:34:35,319
Speaker 2: kind of want to see like a Juggernaut World Series.

686
00:34:35,360 --> 00:34:37,480
Speaker 2: I want to see the I want to see kind

687
00:34:37,480 --> 00:34:39,200
Speaker 2: of the Yankees and Dodgers. I mean, I think I

688
00:34:39,200 --> 00:34:40,719
Speaker 2: think that would be fun. I wouldn't really care who

689
00:34:40,840 --> 00:34:44,359
Speaker 2: won the Mets. I you know, I'll lay.

690
00:34:44,520 --> 00:34:45,160
Speaker 4: I'll lay in.

691
00:34:45,080 --> 00:34:46,920
Speaker 2: Front of the lawnmower before I root for the Mets.

692
00:34:46,960 --> 00:34:49,400
Speaker 2: So the Mets will definitely be four. I'd put the

693
00:34:49,400 --> 00:34:51,840
Speaker 2: Guardians three, and then I want to see the Yankees

694
00:34:51,840 --> 00:34:54,279
Speaker 2: Dodgers world series. I think that would be fun. I'm

695
00:34:54,320 --> 00:34:57,040
Speaker 2: kind of sick of the underdog stories the last few years. Anyways,

696
00:34:57,400 --> 00:34:59,399
Speaker 2: I think it's time for some big brands to get back.

697
00:34:59,320 --> 00:34:59,960
Speaker 4: In the world series.

698
00:35:00,880 --> 00:35:04,799
Speaker 2: Shoe Hay versus Judge would be unbelievably fun. Yeah, I'm

699
00:35:04,800 --> 00:35:06,880
Speaker 2: going against the Green. I know this is unpopular, but

700
00:35:06,920 --> 00:35:07,799
Speaker 2: I'm going against the Green.

701
00:35:07,960 --> 00:35:08,520
Speaker 4: I want to see.

702
00:35:09,160 --> 00:35:12,600
Speaker 2: I think I want to see Yankees Dodgers, you know, for.

703
00:35:12,600 --> 00:35:17,120
Speaker 1: The past fifteen years and now. And I'll give Chris

704
00:35:17,200 --> 00:35:22,800
Speaker 1: Black his ex Twitter handle is down down to black.

705
00:35:23,480 --> 00:35:27,279
Speaker 1: He put a tweet out there earlier today that was

706
00:35:27,440 --> 00:35:31,759
Speaker 1: pretty awesome to see that. The top seven players in

707
00:35:32,760 --> 00:35:36,399
Speaker 1: I guess b War probably for the twenty twenties. The

708
00:35:36,400 --> 00:35:40,680
Speaker 1: top seven players show Hey, Aaron Judge, Juan Soto, Jose Ramiris,

709
00:35:40,719 --> 00:35:44,480
Speaker 1: Freddy Freeman, Francisco Indoor, Mookie Betts. All seven are still

710
00:35:44,520 --> 00:35:47,680
Speaker 1: active in this year's playoffs, which is awesome to see.

711
00:35:48,560 --> 00:35:51,239
Speaker 1: And I'm here for the underdog story. I'm here for it.

712
00:35:51,560 --> 00:35:55,680
Speaker 3: That's fine. Sure, I'm not here for the Mets. Don't

713
00:35:55,719 --> 00:35:57,720
Speaker 3: want any part of the Mets winning the World Series.

714
00:35:58,040 --> 00:35:59,480
Speaker 4: No Matts need to lose every game.

715
00:36:00,960 --> 00:36:04,520
Speaker 1: I'm here for a Dodgers Yankees world series.

716
00:36:04,680 --> 00:36:06,560
Speaker 4: Now, they're a boy. That a boy. That's what I'm

717
00:36:06,600 --> 00:36:07,080
Speaker 4: talking about.

718
00:36:08,200 --> 00:36:11,040
Speaker 3: The having the big brands play each other.

719
00:36:11,200 --> 00:36:13,600
Speaker 1: That's certainly this selling point.

720
00:36:14,960 --> 00:36:16,600
Speaker 3: But the other thing to me.

721
00:36:17,080 --> 00:36:21,279
Speaker 1: You brought it up Judge versus show Hey. For the

722
00:36:21,320 --> 00:36:24,600
Speaker 1: past fifteen years, I think that probably the matchup that

723
00:36:24,719 --> 00:36:26,759
Speaker 1: many of us wanted to see more than any other

724
00:36:27,960 --> 00:36:33,680
Speaker 1: was Bryce Harper versus Mike Trout in a World Series.

725
00:36:34,840 --> 00:36:39,480
Speaker 1: Mike Trout unfortunately has not made it. Good chance, he

726
00:36:39,520 --> 00:36:42,160
Speaker 1: may never make it. He unfortunately just has not had

727
00:36:42,600 --> 00:36:45,160
Speaker 1: a big presence in the playoffs. Bryce Harper has one

728
00:36:45,160 --> 00:36:48,120
Speaker 1: of the best playoff performers I think in baseball history.

729
00:36:48,320 --> 00:36:50,040
Speaker 1: He did make it to a World Series, but hasn't

730
00:36:50,080 --> 00:36:56,200
Speaker 1: won it. How awesome would it be for baseball in general?

731
00:36:56,560 --> 00:36:59,719
Speaker 1: A sport that many of us who love it when

732
00:36:59,719 --> 00:37:01,920
Speaker 1: we talk about the fact that it does not do

733
00:37:02,120 --> 00:37:04,680
Speaker 1: good enough getting the publicity that it should be getting.

734
00:37:05,960 --> 00:37:09,000
Speaker 1: How awesome would it be to have the in my opinion,

735
00:37:09,440 --> 00:37:13,000
Speaker 1: the two unquestionably best talents in the game right now

736
00:37:13,120 --> 00:37:15,000
Speaker 1: facing off for a World Series.

737
00:37:16,160 --> 00:37:17,480
Speaker 3: In the two biggest markets.

738
00:37:18,520 --> 00:37:19,640
Speaker 2: I'm one hundred percent.

739
00:37:20,080 --> 00:37:22,880
Speaker 1: Not only do you get them in the two biggest markets,

740
00:37:23,480 --> 00:37:25,600
Speaker 1: do you get them on the biggest tage in the sport,

741
00:37:25,840 --> 00:37:28,000
Speaker 1: but at least one of the mass of World Series

742
00:37:28,040 --> 00:37:30,080
Speaker 1: title to their resume.

743
00:37:32,400 --> 00:37:33,600
Speaker 3: It's awesome.

744
00:37:34,680 --> 00:37:38,040
Speaker 1: When your sports best player or one of your sports

745
00:37:38,080 --> 00:37:39,440
Speaker 1: two best players.

746
00:37:39,239 --> 00:37:42,759
Speaker 3: Wins the title. That's one of the best ways to

747
00:37:42,800 --> 00:37:46,400
Speaker 3: promote your sport. And we have that opportunity.

748
00:37:47,320 --> 00:37:47,920
Speaker 1: Let's do it.

749
00:37:48,520 --> 00:37:49,879
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm a fan of show.

750
00:37:49,920 --> 00:37:51,680
Speaker 1: Hey, I'm a fan of Aaron Judge. I'm a fan

751
00:37:51,719 --> 00:37:53,520
Speaker 1: of them as people, and I would love for one

752
00:37:53,560 --> 00:37:55,879
Speaker 1: of them to win a title. Why not them both

753
00:37:55,920 --> 00:37:58,800
Speaker 1: face off for that opportunity?

754
00:37:59,280 --> 00:38:01,080
Speaker 2: Yeah, and listen, if you you're an underdog guy, like,

755
00:38:01,120 --> 00:38:04,120
Speaker 2: if you're somebody that's like, I'm always rooting for the underdog.

756
00:38:04,160 --> 00:38:06,080
Speaker 2: I want the underdog to win, I want the underdog

757
00:38:06,120 --> 00:38:09,360
Speaker 2: to advance. Then the last like three or four years,

758
00:38:09,400 --> 00:38:12,399
Speaker 2: you've had all of that. You can take like, you know,

759
00:38:12,560 --> 00:38:15,040
Speaker 2: the sixth seed in the National League has made the

760
00:38:15,040 --> 00:38:17,040
Speaker 2: World Series like three or four years in a row,

761
00:38:17,840 --> 00:38:21,360
Speaker 2: like we've had that, like, and if you look at

762
00:38:21,400 --> 00:38:23,879
Speaker 2: the ratings for the World Series, like the last seven

763
00:38:23,960 --> 00:38:25,799
Speaker 2: or eight years, the trends have not been good.

764
00:38:26,200 --> 00:38:27,440
Speaker 4: Like one of the downsides of.

765
00:38:27,400 --> 00:38:31,040
Speaker 2: Having all these kind of smaller market less heralded teams

766
00:38:31,040 --> 00:38:32,600
Speaker 2: in the World Series is they don't have a ton

767
00:38:32,640 --> 00:38:35,560
Speaker 2: of like national pop, and the World Series ratings have

768
00:38:35,640 --> 00:38:38,120
Speaker 2: really suffered because of it. And I would just love

769
00:38:38,280 --> 00:38:42,759
Speaker 2: to see like a massive, like nationwide interest in the

770
00:38:42,760 --> 00:38:44,640
Speaker 2: World Series. And I think the best way to do

771
00:38:44,680 --> 00:38:46,600
Speaker 2: that would be Dodgers Yankees. And I know people like

772
00:38:46,640 --> 00:38:48,480
Speaker 2: I'll never root for the Yankees, I'll never root for

773
00:38:48,480 --> 00:38:51,160
Speaker 2: the Dodgers. I don't really care who wins the World Series,

774
00:38:51,560 --> 00:38:54,120
Speaker 2: but I do want to see I think we've had

775
00:38:54,160 --> 00:38:56,160
Speaker 2: all these underdog stories last few years. I think it's

776
00:38:56,160 --> 00:39:00,920
Speaker 2: time for a big brand World series, big rats, you know,

777
00:39:01,120 --> 00:39:06,440
Speaker 2: national stories get to some momentum going into twenty twenty five. Yeah,

778
00:39:05,760 --> 00:39:10,000
Speaker 2: I understand why people everybody kind of picks the smallest

779
00:39:10,000 --> 00:39:13,160
Speaker 2: payroll team left and roots for them. I don't really

780
00:39:13,160 --> 00:39:15,200
Speaker 2: follow that. I don't really agree with the logic they use,

781
00:39:15,280 --> 00:39:17,880
Speaker 2: but I do understand it. But this year, let's go

782
00:39:17,920 --> 00:39:20,840
Speaker 2: big brands, let's go big names, let's go biggest stars.

783
00:39:20,840 --> 00:39:25,879
Speaker 2: Show have versus Judge, Yankees Dodgers, big ratings, tons of fun. Yeah,

784
00:39:25,960 --> 00:39:27,080
Speaker 2: give me Yankees Dodgers.

785
00:39:27,560 --> 00:39:32,280
Speaker 1: Absolutely and listen, you know, the Layne Thomas home runs,

786
00:39:32,320 --> 00:39:35,640
Speaker 1: the David Fry home runs, the Kerry Carpenter home runs.

787
00:39:35,960 --> 00:39:40,480
Speaker 1: Those moments are awesome. They are absolutely incredible, so much fun.

788
00:39:40,680 --> 00:39:43,239
Speaker 1: And if an Austin Wells for the Yankees wants to

789
00:39:43,320 --> 00:39:46,040
Speaker 1: hit a home run, you know, in a big moment

790
00:39:46,080 --> 00:39:48,279
Speaker 1: in the World Series, stat's perfectly fine. But at the

791
00:39:48,400 --> 00:39:51,000
Speaker 1: end of the day, Hey, it's okay every now and

792
00:39:51,040 --> 00:39:55,399
Speaker 1: then to have the two biggest markets and the two

793
00:39:55,480 --> 00:39:58,640
Speaker 1: best players in the sport from those markets and in

794
00:39:58,680 --> 00:40:01,080
Speaker 1: baseball in general facing each other.

795
00:40:01,239 --> 00:40:02,480
Speaker 3: I think that's a good scenario.

796
00:40:02,719 --> 00:40:04,839
Speaker 1: And again, hey, at the end of the day, it's

797
00:40:04,920 --> 00:40:09,120
Speaker 1: neither the Mets or the Phillies, So that just adds.

798
00:40:08,880 --> 00:40:09,719
Speaker 3: And sent them to it.

799
00:40:09,840 --> 00:40:11,719
Speaker 1: Steven, do you have anything else? As we wrap up

800
00:40:11,719 --> 00:40:14,480
Speaker 1: this edition of The Hammer, Territory Podcast.

801
00:40:15,120 --> 00:40:18,240
Speaker 2: Nope, it's been you know, obviously, off season is gonna

802
00:40:18,239 --> 00:40:21,200
Speaker 2: get going as soon as the World Series ends. You know,

803
00:40:21,800 --> 00:40:24,760
Speaker 2: Baseball's off season starts five days after the World Series

804
00:40:24,840 --> 00:40:26,520
Speaker 2: is over, So you know, as soon as we get

805
00:40:26,520 --> 00:40:28,600
Speaker 2: to the end of this thing, probably in the next

806
00:40:28,640 --> 00:40:31,799
Speaker 2: two weeks, then we're gonna get firing up and going

807
00:40:31,840 --> 00:40:35,040
Speaker 2: for the off season, and we'll have content all you know,

808
00:40:35,120 --> 00:40:37,640
Speaker 2: every week. We'll probably do two or three shows a week,

809
00:40:38,680 --> 00:40:41,880
Speaker 2: like Brad said, like like Sean said earlier in this podcast.

810
00:40:41,920 --> 00:40:43,759
Speaker 2: You know, this is a twelve month podcast. We don't

811
00:40:43,800 --> 00:40:45,320
Speaker 2: we don't go dark like a lot of other.

812
00:40:45,200 --> 00:40:47,279
Speaker 4: Shows do for the off season week.

813
00:40:47,520 --> 00:40:51,400
Speaker 2: So make sure you're you know, Apple Spotify where we're

814
00:40:51,640 --> 00:40:56,320
Speaker 2: transitioning to video pretty pretty quickly, pretty heavily. The YouTube

815
00:40:56,360 --> 00:40:59,160
Speaker 2: page has grown quite a bit, so we'll be transitioning

816
00:40:59,200 --> 00:40:59,600
Speaker 2: to video.

817
00:41:00,800 --> 00:41:02,920
Speaker 4: Yeah, make sure you're subscribed to everywhere. And we appreciate

818
00:41:02,920 --> 00:41:03,840
Speaker 4: the support as always.

819
00:41:04,520 --> 00:41:06,840
Speaker 1: And i'd like to apologize in advance for anybody who's

820
00:41:06,840 --> 00:41:09,080
Speaker 1: going to be tuning in to see my smiling face.

821
00:41:09,320 --> 00:41:10,040
Speaker 3: I do smile.

822
00:41:10,280 --> 00:41:12,160
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna say it's the best thing to see

823
00:41:12,160 --> 00:41:14,640
Speaker 1: in the world, but I do smile a lot like Steven,

824
00:41:14,719 --> 00:41:16,560
Speaker 1: so it'll be fun to do these with him when

825
00:41:16,600 --> 00:41:18,799
Speaker 1: it comes to video. But for Steven Tolbert, you could

826
00:41:18,800 --> 00:41:21,920
Speaker 1: find him at b Underscore Outliers on Twitter slash x.

827
00:41:22,160 --> 00:41:24,120
Speaker 3: My name's Sean Coleman. You can find me at stats.

828
00:41:23,960 --> 00:41:27,360
Speaker 1: Sec on Twitter slash x. You can find Hammer Territory

829
00:41:27,360 --> 00:41:30,480
Speaker 1: across all forms of social media, a proud part of

830
00:41:30,520 --> 00:41:35,280
Speaker 1: the Foul Territory family of podcasts and ever growing family

831
00:41:35,320 --> 00:41:40,160
Speaker 1: of podcasts with more and more team specific podcast across

832
00:41:40,200 --> 00:41:43,120
Speaker 1: baseball by today until next time. For Steven Tolbard, my

833
00:41:43,239 --> 00:41:45,400
Speaker 1: name is Sean Coleman. Go brads, We'll talk to you

834
00:41:45,400 --> 00:41:47,840
Speaker 1: again soon here on the Hammer Territory podcast