Speaker 1: Hazes kind of covers the Braves for the athletic joins
Speaker 1: us again, Haz's great to have you on the show.
Speaker 2: Where are we at here? Braves are looking a little
Speaker 2: dicey right now, and it's.
Speaker 1: Like, Okay, they've started off so well, they'll be fine,
Speaker 1: but wait, the Phillies are on a heater, so add
Speaker 1: all of this up and suddenly they're only two and
Speaker 1: a half games clear of Philadelphia. Is there panic down
Speaker 1: in Atlanta? I've always said it's a jaded fan base
Speaker 1: that that's so much winning. So are they freaking out
Speaker 1: the fan base?
Speaker 3: Are fans freaking out?
Speaker 4: Of course they're freaking out, you know when you see
Speaker 4: a double digitally turn into a two and a half
Speaker 4: game lead. I think that there's enough panic and there's
Speaker 4: enough concern to be able to react the way Bravestans
Speaker 4: have felt. And you know, obviously I think that's well warranted.
Speaker 4: But I think the feeling within the clubhouse it's a
Speaker 4: little bit different. Like I'm going to go as far
Speaker 4: as say it's a little too nonchalant in my opinion.
Speaker 4: You know, I've talked to a couple of players the clubhouse,
Speaker 4: and a lot of them say It's just baseball.
Speaker 3: It's just baseball, that's all it is.
Speaker 4: You know, if this was a slump at the beginning
Speaker 4: of the season and we got hot the way they did,
Speaker 4: you know, at the beginning to where they're at now,
Speaker 4: people will talk about, you know, how great the Bravees
Speaker 4: turnaround's been going so far.
Speaker 3: You know, to be fair, you know.
Speaker 4: I've obviously never played any Major League baseball at all, whatsoever.
Speaker 4: I've never been around for one hundred and sixty two
Speaker 4: games to cover a team in general as a whole.
Speaker 4: So I mean, it could be could be pointed towards baseball.
Speaker 4: But at the same time, you know, I you know,
Speaker 4: I think anybody on any team would be disappointed to
Speaker 4: see your lead go from almost a twelve eleven game
Speaker 4: lead to a t and a half game lead as
Speaker 4: your you know, division opponent is starting to ramp up
Speaker 4: and stuff like that. You know, this is right before
Speaker 4: the All Star Game, and honestly, you know, I would
Speaker 4: go as far as to say that if the Brave's
Speaker 4: bullpen hasn't been as dominant as it has all a year,
Speaker 4: I think there's a really good shot that, you know,
Speaker 4: they might not have been able to you know, you know,
Speaker 4: still be within the division lead right now. So I
Speaker 4: think it's kind of interesting the way to see things
Speaker 4: have gone on. I remember when I first took over
Speaker 4: the beat, you know, I was telling everybody it's good
Speaker 4: right now because they're winning. But the but the toughest
Speaker 4: challenge is going to be when this team is slumping it.
Speaker 4: Right now, they're slumping pretty bad.
Speaker 5: Hey, so you weren't there last year the whole year, correct?
Speaker 5: You just started this year. I remember when you came on.
Speaker 3: Yeah, a month and a half ago.
Speaker 6: Okay, a month and a half ago.
Speaker 5: Did you hear any rumblings of isn't this why they
Speaker 5: brought in Walt Weiss? So we didn't have these swoons
Speaker 5: where we didn't have these times where it was like
Speaker 5: what you characterizes nonchalant. Doesn't Walt Weiss bring that like
Speaker 5: fighter's mentality a little bit too?
Speaker 2: Well?
Speaker 4: When I asked Walt Weiss on Sunday, I haven't been
Speaker 4: with the team in Atlanta right now because I'm back
Speaker 4: home visiting California. But you know, in the time that
Speaker 4: I asked, IIM mean, I straight up asked him on Sunday.
Speaker 4: You know, well, you know, you guys went from a
Speaker 4: double digit league to at the time it was a
Speaker 4: three game lead. I mean, how frustrating is that he said,
Speaker 4: I could care less what the lead is right now,
Speaker 4: you know that he doesn't care about anybody by themselves
Speaker 4: and stuff. And I think it really has been attributed
Speaker 4: to to you know, to just you know, the stretch
Speaker 4: of a long season. I think Walt does have that,
Speaker 4: you know, I was actually working on the story at
Speaker 4: Base America about just the impact that you know, what
Speaker 4: Weiss has had, you know, with this team, just a
Speaker 4: specific scenario, specific circumstance that they're involved with, you know,
Speaker 4: and a lot of people say that he's a no
Speaker 4: bs no type of guy that's gonna get stuff done,
Speaker 4: and a lot of the people, a lot of the
Speaker 4: people in the clubhouse speed off of that. So I
Speaker 4: think I think it's definitely the right guy that they
Speaker 4: have in charge. It's a guy that has a lot
Speaker 4: of familiarity with some of these guys that've been in
Speaker 4: the organization, you know, as you know, seven or eight
Speaker 4: years at this point too, around the same time that
Speaker 4: he was brought in to you know, be part of
Speaker 4: the staff. So I think I think it's definitely the
Speaker 4: right guy to be able to kind of guide him
Speaker 4: through this stuff. You know, a guy who's coached, you know,
Speaker 4: some pretty abysmal teams when he was with the Rockies
Speaker 4: is also the guy who's also played through all different
Speaker 4: you know, eras of baseball and stuff like too. So
Speaker 4: there's no doubt that wal Wiss is the guy to
Speaker 4: definitely push him through through this slump in just this
Speaker 4: entire season as a whole.
Speaker 7: Okay, so we know they're struggling. They had a really
Speaker 7: good start. Now they're struggling. Talk to me about needs.
Speaker 7: What do they need? Eventually once his trade, that line
Speaker 7: comes on, because I feel like they're going to be
Speaker 7: in it and want some people talk about the number
Speaker 7: one need this team really needs to get them over
Speaker 7: the hump to win this division.
Speaker 6: It's starting pitching, you know.
Speaker 4: And I think once you saw the Brave starting pitching,
Speaker 4: not you know, performed that they were at the beginning
Speaker 4: of the season, I think that's when everything went hand
Speaker 4: in hand to the struggles that they were able to
Speaker 4: get go. Look, I mean Chris Sale, Chris Sale is
Speaker 4: going to be Chris Sale. I think there's no necessarily,
Speaker 4: you know, concern about him. You know, He's the guy
Speaker 4: that's going to lead the rotation throughout the entire year
Speaker 4: and especially into the playoffs, you know, with this team's aspirations,
Speaker 4: but you look at everybody else. Yes, they lost Spencer Strider,
Speaker 4: but Spencer Strider wasn't performing like vintage Spencer Strider. You know,
Speaker 4: after everything that he had gone through. They may not
Speaker 4: get him back until September. Anything. Grant Holmes Gang, get
Speaker 4: past the fifth Indium and he'll give you five solid Aliens.
Speaker 4: But that's about is Martin Perez. You know, I think
Speaker 4: it's been really impressive. I think, you know, a guy
Speaker 4: that just continues to show up and stuff like that.
Speaker 4: I know he had a blip yesterday, but I mean
Speaker 4: this Martin Perez necessarily a guy that you want at
Speaker 4: the forefront, you know, when you're pitching meaningful games in October.
Speaker 4: I don't know about that. So I think, as I've
Speaker 4: said right now, the biggest thing is starting pitching. You know,
Speaker 4: they have to go, I think for more than you know,
Speaker 4: it has to be at least a pair of really
Speaker 4: good starters to be able to kind of bolster them
Speaker 4: down the road. Because outside of Chris Sale, you know,
Speaker 4: Bryce Hilda had a fantastic start, but it just hasn't
Speaker 4: been the same over the course of the past over
Speaker 4: the past month in general, So I think the need
Speaker 4: for starting pitchings and is important.
Speaker 6: You know.
Speaker 4: I know they've been linked to Sonny Gray when Spencer
Speaker 4: Strider went on The Angeless Sunner. Gray was one of
Speaker 4: the guys that I mentioned as a guy that potentially
Speaker 4: could fit in within the Braves organization. But as we
Speaker 4: seem too, the Braves have started to get dabbled into
Speaker 4: the tark school ball sweet sticks. So I think they
Speaker 4: definitely have the farm system to be able to make
Speaker 4: those moves, whether it's for schoolbol or anybody else. But
Speaker 4: it definitely has to be starting pitching. That's I think
Speaker 4: number one need at you know, once the trade deadline approaches.
Speaker 7: How about bullpener? Sorry, Kratzy, I want to go to
Speaker 7: the bullpen? You know, how about the bullpen needs Rob Suarez?
Speaker 7: Robert Suarez went down, talked to me. Are they in
Speaker 7: the mood to look for one of those pieces too?
Speaker 4: You know, I think if Robert Swarz was an injury,
Speaker 4: I wouldn't have suggested, you know, another bullpen piece. But
Speaker 4: now you know, I think that it's important, especially with
Speaker 4: the with the injury that Suarez is dealing with right now,
Speaker 4: and you know, I think they have Diddy or Flints
Speaker 4: who's gonna do a really good job in my opinion,
Speaker 4: stepping up into that, you know, setup guy, eighth inning guy,
Speaker 4: seventh inning guy, and Dylan Lee two. I mean, has
Speaker 4: been one of the best left handed relievers in all
Speaker 4: the game. But I don't think it's enough you know,
Speaker 4: attention with what he's been doing so far. But I
Speaker 4: think there definitely should be a little bit of a push,
Speaker 4: you know, especially as they start to discover maybe how
Speaker 4: longer Robert Swarz is going to be out more because
Speaker 4: I mean, Robert Suarez, you know, was potentially the best
Speaker 4: reliever in the game, you know, before the injury going down.
Speaker 4: So you know, I think I think, you know, bullpen arms,
Speaker 4: especially once you get into October.
Speaker 3: You know, if you're you know, it's not a leeway
Speaker 3: where you're starter.
Speaker 4: You know, you're gonna try to get good five innings,
Speaker 4: five six innings for them. Know, if they're not performing
Speaker 4: in the second or the third inning, you're gonna go
Speaker 4: to the bullpen right away.
Speaker 3: And I think at the end of the day.
Speaker 4: Pitching gets you so far, whether it's the starting rotation
Speaker 4: or the bullpen, and you know these late months of
Speaker 4: the season, especially into the playoffs, so I think it
Speaker 4: would be wise for him to get another guy.
Speaker 5: Hi serious, I know you weren't with the team, but
Speaker 5: who was the best pitcher on the Braves starting rotation
Speaker 5: in twenty twenty four when they missed the playoffs.
Speaker 3: This is going to look really bad on me when
Speaker 3: they missed.
Speaker 6: That's why. Yeah, that's okay, Chris.
Speaker 3: I was like, I thought it was a trick question.
Speaker 3: I was like, it has to be Chris Sale.
Speaker 5: But somebody had a one nine to nine er and
Speaker 5: that was Ronaldo Lopez. Are the Braves excited about what
Speaker 5: they've seen from Ronaldo Lopez or the leary of the
Speaker 5: fact that he didn't throw at all last year and
Speaker 5: if he's going to do well, they can't just ride
Speaker 5: him the rest of the year. But you just said
Speaker 5: they really need starting pitching.
Speaker 4: I think, you know, with him getting the spot starting
Speaker 4: in San Francisco on Friday, I think it's a good
Speaker 4: first assessment. I think the most important thing is, like
Speaker 4: the velocity just isn't as what it was beforehand. I think,
Speaker 4: you know, there was a couple of excor base shits
Speaker 4: that he gave up that came on you know, balls
Speaker 4: that were under ninety three miles per hour heading into that.
Speaker 4: So I think, more than anything's just going to be
Speaker 4: able to get an assessment of how much they'll be
Speaker 4: able to stretch him out. I know he's scheduled to
Speaker 4: go today, Martine Press went yesterday. I think it's about
Speaker 4: stretching him out as much as possible, you know. I
Speaker 4: think he also had a couple of you know, appearances
Speaker 4: in the bullpen that you know, didn't necessarily go his way.
Speaker 4: But I mean, yeah, I mean we have to remember
Speaker 4: what type of picture when Aldo Lopez was prior to this.
Speaker 4: I mean he's an All Star, he was an All
Speaker 4: Star before. He's a guy that absolutely dominated during this time,
Speaker 4: you know, as a starter, and you know, things haven't
Speaker 4: gone as well. The injury obviously is just something that
Speaker 4: he can't control because it's, you know, something that happens.
Speaker 4: But I think what he can't control is the way
Speaker 4: he goes out there.
Speaker 3: He goes out to.
Speaker 4: The mountain stuff like that, and I think the Braves,
Speaker 4: you know, signaling him on Friday to give him that
Speaker 4: spot starting then also bringing him out out there to
Speaker 4: show that you know, they are considering him to be
Speaker 4: you know, part of that if he can even fix
Speaker 4: or anything like that. You know, because at his best,
Speaker 4: you know, the braves and obviously all of us know
Speaker 4: what he can do. You know, it's just a matter
Speaker 4: of seeing all those results generate onto the mound.
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Speaker 5: So we've talked about the pitching, there's the other side
Speaker 5: of the ball. This team was hitting on all cylinders
Speaker 5: with their offense. Was there any significant change that maybe
Speaker 5: looked at it like, ooh when this happened, when this
Speaker 5: player came in, when Dubon stopped playing, you know, a
Speaker 5: consistent one position. Was there something offensively that changed that
Speaker 5: made this team go from just lightning hot to like good, bad,
Speaker 5: good bad, good bad.
Speaker 4: You know, I think it's a couple of different things
Speaker 4: I think you could point to. Obviously, the left side
Speaker 4: of the offense just hasn't been as productive, you know,
Speaker 4: both and I wrote stories about this on the Athletic
Speaker 4: If anybody wants to go out and read that but
Speaker 4: you know, Hassan Kim and Austin Riley are both having
Speaker 4: you know, historically back starts in terms of their own
Speaker 4: respective careers, and I think on haws And Kim's side,
Speaker 4: you know, it's just a really bad start from a shortstop.
Speaker 3: In general, I think it's essentially at to.
Speaker 4: The point where a lot of these you know, when
Speaker 4: it gets to the to both Riley and Hawsong came,
Speaker 4: it's coming close to an automatic out as possible, especially
Speaker 4: on Kim's end, you know. And I think with Ronald
Speaker 4: Acuna going on the injured list, that obviously makes Murracy
Speaker 4: Dubon play a lot more outfield than they have to
Speaker 4: split the shortstop time between Jorge Mate and has Song Kim,
Speaker 4: even though you know, whis this past weekend in San
Speaker 4: Francisco gave all the white, all the all the starts
Speaker 4: to hass Song Kim to kind of get a better
Speaker 4: stretch to see, you know, just you know, everything that's
Speaker 4: you know, they were encouraged by the results that are
Speaker 4: happening in the cage and stuff like that. But at
Speaker 4: the end of the day, I think baseball players don't
Speaker 4: get paid twenty million dollars to have good results on
Speaker 4: the cage. They get paid twenty million dollars to have
Speaker 4: a good result on the field, and unfortunately that's not
Speaker 4: happening from the shortstop end. So I think it's that
Speaker 4: and also too, like Drake Baldwin going down was huge,
Speaker 4: you know, when Kunya was down during his first stint
Speaker 4: on the injured list, you know it had to do
Speaker 4: you know, Balden was the guy that stood that you know,
Speaker 4: stepped up to the occasion at the leadoff spot and
Speaker 4: it's so amazing, had a lot of leadoff home runs,
Speaker 4: was the guy there. Then he goes down with the
Speaker 4: injury just hasn't been quite the same hitter since coming back.
Speaker 4: You know, I think there was a stretch where he
Speaker 4: only had two hits and close to thirty at bats,
Speaker 4: one of them being a homer for sure, but like
Speaker 4: it just didn't go the way that he necessarily wanted to.
Speaker 6: You know, I think.
Speaker 4: That that's a big part of it too, because Baldwin,
Speaker 4: I mean, it was just such an integral part to
Speaker 4: the to the to that offense and general even if
Speaker 4: A Kunya was still healthy too. You know, I think
Speaker 4: also there's the thing with missing a Kunya is sure
Speaker 4: you know, maybe it's not the season Ronald A Kunye
Speaker 4: Junior is accustomed to having, but there's no doubt that
Speaker 4: his presence in the lanea brings so much more spark,
Speaker 4: so much more flavor, and just so much more energy.
Speaker 4: You know, he hasn't been on the road. You can
Speaker 4: tell his presence hasn't been on the road because of
Speaker 4: the way he interacts with the players and the way
Speaker 4: he stands out there. So I think it's it's a
Speaker 4: lot of the injury. You could say that the injury
Speaker 4: bug is starting to catch up. It's been catching up
Speaker 4: to them, but now it's obviously showing, you know, in
Speaker 4: the in the way that they've lost the lead in
Speaker 4: the India what's called in the NL East.
Speaker 5: You talked about Hassung Kim, and I want to hit
Speaker 5: on it a little bit more for people who don't know.
Speaker 5: He's five for seventy three on the season for an
Speaker 5: sixty eight batting average is a minus twenty nine ops plus.
Speaker 6: It's under one hundred at bats.
Speaker 5: Where do you see this number of at bats going
Speaker 5: where they still continue to give Hasung Kim the number
Speaker 5: one reps at shortstop.
Speaker 3: Well, it's interesting you mentioned that because about as a
Speaker 3: year ago, a month ago, when we were in Cincinnati
Speaker 3: towards the end of the month, you know, they were
Speaker 3: playing Jorge Matale the hot hand. I mean, he showed
Speaker 3: what he could do in.
Speaker 4: That stretch between Boston and Cincinnati, had games where he
Speaker 4: went back to back homers, was getting on base.
Speaker 6: You know.
Speaker 4: Also got to remember, at one point, Jorge Matail was
Speaker 4: the number one prospect in the Yankee system over Aaron
Speaker 4: Judge and over Gary Sanchez. You know, just nothing came
Speaker 4: into fruition after he was treated to the A's and
Speaker 4: I believe that that in one of the deals with
Speaker 4: one of the starting pitchers. So uh So, I think
Speaker 4: it's it's interesting to see now that they've shifted to
Speaker 4: this philosophy where it's like, Okay, we want to give
Speaker 4: you know, Kim an extended look to see the stuff
Speaker 4: that he's been putting into the cages.
Speaker 3: But I think at this point, you.
Speaker 4: Know, you you have to play at your hot hand,
Speaker 4: you know, and at this point, you know, with the
Speaker 4: dubon into yau Field, I think it has to be Matteo,
Speaker 4: you know, and when when Ronald the Kuna Junior gets healthy,
Speaker 4: you know, you place you know, Dubon at that everyday
Speaker 4: shortstop spot, you know, I you know, I think anybody
Speaker 4: who who wants to win, you know, and I think
Speaker 4: the Braids really do want to when you want to
Speaker 4: put your best nine players out there that are going
Speaker 4: to put you in that position to play, you know,
Speaker 4: and objectively speaking, we know the type of player has
Speaker 4: Song Kim has been in the past, you know, a
Speaker 4: goal glove winner. You know, we know what he did
Speaker 4: in Korea. He's such a fantastic player. But this season specifically,
Speaker 4: I mean we're almost approaching one hundred at bats and
Speaker 4: you only have you know, five what's it called hits?
Speaker 4: I mean that's essentially you know, he's on a one year,
Speaker 4: twenty million dollar deal. I mean, he's essentially getting paid,
Speaker 4: you know, basically, what is it? Four million dollars a hit?
Speaker 9: I don't know.
Speaker 4: I don't know if my map is correct. That's why
Speaker 4: I'm a sports I think that's that's what it is.
Speaker 4: So I think at some point there there needs to
Speaker 4: be you know, I don't know how longer that least
Speaker 4: can go that.
Speaker 2: Is accurate four million dollars per hit.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Todd more would be on this show if they
Speaker 1: got four million dollars per hit.
Speaker 5: They should pay him more, honey. If we're getting paid
Speaker 5: by hits, I mean, let's go crank it up. They're
Speaker 5: only giving him four million dollars worth each it.
Speaker 1: It is because becoming a historic slump for Kim. It's crazy.
Speaker 1: It's that's mon stars right there, Todd father, right, that's
Speaker 1: space jam like someone took his powers.
Speaker 2: It's just not there. It's raising me.
Speaker 5: It makes me question that injury fallings and cutting his finger,
Speaker 5: is that what it was?
Speaker 6: Or breaking his finger?
Speaker 2: And I believe he slipped on ice in off season, right.
Speaker 6: Yeah, yeah, that's what it was.
Speaker 4: And also too, he hasn't had back spring training in
Speaker 4: back to back years too, which you know, as you
Speaker 4: guys know, that's such a pivotal rule. I mean, it
Speaker 4: allows you to you know, be a little bit more
Speaker 4: loose in the cage. It allows you to be more
Speaker 4: loose at in the bats when you're playing you know,
Speaker 4: games in March in Florida compared to you know, wanting
Speaker 4: to go out there coming with a set plan and
Speaker 4: if that plan doesn't work in the first that bats,
Speaker 4: abandoning it because you want to be able to generate
Speaker 4: impact to your team. So I feel for him on that,
Speaker 4: but at the end of the day, you want.
Speaker 6: To win games.
Speaker 4: And I think the sense of urgency really ticks a
Speaker 4: little bit more when you go Like I said, I
Speaker 4: hate to say this much, but going from a double
Speaker 4: digit lead to like a two and a half game lead, like,
Speaker 4: come on, Like there needs to be you know, there.
Speaker 2: Needs to be a sense more of a sense of urgency.
Speaker 4: It's not to say that's not coming from the braids,
Speaker 4: but I mean once that, you know, if that lead
Speaker 4: is gone, like it's panic mode in my opinion.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, and it is a one year deal,
Speaker 2: it's all right.
Speaker 1: If you're caught with someone who's on a multi year contract,
Speaker 1: it gets really tricky. The comp I couldn't think of
Speaker 1: right now, guys, And he wasn't this bad, but you know,
Speaker 1: Chris Taylor was going through it a couple of years
Speaker 1: ago with the Dodgers and they were letting that ride out.
Speaker 1: But you know, they kind of hide him for a
Speaker 1: while while he was working on things, but he never
Speaker 1: really solved it and and just recently retired. But it
Speaker 1: gets tricky. Veteran player making good cash, you don't want
Speaker 1: to let him loose and then see him thrive elsewhere.
Speaker 1: But how many abs are you going to give to
Speaker 1: a player like that? So hazus, thank you for the
Speaker 1: time man. Great to catch up with you as always
Speaker 1: enjoying the work in the athletic and I know you're
Speaker 1: new to the table there are doing a great job,
Speaker 1: So thanks man.
Speaker 3: Thanks so much, good appreciated.
Speaker 9: Hey.
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Speaker 1: We have the latest proposal from the Players Association and
Speaker 1: it includes expanding active rosters for the first fifteen days
Speaker 1: of the season to twenty eight, up from twenty six
Speaker 1: total players. They also propose to drop the number of
Speaker 1: times players can be optioned in a given season to three,
Speaker 1: down from the current number of five. So we get
Speaker 1: the cap and the money fight at the top, going
Speaker 1: over some of the details and the intricacies. Many of
Speaker 1: these things aren't necessarily going to happen. But what happens
Speaker 1: here over this process is that both sides are going
Speaker 1: to lay out their dream scenario. Right you're right in
Speaker 1: the Santa and you just tell them twenty gifts that
Speaker 1: you want, and then both sides learn what's important to
Speaker 1: them and then they can start bartering when we get
Speaker 1: a deadline in like February. But Krats, can you explain
Speaker 1: some of these things. Here's the proposals today, I'll read
Speaker 1: more of them. So you've got the roster increase from
Speaker 1: twenty six to twenty eight in the first fifteen days,
Speaker 1: sixty day il three months earlier, options down from five
Speaker 1: to three earlier, eligibility for the Rule five draft that
Speaker 1: gives players that have been toiling in the minor leagues
Speaker 1: and opportunity to join a major league club.
Speaker 2: Right the Rule five.
Speaker 1: Draft enables a team to pick a player from another team,
Speaker 1: but he's got to keep him in the majors for
Speaker 1: him to stay on the major league roster. Otherwise you
Speaker 1: have to send him back to the prior team, service time, salary,
Speaker 1: protection for option pitchers, and player access to team collected data.
Speaker 1: So that's some of the highlights there that have been
Speaker 1: pointed out in today's proposals. So, Krats, we're getting layers
Speaker 1: of proposals from each side that are getting more detailed
Speaker 1: now in terms of what they're looking to accomplish. Thoughts
Speaker 1: on any of this stuff because you can relate to
Speaker 1: some of these, especially some of the option action going on.
Speaker 5: That's what I'm going to hit on. But first I'm
Speaker 5: going to take my black sharpie and cross out the
Speaker 5: player access to team collected data. All they're going to
Speaker 5: give you access to, Well, this is all we have,
Speaker 5: and then they're going to start a new farming system
Speaker 5: of way. They value players throughout the entire league on
Speaker 5: a one collective group. And that's why everybody's salary just
Speaker 5: stays in line. It's not it's not collusion, it's data collection.
Speaker 5: But I'm gonna go to the option thing. Trey Gibson
Speaker 5: this year. I'm hoping we have him on a show soon.
Speaker 5: Trey Gibson, pitcher for the Oils through last night, you know,
Speaker 5: got whacked around a little bit, but he's already been optioned.
Speaker 5: This is his fourth time getting called up this year.
Speaker 5: And so you're talking about a guy who's trying to
Speaker 5: stick in the big leagues as a rookie, as a
Speaker 5: older rookie too, who had a different path, and he's
Speaker 5: just getting shuttled back and forth, back and forth.
Speaker 6: Now he's got a little bit of leeway.
Speaker 5: He's pitched quite a few times, but it's hard enough
Speaker 5: to succeed in the big leagues when teams. Now, they
Speaker 5: made this rule last time, the last CBA about five options.
Speaker 5: That means you can get called up. That's not an
Speaker 5: option sent down now, that's an option that can happen
Speaker 5: five more times. And they had to make this rule
Speaker 5: because it was happening more than that. So there was guys.
Speaker 5: There was guys that were You're trying to compete in
Speaker 5: the big leagues and then you were getting sent down
Speaker 5: for three days, then you get called back up for something,
Speaker 5: then sent back down for ten days, called back up
Speaker 5: for something else. Starters starting, pitchers are missing, starts are
Speaker 5: getting held back, your routine is getting thrown off, and
Speaker 5: then you have to go and compete in the big
Speaker 5: leagues while your family is getting floated around. So I
Speaker 5: love this. I don't think it's like a massive thing,
Speaker 5: but you know what it is, It affects more people
Speaker 5: in the league than that stupid qualifying offer. So if
Speaker 5: they want to put the qualifying offers like WHOA, we're
Speaker 5: going to get rid of the qualifying offer for what
Speaker 5: the like fifteen to seventeen people that it affects even
Speaker 5: though they say yes, the qualifying offer then affects the
Speaker 5: rest of free agents because it slows the market down
Speaker 5: because nobody wants to offer those guys. Blah blah blah.
Speaker 5: This is a majority thing that I think. It affects
Speaker 5: more people than people realize, more players than people realize.
Speaker 1: Bingo on the qualifying offer too, Kratz is actually less
Speaker 1: than that per year because let's say, let's say there's
Speaker 1: fifteen guys that get the qualifying offer, ten of them
Speaker 1: are stars, and it's not going to really matter.
Speaker 2: They're going to get their contract.
Speaker 1: It's going to be big, right, if you're getting one
Speaker 1: hundred two hundred, three hundred million dollar contract. The team's
Speaker 1: not worried about the qualifying offer attachment most in most scenarios, right,
Speaker 1: It's sure it's factored in, but it's not a big deal.
Speaker 1: If you're that mid range player and it's a really
Speaker 1: big part of being attached to you, and we've seen it,
Speaker 1: it affects what maybe two to three it's maybe a
Speaker 1: little bit more players per year, it's three to five guys.
Speaker 5: But then with each of those three to five guys,
Speaker 5: the argument with the PA is each of those three
Speaker 5: guys have about two other free agents that are attached
Speaker 5: to that player, Like, well, we're not sure what we're
Speaker 5: going to do. Because if Todd has a qualifying offer
Speaker 5: and I also play third base, I'm not getting any
Speaker 5: offers because we're waiting. We're waiting to see what Todd
Speaker 5: does with the qualifying offer or it's attached to him.
Speaker 5: So now that's affecting my value in free agency because
Speaker 5: Todd's better and they don't want to pay me more
Speaker 5: than Todd, but I don't have a qualifying offer. So basically,
Speaker 5: the way I came up with that math was the
Speaker 5: fact that it's three to five guys that it really
Speaker 5: affects who actually have a qualifying offer, and then there's
Speaker 5: three or four players at that player's position that it
Speaker 5: also affects in their free agency.
Speaker 2: Okay, that's fair, that's a good way to explain it.
Speaker 1: And yet still I get what you're saying, the prior
Speaker 1: situation affects many more players Todd Father, anything from the
Speaker 1: list here that we pointed out that stands out to you.
Speaker 1: And at one clarification, because I said the sixth day
Speaker 1: IL with the three months earlier whatever, it's allowed for
Speaker 1: placement on players on the sixty day IL as early
Speaker 1: as November tender deadline designed to open additional forty man
Speaker 1: roster spots for clubs in the offseason to replace players
Speaker 1: with known and lengthier injury recovery timelines because right now toime,
Speaker 1: you got to wait a few months after that, right
Speaker 1: and then things open up and then you can see
Speaker 1: more player activity.
Speaker 2: So this basically allows.
Speaker 1: Teams to put someone on that sixty dail and then
Speaker 1: open up the spot to sign someone else, versus waiting
Speaker 1: until what is it, so December January it's almost spring
Speaker 1: training basically when they usually have to wait for making
Speaker 1: sixty DAYIL moves. But anything else that stands out to.
Speaker 9: You, not really. I don't think these are backbreakers. I think.
Speaker 7: You know, these are little things that you know might
Speaker 7: help during the year. I mean, you know, going from
Speaker 7: twenty six to twenty eight guys, I know they Unless
Speaker 7: I've heard something different, I haven't heard anything different. But
Speaker 7: doing the minor league start a little bit later too,
Speaker 7: before the major league start, is that still a thing cratzy?
Speaker 9: Or they start at the same time.
Speaker 6: That because I mean, because it didn't it wouldn't make
Speaker 6: it didn't before.
Speaker 7: It would make sense to make it to twenty eight guys,
Speaker 7: just because they start, they do start a couple of
Speaker 7: weeks after, might as well get them up there to
Speaker 7: help the team win for the first two weeks. But yeah, nothing,
Speaker 7: nothing mind blowing here. Whatever, Let's let's see where this goes.
Speaker 7: I I feel like they're both trying to nickel and
Speaker 7: dime here for some things, which is fine, but.
Speaker 9: Yeah, we'll see where it goes.
Speaker 1: Yeah, twenty six to twenty eight is fine with me,
Speaker 1: with the exception of still having a max pitcher allowance.
Speaker 1: So in this particular proposal, it's fourteen pitcher max the
Speaker 1: number one what why are shaking your head?
Speaker 2: The number one thing on they will do that. That's
Speaker 2: I know, that's in the proposal. That's in the proposal.
Speaker 9: I know.
Speaker 5: But I'm I'm saying they're not going to allow that
Speaker 5: because at the beginning of the year, you have all
Speaker 5: your off days, and so the teams are gonna there's
Speaker 5: gonna pump it full of three starters and you know,
Speaker 5: twelve relievers right right, somehow the masks, but they still
Speaker 5: get tons of them.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm just saying, you gotta be careful on the
Speaker 1: on the pitchers that you allow. I know that teams
Speaker 1: are complaining, hey, we don't have enough for arms. Well,
Speaker 1: there's a fund of mental issue on why that's a problem.
Speaker 1: But for the I care about the of course I
Speaker 1: care about health, but I but that's the problem is
Speaker 1: some teams are obviously and it doesn't start with teams,
Speaker 1: starts at the youth level. It's all being promoted to
Speaker 1: value velocity and obviously treat your arm like a data point,
Speaker 1: and it's leading to more injuries. We've talked about that
Speaker 1: a million times. For the fan experience, there's too many pictures,
Speaker 1: there's too many pitching changes. I don't want that.
Speaker 2: I don't need.
Speaker 1: I know that we have the like what do you
Speaker 1: think of the three batter minimum? I thought it got
Speaker 1: some hate early on, and I know it's not like
Speaker 1: a huge part of the game, but to me it
Speaker 1: is I don't want to see picture in does one
Speaker 1: out he comes out like to me, that's too slow.
Speaker 1: That was part of the pace problem that we had.
Speaker 1: So I actually think it's been pretty valuable. Is it
Speaker 1: the standout thing? Is it the pitch clock? Is it
Speaker 1: the abs challenge? Just no, and managers were pissed off
Speaker 1: about it, so they're like, this is affecting my strategy.
Speaker 1: I'm like, well, now you have a new strategy. Okay,
Speaker 1: you have to have a picture that can get three
Speaker 1: freaking out in the game.
Speaker 6: Do you think I like it?
Speaker 9: Oh? I like it.
Speaker 6: I really like the three picture, the three battery.
Speaker 7: That's a little pressure on the pitcher. Let's go left.
Speaker 7: He's got to face two righters or the big righty
Speaker 7: coming up.
Speaker 9: It'd be interesting. It makes it interesting.
Speaker 5: Excuse me, I like I like it because there's there's
Speaker 5: the strategy of Okay, my guys faced four guys. Now
Speaker 5: I bring that guy in for one hitter that if
Speaker 5: he doesn't get this last out of the inning, he
Speaker 5: has to face another guy, which then the advantage is
Speaker 5: clearly in the pitching is in a pitcher's hands. That's
Speaker 5: why they made that move. And then all of a sudden,
Speaker 5: the advantage, win, probability, whatever happens in that bat shifts
Speaker 5: to the offense. And to me, that's what keeps people engaged.
Speaker 5: If it's just oh, great, one two, three strikes, you're out.
Speaker 5: One two, three strikes, you're out. But then there's like
Speaker 5: shifts in the momentum and who has the advantage of
Speaker 5: a certain situation that keeps fans engaged, And that's that's
Speaker 5: what I like.
Speaker 6: About it.
Speaker 1: Last piece of the puzzle here because we got more details.
Speaker 1: So on the data front, they want players access to
Speaker 1: get access to club collected non proprietary performance data and
Speaker 1: video designed to increase transparency and allow players to track
Speaker 1: their work with the same information that management is using.
Speaker 1: That's basically saying, hey, we know that there are some
Speaker 1: systems that everyone's using to evaluate and it's not very
Speaker 1: public and we'd like to see that. At the same time,
Speaker 1: when you say non proprietary, this is exactly playing to
Speaker 1: what Kratz just said. You can go, oh, we tweaked
Speaker 1: one thing and now it's not. Now it's just ours
Speaker 1: and we don't have to show that to players. You
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying, Krats So like, you're not going
Speaker 1: to win this. But you're not going to win this battle,
Speaker 1: even if you know there is a system that they're
Speaker 1: using to judge players on arbitration and everything else.
Speaker 2: It's like you can.
Speaker 1: Say, oh, we changed one little formula and now actually
Speaker 1: that so we're not going to share it. It's just
Speaker 1: I get where players are coming from here, but you're
Speaker 1: not going to win that battle, So asking for it,
Speaker 1: even if they do say yes, it's kind of it's
Speaker 1: going to be fake, Like I wouldn't waste AMMO on
Speaker 1: a negotiation by asking for that.
Speaker 5: Nope, that's like saying, well, we want the owners to
Speaker 5: see the books. They're not going to do it. They're
Speaker 5: not going to give the property. I worked for one
Speaker 5: of these info gathering CYS data gathering systems, these companies,
Speaker 5: and they're they're not like they work with all those
Speaker 5: guys I worked with the different teams that were interested
Speaker 5: in the system, and they're just not they're not going
Speaker 5: to give that. Up to the point where the Red
Speaker 5: Sox when I worked with them, had their own proprietary
Speaker 5: system and they wouldn't show the players everything. They were
Speaker 5: showing the coaches, and some of the coaches were like
Speaker 5: why what like what of this am I not allowed
Speaker 5: to show them? Well, let's just let's just keep it.
Speaker 5: Let's just keep it simple for the players, Like, no,
Speaker 5: the best teams show everybody everything because they want the
Speaker 5: best for you, and you want the best for your
Speaker 5: own career, so don't like hide it so you save
Speaker 5: a couple thousand dollars here and there.
Speaker 1: I get the frustration too for players because even like
Speaker 1: almost anyone that played sports at any level can probably
Speaker 1: relate if there's a particular coach that didn't like you
Speaker 1: and you can't figure out why they don't like you, right,
Speaker 1: you want to be like, oh, they're judging me based
Speaker 1: on X, but they won't tell me what it is.
Speaker 1: And for the best baseball players in the world, Todd Father,
Speaker 1: you guys just want to know, like how am I
Speaker 1: being judged and how can I work on that one
Speaker 1: thing to fix it? Right, Like when defensive metrics first
Speaker 1: came out, guys were confused about things, and then they
Speaker 1: started to learn about it, and they're like, cool, if
Speaker 1: you think I'm rating poorly on your system, tell me
Speaker 1: what your system's based off of and then I'll improve
Speaker 1: as a player.
Speaker 2: I'm the best player. I'm you know, among the best
Speaker 2: players in the world. I played in Major League baseball.
Speaker 2: That's the frustration point.
Speaker 7: Gotcha, gotcha, just after a couple of years, if you
Speaker 7: don't know where to position yourself as an infield or
Speaker 7: an outfield against eighty percent of the players and you
Speaker 7: need all that paperwork and stuff that.
Speaker 9: I don't want to get started with that stuff.
Speaker 5: Sorry, but time, but time If you say younger.
Speaker 9: For the younger Cats for the younger Cats.
Speaker 5: Yeah, but if you're saying I'm a year away from
Speaker 5: free agency, this is what I'm hearing about my value, Well,
Speaker 5: then I guess I'm gonna play. I'm gonna play two
Speaker 5: steps over. I don't agree with it, but I'm gonna
Speaker 5: play two steps over. Why because that increases my defensive
Speaker 5: run safe Like it's it's an outfielder. If I play
Speaker 5: back like the team wants me to, now, my range
Speaker 5: advantage is gone because half of my range and my
Speaker 5: circle around me as a player is over the fence
Speaker 5: and I never catch any of those. So I'm gonna
Speaker 5: play more shallow and get better range advantage. And the
Speaker 5: team is gonna say, no, you got to move back.
Speaker 5: I'm like, okay, well I'm.
Speaker 6: Gonna move forward. Well, you got to move back, but
Speaker 6: I got pay to move forward.
Speaker 9: I understand that.
Speaker 7: I mean, speaking about third base, I see a lot
Speaker 7: of third base and play way too far back.
Speaker 9: When there's a runner on first.
Speaker 7: There's there's a whole lot going on that you know,
Speaker 7: to turn a double play, like you need to be
Speaker 7: in certain positions, and it just it's totally different at
Speaker 7: third base. Now guys are playing on the grass in
Speaker 7: the outfield pretty close enough to there for.
Speaker 9: A double play.
Speaker 7: Depth trying to get a double play, and you got
Speaker 7: a guy that has some sort of speed, not cook
Speaker 7: get him out of so.
Speaker 6: But his range is so much better, but his defense.
Speaker 7: Yeah, yeah, to mix your range better because you're far back,
Speaker 7: you can get to that ball and you don't knock
Speaker 7: it down.
Speaker 9: But I want to double play.
Speaker 6: But why why why Todd? Because you want to win exactly.
Speaker 5: But if you get your defensive run saved up because
Speaker 5: you're able to get to the ball down the line
Speaker 5: as a third basement, that is mega value. That's why
Speaker 5: his third basement are picking up platinum gloves because that's
Speaker 5: a double.
Speaker 6: That's a double.
Speaker 5: Yeah, you might not get the double play, but hey,
Speaker 5: you stop that double exactly.
Speaker 9: All good.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna get top frustrated to fifty eight on a Wednesday.
Speaker 1: Just tell them about how computers will tell me where
Speaker 1: to stand on the field.
Speaker 2: Yeah, talk to Ata, baby,