1
00:00:21,800 --> 00:00:24,119
Speaker 1: Hello everyone, and welcome back to the hemrit Territory Podcast

2
00:00:24,160 --> 00:00:27,400
Speaker 1: this episode three three nine. My name is Brad Roland

3
00:00:27,480 --> 00:00:30,600
Speaker 1: and I'm joined on this Sunday edision of a podcast. Well,

4
00:00:30,640 --> 00:00:34,919
Speaker 1: my good friend Scott Coleman. Scott, it's march Man. Baseball's here.

5
00:00:35,000 --> 00:00:37,280
Speaker 1: What's going on? Hello? Brad.

6
00:00:37,360 --> 00:00:39,319
Speaker 2: It iss good as always to do one of these

7
00:00:39,320 --> 00:00:41,239
Speaker 2: shows with you. And you know, it's a great time

8
00:00:41,280 --> 00:00:44,400
Speaker 2: of year on the sports calendar. Spring training is in

9
00:00:44,440 --> 00:00:47,519
Speaker 2: full swing. We have the World Baseball Classic starting in

10
00:00:47,560 --> 00:00:51,120
Speaker 2: a couple of days, March Madness, and the NCAA Tournament

11
00:00:51,200 --> 00:00:53,199
Speaker 2: is right around the corner. And then of course the

12
00:00:53,240 --> 00:00:56,320
Speaker 2: Braves play games that matter for real. On March twenty

13
00:00:56,360 --> 00:00:59,160
Speaker 2: seventh is the home opener against the Kansas City Royals.

14
00:00:59,400 --> 00:01:01,960
Speaker 2: Should be an act next couple of weeks, and you know,

15
00:01:02,040 --> 00:01:03,360
Speaker 2: we have quite a bit to talk about on the

16
00:01:03,360 --> 00:01:06,000
Speaker 2: show tonight with some odds and ends down from spring training.

17
00:01:06,760 --> 00:01:08,840
Speaker 1: Yeah, a lot to get to. We should say. We'll

18
00:01:08,840 --> 00:01:10,960
Speaker 1: record this a little bit earlier than usual on Sunday.

19
00:01:10,959 --> 00:01:14,840
Speaker 1: Do some scheduling stuff. Mostly me. The Atlanta Hawks run

20
00:01:14,880 --> 00:01:16,720
Speaker 1: my life mostly and they have a home game tonight,

21
00:01:16,800 --> 00:01:18,200
Speaker 1: so it's one of those things where I will be

22
00:01:18,240 --> 00:01:20,520
Speaker 1: in an arena and that's bad. That's bout audio quality, Scott.

23
00:01:20,520 --> 00:01:22,000
Speaker 1: I gotta say, you're trying to record a podcast while

24
00:01:22,040 --> 00:01:24,360
Speaker 1: there's game mops going on. Doesn't let me work, so

25
00:01:24,840 --> 00:01:27,600
Speaker 1: PSA for that. A lot might happen this afternoon. We

26
00:01:27,640 --> 00:01:29,440
Speaker 1: don't know the race. We're playing a split swag game today.

27
00:01:30,280 --> 00:01:32,320
Speaker 1: Stay tuned. If anything crazy happens, you will have already

28
00:01:32,319 --> 00:01:33,840
Speaker 1: heard me at to the the game of this podcast.

29
00:01:33,880 --> 00:01:36,640
Speaker 1: So there's that, but a lot to get to from

30
00:01:36,640 --> 00:01:38,520
Speaker 1: the last couple of days. Like there's not, like you know,

31
00:01:38,720 --> 00:01:40,959
Speaker 1: one dominant story, but a lot, a lot of things.

32
00:01:41,000 --> 00:01:43,240
Speaker 1: And I think we're gonna choose to start on an

33
00:01:43,280 --> 00:01:47,920
Speaker 1: intrigue I would say, intriguing, interesting and positive story from

34
00:01:48,360 --> 00:01:50,559
Speaker 1: spring training. And that is the work of j R. Richie,

35
00:01:50,640 --> 00:01:54,440
Speaker 1: who's drawing all kinds of buzz right now. The twenty

36
00:01:54,480 --> 00:01:57,559
Speaker 1: two year old top prospect, not the number one prospect

37
00:01:57,600 --> 00:01:58,920
Speaker 1: for a lot of people, but certainly in the top

38
00:01:59,000 --> 00:02:01,840
Speaker 1: three of Brave Storm system for people that we trust.

39
00:02:02,680 --> 00:02:04,640
Speaker 1: First round pick a few years ago, finished it with

40
00:02:04,720 --> 00:02:07,280
Speaker 1: that last year. Probably the closest guy to the majors

41
00:02:07,600 --> 00:02:10,440
Speaker 1: of all the big name prospects for the Braves, and

42
00:02:10,440 --> 00:02:13,440
Speaker 1: in two appearances so far, he's looked really good. And that,

43
00:02:13,520 --> 00:02:16,480
Speaker 1: of course prompts questioned Scott that we're getting all the time, like, hey,

44
00:02:16,520 --> 00:02:19,760
Speaker 1: could they break camp with Richie in a rotation? And

45
00:02:20,480 --> 00:02:22,440
Speaker 1: it's not a crazy question, given how he looks and

46
00:02:22,480 --> 00:02:23,840
Speaker 1: given his pedigree all that stuff.

47
00:02:24,600 --> 00:02:26,919
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's going to be fascinating to see if Jared

48
00:02:27,000 --> 00:02:29,520
Speaker 2: Richie pitches well enough over the next few weeks, if

49
00:02:29,560 --> 00:02:33,960
Speaker 2: he kind of forces himself onto Atlanta's rotation to start

50
00:02:34,000 --> 00:02:36,240
Speaker 2: the year, kind of like a j. Smith Schaffer did

51
00:02:36,320 --> 00:02:39,639
Speaker 2: last season, where you know what, Richie might just show

52
00:02:39,680 --> 00:02:42,840
Speaker 2: that he's too valuable, even if it might make sense

53
00:02:42,880 --> 00:02:46,640
Speaker 2: from a roster building sense to keep Richie and Gwinette

54
00:02:47,040 --> 00:02:49,000
Speaker 2: so you can have a full twenty six man roster

55
00:02:49,080 --> 00:02:51,520
Speaker 2: and make sure you don't lose players who don't have options,

56
00:02:51,960 --> 00:02:54,160
Speaker 2: but Richie might be too good that you can't ignore it.

57
00:02:54,560 --> 00:02:59,080
Speaker 2: You also now are incentivized with the PPI draft pick that,

58
00:02:59,200 --> 00:03:01,320
Speaker 2: of course, the Braves one with Drake Baldwin.

59
00:03:01,520 --> 00:03:02,080
Speaker 1: If Jr.

60
00:03:02,160 --> 00:03:06,320
Speaker 2: Richie, who is a top one hundred prospect, spends basically

61
00:03:06,320 --> 00:03:08,120
Speaker 2: the entire year with the Braves and wins rookie of

62
00:03:08,120 --> 00:03:10,440
Speaker 2: the year. Guess what, the Braves get another first round

63
00:03:10,440 --> 00:03:13,120
Speaker 2: pick this time in a year, So there's reasons to

64
00:03:13,160 --> 00:03:15,440
Speaker 2: think that Richie has at least a chance. And even

65
00:03:15,440 --> 00:03:18,960
Speaker 2: if Richie is not necessarily on opening day with the

66
00:03:19,000 --> 00:03:22,320
Speaker 2: Braves and he's down in Gwinnett, well, guess what. Give

67
00:03:22,320 --> 00:03:24,239
Speaker 2: it a couple of weeks and Jr. Is probably going

68
00:03:24,280 --> 00:03:27,400
Speaker 2: to have his name called at some point for sure.

69
00:03:27,440 --> 00:03:30,800
Speaker 1: And he's got, from what all experts kind of points to do,

70
00:03:30,840 --> 00:03:33,359
Speaker 1: like a very mature set of offerings, Like he's been

71
00:03:33,400 --> 00:03:35,640
Speaker 1: tracked throwing six pitches in spring training. I don't know

72
00:03:35,680 --> 00:03:37,800
Speaker 1: how real bad is necessarily some of there's some there's

73
00:03:37,800 --> 00:03:39,760
Speaker 1: some track awareness this time. Yere we just we say

74
00:03:39,840 --> 00:03:43,040
Speaker 1: that out loud, but very mature, very mature game for

75
00:03:43,080 --> 00:03:47,040
Speaker 1: a player of his age. He's been dominant face of thirteen.

76
00:03:47,040 --> 00:03:49,800
Speaker 1: It's thirteen batters, but he's been dominant against them in

77
00:03:49,880 --> 00:03:52,240
Speaker 1: spring and you brought us up to me and I

78
00:03:52,240 --> 00:03:53,880
Speaker 1: think it's that's a great point to kind of compare

79
00:03:53,920 --> 00:03:58,400
Speaker 1: and contrast. Smith Shauber did a version of this a

80
00:03:58,480 --> 00:04:00,640
Speaker 1: year ago. Basically they were like, hey, he's he's so good,

81
00:04:00,680 --> 00:04:03,560
Speaker 1: he's got to be up sooner. Rather than later and

82
00:04:03,720 --> 00:04:06,160
Speaker 1: stay up. Essentially, he'd already kind of been there, he'd

83
00:04:06,200 --> 00:04:08,440
Speaker 1: been there previously. It's a little bit different, but the

84
00:04:08,480 --> 00:04:12,280
Speaker 1: Braves are not necessarily, you know, dead set against promoting

85
00:04:12,320 --> 00:04:15,120
Speaker 1: someone like this. I will also say this is a

86
00:04:15,160 --> 00:04:17,640
Speaker 1: theme of our last couple of weeks of conversations. He

87
00:04:17,680 --> 00:04:20,279
Speaker 1: obviously has minor league options, and Alex does like to

88
00:04:20,320 --> 00:04:22,000
Speaker 1: go with the guys who don't have minor league options,

89
00:04:22,040 --> 00:04:25,200
Speaker 1: so he'd have to probably impress quite a bit. But

90
00:04:25,240 --> 00:04:26,799
Speaker 1: there is a world in which he kind of forces

91
00:04:26,839 --> 00:04:28,760
Speaker 1: their hands to your point where it's like, hey, can

92
00:04:28,839 --> 00:04:32,960
Speaker 1: you really really keep Elder Wentz, Martine Perez pick your

93
00:04:33,279 --> 00:04:36,359
Speaker 1: two or three of those guys over Jeded Richie. And

94
00:04:36,400 --> 00:04:38,360
Speaker 1: maybe the answer is still yes because Alex is so

95
00:04:38,440 --> 00:04:41,720
Speaker 1: conservative and likes to keep all of his options. Is

96
00:04:42,120 --> 00:04:45,599
Speaker 1: not also this word open, But I think it's become

97
00:04:45,640 --> 00:04:50,360
Speaker 1: a conversation, especially when Weiss mentioned six man rotation. That's

98
00:04:50,400 --> 00:04:53,960
Speaker 1: another potential avenue for Jeded Richie, isn't it?

99
00:04:53,960 --> 00:04:57,760
Speaker 2: It is? And you think about, Okay, if the Braves play,

100
00:04:58,080 --> 00:05:01,080
Speaker 2: they played thirteen games and thirteen to begin the season,

101
00:05:01,160 --> 00:05:04,200
Speaker 2: and they have nineteen games in the first twenty days,

102
00:05:04,800 --> 00:05:06,919
Speaker 2: that's a lot of innings you're gonna have to cover,

103
00:05:07,560 --> 00:05:10,599
Speaker 2: So to me, it kind of makes sense if Jared

104
00:05:10,680 --> 00:05:13,480
Speaker 2: Richie continues to impress in the spring, and you mentioned

105
00:05:13,480 --> 00:05:17,680
Speaker 2: a six pitch repertoire, which is something that he displayed

106
00:05:17,760 --> 00:05:20,040
Speaker 2: throughout his time in the minors and seems to be real.

107
00:05:20,120 --> 00:05:22,320
Speaker 2: He may not have six pitches he can go to

108
00:05:22,720 --> 00:05:25,640
Speaker 2: whenever he wants them, but at least having that deep

109
00:05:25,680 --> 00:05:27,600
Speaker 2: bag of pitches you can throw at hitters to keep

110
00:05:27,640 --> 00:05:30,039
Speaker 2: him off balanced second and a third time through is

111
00:05:30,080 --> 00:05:31,320
Speaker 2: really going to be helpful for him.

112
00:05:31,760 --> 00:05:33,400
Speaker 1: But doesn't it kind of make.

113
00:05:33,279 --> 00:05:35,839
Speaker 2: Sense if you're the Braves, you want to carry maybe

114
00:05:35,880 --> 00:05:39,440
Speaker 2: a sixth starter or a hybrid man in the bullpen

115
00:05:40,080 --> 00:05:43,279
Speaker 2: where you could have Richie make three or four starts

116
00:05:43,720 --> 00:05:46,640
Speaker 2: the first couple of weeks of the year and evaluate

117
00:05:47,279 --> 00:05:49,720
Speaker 2: and if he looks great and he's getting big leaguers

118
00:05:49,720 --> 00:05:51,360
Speaker 2: out and he can get through a lineup more than

119
00:05:51,360 --> 00:05:53,840
Speaker 2: two or three times, then you keep him up. And

120
00:05:54,360 --> 00:05:56,640
Speaker 2: then at the same time, if Richie's getting hit around,

121
00:05:56,760 --> 00:05:59,560
Speaker 2: or maybe he isn't quite ready yet, you send him

122
00:05:59,560 --> 00:06:02,000
Speaker 2: to Gwenett. You say, hey, kid, go get him. We're

123
00:06:02,000 --> 00:06:04,400
Speaker 2: gonna call your name again sometime this summer. To me,

124
00:06:04,480 --> 00:06:06,799
Speaker 2: that kind of feels like a perfect window into seeing

125
00:06:06,880 --> 00:06:09,040
Speaker 2: just how good Richie can be at the major league level.

126
00:06:09,240 --> 00:06:13,560
Speaker 2: If he's good, awesome, you've kind of stabilized your starting

127
00:06:13,640 --> 00:06:16,080
Speaker 2: rotation with all the injuries they've had. And if he's

128
00:06:16,080 --> 00:06:18,120
Speaker 2: not ready, well then he's a twenty two year old

129
00:06:18,160 --> 00:06:20,279
Speaker 2: who has plenty to learn, has only made a handful

130
00:06:20,320 --> 00:06:22,479
Speaker 2: of starts in TRIPA A and you just wait for

131
00:06:22,520 --> 00:06:23,960
Speaker 2: the next opportunity to call him.

132
00:06:23,920 --> 00:06:27,440
Speaker 1: Up right, And as much as Alex has been you know,

133
00:06:28,000 --> 00:06:30,200
Speaker 1: intentional might keeping options open, he has not been shy

134
00:06:30,200 --> 00:06:34,599
Speaker 1: about promoting guys, you know what I mean, like Schwellenbach, Baldwin,

135
00:06:35,040 --> 00:06:37,800
Speaker 1: you know, good on the list. They're not afraid to

136
00:06:37,880 --> 00:06:40,480
Speaker 1: go quickly on a player if they believe that guy's

137
00:06:40,520 --> 00:06:42,520
Speaker 1: gonna be ready to go. And maybe Richie's gonna be

138
00:06:42,520 --> 00:06:44,679
Speaker 1: that maybe you won't be. We have another three weeks,

139
00:06:44,680 --> 00:06:46,320
Speaker 1: four weeks to look at this stuff. But I think

140
00:06:46,360 --> 00:06:48,320
Speaker 1: he's turned off. Heads's got a lot of questions about him,

141
00:06:48,680 --> 00:06:51,080
Speaker 1: and you know, they got learned went to those guys.

142
00:06:51,080 --> 00:06:54,520
Speaker 1: But in the meantime, Richie's a far more exciting name

143
00:06:54,600 --> 00:06:57,200
Speaker 1: than anybody else at the end of the rotation right

144
00:06:57,240 --> 00:07:00,000
Speaker 1: now to see the least you don't.

145
00:06:59,800 --> 00:07:02,080
Speaker 2: Want Carlos Carrasco starting game.

146
00:07:02,080 --> 00:07:05,440
Speaker 1: Six of the season. My got cookies not look great

147
00:07:05,480 --> 00:07:10,760
Speaker 1: in the spring so far. We'll leave it there for now. Okay, Scott,

148
00:07:10,840 --> 00:07:13,440
Speaker 1: let us discuss the World Baseball Classic. You already brought

149
00:07:13,440 --> 00:07:16,840
Speaker 1: it up, and the WC is ongoing. And by the way,

150
00:07:16,920 --> 00:07:18,880
Speaker 1: all of our WBC coverage is brought to by our

151
00:07:18,880 --> 00:07:21,600
Speaker 1: friends at Fox one, which is live right now. Stream

152
00:07:21,680 --> 00:07:24,640
Speaker 1: all your Fox favorites together in one place, including all

153
00:07:24,800 --> 00:07:27,080
Speaker 1: WBC games over the next few weeks, and after that

154
00:07:27,120 --> 00:07:30,240
Speaker 1: the best MLB action all season long can be found

155
00:07:30,360 --> 00:07:34,640
Speaker 1: at Fox one. And the Braves have three guys prominently

156
00:07:34,640 --> 00:07:38,720
Speaker 1: featured in their opening day lineup unless they're injured who

157
00:07:38,720 --> 00:07:40,760
Speaker 1: will be playing in the WBC. And if you don't

158
00:07:40,800 --> 00:07:44,360
Speaker 1: know this, they are Ronald Acunya for Venezuela, you got

159
00:07:44,360 --> 00:07:47,120
Speaker 1: Ozzie Albi's and jersep Profar both for the Netherlands. So

160
00:07:47,160 --> 00:07:48,920
Speaker 1: it's only two teams you have to follow, in addition

161
00:07:48,960 --> 00:07:51,280
Speaker 1: to probably the US, which is of course a team

162
00:07:51,280 --> 00:07:55,440
Speaker 1: that I'll be rooting fore most likely, but there you go. Ronnie.

163
00:07:55,480 --> 00:07:59,120
Speaker 1: By the way, while we're here. Had an insane game

164
00:07:59,160 --> 00:08:02,640
Speaker 1: in his final appearance before heading out into WBC. Ron

165
00:08:02,760 --> 00:08:05,000
Speaker 1: Friday had a grant, had a Grand Slam and had

166
00:08:05,080 --> 00:08:06,800
Speaker 1: stole two bases and was like, oh, I'm wrong with

167
00:08:06,880 --> 00:08:09,640
Speaker 1: Coua Junior. Just just remind everybody I'm wrong with Qena Junior.

168
00:08:09,880 --> 00:08:12,320
Speaker 1: That was fun. And then you know Ozzie Proof are

169
00:08:12,320 --> 00:08:15,280
Speaker 1: playing together and a team managed by Andrew Jones, recent

170
00:08:15,320 --> 00:08:18,040
Speaker 1: Paull of Fame inductee, Like, there's a lot going on here.

171
00:08:18,040 --> 00:08:20,280
Speaker 1: And by the way, Venezuela and the Netherlands are in

172
00:08:20,320 --> 00:08:23,200
Speaker 1: the same pool of the WBC, so let'll be playing

173
00:08:23,200 --> 00:08:25,840
Speaker 1: against each other in just a few days. Yeah, I think.

174
00:08:25,960 --> 00:08:27,080
Speaker 1: I mean the WBC.

175
00:08:27,480 --> 00:08:31,080
Speaker 2: It's just a great event for Major League Baseball, for

176
00:08:31,120 --> 00:08:34,000
Speaker 2: players not just in the majors but across the world

177
00:08:34,120 --> 00:08:36,560
Speaker 2: to compete and represent their country. Of course, we just

178
00:08:36,640 --> 00:08:40,160
Speaker 2: had the Olympics and now we had the WBC throughout February.

179
00:08:40,520 --> 00:08:42,480
Speaker 2: It should be I'm sorry through March and it should

180
00:08:42,480 --> 00:08:44,199
Speaker 2: be a lot of fun and I'm going to be

181
00:08:44,240 --> 00:08:48,200
Speaker 2: rooting for Team USA. I think the Netherlands, for Braves fans,

182
00:08:48,360 --> 00:08:50,720
Speaker 2: is just an easy second team to be rooting for

183
00:08:51,080 --> 00:08:53,679
Speaker 2: because of all of the Braves connections through Curasao who

184
00:08:53,720 --> 00:08:56,240
Speaker 2: are playing on the Netherlands, and then of course for

185
00:08:56,320 --> 00:08:59,640
Speaker 2: Venezuela with Ronald we're going to be tuning in. God,

186
00:09:00,080 --> 00:09:02,480
Speaker 2: cross your fingers, say a prayer that everybody gets through

187
00:09:02,760 --> 00:09:05,640
Speaker 2: injury free. Of course, was it Edmund Diaz who got

188
00:09:05,720 --> 00:09:09,520
Speaker 2: hurt in the WBC the last time on the map celebrating,

189
00:09:09,559 --> 00:09:13,079
Speaker 2: I think on the mound. So everybody be smart. If

190
00:09:13,080 --> 00:09:14,960
Speaker 2: there's a ball in the gap, it's okay to play

191
00:09:15,000 --> 00:09:16,640
Speaker 2: it on a hop. You don't have to go one

192
00:09:16,679 --> 00:09:19,640
Speaker 2: thousand miles an hour. I know everybody has been talking

193
00:09:19,720 --> 00:09:22,120
Speaker 2: about the pitchers, and of course Team USA has some

194
00:09:22,280 --> 00:09:25,080
Speaker 2: great starting pitchers lined up, but I think everyone's also

195
00:09:25,120 --> 00:09:26,840
Speaker 2: going to be holding their breath a little bit at

196
00:09:26,920 --> 00:09:28,600
Speaker 2: least if you're a fan of one of those teams

197
00:09:28,600 --> 00:09:30,840
Speaker 2: that they pitch for. But should be a lot of fun.

198
00:09:31,720 --> 00:09:33,600
Speaker 1: Yeah, and again, if Fox was the place you could

199
00:09:33,640 --> 00:09:36,200
Speaker 1: watch all these games. There's some exhibitions that start as

200
00:09:36,200 --> 00:09:39,320
Speaker 1: early as Tuesday where there they actually play against MLB teams.

201
00:09:39,440 --> 00:09:42,240
Speaker 1: There's some crossovers there, but the official action gets under

202
00:09:42,240 --> 00:09:44,480
Speaker 1: way out of March sixth, and as a reminder of

203
00:09:44,480 --> 00:09:49,199
Speaker 1: the schedule. Friday at noon is Venezuela versus the Netherlands.

204
00:09:49,440 --> 00:09:51,080
Speaker 1: So if you're going to watch a single game involving

205
00:09:51,080 --> 00:09:53,120
Speaker 1: the Braves, that's probably the one to watch. All three

206
00:09:53,120 --> 00:09:54,920
Speaker 1: guys will be an action in that game, in the

207
00:09:54,960 --> 00:09:58,320
Speaker 1: first game that matters. Both teams also played against Saturday

208
00:09:58,600 --> 00:10:01,280
Speaker 1: and then Sunday Monday, as well as a PSA as well.

209
00:10:01,320 --> 00:10:04,439
Speaker 1: The first USA game is Friday night against Brazil at

210
00:10:04,480 --> 00:10:06,880
Speaker 1: eight pm Eastern, So if you're looking for the US team,

211
00:10:07,080 --> 00:10:09,520
Speaker 1: a great place to start there. And we'll have full

212
00:10:09,559 --> 00:10:12,760
Speaker 1: coverage of WB stuff, WBC stuff as we go in

213
00:10:12,840 --> 00:10:15,000
Speaker 1: because it's a week and a half long event and

214
00:10:15,040 --> 00:10:19,360
Speaker 1: it's gonna be really, really interest interesting. And look, you

215
00:10:19,400 --> 00:10:22,160
Speaker 1: and I poke fun at sprint training. Sometimes these games

216
00:10:22,280 --> 00:10:25,920
Speaker 1: count and they matter. Now everybody's interests might go up

217
00:10:25,960 --> 00:10:28,040
Speaker 1: and down depending on who you are, but these guys

218
00:10:28,040 --> 00:10:30,280
Speaker 1: are gonna be trying as much as I hear what

219
00:10:30,280 --> 00:10:32,760
Speaker 1: you're saying about not going in one thousand miles an hour,

220
00:10:33,320 --> 00:10:35,079
Speaker 1: Good luck Tile Ronald Cooons, You're not not to play

221
00:10:35,120 --> 00:10:37,199
Speaker 1: hard anoceball game. He's gonna be playing hard. These guys

222
00:10:37,280 --> 00:10:41,160
Speaker 1: want to win and high level competition. National Pride across

223
00:10:41,160 --> 00:10:43,000
Speaker 1: the board like it's gonna be really fun to watch,

224
00:10:43,040 --> 00:10:45,520
Speaker 1: and again, you can check it out at Fox one

225
00:10:45,880 --> 00:10:49,240
Speaker 1: over the next week, from the WBC through the World

226
00:10:49,240 --> 00:10:53,720
Speaker 1: Series to the World Cup, to NASCAR, Indye, car, college basketball,

227
00:10:53,760 --> 00:10:56,120
Speaker 1: and more with Fox one you get it all live sorry,

228
00:10:56,120 --> 00:10:59,400
Speaker 1: seven day free trial today offer subject to change. Double

229
00:10:59,440 --> 00:11:01,600
Speaker 1: Fox one Today and stream the World Myanth Black Classic

230
00:11:01,679 --> 00:11:04,560
Speaker 1: live from March six to March fourteenth. Go to foxone

231
00:11:04,640 --> 00:11:08,959
Speaker 1: dot com for complete terms and conditions. Fox won streaming. Now,

232
00:11:10,360 --> 00:11:13,560
Speaker 1: all right, Scott A, we started intentionally with JR. Richie,

233
00:11:13,640 --> 00:11:16,920
Speaker 1: an uplifting story, an exciting story, a story that no

234
00:11:16,960 --> 00:11:19,920
Speaker 1: one could be raining too much on the parade with.

235
00:11:20,760 --> 00:11:22,920
Speaker 1: We'll change guards a little bit now to what The

236
00:11:22,920 --> 00:11:28,680
Speaker 1: big topic on Saturday was Spencer Strider and his velocity

237
00:11:28,760 --> 00:11:33,719
Speaker 1: was down. That's the lead story, like everything else. I

238
00:11:33,720 --> 00:11:35,400
Speaker 1: don't know if you saw this, Scott's We have the

239
00:11:35,440 --> 00:11:38,480
Speaker 1: thoughts about it. Mark Bowman actually posted the whole interview

240
00:11:38,679 --> 00:11:43,040
Speaker 1: with Spencer on Twitter on video postgame so you could

241
00:11:43,040 --> 00:11:46,760
Speaker 1: see Spencer's mannerisms all that. It's actually really interesting. I

242
00:11:46,800 --> 00:11:50,640
Speaker 1: recommend watching it. He seemed pretty okay with how it went.

243
00:11:51,240 --> 00:11:53,680
Speaker 1: He's a competitive guy. Spencer's kind of an interesting cat

244
00:11:53,760 --> 00:11:57,000
Speaker 1: in general, which everyone knows. But the big topic was

245
00:11:57,040 --> 00:11:59,800
Speaker 1: that he was sitting ninety three with his fastball and

246
00:12:00,280 --> 00:12:04,360
Speaker 1: he didn't. Honestly, the Braves and Spencer said before the start, like, hey,

247
00:12:04,360 --> 00:12:05,880
Speaker 1: he's not going to be going out there trying to

248
00:12:05,920 --> 00:12:08,440
Speaker 1: throw hard. There was the conspiracy theory about the radar

249
00:12:08,480 --> 00:12:11,160
Speaker 1: gun being turned off last week. There's a lot of

250
00:12:11,240 --> 00:12:13,760
Speaker 1: noise about Strider, and I found some of the conversation

251
00:12:14,960 --> 00:12:18,760
Speaker 1: maddening because as it was happening, it was still February,

252
00:12:19,360 --> 00:12:21,319
Speaker 1: and that was like, guys, what are we talking about?

253
00:12:21,559 --> 00:12:24,360
Speaker 1: But I don't know about you. That's how I felt.

254
00:12:24,360 --> 00:12:26,040
Speaker 1: And we've talked about more of that, but that was

255
00:12:26,080 --> 00:12:28,440
Speaker 1: the lead story from Saturday for sure, and I wonder

256
00:12:28,480 --> 00:12:29,880
Speaker 1: what you thought coming out of that.

257
00:12:31,120 --> 00:12:34,040
Speaker 2: So here is my very official Spencer Strider take here

258
00:12:34,600 --> 00:12:40,760
Speaker 2: on March first. If in four weeks Spencer Strider is

259
00:12:40,800 --> 00:12:44,120
Speaker 2: still sitting ninety three with his fastball, I will be

260
00:12:44,640 --> 00:12:48,200
Speaker 2: very concerned. It will be a five alarm fire if

261
00:12:48,240 --> 00:12:52,480
Speaker 2: Stryder's still throwing low nineties with his fastball once games

262
00:12:52,559 --> 00:12:56,600
Speaker 2: count in March and April. But that being said, we

263
00:12:56,679 --> 00:13:01,079
Speaker 2: are so early in the spring, so many pitchers almost

264
00:13:01,120 --> 00:13:05,079
Speaker 2: by default throw less hard and don't let it all

265
00:13:05,120 --> 00:13:08,400
Speaker 2: fly in the second week of spring training games, which

266
00:13:08,440 --> 00:13:10,880
Speaker 2: makes all the sense in the world. And I, you

267
00:13:10,920 --> 00:13:14,400
Speaker 2: know what, I trust Spencer Strider. He is such a

268
00:13:14,480 --> 00:13:17,840
Speaker 2: cerebral pitcher. He's a really smart guy. He's kind of

269
00:13:17,880 --> 00:13:21,320
Speaker 2: like a pitching nerd. He understands what's going to make

270
00:13:21,400 --> 00:13:24,560
Speaker 2: him successful. We've heard that even last year when he

271
00:13:24,600 --> 00:13:28,199
Speaker 2: was really struggling, he went to like every resource imaginable

272
00:13:28,480 --> 00:13:30,720
Speaker 2: to try to figure out what the root cause was

273
00:13:30,720 --> 00:13:32,800
Speaker 2: of when he was just awful for like three or

274
00:13:32,800 --> 00:13:35,679
Speaker 2: four weeks in the middle of the season. So again,

275
00:13:35,960 --> 00:13:38,640
Speaker 2: give it a couple of weeks. Hopefully that velocity continues

276
00:13:38,679 --> 00:13:41,200
Speaker 2: to go up. There were some good signs as well

277
00:13:41,280 --> 00:13:45,360
Speaker 2: with Strider's fastball, but to me, I was I mean,

278
00:13:45,440 --> 00:13:47,880
Speaker 2: I get it, man, Like we're braves. Fans have had

279
00:13:47,920 --> 00:13:49,760
Speaker 2: a tough couple of weeks in the pitching department, so

280
00:13:49,800 --> 00:13:52,920
Speaker 2: I understand why there was so much focus on Streider today,

281
00:13:52,960 --> 00:13:55,680
Speaker 2: but I thought it was a little overblown given where

282
00:13:55,679 --> 00:13:56,120
Speaker 2: we are.

283
00:13:56,000 --> 00:13:59,480
Speaker 1: In the calendar. Yeah, I think more than a little.

284
00:13:59,559 --> 00:14:03,000
Speaker 1: And I do get it because you know, even nationally

285
00:14:03,080 --> 00:14:05,880
Speaker 1: not I follow a lot of national folks, fancy baseball

286
00:14:05,920 --> 00:14:09,559
Speaker 1: folks as well. I saw that get I get it.

287
00:14:10,320 --> 00:14:14,199
Speaker 1: Special strider and velocity is a clear topic, you know

288
00:14:14,200 --> 00:14:15,880
Speaker 1: what I mean. He used to He used to sit

289
00:14:16,160 --> 00:14:18,640
Speaker 1: high nineties. Last year was ninety five, ninety five and

290
00:14:18,679 --> 00:14:21,520
Speaker 1: a half ninety six. That's different in itself. If he

291
00:14:21,560 --> 00:14:23,520
Speaker 1: sits ninety three, I'm with you. If he's saying ninety

292
00:14:23,520 --> 00:14:27,480
Speaker 1: three in three weeks, I'll be worried. He must. Yeah,

293
00:14:27,560 --> 00:14:28,880
Speaker 1: by the way, he still might be able to be

294
00:14:28,880 --> 00:14:30,800
Speaker 1: okay at that number, but I will be I'll still

295
00:14:30,800 --> 00:14:32,560
Speaker 1: be worried. So both can be true at the same time.

296
00:14:33,560 --> 00:14:35,560
Speaker 1: But like even today, again, they gave all the prefaces

297
00:14:35,640 --> 00:14:37,640
Speaker 1: that you want, and look, if you're if you're trying

298
00:14:37,640 --> 00:14:39,640
Speaker 1: to be negative, you could say that's what That's what

299
00:14:39,680 --> 00:14:41,560
Speaker 1: they would say if they were worried about the philosophy.

300
00:14:41,640 --> 00:14:43,720
Speaker 1: It's like, hey, we're working on this, we're working on

301
00:14:43,720 --> 00:14:46,720
Speaker 1: this or whatever. But I think Boma had this first.

302
00:14:46,720 --> 00:14:49,080
Speaker 1: But there was some induced vertical break numbers that were

303
00:14:49,120 --> 00:14:50,720
Speaker 1: at closer to what he was sitting at a few

304
00:14:50,760 --> 00:14:54,960
Speaker 1: years ago. His stuff, like the way his pitches are

305
00:14:55,000 --> 00:14:59,680
Speaker 1: moving is encouraging, so there's more to life than just velocity,

306
00:14:59,760 --> 00:15:03,040
Speaker 1: and Spencer seemed pleased again, Like I if he was

307
00:15:03,080 --> 00:15:05,800
Speaker 1: pissed off with the way he looked, I think he

308
00:15:05,920 --> 00:15:08,760
Speaker 1: probably not say that necessarily, but he's not gonna sugarcoat.

309
00:15:08,920 --> 00:15:11,400
Speaker 1: I think if he was upset with how he felt today,

310
00:15:11,600 --> 00:15:13,560
Speaker 1: I think he specifically mentioned the way the ball was

311
00:15:13,560 --> 00:15:16,040
Speaker 1: coming out of his hand he felt good about. I

312
00:15:16,520 --> 00:15:18,400
Speaker 1: tend to trust him too, So we're aligne on that.

313
00:15:19,640 --> 00:15:21,680
Speaker 1: The velossum will be a topic. I could guarantee you

314
00:15:21,720 --> 00:15:24,080
Speaker 1: when when he pitches next time, everyone will be watching

315
00:15:24,160 --> 00:15:26,280
Speaker 1: the radar gun the entire time. And I get it.

316
00:15:26,520 --> 00:15:30,880
Speaker 1: That's that's justifiable. I only was like kind of recoiling

317
00:15:30,880 --> 00:15:33,600
Speaker 1: that people talking about how he's like cooked. It's like, guys,

318
00:15:34,200 --> 00:15:37,720
Speaker 1: you just don't know that, And look, maybe is Unfortunately

319
00:15:37,760 --> 00:15:40,360
Speaker 1: that's the possibility. Unfortunately he might never get back to

320
00:15:40,360 --> 00:15:43,040
Speaker 1: where he was. That's very much in the role of possibility.

321
00:15:43,560 --> 00:15:45,200
Speaker 1: But I do think that it's like crazy to have

322
00:15:45,280 --> 00:15:47,960
Speaker 1: that takeaway on it was it February twenty eighth, Like,

323
00:15:48,000 --> 00:15:48,840
Speaker 1: come on, what do we do?

324
00:15:49,760 --> 00:15:53,440
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's again, everything is magnified. It's the early days

325
00:15:53,440 --> 00:15:56,840
Speaker 2: of spring training games. I understand Strider not just locally,

326
00:15:56,880 --> 00:15:59,480
Speaker 2: of course, we love Spencer, but nationally he is a

327
00:16:00,240 --> 00:16:02,760
Speaker 2: He's had some big quotes that have caught on nationally

328
00:16:02,840 --> 00:16:05,960
Speaker 2: and if for comments he's made, and Spencer's a straight shooter,

329
00:16:06,520 --> 00:16:08,520
Speaker 2: he's not gonna sugarcoat it. He's not going to go

330
00:16:08,560 --> 00:16:11,920
Speaker 2: through twenty five cliches during his interviews with media.

331
00:16:12,040 --> 00:16:13,280
Speaker 1: He's going to tell you how it is.

332
00:16:13,400 --> 00:16:15,520
Speaker 2: And let's hope over the next couple of weeks the

333
00:16:15,600 --> 00:16:18,480
Speaker 2: velocity does tick up. That would be a really good sign.

334
00:16:19,160 --> 00:16:21,720
Speaker 2: But of course there's so much more than pitching than

335
00:16:21,800 --> 00:16:22,800
Speaker 2: just pure velocity.

336
00:16:23,080 --> 00:16:23,880
Speaker 1: That was the name of the game.

337
00:16:23,880 --> 00:16:25,440
Speaker 2: Everybody would just go out there and try to throw

338
00:16:25,440 --> 00:16:27,640
Speaker 2: one hundred and four miles an hour every time they

339
00:16:27,640 --> 00:16:29,360
Speaker 2: threw a pitch, and.

340
00:16:29,640 --> 00:16:32,480
Speaker 1: I wish he could throw a hundred again. I'm not

341
00:16:32,520 --> 00:16:34,760
Speaker 1: saying otherwise. I think you're here with me, like, it'd

342
00:16:34,800 --> 00:16:36,760
Speaker 1: be great if he was the guy he was three

343
00:16:36,840 --> 00:16:40,000
Speaker 1: years ago, of course that'd be awesome. He may not be,

344
00:16:40,360 --> 00:16:43,240
Speaker 1: but he probably won't. I should say probably he'd probably

345
00:16:43,240 --> 00:16:45,000
Speaker 1: I might in my mind, probably won't be this either.

346
00:16:45,120 --> 00:16:47,040
Speaker 1: I think if he was. I think if he thought

347
00:16:47,040 --> 00:16:50,240
Speaker 1: he was gonna throw ninety three, there'd be more freak

348
00:16:50,240 --> 00:16:52,480
Speaker 1: out behind the scenes. Then there has been so far

349
00:16:52,680 --> 00:16:52,880
Speaker 1: just my.

350
00:16:52,880 --> 00:16:56,680
Speaker 2: Opinion, and I will say the fact that Strider's induced

351
00:16:56,760 --> 00:16:59,960
Speaker 2: vertical break, which people may not be familiar with it,

352
00:17:00,080 --> 00:17:02,840
Speaker 2: but it's it's a it's a term that basically says

353
00:17:02,840 --> 00:17:06,680
Speaker 2: that it's a fastball that gets on hitters fast like

354
00:17:06,680 --> 00:17:09,160
Speaker 2: like remember yeah, right, like the ball moves at.

355
00:17:09,080 --> 00:17:12,280
Speaker 1: The ride, whichever word you want to use, like, hey,

356
00:17:13,200 --> 00:17:16,119
Speaker 1: it's not straight. Basically, it's not just like a some

357
00:17:16,160 --> 00:17:18,679
Speaker 1: guys can throw a hundred and it's so straight that

358
00:17:19,000 --> 00:17:21,600
Speaker 1: hitters can just tee off because these guys are pros.

359
00:17:21,840 --> 00:17:23,560
Speaker 1: Even at one hundred. You can get hit if you're

360
00:17:23,600 --> 00:17:27,240
Speaker 1: throwing straight fastballs like fastball I think has the reputations,

361
00:17:27,240 --> 00:17:29,440
Speaker 1: but especially four steamers of just being the straight pitch.

362
00:17:29,760 --> 00:17:31,760
Speaker 1: It's not straight, Like you don't want to you can't.

363
00:17:31,800 --> 00:17:33,680
Speaker 1: It can't be straight at this level. You can't. There's

364
00:17:33,720 --> 00:17:35,720
Speaker 1: no want You're throw one hundred and five, you can't

365
00:17:35,760 --> 00:17:37,879
Speaker 1: throw straight. Yeah, the ball's got to move. Yeah.

366
00:17:37,920 --> 00:17:40,360
Speaker 2: So that was encouraging to hear that Strider's and Douce

367
00:17:40,480 --> 00:17:43,760
Speaker 2: vertical break was like seventeen on average today, which is

368
00:17:43,800 --> 00:17:46,280
Speaker 2: closer to what it was in twenty twenty three when

369
00:17:46,320 --> 00:17:48,719
Speaker 2: he was so elite, so good signs. Again, We'll keep

370
00:17:48,720 --> 00:17:51,480
Speaker 2: an eye on the velocity, but I'm my concern level

371
00:17:51,560 --> 00:17:54,639
Speaker 2: as of today with Spencer Schreider is like a three

372
00:17:54,680 --> 00:17:55,200
Speaker 2: out of ten.

373
00:17:56,440 --> 00:18:00,320
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm not worried either. Next start and maybe ramp

374
00:18:00,400 --> 00:18:02,280
Speaker 1: up if it's If it's this, the next almost every

375
00:18:02,440 --> 00:18:05,200
Speaker 1: every start will be probably another another point or two higher.

376
00:18:05,400 --> 00:18:08,240
Speaker 1: That makes sense, that's defensible. I'm just not I'm not

377
00:18:08,400 --> 00:18:11,720
Speaker 1: bothered right now. If you want to be to each

378
00:18:11,760 --> 00:18:15,639
Speaker 1: their room, Scott, let's just quickly talk about another picture.

379
00:18:15,880 --> 00:18:20,679
Speaker 1: Robert Suarez made his spring debut on Friday. People that

380
00:18:20,800 --> 00:18:22,800
Speaker 1: may have been plugging back in now after a long

381
00:18:22,840 --> 00:18:26,120
Speaker 1: winter may have almost forgotten about this, but he signed

382
00:18:26,160 --> 00:18:28,159
Speaker 1: a big contract to be a late aning reliever for

383
00:18:28,200 --> 00:18:31,000
Speaker 1: the Braves. He's an awesome reliever by all accounts. He

384
00:18:31,119 --> 00:18:34,320
Speaker 1: throws very hard and was throwing what ninety nine hundred

385
00:18:34,680 --> 00:18:37,719
Speaker 1: like just kind of easily doing that. And maybe that's

386
00:18:37,720 --> 00:18:41,880
Speaker 1: a contrast to Strider, but look, Suarez is like relievers

387
00:18:41,920 --> 00:18:44,199
Speaker 1: are different, man, Like they're they're always gonna throw at

388
00:18:44,200 --> 00:18:46,439
Speaker 1: anying maybe two at the absolute most, so they're probably

389
00:18:46,480 --> 00:18:48,520
Speaker 1: a little bit more like able to let it go

390
00:18:48,560 --> 00:18:52,120
Speaker 1: a little bit in spring training, but Suarez looking as

391
00:18:52,160 --> 00:18:55,119
Speaker 1: advertised doesn't change anything for me. I thought it was

392
00:18:55,119 --> 00:18:57,160
Speaker 1: gonna be awesome the entire time, but maybe it's like, hey,

393
00:18:57,240 --> 00:18:59,960
Speaker 1: Braves fans that maybe forgot about him. This is a

394
00:19:00,000 --> 00:19:02,000
Speaker 1: pretty awesome relieve that that they signed his twitter.

395
00:19:02,640 --> 00:19:05,520
Speaker 2: And a pretty awesome reliever that the Braves have coveted

396
00:19:05,600 --> 00:19:09,160
Speaker 2: for years. They Braves were trying to get Robert Swarez

397
00:19:09,200 --> 00:19:11,320
Speaker 2: out of San Diego the past couple of off seasons,

398
00:19:11,600 --> 00:19:13,639
Speaker 2: of course, couldn't get it done, saying you wait till

399
00:19:13,680 --> 00:19:16,080
Speaker 2: free agency and you give him the big contract.

400
00:19:16,640 --> 00:19:19,199
Speaker 1: I'm really excited for Robert Suarez and the Braves.

401
00:19:19,200 --> 00:19:21,960
Speaker 2: Bullpen for the better part of this run since twenty

402
00:19:22,000 --> 00:19:26,320
Speaker 2: eighteen has been anywhere from good to great last year notwithstanding,

403
00:19:26,680 --> 00:19:29,280
Speaker 2: but one thing the Braves have not had an absolute

404
00:19:29,480 --> 00:19:33,800
Speaker 2: abundance of is really high velocity. Out of that group

405
00:19:33,880 --> 00:19:36,320
Speaker 2: guys who routinely hit ninety nine and one hundred miles

406
00:19:36,320 --> 00:19:38,879
Speaker 2: an hour, Like, we know how good rightce eel Iglesias is,

407
00:19:39,040 --> 00:19:40,840
Speaker 2: but he's not somebody who goes out there and hums

408
00:19:40,880 --> 00:19:43,440
Speaker 2: one hundred mile an hour fastballs in order to get there,

409
00:19:43,960 --> 00:19:47,840
Speaker 2: Robert Swarez does this dude goes on the mound and

410
00:19:48,000 --> 00:19:51,120
Speaker 2: just hums ninety nine after one hundred, after ninety eight,

411
00:19:51,160 --> 00:19:53,840
Speaker 2: after one hundred. He's he is electric out there. He

412
00:19:53,880 --> 00:19:56,040
Speaker 2: will work in kind of a change up in a

413
00:19:56,119 --> 00:19:59,520
Speaker 2: sinker to keep hitters honest. But sixteen pitches during his

414
00:19:59,560 --> 00:20:02,560
Speaker 2: Spring day on Friday ended the inning with a strikehead

415
00:20:02,600 --> 00:20:05,359
Speaker 2: of Jaron Duran on a ninety nine on R fastball.

416
00:20:05,600 --> 00:20:06,360
Speaker 1: He is electric.

417
00:20:06,440 --> 00:20:08,159
Speaker 2: And I think you think about the Braves in the

418
00:20:08,200 --> 00:20:11,320
Speaker 2: eighth and ninth innings, it seems like if Atlanta can

419
00:20:11,320 --> 00:20:13,679
Speaker 2: get to a lead Laighton ball games, it's gonna be

420
00:20:13,680 --> 00:20:16,600
Speaker 2: pretty close to ceremonial at that point to bring it home.

421
00:20:17,920 --> 00:20:19,200
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I know there are people that were a

422
00:20:19,200 --> 00:20:21,800
Speaker 1: little bit not put off by but it's like, wait,

423
00:20:21,880 --> 00:20:23,840
Speaker 1: they signed this guy a big money He's not even

424
00:20:23,880 --> 00:20:26,240
Speaker 1: going to be the closer. I don't care about that.

425
00:20:26,400 --> 00:20:28,840
Speaker 1: Just want to say that out loud. Him and Iglesias.

426
00:20:29,200 --> 00:20:32,080
Speaker 1: Glazias isn't quite as sexy as Robert Horris, I will,

427
00:20:32,160 --> 00:20:34,800
Speaker 1: I will grant you that, But that's clearly what seems

428
00:20:34,840 --> 00:20:36,960
Speaker 1: to be the role they're projecting is Swarz in the eighth,

429
00:20:37,280 --> 00:20:39,360
Speaker 1: the glacis in the ninth. If that has to flip

430
00:20:39,359 --> 00:20:42,200
Speaker 1: at some point, that's fine. I don't think that the

431
00:20:42,600 --> 00:20:45,159
Speaker 1: old closer thing is a big deal, but I know

432
00:20:45,200 --> 00:20:47,239
Speaker 1: that that will come up throughout the season, especially when

433
00:20:47,240 --> 00:20:49,240
Speaker 1: he's thrown one hundred. It's like, oh, this guy's our

434
00:20:49,440 --> 00:20:51,080
Speaker 1: our is our close. No, he's actually gonna be a

435
00:20:51,119 --> 00:20:53,560
Speaker 1: thing guy. That's okay too. He's awesome. But you're right,

436
00:20:53,600 --> 00:20:55,960
Speaker 1: they have a lot of flamethrowers. I thought of like

437
00:20:56,040 --> 00:20:58,440
Speaker 1: Joe Himanniz is a kind of a guy throws really hard.

438
00:20:58,520 --> 00:21:01,200
Speaker 1: He doesn't throw nearly star drums wars like him as

439
00:21:01,359 --> 00:21:03,520
Speaker 1: was usually like ninety ninety five ninety six, which is

440
00:21:03,600 --> 00:21:05,600
Speaker 1: that's a pretty hard thrower. But they have not had

441
00:21:05,640 --> 00:21:09,439
Speaker 1: a guy like this in a prominent role for a while,

442
00:21:09,800 --> 00:21:12,800
Speaker 1: like maybe Prime Kimberl of course was throwing like really

443
00:21:12,880 --> 00:21:15,399
Speaker 1: very very very hard, but even then wasn't thrown a

444
00:21:15,520 --> 00:21:18,680
Speaker 1: hundred all the time. So this is interesting. I will

445
00:21:18,720 --> 00:21:21,000
Speaker 1: be fascinating to see how people take to him, because

446
00:21:21,400 --> 00:21:22,760
Speaker 1: we could be honest, Scott, I know a lot of

447
00:21:22,800 --> 00:21:25,280
Speaker 1: Braves fans probably have not watched a lot of Robbert Torres.

448
00:21:25,320 --> 00:21:26,159
Speaker 1: We could be honest about that.

449
00:21:26,560 --> 00:21:29,040
Speaker 2: It's okay, gotta stay up deep into the night to

450
00:21:29,080 --> 00:21:31,320
Speaker 2: watch those Diego Padre games till.

451
00:21:31,840 --> 00:21:34,320
Speaker 1: Especially for closers. Like, yeah, you might, you might see

452
00:21:34,320 --> 00:21:36,720
Speaker 1: the beginning of a game, see three innings of some starter,

453
00:21:37,040 --> 00:21:39,560
Speaker 1: but like if you're trying to watch the closer on

454
00:21:39,600 --> 00:21:42,600
Speaker 1: the Padres, you're up laying a lot. Which hey, you're

455
00:21:42,600 --> 00:21:44,480
Speaker 1: you're you're out there on that on that coast of

456
00:21:44,520 --> 00:21:46,320
Speaker 1: the country. So I'm sure you've seen it more than most.

457
00:21:46,320 --> 00:21:49,320
Speaker 1: But Brais, I saw some Braves fans that almost like

458
00:21:49,359 --> 00:21:51,720
Speaker 1: forgot he existed. I'm being nice about it, but it's

459
00:21:51,720 --> 00:21:53,520
Speaker 1: like kind of funny. He was a big ticket ad,

460
00:21:53,520 --> 00:21:54,760
Speaker 1: but it was a long time ago. To be fair,

461
00:21:54,800 --> 00:21:56,080
Speaker 1: it was like the first thing they did, and I

462
00:21:56,080 --> 00:21:57,480
Speaker 1: get it well.

463
00:21:57,520 --> 00:22:00,520
Speaker 2: And whenever a player changes teams, I like to look

464
00:22:00,520 --> 00:22:02,639
Speaker 2: at the reaction of the fan base to kind of

465
00:22:02,640 --> 00:22:06,040
Speaker 2: get a vibe on this player. Padres fans were genuinely

466
00:22:06,040 --> 00:22:08,920
Speaker 2: bummed to lose Robert Suarez. I mean, they love this guy.

467
00:22:09,080 --> 00:22:12,320
Speaker 2: He was as so steady as steady gets for San

468
00:22:12,359 --> 00:22:15,879
Speaker 2: Diego the last couple of years. Really a good reliever again,

469
00:22:16,000 --> 00:22:19,040
Speaker 2: no guarantees with relievers ever, no matter how good you've been,

470
00:22:19,160 --> 00:22:21,560
Speaker 2: but it should be really fun. And yeah, you know what,

471
00:22:21,920 --> 00:22:24,160
Speaker 2: if the Braves have too many good relievers to finish

472
00:22:24,240 --> 00:22:26,800
Speaker 2: out ball games this year, I guarantee you.

473
00:22:26,760 --> 00:22:28,160
Speaker 1: That is no problem at all.

474
00:22:29,240 --> 00:22:30,879
Speaker 2: Something tells me both the guys are going to get

475
00:22:30,880 --> 00:22:32,480
Speaker 2: a chance to close out a couple of games this

476
00:22:32,560 --> 00:22:33,320
Speaker 2: upcoming summer.

477
00:22:33,800 --> 00:22:36,040
Speaker 1: You don't have to be super old to remember that

478
00:22:36,119 --> 00:22:39,240
Speaker 1: the Braves won the World Series on the back of

479
00:22:39,280 --> 00:22:43,280
Speaker 1: their bullpen and multiple pitchers. It was not one pitcher,

480
00:22:43,359 --> 00:22:45,879
Speaker 1: it was the night shift and it was several guys.

481
00:22:45,960 --> 00:22:49,399
Speaker 1: And it may not be that, but it's really valuable

482
00:22:49,440 --> 00:22:51,800
Speaker 1: to have both in the races, but especially in the playoffs.

483
00:22:51,800 --> 00:22:53,119
Speaker 1: If you have an awesome open in the playoffs, that

484
00:22:53,119 --> 00:22:55,399
Speaker 1: could be very, very helpful. And we'll see if that

485
00:22:55,400 --> 00:22:58,040
Speaker 1: comes to pass later on this year. All right, Scott.

486
00:22:58,040 --> 00:23:00,760
Speaker 1: In a second, we'll talk about Mike U Streemsky's thunderous

487
00:23:00,840 --> 00:23:03,160
Speaker 1: debut with the Braves so far in spring. With first

488
00:23:03,200 --> 00:23:05,080
Speaker 1: to work on our partners on the show today.

489
00:23:06,119 --> 00:23:09,120
Speaker 2: When you're keeping the lights on for thousands or even millions,

490
00:23:09,280 --> 00:23:14,320
Speaker 2: reliability isn't optional. Fastenall helps power generation teams stay running

491
00:23:14,320 --> 00:23:16,920
Speaker 2: with the right parts, tools, and safety gear right where

492
00:23:16,960 --> 00:23:20,439
Speaker 2: the work happens, from turbine maintenance to everyday MRO needs

493
00:23:20,600 --> 00:23:24,040
Speaker 2: our local teams and on site solutions. Keep your crews supplied,

494
00:23:24,119 --> 00:23:28,560
Speaker 2: efficient and safe. Fasten all powering up productivity one plan

495
00:23:28,680 --> 00:23:32,040
Speaker 2: at a time. Want to learn more, visit fascinall dot

496
00:23:32,080 --> 00:23:36,200
Speaker 2: com for industrial supplies and innovative solutions. That's f A

497
00:23:36,680 --> 00:23:40,200
Speaker 2: S T E n A l dot com.

498
00:23:40,280 --> 00:23:43,320
Speaker 1: All right, Scott let us discuss Mikey Strimsky, who is

499
00:23:43,600 --> 00:23:46,920
Speaker 1: suddenly the most popular player on the Braves roster. It's

500
00:23:46,920 --> 00:23:50,000
Speaker 1: funny because I know, as you know, you and I

501
00:23:50,040 --> 00:23:52,960
Speaker 1: are old to remember when there was a mixed reaction

502
00:23:53,000 --> 00:23:55,600
Speaker 1: to that signing. It wasn't super negative, but it also

503
00:23:55,640 --> 00:23:57,399
Speaker 1: wasn't positive. It's like, wait, this guy's making how much

504
00:23:57,440 --> 00:24:00,120
Speaker 1: money he does what and having to see the reaction

505
00:24:00,280 --> 00:24:03,520
Speaker 1: of like what money costs, you know, all other things,

506
00:24:03,560 --> 00:24:05,679
Speaker 1: like we liked it more than the FED based I

507
00:24:05,680 --> 00:24:08,840
Speaker 1: think in my reaction with my judging on the internet,

508
00:24:08,880 --> 00:24:11,760
Speaker 1: we were a little bit higher as a podcast on Yes,

509
00:24:12,320 --> 00:24:14,240
Speaker 1: and I'm being a little bit funny about him being

510
00:24:14,280 --> 00:24:17,200
Speaker 1: popular right now, but with good reason. As a record

511
00:24:17,200 --> 00:24:19,560
Speaker 1: of this early on Sunday, he has three hovers of spring.

512
00:24:19,600 --> 00:24:23,280
Speaker 1: He had two on Friday. His swing is just looking great.

513
00:24:23,359 --> 00:24:27,199
Speaker 1: He's mashing in the baseball and it's a reminder that

514
00:24:27,280 --> 00:24:30,359
Speaker 1: he does what we kind of advertise him to be

515
00:24:30,440 --> 00:24:33,679
Speaker 1: able to do, which is hit right handed pitching, and

516
00:24:33,720 --> 00:24:36,680
Speaker 1: that's the whole idea with him. He's a decent defender.

517
00:24:36,920 --> 00:24:39,000
Speaker 1: I know Alex has talked about how we actually play

518
00:24:39,119 --> 00:24:41,320
Speaker 1: can actually play a little bit of center field. He's

519
00:24:41,320 --> 00:24:42,919
Speaker 1: not a center fielder, but he can play there if

520
00:24:42,960 --> 00:24:45,480
Speaker 1: you need him. Like there's some versatility. And but the

521
00:24:45,520 --> 00:24:47,600
Speaker 1: real reason I signed him was that he hits rities

522
00:24:48,000 --> 00:24:50,639
Speaker 1: and his swing is really pretty too, Like he's got

523
00:24:50,680 --> 00:24:53,439
Speaker 1: a famous last name, but like he mashes a little bit,

524
00:24:53,480 --> 00:24:54,840
Speaker 1: which is it's nice, it's fun.

525
00:24:55,720 --> 00:24:58,439
Speaker 2: Well, and Yeas is probably a player you mentioned a

526
00:24:58,480 --> 00:25:01,040
Speaker 2: minute ago. Braves fans maybe haven't seen a ton of

527
00:25:01,119 --> 00:25:04,199
Speaker 2: Robert Suarez as the closer in San Diego. Well, they

528
00:25:04,200 --> 00:25:06,399
Speaker 2: probably haven't seen a ton of mike Yastremsky because he

529
00:25:06,440 --> 00:25:09,359
Speaker 2: was playing with the Giants for the very large majority

530
00:25:09,960 --> 00:25:12,480
Speaker 2: of his career and then was traded to the Royals

531
00:25:12,520 --> 00:25:15,119
Speaker 2: and actually was awesome with Kansas City down the stretch

532
00:25:15,200 --> 00:25:19,399
Speaker 2: last season. But Yastremsky is going to do wonders for

533
00:25:19,480 --> 00:25:22,439
Speaker 2: the order, especially in the middle, to balance out. I mean,

534
00:25:22,520 --> 00:25:24,159
Speaker 2: we know the Braves have plenty of pop from the

535
00:25:24,200 --> 00:25:27,080
Speaker 2: right side, and really the last couple of seasons one

536
00:25:27,119 --> 00:25:30,560
Speaker 2: reason why the Braves offensively have really fallen off. So

537
00:25:30,720 --> 00:25:34,080
Speaker 2: in twenty twenty four, I'm sorry. In twenty twenty three,

538
00:25:34,160 --> 00:25:37,320
Speaker 2: when they had the historic offense, Atlanta was number one

539
00:25:37,359 --> 00:25:41,240
Speaker 2: in the majors by a country mile against right handed pitching,

540
00:25:41,760 --> 00:25:46,080
Speaker 2: they were ridiculous. The last two seasons, though, the Braves

541
00:25:46,080 --> 00:25:50,359
Speaker 2: were sixteenth and eighteenth against right handed pitching, and lo

542
00:25:50,480 --> 00:25:52,840
Speaker 2: and behold when I think it's like seventy two percent

543
00:25:52,920 --> 00:25:55,199
Speaker 2: of the pitches thrown in Major League Baseball last year

544
00:25:55,240 --> 00:25:56,440
Speaker 2: were by rightys.

545
00:25:56,440 --> 00:25:58,720
Speaker 1: You need to improve that. That's not good enough.

546
00:25:59,359 --> 00:26:02,560
Speaker 2: Yastremsky should be a great addition to bat I don't know, Brad.

547
00:26:02,600 --> 00:26:04,960
Speaker 2: I mean, he could bat anywhere. You could probably not

548
00:26:05,040 --> 00:26:08,719
Speaker 2: lead off, but I mean, if Yustremsky's mashing, it's probably

549
00:26:08,720 --> 00:26:11,320
Speaker 2: not crazy to say he could bat second. At some point,

550
00:26:11,400 --> 00:26:15,040
Speaker 2: he could hit third, fourth, fifth, sixth. It's a couple

551
00:26:15,040 --> 00:26:17,000
Speaker 2: of spring training games. We're not going to pretend this

552
00:26:17,080 --> 00:26:19,320
Speaker 2: guy is the new Hank Karen, but really a good

553
00:26:19,359 --> 00:26:21,480
Speaker 2: sign from Yas and I think a player. I said

554
00:26:21,480 --> 00:26:22,919
Speaker 2: this on the show, I think a week ago, but

555
00:26:23,240 --> 00:26:25,080
Speaker 2: I think as the games get going, I think he

556
00:26:25,160 --> 00:26:27,919
Speaker 2: has is going to endear himself to Braves fans and

557
00:26:28,119 --> 00:26:30,440
Speaker 2: wind up being a really nice kind of quiet under

558
00:26:30,440 --> 00:26:31,280
Speaker 2: the radar pickup.

559
00:26:32,119 --> 00:26:35,520
Speaker 1: Yeah. I think that was always likely to happen. I

560
00:26:35,600 --> 00:26:38,240
Speaker 1: think when people kind of realized that the deal wasn't

561
00:26:38,280 --> 00:26:40,000
Speaker 1: as big of an investments and maybe they thought it

562
00:26:40,080 --> 00:26:43,480
Speaker 1: originally as well, Like the way it stacks up money wise,

563
00:26:43,520 --> 00:26:47,040
Speaker 1: like he's getting paid like a third fourth outfielder. That's

564
00:26:47,320 --> 00:26:49,760
Speaker 1: what he is, and that's that's a reasonable investment. I

565
00:26:49,800 --> 00:26:52,240
Speaker 1: think because of when it happened, people were itching for

566
00:26:52,280 --> 00:26:54,399
Speaker 1: big stuff to happen. But he helps them in a

567
00:26:54,440 --> 00:26:56,080
Speaker 1: lot of ways. He helps open up a lot of

568
00:26:56,080 --> 00:26:59,679
Speaker 1: different avenues for the offense. I think the best version

569
00:26:59,720 --> 00:27:02,800
Speaker 1: of this team. I think it's gonna sound funny, but

570
00:27:03,160 --> 00:27:05,920
Speaker 1: Sean Murphy and Mikey Shrimsky are compliments in each other.

571
00:27:06,200 --> 00:27:09,960
Speaker 1: Sean Murphy is a lefty masher at catcher. The Chefs

572
00:27:10,040 --> 00:27:12,800
Speaker 1: is a righting matcher at in the outfield and between

573
00:27:12,840 --> 00:27:16,280
Speaker 1: because profarc and DH and play left. There's some interchangeability there.

574
00:27:17,119 --> 00:27:19,159
Speaker 1: And if you need him to play every day for

575
00:27:19,200 --> 00:27:21,520
Speaker 1: a while because somebody's hurt, he can do that and

576
00:27:21,560 --> 00:27:22,960
Speaker 1: he won't get you. He won't get he won't get it,

577
00:27:22,960 --> 00:27:25,520
Speaker 1: won't get you killed, because yes, if you had it,

578
00:27:25,600 --> 00:27:27,800
Speaker 1: you don't. You don't want a platoon split, you don't ideally,

579
00:27:28,160 --> 00:27:30,560
Speaker 1: but if you have one, it's better to have one

580
00:27:30,560 --> 00:27:33,200
Speaker 1: who hits. Writing's better because there's just more right right picture.

581
00:27:33,320 --> 00:27:36,840
Speaker 1: So all that said, I have not changed my evaluation

582
00:27:36,920 --> 00:27:38,720
Speaker 1: Mikey Trimsky at all other than just like, hey, that's

583
00:27:38,760 --> 00:27:42,000
Speaker 1: a fun swing to watch. But it is probably good

584
00:27:42,000 --> 00:27:44,760
Speaker 1: for vibes that he had a good start to the

585
00:27:44,880 --> 00:27:47,040
Speaker 1: spring because people are paying attention right now. We haven't

586
00:27:47,040 --> 00:27:48,720
Speaker 1: reached the dip yet of when people kind of like

587
00:27:48,800 --> 00:27:52,399
Speaker 1: log off almost mentally until spring starting starts him starting

588
00:27:52,440 --> 00:27:54,439
Speaker 1: out hot. It's like, oh, brace, fans could be excited,

589
00:27:54,480 --> 00:27:57,680
Speaker 1: which is cool. So I have a quick comparison here.

590
00:27:58,200 --> 00:28:00,639
Speaker 1: So if I were to ask you, Brad Rowland, is

591
00:28:00,680 --> 00:28:03,760
Speaker 1: Austin Riley a good hitter? Yes?

592
00:28:05,720 --> 00:28:11,440
Speaker 2: For their careers, mike Yastremsky against right handed pitching has

593
00:28:11,480 --> 00:28:13,560
Speaker 2: a one to twenty WRC plus.

594
00:28:15,000 --> 00:28:16,040
Speaker 1: Not good against lefties.

595
00:28:16,080 --> 00:28:18,520
Speaker 2: No one's gonna have mikey Stremsky batt against lefties, but

596
00:28:18,560 --> 00:28:22,640
Speaker 2: against righty's a one to twenty WRC plus. For the

597
00:28:22,840 --> 00:28:27,000
Speaker 2: entirety of Austin Riley's career against both righty's and lefties,

598
00:28:27,400 --> 00:28:32,880
Speaker 2: Austin Riley has a career one twenty two WRC plus. Yep,

599
00:28:33,000 --> 00:28:34,399
Speaker 2: basically the same hitter.

600
00:28:34,520 --> 00:28:34,760
Speaker 1: Now.

601
00:28:34,960 --> 00:28:38,200
Speaker 2: I know Yastremsky he played in San Francisco in AT

602
00:28:38,280 --> 00:28:40,760
Speaker 2: and T Park, which suppresses hitters and all that, But

603
00:28:40,800 --> 00:28:45,000
Speaker 2: for their careers, Yastremsky against righty's has basically performed what

604
00:28:45,080 --> 00:28:47,360
Speaker 2: Austin Riley has done his entire career.

605
00:28:47,680 --> 00:28:52,240
Speaker 1: That's pretty damn good. Yeah, I I just know that

606
00:28:52,280 --> 00:28:55,040
Speaker 1: he'll have a slump in April. People are gonna get

607
00:28:55,080 --> 00:28:56,280
Speaker 1: mad at us for saying this, but you're I mean,

608
00:28:56,320 --> 00:28:59,440
Speaker 1: he has a long, long record of hitting bright handed pitching.

609
00:28:59,480 --> 00:29:01,960
Speaker 1: That's just what it is, and the age is Yeah,

610
00:29:01,960 --> 00:29:04,320
Speaker 1: I'm not saying it's not a concern at all. I

611
00:29:04,320 --> 00:29:06,959
Speaker 1: do think that hopefully. Like I said before about the vibes,

612
00:29:07,480 --> 00:29:09,200
Speaker 1: he's a guy that is thirty five years old and

613
00:29:09,240 --> 00:29:11,360
Speaker 1: I saw some I get that there's a confirmation about

614
00:29:11,400 --> 00:29:13,440
Speaker 1: that it's a multi year deal for thirty five year old,

615
00:29:13,680 --> 00:29:17,560
Speaker 1: but you can his skill set is one that should

616
00:29:17,560 --> 00:29:21,440
Speaker 1: age relatively well. It's not like he's super reliant on

617
00:29:22,080 --> 00:29:25,000
Speaker 1: being in the lead athlete for example, et cetera. So

618
00:29:25,800 --> 00:29:29,200
Speaker 1: I'm intrigued, I'm excited. Does it matter a lot, No,

619
00:29:29,760 --> 00:29:31,800
Speaker 1: but it's perhaps a reminder of what he could be

620
00:29:31,920 --> 00:29:34,120
Speaker 1: and how helpfully could be to this team. Because as

621
00:29:34,200 --> 00:29:36,920
Speaker 1: much as the injuries have really been brutal at times

622
00:29:37,040 --> 00:29:40,520
Speaker 1: the last couple of weeks, one of the biggest pitches

623
00:29:40,600 --> 00:29:45,000
Speaker 1: of this team being improved was the depth being improved.

624
00:29:45,720 --> 00:29:49,120
Speaker 1: And it is improved like last year's roster, two years

625
00:29:49,120 --> 00:29:51,760
Speaker 1: ago roster even two years are roster like you couldn't

626
00:29:51,800 --> 00:29:55,600
Speaker 1: afford a hasan Kim injury, for example, and now they

627
00:29:55,640 --> 00:29:57,880
Speaker 1: have bursta Dubon who could just play and like be

628
00:29:57,960 --> 00:30:01,600
Speaker 1: fine at that spot. Yeah, is like great insurance and

629
00:30:01,640 --> 00:30:03,880
Speaker 1: also just a guy who can play three out of

630
00:30:03,880 --> 00:30:07,400
Speaker 1: every five days for you no matter what. So I'm

631
00:30:07,640 --> 00:30:09,840
Speaker 1: feeling good about the roster in general, not because he

632
00:30:09,920 --> 00:30:13,080
Speaker 1: has but it is like, hey, it's not big ticket,

633
00:30:13,520 --> 00:30:17,280
Speaker 1: but we complained, always not complaining. I'll speak to myself

634
00:30:17,720 --> 00:30:20,120
Speaker 1: for years about the lack of depth, and they have

635
00:30:20,200 --> 00:30:22,400
Speaker 1: depth now and that matters. It's just not gonna like

636
00:30:22,520 --> 00:30:24,520
Speaker 1: that doesn't grab headlines, but it's something that like the

637
00:30:24,560 --> 00:30:26,280
Speaker 1: sickos probably would understand.

638
00:30:25,920 --> 00:30:29,680
Speaker 2: And here we are, hopefully the Braves are not having

639
00:30:29,680 --> 00:30:34,120
Speaker 2: to resort to just putting out players completely over their heads, which.

640
00:30:33,880 --> 00:30:35,960
Speaker 1: They've done a lot honestly like that and they've had

641
00:30:35,960 --> 00:30:39,400
Speaker 1: to and that's you know, maybe a criticism of the

642
00:30:39,400 --> 00:30:42,280
Speaker 1: front office. That's that's viable. Also with the way that

643
00:30:42,440 --> 00:30:45,560
Speaker 1: the previous manager managed the team. Unless the guy was

644
00:30:45,560 --> 00:30:47,400
Speaker 1: like unable to walk, he was gonna be in the lineup.

645
00:30:47,480 --> 00:30:49,640
Speaker 1: So it was not really the sat emphasis on depth.

646
00:30:49,640 --> 00:30:52,920
Speaker 1: But I think over a long season why seems to

647
00:30:52,960 --> 00:30:57,920
Speaker 1: embrace a little bit using the depth more and the interchangeability. So, yeah,

648
00:30:58,080 --> 00:30:59,680
Speaker 1: is just one part of it. But I think it's

649
00:30:59,720 --> 00:31:01,720
Speaker 1: been good to see him get off to a positive

650
00:31:01,720 --> 00:31:06,320
Speaker 1: start and endear himself to the fan base a little bit. Scott,

651
00:31:06,520 --> 00:31:10,280
Speaker 1: we could do an hour breakdown of the Braves holdings

652
00:31:10,600 --> 00:31:12,960
Speaker 1: LLC financial statements if you want to start that now,

653
00:31:13,040 --> 00:31:14,160
Speaker 1: or do you want me to log off and let

654
00:31:14,160 --> 00:31:14,880
Speaker 1: you do it by yourself.

655
00:31:15,680 --> 00:31:19,040
Speaker 2: God, nobody wants to hear that there are probably people

656
00:31:19,080 --> 00:31:21,440
Speaker 2: in Braves country far better qualified than us.

657
00:31:21,920 --> 00:31:25,800
Speaker 1: There are I can't remember. I know Steven our colleague

658
00:31:26,200 --> 00:31:28,280
Speaker 1: quote sweet. I believe it's it's like, oh, mesh to

659
00:31:28,320 --> 00:31:30,840
Speaker 1: have this great.

660
00:31:30,520 --> 00:31:34,440
Speaker 2: Yeah, guy Graham, Yeah, he's a great financial GBB seventy

661
00:31:34,480 --> 00:31:34,959
Speaker 2: on Twitter.

662
00:31:35,080 --> 00:31:37,040
Speaker 1: You got I was like, I was almost said exactly that,

663
00:31:37,080 --> 00:31:38,240
Speaker 1: and I wasn't sure it was right. So I want

664
00:31:38,240 --> 00:31:41,520
Speaker 1: to say, right. So that's a great actual finance perspective.

665
00:31:41,640 --> 00:31:44,360
Speaker 1: You and I are not financi finance guys. I've read

666
00:31:44,400 --> 00:31:47,000
Speaker 1: about this kind of little stuff. Anyway, The Braves are

667
00:31:47,000 --> 00:31:49,480
Speaker 1: the one team in baseball that announces because they have to.

668
00:31:49,520 --> 00:31:52,800
Speaker 1: They have to announce financials quarterly because it's a public company,

669
00:31:52,960 --> 00:31:57,080
Speaker 1: which is an interesting look into things long and short

670
00:31:57,120 --> 00:31:59,320
Speaker 1: of it. The Braves are making a lot of money,

671
00:31:59,760 --> 00:32:03,120
Speaker 1: not big surprise. It did turn some heads though, that

672
00:32:03,160 --> 00:32:08,280
Speaker 1: their baseball revenue was up year over year despite the

673
00:32:08,280 --> 00:32:10,320
Speaker 1: fact that they missed the playoffs and were bad for

674
00:32:10,360 --> 00:32:13,200
Speaker 1: a lot of last season. And part of that is

675
00:32:13,240 --> 00:32:15,440
Speaker 1: that you know, they're actually their overall revenues up even

676
00:32:15,480 --> 00:32:18,320
Speaker 1: more than that because the battery. By the way, Scott

677
00:32:18,360 --> 00:32:19,560
Speaker 1: or you don't live here, but you know, you know

678
00:32:19,600 --> 00:32:23,920
Speaker 1: the Battery. The Battery is a money printing machine. It's

679
00:32:24,160 --> 00:32:26,600
Speaker 1: the envy of all baseball. There's all. There was no

680
00:32:26,640 --> 00:32:28,680
Speaker 1: other round of stories but this. I'm sure you probably

681
00:32:28,720 --> 00:32:30,400
Speaker 1: read one of them. It was one of the athletic

682
00:32:30,480 --> 00:32:32,360
Speaker 1: that was like this. But it's like every single team

683
00:32:32,440 --> 00:32:35,480
Speaker 1: wants to have the Battery, and like, I don't care

684
00:32:35,520 --> 00:32:39,280
Speaker 1: about that, but it helps the Braves spend money, So okay, cool.

685
00:32:40,160 --> 00:32:43,640
Speaker 2: Not only do other baseball teams want to replicate the Battery,

686
00:32:43,840 --> 00:32:49,000
Speaker 2: but other professional sports franchises do college teams. I know

687
00:32:49,360 --> 00:32:52,720
Speaker 2: for a guarantee that at least one prominent university has

688
00:32:52,760 --> 00:32:55,840
Speaker 2: had members of the Braves front office out to talk

689
00:32:55,880 --> 00:33:01,080
Speaker 2: about mixed use developments around sporting complexes. That is the

690
00:33:01,200 --> 00:33:03,880
Speaker 2: level of success the Battery has brought for this team

691
00:33:03,920 --> 00:33:06,920
Speaker 2: in the decade or so that truest Park has been opened.

692
00:33:07,360 --> 00:33:09,600
Speaker 2: And if you want to go dig into the financials,

693
00:33:09,640 --> 00:33:12,000
Speaker 2: the Braves continue to print money.

694
00:33:12,120 --> 00:33:13,200
Speaker 1: It's good.

695
00:33:13,560 --> 00:33:15,920
Speaker 2: Don't get me wrong. They spent money this offseason. It's

696
00:33:15,960 --> 00:33:19,280
Speaker 2: good that they have increased spending. I still think there's

697
00:33:19,400 --> 00:33:22,960
Speaker 2: room to grow and it's going to be very, very

698
00:33:22,960 --> 00:33:26,640
Speaker 2: interesting to see what happens in the upcoming collective bargaining

699
00:33:26,680 --> 00:33:30,080
Speaker 2: agreement with a salary cap and a salary floor, and

700
00:33:30,160 --> 00:33:33,080
Speaker 2: how does money get calculated as part of the salary

701
00:33:33,080 --> 00:33:35,360
Speaker 2: cap and salary floor. I would like to think the

702
00:33:35,400 --> 00:33:38,760
Speaker 2: Braves have more room to go up and to continue spending,

703
00:33:38,800 --> 00:33:40,800
Speaker 2: because I mean, especially if they're in a division with

704
00:33:40,840 --> 00:33:42,680
Speaker 2: the Phillies and the Mets. I mean, those teams have

705
00:33:42,800 --> 00:33:45,880
Speaker 2: just spent hand overhand for years now. The Dodgers have

706
00:33:45,960 --> 00:33:48,520
Speaker 2: no budget, like you would hope that Atlanta is going

707
00:33:48,520 --> 00:33:52,000
Speaker 2: to continue to invest and also reward fans for very

708
00:33:52,040 --> 00:33:55,080
Speaker 2: obviously based on the numbers, continuing to support the team

709
00:33:55,120 --> 00:33:57,560
Speaker 2: and spend their hard earned cash at the Battery.

710
00:33:58,600 --> 00:34:00,880
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I know there was I saw some people

711
00:34:01,360 --> 00:34:04,280
Speaker 1: floating this that there was an operating loss on the

712
00:34:04,280 --> 00:34:09,080
Speaker 1: financials that was quickly kind of debunked, Like, for one thing,

713
00:34:09,120 --> 00:34:11,520
Speaker 1: they had to do a thirty million dollar right down

714
00:34:11,600 --> 00:34:14,480
Speaker 1: because of the TV deal going away and all that stuff.

715
00:34:14,480 --> 00:34:16,880
Speaker 1: That's it's in flux admittedly, which I've been saying for

716
00:34:16,880 --> 00:34:20,439
Speaker 1: a while. Year. One of the new TV brais vision

717
00:34:20,440 --> 00:34:22,080
Speaker 1: they're probably gonna make a little bit less than they

718
00:34:22,080 --> 00:34:24,719
Speaker 1: made before. The idea is to hopefully that grows in

719
00:34:24,760 --> 00:34:27,160
Speaker 1: the future, but that you can no longer rely on

720
00:34:28,000 --> 00:34:30,879
Speaker 1: somebody's aunt who never watches games basically giving you money

721
00:34:30,880 --> 00:34:33,600
Speaker 1: because they're paying for cable. That that is gone. Now

722
00:34:33,600 --> 00:34:35,520
Speaker 1: you're only your fans are paying you, which there's a

723
00:34:35,520 --> 00:34:37,839
Speaker 1: lot of Braise fans, to be fair, but that all

724
00:34:37,880 --> 00:34:41,319
Speaker 1: matters regardless though, there's this metric that Graham actually pointed

725
00:34:41,360 --> 00:34:46,239
Speaker 1: out that is called operating incoming before depreciation and ambortization.

726
00:34:46,360 --> 00:34:49,399
Speaker 1: I don't know anything about this, but all that said,

727
00:34:49,800 --> 00:34:52,360
Speaker 1: it has the team basically swimming in money, both baseball

728
00:34:52,400 --> 00:34:55,279
Speaker 1: wise and especially the mix of use battery. All the

729
00:34:55,360 --> 00:34:57,400
Speaker 1: jokes that I know I've made, you've made about them

730
00:34:57,440 --> 00:35:00,680
Speaker 1: buying buildings and things real estate is been a strength

731
00:35:00,719 --> 00:35:03,400
Speaker 1: that seems like for this Braves team. No matter what happens,

732
00:35:03,760 --> 00:35:08,319
Speaker 1: they did spend more this winter. We have criticized them

733
00:35:08,400 --> 00:35:10,600
Speaker 1: and I will right now again for not spending on

734
00:35:10,600 --> 00:35:13,319
Speaker 1: the rotation that should have happened. In my opinion, you've

735
00:35:13,320 --> 00:35:16,120
Speaker 1: said the same thing or with adding someone you're not

736
00:35:16,160 --> 00:35:18,799
Speaker 1: spending both can be true. At the same time, the

737
00:35:18,800 --> 00:35:20,919
Speaker 1: Braves have spent quite a bit more than the last year,

738
00:35:21,640 --> 00:35:24,480
Speaker 1: and they could have done more but there's still I

739
00:35:24,480 --> 00:35:26,600
Speaker 1: should have looked this up. Sixth and payroll, seventh and

740
00:35:26,600 --> 00:35:27,920
Speaker 1: payroll right now. Close.

741
00:35:28,040 --> 00:35:31,400
Speaker 2: It depends on if you look at CBT payroll or

742
00:35:31,520 --> 00:35:33,799
Speaker 2: cash payroll. But I mean even the cash number is

743
00:35:33,800 --> 00:35:36,520
Speaker 2: going to be like two sixty two seventy million.

744
00:35:36,920 --> 00:35:40,480
Speaker 1: They are spending like I used to you remember back

745
00:35:40,480 --> 00:35:42,000
Speaker 1: in the day. I'm sure we have listeners. I used

746
00:35:42,040 --> 00:35:44,920
Speaker 1: to crush it for not spending regularly. I guess what

747
00:35:45,440 --> 00:35:48,200
Speaker 1: they started to spend. And they're not spending like the

748
00:35:48,400 --> 00:35:52,080
Speaker 1: like the Dodgers. That shouldn't be the comparison. You said

749
00:35:52,080 --> 00:35:54,120
Speaker 1: it perfectly. I think the Mets in the Phillies are

750
00:35:54,120 --> 00:35:55,680
Speaker 1: the teams you got to really compare yourself to. And

751
00:35:55,719 --> 00:35:58,640
Speaker 1: the Mets have an owner that's kind of let's just say,

752
00:35:59,040 --> 00:36:01,080
Speaker 1: very very very rich, and Williams spend money, so it's

753
00:36:01,120 --> 00:36:03,880
Speaker 1: kind of hard. The Braves do have. This is the

754
00:36:03,880 --> 00:36:05,560
Speaker 1: pros and cons of the boy. The Braves are set up.

755
00:36:05,560 --> 00:36:08,239
Speaker 1: The Braves actually have like shareholders they are responsible to,

756
00:36:08,960 --> 00:36:12,280
Speaker 1: which is not just fans. Like honestly, ownership has fans

757
00:36:12,360 --> 00:36:16,480
Speaker 1: every owner, but they're not like actually fiduciary responsible to

758
00:36:16,520 --> 00:36:20,239
Speaker 1: those fans. The Braves actually have to show their investors

759
00:36:20,560 --> 00:36:23,200
Speaker 1: what they're doing with their money. They could still spend more,

760
00:36:23,600 --> 00:36:26,359
Speaker 1: but I think even Dob who's now a retired beat writer,

761
00:36:26,520 --> 00:36:28,960
Speaker 1: was like kind of not crushing them, but basically like, hey,

762
00:36:29,320 --> 00:36:30,919
Speaker 1: part of this is that the Braves want to show

763
00:36:30,960 --> 00:36:33,320
Speaker 1: that they're making a lot of money, and it's harder

764
00:36:33,320 --> 00:36:35,800
Speaker 1: to do that if you spend to the absolute brink.

765
00:36:36,080 --> 00:36:38,160
Speaker 1: And that's the advantage of having a rich guy that

766
00:36:38,320 --> 00:36:40,960
Speaker 1: just spends money. Like Steve Collens got his own problems,

767
00:36:40,960 --> 00:36:43,800
Speaker 1: but he just break out a check book and right checks.

768
00:36:44,120 --> 00:36:46,839
Speaker 1: Terry McGirk is very wealthy in his own right. He

769
00:36:46,920 --> 00:36:48,920
Speaker 1: is the de facto owner of the Braves, even though

770
00:36:48,920 --> 00:36:51,600
Speaker 1: he's not the owner, he's the face. But they could

771
00:36:51,600 --> 00:36:53,399
Speaker 1: spend more, Don't get me wrong, They could spend more,

772
00:36:53,560 --> 00:36:55,640
Speaker 1: but they're not gonna just it's not as easy for

773
00:36:55,680 --> 00:36:59,600
Speaker 1: them as it is for a faceless owner. Just like

774
00:37:00,000 --> 00:37:02,239
Speaker 1: it's good money. So all that said, if you want

775
00:37:02,239 --> 00:37:04,840
Speaker 1: to break down read Graham smarter than us about the stuff,

776
00:37:04,880 --> 00:37:07,520
Speaker 1: for sure, But my takeaway was like, Hey, they're making

777
00:37:07,560 --> 00:37:08,799
Speaker 1: a lot of money, And for me it was like, oh,

778
00:37:08,840 --> 00:37:12,920
Speaker 1: by the way, they made more this last year despite

779
00:37:12,960 --> 00:37:17,440
Speaker 1: being bad, which means they're charging a lot of money, which, yeah,

780
00:37:17,480 --> 00:37:19,560
Speaker 1: that's tough. If you want to get I go as

781
00:37:19,560 --> 00:37:22,200
Speaker 1: a fan to the battery and so it costs a

782
00:37:22,200 --> 00:37:25,640
Speaker 1: lot of money, it does, and then the TV thing

783
00:37:25,719 --> 00:37:27,680
Speaker 1: all that. But they're making a lot and hopefully that

784
00:37:27,719 --> 00:37:30,520
Speaker 1: will continue to show up on the field, which is

785
00:37:30,520 --> 00:37:31,520
Speaker 1: what we actually care about.

786
00:37:32,120 --> 00:37:35,520
Speaker 2: Absolutely, as long as they continue to invest that money

787
00:37:35,560 --> 00:37:37,920
Speaker 2: into the team. And guess what, guys, you put that

788
00:37:37,960 --> 00:37:40,000
Speaker 2: money into the team and the Braves go on a

789
00:37:40,040 --> 00:37:43,160
Speaker 2: deep playoff run. You know how much money every single

790
00:37:43,200 --> 00:37:45,800
Speaker 2: home playoff game brings in for your bottom line?

791
00:37:45,920 --> 00:37:49,319
Speaker 1: A lot millions of dollars, so every game.

792
00:37:49,600 --> 00:37:52,359
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, oh my gosh, it's I would I mean,

793
00:37:52,440 --> 00:37:54,560
Speaker 2: maybe those numbers are out there from the World Series run.

794
00:37:54,680 --> 00:37:56,000
Speaker 1: I'm sure you could do a deep dive.

795
00:37:56,080 --> 00:37:59,400
Speaker 2: But regardless, as long as the payroll continues to spend

796
00:38:00,160 --> 00:38:03,000
Speaker 2: go up, then yeah, absolutely, like good on the Braves.

797
00:38:03,040 --> 00:38:04,600
Speaker 2: They are a business at the end of the day,

798
00:38:04,600 --> 00:38:07,760
Speaker 2: they're also a sports team. But it's it was encouraging

799
00:38:07,800 --> 00:38:10,480
Speaker 2: to see the team is financially in good shape because

800
00:38:10,480 --> 00:38:13,319
Speaker 2: there are some baseball teams that are not nearly as

801
00:38:13,360 --> 00:38:15,839
Speaker 2: financially sound as what the Atlanta Braves are right now,

802
00:38:16,560 --> 00:38:18,640
Speaker 2: and as long as payroll doesn't go down and they

803
00:38:18,640 --> 00:38:21,000
Speaker 2: don't pull what they did a year ago this time

804
00:38:21,320 --> 00:38:23,560
Speaker 2: twelve months from now, we're good.

805
00:38:23,960 --> 00:38:26,200
Speaker 1: And if they do that, well, crush them like we

806
00:38:26,239 --> 00:38:30,200
Speaker 1: did lest them. Like I always point this out to

807
00:38:30,239 --> 00:38:32,920
Speaker 1: my My brain breaks, Scott. You notice about me when

808
00:38:32,960 --> 00:38:36,120
Speaker 1: people yell at people yell at Alex, we're not spending money.

809
00:38:36,400 --> 00:38:38,560
Speaker 1: Alex doesn't choose so much money to spend. That's something

810
00:38:38,600 --> 00:38:41,000
Speaker 1: I always want to point out. There's things yell at

811
00:38:41,000 --> 00:38:43,920
Speaker 1: Alex about. Right now, we go to Alex plenty this oneter,

812
00:38:44,840 --> 00:38:47,399
Speaker 1: that particular thing. His budget is not his choice. It's

813
00:38:47,440 --> 00:38:51,200
Speaker 1: all point how he uses. Yeah, it's his choice, I

814
00:38:51,280 --> 00:38:51,799
Speaker 1: promise you.

815
00:38:51,840 --> 00:38:53,879
Speaker 2: They did not say, Alex, you have four hundred million

816
00:38:53,920 --> 00:38:56,239
Speaker 2: dollars to spend this offseason and he's like, no, guys,

817
00:38:56,280 --> 00:38:57,360
Speaker 2: I'm good at two seventy.

818
00:38:57,600 --> 00:38:59,440
Speaker 1: They're all chill here. But he didn't know say that.

819
00:38:59,719 --> 00:39:03,359
Speaker 2: There's no general manager, play president of baseball operations out

820
00:39:03,400 --> 00:39:06,000
Speaker 2: there who would voluntarily do it. We're not We're not

821
00:39:06,080 --> 00:39:08,560
Speaker 2: carrying water for ownership. No, we want to see more.

822
00:39:08,600 --> 00:39:11,080
Speaker 2: We will see more investment in this team because guess

823
00:39:11,120 --> 00:39:13,840
Speaker 2: what It's just it increases your margin of ayor so

824
00:39:14,040 --> 00:39:18,280
Speaker 2: much when you have more talent, more depth, spend the money, braves.

825
00:39:18,800 --> 00:39:21,680
Speaker 2: The fans are paying you. Now did your turn to

826
00:39:21,719 --> 00:39:23,240
Speaker 2: continue investing in this roster?

827
00:39:23,960 --> 00:39:27,120
Speaker 1: That's right, and direct all payroll. We size of the

828
00:39:27,160 --> 00:39:31,799
Speaker 1: payroll complaints to one Terrence Murgirk, not necessarily Alex. How

829
00:39:31,880 --> 00:39:35,680
Speaker 1: how the money gets used is on Alex. And maybe

830
00:39:35,719 --> 00:39:40,080
Speaker 1: don't spend half of an inter bullpen. But here we are, uh, Scott.

831
00:39:40,360 --> 00:39:42,759
Speaker 1: If we could get out of here on a relatively

832
00:39:42,840 --> 00:39:44,719
Speaker 1: modest edition of the Sunday podcast for you and I.

833
00:39:44,760 --> 00:39:46,680
Speaker 1: We usually go an hour sometimes, but we won't do

834
00:39:46,719 --> 00:39:48,640
Speaker 1: that today. We could do a whole thing on Joey

835
00:39:48,680 --> 00:39:52,640
Speaker 1: Wentz working on to Seam Fastball. Hey, Joey, figure cool.

836
00:39:52,680 --> 00:39:54,480
Speaker 1: If that works for you, I'd be excited about it.

837
00:39:55,200 --> 00:39:57,600
Speaker 1: But no, we'll recording again one more time. PSA recording

838
00:39:57,600 --> 00:39:59,960
Speaker 1: a Sunday Morning beenything changes. We'll have more coverage of

839
00:40:00,000 --> 00:40:02,600
Speaker 1: promise you this week. Stay tuned. Lock it in Hammer

840
00:40:02,680 --> 00:40:04,480
Speaker 1: Territory anywhere you get your podcast part of the vaul

841
00:40:04,600 --> 00:40:09,320
Speaker 1: Territory network of podcasts, Apple, Spotify, YouTube, et cetera. Scott,

842
00:40:09,360 --> 00:40:10,799
Speaker 1: if folks want to follow you. They can get you

843
00:40:10,840 --> 00:40:14,680
Speaker 1: at Scott colmand fifty five. Correct, that is the one.

844
00:40:14,800 --> 00:40:18,120
Speaker 1: Lots of college basketball talk coming the best. Yeah, we're

845
00:40:18,120 --> 00:40:20,480
Speaker 1: in that. That ranges this of the calendar right now

846
00:40:20,719 --> 00:40:22,680
Speaker 1: for you for the best sporting event in the world.

847
00:40:22,680 --> 00:40:25,600
Speaker 1: The NCAA Tournament should be a lot of fun. But yes,

848
00:40:25,640 --> 00:40:28,319
Speaker 1: Scott Coleman fifty five is the one. Please direct all

849
00:40:28,360 --> 00:40:33,759
Speaker 1: complaints and questions about the new TV deal to at

850
00:40:34,200 --> 00:40:38,000
Speaker 1: BT Rowland. Oh, because I have lost track of the

851
00:40:38,080 --> 00:40:40,880
Speaker 1: number of people who have asked me questions about it.

852
00:40:40,880 --> 00:40:43,080
Speaker 1: I can't remember if you said it or Steven said it,

853
00:40:43,120 --> 00:40:45,320
Speaker 1: one of you did, or maybe both of you. Every

854
00:40:45,320 --> 00:40:47,520
Speaker 1: time you post about the TV deal, you are just

855
00:40:47,960 --> 00:40:52,000
Speaker 1: making yourself a target for questions and complaints. More than

856
00:40:52,000 --> 00:40:55,520
Speaker 1: anything else I would I always try to respond to

857
00:40:55,520 --> 00:40:58,080
Speaker 1: stuff that. If it's a good faith I'll definitely respond

858
00:40:58,120 --> 00:41:01,440
Speaker 1: to it almost always. The TV deal is still the

859
00:41:01,480 --> 00:41:03,360
Speaker 1: same as it was when you guys talked about it.

860
00:41:03,400 --> 00:41:06,200
Speaker 1: There's not been an update on anything so far. When

861
00:41:06,200 --> 00:41:08,839
Speaker 1: we have updates, we will share them, but we are

862
00:41:08,840 --> 00:41:10,120
Speaker 1: not in charge of Braves Vision.

863
00:41:11,920 --> 00:41:16,080
Speaker 2: Just saying somebody who lives in like Montana complaining that

864
00:41:16,160 --> 00:41:18,600
Speaker 2: there's not a Braves only option for him to watch.

865
00:41:18,640 --> 00:41:21,800
Speaker 2: I'm sorry, brother, I'll give I will give Major League

866
00:41:21,800 --> 00:41:25,120
Speaker 2: Baseball's front office a call and say, listen, the Braves

867
00:41:25,120 --> 00:41:28,240
Speaker 2: fans in Montana want a Braves only option to watch,

868
00:41:28,400 --> 00:41:31,839
Speaker 2: cheaper than watching the entire league and paying for MLB TV.

869
00:41:32,040 --> 00:41:35,040
Speaker 1: Please get on this immediately. Yeah. I have long been

870
00:41:36,120 --> 00:41:39,400
Speaker 1: quite jealous of you individually because you just you just

871
00:41:39,480 --> 00:41:41,000
Speaker 1: got to have the multib TV and you get all

872
00:41:41,000 --> 00:41:43,080
Speaker 1: the Braves games. It's just like, it's so easy and

873
00:41:43,400 --> 00:41:45,160
Speaker 1: you have to pay for it. I'm not saying, but

874
00:41:45,200 --> 00:41:47,080
Speaker 1: it's so easy if you're out of market. It's the

875
00:41:47,120 --> 00:41:49,120
Speaker 1: in market folks to actually have a harder, which shouldn't

876
00:41:49,120 --> 00:41:50,680
Speaker 1: be the case. It should be the opposite. If you're

877
00:41:50,680 --> 00:41:52,440
Speaker 1: think of it, Really it should be harder for you

878
00:41:52,480 --> 00:41:54,200
Speaker 1: to watch this with me, Scott, but it's not. It's

879
00:41:54,239 --> 00:41:56,239
Speaker 1: easier for you than me. It's bizarre. But here we are,

880
00:41:56,239 --> 00:41:58,840
Speaker 1: well and no more blackouts. That was theanoity.

881
00:41:58,880 --> 00:42:00,960
Speaker 2: That was maybe the best, and now it's been part

882
00:42:01,040 --> 00:42:03,359
Speaker 2: of the Braves Vision network. If folks miss that show,

883
00:42:03,400 --> 00:42:06,000
Speaker 2: it's in the feed. But really, no blackouts. If your

884
00:42:06,040 --> 00:42:07,760
Speaker 2: local you may have to pay for a service.

885
00:42:07,800 --> 00:42:08,200
Speaker 1: I get it.

886
00:42:08,239 --> 00:42:11,239
Speaker 2: Nobody wants to pay for yet another streaming service or

887
00:42:11,280 --> 00:42:14,960
Speaker 2: sports service. But alas no blackouts. That is a massive

888
00:42:15,000 --> 00:42:17,280
Speaker 2: win for fans and should make it just as easy

889
00:42:17,520 --> 00:42:19,760
Speaker 2: for you Brad and Atlanta or anybody in the region

890
00:42:19,800 --> 00:42:21,960
Speaker 2: to watch games as it is for me two thousand

891
00:42:21,960 --> 00:42:23,440
Speaker 2: miles away out here in Arizona.

892
00:42:24,280 --> 00:42:26,000
Speaker 1: There you have it all right, that's all we have

893
00:42:26,120 --> 00:42:29,000
Speaker 1: for this evening. Everybody, Please subscribe to Hammer Territory check

894
00:42:29,000 --> 00:42:30,600
Speaker 1: out the entire thoughts, or to our network check out

895
00:42:30,640 --> 00:42:33,719
Speaker 1: or partners of Fox one all that fun stuff, fast

896
00:42:33,760 --> 00:42:36,280
Speaker 1: at all. It's all there for you. We appreciate their support,

897
00:42:36,280 --> 00:42:38,440
Speaker 1: We appreciate you listening to the podcast, because this podcast

898
00:42:38,440 --> 00:42:40,759
Speaker 1: will not exist without you listening to it and watching it.

899
00:42:40,800 --> 00:42:42,640
Speaker 1: So thank you, thank you, thank you as always, and

900
00:42:42,680 --> 00:42:44,439
Speaker 1: we'll see you all later on this week.