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Speaker 1: Hello everyone, and welcome back to the Hammer Territory podcast

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Speaker 1: presented by Fox One. I am Scott Coleman, and I

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Speaker 1: am joined today by a man who needs no introduction

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Speaker 1: because you know him very well. He is in your

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Speaker 1: homes on the TV every single night. CJ Nitkowski, the

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Speaker 1: Fantastic Braves television analyst. CJ. I know that you, like

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Speaker 1: so many people, were up till deep into the night

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Speaker 1: on Monday watching a six and a half hour World

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Speaker 1: Series game. I know you are a coffee fan. I

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Speaker 1: gotta add, I mean, how many cups of coffee and

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Speaker 1: shots of espresso are in your system to get you

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Speaker 1: going today?

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Speaker 2: Well, first of all, Scott, thanks for having me and

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Speaker 2: I really enjoy the work that you do. And I've

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Speaker 2: said him many times. The blogging community, the podcast community

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Speaker 2: with the Brace is unbelievable. Was a lot of really

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Speaker 2: good talent and good information and I watch a lot

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Speaker 2: of it. So it's good to spend a lot of

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Speaker 2: time to spend some time with you. I try to

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Speaker 2: go too late with the coffee. I do think I

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Speaker 2: can drink it later than most like I will have

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Speaker 2: it during games and usually I would have climbed into

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Speaker 2: bed in that game and probably had fallen asleep, but

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Speaker 2: did that a couple of times this postseason. But I

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Speaker 2: have a good friend of mine that I worked with

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Speaker 2: when I was at FS one who has a live podcast,

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Speaker 2: asked me to come on post game during the World

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Speaker 2: Series with the Blue Jays being in it, and he's

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Speaker 2: up in Canada, and so I agreed. And I'm not

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Speaker 2: going to say I regret it because he is a

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Speaker 2: good friend, but that one was a tough one. I

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Speaker 2: don't know if I would have made it otherwise, but

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Speaker 2: it was wild, man. I mean, six point thirty nine

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Speaker 2: is just insane when it comes to a baseball game

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Speaker 2: and a postseason game. But I was up. I made it.

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Speaker 2: My wife was really mad at me because our dog,

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Speaker 2: when I sit on the couch and kind of watch

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Speaker 2: games and stuff, and she goes to bed a little

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Speaker 2: bit earlier, our dog takes my spot in the bed,

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Speaker 2: and then when I'm ready to go to bed, I

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Speaker 2: have to ask our doc to move. And as she

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Speaker 2: gets a little bit older, she's been less likely wanting

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Speaker 2: to move, and I kind of we had to head

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Speaker 2: it a little forceful with her yesterday, and then I

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Speaker 2: woke my wife up, and then she was mad. So

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Speaker 2: I blame the Dodgers and the Blue Jays for a

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Speaker 2: lot of things that happened in my home that night.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, there you go. Yeah, eighteen innings just an all

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Speaker 1: time or historic Happy for Freddie Freeman to get just

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Speaker 1: another another incredible moment on his Now I think surefire,

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Speaker 1: first ballot, Hall of Fame.

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Speaker 2: Good to see things you're looking up for him.

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Speaker 1: Yeah finally anyway, right, yeah, yeah, he's doing okay out

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Speaker 1: there and in La well, CJ. We are going to

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Speaker 1: have you talk some of the key pressing off season

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Speaker 1: storylines for the Braves. But before we get into that,

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Speaker 1: you now have been in the Braves broadcast booth for

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Speaker 1: two years now. I don't say it just because you're

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Speaker 1: on the podcast, but you and Brandon Gotton do such

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Speaker 1: a great job in the booth. We are fortunate as

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Speaker 1: fans to have you calling games every single night. And you,

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Speaker 1: of course, before going to the broadcast booth, had a

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Speaker 1: long career pitching in the majors. You also pitched in

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Speaker 1: Japan and in Korea, and I wanted to ask you know,

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Speaker 1: as you were pitching, was a broadcast job or a

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Speaker 1: life in the broadcast booth? Was that something that was

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Speaker 1: always kind of in the back of your mind as

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Speaker 1: you were playing and thinking about life beyond baseball, or

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Speaker 1: was it one of those things where you woke up

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Speaker 1: one morning and thought, you know, maybe I want to

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Speaker 1: try this out.

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Speaker 2: So I was always fascinated by the media in baseball.

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Speaker 2: I'm kind of a one trick pony when it comes

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Speaker 2: to sports, and I grew up with that early kind

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Speaker 2: of Sports center generation when things really started getting popular,

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Speaker 2: and highlight shows and those kinds of things. But listening

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Speaker 2: to games, like so many others, is kind of what

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Speaker 2: put me to bed at night. I was a kid

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Speaker 2: who grew up in suburban New York, and so I

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Speaker 2: was listening to Yankee games on the radio, and again

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Speaker 2: that's how I fell asleep every night, listening to AM radio.

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Speaker 2: And so I was always fascinated by the media and

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Speaker 2: the job that they did. And then as I got

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Speaker 2: to play the game professionally, making my way around the league,

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Speaker 2: I always became at least good friends or at least

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Speaker 2: got to know the local media, always asking questions, always

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Speaker 2: was interested in what they were doing. Both on the

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Speaker 2: writer's side, I made and still have good relationships with

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Speaker 2: a lot of the writers that I played with that

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Speaker 2: had some stops along the way, not so much talking

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Speaker 2: about my career, but just getting to know them a

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Speaker 2: little bit and developing those kinds of relationships. And then

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Speaker 2: the same thing on the TV side. Now, every game

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Speaker 2: wasn't on television when I first broke in in nineteen

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Speaker 2: ninety five, but certainly local television had a heavy presence.

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Speaker 2: The Braves and the Cubs in particularly really established themselves

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Speaker 2: as far as kind of the nationwide local feeds, if

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Speaker 2: you will, and so I was very well aware of

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Speaker 2: all of it and interested in it. I didn't know

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Speaker 2: if I necessarily wanted it as a career. I just

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Speaker 2: knew that I found it fascinating as far as what

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Speaker 2: they did. So I always asked a lot of questions

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Speaker 2: and started doing some work when I was still playing.

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Speaker 2: The first thing I ever did was when I was

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Speaker 2: in Detroit nineteen ninety nine to two thousand and one,

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Speaker 2: I would go on with Bob Valvano and serve as

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Speaker 2: a postseason analyst for him. The Tigers were not a

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Speaker 2: postseason team during those years. He asked me to come on,

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Speaker 2: he thought maybe have some insight. I was like, oh, sure,

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Speaker 2: I'd love to do it, and so I did that

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Speaker 2: for a couple of years and started to then kind

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Speaker 2: of maybe get the idea little this could be something

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Speaker 2: that I'd be interested in post career. So I was

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Speaker 2: always intrigued by what everybody did in the media, both

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Speaker 2: radio and TV, and then also even on the writing

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Speaker 2: side for that matter, So it kind of sparked an

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Speaker 2: interest going back to when I was a kid, but

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Speaker 2: then getting to have a kind of a front row

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Speaker 2: seat to what those folks do that really kind of

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Speaker 2: intrigued me and and sort of realizing, yeah, speak great

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Speaker 2: if I could do this kind of post career. But

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Speaker 2: I didn't really know the path I knew. I was

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Speaker 2: just interested in it.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, the rest is history. Right now, you're called games

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Speaker 1: with the Texas Rangers and now the Braves, And as

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Speaker 1: I said, you and Brandon Man, you guys are a plus.

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Speaker 1: I listened to a lot of broadcasts, watch a lot

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Speaker 1: of baseball, and we are fortunate to have you both

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Speaker 1: in the booth. And one thing that you do CJ

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Speaker 1: that I thought was like immediately apparent when you joined

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Speaker 1: the booth was you bring a ton of data and

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Speaker 1: analysis every single night, and even things that are just

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Speaker 1: as fun and informative as as like higher scouting reports.

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Speaker 1: I mean, I don't know if I'd ever really heard

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Speaker 1: a TV booth talk about that before. And then you know,

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Speaker 1: you're given a scouting report and you say, well, you know,

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Speaker 1: pretty tight zone. But if you open it up on

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Speaker 1: the you know, the lefties, he'll give you the outside

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Speaker 1: corner and lo and behold tu inings in they're getting

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Speaker 1: the outside corner against lefties. Is that part of kind

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Speaker 1: of what you would do as a player when you

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Speaker 1: were preparing for games and getting ready or is that

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Speaker 1: something you've kind of picked up as you have spent

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Speaker 1: some time in the in the media world.

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Speaker 2: So the data that is available now was not nearly

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Speaker 2: as available when I played, but there was some, Especially

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Speaker 2: the back half of my career, we started seeing it

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Speaker 2: a little bit more, but again not nearly to the

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Speaker 2: degree anything. When it came to umpires, a lot of

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Speaker 2: times it was word of mouth and guys would talk about,

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Speaker 2: especially for starters that had a good feel that had

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Speaker 2: been around, they may have some clues for you, catcher

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Speaker 2: same thing. They may have some ideas for you and

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Speaker 2: what happens with an umpire. A lot of times we'd

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Speaker 2: say let an umpire establish his own maybe early on,

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Speaker 2: get a feel for it. Make sure you're paying attention,

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Speaker 2: because if there's a tendency, you want to be able

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Speaker 2: to take advance of it one way or another. Right,

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Speaker 2: if a guy's big to a certain side of the plate,

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Speaker 2: you'd want to know if he's tied in other areas.

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Speaker 2: Don't get upset when he doesn't make that call, because

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Speaker 2: that's kind of who he is. That was really useful information,

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Speaker 2: but again it wasn't to the degree of what's available now.

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Speaker 2: I think when it comes to the data for me

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Speaker 2: umpires specifically, kind of starting there, what I like to

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Speaker 2: do is that anybody can tell you what has happened

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Speaker 2: after it's happened, right, That's the easy thing to do, right,

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Speaker 2: either whether it's the second guests or just describe what

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Speaker 2: you're seeing. What I hope to do is to kind

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Speaker 2: of bring fans in and give them something to look at,

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Speaker 2: and give them something to track and say, hey, is

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Speaker 2: this true? Because there will be times when an umpire

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Speaker 2: has had a tendency through the last couple of years

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Speaker 2: of his career, or even that year in particular, that

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Speaker 2: all of a sudden doesn't show up one night, right,

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Speaker 2: just like players like it happens with them as well.

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Speaker 2: That you know, a guy is, hey, this guy's really

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Speaker 2: good against kurballs, and all of a sudden it's a bad

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Speaker 2: day against curveballs that night it's going to happen. So

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Speaker 2: the thought process there is yes to kind of let

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Speaker 2: you know what the history has been, but then also

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Speaker 2: like come along for the ride, let's see how it

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Speaker 2: plays Outright, we know that generally for this certain umpire

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Speaker 2: right handed pitchers, left handed hitters, he's really tight in. Well,

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Speaker 2: that's not great for our guy because he throws a

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Speaker 2: cutter and he likes to throw that cutter in the lefties.

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Speaker 2: How's that going to play out tonight? So that's a

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Speaker 2: big part of it is to try to bring people along,

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Speaker 2: not just to tell you what I know, but to

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Speaker 2: hopefully keep you intrigued. And then of course when I

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Speaker 2: have it wrong or the tendency's not there that night,

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Speaker 2: just guysesn't know what he's talking about. But I do

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Speaker 2: think when I listen now for people that will share

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Speaker 2: some umpire data, it sometimes I feel like they are

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Speaker 2: guessing or they're saying some things that they've heard. They

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Speaker 2: kind of know, and it's not necessarily data backed, which

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Speaker 2: you could take some chances, and there are some things

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Speaker 2: you can get away with in what we do, but

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Speaker 2: I just prefer to have something to back it up.

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Speaker 2: And so what I do is I'll take that Scott

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Speaker 2: and report that heat map. I'll send the tutor producer

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Speaker 2: Gretchen Knie, and then she'll kind of turn into a

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Speaker 2: very quick, almost kind of copy and paste graphic just

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Speaker 2: so you can see it. And if we feel like

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Speaker 2: we need to get more detailed, we will, right, Sometimes

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Speaker 2: we'll just show you the one. Sometimes we'll show you

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Speaker 2: left first, right if there's really a big difference in

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Speaker 2: what that empire does in those situations. So I like

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Speaker 2: to use it to bring people along and to have

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Speaker 2: something to back up. I do have to be a

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Speaker 2: little bit careful sometimes and getting too data heavy, or

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Speaker 2: there's a balance in there. I think we all try

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Speaker 2: to defind and you're never going to nail it perfectly.

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Speaker 2: You don't want to leave anybody behind that's not interested,

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Speaker 2: but you also don't want to leave the new age

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Speaker 2: fan out in the cold either, who is very interested

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Speaker 2: and very hungry in data. So there is a balance

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Speaker 2: that we're always working on Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, that's fascinating to hear, and you know, it's

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Speaker 1: really an interesting way to present the game, and you

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Speaker 1: send finding the balance because they think if you get

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Speaker 1: too data heavy it can be overwhelming. And if it's

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Speaker 1: so basic in elementary then you know, you feel like

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Speaker 1: with modern way the game is played in modern times's like,

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Speaker 1: wait a minute, there are more advanced stats than you know,

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Speaker 1: what's the guy hitting his batting average? Or you know,

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Speaker 1: it's fascinating to see the way baseball has evolved over

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Speaker 1: the last ten or twenty years.

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Speaker 2: The big one for me real quick was on Strider

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Speaker 2: this year. Right is trying to best explain what's going

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Speaker 2: on with his fastball again without it being like, okay,

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Speaker 2: aduce vertical break is a super boring phrase to use

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Speaker 2: during a game. How can we tighten it up the

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Speaker 2: best we can to let you know, Sure, his velocity

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Speaker 2: is down a couple miles an hour, but that didn't

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Speaker 2: concern me. Is that he wasn't getting that same kind

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Speaker 2: of ride on his heater. And we knew that existed

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Speaker 2: during my career, we just didn't have a number for it.

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Speaker 2: We joke around about a guy who had an invisible fastball,

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Speaker 2: or this guy's got some good gidea up on his

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Speaker 2: fastball where it disappears on you. Those kinds of phrases

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Speaker 2: that we would use, Well, now there's a number to

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Speaker 2: really back it up. And Spencer's talked about it. He

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Speaker 2: is about as bright as any pitcher I've ever heard

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Speaker 2: talk about pitching, certainly in this age. And he was

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Speaker 2: aware of kind of that induced vertical break. But how

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Speaker 2: do we bring that to You know, your eighty year

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Speaker 2: old brace fan who's been listening to games forever is like,

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Speaker 2: you know, don't give me all that fancy talk, just

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Speaker 2: kind of let me know what's going on. Right, So

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Speaker 2: trying to find that that balance is always a challenge.

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Speaker 2: But he was a good example of what was going

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Speaker 2: on with his fastball this year, with that aduced vertical

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Speaker 2: break kind of being down and yeah, sure the velocity was,

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Speaker 2: but he would tell you all day long he'll take

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Speaker 2: the break over the vlow whenever he could, because that's

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Speaker 2: going to be a better fastball.

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Speaker 3: Yeah.

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Speaker 1: I am so fascinated to see what Spencer Strider is

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Speaker 1: going to do tinkering. I mean, he is a psycho

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Speaker 1: in the most positive way possible, and he's a madman

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Speaker 1: out there and very excited to see. We'll talk about

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Speaker 1: Strider a little bit later in the show, and we

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Speaker 1: talk about the pitching staff and see. I wanted to

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Speaker 1: ask one final kind of non Braves question. And I

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Speaker 1: always like asking this question of people who have been

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Speaker 1: around the league. Do you have one a favorite ballpark

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Speaker 1: to call a game in? And then two is there

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Speaker 1: maybe an under the radar park that you really like

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Speaker 1: calling games from? And I'll give you a half second

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Speaker 1: to think about it. You know, I think if you

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Speaker 1: asked a fan who's been around to a few stadiums,

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Speaker 1: of course, Pittsburgh always comes up. San Francisco has the

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Speaker 1: amazing views Petco Park at seventy five degrees every day.

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Speaker 1: Is there so your favorite park or multiple parks to

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Speaker 1: call a game from? And then maybe one under the

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Speaker 1: radar that fans wouldn't always point to is as a

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Speaker 1: place that's really an I used to watch the ball game.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so there's a couple of really great booths, right,

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Speaker 2: So now from this view for me calling the game,

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Speaker 2: the view kind of matters a little bit. That's a

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Speaker 2: big part of it. Right, So you may have a

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Speaker 2: really small booth, but you're in a good spot, and

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Speaker 2: you might be in a really big boot that's got

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Speaker 2: all kinds of great amenities, but the view isn't great.

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Speaker 2: Those kinds of things I think come into play now

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Speaker 2: more than ever. You said one that I would put

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Speaker 2: right near at the top of my list, and that

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Speaker 2: is San Francisco. There's something about that booth that is

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Speaker 2: just cozy. It's got kind of lower ceilings, which I

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Speaker 2: don't know why, but there's something about when you're standing

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Speaker 2: in it, it just feels really comfortable, and then sitting

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Speaker 2: in it, you have a great view of the ballpark.

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Speaker 2: That is something that has always been kind of known

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Speaker 2: to be important for the San Francisco Giants. Understanding that

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Speaker 2: your job as a broadcaster, both on television and radio

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Speaker 2: is to bring the game to life. They got to

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Speaker 2: work a little bit harder to do that on radio,

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Speaker 2: right because they're describing everything and you need to be

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Speaker 2: in it to really be able to describe it well.

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Speaker 2: I think that's something that they take pretty seriously. So

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Speaker 2: from that standpoint, that is one that I always feel

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Speaker 2: like I feel good when I'm there, like how which

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Speaker 2: would be a little tired body wise because it's a

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Speaker 2: three hour difference. It just feels good when you're in

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Speaker 2: that booth. That's usually pretty good weather. It can get

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Speaker 2: a little chilly at night, certainly, but you feel like

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Speaker 2: you're kind of right in the crowd. The other one,

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Speaker 2: and maybe some people would see it as an under

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Speaker 2: the radar choice, but has a very similar kind of

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Speaker 2: situation where you feel like you're right in it in

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Speaker 2: the middle of everything, is Baltimore. Baltimore has probably one

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Speaker 2: of the best boots in the game location wise, just

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Speaker 2: even the way it was set up. When I was

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Speaker 2: doing games with the Rangers prior to them building Globalize Field,

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Speaker 2: our executive producer was asking us a very similar question.

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Speaker 2: More so because what do they want to do to

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Speaker 2: the booth? How do they want to build it out

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Speaker 2: to make it a really good one? I said Baltimore.

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Speaker 2: Probably from a technical standpoint, just the way the counter

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Speaker 2: was set up, where your plugs are, where the holes

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Speaker 2: are little things. Wouldn't think about where the holes are

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Speaker 2: on your desk, where your chords to go in. There's

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Speaker 2: some places where you go where it's right in the middle,

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Speaker 2: where you're sitting right you put in my computer. Well,

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Speaker 2: that's not any good because then you know I get

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Speaker 2: a little I want things to be kind of neat

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Speaker 2: and orderly. And now if my computer is sitting over

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Speaker 2: the top of where that hole is, it's a little wobbly.

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Speaker 2: The wires are weare places dumb. Little things like that

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Speaker 2: that Baltimore does really well are important, But at the

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Speaker 2: end of the day, it's about really seeing the game well,

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Speaker 2: having a feel for the game that can then put

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Speaker 2: you in the best position to bring it to life.

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Speaker 2: A place like Pittsburgh, it's beautiful. John Sterling, I think,

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Speaker 2: has the best line about that ballpark at P ANDC

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Speaker 2: and said, it's an absolutely gorgeous view, just not of

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Speaker 2: the game you can see down down Pittsburgh. The ballpark's gorgeous.

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Speaker 2: It's designed really well, but you are so high up

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Speaker 2: that it is a little bit difficult to really have

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Speaker 2: that feel, and so most of it is off the monitor.

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Speaker 2: And you can still call a great game off the monitor.

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Speaker 2: But there's something about trying to do both when you're

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Speaker 2: in a spot where you can see things really well.

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Speaker 2: And I would say both Baltimore and San Francisco on

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Speaker 2: the visiting side or two of the best awesome.

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Speaker 1: Well, good to know it's such a I love. It's

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Speaker 1: one of my truly favorite things about baseball is that

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Speaker 1: every park is unique. It's different. Some parks are one

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Speaker 1: hundred years old. Some of them were built, you know,

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Speaker 1: six years ago or seven years ago, like truest Is.

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Speaker 1: It really does make a fun atmosphere if you bounce

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Speaker 1: around and have the opportunity to see multiple stadiums.

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Speaker 2: Yep. We tell people all the time there's a lot

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Speaker 2: of places where you got to put them on your

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Speaker 2: bucket list, and there's some great ballparks. I throw Seattle

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Speaker 2: in there as well. It's a little bit of a trip,

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Speaker 2: but probably worth doing it at least one time. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Absolutely, so plan out your trip. The Braves twenty twenty

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Speaker 1: six calendar is out and schedule is out, So if

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Speaker 1: you want to plan some time travel with the team,

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Speaker 1: I highly recommend it. All Right, we are now going

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Speaker 1: to talk some key off season storylines for the Braves

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Speaker 1: with CJ. But first a quick word from our partners.

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Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Hammer Territory podcast presented by Fox

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Speaker 1: one CJ. We're going to jump right in here because

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Speaker 1: I think it's probably fair to say that shortstop is

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Speaker 1: maybe the most pressing need for the Braves this offseason.

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Speaker 1: Not the only need, but I think it is something

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Speaker 1: that we all have circled on our list of to

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Speaker 1: do items. We're going to timestamp this. It's about six

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Speaker 1: thirty pm on Tuesday evening, So on the chance something

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Speaker 1: we're to break between now and when people are listening

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Speaker 1: or watching. But you put out a couple of days

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Speaker 1: ago on your Twitter account a Braves off season wish list,

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Speaker 1: and it's shortstop has On. Kim was the top name

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Speaker 1: listed there. I don't know if that's necessarily breaking any

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Speaker 1: news or shocking to people listening to the show. But

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Speaker 1: what was it from Kim's month in Atlanta? I think

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Speaker 1: Mark Bowman at MLB dot com called it a two

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Speaker 1: million dollar recruiting visit for Kim to try to persuade

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Speaker 1: him to stay here. Now, what was it that he

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Speaker 1: does well that you think make him a good candidate

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Speaker 1: for this team, assuming they can work out some kind

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Speaker 1: of contract with him.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, let's hope. So right, there's a player option there

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Speaker 2: that we'd love to see him just exercise and kind

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Speaker 2: of have that bounce back here before he hits free

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Speaker 2: agency again after next season. A couple of things. One,

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Speaker 2: First of all, there are very limited options as far

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Speaker 2: as what's really available on the shortstop side. So you

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Speaker 2: have a guy who's put your uniform on, who's been

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Speaker 2: very clear about the fact that he's always wanted to

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Speaker 2: play in Atlanta. It's been one of those places that

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Speaker 2: he has been interested in. He's got a great relationship

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Speaker 2: with church and Profar right, So there's that draw there

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Speaker 2: of this is a place he'd like to be, this

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Speaker 2: is a place where he would be really happy. There's

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Speaker 2: a good Korean American community here in Atlanta, and that's

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Speaker 2: important to guys, right, if you can find that kind

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Speaker 2: of community to make you a little bit more comfortable.

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Speaker 2: We certainly have that. So from that standpoint, it seems

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Speaker 2: like he would really enjoy it, and it seemed like

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Speaker 2: he did. And we talked to his translator David, and

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Speaker 2: asked kind of questions as things were going along, and

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Speaker 2: he said, yeah, he's been happy. He really likes it,

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Speaker 2: And so you get excited about the possibility because we

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Speaker 2: know how limited those options really are. The other part

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Speaker 2: of it now, from the baseball side, he's a good defender. Obviously,

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Speaker 2: he's won a Gold glob before. I think everybody will

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Speaker 2: always look half a step down. When we watched Nick

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Speaker 2: Allen all season long, like, I couldn't believe how good

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Speaker 2: he looked like. And I watched him in Oakland a

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Speaker 2: decent amount when I was with the Rangers, and I

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Speaker 2: knew he was a good player, a good defensive player,

434
00:18:51,560 --> 00:18:53,200
Speaker 2: but he looked like he took it to another level

435
00:18:53,480 --> 00:18:55,960
Speaker 2: this year. So anybody that comes in behind him is

436
00:18:55,960 --> 00:18:58,160
Speaker 2: going to look a little bit less then, just because

437
00:18:58,200 --> 00:19:00,280
Speaker 2: he's that good defensively. But that little bit that you

438
00:19:00,320 --> 00:19:02,879
Speaker 2: give up you make up four and what you get offensively.

439
00:19:03,040 --> 00:19:05,359
Speaker 2: And there were times where you could just feel the difference.

440
00:19:05,359 --> 00:19:08,560
Speaker 2: And it's funny that we talk about being so analytical heavy,

441
00:19:08,600 --> 00:19:11,480
Speaker 2: but there's also these feels to things throughout the game

442
00:19:11,480 --> 00:19:13,359
Speaker 2: that I've seen over the course of my career, and

443
00:19:13,400 --> 00:19:15,359
Speaker 2: there was a feel to the lineup that was a

444
00:19:15,359 --> 00:19:17,439
Speaker 2: lot different when Haslan Kim was in there, right, the

445
00:19:17,440 --> 00:19:19,720
Speaker 2: opportunity to know that when a spot came up, he

446
00:19:19,720 --> 00:19:21,880
Speaker 2: could drive the ball out of the ballpark if needed,

447
00:19:21,920 --> 00:19:24,360
Speaker 2: He could give you a pretty good quality at bat

448
00:19:24,400 --> 00:19:26,280
Speaker 2: and do some really good things. So I think you

449
00:19:26,320 --> 00:19:28,119
Speaker 2: know who he is as a player. The fact that

450
00:19:28,119 --> 00:19:30,760
Speaker 2: he really liked it here, the fact that it's one year,

451
00:19:31,320 --> 00:19:33,240
Speaker 2: not that I would be opposed to them figuring out

452
00:19:33,240 --> 00:19:35,359
Speaker 2: a way to get something longer term done. That'd be great,

453
00:19:36,160 --> 00:19:38,240
Speaker 2: And it's going to be hard because of his agent

454
00:19:38,359 --> 00:19:42,560
Speaker 2: situation obviously, but hopefully he will take that deal. Just

455
00:19:42,640 --> 00:19:45,240
Speaker 2: everything about him seemed like a perfect fit. You got

456
00:19:45,240 --> 00:19:46,720
Speaker 2: to want guys that want to be here. I know

457
00:19:46,760 --> 00:19:49,160
Speaker 2: the Braves have done really well. We've seen those anonymous polls,

458
00:19:49,200 --> 00:19:51,080
Speaker 2: right which place would you like to play the most?

459
00:19:51,119 --> 00:19:53,640
Speaker 2: Atlanta usually comes near the top, if not the top

460
00:19:53,880 --> 00:19:55,360
Speaker 2: of that list for a lot of players, and I'm

461
00:19:55,400 --> 00:19:57,600
Speaker 2: not surprised by that. So you want to kind of

462
00:19:57,640 --> 00:20:00,879
Speaker 2: use that, hopefully to also persuade him to But he

463
00:20:01,000 --> 00:20:03,440
Speaker 2: just seems like the perfect fit based on what's available.

464
00:20:04,600 --> 00:20:07,080
Speaker 1: And one thing that Hassan Kim has done really his

465
00:20:07,240 --> 00:20:10,600
Speaker 1: entire career is carry a high walk rate and get

466
00:20:10,680 --> 00:20:15,840
Speaker 1: on base. And in my opinion, this offense is really

467
00:20:15,960 --> 00:20:18,280
Speaker 1: humming and was at its best this past season in

468
00:20:18,359 --> 00:20:21,439
Speaker 1: previous years when the bottom of the order was getting

469
00:20:21,480 --> 00:20:25,320
Speaker 1: on base ahead of Akunya and Olsen and Riley and

470
00:20:25,440 --> 00:20:29,040
Speaker 1: Profar and Baldwin, and that's maybe not rocket science, but

471
00:20:29,240 --> 00:20:32,200
Speaker 1: adding some on base, which is something that Kim has

472
00:20:32,240 --> 00:20:35,159
Speaker 1: done well. Even if he's not a slugger who's going

473
00:20:35,160 --> 00:20:36,879
Speaker 1: to go out there and hit thirty five homers, or

474
00:20:36,920 --> 00:20:38,919
Speaker 1: he's not necessarily someone who's going to go out there

475
00:20:38,920 --> 00:20:41,520
Speaker 1: and carry a three hundred batting average, as rare as

476
00:20:41,560 --> 00:20:44,800
Speaker 1: that is in modern day baseball, but having players who

477
00:20:44,800 --> 00:20:46,520
Speaker 1: can get on base to kind of feed the top

478
00:20:46,560 --> 00:20:48,840
Speaker 1: of the lineup, to me, feels like something if the

479
00:20:48,840 --> 00:20:51,960
Speaker 1: Braids can do it would really help this offense out next.

480
00:20:51,880 --> 00:20:54,119
Speaker 2: Year one hundred percent. Right when they were historically good

481
00:20:54,160 --> 00:20:56,000
Speaker 2: a couple of years ago, that was the story, right,

482
00:20:56,080 --> 00:20:57,560
Speaker 2: It was one thing about sure the top and what

483
00:20:57,600 --> 00:20:59,399
Speaker 2: they would do in those first couple of innings. It

484
00:20:59,440 --> 00:21:01,720
Speaker 2: just seemed like they boat race teams. But you don't

485
00:21:01,720 --> 00:21:03,399
Speaker 2: get that if you don't get production at the bottom.

486
00:21:03,400 --> 00:21:05,800
Speaker 2: We have this conversation all the time on my radio show.

487
00:21:06,000 --> 00:21:08,000
Speaker 2: There's good teams that you look out there, even the

488
00:21:08,000 --> 00:21:10,840
Speaker 2: Dodgers this year, the Yankees for a while that are

489
00:21:10,880 --> 00:21:13,040
Speaker 2: top heavy, and you start to look at the bottom

490
00:21:13,080 --> 00:21:15,000
Speaker 2: of their orders and they really struggle to get guys

491
00:21:15,040 --> 00:21:17,480
Speaker 2: on base and to produce, and that's when you start

492
00:21:17,520 --> 00:21:19,640
Speaker 2: to have your issues. You know, to have a well

493
00:21:19,680 --> 00:21:22,199
Speaker 2: balanced line if you're right. It sounds really obvious, but

494
00:21:22,280 --> 00:21:25,080
Speaker 2: it's very important. So if Michael's down there with a

495
00:21:25,080 --> 00:21:27,760
Speaker 2: guy like hot Sun Kim and they're going right, and

496
00:21:27,800 --> 00:21:29,480
Speaker 2: we'll see who knows how this offseason is going to

497
00:21:29,520 --> 00:21:31,119
Speaker 2: play out, what the lineup looks like next year. As

498
00:21:31,160 --> 00:21:33,880
Speaker 2: far as order goes, you can have some really impact

499
00:21:33,880 --> 00:21:36,520
Speaker 2: players down there. The Braves have that opportunity because of

500
00:21:36,520 --> 00:21:38,880
Speaker 2: how deep that they run, and you're right, it makes

501
00:21:38,880 --> 00:21:40,359
Speaker 2: all the difference in the world. And it makes you

502
00:21:40,440 --> 00:21:43,919
Speaker 2: also really think about where Ronald is best suited in

503
00:21:43,960 --> 00:21:46,600
Speaker 2: the order. If you're getting production from the bottom, then

504
00:21:46,640 --> 00:21:48,480
Speaker 2: sure he can lead off. But I thought Frederick griff

505
00:21:48,480 --> 00:21:50,840
Speaker 2: brought up a good point earlier this year that Mark

506
00:21:50,880 --> 00:21:53,119
Speaker 2: Bowman relayed to us, and that was, you know, if

507
00:21:53,200 --> 00:21:55,000
Speaker 2: Ronald's not going to steal right now, and we'll see

508
00:21:55,000 --> 00:21:56,720
Speaker 2: what happens in the future. But based on the knees

509
00:21:56,720 --> 00:21:58,840
Speaker 2: and being a little bit more cautious makes total sense,

510
00:21:59,359 --> 00:22:01,080
Speaker 2: and the bottom of the orders a little bit weaker,

511
00:22:01,119 --> 00:22:03,359
Speaker 2: it probably makes sense to have him bat second or third,

512
00:22:03,560 --> 00:22:06,240
Speaker 2: give him some more opportunities to drive runs in. And

513
00:22:06,600 --> 00:22:08,159
Speaker 2: I believe that to be true. Now, if you get

514
00:22:08,200 --> 00:22:10,400
Speaker 2: that production back from near the bottom of the lineup,

515
00:22:10,560 --> 00:22:12,760
Speaker 2: then you can put Ronald, I think at the top

516
00:22:12,760 --> 00:22:14,280
Speaker 2: of the order. You just don't want to waste. I

517
00:22:14,320 --> 00:22:17,159
Speaker 2: think the ability to drive more runs in from one

518
00:22:17,200 --> 00:22:18,800
Speaker 2: of the best bats in the game. I know the

519
00:22:18,840 --> 00:22:21,080
Speaker 2: Dodgers do it with shoe Aotani, but they even went

520
00:22:21,119 --> 00:22:23,320
Speaker 2: through a period where they were kind of changing around

521
00:22:23,359 --> 00:22:25,520
Speaker 2: and put Mooki in front of him to try to

522
00:22:25,520 --> 00:22:27,240
Speaker 2: get him going. He didn't have his great ast year.

523
00:22:27,440 --> 00:22:29,439
Speaker 2: There are different ways to do it, but when you

524
00:22:29,440 --> 00:22:31,480
Speaker 2: have such a dynamic hitter like Ronald, he gives you

525
00:22:31,520 --> 00:22:34,200
Speaker 2: all kinds of options. He's good in the leadoff spot.

526
00:22:34,240 --> 00:22:36,119
Speaker 2: If he's got some guys that are actually hitting in

527
00:22:36,160 --> 00:22:38,320
Speaker 2: front of him, I think he gets even better.

528
00:22:38,640 --> 00:22:40,879
Speaker 1: That is going to be I hadn't really thought about that.

529
00:22:40,880 --> 00:22:42,720
Speaker 1: That is going to be one of the first real

530
00:22:42,760 --> 00:22:45,760
Speaker 1: decisions that new Braves manager is going to have to make.

531
00:22:46,960 --> 00:22:48,920
Speaker 1: Where to hit a Kunya? Do you bat him lead

532
00:22:48,960 --> 00:22:51,119
Speaker 1: off as he's done for so much. But it's a

533
00:22:51,119 --> 00:22:53,600
Speaker 1: great point that McGriff made that, Hey, if you don't

534
00:22:53,640 --> 00:22:56,399
Speaker 1: have batters on you know, the solo homers are great,

535
00:22:56,440 --> 00:22:59,080
Speaker 1: but how about some three run homers to really change

536
00:22:59,119 --> 00:23:01,879
Speaker 1: a game with one wing. As we've seen Acunya be

537
00:23:02,000 --> 00:23:06,320
Speaker 1: able to do another item on your off season wishless

538
00:23:06,320 --> 00:23:09,040
Speaker 1: for the Braves. I thought was interesting was adding a

539
00:23:09,160 --> 00:23:13,080
Speaker 1: right handed bat of some kind to this order. Of course,

540
00:23:13,119 --> 00:23:15,880
Speaker 1: the Braves at this moment are expected to lose Marcelo

541
00:23:15,960 --> 00:23:19,080
Speaker 1: Zuna as DH as he hits free agency. We'll see,

542
00:23:19,080 --> 00:23:21,760
Speaker 1: maybe Marcell finds his way back. But you know, we've

543
00:23:21,760 --> 00:23:24,400
Speaker 1: talked about on the show the interest in adding an

544
00:23:24,400 --> 00:23:27,280
Speaker 1: outfielder to the mix who could both play out field.

545
00:23:27,560 --> 00:23:31,000
Speaker 1: Could DH just provide some more stability in this lineup?

546
00:23:31,280 --> 00:23:33,840
Speaker 1: Of course, we know, as incredible as Akunya is, he's

547
00:23:33,920 --> 00:23:37,040
Speaker 1: had a fair share of injuries throughout his career. Profar

548
00:23:37,200 --> 00:23:39,320
Speaker 1: can get an injury just like anyone else as well

549
00:23:39,320 --> 00:23:41,520
Speaker 1: in left field, and even Michael Harris has had a

550
00:23:41,520 --> 00:23:45,320
Speaker 1: couple of soft tissue problems over his career. So it

551
00:23:45,400 --> 00:23:47,760
Speaker 1: was good to see, or I was encouraged to see

552
00:23:47,760 --> 00:23:50,159
Speaker 1: that you had that as someone who's real close up

553
00:23:50,359 --> 00:23:52,960
Speaker 1: with the team that you also feel like maybe another

554
00:23:53,000 --> 00:23:54,960
Speaker 1: bat to this lineup would really help things out.

555
00:23:55,160 --> 00:23:57,320
Speaker 2: Yeah. So when we listened to Alex Enthoppolo's kind of

556
00:23:57,359 --> 00:23:59,760
Speaker 2: layout the off season, right, he didn't have it as

557
00:23:59,760 --> 00:24:01,880
Speaker 2: his top parorty, but he said it's on the list.

558
00:24:01,920 --> 00:24:04,439
Speaker 2: It's just down the list, right, the idea of a

559
00:24:04,520 --> 00:24:06,720
Speaker 2: right handed hitter. I think what becomes important is a

560
00:24:06,760 --> 00:24:08,800
Speaker 2: writing that can handle lefties really well. And if you

561
00:24:08,840 --> 00:24:11,760
Speaker 2: go look at the top twenty or so right handed

562
00:24:11,840 --> 00:24:14,159
Speaker 2: hitters and what they've done against left handed pitching this

563
00:24:14,280 --> 00:24:15,960
Speaker 2: last year, it's not a lot of guys that you

564
00:24:15,960 --> 00:24:18,000
Speaker 2: can really get your hands on that would be available.

565
00:24:18,000 --> 00:24:19,720
Speaker 2: It's why I put say Suzuki is kind of a

566
00:24:19,760 --> 00:24:22,480
Speaker 2: backup guy. He's got a year left on the list

567
00:24:22,720 --> 00:24:24,480
Speaker 2: if you're not able to get Rob Refsheiner, which I

568
00:24:24,480 --> 00:24:26,080
Speaker 2: do think is going to be very tough to get him,

569
00:24:26,440 --> 00:24:28,359
Speaker 2: but he's still doesn't make him He still on the

570
00:24:28,359 --> 00:24:30,520
Speaker 2: wish list for me because he fits it perfectly as

571
00:24:30,520 --> 00:24:33,040
Speaker 2: far as what's available, what it would really cost you

572
00:24:33,080 --> 00:24:36,000
Speaker 2: to get him. He's absolutely crushed his lefties and he

573
00:24:36,000 --> 00:24:37,840
Speaker 2: had a great year in Boston and they're probably going

574
00:24:37,840 --> 00:24:40,399
Speaker 2: to sign him back. And he's a little bit older,

575
00:24:40,680 --> 00:24:42,080
Speaker 2: but he does bring that to the table in a

576
00:24:42,080 --> 00:24:43,960
Speaker 2: big way. And there's not a lot of options against

577
00:24:43,960 --> 00:24:45,840
Speaker 2: Azuki's another one. He's got a year left before he

578
00:24:45,840 --> 00:24:48,280
Speaker 2: gets to free agency. Who knows how it's going to

579
00:24:48,320 --> 00:24:50,320
Speaker 2: play out, but I think about the catching situation that

580
00:24:50,359 --> 00:24:52,720
Speaker 2: all kind of ties in together for me, right where

581
00:24:52,880 --> 00:24:55,720
Speaker 2: Sean Murphy's a really good defensive catcher. He's the better

582
00:24:55,760 --> 00:24:58,800
Speaker 2: defensive catcher between him and Drake Baldman. Baldwin did a

583
00:24:58,800 --> 00:25:01,399
Speaker 2: really nice job this year. He obviously blew up on

584
00:25:01,440 --> 00:25:04,280
Speaker 2: the scene. He came along defensive. I think he got

585
00:25:04,280 --> 00:25:06,359
Speaker 2: better as he went. He can hold his own. Not

586
00:25:06,680 --> 00:25:08,720
Speaker 2: a knock on Drake at all. It's just that Murphy

587
00:25:08,760 --> 00:25:11,080
Speaker 2: is really really good. If both of those guys are

588
00:25:11,119 --> 00:25:13,440
Speaker 2: here next year. I knows some speculation with Murf get traded,

589
00:25:13,480 --> 00:25:15,720
Speaker 2: we'll see. I'd like to have them both. For me,

590
00:25:15,840 --> 00:25:20,080
Speaker 2: Shaw Murphy is probably catching seventy or so games, maybe

591
00:25:20,080 --> 00:25:22,639
Speaker 2: a little a few more. Put Drake in, give him

592
00:25:22,640 --> 00:25:23,919
Speaker 2: the rest of them, and then for me, he's got

593
00:25:23,960 --> 00:25:25,879
Speaker 2: to be in the lineup almost every day. Right, it's

594
00:25:25,880 --> 00:25:27,840
Speaker 2: one hundred and fifty times a year. That means that

595
00:25:27,880 --> 00:25:30,720
Speaker 2: he is dhing the days that he's not catching. When

596
00:25:30,720 --> 00:25:33,119
Speaker 2: he is catching, then I want a guy who can

597
00:25:33,200 --> 00:25:35,280
Speaker 2: hit lefties, right. I think you want to make sure

598
00:25:35,359 --> 00:25:36,520
Speaker 2: or if you know he's getting a day off, or

599
00:25:37,160 --> 00:25:39,480
Speaker 2: Michael needs a day against a really tough lefty. Where

600
00:25:39,480 --> 00:25:41,920
Speaker 2: you have some flexibility, right, where a guy like Refschneider

601
00:25:42,080 --> 00:25:44,080
Speaker 2: or Suzuki can come in, you can put them in

602
00:25:44,119 --> 00:25:46,440
Speaker 2: the outfield. You can slide Ronald over, you can side

603
00:25:46,560 --> 00:25:49,400
Speaker 2: a Jurch and profile over if you have to into

604
00:25:49,440 --> 00:25:52,919
Speaker 2: center field. Just that kind of flexibility, to me, I

605
00:25:52,920 --> 00:25:54,920
Speaker 2: think is really important for the Braves to be able

606
00:25:55,000 --> 00:25:56,560
Speaker 2: to have. Again, I know it's not near the top

607
00:25:56,600 --> 00:26:00,320
Speaker 2: of the list for Alexanthopolis starters, relievers and then probably

608
00:26:00,359 --> 00:26:03,159
Speaker 2: that right handed hitter, but finding that kind of Adam

609
00:26:03,240 --> 00:26:06,720
Speaker 2: Duval type, they're just tough to come across these days.

610
00:26:06,720 --> 00:26:08,480
Speaker 2: And obviously we saw the success that he had. What

611
00:26:08,520 --> 00:26:11,000
Speaker 2: he's meant to this team in the past would be

612
00:26:11,040 --> 00:26:12,639
Speaker 2: really nice to have. Where you go to get that

613
00:26:12,640 --> 00:26:15,359
Speaker 2: at what level? That'll be the challenge. So even though

614
00:26:15,400 --> 00:26:17,040
Speaker 2: I put Resheiner at the top of my list, listen,

615
00:26:17,080 --> 00:26:19,080
Speaker 2: there was guys on that, even going back to the

616
00:26:19,080 --> 00:26:21,840
Speaker 2: short stop situation with Seeger and Paina that may not

617
00:26:21,880 --> 00:26:25,440
Speaker 2: even be available, but it's worth exploring for a couple

618
00:26:25,480 --> 00:26:27,240
Speaker 2: of different reasons when I mentioned those guys. But in

619
00:26:27,280 --> 00:26:30,040
Speaker 2: the case of Reschneiner, he's a free agent and so

620
00:26:30,400 --> 00:26:31,960
Speaker 2: I'd go after him pretty hard. I did get quite

621
00:26:31,960 --> 00:26:34,280
Speaker 2: a response by the way on that from As you

622
00:26:34,320 --> 00:26:36,159
Speaker 2: may know, Rob Rescheinder was born in Korea, but he

623
00:26:36,240 --> 00:26:38,679
Speaker 2: was raised here in the States, and I played in

624
00:26:38,720 --> 00:26:40,080
Speaker 2: Korea for a couple of years and a good friend

625
00:26:40,080 --> 00:26:42,360
Speaker 2: of mine who was a scout for the Padres who

626
00:26:42,359 --> 00:26:45,480
Speaker 2: actually signed Hasung Kim and brought him over from Korea.

627
00:26:45,560 --> 00:26:47,320
Speaker 2: He's like, hey, man, he's like your wish list for

628
00:26:47,359 --> 00:26:50,520
Speaker 2: the Braves is it's made its rounds here in Korea.

629
00:26:50,560 --> 00:26:52,080
Speaker 2: I was like, what He's like, Yeah, not just because

630
00:26:52,080 --> 00:26:55,040
Speaker 2: of Hasan Kim, but also because of Rob Reschneiner. Right.

631
00:26:55,080 --> 00:26:57,080
Speaker 2: They claim him, of course as one of theirs, because

632
00:26:57,080 --> 00:26:58,840
Speaker 2: he was born there, and they're very proud of any

633
00:26:59,080 --> 00:27:01,520
Speaker 2: anybody that has, you know, Korean heritage that's playing in

634
00:27:01,560 --> 00:27:03,720
Speaker 2: the States and said, that was not my intent. I'm

635
00:27:03,760 --> 00:27:05,360
Speaker 2: not trying to make us Team Korea. I just think

636
00:27:05,359 --> 00:27:06,320
Speaker 2: both of these guys will be.

637
00:27:06,359 --> 00:27:11,760
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, how funny. Yeah, University of Arizona legend, Robert Refsnyder.

638
00:27:12,119 --> 00:27:15,240
Speaker 1: I'll get that that that plug in there, you know,

639
00:27:15,280 --> 00:27:18,560
Speaker 1: And hopefully as you talk about potentially adding an outfield,

640
00:27:18,560 --> 00:27:21,080
Speaker 1: there's somebody who can also DH on days maybe when

641
00:27:21,080 --> 00:27:24,480
Speaker 1: Baldwin is catching you know, I'm curious to see if

642
00:27:24,520 --> 00:27:28,280
Speaker 1: Alex has any challenges recruiting like that kind of a

643
00:27:28,320 --> 00:27:30,560
Speaker 1: bat and because if you look at this roster. If

644
00:27:30,560 --> 00:27:33,560
Speaker 1: everyone's healthy in the outfield, you have three outfielders who

645
00:27:33,560 --> 00:27:35,640
Speaker 1: are going to be out there basically every day. Of course,

646
00:27:35,680 --> 00:27:38,480
Speaker 1: everyone can use a breather, and then with DH, you know,

647
00:27:38,520 --> 00:27:41,680
Speaker 1: we'll see it's it's fascinating. I think assuming that both

648
00:27:41,760 --> 00:27:45,280
Speaker 1: Murphy and Baldwin are on the roster, you know, are

649
00:27:45,320 --> 00:27:47,840
Speaker 1: you in a situation where Sean Murphy might be sitting

650
00:27:47,960 --> 00:27:50,359
Speaker 1: four days out of the week when he's not catching.

651
00:27:50,400 --> 00:27:52,440
Speaker 1: I mean, that's all kind of part of the equation

652
00:27:52,560 --> 00:27:55,359
Speaker 1: for the front office. But I'm hopeful that Alex is

653
00:27:55,359 --> 00:27:57,960
Speaker 1: able to one add an impact that of some kind,

654
00:27:58,040 --> 00:27:59,920
Speaker 1: but also be able to sell it to that play

655
00:28:00,160 --> 00:28:02,440
Speaker 1: of hey, maybe some days you're a DH, some days

656
00:28:02,440 --> 00:28:04,560
Speaker 1: you're in left field, some days you're in right field.

657
00:28:04,880 --> 00:28:06,560
Speaker 1: If we get an injury, well you're going to be

658
00:28:06,600 --> 00:28:09,359
Speaker 1: wherever we have an injury every day. Just to add

659
00:28:09,440 --> 00:28:12,600
Speaker 1: some more depth and flexibility to this lineup, to give

660
00:28:12,600 --> 00:28:14,840
Speaker 1: the Braves a chance, because God knows, after the last

661
00:28:14,880 --> 00:28:18,400
Speaker 1: two seasons, injuries are a virtual guarantee.

662
00:28:17,960 --> 00:28:20,080
Speaker 2: At this point, and we've heard Alex talk about how

663
00:28:20,119 --> 00:28:22,880
Speaker 2: it seems like they're always looking to add outfielders over

664
00:28:22,880 --> 00:28:24,600
Speaker 2: the course of the season, which we have seen now

665
00:28:25,040 --> 00:28:26,720
Speaker 2: over the last couple of years. I think the sales

666
00:28:26,720 --> 00:28:28,680
Speaker 2: pitch and kind of what you're talking about and convincing

667
00:28:28,760 --> 00:28:31,119
Speaker 2: someone to take the role is easier than it's been

668
00:28:31,160 --> 00:28:33,000
Speaker 2: in the past. And there are some guys that are

669
00:28:33,040 --> 00:28:34,919
Speaker 2: not amendable to it, and those are guys that you

670
00:28:34,960 --> 00:28:37,040
Speaker 2: probably were not going to bring into your clubhouse anyway.

671
00:28:37,560 --> 00:28:39,560
Speaker 2: Money talks at the end of the day for free agents,

672
00:28:39,920 --> 00:28:42,400
Speaker 2: but even if you were to acquire somebody via trade

673
00:28:42,400 --> 00:28:44,720
Speaker 2: who maybe you're asking to change their role a little bit,

674
00:28:45,040 --> 00:28:47,120
Speaker 2: that's where the communication of your new manager in the

675
00:28:47,120 --> 00:28:49,840
Speaker 2: front office really come into play and getting buy in right.

676
00:28:49,920 --> 00:28:51,520
Speaker 2: We use that phrase all the time, but it really

677
00:28:51,600 --> 00:28:54,000
Speaker 2: is very important. We saw kind of what happened in

678
00:28:54,080 --> 00:28:56,360
Speaker 2: the postseason and with Joshis I'm not happy that it

679
00:28:56,400 --> 00:28:59,000
Speaker 2: didn't play against the lefti those kinds of things can

680
00:28:59,080 --> 00:29:02,360
Speaker 2: turn into a distraction. So they talk about it a

681
00:29:02,360 --> 00:29:04,440
Speaker 2: lot here. It's been going on for decades that making

682
00:29:04,480 --> 00:29:07,120
Speaker 2: sure you're bringing in the right people into the clubhouse

683
00:29:07,360 --> 00:29:10,320
Speaker 2: for exactly those kinds of reasons, that you find the

684
00:29:10,360 --> 00:29:13,040
Speaker 2: right person that understands the role, that's open to the role,

685
00:29:13,320 --> 00:29:16,240
Speaker 2: understands that this is about trying to win another ring,

686
00:29:16,320 --> 00:29:19,440
Speaker 2: another championship here in Atlanta. In order to do that,

687
00:29:19,840 --> 00:29:21,640
Speaker 2: this is how we see you fitting and you got

688
00:29:21,640 --> 00:29:24,440
Speaker 2: to get everybody on board.

689
00:29:23,800 --> 00:29:26,240
Speaker 1: One big puzzle and hopefully they can find a couple

690
00:29:26,280 --> 00:29:28,760
Speaker 1: of pieces that will fit in really nicely and get

691
00:29:28,800 --> 00:29:31,280
Speaker 1: this team back to the playoffs and contending for the

692
00:29:31,280 --> 00:29:33,800
Speaker 1: World Series. And I mean, I miss watching the Braves

693
00:29:33,800 --> 00:29:36,480
Speaker 1: in October. It's just I mean, there's nothing like you.

694
00:29:37,160 --> 00:29:38,920
Speaker 2: Yeah, you're right, and that's listen. When I came over

695
00:29:38,920 --> 00:29:41,240
Speaker 2: here was fortunate when this job opened up and Frenchy

696
00:29:41,440 --> 00:29:43,560
Speaker 2: really helped me kind of land things here. And I

697
00:29:43,560 --> 00:29:45,480
Speaker 2: came over from the Rangers, who were bad for six

698
00:29:45,520 --> 00:29:47,760
Speaker 2: years and then won a World championship. And I'm looking

699
00:29:47,800 --> 00:29:50,360
Speaker 2: over and I'm seeing, you know, the Braves just absolutely cruising.

700
00:29:50,960 --> 00:29:53,360
Speaker 2: It just seemed like they're not going anywhere. I was

701
00:29:53,440 --> 00:29:55,840
Speaker 2: very excited. The two things that there's a lot of things,

702
00:29:55,880 --> 00:29:57,600
Speaker 2: but the two guys that I was most looking forward

703
00:29:57,600 --> 00:30:01,320
Speaker 2: to seeing every day or Ronald Acunyu Junie and Spencer Strider. Right.

704
00:30:01,360 --> 00:30:03,560
Speaker 2: Spencer was coming off as twenty wins, Ronald coming off

705
00:30:03,600 --> 00:30:06,440
Speaker 2: his Monster season, and both of those guys have been

706
00:30:06,520 --> 00:30:08,080
Speaker 2: hurt quite a bit over the last couple of years,

707
00:30:08,080 --> 00:30:10,200
Speaker 2: and I think it's affected the ability to either get

708
00:30:10,200 --> 00:30:12,320
Speaker 2: to the postseason last year that they didn't or the

709
00:30:12,400 --> 00:30:14,960
Speaker 2: year before. The early exit of trying to have everybody

710
00:30:14,960 --> 00:30:17,880
Speaker 2: healthy has been obviously a real challenge. So like you,

711
00:30:18,600 --> 00:30:20,520
Speaker 2: I missed it too. We got to see just a

712
00:30:20,600 --> 00:30:23,360
Speaker 2: quick exit unfortunately against the Padres two years ago. But

713
00:30:23,760 --> 00:30:25,600
Speaker 2: this is a roster that is built to win. Now

714
00:30:25,680 --> 00:30:27,520
Speaker 2: everybody knows it. It was one thing that I feel

715
00:30:27,520 --> 00:30:29,240
Speaker 2: like when I noticed on the internet and I got

716
00:30:29,240 --> 00:30:31,120
Speaker 2: we got to be careful with who we read and

717
00:30:31,160 --> 00:30:33,520
Speaker 2: who we listened to. But some folks talking about, you know,

718
00:30:33,560 --> 00:30:35,440
Speaker 2: trade Ronald and blow this thing up. I'm like, that

719
00:30:35,640 --> 00:30:37,840
Speaker 2: is not even on the table. That's not even There

720
00:30:37,840 --> 00:30:40,640
Speaker 2: are times when a team comes out of a run

721
00:30:40,720 --> 00:30:42,360
Speaker 2: like the Braves have been on that you will look

722
00:30:42,360 --> 00:30:44,600
Speaker 2: at the roster and go it might be time for

723
00:30:44,720 --> 00:30:47,160
Speaker 2: some turnover. This is not that team. This is a

724
00:30:47,200 --> 00:30:49,640
Speaker 2: team that, again health is important for everybody, but healthy

725
00:30:49,680 --> 00:30:52,160
Speaker 2: as they stand right now, they should be in the postseason.

726
00:30:52,200 --> 00:30:54,120
Speaker 2: I certainly are going to add a little bit more here,

727
00:30:54,440 --> 00:30:57,400
Speaker 2: build in some depth, maybe bring in some reinforcements and

728
00:30:57,440 --> 00:30:59,040
Speaker 2: they should be right back where they expect to be.

729
00:30:59,280 --> 00:31:02,120
Speaker 1: Yeah, Yeah, let's hope. And if only we could, like

730
00:31:02,160 --> 00:31:04,680
Speaker 1: in Madden, you click the button that turns off injuries

731
00:31:04,720 --> 00:31:07,560
Speaker 1: to make sure all your players stay healthy. Right, maybe

732
00:31:07,600 --> 00:31:09,720
Speaker 1: we can find that. We'll find that button for twenty

733
00:31:09,760 --> 00:31:13,160
Speaker 1: twenty six with the brainers. All right, we are going

734
00:31:13,200 --> 00:31:14,760
Speaker 1: to go to one more quick break to hear what

735
00:31:14,840 --> 00:31:16,520
Speaker 1: from our partners. But after that we are going to

736
00:31:16,600 --> 00:31:19,560
Speaker 1: talk about this break's pitching staff, the rotation, and the

737
00:31:19,600 --> 00:31:20,440
Speaker 1: need for a closer.

738
00:31:20,680 --> 00:31:21,480
Speaker 2: We'll be right back.

739
00:31:22,440 --> 00:31:25,920
Speaker 4: This episode of FT is brought to you by Hule

740
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741
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742
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745
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747
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748
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749
00:31:52,680 --> 00:31:57,080
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750
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752
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753
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754
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760
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Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Hammer Territory podcast presented by Fox

761
00:32:28,680 --> 00:32:33,440
Speaker 1: one CJ. In that offseason wish list for the starting rotation,

762
00:32:33,760 --> 00:32:36,960
Speaker 1: you listed a couple of really talented starting pitchers and

763
00:32:37,000 --> 00:32:39,880
Speaker 1: I was like nodding along as I saw them, because

764
00:32:40,480 --> 00:32:42,800
Speaker 1: I would love to add an impact starter of some

765
00:32:43,000 --> 00:32:47,840
Speaker 1: kind this offseason. You mentioned Ranger Suarez Dylan Cees, who

766
00:32:47,880 --> 00:32:51,200
Speaker 1: are both pending free agents, as well as Sonny Gray,

767
00:32:51,280 --> 00:32:53,400
Speaker 1: who we've talked about on the show a bit, who

768
00:32:53,440 --> 00:32:56,360
Speaker 1: is approaching his final years with the Saint Louis Cardinals

769
00:32:56,480 --> 00:33:01,120
Speaker 1: who are probably going into a rebuilt. Mentioned it. We

770
00:33:01,160 --> 00:33:03,160
Speaker 1: don't need to talk for twenty minutes. Why those three

771
00:33:03,200 --> 00:33:06,320
Speaker 1: pitchers would do wonders for this pitching staff. But to me,

772
00:33:06,480 --> 00:33:09,320
Speaker 1: the two consistenci's across the board with those three arms.

773
00:33:09,600 --> 00:33:13,600
Speaker 1: They're all good, but they're also remarkably durable throughout their

774
00:33:13,640 --> 00:33:16,440
Speaker 1: careers and adding, at least in my opinion, adding some

775
00:33:16,560 --> 00:33:19,400
Speaker 1: durability to this rotation as much as you can with

776
00:33:19,480 --> 00:33:21,880
Speaker 1: pitchers who get Pitchers get hurt all the time. But

777
00:33:22,320 --> 00:33:24,800
Speaker 1: to me, those three guys really stood out as pitchers

778
00:33:24,800 --> 00:33:26,760
Speaker 1: who go out there every five days and throw the ball.

779
00:33:27,080 --> 00:33:29,200
Speaker 2: Yep, I'm with you. And it also gets rangers Houarez

780
00:33:29,240 --> 00:33:31,560
Speaker 2: off the Phillies and not pitching against the Bras right,

781
00:33:31,600 --> 00:33:34,480
Speaker 2: So there there's already a net plus there. I really

782
00:33:34,520 --> 00:33:36,400
Speaker 2: like him. I like the way that he cares himself.

783
00:33:36,400 --> 00:33:38,960
Speaker 2: I like the way that he attacks. I like the

784
00:33:39,000 --> 00:33:40,840
Speaker 2: way that when you see him in big spots, he

785
00:33:40,920 --> 00:33:43,800
Speaker 2: never looks overwhelmed. There's something to him. There's a little

786
00:33:43,800 --> 00:33:45,520
Speaker 2: bit of an edge to rangers. For us, He's going

787
00:33:45,520 --> 00:33:48,120
Speaker 2: to be very expensive, we know that, and there's going

788
00:33:48,200 --> 00:33:49,920
Speaker 2: to be a lot of teams that are in on

789
00:33:50,000 --> 00:33:52,600
Speaker 2: him as a free agent. But to me, I tried

790
00:33:52,600 --> 00:33:54,640
Speaker 2: to be It's interesting when I put that list together.

791
00:33:54,880 --> 00:33:56,720
Speaker 2: Part of me was like trying to be realistic, and

792
00:33:56,760 --> 00:33:58,360
Speaker 2: then there was a couple of kind of also even

793
00:33:58,400 --> 00:34:00,360
Speaker 2: with the backup guys. Maybe a long shot, but boy,

794
00:34:00,360 --> 00:34:03,240
Speaker 2: I'd love to have him in a brave uniform. Ranger

795
00:34:03,320 --> 00:34:05,800
Speaker 2: Sowars will be tough to acquire, no two ways about it.

796
00:34:05,840 --> 00:34:07,960
Speaker 2: But if they're going big on a starting pitcher, and

797
00:34:07,960 --> 00:34:09,399
Speaker 2: there's not a lot of big ones that are out

798
00:34:09,440 --> 00:34:12,320
Speaker 2: there in free agency, I like him over fromber Valdez.

799
00:34:12,760 --> 00:34:15,080
Speaker 2: He's the other one Fromber's got a great arm, certainly,

800
00:34:15,200 --> 00:34:17,799
Speaker 2: and it may do very well over what like, he's

801
00:34:17,840 --> 00:34:19,400
Speaker 2: going to be a pretty big contract for him, but

802
00:34:19,400 --> 00:34:21,719
Speaker 2: there's a little bit more of an emotional component to him.

803
00:34:22,360 --> 00:34:25,120
Speaker 2: It can get away from him sometimes. And again, if

804
00:34:25,160 --> 00:34:27,160
Speaker 2: he's a brave great take him all day long. But

805
00:34:27,200 --> 00:34:29,960
Speaker 2: I like Ranger Sorez a little bit better. Sonny Gray.

806
00:34:29,960 --> 00:34:31,480
Speaker 2: I gotta be careful. I think we all do this

807
00:34:32,200 --> 00:34:35,080
Speaker 2: in this game. If you trade stock sometimes you do

808
00:34:35,120 --> 00:34:36,799
Speaker 2: this as well. Is that you chase something that you

809
00:34:36,880 --> 00:34:38,759
Speaker 2: really have wanted for a long time or you want

810
00:34:38,760 --> 00:34:40,320
Speaker 2: it to be successful in your uniform.

811
00:34:40,800 --> 00:34:42,120
Speaker 1: I am very guilty of this.

812
00:34:42,160 --> 00:34:43,320
Speaker 2: Seat I've been talking.

813
00:34:43,120 --> 00:34:45,919
Speaker 1: About Sonny Gray on this show for five six years

814
00:34:45,960 --> 00:34:46,720
Speaker 1: now exactly.

815
00:34:46,760 --> 00:34:48,239
Speaker 2: So that's the part, and you're like, oh, you know,

816
00:34:48,719 --> 00:34:51,320
Speaker 2: you feel like he's you know, comes up in Braves Country.

817
00:34:51,360 --> 00:34:52,960
Speaker 2: It just seems like such a perfect fit. I think

818
00:34:52,960 --> 00:34:55,680
Speaker 2: that's why I had him on that list. So and again,

819
00:34:55,719 --> 00:34:57,200
Speaker 2: he's been durable, and I know he's a little bit

820
00:34:57,200 --> 00:34:59,000
Speaker 2: older and you have to trade to get him, and

821
00:34:59,000 --> 00:35:00,600
Speaker 2: you've got to try to make that work. And hein

822
00:35:00,719 --> 00:35:02,440
Speaker 2: Bloom is probably not an easy guy to trade with

823
00:35:02,480 --> 00:35:04,759
Speaker 2: who's running the Cardinals now, so he's been a little

824
00:35:04,800 --> 00:35:06,839
Speaker 2: bit reluctant to give up guys, not saying it can't

825
00:35:06,840 --> 00:35:09,759
Speaker 2: be done, but there's just always been something about him.

826
00:35:10,480 --> 00:35:12,239
Speaker 2: I think obviously we're both in agreement on that. He

827
00:35:12,360 --> 00:35:13,920
Speaker 2: just has always felt like a brave I know we

828
00:35:14,000 --> 00:35:15,759
Speaker 2: got to be a little bit more analytical than that,

829
00:35:16,360 --> 00:35:18,040
Speaker 2: but I've always liked him and he can still pitch,

830
00:35:18,080 --> 00:35:19,960
Speaker 2: and there's something about him in this uniform. I think

831
00:35:19,960 --> 00:35:23,239
Speaker 2: that would be fantastic. Dylance's coming home, right He's a

832
00:35:23,280 --> 00:35:25,280
Speaker 2: Milton kid down the street from where I'm at right now.

833
00:35:25,840 --> 00:35:27,600
Speaker 2: That'd be a really nice ad as well. He is

834
00:35:27,600 --> 00:35:30,560
Speaker 2: also going to be very expensive. It's going to be

835
00:35:30,560 --> 00:35:33,440
Speaker 2: an interesting time. Remember the trademarket for starting pitchers at

836
00:35:33,480 --> 00:35:36,560
Speaker 2: the deadline last year was brutal, Like the prices were

837
00:35:36,640 --> 00:35:39,000
Speaker 2: so high that we just did not see very much

838
00:35:39,040 --> 00:35:41,120
Speaker 2: movement at all, and so that could also be an

839
00:35:41,160 --> 00:35:45,360
Speaker 2: issue potentially this winner. We'll see, but hopefully it seems

840
00:35:45,400 --> 00:35:47,680
Speaker 2: like Alex was pretty clear about that being a priority.

841
00:35:47,719 --> 00:35:49,799
Speaker 2: I think, again, I look at our rotation. I look

842
00:35:49,840 --> 00:35:52,279
Speaker 2: at everybody on paper and say, if health this is

843
00:35:52,320 --> 00:35:54,120
Speaker 2: a good group. But you look at the Dodgers. I

844
00:35:54,200 --> 00:35:55,960
Speaker 2: use them as an example, not just because of the

845
00:35:55,960 --> 00:35:58,239
Speaker 2: money that they spent, but if you go back to

846
00:35:58,280 --> 00:36:01,400
Speaker 2: when Andrew Freeman first took over the Los Angeles Dodgers,

847
00:36:01,440 --> 00:36:03,680
Speaker 2: they actually fell short on starting pitching. Now there was

848
00:36:03,680 --> 00:36:05,839
Speaker 2: a lot of changes with contracts and things, but they

849
00:36:05,920 --> 00:36:08,040
Speaker 2: ran out essentially starting pitching. They did not have the

850
00:36:08,080 --> 00:36:10,600
Speaker 2: depth that they needed to advance. And I've always felt like,

851
00:36:10,640 --> 00:36:12,960
Speaker 2: this is my own little theory that after that first year,

852
00:36:12,960 --> 00:36:15,040
Speaker 2: and Andrew Freeman's a great executive and has been around

853
00:36:15,080 --> 00:36:17,560
Speaker 2: for a long time, that he almost committed to himself

854
00:36:17,560 --> 00:36:19,880
Speaker 2: that that would never happen again. And now they're so

855
00:36:20,160 --> 00:36:22,719
Speaker 2: incredibly deep. I was talking to Eric Carros the other day,

856
00:36:22,719 --> 00:36:26,200
Speaker 2: who covers the Dodgers, longtime Big leaguer does television with them,

857
00:36:26,400 --> 00:36:28,000
Speaker 2: and he said, man, I got the spring training, there

858
00:36:28,000 --> 00:36:30,719
Speaker 2: was like eleven really good starters here, right, and that's

859
00:36:30,760 --> 00:36:32,920
Speaker 2: a big number. But look where they are now, to

860
00:36:32,920 --> 00:36:35,520
Speaker 2: the point where they're putting starters in the bullpen and

861
00:36:35,600 --> 00:36:37,880
Speaker 2: good ones. Right, Emachihan, who's in the bullpen. I know

862
00:36:37,920 --> 00:36:39,880
Speaker 2: Clayton Kershaw wasn't going to make starts where he's at

863
00:36:39,920 --> 00:36:42,279
Speaker 2: right now, but he's in the bullpen helping out right now.

864
00:36:42,360 --> 00:36:44,920
Speaker 2: Roki Sasaki is in the bullpen. And then none of

865
00:36:44,960 --> 00:36:47,040
Speaker 2: those guys pitched all year long, right, that's the other

866
00:36:47,080 --> 00:36:49,120
Speaker 2: part if you look at their innings. So it's an

867
00:36:49,120 --> 00:36:51,520
Speaker 2: interesting plan now to try to get that many good starters.

868
00:36:51,520 --> 00:36:53,560
Speaker 2: It's very tough to do. Even the Dodgers have had

869
00:36:53,560 --> 00:36:57,160
Speaker 2: a hard time keeping people healthy. But there's something to that.

870
00:36:57,680 --> 00:36:59,239
Speaker 2: Last year when they won the World Series, they were

871
00:36:59,360 --> 00:37:01,840
Speaker 2: very short on starting pitching. It had bullpen games of

872
00:37:01,880 --> 00:37:04,560
Speaker 2: the postseason. Yeah, this year it's the opposite. Oh, they're

873
00:37:04,600 --> 00:37:06,560
Speaker 2: incredibly deep. So I could see why Alex has kind

874
00:37:06,560 --> 00:37:08,080
Speaker 2: of maybe looked at what they're doing, not that he

875
00:37:08,080 --> 00:37:10,319
Speaker 2: didn't know this already, but say you know what, Yeah,

876
00:37:10,320 --> 00:37:12,000
Speaker 2: we got a pretty good rotation on paper. Well, we

877
00:37:12,120 --> 00:37:14,359
Speaker 2: got to be deeper, and so the idea at least

878
00:37:14,360 --> 00:37:15,799
Speaker 2: adding one or two does make sense.

879
00:37:16,600 --> 00:37:20,160
Speaker 1: There is no such thing as too much starting pitching.

880
00:37:20,520 --> 00:37:23,600
Speaker 1: That's right, guaranteed you and Brandon and it could be

881
00:37:23,680 --> 00:37:26,239
Speaker 1: June July, August will never start up broadcast and go,

882
00:37:26,320 --> 00:37:29,399
Speaker 1: you know, we have too many guys throwing the ball

883
00:37:29,440 --> 00:37:31,120
Speaker 1: too well, and we don't know what to do with

884
00:37:31,200 --> 00:37:33,600
Speaker 1: all these starting pitchers. There's nowhere to put them. The

885
00:37:33,640 --> 00:37:36,920
Speaker 1: braves are intro That is the biggest non problem in

886
00:37:36,960 --> 00:37:41,279
Speaker 1: the world. Go out and add every army. Can two

887
00:37:41,360 --> 00:37:43,239
Speaker 1: of those pitchers I wanted to get your opinion on.

888
00:37:43,360 --> 00:37:46,200
Speaker 1: I think because of the versatility they could bring is

889
00:37:46,320 --> 00:37:49,320
Speaker 1: Ronaldo Lopez, who of course missed just about the entirety

890
00:37:49,360 --> 00:37:51,960
Speaker 1: of the past season, as well as Grant Holmes, who

891
00:37:52,000 --> 00:37:54,840
Speaker 1: was pitching and throwing the ball really well until he

892
00:37:54,920 --> 00:37:57,480
Speaker 1: needed to miss the remainder of the year. Now, to me,

893
00:37:57,640 --> 00:37:59,719
Speaker 1: those two feel like they have a lot of versatility.

894
00:38:00,120 --> 00:38:03,399
Speaker 1: Of course, both have pitched in the bullpen at various times.

895
00:38:03,560 --> 00:38:06,960
Speaker 1: Ronaldo Lopez was a terrific reliever for some time before

896
00:38:07,000 --> 00:38:09,040
Speaker 1: coming to the Braves and turning into a starter two

897
00:38:09,120 --> 00:38:12,600
Speaker 1: years ago. But those two, in my mind, assuming they're healthy,

898
00:38:12,719 --> 00:38:14,680
Speaker 1: I feel like they might be wild cards for this

899
00:38:14,800 --> 00:38:16,279
Speaker 1: team's pitching staff next year.

900
00:38:16,600 --> 00:38:18,880
Speaker 2: I would agree in Grant Holmes, it's a really important

901
00:38:18,880 --> 00:38:21,400
Speaker 2: offseason and then we'll see where he is in spring training.

902
00:38:21,440 --> 00:38:24,480
Speaker 2: Right opting not to have the surgery, how is he

903
00:38:24,560 --> 00:38:28,160
Speaker 2: going to feel avoiding hopefully any kind of major surgery

904
00:38:28,239 --> 00:38:30,600
Speaker 2: is going to be big. You're right, he can do both.

905
00:38:31,120 --> 00:38:33,000
Speaker 2: He's kind of a lunch pail guy in the sense

906
00:38:33,040 --> 00:38:35,040
Speaker 2: that he's just there to show up for work and

907
00:38:35,080 --> 00:38:36,520
Speaker 2: whatever you want him to do is going to do,

908
00:38:36,560 --> 00:38:37,719
Speaker 2: and he's going to do it well. I mean, he's

909
00:38:37,719 --> 00:38:39,440
Speaker 2: been such a great story here for the Braves in

910
00:38:39,480 --> 00:38:41,640
Speaker 2: the ten years that it took him to get to

911
00:38:41,640 --> 00:38:43,680
Speaker 2: the big leagues after being a first round pick for

912
00:38:43,760 --> 00:38:45,960
Speaker 2: the Dodgers is something to be admired. The way that

913
00:38:46,000 --> 00:38:48,400
Speaker 2: he was able to stick with it and to get

914
00:38:48,480 --> 00:38:50,279
Speaker 2: himself to this point. We're not even that he just

915
00:38:50,280 --> 00:38:52,040
Speaker 2: got to the big leagues. But he's been impactful. He

916
00:38:52,120 --> 00:38:54,440
Speaker 2: is an impactful arm he's fun to watch. He's an

917
00:38:54,440 --> 00:38:56,480
Speaker 2: easy guy to root for as long as he comes

918
00:38:56,520 --> 00:38:59,400
Speaker 2: into spring training and feeling healthy. You're absolutely right. You

919
00:38:59,400 --> 00:39:01,200
Speaker 2: got a pretty good swingman there. I do wonder we

920
00:39:01,239 --> 00:39:03,200
Speaker 2: have this conversation a lot. What's better for your health

921
00:39:03,360 --> 00:39:06,200
Speaker 2: to be in the bullpen or to be in the

922
00:39:06,280 --> 00:39:08,440
Speaker 2: rotation and maybe making a start every six days. We'll

923
00:39:08,440 --> 00:39:10,719
Speaker 2: see where the depth is and where he is. But

924
00:39:10,760 --> 00:39:13,719
Speaker 2: he's a really good swingman to have. Ronaldo is fascinating

925
00:39:13,719 --> 00:39:16,160
Speaker 2: because I remember when they signed him and they know

926
00:39:16,160 --> 00:39:17,680
Speaker 2: he's like, I want to start. I was like, Okay,

927
00:39:17,719 --> 00:39:20,439
Speaker 2: that's cool, but you're a really good reliever, so sure

928
00:39:20,560 --> 00:39:22,600
Speaker 2: they'll give you a shot in spring training, but pretty

929
00:39:22,600 --> 00:39:23,799
Speaker 2: sure you're going to be in the bullpen. And then

930
00:39:23,840 --> 00:39:25,359
Speaker 2: he goes out and he has a great first year,

931
00:39:25,480 --> 00:39:28,719
Speaker 2: and he was unbelievably consistent back in the rotation, and

932
00:39:28,719 --> 00:39:30,440
Speaker 2: you could see why he would want to be there.

933
00:39:30,440 --> 00:39:32,640
Speaker 2: It seems like he maybe has backed off the idea of,

934
00:39:32,880 --> 00:39:34,600
Speaker 2: you know, wanting to do what he wants to do

935
00:39:34,680 --> 00:39:37,520
Speaker 2: and understands that he missed the entire year. How do

936
00:39:37,520 --> 00:39:39,640
Speaker 2: you best fit on this team next year? He could

937
00:39:39,680 --> 00:39:41,600
Speaker 2: be another really good either swing man or just an

938
00:39:41,640 --> 00:39:44,239
Speaker 2: impactful reliever. Right if he were to say, you know,

939
00:39:44,280 --> 00:39:46,040
Speaker 2: go out and try to make twenty five starts and

940
00:39:46,040 --> 00:39:47,839
Speaker 2: give you around five innings is what we saw every

941
00:39:47,920 --> 00:39:50,080
Speaker 2: time from him. After missing a whole year, might be

942
00:39:50,120 --> 00:39:52,240
Speaker 2: a little bit of a bigger challenge, but what about

943
00:39:52,239 --> 00:39:54,319
Speaker 2: sixty five games and if you're only using him saying

944
00:39:54,400 --> 00:39:56,600
Speaker 2: inning at a time, like being careful with him, right,

945
00:39:56,600 --> 00:39:59,239
Speaker 2: because we know he kind of rediscovered that fastball a

946
00:39:59,239 --> 00:40:01,080
Speaker 2: little bit when he went back into the bullpen a

947
00:40:01,120 --> 00:40:03,279
Speaker 2: couple of years ago, and then that translated into a

948
00:40:03,320 --> 00:40:05,920
Speaker 2: really good fastball as a starter. Right, we saw him

949
00:40:05,920 --> 00:40:07,640
Speaker 2: he could reach back. He understood when to do it

950
00:40:07,680 --> 00:40:11,279
Speaker 2: without overthrowing, without seeming like it was max effort, but

951
00:40:11,280 --> 00:40:12,600
Speaker 2: all of a sudden there was two or three more

952
00:40:12,640 --> 00:40:15,160
Speaker 2: miles an hour on a heater. That's something he picked

953
00:40:15,239 --> 00:40:16,799
Speaker 2: up on as a lot of guys do that go

954
00:40:16,840 --> 00:40:19,839
Speaker 2: from the bullpen back into the rotation. So he knows

955
00:40:19,840 --> 00:40:22,319
Speaker 2: how to do it. It's a matter of health for him

956
00:40:22,520 --> 00:40:24,759
Speaker 2: and then what the rest of the rotation potentially looks like.

957
00:40:25,000 --> 00:40:26,560
Speaker 2: Right for the Braves, that'll be a big one. But

958
00:40:27,200 --> 00:40:28,799
Speaker 2: there's a part of me that feels like he would

959
00:40:28,800 --> 00:40:30,239
Speaker 2: be in the pen, but it's really too early to

960
00:40:30,239 --> 00:40:31,960
Speaker 2: guess at this point, because again, you don't know what's

961
00:40:32,000 --> 00:40:34,319
Speaker 2: going to pop up. He prepares to be a starter.

962
00:40:34,440 --> 00:40:36,200
Speaker 2: That's what his off season should look like. Both of

963
00:40:36,239 --> 00:40:38,920
Speaker 2: those guys coming into spring training in their mind, I'm

964
00:40:38,920 --> 00:40:40,560
Speaker 2: going to make thirty starts for this team, and you

965
00:40:40,600 --> 00:40:42,360
Speaker 2: can always back off. It's just a lot harder to

966
00:40:42,360 --> 00:40:43,560
Speaker 2: push forward well.

967
00:40:43,600 --> 00:40:45,840
Speaker 1: And that's a perfect transition into kind of the last

968
00:40:45,960 --> 00:40:47,920
Speaker 1: thing we wanted to talk with you today about CJ

969
00:40:48,120 --> 00:40:51,000
Speaker 1: is the bullpen, and as we sit here today, ryce

970
00:40:51,000 --> 00:40:54,680
Speaker 1: eel Iglesias is a pending free agent. Other than the

971
00:40:54,880 --> 00:40:57,080
Speaker 1: hiccup for the first two months of this past season,

972
00:40:57,160 --> 00:41:00,600
Speaker 1: Rice Sell has been absolutely nails since that trade, and

973
00:41:01,000 --> 00:41:02,759
Speaker 1: even in the second half, I mean, he was as

974
00:41:02,800 --> 00:41:05,560
Speaker 1: good as anybody in that ninth inning role. He refound

975
00:41:05,640 --> 00:41:09,080
Speaker 1: himself and was really really good. And so penning free

976
00:41:09,080 --> 00:41:12,520
Speaker 1: agent with Iglesias and Joe Hamenez, of course, misses the

977
00:41:12,760 --> 00:41:15,800
Speaker 1: entirety of the twenty five season. He is throwing, but

978
00:41:16,440 --> 00:41:19,480
Speaker 1: the serious knee injuries are scary to come back from,

979
00:41:19,560 --> 00:41:21,520
Speaker 1: and it's going to be close to eighteen months by

980
00:41:21,560 --> 00:41:24,399
Speaker 1: the time he buires a competitive pitch in the spring

981
00:41:24,480 --> 00:41:26,560
Speaker 1: from when he was last throwing in big league games.

982
00:41:26,960 --> 00:41:29,239
Speaker 1: The bullpen, I think is another question for this team,

983
00:41:29,320 --> 00:41:31,279
Speaker 1: who's going to be in the ninth inning? Could they

984
00:41:31,400 --> 00:41:33,480
Speaker 1: use a Lopez or a Holmes to kind of bridge

985
00:41:33,520 --> 00:41:36,160
Speaker 1: the gap in the seventh and eighth innings. This also

986
00:41:36,280 --> 00:41:38,839
Speaker 1: the bullpen feels like a puzzle and kind of see

987
00:41:38,880 --> 00:41:41,440
Speaker 1: what Alex in Topless ultimately decides to do.

988
00:41:41,960 --> 00:41:44,040
Speaker 2: It'll be a puzzle this winner. It'll be a puzzle

989
00:41:44,120 --> 00:41:46,080
Speaker 2: during the season, very likely. Right, Yeah, it's nice to

990
00:41:46,120 --> 00:41:48,560
Speaker 2: have the lockdown closer if you can find it. It's

991
00:41:48,600 --> 00:41:50,640
Speaker 2: going to be difficult to do. And O'Ryan Helsley really

992
00:41:50,640 --> 00:41:52,880
Speaker 2: struggled as a met he was going to be one

993
00:41:52,920 --> 00:41:55,040
Speaker 2: of the better kind of closers that would have been available.

994
00:41:55,080 --> 00:41:57,600
Speaker 2: I mentioned Emilio Pragan. I want to put together kind

995
00:41:57,640 --> 00:42:00,560
Speaker 2: of that wish list. An older guy, but he's been good.

996
00:42:00,800 --> 00:42:02,600
Speaker 2: You go look at his numbers and he has really

997
00:42:02,680 --> 00:42:04,600
Speaker 2: been a guy that later in his career he's been better.

998
00:42:05,440 --> 00:42:08,200
Speaker 2: I'm okay bringing Risel back to I know, it's interesting

999
00:42:08,280 --> 00:42:10,759
Speaker 2: that you start to look how he's kind of been

1000
00:42:10,920 --> 00:42:13,960
Speaker 2: historically somewhat of a slow starter. Now where his velocity

1001
00:42:14,120 --> 00:42:16,520
Speaker 2: was over those last four months of the season, kind

1002
00:42:16,560 --> 00:42:18,640
Speaker 2: of ironing out the slider issues, right the slider at

1003
00:42:18,680 --> 00:42:20,120
Speaker 2: the beginning of the year was a big part of

1004
00:42:20,160 --> 00:42:22,440
Speaker 2: the problem most home runs that we saw. It just

1005
00:42:22,600 --> 00:42:24,400
Speaker 2: wasn't the same pitch, and it's the third pitch, right.

1006
00:42:24,440 --> 00:42:27,160
Speaker 2: He was getting beat on it probably too many times.

1007
00:42:27,200 --> 00:42:29,479
Speaker 2: He still had the great change up. It just seemed

1008
00:42:29,520 --> 00:42:31,400
Speaker 2: like you could make a mistake and they were capitalizing

1009
00:42:31,440 --> 00:42:34,279
Speaker 2: on it. He is as unselfish as anybody I've ever

1010
00:42:34,360 --> 00:42:35,920
Speaker 2: been around when it comes to a bullpen. What do

1011
00:42:35,960 --> 00:42:36,920
Speaker 2: you want me to do? You need me in the

1012
00:42:36,920 --> 00:42:39,040
Speaker 2: fifth because I'm struggling, I got you. Need me to

1013
00:42:39,080 --> 00:42:40,879
Speaker 2: be an opener, I got you. You want me to close,

1014
00:42:40,960 --> 00:42:43,560
Speaker 2: I got you. Some closers can't do that, and they're

1015
00:42:43,560 --> 00:42:45,320
Speaker 2: scared to do it. They're scared to get out of

1016
00:42:45,360 --> 00:42:47,400
Speaker 2: that comfort of I get the last inning with a

1017
00:42:47,440 --> 00:42:49,799
Speaker 2: three run lead. That's when I'm in the game, three

1018
00:42:49,840 --> 00:42:52,399
Speaker 2: runs are less and it's a save situation. There's something

1019
00:42:52,440 --> 00:42:55,239
Speaker 2: to be admired about that part with Ryce sel Iglesias.

1020
00:42:55,280 --> 00:42:57,719
Speaker 2: Everyone knows him here. There's that familiarity that you like

1021
00:42:57,800 --> 00:42:59,759
Speaker 2: as well. It's just a matter of trying to figure

1022
00:42:59,800 --> 00:43:01,880
Speaker 2: out what it has kind of been the issue, especially

1023
00:43:02,000 --> 00:43:04,160
Speaker 2: last year that he got to the slow start and

1024
00:43:04,280 --> 00:43:06,040
Speaker 2: then he is as good as anybody in the game

1025
00:43:06,880 --> 00:43:08,759
Speaker 2: probably the last four months of the season. So that's

1026
00:43:08,800 --> 00:43:10,839
Speaker 2: something that you'd want to iron out, but it should

1027
00:43:10,840 --> 00:43:13,520
Speaker 2: be hopefully multiple guys. You mentioned Joejmeniz. I don't know

1028
00:43:13,560 --> 00:43:15,640
Speaker 2: if anybody was missed more in that bullpen last year

1029
00:43:16,000 --> 00:43:18,879
Speaker 2: than Joejamenez. With AJ getting hurt, AJ Minter getting hurt,

1030
00:43:19,400 --> 00:43:20,839
Speaker 2: maybe you feel like it didn't miss him as much,

1031
00:43:20,880 --> 00:43:23,600
Speaker 2: but he certainly was missed as well. Really excited about

1032
00:43:23,640 --> 00:43:25,960
Speaker 2: Tyler Kinley and what we saw right. I know there

1033
00:43:26,040 --> 00:43:28,120
Speaker 2: was some criticism there at least again careful who we

1034
00:43:28,200 --> 00:43:29,719
Speaker 2: listened to, but I know brace stands are like, what

1035
00:43:30,400 --> 00:43:32,480
Speaker 2: this is our move with the deadline, and there was

1036
00:43:32,520 --> 00:43:34,319
Speaker 2: a pretty big option for next year, and I think

1037
00:43:34,360 --> 00:43:36,279
Speaker 2: it even bumped up more because of some incentives that

1038
00:43:36,320 --> 00:43:40,359
Speaker 2: were hit. He was great and his slider was really good,

1039
00:43:40,400 --> 00:43:42,400
Speaker 2: and listening to him talk about how he manipulates it

1040
00:43:43,160 --> 00:43:45,719
Speaker 2: is that's a weapon. Like he really came on in

1041
00:43:45,800 --> 00:43:47,600
Speaker 2: a big way. I know Pierce Johnson had a good year.

1042
00:43:47,600 --> 00:43:48,640
Speaker 2: It was a little bit of a couple of bumps

1043
00:43:48,680 --> 00:43:50,879
Speaker 2: on the road toward the end, but he's still really good.

1044
00:43:50,920 --> 00:43:52,879
Speaker 2: He still spins it as good as anybody. What would

1045
00:43:52,880 --> 00:43:56,600
Speaker 2: be interesting to me to watch is Aaron Bummer under

1046
00:43:56,640 --> 00:43:58,719
Speaker 2: a different manager. It's not to say that Snit didn't

1047
00:43:58,760 --> 00:44:02,200
Speaker 2: handle him well, but I do wonder about Bumber because

1048
00:44:02,360 --> 00:44:04,200
Speaker 2: you know, he was good. I think he doesn't get

1049
00:44:04,200 --> 00:44:06,279
Speaker 2: the credit that he deserves. You got to really dig

1050
00:44:06,360 --> 00:44:08,480
Speaker 2: in sometimes on the numbers. Yeah, there's gonna be some

1051
00:44:08,560 --> 00:44:10,480
Speaker 2: walks here and there, but he is an elite level

1052
00:44:10,560 --> 00:44:13,560
Speaker 2: ground ball, heavy sinker guy, good sweeper, you know the command.

1053
00:44:13,600 --> 00:44:15,239
Speaker 2: Every once in a while will get away. He'll hit

1054
00:44:15,280 --> 00:44:16,960
Speaker 2: a guy here and there. But I really like him

1055
00:44:17,280 --> 00:44:19,160
Speaker 2: and what he can bring to the table. I think

1056
00:44:19,200 --> 00:44:21,040
Speaker 2: you strengthen up the rest of that bullpen and he

1057
00:44:21,080 --> 00:44:23,680
Speaker 2: can be really impactful as well. So some good things

1058
00:44:23,760 --> 00:44:26,439
Speaker 2: happening last year. Obviously, Dylan Lee had the huge season.

1059
00:44:26,520 --> 00:44:28,640
Speaker 2: A couple of home runs that got away from him late,

1060
00:44:28,719 --> 00:44:30,920
Speaker 2: so that number kind of ticked up on him. But

1061
00:44:31,040 --> 00:44:33,520
Speaker 2: there's good arms down there. They certainly do need to

1062
00:44:33,520 --> 00:44:35,839
Speaker 2: add it. It will be a priority, but a couple

1063
00:44:35,920 --> 00:44:37,640
Speaker 2: of pieces, and all of a sudden you're talking about

1064
00:44:37,640 --> 00:44:40,239
Speaker 2: a really dynamic bullpen. The question just becomes can you

1065
00:44:40,360 --> 00:44:43,319
Speaker 2: find that closer who knows? And we'll see who they

1066
00:44:43,360 --> 00:44:44,880
Speaker 2: bring in as a manager. But if you bring in,

1067
00:44:44,960 --> 00:44:47,600
Speaker 2: say a younger, more, you know, analytic type of guy,

1068
00:44:48,239 --> 00:44:49,920
Speaker 2: maybe you don't open the season with the closer. You

1069
00:44:49,920 --> 00:44:51,239
Speaker 2: don't want to force it. If you can't get the

1070
00:44:51,280 --> 00:44:53,480
Speaker 2: guy you want, you don't want to force it. Can

1071
00:44:53,560 --> 00:44:55,120
Speaker 2: you play matchups? And it goes back to what we

1072
00:44:55,200 --> 00:44:58,359
Speaker 2: were talking about earlier with your potential right handed hitting

1073
00:44:58,480 --> 00:45:01,759
Speaker 2: kind of outfielder DH guy just getting everybody on board.

1074
00:45:01,840 --> 00:45:03,919
Speaker 2: There are some bullpens that they get everybody on board

1075
00:45:03,920 --> 00:45:05,200
Speaker 2: and they don't know who's going to close that night,

1076
00:45:05,239 --> 00:45:07,920
Speaker 2: but they're good with it. And I think that probably

1077
00:45:07,920 --> 00:45:09,480
Speaker 2: could end up being said that. I don't want to

1078
00:45:09,480 --> 00:45:11,279
Speaker 2: say it could be the case, but it's a backup plan.

1079
00:45:11,360 --> 00:45:12,560
Speaker 2: It could be a good one if you have to.

1080
00:45:13,120 --> 00:45:16,200
Speaker 1: Sure, it feels like it's one of those things bullpens

1081
00:45:16,239 --> 00:45:18,680
Speaker 1: and the pecking order. It just kind of works itself

1082
00:45:18,760 --> 00:45:21,680
Speaker 1: out over the course of a season. And sure, maybe

1083
00:45:21,719 --> 00:45:24,280
Speaker 1: you have just an absolute locked in ninth in encloser

1084
00:45:24,320 --> 00:45:26,479
Speaker 1: who's if he's healthy, he's going to get your forty

1085
00:45:26,520 --> 00:45:28,800
Speaker 1: fifty saves that year. But you know, that's the beauty

1086
00:45:28,840 --> 00:45:31,439
Speaker 1: of bullpens, and guys have good years guys have bad years,

1087
00:45:31,520 --> 00:45:34,000
Speaker 1: and like you said earlier, you know, even a six

1088
00:45:34,080 --> 00:45:36,879
Speaker 1: week stretch with rice Eell, who's had a decade long

1089
00:45:37,000 --> 00:45:39,960
Speaker 1: career being an elite reliever, his slider gets away from

1090
00:45:40,040 --> 00:45:41,800
Speaker 1: him for six weeks and all of a sudden, you know,

1091
00:45:41,840 --> 00:45:43,840
Speaker 1: he lost his chop for a little bit there, and

1092
00:45:43,960 --> 00:45:45,879
Speaker 1: then you blink and all of a sudden, Rice Ell

1093
00:45:46,000 --> 00:45:48,440
Speaker 1: was back to be in the good, really reliable ninth

1094
00:45:48,480 --> 00:45:50,600
Speaker 1: inning arm that he was all you know really since

1095
00:45:50,640 --> 00:45:51,680
Speaker 1: he came over with the Braves.

1096
00:45:51,960 --> 00:45:53,719
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm glad nobody traded for him. I know. We

1097
00:45:53,760 --> 00:45:55,560
Speaker 2: would listen to Alex and talking about I think some

1098
00:45:55,600 --> 00:45:57,160
Speaker 2: people missed, you know, as we were making our way

1099
00:45:57,160 --> 00:45:59,640
Speaker 2: around the league leading into the deadline, ran across some

1100
00:45:59,680 --> 00:46:01,760
Speaker 2: people from other teams that I knew, and some executives,

1101
00:46:01,760 --> 00:46:03,360
Speaker 2: and then we're kind of asking, I'm like, listen, this

1102
00:46:03,400 --> 00:46:06,520
Speaker 2: guy's dealing right now. If you're if you're interested, dig

1103
00:46:06,600 --> 00:46:08,680
Speaker 2: in a little bit. Look at what he's done lately.

1104
00:46:08,719 --> 00:46:10,279
Speaker 2: At that point, it'd probably have been like the last

1105
00:46:10,320 --> 00:46:13,880
Speaker 2: few weeks leading into the trade deadline. Look what happened earlier,

1106
00:46:14,040 --> 00:46:16,640
Speaker 2: the corrections that were made, He's back to where he

1107
00:46:16,760 --> 00:46:18,719
Speaker 2: was a year ago, but the offers never came. You

1108
00:46:18,760 --> 00:46:21,000
Speaker 2: can't force it, and that's fine by us too. You know,

1109
00:46:21,040 --> 00:46:22,359
Speaker 2: we know how much he likes it here. So if

1110
00:46:22,400 --> 00:46:25,719
Speaker 2: that helps bring him back next year, even better. Yeah. Yeah,

1111
00:46:25,840 --> 00:46:26,120
Speaker 2: all in.

1112
00:46:26,239 --> 00:46:28,399
Speaker 1: I'll speak for myself all in. If the Braves want

1113
00:46:28,440 --> 00:46:31,320
Speaker 1: to bring Ricell back for another season where multiple seasons

1114
00:46:31,520 --> 00:46:34,720
Speaker 1: sign me up, would happily have him back in that bullpen.

1115
00:46:35,800 --> 00:46:38,160
Speaker 1: Last question for you, CJ. I know you stay very

1116
00:46:38,239 --> 00:46:40,600
Speaker 1: busy during the regular season, and you stay busy in

1117
00:46:40,640 --> 00:46:43,560
Speaker 1: the off season with you do radio for m WILLB Network,

1118
00:46:43,640 --> 00:46:46,200
Speaker 1: and you have a great Twitter following, and you're always

1119
00:46:46,239 --> 00:46:48,640
Speaker 1: talking about something and throwing out you know, I saw

1120
00:46:48,719 --> 00:46:52,040
Speaker 1: you talking about the nine game World Series bringing that

1121
00:46:52,200 --> 00:46:55,880
Speaker 1: back and the ghost Runner in the next trainnings.

1122
00:46:56,080 --> 00:46:59,120
Speaker 2: Oh my goodness, that one. A lot of hate come

1123
00:46:59,200 --> 00:47:01,359
Speaker 2: my way for that one. Yeah. A lot of times

1124
00:47:01,400 --> 00:47:03,520
Speaker 2: I'm throwing out ideas or thoughts that I have at

1125
00:47:03,560 --> 00:47:06,200
Speaker 2: the moment. It was one thirty in the morning, a game,

1126
00:47:06,360 --> 00:47:07,960
Speaker 2: was like I'm like, oh my gosh, with this game,

1127
00:47:08,400 --> 00:47:10,160
Speaker 2: I'm like, you know what, maybe they'll run around second

1128
00:47:10,200 --> 00:47:13,239
Speaker 2: base the way I'm thinking about it, And probably people said,

1129
00:47:13,239 --> 00:47:15,520
Speaker 2: what about like twelfth inning on I could get on board, like,

1130
00:47:15,560 --> 00:47:17,120
Speaker 2: we'll see how the rest of the World Series goes.

1131
00:47:17,560 --> 00:47:19,600
Speaker 2: Those bullpens are a mess right now, and you just

1132
00:47:19,640 --> 00:47:21,520
Speaker 2: started three straight games. You got three four five with

1133
00:47:21,640 --> 00:47:24,040
Speaker 2: no off days, and we played eighteen innings. And I

1134
00:47:24,120 --> 00:47:25,360
Speaker 2: get it's good for you if you live on the

1135
00:47:25,400 --> 00:47:26,840
Speaker 2: West Coast, like you're in a good spot. You're not

1136
00:47:27,000 --> 00:47:29,160
Speaker 2: up till you know it's eleven, whatever, forty five when

1137
00:47:29,200 --> 00:47:31,160
Speaker 2: that game's over. For the rest of us, it was

1138
00:47:31,239 --> 00:47:33,960
Speaker 2: two forty five. I didn't get to bed till after three.

1139
00:47:34,000 --> 00:47:35,239
Speaker 2: I don't know if it's best for a game. I

1140
00:47:35,280 --> 00:47:36,880
Speaker 2: don't know if it's best for all of our fans.

1141
00:47:37,560 --> 00:47:39,320
Speaker 2: But man, there were some people that were not happy.

1142
00:47:40,040 --> 00:47:42,440
Speaker 2: They said some really mean things to me about that.

1143
00:47:42,600 --> 00:47:44,400
Speaker 2: I'm just saying, I do like to start, yeah, And

1144
00:47:44,400 --> 00:47:46,800
Speaker 2: I do like to sometimes start the conversation or have

1145
00:47:47,480 --> 00:47:49,160
Speaker 2: a little bit of fun because I do love watching

1146
00:47:49,200 --> 00:47:51,319
Speaker 2: the postseason. That's why I'm saying. I was like, man,

1147
00:47:51,360 --> 00:47:53,960
Speaker 2: I don't like when the postseason's over, right, it gets

1148
00:47:53,960 --> 00:47:55,759
Speaker 2: this closer to spring training. But I'm like, I'd be

1149
00:47:55,800 --> 00:47:57,520
Speaker 2: okay with the best of nine, but not if we're

1150
00:47:57,520 --> 00:47:58,400
Speaker 2: playing eighteen innings.

1151
00:47:58,840 --> 00:48:02,000
Speaker 1: Sure, yeah, that was a bizarre game. Three man, that

1152
00:48:02,160 --> 00:48:04,520
Speaker 1: was the game I'll remember forever. And you know, yeah,

1153
00:48:04,960 --> 00:48:08,160
Speaker 1: and imagine that people on Twitter with their torches and

1154
00:48:08,239 --> 00:48:09,320
Speaker 1: pitchforks coming.

1155
00:48:09,120 --> 00:48:11,479
Speaker 2: After terrible things they said to me. Even some BRAVECE

1156
00:48:11,560 --> 00:48:12,560
Speaker 2: fans said some mean things.

1157
00:48:14,200 --> 00:48:16,240
Speaker 1: I know it was yeah, maybe it was late. Everyone

1158
00:48:16,320 --> 00:48:18,160
Speaker 1: was galirious. It was, you know, two in the morning

1159
00:48:18,239 --> 00:48:21,600
Speaker 1: on the East Coast. I don't know, but all right, folks,

1160
00:48:21,680 --> 00:48:24,440
Speaker 1: Well I'm gonna let CJ go. He is a very

1161
00:48:24,480 --> 00:48:24,960
Speaker 1: busy man.

1162
00:48:25,000 --> 00:48:25,719
Speaker 2: As we have said.

1163
00:48:25,920 --> 00:48:28,279
Speaker 1: Of course, you can find all of CJ's great work

1164
00:48:28,440 --> 00:48:31,960
Speaker 1: MLB Network Radio, and of course whenever the season rolls around,

1165
00:48:32,160 --> 00:48:34,759
Speaker 1: rocking and rolling in that booth with Brandon again. Just

1166
00:48:34,840 --> 00:48:37,879
Speaker 1: such a great broadcast booth, great dynamic that you guys

1167
00:48:37,960 --> 00:48:40,680
Speaker 1: have bringing the games. And CJ hope that you were

1168
00:48:40,719 --> 00:48:42,560
Speaker 1: able to get away from baseball for at least a

1169
00:48:42,560 --> 00:48:45,800
Speaker 1: little bit. This offseason takes some time, maybe a nice vacation,

1170
00:48:46,800 --> 00:48:48,840
Speaker 1: you know, just kind of recharge the batteries, because they

1171
00:48:48,880 --> 00:48:50,840
Speaker 1: feel like spring training will be here before we know it.

1172
00:48:51,120 --> 00:48:53,640
Speaker 2: I feel like spring training does charge the batteries. If anything,

1173
00:48:53,680 --> 00:48:56,080
Speaker 2: I feel like they get depleted in the off season.

1174
00:48:56,080 --> 00:48:57,840
Speaker 2: But skuy. I appreciate you having me man, love the

1175
00:48:57,920 --> 00:49:00,440
Speaker 2: work that you do, and look forward to follow on

1176
00:49:00,520 --> 00:49:02,799
Speaker 2: this off season. What happens for the Braves.

1177
00:49:02,920 --> 00:49:06,360
Speaker 1: Absolutely all right. Well, as always, we'll be back with

1178
00:49:06,480 --> 00:49:09,279
Speaker 1: more shows on the Hammer Territory podcast this upcoming week.

1179
00:49:09,600 --> 00:49:12,040
Speaker 1: Of course, if the Braves ever hire a manager, we

1180
00:49:12,200 --> 00:49:15,520
Speaker 1: will be back to respond to that in emergency fashion,

1181
00:49:15,560 --> 00:49:18,440
Speaker 1: and then of course the offseason could get started officially

1182
00:49:18,920 --> 00:49:20,560
Speaker 1: in a couple of days from now, depending on what

1183
00:49:20,680 --> 00:49:24,000
Speaker 1: happens with the World Series. One more time, a big

1184
00:49:24,040 --> 00:49:26,360
Speaker 1: thank you to CJ for joining the show today. I

1185
00:49:26,480 --> 00:49:29,640
Speaker 1: am Scott Holman. You'll see everybody next time.