Speaker 1: Welcome one and all to the hemb A Territory Podcast.
Speaker 1: My name is Sean Coleman. Hope, wherever you are and
Speaker 1: wherever you are listening, you are having a great night
Speaker 1: and a great week. Hopefully it's not involving watching the
Speaker 1: Braves so far this week, but you know that's where
Speaker 1: we are. For some of us, like Stephen, we could
Speaker 1: be anxiously awaiting the upcoming documentary on Travis Kelsey and
Speaker 1: Taylor Swift's wedding now that they are officially with. For
Speaker 1: others it may be something else. But we are excited
Speaker 1: tonight because yes, I'm with one of the best when
Speaker 1: it comes to breaking down the Braves. I'm a podcast partner,
Speaker 1: Stephen Tolbert. But we also have a legend in the house,
Speaker 1: one of the best when it comes to breaking down
Speaker 1: the Braves for two decades now, and that is Chris Willis.
Speaker 1: Don't mean to make you old, but the point you
Speaker 1: feel old, But the point is how long you've been
Speaker 1: impacting those of us who enjoys Braves content. Chris is
Speaker 1: the editorial manager for ESB Nations baseball coverage with Vox Media,
Speaker 1: and also, just to be completely honest, he played an
Speaker 1: integral role in all four of the members of a
Speaker 1: Hammer Territory coming into Braves content at some point in
Speaker 1: time over the past decade plus, so we're always very
Speaker 1: happy to welcome him to the show and interact with him. Chris,
Speaker 1: pleasure to have you, sir man.
Speaker 2: That's a heck of an intro. No, it's good to
Speaker 2: see you, guys. I appreciate you to having me on.
Speaker 2: It's been a long time, you know, so I'm really
Speaker 2: excited for this.
Speaker 1: And we're glad to have you. Wish it was under
Speaker 1: better circumstances to talk Braves baseball, you know, that's the
Speaker 1: great part of Hammer Territory. We're to cover it, you know,
Speaker 1: no matter how bad, are good. But the Braves unfortunately
Speaker 1: have been mixing it up when it comes to losses,
Speaker 1: losing different ways, and the latest is they've just decided
Speaker 1: to get blown out a time or two, you know,
Speaker 1: within a week's time frame, and that's what happened on
Speaker 1: Tuesday night, And unfortunately, we're gonna cover the past two
Speaker 1: games where they've lost in different fashions. But that's what
Speaker 1: we're here to do, is we mix it up. Engineered
Speaker 1: by Fastenov. So unfortunately this is the point that we
Speaker 1: are at, Steven, is that, yes, the Braves won the
Speaker 1: two first games of the series against the Mets on
Speaker 1: Friday and Saturday, but then in two of the past
Speaker 1: three games they suffered blowouts and then one of the
Speaker 1: more frustrating losses of the year on Monday night. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Sunday they've got blown out. Monday Night really frustrating. They
Speaker 1: didn't lost, and then tonight just had no chance. Let's
Speaker 1: look at both of the recent games that were lost
Speaker 1: as the series finale against the Mets as well as
Speaker 1: tonight against Pittsburgh, and let's start with tonight against Pittsburgh.
Speaker 1: Brace just did not have a chance. Ryan O'Hearn decided
Speaker 1: to turn into the enhanced version of Shoheo Tani and
Speaker 1: for one night only, and Hirst and Waldrup just did
Speaker 1: not have an answer, but all kidding to sign. One
Speaker 1: takeaway from this is that the Braves hoped that hirston
Speaker 1: Waldrop will be their latest band aid for a better
Speaker 1: way to you know put it, to potentially try to
Speaker 1: keep this staff together until they might be able to
Speaker 1: add external help over the next month. But it's proven
Speaker 1: to not be the case. Unfortunately, Hirst Waldrup is the
Speaker 1: latest example of an unreliable internal option for a team
Speaker 1: trying to win.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so, you know, I think Alex Adoplis would tell
Speaker 3: you in an honest moment that Heirston Waldrip came up
Speaker 3: at the speed he did out of necessity. I don't
Speaker 3: think he came up out of That's exactly the track
Speaker 3: they wanted him to take. I think anybody who's paying
Speaker 3: attention to his rehab assignments saw a pretty, you know,
Speaker 3: questionable amount of shaky command. You know, he had something
Speaker 3: like twelve walks in fifteen innings or something like that
Speaker 3: in his rehab assignments, and unfortunately we've seen that carry
Speaker 3: over into the.
Speaker 4: Major league club.
Speaker 3: He's got like eight walks and ten innings, a couple
Speaker 3: hit by putt. No, I think it's ten walks and
Speaker 3: ten innings and a couple hit by pitches. Obviously tonight was.
Speaker 4: The home run ball.
Speaker 3: It is just another example of the Braves are kind
Speaker 3: of scraping the bottom of the barrel right now of
Speaker 3: starting pitching options and chriss where I'm gonna get your opinion,
Speaker 3: It does seem like, you know, this something we talked
Speaker 3: about a lot on the show. Of the summer or
Speaker 3: I'm sorry, over the winter.
Speaker 4: Was the Braves.
Speaker 3: Even though they have a lot of names, potential starters,
Speaker 3: they had a lot of question marks. They had a
Speaker 3: lot of injury question marks, they had a lot of
Speaker 3: production question marks. And unfortunately, as the season has progressed,
Speaker 3: those questions have just gotten bigger and bigger, bigger. And
Speaker 3: it seems to me, and I want to get your
Speaker 3: opinion that herston waldrip is just kind of another example
Speaker 3: of where the Braves have been operating out of necessity
Speaker 3: more than operating out of desire, and we've kind of
Speaker 3: run into a point where they probably have somebody in
Speaker 3: a pitching in a pitching spot in the rotation that
Speaker 3: probably needs to be in Triple A that they really
Speaker 3: can't afford to have them in Triple A at the moment.
Speaker 2: Yeah, agree with you one hundred percent. I think in
Speaker 2: a perfect world, Walter would have got more more lead
Speaker 2: time at Triple A to try to get home this
Speaker 2: uh you know, dial in the command and stuff. And
Speaker 2: I mean, I think you're right. I mean, Brad's got
Speaker 2: off to this great start this season. I think they
Speaker 2: exceeded I mean they were kind of an afterthought. You know,
Speaker 2: coming in, if you looked at all the predictions and
Speaker 2: playoff odds and stuff like that, you know, it seemed
Speaker 2: like they might be fighting with the Marlins for third
Speaker 2: place in the in the Mets and the Phillies running
Speaker 2: away from with the division. But you know, they came
Speaker 2: out of the gate smoking and a lot of it
Speaker 2: was the pitching staff that had so many questions marks
Speaker 2: it seemed Bryce Elder was excellent. Uh, you know, Spencer
Speaker 2: Strider was coming back. We were hoping to see Spencer
Speaker 2: swelling Bach and then you know he he still hasn't
Speaker 2: throw a pitch this year. But you had guys like
Speaker 2: Bryce Elder and Martine Perez that really just you know,
Speaker 2: filled the gap in there. And now you know, as
Speaker 2: the season it was, it was always going to be
Speaker 2: hard for them to maintain that through a full season,
Speaker 2: I think, And this is just one of those bumps
Speaker 2: in the roads right now where you know, it's not
Speaker 2: just a pitching but the injuries feel like they are
Speaker 2: starting to catch up with this roster a little bit.
Speaker 2: And I think you know, Waldroup, out of necessity, pitched
Speaker 2: really well down the stretch last year. You know, I
Speaker 2: think not ready to close the door on him being
Speaker 2: a solid contributor. But you know, I just think you're
Speaker 2: going to have knights like tonight where you know, you
Speaker 2: you're facing Paul schemes. You you know, you score scratch
Speaker 2: a run across early and then you turn around and
Speaker 2: give up a grand slam, and you know, and it
Speaker 2: just kind of snowballs from there. And I think you're
Speaker 2: just where their braids are at right now. They're just
Speaker 2: going to have to live with it until they can
Speaker 2: get some more options in here.
Speaker 1: I think that's something that stands out, Chris, because you
Speaker 1: bring up a good point. They're going to have to
Speaker 1: live with it. In other words, they're going to have
Speaker 1: to improve internally because external options are not coming tomorrow
Speaker 1: next week. Before the start breaking like that, it's still
Speaker 1: two to three eight weeks it least out. And at
Speaker 1: that point you don't even know what it's going to
Speaker 1: look like because you don't know who's available right now,
Speaker 1: and you don't know the cost at which it's going
Speaker 1: to take to get them. But the other thing I
Speaker 1: think that you hit on is is that this team
Speaker 1: has to figure out some type of constant to help
Speaker 1: them win games. You know, a couple of things that
Speaker 1: come away from Monday Night's game is that Ronaldo Lopez
Speaker 1: thankfully looked good. That's three straight appearances where he's manageable
Speaker 1: to good to actually really good. But I think that
Speaker 1: speaks to the fact of just how influx this rotation is,
Speaker 1: because it seems like every two weeks. Is that if
Speaker 1: the playoffs were to start today, you would have a
Speaker 1: different opinion of who the Braves number two starter would be.
Speaker 1: It would be from Elder to Martin Perez. Now the
Speaker 1: Ronaldo Lopez, that and of itself is an issue. The
Speaker 1: problem also is is last night we've had to have
Speaker 1: more than one aspect of this team in a good
Speaker 1: spot during games last night, the power showed up, but
Speaker 1: the inability to hit with Runnerson's scoring position, the bullpen,
Speaker 1: especially Bryce i Leglecy, is a very rare blow up,
Speaker 1: and I think why struggled when it came to his
Speaker 1: decision making. We've got to have more than one aspect
Speaker 1: of this team in a winnable spot to be able
Speaker 1: to win games consistently. And that leads me to my
Speaker 1: overall big point that's coming up once again about this
Speaker 1: team that hindered to so much in twenty four and
Speaker 1: twenty five since June first, we are twenty seventh in
Speaker 1: runners in scoring position in terms of WRC plus, and
Speaker 1: we're twenty eighth in total opportunities. We're not creating run
Speaker 1: scoring opportunities and we're not converting. And that's a big,
Speaker 1: big thing that leads to more inconsistency than the ability
Speaker 1: to win.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and listen, Monday night, it got lost because of
Speaker 3: the way the game ended.
Speaker 4: But Ronaldo looked really good.
Speaker 3: Yes, and this is a big deal, Like I'm talking
Speaker 3: about this on Twitter with somebody to day. You know,
Speaker 3: Ronaldo's showing any sign of life. And I looked it up,
Speaker 3: like over the last month and a half, Ronaldo's got
Speaker 3: like a fip in the twos. The strikeout has come back,
Speaker 3: the whiffs have come back. He was sitting pretty regularly
Speaker 3: like ninety six ninety seven on Monday. Again, the game
Speaker 3: didn't end well, and yes, I was not happy the
Speaker 3: fact that they decided to let the pitch to Soto
Speaker 3: and let Sodo beat them in a lineup where he's
Speaker 3: pretty much the only threat. But you know that was
Speaker 3: a kind of a zoomed in takeaway. I think the
Speaker 3: zoomed out takeaway the main takeaway from Monday is that
Speaker 3: Ronaldo has established himself again, is at least somebody who
Speaker 3: has deserved a shot to pitch in the rotation. I
Speaker 3: think you're right. I think if the and this is
Speaker 3: where I want to get Chris's thoughts. Chris, let's just say,
Speaker 3: let's say the playoffs start tomorrow and the Braves are
Speaker 3: in and we and we sometimes lose sight of that.
Speaker 3: I'll admit, like, the Braves are still a playoff team
Speaker 3: right now. They would still win the division. They would
Speaker 3: be in the wildcard round because the Brewers and the
Speaker 3: Dodgers have both passed him. But we've talked about this
Speaker 3: a lot.
Speaker 4: I want to get your opinion.
Speaker 3: If the playoffs started tomorrow, give me your playoff rotation.
Speaker 2: It's kind of I mean, I think right now it
Speaker 2: would be Chrisselle Lopez and probably Bryce Elder if if
Speaker 2: it's Velo comes back, I mean, I think that's your
Speaker 2: that's your options right now. You know, hopefully it doesn't
Speaker 2: look that way, you know, a month from now or whatever.
Speaker 2: I mean, I feel like they've got to go out
Speaker 2: and I think, more than anything, this is a season
Speaker 2: where they're going to have to change that was very
Speaker 2: encouraged by what I saw from Lopez in the in
Speaker 2: the loss of the Mets. Thought he looked good. I
Speaker 2: was skeptical about bringing him out of the bullpen back
Speaker 2: into the rotations just because he just never looked right
Speaker 2: to me prior to going into the bullpen. But he
Speaker 2: looked you know, he kind of looked the way he
Speaker 2: did when before the injury, I thought the other or not. So,
Speaker 2: you know, I'm still kind of holding my breath a
Speaker 2: little bit every time, you know, shoulders, It's just it
Speaker 2: feels like they can fix elbows a lot of times now,
Speaker 2: but shoulders sometimes those problems come back and stuff. But uh,
Speaker 2: you know, I was, I mean, he's a huge shot
Speaker 2: in the arm right now if they can get him,
Speaker 2: and I kind of feel like maybe the plan was
Speaker 2: always for them to bring him back into the rotation.
Speaker 2: But I also think it's just kind of the same
Speaker 2: thing with Waldrop. It's a little bit of necessity too,
Speaker 2: you know, and they just didn't have any he was
Speaker 2: the best, next, best available option, and uh, you know,
Speaker 2: I think that we've seen j R. Ritchie and we've
Speaker 2: you know, we've seen Owen Murphy. Now, you know, I
Speaker 2: think that's getting their their feet wet and just in
Speaker 2: case this team needs them to start down the down
Speaker 2: the stretch.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I think that that that's something that is
Speaker 1: becoming clear, is that you know, we talked about it, Chris.
Speaker 1: I know you you held a similar opinion. You know,
Speaker 1: the brains have been trying for years to add external
Speaker 1: pitching help and they didn't and they probably felt a
Speaker 1: big reason why maybe the depth was more reliable this year.
Speaker 1: But you you you've looked at Strider coming back, you
Speaker 1: looked at Richie coming back, You've looked at Waldrick coming back.
Speaker 1: You tried to rely on Lopez coming back, and you
Speaker 1: had Murphy last night. Nobody's coming in and been reliable.
Speaker 1: Maybe Lopez can, But that just goes to show that
Speaker 1: at some point you're going to have to go external.
Speaker 1: But talk more with Chris about the season as a
Speaker 1: whole and also what could be coming in your future.
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Speaker 1: So for those who may be new to the Hammer
Speaker 1: Territory podcast game. Before Hammer Territory in the early part
Speaker 1: of this decade, there were a Trio podcast. There was
Speaker 1: once a Trio a podcast. It was the Battery Power
Speaker 1: podcast Network, and one of those podcasts was the famous
Speaker 1: PTB Nail podcast quote unquote the podcast to be named
Speaker 1: later multiple years worth the podcast, but also multiple years
Speaker 1: worth plenty of discussions about what the podcast should be named.
Speaker 1: I personally made little suggestions. None of them ever got
Speaker 1: past the cutting room floor because Chris and Stephen hated
Speaker 1: them all. But for those who know, and Chris were
Speaker 1: wonderful podcast partners for multiple years, and so their takes
Speaker 1: were always awesome to listen to. And we get to
Speaker 1: do it once again, and let's get right into the
Speaker 1: assessment of the season now, Steven, I don't want to
Speaker 1: quote you too much, but I think that you brought
Speaker 1: up an excellent point about this Braves team. There's not
Speaker 1: as good as the first sixty games as they as
Speaker 1: we thought we were the first sixty games of the year.
Speaker 1: They're not as bad as what we've seen over the
Speaker 1: past month. There's somewhere in between. But the thing that
Speaker 1: I'll add to that is if that is who we are,
Speaker 1: we're nowhere near as close to being the contender we
Speaker 1: want to be.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I had somebody asked today because so
Speaker 3: the Braves have had two very distinct periods of the year. Obviously,
Speaker 3: the first I think it was sixty nine games. There
Speaker 3: was no sixty six games. They were forty five and
Speaker 3: twenty one. So that's a like almost seven hundred winning percentage.
Speaker 3: That's one hundred and ten win pace, which is absurd.
Speaker 3: I mean, that's sub Banana's level season, and I think
Speaker 3: most people understood talent level wise, the Braves were playing
Speaker 3: above their head. Bryce Elder and Martine Brez both at
Speaker 3: eras and the ones. Dom Smith was hitting like you know,
Speaker 3: Babe Bruth. Hory Matteo came up with big hits every night.
Speaker 3: Richard Debonn had like a nine hundred ops for like
Speaker 3: the first six weeks. I think most people understood, you know,
Speaker 3: this is above our head, and.
Speaker 4: So regression was coming.
Speaker 6: Now.
Speaker 3: Unfortunately, the second stint has been basically.
Speaker 4: The wheels coming off.
Speaker 3: They've gone seven and seventeen in their last twenty three games,
Speaker 3: which is a sub three hundred winning percentage, which is
Speaker 3: like a forty.
Speaker 4: Five win pace.
Speaker 3: So the Braves, you know, the Braves are not one
Speaker 3: hundred and ten win team and they're not a forty
Speaker 3: five win team. The question somebody asked me on Twitter.
Speaker 3: And the question that I'm going to ask Chris is
Speaker 3: where what's real? Where's the reel? Because we've seen two
Speaker 3: things that are very clearly not real. And baseball seasons
Speaker 3: are long and the variance is high, and you and
Speaker 3: I used to talk about this all the time about
Speaker 3: one one baseball season could just be insanely the variance
Speaker 3: in one baseball season can just be insane, like you
Speaker 3: can just reach incredible highs, incredible lows. So one thing
Speaker 3: we try to talk about in the show is what
Speaker 3: is actually real? And so I want to get your opinion, Chris,
Speaker 3: what do you Where do you think the reel is
Speaker 3: with this team?
Speaker 2: I mean, it's a good question. You know, I didn't
Speaker 2: never think that they were as good as as they
Speaker 2: were coming out of the gate, and you know, but
Speaker 2: you know, they won those games and that's just baseball
Speaker 2: at some point, and you know, it's kind of like
Speaker 2: now I don't feel like they're as bad as they are,
Speaker 2: but it is a little alarming that it seems like,
Speaker 2: you know, every facet of the game has been bad
Speaker 2: of late, especially in June. I won't say that every
Speaker 2: every aspect has been bad in July. I mean it
Speaker 2: the other night against the match. You know, great defense
Speaker 2: most of the night, you know, and Aglasia is thirty
Speaker 2: five straight saves. You know, it gets blown there. I
Speaker 2: agree with you. I mean, you know, you make the
Speaker 2: decision to pitch the Soto there. Let make you know,
Speaker 2: hindsight's twenty twenty. But you know, mate, Machette beat you
Speaker 2: make somebody other than Soto beat you. And that's in
Speaker 2: that spot. Maybe we don't feel as bad, maybe we do.
Speaker 2: But again, they came back and tied the game. I
Speaker 2: thought one of the things that really shocked me about
Speaker 2: June and July is we've started to see around major
Speaker 2: League Baseball the ball is flying out of the ballpark again.
Speaker 2: But the Braves were one of the few teams that
Speaker 2: weren't hitting home runs. Now it seems like that's starting
Speaker 2: to come back. And but you know, it's like like
Speaker 2: Sean mentioned earlier, they've had trouble scoring runs. You know,
Speaker 2: we've seen at times, you know, the runners in scoring
Speaker 2: position they've struggled over the last several seasons. At that
Speaker 2: you know, they've covered a lot of it up with
Speaker 2: a three run homer. I feel like Ronald coming back
Speaker 2: is a huge key for this team at the top
Speaker 2: of the order. You know, we've not seen vintage Ronald
Speaker 2: Acunya yet, we may not at all, but his own
Speaker 2: base skills in his base running is a huge asset
Speaker 2: and it just lengthens this lineup. And I think that's
Speaker 2: something they're dealing with right now. Rush Drake ball went back.
Speaker 2: You know, Cunya gets hurt, they have to rush straight
Speaker 2: ball win back. The first time Acuna went out, we
Speaker 2: didn't really notice it that much because Baldwin was doing
Speaker 2: Acunya like things. So you know, I mean when you
Speaker 2: look at where the offense was and then look at
Speaker 2: Austin Riley's numbers, I mean, you gotta be you've got
Speaker 2: to be excited for that. But you know, you're like, wow,
Speaker 2: you know, I mean, those are those are good. But
Speaker 2: it's like you pointed out, they've gotten a ton out
Speaker 2: of people like Dubon dom Smith.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 2: You know, the role players at the bench, which is
Speaker 2: something you and I used to talk about all the time.
Speaker 2: There was basically no bench ye there for several seasons
Speaker 2: and now you know, they've they've been able to do
Speaker 2: they've been able to add to the depth. But it
Speaker 2: just feels like you know, at some point you get
Speaker 2: in the season, they've got to get guys healthy, they've
Speaker 2: got to get guys headed in the right direction, and
Speaker 2: they've got to start hitting some I feel like they've
Speaker 2: still got to start hitting some home runs, and you know,
Speaker 2: they've got to have power up and down the lineup,
Speaker 2: because I just feel like that's the way they've been
Speaker 2: built since twenty twenty three. And whether it's you know,
Speaker 2: a hitting style change, changing the coaching staff, or dead
Speaker 2: baseball's I'm not really sure. I'm not really sure what's
Speaker 2: happened over the last couple of years with that. But
Speaker 2: you know, I still think this team's built slug and
Speaker 2: if they don't, then I think they're gonna have a
Speaker 2: hard time score of scoring runs. So you know, it's
Speaker 2: gonna be interesting to see how they go down the stretch.
Speaker 2: But you know, I mean, that's a long winded answered
Speaker 2: to that's just kind of where I fell out there at.
Speaker 2: I mean, they're not this bad. They didn't just forget
Speaker 2: how to play baseball. But you know, you want to
Speaker 2: see him. You know, it's a lot, it's you know,
Speaker 2: it's iow, baseball is weird. You can't just pin everything
Speaker 2: on a on a one game. But you know, when
Speaker 2: you're splitting with the Mets, you're splitting series at home
Speaker 2: with the Mets, you know you're losing. They've lost some
Speaker 2: they've lost some maddening games, and it's I under in frustration,
Speaker 2: but you still have to keep perspective because there's still
Speaker 2: a long way to go.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and before I go back to Sean, you'd mentioned
Speaker 3: of getting a couna back. I do want to mention
Speaker 3: Mark Bowman, MLB dot Com beat reporter friend of the show,
Speaker 3: did tweet out earlier that Weiss told him that Ronald
Speaker 3: is very close to going out and rehab assignment. We've
Speaker 3: been waiting on this news because the report was always
Speaker 3: Ronald's going to come back very soon after the All
Speaker 3: Star break, but obviously for that to happen, he's gonna
Speaker 3: have to go on a reaps imon here pretty soon
Speaker 3: because the All Star break is next week. So and
Speaker 3: it was notable to me that we finally did get
Speaker 3: word that Ronald is at least about to go on realissimon.
Speaker 3: Of course we don't know what that means. Sorry to
Speaker 3: cut you.
Speaker 1: Off, Sean, No, no, no issue at all. But Chris,
Speaker 1: I think another thing that may not be discussed enough
Speaker 1: about this team is let's kind of broaden the viewpoint
Speaker 1: of this team. Since twenty twenty four and in twenty
Speaker 1: twenty four they made the playoffs, twenty and twenty five
Speaker 1: they struggled, and this year they're you know, I think
Speaker 1: they're going to make the playoffs. They're obviously not going
Speaker 1: to be top of the email like you had hoped.
Speaker 1: But when you break it down, when the Braves have
Speaker 1: been going good, there's been a constant theme as to
Speaker 1: why they've been going good, and that's relying on veterans,
Speaker 1: the production of veterans, elite production of veterans. You go
Speaker 1: back to twenty and twenty four, when they were doing good,
Speaker 1: it was because Chris Sail was having a sign young year,
Speaker 1: Marcelo Zuna was producing at an MVP level, and ry
Speaker 1: soel Iglesias was one of the best closers in baseball,
Speaker 1: all in their mid thirties. Come to this year. The
Speaker 1: best aspects of this team Chris Sail on the mound
Speaker 1: at thirty seven, Robert Sworez or Ryce ol Iglasias in
Speaker 1: their mid thirties. At the back end of the bullpen.
Speaker 1: You've got Matt Olson, who's about to be thirty two
Speaker 1: as your best hitter. Now, that's great. I'm not complaining
Speaker 1: about that. That has helped us remain in a pretty
Speaker 1: good spot. But that also is relying on older veterans,
Speaker 1: which means that your most consistent producers year in and
Speaker 1: year out are not necessarily the longest outlook sources. What
Speaker 1: I mean is is that your focus is more on
Speaker 1: than that. So I think that that's a reason why that,
Speaker 1: especially with the uncertainty of twenty twenty seven, you don't
Speaker 1: know how things are going to happen after that, this
Speaker 1: team is clearly in a position to go World Series
Speaker 1: or bust. But while I don't think the team is
Speaker 1: this bad, they've got a lot of things that they've
Speaker 1: got to improve on internally in some areas that they've
Speaker 1: got to really shore up to be confident in that position.
Speaker 1: I just think that that stands out to me, and
Speaker 1: it starts with some of the inter corps getting going.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, sorry, Chris, yeah, I would Chris, do
Speaker 3: you think they're gonna make a big move? So you
Speaker 3: and I used to talk about this all the time,
Speaker 3: but Alex was, you know, very hesitant. Now that you
Speaker 3: know he's been more he's I think he has loosened
Speaker 3: up a little bit. I do think, you know, he's
Speaker 3: been a little bit more aggressive in trades, but you.
Speaker 4: Know it's not his m O.
Speaker 3: And it's never been, at least it as long as
Speaker 3: been as Atlanta. He's never been hism o. He doesn't
Speaker 3: go get the Turis school. He goes and gets the
Speaker 3: you know, the Shane Green type, and he you know,
Speaker 3: he goes against the Jorge Solaira when nobody expects it.
Speaker 3: Do you think do you think this is a year
Speaker 3: where they have to you know, would they have to
Speaker 3: put up a little more?
Speaker 2: I mean, I mean it's a great question. You know,
Speaker 2: at this point, I don't think you can gain I
Speaker 2: don't think you can go into the deadline counting on
Speaker 2: Spencer stradd coming back and being Spencer Strider. I don't
Speaker 2: think at this point you can count on Spencer Schwellingboch
Speaker 2: coming back and you know, being a different maker. I mean,
Speaker 2: he may very well do that, but I don't think
Speaker 2: you can count on it. So I feel like they've
Speaker 2: got to go add some pitching depth to this. Is
Speaker 2: that going to be Schooble? I would never bet on
Speaker 2: that because we just haven't seen that type of movie.
Speaker 2: You know, if if Scooble had control beyond this season,
Speaker 2: then maybe, But you know, are they going to really
Speaker 2: pay the price for just a rental like that? You know,
Speaker 2: I think you talked yourself into a lot of things.
Speaker 2: I think if they could, I think they have to
Speaker 2: add somebody though. They have to add somebody that's more
Speaker 2: than just a guy that can go out there and
Speaker 2: make starts. I think they have to add some mindens
Speaker 2: to this group for just the reasons that you know,
Speaker 2: we've already talked about. You know, Lopez, there's injury questions
Speaker 2: for Lopez. Chris Sale has been I don't even want
Speaker 2: to speak it into existence, but let's not you know,
Speaker 2: let's not pretend that you know, he hasn't dealt with
Speaker 2: injuries in the past too. And they're to the point
Speaker 2: now where one more serious injury like that and you know,
Speaker 2: the whole the whole start, the whole season can go
Speaker 2: up and smoke. So, I mean, I feel like there's
Speaker 2: going to be a sense of urgency this time. I
Speaker 2: don't think it's one of those in the past deadlines
Speaker 2: you and I've seen where you know, they've went in,
Speaker 2: if we can get a guy that can help us
Speaker 2: this year plus next year, maybe the year after. You know,
Speaker 2: with control they would do that, but they didn't go
Speaker 2: in with urgency. And I think it was twenty nineteen
Speaker 2: they went and got Milans and Green and those guys.
Speaker 2: And then you know, again in twenty twenty one, of
Speaker 2: course they had all the urgency.
Speaker 1: In the world.
Speaker 2: They didn't really mortgage in the future. But you know,
Speaker 2: they went out and made deals and got added added
Speaker 2: a lot of guys to the mix, and it just
Speaker 2: happened catch lightning in a bottle. So yeah, I think
Speaker 2: they're God. I think they have to make moves at
Speaker 2: this point.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 2: Are they going to be the ones that steal all
Speaker 2: the headlines? Probably not, you know, I wouldn't bet on that.
Speaker 2: But I mean, I think this roster has I think
Speaker 2: when the trade deadline, after the trade deadline, I think
Speaker 2: this roster has to look has to look different than
Speaker 2: what it is right now. You know. I if you
Speaker 2: get you get Tritter, and you get Swelling bought back
Speaker 2: and they're great, then that's just a good problem to have,
Speaker 2: you know, I mean, you just have to can figure
Speaker 2: it out from there. But I think they've got to
Speaker 2: go out and get at least one picture and maybe
Speaker 2: maybe even two. You know of the way things slip
Speaker 2: right now.
Speaker 1: So we're gonna have some fun with Chris in just
Speaker 1: a moment, look at some names that he could make
Speaker 1: sense for the Braves. Thinkfully, there's not any really good
Speaker 1: Georgia Bulldogs out there in Major League Baseball right now,
Speaker 1: so we don't have to worry about overpaying for them.
Speaker 1: But some fun names that Chris thinks could make sense
Speaker 1: for the Braves in a moment, after a word from
Speaker 1: our partners book.
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Speaker 1: So, Chris, let's let's get into the fund. You know,
Speaker 1: everybody loves the idea of talking trades, especially those you
Speaker 1: know of us who who enjoy covering the team. And
Speaker 1: also you know that they love, you know, when there's
Speaker 1: clearly a need to make trades. But it talking about
Speaker 1: trades in general, that's that's okay, let's talk names. And
Speaker 1: so I've been racking my brain. Steven knows that I've
Speaker 1: been talking about this now for weeks, but I've been
Speaker 1: trying to figure out, Okay, the Braves aren't going to
Speaker 1: pay top dollar, right. They don't want to trade their
Speaker 1: their best projects, like their projects prospects like Eric Hartman
Speaker 1: or Kem KAMINITTI probably or something like that. And I
Speaker 1: think that's reasonable. So how could they potentially go pay
Speaker 1: a reasonable price for someone that can make a difference
Speaker 1: for them, but also potentially keep that person around for
Speaker 1: a while. And I've got three names that I think
Speaker 1: in the biggest area of need for the Braves probably
Speaker 1: make the most for them to kind of target start
Speaker 1: discussions on and things like that. Those three names are
Speaker 1: Sunny Gray, Mike Soroka as well as Casey Mines. Now
Speaker 1: all three are rentals, and so Alex and Thoppless paying
Speaker 1: a significant price for a rental. Again not his remo,
Speaker 1: but all three of them have either played for the Braves,
Speaker 1: been connected for years due to trade rumors, and also
Speaker 1: where they grew up. You know, they were fans of
Speaker 1: the Braves. You could see them wanting to be with
Speaker 1: the Braves for a while. I think those guys could
Speaker 1: be reasonably priced in terms of prospects. They could make
Speaker 1: a difference as your number two started this year, but
Speaker 1: be open to an extension after that. That's the type
Speaker 1: of move that I think the Braves need to target
Speaker 1: when it comes to potential trade deadline moves.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so I want to get your opinion, Chris. Do
Speaker 3: you think, let's say, Let's let's play hypothetical real quick.
Speaker 3: Let's say Alex. Let's say Alex can only do one.
Speaker 3: So we've talked a lot about pitching, and pitching has
Speaker 3: been a problem lately. But if we're honest and the
Speaker 3: offense has been better in July, it's a small stample.
Speaker 3: We're in like game five of July, but the offense
Speaker 3: has definitely been better in July. Scored fourteen runs the
Speaker 3: other night. You know, tonight was not a great night.
Speaker 3: They didn't do great against Peralta, but you know, they've
Speaker 3: had they've had decent at bats. But there's been a
Speaker 3: lot of conversation as well because of Austin Riley's you know,
Speaker 3: bad season, the Hassan Kim signing did not work.
Speaker 4: You know, we have no idea.
Speaker 3: What we're gonna get from mccunya. I think he's going
Speaker 3: to be back, but we have no clue what we're
Speaker 3: gonna get when he gets back. You know, Michael Harris,
Speaker 3: Ozzy Albi's have had amazing years, but let's be honest,
Speaker 3: they've also had propensity to drop off randomly.
Speaker 4: Here and there.
Speaker 3: So if you could only go get one, or let's
Speaker 3: say maybe you can get two things. Are you going
Speaker 3: to get two starters? Are you going to try to
Speaker 3: find a bat with some of the starters that Sean
Speaker 3: just mentioned.
Speaker 2: I think I'd have to go get two pictures if
Speaker 2: we could get him, you know, I mean, I think
Speaker 2: I think that's the bigger need. I just feel like
Speaker 2: his team's gonna hit at some point. They haven't. You
Speaker 2: know that that's been an issue in June July, but
Speaker 2: I think we're starting to see that corrected itself. You know,
Speaker 2: It's it's tough because you don't know what the names are.
Speaker 2: I mean, I think there was one off season you
Speaker 2: and I predicted ten different outfielders that just were slammed
Speaker 2: dump They absolutely they were gonna you know, they were
Speaker 2: gonna get one of those guys and it, and you know,
Speaker 2: they didn't get any of them. And uh, you know,
Speaker 2: so it's it's hard. You don't you never know what's available,
Speaker 2: what they're going to do. And I think the one
Speaker 2: thing that the one thing that worries me is just
Speaker 2: how many sellers are there going to be. I mean,
Speaker 2: you look at a team like the Twins. You know,
Speaker 2: Joe Ryan's out there, It's got another year of control.
Speaker 2: I mean that's a guy. I don't know what the
Speaker 2: Braves internal scouting thinks of Joe Ryan, but that's a
Speaker 2: guy that that's a guy that fits checks all the boxes,
Speaker 2: you know in a lot of ways. That HiT's the
Speaker 2: guy that he's the type of guy you would think
Speaker 2: they would, you know, they would be after He's going
Speaker 2: to be expensive because everybody's gonna be after after that
Speaker 2: type of pitch. But you know, you also look in
Speaker 2: the Twins are they're two games under five hundred, but
Speaker 2: they're only a game out of game back in the
Speaker 2: wild card, you know, in the American League? So are
Speaker 2: they going to sell? Will they? I mean a lot
Speaker 2: of things, you know. That's that's why these weeks after
Speaker 2: the you know, after the All Star break are going
Speaker 2: to be so important to a lot of these teams
Speaker 2: because they're so close, you know, and trying to determine
Speaker 2: are you going to sell or whatever? I mean, the
Speaker 2: Tigers have had a terrible season. There there are still
Speaker 2: only four and a half games out of the wild card,
Speaker 2: you know, two hot weeks and they're right in the mix.
Speaker 2: And then what do you do?
Speaker 4: Same with Boston? I just look Boston, that's crazy.
Speaker 2: I mean when you. You look right now, the Royals
Speaker 2: and the Angels are the only ones that look like that.
Speaker 2: They're completely out in the al so far. So you know,
Speaker 2: but I think with me, I think I would go.
Speaker 2: I think I would go after the pitching. You know,
Speaker 2: I've got confidence, you know, they can bring a Cunya back.
Speaker 2: Maybe he's not running as crazy as he you know,
Speaker 2: I mean, he hasn't run like he did in the
Speaker 2: MVP season obviously since the injury. But maybe they just
Speaker 2: have to try to be a little more careful with him.
Speaker 2: But I really think he's got a hot stretch coming,
Speaker 2: and you know, you just hope Austin Riley. You can't
Speaker 2: expect at this point, we I don't think we can
Speaker 2: expect what we were. We expect him, but I expect
Speaker 2: him to be better than he has been, you know,
Speaker 2: and he's starting to show some signs of it. So
Speaker 2: I think Drake Balwin's gonna I just think you're gonna
Speaker 2: have to take your chances with something because you know,
Speaker 2: Sean mentioned the thing. I mean, are you going to
Speaker 2: trade cam and Eddie? Are you going to trade Hartman?
Speaker 2: You know, I mean, if you're gonna get a Joe
Speaker 2: Ryan or even talk about Schooble. You're gonna have to
Speaker 2: trade those guys, yeah, you know, I think because the
Speaker 2: price is going to be high, especially for a control
Speaker 2: controllable starter. So you know, and Sonny Gray is an
Speaker 2: interesting name too, just because I think that's another one
Speaker 2: you and I have talked about a lot anytime, you know,
Speaker 2: and it seems like it seems like the Braves have
Speaker 2: never where we thought it was an obvious fit. The
Speaker 2: Braves have never really seemed to be in the mix,
Speaker 2: you know, for him, So would they be now? I
Speaker 2: mean I think sometimes you know, as fans and us
Speaker 2: and I think we get caught up in the big names.
Speaker 2: But I mean some of Alex's best work has been
Speaker 2: not the biggest name out there. But I think it
Speaker 2: is going to be important that they add some adds,
Speaker 2: people that can go out there and start every fifth
Speaker 2: day and add some minings because right now, you know,
Speaker 2: the bullpen's been great at at times. I think, you know,
Speaker 2: they've got a solid, solid group, especially a Soarez gets
Speaker 2: back out there. Uh, but you know, there's a lot
Speaker 2: of times, even even during that hot streak to start
Speaker 2: the season, that they're handing the bull handing going to
Speaker 2: the bullpen in the fifth inning, and I just think
Speaker 2: over the loan, and they've done it. They've lost a
Speaker 2: lot of games. Protecting guys. You know, that's been a
Speaker 2: controversial topic at certain times. You know, at some point, though,
Speaker 2: you're gonna have to throw some minutes, and you're gonna
Speaker 2: have to have some guys that you can depend on
Speaker 2: and and just try to try to build, to find
Speaker 2: some rhythm and and and stay with it.
Speaker 3: So yeah, and people, I mean, you know, when the
Speaker 3: Brain's traded for Crystsale, there was not a person on
Speaker 3: the planet who thought Chrystale was available. One, no one
Speaker 3: brought it up, and two no one thought he was
Speaker 3: worth trading for anyways, because the guy hadn't pitched like
Speaker 3: five years, and so you know, and even after the
Speaker 3: move happened, everybody I remember doing it, like doing the shows,
Speaker 3: like we were like, all right, this mate work, but
Speaker 3: it also could just be a disaster. Like those are
Speaker 3: much more of the Alex moves, where like guys, we're
Speaker 3: not talking about guys who've maybe been hurt for the
Speaker 3: last year, not any on anybody's rader, guys who are
Speaker 3: not having great seasons. He's gotten both Pierce Johnson and
Speaker 3: Tyler Kinley from the Rockies when they've got Eres and
Speaker 3: the sixes and they just saw something and just like,
Speaker 3: all right, we think there'll be better here. So you
Speaker 3: know the obvious thing, and you're right. I mean, the
Speaker 3: obvious names are fun to talk about because they're easy
Speaker 3: to talk about. It's not really easy to talk about
Speaker 3: the guys we have no clue about. But Alex, there's
Speaker 3: a very good chance they're gonna trade for somebody at
Speaker 3: this deadline on pitching side, a hitting side reliever that
Speaker 3: we never once brought up, and that that's happened almost
Speaker 3: every deadline they've done, and almost every all season they've done.
Speaker 3: And we talk about a lot of names, and they
Speaker 3: always find a way to get somebody we I mean,
Speaker 3: we never mentioned the name Tyler Kinley, We never mentioned
Speaker 3: the name Pierce Johnson, we never mentioned the name Chris Sale,
Speaker 3: and all those guys are on the teams, and.
Speaker 4: All those guys, all those moves kind of worked.
Speaker 3: So yeah, it's it is very possible that it's guys
Speaker 3: we're not even thinking about are talking about.
Speaker 1: And now I'll add to that is that that's the
Speaker 1: point I was going to bring up is that I
Speaker 1: think that's if we're talking multiple moves need to be made.
Speaker 1: That's what the Braves are going to have to do again.
Speaker 1: It's going to have to be a guy who's underperforming
Speaker 1: where he currently is. Yeah, and the Braves pay a
Speaker 1: decent price for him and they go get him. And
Speaker 1: Chris you talked about, you talked about twenty nineteen in
Speaker 1: twenty twenty one. Those are two excellent examples. Yes, their
Speaker 1: moves on the margins. Alex is going to have to
Speaker 1: make a bigger move I think than just that this
Speaker 1: trade deadline. But the other consistent thing with them being
Speaker 1: moves on the margins is that they were relievers in
Speaker 1: twenty nineteen who may not have been performing that well
Speaker 1: where they were Shane Green was, but then they here
Speaker 1: and they overnight become the best bullpen in baseball. So
Speaker 1: where Peterson as well as Rosario were not performing anywhere
Speaker 1: where they did in previous years, were they come here,
Speaker 1: they were the difference of the playoffs. So I think
Speaker 1: that something the Brays are gonna have to rely on again.
Speaker 1: He is getting the underperformance elsewhere to come here by
Speaker 1: paying at cheap price and then all of a sudden
Speaker 1: it becomes a really integral part of us getting back
Speaker 1: going where we want to go.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and I like, I would not be would it
Speaker 3: would not surprise me at all? Like if the Braves
Speaker 3: saw something in Freddy Perolta, like he's had a terrible
Speaker 3: season with the Mets, He's only got one year, he's
Speaker 3: got a two months of control, not gonna cost a ton.
Speaker 3: And if they have something internally that they love about
Speaker 3: Freddy Peralta, like they have a there's a pitch, there's
Speaker 3: a there's a pitch mix they love, there's you know,
Speaker 3: some aspect of his profile, his his delivery, whatever. They
Speaker 3: love something about it, and they go get him and
Speaker 3: they're like, he'll be better with us.
Speaker 2: Just watch.
Speaker 3: And I like, I'm move like that Chris wouldn't surprise
Speaker 3: me at all.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 2: And I mean another team that I've been looking at
Speaker 2: and I don't know if this makes any sense or whatever,
Speaker 2: but you know it's gonna be instance. See what the
Speaker 2: Angels do. Uh, you know team that's a you know
Speaker 2: Soriano's had had has pitched better. This year's intriguing. Cheap
Speaker 2: pricetate is gonna be high. Probably you know a guy
Speaker 2: like red debt merss has struggled for you know, a
Speaker 2: large a lot of hype around him as a prospect
Speaker 2: and stuff, and hasn't really found his footing. But that's
Speaker 2: you know, that's another controllable guy. You know, I think
Speaker 2: those are I think you could do. You know, you
Speaker 2: could try to get Soriano's probably a little more established,
Speaker 2: you know, you could you could go get one of
Speaker 2: those guys and then try to pair him with another one,
Speaker 2: and and all of a sudden, you know, the whole
Speaker 2: rotation looks different. But I mean again with the Angels, though,
Speaker 2: I mean, who knows what they're gonna do. I mean,
Speaker 2: they should sell, they should be they should be selling
Speaker 2: everybody at this point. But you know, you can't really
Speaker 2: say for with any certainty that they're going to So
Speaker 2: that's why I think this trade deadline is so fascinating,
Speaker 2: just because of how how the American League sets up.
Speaker 2: And then I was thinking watching Ferdie per Alta the
Speaker 2: others not I was wondering, you know, that's exactly what.
Speaker 2: He's had a tough year, but it's you know, I
Speaker 2: might could the Braves, you know, he played better.
Speaker 4: With the Braids ninety seven. I didn't know.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, we know, you know, the Brewers defense
Speaker 2: was great behind him, Met's defense is not. I don't
Speaker 2: know how much of that. I mean, if the ball
Speaker 2: is going over the fence, it's not you know, it
Speaker 2: doesn't really matter. But you know, could have changed the
Speaker 2: scenery and and and putting him into a pennant race.
Speaker 2: Does that Does that make sense? Would the Mets trade
Speaker 2: him to the Braves? I think I don't think that
Speaker 2: would be a problem, since he's on a since he's
Speaker 2: he's on an expiring deal. You know, I think they'll
Speaker 2: go out and try to get the best they came
Speaker 2: for him, So you know, I mean it's this is
Speaker 2: really a throwback to the podcast to be named later Gays,
Speaker 2: because I think you and I played what will Ally's
Speaker 2: Do a lot of times, and you know, our track
Speaker 2: records not great, but most of.
Speaker 4: The time.
Speaker 2: I think that the closest well not we wouldn't even that,
Speaker 2: but I just remember the not that they got Joe
Speaker 2: Amenez and traded justin Henry Malloy, you know why we
Speaker 2: were recording, and that's probably the closest you know, you
Speaker 2: and I ever actually got to trade, and we didn't
Speaker 2: even you know, I think we were both surprised when
Speaker 2: they sent malloy in that in that deal. So always interesting, uh,
Speaker 2: in this time of the year.
Speaker 3: We had Robert Murray on the show last week and
Speaker 3: obviously if you're listening, if you if you guys missed
Speaker 3: the show, Robert Murray still on the feet, go listen
Speaker 3: to it. And he told us that the Angels were
Speaker 3: the team and Redubbers was the guy. He's hearing about
Speaker 3: the mo like teams are asking like is this guy
Speaker 3: get there, Like teams in baseball that think he's like
Speaker 3: gonna be an ace level pitcher, and Sean's been Shawn's
Speaker 3: been wishing upon some of these Angels players for like
Speaker 3: two years now, so yeah, that would be.
Speaker 4: You just never know what art Mareno is gonna do.
Speaker 3: It's just a I mean, he just wakes up in
Speaker 3: the morning and throws a dart at the dart board
Speaker 3: and that's what he does for the day. So we'll
Speaker 3: see what happens.
Speaker 4: But yeah, that it's good. It is going to be
Speaker 4: a fascinating deadline.
Speaker 1: And the other wild card in there with the Angels
Speaker 1: now is, of course, you know, perryman Iason is no
Speaker 1: armer there if he was there, I'd feel a bit
Speaker 1: more compident. Maybe John Mozelac hasn't been a freedom to
Speaker 1: be able to do it. And guys, when we talk
Speaker 1: about you know, the Braves going, you know, an unexpected route.
Speaker 1: They have so much success with veterans, they may look
Speaker 1: into yesteryear to bring back us a surprising option for
Speaker 1: the starting rotation. Charlie Morton Dallas.
Speaker 4: What's what's full?
Speaker 3: What's faulty up to these days?
Speaker 2: I mean, I mean you mentioned, I mean, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: we need to talk about it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, get back all day long.
Speaker 4: Yeah, bring it back.
Speaker 2: I mean, you know, there's there's a lot of injury
Speaker 2: history there. But he looks like, you know, he looks
Speaker 2: like he looks like he could help. He can help
Speaker 2: the team, you know at this point. So, I mean,
Speaker 2: that would be a great story.
Speaker 3: Can you imagine if they traded for Soroka? Oh my god,
Speaker 3: the fan base would lose their mind. That would be
Speaker 3: that would actually be an incredible day. Obviously we'll see
Speaker 3: if it would actually work or not, but just the
Speaker 3: just the reaction for them trading for Soroka would be incredible.
Speaker 1: Ian Anderson's out there.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, there's a reason he's out there.
Speaker 1: And also, you know the other thing that stands out
Speaker 1: about it is that you know, one of the things
Speaker 1: that kind of you know, comes into it, Chris, and
Speaker 1: I want to get your opinion on this because I
Speaker 1: know that you're you know, your overall coverage of baseball
Speaker 1: is kind of expanded. You know, the role that you've had,
Speaker 1: you know, covering you know, all the teams really you know,
Speaker 1: through the different staffs. Is the landscape's about to change, right,
Speaker 1: you know when we get done with this year twenty
Speaker 1: twenty seven, you know that lockout is unfortunately almost to guarantee.
Speaker 1: We know how far off both the players and the
Speaker 1: owners are. And I'm not trying to get into all this,
Speaker 1: but I mean I think that plays a factor in things.
Speaker 1: And that's why I think it's an added factor that
Speaker 1: makes them thoughtless. The urgency's got to be there. Because
Speaker 1: the other thing also that you know, I'm not going
Speaker 1: to get too much into and things like that, is
Speaker 1: that if it doesn't work out this year for the Braves,
Speaker 1: I'm not saying drastic things need to change, but you've
Speaker 1: already changed the manager. I'm not saying you need to
Speaker 1: make changes elsewhere. But if it's not worked for three
Speaker 1: eight years. Now, Roster turnover comes into play and that's
Speaker 1: going to be much harder to do with so much
Speaker 1: uncertainty when it comes to the lockout, the potential changes
Speaker 1: to the game beyond that lockout. I think that plays
Speaker 1: a part in it, and maybe an unfortunate truth, but
Speaker 1: it's reality.
Speaker 2: Yeah, let me let me correct myself real quick here
Speaker 2: before somebody else does it for me. But it looks
Speaker 2: like Joe Ryan's got a mutual option for next year,
Speaker 2: so he'll be a free agent. So not forget what
Speaker 2: I said about control. I apologize about that, but I
Speaker 2: mean I think you hit on it, you know too.
Speaker 2: I mean it's a this is a unique off season.
Speaker 2: We're going into a lot of uncertainty there. You know,
Speaker 2: I don't really I don't think anybody wants us to
Speaker 2: talk with us spend them too much time on a
Speaker 2: lockout situation, possibility of losing games. But I mean, you know,
Speaker 2: every one of these teams is factoring that into the equation,
Speaker 2: especially if you're trading, if you're trading top prospects for
Speaker 2: guys with under team control, you have to at least
Speaker 2: entertain the thought that you know, there's at least a
Speaker 2: remote chance. I mean, I think it would be the
Speaker 2: craziest thing ever if they miss if they miss any
Speaker 2: games next year, but you know, I mean we've seen
Speaker 2: crazy things happen, so I mean you think you have
Speaker 2: to feel like that. They're definitely teams are definitely factoring
Speaker 2: that in when you know, when they when they go
Speaker 2: through this. So yeah, I mean that's a good point too.
Speaker 3: Yeah, And you know, we've talked about a lot with
Speaker 3: chrys Sales age.
Speaker 4: And healthy.
Speaker 3: I mean, obviously it's not just his age, but his
Speaker 3: his just general health.
Speaker 4: You know, the.
Speaker 3: You just never know what you're going to get out
Speaker 3: of Chrysale season. And if he's healthy, he's going to
Speaker 3: be good. But father time catches up to everybody. How
Speaker 3: many more years of ace chrystiality have They obviously signed
Speaker 3: him to that extension. They made him the highest paid
Speaker 3: player on the team, which I think is perfectly reasonable.
Speaker 3: But what we know right now is that Chris Sale
Speaker 3: is still an ACE, so you know, and we don't
Speaker 3: know what next year is going to bring because of
Speaker 3: the lockout. It does make me wonder the Braves have
Speaker 3: because of this profile money, they have more money to
Speaker 3: spend they probably ever had at a deadline, which is.
Speaker 4: A big deal.
Speaker 3: It doesn't get talked about a lot. But teams don't
Speaker 3: just have twenty million dollars sitting around in the deadline.
Speaker 3: The Braves serendipitously. Do you know, could that be?
Speaker 4: Could that be the.
Speaker 3: Critical factor in like a schoobl trade. I have no idea,
Speaker 3: but they do have money to spend, and they have
Speaker 3: some murgency. It is going to be fascinating how Alex
Speaker 3: plays this because you can make the argument that any
Speaker 3: one baseball season you shouldn't be going all in on
Speaker 3: because baseball playoffs don't work the same way as other sports.
Speaker 3: The most you can increase your odds is by like
Speaker 3: three or four or five percent, like even with a
Speaker 3: great deadline. So there's an argument that you shouldn't do it.
Speaker 3: There's an argument because of the age of sale and
Speaker 3: because of the potential lockout and you got all this money,
Speaker 3: that they should do it. So you know, it is
Speaker 3: going to be fascinating to see which way they go.
Speaker 2: I think it's a little different this time than probably
Speaker 2: the last time you and I talked about this is
Speaker 2: in before you know, it was always they wouldn't win
Speaker 2: every year. Yeah, okay, that was the stated goal. I mean,
Speaker 2: I've got don't I don't know how many times I
Speaker 2: was there and heard Alex say that, you know, we
Speaker 2: we don't want to just win this year, we want
Speaker 2: to win every year. That's why you lock all these
Speaker 2: guys up. That's why you know, you invest in the
Speaker 2: core and try to add to it. But they didn't
Speaker 2: win last year, and they're coming off and they're going
Speaker 2: to be a year older again next year. And I
Speaker 2: think as you get to the end of that, at
Speaker 2: some point you have to retool. And I think that's
Speaker 2: some of what Sean's talking about. It's just natural that
Speaker 2: you have to do that. So, I mean, I think
Speaker 2: it's important to not just I mean, we we have
Speaker 2: this habit off. There's a big guy, a big name
Speaker 2: out there that makes a lot of sense. It makes
Speaker 2: a lot of sense for every single team just about
Speaker 2: you know, every team, even the Dodgers would whenever the
Speaker 2: when they're completely healthy, if they could get Schooble, they
Speaker 2: will go get to reach Schooble. You know, it makes
Speaker 2: he makes sense for every single team. But I mean,
Speaker 2: you know, for all the reasons you just said the
Speaker 2: money they're in a you know, there's an urgency I
Speaker 2: think because they did miss playoffs last year. So you know,
Speaker 2: would I be would I be shocked? Yeah, I probably
Speaker 2: would be. But you know, I think, and I think
Speaker 2: Mark Bowman's made that point too. You know, the Braves
Speaker 2: are as well positioned to get him as anybody is.
Speaker 2: You know, I guess you know, some people will will
Speaker 2: point to the farm system not being as highly ranked.
Speaker 2: I mean, there's probably teams out there that could outspend it.
Speaker 2: But I mean, I think it's gonna be really interesting
Speaker 2: to see what the price tag is on for him,
Speaker 2: because he is a rental and he's probably gonna sign
Speaker 2: the largest pitching contract in history, you know, Barn. Some
Speaker 2: Barn restrictions been put in this new CBA, so I
Speaker 2: think it's I think it's gonna be you know, I'm
Speaker 2: really interested to see what happens there. I think when
Speaker 2: you look at the league as a whole, not just
Speaker 2: the Braves, it's gonna be really this year more than ever,
Speaker 2: it's gonna be really interested to see how teams operate,
Speaker 2: and which ones push those chips in and which ones
Speaker 2: play it a little more conservatively.
Speaker 1: I think one aspect of this team that it may
Speaker 1: be hard to have confidence in right now, but is
Speaker 1: not a unrealistic, far fetched version of this team that
Speaker 1: we could get going into the playoffs. You still on
Speaker 1: this team have a top ten starting pitcher in baseball
Speaker 1: and Chris sel who's look like that this year. You
Speaker 1: have a catcher on this team who was an MVP
Speaker 1: candidate for the first two months of the year who
Speaker 1: could get back to being that this year. You currently
Speaker 1: have a top ten MVP candidate in Matt Olson. You
Speaker 1: have arguably the best back end of the bullpen in
Speaker 1: the game when bo Sfarez and Iglesias are healthy, and they.
Speaker 4: Perform like it.
Speaker 1: But one missing piece is Acunya getting back to being Acunya.
Speaker 1: But if he does and all those players are healthy,
Speaker 1: this team is right there with anyone. And if you
Speaker 1: add a reliable number two starter to them through the deadline,
Speaker 1: then you've got something. And I know that that's looking
Speaker 1: at the glass and only half empty but overflowing with positivity.
Speaker 4: I get it.
Speaker 1: But all of those scenarios that I talked about, the
Speaker 1: only one of that that you've not seen so far
Speaker 1: this year is Acuna being Acunya, and you have to
Speaker 1: have confidence he'll be that at some point. Add that
Speaker 1: number two starter. You've still got plenty to work with
Speaker 1: to make this special season and easily make this team
Speaker 1: a clear contender once again. And I think to your point, Chris,
Speaker 1: that's why this year is a bit different is because
Speaker 1: you've got all that in place for this year. Try
Speaker 1: to make the most of it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and they haven't had the like crazy season ending
Speaker 3: injuries that they've had. They've had injuries, but like Acuna
Speaker 3: is coming back, technically Murphy's coming back. We haven't heard
Speaker 3: anything about Murph. Suarez is supposed to be back after
Speaker 3: the All Star break at some point, you know, technically
Speaker 3: Schwellenbach has still not been ruled out for the year,
Speaker 3: so maybe he comes back, and then of course you
Speaker 3: get all the trades so that that could happen or
Speaker 3: could not happen.
Speaker 4: We'll see.
Speaker 3: But yeah, I mean there is a very very realistic
Speaker 3: path where you get to September October, and this team
Speaker 3: has an insane amount of talent on it, and like
Speaker 3: you're like, all right, I can ride with this, like
Speaker 3: wee like I don't know if we're better than the Dodgers,
Speaker 3: but it's baseball, and you know, weird stuff happens in
Speaker 3: short series, and like, you know, this is as good
Speaker 3: as we can do, and I'll.
Speaker 4: Feel great about it.
Speaker 3: There is a very realistic path to that happening there.
Speaker 3: You know, we also know Alex, we also know there's
Speaker 3: a realistic path. We get to the day after deadline
Speaker 3: day and he's like, wow, I just didn't find any
Speaker 3: deals that I loved, and like we've all heard him
Speaker 3: say that. So and there's a world where Coccoona gets
Speaker 3: hurt again and Suarez doesn't look as good when it
Speaker 3: comes back. So, you know, the various level on the
Speaker 3: season is as we sit here with the two crazy
Speaker 3: you know, uh spans that they've gone through this year,
Speaker 3: the variant level of the season just remains crazy high.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, you know, you can get into you
Speaker 2: can get into all that. I mean, I think that's true.
Speaker 2: I guess you could say that for everybody but the
Speaker 2: Dodgers maybe you know, it feels.
Speaker 3: Like they're almost injury proof at this.
Speaker 2: Point, but you know, I think you also have to
Speaker 2: I mean, you hear, I mean, I know this is
Speaker 2: kind of getting off topic a little bit, but you know,
Speaker 2: it feels like there's a lot of people out there
Speaker 2: that think the Dodgers have ruined things, but they probably
Speaker 2: should have lost that World Series last year. Miguel Rojas
Speaker 2: hits a home run, you know. I mean, there's a
Speaker 2: there's a world where they spend all that money and
Speaker 2: didn't didn't win World Series.
Speaker 3: Well in their first in their first World Series, in
Speaker 3: the Division Series, they were down to one to the Padres,
Speaker 3: and I mean they and had games ahead of them,
Speaker 3: and they should have lost.
Speaker 2: I mean, and and the point I'm trying to make
Speaker 2: is it's just like, I know, people don't want to
Speaker 2: hear it, but if you get to the playoffs, you
Speaker 2: got a chance. And I mean, you know last year
Speaker 2: also the Phillies throw a ball away or you know,
Speaker 2: they made the Dodgers may be going back to Philadelphia,
Speaker 2: uh or yeah, I don't remember the exact scenario, but
Speaker 2: you know, it wasn't like they blitzed their way all
Speaker 2: the way to the World Series. They did play very
Speaker 2: well and and be probably the hottest team at the time,
Speaker 2: you know, in that, but it took it took some
Speaker 2: it took some magic, you know, for that to happen,
Speaker 2: and I mean, you know, I think one should have
Speaker 2: taught us that anything can happen, because I mean, the
Speaker 2: Braves were not the best team. They were playing that way.
Speaker 2: Nobody hadn't noticed it yet. But you know, I think
Speaker 2: back to that series, Freddie Freeman hits home run off
Speaker 2: Josh Hater. If he doesn't hit that home run off
Speaker 2: Josh Hater, I'm not sure they get I'm not sure
Speaker 2: they get through the Brewers. Yeah, you know, I can remember,
Speaker 2: and people kind of there were so many big moments
Speaker 2: in twenty twenty one that you kind of forget that
Speaker 2: their back was against the their back was against the wall.
Speaker 3: They lost Game one of that series in Milwaukee.
Speaker 4: Yep, I remember that, And.
Speaker 2: You know that's that's that's why I say, you can't
Speaker 2: just if you get there, you have a chance, you know.
Speaker 2: I mean twenty twenty three is the other flip side
Speaker 2: of that. I mean, every single thing went right for
Speaker 2: that team until the first round the playoffs, you know.
Speaker 2: I mean that's I think that's something you and I
Speaker 2: dissected at length for probably for therapy for each of us,
Speaker 2: you know whom we were going through that. But yeah,
Speaker 2: I mean, you know, but I mean they just you know,
Speaker 2: how many runs did they score in that series? And
Speaker 2: I mean if you if you had bet watching that
Speaker 2: team all year, you know, you would have thought, well,
Speaker 2: they're going to lose ten to nine or something like that,
Speaker 2: because they just they just bashed home runs and scored
Speaker 2: runs at an elite level and then got the postseason.
Speaker 2: So I mean, it's just you got to get there though,
Speaker 2: And I think that's the thing. Phillies are playing well.
Speaker 2: You know, I can pointed their run differential, but I
Speaker 2: still think a lot of that was just that early
Speaker 2: hole that they they built. But I mean I think
Speaker 2: it is getting overlooked a little bit. I mean, the
Speaker 2: Braids are still what fifteen fourteen to fifteen games over
Speaker 2: five hundred. I mean, anybody will trade with places. There
Speaker 2: are a lot of teams in this league with trade
Speaker 2: places with Atlanta right now. So you know, I just
Speaker 2: don't think this, I mean, just to reiterate it, just
Speaker 2: don't think this is one of those seasons where you
Speaker 2: want to come in on August fourth and but just
Speaker 2: be saying I couldn't find a deal I really wanted
Speaker 2: to make. Yeah, I just think I just think there's
Speaker 2: an opportunity here. This time, and I just don't think
Speaker 2: I don't think they can. I don't think they can
Speaker 2: do that this time. I think they have to go
Speaker 2: out and make a trade and make a good a
Speaker 2: deal to try to strengthen this roster. It may not
Speaker 2: be the one that we want or everybody wants, but
Speaker 2: I think they've got to do it this time.
Speaker 1: So and in a lot of those postseason examples that
Speaker 1: you gave, Chris, the teams that survived and thrived were
Speaker 1: those teams that could have trustworthy back end of the
Speaker 1: games pitching wise, whether it's a starting pitture like Yamamoto
Speaker 1: or the night shift like the Braves in twenty one,
Speaker 1: and also the being able to hit the home runs.
Speaker 1: That's what made the difference for the Dodgers last year,
Speaker 1: despite how good the lineup for the Toronto Blue Jays
Speaker 1: was performing. But Chris a lot of great points. It
Speaker 1: was a pleasure to get caught back up with you again.
Speaker 1: We will definitely have you on again in the near future.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for everything. Where can folks find
Speaker 1: your work? I know you've got a lot of different
Speaker 1: outlets where work is going on that that that you
Speaker 1: definitely have your eye on, But working folks.
Speaker 2: Find your work at Yeah, I mean, you know, check
Speaker 2: out all our baseball sides at xpanation. We got great communities,
Speaker 2: really focusing on the Community's a lot of good discussion
Speaker 2: over there. Uh, you know, my written works not as
Speaker 2: not as much working more behind the scenes now, you know,
Speaker 2: I miss it. I miss you guys. I miss uh.
Speaker 2: I miss following it as close as I as I
Speaker 2: used to. I'm I'm happy, happy to see you guy.
Speaker 2: The podcast doing well. Uh, you know, I'm glad it
Speaker 2: got to start at uh at Battery Power and uh,
Speaker 2: you know, I thought we built something really really good
Speaker 2: and we had I had a lot of fun doing it,
Speaker 2: and that's you know, that was the that was the
Speaker 2: best part of it. So it's good to It's good
Speaker 2: to see you guys.
Speaker 4: Uh.
Speaker 2: You know Brad Scott, I can't say enough good things
Speaker 2: about them as well. So yeah, but this was a
Speaker 2: lot of fun. I've been looking forward to it, So
Speaker 2: I appreciate you guys having me.
Speaker 1: Stephen anything else from you.
Speaker 4: No again. Chris is just a legend.
Speaker 3: H He had a like you said at the beginning,
Speaker 3: he had a role in all of us being there,
Speaker 3: especially man, I mean he hired me he was talking
Speaker 3: shop back then. But if hired me at a Battery
Speaker 3: power we started the podcast together, would not be here
Speaker 3: without Chris. So of course we appreciate Chris coming on.
Speaker 3: As far as the baseball, they need to win.
Speaker 4: Uh, we gotta get win. We gotta get a win tomorrow.
Speaker 3: You know, they're just they're taking on water to level.
Speaker 3: The break is in like five days, So if you
Speaker 3: can just get to the break without putting it completely
Speaker 3: in the ditch, that would be tremendous. Just get to
Speaker 3: the break because Acuna is coming after the break, maybe Suarez.
Speaker 3: We got to get to the break and not get
Speaker 3: there like oh and six on this road trip. So like,
Speaker 3: win a couple of game, win like two or three games.
Speaker 3: I would take a three and three trip on a heartbeat.
Speaker 3: Just win a couple of more games before the break,
Speaker 3: get to the break, get some reinforcements after, and hopefully
Speaker 3: get this season back on the rails that you know
Speaker 3: that we enjoyed so much in the first two months.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and if I'm looking at it correct, So the
Speaker 1: Phillies one tonight, the Marlins of one tonight as well,
Speaker 1: So it needs to be instead right now, the Braves are
Speaker 1: two games up in the East on the Phillies. They
Speaker 1: are three games up on the Marlins. The Braves are
Speaker 1: three games up right now from being tied for the
Speaker 1: third wild card spot. And even more importantly, there are
Speaker 1: only five games up from being out of the playoffs.
Speaker 1: And the team right now that they would be looking
Speaker 1: at are the Saint Louis Cardinals, who they play coming
Speaker 1: up this weekend. So that series ends the car in
Speaker 1: the first half. All the in Saint Louis, all of
Speaker 1: a sudden becomes a pretty big series, like you need
Speaker 1: to win at least three of the next two games.
Speaker 1: But the easiest way to do that is to start
Speaker 1: by winning the first and that's and that's going to
Speaker 1: be the offense having to step back up. But Chris Camp,
Speaker 1: thank you enough for your time. Thanks for letting everybody
Speaker 1: know you know where they can find your work. You
Speaker 1: can find Steven Tolbert at beud Square, Outliers on Twitter,
Speaker 1: slash x, Sean Colemenitz stats, sac Hammer Territory a cross
Speaker 1: all forms of social media, par The Foul Territory Family Podcast.
Speaker 1: Until next time, Chris will see Atler myself. Jean Coleman
Speaker 1: go braves, We'll talk to you again soon here in
Speaker 1: my Happy Territory podcast.
Speaker 4: Yeah.