Speaker 1: Welcome on and all into the Here a Territory podcast.
Speaker 1: My name is Sean Coleman. Hope wherever you are and
Speaker 1: wherever you are listening, I hope that you are having
Speaker 1: a good week so far. Your friends, your family, everybody
Speaker 1: that she knows doing well. And the Braves, the Braves,
Speaker 1: the team that we all love, they are doing well
Speaker 1: after a month plus, you know, pretty disappointing into the
Speaker 1: first half of the year, raising Narrol five and too
Speaker 1: two to three or four away from the Padres in
Speaker 1: a big home series, so you couldn't ask for a
Speaker 1: much better start. But we're gonna talk to Padres. We're
Speaker 1: gonna talk Chris Selle in a bit of the bullpen
Speaker 1: as we mix it Up, engineered by Fastena was of
Speaker 1: mixing it up. The Braves decided to do that when
Speaker 1: it came to actually winning a series against the Padres.
Speaker 1: And one of the best when it comes to breaking
Speaker 1: down the Braves, my podny has partner Stephen Tolbert. He'll
Speaker 1: be the first to tell you that, ind of itself,
Speaker 1: is no small feat being able to win a series
Speaker 1: from the Padres. But Stephen would also stood out is
Speaker 1: that the wins, they're nice to get. You'll take them
Speaker 1: all day long, but they decided to do them in
Speaker 1: some pretty exciting fashion, even when they didn't need to.
Speaker 2: Yeah, what's up, buddy. Yeah, I don't know what it
Speaker 2: is about the Padres the Braves. Just every game is
Speaker 2: just a it is a dogfight to win, and getting
Speaker 2: wins at any level against the Padres have just been
Speaker 2: impossible for the Braves the last few years. So winning
Speaker 2: three out of four, however they came, is we'll take it, right.
Speaker 2: I mean, you did it take years off my life? Yes,
Speaker 2: it did watching this four game series. But you know,
Speaker 2: three of the Braves, all three of the Braves wins
Speaker 2: turned out to be one run victories, even though they
Speaker 2: had leads multiple times. You know, last night's game they
Speaker 2: had a seven to one lead in the ninth and
Speaker 2: it became a one run victory. Today they had a
Speaker 2: six to three lead in the eighth and it became
Speaker 2: a one run victory. It's just it was a roller coaster.
Speaker 2: And but we'll take it to w is a w though,
Speaker 2: you know there's no it's just the standings. Just say,
Speaker 2: if you want to lost, so you take it anyway
Speaker 2: you can get it. We're gonna talk about the game.
Speaker 2: Of course, obviously Chris Sale, big, big day for Chris Sale.
Speaker 2: But yeah, any win you can get is especially against
Speaker 2: the Padres. We'll just we'll take it and run.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and Chris Sale himself, he had pretty good stuff today,
Speaker 1: especially towards of the outing. He looked good today. He
Speaker 1: did have that hiccup. I believe it was in the
Speaker 1: second inning. Yeah, the second inning. Mauricio Dubon, you know,
Speaker 1: didn't do him any favors were Debon has uncharacteristically been
Speaker 1: a bit of an adventure out there in the outfield
Speaker 1: here recently. But s I'll think about three runs. But
Speaker 1: he really really got back to being himself towards the
Speaker 1: end of the outing, and most import he gave it.
Speaker 1: He gave the bullpen a bit of a risk with
Speaker 1: six innings pitch, something that the brains need as much
Speaker 1: of as possible when it comes to their starting rotation.
Speaker 1: So overall, pretty good adding from Chris Sale and the
Speaker 1: brain is giving him some run support. Was nice to see.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the second Sale was dominant today. I think at
Speaker 2: eleven strikeouts and six innings. The only hiccup was the
Speaker 2: second inning. It was a weird inning, some soft contact
Speaker 2: obviously the ball to the bond and I think he
Speaker 2: lost in the clouds. I don't think it was the sun.
Speaker 2: It was kind of an overcast day. I don't know
Speaker 2: what happened. Uh maybe he just got a bad jump
Speaker 2: on it. I don't know. And then you know, there
Speaker 2: was an O two pitch ton I can't remember who
Speaker 2: was it hit the two runs single, but it was yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: it was an No two pitch like in the dirt,
Speaker 2: and he just flailed at it and somehow it found grass.
Speaker 2: And you look up and it's like three nothing. Padres
Speaker 2: in the second year're like, oh God. And then Sales
Speaker 2: at like sixty pitches through three innings, and you know,
Speaker 2: I was thinking, oh my god, if the bullpen has
Speaker 2: to cover four or five innings of a Chris Sale start,
Speaker 2: they're in trouble because, like they need Sale to go
Speaker 2: deep every time at this point, the way the way
Speaker 2: the rest of the rotation is set up, they need
Speaker 2: Sale to at least get to six innings every time.
Speaker 2: And credit to Chris Man. He really, I mean from
Speaker 2: that moment on, after that second inning, he pretty much
Speaker 2: dominated the Padres. I mean they didn't have a chance
Speaker 2: in hell. The if you were watching the game, the
Speaker 2: broadcast was like predicting how the guy at the plate
Speaker 2: was gonna strike out, because like every bad ended in
Speaker 2: a strikeout. He was still in ninety eight, ninety nine,
Speaker 2: he had the nasty slider. He was just unbelievable today.
Speaker 2: And to get through six innings. I have no idea
Speaker 2: who was available out of the pen today, but I
Speaker 2: guarantee it wasn't a lot of guys. Get through six
Speaker 2: innings is a massive deal because they were able to
Speaker 2: go to Dodd Kenley, who we're gonna talk about, and
Speaker 2: then Glacier's closed it down and thank god the offense
Speaker 2: kept adding on. But yeah, that was a big start
Speaker 2: from Sale, just to get through six the way it started,
Speaker 2: the way it looked early, you know, to dominate the
Speaker 2: way he did and get you know, six innings on
Speaker 2: the board for the Braves, which doesn't happen very often
Speaker 2: anymore unless it's Sale, that was a big deal.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And you know, yes, the Braid has got the
Speaker 1: win and they were able to get the job done.
Speaker 1: But you know, the bullpen, you know, even even hy
Speaker 1: sell Iglesias, you know you had earlier this week, you
Speaker 1: had I think it was over the weekend. It just
Speaker 1: Dylan lead had that you know, hiccup as well. The
Speaker 1: bullpen seems to be I'm not Tyler Kinley obviously has
Speaker 1: regressed quite a bit, but everybody just seems shaky right now.
Speaker 1: There's not that same I know, the Braves are fifty
Speaker 1: one and one, I think is the record when they're
Speaker 1: leading after eighty inch, which is great. You want that
Speaker 1: type of record, you know when it comes to you
Speaker 1: being a contender. But the bullpen is a bit shaky
Speaker 1: right now. It could be that they're being used quite
Speaker 1: a bit, but they just don't seem to have to
Speaker 1: say it had the same level of reliability that they
Speaker 1: did even when we were struggling in the first half
Speaker 1: for much of June.
Speaker 2: Yeah, if you just go Guy by Guy Madaris, you
Speaker 2: know our guy from last week. It's funny we talked
Speaker 2: about on the show how he's a reliever and all
Speaker 2: this could go away, you know, next time he's out,
Speaker 2: And then the next time he went out, he he
Speaker 2: blew up based. I mean, he came in the game
Speaker 2: with a seven to one lead and and Iglesias had
Speaker 2: to finish the game up. That's how poorly he pitched.
Speaker 2: Tyler Kinley is is on the struggle bus right now.
Speaker 2: He is hanging sliders at a terrifying rate, and every
Speaker 2: time he hangs one, it seems like it's a two
Speaker 2: run homer. Like Scott said this on Twitter today, Like
Speaker 2: the way Kiley's pitching, he's much closer to being DFA
Speaker 2: than he is being a high leverage reliever in the
Speaker 2: Braves bullpen. You know, I don't know if they'll get
Speaker 2: to that point, but like he he's not looked good,
Speaker 2: and you know, I'm very cess see how they hand it.
Speaker 2: Maybe they you know, give him a kind of a phantom.
Speaker 2: I l trip to see if he can get some rest.
Speaker 2: Kinley was used a ton in the first half. You know,
Speaker 2: we'll see if that has anything to do with it. Yeah,
Speaker 2: Glecias has been a little shaky, Like the ninth inning
Speaker 2: today wasn't clean. The ninth inning last night, I think
Speaker 2: he gave up the two run homer. Like, yeah, it's
Speaker 2: it's it's definitely been a little more rocky than we're
Speaker 2: used to seeing. Some of that is just natural regression.
Speaker 2: The Brais bullpen was so unbelievably good the first three
Speaker 2: months of the season that some of this was probably
Speaker 2: gonna come at some point. You know, they don't have
Speaker 2: Suarez Fuentes. You know, has looked good, but he's he's
Speaker 2: been pitching with the fastball in the zone a lot,
Speaker 2: and he got burned with it the other night, giving
Speaker 2: up the home run to tie the game to Jackson Merrill.
Speaker 2: So yeah, just as a whole, everybody's probably a couple
Speaker 2: of ticks off. Some of it is usage, some of
Speaker 2: it as the starters are having a real hard time
Speaker 2: getting more than five innings in a game, sometimes not
Speaker 2: even that. It would be a lovely time for Alex
Speaker 2: to maybe go at a starter here pretty soon, to
Speaker 2: maybe try to get a few more innings out of
Speaker 2: the rotation and give the bull and some rest. I
Speaker 2: am a little worried about the that's why Sale getting
Speaker 2: to six innings with such a big deal today, I'm
Speaker 2: a little I am a little worried about the trend
Speaker 2: lately of how many starts the Braves starters are only
Speaker 2: going four or five innings.
Speaker 1: Yeah, there's typically there is a pretty consistent correlation with
Speaker 1: the teams that not only make the playoffs but also
Speaker 1: you know, surviving the playoffs. You know what, it simply
Speaker 1: comes down to is they typically have the best starters
Speaker 1: on their team, but also they had the less use,
Speaker 1: the least use bullpens and those bull and then that
Speaker 1: helps their believers stay fresh, those higher leverage relievers especially
Speaker 1: stay fresh for October. I agree with you, you definitely
Speaker 1: don't want to overuse, and the Braves tried so hard
Speaker 1: to do that in the first part of the season,
Speaker 1: but now they just don't have the same length out
Speaker 1: of their starters. You need to make sure that bullpen's
Speaker 1: not overused for when it matters most, during the home stretch,
Speaker 1: a tough month of September, as well as the playoffs.
Speaker 1: But what this also means is that there's even more
Speaker 1: pressure on the offense to remain elite, and that's what
Speaker 1: it's done so far in July, and reinforcements are coming.
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Speaker 1: So Stephen, there were There was a bit of buzz
Speaker 1: earlier this week about the Gwinnette Stripper's lineup. Just how
Speaker 1: much talent overall major League production it had in its lineup.
Speaker 1: You had Ronald o'cunya Junior, Hasan Kim, Carlos Santana, Andrew McCutcheon.
Speaker 1: It was pretty fun to see. But that was a
Speaker 1: reminder of the fact that the Braves have some obvious
Speaker 1: reinforcements that are going to be coming, you know, in
Speaker 1: the near future. And then so maybe not so obvious ones.
Speaker 1: But the news of the day is that Walt Weiss
Speaker 1: commented on the fact ronald'cone junr. Has continued to look
Speaker 1: impressive in Gwinette. He would be he's likely going to
Speaker 1: be back at some point this weekend. Don't know if
Speaker 1: it's going to be tomorrow, but probably we'll be back
Speaker 1: at some point this weekend. And then the name we
Speaker 1: didn't even mention who's going to be starting to reab
Speaker 1: assignment is going to be Sean Murphy. Now it's probably
Speaker 1: gonna be willing to August before he's back, but Ronald
Speaker 1: acuney Junior hasan Kim Sean Murphy. Let's kind of go
Speaker 1: down that list real quickly. With Ronald 'cuonney Junior, you
Speaker 1: obviously know that he's going to step right back into
Speaker 1: the lineup. But I want to get your quick take.
Speaker 1: Where does he hit in the lineup? Is it a
Speaker 1: foregone conclusion that he should stay at the top of
Speaker 1: the order.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so it's something I've been thinking about. Actually, a
Speaker 2: conversation with somebody on Twitter about this yesterday or the
Speaker 2: day before. I can't remember. About the way the Braids
Speaker 2: are set up right now. They're three best hitters are Baldwin, Lacunya,
Speaker 2: Olsen obviously two lefties and one righty. Baldwin has been
Speaker 2: leading off a lot. Baldwin is actually a tremendous lead
Speaker 2: off hitter because he walks a lot. He's got like
Speaker 2: a three seventy or three to eighty on base percentage.
Speaker 2: Actually a very good lead off hitter. And if it
Speaker 2: wouldn't be more, if it wouldn't be a better set
Speaker 2: up to let Baldwin lead off and have a Kunya
Speaker 2: bat second, what's kind of the conversation we were having
Speaker 2: And I listen and Brad said this on their show
Speaker 2: last night, and I agree, it's probably not the biggest
Speaker 2: deal either way. Lineup construction is probably a little overrated.
Speaker 2: Not probably, it's definitely overrated in terms of a conversation topic.
Speaker 2: But you know, because the Braves kind of three best
Speaker 2: hitters this year have been Baldwin Olsen and Michael Harris,
Speaker 2: who are all three left handed hitters. Yeah, does it
Speaker 2: make sense to have your best right handed hitter lead
Speaker 2: off when you could maybe split some of those guys up.
Speaker 2: So that was the conversation, and I've all, you know,
Speaker 2: some of it is gonna be like, are they gonna
Speaker 2: let Ronnie run? Are they gonna put a you know,
Speaker 2: a halt to that kind of stuff? If they really
Speaker 2: don't want him run in much, then that would almost
Speaker 2: make me want to put him second even more. I mean,
Speaker 2: I could be talked probably either way. But what I
Speaker 2: have been thinking because the Braves, you know, best three
Speaker 2: hitters basically this year besides Acunya, have been left handed
Speaker 2: and we're still waiting on Riley and some of the
Speaker 2: right handed guys just haven't had the same type of years,
Speaker 2: you know. Obviously we thought Sean Murphy and Hassan Kim
Speaker 2: would help help out with a bunch on that side.
Speaker 2: Ozzie's having an okay year. It's kind of up and
Speaker 2: down these days. He did Homer again today. But yeah,
Speaker 2: I have been wondering if batting Acunya second might make
Speaker 2: more sense just to split up the Baldwin, Olsen Harris
Speaker 2: trio a little bit.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'd put out there that I would. I thought
Speaker 1: that about Mattie, not Albi's fourth, you know, just also
Speaker 1: split up. You know, if you batted Acuna first, could
Speaker 1: you for bat all He's fourth. I'm the more I
Speaker 1: think about it, I'm in agreement with you. I think
Speaker 1: that the top four of your lineup have to be Baldwin, Acunya, Olson,
Speaker 1: and Harris. It probably makes the most sense to go
Speaker 1: with it in that order. But the big thing for
Speaker 1: me is just having those four up there, and I
Speaker 1: think that if you do, that's more important than kind
Speaker 1: of the order that they're in. So probably not that
Speaker 1: big video. I don't think that you're losing that much
Speaker 1: at all if you bat bald would know, Olson and
Speaker 1: Harris back to back to bat because all three have
Speaker 1: been really productive against left handers as well this year.
Speaker 1: But I get in the you know, general scheme of things,
Speaker 1: is probably best not to bat all three in a row.
Speaker 1: But it will certainly be interesting to see.
Speaker 2: Now I'll say this, if they add one more right
Speaker 2: handed bat that would help. I agreed, like they they
Speaker 2: are getting kind of left handed right now, and you know,
Speaker 2: in some ways they can add any sort of bat
Speaker 2: and it would help. But I like a right handed
Speaker 2: bat that can sit in the middle of the older somewhere,
Speaker 2: not be like your main guy, but can bat like
Speaker 2: fifth or something like that. Obviously, we were hoping that
Speaker 2: would be Austin Riley. We thought maybe it was happening,
Speaker 2: and then he's had a couple of rough days in
Speaker 2: a row. We'll see what happens. But yeah, I would
Speaker 2: I would at least have a conversation about batting Acuna
Speaker 2: second when he gets back, which is probably gonna happen
Speaker 2: either tomorrow or or Saturday.
Speaker 5: Sure.
Speaker 1: Sure, So I know that many he may not think
Speaker 1: that this is worthy of a conversation, but I certainly
Speaker 1: think that it is. Hassan Kim has looked pretty good
Speaker 1: in his bats down at Gwinnette, and I know that
Speaker 1: he was a lost cause when he was up here.
Speaker 1: Jim Jarvis, I know that, you know, many have looked
Speaker 1: at him kind of as a revelation at the shortstop position.
Speaker 1: He's done well. I think his defense has been better
Speaker 1: than advertised, and he's swung a pretty good bat. But
Speaker 1: I also do not feel as if I am being
Speaker 1: far fetched and saying that the best version of the
Speaker 1: Brave shortstop position would be Hasng Kim regaining his form
Speaker 1: offensively and then having Jarvis be the guy who comes
Speaker 1: in and replaces him defensively, you know, in lad in games.
Speaker 1: So I don't think that it's just an automatic you
Speaker 1: let Jim Jarvis continue to start and just put Hassan
Speaker 1: Kim on the bench. When he's back in a week
Speaker 1: or so, you probably let him, you know, play out
Speaker 1: his reb assignment as long as he can. But if
Speaker 1: Hassan Kim is hitting, I give him a shot again
Speaker 1: to claim that shortstop position and then from there he
Speaker 1: used Jarvis's defense to to to secure wins at the
Speaker 1: end of game. But if the Braves also just want
Speaker 1: to keep letting Jarvis go, I don't blame him but
Speaker 1: there but I do think that if you feel Hassam
Speaker 1: Kim has kind of figured out his hitting form, you
Speaker 1: want that in your lineup even more than what Jim
Speaker 1: Jarvis is providing.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's interesting because obviously Acuny is coming back, and
Speaker 2: all the reports have been that he's not gonna DH
Speaker 2: He's gonna play right field, which means Dubon is now
Speaker 2: moving back to the infield because the Bond's been playing
Speaker 2: at corner outfits about this whole time with a Kunya
Speaker 2: been out. So now you have this interesting conversation at
Speaker 2: shortstop because Dubon is probably the best defender of the three.
Speaker 2: I don't think probably, I think it's clearly the best
Speaker 2: defender of the three. Jarvis has been better than I
Speaker 2: thought he would be. But Dubon ranks as like one
Speaker 2: of the best defensive short stops in baseball. And I
Speaker 2: think easily Kim is the worst defender of the three.
Speaker 2: So what do you do. Jarvis has been hot obviously
Speaker 2: since he came up. You know, I'll say this about
Speaker 2: Jarvis and like a guy like Brewer Ricklin who obviously
Speaker 2: have been red hot since they came up. Those guys,
Speaker 2: you know, it's a it's a little bit like Matteo
Speaker 2: and Dom Smith early, like you just have to keep
Speaker 2: in perspective that it's a lot of it is probably
Speaker 2: a little bit of noise that's not real true signal.
Speaker 2: Like I don't think, I don't think Jim Jarvis is
Speaker 2: actually this good. I mean, he's running like a three
Speaker 2: eighty babbit right now. His expected numbers are way lower
Speaker 2: than his actual numbers. I would just caution I see
Speaker 2: a lot of people like, oh, we found our short
Speaker 2: stuff of the future. I would just you know, remember
Speaker 2: Jorge Matteo, remember the lessons we learned with Hoye Mitteo
Speaker 2: and Dom Smith.
Speaker 1: Like you see.
Speaker 2: Baseball as unique in that it you can have, like
Speaker 2: you know, a month, six weeks of stuff like this
Speaker 2: where just kind of randomly pops up. And I think
Speaker 2: Jarvis can be a really good player. But like if
Speaker 2: starting tomorrow, when Akunya comes back, if they decide they
Speaker 2: want to bond at shortstop, I'm fine with that. Like,
Speaker 2: I think he's the better defender. I think he I
Speaker 2: actually trust the Bond's offense a little more than Jarvis. Like,
Speaker 2: if we're looking at true talent level. Now, obviously Jarvis
Speaker 2: has been red hot, And if wat wants to stay
Speaker 2: with Jarvis until he's not red hot, that's fine. There's
Speaker 2: nothing wrong with riding a hot hand. It doesn't have
Speaker 2: to be real long term for it to still help you.
Speaker 2: But like, if we get the lineup tomorrow and Acuna
Speaker 2: is in the right field and the Bond's at shortstop.
Speaker 2: I'm not gonna be like, I can't believe what Walt's doing. Like,
Speaker 2: Debon had a pretty good series against the Padres too,
Speaker 2: actually so, and I agree, he's been kind of weirdly
Speaker 2: bad and left field lately. I don't know what's going
Speaker 2: on with the Bond. He's probably just ready to be
Speaker 2: back on the infield. But he's an unbelievably good defensive shortstop,
Speaker 2: so I am. And then you have Kim and all
Speaker 2: of this. I don't know what they're gonna I mean,
Speaker 2: you could tell me they're gonna dfa him, you could
Speaker 2: tell me they're gonna play him and anything in between,
Speaker 2: and I would believe it because I think it's all possible.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Now to your point, Dbon also certainly factors into this,
Speaker 1: and I think at the end of the day, the
Speaker 1: most trustworthy combination of defense as well as the offense
Speaker 1: that he's shown. You want to go out and get
Speaker 1: another bat that can you know, play outfield, also can
Speaker 1: DH in some days, and I think has good power potential.
Speaker 1: That's the type of profile that you want and that
Speaker 1: puts to Bond as your shortstop. So that's one thing
Speaker 1: that that's makes a point that I think that we're
Speaker 1: trying to get. It's great that Jim Jarvis has provided
Speaker 1: the production that he has, you know, over the past
Speaker 1: few weeks. But I think in terms of the home
Speaker 1: stretch and in terms of when games matter most in
Speaker 1: the playoffs, the most trustworthy option remains Dubond at shortstop
Speaker 1: and hopefully some type of overall upgrade that can play
Speaker 1: the outfield d H and so on and so forth.
Speaker 1: You know, in a former right handed bat. That's kind
Speaker 1: of what you're hoping is the best case scenario for
Speaker 1: the Braves. And then of course Sean Murphy is starting
Speaker 1: to rehab assignment and you know some may have you know,
Speaker 1: kind of written Sean Murphy off, like you know what
Speaker 1: others have Hassan Kim with Kim, I know, don't blame him.
Speaker 1: He's definitely, you know, not perform well Murphy. It's been
Speaker 1: a while, so team has been reliable offensively, but Murphy
Speaker 1: still has a place on this team. And even when
Speaker 1: again it's gonna matter most, you know, down the home
Speaker 1: stretch and you know, into the playoffs, and it's kind
Speaker 1: of a unique reason or or not spoken about that
Speaker 1: much reason that. I believe you. You brought up earlier
Speaker 1: today when it came to Drake Baldwin.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't know that Drake has had the best
Speaker 2: year defensively, I know it's called stealing. Numbers are way down.
Speaker 2: You know, his framing is about average. You know, how
Speaker 2: he calls a game is something the public doesn't really know.
Speaker 2: That's really internal, Like you'd have to ask the pictures.
Speaker 2: All the pitchers seem to like throw into him. But
Speaker 2: I am curious, like in the postseason if they would
Speaker 2: rather have Murphy catching and Baldwin dhing. Maybe I'm not
Speaker 2: saying Baldwin's a bad defensive catcher, but I just I
Speaker 2: don't think he's had like an elite defensive catcher year.
Speaker 2: And so, you know, Murphy coming back is gonna be
Speaker 2: very interesting. First of all, Murphy's gonna stay healthy. He
Speaker 2: does stay healthy, None of those matters because he hasn't
Speaker 2: stayed healthy and a long time. And then can he
Speaker 2: hit at all? Especially against left handed pitching. We talked
Speaker 2: about how left handed the lineup has been. They need
Speaker 2: some of their righty's to like like contribute at some point,
Speaker 2: like Murphy and Kim were supposed to be two of
Speaker 2: the guys that were supposed to help against left handed
Speaker 2: pitching the most. It was supposed to be like a
Speaker 2: Kunya Riley, Murphy, Kim Ozzy. You know, those were the
Speaker 2: guys who were supposed to balance out the lineup. And
Speaker 2: you know, Ozzie's had a solid year and then everybody
Speaker 2: else has either been hurt or not that great. Uh
Speaker 2: de Bond's been solid, of course, but yeah, we need
Speaker 2: Murphy to hit, and we need Murphy to really hold
Speaker 2: his own against lefties. I'm very curious to how this
Speaker 2: rehab assignment goes. You know, with catching, obviously there's a
Speaker 2: whole physical element to getting down and catching nine innings,
Speaker 2: and like it's not just the bat like it is
Speaker 2: with a lot of position players. Like how you actually
Speaker 2: call a game and catch a game for nine innings matters,
Speaker 2: and these rehabs, so it could be a longer thing.
Speaker 2: I don't know, We'll see. Yeah, Murphy is an interesting guy,
Speaker 2: and obviously the Braves all a lot of money, you know,
Speaker 2: even past this year, so that is a big one.
Speaker 2: It's it's gone under the radar a bit and people
Speaker 2: haven't thought about it a lot, but it would be very,
Speaker 2: very very helpful for Sean Murphy to get healthy and
Speaker 2: play to at least somewhere towards the level of what
Speaker 2: we saw in twenty twenty three and really what he
Speaker 2: did in his career in Oakland before, you know, and
Speaker 2: since all of these injuries have happened the last few years,
Speaker 2: it would be nice to get that guy back.
Speaker 1: Yeah, if going into the the you know, again, the
Speaker 1: Braves have a tough schedule. I know, I keep saying it,
Speaker 1: but they have a tough schedule to end the year
Speaker 1: in September and into the playoffs. If they could go
Speaker 1: in with a somewhat high level of trust in Putty
Speaker 1: Murphy at catcher, maybe Baldwin at DH and then de
Speaker 1: Bond at shortstop, with some type of platoon with Yas
Speaker 1: and a guy that they add at the deadline in
Speaker 1: the outfield, and you can have that healthy I know,
Speaker 1: that's about this much more likely. It's not going to
Speaker 1: be you know, it's not going out that well then
Speaker 1: you know it would, but if several of those things
Speaker 1: can work, it'd be great. And so so we know
Speaker 1: what the expectation right now is. Murphy's not going to
Speaker 1: be reliable. That's just kind of where we are health
Speaker 1: or offensive production. But if he could, I think that
Speaker 1: it would make it even stronger to where then you
Speaker 1: have Baldwin purely focused on his hitting, which can be
Speaker 1: at the level of being a pure difference maker in
Speaker 1: an entire series, for instance, and then also having Murphy
Speaker 1: behind the plate, you've got the better option to handle
Speaker 1: the pitching staff, plus also control running games. So Sean
Speaker 1: Murphy coming back healthy and being productive, that could be
Speaker 1: a very big positive for the Braves, Bigger than some
Speaker 1: you know might think at this point in time.
Speaker 2: Yeah, not only the brais of a tell schedule in September,
Speaker 2: I think they play the most games of anybody, Yeah,
Speaker 2: post All Star Break, because I think they played the
Speaker 2: fewest amount of games of anybody pre All Star Break.
Speaker 2: Some of it off days, some of it because they
Speaker 2: had I think three rain outs that all got pushed
Speaker 2: to the second half. So the Braids play a lot
Speaker 2: of game they don't have a lot of off days.
Speaker 2: This matters a lot for the pitching staff. Of course,
Speaker 2: they had a lot of off days in like June July.
Speaker 2: They don't really have that luxury in August September, so
Speaker 2: it is going to be you know, on on top
Speaker 2: of having a tough schedule just opponent wise, it's just
Speaker 2: a lot of games. They're playing, I think more games
Speaker 2: than anybody. So you know, getting the roster where it
Speaker 2: needs to be by the time you get to that
Speaker 2: trade deadline is a big deal right now.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, And and you see how much Baldwin's offense correlates
Speaker 1: with the Braves playing in baseball, so you certainly don't
Speaker 1: want going through the dog games.
Speaker 2: And he needs like he needs rest too, Like he's
Speaker 2: played damn near every day he's been out. I mean,
Speaker 2: I know he got hurt, but like especially in August
Speaker 2: when it's one hundred and five degrees outside, Like, you
Speaker 2: also want bald want to be able to take some
Speaker 2: days off, and right now, like they just can't afford
Speaker 2: to give bald On a day off. Even if he's
Speaker 2: not catching, he's in, he's in the lineup. So yeah,
Speaker 2: Murphy coming back is a big.
Speaker 1: Deal, absolutely, And hopefully he'll make the most of his
Speaker 1: rehab assignment and be back and maybe start to show
Speaker 1: what we know he's capable of. But the Brave schedule
Speaker 1: gets been interesting as we head into the trade deadline.
Speaker 1: More than that, just a moment after a word from
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Speaker 1: So another thing that you kind of talk about that
Speaker 1: you know it is kind of starting to fall in
Speaker 1: place for the Braves is the fact that they're scheduled
Speaker 1: to start the second of the second half of the year.
Speaker 1: It has been pretty manageable so far, and he gets
Speaker 1: even more manageable on this upcoming road trip. Three in Baltimore,
Speaker 1: and I believe they have had with three or four
Speaker 1: in New York. I want to say that it's three
Speaker 1: in Baltimore. Yeah, three in Baltimore, three in New York.
Speaker 1: And then of course they'll welcome the Nationals after that.
Speaker 1: So the Braves schedule upcoming is right there. It's kind
Speaker 1: of a red carpet for them to be able to
Speaker 1: continue to put wins together, and they're starting to distance
Speaker 1: themselves once again in the standings. It's good to see
Speaker 1: them taking advantage of this more manageable part of the schedule.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and the Phillies, you know, I think the Phillies
Speaker 2: started with the Mets right after the break and lost
Speaker 2: that series, and then they have a homestand with the
Speaker 2: Dodgers and Yankees, I think, and the Phillies have not
Speaker 2: played well. You know, that helps, Like, like the Phillies
Speaker 2: seem like they never lost the game for about a
Speaker 2: month and a half when the Braves were playing probably
Speaker 2: the worst ball of the year, and so, you know,
Speaker 2: and then the Marlins have just fallen completely of They've
Speaker 2: lost nine in a row. I wouldn't be surprised if
Speaker 2: Miami sold at this point. But yeah, the Phillies have
Speaker 2: slowed down. Braves have pretty manageable part of the schedule
Speaker 2: right now. It does get tougher as we get into
Speaker 2: late August September. Phillies also have a pretty tough schedule.
Speaker 2: They do the same thing. They have this tough Dodgers
Speaker 2: Yankee stretch and then it softens up quite a bit
Speaker 2: and then they end pretty difficult as well. They still
Speaker 2: have another West coast trip. They still have to go
Speaker 2: to Seattle and to Arizona, and obviously the Braves are
Speaker 2: done with all their West Coast strips. So yeah, the schedule,
Speaker 2: you know, it matters. Who you play matters. It's certainly,
Speaker 2: you know, better to play worse teams. You still gotta
Speaker 2: beat them. But I'm much rather be playing the you know,
Speaker 2: I'm much rather play the Kansas City Royals and the
Speaker 2: Los Angeles Dodgers. So the schedule matters. Both Phillies and
Speaker 2: Braves have a tougher second half schedule, but the Braves
Speaker 2: are in a manageable part and so it's good to
Speaker 2: see their five and two in the first seven out
Speaker 2: of the break. Go to Baltimore and you know, continue
Speaker 2: good work. And Baltimore is not bad. I don't want
Speaker 2: to like. Baltimore is a fringe playoff team in the
Speaker 2: American League. They've got talent, but that's still a series.
Speaker 2: I think talent for talent, the Breds are better than
Speaker 2: the Orioles, So you know, I would say that's advantage
Speaker 2: Braves not I haven't seen the Orioles pitching matchups yet.
Speaker 2: I don't know who they're throwing, but I think the
Speaker 2: brains are more talented.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and it's starting to show again in the standings
Speaker 1: the Braves. As of the time of this recording, which
Speaker 1: is Thursday afternoon, they're at four and a half games
Speaker 1: on the Phillies, which is, you know, definitely not what
Speaker 1: they were, you know, two months ago, but it's a
Speaker 1: bit more of a distance than they had at the
Speaker 1: beginning of July. So that's that's good to see. And
Speaker 1: again you you want to start looking at those standings,
Speaker 1: not necessarily just in the NL East, but I mean,
Speaker 1: Stephen were joking before the show, you're kind of looking
Speaker 1: at them kind of like as a golf leader board.
Speaker 1: You're trying to see, you know, instead of who makes
Speaker 1: the cut, you're trying to see which teams you know,
Speaker 1: get to a certain level of you know, either you
Speaker 1: know their playoff odds or you know they're a certain
Speaker 1: number behind in the wild card spot. Because the more
Speaker 1: teams that get into that grouping, the more sellers you have.
Speaker 1: Maybe that starts to bring the price down on some
Speaker 1: of these potential trade candidates. And Steve and I know
Speaker 1: you've been watching pretty closely, so some of these teams
Speaker 1: are starting to see their playoff odds continue to dwindle.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you and I talked about it, like in the
Speaker 2: American League, how the Red Sox went nuclear and that
Speaker 2: helped all of the teams behind the Red Sox. You know,
Speaker 2: maybe it's more dire for them, Maybe they're more interested
Speaker 2: in selling. A team like the Blue Jays, who look
Speaker 2: like they could be contenders most of the year, and
Speaker 2: their playoff odds right now are at seven percent, so
Speaker 2: it really feels like the Blue Jays are going to sell.
Speaker 2: The Braves could do themselves a favor by going to
Speaker 2: Baltimore and beating Orioles for two out of three, or
Speaker 2: maybe even sweeping them, because their playoff odds right now
Speaker 2: are twenty four percent. If the Braves went and won
Speaker 2: that series, it'd be below twenty That's a potential seller
Speaker 2: with some pieces, especially maybe a couple of bats that
Speaker 2: the Braves might be interested in. You know, the Twins
Speaker 2: are down to twenty two percent. Obviously, the Royals have
Speaker 2: been bad all year. An interesting one to me is
Speaker 2: that the Marlins are all the way down to a
Speaker 2: twelve percent make playoff. You know, they were right there
Speaker 2: with the Phillies for a while, but this nine game
Speaker 2: losing streak has just been brutal for them. Even the Nats,
Speaker 2: who are still above five hundred, they're a game above
Speaker 2: five hundred. Fifty two and fifty one Fangres only gives
Speaker 2: them a seven percent chance to make the playoffs. I'm
Speaker 2: guessing that's a team even if they don't sell. I
Speaker 2: don't see them like aggressively buying. The Inel Central has
Speaker 2: been just a madhouse all year. Obviously, the Brewers are
Speaker 2: gonna win the division, but like the next three teams,
Speaker 2: the Cubs, the Pirates, and the Cardinals have all been
Speaker 2: right there in the wild Card. The Cardinals are starting
Speaker 2: to fall off a bit. They're at twenty five percent
Speaker 2: playoff odds. The Reds are very The Reds also have
Speaker 2: the toughest schedule in baseball. On the second half, the
Speaker 2: Reds playoffs ods are at less than one percent. And
Speaker 2: then the big one is the Padres. The Giants, and
Speaker 2: the Rockies in the West have all dropped. I mean,
Speaker 2: the Giants and the Rockies have been down forever, but
Speaker 2: the Padres are now after the Braves took three or four,
Speaker 2: the Padres are all the way down to seven percent in
Speaker 2: terms of their odds to make the post season. So,
Speaker 2: you know, we're starting to see the clear or clearer
Speaker 2: kind of demarcation of buyers and sellers. It looks like
Speaker 2: it's going to be a decent split. You know, we're
Speaker 2: still we still have enough time to the trade deadline
Speaker 2: that a team could go on like a five game
Speaker 2: winning streak and maybe flip you know, if the Cardinals
Speaker 2: went on a five game winning streak, or if the
Speaker 2: even like the Padres, the like if the Orioles sweep
Speaker 2: the Braves this weekend, that could flip them. So there's
Speaker 2: still a few teams that it's right on the edge.
Speaker 2: But we are starting to see a little bit of
Speaker 2: a clear divide between buyers and maybe not sellers, but
Speaker 2: at least teams that are not going to be buying themselves,
Speaker 2: which takes obviously some competition out of the market. So
Speaker 2: the market is getting clearer by the day.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and you're starting to see more indications of teams
Speaker 1: that are looking to sell, you know, and I think
Speaker 1: there were a few reports out there that the Angels,
Speaker 1: for instance, they're looking part ways with some controllable guys,
Speaker 1: and I know, you know, the Reds previously had said
Speaker 1: that they were the one thing that I want to
Speaker 1: put out there though, is that, you know, I know
Speaker 1: that when it came to like a Tark Schoogl or
Speaker 1: a Sunny Gray, you know, when we were talking about
Speaker 1: those guys potentially being out there, those were clear candidates
Speaker 1: for the Braves to go get because those guys were
Speaker 1: and are having excellent seasons. A lot of the options
Speaker 1: out there that seem reasonable to talk about as trade
Speaker 1: candidates right now, they're not having the best of seasons.
Speaker 1: And that's kind of how it's going to be. It's
Speaker 1: going to be hard to find just a clear cut
Speaker 1: guy who this guy is having an outstanding season, you
Speaker 1: obviously want to go have him. There are very few
Speaker 1: guys of those out there. The trade candidates that you
Speaker 1: are choosing from right now come from teams that sink,
Speaker 1: and a lot of that. In a lot of cases,
Speaker 1: it's because the guys that you want have not been
Speaker 1: the best, so especially when it comes to starting pitchers.
Speaker 1: That's why you know, for instance, I put such a high,
Speaker 1: you know, value in Jose Soriano is because the stuff
Speaker 1: in many of his pitches ranks pretty high in the
Speaker 1: terms of quality. The Braves could probably do better with
Speaker 1: that than the Angels are doing. Or maybe a Freddy
Speaker 1: Peralta who Yes, he has struggled so far this year,
Speaker 1: but you have to think there's something in this track
Speaker 1: record the Braves might be able to tweak to get
Speaker 1: better performance out of him. So even though the amount
Speaker 1: of names may continue to go up as sellers start
Speaker 1: to more emerge, the one thing that I will say
Speaker 1: is that, yes, you don't want to go out and
Speaker 1: get a guy who's just been awful, but more than
Speaker 1: likely the guy that the Braves are looking to acquire
Speaker 1: or will acquire. They probably haven't had the best of seasons,
Speaker 1: but you have to think coming into the situation that
Speaker 1: the Braves offer will hopefully lead to better production from
Speaker 1: that player.
Speaker 2: I'm going to give you the four teams that I'm
Speaker 2: watching to see because if they they could kind of
Speaker 2: go either way. The four teams and they're all right
Speaker 2: in a row in the standings are the Twins or
Speaker 2: two and a half games back. Because the Twins have
Speaker 2: some very interesting pieces, Joe Ryan being the main one.
Speaker 2: The Tigers are four and a half games back of
Speaker 2: the third wild card, but you know, there's a ton
Speaker 2: of teams ahead of them, four and a half might
Speaker 2: be enough. And there was a report yesterday I think
Speaker 2: Brad Scott talked about it about how the Tigers may
Speaker 2: sell Scooble but then buy everywhere else and still try
Speaker 2: to compete, which is actually a pretty fascinating conversation. So
Speaker 2: the Twins, the Tigers, the Orioles who were playing this weekend.
Speaker 2: The Oriols have some hitters that I would take in
Speaker 2: a heartbeat. But the Oriols also, you know, they're eight
Speaker 2: and two in their last ten games and they just
Speaker 2: broke up the Red Sox big winning streak, so like,
Speaker 2: if the Oriols stay hot, they're probably gonna buy. And
Speaker 2: then the last one is Houston the Astros, because the
Speaker 2: Astros have some mention like if the Ashros were to say,
Speaker 2: you know, lose the next three or four games, and
Speaker 2: like Jeremy Pania is available, I guarantee you Alex is
Speaker 2: making a phone call. And the Astros have some interesting guys.
Speaker 2: So those four teams Twins, Tigers, Orioles, Astros are the
Speaker 2: teams I'm really really concentrating on. They could really flip,
Speaker 2: like make it where it's almost like a buyer's market
Speaker 2: where there's a lot of sellers, or if they went
Speaker 2: the other way, they can make it a seller's market
Speaker 2: where there's a lot of buyers. So it's that's those
Speaker 2: are the four that are most interesting to me at
Speaker 2: the moment.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's gonna be fascinating. And you know, when these
Speaker 1: gms and when Alex is talking and saying, you know, hey,
Speaker 1: there's still it's still pretty foggy who exactly is available.
Speaker 1: You know, we it may be August before a lot
Speaker 1: of these gms know who's supposed to available. That's why
Speaker 1: you're more than likely going to see it being more
Speaker 1: of a frenzy over the over the last few days
Speaker 1: before the deadline instead of you know, it just being
Speaker 1: you know, blockbuster after blockbuster for a full week and
Speaker 1: as long as the Braise are winning, that's fine. That's
Speaker 1: that's the main thing that that they need to focus on.
Speaker 1: Anything else from you, Steven, as we wrap up this
Speaker 1: edition of the Hamber Territory Podcast.
Speaker 2: Nope, just I'm excited to see a coon you back
Speaker 2: this weekend. Yeah, at some point. I'm curious see how
Speaker 2: they do the lineup. Really would love the rotation to
Speaker 2: to pitch a few more innings here to help the bullpen. Obviously,
Speaker 2: the trade stuff is going to be everywhere. We're tracking
Speaker 2: it like hawks. Anything breaks at any point we will
Speaker 2: be on here instantly to talk about it, of course.
Speaker 2: But yeah, it should be a fun series up in Baltimore.
Speaker 1: Absolutely. Camden Yards is always a fun place to see
Speaker 1: the Braves play a very very fun part. Wouldn't visit
Speaker 1: it one day for sure, until next time. For Steven Tolbert,
Speaker 1: you can find him at the Underscore outliers on Twitter,
Speaker 1: slash x, myself, Sean Comin at stats SEC. Hammer Territory
Speaker 1: across all forms of social media are the Foul Territory
Speaker 1: family of podcast. So next time b Braves will talk
Speaker 1: to you again soon here on Hammer Territory Podcast