Speaker 1: Oh to the Hemmer Territory Podcast. My name is Sean Coleman. Hope,
Speaker 1: wherever you are and wherever if you are listening, you
Speaker 1: are having a good week. A week that started off
Speaker 1: think like just a stressful day. Forty eight hours later,
Speaker 1: we are forty eight hours removed the trade deadline. The
Speaker 1: Braves have played two games, they continue to play very well,
Speaker 1: but still there's plenty to talk about when it comes
Speaker 1: to the fall of the trade deadline. More on that,
Speaker 1: plus breaking down the games in some expected but kind
Speaker 1: of unexpected maybe Roster moves all of that on this
Speaker 1: edition of The Hammer Territory Podcast. But hey, let's start
Speaker 1: where everybody wants to start talking about the trade deadline
Speaker 1: or what was a lack of the trade deadline as
Speaker 1: we mix it up engineered by Fastena, So we're mixing
Speaker 1: it up a bit because we're going to address just
Speaker 1: straightforward the negative, the negative that began this week. And
Speaker 1: I say that it's negative because of course we're going
Speaker 1: to get into the positive of the fact that the
Speaker 1: Braves have won seven in a row. But Steven, the
Speaker 1: first thing that stands out to me, and we're going
Speaker 1: to break down several aspects of this, But to kind
Speaker 1: of sum it all up for me is that each
Speaker 1: and every time I see this team take the field
Speaker 1: and then play to their potential, them play to a
Speaker 1: level that truly shows they can win a World Series.
Speaker 1: This year, it makes me even more frustrated that there
Speaker 1: was more resources available than we had seen in years,
Speaker 1: more opportunities to add to this team in the biggest
Speaker 1: area of need than we've seen in a few years,
Speaker 1: and still for many of the same reasons that it
Speaker 1: wasn't done in the past, which made it even more
Speaker 1: crucial to do it now, this team did not add
Speaker 1: the level of starting pitcher that it needed to, despite
Speaker 1: having every reason and resource to get the job done.
Speaker 2: Yeah, what's up, buddy? So you and I have not
Speaker 2: had the opportunity to talk about this yet, obviously, Scott
Speaker 2: and Brad to the post mortem of the trade deadline
Speaker 2: on Monday. You know, it was a very kind of
Speaker 2: raw episode. I thought Scott really articulated some of the
Speaker 2: frustrations very well. Had I been on the show forty
Speaker 2: eight hours ago, I would have sounded very much like Scott,
Speaker 2: because I was pretty annoyed, pretty frustrated. The trade deadline
Speaker 2: reminded me of like if you went to a steakhouse
Speaker 2: and you ordered your rabbi and you ordered all your sides,
Speaker 2: and then like twenty minutes later, here comes the waiter
Speaker 2: and they put down this beautiful bowl of mashed potatoes
Speaker 2: and this big plate of green beans and these rolls,
Speaker 2: and you're really excited and you're like, once the stake comes,
Speaker 2: this is gonna be, this is gonna slap how good
Speaker 2: this is gonna be. And then the stake just never comes,
Speaker 2: and it just leaves you kind of wanting for more,
Speaker 2: not because you dislike anything that they brought out, but
Speaker 2: because what you were expecting to be the entree, the
Speaker 2: big piece that ties it all together, just never came.
Speaker 2: And you know, it always feels like a missed opportunity.
Speaker 2: It feels like a level of, you know, a conservative
Speaker 2: level of GMing that's really frustrating to watch. I do
Speaker 2: believe that, I do strongly believe that you should never
Speaker 2: go all in on any one baseball season, on any
Speaker 2: one trade deadline, because there's too much variance in the playoffs.
Speaker 2: I don't think you should ever go all in. I
Speaker 2: do think for the Braves, especially with a thirty seven
Speaker 2: year old as this was the time to put some
Speaker 2: of the chips in, like you gotta push some chip
Speaker 2: sin And you know one thing I listened to so
Speaker 2: somebody asked Andrew Freeman, the GM of the Dodgers, what
Speaker 2: is the goal for this season? And he gave a
Speaker 2: foreword answer, and the answer was to win the World Series.
Speaker 2: That's it. Win the World Series. That was his answer.
Speaker 2: Over the last two days, Alex has done a lot
Speaker 2: of media and they've asked him that question a couple
Speaker 2: of times, and Alex's answer is always like a hundred
Speaker 2: word answer, mostly a word salad, most of it not
Speaker 2: meaning much of anything, but it usually ends up with
Speaker 2: some form of the goal is to make it to
Speaker 2: the playoffs and then to see what happens. And it
Speaker 2: does feel sometimes that Alex's in the organization's direction is
Speaker 2: make the playoffs and then hope variance is on your side,
Speaker 2: whereas other teams are a bit more aggressive in these spots.
Speaker 2: And you know, it's just very frustrating. Again, I don't
Speaker 2: think the Brave should have gone all in. I don't
Speaker 2: think they should have traded Eric Hartman, and I don't
Speaker 2: think they should have traded Cam Kevinitti and and and
Speaker 2: unloaded their entire farm for this team specifically. But you
Speaker 2: got to push some chips in. You just do It's
Speaker 2: I think it's disrespectful to the clubhouse. Yes, to not
Speaker 2: do it. I can't imagine what Chris Sale is thinking.
Speaker 2: But they didn't, and you know, it's it was very,
Speaker 2: very frustrating. And the thing is, I like Lane Thomas,
Speaker 2: I like Tyler Mallley. I actually I really liked those moves. Again,
Speaker 2: those were the sides at the steak dinner that I
Speaker 2: ordered that I really like, Like, I liked those moves
Speaker 2: in a vacuum just they they would have all made
Speaker 2: so much more sense with one really good picture. And
Speaker 2: you know, we didn't get it. And we're gonna talk about,
Speaker 2: you know, how that's gonna play out, and no one
Speaker 2: really knows how it's gonna play out, how we think
Speaker 2: it's gonna play out. But it was a very very
Speaker 2: frustrating day. And I do appreciate a lot of the
Speaker 2: media members who kind of pushed Alex in his in
Speaker 2: his zoom at the end. You know, there was a
Speaker 2: lot of people very confused, a lot of national people confuse.
Speaker 2: It's been a big topic of conversation over the last
Speaker 2: forty eight hours about how a lot of people can't
Speaker 2: believe the Braves didn't go get a frontline starter, and
Speaker 2: you know, it was a very very very frustrating deadline.
Speaker 1: Yes, Alex did a disservice to this team this year.
Speaker 1: That's that's exactly what he did. In terms of the
Speaker 1: fact that you're asking for your GM for a team
Speaker 1: that is clearly showing on the field it's doing what
Speaker 1: it can to be a World Series contender. That is
Speaker 1: the team basically telling the GM, we are ready for
Speaker 1: you to go out and address the needs that we
Speaker 1: have so we could be the best version of ourselves
Speaker 1: to have the best shot at winning the World Series.
Speaker 1: Alex and Thoppless failed it doing that for this team,
Speaker 1: and what makes it a bit more frustrating. There's several
Speaker 1: several factors that make it very frustrating. But for me,
Speaker 1: it's to continue eua of the same thing that we
Speaker 1: have seen over the past two plus years. Alex has
Speaker 1: consistently said he's looking for a playoff starter. He's looking
Speaker 1: for a playoff starter, He's looking for a playoff starter.
Speaker 1: He went after some things that we've heard and I'll
Speaker 1: let you break it down a bit as well, Steven,
Speaker 1: There's been some news that has come out about who
Speaker 1: exactly Alex went after Logan web Tark Scooble as well
Speaker 1: as Jacob de Grom.
Speaker 3: I'm glad he went after those guys. Those are the
Speaker 3: big fish, those are.
Speaker 1: The difference makers. You land one of those guys, you're
Speaker 1: right there, I think amongst the three or four best
Speaker 1: teams in baseball in terms of being a contender for
Speaker 1: the World Series. But the problem is it was always
Speaker 1: going to be very hard to land one of those guys.
Speaker 1: And for Alex, he always seems to want to have
Speaker 1: these deals be on his terms unless it's a Hall
Speaker 1: of Fame level talent, and then he'll pay the terms
Speaker 1: of somebody else. But if it's not that just top
Speaker 1: tier talent, Alex always has to have the move beyond
Speaker 1: his terms. It either has to be a certain cost
Speaker 1: where value is going to be there, or it has
Speaker 1: to be a certain prospect price and be willing to
Speaker 1: pay for the.
Speaker 3: Value to be there.
Speaker 1: There were so many other ways for him to pivot
Speaker 1: that clearly would have made this team better. He just
Speaker 1: kind of, like you mentioned, he's conservative. To me, I
Speaker 1: just I don't think he has anything to overpay, even
Speaker 1: if it would make the team better. But the problem
Speaker 1: is is that with the money that he had from
Speaker 1: the profile money, plus the prospects that he now had,
Speaker 1: you have the ability to overpay. It's okay to overpay
Speaker 1: if it clearly makes your major league team better in
Speaker 1: a year where they clearly have the ability to go
Speaker 1: in the World Series. That's what made me frustrated. It
Speaker 1: was the time to overpay. We're talking about going all in.
Speaker 1: You don't have to go all in because you had
Speaker 1: money to make to be creative on deals, and you
Speaker 1: have more prospect capital to work with to still retain
Speaker 1: a strong farm while still going out and making a
Speaker 1: significant deal. And despite all that being on the table
Speaker 1: and what he's mentioned for two years, he still did
Speaker 1: not get the job done. And it's wrong and it's frustrating,
Speaker 1: and it's a disservice to this team.
Speaker 2: Well, I do think I do think the Braves had
Speaker 2: a very small list of guys they viewed as impact.
Speaker 2: I do think the list was much smaller internally than
Speaker 2: it was externally. I don't think they viewed some of
Speaker 2: the names that had been bandied about publicly as impact,
Speaker 2: and they weren't going to pay anything more than what
Speaker 2: they felt those guys were and on a case by
Speaker 2: case basis, I could be talked into some of that.
Speaker 2: I think there was two frustrating parts for me. One,
Speaker 2: every other team in the National League added impact starting pitching. Yes,
Speaker 2: the Cubs, the Dodgers, the Brewers, the Padres, you know,
Speaker 2: like the teams the Braves are going to be competing for.
Speaker 2: And I'm not sure any of those teams had as
Speaker 2: big a need that's starting pitching as the Braves did.
Speaker 2: So that was very frustrating. Not only it's a kind
Speaker 2: of a double wayman, not only did you not get one,
Speaker 2: but everybody you're competing against did. And then the other
Speaker 2: thing that was kind of frustrating for me, not kind
Speaker 2: of very was it really felt like the prospects being traded,
Speaker 2: Like I never really saw anybody get a crazy haul,
Speaker 2: Like it didn't seem like the prices were all that crazy,
Speaker 2: Like even the schoolbul package was. There's a lot of
Speaker 2: conversation about like did the Brewers or did the Tigers
Speaker 2: get enough? Like it didn't seem like a crazy package.
Speaker 2: I think maybe the Cubs when they got Clay Holmes
Speaker 2: and Taylor from the Mets. I think they paid a
Speaker 2: decent price. I think they gave like their number two
Speaker 2: of overall prospect. But other than that, it really did
Speaker 2: feel like very reasonable cost for a lot of guys.
Speaker 2: And you know, Alex does this thing, and he's done
Speaker 2: this for years where he'll go on and he'll talk
Speaker 2: about like, yeah, I could have traded for somebody, but
Speaker 2: then like Drake Baldwin's out the door, and it's like
Speaker 2: that wasn't the level of prospect that was traded on Monday?
Speaker 2: Just wasn't, you know? Or he taught you know, well,
Speaker 2: yeah I could, And what he's essentially saying is, yeah,
Speaker 2: I could have traded somebody, but Eric Cartman is out
Speaker 2: the door, and I find I find that to be
Speaker 2: disingenuous because I don't think that level of prospect was
Speaker 2: moved by anybody, and still a lot of pitchers changed
Speaker 2: hands and a lot of teams were able to trade
Speaker 2: for impact. I do think where the disconnect is between
Speaker 2: the fan base and the team is I think the
Speaker 2: team just had a really small list of guys they
Speaker 2: viewed as impact, and the list was basically Schoobale, the
Speaker 2: gram Logan Web. I do think they like Gosman. I
Speaker 2: think the Toronto Blue Jays stuff that we heard from
Speaker 2: Ken Rosenthal last week, I think that's real. I think
Speaker 2: I don't think Toronto and the Braves deal with each other,
Speaker 2: and I think I think they would. But I do
Speaker 2: think they charged the Braves a little bit more than
Speaker 2: they charge other teams because Toronto doesn't like Alex. I
Speaker 2: think Gosman would have been a guy they would have
Speaker 2: gone after if that wasn't the case. But other than that,
Speaker 2: I'm not sure they felt like I don't think they
Speaker 2: thought Casey Mize was all that much of an improvement.
Speaker 2: I don't think they thought Clay Holmes or you know, Soriano.
Speaker 2: And I'm not saying I agree with him. I don't
Speaker 2: on some of those. I do agree with him on others.
Speaker 2: But yeah, with everybody else getting better, everybody else getting
Speaker 2: the thing you're going for and you not getting it
Speaker 2: is just doubly frustrating. The prospect costs seeming to be
Speaker 2: very reasonable is frustrating. It was just a very frustrating day.
Speaker 2: And you know, the thing I don't like hearing people say,
Speaker 2: and I've seen this a lot of less forty eight hours,
Speaker 2: is if you're mad at Alex, then you need to
Speaker 2: take a step back and look at how good the
Speaker 2: team is. And I don't like that logic. I think
Speaker 2: that logic misses the forest for the trees, because the
Speaker 2: reason people are mad is not in spite of the
Speaker 2: fact that the team is. The reason that people are
Speaker 2: mad is because the team is good. You wanted them
Speaker 2: to go. Add more like, push some chips in. Don't
Speaker 2: push all the chips in. You should never push all
Speaker 2: the chips in on one baseball season. The math doesn't
Speaker 2: support that. But push some push some chips in. And
Speaker 2: they just didn't, and and it was just a frustrating day.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: And and the thing that I'll say is this is
Speaker 1: that my opinion of Alex and Thopolis in and of itself,
Speaker 1: it's not changed that much. I still think that he
Speaker 1: is one of the best gams in baseball. I still
Speaker 1: think that a strength of this team overall is the
Speaker 1: job Alex typically does. His track record being here speaks
Speaker 1: to that. But Scott brought up a great point. When
Speaker 1: you look at the track record of Alex and Thoppolis
Speaker 1: over the past two to three.
Speaker 3: Years, it's not that great. It's not his very well.
Speaker 2: Alex is in a bit of a cold streak.
Speaker 3: But the other.
Speaker 1: Aspect of it is is that again he's kept pre
Speaker 1: about we need to add a starter. We're looking to
Speaker 1: add a starter, we need to add a starter. We're
Speaker 1: looking to add a starter, but he's not doing what's
Speaker 1: necessary to add a starter. I still think Alex and
Speaker 1: Thoughtless is one of best geams in baseball. He did
Speaker 1: not he did not do his job when it mattered
Speaker 1: most of this year. And yes, this team still clearly
Speaker 1: has a chance to win the World Series, but I
Speaker 1: think that they would have had an easier time going
Speaker 1: about it had he.
Speaker 3: Just clearly added the need.
Speaker 1: And one thing that I'll end on on is this,
Speaker 1: the Braves won the twenty twenty one World Series. That
Speaker 1: should absolutely live on that flag will fly forever. But
Speaker 1: it's also been five years, and in that five year span,
Speaker 1: this team has won two playoff games. As Scott Coleman mentioned,
Speaker 1: Alex consistently references that when he's talking to the media.
Speaker 1: I know that he was aggressive at that deadline, but
Speaker 1: I also know that he didn't give up any prospects
Speaker 1: of value. At some point, when you clearly need to
Speaker 1: get value, you've got to give up value. And that's
Speaker 1: the thing that stands out to me. I won't say
Speaker 1: more than anything, but just another aspect of it. It
Speaker 1: stands out you speak on value so much, well, then
Speaker 1: if you speak on value, that to me represents that
Speaker 1: you understand value and to get it, you've got to
Speaker 1: be able to give it up. It just does not
Speaker 1: feel like that that was the case this time around.
Speaker 1: A disservice was done. We'll have to live with it,
Speaker 1: but I truly do think it's a missed opportunity and
Speaker 1: I'm just hoping that it doesn't come back and haness
Speaker 1: when it matters most. But of course this team right
Speaker 1: now is not really letting and effective because they've won
Speaker 1: seven in a row. More on the latest two wins
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Speaker 3: So Stephen.
Speaker 1: Of course, the best way to be able to move
Speaker 1: on what was a disappointing deadline day is just your
Speaker 1: team just played to the best of its ability, and
Speaker 1: that's what we've seen this Braves team do as seven
Speaker 1: straight wins and we talk about, you know, the fact
Speaker 1: that you know, after a pretty abysmal or June offensively,
Speaker 1: this team bounced back to be one of the best
Speaker 1: offenses in the game in July. But over this seven
Speaker 1: game stretch and really since the All Star Break, it's
Speaker 1: been the pitching, especially the starting pitching. Grant Holmes and
Speaker 1: Bryce Elder deciding to do their best Greg Mannicks impressions,
Speaker 1: the Braves starting pitching do an absolutely incredible against the
Speaker 1: best offense in baseball over the weekend against the Nationals.
Speaker 1: This team is on a roll right now and it's
Speaker 1: really good to see. It goes to show how effective
Speaker 1: this team can be. If they can get some quality
Speaker 1: starting pitching and this offense can mix in the homers
Speaker 1: with also being able to hit situationally, we can get
Speaker 1: the job done on a consistent basis.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean they're playing really well right now, seven
Speaker 2: in a row. Bryce Otter was really good tonight. I
Speaker 2: maintain when Bryce Otter takes the mound, and I don't
Speaker 2: know if I've ever seen a pitcher where literally every
Speaker 2: outcome is possible, Like Bryce could have easily thrown a
Speaker 2: no header tonight and it wouldn't have done me the
Speaker 2: way he was throwing the ball. He was at like
Speaker 2: thirty nine pitches at like in the like the fifth
Speaker 2: inning at one point. There was not a lot of
Speaker 2: hard hit balls, a lot of pop ups, a lot
Speaker 2: of weak rounders. It's just very, very difficult to figure
Speaker 2: out what the hell is going to happen in a
Speaker 2: Bryce Elder start. I never know. And tonight we got
Speaker 2: the awesome version. And you know Bryce when he had
Speaker 2: three strikeouts, Like when Bryce goes well without the strikeouts,
Speaker 2: it's almost always just babup stuff, you know, I think
Speaker 2: the I think the Marlins had like an O fifty
Speaker 2: bab up tonight, So like is that real? I don't know,
Speaker 2: it counts, doesn't count any less if it's not real.
Speaker 2: You know, I saw a lot of Well there's your
Speaker 2: game two starter right there tonight. I'm my guys, I
Speaker 2: don't think the I don't think the August Marlins are
Speaker 2: going to be in the postseason. Like, we we can't
Speaker 2: do this every week where whoever has a good week
Speaker 2: is now the number two starter in the play. Like
Speaker 2: I'm gonna start making account of how many times that
Speaker 2: changes over the next two months. But he pitched well,
Speaker 2: and the Braves are playing well. And you know, one
Speaker 2: thing I do really enjoy right now is I looked
Speaker 2: at the lineup tonight when they posted the lineup and
Speaker 2: they had Riley batting eighth I think, and Sean Murphy
Speaker 2: batting ninth, and it was like, this is the most
Speaker 2: talent the Braves have had in their lineup, just like,
Speaker 2: maybe not the production from all those guys, but you
Speaker 2: just look at the names, like it just feels more
Speaker 2: talented right like Acuna's back, Murphy's back, Riley's back, or
Speaker 2: you know, Riley's hitting decently right now. And yeah, they're
Speaker 2: playing well. And I'm really not worried about this. I've
Speaker 2: said this a few times on the show. I'm really
Speaker 2: not worried about the regular season with this team right now,
Speaker 2: Like I think they're gonna you know, I anywhere between
Speaker 2: ninety and one hundred wins feels very normal right now
Speaker 2: for this team. The Phillies have gotten a little hot again.
Speaker 2: They really fell off, but you know, the Braves lead
Speaker 2: I think is still at like eight games. You know,
Speaker 2: they can be very conservative with Chris Sale. They actually
Speaker 2: pushed him. I think originally he was gonna pitch in
Speaker 2: this series. They pushed him to the Yankee Series, and
Speaker 2: they can do that now because they've got a comfortable lead.
Speaker 2: Like the regular season is really not all that worrisome
Speaker 2: to me, and I do think the Braves have a
Speaker 2: really good regular season team right now. How this team
Speaker 2: is gonna be judged is gonna what happens in October,
Speaker 2: like the first. You know, one really good thing that's
Speaker 2: happened is the Dodgers have really fallen off the wagon,
Speaker 2: and the Braves have actually caught the Dodgers in terms
Speaker 2: of like the seed one in two seed. I think
Speaker 2: the Braves are the two seeds right now, so that
Speaker 2: would mean they would get to skip the wildcard round.
Speaker 2: I don't think the Dodgers are, Like, you know, the
Speaker 2: Dodgers have played like four hundred baseball for about a
Speaker 2: month now. I don't think that's gonna continue. But you know,
Speaker 2: it's now a race again of who's gonna get those
Speaker 2: top two seeds. And that's probably with the most important
Speaker 2: part of what's left in the regular season and keeping
Speaker 2: everybody healthy, of course. But yeah, the team's playing well
Speaker 2: and it is going to be funny watching over the
Speaker 2: next two months. Every time somebody has a good start,
Speaker 2: they're the they're the new number two starter, and every
Speaker 2: time somebody has a bad start, I'll get them out
Speaker 2: of that number two spot. I do think it's going
Speaker 2: to be a bit of a circus in that regard,
Speaker 2: and we're just I mean, it's it's really gonna come
Speaker 2: down to who's pitching well at the end of September.
Speaker 2: That's probably gonna end up being who it is. So
Speaker 2: who's pitching well at the beginning of August is not
Speaker 2: gonna matter that much. But they're playing really well right now,
Speaker 2: and the Dodge they've caught the Dodgers the one two
Speaker 2: three seed is now a real fight, and that's kind
Speaker 2: of what the Bridgs are going to be concentrated on
Speaker 2: for the next two months.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't mean to put a poor bit of
Speaker 1: cold water on it, but I do also want to,
Speaker 1: you know, put out there another reason why I'm so
Speaker 1: glad they're playing well is because of how hard the
Speaker 1: next stretch of the season is going to be starting,
Speaker 1: you know, with that Yankee series coming up on the weekend.
Speaker 1: You know, though the Braves and the Dodgers are basically
Speaker 1: neck and neck right now, not too far behind the
Speaker 1: Bergs when it comes to the one, two three spot.
Speaker 1: The Dodgers have one of the five easiest schedules left
Speaker 1: in baseball. The Braves have won the five hardest. And
Speaker 1: the other thing that I'll say is this is that
Speaker 1: when it comes to the division, I think that we
Speaker 1: have a comfortable leave, but we still have seven games
Speaker 1: against the Phillies in September. So I'm not suggesting you
Speaker 1: were saying they need to, you know, light and you know,
Speaker 1: take the foot off the gas pedal at all. I'm
Speaker 1: just saying that it's really good they're playing like this
Speaker 1: during this stretch, taking advantage of the manager before the
Speaker 1: schedule before it gets really difficult. But one of the
Speaker 1: really good things to see is Austin Riley. Tonight, Austin
Speaker 1: Riley one hundred and ten miles per hour, pulled ground
Speaker 1: world double off a ninety eight mile per hour fastball
Speaker 1: from Uri Perez inside, and then he comes right back
Speaker 1: to the end of the game and takes a ninety
Speaker 1: eight mile per hour fastball to the opposite field. It
Speaker 1: obviously seems as if his approach is continuing to get better,
Speaker 1: and I know that in July he still struggled, but
Speaker 1: I do want to put a bit of, you know,
Speaker 1: a spotlight on the fact Austin Riley has been hitting
Speaker 1: the ball very hard in.
Speaker 3: The month of July and now going into August.
Speaker 1: Even though he was striking out at nearly a forty
Speaker 1: five percent clip, I think for the last two weeks
Speaker 1: in July the average exit velocity, but he's putting the
Speaker 1: ball in play was ninety five plus and he's continuing
Speaker 1: to do that. I believe he hit a home run
Speaker 1: last night as well. So Austin Riley, I'm not saying
Speaker 1: he's locked in. I'm not saying he's back to being himself,
Speaker 1: but he is showing signs that he's rounding into form
Speaker 1: and that's really good to see with how much it
Speaker 1: extends this lineup, especially in terms of power.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, do I believe it completely? No, I don't.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna need to see it for another probably two
Speaker 2: or three weeks, and probably even longer than that, honestly,
Speaker 2: probably like a month before I'm like, oh, yeah, this
Speaker 2: is now like Austin Riley has found it again. But
Speaker 2: I will say, you know, he's batting at the bottom
Speaker 2: of the lineup. I think there's a lot less stress
Speaker 2: there will it's been pretty consistently. Batting him eighth, he's
Speaker 2: hitting the ball hard, he's still striking out a ton
Speaker 2: even you know, since the All Star break. I think
Speaker 2: Austin has a like a nine hundred ops since the
Speaker 2: All Star break, but it's come with like a forty
Speaker 2: percent strikeout rate, so it is a little bit of
Speaker 2: a mirage. But like you said, since the All Star
Speaker 2: break is average Ecevlasity's ninety six miles an hour, so
Speaker 2: that's no joke. That means he's squaring the ball up,
Speaker 2: which we haven't seen him do all year. So just
Speaker 2: that alone is improvement. I don't know that this nine
Speaker 2: hundred ops since the All Star break is all that real,
Speaker 2: but you can't fake hitting the ball hard. You either
Speaker 2: do it or you don't, so that part is at
Speaker 2: least real. And again, batting eight, there's a lot less
Speaker 2: pressure on him to be great. You know, Michael Harris
Speaker 2: has kind of stayed pretty consistent all year, which has
Speaker 2: been the big thing Ozzie's been, you know solid. I
Speaker 2: do like addition to Lane Thomas, you know, Yas has
Speaker 2: picked it up a bit, so like the offense just
Speaker 2: looks better right now, and you know, Sean Murphy's back,
Speaker 2: I thought, I do want to say, I think Sean
Speaker 2: Murphy behind the plate tonight for Bryce Elder was a
Speaker 2: big part of the game. Everybody looked better. I mean,
Speaker 2: even like did you or Flintes came in and it
Speaker 2: wasn't just you know, fastball, fastball, fastball, fastball fastball. He's
Speaker 2: mixing in the slider, mixing in the splitter. Just look better.
Speaker 2: I do think having Murphy behind the plate is a
Speaker 2: big deal. I don't know if we talk about that
Speaker 2: enough him being back. I know everybody focuses on the offense,
Speaker 2: but the offense is is quite honestly, the I think
Speaker 2: the offense is the least important part of his game,
Speaker 2: especially right now when he's batting ninth, Like, yeah, you
Speaker 2: want him to hit, of course, but what he does
Speaker 2: for the pitching staff, what he does against the running game, framing, blocking,
Speaker 2: you know, pitch calling, you know, getting a pitcher through
Speaker 2: a lineup multiple times, that is insanely valuable. And I'm
Speaker 2: actually very to see what Tyler Malley looks like with
Speaker 2: Sean Murphy, because again, I do like the Tyler Mally move.
Speaker 2: I do think there's some upside there. I'm curious to
Speaker 2: see what he looks like. But yeah, the team, everything
Speaker 2: looks good right now. The pitching is doing well, the
Speaker 2: offense is doing well. The schedule is gonna get tougher,
Speaker 2: and of course it's all gonna come down to October
Speaker 2: when you're playing nothing but good teams. But you know,
Speaker 2: you got you do have to enjoy the ride a
Speaker 2: little bit, and right now they're playing as good as
Speaker 2: they played all year.
Speaker 1: One other thing I want to hit on because I
Speaker 1: do want to get back to the Sean Murphy, you know,
Speaker 1: being back once again in just a moment. But I
Speaker 1: also want to shout out Diddy or for Wintes. He
Speaker 1: looked just very good again tonight. And what stands out
Speaker 1: to me, Steven is that obviously the stuff is just electric,
Speaker 1: but it's the composure and it's the knowledge of how
Speaker 1: to pitch.
Speaker 3: You know, we've talked so much.
Speaker 1: He just turned twenty one years old, I think with
Speaker 1: in the past two weeks, right, we talk so much
Speaker 1: about guys being as young as he is with this
Speaker 1: electric stuff. But they their throwers, they're not really pitchers.
Speaker 1: They don't get the nuance of how to you know,
Speaker 1: be able to really harness their stuff, you know, to
Speaker 1: be in different potential roles and still be effective. Did
Speaker 1: heer for Wintes gets it right? Like, it really stands
Speaker 1: out that he gets it? And I mentioned that because
Speaker 1: you know, Robert Suarez has been a topic of conversation
Speaker 1: over the past couple of days. You know, the another
Speaker 1: question about Alex at the trade deadline, well, if you
Speaker 1: didn't go get an impact starter, why didn't you, you know,
Speaker 1: potentially pivot go get an impact reliever as well? With
Speaker 1: some questions out there about Swarez where you haven't really
Speaker 1: gotten you know, straightforward answer about what he's dealing with.
Speaker 1: But this team still seems cautiously optimistic, you know, not
Speaker 1: necessarily on hope, but more you know that they feel
Speaker 1: he's going.
Speaker 3: To be back.
Speaker 1: If you get Suarez back and have Wintes, it's going
Speaker 1: to be great. But I do think what stands out
Speaker 1: to me is did hear for Wintes is going to
Speaker 1: be a weapon in the postseason? And what I mean
Speaker 1: by that is is one that you can be creative with,
Speaker 1: not someone that's just kind of pitched the eighth inning,
Speaker 1: but maybe earlier in the game when you're went against
Speaker 1: the top of the opposing order, and you need to
Speaker 1: get five to six outs with the lead and get
Speaker 1: through a tough part of the game, even though it
Speaker 1: may be in the fifth or sixth inning. You can
Speaker 1: trust for wind Test to go in there, even if
Speaker 1: it may not be his moral time of pinching in
Speaker 1: the game. That's why I think he could be a weapon.
Speaker 1: That that versatility is so big for a guy with
Speaker 1: his stuff.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and four outs. He got four outs tonight. Dylan
Speaker 2: Dodd was Yeah, it was Dylan Dodd. Am I crazy? Yeah, No,
Speaker 2: it was. I thought. I thought Flent does look really
Speaker 2: good tonight. And you know, I'll say this, Alex's whole
Speaker 2: thing about not getting a picture an impact starter was
Speaker 2: you know, in the in the postseason, you can use
Speaker 2: your bullpen a lot more aggressively because of how many
Speaker 2: off days there are. And he's not wrong about that.
Speaker 2: And there is a world especially like when you if
Speaker 2: you consider Grant Holmes a reliever, which I kind of do,
Speaker 2: like if you put Homes in the mix with all
Speaker 2: the other relievers, like, there is a world where they
Speaker 2: can really they can really dominate a game with that bullpen.
Speaker 2: I do agree with you. I do think that point
Speaker 2: would have better been sold if they had actually gotten
Speaker 2: another reliever at the deadline. You know, uh, suitor is
Speaker 2: is what he is, is kind of a third left
Speaker 2: in the bullpen. But yeah, the bullpen could be very
Speaker 2: good and I do think did Year is going to
Speaker 2: play a big role. Robertsworre Is getting back is crucial,
Speaker 2: and you know Alex, Yeah, Alex talked about it in
Speaker 2: his zoom call that he feels good and they're and
Speaker 2: they're really taking it slow with him, which I think
Speaker 2: is the right move when you have the lead they do.
Speaker 2: It's really not about August and September with him right now,
Speaker 2: it's just like get get ready for October and having Didier, Fintez,
Speaker 2: Dylan Lee, Robert Swarez, Russ ill Iglesias. You know, I
Speaker 2: would even put Grant Homes in that group. Maybe one
Speaker 2: of the other guys comes up, maybe a just mis
Speaker 2: Schalver is in there. Like I do think that bullpen
Speaker 2: can just be unbelievably nasty. And you know, now that
Speaker 2: they didn't get a starter, the bullpen is going to
Speaker 2: play a massive role and how what kind of October
Speaker 2: they have, And you know, I do think it's a
Speaker 2: very good group. I think you could argue it's one
Speaker 2: of the very best in baseball. I don't know if
Speaker 2: it's the best, but it's certainly one of the best,
Speaker 2: and they're gonna need them. And it was also big
Speaker 2: for Bryce to get to seven innings tonight, so the
Speaker 2: bullpen only had to cover two. Need a few more
Speaker 2: of those, right, get the bullpen to October without having
Speaker 2: to use the hell out of them like they have
Speaker 2: for a lot of June and July. You know, seven
Speaker 2: innings tonight was massive from Bryce, and my god, could
Speaker 2: they use a few more of those from everybody? And
Speaker 2: the bullpen doesn't have to cover four or five innings
Speaker 2: every night.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: One thing that has not changed about this team is
Speaker 1: that if they get past the if they can get
Speaker 1: their starter to go five innings and they are even
Speaker 1: if they're down one or two runs, this team should
Speaker 1: be confident they can win every time because of how
Speaker 1: good the offense in the bullpen can be lading games.
Speaker 1: But more on non trade related roster moves and how
Speaker 1: that could kind of, you know, round out the roster,
Speaker 1: especially on the position player side.
Speaker 3: More on that in just a moment after a ward
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Speaker 1: So Stephen, of course, the the other notable moves that
Speaker 1: occurred at the trade deadline was maybe you've been unexpected.
Speaker 1: But we saw both Joey Bart as well as Eli
Speaker 1: White traded.
Speaker 3: Bart went to the White Sox. Eli White went to
Speaker 3: the Red Sox.
Speaker 1: Pretty cool story about, you know, Eli White going to
Speaker 1: the Red Sox, who he heered four Continne Thomas coming
Speaker 1: to who he cheered four gobaals. By the way, when
Speaker 1: it comes to Lane Thomas, I think for two minor
Speaker 1: League believers, I think that's how it went. But Brave
Speaker 1: was doing that just you know, really try to manage
Speaker 1: the roster crunch that was coming. Of course, another movie
Speaker 1: that was made was a Whorehven Hayo is designated for
Speaker 1: assignment and that means that along with the trade moves,
Speaker 1: both Sean Murphy and Hassan Kim are back in the fold.
Speaker 1: So that's two veterans who obviously over the past twelve
Speaker 1: months themselves have not lived up to expectations right really
Speaker 1: over the past you know, two years for both of them,
Speaker 1: but you know, the potential could be there for them
Speaker 1: to be contributors. But the reason that I bring them
Speaker 1: up is because it really starts to get interesting when
Speaker 1: you're looking at the back end of.
Speaker 3: The position player group.
Speaker 1: You know, I'll throw in Jim Jarvis as well as
Speaker 1: Dom Smith in that mix as well. Kind of where
Speaker 1: does everybody fit. I think everybody has a role now.
Speaker 1: But if any of those guys were to besides Murphy,
Speaker 1: if any of those guys that are in one year
Speaker 1: deals were to really start to struggle, it could make
Speaker 1: sense to maybe consider other alternatives.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so it was definitely lost in the headline of
Speaker 2: the Brave is not getting impact starter, but there was
Speaker 2: a lot of roster moves and I did find it interesting.
Speaker 2: You know, we've been talking about this Hassan Kim return
Speaker 2: for about a month, about how they're gonna handle it,
Speaker 2: what they're gonna do, and Alex was asked about it,
Speaker 2: and you know, he said, hass On Kim's coming back,
Speaker 2: and it was never any conversation that he wasn't coming back,
Speaker 2: which was a little surprising to me. I thought, I thought, like,
Speaker 2: and here's why I say that, because right now, when
Speaker 2: there's a writing on the mound, Jim Jarvis is gonna
Speaker 2: start a shortstop. And when there's a lefty on the mound,
Speaker 2: or there's a guy with reverse splits like there was tonight,
Speaker 2: it looks like Dubon is gonna start at shortstop, so like,
Speaker 2: I don't know when Kim's gonna play, And and Walt
Speaker 2: even said that today to the Beat writers. He's like,
Speaker 2: I don't know how I'm gonna get Kim any playing time.
Speaker 2: And if he's just going to be a pure bench
Speaker 2: I do wonder, like, is Kim the best option for that,
Speaker 2: because he doesn't really bring a ton of speed, he
Speaker 2: doesn't bring a ton of defense. Like usually when you're
Speaker 2: talking about bench player, there specific skills that you're targeting
Speaker 2: to help you in certain parts of the game, and
Speaker 2: I thought maybe Mateo was better suited for some of that,
Speaker 2: certainly as a speed guy, especially if you're gonna get
Speaker 2: rid of Eli White as well, maybe having Mateo's speed,
Speaker 2: especially when you get to October, might have made some sense.
Speaker 2: It's not the biggest deal in the world. It's not
Speaker 2: like I'm I'm freaking out over I was just a
Speaker 2: little surprised that they were they it seems like they're
Speaker 2: making that spot a pure bench spot, and I don't
Speaker 2: know that Kim has the requisite skills to be all
Speaker 2: that valuable of a bench player. I ironically, I do
Speaker 2: think Kim is the best player overall of the bunch,
Speaker 2: like of Matteo. Like you told me who's he asked
Speaker 2: me who's better between Kim or Mateo, I would say Kim.
Speaker 2: But if you ask me who the best bench piece is,
Speaker 2: I might say Mateo just because he's you know, like
Speaker 2: you can pinch run him. He's a good defender at
Speaker 2: short you know, I think he's better than Kim there.
Speaker 2: So I don't know, it was interesting. It's not the
Speaker 2: biggest deal in the world. I did find it notable
Speaker 2: that Bart got moved. I thought there was a chance
Speaker 2: they might keep a third catcher around, just because that
Speaker 2: that last bench spot is used so little, and they've
Speaker 2: already gone through like what happens if Sean Murviy gets
Speaker 2: hurt and now we're scrambling for another catcher, And they
Speaker 2: went through it after they traded away Jonaheim or DFA
Speaker 2: Jonaheim and they were in catcher hell there for a
Speaker 2: minute after Baldwin got hurt. I thought they might keep
Speaker 2: Bart around, but obviously they feel comfortable with just the two.
Speaker 2: I saw Chadowick Trump actually elected free agency. I do
Speaker 2: wonder if they might bring Chadowick Trump back to stan
Speaker 2: Gwinett as insurance, but yeah, nothing huge. There was no
Speaker 2: you know, gigantic move. Again, I do love the Lane
Speaker 2: Thomas move, and I've been saying for basically since spring training.
Speaker 2: I thought our right handed out, a right handed outfelder
Speaker 2: that could upgrade Eli White's spot made a ton of sense.
Speaker 2: And that's effectively what they did. And so you know,
Speaker 2: of course it's a move that I like. So, yeah,
Speaker 2: some notable stuff. And I am curious, like with Kim
Speaker 2: now because you have Jarvis and Dubon, like when is
Speaker 2: he when exactly is he gonna start? How much is
Speaker 2: he gonna play? We'll see they don't, you know, from
Speaker 2: Walt's mouth today, they don't really know how they're gonna
Speaker 2: get him any playing times. So we'll see what they do.
Speaker 3: So this is.
Speaker 1: Where I think Alex's job may not be totally done yet.
Speaker 1: And I'm not going to get into a bunch of names. Yes,
Speaker 1: many and Brave's country know that, you know. Recently, Jorge
Speaker 1: Silaire was designated for assignment. Marcelo Zuno was released today
Speaker 1: by the Pirates. Those are some notable names. I'm not
Speaker 1: going to sit here and spend a bunch of time
Speaker 1: advocating for them, but I do think there's an order
Speaker 1: of operations here. Hassong Kim is in that twenty sixth
Speaker 1: spot where you don't utilize it a lot. But but
Speaker 1: the reason why I think that Hassan Kim is in
Speaker 1: that spot is because this team wants to see what
Speaker 1: Jim Jarvis does. If Jim Harvests were to struggle and
Speaker 1: were to not be able to get the job done offensively,
Speaker 1: you have an easy out. He's got options. You can
Speaker 1: send him back to the minors. And we know that
Speaker 1: Alex and Thopless loves death. You send him back to
Speaker 1: the minors. You then got de bond as being your
Speaker 1: main shortstop, and then Hawsung Kim steps up a bit
Speaker 1: to be the utility guy in the infield. So that's
Speaker 1: why haw Sung Kim right now is that twenty six guy.
Speaker 1: But where I say Alex's job is not done, go
Speaker 1: sign one or two of these veterans, especially outfielders or
Speaker 1: DH types that you can put in the miners and
Speaker 1: you can have there as options to where if Jarvis
Speaker 1: struggles and you option him down, where you've naturally got
Speaker 1: someone with a bit more power potential who can come
Speaker 1: in that twenty six spot or if Jarvis says, well,
Speaker 1: and you can use the bond all over the field,
Speaker 1: maybe eventually you move on from Kim to get a
Speaker 1: guy with a bit more power. I think that's it
Speaker 1: would be a smart way to add depth. And I'm
Speaker 1: not saying that any of this really works out in
Speaker 1: the braves favor, but it also gives you an alternative
Speaker 1: against right handers at the DH spot. If Dom Smith
Speaker 1: were to struggle, you've got another alternative. I mean, there's
Speaker 1: a reason why Alex and Thoppolis went out and signed
Speaker 1: Andrew McCutcheon and Carlos Santana despite their age to be
Speaker 1: in the miners. It was to have alternatives. If you know,
Speaker 1: his right handed outfield options just fell off the face
Speaker 1: of the earth, or Don did well, you've got better
Speaker 1: options now to put in the miners.
Speaker 3: Go do that.
Speaker 1: It's probably not gonna be anything of significance, but it's
Speaker 1: a risk remove. Go build up your depth to see
Speaker 1: maybe if you could find lightning in the bottle, that
Speaker 1: could really once again give this offense even more.
Speaker 2: Than Yeah, and I don't know if it would be
Speaker 2: a zuner or soilarigist because they're so limited. Yeah, but
Speaker 2: like two of the guys that came loose today were
Speaker 2: Rob Rothschnyder and Austin Hayes the White Sox. Both guys
Speaker 2: got da fade. It would not stun me at all
Speaker 2: to see the Braves trying to get one of those
Speaker 2: guys to play in the outfield in Gwinette as insurance,
Speaker 2: like you were just talking about if if Jarvis struggles,
Speaker 2: which would not surprise me. You know, I think people
Speaker 2: are losing their mind a little bit on Jarvis. I
Speaker 2: think he's a nice player, but like if he had
Speaker 2: if he had a bad couple of weeks, like it's
Speaker 2: not it wouldn't like stun me, and they optioned him
Speaker 2: and nobody should really freak out about that. I actually
Speaker 2: think Debon is the best short step on the roster,
Speaker 2: but it's not. It's neither here nor there. I would
Speaker 2: not be a surprised at all if the if the
Speaker 2: Bradys went and grabbed one of these right handed outfielders,
Speaker 2: especially you know, if nothing else is like a Kunya
Speaker 2: insurance if he gets hurt again, Like you don't want
Speaker 2: to be in a spot where you're really short, you know.
Speaker 2: Austin Hayes makes a lot of sense to me actually,
Speaker 2: now that I think about it, as somebody you could
Speaker 2: try to get to Gwinnett or even on the big
Speaker 2: league roster and just option Jarvis immediately. Again, I don't
Speaker 2: think it's the end of the world to do that,
Speaker 2: but you know, Lane Thomas does provide a little bit
Speaker 2: of that insurance as well. So we'll see what they do.
Speaker 2: There's always moves like this in in August. Now that
Speaker 2: the waiver deadline doesn't exist anymore, there are no more
Speaker 2: August trades. You know, the way the teams have kind
Speaker 2: of gotten around that is is, you know, teams that
Speaker 2: aren't great will start letting DFA some of their players,
Speaker 2: and you know how they go through waivers and get
Speaker 2: to your team is kind of a whole, a whole thing.
Speaker 2: So we'll see, we'll see what they do. But I
Speaker 2: wouldn't be surprised if they added somebody like that, you know,
Speaker 2: if they're willing to go to Triple A, or even
Speaker 2: if they're willing to sit on the bench and maybe
Speaker 2: Jarvis goes to Triple A. Yeah, it wouldn't stun me.
Speaker 1: And then I'll end on this final note that brings
Speaker 1: me to my my you know, my whole point here
Speaker 1: is that when we talk about you know, I brought
Speaker 1: it up today and that since May first, this team
Speaker 1: the Since May first, the Braves have the twenty fifth
Speaker 1: best WRC plus from the shortstop position in baseball since
Speaker 1: June for twenty sixth best since June first, they have
Speaker 1: the twenty sixth or twenty fifth best WRC plus from
Speaker 1: the d H position.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 1: The answer to all this to what are you going
Speaker 1: to do with these players on one year deals or
Speaker 1: at the end of the end of the roster is
Speaker 1: Sean Murphy. Like, if Sean Murphy can prove last year,
Speaker 1: Sean Murphy on a basically only playing on one hip,
Speaker 1: he still had a ninety seven WRC plus. If Sean
Speaker 1: Murphy can give you a one hundred ten WRC plus
Speaker 1: on a regular basis him at catcher and drake it DH,
Speaker 1: that's the answer and that should be the answer. Like
Speaker 1: to me, you should prioritize Sean Murphy playing catcher against
Speaker 1: right handers with Drake it DH over Dom Smith to
Speaker 1: give Sean Murphy the number of at bats he needs
Speaker 1: to really get to a group because come playoff time,
Speaker 1: it's hard to imagine a better scenario being beneficial for
Speaker 1: the Braves than de Bond at short Sean Murphy catching
Speaker 1: Drake Balderman at DH, and I think the way that
Speaker 1: you get there is to prioritize Sean Murphy's playing time.
Speaker 1: Tonight he looked a little bit lost to.
Speaker 3: The plate steel.
Speaker 1: It's hard for him not to with how limited his
Speaker 1: playing time is. But I know people don't want to
Speaker 1: hear anything about Sean Murphy's offense, but I won't stop
Speaker 1: hitting on it because at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: that answers the most questions because then it puts him
Speaker 1: at the catcher position, which more than anything helps out
Speaker 1: your potential lact of pitching in a playoff matchup. So
Speaker 1: we could talk about all these different players catching lightning
Speaker 1: in the bottle, what have you. But the answer that
Speaker 1: makes the most sense Sean Murphy catching Drake at DH,
Speaker 1: debondt short, and that helps spoke your lineup but also
Speaker 1: your pitching staff. And I think that's what the Brave
Speaker 1: we should look to prioritize to get in the groove
Speaker 1: before the playoffs come.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it wasn't done me at all to see you
Speaker 2: know Drake DH quite a bit and Murphy start. I
Speaker 2: would probably do that even if there's a lefty on
Speaker 2: the mound, you know, even if there's a righty on
Speaker 2: the mound, like I would, I would certainly try to
Speaker 2: get Murphy as many reps as possible behind the plate
Speaker 2: at the plate just to get him hot back up.
Speaker 2: I do think Sean Murphy being back to Sean Murphy
Speaker 2: levels is the best version of this team. You know,
Speaker 2: you could make the same arguing about Hassan Kim at
Speaker 2: short like, now that you have kind of a decent
Speaker 2: lead again, you know, should you try it for a
Speaker 2: couple of series and see what he looks like, because
Speaker 2: he does have enough upside. He he has been a
Speaker 2: decent player for long enough where you know there's some
Speaker 2: upside there if you can get him going again. So yeah,
Speaker 2: it wouldn't stun me to see that at all. You know.
Speaker 2: The offense, you know, for all to talk about the pitching,
Speaker 2: if you go, if you go look at the last
Speaker 2: few times the Braves have been in the playoffs, it's
Speaker 2: the offense that's really disappeared, and it's something they've struggled
Speaker 2: with scoring runs in October. And you know, especially since
Speaker 2: the pitching staff in the rotation is not as strong
Speaker 2: as maybe we hoped it would be. I think the
Speaker 2: bullpen is very good. The offense pulling more weight in
Speaker 2: October means a lot. So you know, Austin hitting better
Speaker 2: right now, Akunya has had some better at bats. You know,
Speaker 2: Murphy's back, Baldwin and Olson still look fantastic. You know,
Speaker 2: can you get anything from Hassan Kim like that part
Speaker 2: of the team doesn't get talked about as much because
Speaker 2: all the conversations about on the pitching. It's a massive
Speaker 2: part of October that the Braves have been missing the
Speaker 2: last few years, and hopefully they can turn it, you know,
Speaker 2: write a different story in twenty twenty six because I
Speaker 2: don't I certainly don't think the Braves have the starting
Speaker 2: pitching to just dominate their way through October. In terms
Speaker 2: of run prevention, the bullpen has that level of talent.
Speaker 2: The Braves are gonna have to score runs in October,
Speaker 2: and you know, getting all these guys, keeping them healthy
Speaker 2: and getting these guys back on track, Akunya, Riley, Murphy,
Speaker 2: it goes a long way.
Speaker 1: Yeah, this offense is gonna have to be back to
Speaker 1: getting one of the best, being one of the best
Speaker 1: in baseball and they have the potential to do.
Speaker 3: I mean, just think about this.
Speaker 1: If Riley can get back to heat to an at
Speaker 1: least reliable level, like seven fifty eight hundred oh ps level,
Speaker 1: maybe you would have a top six of Baldwin, Acunya, Olson, Harris,
Speaker 1: Ozzy and Riley in some way, shape or form.
Speaker 3: But then think.
Speaker 1: About this, the bottom part of your order would include
Speaker 1: Sean Murphy as well as Mauricio Devon, plus one of
Speaker 1: Mikeya Strimsky or Lane Thomas.
Speaker 3: But also going.
Speaker 1: Into October, you would have three of these four on
Speaker 1: your bench. Lane Thomas, Mikey Strimsky, Dom Smith as well
Speaker 1: as Hassan Kimp. That's a very advantageous bench in terms
Speaker 1: of the offensive potential that could be there in late
Speaker 1: game scenarios. So I definitely think that there is a
Speaker 1: very good outcome. This offense is worthy enough to go
Speaker 1: after and win a World Series. It's just going to
Speaker 1: have to perform at that level, and so it'll be
Speaker 1: very interesting to see what happens. But like I say,
Speaker 1: Sean Murphy kind of refinding his form, you know, the
Speaker 1: form that made him attractive to the braves to trade for,
Speaker 1: that would be a really good outcome that to me
Speaker 1: is one of the best case scenario outcomes for this team.
Speaker 1: Anything else from you, Steven as we wrap up this
Speaker 1: edition of the Hammer Territory podcast.
Speaker 2: No, just real quick. Eric Hartman, John Heel, cam Kemmernindie
Speaker 2: all got promoted to Double A. And I think the
Speaker 2: Double A promotion is the most significant promotion because it's
Speaker 2: kind of the first level where if you really show
Speaker 2: out year one call away from the biggs and so
Speaker 2: you know how those guys do over the next month.
Speaker 2: It's not out of the realm of possibility that one
Speaker 2: of those guys could come up in September if they're
Speaker 2: if they're really destroying the ball in Double A now,
Speaker 2: they would have to really tear the ball off the cover,
Speaker 2: you know, the cover off the ball, especially like Hartman
Speaker 2: and and John Heel, you know Camanidy, they're probably gonna
Speaker 2: take a little bit more time with But they're all
Speaker 2: in Double A now. And we've seen Michael Harris come
Speaker 2: up from Double A. We've seen I think Schwellenbach came
Speaker 2: up from Double A. I think von Grissom came up
Speaker 2: from Double A. Like the brands are very aggressive with
Speaker 2: with promotions and especially when skuys get to that level.
Speaker 2: So I just found it notable that some of the
Speaker 2: Braves bigger prospects are now at that level and are
Speaker 2: not not far away.
Speaker 1: To be honest, if you have an injury and expect
Speaker 1: an injury in the outfield, especially to maybe a guy
Speaker 1: like Lane Thomas, who you you know you value his speed, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean Eric Hartman comes up and shows up his
Speaker 1: his you know, he shows his metal, he shows his
Speaker 1: worth in double eight. It's not like his speed would
Speaker 1: be a bad thing to have on a playoff.
Speaker 2: He can fly. I think he's got like does he
Speaker 2: have like fifty steels this year?
Speaker 1: So so, so you not only see that Tates South
Speaker 1: the scene, you could see the same thing with how well.
Speaker 2: He does now he's in he's in Double A two.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think he got promoted to Double A Yeah,
Speaker 3: him too.
Speaker 2: I should have I should have included his name in that.
Speaker 1: But the point that I'm getting at is is that
Speaker 1: you would have them for speed, But it's not like
Speaker 1: in a light game scenario you're not going to prefer it.
Speaker 1: But if you just have no other alternative, catch lighting
Speaker 1: in the bottle of that one spot. So again, that's
Speaker 1: far fetch. Don't expect for it to happen. But to
Speaker 1: your point, we've seen many guys go up multiple levels
Speaker 1: in some in the minor league system. And if we
Speaker 1: get through this year, we go into twenty seven, which
Speaker 1: we don't really know what's going to look like. What
Speaker 1: does it look like for twenty twenty nine, you may
Speaker 1: start to see the future a bit faster than you
Speaker 1: may have anticipated. So listen, it's disappointed as a trade
Speaker 1: dead on boy. As a point that we're making, there's
Speaker 1: a lot of reason to remain excited about this team,
Speaker 1: to be excited about this team. Get excited about this team.
Speaker 1: There is a chance this team can win the World Series.
Speaker 1: There are aspects of this team that are contender worthy.
Speaker 1: They just have to perform at it. And you do
Speaker 1: have some resources to where if something that work out,
Speaker 1: maybe you pivot. See what you've got for Steven Toler.
Speaker 1: You can find him at be Underscore Outliers on Twitter,
Speaker 1: slash Acts. My name is Sean Coleman at Stats, sac
Speaker 1: Hammer Territory across all forms of social media, par the
Speaker 1: Foul Territory family of podcasts. Want to end on this
Speaker 1: final note, the support that this show has received over
Speaker 1: the past two to three weeks has been absolutely incredible.
Speaker 1: Cannot thank you enough for the support, subscribing, listening, watching
Speaker 1: all that different stuff. Brad and Scott to the best
Speaker 1: in the game, have been incredible on their end. We
Speaker 1: just can't thank you enough. Plenty of opportunity to come,
Speaker 1: but it's just a lot of fun when we're interacting
Speaker 1: and enjoying Braiz baseball and getting to break it down
Speaker 1: for you here on Hammer Territory. Until next time, go Braze.
Speaker 1: We'll talk to you soon here on the Hammer Territory podcast.
Speaker 2: Philly is Lost