Speaker 1: Hello, everyone, Welcome back to the Hmmer Territory Podcast. It's
Speaker 1: this episode four one five. My name is Brad Roland.
Speaker 1: It's a Wednesday evening and I'm joined by Scott Coleman. Scott,
Speaker 1: it's an All Star break. It's time to rest, but
Speaker 1: here we are podcasting.
Speaker 2: How are you hello, Brad? That's right. The podcast rests
Speaker 2: for no one. The players get a very earned four
Speaker 2: days off. I hope they are having an opportunity to
Speaker 2: just kind of get away from baseball. I think we
Speaker 2: would all agree that the All Star Break came at
Speaker 2: the perfect time for the Braves. Of course, a rough
Speaker 2: couple of weeks going into the break, but hopefully a
Speaker 2: good chance to hit the reset button, get back on track,
Speaker 2: get back to winning baseball games, and as we're going
Speaker 2: to talk about on the show tonight, hopefully an opportunity
Speaker 2: in the near future to reinforce this roster for sure.
Speaker 1: And we also had a show yesterday from our guys
Speaker 1: Sean and Steven, some extra All Star Break content you
Speaker 1: and I talked on Sunday. So if everybody missed those episodes,
Speaker 1: good Tomic subscribe catch up on those in the past,
Speaker 1: and of course today we are engineered by Fast and
Speaker 1: All as always, and I actually want to throw it
Speaker 1: back to you, Scott. I am the de facto host
Speaker 1: most of the time when you and I talk, but
Speaker 1: I'm going to make you do this because it's your
Speaker 1: idea the show, which people probably already saw the headline
Speaker 1: out other probably an idea of what we're going to
Speaker 1: talk about, but explain to folks what our goal is
Speaker 1: on this episode.
Speaker 2: So the idea of this episode is maybe not necessarily
Speaker 2: to run through fifty names of players of you know,
Speaker 2: identifying what it would cost to acquire X and player Y,
Speaker 2: but kind of the archetypes of players the Braves really
Speaker 2: need to try to acquire in the next three weeks
Speaker 2: before the deadline.
Speaker 1: I will hold.
Speaker 2: Firm that even though the last month has been challenging,
Speaker 2: and yes there are big holes on this roster, there
Speaker 2: are still some really strong components of this team that
Speaker 2: should play up well in October should we get there.
Speaker 2: I really don't think it's going to require like a
Speaker 2: massive amount of maneuvering from Alexanthopolis in the next few weeks.
Speaker 2: I think there's clear needs and we're going to talk
Speaker 2: about the ways they can be addressed in this episode,
Speaker 2: but there are still a lot of things this team
Speaker 2: can do well that kind of generally translate pretty well
Speaker 2: when October baseball comes and the games do change. Whether
Speaker 2: you want to admit it or.
Speaker 1: Not, Yeah, definitely, And you know there are just to
Speaker 1: say this out loud, there are other things that Braves
Speaker 1: could do. This is going to be like the only
Speaker 1: thing that Braves could do. But I think that in
Speaker 1: basically five easy steps is the way we're kind of
Speaker 1: framing this to fix the Atlanta Braves will go through
Speaker 1: some of them in general, And yeah, like you said,
Speaker 1: more archetypal than anything else, you want to dive right
Speaker 1: into the first one. Let's just go ahead and do that,
Speaker 1: shall we. It's one that you and I have talked
Speaker 1: about probably more than anything over the last NIUS this season,
Speaker 1: since November October September, since the phrase were out of
Speaker 1: it last year, and that is that they need more pitching,
Speaker 1: and in particular, really a number two starting pitcher like
Speaker 1: non Chris Sale. Chris Sales number one obviously, but that's
Speaker 1: they kind of need a number two starter. Is that?
Speaker 1: Is that a reasonable thing to say that they need
Speaker 1: to fix in between now and post deadline.
Speaker 2: They really do. And just for a housekeeping note, the
Speaker 2: deadline this year is August third, so it's a few
Speaker 2: days later than it usually is. Probably gives some of them,
Speaker 2: by the way, it's just yeah, why you know, pushing
Speaker 2: the deadline back a little bit probably makes sense with
Speaker 2: how many teams you're going to be in the playoff
Speaker 2: push with the expanded playoffs, but it also is another
Speaker 2: three agonizing days that we all have to wait around
Speaker 2: and see what's going to happen. But I mean very clearly, captain,
Speaker 2: obviously they have to add a reliable number two starter
Speaker 2: for the postseason push and the playoffs. And as a reminder,
Speaker 2: while you might need five starters to get to the postseason,
Speaker 2: you don't need five starters in October. You need two,
Speaker 2: maybe three. I mean, famously, in twenty twenty one, the
Speaker 2: Braves road Max Freed and Charlie Morton and they sprinkled
Speaker 2: in a little bit of Ian Anderson and some bullpen games.
Speaker 2: Obviously it resulted in a World Series. So yes, it'd
Speaker 2: be awesome if they can go out and acquire three
Speaker 2: aces over the next couple weeks. I don't really think
Speaker 2: that's a realistic outcome, but if they can just add one,
Speaker 2: like one really reliable, tried and true, give the ball
Speaker 2: to them in game two of a playoff series. You're
Speaker 2: gonna feel good about it. Obviously, it's only gonna help
Speaker 2: you in August in September try to win the division
Speaker 2: and maybe get that first round by But very clearly
Speaker 2: the number one priority for me is adding an impact
Speaker 2: starter to slot in behind Chris Sale.
Speaker 1: Yes, and look, we'll talk about later. There are pathways
Speaker 1: to just bludgeoning things. Like your offense could be so
Speaker 1: good that you could overcome the pitching loows. That's been
Speaker 1: the case that Tomas in the past, of the Braves
Speaker 1: and twenty three in particular, when they had this all
Speaker 1: time great offense. And they need offense too. It's not
Speaker 1: like we're gonna say that they only need pitching. But
Speaker 1: you know, it's not a secret how decimated the protection
Speaker 1: has been. It was kind of foreseeable, even though it's
Speaker 1: been worse than even we expected it to be. I
Speaker 1: gotta be honest with you about that. It's god even
Speaker 1: worse than we thought. But yeah, they need this, and
Speaker 1: look there's also trickle down effects. The bullpen's awesome, but
Speaker 1: you can also strengthen it by adding another big time
Speaker 1: arm because you have a lot of guys. Honestly, this
Speaker 1: is one of the bright sides. They have a lot
Speaker 1: of guys that could go to the bullpen that are
Speaker 1: starters in theory, your great Holmes types. Smith Shaver could
Speaker 1: be one of those, like obviously a hard thrower we've
Speaker 1: already seen Jr. Rich you do it a little bit,
Speaker 1: maybe owen Murphy down the lot, et cetera, et cetera,
Speaker 1: so where everything so just feels so much better instantly
Speaker 1: if you added I'll let you pick a name of
Speaker 1: to you know, you know what. I'll say your name
Speaker 1: and I'll make you pick out of one. Sonny Gray
Speaker 1: is always Scott's name, so I'll just say Sonny Gray's
Speaker 1: name out loud. If it's not Sunny Gray, sue me.
Speaker 1: But like that archetype of guy would just make everything
Speaker 1: slide into place so much easier.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 2: That's kind of a theme of night's show is Yes,
Speaker 2: they do acquire a player, and that would help, but
Speaker 2: in all of these situations there is a trickle down
Speaker 2: effect of acquiring starting pitching and spoiler alert, acquiring a
Speaker 2: couple of bats, which we're going to talk about in
Speaker 2: the next segment, it really does. So let's say hypothetically
Speaker 2: they acquire Joe Ryan from the Twins, or they go
Speaker 2: out west and get Reed Debt Meers from the Angels,
Speaker 2: or if Boston sells, they get Sonny Gray, or if
Speaker 2: Detroit sells, Trek Skuball or Casey Meyes or a name
Speaker 2: we haven't talked about a lot, but I was looking
Speaker 2: into as Kevin Gosman from the Toronto Blue Jays, of course,
Speaker 2: an old friend of the Braves. Well, even if it
Speaker 2: didn't go super well, Basically, ever since Gosman left Atlanta,
Speaker 2: he's been an ace type of pitcher. Regardless of what
Speaker 2: number two starter you add. You could send Grant Holmes
Speaker 2: to the bullpen, and I think I speak for all
Speaker 2: of the hosts on this podcast and a lot of fans,
Speaker 2: I'd be encouraged and excited to see what Grant Holmes
Speaker 2: could do in a full time bullpen roll, where he
Speaker 2: could be a hybrid arm, he could be an opener,
Speaker 2: he could be a multi inning guy, he could be
Speaker 2: a righty specialist. So there's adding just a couple of
Speaker 2: players to this roster really does make one through twenty six.
Speaker 1: Look a lot better.
Speaker 2: And hopefully, I mean obviously Alex and Thopless isn't a dummy.
Speaker 2: He knows this too.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 2: It's not like they need to go out and acquire
Speaker 2: eight players in the next three weeks in order to
Speaker 2: accomplish everything we're going to talk about.
Speaker 1: Yes, that's the It's hard, and you know, I've tried
Speaker 1: to shy away from like this giant shopping list, like
Speaker 1: you know, we're doing it try. We're trying to be
Speaker 1: responsible on this episode even constructing these these five ways
Speaker 1: to help kind of fix the Braves. But at the
Speaker 1: same time, a couple of them are combinations that they
Speaker 1: could kind of do to make things easier because the
Speaker 1: one thing that Alex has done consistently over the last
Speaker 1: couple of years at the deadline is add relievers, and
Speaker 1: ironically that's what they kind of don't need right now,
Speaker 1: is a reliever. Like you can ever have too many relievers.
Speaker 1: So if there's somebody that they can get for cheap,
Speaker 1: then I'm not going to be against it, But I
Speaker 1: think I'd rather go to this obviously clear by go
Speaker 1: to the star route and then maybe slot in someone
Speaker 1: like hold Smith shov into a relief role to help
Speaker 1: maximize things in October. But I mean it's like you said,
Speaker 1: captain obvious is maybe the term, and we're not breaking
Speaker 1: any ground here, but we've been saying it since at
Speaker 1: least November. Scott. They need a real starting pitching edition.
Speaker 1: They always have needed a one, and it's even more
Speaker 1: clear now and they've got three weeks left to find one.
Speaker 2: And the real question for me is what kind of
Speaker 2: starting pitcher is it going to be? From a contractual perspective,
Speaker 2: right like Sunny Gray is very likely going to be
Speaker 2: a rental, Derek Scougble, Casey Maize rentals, Kevin Gosman rental.
Speaker 2: On the other hand, Joe Ryan has a year and
Speaker 2: a half of control. More than likely he has kind
Speaker 2: of an interesting contract setup, but very likely you'll have
Speaker 2: Joe Ryan for the rest of this year and all
Speaker 2: of next year. Ryan has been phenomenal with the Twins
Speaker 2: for multiple years at this point. Read debtmers is an
Speaker 2: interesting name under control even longer than that, I believe
Speaker 2: for the next two and a half years, although Debt
Speaker 2: Meres has really struggled over the last few weeks, so
Speaker 2: we'll see if the Angels ultimately sell and of course
Speaker 2: there's going to be others. Jose Soriano from the Angels
Speaker 2: is another popular name, and really it just comes down
Speaker 2: to who is selling and who is buying at the deadline.
Speaker 2: I guess if you're a Braves fan, you are rooting
Speaker 2: for these kind of fringe contenders, especially in the American League,
Speaker 2: to lose. And that's kind of the opposite of what
Speaker 2: happened before the break. We want the Tigers to lose,
Speaker 2: we want the Red Sox to lose. We want teams
Speaker 2: that might buy, might sell. We want those teams to
Speaker 2: lose because then you just have more sellers in the market,
Speaker 2: and that, in theory, will probably help suppress the trade
Speaker 2: values that you're going to have to give up, because
Speaker 2: to be clear, if you're going to acquire one of
Speaker 2: these shouting pitchers, you're going to have to give up
Speaker 2: some real prospect capital in order to make it happen.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's going to change on a daily basis. I mean,
Speaker 1: we're talking about Wednesday night.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 1: The games will happen until Friday. But some of this
Speaker 1: stuff has shifted, at least in theory, because of teams
Speaker 1: winning a bunch and like maybe convincing themselves not to sell.
Speaker 1: And that's why the like you said before, the date
Speaker 1: being pushed back only a few days actually might change things.
Speaker 1: Is in sales that might sound you might have a
Speaker 1: team convince themselves that they shouldn't sell or should sell
Speaker 1: based on a week of sample. I mean, the Mets
Speaker 1: are way out of it. Like we talked about Freddy
Speaker 1: Peralta on a recent show, he could be on this
Speaker 1: list too. It's all kinds of names to varying degrees
Speaker 1: of contract of effectiveness of big names and big dollars,
Speaker 1: and the breaks up might have spend and we've filled
Speaker 1: all out before, but it really is the priority. It's
Speaker 1: probably number one. And then there's a reason why I
Speaker 1: was number one on this list, because we all understand
Speaker 1: that's what they have to do at some point.
Speaker 2: Hey, I will take a Chris Sale and good number
Speaker 2: two starter and put that up against anybody, you know,
Speaker 2: like the Phillies have a dominant one two with Wheeler
Speaker 2: and Sanchez, and the Dodgers can throw out really good arms.
Speaker 2: The Brewers have a really good one two punch, like
Speaker 2: you know it so often it comes down to starting
Speaker 2: pitching in October, and if you can have a dominant
Speaker 2: one two that you can ride and hopefully get to
Speaker 2: the finish line and be healthy. The entire way, I
Speaker 2: would take Sale and one of those names against basically anybody,
Speaker 2: and hopefully you have a bullpen that continues to perform.
Speaker 2: And as we're going to talk about here in a minute,
Speaker 2: the lineup will be a little better, a little more
Speaker 2: consistent with the additions that we're going to talk about.
Speaker 2: But I still feel, in my heart of hearts, maybe
Speaker 2: I'm a blind optimist rose colored glasses. I still think
Speaker 2: this team, although it does have holes, and although they
Speaker 2: have played poorly for the last month, I just have
Speaker 2: to think there's enough here to kind of get the
Speaker 2: ship back on track and really have a chance to
Speaker 2: make some noise in October.
Speaker 1: We're Alma, say, Page, and if they can find someone
Speaker 1: to approximate the late prime version of Charlie Morton that
Speaker 1: you referenced earlier from twenty twenty one, that would be
Speaker 1: all they need. Sale that guy and figure the rest out.
Speaker 1: I feel pretty good about that. But they have to
Speaker 1: get that guy, and we'll see if they're able to
Speaker 1: in the next three weeks, all right, Scott. In a second,
Speaker 1: we'll dive into more of our ways to fix the Braves.
Speaker 1: But first it is now time for Daily Dinger is
Speaker 1: presented by FanDuel all Right, Scott, we want to spotlight
Speaker 1: a player real quick on this fan duel segment today
Speaker 1: and collective we decided, how about Ozzie Albis. Ozzie has
Speaker 1: not had like this like crazy stretch lately. He was
Speaker 1: hot early, he had kind of a down turn after that,
Speaker 1: but he just played in the All Star Game on Tuesday.
Speaker 1: He's having a very very nice season. Is he in
Speaker 1: his absolute prime?
Speaker 2: No?
Speaker 1: But you remember when we talked at least briefly about
Speaker 1: the consideration that they might decline Ozzie's team option. We
Speaker 1: landed on NOA on that this winter, but they we
Speaker 1: talked about it, and that would have been very silly.
Speaker 1: He has already well surpassed what he needed to do
Speaker 1: to earn his team option and shots to Ozzie Alby's right.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, great story for Ozzie. I mean, I'll raise
Speaker 2: my hand. I was nervous and concerned after a pretty
Speaker 2: poor couple of years from Ozzie, from his once lofty
Speaker 2: standards and really an impressive player. You know, he had
Speaker 2: a little bit of a downturn in May, but since
Speaker 2: then he's been really, really good. And of course, if
Speaker 2: you turned back the calendar to opening day, Ozzie hit
Speaker 2: a first inning home run to begin the season against
Speaker 2: the Kansas City Royals. So let's pick as the Braves
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Speaker 2: again leads the boys out there, hits an early inning
Speaker 2: homer and just let's you know, makes a statement on
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Speaker 1: Use it later. Okay, Scott, let's dive back in to
Speaker 1: our extensive plan to fix the Atlanta Braves, a plan
Speaker 1: that you are solely responsible for. One Scott Coleman is
Speaker 1: responsible for this plan, and I'll tell Alex at the
Speaker 1: end of the podcast that he can follow it just
Speaker 1: one by one. We led with the starting pitcher acquisition
Speaker 1: number two starter biggest need number two on the list.
Speaker 1: How about the need for a left handed bat, either
Speaker 1: in the outfield or at DH. How about that from
Speaker 1: I think that's kind of been maybe underdiscussed, maybe maybe
Speaker 1: more lately from us, but it's kind of a need,
Speaker 1: especially in the Donald Smith is very ordinary era of baseball.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, as good of a story as Smith
Speaker 2: was early in the year, he's he's come on hard
Speaker 2: times since late April. He's hitting two twenty four and
Speaker 2: ops in like five hundred's and a sixty three WORC
Speaker 2: plus for Dom Smith. And the problem with that, of course,
Speaker 2: is that Dom Smith is in there basically every single
Speaker 2: night against right handed pitching as the team's primary DH.
Speaker 2: So to say it pretty bluntly, that's not good enough.
Speaker 2: You need a better hitter. I think ideally is we're
Speaker 2: going to talk about they need to add both a
Speaker 2: lefty bat and a righty bat, ideally in the outfield,
Speaker 2: and we'll get into the reasons why. But I guess
Speaker 2: at the end of the day, I will take the
Speaker 2: best bat period that they can acquire and figure out
Speaker 2: the rest between playing time with the DH and all that.
Speaker 2: But for me, I think the number two priority is
Speaker 2: pretty clearly a left handed bat for the middle of
Speaker 2: this order.
Speaker 1: There is a debate you could have between lefty bat
Speaker 1: and righty bat, so we'll kind of maybe combine these
Speaker 1: two together, and I think I'm on your side. Think
Speaker 1: lefty bad is probably the higher priority because of the
Speaker 1: way the lineup shakes out. Because even even when they
Speaker 1: have even when they have Yaz, who I think has
Speaker 1: been like a little bit undervalued, like he's not he
Speaker 1: hasn't been good, but he's been playable, you still can
Speaker 1: You still probably did another one. So that's why it
Speaker 1: leans this way. Like with the righty bat you could
Speaker 1: at least talk yourself into the fact that they are
Speaker 1: going to have Ronnie Back and you're gonna have Sean
Speaker 1: Murphy at some point and if you care about that,
Speaker 1: But with the Dallas Smith era coming to a hopeful
Speaker 1: close based on what he's done so far, the DuPont
Speaker 1: On angle, like having Duban be able to play shortstop
Speaker 1: at some point would be very helpful. Even if I'm
Speaker 1: not not to knock Jim Jarvis, but I'm going to
Speaker 1: assume that probably he's not a Fultiason solution. Maybe I'll
Speaker 1: be wrong. I'd happy. I'd be happy to be wrong
Speaker 1: if Jim Jarvis was awesome. I just usually bet against
Speaker 1: this kind of thing continuing. So yeah, I'm with you.
Speaker 1: Left handed bad is massive and were talking about names.
Speaker 1: If you want to, we don't. I mean, it's not
Speaker 1: that hard. On the bright side of this, mar say
Speaker 1: this out loud, it actually shouldn't be that difficult to
Speaker 1: find this player. Yeah, like a non star. No one's
Speaker 1: saying that they have to add a star Latana bat
Speaker 1: at DH. But like typically in a lot of times,
Speaker 1: it's a cornfielder basically like a first basement type like
Speaker 1: Dom Smith. Honestly, like you can find the better version
Speaker 1: of Don Smith for not that much money and not
Speaker 1: that much prospect capital if you want to go that route,
Speaker 1: because you know a lot of teams have their version
Speaker 1: of Matt Olsen, then maybe have their guy be blocked
Speaker 1: and the DH only types are valuable until they're not
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, Like they don't have a
Speaker 1: ton of utility, but on this team, they just need
Speaker 1: another guy who can hit right handed pitching, and that's
Speaker 1: what we're asking for essentially totally.
Speaker 2: And for me, the reason I would ideally like to
Speaker 2: add at least one outfield there is a couple of reasons.
Speaker 2: You outlined them, but let's just quickly hit them one
Speaker 2: more time. I love Ronald d'acunye Junior, whenever Ronald'cuye Junior
Speaker 2: is in the Braves lineup, I there's a real chance
Speaker 2: that he's going to single handedly win the baseball game
Speaker 2: for them. We saw that in Cincinnati, we saw that
Speaker 2: at Fenway Park. The guy is a remarkable talent. But
Speaker 2: I don't know how you can bank on Ronald to
Speaker 2: stay healthy at this point, which is very sadly kind
Speaker 2: of where his career is at. So if you add
Speaker 2: a left handed outfielder, one who can play the corners,
Speaker 2: you give yourself a little bit of Ronald Dcunya junior insurance,
Speaker 2: whether that be a full time replacement or if Ronald
Speaker 2: needs to miss a couple of weeks, you don't feel
Speaker 2: like you have to run at current either some mixture
Speaker 2: of like Eli White or you know, we talked about
Speaker 2: Dubon being out there. Basically, Dubon's been a full time
Speaker 2: outfielder lately. It would be terrific if you could get
Speaker 2: Dubon as a full time shortstop. I mean, we talked
Speaker 2: about killing two birds with one stone with a starter,
Speaker 2: moving one of like Grant Holmes to the bullpen. This
Speaker 2: kills two birds with one stone, because not only do
Speaker 2: you add a bat for your either outfielder DH but
Speaker 2: then you very likely make it a situation where Mauricio
Speaker 2: Dubon can play shortstop every single day, or god forbid,
Speaker 2: if there's an injury to Ozzie at second or we
Speaker 2: won't do the Austin Riley conversation.
Speaker 1: But if he is needed at third.
Speaker 2: Base, you basically don't need Dubon in the outfield anymore.
Speaker 2: And that's genuinely valuable.
Speaker 1: Right, I mean, it's been huge. It's probably a storyline
Speaker 1: that we could make more of. Dubon is not some
Speaker 1: great hitter, but the fact that he's been able to
Speaker 1: play the outfield has been huge. His versatility was something
Speaker 1: we lauded when they made the trade over the winter.
Speaker 1: But like, he is best suited to play shortstop. If
Speaker 1: you have to play him somewhere because it's bad, it
Speaker 1: is not a great bad. I know he's been clutch,
Speaker 1: but he's not some huge back guy, so having him
Speaker 1: at shortstop is helpful, especially in the wake of Bhasan
Speaker 1: Kim ongoing fiasco. We'll see what he looks like when
Speaker 1: he comes back, But yeah, I'm with you, even the
Speaker 1: potential to almost says a second ago. But like Ronnie
Speaker 1: could probably dache every once in a while, like probably should.
Speaker 1: I've long thought he should probably dch more. To be honest,
Speaker 1: especially at this point. It won't stop the injuries. I'm
Speaker 1: not claiming that, but it is less wear and tear
Speaker 1: if the guy is just dhing. There's been plenty of
Speaker 1: studies on this that the injury risk probably goes down
Speaker 1: a little bit if he dh is more and then
Speaker 1: plays the outfield. Sure, anyway, long story short, and Ryan's
Speaker 1: bat actually plays out. But think about someone like like Dubon.
Speaker 1: You don't want Dubon DH. The whole reason to have
Speaker 1: Maurice to Dubon is because his club's going everywhere. He's
Speaker 1: not a DH quality bat. So if you can get
Speaker 1: someone who could DH for you credibly that can play
Speaker 1: a cornyitfield spot, that's the best combination. Basically, it's what
Speaker 1: you're looking for. Sure, it's an upgrade of multiple boys.
Speaker 2: Can I throw out just one name? We won't run
Speaker 2: through ten options. I mean, truthfully, there's a lot of
Speaker 2: options out there. But you know a name that I've
Speaker 2: really come to like as I've looked into him is
Speaker 2: JJ Blede. You know, of course, Blade is maybe a
Speaker 2: familiar name to Braves fans because he killed the Braves.
Speaker 1: That crazy series it gets It's a crazy series against
Speaker 1: the break this year.
Speaker 2: I remember tweeting on that Sunday afternoon It's like, dear God,
Speaker 2: quit pitching to this guy because every time he hits
Speaker 2: the ball it goes five hundred feet. So blade is
Speaker 2: having a fantastic year with the Cincinnati Reds, who are
Speaker 2: very very likely to sell. Bladey does not make a
Speaker 2: ton of money, so as you're thinking about maybe adding
Speaker 2: an expensive starting pitcher, you have to kind of make
Speaker 2: it all work within the budget, even though you do
Speaker 2: have a bigger budget than usual. You could acquire Bladey
Speaker 2: while he's having a good season. He's hitting two forty two,
Speaker 2: But look beyond the batting average, a three point fifty
Speaker 2: on base percentage and a four to ninety six slugging
Speaker 2: So he has an ops of about eight to fifty
Speaker 2: this year, a one twenty six WRC plus and if
Speaker 2: you look under the hood, his expected batted ball data
Speaker 2: is very strong. So for me, Blaeday a lefty, he
Speaker 2: can play the corners. He could probably stand in center
Speaker 2: field if you absolutely needed him to. He had a
Speaker 2: bad month of June, but he's really picked it up
Speaker 2: again in July. I think Blade makes a ton of
Speaker 2: sense for this team, and he's kind of a flag
Speaker 2: plant player for me, where ifin three weeks, if I say, Alex,
Speaker 2: go get this player, I think Bladay would be my
Speaker 2: maybe top realistically obtainable left handed outfield bad.
Speaker 1: He's seventh the best year of his career, which could
Speaker 1: be a little bit scary. But also even when you
Speaker 1: look at his career stats, he's always hitting right handed
Speaker 1: pitching pretty well, which is the primary role of what
Speaker 1: you'd be going to get here. So yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: he's twenty eight, so he's not like over the hill.
Speaker 1: He is cheap. Having a good season profile makes sense. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think he also kind of is alex coated because
Speaker 1: of the underlying data being pretty good. So yeah, I
Speaker 1: think you're on something there, and we'll see if that
Speaker 1: comes to fruition. But we're on the same page. We
Speaker 1: already kind of talked about this a little bit, but
Speaker 1: our number three thing on this list is the right
Speaker 1: handed bat version of the lempis. The ability to match
Speaker 1: up would be helpful. I'm reading your note right here
Speaker 1: about the right handed bats on the bench right now
Speaker 1: and it's uh, it's pretty dire. I'll let you say
Speaker 1: out loud who they have on the bench right now
Speaker 1: at right handed bats. It's not what you want.
Speaker 2: Right like at the moment, it's Eli White, and Eli
Speaker 2: White is a fine fitth outfielder, but I don't think
Speaker 2: in the playoffs you want Eli White getting regular plate appearances.
Speaker 1: Eli White is there, it is we're on a pincher
Speaker 1: on what he's.
Speaker 2: Say totally, and then you know, Joey Bart has had
Speaker 2: a couple of moments, but you know, there was a
Speaker 2: game a week ago where Joey Bart had a ton
Speaker 2: of high leverage opportunities as a right handed bat. He
Speaker 2: originally did not start. I think he pinched hit for
Speaker 2: Dom Smith. We don't necessarily want Joey Bart getting those
Speaker 2: plate appearances. Who knows what you're going to get from
Speaker 2: Sean Murphy. I mean, if Murphy wants to show us
Speaker 2: something great, but it's been a long time since Shawn
Speaker 2: Murphy did much and he's a defensive first catcher. So
Speaker 2: even when Murphy's going well, his bat is nothing spectacular.
Speaker 2: So for me, I think for all the reasons we
Speaker 2: outlined before adding a right handed bat, whether a DH
Speaker 2: only type or an outfielder who can platune with the
Speaker 2: ads you can play the matchups in October, which becomes
Speaker 2: so important. Really does make a lot of sense, just
Speaker 2: to give you a little more thump from the right
Speaker 2: handed side of the plate.
Speaker 1: Right. The only reason I made the point earlier about
Speaker 1: how I might even lean in writing back first is
Speaker 1: because it basically comes out of this. Yeas is better
Speaker 1: than the right handed versions that they have of Yas.
Speaker 1: That's all. That's the only reason why I even said that, Like,
Speaker 1: I think Yaz is a starting caliber corner guy against
Speaker 1: the right handed pitcher. Is he some awesome player? No,
Speaker 1: but they don't. They don't even they don't have that
Speaker 1: version of Yaz from the right side like Eli White
Speaker 1: is not that. With apologies to Eli White, Yas is
Speaker 1: considerably better hitter than Eli White. It's not particularly close.
Speaker 1: So either way, I would like to see this. Maybe
Speaker 1: it's even easier to get the right handed version of this.
Speaker 1: There are probably more names mentioned. I know there's been
Speaker 1: a lot of talk about Joe Adell on this podcast
Speaker 1: feed from I think all three of you in the
Speaker 1: last couple of weeks that I've listened to from from Afar,
Speaker 1: interesting name. He's not the only one that I would
Speaker 1: mention by any means, but they have some the abilities
Speaker 1: like cornerwile field and DH types right handed bats. You
Speaker 1: can find one somewhere. And honestly, the bar, as much
Speaker 1: as this is kind of sad, the bar is very
Speaker 1: low because if if all you're trying to do is
Speaker 1: upgrade on the Eli White deep bench spot, that bar
Speaker 1: is not high to clear off.
Speaker 2: On offense, right, It's you know, in some ways, it's
Speaker 2: similar to twenty twenty one where none of the four
Speaker 2: outfielders Alex acquired, where superstars are having great years, but
Speaker 2: they all uniquely did things well, and that's sometimes what
Speaker 2: you need in the aggregate. You can really improve a
Speaker 2: position on your roster by adding, you know, a couple
Speaker 2: players the left of you Hits Rileys And I'm just like,
Speaker 2: I'm just remembering that now it's five years ago, you
Speaker 2: and I do with this podcast. Five years ago, the
Speaker 2: Braves literally had zero, like zero outfielders.
Speaker 1: The week of the deadline, they had literally nobody in
Speaker 1: the outfield. As crazy as that is, the team that
Speaker 1: won the World Series, they have nobody to play the outfield,
Speaker 1: no one. I'm the Romnster.
Speaker 2: Well, and that's why I sorry and well, and this
Speaker 2: is a small tangent, but I roll my eyes when
Speaker 2: Braves fans say, well, this team can't win a World
Speaker 2: Series in the last thirty five years. Think about it,
Speaker 2: the ninety five Braves and the twenty one Braves. We're
Speaker 2: either of those two teams, like clearly the greatest Braves
Speaker 2: rosters on paper, they weren't even close.
Speaker 1: I mean, we've got yelled this before, but like the
Speaker 1: twenty twenty one Braves were not close to the best
Speaker 1: team of this last decade or the Braves, they just weren't.
Speaker 1: They just happened to be the best when it mattered
Speaker 1: at the right time, which is fine. Flags Fly Forever
Speaker 1: we celebrated. I slawed the audio recording of about podcast we
Speaker 1: did after they won the World Series. But like team
Speaker 1: quality wise, yeah, there's a reason why, and I lament
Speaker 1: it to some degree too, But the playoffs are pretty random, men,
Speaker 1: they just are. You gotta get in the dance, you
Speaker 1: gotta have talent to get there. And yeah, Eddie Rosario
Speaker 1: found religion for three weeks and great, that was a
Speaker 1: fun thing that we have to winness Horace Hilary to
Speaker 1: the same thing. But like those guys, to your point,
Speaker 1: were not some huge blockbuster editions. They were guys who
Speaker 1: had been able to like hit in the past. But
Speaker 1: like if you compared those guys to JJ Bilde, it
Speaker 1: isn't much different as far as like what they were
Speaker 1: at the time of the acquisition. So, and just one
Speaker 1: more note on this on all first of twenty twenty one,
Speaker 1: the Berets are fifty two fifty five.
Speaker 2: Right, You never know, right, Like what if what if
Speaker 2: Alex doesn't go out and acquire those guys at the
Speaker 2: twenty one deadline, They're sure not winning the world.
Speaker 1: They don't win, Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2: And one more point then we'll move on from the
Speaker 2: hitter conversation. You know you mentioned Joe Adell. Spencer Steer
Speaker 2: is another popular name. He's a teammate of JJ Bledez.
Speaker 2: Maybe they could do it two for one type of thing.
Speaker 2: But the idea is to get a right handed hitter
Speaker 2: who can hold his own against right handed pitching but
Speaker 2: mashes lefties because you can guarantee you're going to see
Speaker 2: good left handed starting pitching and good left handed relievers
Speaker 2: laden games in the playoffs and even in September, as
Speaker 2: teams really match up and games take on more importance.
Speaker 2: It's just such a valuable weapon to have valuable hitters
Speaker 2: on both sides of the plate, off the bench that
Speaker 2: you can deploy whenever the time calls for it, and
Speaker 2: hopefully Alex is able to go out. I think at
Speaker 2: least one hitter if he only adds one left handed outfielder. Okay,
Speaker 2: be thrilled about it, but I'll say that's a step
Speaker 2: in the right direction. But you know, to acquire Spencer
Speaker 2: Steer or Joe Adell, it's not gonna cost you Eric
Speaker 2: Cartman and Kim Kemminetti. It's gonna cost you somebody who's
Speaker 2: ranked fifteenth in the farm system, and that's just something
Speaker 2: you have to do, for sure.
Speaker 1: I agree strongly. I think it has not been discussed
Speaker 1: by us as much as the irrotation. They do have
Speaker 1: to add a bat of some kind. Yeah, Like, I
Speaker 1: think that's not even up for debate. I mean, you
Speaker 1: could say, maybe it needs to be one and a
Speaker 1: half bats. Maybe it's like one real bat and one
Speaker 1: low cost platoony bat. That's that's probably what I would
Speaker 1: be looking for realistically, is like one real addition and
Speaker 1: one cheaper Eddie Rosario type, not Eddie Rosario now, but
Speaker 1: like that kind of guy back then, like a clear
Speaker 1: platoon player who just happened to be, you know, just
Speaker 1: a upgro down what they had. That's what I'd be
Speaker 1: looking for a bat and a half. But they got
Speaker 1: to do that, it might say, like a long list.
Speaker 1: I'm sure we'll get comments to say, well, the Braves
Speaker 1: ever do anything? Well, they almost always do. They didn't
Speaker 1: they didn't last year. But anyway, all right, Scott, in
Speaker 1: a second, we will round this out with our fourth
Speaker 1: and fifth versions to improve the Braves, fix the Braves,
Speaker 1: one might say, by the end of the season first though,
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Speaker 1: Scott would come to nearing the end of this fix
Speaker 1: all for the braves, and this kind of related to
Speaker 1: number one, and that is we believe that braves need
Speaker 1: a second starting pitcher question mark like it would be
Speaker 1: helpful to have more than one, if only to just
Speaker 1: eat some innings. Is that is that the premise here
Speaker 1: in your mind just like get them too October more
Speaker 1: so than actually October.
Speaker 2: Right, So look, if they want to be greedy and
Speaker 2: they want to add two of those impact starters that
Speaker 2: we talked about at the beginning, great love it, sign it. Yeah,
Speaker 2: But I think because it's going to be a seller's
Speaker 2: market and you have to be realistic about the number
Speaker 2: of prospects that they're going to want to give up
Speaker 2: to give themselves a chance in October, I think even
Speaker 2: just like a boring innings eater makes a lot of sense.
Speaker 2: So let me let me throw a name at you, Brad.
Speaker 2: This is the guy who's been around for a long time.
Speaker 2: It's Robbie Ray. So Robbie Ray is on the giants.
Speaker 2: The giants are dead. They're going to sell. They would
Speaker 2: love to get off of Robbie Ray's contract because he
Speaker 2: makes a lot of money. Robbie Ray is a pending
Speaker 2: free agent. He's got about eight million dollars left on
Speaker 2: his contract, and that's money the Braves could eat. Maybe
Speaker 2: they eat some of it, maybe they eat all of it.
Speaker 2: But you know what, sure, you're not giving Robbie Ray
Speaker 2: the ball in Game one. And to be clear, he's
Speaker 2: not having a great year. But even like, look at
Speaker 2: his numbers since June first, he has an unsustainable one
Speaker 2: point eight four ERA. He's not a one point eight
Speaker 2: really starter going forward, but he has a three point
Speaker 2: seven FIP and an x FIP of five because he
Speaker 2: basically has not given up any homer. So look, that's
Speaker 2: fine like that, and most importantly here, Robbie Ray is
Speaker 2: averaging more than six innings per start this year. We
Speaker 2: know right now the Braves are in like they're saying
Speaker 2: a prayer that they can get through five innings on
Speaker 2: any given night other than Chris Sales starts. So the
Speaker 2: idea of adding a reliable veteran who can eat innings
Speaker 2: for you, He can take the ball every fifth day
Speaker 2: like a Robbie Ray or a similar veteran to me,
Speaker 2: makes a lot of sense to get you to October
Speaker 2: and then you kind of see where everything is at.
Speaker 1: I don't think it. Just just to be clear, you're
Speaker 1: not saying Ray as the number the primary acquisition, just
Speaker 1: to be very clear. It's like, probably Ray is the
Speaker 1: second acquisition to fill out the endings acquisition. And I agree.
Speaker 1: I think he makes a lot of sense given the
Speaker 1: team that he's on, given the money he makes, giving
Speaker 1: the Braves ability to spend some actual cash because of
Speaker 1: the profile thing and everything else. We talked about a
Speaker 1: million times exact kind of potential target. We don't know
Speaker 1: anything about that as far as the intel side of
Speaker 1: things there, but just a good idea and look that
Speaker 1: they need. Pitching volume is not the issue as far
Speaker 1: as having options, right just to name you want to
Speaker 1: you want to read name Scott, I'm going to read
Speaker 1: some names. Yeah, this lengthy.
Speaker 2: This is a lengthy list at this point the brisk
Speaker 2: of a lot of have a lot of pictures, So
Speaker 2: like this is the this is the problem. We were
Speaker 2: getting this in November December, like people just said these
Speaker 2: these long lists and it's like, Okay, they do have
Speaker 2: a lot of pictures. You got Ronald Lopez, Elder, Martin
Speaker 2: Perez Jr. Richie, Owen Murphy, Hirston Waldrip a ms Shliver
Speaker 2: and then the two Spencers, if either one of them
Speaker 2: pitch at some point. That's a lot of guys. I'll
Speaker 2: grant that.
Speaker 1: And the problem is out of that list only Ronald
Speaker 1: Lopez has looked decent in the last month. Maybe, I
Speaker 1: mean the guys who's pitching really well early, Bryce Elder
Speaker 1: and Martin Perez have fallen on hard times in recent days.
Speaker 1: Elder for longer than Perez, but Perez has had the run.
Speaker 1: Might be over for Martin, and then the young guys
Speaker 1: like maybe yeah, maybe Owen Murphy will be great, Like
Speaker 1: he's gonna start this weekend. I hope he does great,
Speaker 1: but it's obviously a giant question mark. The Spencers are
Speaker 1: question marks. Waldrop's already gone back down. He is a
Speaker 1: talented arm but I was not a lock. So all
Speaker 1: that said, like they they, as much as it might
Speaker 1: sound crazy without a list that long, getting to October,
Speaker 1: having some stability is not the worst thing. Like how
Speaker 1: many times in the last month plus, Scott, have we
Speaker 1: looked at the rotation and be like who's gonna start
Speaker 1: on Friday? Like that's happening so often, and they all
Speaker 1: they have a solution. And when I say solution, it's like, oh,
Speaker 1: there's a name that somebody knows, like Owen Murphy is
Speaker 1: in name. People knew he's a prospect that matters. But
Speaker 1: like that isn't a proven solution. That's a guy that
Speaker 1: like people recognize the name, not because he's ready. He
Speaker 1: might be ready, we'll see, but like I don't know, man,
Speaker 1: it's I'm sure people will be like, wow, you guys
Speaker 1: are want two pictures now, Like they may not do
Speaker 1: two pictures. No one's saying that they're going to do this,
Speaker 1: but I kind of with you. It would be nice
Speaker 1: to have two I mean right now they could certainly
Speaker 1: use too. Look at the rotation right now, like if
Speaker 1: you take out Elder and Perez because they've not pitched
Speaker 1: well recently, Like, man, there's not a lot of stability.
Speaker 1: They're just not No, there's not.
Speaker 2: And you know, again, if you add a second starter,
Speaker 2: you can utilize these guys in the bullpen. And I
Speaker 2: know there's this hesitancy to push some chips in, but
Speaker 2: you know what, man, this is an old roster, Like
Speaker 2: this corps is quietly getting pretty old, you know, like
Speaker 2: you look at it. Mettalson's not getting younger. He's on
Speaker 2: the wrong side of thirty. Acunia is not getting any healthier,
Speaker 2: he's you know, twenty eight.
Speaker 1: Well, Riley, it's the contract with Ronnie too, Like that's
Speaker 1: I mean, that's the unspoken to endo Ry has always
Speaker 1: been hurt recently, but there is a very credible and
Speaker 1: this is just not even just in Atlanta. There's a
Speaker 1: national thing. I've the Braves need to try to win
Speaker 1: while Ronnie is under contract because he may not be
Speaker 1: back after he's not under contract anymore, and he's only
Speaker 1: one player. But like the Riley thing is gonna get
Speaker 1: worse maybe, I mean, we don't know what's gonna happen there.
Speaker 1: He's signed forever, but he's not gonna get any younger.
Speaker 1: You're right, I mean even Ozzy, Ozzy's a guy who's
Speaker 1: not like old. But Ozzie's profile is a five to
Speaker 1: five guy, Like is he gonna be good at thirty two? Probably?
Speaker 1: Not like Chris Sale is old, like they russa Iglesias
Speaker 1: is old. They really do, Like this is a window.
Speaker 1: I'm not saying it's this year or nothing. But if
Speaker 1: there was ever a team to like push it in,
Speaker 1: this is kind of exactly the team, right.
Speaker 2: And let's flash. Let's say the Braves make the playoffs,
Speaker 2: they win, they win the nl DS, through in the NLCS,
Speaker 2: and they see the Mighty Dodgers. Don't you wish that
Speaker 2: you would be able to give this team as good
Speaker 2: of a chance as you could by reinforcing it at
Speaker 2: the deadline, because after August third, you're basically done. Like
Speaker 2: there's like weird like waivers and all that. Like every
Speaker 2: now and then a player can sneak through depending on
Speaker 2: the circumstance, but for the most part, your players are
Speaker 2: your players on August third. So to me, I'm not
Speaker 2: I'm not saying that you give up Eric Hartman to
Speaker 2: try to go get Derek scouble and and you unload
Speaker 2: the top eight prospects in your system. But as we're
Speaker 2: talking the idea of getting a good number two starter,
Speaker 2: which is gonna cost something, I don't think it's gonna
Speaker 2: cost Eric Cartman and you know, four other good names,
Speaker 2: but you know costs something getting a left handed bat,
Speaker 2: a right handed platoon bat, and then an inny someone
Speaker 2: like Robbie Ray who makes a lot of money. That's
Speaker 2: not going to cost you a ton, but it does
Speaker 2: give you a much better chance to not only make
Speaker 2: the playoffs, but just be able to match up and
Speaker 2: give yourself the best punching chance you have against the
Speaker 2: Dodgers and their five hundred million dollars payroll, or the
Speaker 2: Phillies who have just been a playoff nemesis for years,
Speaker 2: or the Brewers, who are such a good baseball team
Speaker 2: who are probably gonna do some serious buying, or the
Speaker 2: Cubs have some talent, you know, like give yourself a
Speaker 2: chance to make a run and see where the chips fall.
Speaker 1: We are totally in agreement there. And also we've talked
Speaker 1: about it because this is the theme of the show.
Speaker 1: Use the money, like, use the money to your advantage.
Speaker 1: It's not only that you could take on bigger salaries,
Speaker 1: but you can take on money maybe that some team
Speaker 1: doesn't want to have and keep your prospects haul down
Speaker 1: as a result of that. There's, i mean the blessing
Speaker 1: in disguise you want to do it that way of
Speaker 1: the profar thing is that that that's an eight figure
Speaker 1: chunk of money that they don't have to spend it.
Speaker 1: They had not spent yet. And I'm pretty sure the
Speaker 1: way that Alex has always talked about it is that
Speaker 1: he gets a big number at the beginning of a
Speaker 1: season from his bosses and this is like, hey, this
Speaker 1: is what you're allowed to spend. I promise you. The
Speaker 1: Braves have not reached that number or anywhere close to
Speaker 1: that number, given the profile give it, the profile of
Speaker 1: it all and everything else. So he always lived his
Speaker 1: self in big room as well. They got to have
Speaker 1: They have eight figures of spending power, and that's not
Speaker 1: for the full season, that's just for the last part
Speaker 1: of the season, which means you're probing up. They could
Speaker 1: probably take on twenty five thirty thirty five million dollars
Speaker 1: in salary, like very easily at the deadline.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean use it. Profile alone was fifteen million,
Speaker 2: and it's really eighteen million because that fifteen million would
Speaker 2: count towards the luxury tack. So that's eighteen million dollars
Speaker 2: the Braves had earmarked for jerks and profile. They aren't
Speaker 2: paying this year, So yes, you're absolutely right use that
Speaker 2: money to your advantage, and who knows what the future
Speaker 2: is going to hold. Could Jae Richie be awesome in
Speaker 2: August and September maybe, or he could be more of
Speaker 2: the guy who's really struggled with command and has given
Speaker 2: up hard contact. Could Hurston Waldrip find himself maybe? Or
Speaker 2: he could be the guy who ranks like dead last
Speaker 2: in the Majors in command in his ability to throw strikes. A. J.
Speaker 2: Smith Schafer looks really good, but how is he goan
Speaker 2: affair after missing fifteen months coming back from elbow surgery.
Speaker 2: Could Spencer Schwallenbach come back?
Speaker 1: Maybe?
Speaker 2: Could Spencer Strider come back?
Speaker 1: Maybe?
Speaker 2: But how effective are those guys gonna be? Spencer Streider
Speaker 2: wasn't exactly lighting it up before the injury. Do you
Speaker 2: expect him to just come back and be twenty twenty
Speaker 2: two Spencer Streider? I sure don't. Again, maybe it's being greedy,
Speaker 2: Maybe they just aren't going to be able to accomplish
Speaker 2: all these things. But to me again one more time,
Speaker 2: it just does not feel like it's going to take
Speaker 2: heaven and Earth to acquire these types of players that
Speaker 2: we've talked about, between the prospects they have available to
Speaker 2: trade and the financial freedom that they have thanks to
Speaker 2: one Jerks and profar Yep.
Speaker 1: Rom sanpitch for sure, and we will not do anymore
Speaker 1: on that because we've said a lot about that suff
Speaker 1: last thing and it kind of rolls up into what
Speaker 1: we were talking about. The fifth thing on our list to
Speaker 1: fix the braves is just simply getting healthy. And it
Speaker 1: might seem obvious, but it's not to some people. I
Speaker 1: don't know about you, Scott. I don't miss this framing.
Speaker 1: I really don't. But I do laugh whenever I hear it.
Speaker 1: And when Ronald mccoton gets back, if someone wants to
Speaker 1: tell me that it's like making a trade without making
Speaker 1: a trade, I'll have a big smile on my face.
Speaker 1: Is it silly, yes? Is it a chip curialism? Yes?
Speaker 1: But uh it actually that was like, you know what,
Speaker 1: Ronald Acuter Junior is like better than anybody else that
Speaker 1: can get right. He's pretty good at baseball if he's himself.
Speaker 1: We already talked about this. There's no guarantee. I'm not
Speaker 1: going to tell you that Ronnie is the model of durability.
Speaker 1: He's not. He clearly is not. But man, he did
Speaker 1: win the MVP not long ago, and he's pretty good
Speaker 1: at baseball, and man, having him back at some point
Speaker 1: soon and for the rest of the season would work
Speaker 1: wonders in.
Speaker 2: A lot of it really would. And sure, I mean,
Speaker 2: since Zacuna went down, the Braves are ten and twenty
Speaker 2: over thirty games. If if Acuna was healthy for that
Speaker 2: that's not I'm not gonna pretend like they would have
Speaker 2: gone twenty and ten, but you you'd be silly not
Speaker 2: to pretend like losing Acunya at the top of the
Speaker 2: lineup has not been incredibly detrimental to this team. And
Speaker 2: not just a Kuna, but Robert Swarez. You know, like
Speaker 2: this bullpen is so much better when you have Suarez
Speaker 2: guaranteed for basically the seventh or eighth inning, You have
Speaker 2: a Glaciers in the ninth, you have Dylan Lee, who's
Speaker 2: been arguably like a top five reliever in the game
Speaker 2: this year, and then you have everybody else. So you
Speaker 2: get Akunya back, you get Robert Swarez back. I know
Speaker 2: half of our listeners are gonna roll their eyes, but
Speaker 2: maybe you get Sean Murphy back. And Murphy gives you
Speaker 2: anything on offense, even if he's just like a home
Speaker 2: run or nothing guy from the right side of the plate. Great,
Speaker 2: you take it. We mentioned the Spencers. Who knows if
Speaker 2: you're gonna get anything from them. We mentioned aj smiths Shav,
Speaker 2: same thing as apply, but just getting healthier, especially Akunya
Speaker 2: in Swarez or in my eyes, just like Priority one
Speaker 2: and two. Hopefully it's sooner rather than later. And then
Speaker 2: if you get things from Murphy or Smith, Shov or
Speaker 2: either of the Spencers, to me, that kind of feels
Speaker 2: like the cherry on top, especially if you go out
Speaker 2: and acquire a couple of guys at the deadline.
Speaker 1: Yes, and I won't do the impassion Sean Murphy case.
Speaker 1: I won't do it, but I do feel strongly that
Speaker 1: he is better than Joey Bart So having Sean Murphy
Speaker 1: back in some form would be an upgrade on that slot.
Speaker 1: I know Joey Barr had that great game like two
Speaker 1: weeks ago, but he's been pretty bad if you'll get
Speaker 1: the numbers, and that spot behind Drack Baldwin has been
Speaker 1: pretty bad this season even that, But you're right, it's
Speaker 1: definitely a Cunia number one, Suaz number two, big gap
Speaker 1: to everybody else, including Murphy, and obviously it'd be great
Speaker 1: to get something out of any of that Smith, Schav, Schrider,
Speaker 1: Swallow back trio. I just pitching injuries are are tough,
Speaker 1: and we know at least we know what we expect
Speaker 1: on when a Kunya and Sars will be back, and
Speaker 1: it's not that long from now, Like there's not as
Speaker 1: much uncertainty. Could they get hurt again, sure, but genuine
Speaker 1: no one, no one from the Braves will even say
Speaker 1: the words Spencer s either one will be back this season. Yeah,
Speaker 1: no one says that. So like it's till someone tells
Speaker 1: me that somebody that they're on a reab assignment. I'm
Speaker 1: just gonna be like, you know what, maybe and we'll see.
Speaker 1: With Akunya it could be a week or two, maybe less,
Speaker 1: And with Suarez, I'm assuming it'd be pretty soon based
Speaker 1: on what we've heard. I don't know, man, but those
Speaker 1: guys are hugely good and Thecunya is more packul than Suarez.
Speaker 1: But there's a world again where the Braves are carried
Speaker 1: by the best bullpen in baseball. That is a very
Speaker 1: possible thing that could happen. I don't want to invoke
Speaker 1: the night shift on this podcast. We had a lot
Speaker 1: of twenty twenty one look back, but like that's what
Speaker 1: happened in that series and in those series, the bullpen
Speaker 1: was awesome, and the Braves this year have a bullpen
Speaker 1: that could reach that level. When you look at the
Speaker 1: talent in the bullpen as Suarez is there, Iglesias Suarez,
Speaker 1: Dylan Lee and Didier Fuenttees good luck, man, those guys
Speaker 1: are awesome. So that could be a huge strength when
Speaker 1: it matters.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it is. And again it goes back to just
Speaker 2: kind of the pieces of this roster that are already
Speaker 2: in place where you can tell yourself a story that
Speaker 2: it goes well down the road because they are built
Speaker 2: well for October, assuming they can get there number one
Speaker 2: and number two, that they can reinforce this roster and
Speaker 2: just kind of trim some of the fat and you know,
Speaker 2: turn turn some of your weaknesses into even You're not
Speaker 2: going to turn some of your weaknesses into some grand
Speaker 2: strength over the next three weeks. But just like average production,
Speaker 2: having an average arty off the bench that you can
Speaker 2: platoon with Mikey Stremsky and getting some of these guys
Speaker 2: back healthy, you'll do wonders for the bullpen. In the
Speaker 2: top of the lineup one more time, We're not asking
Speaker 2: them to trade their top fifteen prospects to go acquire
Speaker 2: the ten best hitters and pitchers available at the deadline.
Speaker 2: I think, I hope this conversation has just shown that
Speaker 2: if you make these changes and then go pull up
Speaker 2: the Braves twenty six man roster and remove some of
Speaker 2: the weakest links and replace them with the players we've
Speaker 2: talked about tonight, that's a really damn good roster and
Speaker 2: one I would really have to believe in for the
Speaker 2: final two months of the year.
Speaker 1: Yeah, on the prospect thing, before we move on and
Speaker 1: get out of here, you can take a couple of guys,
Speaker 1: I'm talking about you the fan, you the front office,
Speaker 1: take a couple of guys in your head that you
Speaker 1: might think are untouchable that you don't want to trade.
Speaker 1: Eric Cartman's the popular name right now. Totally reasonable to
Speaker 1: be like, hey, I'm not trading this guy. That's a
Speaker 1: fine place to be for anybody. For me, the bar
Speaker 1: is super high on that. I've only had a couple
Speaker 1: like ever that I'm like, I'm not trading him. Rona
Speaker 1: Kunon Jurnam was one. Maybe Hartman gets there. He's almost
Speaker 1: there now, like he's been ridiculous, So I get it.
Speaker 1: But if you want to make a trade for a
Speaker 1: real guy. It's going to cost you a prospect that
Speaker 1: you don't want to trade. It just is guys. Like
Speaker 1: every time I see a fake trade package of like
Speaker 1: quad a slop for great player, I want to throw
Speaker 1: my computer out the window. Like, if you're going to
Speaker 1: trade for Target, so use Tara School, right, he's the
Speaker 1: biggest name. It won't cost you Hartman because it's a rental.
Speaker 1: But it's gonna cost you somebody you don't want to trade.
Speaker 1: I'm just saying it's going to that's just the price
Speaker 1: you have to payment, Like that's the it is what
Speaker 1: it is. Just know that right now, if the Britis
Speaker 1: trade for someone like Joe Ryan, let's use Jo Ryan
Speaker 1: a year and a half left. It's the British trade
Speaker 1: for Joe Ryan. Look at the top ten prospect lists
Speaker 1: from somebody like Gorvadak or whoever you trust the most
Speaker 1: of the Braves. A couple of those guys are going
Speaker 1: to be in that trade. Yeah, it's just gonna happen.
Speaker 2: And that's what the prospect. That's what prospects in a
Speaker 2: farm system are for. There to reinforce your big league team,
Speaker 2: and they're also so you can make trades and approve
Speaker 2: your big league team immediately instead of hoping that in
Speaker 2: three or four years these guys are going to be
Speaker 2: contributing members. Yeah, there's a time and place to trade
Speaker 2: your prospects. There's a time and place to hang on
Speaker 2: to your prospects. Hopefully, whoever they trade in the next
Speaker 2: three weeks, they won't blow up in their face, And
Speaker 2: there is certainly that risk that comes with it. But
Speaker 2: for every trade that blows up in your face and
Speaker 2: you go, ah, man, I wish we wouldn't have traded
Speaker 2: that guy, there are many, many more where the prospects
Speaker 2: never amount to much of anything, and you're like, damn,
Speaker 2: that was a good trade for us, and it gave
Speaker 2: us a real chance to win.
Speaker 1: For every mark to share a trade where you and
Speaker 1: I were young for that, but we remember it very well.
Speaker 1: It went badly. There is a Vaughan Grissom for Chris
Speaker 1: Sale trade you can point to as well, where people
Speaker 1: were People were legitimately mad that the Braves traded Vaughn
Speaker 1: Grissom for Chris Sale. People were mad about that when
Speaker 1: it happened. We weren't. People were it's fine, you gotta
Speaker 1: trade something. I'm not picking on one Grissom, but whatever,
Speaker 1: this year's example of that player is it will cost
Speaker 1: you a player. And not that you're root against that guy,
Speaker 1: but you're you're hoping maybe he doesn't blow up into
Speaker 1: like a superstar forever, and it's just the cost is
Speaker 1: gonna be something. That's fine if you're ready to go
Speaker 1: win and try to win the World Series, like the
Speaker 1: Braves are trying to win the World Series this year,
Speaker 1: it might cost you some stuff. That's okay, all right, Scott.
Speaker 1: The Braves returned to play on Friday. They're facing the
Speaker 1: Text Rangers. The Rangers are okay. They're a division leading
Speaker 1: team right now. I saw that and I was like, oh,
Speaker 1: talk matchup. And then I realized the Rangers are the
Speaker 1: most five hundred team I've ever seen. Like they're winning
Speaker 1: to do because the entire American League is like flat
Speaker 1: right now other than a couple teenths at the top,
Speaker 1: and the Rangers are Phillies like in their negative run
Speaker 1: differential and they're like dead in the middle of the
Speaker 1: pack and offense and dead in the middle of the
Speaker 1: pack and run prevention and they're just okay. So maybe
Speaker 1: the Brands can win some baseball games. Starting on Friday.
Speaker 2: Well, they're gonna start with Chris Sale, which always is
Speaker 2: a good thing. Yeah, Chris will be very fresh coming
Speaker 2: off the break if you only, of course, through what
Speaker 2: three innings in Saint Louis and his last start before
Speaker 2: the rain came, So you feel good. Let's get a
Speaker 2: win with Chris Sale. Saturday night will be really fun
Speaker 2: with Owen Murphy said to make his first MLB start.
Speaker 2: I'm fascinated to know how his won, how his fastball
Speaker 2: plays multiple times through the order, and also how his
Speaker 2: secondary stuff works, and if he's able to get big
Speaker 2: leaguers out more ultiple times. Very interested there. And then
Speaker 2: on Sunday it'll be Grant Holmes, who has shown some
Speaker 2: encouraging signs in his last couple of starts. It would
Speaker 2: be really nice to win a series out of the break.
Speaker 2: You said it, Well, the Rangers they're okay, They're not
Speaker 2: a team you're just going to roll over, but they're
Speaker 2: also a team that at home you should probably take
Speaker 2: two out of three against. So let's get back to
Speaker 2: winning series. Start it with the Rangers. Then there's four
Speaker 2: games at home against the Padres, so the Braves do
Speaker 2: not have to travel, which is nice, so an opportunity
Speaker 2: with seven games and seven days beginning Friday, to just
Speaker 2: kind of get back on the winning side of things.
Speaker 1: Murphy was a first round pick not long ago, and
Speaker 1: he is twenty two years old, still like he's young.
Speaker 1: I wouldn't expect him to be awesome, but there's always
Speaker 1: a chance he can pitch up a little bit. The
Speaker 1: talent is definitely there, and I am certainly intrigued to
Speaker 1: watch that. I always love watching Chris Sale, but Murphy
Speaker 1: on Saturday is one to keep an eye on. And
Speaker 1: then Grant home on Sunday to round things out Scott
Speaker 1: Ivan and he happens, we will jump into service. Chance
Speaker 1: is their last show until Sunday. I'm just saying that
Speaker 1: out loud because it's the All Star break. We we
Speaker 1: are delivering people content. We've done three episodes now that's
Speaker 1: lots on the braces play the baseball game. So we're
Speaker 1: not short circuiting ourselves. But just in case people should
Speaker 1: be stay tuned. Anything else to uh plug on social
Speaker 1: media in case you want to just fire off some
Speaker 1: takes on Thursday or Friday.
Speaker 2: Maybe I'll fire uf some takes if there's a transaction,
Speaker 2: you know, there was Lance McCullers got traded from Houston to.
Speaker 1: Actually he might be a brave a Braves guy. That was.
Speaker 1: He was on my longer list only because of the money,
Speaker 1: like not the whole thing. Again, the Bravees have money
Speaker 1: to spend and he costs money and nothing else basically,
Speaker 1: so I was like, I wonder if they would that
Speaker 1: didn't happen, So yeah, yeah, Brewers, we're now firmly in
Speaker 1: the We're in the window. Now, we're two and a
Speaker 1: half weeks away from the deadline. Like stuff can start
Speaker 1: happening now, that's right. We will see if the Brewers
Speaker 1: pitching Lab can fix Lance McCullers. But this is not
Speaker 1: a Brewers podcast, not an Astros podcast, this is an
Speaker 1: Atlanta Braves podcast. Of course.
Speaker 2: Thank you to everybody for continuing to check out the
Speaker 2: show even during this break, and as Brad said, we'll
Speaker 2: be back soon. Whether it's breaking news, we'll have an
Speaker 2: emergency pod which is always so much fun, and if not,
Speaker 2: you can as always find us on Sundays when we
Speaker 2: do our kind of weekly recap show that we have
Speaker 2: been doing for many years at this point and it
Speaker 2: should be a let's hope for some Braves wins, and
Speaker 2: hopefully some Braves transactions here sooner rather than later.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we're in a decade plus of podcasting together, you
Speaker 1: and me, which is kind of scary, but here we are.
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