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Speaker 1: Hello everyone, and welcome to episode thirty three of the

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Speaker 1: Hammer Territory podcast. I am your host, Sprad Roland, coming

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Speaker 1: to you on a Sunday evening here in late June,

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Speaker 1: and I am joined by my regular co host Scott Coleman. Scott,

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Speaker 1: how are you feeling after a nice week for the Braves.

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Speaker 2: Hey, Brad? In uncommon fashion, the Braves one on a Sunday. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: things going well? Yeah?

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Speaker 3: Right?

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Speaker 2: Usually the story is the Braves play well all week

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Speaker 2: and then they let down on Sundays. Of course, longtime

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Speaker 2: listeners know we have joked and poked at that for years.

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Speaker 2: But a really nice win on Sunday afternoon in New

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Speaker 2: York to win the series and a five and one

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Speaker 2: week overall, which is really nice to see, just kind

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Speaker 2: of building upon all the good things that happened last

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Speaker 2: weekend against Tampa Bay.

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Speaker 1: Yes, absolutely, and a bit of housekatting at the top

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Speaker 1: of the podcast. First of all, we should tell you

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Speaker 1: that we are part of the Foul Territory network of

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Speaker 1: podcasts and a proud member of that network. Check out

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Speaker 1: all of the shows, including the flagship over at Foul Territory. Also,

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Speaker 1: please subscribe to this podcast. Hamber territory. We cover the

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Speaker 1: Braves in comprehensive fashion approximately four times a week, sometimes

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Speaker 1: even more than that. But you can find us anywhere

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Speaker 1: you find your podcasts, Apple, Spotify, Overcast, et cetera. Please subscribe, rates,

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Speaker 1: and review. We definitely appreciate that. And there was a

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Speaker 1: actually a new show from Friday people should be listening

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Speaker 1: to as well that featured one half of this duo.

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Speaker 1: It was not me. Scott was on the show alongside

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Speaker 1: our guy Steven Tolbert talking about the game on Friday evening.

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Speaker 1: If you want to listen to that podcast as well. Well,

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Speaker 1: that out of the way, though, Scott, I have a

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Speaker 1: framing device for you on today's podcast. Two weeks ago exactly,

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Speaker 1: you and I did a show and we asked listeners,

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Speaker 1: including what the headline of that pot, if they were

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Speaker 1: worried because for some context, the Braves have just lost

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Speaker 1: three games in a row to the Nationals. The viyes

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Speaker 1: were very bad, and I guess probably kind of on

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Speaker 1: brand fashion. They went on to lose the next two

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Speaker 1: games as well, to have kind of the peak of

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Speaker 1: panic with five losses in a row. But since then

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Speaker 1: the Braves are eight and two in their last ten games,

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Speaker 1: and I guess we have to ask the question the

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Speaker 1: other way, Scott. The Braves are no long struggling from

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Speaker 1: that out the window at this point in time, But

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Speaker 1: as are you excited yet? How are we feeling, broadly speaking,

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Speaker 1: after a little bit of a dip, of course, are

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Speaker 1: you back to being confident or are you cautiously optimistic?

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Speaker 2: Definitely optimistic. The last ten days or so have really

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Speaker 2: been more of what we've come to expect from the Braves.

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Speaker 2: The home run ball is back. They've done a better

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Speaker 2: job of getting on base and working the count drawing walks,

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Speaker 2: so it's very encouraging. I think, I of course can't

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Speaker 2: remember perfectly off the top of my head what we

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Speaker 2: said two weeks ago, but I think it was very

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Speaker 2: clearly that the Braves have been underperforming and playing flat

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Speaker 2: out poorly for those six weeks. There was just some

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Speaker 2: really bad baseball. But if I remember right, we were

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Speaker 2: also pretty confident in that this team was going to

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Speaker 2: wake up at some point, and we were just hoping

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Speaker 2: it was going to be sooner rather than later. Knowing

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Speaker 2: that they had lost some ground in the division and

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Speaker 2: a once enormous lead in the wild card standings, had

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Speaker 2: shrunk a bit, so very very good to get back

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Speaker 2: to their winning ways. Believe it's eight out of ten

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Speaker 2: that they have won, and it's hard not to be

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Speaker 2: encouraged when the lineup has awoken. The pitching for the

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Speaker 2: most part has been really good, and the bullpen in

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Speaker 2: particular maybe had a little bit of a blow up

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Speaker 2: on Saturday, but really all week long, this bullpen has

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Speaker 2: been terrific and I think, just moving forward, this is

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Speaker 2: going to be, or let's hope, this is going to

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Speaker 2: be the team that we really came to enjoy that

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Speaker 2: first month of the year.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that was probably the appropriate tone for

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Speaker 1: what we said, you know, a little bit of alarm.

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Speaker 1: We were not sounding the alarm necessarily, but we were

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Speaker 1: not expressing like Noah was allowed to panic either, at

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Speaker 1: least not worry at all. But yeah, this is definitely

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Speaker 1: more like it. I will say, you know, five to

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Speaker 1: one week. This week cap by a win over the

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Speaker 1: Yankees in two out of three games in New York,

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Speaker 1: which is not a small feat considering how good the

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Speaker 1: Yankees have been this year. The race are now one

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Speaker 1: three straight series. That's always nice. It's very simple, but

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Speaker 1: it also is pretty effective. If you just keep go

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Speaker 1: out and go out there and win series. Snicker always

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Speaker 1: says it's it's one of those old school things, but

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Speaker 1: it's also just true. If you go out and win

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Speaker 1: two out of every three games, you are going to

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Speaker 1: be very very good in the world of baseball. And yeah,

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Speaker 1: there's still seven games back as we record this podcast

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Speaker 1: on Sunday of the Phillies. The Phillies are very good,

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Speaker 1: and there is an uphill battle in the National League East.

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Speaker 1: It is far from over. I poked fun online and

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Speaker 1: I think I will do it now on this podcast.

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Speaker 1: Of anyone who has said that the National League East

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Speaker 1: race is over, that is a very silly, silly thing

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Speaker 1: to say, whether you win in Atlanta or Philadelphia or elsewhere.

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Speaker 1: But the rais rounder dogs there. That's probably fair. But

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Speaker 1: they are four and a half games now clear of

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Speaker 1: the entire wildcard field. That's not the that's not of

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Speaker 1: the number three wildcard spots. That's above every one of

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Speaker 1: the wild card standings. And basically, as we sort of

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Speaker 1: alluded to, I think on the most recent show with

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Speaker 1: You and I on Wednesday, the National League is like

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Speaker 1: a four teams are good league right now basically, and

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Speaker 1: the Braves are the fourth of those four, at least

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Speaker 1: the one that's not winning their own division. Yes, but

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Speaker 1: they are comfortably playing like a division winning caliber team.

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Speaker 1: They're on pace for like ninety four wins. Again, I'm

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Speaker 1: not saying that they're gonna win one hundred games now,

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Speaker 1: but I am saying that they look like they're supposed

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Speaker 1: to look for the most part in recent days.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I would agree. And we've played seventy five games,

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Speaker 2: we're coming up on the midway point for the season,

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Speaker 2: and we talked about just how poorly the Braves were

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Speaker 2: playing for that stretch. It kind of felt like they

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Speaker 2: broke out of it at the right time. Because, let's

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Speaker 2: be honest, Brad, if we talked about that podcast we

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Speaker 2: did two weeks ago, if they were still struggling, I

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Speaker 2: think the alarm bells would really be going off. I

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Speaker 2: almost asked you that, honestly, I almost asked you to

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Speaker 2: put yourself in that mindset. Not to be mean to you, Scott,

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Speaker 2: but I was like, Hey, what if the Braves had

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Speaker 2: gone not even two and eight, but if they had

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Speaker 2: gone four and six in this last ten coming off

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Speaker 2: of that rocky stretch. With every passing day the vib

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Speaker 2: would have been getting worse. You have to imagine what

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Speaker 2: that would have been the case, because then you would

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Speaker 2: be coming up on two full months where they had

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Speaker 2: really struggled, whereas now they have seemingly stabilized. And anytime

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Speaker 2: you can get off to as good of a start

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Speaker 2: as the Braves did, that can carry you for a

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Speaker 2: long way. I believe they began the year what twenty

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Speaker 2: one and seven or something crazy like that, and then

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Speaker 2: we know how they were sub five hundred for that

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Speaker 2: lengthy period. So yes, very thankfully they have seemingly awoken.

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Speaker 2: We of course, we're not going to blow ten games

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Speaker 2: out of proportion and declare that they're not going to

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Speaker 2: lose another game the rest of the season or anything

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Speaker 2: like that, but just it has been more accustomed to

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Speaker 2: what we expect from the Braves with the power, and

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Speaker 2: it's just it is hard not to be encouraged and optimistic.

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Speaker 2: You can go eight and two against a decent Tampa

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Speaker 2: and Detroit club and then to win a series in

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Speaker 2: New York against the Yankees is really impressive stuff. And

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Speaker 2: I mean, the Braves just continue to get I mean,

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Speaker 2: what else can you say about Max Freed and Chris Sale,

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Speaker 2: the way those two guys have pitched, especially lately them

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Speaker 2: and Ronaldo Lopez. That trio is really just carrying this

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Speaker 2: team seemingly every time they go on the mound. That's right,

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Speaker 2: and we're going to dive into at least the last

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Speaker 2: couple games of the Yankee series. Again, we recommend listening

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Speaker 2: to the more deep dive show on Friday about the

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Speaker 2: Friday Nights game. But to your point, the Braves, I

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Speaker 2: believe in the last two weeks are in the top

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Speaker 2: four or five in the Major leagues and home runs

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Speaker 2: they're starting hit the ball over the wall. Again, that's

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Speaker 2: a key or something that Alexanthopolis has just openly admitted,

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Speaker 2: like they have to hit for power.

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Speaker 1: This is a team built for power, and they're hitting

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Speaker 1: for power and the results are improving. So all that said,

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Speaker 1: we will dive into the Yankees series in some more

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Speaker 1: let us get into the Saturday and Sunday games. Saturday

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Speaker 1: less exciting and less fun than Sunday, but hey, we

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Speaker 1: have to sledge through it. That's our duty on this podcast,

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Speaker 1: am I right? So look, I wrote this in our notes.

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Speaker 1: I felt like the Brads were kind of due for

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Speaker 1: one of these after they had won four in a

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Speaker 1: row and seven of eight and it was basically an

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Speaker 1: all facets kind of loss. There was poor pitching, there

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Speaker 1: was poor offense, and they lost eight to three in

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Speaker 1: New York and eliminated any dream of a sweep in

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Speaker 1: New York. But fortunately they bosced back the next day.

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Speaker 1: But what did you make of Saturday's game? Albeit lopsided, Yeah, it.

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Speaker 2: Was a tough game and in the first inning got

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Speaker 2: off to a good enough start with the solo homer

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Speaker 2: to go up early, and I was like, wow, all right,

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Speaker 2: here we go. But Charlie Lee Morton just never had command.

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Speaker 2: I'm not even sure Charlie knew where the base host

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Speaker 2: coming when it was coming out of his hand. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: gave up the home run to Judge. And even though

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Speaker 2: Charlie gave up the five runs, I mean they were

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Speaker 2: the Yankees were a swing away from just completely blowing

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Speaker 2: that game open. There was a basis loaded, no oubt,

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Speaker 2: Aaron Judge walking to the plate situation, and funny enough,

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Speaker 2: I was heading out to dinner at that point. I thought, well,

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Speaker 2: this one's over, and then sure enough he was able

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Speaker 2: to wiggle out of it with a double play, just

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Speaker 2: to give the Braves a chance early. But then things unraveled.

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Speaker 2: Aaron Bummer had maybe his worst appearance of the season.

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Speaker 2: These six batters gave up three walks, which you just

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Speaker 2: cannot do, then a couple of doubles as well, and

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Speaker 2: the lineup, even though there were a couple of home runs,

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Speaker 2: just didn't do enough. So a frustrating loss on Saturday night.

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Speaker 2: But thankfully, as you just said, they went on Friday,

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Speaker 2: and then Max Freed was terrific again on Sunday. You

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Speaker 2: win the series and frankly, going into New York, anytime

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Speaker 2: you could win two out of three, you have to be.

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Speaker 1: Happy with it, oh for sure. And that is the

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Speaker 1: headline of the weekend, without question, despite the game on Saturday.

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Speaker 1: I have to say I kind of blame you for

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Speaker 1: Charlie's performance on Saturday, you and Steven four gassing him

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Speaker 1: up and without me on the podcast for both sort

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Speaker 1: of invoking my name talking Charlie up. And I was

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Speaker 1: encouraged by that. I smile when I listen to that podcast,

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Speaker 1: and yet I think you will put the curse on

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Speaker 1: him and it was for one day doing.

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Speaker 2: All that, Charlie. Yeah, Charlie brad Roland Morton, not have.

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Speaker 1: Your reaction was hilarious by the way, on that podcast,

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Speaker 1: you just you could not contain your gleek when Steven

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Speaker 1: brought that up as a framing device.

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Speaker 2: We need to get some shirts made with like your

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Speaker 2: face in Charlie's face on it and like a heart

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Speaker 2: around your two heads, because that is your man. And

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Speaker 2: I know that for whatever reason, Charlie is kind of

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Speaker 2: a lightning rod for the fan base. Maybe it's because

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Speaker 2: he makes a lot of money. To be fair, you know,

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Speaker 2: Charlie has been a little Jekyl and hide this season.

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Speaker 2: He kind of has this stretch going where he's been

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Speaker 2: good in one start and then bad in the next,

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Speaker 2: and then good and then bad. So there has not

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Speaker 2: been a lot of consistency with Charlie on the whole.

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Speaker 2: His numbers are fine, being probably the fourth starter in

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Speaker 2: this rotation right now, but you would like him to

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Speaker 2: find himself a little bit more, especially early on in games.

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Speaker 2: It feels like anytime Charlie is out there, he's given

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Speaker 2: up a couple of runs in the first or the second,

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Speaker 2: put the team in a hole. And you know, encouraging that.

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Speaker 2: Travis Darnault hit a home run on Saturday. Believe Marcel

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Speaker 2: also homered, which is just very par for the course

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Speaker 2: for him. But yeah, Saturday it was very much just

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Speaker 2: kind of a flush it and forget it.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, Charlie to your point, and we'll move on because

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Speaker 1: I'm not going to try to defend Charlie because that's

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Speaker 1: what I do. But he is the very rare pitcher

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Speaker 1: in which he is better the second and third time

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Speaker 1: through the order this season, like as the game goes deeper,

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Speaker 1: he gets better, and most just for people who don't

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Speaker 1: know necessarily know this offhand. Most of the time, that's

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Speaker 1: the opposite. Guys get better, guys get worse as you

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Speaker 1: face guys multiple times. That's kind of logical. But so

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Speaker 1: far this year Charlie is allowing like an ops around

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Speaker 1: eight hundred the first time through the order, then it

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Speaker 1: goes down into the low seven hundred the second time through,

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Speaker 1: and then a five thirty ops allowed the third time

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Speaker 1: through the order this year when whenever he gets that far.

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Speaker 1: So kind of a weird thing. There some rough first innings,

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Speaker 1: as you note, but I am obligated to say this,

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Speaker 1: Charlie Morton is doing exactly what a four starter does.

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Speaker 1: This year. He has been uninspiring. I understand that he

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Speaker 1: is one hundred and seventy four years old, Scott, but

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Speaker 1: he is doing what he's asked to do for the

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Speaker 1: most part.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and let's hope that Charlie finds some consistency. And

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Speaker 2: you know, he's being compared to the big trio in

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Speaker 2: the rotation right now, which had been what three of

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Speaker 2: the top fifteen starters and all of baseball this year.

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Speaker 1: He's kind of his Zone tier Yeah, he's kind of

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Speaker 1: his ozonn tier On the rotation right now, there are

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Speaker 1: three guys that are pitching incredibly well. Charlie has been

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Speaker 1: totally fine, and then there's that fifth spot, which actually

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Speaker 1: has been decent recently with shwella block. But yeah, also

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Speaker 1: I have to say before we forget, I don't believe

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Speaker 1: he hit it better on Saturday, which is an upset

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Speaker 1: for your game.

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Speaker 2: Sadly, no lefty was hitting the foot by a seventy

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Speaker 2: eight mile one hour curveball on Saturday, and me very sad.

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Speaker 2: But we will write again on probably Friday, I think

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Speaker 2: is when Charlie's supposed to pitch next Thursday. Thursday, Thursday, Oh,

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Speaker 2: the matinee in Chicago. That's right. But yes, very sad

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Speaker 2: that we did not get a winner for America's favorite game.

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Speaker 2: But maybe in this upcoming start we will get back

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Speaker 2: to our winning ways.

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Speaker 1: Oh that's so funny. Okay, let's go to Sunday. It is,

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Speaker 1: of course, as we mentioned, a much more encouraging game

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Speaker 1: three to one victory. We gotta lose for me in

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Speaker 1: a way. I want to leave with Max Freed. Max

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Speaker 1: was not his best at a sixth inning, but he

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Speaker 1: managed to get through it. But before that he was

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Speaker 1: truly awesome, as he has been a lot lately. Six

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Speaker 1: innings of one run ball, no walks, always nice. And

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Speaker 1: with that start out of the way here he has

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Speaker 1: a sub two ERA in his last eleven outings. Max

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Speaker 1: is pitching like the best version of Max. I think

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Speaker 1: a lot of the first three or four innings of

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Speaker 1: this game on Sunday was like the full Max experience.

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Speaker 1: All the pitch is working, and when he's doing that,

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Speaker 1: he's kind of unhittable. I mean, it's not just like

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Speaker 1: anybody can go into the Yankee stadium and slow down

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Speaker 1: the Yankees. And he was in full command. Even when

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Speaker 1: he wasn't necessarily for command in the sixth, he still

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Speaker 1: managed to get the biggest I would say probably the

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Speaker 1: biggest swing of the game, which was that that double

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Speaker 1: play in mis extending So May he was awesome again

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Speaker 1: and it's a kind of ho home, but man, he

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Speaker 1: just continues to be fantastic.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, every time Max goes on the mound, it's like

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Speaker 2: he adds a couple more numbers onto his upcoming contract,

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Speaker 2: because I mean a one nine to five ERA over

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Speaker 2: his last eleven starts and his numbers really for the

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Speaker 2: whole season look fantastic. And that's with those two super

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Speaker 2: bizarre starts that he had to begin the year. We

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Speaker 2: just ran into some bad luck and gave up a

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Speaker 2: bunch of runs. But this guy, I mean, what more

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Speaker 2: can we say about Max Reid? No walks in Yankee Stadium,

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Speaker 2: which is so important. Gave up six hits, but there

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Speaker 2: was not a lot of loud contact, especially until that

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Speaker 2: sixth thenning, a lot of ground balls, which is the

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Speaker 2: key to not letting that ball fly over the short

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Speaker 2: porch there in Yankee Stadium. And six innings. Again, if

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Speaker 2: you can get Max out there for six and then

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Speaker 2: have a fully rested and healthy bullpen ready to go

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Speaker 2: for the final few innings, that's going to be a

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Speaker 2: winning formula more times than not. And thankfully the Braves offensively,

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Speaker 2: even if they didn't put up a big number, they

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Speaker 2: were able to scratch and claw and get enough to

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Speaker 2: get the win.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, you laid out perfectly there. The bullpen and the

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Speaker 1: top level arms were fantastic. It was Pierce Johnson, Joe Menez,

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Speaker 1: Russ Iglesias, three innings, five strikeouts, one hit, no damage.

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Speaker 1: I'll let you te up. But there was a very

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Speaker 1: funny and I think memorable moment in the eighth inning

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Speaker 1: against One Soto in which I guess it was I

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Speaker 1: almost want to say controversial. I guess not to Braves fans,

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Speaker 1: but I'm sure I believe that you tweeted this out.

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Speaker 1: You did the video from our Hammer Territory Twitter account,

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Speaker 1: and there was some divergent reaction. But what did you

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Speaker 1: make of the I guess I guess we used the

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Speaker 1: word controversial play.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean One Soto is a hell of a

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Speaker 2: baseball player, Yes, phenomenal baseball player. If the Braves want

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Speaker 2: to hand him a free a blank and free agency

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Speaker 2: in a couple of months, it's not my money, it's

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Speaker 2: not your money.

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Speaker 1: Let's do it.

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Speaker 2: I don't think that's going to happen. But this guy,

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Speaker 2: he's not entitled to his own rules. He can't just

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Speaker 2: step out of the batter's box without getting time from

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Speaker 2: the umpire. And it's funny. I mean, he took a

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Speaker 2: fastball belt high on the inner half. I mean that's

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Speaker 2: a baseball that won Soto usually mashes. If you're lucky,

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Speaker 2: it's a double if not over the fence, and he

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Speaker 2: just kinda took it. And good on Joe Jimenez for

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Speaker 2: not getting distracted and just peppering and ninety five fastball

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Speaker 2: right in the zone.

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Speaker 1: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, And then Aaron Boone got to make his fourth

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Speaker 2: trip to complain to the umpires about something on a

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Speaker 2: Sunday afternoon as well. That guy's going for Bobby Cox's record.

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Speaker 2: I'm pretty sure for rejections, but yeah, I mean a

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Speaker 2: cool moment. And the bullpen was fantastic. You mentioned Pierce

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Speaker 2: Joe Ricel three innings, five strikeouts really just didn't give

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Speaker 2: the Yankees any kind of a chance, even though it

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Speaker 2: was only a two run deficit.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it was. It was fun to watch the bullpen

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Speaker 1: kind of unload there. Also, in related news, the other

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Speaker 1: high leverage reliever on this roster as a j Minterer

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Speaker 1: who's not pitched in a while. He threw an ending

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Speaker 1: yesterday Saturday's record of his podcast in Rome, by all accounts,

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Speaker 1: look pretty good. I don't know how fast he'll be

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Speaker 1: back in the majors, but you throw him in there

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Speaker 1: along with the guys we just mentioned, And I mean,

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Speaker 1: I know you tease it a second ago, but Aaron

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Speaker 1: Bummer has been good this year despite uh, if Charlie

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Speaker 1: is a lightning rod, I think Bummer is even more

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Speaker 1: of one. People just seem to hate him for some reason,

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Speaker 1: despite the fact that he's been good all year long.

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Speaker 1: So yeah, that's a pretty strong bullpen. We of course

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Speaker 1: have gone repeatedly to this well, dating back to the Winner.

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Speaker 1: But if all parts are firing on all cylinders when

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Speaker 1: it comes to that bullpen and bullpens are volatile, but

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Speaker 1: on paper it looks fantastic, and they've pitched really well

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Speaker 1: in the bullpen this year. And as long as like

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Speaker 1: Iglaciers is looking like himself, Johnson's been awesome. You get

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Speaker 1: you get Mentor in there too, and it gets to

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Speaker 1: be kind of scary hours everybody else.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, you can never have too many relievers and relievers

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Speaker 2: that you trust. Of course, when aj Minter is healthy,

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Speaker 2: he is good as anybody from the left side in

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Speaker 2: the game. I would imagine that Aj will probably be

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Speaker 2: back with the Braves next weekend. Atlanta will play three

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Speaker 2: in Saint Louis and then play the makeup game in Chicago.

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Speaker 2: I suppose they could activate him early in the week,

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Speaker 2: but I'm guessing he's going to get one more rehab

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Speaker 2: appearance before they make a decision there. Really, you don't

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Speaker 2: need to rush aj back with the way everybody else

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Speaker 2: is throwing. I do hope that Grant Holmes gets to

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Speaker 2: stick around. He's one of probably two arms along with

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Speaker 2: Das Beel Hernandez who could be on the chopping block

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Speaker 2: to go back to Gwenett. So let's hope that Grant

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Speaker 2: Holmes gets to stay up. Nothing against days Bell, who's

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Speaker 2: been good. Yeah, but I think we all have a

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Speaker 2: place in our hearts for Grant. But yeah, man, anytime

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Speaker 2: you just keep bolstering that bullpen, it's only going to

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Speaker 2: help things.

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Speaker 1: That's right, all right, Scott. That's probably all we need

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Speaker 1: to do on the weekend. I do want to get

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Speaker 1: in to one positive story and one less positive story

433
00:20:04,800 --> 00:20:07,000
Speaker 1: when it comes to position players that we get questions

434
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Speaker 1: about quite a bit. And we'll do that in a second,

435
00:20:09,080 --> 00:20:12,240
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436
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437
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456
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Speaker 1: There are two players in the Braves lineup every day

457
00:21:18,000 --> 00:21:20,399
Speaker 1: right now that are kind of on divergent paths, and

458
00:21:20,720 --> 00:21:22,800
Speaker 1: let's start positive. This has been a very positive episode

459
00:21:22,840 --> 00:21:24,920
Speaker 1: so far. We are going to have a negative conversation

460
00:21:25,119 --> 00:21:27,920
Speaker 1: in a second, but Jared Kelnick has been really, really

461
00:21:27,960 --> 00:21:30,600
Speaker 1: good in recent days. Of course, we talked about him

462
00:21:30,640 --> 00:21:33,160
Speaker 1: hitting lead off now kind of out of necessity after

463
00:21:33,400 --> 00:21:36,760
Speaker 1: the injuries to Harris and of course Ronnie. He homed

464
00:21:36,800 --> 00:21:39,520
Speaker 1: off a lefty. Today he has at ops well a

465
00:21:39,600 --> 00:21:42,000
Speaker 1: bree hundred in the month of June, and yeah, sample

466
00:21:42,040 --> 00:21:45,960
Speaker 1: size issues questions, I definitely understand that. But even before that,

467
00:21:46,040 --> 00:21:48,240
Speaker 1: he was not killing the ball or anything, but he

468
00:21:48,280 --> 00:21:51,399
Speaker 1: was performing at a league average level, which is mostly

469
00:21:51,440 --> 00:21:53,200
Speaker 1: fun for a guy that's not making a lot of

470
00:21:53,240 --> 00:21:54,920
Speaker 1: money that they didn't have to pay through the nose

471
00:21:55,000 --> 00:21:57,000
Speaker 1: to acquire. But he's been one of a sort of

472
00:21:57,000 --> 00:21:58,520
Speaker 1: a I'm not even to saying it's quiet this point

473
00:21:58,520 --> 00:22:01,120
Speaker 1: in time, one of the really encouraging stories the last

474
00:22:01,160 --> 00:22:04,160
Speaker 1: few weeks, and what are hitting leadoff or not? Him

475
00:22:04,240 --> 00:22:06,520
Speaker 1: hitting and doing this for a team it just kind

476
00:22:06,520 --> 00:22:09,159
Speaker 1: of needs. The alpha production has been massive well, and

477
00:22:09,320 --> 00:22:12,600
Speaker 1: especially ever since he moved to the leadoff spot against

478
00:22:12,680 --> 00:22:16,120
Speaker 1: left handed pitching, he's done a really good job against lefties.

479
00:22:16,600 --> 00:22:19,000
Speaker 1: And that was a real question mark because the Braves

480
00:22:19,040 --> 00:22:23,320
Speaker 1: just frankly don't have a typical leadoff hitter now against

481
00:22:23,440 --> 00:22:28,040
Speaker 1: left handed pitching, and Kelnick's done terrific. Man, he's been

482
00:22:28,280 --> 00:22:30,360
Speaker 1: I don't think it's a coincidence that as the lineup

483
00:22:30,359 --> 00:22:32,719
Speaker 1: has really picked it up and started scoring more runs.

484
00:22:33,080 --> 00:22:35,720
Speaker 1: It coincided with Kelnick kind of setting the table there

485
00:22:35,800 --> 00:22:38,520
Speaker 1: at the top of the order. On the season, he

486
00:22:38,600 --> 00:22:42,160
Speaker 1: has a one to ten WRC plus which you take

487
00:22:42,240 --> 00:22:44,960
Speaker 1: every day of the week, and it is consistently going

488
00:22:45,040 --> 00:22:49,320
Speaker 1: up and defensively, I know he had an adventure on

489
00:22:49,400 --> 00:22:52,879
Speaker 1: Saturday night in center field, but for the most part,

490
00:22:52,920 --> 00:22:56,160
Speaker 1: his defense has been perfectly fine. He has the big arm,

491
00:22:56,400 --> 00:22:58,560
Speaker 1: seems like he takes pretty good routes.

492
00:22:58,280 --> 00:23:00,679
Speaker 2: On the ball. Again, other than that one f looky

493
00:23:00,720 --> 00:23:03,400
Speaker 2: play where I don't know what happened on Saturday night

494
00:23:03,400 --> 00:23:05,600
Speaker 2: with Kelnick when he ran into the center field wall.

495
00:23:06,280 --> 00:23:09,240
Speaker 1: The word, the word Magellan comes to mind. No, it's

496
00:23:09,280 --> 00:23:12,919
Speaker 1: it's one of those things where while we're being positive

497
00:23:12,920 --> 00:23:15,760
Speaker 1: about Kilnick and I agree with with what you just said,

498
00:23:16,160 --> 00:23:17,840
Speaker 1: I think it might be fair to say I don't

499
00:23:17,880 --> 00:23:20,119
Speaker 1: love him playing centerfield now. He is the he's the

500
00:23:20,119 --> 00:23:22,880
Speaker 1: best option right now. But I think big picture would

501
00:23:22,840 --> 00:23:24,600
Speaker 1: be nice toime Michael Harris out there defensively.

502
00:23:24,680 --> 00:23:28,119
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, oh yeah, no, you know, get that hamstring

503
00:23:28,160 --> 00:23:30,560
Speaker 2: back money, Mike. We need that and we need your

504
00:23:30,560 --> 00:23:34,520
Speaker 2: glove in centerfield especially. Yeah, but I mean it is

505
00:23:34,680 --> 00:23:38,160
Speaker 2: a a benefit for sure that Kelnic can go out

506
00:23:38,160 --> 00:23:41,120
Speaker 2: there and play a reasonable center field for a guy

507
00:23:41,119 --> 00:23:42,840
Speaker 2: who really has not played a whole lot of it

508
00:23:42,880 --> 00:23:43,960
Speaker 2: at the major league level.

509
00:23:44,920 --> 00:23:46,760
Speaker 1: You know, it's a good point for sure, and you

510
00:23:46,760 --> 00:23:49,440
Speaker 1: know the bat being solid, and I'm not going to

511
00:23:49,520 --> 00:23:51,760
Speaker 1: predict necessarily that he's going to be the guy he's

512
00:23:51,760 --> 00:23:53,480
Speaker 1: been in June the rest of the way, because that's

513
00:23:53,480 --> 00:23:56,480
Speaker 1: a very very very good player and hopefully that's true.

514
00:23:56,680 --> 00:23:59,399
Speaker 1: But they needed it, and he's been His uptick with

515
00:23:59,440 --> 00:24:02,200
Speaker 1: four home run this month, for instance, has a kind

516
00:24:02,200 --> 00:24:04,959
Speaker 1: of coincided with the surge of the offense. It's not

517
00:24:05,000 --> 00:24:06,560
Speaker 1: just him, but he has been doing a very very

518
00:24:06,640 --> 00:24:09,840
Speaker 1: nice job, which is worth highlighting. Yeah, well man, last

519
00:24:09,840 --> 00:24:12,600
Speaker 1: note on Kelling. Not to cut you off, Brad. Last note,

520
00:24:12,680 --> 00:24:16,879
Speaker 1: I would love if Jared could up the on base percentage. Yeah,

521
00:24:16,920 --> 00:24:18,640
Speaker 1: and the walk rate a little bit.

522
00:24:19,280 --> 00:24:21,480
Speaker 2: I think he's done a better job in recent weeks

523
00:24:21,520 --> 00:24:24,720
Speaker 2: of getting deeper into the counts. He's still striking out

524
00:24:24,760 --> 00:24:26,679
Speaker 2: a decent amount, and I think that's just part of

525
00:24:26,720 --> 00:24:29,000
Speaker 2: his game. He struck out quite a bit in Seattle

526
00:24:29,040 --> 00:24:31,920
Speaker 2: as well, but he did walk at a higher level

527
00:24:31,920 --> 00:24:34,720
Speaker 2: in Seattle last season, and right now, I think it's

528
00:24:34,720 --> 00:24:38,080
Speaker 2: hovering around like five or six percent, especially in that

529
00:24:38,160 --> 00:24:39,800
Speaker 2: leadoff spot. If he can get it up to eight

530
00:24:39,880 --> 00:24:42,360
Speaker 2: or nine or ten, that would be big. It would really,

531
00:24:42,400 --> 00:24:44,680
Speaker 2: I mean, it would only help him offensively if he

532
00:24:44,720 --> 00:24:48,280
Speaker 2: can get on base ahead of Riley and Olsen and Ozuna.

533
00:24:48,400 --> 00:24:50,199
Speaker 2: And he's going to have an opportunity to score a

534
00:24:50,240 --> 00:24:52,440
Speaker 2: million runs if he can get on base. So let's

535
00:24:52,440 --> 00:24:54,359
Speaker 2: hope that goes up in the coming weeks as well.

536
00:24:54,920 --> 00:24:56,439
Speaker 1: No, a good point, for sure, it'd be nice if

537
00:24:56,480 --> 00:24:57,720
Speaker 1: you walk a little bit more at kind of similar

538
00:24:57,720 --> 00:25:01,520
Speaker 1: to Michael Harris in that regard. Not the most elective necessarily,

539
00:25:01,560 --> 00:25:03,439
Speaker 1: but a little bit of an uptick in the on

540
00:25:03,520 --> 00:25:07,960
Speaker 1: base percentage would be helpful. On the less exciting side,

541
00:25:08,000 --> 00:25:14,159
Speaker 1: we've gotten I would say, several numerous questions about Orlando Rcia. Uh,

542
00:25:14,520 --> 00:25:17,000
Speaker 1: and this is a less positive topic, and I'm sorry

543
00:25:17,040 --> 00:25:19,120
Speaker 1: about that, but look, we endeavor to cover the team.

544
00:25:19,119 --> 00:25:20,600
Speaker 1: If you're a new listener, we endevor to cover the

545
00:25:20,600 --> 00:25:24,439
Speaker 1: team in comprehensive fashion, which means negative stuff too. And

546
00:25:24,480 --> 00:25:27,200
Speaker 1: he kind of hit today, so that's he doubled off quortest.

547
00:25:27,200 --> 00:25:32,240
Speaker 1: That's an encouraging thing, but coming into today, Orlando in

548
00:25:32,280 --> 00:25:35,280
Speaker 1: the last fifty games, nice shiny round number. Before today

549
00:25:35,320 --> 00:25:39,199
Speaker 1: he had a four to sixty eight OPS and a

550
00:25:39,240 --> 00:25:42,919
Speaker 1: twenty seven WRC plus. That isn't great. It's about a

551
00:25:42,960 --> 00:25:45,200
Speaker 1: third of a season, but you can so you could

552
00:25:45,240 --> 00:25:47,080
Speaker 1: sort of handwave it off if you wanted to with

553
00:25:47,320 --> 00:25:50,640
Speaker 1: sample size stuff, and guys have downturns, so even guys

554
00:25:50,640 --> 00:25:52,280
Speaker 1: who are much better than he is. You know, Austin

555
00:25:52,320 --> 00:25:54,400
Speaker 1: Riley just had one of these, Matt Olson earlier this year,

556
00:25:54,400 --> 00:25:57,399
Speaker 1: were really cold for a while, et cetera. But the

557
00:25:57,440 --> 00:25:59,920
Speaker 1: scarier one for me, before I throw it to you, Sky,

558
00:26:00,240 --> 00:26:02,919
Speaker 1: is that in the last one hundred and sixty two games,

559
00:26:03,000 --> 00:26:08,600
Speaker 1: so essentially a full season entering today, he had the

560
00:26:08,640 --> 00:26:14,520
Speaker 1: following slash line sixteen to sixty one and three sixty

561
00:26:14,520 --> 00:26:19,520
Speaker 1: two for a sixty eight WRC plus over a full season.

562
00:26:19,520 --> 00:26:24,840
Speaker 1: And that's a full season of activity. Now, I have

563
00:26:25,040 --> 00:26:28,440
Speaker 1: always been skeptical of Orlando's bad and it's not a

564
00:26:28,520 --> 00:26:31,040
Speaker 1: victory lap I just I'm not as surprised as others are.

565
00:26:31,160 --> 00:26:33,160
Speaker 1: Like I kind of never bought it. There was an

566
00:26:33,200 --> 00:26:35,119
Speaker 1: uptick last year. Look, he hit very well early in

567
00:26:35,160 --> 00:26:37,840
Speaker 1: the season, led to an All Star appearance, and congratulations

568
00:26:37,880 --> 00:26:39,359
Speaker 1: to him from that as kind of you know, Bryce

569
00:26:39,359 --> 00:26:41,639
Speaker 1: Elder like in that way, kind of a bit of

570
00:26:41,640 --> 00:26:44,280
Speaker 1: a mirage. He is better than Elver, I will say,

571
00:26:44,359 --> 00:26:47,040
Speaker 1: But at the same time, that's a full season of

572
00:26:47,080 --> 00:26:49,719
Speaker 1: a guy who with a sixty eight WRC plus playing

573
00:26:49,880 --> 00:26:53,000
Speaker 1: every single day. And yes, he's a good defender, but

574
00:26:53,280 --> 00:26:57,159
Speaker 1: Scott are what happens here because you can hope that

575
00:26:57,200 --> 00:26:58,399
Speaker 1: he gets better at the play, and I think that's

576
00:26:58,440 --> 00:27:01,640
Speaker 1: not an unreasonable hope. I think he's probably a better

577
00:27:01,680 --> 00:27:05,399
Speaker 1: hitter than this, but not by that much. Candidly, if

578
00:27:05,440 --> 00:27:07,439
Speaker 1: you look at his career numbers, they're kind of in

579
00:27:07,480 --> 00:27:07,800
Speaker 1: line with this.

580
00:27:09,280 --> 00:27:12,520
Speaker 2: Yeah, Offensively, he has been about as close to a

581
00:27:12,680 --> 00:27:18,160
Speaker 2: zero as any regular in Major League Baseball can bese.

582
00:27:18,200 --> 00:27:20,680
Speaker 2: I mean it's bad, Brad, let's not sugarcoat it. And

583
00:27:20,800 --> 00:27:23,080
Speaker 2: the advats are bad. You know, he'll take a ball

584
00:27:23,160 --> 00:27:26,119
Speaker 2: right down the middle and then flail at two sliders

585
00:27:26,119 --> 00:27:28,439
Speaker 2: off the plate, and it's like, man, that that's just

586
00:27:28,600 --> 00:27:33,400
Speaker 2: not good hitting. It's not good approach. Defensively, I will say,

587
00:27:33,440 --> 00:27:39,000
Speaker 2: to Orlando's credit, he is terrific defensively, very steady, makes

588
00:27:39,040 --> 00:27:42,000
Speaker 2: all the plays that you want him to make. The

589
00:27:42,119 --> 00:27:44,199
Speaker 2: routine plays and then also has a little bit of

590
00:27:44,240 --> 00:27:47,000
Speaker 2: flash to his game. Yeah, you know, he can make

591
00:27:47,040 --> 00:27:51,240
Speaker 2: some special plays. Nobody is questioning Orlando's defense, but man,

592
00:27:51,400 --> 00:27:54,560
Speaker 2: the offense is bad. You mentioned his stretch over the

593
00:27:54,640 --> 00:27:58,679
Speaker 2: last fifty and then the last one sixty two. It

594
00:27:58,760 --> 00:28:01,639
Speaker 2: does feel like, as we are a little more than

595
00:28:01,640 --> 00:28:06,400
Speaker 2: a month away from the trade deadline, that Alex Anthopolis

596
00:28:06,440 --> 00:28:09,680
Speaker 2: at least has to look at shortstop options come trade

597
00:28:09,680 --> 00:28:12,720
Speaker 2: deadline time. Maybe he's not going to be able to

598
00:28:13,000 --> 00:28:15,920
Speaker 2: address the position, and we're going to talk about some

599
00:28:15,960 --> 00:28:18,879
Speaker 2: candidates and just kind of how difficult it might be

600
00:28:19,040 --> 00:28:22,520
Speaker 2: to make an impact edition. But it is fair to ask,

601
00:28:22,720 --> 00:28:25,880
Speaker 2: as we reached the end of June, if Orlando Arcia

602
00:28:25,960 --> 00:28:28,159
Speaker 2: is going to be the team starting shortstop for the

603
00:28:28,160 --> 00:28:31,159
Speaker 2: rest of the year. Yeah, that's definitely fair and just

604
00:28:31,200 --> 00:28:34,679
Speaker 2: to give maybe kind of defend Orlando a little bit.

605
00:28:36,040 --> 00:28:39,880
Speaker 2: The last two seasons before this one were, of course,

606
00:28:39,880 --> 00:28:43,520
Speaker 2: his first full seasons in Atlanta. He was a better hitter,

607
00:28:43,680 --> 00:28:45,520
Speaker 2: like he was about a league average hitter for about

608
00:28:45,520 --> 00:28:47,719
Speaker 2: a year, for about about a year year and a half,

609
00:28:48,120 --> 00:28:49,800
Speaker 2: and that was a departure from where he had been

610
00:28:49,800 --> 00:28:50,280
Speaker 2: in his career.

611
00:28:50,360 --> 00:28:52,720
Speaker 1: Because even right now. Just to give the number, he

612
00:28:52,760 --> 00:28:55,800
Speaker 1: has a career seventy seven of RC plus and it's

613
00:28:55,800 --> 00:28:59,560
Speaker 1: not a small sample size. It's three thousand play appearances.

614
00:29:00,440 --> 00:29:01,840
Speaker 1: That's a lot of that's a lot of play appearances.

615
00:29:03,000 --> 00:29:05,720
Speaker 1: So the braves that unlocks some stuff in him. He

616
00:29:05,760 --> 00:29:07,479
Speaker 1: does have some pop in the bat his seventeen home

617
00:29:07,560 --> 00:29:10,160
Speaker 1: runs last year. He showed a little bit more power

618
00:29:10,200 --> 00:29:13,600
Speaker 1: when he got to Atlanta. But yeah, it's kind of

619
00:29:13,640 --> 00:29:15,240
Speaker 1: been a regression or how do you want to say it?

620
00:29:15,280 --> 00:29:17,120
Speaker 1: And I'm with you, this is not this is the

621
00:29:17,200 --> 00:29:20,840
Speaker 1: less scientific version, but I definitely agree with your evaluation

622
00:29:20,920 --> 00:29:22,880
Speaker 1: of just like just watching it, just it just does

623
00:29:22,960 --> 00:29:26,440
Speaker 1: not look like he's comfortable. The approach is lacking right now,

624
00:29:26,800 --> 00:29:29,440
Speaker 1: and I'm sure he's probably struggling with some confidence and

625
00:29:29,520 --> 00:29:31,960
Speaker 1: some comfort. In general, this is a prolonged slum that

626
00:29:31,960 --> 00:29:34,760
Speaker 1: nobody's gonna have a lot of fun getting into. But yeah,

627
00:29:34,800 --> 00:29:36,960
Speaker 1: it's a question you have to ask. And one of

628
00:29:37,040 --> 00:29:40,000
Speaker 1: the things about Arcia that is worth acknowledging is that

629
00:29:40,080 --> 00:29:43,200
Speaker 1: he's making very little money, like that was a heist

630
00:29:43,200 --> 00:29:45,600
Speaker 1: of a contract. No matter what you think about Arcia,

631
00:29:46,160 --> 00:29:49,680
Speaker 1: he's making backup infielder money. Basically, and he's been starting

632
00:29:49,720 --> 00:29:52,560
Speaker 1: a shortstop for the last two years, and that's typical Braves.

633
00:29:52,560 --> 00:29:55,320
Speaker 1: They had this great value. But you don't even have

634
00:29:55,360 --> 00:29:57,120
Speaker 1: to trade Arcia like I've seen I've seen some of

635
00:29:57,120 --> 00:29:58,720
Speaker 1: this stuff about well what are you gonna do with him?

636
00:29:58,760 --> 00:30:01,760
Speaker 1: Like nothing, You just in the backup, like it's unfortunate

637
00:30:01,800 --> 00:30:03,440
Speaker 1: for him if you if you coul acquire someone better

638
00:30:03,480 --> 00:30:06,240
Speaker 1: than him, you can and should, in my opinion, just

639
00:30:06,320 --> 00:30:09,040
Speaker 1: keep him on the roster. He becomes the better version

640
00:30:09,040 --> 00:30:12,960
Speaker 1: of Zach Short and you roll along basically. With that said,

641
00:30:13,000 --> 00:30:15,840
Speaker 1: like your question is a good one, It's the hardest

642
00:30:15,840 --> 00:30:18,520
Speaker 1: part is finding a guy to replace him, because you

643
00:30:18,520 --> 00:30:20,200
Speaker 1: could throw an Ams out, Scott, you did the research

644
00:30:20,240 --> 00:30:23,680
Speaker 1: on this. This is honestly, this is a time will

645
00:30:23,680 --> 00:30:26,280
Speaker 1: probably say a little bit more for July, but there's

646
00:30:26,320 --> 00:30:29,240
Speaker 1: a real fear on baseball all together that there might

647
00:30:29,280 --> 00:30:32,200
Speaker 1: be a very cramped deadline because there aren't that many

648
00:30:32,240 --> 00:30:35,720
Speaker 1: sellers and shortstop in particular, like one of the reasons

649
00:30:35,920 --> 00:30:38,360
Speaker 1: I think and Ax didn't say this, nor would he

650
00:30:38,400 --> 00:30:41,400
Speaker 1: on the record, but I think that they probably would

651
00:30:41,440 --> 00:30:44,880
Speaker 1: have liked to upgrade from Orlando previously. But like show

652
00:30:44,880 --> 00:30:47,280
Speaker 1: me where they're supposed to go like it. You know

653
00:30:47,520 --> 00:30:51,160
Speaker 1: you can't. You famously can't have eight nine All Stars

654
00:30:51,160 --> 00:30:54,080
Speaker 1: on your team. It's not possible. But and the reason

655
00:30:54,120 --> 00:30:56,560
Speaker 1: why it's okay that Arcia has been kind of what

656
00:30:56,640 --> 00:30:58,640
Speaker 1: he's been is that he he catches the ball like,

657
00:30:58,680 --> 00:31:00,640
Speaker 1: do you point him at the defenses. That's a great point.

658
00:31:00,960 --> 00:31:03,040
Speaker 1: It's okay to have your worst hitters in the lineup,

659
00:31:03,480 --> 00:31:07,160
Speaker 1: be guys that are at least they're play defense. So

660
00:31:07,200 --> 00:31:10,680
Speaker 1: it's okay to have that. But man, even the guys

661
00:31:10,680 --> 00:31:12,560
Speaker 1: you wrote down here, there's one name that I am

662
00:31:12,720 --> 00:31:15,240
Speaker 1: interested in for sure, but a lot of the potential

663
00:31:15,280 --> 00:31:17,760
Speaker 1: upgrades may not be upgrades, like they're kind of either

664
00:31:17,800 --> 00:31:19,640
Speaker 1: similar or they're the exact opposite wards.

665
00:31:19,680 --> 00:31:23,920
Speaker 2: You yeah, exactly. And we know that Orlando is very

666
00:31:23,960 --> 00:31:26,920
Speaker 2: well liked in the clubhouse by his teammates, and that's

667
00:31:26,920 --> 00:31:29,880
Speaker 2: something that's important to Alex and Thoppless definitely. Now, he's

668
00:31:29,920 --> 00:31:32,720
Speaker 2: not going to not improve the team just because a

669
00:31:32,800 --> 00:31:35,800
Speaker 2: guy is liked. I mean, Pablo Sandoval was beloved in

670
00:31:35,840 --> 00:31:38,080
Speaker 2: that clubhouse and he shipped him out at the trade

671
00:31:38,080 --> 00:31:41,680
Speaker 2: deadline for Eddie Rosario a few years ago. So it's

672
00:31:41,680 --> 00:31:44,040
Speaker 2: not impossible right. Just because you're a good dude doesn't

673
00:31:44,080 --> 00:31:48,280
Speaker 2: mean you have a position forever. But you are going

674
00:31:48,320 --> 00:31:52,239
Speaker 2: to have to make a marked improvement on shortstop if

675
00:31:52,280 --> 00:31:56,960
Speaker 2: you're going to take his job away effectively. The issue

676
00:31:57,040 --> 00:32:00,720
Speaker 2: is is that you just took a great point. Look

677
00:32:00,760 --> 00:32:03,200
Speaker 2: at the trade deadline and look at the standings right now.

678
00:32:03,680 --> 00:32:06,680
Speaker 2: I think there's going to be probably seven or eight

679
00:32:06,760 --> 00:32:11,320
Speaker 2: teams who are going to be realistic sellers come July thirtieth.

680
00:32:11,360 --> 00:32:13,200
Speaker 2: It's on the thirtieth this year, by the way, just

681
00:32:13,400 --> 00:32:17,240
Speaker 2: fun housekeeping note. And you look around, like, let's talk

682
00:32:17,240 --> 00:32:20,600
Speaker 2: about Paul Deong of the Chicago White Sox. The White

683
00:32:20,640 --> 00:32:23,880
Speaker 2: Sox are obviously going to sell. De Young is not

684
00:32:24,040 --> 00:32:26,160
Speaker 2: a young player at this point. He's not part of

685
00:32:26,200 --> 00:32:29,680
Speaker 2: the White Sox rebuilding plans. And even though de Young

686
00:32:29,760 --> 00:32:32,840
Speaker 2: has been pretty solid this year on a performance basis,

687
00:32:33,280 --> 00:32:35,800
Speaker 2: you look at his numbers a little deeper. He has

688
00:32:35,960 --> 00:32:40,080
Speaker 2: a thirty two percent strikeout rate, a three point five

689
00:32:40,120 --> 00:32:44,280
Speaker 2: percent walk rate. He is overperforming. So he has like

690
00:32:44,320 --> 00:32:47,160
Speaker 2: a one to ten WRC plus, which is solid. I mean,

691
00:32:47,160 --> 00:32:50,480
Speaker 2: if you could guarantee that that is a significant improvement offensively,

692
00:32:50,560 --> 00:32:53,400
Speaker 2: but you cannot. But you cannot because de Young has

693
00:32:53,440 --> 00:32:56,720
Speaker 2: been terrible for three years before this, and any of

694
00:32:56,800 --> 00:33:00,280
Speaker 2: the expected metrics all say that Deong has been prey

695
00:33:00,320 --> 00:33:03,320
Speaker 2: lucky the first three months of the season. So are

696
00:33:03,640 --> 00:33:07,440
Speaker 2: you gonna take Orlando's job away for the hope that

697
00:33:07,480 --> 00:33:11,480
Speaker 2: Paul de Young maybe is like a marginally better shortstop.

698
00:33:12,040 --> 00:33:12,880
Speaker 1: I don't know. Maybe.

699
00:33:13,080 --> 00:33:14,800
Speaker 2: I mean, I'd love to have Alex on the show

700
00:33:14,840 --> 00:33:17,280
Speaker 2: so we could pick his brain. But you know, there's

701
00:33:17,360 --> 00:33:19,720
Speaker 2: just not going to be like, let's run through the

702
00:33:19,800 --> 00:33:22,400
Speaker 2: obvious sellers real quick here, Brad. Okay, So we talked

703
00:33:22,400 --> 00:33:26,520
Speaker 2: about de Young. On the White Sox Colorado Ezekiel Tovar

704
00:33:26,720 --> 00:33:30,200
Speaker 2: is signed through twenty thirty. They're not trading him. The

705
00:33:30,760 --> 00:33:34,680
Speaker 2: Los Angeles Angels zach Nido not a needle mover.

706
00:33:35,000 --> 00:33:35,080
Speaker 4: No.

707
00:33:35,640 --> 00:33:38,520
Speaker 2: The Oakland A's start a twenty seven year old rookie

708
00:33:38,600 --> 00:33:42,920
Speaker 2: named Max Schuman. Max Schuman is not an upgrade for

709
00:33:42,960 --> 00:33:47,000
Speaker 2: the Braves. The Miami Marlins start Tim Anderson, who got

710
00:33:47,080 --> 00:33:50,600
Speaker 2: knocked out by Jose Ramirez and is maybe the worst

711
00:33:50,600 --> 00:33:51,600
Speaker 2: regular in baseball.

712
00:33:52,000 --> 00:33:53,640
Speaker 1: I have a note on that. By the way, just

713
00:33:53,640 --> 00:33:55,800
Speaker 1: for the record, Tim Anderson was quite good a couple

714
00:33:55,800 --> 00:33:58,080
Speaker 1: of years ago, but he has been really bad since then.

715
00:33:58,120 --> 00:34:03,200
Speaker 1: In fact, he is the only the only qualified shortstop

716
00:34:03,200 --> 00:34:07,040
Speaker 1: in baseball, but has a has a lower fangrass warmark

717
00:34:07,120 --> 00:34:08,720
Speaker 1: in the last calendar year than Arcia.

718
00:34:09,920 --> 00:34:13,759
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's yeah, not really an option. You know, the

719
00:34:13,800 --> 00:34:18,080
Speaker 2: Detroit Tigers have started losing, you know, they start Hobby Bayez.

720
00:34:18,160 --> 00:34:21,680
Speaker 2: I think at shortstop obviously you're not taking on that contract.

721
00:34:22,120 --> 00:34:24,160
Speaker 2: So the point that you know, it's a fun exercise

722
00:34:24,160 --> 00:34:26,800
Speaker 2: if listeners want to do it. But the long winded

723
00:34:26,800 --> 00:34:29,319
Speaker 2: point that I'm trying to make here is that of

724
00:34:29,360 --> 00:34:33,640
Speaker 2: the obvious sellers, there's very little on the shortstop market

725
00:34:33,719 --> 00:34:35,960
Speaker 2: to go out there to improve on the position.

726
00:34:37,080 --> 00:34:40,399
Speaker 1: Yeah, and also I think if you gave Alex truth

727
00:34:40,440 --> 00:34:44,359
Speaker 1: serum and said, you know, if you had to have

728
00:34:44,400 --> 00:34:47,000
Speaker 1: one spot on the diamond where you can live with

729
00:34:47,760 --> 00:34:51,879
Speaker 1: relative zero at the plate, it is shortstop if he's

730
00:34:51,880 --> 00:34:55,719
Speaker 1: playing defense. So like, especially given what you just said

731
00:34:55,719 --> 00:34:58,560
Speaker 1: about the clubouse stuff, which is right, he's very well liked.

732
00:34:59,080 --> 00:35:02,200
Speaker 1: He has hit better in certain samples, and again even

733
00:35:02,239 --> 00:35:03,960
Speaker 1: with all the numbers out there, he has been better

734
00:35:04,000 --> 00:35:08,160
Speaker 1: than this recently. And you know, you could take it,

735
00:35:08,200 --> 00:35:10,120
Speaker 1: you could take a relative zero there. Now it's more

736
00:35:10,120 --> 00:35:11,799
Speaker 1: of a challenge when you're out to those decimated like

737
00:35:11,800 --> 00:35:15,480
Speaker 1: it is right now. But I'd love to know where

738
00:35:15,520 --> 00:35:19,560
Speaker 1: the baseline Mendoza line is or where he has to

739
00:35:19,640 --> 00:35:21,800
Speaker 1: hit to be in danger. And I don't know the

740
00:35:21,840 --> 00:35:25,399
Speaker 1: answer to that. I guess you could. You wrote this down,

741
00:35:25,600 --> 00:35:27,440
Speaker 1: I'll throw it back to you quickly. We would have

742
00:35:27,480 --> 00:35:30,560
Speaker 1: to do too much on this. But maybe if Toronto

743
00:35:30,560 --> 00:35:33,000
Speaker 1: cells Bobaschett could be a target, I'm sure he would.

744
00:35:33,040 --> 00:35:35,120
Speaker 1: He would be in high demand across baseball. It wouldn't

745
00:35:35,120 --> 00:35:36,759
Speaker 1: be like it would be just the bravest calling on him.

746
00:35:36,760 --> 00:35:38,680
Speaker 1: But is that the sexiest name you can find? That's

747
00:35:38,719 --> 00:35:41,160
Speaker 1: like semi realistic. Yeah.

748
00:35:41,200 --> 00:35:43,959
Speaker 2: I spent some time on Sunday just kind of going

749
00:35:44,080 --> 00:35:49,080
Speaker 2: roster by roster and trying to identify good shortstops who

750
00:35:49,200 --> 00:35:53,560
Speaker 2: could be sold at the deadline, and Bobaschett was kind

751
00:35:53,600 --> 00:35:55,640
Speaker 2: of the only name that I could really come up with.

752
00:35:56,320 --> 00:35:59,640
Speaker 2: The Blue Jays are like seventeen games back in the

753
00:35:59,680 --> 00:36:03,120
Speaker 2: AL East, so the division is out of reach, and

754
00:36:03,160 --> 00:36:05,600
Speaker 2: I believe they're six or seven games back in the

755
00:36:05,640 --> 00:36:09,279
Speaker 2: wildcard chase, but there are like eight teams ahead of them,

756
00:36:09,840 --> 00:36:13,279
Speaker 2: so it's not a guarantee. That Toronto sells is also

757
00:36:13,400 --> 00:36:16,279
Speaker 2: the ownership component. You never know in ownership either wants

758
00:36:16,280 --> 00:36:20,480
Speaker 2: to cut money or wants to not rebuild. But it

759
00:36:20,520 --> 00:36:22,920
Speaker 2: does seem like Toronto is going to be in a

760
00:36:23,000 --> 00:36:25,560
Speaker 2: rebuild at some point here given what's going on in

761
00:36:25,560 --> 00:36:29,000
Speaker 2: the rest of their division. And Bobasheed is interesting. To

762
00:36:29,080 --> 00:36:32,399
Speaker 2: be clear, he was not having a good twenty twenty four.

763
00:36:32,680 --> 00:36:35,000
Speaker 2: It has been the worst year of his career. But

764
00:36:35,120 --> 00:36:39,239
Speaker 2: before this season he was a four plus war shortstop

765
00:36:39,560 --> 00:36:43,000
Speaker 2: in twenty twenty one, twenty twenty two and twenty twenty

766
00:36:43,040 --> 00:36:46,600
Speaker 2: three a WRC plus in the one twenty to one

767
00:36:46,719 --> 00:36:50,719
Speaker 2: thirty range, so he can really hit. Defensively, he is

768
00:36:50,760 --> 00:36:53,239
Speaker 2: not great, that much is clear. He is not a

769
00:36:53,280 --> 00:36:56,560
Speaker 2: great defender. But at the same time, man like, there

770
00:36:56,560 --> 00:36:59,920
Speaker 2: are no perfect shortstops who are available for the Braves

771
00:37:00,120 --> 00:37:03,600
Speaker 2: right now. Anyone who could come over probably has a

772
00:37:03,680 --> 00:37:07,280
Speaker 2: wart of some kind. But for my money, Boba Schet

773
00:37:07,320 --> 00:37:09,799
Speaker 2: is the one name to really keep an eye on

774
00:37:10,200 --> 00:37:14,200
Speaker 2: if Toronto decides to sell, because offensively he would really

775
00:37:14,200 --> 00:37:18,080
Speaker 2: solidify the lineup even more so, and defensively you just

776
00:37:18,160 --> 00:37:19,719
Speaker 2: kind of have to live with it. I mean, he's

777
00:37:19,760 --> 00:37:23,680
Speaker 2: not unplayable. At shortstop. But he's not a gold Glove winner,

778
00:37:23,719 --> 00:37:25,520
Speaker 2: and if he was a gold Glove winner, then he

779
00:37:25,560 --> 00:37:28,440
Speaker 2: would command like half of a really good farm system

780
00:37:28,480 --> 00:37:31,320
Speaker 2: in a trade, and that's probably not going to be

781
00:37:31,440 --> 00:37:34,359
Speaker 2: the case, right And I tend to think that if

782
00:37:34,400 --> 00:37:38,040
Speaker 2: Alex is going to go outside the organization and add somebody,

783
00:37:38,040 --> 00:37:41,040
Speaker 2: it would have to be a pre significant jump offensively

784
00:37:41,160 --> 00:37:44,799
Speaker 2: for him to want to do that, just because I

785
00:37:44,840 --> 00:37:46,960
Speaker 2: know people are going to be throwing their phones and

786
00:37:47,080 --> 00:37:49,839
Speaker 2: yelling at their phones. As to the internal option, let's

787
00:37:49,960 --> 00:37:53,839
Speaker 2: discuss briefly the words Nacho Alvarez. He is, of course

788
00:37:53,880 --> 00:37:56,319
Speaker 2: the twenty one year old prospect for the Braves. If

789
00:37:56,320 --> 00:38:01,360
Speaker 2: they were to go internal to replace, so to speak, Arcia,

790
00:38:01,440 --> 00:38:03,680
Speaker 2: he would be the logical option. He does have a

791
00:38:04,040 --> 00:38:06,680
Speaker 2: very very limited sample size above the high A level.

792
00:38:06,680 --> 00:38:08,480
Speaker 2: He is currently in Gwinette, where I know he had

793
00:38:08,480 --> 00:38:11,919
Speaker 2: a fantastic first week, like a comically ridiculous first week

794
00:38:11,920 --> 00:38:15,759
Speaker 2: in Gwinnett. He's cooled since then, and people, I think

795
00:38:15,800 --> 00:38:18,120
Speaker 2: because of that red hot start, the fact he has

796
00:38:18,120 --> 00:38:19,840
Speaker 2: a cool name, and because he is one of the

797
00:38:19,920 --> 00:38:22,879
Speaker 2: better prospects, which he is, I think some people have

798
00:38:23,280 --> 00:38:25,440
Speaker 2: kind of assigned some characteristics to not show that he

799
00:38:25,480 --> 00:38:27,640
Speaker 2: doesn't actually have right now. Again, we will always say

800
00:38:27,640 --> 00:38:30,880
Speaker 2: on this podcast we're not prospect experts, but as a number.

801
00:38:30,920 --> 00:38:34,840
Speaker 2: For instance, Nacho Alvarez currently has eight home runs total

802
00:38:35,040 --> 00:38:38,640
Speaker 2: in more than eight hundred minor league plate appearances. He

803
00:38:38,680 --> 00:38:40,120
Speaker 2: is not a power hitter at all.

804
00:38:40,320 --> 00:38:43,799
Speaker 1: Now. He might be a good hitter beyond that, but

805
00:38:44,040 --> 00:38:46,560
Speaker 1: someone I trust on Brits prospects, I'll say, I'll pass

806
00:38:46,600 --> 00:38:49,040
Speaker 1: this along to you, Scott. Get your reaction. This is

807
00:38:49,040 --> 00:38:51,400
Speaker 1: almost word for what they told me. Again, someone I trust,

808
00:38:51,560 --> 00:38:55,040
Speaker 1: I won't name them, but basically the pitch on Alvarez

809
00:38:55,080 --> 00:38:57,719
Speaker 1: right now would bet he would be probably a better

810
00:38:57,800 --> 00:38:59,800
Speaker 1: hitter maybe right now in terms of getting on base

811
00:39:00,200 --> 00:39:03,160
Speaker 1: with like singles and walks the Narcia. But he is

812
00:39:03,200 --> 00:39:06,480
Speaker 1: a worst defender by a lot right now major league wise,

813
00:39:06,640 --> 00:39:09,640
Speaker 1: and even has less power than Narcia. Does that sound

814
00:39:09,760 --> 00:39:14,040
Speaker 1: like someone that they're gonna rush, you know, extensively right now?

815
00:39:14,120 --> 00:39:16,359
Speaker 1: It's twenty one years old with very little experience and

816
00:39:16,640 --> 00:39:18,319
Speaker 1: put over the top of guy, the guy that they

817
00:39:18,360 --> 00:39:20,160
Speaker 1: seem to value and like. Because I tend to think not,

818
00:39:20,239 --> 00:39:20,959
Speaker 1: but maybe I'm wrong.

819
00:39:22,080 --> 00:39:25,440
Speaker 2: You know, the Braves could go with the Hurston Waldrip

820
00:39:25,480 --> 00:39:28,960
Speaker 2: approach for Nacho and just throw them out there they

821
00:39:29,000 --> 00:39:33,520
Speaker 2: couldn't and see what happens. I don't think they're going

822
00:39:33,640 --> 00:39:37,600
Speaker 2: to do that. And you mentioned defensively, there are some

823
00:39:37,760 --> 00:39:42,759
Speaker 2: real questions about Nacho's defense. No. Fangrafts released the Braves'

824
00:39:42,800 --> 00:39:45,560
Speaker 2: top thirty six prospects this week, and it should be

825
00:39:45,600 --> 00:39:47,400
Speaker 2: on their homepage if folks want to go take a

826
00:39:47,440 --> 00:39:50,640
Speaker 2: look through. It. Pretty intense scouting reports on all of

827
00:39:50,680 --> 00:39:55,200
Speaker 2: their top prospects, and Fangrafts noted that long term, there

828
00:39:55,200 --> 00:39:58,600
Speaker 2: are some real questions about Nacho's defense. He might have

829
00:39:58,680 --> 00:40:00,440
Speaker 2: to move to third base, he might have to move

830
00:40:00,480 --> 00:40:04,120
Speaker 2: to second base, and because of the defensive concerns, the

831
00:40:04,200 --> 00:40:08,720
Speaker 2: Braves have him play really deep in the shortstop hole,

832
00:40:09,239 --> 00:40:12,520
Speaker 2: kind of shifting towards third base because he's much better

833
00:40:12,560 --> 00:40:16,680
Speaker 2: going to his left than his right. The arm is

834
00:40:16,719 --> 00:40:19,960
Speaker 2: not otherworldly from what I have seen and read, and

835
00:40:20,719 --> 00:40:24,640
Speaker 2: we know that shortstop is not a position where you

836
00:40:24,640 --> 00:40:27,319
Speaker 2: can just punt the defense like we saw that with

837
00:40:27,400 --> 00:40:30,520
Speaker 2: von Grissom. Remember that, actually I was gonna make this comparison.

838
00:40:31,239 --> 00:40:34,800
Speaker 2: It's a lot like von Grissom, except for von Grissom.

839
00:40:34,920 --> 00:40:35,880
Speaker 2: If people have forgotten this.

840
00:40:35,920 --> 00:40:38,560
Speaker 1: When he debuted in twenty twenty two, it was an

841
00:40:38,560 --> 00:40:42,640
Speaker 1: aggressive promotion, but it was because of injury. Like he

842
00:40:42,760 --> 00:40:45,560
Speaker 1: only came up out of nowhere because of injury. And yes,

843
00:40:45,600 --> 00:40:47,640
Speaker 1: he was a highly rated prospect, but it was actually

844
00:40:47,719 --> 00:40:50,239
Speaker 1: Arcia who was the fill in at second base at

845
00:40:50,239 --> 00:40:52,440
Speaker 1: that point talk as he was already hurt. They had

846
00:40:52,560 --> 00:40:54,680
Speaker 1: Arcia and they had that they were down two guys

847
00:40:54,719 --> 00:40:57,440
Speaker 1: and they had to go deep. It didn't have to,

848
00:40:57,520 --> 00:40:58,960
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. That's that's what prompted the

849
00:40:59,000 --> 00:41:01,279
Speaker 1: call up. Yeah, if if Arcia was hurt right now,

850
00:41:01,800 --> 00:41:04,120
Speaker 1: I would much rather, I'm sorry, I would be much

851
00:41:04,120 --> 00:41:06,960
Speaker 1: more likely to use, to your point, the Waldrop comparison

852
00:41:07,239 --> 00:41:08,800
Speaker 1: to say, all right, throw the kid out there and

853
00:41:08,840 --> 00:41:11,239
Speaker 1: see what happens. It's hard for me to believe that

854
00:41:11,320 --> 00:41:12,920
Speaker 1: if that they're going to that they would do that

855
00:41:13,400 --> 00:41:15,240
Speaker 1: with Rcia healthy.

856
00:41:15,440 --> 00:41:15,640
Speaker 3: Now.

857
00:41:15,840 --> 00:41:17,920
Speaker 1: Maybe the hurt comparison is that RCA has been so

858
00:41:17,960 --> 00:41:20,799
Speaker 1: bad for so long. That's maybe similar, but there are

859
00:41:21,360 --> 00:41:24,840
Speaker 1: there's more of a ViBe's case against when it's a

860
00:41:24,880 --> 00:41:27,200
Speaker 1: guy who is not injured and there's not there's not

861
00:41:27,239 --> 00:41:28,960
Speaker 1: quite that same urgency, especially because by the way the

862
00:41:29,000 --> 00:41:31,719
Speaker 1: Braves are winning. Now what if they were two eight

863
00:41:31,800 --> 00:41:33,799
Speaker 1: the last ten, maybe the calls would be louder. But

864
00:41:34,160 --> 00:41:35,680
Speaker 1: I see a lot of I actually see a lot

865
00:41:35,719 --> 00:41:39,759
Speaker 1: of similarities between Alvarez and and Grissom as these like

866
00:41:40,160 --> 00:41:44,759
Speaker 1: high average, not obscene power, questionable defensive middle infielders at

867
00:41:44,800 --> 00:41:46,960
Speaker 1: the same age, basically almost twenty one when he came up, like,

868
00:41:46,960 --> 00:41:48,359
Speaker 1: there's a lot of crossover there.

869
00:41:49,400 --> 00:41:53,720
Speaker 2: And to be clear, I'm pretty bullish on Nacho long term.

870
00:41:54,320 --> 00:41:56,840
Speaker 2: I think he can be an impact or maybe just

871
00:41:56,880 --> 00:41:59,239
Speaker 2: a contributor at the major league level. I don't know

872
00:41:59,280 --> 00:42:01,640
Speaker 2: if he's going to be a star, even an above

873
00:42:01,640 --> 00:42:04,960
Speaker 2: average regular one day. Because we're talking about and this

874
00:42:05,000 --> 00:42:07,640
Speaker 2: is a point we should repeat, he is twenty one

875
00:42:07,719 --> 00:42:12,080
Speaker 2: years old with two hundred and fifty played appearances above

876
00:42:12,600 --> 00:42:16,920
Speaker 2: high a ball. That's what a third of a season,

877
00:42:17,040 --> 00:42:20,080
Speaker 2: maybe maybe forty percent of a regular season. Say you

878
00:42:20,120 --> 00:42:22,759
Speaker 2: get six hundred played appearances in the year. We're only

879
00:42:22,800 --> 00:42:25,279
Speaker 2: talking about two hundred and fifty played appearances for a

880
00:42:25,360 --> 00:42:29,319
Speaker 2: kid who is twenty one. Has some questions about the defense. Now,

881
00:42:29,320 --> 00:42:31,480
Speaker 2: I can tell you for a fact that if Brian

882
00:42:31,600 --> 00:42:36,280
Speaker 2: Snicker was completely candid, I bet that Snitt likes Orlando

883
00:42:36,360 --> 00:42:39,880
Speaker 2: because he plays really good defense. Maybe the offense is

884
00:42:39,960 --> 00:42:42,799
Speaker 2: anything special, but man, if you have a kid, if

885
00:42:42,840 --> 00:42:44,759
Speaker 2: you throw him out there to the Wolves and he

886
00:42:44,840 --> 00:42:48,239
Speaker 2: makes a couple of airrors at shortstop, That's one thing

887
00:42:48,320 --> 00:42:51,840
Speaker 2: I think the Braves would value more is the certainty

888
00:42:51,880 --> 00:42:56,440
Speaker 2: on defense with Orlando than the potential for Nacho to

889
00:42:56,480 --> 00:42:59,840
Speaker 2: be a better hitter, even if the defense isn't very good.

890
00:43:00,280 --> 00:43:02,719
Speaker 1: Yeah. Actually, not that I'm wishing this is. I'm definitely not.

891
00:43:03,080 --> 00:43:06,720
Speaker 1: I wonder what they would do if Arcia got hurt,

892
00:43:06,760 --> 00:43:09,799
Speaker 1: like today or tomorrow, and if they would go, if

893
00:43:09,840 --> 00:43:11,600
Speaker 1: they go to Alvarez, if they just plug the hole

894
00:43:11,600 --> 00:43:14,839
Speaker 1: of Zach short or whatever. And look, maybe I'll be wrong.

895
00:43:14,880 --> 00:43:16,759
Speaker 1: I already lost a bet to you on how fast

896
00:43:16,840 --> 00:43:18,560
Speaker 1: Walter would come up. Now granted he came up and

897
00:43:18,560 --> 00:43:21,920
Speaker 1: then went back down again. But yeah, I think that

898
00:43:22,440 --> 00:43:25,000
Speaker 1: from what I can glean people that I trust what

899
00:43:25,120 --> 00:43:27,160
Speaker 1: my eyes tell me, what the what the numbers say.

900
00:43:27,920 --> 00:43:30,520
Speaker 1: I don't. I don't love the call up Nacho as

901
00:43:30,520 --> 00:43:32,839
Speaker 1: our savor, as our twenty twenty four savior, a short

902
00:43:32,840 --> 00:43:34,879
Speaker 1: stop option that I'm seeing, And I get why people

903
00:43:34,920 --> 00:43:37,840
Speaker 1: are making that case because he has been good in Gwinette.

904
00:43:37,960 --> 00:43:40,399
Speaker 1: But it was essentially one it was a great week,

905
00:43:40,440 --> 00:43:42,040
Speaker 1: but he had it was it was essentially one great

906
00:43:42,080 --> 00:43:44,680
Speaker 1: week for people to be that excited about him. And look,

907
00:43:44,719 --> 00:43:47,480
Speaker 1: he is talented. I'm with you, I see major league future,

908
00:43:47,840 --> 00:43:49,120
Speaker 1: but he's not like this is not this is not

909
00:43:49,200 --> 00:43:52,440
Speaker 1: a top top, top top prospect by people that are

910
00:43:52,440 --> 00:43:54,320
Speaker 1: smarter than we are. Like, he's not a top hundred

911
00:43:54,360 --> 00:43:57,520
Speaker 1: guy on lists. He's one of the Braves, top five

912
00:43:57,600 --> 00:43:59,719
Speaker 1: or six guys, but he's not considered to be like

913
00:43:59,719 --> 00:44:00,960
Speaker 1: a mess or anything close to that.

914
00:44:01,320 --> 00:44:05,200
Speaker 2: Yeah, this is not Ronald Acuna Junior five or six

915
00:44:05,280 --> 00:44:05,880
Speaker 2: years ago.

916
00:44:06,080 --> 00:44:08,480
Speaker 1: Not even Michael Harris. This is not even anywhere near. Honestly,

917
00:44:08,600 --> 00:44:11,879
Speaker 1: Vong Grislin was. It was a higher rated prospect than

918
00:44:12,200 --> 00:44:13,080
Speaker 1: not you currently as.

919
00:44:13,360 --> 00:44:18,279
Speaker 2: Yeah, so, without question, shortstop is going to be very

920
00:44:18,280 --> 00:44:21,240
Speaker 2: interesting to keep an eye on over the next six weeks.

921
00:44:22,000 --> 00:44:24,200
Speaker 2: I would assume, I would agree with you. I would

922
00:44:24,239 --> 00:44:26,839
Speaker 2: assume that Orlando is going to continue to be put

923
00:44:26,840 --> 00:44:29,880
Speaker 2: out there, especially if the team keeps winning as they

924
00:44:29,920 --> 00:44:33,040
Speaker 2: have done the past ten days or so and continue

925
00:44:33,080 --> 00:44:36,080
Speaker 2: to give Nacho reps in Gwinnette. This is not a

926
00:44:36,080 --> 00:44:39,640
Speaker 2: beat up on Nacho Alvarez conversation. By any means, I

927
00:44:39,680 --> 00:44:42,600
Speaker 2: think it was just we needed to pour a little

928
00:44:42,600 --> 00:44:46,919
Speaker 2: bit of cold water on the hype train, because I mean,

929
00:44:47,719 --> 00:44:50,719
Speaker 2: if I had to bet if Nacho Alvarez was made

930
00:44:50,760 --> 00:44:55,160
Speaker 2: the brave starting shortstop tomorrow, no questions asked, and wrote

931
00:44:55,200 --> 00:44:57,640
Speaker 2: them the rest of the way the entire season, I

932
00:44:57,640 --> 00:45:00,600
Speaker 2: would guess it would probably not go super well. That's

933
00:45:00,760 --> 00:45:03,080
Speaker 2: just my opinion, and I tend to agree with you,

934
00:45:03,120 --> 00:45:05,319
Speaker 2: by the way, and look, it could We're not.

935
00:45:05,360 --> 00:45:06,960
Speaker 1: I'm not rolling it out. I don't think you are either.

936
00:45:07,160 --> 00:45:10,120
Speaker 1: I'm not saying it couldn't work, but I would my

937
00:45:10,200 --> 00:45:12,440
Speaker 1: projection would be quite modest if they did that.

938
00:45:12,920 --> 00:45:16,799
Speaker 2: Yes, me too. So in the meantime, until it's not

939
00:45:16,920 --> 00:45:19,799
Speaker 2: sho time or it's trade time, I think we just

940
00:45:19,840 --> 00:45:22,560
Speaker 2: have to hope that Orlando picks it up a little

941
00:45:22,560 --> 00:45:24,960
Speaker 2: bit offensively because we have seen him do that in

942
00:45:25,000 --> 00:45:27,799
Speaker 2: the past, and just can keep keep playing that great

943
00:45:27,840 --> 00:45:31,160
Speaker 2: defense because he really is a talented shortstop defensively.

944
00:45:31,960 --> 00:45:33,640
Speaker 1: He is for sure, and we went along on that,

945
00:45:34,600 --> 00:45:36,000
Speaker 1: but that was probably a good time to go ahead

946
00:45:36,040 --> 00:45:38,200
Speaker 1: and do that. We're getting lots of questions of Arcia,

947
00:45:38,280 --> 00:45:40,319
Speaker 1: both in my individual mentions I'm sure yours as well,

948
00:45:40,320 --> 00:45:43,520
Speaker 1: plus Hanit arbit territory mentions. So there's a little bit

949
00:45:43,520 --> 00:45:45,560
Speaker 1: of a deep dive on that here in late June

950
00:45:46,200 --> 00:45:47,759
Speaker 1: before we get out of here. We mentioned it before,

951
00:45:47,760 --> 00:45:49,880
Speaker 1: but the Braves do go to Saint Louis beginning on Monday.

952
00:45:51,040 --> 00:45:54,440
Speaker 1: They've been playing well recently. Oh. The big headline beyond

953
00:45:54,440 --> 00:45:57,400
Speaker 1: that is the Braves are we score according to the

954
00:45:57,040 --> 00:46:00,799
Speaker 1: probable starters, are not going back at least for now.

955
00:46:01,120 --> 00:46:04,120
Speaker 1: To the six men rotation, it is Swollen back on Monday,

956
00:46:04,280 --> 00:46:08,200
Speaker 1: Lopez on Tuesday, Sale on Wednesday, and that means still

957
00:46:08,200 --> 00:46:10,000
Speaker 1: five days off for Lopez because they had the day

958
00:46:10,000 --> 00:46:13,480
Speaker 1: off on Thursday, but only four days off again for Sale.

959
00:46:13,520 --> 00:46:15,600
Speaker 1: And then Morton is the guy projected to pitch on

960
00:46:15,680 --> 00:46:18,360
Speaker 1: Thursday in the random makeup game in Chicago.

961
00:46:19,440 --> 00:46:22,359
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, I in my mind the Cardinals were

962
00:46:23,160 --> 00:46:26,400
Speaker 2: not a great team that they're hovering around five hundred,

963
00:46:27,040 --> 00:46:30,280
Speaker 2: but pretty quietly Saint Louis has been the best team

964
00:46:30,320 --> 00:46:33,160
Speaker 2: in the National League over the last month, where they

965
00:46:33,160 --> 00:46:36,120
Speaker 2: are nineteen and nine over their last twenty eight games.

966
00:46:36,640 --> 00:46:38,680
Speaker 2: Just kind of pulled them out of a slow start.

967
00:46:39,080 --> 00:46:41,560
Speaker 2: It's not a bad team. Some of their veterans, like

968
00:46:41,920 --> 00:46:44,920
Speaker 2: Paul Goldschmidt, has really started to hit again. I mean

969
00:46:44,960 --> 00:46:46,719
Speaker 2: that guy's a year and a half removed from being

970
00:46:46,760 --> 00:46:49,080
Speaker 2: the National League MVP, so we can certainly make an

971
00:46:49,080 --> 00:46:53,560
Speaker 2: impact on games when he's going right and healthy. But

972
00:46:53,880 --> 00:46:58,960
Speaker 2: another opportunity for Spencer Schwellenbach Schwellenbach on Monday night to

973
00:46:59,040 --> 00:47:01,040
Speaker 2: continue to pitch well well. I think we've been really

974
00:47:01,120 --> 00:47:03,960
Speaker 2: encouraged by his last two starts. Hopefully you can pick

975
00:47:04,040 --> 00:47:05,879
Speaker 2: up the win there and then you give the ball

976
00:47:05,920 --> 00:47:09,000
Speaker 2: to Ronaldo and Chris Sale, who have been pitching as

977
00:47:09,040 --> 00:47:13,000
Speaker 2: well as basically anybody in the league, and let's hope

978
00:47:13,000 --> 00:47:14,800
Speaker 2: the Braves would keep it going and win their fourth

979
00:47:14,840 --> 00:47:15,680
Speaker 2: series in a row.

980
00:47:16,160 --> 00:47:18,920
Speaker 1: Yes, for sure, a nice little test. The Cardinals are

981
00:47:18,960 --> 00:47:20,800
Speaker 1: not a juggernaut. They're not as good as the Yankees,

982
00:47:20,840 --> 00:47:24,200
Speaker 1: but certainly I'm measuring stick again here on the road

983
00:47:24,239 --> 00:47:26,759
Speaker 1: and then in Syria. Light game on Thursday. But it's

984
00:47:26,800 --> 00:47:29,000
Speaker 1: a weird series and they're back at home for the weekend.

985
00:47:29,040 --> 00:47:31,279
Speaker 1: Will have plenty of covers between now and then and

986
00:47:32,040 --> 00:47:34,959
Speaker 1: wall to wall, I would say in this podcast feed

987
00:47:35,040 --> 00:47:38,040
Speaker 1: covering all things Atlanta Braves, Scott anything you want to

988
00:47:38,040 --> 00:47:39,839
Speaker 1: plug on the way out, and if not, tell folks

989
00:47:39,840 --> 00:47:41,400
Speaker 1: where they can find all of your work if they

990
00:47:41,400 --> 00:47:42,360
Speaker 1: are new to the podcast.

991
00:47:42,800 --> 00:47:44,960
Speaker 2: Yeah, Brad, this was a good show. I'm glad we

992
00:47:45,000 --> 00:47:47,800
Speaker 2: were able to talk through shortstop a little bit because

993
00:47:47,840 --> 00:47:50,960
Speaker 2: I know it is top of mind for everybody. We

994
00:47:51,000 --> 00:47:53,439
Speaker 2: do want to thank everybody for checking us out. I

995
00:47:53,480 --> 00:47:56,959
Speaker 2: am at Scott Coleman at fifty five. Brad is at

996
00:47:57,080 --> 00:48:00,879
Speaker 2: BT Rowland. I think that is correct, and check out

997
00:48:00,880 --> 00:48:03,920
Speaker 2: the show at Hammer Territory. We are on x we

998
00:48:04,000 --> 00:48:06,800
Speaker 2: are on Instagram. I think we're on Facebook.

999
00:48:06,880 --> 00:48:09,919
Speaker 1: Help me out that we are but Facebook, I would

1000
00:48:09,920 --> 00:48:12,279
Speaker 1: say thriving over there on meta or whatever you want

1001
00:48:12,280 --> 00:48:13,279
Speaker 1: to say, I don't know what it's called.

1002
00:48:14,760 --> 00:48:17,719
Speaker 2: Shout out Mark Zuckerberg. If you want to advertise on

1003
00:48:17,760 --> 00:48:21,520
Speaker 2: the show, please do. But no, we'll be back plenty

1004
00:48:21,520 --> 00:48:24,360
Speaker 2: of shows this week with Steven and Sean. Brad and

1005
00:48:24,400 --> 00:48:26,800
Speaker 2: I will get together at some point. We are hoping

1006
00:48:26,880 --> 00:48:29,480
Speaker 2: to have a pretty notable guest later in the week

1007
00:48:29,719 --> 00:48:32,120
Speaker 2: as a tease, so I'm hoping that will come together.

1008
00:48:32,360 --> 00:48:34,279
Speaker 2: But again, thanks to everybody for checking us out, and

1009
00:48:34,360 --> 00:48:35,120
Speaker 2: we'll be back soon.

1010
00:48:35,840 --> 00:48:37,720
Speaker 1: That's a right. Please go ahead subscribe to the podcast

1011
00:48:37,760 --> 00:48:40,520
Speaker 1: now Apple, Spotify, etc. Thank you for listening, we definitely

1012
00:48:40,520 --> 00:48:42,799
Speaker 1: appreciate it, and we'll see you all next time.