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HT Breaking News: Braves add Jurickson Profar on 3-year deal · Foul Territory

0:21
Speaker 1: Welcome everyone to the Hammer Territory podcast, and we are thrilled,
0:27
Speaker 1: thrilled to say that we have three individuals here and
0:31
Speaker 1: that is the sign when it comes to Hammer Territory
0:34
Speaker 1: that a very good thing has happened.
0:36
Speaker 2: I believe that the ratio of singular or emergency podcast
0:40
Speaker 2: so far this offseason is five to zero talking about
0:44
Speaker 2: people that have left the Braves. But we finally get
0:46
Speaker 2: to do one on somebody coming to Atlanta here with
0:49
Speaker 2: Steven Tolbert and Scott Coleman, and Scott will get started
0:53
Speaker 2: with you. There is a reason we're all gathered here
0:56
Speaker 2: to talk about an off season move. Let's get the
0:58
Speaker 2: immediate details and react action from one Scott Coleman on
1:01
Speaker 2: the newest Atlanta Brave.
1:03
Speaker 3: That's right, and the long national nightmare is finally over. Boys.
1:08
Speaker 3: We have done it about what three months into the
1:12
Speaker 3: off season. We finally have a transaction. If for somehow
1:16
Speaker 3: this is the very first time you are hearing about it,
1:19
Speaker 3: and I would be shocked. Jerkson Profar has signed with
1:22
Speaker 3: the Atlanta Braves three year deal forty two million dollars.
1:26
Speaker 3: And I gotta say, guys, I don't want to speak
1:28
Speaker 3: for you both and We have plenty to talk about
1:30
Speaker 3: on the show tonight, but I'm really excited for this
1:33
Speaker 3: deal and and I mean I think it's a home
1:35
Speaker 3: run addition for the Braves.
1:38
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, I'm you know, the Braves needed outfield help.
1:41
Speaker 4: It was I mean, we We've said it a million
1:44
Speaker 4: times this offseason. The Braves needed outfield help. They had
1:46
Speaker 4: Michael Harris, couldn't you come back from injury? Jared Keelnick.
1:50
Speaker 4: We didn't know what he was going to do, didn't
1:52
Speaker 4: have a great year last year. All he had done
1:53
Speaker 4: is Brian Day La Cruz. They needed an outfielder. And
1:57
Speaker 4: you know, I've been screaming for the Mountaintops for like
1:59
Speaker 4: three years now that I wanted more left handed slash
2:01
Speaker 4: switch hitters in the lineup, more balance in the lineup,
2:04
Speaker 4: not so right handed. This serves that purpose. The contract,
2:08
Speaker 4: which we'll get to in detail, is a very strong
2:11
Speaker 4: number for the team. So you know, I don't know
2:15
Speaker 4: if it's a home run ten out of ten move,
2:17
Speaker 4: but like I think it's at least like an eight
2:20
Speaker 4: out of ten. Like when you match need, when you
2:22
Speaker 4: match contract, when you match fit with player. I mean,
2:26
Speaker 4: I have nothing but good things to say about this
2:29
Speaker 4: move and what we'll get into the details, But yeah,
2:31
Speaker 4: thirty thousand feet, I think it's a fantastic move.
2:34
Speaker 2: I think it's a great edition as well. In one player.
2:37
Speaker 2: I'm not saying that he all of a sudden is
2:40
Speaker 2: the type of player that you know, propels us to
2:42
Speaker 2: be in clearly among the two best teams with World
2:45
Speaker 2: Series odds, you know, like like me, he had hoped
2:48
Speaker 2: we would make a move for. But he's someone who
2:51
Speaker 2: checks a lot of boxes in the Maybe we don't
2:55
Speaker 2: consider these things important enough, categories that we talked about
2:59
Speaker 2: last year, especially with him as a hitter. But let's
3:02
Speaker 2: get the general details out of the way first. A
3:05
Speaker 2: three year, forty two million dollar year for Jerks and
3:08
Speaker 2: Profar twelve million in twenty and twenty five, with fifteen
3:11
Speaker 2: million being there to be paid to him in twenty
3:14
Speaker 2: twenty six in twenty twenty seven. We will let our
3:17
Speaker 2: resident payroll experts Steven Tolbert talk about that a little
3:20
Speaker 2: bit later on in the show. But I think Scott
3:24
Speaker 2: many know the name Jerkson Profar, but what about him
3:29
Speaker 2: stands out just when you start looking at him throughout
3:32
Speaker 2: his career, Just some details about you know, why he
3:36
Speaker 2: makes sense for the Braves and you know why now
3:39
Speaker 2: he seems to be a really good fit multiple ways.
3:43
Speaker 3: So Jerkson Profar has had a fascinating career. He's going
3:47
Speaker 3: to turn thirty two next month. And once upon a
3:50
Speaker 3: time for folks, maybe our age a little bit older,
3:54
Speaker 3: Profar was like the prospect in baseball. He was the
3:57
Speaker 3: number one overall prospect maybe a decade ago, and really
4:01
Speaker 3: was a lot of folks pegged him to be a superstar,
4:04
Speaker 3: and to this point, or at least up until last year,
4:08
Speaker 3: it just hadn't worked out. And Profar ha had a
4:11
Speaker 3: couple of fine seasons. He's kind of the utility type
4:14
Speaker 3: who played all over the infield and outfield, but it
4:17
Speaker 3: was never that moment of like, wow, this guy is
4:20
Speaker 3: the player who we all thought he was going to
4:22
Speaker 3: be many years ago. Flash forward, he is so bad
4:27
Speaker 3: in twenty twenty three that Profar gets released, released by
4:32
Speaker 3: the Colorado Rockies. You know how hard it is to
4:34
Speaker 3: get released by the Rockies. I mean that that's about
4:37
Speaker 3: as low as it gets for a major leaguer. He
4:40
Speaker 3: signs a one million dollar deal with the Padres last offseason,
4:44
Speaker 3: and what does Profar do but go on to be
4:46
Speaker 3: like a legitimate All Star, a silver Slugger, one of
4:50
Speaker 3: the best hitters in the game. So we should probably say,
4:53
Speaker 3: just right off the jump, that to be clear, the
4:55
Speaker 3: Braves are buying a player who is coming at like
4:57
Speaker 3: the very peak of his value. Like there's no buying
5:01
Speaker 3: low on Jerkson Profar because of how good he was
5:04
Speaker 3: last season. But as we're going to talk about tonight,
5:07
Speaker 3: there was enough behind him being so good and having
5:10
Speaker 3: a breakout at age thirty one that at least in
5:13
Speaker 3: my opinion, it feels more real than maybe some other
5:16
Speaker 3: players who are broken out. And I mean there's a
5:19
Speaker 3: lot of encouraging things in as bad at ball data
5:21
Speaker 3: and just the way he kind of overhauled his entire
5:24
Speaker 3: offensive approach over the last year with San Diego that
5:27
Speaker 3: makes me think this could be a real sign of
5:29
Speaker 3: things to come.
5:30
Speaker 4: So he went to San Diego and a and a
5:32
Speaker 4: big part of this is he immediately changed his swing.
5:35
Speaker 4: He immediately went to work with Frendando Tatisa's father, who's
5:39
Speaker 4: a hitting coach, and he changed his swing, and he
5:42
Speaker 4: he altered a lot of what he does at the plate.
5:46
Speaker 4: He increased his exit velocity by five miles an hour
5:50
Speaker 4: from twenty twenty three to twenty twenty four, which is
5:53
Speaker 4: basically unheard of. We talked about this earlier in the
5:55
Speaker 4: off season and I did mention this because that's that's
5:58
Speaker 4: actually remarkable. You never see somebody like five miles an
6:03
Speaker 4: hour next to velosity is I mean, it's it's very
6:06
Speaker 4: equivalent to five miles an hour. And like fastball velosity
6:09
Speaker 4: for a pitcher, like it's a big, big, big jump,
6:12
Speaker 4: and it completely changes his profile. It completely changes his
6:15
Speaker 4: out look. He hits the ball on average about as
6:18
Speaker 4: hard as like an Austin Riley does now, and that's
6:21
Speaker 4: you know, this is a guy who was one, like
6:23
Speaker 4: Scott just said, got released by the Rockies because he
6:25
Speaker 4: couldn't hit. And he you know, he changed his swing,
6:29
Speaker 4: changed his his mechanics. His battball profile is just so
6:33
Speaker 4: much better now. And listen, this is what Alex looks for.
6:36
Speaker 2: We know this.
6:36
Speaker 4: He cares about batted ball profiles. You know, when Marcela
6:40
Speaker 4: Zuna was coming off those two very iffy years with
6:42
Speaker 4: the Cardinals, he signed Azuna to a one year deal
6:44
Speaker 4: because the battet ball numbers were just excellent and you know,
6:48
Speaker 4: obviously Azuna went on to have an MVP caliber year
6:51
Speaker 4: that first year with the Braves. So this is the
6:52
Speaker 4: stuff Alex cares about, and it's why it's not just
6:56
Speaker 4: a one year wonder. There's actual data behind the results.
7:00
Speaker 4: If it was just the results, I'd be pretty nervous
7:02
Speaker 4: about this. But because there's real data, because there's real
7:06
Speaker 4: raw data behind what he did last year and there's
7:08
Speaker 4: real change, it's just so much easier to believe it.
7:11
Speaker 3: It's so much easier.
7:12
Speaker 4: To bet on it. The Braves were not the only
7:14
Speaker 4: team willing to give Profar this contract. I guarantee you
7:17
Speaker 4: that he had other suitors. This was right around his projection.
7:20
Speaker 4: It's not like the Braves just blew it out of
7:22
Speaker 4: the water, came in a little under projection, but it's
7:24
Speaker 4: right in range, right in line. So yeah, I the
7:29
Speaker 4: actual real data behind it is what gives me confidence
7:32
Speaker 4: in this move. If if that wasn't there, I would
7:34
Speaker 4: have a very different tone about, you know, giving this
7:37
Speaker 4: guy forty two million dollars. But I think it's real,
7:40
Speaker 4: and you know, the proof will being the pudding, but
7:42
Speaker 4: playing in Atlanta, getting the you know bat left handed
7:45
Speaker 4: and you know with the chop house I think it's
7:46
Speaker 4: gonna help getting out of sandi Uo. San Diego is
7:48
Speaker 4: not a good hitters park, by the way. He produced
7:50
Speaker 4: those results in a in a really tough place to hit.
7:53
Speaker 4: So I like it. I like the move. I think
7:55
Speaker 4: it's good for the offense. They needed another outfielder. We'll
7:58
Speaker 4: talk about the defense here in a second. But the
8:01
Speaker 4: battle ball note the battleball stuff is real enough where
8:05
Speaker 4: I can I can get on board with this.
8:09
Speaker 2: And the other thing that stands out to me that
8:11
Speaker 2: is such a great asset for Profar to come to
8:14
Speaker 2: this lineup is what do we talk about last year?
8:16
Speaker 2: So many times it was the lack of situational hitting
8:19
Speaker 2: runners in scoring position. If we weren't hitting home runs,
8:22
Speaker 2: this offense a lot of last season was a bottom
8:25
Speaker 2: five offense. Wit Mirfield. I'm not saying that he's on
8:28
Speaker 2: the same level of a Profar, but I just used
8:30
Speaker 2: whitt Mirifield as an example. Not the typical type of
8:32
Speaker 2: braves hitter that you've seen in recent years. But when
8:35
Speaker 2: he came, he took a walk, he put the ball
8:37
Speaker 2: in play consistently at the bottom of the order. He
8:40
Speaker 2: helped the lineup turn over more. He was able to
8:42
Speaker 2: help in multiple ways outside of hitting home runs. Get
8:44
Speaker 2: kept this offense consistent. And that is what stands out
8:47
Speaker 2: about Jerkson profar a plus or better WRC plus in
8:53
Speaker 2: two of the last three seasons with runners in scoring position,
8:56
Speaker 2: a one ten w RC plus batting first, second, and
8:59
Speaker 2: fifth last year. He can bat anywhere in the lineup.
9:02
Speaker 2: He could take a walk, he could put the ball
9:04
Speaker 2: in play. He's going to be able to be someone
9:06
Speaker 2: that can get the hit to start a rally, or
9:08
Speaker 2: get the big hit to extend it inning, or get
9:10
Speaker 2: the big hit when we're not hitting home runs in
9:12
Speaker 2: order to win games. We talked about the fact that
9:15
Speaker 2: the versatility of this lineup needed to improve. If we
9:18
Speaker 2: were not hitting home runs, we needed to be able
9:21
Speaker 2: to add a few more pieces that could allow for
9:23
Speaker 2: this lineup to still be able to score runs to
9:25
Speaker 2: win big games. And this is the type of hitter
9:27
Speaker 2: that allows for you to do that, that you can
9:29
Speaker 2: use up and down the lineup in a lot of
9:30
Speaker 2: different ways.
9:32
Speaker 3: Yeah, and you know, the lineup versatility is no small thing.
9:36
Speaker 3: And we're pretty certain at this point that the Braves
9:38
Speaker 3: are not going to have Ronald Acunya Junior for some
9:41
Speaker 3: portion of maybe the first month, and we know that
9:44
Speaker 3: once Ronald is healthy, he will of course be that
9:46
Speaker 3: leadoff hitter. But if you're telling me that Profar is
9:49
Speaker 3: going to be the Braves' leadoff hitter to start the year,
9:52
Speaker 3: I mean he had a three to eighty on base
9:55
Speaker 3: percentage last year. That's awesome, like full stop, especially in
9:59
Speaker 3: a year where offense was down across the league. You
10:02
Speaker 3: mentioned him getting out of San Diego, which is a
10:05
Speaker 3: large ballpark and late at night it gets cold, especially
10:08
Speaker 3: in the summers. He should only benefit from better park
10:11
Speaker 3: environment in Atlanta, and there's real versatility. And if you're
10:15
Speaker 3: telling me that Profar is gonna bat second once Acunya
10:19
Speaker 3: comes back, you're gonna have a guy who's really good
10:21
Speaker 3: at on base ahead of Austin Riley, Matt Olsen, Marcelo Zuna,
10:26
Speaker 3: Michael Harris. I mean that's awesome, man. I mean you
10:30
Speaker 3: want to talk about if everyone is healthy, and it
10:33
Speaker 3: feels like I'm knocking on every piece of wood after
10:35
Speaker 3: what happened last year. But if the Braves can get
10:37
Speaker 3: a healthy Acunya and then those five hitters after him,
10:41
Speaker 3: I mean I would take that one through six against
10:43
Speaker 3: basically anybody in the game and it just kind of
10:45
Speaker 3: I mean, it's amazing how one signing just makes everything
10:48
Speaker 3: else smell better and look better. There's still things to do,
10:52
Speaker 3: and we'll talk about that later in the show, but man,
10:55
Speaker 3: profar as long as last year is not a total fluke,
10:58
Speaker 3: and that's not a guarantee, right, Like, this is not
11:01
Speaker 3: a player who's been doing it for a decade and
11:03
Speaker 3: you can just flat out bank on him being a
11:05
Speaker 3: really good hitter again. But even if he's like a
11:08
Speaker 3: fraction of the player he was last year when he
11:10
Speaker 3: was so good, he does a lot of things this
11:12
Speaker 3: Braves team could really use.
11:16
Speaker 4: Yeah, and I will caution people, like he put up
11:18
Speaker 4: a one forty WC plus last year, I would not
11:21
Speaker 4: expect like that. Is that feels like his career year.
11:26
Speaker 4: Quite honestly, I would not expect that. I would I
11:28
Speaker 4: would definitely be more in like the one twenty one, fifteen,
11:31
Speaker 4: twenty one, twenty five range. But adding that to an
11:34
Speaker 4: already talented lineup is massive. And if you look at
11:37
Speaker 4: his expected numbers last year, like he had an OBA
11:40
Speaker 4: of like three sixty five, but his expected OBA was
11:43
Speaker 4: like three sixty four, So like there was nothing fluky.
11:46
Speaker 4: His batting average of balls in play was like right
11:48
Speaker 4: at three hundred. Like it was not a fluke. It
11:51
Speaker 4: wasn't just some random you know, we we've seen enough
11:54
Speaker 4: of those to know the tailtale signs of a fluky
11:57
Speaker 4: Chris Johnson one off season that you know is nowhere
12:01
Speaker 4: close to being repeatable. This is not that. And I
12:03
Speaker 4: know that's what people are gonna say who don't like
12:05
Speaker 4: to move that he's only got one year of production.
12:07
Speaker 4: But there's enough evidence behind the numbers to give confidence.
12:13
Speaker 4: So yeah, I I am curious to see what happens
12:16
Speaker 4: with Ozzy and Profar once Acunya comes back, because Ozzie
12:20
Speaker 4: has been locked into that two hole, you know, when
12:23
Speaker 4: a Cunya plays, Ozzy's been locked into that two hole.
12:26
Speaker 4: And I think Profar is a better hitter than AUSSI
12:27
Speaker 4: I really do at this point, and I'm very curious
12:30
Speaker 4: to see what they do if if Profar becomes that
12:33
Speaker 4: two hitter. I think we all agree Profar is gonna
12:35
Speaker 4: probably lead off with when the Cunya is out, But
12:38
Speaker 4: when he comes back, what is the lineup gonna look like?
12:42
Speaker 4: You know, the lineup never matters as much as people
12:44
Speaker 4: think it does, but it is interesting to me. I'm
12:46
Speaker 4: very curious. Brian Sticker is a very loyal guy. Ozzy's
12:49
Speaker 4: been his two hole hitter for you know, three years,
12:52
Speaker 4: four years now. I'm curious to see what happens if
12:54
Speaker 4: they put Profar in the middle, they bubb Ozzie in
12:57
Speaker 4: the middle. I think Profar is better at the top
12:59
Speaker 4: of the lineup because the base. I think Ozzy's better
13:01
Speaker 4: in the middle of the lineup because of the slug.
13:04
Speaker 4: You know, everybody thinks Ozzie's an top of the older
13:06
Speaker 4: guy because of his size, but you know, his profile
13:08
Speaker 4: has never been a top of the older guy. He
13:09
Speaker 4: just doesn't get on base enough. I think profile is
13:11
Speaker 4: better up there. But we'll see what they do. But
13:13
Speaker 4: it is I mean, Scott's one hundred percent right. Just
13:15
Speaker 4: adding one guy, it's amazing how different you look at
13:19
Speaker 4: the whole roster because he just connects everything. You know,
13:23
Speaker 4: he adds on base, he adds left handed, you know,
13:25
Speaker 4: switch hitter, balance the lineup, an on base guy, you know,
13:29
Speaker 4: a leadoff guy when Ronald's out, which is you know,
13:31
Speaker 4: they haven't had that in ever. I mean, it's a
13:34
Speaker 4: big deal, and it's it is amazing what one guy
13:38
Speaker 4: adds to the to the whole roster.
13:40
Speaker 2: And I think it's also interesting to note, you know
13:42
Speaker 2: that the Braves traded You know, we did a three
13:45
Speaker 2: man podcast. You know, back at the end of July,
13:48
Speaker 2: the Braves traded for Jorges Layer. And when they traded
13:51
Speaker 2: for him, he had two years in about twenty six
13:54
Speaker 2: twenty seven million left on his contract for twenty twenty
13:57
Speaker 2: five and twenty twenty six. Well, we know that the
14:00
Speaker 2: Braves immediately traded him after the offseason. Well, lo and behold,
14:04
Speaker 2: the Braves sit here and sign a guy who is
14:07
Speaker 2: a bat first, guy who they probably think can play
14:09
Speaker 2: a bit better defense. But I don't think it's any
14:12
Speaker 2: small detail that it's three years and forty two million
14:15
Speaker 2: with fifteen meters and being there for twenty and twenty
14:17
Speaker 2: six and twenty and twenty seven. What that tells me
14:20
Speaker 2: is not only do the Braves feel confident that with
14:23
Speaker 2: Profar they're going to be able to work their magic
14:25
Speaker 2: once again like they have with a Celaire and others
14:27
Speaker 2: in the past, when they've been able to bring guys
14:29
Speaker 2: in and help them get to being consistent with career
14:32
Speaker 2: best numbers, but they also like the overall profile of
14:35
Speaker 2: Profar a bit better for the lineup than they did,
14:37
Speaker 2: for instance, a guy like Solaire, The fact that he
14:40
Speaker 2: doesn't strike out as much, the fact that he gets
14:42
Speaker 2: on base maybe a little bit more, the fact that
14:44
Speaker 2: that situational hitting is there. So I really do feel
14:47
Speaker 2: like that when we talk about those expected numbers, when
14:49
Speaker 2: we talk about, you know, what they feel he could
14:51
Speaker 2: add value to when it comes to the lineup. The
14:53
Speaker 2: Braves really do feel that they can have Profar be consistent. Again,
14:58
Speaker 2: maybe not at that one for WR plus, but it
15:01
Speaker 2: could be a consistent one twenty month in a month
15:04
Speaker 2: out that would really add that level of consistency we
15:07
Speaker 2: were all harping for last year for this Braves lineup.
15:11
Speaker 3: And I mean there's a lot of layers to this signing,
15:14
Speaker 3: but I mean just a small one I wanted to
15:15
Speaker 3: quickly hit on here is is that profiles from Currosow.
15:19
Speaker 3: The Braves have a rich history in that country. Andrew
15:23
Speaker 3: Jones Ozzi Alby's I know Ozzy was the top comment
15:27
Speaker 3: on the Braves' Instagram post tonight announcing the deal. I'm
15:30
Speaker 3: sure those guys are buddies. They're about the same age
15:33
Speaker 3: or close to it, so I'm sure they grew up together,
15:36
Speaker 3: you know, Gyre Jurgens Andrelton Simmons, even Kenley Jansen who
15:40
Speaker 3: was here for a minute. So there's a lot of
15:43
Speaker 3: history with the Braves in Currosow, and I'm sure for
15:45
Speaker 3: you know, an organization that's so much history there, it's
15:48
Speaker 3: maybe there's not a tangible on field aspect of that,
15:52
Speaker 3: but nonetheless really cool to kind of reunite with these guys.
15:55
Speaker 3: And I'm sure they're pumped.
15:57
Speaker 4: Yeah, you would think Kursel might be a suburb of
16:00
Speaker 4: Atlanta the way they add players. But yeah, just real
16:04
Speaker 4: quick on the money. Uh, you know, Sean mentioned the
16:08
Speaker 4: three years forty two million, so I know people are
16:10
Speaker 4: gonna ask. So obviously three years forty two million, that
16:12
Speaker 4: means the average anual values fourteen million a year. That's
16:15
Speaker 4: not his cash, his cash, like Sean just said, as
16:17
Speaker 4: twelve this year, fifteen and fifteen for the next two years.
16:20
Speaker 4: But the average annual value is fourteen million. So for
16:26
Speaker 4: the for luxury tax purposes, that's gonna put the Braves
16:29
Speaker 4: right around they were at two seventeen before this signing,
16:35
Speaker 4: right around two seventeen. Again, we don't know exactly the
16:37
Speaker 4: exact numbers because we don't know what the benefits are.
16:39
Speaker 4: But after this signing, add fourteen to two seventeen, obviously
16:42
Speaker 4: you get two thirty one. So the Braves are around
16:45
Speaker 4: two hundred and thirty one million. In terms of luxury tax.
16:48
Speaker 4: The first threshold is to forty one, so the Braves
16:51
Speaker 4: have about ten million to spend you know, give, you know,
16:56
Speaker 4: depending on what they do aav wise, but it's about
16:59
Speaker 4: ten million to spend with for the next before the
17:01
Speaker 4: threshold on luxury tax and then on cash payrol, the
17:04
Speaker 4: Braves were sitting at about one to ninety five or
17:07
Speaker 4: two hundred, depending on how many pre ARB guys that
17:10
Speaker 4: had on their roster. So you add twelve to that,
17:12
Speaker 4: the Braves are going to be at about you know, twelve,
17:16
Speaker 4: two o eight to twelve something like that in cash payrol.
17:19
Speaker 4: So cash payol sits about two o eight to twelve
17:21
Speaker 4: to ten something like that. Luxury tax payroll is going
17:24
Speaker 4: to sit right around two thirty one, with about ten
17:26
Speaker 4: million to go before you get to the threshold.
17:29
Speaker 2: Along with the money. The other thing that stands out
17:31
Speaker 2: to me about jerks and profar is, for lack of
17:34
Speaker 2: a better way of putting it, it's it's a bit
17:36
Speaker 2: of insurance, right. You know, we talked about the fact
17:38
Speaker 2: that when it came to the Braves really looking to
17:41
Speaker 2: add someone to this lineup, somewhat position player to you know,
17:44
Speaker 2: the clubhouse.
17:45
Speaker 3: Number one.
17:46
Speaker 2: I want to say, I think that it's been said
17:48
Speaker 2: before Jersey and Prospar has a bit of personality to him.
17:51
Speaker 2: You know, we talk about all the different type you know,
17:54
Speaker 2: talents that have left the Braves organization that cures ole connection.
17:57
Speaker 2: But also it seems like that he is someone that's liked.
18:00
Speaker 2: He's the type of guy who seems to have a
18:02
Speaker 2: personality who you want him on your team, but don't
18:04
Speaker 2: necessarily want to face him if he's not on your team.
18:06
Speaker 2: That type of personality that's going to be a good
18:08
Speaker 2: personality to bring into the clubhouse. But it's also a
18:10
Speaker 2: bit of insurance. You've also obviously got the fact that
18:12
Speaker 2: you've got another consistent outfielder until Ronald gets back, and
18:15
Speaker 2: then Profar will play left field. Ozzi Albi's has had
18:19
Speaker 2: a bit of injury history over the past three or
18:21
Speaker 2: so years. Profar could probably project to play a little
18:24
Speaker 2: bit of second base if Ozzy Albi's were to go down,
18:26
Speaker 2: and one of the defense probably is not that great.
18:28
Speaker 2: But the other thing is is that the three years
18:30
Speaker 2: fifteen million, there is no small coincidence that that's right
18:33
Speaker 2: in line with what Marcello Zuna is making this year.
18:36
Speaker 2: If Ozuna has another outstanding year, perhaps prices himself out
18:39
Speaker 2: of Atlanta, then you've got Profar who could slot right
18:42
Speaker 2: in and be another DH type who could be in
18:44
Speaker 2: there as well. So I think that that's something that
18:46
Speaker 2: stands out. Me and Stephen have taught multiple times about
18:48
Speaker 2: the lack of death that's within the braves. So having
18:52
Speaker 2: a guy that can profile in many different areas depending
18:55
Speaker 2: on what the need is, I think that that's no
18:57
Speaker 2: small part of the value that Profar brings. Again going
19:00
Speaker 2: back to the word versatility.
19:02
Speaker 3: Yeah, no, you're absolutely right. And you look at this
19:05
Speaker 3: lineup now, at least for you know, the first month
19:09
Speaker 3: or however long you know, relying on Jared Kelnick and
19:13
Speaker 3: probably Brian de la Cruz in right field, Okay, it's
19:17
Speaker 3: not great, but you can survive with that for a month.
19:20
Speaker 3: I think. I don't know if you guys feel different,
19:22
Speaker 3: but by adding Profar, you just add a lot of
19:26
Speaker 3: insurance to this team. It gives you an everyday corner outfielder.
19:30
Speaker 3: If Michael Harris were to get hurt again, and let's
19:33
Speaker 3: hope he doesn't, that means that Jared Kelnick is then
19:36
Speaker 3: going to have to play center field more than likely.
19:39
Speaker 3: Then of course you just kind of add another option,
19:41
Speaker 3: because if I think we all felt on the podcast,
19:44
Speaker 3: the Braves almost had to add a really good outfielder
19:47
Speaker 3: this winter because man, I mean, if Ronald's not healthy
19:52
Speaker 3: or if Harris gets hurt again, it was going to
19:55
Speaker 3: be so thin and so ugly out there in a hurry.
19:58
Speaker 3: And now you add this player who's coming off for
20:00
Speaker 3: career year. As we said off the top, even if
20:03
Speaker 3: Profar comes down a little bit, that's still more than playable,
20:07
Speaker 3: more valuable than some of the options the Braves had otherwise.
20:10
Speaker 3: And it just feels like, again, you add this one
20:13
Speaker 3: player to your lineup, whether he's at the top, whether
20:16
Speaker 3: he's in the middle. Maybe the Braves want Ozzy to
20:18
Speaker 3: face lefties and bat him second, and then against righty's
20:22
Speaker 3: you have Profar bat second. It really is just kind
20:25
Speaker 3: of a puzzle, and he's a piece that fits a
20:27
Speaker 3: lot of places compared to a Torges Solaire as you
20:30
Speaker 3: just mentioned Sean or An Anthony Santander, who just got
20:34
Speaker 3: like double the money that Profar got. And you compare
20:38
Speaker 3: those two players at least for what the Braves need.
20:41
Speaker 3: I would take Profar all day long, especially at what
20:44
Speaker 3: it cost to sign those two players.
20:48
Speaker 4: So let me ask you guys a question, because I
20:49
Speaker 4: was thinking about this. So obviously, Jared Kilnick last year
20:53
Speaker 4: lost his job to Ramon Loriano. We all know by
20:56
Speaker 4: the end of the year A Kilnick wasn't playing at all.
20:58
Speaker 4: It was Loreano and left Michael Harrison center and horayzelerin right.
21:03
Speaker 4: So he lost his job last year. He pretty much
21:06
Speaker 4: just lost his job again. I mean, he's gonna play
21:08
Speaker 4: until a Kunyon gets back. But once a Kunya comes back,
21:11
Speaker 4: the Braves have three outfielders locked up for at least
21:14
Speaker 4: three years now. I mean all three of these guys
21:16
Speaker 4: now have I mean his first time in a while.
21:17
Speaker 4: The Braves have a left fielder that has real money,
21:20
Speaker 4: real years of control in front of them. So my
21:25
Speaker 4: question is, do we think Kelnick is gonna stick? Do
21:28
Speaker 4: we like I think there's a world where they trade Kelnick?
21:31
Speaker 4: I really do, And I know he's the backup center
21:33
Speaker 4: fielder right now, but you can always put Eli White
21:35
Speaker 4: on the roster and have a backup center fielder. You know,
21:38
Speaker 4: with Harris being left handed, with Profar being a switch hitter,
21:42
Speaker 4: you don't necessarily have to have another left handed guy
21:45
Speaker 4: like Kelnick like you did before when you had a
21:46
Speaker 4: lot of right handed outfielders. I'm just curious, and I'm
21:51
Speaker 4: I'm also curious how Kelnick is gonna respond to basically
21:54
Speaker 4: having his job taken away. Yeah. Do you guys think
21:58
Speaker 4: Kelnick sticks around or do you think Alex might look
22:01
Speaker 4: to move him in a trade maybe this winner or
22:05
Speaker 4: is he too valuable as maybe a backup center field
22:07
Speaker 4: or even a right fielder Whilelacuna is out.
22:10
Speaker 2: Yeah, my immediate feeling is this is that I feel
22:14
Speaker 2: like that the value of kell Nick still certainly remains
22:17
Speaker 2: because he can fit as a fourth outfielder. Kellennick offers
22:21
Speaker 2: a lot of value in my opinion. He can play centerfield, obviously,
22:25
Speaker 2: he is that left field bat. He can play pretty
22:28
Speaker 2: decent deepense. I mean, I think there's no question he's
22:30
Speaker 2: our second best defender in the outfield. If Michael Harris
22:33
Speaker 2: were to go out for a month or so if
22:35
Speaker 2: you don't have Kellennick where you really I know, Eli
22:37
Speaker 2: White is there, but do you want him starting for
22:39
Speaker 2: a month? And I also think that there is you
22:42
Speaker 2: know still, you know, some potential upside, you know, especially
22:45
Speaker 2: with a new hitting coach, maybe a new voice in
22:47
Speaker 2: the clubhouse could get him going. And finally, I know
22:50
Speaker 2: that he potentially could be a trade piece, But how
22:53
Speaker 2: much trade value is there now when outside of the
22:55
Speaker 2: first two months of twenty twenty three, you've really got
22:58
Speaker 2: multiple years of you know, is he in a replacement
23:00
Speaker 2: level type player? So to me, I think that the
23:05
Speaker 2: value that he adds defensively be in the left handed
23:08
Speaker 2: bat being able hihimself to stay healthy and play every day.
23:12
Speaker 2: I think in the right deal he could be traded,
23:14
Speaker 2: But I think as a fourtan to outfielder, Jared Kelnick
23:16
Speaker 2: offers plenty of value and is also a good potential
23:18
Speaker 2: option off the bench as a pin chittering scenarios as well.
23:22
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I guess my answer, Steven would depend
23:25
Speaker 3: on what the teams think of Jared Kelnick. You know,
23:28
Speaker 3: if he's going to be the third piece and a deal,
23:31
Speaker 3: I think it probably Behooves the Braves to hang on
23:34
Speaker 3: to him and just throw in a minor leaguer because
23:36
Speaker 3: the likelihood of getting one hundred and sixty two out
23:39
Speaker 3: of Harris and Profar and Ronald for however many games.
23:42
Speaker 3: You know, maybe we're all snake bitting after last year,
23:45
Speaker 3: but I think last year was a real lesson in
23:48
Speaker 3: having depth. And you know, I think Kelnick has shown
23:52
Speaker 3: me at least just enough. But I just don't want
23:55
Speaker 3: to give up just yet. You're right though, that if
23:58
Speaker 3: everyone's healthy, he's ever gonna play so.
24:02
Speaker 4: Just and I just wonder, like how he feels like
24:04
Speaker 4: he had some club he had some clubhouse problems in
24:07
Speaker 4: Seattle when he wasn't playing. I just wonder now that
24:11
Speaker 4: he's not gonna play a lot, like if that's something
24:15
Speaker 4: they're they're concerned about. I know Alex is gonna talk
24:17
Speaker 4: to the media. Bowman sent out tweet on AX earlier
24:21
Speaker 4: that that was kind of like the first question he
24:22
Speaker 4: was gonna ask is basically like what does this mean
24:24
Speaker 4: for Jared Keelnick. And I'm sure Alex is gonna give
24:26
Speaker 4: a very very gm answer and essentially not answer the question.
24:30
Speaker 4: But I am wondering now that he knows his playing
24:33
Speaker 4: time has just been cut by a ton where's his
24:36
Speaker 4: head at? You know, is he gonna be okay with
24:40
Speaker 4: this role? I don't know. I you know, it might
24:42
Speaker 4: not be anything, but it's It's one of the first
24:43
Speaker 4: things I thought.
24:44
Speaker 3: Of, Yeah, it's valid. And you know, at the risk
24:47
Speaker 3: of trying to pretend like I know what's going through
24:50
Speaker 3: Jared Keelnick's head tonight, I mean, we don't know. But
24:53
Speaker 3: I would hope that if he's a member of the
24:55
Speaker 3: team on a winning organization, a team that obviously gave
24:58
Speaker 3: him a real chance to be every single day's starter
25:01
Speaker 3: just a year ago. You know, I would hope that
25:04
Speaker 3: he's mature and professional enough to not pout in the
25:08
Speaker 3: corner if he's not playing. And I would think he'd
25:10
Speaker 3: also realize he's behind two All Stars and Harris and Akunya,
25:14
Speaker 3: and then a player who was one of the best
25:16
Speaker 3: outfielders in the game just a year ago. You know,
25:19
Speaker 3: we've talked about this offseason. Kelnick does things that are valuable.
25:23
Speaker 3: You know, he showed in June just how good he
25:26
Speaker 3: can be when everything clicks hit for power, he was walking,
25:29
Speaker 3: he was driving the baseball, and then it kind of
25:32
Speaker 3: went away, and we just don't know. I think I'm
25:36
Speaker 3: inclined unless a team is over the moon for Kelnick
25:39
Speaker 3: in a trade like say the Padres are over the
25:41
Speaker 3: moon for Jared Kelnick for some reason and they're trying
25:44
Speaker 3: to trade one of their starting pitchers. You know, seea Jared,
25:47
Speaker 3: I'll take you to the airport. Yeah, I be. But
25:50
Speaker 3: if there's no real market, I don't think I'm necessarily
25:53
Speaker 3: like actively looking to get rid of Kelnick unless he,
25:57
Speaker 3: you know, explicitly says to Brian Stetger or in thought Bliss,
26:00
Speaker 3: you know, play me, or I'm going to be a
26:02
Speaker 3: total pain in the ass.
26:04
Speaker 2: You know.
26:04
Speaker 3: I would hope that this will work out and he'll
26:06
Speaker 3: be able to be a fourth outfielder and get a
26:08
Speaker 3: chance to play pretty much every day until Ronald is
26:11
Speaker 3: ready to go.
26:12
Speaker 2: And I think the other thing that stands out about
26:14
Speaker 2: this move is that, you know, when we talk about,
26:16
Speaker 2: you know, what are the Braids going to do? What
26:17
Speaker 2: are the Brad's going to do? One of the Bray's
26:18
Speaker 2: going to do? You know, we got the Jeff Hoffman,
26:20
Speaker 2: you know, almost steel that was out there. I think
26:24
Speaker 2: that there was rumbling step before Garrett Crochet was traded
26:26
Speaker 2: to the Boston Red Sox. The Braves I think were
26:28
Speaker 2: a finalist or there was indications that they were in
26:31
Speaker 2: the talks for that. So it seems that they've consistently
26:34
Speaker 2: done their work on arms. Well, now that we've kind
26:37
Speaker 2: of done the heavy lifting, when it comes to our
26:38
Speaker 2: first big move of the off season, being a bat
26:41
Speaker 2: and a versatile one who could you know, kind of
26:43
Speaker 2: feel multiple needs as one person, it really seems like
26:46
Speaker 2: the spotlight shifts in terms of what neck what is
26:49
Speaker 2: next to the arms, And I think that's important to
26:52
Speaker 2: discuss because you still have multiple needs out there. When
26:55
Speaker 2: it comes to an arm, you've got an open relief
26:57
Speaker 2: spot a pretty valuable one as well that you can feel.
27:00
Speaker 2: And we could obviously use another starting pitcher as well.
27:03
Speaker 2: So now that the Braves have made their move to
27:06
Speaker 2: add a long term piece when it comes to a
27:08
Speaker 2: position player, I feel like it may be the opportunity
27:11
Speaker 2: for Alex and Thoppless to get a bit creative and
27:14
Speaker 2: see what he could do to add an armor to
27:16
Speaker 2: to really fill out the rest of this offseason.
27:19
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean that's I mean, that's next for me, boys,
27:21
Speaker 3: you know, like get get a starting pitcher I think
27:24
Speaker 3: if we can paint a rosy picture that if Strider
27:28
Speaker 3: is healthy, and if Sale and Schwellenbach and Lopez all
27:32
Speaker 3: stay healthy, and if Grant Holmes can show he can start,
27:35
Speaker 3: or maybe Ian Anderson is healthy, or maybe Smith Shover,
27:39
Speaker 3: maybe Waldrip, maybe Bryce Elder. If you know there, you
27:43
Speaker 3: can tell yourself a story where it all works out
27:45
Speaker 3: in the rotation. But that's a risk, man. I just
27:49
Speaker 3: me personally, and if we believe there's money to be spent,
27:52
Speaker 3: and it sounds like there is based on what they
27:55
Speaker 3: just gave Profar today and what Steven has talked about
27:58
Speaker 3: with both the luxury tax and the CA payroll, starting
28:01
Speaker 3: Pitcher is like the big project for me moving forward
28:04
Speaker 3: for this team.
28:06
Speaker 4: Yeah, we knew we should say. Bowman reported today, I
28:09
Speaker 4: think in his newsletter that he had heard from sources
28:12
Speaker 4: the Braves had about thirty three million to spend for
28:15
Speaker 4: the offseason. Obviously, they just spent twelve million of that
28:18
Speaker 4: on Profar, so that would tell you they have about
28:21
Speaker 4: twenty million to spend. They can spend twenty million, and
28:24
Speaker 4: that would put them right around where their cash was
28:27
Speaker 4: last year at the end of last year when they
28:29
Speaker 4: when they added so Laer and Luke Jackson. They took
28:32
Speaker 4: on money to get both of those guys, and from
28:35
Speaker 4: what I've been able to figure, they ended last year
28:36
Speaker 4: right around two hundred and thirty five million cash payroll,
28:39
Speaker 4: and right now they're right around like two ten. So
28:42
Speaker 4: they can add I mean, make that like his number
28:45
Speaker 4: thirty three. That makes sense to me. And obviously they
28:47
Speaker 4: just spent twelve of it, so they tell you they
28:49
Speaker 4: should have about twenty million left, and they can do
28:51
Speaker 4: that in the luxury tax well as well. We talked
28:53
Speaker 4: about last night. I really don't think they care about
28:54
Speaker 4: the tax. I think they're fine going over it, and
28:57
Speaker 4: so I agree I think starting Pitcher, I do think
29:00
Speaker 4: they probably want another reliever at some point. You know,
29:03
Speaker 4: they do have a lot of interesting guys on the
29:05
Speaker 4: forty man that can potentially be useful relievers. And that's
29:09
Speaker 4: how relievers come up a lot of times is no names,
29:12
Speaker 4: and then you know, have amazing years. And I understand
29:15
Speaker 4: that logic, like you know, trying to when you're trying
29:18
Speaker 4: to figure out which relievers are going to be good
29:20
Speaker 4: in any given year, it's kind of like catching lightning
29:22
Speaker 4: in a bottle. It's very difficult. You're sometimes you're just
29:24
Speaker 4: better off throwing a bunch of names at it seeing
29:27
Speaker 4: what happens.
29:27
Speaker 3: So that might be what they do.
29:29
Speaker 4: But I agree with Scott, I think starting pitching I
29:31
Speaker 4: think you need one more guy. There's still a couple
29:34
Speaker 4: of names on the free agent market that I would
29:35
Speaker 4: be interested in, at least as some death pieces, you know,
29:39
Speaker 4: Andrew Haney probably being the biggest one at this point.
29:43
Speaker 4: I know, uh Pavetta. I think Paveta is still out
29:46
Speaker 4: there as well. I know he's got a qualifying offer
29:47
Speaker 4: attached to him, which is which complicates that situation. But
29:50
Speaker 4: I said this earlier. Sometimes you get actually get some
29:53
Speaker 4: value out of that because it suppresses a guy's market
29:55
Speaker 4: so much so, but yeah, I agree, I think starting
29:57
Speaker 4: pitching is is definitely where they go tow.
30:02
Speaker 2: And the final point that I'll make that also stands
30:04
Speaker 2: out about this, guys, is that you know, Alex Andhopolis,
30:07
Speaker 2: I don't necessarily know if it does it again is
30:09
Speaker 2: the way to put it. But this is very much
30:12
Speaker 2: an Alex and Thopolis type move. He is not a
30:15
Speaker 2: reactive decision maker. All these different contenders are making all
30:19
Speaker 2: these different moves, all these different you know, as you
30:22
Speaker 2: mentioned Scott, it's getting late quickly when it comes to
30:25
Speaker 2: the off season with all these different free agents and
30:27
Speaker 2: trade candidates going to the wayside. Me and Stephen talked
30:30
Speaker 2: about it last night. Though so many people had speculated
30:33
Speaker 2: that there were money restrictions and things like that, I
30:35
Speaker 2: had said, what I think that it just is is
30:37
Speaker 2: that Alex is someone who has consistently shown when he
30:40
Speaker 2: goes after a player, he's got the years, he's got
30:42
Speaker 2: the number in place. If it goes above that, he's
30:44
Speaker 2: not going to outbid himself or go above that. He
30:47
Speaker 2: was waiting for the type of players that would fall
30:50
Speaker 2: into the wheelhouse and where he was comfortable and lo
30:53
Speaker 2: and behold, we get a player who meets many of
30:55
Speaker 2: the needs that we needed offensively. So I think that
30:58
Speaker 2: this just goes as show once again Alex and Thopless.
31:01
Speaker 2: When it comes to making the moves, he may not
31:03
Speaker 2: necessarily make it at the time that we're waiting for
31:05
Speaker 2: it to be made, he may not necessarily make it
31:07
Speaker 2: when others are making it, but he'll make the right
31:10
Speaker 2: move when it needs to be made. And he did
31:12
Speaker 2: it once again.
31:13
Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely, And you know three years, forty two million,
31:17
Speaker 3: that's I mean, that seems to me like a very
31:19
Speaker 3: fair deal. I think Brad and I talked on the
31:23
Speaker 3: show maybe a month ago when we kind of did
31:25
Speaker 3: a reset of the free agent market and we talked
31:27
Speaker 3: about Profar for five or ten minutes, and the fact was,
31:30
Speaker 3: if this was a guy who'd been doing it at
31:32
Speaker 3: a high, high level for multiple seasons, probably would have
31:35
Speaker 3: gotten five years in one hundred million bucks. Similarly, if
31:39
Speaker 3: he was a great defender, you could probably add at
31:42
Speaker 3: least another year and another ten or fifteen million dollars
31:44
Speaker 3: on the contract. So it's not as if Profar is
31:47
Speaker 3: a guarantee. There are questions for sure. Interestingly enough, one
31:52
Speaker 3: of the big questions that we had on the podcast
31:54
Speaker 3: a month ago was what do front offices think of
31:57
Speaker 3: Jerkson Profar? And was last year real? And obviously the
32:03
Speaker 3: Braves think it is. In front of the show. Grant
32:05
Speaker 3: McCauley is on the media call with Nthopless right now,
32:10
Speaker 3: and Nthopoulis said that they believe that the swing changes
32:14
Speaker 3: that Profar made in his career Best twenty twenty four
32:18
Speaker 3: were legitimate, and they believe in the changes that Profar
32:21
Speaker 3: made and feel like that's going to be sustainable and
32:24
Speaker 3: more of who he is moving forward. Obviously, it's just
32:28
Speaker 3: one opinion. I would love to have a survey of
32:30
Speaker 3: like all thirty front offices to get an idea of
32:33
Speaker 3: what they feel like is real and what might be
32:35
Speaker 3: smoke with Profar. But again I tweeted it out maybe
32:39
Speaker 3: an hour or two ago as of recording this. You know,
32:42
Speaker 3: you look at a video from Profar in twenty twenty
32:44
Speaker 3: three and a Profar video in twenty twenty four, and
32:48
Speaker 3: his swing did change significantly. He was much more vertical,
32:52
Speaker 3: he had a more pronounced leg kick, and just the
32:55
Speaker 3: swing as a whole, especially on the left side, just
32:57
Speaker 3: looked much more natural, more fluid, more violent. I would imagine.
33:01
Speaker 3: I didn't look it up, and I would I bet
33:03
Speaker 3: money that his swing rate and bat speed were significantly
33:08
Speaker 3: increased as well based on the exit velocity. So yeah,
33:12
Speaker 3: it is a bit of a gamble from the Braves.
33:14
Speaker 3: But for three years and forty two million, sure, there's
33:17
Speaker 3: always risk with a multi year contract for a guy
33:20
Speaker 3: in his thirties, but this is very much an alex
33:22
Speaker 3: Coded move and now for the next three years we
33:25
Speaker 3: get to find out if last season was a sign
33:28
Speaker 3: of things to come or if it was. If it
33:31
Speaker 3: was a fluke, then you know, then obviously it's a problem.
33:34
Speaker 4: Yeah. So I was actually wondered, and as we speak,
33:37
Speaker 4: Alex is talking to the media, so I'm kind of
33:39
Speaker 4: cat trying to catch up. But I was actually wondering
33:41
Speaker 4: in my head and Brad just put it in our chat.
33:44
Speaker 4: Thank you, Brad Roland, because last year Pro four had
33:48
Speaker 4: he had struggles with his range in the outfield. Defensively,
33:52
Speaker 4: I think everybody who's looked it up kind of sees
33:54
Speaker 4: that it was not a great range. Guy in the
33:56
Speaker 4: outfield had a decent arm, and so I was actually
33:59
Speaker 4: sitting here thinking, I wonder if they put him in
34:00
Speaker 4: right field since it's smaller and truest, and let Kelnick
34:03
Speaker 4: play left field since he's got more range. But we
34:06
Speaker 4: just see that Alex just answered that question that it's
34:09
Speaker 4: that Profile is gonna play left and that Kelnick and
34:12
Speaker 4: De la Cruz are gonna split right field until a
34:15
Speaker 4: Conyon comes back. So we have that answer, you know,
34:18
Speaker 4: matching skill set to the size of the outfield. I
34:21
Speaker 4: was thinking if if maybe they would consider putting profar
34:23
Speaker 4: and right until a Cuny came back. But that's not
34:25
Speaker 4: gonna be the case. He's gonna be in left. I'm
34:27
Speaker 4: sure they just want him to get comfortable and left
34:29
Speaker 4: and not switch him around a bunch so that, you know,
34:32
Speaker 4: the defense is gonna be a question. He was not
34:34
Speaker 4: a good defender last year. There's no getting around that.
34:37
Speaker 4: He's not a natural outfielder. He came up when Scott
34:40
Speaker 4: was talking about he was the number one prospected baseball.
34:42
Speaker 4: He was actually a shortstop back then, which is typically
34:45
Speaker 4: you know, the number one prospected baseball is typically a
34:47
Speaker 4: short stop. So he's not a natural outfielder. Does have
34:50
Speaker 4: a decent arm, range, is not as strength. There's probably
34:54
Speaker 4: gonna be some adventures at times in the outfield. We're
34:57
Speaker 4: just got to live with it, you know. Brace fans
34:59
Speaker 4: are used to that with Jorre Hilaire and Eddie Rosario
35:02
Speaker 4: and the likes that have roamed the Braves outfield the
35:05
Speaker 4: last few years. But it is notable that he will
35:07
Speaker 4: be left in Kelnick and de la Cruz will be
35:12
Speaker 4: in right until Acuna comes back.
35:15
Speaker 2: And of course, just as we're talking about, you know,
35:17
Speaker 2: potentially what could be the next move. You know, as
35:20
Speaker 2: AA is speaking, it doesn't as if is that he
35:22
Speaker 2: you know, did allude to the fact that the Braves
35:24
Speaker 2: at this moment are not close to anything else. They've
35:27
Speaker 2: explored starter and reliever opportunities, and we'll stay engaged now.
35:31
Speaker 2: Of course, when AA says something like that, that means
35:34
Speaker 2: that we'll likely be doing another emergency podcast within twenty
35:37
Speaker 2: four hours. And if that's the case, that is perfectly fine.
35:41
Speaker 2: Scott Stephen, It's been a ton of fun. Always love
35:46
Speaker 2: doing these with both of y'all. Again, I will back
35:48
Speaker 2: this up anytime that I have the chance to do
35:50
Speaker 2: the best when it comes to covering the Braves and
35:53
Speaker 2: just just always fun getting your perspective. Anything else was
35:56
Speaker 2: when we wrap up this emergency podcast edition of Jerks
35:59
Speaker 2: and be in the newest Atlanta Break Yeah.
36:03
Speaker 3: You know, boys, I'm a little sad as we wrap
36:05
Speaker 3: up this episode because I think this pretty much guarantees
36:09
Speaker 3: that we are not going to do our infamous Scream
36:13
Speaker 3: into the Void at the end of the off season episode.
36:17
Speaker 3: I think, like daily I was getting tweets from people saying,
36:20
Speaker 3: you know, can we do it now? Can you do
36:21
Speaker 3: the episode now? I need the therapy. I need to
36:23
Speaker 3: hear you guys. Let it out. You know, there was
36:26
Speaker 3: a reason that we kept saying, as painful as it was,
36:30
Speaker 3: you have to give them until mid February before we
36:33
Speaker 3: crucify them for not doing anything. A lot of players
36:36
Speaker 3: out there, and there still are a lot of players
36:38
Speaker 3: out there. I know Alex said they're not close, but
36:41
Speaker 3: the guy is the king of GM speak and who
36:43
Speaker 3: knows when the next move will come. But at least
36:47
Speaker 3: for now, it seems like we won't do that episode
36:50
Speaker 3: screaming into the void, and I'm pumped for the move.
36:54
Speaker 3: I really like Profar. As the off season has progressed,
36:58
Speaker 3: it just felt like it was more and more possile
37:00
Speaker 3: that there would be a reunion. And now we'll see.
37:04
Speaker 3: It is a bit of a calculated gamble by the
37:06
Speaker 3: Braves that what Profar did last year as an All
37:09
Speaker 3: Star is something that he can come close to doing
37:12
Speaker 3: the next couple of seasons. But I'm really excited. If
37:15
Speaker 3: you had to ask me today, I'd say I'm pumped
37:17
Speaker 3: for the move. It's a contract I would do every
37:19
Speaker 3: single day of the week, and finally we have an
37:22
Speaker 3: exciting move. And in addition, to talk about this offseason,
37:26
Speaker 3: rather than saying goodbye to a whole bunch of folks.
37:29
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean there's a reason, Like Scott just said,
37:32
Speaker 4: I mean, I don't know how many times I said
37:34
Speaker 4: it on a podcast this Winner. But you know, wait
37:37
Speaker 4: till the end of the off season to judge the
37:39
Speaker 4: off season, like people were just prematurely judging everything. I
37:43
Speaker 4: didn't think it was fair. I mean, at the very least,
37:45
Speaker 4: you have to give the team, you know, the full
37:47
Speaker 4: offseason to make their moves. You don't get any bonus
37:49
Speaker 4: points for having moves done in November versus January. I mean,
37:53
Speaker 4: it's the same. So big shout out to Alex for
37:56
Speaker 4: doing this today after we did a show where you know,
38:00
Speaker 4: we talked about you know, I said it multiple times.
38:02
Speaker 4: I thought that I still believe they were gonna make moves.
38:04
Speaker 4: I thought they had money to spend. You know, Bowman
38:07
Speaker 4: had that report today they had money to spend. So
38:09
Speaker 4: shout out to Alex for you know, the next day
38:11
Speaker 4: making you know, one of their biggest move, one of
38:14
Speaker 4: the biggest move. I mean, you know, you look at
38:16
Speaker 4: free agency. Alex doesn't do a lot in free agency.
38:18
Speaker 4: Typically he does a lot in terms of extending his
38:20
Speaker 4: own players, but like forty five, our forty two million
38:24
Speaker 4: is you know, one of his bigger free agent contracts. Actually,
38:27
Speaker 4: so that's a significant move. And I don't think they're
38:31
Speaker 4: done by you know, the same way I didn't think
38:33
Speaker 4: they were not. I didn't think they were gonna do
38:34
Speaker 4: absolutely nothing. I don't think they're done. I think they're
38:36
Speaker 4: going to add a starter. They still have room and payroll,
38:39
Speaker 4: both cash and luxury tax. I think that's one hundred
38:43
Speaker 4: percent going to be the next move. I wouldn't be
38:45
Speaker 4: surprised as at a reliever either, But I think they're
38:47
Speaker 4: gonna get another starter at some point. And my guess
38:51
Speaker 4: is we're going to be doing another one of these
38:52
Speaker 4: sometime before you know, we get to opening Day.
38:55
Speaker 2: Just to add context, this is I think the first
39:00
Speaker 2: multiple year deal for an offensive player, for a position
39:05
Speaker 2: player that Alex and Thopless has done at least notable.
39:10
Speaker 4: He gave four years.
39:12
Speaker 2: Yeah, so he gave him the one year deal first
39:14
Speaker 2: in the extendity, right.
39:16
Speaker 4: Yeah, that was a free agent cut. He Azuna got
39:19
Speaker 4: to free agency after the one year deal, and then
39:21
Speaker 4: he gave him a four year two yeah.
39:23
Speaker 2: Okay, yeah, so yeah, just in terms of yeah, but
39:26
Speaker 2: same different Yeah, but to your point, you know, we
39:28
Speaker 2: we haven't had much reason to add a hitter, you know,
39:31
Speaker 2: to the level of a Profar. But kudostlek is for
39:35
Speaker 2: finding the right deal, and you know, continuing, you know,
39:37
Speaker 2: sometimes the best move is continuing to strengthen a strength,
39:42
Speaker 2: especially when you see some faults in what you had
39:45
Speaker 2: perceived to be a clear strength. Now they've got that
39:49
Speaker 2: versatility and we should be.
39:51
Speaker 3: Good to go. But hopefully I would say, I'm sorry,
39:54
Speaker 3: I think Braves fans are really gonna like Profar.
39:57
Speaker 2: Yeah.
39:57
Speaker 3: I had some Padres fans tweet me today saying take
40:00
Speaker 3: care of him. We loved him. Similarly, Dodgers fans absolutely
40:05
Speaker 3: hate this guy. He was the one who kind of
40:08
Speaker 3: instigated a whole ordeal in the playoffs where fans were
40:13
Speaker 3: throwing things at Profar and left field. He robbed a
40:16
Speaker 3: home run at the fence and trolled the fans in
40:18
Speaker 3: the first row, and that started World War three in La. So, yeah,
40:23
Speaker 3: I think this is a guy who's gonna quickly kind
40:26
Speaker 3: of I don't know, Braves fans are gonna quickly come
40:28
Speaker 3: to really like this guy, because he does play with
40:30
Speaker 3: a swagger in an attitude that I think you need
40:33
Speaker 3: over one hundred and sixty two games and just the
40:36
Speaker 3: monotony of day in and day out of baseball for
40:39
Speaker 3: six months. You know, you need guys who are going
40:41
Speaker 3: to bring a spark and bring some energy, and that
40:43
Speaker 3: seems like, at least from Afar what Profar is going
40:46
Speaker 3: to bring.
40:47
Speaker 2: Well, guys, it's been a pleasure. I look forward to
40:50
Speaker 2: hopefully doing this maybe three or four more times before
40:52
Speaker 2: spring trading. Not kid, maybe at least one more time,
40:55
Speaker 2: but for Steven Tower to be underscore outliers Scott Coleman
40:58
Speaker 2: and Scott Coleman fifty five. If you're not already following them,
41:01
Speaker 2: what are you doing? Follow these guys their opinions are
41:03
Speaker 2: some of the best things to follow when it comes
41:06
Speaker 2: to Braves baseball. My name is Sean Comanet stats sac
41:09
Speaker 2: on x slash, Twitter as well at hammer Territory across
41:12
Speaker 2: all forms of social media as well as part of
41:15
Speaker 2: the foul Territory family of podcasts. And a thank you
41:18
Speaker 2: to the old man who is not here tonight but
41:21
Speaker 2: is in the background, Brad Rowland. This is all for
41:24
Speaker 2: you man. Wish you were here, but glad you're here
41:26
Speaker 2: in spirit. We know that you enjoy the signing just
41:29
Speaker 2: as much as we do, so we're gonna.
41:31
Speaker 4: Do We're gonna do a four men show at some point.
41:34
Speaker 4: I don't know when. I don't know what the I
41:35
Speaker 4: don't know what the celebration will be. But at some
41:38
Speaker 4: point we will do a four manch People have asked
41:40
Speaker 4: me multiple times because we've done three men shows, we've
41:43
Speaker 4: never done a four men show. It will happen at
41:45
Speaker 4: some point.
41:46
Speaker 2: Yeah, World series seems like a good reason to do it,
41:50
Speaker 2: but you know, maybe something on a bit smaller scale.
41:52
Speaker 2: But until next time, Go braves, We'll talk to you
41:55
Speaker 2: again soon. In one final note, a move has finally
41:58
Speaker 2: been made. Go brave, We'll talk to you again soon.
42:01
Speaker 2: Here on the Hammer Territory podcast