Latest / Sports Avenue Twisted Podcast / Episode 66 feat. Ken Anderson - Braves Off-Season, Braves Rumors, Andruw Jones Finally in the HOF!

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Episode 66 feat. Ken Anderson - Braves Off-Season, Braves Rumors, Andruw Jones Finally in the HOF! · Sports Avenue Twisted Podcast

0:25
Welcome to another edition of Sports Ave. podcast.
0:28
We have a special guest in here today who who knows a thing or
0:32
two about the Braves and he used to be a high school pitching
0:34
coach for for 24 years and and it's an honor to have him on Ken
0:39
Anderson. It's an honor to have have you
0:41
to this show and welcome. Hey, how we doing guys?
0:45
It's good to be here. Been looking forward to it.
0:49
Yeah, we're excited to have you. We you came highly recommended
0:52
from from a friend of ours, big Braves fan.
0:54
So, you know, it's interesting with the season you guys had
0:59
last year to see to see how you guys operate to bounce back.
1:04
So we're excited to have you, man.
1:06
Thank you. Thank you for having me.
1:10
All right, let's let's talk. Talk about the Braves offseason.
1:15
You know that Alex Anthop was president of baseball
1:18
operations, Terry McGurk CEO. Like you knew that the Braves
1:23
were very motivated to be buyers in the offseason, and they've
1:27
done that thus far. And if you look at the moods
1:29
they've made it. They brought back Iglesias and
1:32
he's pencils in as a closer, getting Yastrzemski on a 2 year
1:36
deal, which is I think it was a sneaky pick up.
1:40
And I think this might be the biggest move for the Braves so
1:43
far as getting Robert Suarez and prying away from teams like the
1:46
Jays and the Mets and other teams that are trying to contend
1:50
to go get a closer or a setup guy as well.
1:53
And Hassan Kim and we'll get to Hassan Kim later on because I
1:56
know that they signed him on on that big one year deal, but
2:00
unfortunately he was injured, but we'll get to that later.
2:02
But how do you, how do you look at this offseason so far and how
2:06
would you assess yourself and, and do you, do you think that
2:09
they have improved from from last year and if not the year
2:13
before? Yeah, it was.
2:16
We needed to do some things in the offseason.
2:18
And so first of all, our bullpen was OK.
2:24
It got better as the year went on last year.
2:26
But we did struggle. We we blew a lot of games.
2:29
There's a series in San Francisco.
2:30
We literally blew three games and got swept and two were walk
2:34
off games. We LED going into the bottom of
2:37
the eighth or the bottom of the ninth and all three.
2:39
And so we knew we had to get better.
2:42
Russell pitched great down the stretch and for him to take less
2:47
money, he was going to get offered more money course by the
2:49
Dodgers, which I know we'll talk about them later, but he took
2:53
less money to stay with us was outstanding.
2:56
So we already felt like we're on our way because we got our
2:58
closure back, but we have a we have an injury we'll talk about
3:01
later that really is our setup man.
3:04
And then there's so to get Robert Suarez, who I think is
3:06
the second or third best relief pitcher in the game when he's on
3:10
and to get him to not only pitch the 8th and possibly close some
3:16
games for us, but also to close next year is outstanding.
3:20
And then we were able to sign Tyler Kinley back.
3:23
And if anybody will look at his staff, he pitched in 24 games
3:26
last year down the stretch after we we acquired him from Colorado
3:31
and gave up one run. And so to get him to punt the
3:34
pitch the 7th and 6th inning, plus having Dylan leeway.
3:36
So we felt really good. So he got the bullpen situated.
3:40
The thing we need to do with the offense is we need to have a
3:42
little bit more durable guys. What happened last year is we
3:47
with all our injuries, it really showed Alex.
3:49
We need to have a guys who can kind of play multiple positions.
3:53
We had a lot of guys who played one position.
3:55
So the biggest thing is getting what's getting his Yaz is Yaz
4:00
can play all three outfield spots and say gives him mobility
4:03
to move around, maybe get Ronnie off a day or give Michael a day
4:07
off. But Yaz is also a big time
4:10
hitter against right-handed pitching.
4:12
He Rakes and in our ballpark the ball jumps in right field.
4:17
He's perfect for our ballpark and I agree with you.
4:19
I think it's a sneaky signing. The other thing is we did get
4:23
Hassan Cam. We needed a shortstop and to get
4:25
him on a one year deal. There's no expense there.
4:28
Like I said, what we'll talk later about what's going on with
4:31
him, but he's outstanding. He's a great guy in the
4:34
clubhouse and he plays hard. The one guy you didn't mention
4:37
that we got was Mauricio Dubon. We traded our shortstop last
4:42
year for Mauricio and Mauricio can play every position.
4:46
I really believe he could catch a very putting back here, but he
4:48
literally can play the rest of the positions and he's a plus
4:51
fielder at all of them. So he gives us the versatility
4:54
to finally give some guys some days off.
4:57
And so our bench is probably more versatile than it's ever
5:00
been. And this is also enabled us to
5:03
be able to put pro far as the DH and have a switch hitting DH
5:06
should make our offense go even better.
5:09
So we think we've had a really good offseason.
5:14
We probably need to add maybe a piece or two more just to fill
5:18
in the roster and we'll get to that later.
5:20
But as far as a grade on the offseason, I would definitely
5:23
probably say it's AB plus grade and we're a better team today
5:28
then we finished on October 1st for sure.
5:32
So talking about your offseason, the way it's gone, and you
5:35
briefly mentioned some needs that you guys have going
5:39
forward. So tell us a little bit about
5:42
what they need to address going forward and what's next for the
5:46
Braves. Well, what's next is we did go
5:50
out, get Jorge Mateo because Hassan Kendis injured and
5:53
probably won't be back. Let's just say June 1st because
5:55
it's in somewhere between mid-May and mid June.
5:58
So they got Mateo, which will add, you know, some versatility.
6:02
We did re sign Luke Williams, but that's kind of what got us
6:04
in trouble last year is signing a lot of guys who can play great
6:08
defense, which Alex definitely loves.
6:11
But we also found out we got to have some hitters too.
6:14
So the one guy that I've mentioned and I've heard from a
6:18
couple people, his market's fishing to start up and that's
6:20
Austin Hayes. Austin Hayes's markets fixing
6:23
the startup and he would be a perfect platoon with Yaz and
6:28
left field because Austin hits left-handed pitching very well.
6:31
So I'd like for us this at another right-handed bat.
6:34
It may not be Hayes from him where his market goes, but we
6:38
could probably use one more bat. We don't have to have it, but
6:42
it'd be nice to have the other knee that Alex hit on back in
6:46
October when we went through his exit interview.
6:49
Is he really wanted to have a starter who could pitch in the
6:53
playoffs. Now, what has happened since
6:56
then, a lot of Braves fans kind of mixed on.
6:59
It is one thing he didn't count on is that two of our starters,
7:02
Grant Holmes and Reynaldo Lopez, who were hurt, both have come
7:08
through the winter here and are pitching very well.
7:11
They look like they're going to be healthy.
7:13
So the need is not like pressing, but with our rotation,
7:17
we have a really solid 7 guys going to vie for the rotation,
7:22
but there's a kind of a drop off a little bit as far as playoff
7:26
pitcher. So we might could go in and try
7:28
to get another pitcher. And the names that we've been,
7:31
we've hit around. Alex does his due diligence.
7:34
He talks to everybody. You talk to Ranger, you know,
7:39
Valdez would be kind of like taking us over the tax thread
7:42
showed, which is kind of something that we don't want to
7:46
do our Bryce. Some of Ray's fans think that we
7:49
will not do it. It's like it's a force field.
7:51
But that's not actually true. But Terry McGurk has to give the
7:53
OK for that. So we'd like to add a picture,
7:56
but there's pictures out there that we've checked in on.
7:58
One being Sandy a la Contra with the Weathers trade.
8:02
You can tell Miami is trying to look to try to keep building up
8:05
that base. I got a good young club and so
8:08
they would look. We did talk about Mackenzie
8:11
Gore. He got traded the day to Texas.
8:14
But we've also looked at, you know, some other guys we we
8:17
talked to as far as a trade piece.
8:19
We talked to Oakland about Springs.
8:22
We talked to Cincinnati about Ladola.
8:24
We kind of would need a left-hander to go with Sale and
8:27
have another lefty because the rest of our pictures are
8:29
right-handed. But the two of the names that I
8:32
think as we get closer to spring training that we might get a
8:35
cheaper starter. And I think they both could fit
8:37
in a rotation. They let you be with Jose
8:39
Quintana and the right-hander being former Jay Chris Bassett.
8:43
And Bassett looks like the guy that could fit into the middle
8:46
because in the playoffs you can always put him in the bullpen.
8:49
As the Jays know, it's great out of the pen last year and he's
8:53
kind of a bulldog. He's durable and where his
8:56
market falls is interesting. So most Braves fans and I'm too
9:01
great. I'd like to see him at a starter
9:03
and maybe another bat. So do you think the Braves would
9:09
be interested in a pitcher like a Joe Ryan or Pablo Lopez?
9:13
Because I know that. Joe Ryan.
9:15
Yeah, go ahead. Yeah, we've checked in on them.
9:18
And The thing is, Minnesota went back and forth.
9:21
They were going to trade him and then they they decided not to.
9:24
They're kind of a weird organization right now.
9:26
You can talk to any Red Sox, anybody around the Red Sox,
9:28
they've had the same thing going on with them, but they want to
9:31
trade, they don't want to trade. So yes, I, I believe as the
9:35
season goes on, and I've told that to Braves fans, maybe we're
9:38
good enough to get through the first half and maybe we get a
9:42
little closer to the trade deadline in Minnesota falls
9:46
apart 100%. I think we need to check in on
9:49
Joe Ryan and Pablo Lopez, but maybe it's not something you do
9:52
now. Maybe it's something you do a
9:53
little bit as the season goes on.
9:56
Right, so I want to talk about what Weiss is the new manager of
10:02
the Braves and he's he was rumored to be in different
10:05
organizations to be a manager, but and also the fact that the
10:10
Braves did check on George Lombard.
10:12
As you can see, his son is the top Yankees prospect.
10:16
I did not believe his other son Jacob will be a top ten pick in
10:20
this coming draft. Ironically do that the Braves
10:23
have the 9th pick. But like with Walt Weiss now and
10:26
bride sticker was the manager for years and he was with the
10:29
organization for about four decades or if not longer.
10:33
So with so how would you look at what Weiss as a manager now and
10:38
how would you look at him moving forward it how did you fit the
10:42
mold with this braised roster? Well.
10:46
First of all, give Smith his props.
10:47
This would be Smith's 50th year with Atlanta Braves. 50 years
10:51
with one team, which is amazing. So.
10:53
And crazy. Yeah, it is crazy.
10:55
And you know, with Brian being gone, it's it's a hole that
11:00
needed to be filled. And Walt is probably the perfect
11:02
guy to do it because Walt has learned under it.
11:09
He learned Braves fans hate this sometimes the Braves way.
11:13
But it is it is something that the Braves have a way they want
11:16
to play. They have a way that they want
11:19
to look at things. And Brian's taught him that now.
11:23
Walt has been openly talked about it when he was in
11:26
Colorado. He probably looked at the game
11:29
too much like a player and he he reacted to situations too much.
11:34
You know what I mean? A manager has to be probably the
11:37
coolest person in the dugout and they got to be the person that
11:43
doesn't get reactionary because, you know, in a baseball game you
11:46
can be reactionary a lot. The umpires bad, you know, the
11:50
hitters in a slump, it's open. They make an error and what Walt
11:55
talks about is Brian taught him how to pick his battles,
11:59
basically know when to do that. So I'm really curious.
12:03
I've known Walt since 1999 when he made one of the greatest
12:07
plays in playoff history. And actually, every time I see
12:11
him, I remind him and, and of course, he's way past those
12:15
days, but he. He.
12:18
It's interesting to see what he learned over the tutelage to
12:22
take what he will be different from Brian is he's a more of a
12:25
fire guy. He he's fiery.
12:28
I don't know if you know this, but he can fight mix martial
12:32
arts. So if a fight breaks out, he can
12:35
why whoop anybody's butt on the field.
12:38
And so, you know, he's got a lot and he has a great relationship
12:44
with our superstar Ronald Cunha. He and Ronnie are Ronnie loves
12:50
him. So I think he's going they we're
12:52
going to get the best of Ronnie a Cunha.
12:54
And that's that can never hurt. That can never hurt you.
12:57
And and I think he'll do an excellent job.
12:59
I love the staff he's put together and I think, I think
13:05
you're going. To see a nice smooth transition,
13:07
which you don't always do when you go from a guy who's probably
13:10
going to have a statue outside of the stadium soon.
13:14
To another manager, sometimes that don't always work out, but
13:18
I think in our case it'll be a smooth transition and we expect
13:21
him to do a really good job. Let's talk a bit about that
13:25
staff he put together with the Braves.
13:27
They hired Jeremy Hefner as the pitching coach and Anton
13:30
Richardson, the first base coach, ironically from the Mets
13:34
division rival, of course. So tell us the impact that
13:39
you're the type of impact you're expecting those guys to have on
13:42
the franchise? Well, first I'll talk about
13:45
Jeremy pitching coach. I've some of the people have
13:50
asked me about Jeremy. I I think he's an outstanding
13:52
coach. I like his philosophy and it's a
13:56
little different than the one we had.
13:58
I think we had a really good, We had one of the top pitching
14:00
coaches in the league and Rick. Karen it's and Rick was great.
14:05
And so to me, Jeremy is going to bring a little bit different.
14:10
One of the things that kind of frustrated me a little bit with
14:14
Rick was I like to see pitchers, not just a raw on one pitch.
14:18
Rick was the philosophy. If he had one good pitch, go
14:20
with it. Like everybody's Mariano,
14:23
Mariano Rivera, but not everybody can throw one pitch
14:26
that well. And I like the Jeremy likes to
14:29
find multiple pitches and you know, and, and, and throw.
14:33
I think he I think he would do well, but he's got a, he's got a
14:38
tall task ahead of him because like I said, he is coming in.
14:41
He's replacing probably who was one of the strongest, if not the
14:45
strongest coach coming off our staff this year.
14:48
And but he also has probably one of the greatest minds pitching
14:54
minds in the game is his ace and Chris L Chris L does great with
14:58
the young pitchers and talking to the other pitchers.
15:00
He's just a great teammate. You heard that, you know, he was
15:04
in Boston or in Chicago. So that'll help him.
15:07
As far as Anton, I'm telling you what we couldn't be more stoked
15:10
to get him. He he the one thing that we kind
15:15
of struggled with for weird last year and that we don't know.
15:18
We lost EY Eric Young and we lost Ron Washington when they
15:22
went out to. The Angels.
15:25
And the one of the things that took a back seat was some of our
15:28
base running. Now we we didn't run the bases
15:31
well. And Anton is probably one of the
15:32
best teachers of the game teaching base running.
15:36
And, and I already told Matt Olson, get get ready to steal 12
15:40
bases this year because he everybody runs, you know, with
15:43
Anton. So we're pumped.
15:46
And I think we got to learn how to not we got to learn how to
15:49
score runs without hitting home runs.
15:51
And Alex has put a team that can do that.
15:54
He's added some pieces that can move ball around the ballpark
15:58
and I'm excited to see what Anton can do with our running
16:01
game and hopefully it'll show and and run scored and in
16:07
situations where we're not allowing up something so much on
16:09
the home run, which we're good at, but I don't think you need a
16:13
lot, you know, rely on it and I think he'll help us get there.
16:18
Let's talk about the starting pitching depth the Braves team
16:21
and think about you know, like you mentioned, the Braves do
16:25
need a starting pitcher, it seems like, but let's let's dive
16:29
into the current rotational staff and obviously you got
16:32
Chris Hill. I think I still think he's a top
16:34
ten pitcher when healthy. He was a so young not too long
16:37
ago. Spencer Schwalenbach has been
16:39
the great find and you know, it's incredible story about
16:42
Schwalenbach because he was drafted at the shorts have that
16:44
converted into a starting pitcher and he looks like a
16:47
great draft pick for it. And then you mentioned about
16:49
Spencer Strider, Hertzer, Wall Street, former Gator, Bryce
16:53
Elder, Bernardo Lopez. Talk about some of those guys
16:56
that were doing fit, like overall when it comes to, you
16:59
know, the staff itself. Yeah, we'll have seven guys
17:04
shooting for five spots. And.
17:07
Maybe a six spots the odd man out of this equation if
17:12
everybody gets through the spring shelfie is going to be
17:15
Hurst and Waldron, which is really interesting because he
17:17
pitched outstanding down the stretch and to let you know the
17:23
reason why he might not stick is.
17:26
I think he's going to pitch us a little bit better.
17:27
He's one of the guys who has options and so, you know, we'll
17:32
see how it turns out. Bryce Elder has no options.
17:35
Bryce also pitched very well down the stretch.
17:39
He's to me the most unique case. I'm working my way back, as you
17:43
can tell, but the most unique case because he, he is, he's a
17:50
kind of a piece. That that you could actually
17:54
maybe trade and get something for.
17:58
But you also need him to pitch and how they maneuver that.
18:02
It will be very interesting because I know they don't want
18:05
to let go. And as some of the Braves fans,
18:08
as we're pushing down here, we're.
18:10
Calling him Big Texas because he's from Texas and we won't Big
18:16
Texas to actually stick with us, but where that is is going to be
18:20
interesting because he doesn't have options.
18:23
And yet, though, he might not be one of the top five pitchers.
18:27
In Reynaldo and Grant, first of all, in Reynaldo, Reynaldo has a
18:32
plus fastball, great break and stuff.
18:36
He's coming off an Army three. He we always know he's going to
18:41
be a great relief pitcher. But with that said, he's also a
18:46
very good starter. Before he got hurt, he had a 2
18:49
ERA. So he's that kind of pitcher and
18:54
I can fully, I can fully believe that he can make, they can make
18:57
the team as as, as one of the five.
19:00
Grant Holmes is, is, is is our find.
19:03
We found him. Nobody expect this out of Grant.
19:07
The interesting thing though, as we go forward in the spring,
19:10
Reynaldo and Grant are both really good out of the pen.
19:14
So if all seven of them pitch well, maybe it's something where
19:17
they take one of them and stick them in the bull pen.
19:20
Whether it's Bryce, whether it's Grant, whether it's Ronaldo,
19:23
just have a rotation. Our big three are Spencer
19:27
Strider. Who?
19:30
Come off Tommy John, his velocity was down last year, but
19:36
there's a thing that Jeremy was already talking to him about and
19:39
Spencer said he realized it because of coming off the
19:42
injury. His arm angle was a little
19:44
different. They're hoping to fix that this
19:47
year and they're fixing it. They hope his velocity comes
19:50
back and if his velocity comes back, that's a hell of a #3
19:54
pitcher in your location. Spencer Spider swelling box.
19:59
Like I said, it's a great story. And if he wasn't for the injury,
20:03
there was a chance he could have been.
20:05
He would have been on the All Star team last year.
20:07
He just sounds good. And then, like you say, Chris
20:09
Sale. But all of our pitchers noticed
20:12
other than Bryce Elder. Had injury situations and
20:17
because of that that's why most Braves fans and Alex himself
20:21
even said we might need to add 1 more starter because just
20:26
because of the injury situation. And you know how it is, most
20:30
teams use up to almost 13 starters during any given year
20:34
because of rain outs or because of hurt arms.
20:37
Low IL stands so you can't have enough starting pitching.
20:40
So that's why we feel like the Braves will have a starting
20:42
pitching eventually. Let's talk about some of that
20:48
starting pitching, or not just starting pitching, but pitching
20:51
depth overall that you guys have throughout the 40 man roster
20:56
with guys like π Amps and George Soriano, Hunter Stratton, Joey
21:03
Wentz, you know the young kid that you called up last year,
21:07
Didier Fuentes. Talk about some of the guys who
21:10
you feel could make an impact on this roster this year.
21:14
Yeah, you left off Carrot Chuck. If Carrot Chuck were to make it
21:17
back to where he pitched his reliever 2 years ago, we've got
21:20
a lot of horns. Matter of fact, you know, we're
21:23
going to need 7 relievers in Atlanta and seven relievers in
21:26
Gwinnett. That's that's our minor league
21:28
team. That's 14.
21:29
We're going to have 23 relievers coming to spring this year.
21:33
So that's where our death comes in.
21:37
And it's going to be imperative that Walt and Jeremy and Alex,
21:44
the front office makes the right decision because a lot of these
21:49
guys are going to be out of options.
21:52
And to be honest with you, if they all go in the spring and
21:55
pitch well, you won't be able to sneak any of them through
21:57
waivers. You know how it is.
21:58
Get the end of spring. Everybody's looking to get a
22:00
relief harm and how this turns out.
22:04
The only thing we know is is Iglesias, Suarez, Lee are going
22:10
to be at the back end of that bullpen.
22:13
But we're Bomber ends up fitting, we're Dylan Dodd ends
22:16
up fitting the names you said Joey Wentz, all these guys where
22:22
they fit. You know with Fuentes, he's
22:25
young, he can go to he go to AAA.
22:27
But all these guys, what a franchise is, is one of the best
22:32
pitchers we got down there are one of the best start showing.
22:35
We have so much pitching death. It is the thing that our
22:38
organization still has. We have some kids that even Alex
22:43
brought up that could probably make their debut this year.
22:47
Jr. Richie, Owen, Murphy, These are
22:49
guys that can make a debut this year.
22:51
And our top prospect in our whole organization is a pitcher,
22:55
and that's Cam, Cam and Edie, and he won't be here this year,
22:58
but our death and our Hermlich system is pitching.
23:02
And so because of that, we have plenty of depth.
23:05
It's going to be imperative, like I said, that Jeremy and
23:08
Walt make the right decisions coming out of here.
23:11
And Alex, who goes to AAA, because they're going to have to
23:13
probably release these guys. And I don't expect them to be
23:16
able to get them through minors. We try to sneak Josue Suarez
23:21
through minors like a week ago, and Baltimore claimed him.
23:24
Now, Baltimore just dropped him today.
23:25
But. Yes, that's what's going to
23:28
happen. So I don't know if we're going
23:29
to be able to sneak these guys through because we do have a lot
23:32
of depth in our pitching in our organization.
23:37
So there's other guys like Lucas Braun and Ian Mejia and Hayden
23:41
Harris. They're also depth guides in the
23:43
rotation. They're projected to be up at
23:45
some point this year if it comes to injury.
23:47
But I was also told, and I know we always talk about this, like
23:51
there are some reports about like what's like Ritchie being
23:55
available in trade talks. Is he part of the plans of this
23:58
team or do you think he's he's going to be part of a package
24:00
deal to go get the starting pitcher the Braves need to get?
24:04
This is how I this is how I believe that most teams and look
24:10
at, I thought most, most of the top teams look at pitching depth
24:17
in their minor leagues. They can help your ball club two
24:21
different ways. They can help you at the big
24:23
league club or they can help you go get somebody.
24:26
So it's kind of a loaded question with Jr.
24:29
Yes, they feel like Jr. can pitch in the big leagues from
24:32
the Atlanta Braves. But if it were to be a piece
24:35
that gets Joe Ryan or Sandy Alecantra or somebody like that,
24:40
then that's where his value comes to us.
24:43
You know, people get in love with their minor league players
24:48
and that's great. But the fact of the matter is,
24:50
is that you just saw Texas trade its #2 prospect for Mackenzie
24:57
Gore, because I think Mackenzie Gore can get into the playoffs.
25:00
And that's what depth in your organization does pitching them.
25:04
You know, the Yankees traded 4 pretty decent prospects to Miami
25:10
for Ron Weathers, who only pitched in 38 games last year or
25:14
38 innings last year. So you know that you need you
25:18
need some prospects. So I think the Braves are OK
25:22
with Jr. Richie pitching in Atlanta, but
25:25
if needed to be, they could include him.
25:28
The the the case for that would be so much a pitcher would be a
25:32
hitter. William Contreras was really
25:35
good for us. He was really good.
25:37
He was good in the modern leagues.
25:38
He was great when he come up this first year, but we had
25:43
catching that we thought we had catching death.
25:44
We had Travis Darnell and we had a chance to get Murphy.
25:48
And so we thought he was OK to trade.
25:51
Now, whether that's worked out or not, that's for debate.
25:53
That's a hot debate on Braves Twitter.
25:56
But the fact of the matter is, is that's why you have minor
25:59
leaguers is not only to help your ball club, your Major
26:02
League team, but it is to go get pieces.
26:04
And I can see Jr. being either one of those.
26:07
How it turns out, he could act like seeing pitch in Atlanta
26:10
this year, but down the stretch, if we're in it, he could also be
26:14
a name because everybody has asked for him.
26:16
Any kind of trade that comes up is they have to talk about Jr.
26:20
And I don't think that we have many untouchables in our
26:24
organization just because we're trying to win a World Series.
26:27
We're in a window right now. Our core is up there and we
26:30
might have to trade some of these guys.
26:32
And so we'll see. We'll see.
26:35
We'll see where Jr. ends up. But I think the Braves are OK
26:38
either way. So the the Braves signed Hassan
26:43
Kim to one year contract for 20 million.
26:46
And believe it or not, this was Alex Athopoulos's first true
26:51
Boris Clyde signing ever. Because we're Jays fans and we
26:56
knew what Athopoulos was all about it.
26:58
He had a hard time signing Boris clients and he finally got the
27:02
guy who was a Boris Clyde and unfortunately he went through an
27:07
injury where he slipped through ice.
27:09
He's out till like you mentioned around mid June and they
27:13
immediately signed Horgan Mateo to a one year deal then and it
27:17
looks like Dubon and Mateo would fit.
27:20
Like how do you look at that? And could you see a guy like
27:23
Alex Ladissi that they said they drafted him in the second round
27:25
last year, be an option come this season?
27:31
I think Alex is going to probably spend the whole year if
27:34
they can just for development. He was, he come up, you know, he
27:38
played at Florida State long year and it a lot of times these
27:41
college kids, they have such a long year, they go right into
27:44
playing modern league ball. And that they kind of need that
27:48
year. And I think that they would
27:50
rather him not. He's another name that could get
27:53
them getting traded too, because we do have, we did draft some
27:57
shortstops this year. I don't think he will, but the
28:01
Hassan Kim situation is kind of interesting.
28:05
Hassan's up against it right now.
28:06
The part of the reason he had to sign a one year deal.
28:08
Whatever. He's hurt last year and I feel
28:11
bad for the guy he slips on. It's not his fault, but you
28:15
know, here he is in the same situation.
28:17
He's to produce. I think the Braves are OK.
28:21
A lot of our fans are a little bit panicky, but they're OK.
28:25
And the fact they do have Mauricio Duban to who can field
28:28
and he can hit a little bit, not great, but he hits a little bit.
28:31
And Jorge Mateo is a really good off the bench and he can play
28:34
multiple positions. So I think we'll start the year
28:37
and we'll be fine. But when Hassan comes back, that
28:41
to me is where you kind of see where everything's going and
28:45
you'll kind of see what the direction is.
28:48
But if Jorge struggles, the bond gets hurt and Alex gets off to a
28:54
great start in the minor leagues, yes, he could be a guy
28:58
that may has to get rushed up here into play.
29:01
Because the one guy that we have in our minor league system who
29:04
is kind of going back and forth is Nacho Alvarez.
29:06
And Nacho's just not a shortstop and so you have to go to
29:11
somewhere else or pick up another player.
29:13
But it's Hassan Kim's situation when he comes back will kind of
29:17
tell the tale and what the Braves were thinking for the
29:19
future because his his a one year contract, his contract's
29:24
over. We'll be back in the same boat
29:26
and needing a shortstop. And you know, that's a pivotal
29:30
position. And now if you look at the free
29:32
aging class next year, it's not very good at shortstop with only
29:35
probably Nico Horner being and that means Nico's going to get
29:38
paid and who knows whether we can outbid anybody.
29:42
So that's kind of where we set with that.
29:47
Let's talk a bit about the catcher situation with with
29:51
Drake Baldwin last year, outstanding season, Rookie of
29:54
the year in the National League and Sean Murphy who's got three
29:58
years left. So tell us a little bit about
30:01
that situation and what you see going forward for the future and
30:04
the present. I think Drake's our starting
30:07
catcher and I think you should catch 110 games at minimum this
30:12
year. He he's got a chance to do that
30:14
'cause Murphy's not going to start the season on the roster.
30:17
We'll probably have to go to Chadwick Tromp, who caught some
30:20
force last year, and the backup Drake.
30:25
And then Sean will get healthy and come in.
30:28
And I'd have said this to a friend of mine today.
30:30
I said we're going to have the best backup catcher in the game,
30:34
but we're paying him way too much And so for a backup
30:37
catcher. So it's a very interesting
30:38
situation. Now here's the deal.
30:41
It's very fluid right now. I I expect Sean can DH some and
30:46
Drake can DH. So that that'll be an
30:48
interesting situation. We might, we might start
30:51
handling Drake a little bit like Seattle handles Cal Raleigh
30:55
where he DHS and catches, you know what I'm saying?
30:57
So that catching situation is really interesting and how Alex
31:02
approaches Alex coaches Sean Sean's another player who's up
31:08
against it right here and he's been injured.
31:11
But he needs to kind of show something because the fact of
31:14
the matter is, is. He, he, he's.
31:19
He's going to have to develop. I mean, $15 million for a
31:21
catcher is overpay. I mean, JT got the same contract
31:25
to be the starter in in Philadelphia.
31:29
So you know, this is going to this is going Braves fans here
31:33
this they're going to be half of them get excited, half of them
31:35
going to be the enemy. But he's definitely somebody
31:38
that that Alex probably has to look at and see if he gets
31:41
healthy and starts playing well. Maybe it's somebody you can
31:44
actually move to clear a little payroll and get a get a good
31:47
player. And obviously he would be a good
31:50
fit in Minnesota to catch in Minnesota if a deal were to ever
31:53
come about for Joe Ryan or Pablo.
31:55
So that catch the situation race.
31:58
But Drake Baldwin, I think I watched him when I first watched
32:01
him play for even got here. He reminded me so much of Brian
32:05
McCann. Same kind of swing, hit that
32:07
ball to left field and the way he calls the game.
32:11
And he's keeps getting better defensively.
32:13
I think we have our starting catcher in Baldwin and what we
32:16
have to decide on Murphy is going to be very interesting as
32:20
we go forward. This is probably an important
32:24
question for Braves fans and you know, a lot of people are trying
32:27
to figure out what's going on with this player.
32:30
He's probably the franchise player of this team is Ronald de
32:33
Cunha junior many years ago, well, you could say a few years
32:36
ago, he signed one of the team friendly deal, probably one of
32:41
the best contracts in baseball, if not ever to an 8 year, $100
32:44
million contract. And now he's at the point there.
32:48
He has three years left, I believe, and now he's looking
32:52
for another contract at some point.
32:53
And I believe he'll be 31 once he hits free agency.
32:56
And he and I believe he has 22 club options.
33:00
And there's been reports out there.
33:02
I addressed this because I think this is so important for Braves
33:06
fans out here knowing that, you know, he's been going through
33:09
injuries the last couple years and what he where does he stand
33:14
in this? What, what is the contract
33:16
situation like? Like are they good?
33:18
Are they planning to give him a contract?
33:20
Are they going to just let it play out and see where things
33:22
go? Like how did how is this going
33:24
to play out for Acuna? Well, that's $1,000,000 question
33:28
down here and one of our radio guys, our big sports station,
33:33
really, he stuck his head out, not the end and told him that's
33:36
outstanding. But Ronnie's in an interesting
33:39
situation because we probably can't afford MVP Ronnie EVP
33:45
Ronnie is probably going to get, I mean, if Kyle Tucker gets 60
33:48
million and Soda gets, he's going to get 60 to 80 million a
33:51
year, you know what I'm saying? And we're, we're just, we just
33:55
our organization can't really pay somebody 6080 million.
33:59
Now Ronald Cunha off of this last year, we could probably
34:04
afford to an extension. So he's an interesting case.
34:07
I know he loves playing in Atlanta and he's, he's really
34:11
kind of a, a shy kid and I think he likes the Atlanta media
34:15
market. You know, the Atlanta media
34:16
market is a great market to play for and so they're not going to
34:24
like hold you up against the the fire, you know what I mean?
34:28
All the time. So it's interesting with him.
34:35
It's an interesting case, but I think it's it's an interesting
34:41
year. If he has a monster year this
34:42
year, the Braves will actually may have to start thinking about
34:45
actually trading him, which that's going to.
34:47
I mean, some people are going to lose their mind.
34:50
But the fact the matter is he could bring a hole like Soto
34:53
does, and you're able to keep your franchise going, but then
35:00
you can just try to ride it out. Now he's an interesting case in
35:04
the fact of that, that you have a guy who had two knee surgeries
35:11
and have we ever known one of our superstars to be a guy who
35:14
had two knee surgeries? So I don't know.
35:17
I, I, I would like for Alex to at least approach him.
35:21
And he's a guy that I think we could go over the third tax
35:23
threshold and be, and make our money back.
35:26
You know what I mean? Because he's going to sell so
35:28
many jerseys. He's going to, he's going to do
35:31
so many things that I'd like to see him go over the 3rd and
35:34
offer him. And maybe you can go ahead and
35:35
get him for like 35 million if you offered him right now.
35:42
It's interesting you talk about that.
35:44
I know there was a lot of noise last year about about the
35:47
possibility of him getting traded because I want to, I want
35:50
to talk a bit about his close friend Ozzy Albies and his
35:55
future with the Braves. So just tell us a little bit
35:58
about that because I've seen a lot where if they trade a Cunha,
36:01
they got to trade Albies kind of stuff like it's a lot of tied in
36:04
together. But I mean, they're both on team
36:07
friendly contracts there. You know, I mean, Ozzy would
36:11
would definitely fetch somebody's attention, of course.
36:15
So tell us a little bit about his situation going forward in
36:18
his future with the Braves. Ozzy's got one of the best
36:21
contracts in baseball if he's healthy because he's won the
36:25
lower paid contract and he has an option year next year.
36:28
I think if he has any kind of decent year, we'll pick him up.
36:32
I see him more with playing his career with the Braves.
36:37
But again, if he gets injured anything, he's had some weird
36:42
injuries too. You know, they might have to
36:45
move on. I don't think like, I don't
36:47
think most Braves fans realize that they them two can play
36:50
without each other. Ozzy got here before Ronald got
36:53
here. Like, Ozzy's played, You know,
36:56
Ronnie's been hurt two years and so Ronnie's played without him.
37:00
I mean, I just played without Ronnie a lot.
37:02
And the one year that Ronnie was healthy, Ozzy was hurt.
37:05
So they played without each other a lot.
37:07
So that's not like they they can't play without each other.
37:10
I think the organization would love to keep both of them.
37:14
Ozzy's really great for our community and I think Ozzy fits
37:18
Atlanta and I think Ozzy would give us a friendly contract.
37:22
I think Ozzy loves it in Atlanta and wants to stay.
37:26
His wife and him do a lot of charity work in Atlanta and I
37:30
think if anybody I think he the two he's most likely to stay
37:35
than the other one. I would put that both of them
37:38
staying in Atlanta around maybe 30% with Ronnie staying at in
37:47
Atlanta being the only one, maybe, I don't know, 40% and
37:53
then Ozzy being the only one being like 70%.
37:57
Because I think Ozzy is probably going to stay here as long as he
38:00
doesn't get hurt again and produces.
38:02
I think Ozzy is going to maybe be one of these brakes that kind
38:05
of hangs around. Who would you say is in line for
38:11
an extension? Because knowing Alex, the GM or
38:15
the president, he likes to stay ahead of the curve, giving
38:18
extensions on team friendly deals.
38:20
And I was told that they offered Spencer Schwalenbach to a
38:24
certain amount of the and you could confirm this as well to a
38:27
certain amount and he rejected it.
38:28
And we know that another guy that has potential to to to be
38:34
extension candidate is Drake Baldwin, right rating rookie of
38:37
the year. He looks like he's the real
38:39
deal. And knowing the Braves, they
38:41
they emphasize a lot on the catcher situation.
38:44
Looking at the track record they had Travis Darnell, they gave
38:47
Sean Murphy an extension and William Contreras.
38:50
I mean, give her take that he got traded and and now Drake
38:55
Baldwin is probably another guy who could pick that.
38:58
But is there anyone else that you would think and talk about?
39:01
Where that stands when it comes to the next guys in line to get
39:05
extended? It's it's it's a Cunha would
39:09
make the most sense I guess. I gave you his parameters.
39:12
It makes it difficult. The next two would be swelling
39:16
and and Swellenbach and Baldwin. Swellenbach, they did approach
39:20
him and that is and talk to him a little bit about what it is
39:25
and no numbers or anything, but just what he like to and he's he
39:29
would be interested. He did have the injury this
39:31
year. Swellenbach and Baldwin have
39:35
actually become decent friends. So that becomes an interesting,
39:38
I wouldn't mind getting an extension.
39:41
Our issue right now and we don't have to worry about these two
39:43
right now because these two are being second years of their, you
39:47
know, of their six years with us.
39:49
So they're going to still be under team control is to get
39:53
through this lockout, get the numbers back to where they need
39:57
to be in baseball. And then I think somewhere in
40:01
the 27 year you're going to see Schwellenbach and Baldwin
40:03
offered extensions. As long as they're healthy and
40:06
they both perform like we think they can this year, I think it's
40:11
it's it could definitely, definitely happen.
40:14
As far as anybody else get an extension on the Atlanta Braves.
40:18
No, we don't really have everybody we have that we
40:21
probably would extend are locked up and and anybody that's not
40:25
locked up. Now look, the one guy that might
40:29
would be it's like a minor extension would be Robert
40:33
Suarez. Say Suarez comes in, he just
40:35
dominates again this year. I can see him adding a year or
40:38
two on, you know what I mean to say that you besides being one
40:41
year, let's go ahead and give you another year or something
40:44
like that. But other than that, the three
40:45
guys that could get extended that, that would not and
40:49
hopefully stay with Atlanta, not turn out to be a Max Free or a
40:52
Freddie Freeman or Dansby Swanson would be Ronald Cunha,
40:56
Spencer Swellenbach and Drake Baldwin.
40:58
And we'll see how Alex approaches it.
41:00
So, you know, we'll see. But they definitely, I think
41:03
most Braves fans would want those 3 all extended and would
41:06
be very disappointed if we don't cause we've lost our our other
41:09
free agents that we love. I don't know how much.
41:12
The fan base can keep hoping of our players playing with us and
41:15
then going out, you know what I mean?
41:17
So. Yeah.
41:23
One of the greatest honors for the Braves actually came a
41:26
couple days ago. Long overdue, but Andrew Jones
41:30
finally got into the hot baseball Cooperstown Hall of
41:34
Fame. So tell us about his, I remember
41:37
watching his debut against the Phillies and, you know, later in
41:41
that year he made though he had that big game against the
41:43
Yankees in the, you know, in the World Series.
41:45
And tell us a little bit about Andrew Jones career and why this
41:50
is such a big, well deserved honor for him.
41:54
Well, it's it's interesting. So I got a little story to tell
41:58
you. I hope we got time, but Andrew
42:00
Jones is one of the greatest players I ever seen play the
42:03
game. I went on a different podcasts.
42:06
We won't name the podcast, but and we talked about it.
42:08
Who's getting Hall of Fame? And I said it's a travesty.
42:10
You know, had a young kid on there who who didn't he never
42:14
seen Andrew. And I said you would have seen
42:17
one of the greatest center fielders, Bobby Cox, who
42:19
actually saw Willie Mays play. They asked him who's the
42:23
greatest center fielder. He said Andrew Jones was.
42:27
And then when Willie Mays got approved from San.
42:32
Francisco. That's my dog.
42:35
Sorry about that. It's it's he got approached to
42:39
San Francisco and told what Bobby Cox said.
42:43
He said, well, he may said, yeah, Andrew Jones is probably
42:45
the greatest center field he's seen.
42:50
And so that's how great of a player Andrew Jones is that when
42:55
one of the probably the greatest center fielder of the game even
42:57
said defensively Andrew Jones was better.
43:00
So he's just one of the best players I ever saw him play the
43:06
game. And it's a shame that I said on
43:11
the pod the other podcast, it's a shame that maybe he didn't
43:14
take steroids because what kept him out of the Hall of Fame,
43:19
excuse me, was he got hurt and a lot of players turned to drugs
43:25
and Andrew, Andrew didn't. And so his career kind of, you
43:29
know, Cater at the end. But the funny story, but Andrew
43:33
is we went to a ball game here in Chattanooga, TN, me and my
43:38
grandfather. And this 17 year old kid is
43:42
playing for the Greenville Braves at Old Angle Stadium here
43:46
across the road. Said a McDonald's.
43:49
He had a home run out of the ballpark into the parking lot of
43:52
the McDonald's. The furthest home run I've ever
43:54
seen in the life. And my grandfather said that
43:57
guy's going to be a Hall of Fame.
43:59
So thank God my grandfather can look down and I'll see Andrew
44:03
Jones is the Hall of Famer. That's awesome, man.
44:06
Yep, I mean, you don't see guys like Andrew Jones being ten time
44:13
Gold Glover and the way he played like he had a phenomenal
44:17
career and I he was one of my favorite players to watch
44:19
throughout his career. Yeah, it's, it's amazing.
44:23
We're trying to do we're trying to do a comp for the young kid
44:26
on the show. It's hard to even make a comp.
44:30
Because he's. One-of-a-kind.
44:31
Yeah. Yeah, he's just, he's just, he's
44:34
just amazing player. And I'm so glad that he finally
44:38
got in the Hall of Fame. You know, he, he's had to make
44:41
him wait. And I understand he he he
44:44
cratered at the end of his career, but.
44:48
It just. He'd almost been better off.
44:50
He retired. He'd already been in Hall of
44:52
Fame, probably. Your grandfather.
44:55
Your grandfather has a knife for talent, man.
44:57
No had a knife for talent. Yeah, my grandfather played for
45:01
the Detroit Tigers, so that's that's how I got my love of
45:05
baseball. That's.
45:06
Awesome. Yeah, yeah, He has a funny story
45:10
on that real quick. He was at the last year, his
45:13
first year of the Tigers Spring. First spring of the Tigers was
45:16
Ty Cobbs last. Oh wow, that's crazy.
45:21
Yeah. Yeah, that's a rare that you
45:24
will never see, especially now in baseball nowadays, right.
45:28
So it's it's amazing. But I do want to talk about
45:31
another Braves legend who I think should be Hall of Fame
45:35
worthy, but he's not. And that's Dale Murphy.
45:38
And looking at his resume, I mean, he was a two time MVP,
45:41
seven time All Star, four time Silver Slugger.
45:44
He got the Roberto Clemente wrote 510 Google.
45:46
Like, what held them back to be in the Hall of Fame?
45:51
Like because you know how the system works with the vote and
45:55
all, right, like talk about that.
45:57
Yeah, I mean, I it's, it's, it's probably the biggest angst in
46:00
Atlanta. Dale Murphy was, you know, the
46:05
problem with Dale was he played in some of our worst teams we
46:07
ever had in Atlanta. The years between 197677 when he
46:13
come up to 1990 when he got traded were some of the worst
46:18
years Atlanta baseball ever seen.
46:20
And they just, the teams were horrible.
46:22
He won back-to-back MVP awards. That's how good he was.
46:25
He hardly had any protection in the lineup and he was just
46:30
tremendous. And you talking about a guy who
46:32
could throw and catch, He could really throw back.
46:35
He was in the day because when we've all grown as a society, he
46:39
was the kind of the errand judge of his day.
46:43
This big tall outfielder who you can't believe can move like
46:48
that. Like you're just amazed this big
46:50
man can move like this. He could throw, he could hit.
46:54
And you know why he's not in the Hall of Fame?
46:59
It it, it's flabbergasting, to be honest with you.
47:01
And it's a big, it's a big scar to us.
47:05
Well, in the Hall of Fame, because why he's not in there?
47:08
And. I say this all the time when
47:10
you're players of your best franchises in baseball, which is
47:13
the Braves were one of the greatest franchises in baseball.
47:16
Do we all agree it's one of the greatest and they retire a
47:19
player's number and they can't get into the Hall of Fame.
47:22
That probably tells you something wrong.
47:24
Like most players who get numbers retired are also going
47:27
to be in the Hall of the Hall of Fame.
47:30
And Dale Murphy was and a lot of people know this and I know
47:34
y'all probably do, but he come up as a catcher.
47:38
He was a catcher and and you know, and The funny thing about
47:42
him every time he had a great honor every time he tried.
47:44
So second he thought in the center fielder.
47:46
We were at a game, his one game he's caught many, many, many
47:50
years ago and he hit the center filter square in the chest, hit
47:53
rolling office right in the chest.
47:55
He threw it that far over second and you know that.
47:59
And that's when at the time they said, well, maybe we need to
48:01
move him. We'll put him in the outfield.
48:03
And that was a great choice. Yeah.
48:05
But why he's not in the Hall of Fame is borderline travesty.
48:09
It's it's it's flabbergasting. And the Riders really should be
48:12
ashamed of themselves. He really should have got in
48:14
this time with the Golden Air. They they put they did one right
48:19
thing. They put Jeff Cannon, who's one
48:20
of the greatest second baseman ever played.
48:22
And but they not to put Murphy in there with him was it's it's
48:26
just shocking. And it really they should be
48:29
embarrassed by not putting him in there.
48:32
I completely agree with that 100%.
48:35
Let's talk about the the insane. The S call them insane deals
48:41
that that Tucker and Boba shet got.
48:45
Tucker getting 60 million a year and Bo getting fourty 2 million
48:49
a year from the Mets. I believe the Dodgers knew that
48:52
they couldn't that the Mets couldn't pay him more than Soto.
48:56
So they just went nuts on them and and then they go out and
48:59
react and give Bo that $42 million a season.
49:04
So tell tell let's talk about that a little bit.
49:07
Do you think it's good for the sport that they're handing out
49:09
these contracts? I also saw something online that
49:12
between Tucker and and Shohei Otani, the Dodgers are only
49:18
paying them $1 million of actual salary on their payroll this
49:23
year because the deferments. I think, I think it's like 3
49:26
million. I it's, it's something really
49:29
low. Yeah, it's.
49:31
Nachowski posted it on his Twitter.
49:34
It's like, it's amazing. It's amazing what what they're
49:38
paying. It's just it just doesn't make
49:41
any sense. And yeah, I mean, when you go in
49:45
here and you realize that Tucker, Tucker making 60 million
49:49
a year and you think about it is I'm not sure he's better than
49:56
some. I can.
49:57
I'm not going to try to throw him too far into the board
50:00
because I mean, hey, they they paid it.
50:02
He's worth it, you know, I guess, you know, I'm Tucker.
50:05
I'm taking it. But how much better of a player
50:09
Kyle Tucker is than say, you know, Brent Rooker from Oakland,
50:13
like Brent Rooker can rake, you know, I mean, I'm with you.
50:17
And so the difference in salary right there is amazing.
50:20
And and then Boba shet, I mean, there's nobody going to pay him
50:25
42,000,000 a year. That's a desperate move by the
50:27
Mets. They thought, I guess they
50:29
thought the Phillies would pay him more.
50:31
But Phillies, they weren't going to pay him that either.
50:33
But was shit probably was shocked.
50:35
He probably could not run to the pen fast enough to accept that
50:39
deal. He had no clue they were going
50:42
to get paid that much. He it's crazy how much money you
50:48
know that he's getting and we don't even know what kind of
50:52
defensive third baseman is. So there's, you know, and
50:54
there's nowhere else can play them because Schwarbers, they're
50:57
DH. It's not like you can put him.
50:59
I mean, that's Schwarber, but New York, he can put them at
51:01
DHI. Don't understand why they don't
51:02
just put them at DH anyhow, let Vientos play third.
51:05
I mean, I didn't figure that part out either.
51:06
I don't know where they're going to put Vientos, but I would say
51:08
the Nets when I talk with the Mets, it's a damn problem.
51:11
I never understand what the Mets are doing, so I just let them
51:14
go. But I don't, I don't really get
51:17
it. And is it good for the game?
51:18
No. Because what you do is is hard.
51:22
Used to be when we gave out salaries, you agree you could
51:26
see a tear. So you saw the players, The last
51:30
one. The last one, like when Bryce
51:31
Harper got his deal in Philadelphia, it made.
51:35
Sense. Bryce, you're like, man, this
51:37
guy, he deserves to get paid this.
51:40
And there's so many players now that get paid and you just, you
51:44
don't know, don't know why. And I really think it started,
51:48
it started with the Mets when they signed degrom and Sherger
51:52
to this unbelievable pitching deals that no, but nobody knew.
51:55
No, there's no way you want to sign a starting pitcher that
51:57
kind of money because starting pitchers get hurt so much.
52:00
It was beyond belief, you know, and even the Phillies learned
52:04
the hard way they they'd sign Zach to this big 40 something,
52:07
$1,000,000. And then he has missed last
52:09
year, part of last year. Like there used to be a line.
52:13
That you could. See where deals should be done
52:16
and that's harder to find now. It's like you don't know who it
52:19
is. And I guarantee you get in the
52:20
middle of the year and go through the ballpark.
52:22
You know, that's guys we sit the whole offseason, right?
52:25
We we, we are into baseball. We love it.
52:27
Every day is a day. There's so many people go to the
52:31
ballpark. They don't have no clue what's
52:32
going on. And when you turn around and you
52:34
tell them that, you know, they're one of the highest paid
52:39
players is in this game right here.
52:41
And they go, oh, yes, Show. Hey, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
52:44
But there's another one almost gets paid just as much as show.
52:46
Hey, they go Grady. No, no, no.
52:50
Not even close. Mookie.
52:53
Yes, again. Who?
52:56
Will Smith. No.
52:59
Who? Kyle Tucker.
53:00
You got to be kidding me. No, nobody would believe it.
53:03
And that's why the contract makes no sense, you know?
53:06
So I'm with you. Do.
53:08
You think? Do do you think that because the
53:11
way these guys are getting paid that these, these teams had to
53:15
overpay to go get the, we talked about Gore, I think with Shane
53:20
Boz, I think Baltimore overpaid as well, but it could have been
53:24
a premium play doing trades within the division.
53:26
Like overall, you look at the trades and you look at that, is
53:30
it, is it more or less that you're more surprised about the
53:32
way the these, the AAB is with those guys?
53:36
Or do you think the trade market is more like more inflated and
53:39
it's it's so much of an overpay to go get the players that teams
53:42
want? I I really don't know what's
53:45
really driving that to be honest, because you know, what's
53:50
really funny is, is I was talking to a couple of Yankees
53:54
friends that I do step with and they were talking about they
53:58
repellent, they overpaid for Bellinger and they did, they
54:01
overpaid for Bellinger. And it comes from an owner and
54:04
AGM that said all winter, we're not going to do that anymore.
54:09
And then So what made them eventually do it?
54:11
And I think that what Boris does better than any agent and you
54:16
cannot I'll take a bullet for this.
54:20
I think some of these national media types, I think he's split
54:23
some a little money to drive the price up because a lot of times
54:28
they always mention the Braves and our fan base is like, are we
54:31
really in on show? Hey, Otani, remember that last
54:33
year Braves, Braves. No, we're not in on show.
54:38
Hey, we probably like do our due diligence and as soon as we hear
54:43
that days are often than. This.
54:46
We're out, but I think that I think that I think he does, I
54:51
end up important to it. But other than the fact that
54:53
it's so funny whenever you start hearing, you know, I'll tell him
54:58
out there, John Heyman, start talking about this team, this
55:03
team, this team, All of a sudden the price goes up and all of a
55:05
sudden we have a deal. But he I think he is the best
55:08
agent we've ever seen and I just think he's bad for the game.
55:13
He's great for players and they have a union and they're not
55:16
going to change. So I guess we'll get back.
55:18
We're going to be in the head. We're going to be ahead of for a
55:20
long lockout. Or yeah, because work.
55:22
Stoppage. Yeah, because it's just, it's
55:25
ridiculous because again, it doesn't, You can't figure out
55:29
what the market is. So you have a guy like Beau
55:32
Bachette who's going to get paid 42,000,000 a year to play third
55:36
base, Yeah. Mets fans are, yeah, Mets fans
55:41
are. Have no idea what they're in for
55:43
with that. And I.
55:44
Think he's going to be terrible. I think he's going to be
55:48
terrible through. Base, I think he.
55:50
I think he is, too. I mean, he'll hit, He'll hit.
55:51
He's a good hitter. He'll.
55:52
Hit, of course, yeah. But but we're going to pay
55:55
Austin Riley 22 million. That's what we're.
55:59
Going to pay 2020. Yeah, Jays are going to pay
56:02
Oakland for 50 million. That's that's, yeah. 15,000,000
56:06
for him, yeah. Yeah, how about Bregman?
56:09
Yeah. Bregman's another.
56:11
One, I could have got that. Yeah, he's a way better third
56:17
baseman than than Bobby. I mean, Bobby has never played
56:20
third base, so and. He's a terrible defensive.
56:24
Yeah, like he doesn't have the arm.
56:26
He doesn't have the arm for third base.
56:28
Like he just doesn't. Like we've seen him make
56:31
lackadaisical throws from shortstop.
56:33
He's not going to make make them from third base.
56:36
I don't see it. I don't even.
56:42
So we talked about the CBA, it's about to expire after this year,
56:47
you know, and, and The thing is that the owners are are looking
56:52
to have a salary cap. And I'd like to reflect back a
56:56
bit of what happened in 94 and we were all witnessed of what
57:00
happened once that strike happened.
57:02
Could you see a similar effect of what happened in 94 to this
57:07
upcoming? As far as?
57:09
Yeah, as far as what's going on a strike and maybe the season
57:12
might not even be completed, maybe let's just say what
57:16
happened in 94 that they there was stoppage and they ended up
57:21
going on a strike because the owners wanted.
57:25
Yeah. Yeah, go ahead, go ahead.
57:27
Yeah. Well, here, here, the difference
57:29
in this one is is the players drove that in 94.
57:33
The owners are going to probably drive this in 2026.
57:36
So the the strike's going to come December 1st and I think
57:41
it'll be a more mountain strike as it could be.
57:44
It'll be a lockout and and it'll be easy for them to sit around
57:51
me and one of my good friends, we talked about we debated on
57:57
how long it'll go. I think eventually that that
58:03
they'll finally it'll be a short season next year.
58:05
My opinion, I can see like 100 game season, something like
58:09
that. And because both sides are going
58:14
to dig it in, because the owners are going to want half and floor
58:20
and well cap and then the players are definitely going to
58:25
floor. And so between it, the getting
58:27
the numbers is going to be the hardest thing.
58:29
If this thing doesn't go to mediation, it'll be a shock to
58:32
me. They're going to have to bring a
58:34
mediator in and get to whatever number that is.
58:39
And but they got to do something because there's nobody, you
58:45
can't tell me there's nobody in some of these cities that thinks
58:49
their team really has a chance to.
58:51
Some of them don't even make the playoffs, right.
58:55
And, and one of the one of those that's kind of in trouble right
58:58
now, they're doing everything they can to add as much young
59:00
talents as they can is the Washington Nationals.
59:03
And hey, they just won the World Series in 2019.
59:06
That was that's just six years ago.
59:08
Right. And here, here they sit and
59:12
they're going to have, you know, one of the lower payrolls and a
59:15
lot of young kids. And.
59:18
You know, it just, I don't know, I don't know what they're going
59:22
to do, but this is going to be, I don't care how many games you
59:25
think they're going to play. I think it's going to be like
59:26
100 game season. I'll be shocked.
59:28
It's not like 100 game season or so next year.
59:31
I'll be pleasantly surprised. Well, Ken, we appreciate you
59:37
being in this episode. That was some great insight,
59:39
great information. I'm curious to see how this
59:42
offseason plays out before pitchers and catchers report to
59:46
camp, but. Where can we find you on social
59:48
media and everywhere else? Well, on Twitter he goes Ken
59:53
Anderson, coach is at Boyd PC just pitching coach 1/5 and I do
1:00:01
have a. I do a YouTube called Bray's
1:00:05
Inside Source and we do videos and stuff and I'm actually work
1:00:12
do work for Jeremy at at Baseball Banner Broadcast, which
1:00:17
is at Banner under score Baseball.
1:00:20
That's pretty much where you'll see me on social media.
1:00:25
So man, you do great work, man, keep it up and we were glad to
1:00:30
have you and maybe we can get you back down the road sometime,
1:00:33
maybe closer to a trade up line or something.
1:00:35
Talk more Braves, That'd be awesome.
1:00:37
But thanks for joining us today. Well, I've really enjoyed being
1:00:41
here with you. And who knows, maybe one day we
1:00:43
can do a World Series preview of the Jays and the Braves.
1:00:47
Be nice. That'd be that'll be awesome,
1:00:50
man. Definitely.
1:00:52
I appreciate you. Oh for sure, and we will place
1:00:56
the description below where you can find Ken Anderson and social
1:00:59
media and everywhere else. Till next time, take care, be
1:01:02
kind to each other. Signing up from the Sports Ave.
1:01:05
Twisted podcast on Thursday, January 2020, second 2026.