Latest / Foul Territory / Ken Rosenthal: No gig for Pujols, Woodruff QO, FA lockout factor, DePodesta’s Rox + Braves to-do list

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Ken Rosenthal: No gig for Pujols, Woodruff QO, FA lockout factor, DePodesta’s Rox + Braves to-do list · Foul Territory

0:05
Speaker 1: All right, we're back here on the Inside Scoop with
0:08
Speaker 1: Ken Rosenthal joining us. Ken is a senior writer for
0:11
Speaker 1: The Athletic. He goes on Fox as well nationally on
0:15
Speaker 1: the sidelines. He has fair territory here in the Foul
0:17
Speaker 1: Territory network, and he has the unpleasant situation with having
0:21
Speaker 1: talking to me NonStop. It feels like lately, Ken, how
0:25
Speaker 1: are you, frit It.
0:26
Speaker 2: Is always a pleasure to talk to you, first of all,
0:29
Speaker 2: and it's especially a pleasure to talk to you on
0:31
Speaker 2: this show because usually a host who should not be
0:34
Speaker 2: named or shall not be named is someone who doesn't
0:37
Speaker 2: read my articles. So not only do you read my articles,
0:40
Speaker 2: you help me write articles, do you write them together?
0:42
Speaker 2: So it's a pleasure, that is true.
0:45
Speaker 1: I do know what is in the last two Ken
0:47
Speaker 1: Rosenthal articles. I got a sneak peek at his column
0:50
Speaker 1: that I really want to ask you about, Ken, because
0:52
Speaker 1: I feel like we were talking about this a little
0:54
Speaker 1: in the first segment, Gratzy put his phone on Do
0:56
Speaker 1: not Disturb because he's worried someone's going to hire him
0:58
Speaker 1: out of this show to manage it because he was
1:01
Speaker 1: a catcher. How troubling do you think is this trend
1:05
Speaker 1: obviously Deepodesta not being in baseball in ten years, but
1:08
Speaker 1: beyond that, some of the managerial hires. What are you
1:10
Speaker 1: kind of hearing around the industry about this.
1:13
Speaker 2: I don't know if troubling is the right word. I
1:16
Speaker 2: just find it somewhat weird, okay. And I wrote the article,
1:22
Speaker 2: and I made it clear in the article that listen,
1:25
Speaker 2: all of these new hires, the ones that are a
1:28
Speaker 2: little bit outside the box, maybe a lot outside the box,
1:30
Speaker 2: all of them have a chance to succeed. And maybe
1:32
Speaker 2: I'm totally wrong and even questioning it, maybe Tony V.
1:35
Speaker 2: Teller will be great, maybe Blake Putero will be great.
1:38
Speaker 2: I grant all that. And in fact, I mentioned in
1:41
Speaker 2: the article as well that when Aaron Boone was hired
1:43
Speaker 2: in twenty seventeen, I was the one guy who questioned that, saying,
1:47
Speaker 2: whoa WHOA no coaching experience, no managing experience. And obviously
1:51
Speaker 2: he's proven to be a successful manager. But to me,
1:55
Speaker 2: there is a certain path that has followed to these
1:57
Speaker 2: jobs and has been for a long time. It's you're
2:00
Speaker 2: a coach for a long time, you're a minor league manager,
2:03
Speaker 2: you work your way up, and it's not to say
2:05
Speaker 2: that new people from other walks of the industry can't
2:09
Speaker 2: be included in this club, but you're also ignoring a
2:13
Speaker 2: lot of people who are doing it the right way
2:15
Speaker 2: or the common path, and that is troubling to me.
2:19
Speaker 2: It is troubling that people are getting ignored that maybe
2:23
Speaker 2: you should deserve a chance. And that is kind of
2:25
Speaker 2: why I wrote it, because I am hearing from people
2:27
Speaker 2: in the industry, not all people, obviously, but some that
2:32
Speaker 2: this is bothering them, that this is to them kind
2:34
Speaker 2: of offensive. Quite frankly, I don't know that I would
2:37
Speaker 2: go that far, but it certainly raises the question why
2:41
Speaker 2: take these risks with unproven managers some are well won
2:46
Speaker 2: at least from completely outside of professional baseball, when you
2:49
Speaker 2: have qualified candidates all over the place. Now, teams will
2:53
Speaker 2: tell you, well, the thin the pool is thin. It's
2:57
Speaker 2: not as good as you think. I don't know. It
2:59
Speaker 2: seems to me you've got a number of people out
3:02
Speaker 2: there who are deserving him a chance and would like
3:05
Speaker 2: a chance.
3:06
Speaker 3: Is this kind of a safe pick by the Rockies?
3:10
Speaker 3: And I have to explain the fact that it's a
3:12
Speaker 3: safe pick because it's somebody that's not been in baseball
3:17
Speaker 3: in the sense that they're going, hey, this is how
3:20
Speaker 3: we've done it, this is how we've had success, and
3:21
Speaker 3: the Rockies have kind of bucked that for a long
3:24
Speaker 3: time that, well, this is how everyone else does baseball,
3:28
Speaker 3: but it's so terrible here in Colorado. So does it
3:30
Speaker 3: feel like as much outside of the box as it is.
3:33
Speaker 3: It's a safe pick for them.
3:35
Speaker 2: It's not as if Paul Deepdesta has never worked for
3:37
Speaker 2: a baseball team. He's worked for quite a few baseball
3:40
Speaker 2: teams and been successful, at least with the Mets for sure,
3:44
Speaker 2: and the A's going way back. So he is a
3:47
Speaker 2: really smart guy, one of the smartest people who will
3:49
Speaker 2: ever work in this sport. I would think. My concern
3:53
Speaker 2: there is it's been ten years since he's been in
3:55
Speaker 2: the game, and in those ten years a lot has changed. Now,
3:59
Speaker 2: as was pointed out to me this morning by someone
4:01
Speaker 2: in the game, Hey he's going to the Rockies. He's
4:04
Speaker 2: got nowhere to go but up. He's going to make
4:07
Speaker 2: that place better just by becoming their president baseball operations.
4:11
Speaker 2: I buy it. It's still an unusual pick, to say
4:14
Speaker 2: the least, and it's also a pick that came about
4:18
Speaker 2: after the Rockies two finalists that Britt and I reported
4:21
Speaker 2: about Cleveland assistant GM Matt Foreman and Diamondback's assistant GM
4:25
Speaker 2: Amiel Sode. They for whatever reason, were not in the
4:30
Speaker 2: mix in the end, and it would seem to me
4:32
Speaker 2: that that was the direction they were going, but they
4:35
Speaker 2: couldn't get it done with either one of those guys.
4:37
Speaker 2: And then Paul Dee Pedesta, who they had been talking
4:40
Speaker 2: to as well, he became a more prominent player in
4:43
Speaker 2: their mix.
4:45
Speaker 4: Hey, Ken, I played high school basketball a little over
4:48
Speaker 4: ten years ago, maybe like fifteen years ago. You think
4:51
Speaker 4: NBA team would hire me? Mean no, but for real,
4:55
Speaker 4: for real, for real, Aberpool host I was that was average.
5:01
Speaker 4: But I mean, I'm just trying to make the parallel.
5:03
Speaker 4: I mean I did something in the past, doesn't mean
5:05
Speaker 4: I shouldn't necessarily do in the future. But Albertpool hosts,
5:08
Speaker 4: you know, obviously did a little bit of work with
5:10
Speaker 4: MLB Network and did the media think he went out
5:12
Speaker 4: of his way to go coach in the Dominican was
5:16
Speaker 4: planning on coaching. The WBC team tried to take the
5:19
Speaker 4: more kind of traditional route in order to get a
5:21
Speaker 4: managerial job. You feel like that's no longer the route
5:24
Speaker 4: that someone should take if they're trying to be a manager.
5:26
Speaker 4: Is there a shortcut? Is there a better path forward?
5:30
Speaker 2: I don't know. Guys like Albert are getting hired. Craig
5:33
Speaker 2: Salmon is a former player who is not that far
5:36
Speaker 2: removed from his playing days, and granted he was a
5:39
Speaker 2: special assistant. Kurtzuzuki the same thing, also a special assistant.
5:42
Speaker 2: Albert has not been a special assistant. But albertpool certainly
5:47
Speaker 2: is someone who wants to manage. And it's telling to
5:50
Speaker 2: me that there are nine or or nine openings still
5:53
Speaker 2: one left with Rockies and he's not getting any of them. Now.
5:57
Speaker 2: Maybe it's because teams fear his strong personality, and we've
6:00
Speaker 2: talked about this a lot. Teams prefer collaboration with their managers,
6:04
Speaker 2: and I get it, that's the way the game is gone.
6:07
Speaker 2: But Albert Pooles is certainly an interesting guy to hire. Now,
6:12
Speaker 2: he'd also be a tough guy to fire, and that's
6:14
Speaker 2: part of the problem, I would think. And with great players,
6:17
Speaker 2: you don't always get a great manager. I covered a
6:20
Speaker 2: few like that. But at the same time, if we're
6:23
Speaker 2: being so bold here, if we're hiring all these outside
6:26
Speaker 2: the box, guys, why at Albert.
6:28
Speaker 3: Pooles does he reracket? Does he reracket next offseason when
6:33
Speaker 3: there's maybe only half the managerial openings. I mean, I
6:36
Speaker 3: don't know that we'll see an off season with so
6:39
Speaker 3: many opportunities for him? Does he reracket or does he
6:42
Speaker 3: say no? I have to do it differently. I have
6:46
Speaker 3: to do it Ryan Samberg style where he managed at
6:50
Speaker 3: low A high A, double A, triple A and then
6:53
Speaker 3: he got his opportunity.
6:54
Speaker 2: If I'm Albert, I would say no to that. And
6:57
Speaker 2: the reason is because so many others are going hired
7:00
Speaker 2: who have not done that, who are not Albert Pooholes.
7:02
Speaker 2: Now he's going to manage the Dominican Republic in the
7:05
Speaker 2: World Baseball Classic. That's another opportunity for him to gain experience.
7:10
Speaker 2: And I would expect that this desire of his to
7:13
Speaker 2: manage is not going to go away. I would think
7:16
Speaker 2: Albert Pooles wants to do something. He's going to try
7:18
Speaker 2: to do something. The question is whether the game will
7:21
Speaker 2: welcome him in that role. I don't know the answer
7:23
Speaker 2: to that.
7:25
Speaker 4: Yeah, I know everything in Colorado's fairly new. Have you
7:29
Speaker 4: heard any sort of rumors of who might take that
7:31
Speaker 4: managerial job?
7:34
Speaker 5: No?
7:34
Speaker 2: Not yet. And Paul de Podesta, as I said, and
7:38
Speaker 2: we know, has been out of the game for a decade.
7:41
Speaker 2: So some of the managers he might have hired back
7:44
Speaker 2: ten years ago when he was with the Mets in
7:46
Speaker 2: his last job in a secondary role, not the league guy,
7:51
Speaker 2: those guys might not be in the game anymore, or
7:53
Speaker 2: they might have moved on to other things and greater things.
7:55
Speaker 2: I don't know, So I'm not exactly sure how or
7:59
Speaker 2: who his people might be regarding managerial candidates. But it's
8:04
Speaker 2: going to be interesting to see who he hires because
8:06
Speaker 2: obviously he has connections in the game. He was with
8:09
Speaker 2: the Mets, the Padres, the A's going way back Cleveland.
8:13
Speaker 2: He has guys, but whether they're available, or whether he
8:17
Speaker 2: would still want them, or whether they're out of the
8:18
Speaker 2: game entirely, I don't know exactly where all that stands.
8:23
Speaker 1: Yeah, I feel like if there's one thing, if there's
8:25
Speaker 1: one thing that we know Kennis, that you can't guess,
8:27
Speaker 1: because it feels like everything that has been just crazy
8:30
Speaker 1: has happened this cycle. So who knows what they do
8:33
Speaker 1: in Colorado. It's going to be tough to top the
8:35
Speaker 1: chaos of Paul Deepotesta, but maybe they will, who knows,
8:38
Speaker 1: Maybe they hire Albert Pulos. Wouldn't surprise anyone based on
8:42
Speaker 1: what's going on here for the last goal.
8:44
Speaker 3: At that point.
8:46
Speaker 2: I'm talking to somebody this morning who knows aj Preller,
8:49
Speaker 2: and I don't know if i'd call him a confident
8:52
Speaker 2: of Prellers, but he knows Pler and talks to him,
8:55
Speaker 2: and he said I'd never heard Craig Stabbin's name out
8:58
Speaker 2: of his mouth, So who knows how that came about.
9:00
Speaker 2: And you're right, Britt, it's been one surprise after another.
9:04
Speaker 2: And again I don't want to sound like a fuddy
9:07
Speaker 2: duddy here, if that's the right term, a grouch, But again,
9:15
Speaker 2: these are risks. These are teams are taking. And you
9:17
Speaker 2: can say, well, it's always a risk no matter who
9:18
Speaker 2: you hire. Well, yes, but the level of risk is
9:21
Speaker 2: greater with some of these hires than it would be
9:23
Speaker 2: with some others.
9:25
Speaker 1: Yeah, it certainly seems like like David Ross, Brandon Hyde,
9:29
Speaker 1: Vance Wilson, like Ryan Flaherty. There are candidates that have
9:32
Speaker 1: managed and not managed, who are coaching and have experience
9:35
Speaker 1: and have a little, I don't know a little experience
9:38
Speaker 1: being in the dugout, not as a player. I think
9:40
Speaker 1: it's a everyone is looking for the next Steven Vote.
9:43
Speaker 1: People forget the Vote did spend a year in the bullpen,
9:46
Speaker 1: the bullpen coach of Seattle. And also just because Stephen
9:49
Speaker 1: Vote did it and was uniquely qualified to do it,
9:52
Speaker 1: doesn't mean that there's twenty or thirty other Steven Votes
9:55
Speaker 1: out there. This is where I think the industry gets
9:57
Speaker 1: a little too obsessed with copycat and with the success
10:00
Speaker 1: of a guy like Stephen Vote, kind of meaning that
10:02
Speaker 1: you don't need that experience when he could just be
10:05
Speaker 1: the anomaly here, you know, and not then necessarily the rule.
10:09
Speaker 1: So I want to point that out. I want to
10:11
Speaker 1: switch gears, though, Ken, because there's a lot of other
10:13
Speaker 1: stuff going on qualifying offers. There were some surprises there.
10:17
Speaker 1: Brandon Woodruff with the Brewers, a small market team that
10:20
Speaker 1: you've written about often needing to spend more money, decides
10:24
Speaker 1: that they are going to offer Brandon Woodruff a qualifying offer.
10:27
Speaker 1: How surprised are you by that? And were there other
10:29
Speaker 1: ones that made you go, huh, didn't see that coming?
10:32
Speaker 2: That one was the most surprising, And as you said, Britt,
10:36
Speaker 2: the Brewers are not a team that generally spends at
10:40
Speaker 2: market value or above, and I would say twenty two
10:44
Speaker 2: million for Brandon Woodruff is probably above market value considering
10:48
Speaker 2: his health history. When he's healthy, of course, he's a
10:50
Speaker 2: really good pitcher and definitely worked that over one year.
10:54
Speaker 2: But because of the history, you just don't know. And
10:58
Speaker 2: with the Brewers, what I imagine they're doing, actually what
11:01
Speaker 2: I know they're doing is protecting themselves in the hope
11:04
Speaker 2: that some other team will sign him and they will
11:06
Speaker 2: get a draft pick. The problem with that is Brandon
11:09
Speaker 2: Woodriff now has a qualifying offer attached. It makes it
11:11
Speaker 2: difficult for him, or more difficult then it would have
11:14
Speaker 2: been without a qualifying offer, and teams will say, well,
11:18
Speaker 2: I'm not giving Brandon Woodriff a multi year deal and
11:21
Speaker 2: giving up a draft pick when he has this injury history.
11:25
Speaker 2: So ultimately, maybe Woodriff takes it, and that would be
11:29
Speaker 2: a surprise that you can always trade a guy after
11:31
Speaker 2: he signs with the qualifying offer. But I don't know
11:35
Speaker 2: that that's the Brewers intent. It just seems to me
11:37
Speaker 2: they're covering their bases here and the worst case scenario
11:41
Speaker 2: they get Woodriff back. Maybe it's not a worst case scenario.
11:43
Speaker 2: I shouldn't call it that, but the one option is
11:46
Speaker 2: they get Woodrift back. There are probably at least going
11:50
Speaker 2: to entertain offers for Freddy Peralta. So if Woodriff is
11:53
Speaker 2: back in the fold, at least you have, if healthy,
11:55
Speaker 2: a guy who can carry that top of the rotation spot.
12:00
Speaker 3: He's not unprecedented, as Monti Grendal came essentially on the
12:03
Speaker 3: qualifying offer they paid him. I think at the time
12:06
Speaker 3: it was like seventeen point nine million for the one
12:10
Speaker 3: year deal. Kind of approve it deal, and I think
12:12
Speaker 3: I think Big Wu kind of is on the same
12:15
Speaker 3: page where he has to do the one year deal.
12:18
Speaker 3: So I like the move by the by the Brewers
12:22
Speaker 3: before we get to any other qualifying offers. We brought
12:25
Speaker 3: this up before. GMS always say, hey, what is you know?
12:31
Speaker 3: One year deals? No such thing as a bad one
12:33
Speaker 3: year deal? Is there a limit to that? Is there
12:38
Speaker 3: a limit for the Brewers different than for the Dodgers,
12:41
Speaker 3: because when you say one year deals, that qualifying offer
12:46
Speaker 3: essentially is collusion by the league saying hey, this is
12:49
Speaker 3: where we're willing to go one year deals. Nobody go
12:52
Speaker 3: higher than this because if you don't sign the guy
12:54
Speaker 3: to qualifying offer. Other teams go to it and they say, okay,
12:58
Speaker 3: well we'll give you what you would have got and
13:00
Speaker 3: had you stayed on that qualifying offer. So is there
13:03
Speaker 3: a limit? Have you heard from GMS? Is there a
13:06
Speaker 3: limit to that bad one year deal?
13:09
Speaker 2: Well, I'm sure there is that. I'm sure it does
13:10
Speaker 2: vary from team to team. The Dodgers have the financial
13:14
Speaker 2: capability to absorb twenty two million much easier than the
13:17
Speaker 2: Brewers do. There's not much question about that. So what's
13:21
Speaker 2: surprising about this to me is that a twenty two
13:24
Speaker 2: million dollars salary for the Brewers, given their payroll, it's
13:27
Speaker 2: going to take up a certain percentage that is pretty significant.
13:31
Speaker 2: And that is where I was a little surprised. Now,
13:34
Speaker 2: if he rejects it, all good. They get the draft pick.
13:36
Speaker 2: Assuming he signs for more than fifty million, then they
13:39
Speaker 2: get a pick after the first round, before Competitive Balance
13:44
Speaker 2: Round A, or maybe it's after Competitive Balance Round A,
13:46
Speaker 2: if that's in the twenty nine to thirty two range usually,
13:49
Speaker 2: and then if it's not fifty million, then he gets
13:51
Speaker 2: in free agency. The pick is after Competitive Balance Round B.
13:55
Speaker 2: That's more in the seventy five range not as great
13:57
Speaker 2: a pick, So it's a little bit of a risk
14:01
Speaker 2: in my view from the Brewers' perspective, because I believe
14:04
Speaker 2: he might take it, and that's a high percentage of
14:07
Speaker 2: their payroll. Again, but as I said, maybe it's in
14:10
Speaker 2: their minds protection for them if they do trade Peralta.
14:14
Speaker 2: And there's nothing wrong with having Brandon woodrif on your team,
14:17
Speaker 2: especially if he's healthy. He is really good and we
14:20
Speaker 2: saw that last year with diminished velocity, he was still
14:22
Speaker 2: really good.
14:24
Speaker 4: All right.
14:25
Speaker 3: Then, the one person that did not get a qualifying
14:27
Speaker 3: offer that feels like, really blit my radar. I don't
14:31
Speaker 3: know about other people. Trent Grisham had a three five
14:36
Speaker 3: war this season, played a very good center field and
14:40
Speaker 3: hit some dingers for the Yankees, who have no issue
14:43
Speaker 3: with money anything from that, Like, are we able to
14:46
Speaker 3: glean anything from the fact that they did not give
14:49
Speaker 3: him or put a qualifying offer on his name?
14:52
Speaker 2: If I'm not mistaken, he did get a qualifying offer,
14:56
Speaker 2: Frank Grisham did, Yes, so right, Britt, So you got
15:00
Speaker 2: it here? Yeah he got what he did? Yes, yes, yes, yeah,
15:04
Speaker 2: so yes. It gives the Yankees protection center field next year,
15:09
Speaker 2: even though his defensive metrics have declined, and it's a
15:13
Speaker 2: thin group of center fielders, and they've already got Bellinger
15:15
Speaker 2: as a free agent. So with Grisham, at least you
15:18
Speaker 2: lock in Bellinger qualifying offer in the past is not
15:20
Speaker 2: eligible for another one. So this too is going to
15:23
Speaker 2: be really interesting, Eric, because will Grisham, with the qualifying
15:28
Speaker 2: offer attached, do as well as maybe he might envision.
15:33
Speaker 2: I don't know. The metrics have declined, the speed has declined,
15:36
Speaker 2: and he's not the same in center as he was
15:38
Speaker 2: maybe two years ago. But he's coming off a spectacular
15:41
Speaker 2: offensive year. He is a guy who kind of rebuilt
15:45
Speaker 2: his career after some struggles, which I think is something
15:49
Speaker 2: that should be admired and a testament to his grit
15:52
Speaker 2: and competitiveness. So it's going to be interesting to see
15:56
Speaker 2: where this goes. Does he get a big offer from
15:58
Speaker 2: some team regardless of qualifying offer, or do teams look
16:01
Speaker 2: at him and say not in a multi year we're
16:05
Speaker 2: not that interested. And in his mind does he say
16:08
Speaker 2: I'd rather go to the Yankees for twenty two than
16:11
Speaker 2: test the market, which will be uncertain because of the
16:13
Speaker 2: qualifying offer being attached.
16:16
Speaker 4: Speaking of uncertainty, in the market. Do you anticipate for
16:19
Speaker 4: agent being any different this year with potent the unknown of,
16:23
Speaker 4: you know, a season after next.
16:26
Speaker 2: Kevin's a great question. It's when a lot of people
16:28
Speaker 2: are asking, and I would think in certain cases perhaps
16:33
Speaker 2: it will have an effect, But in general, I don't
16:36
Speaker 2: see teams operating differently, and nor do I think they should.
16:41
Speaker 2: The fact that there is the potential for a lockout
16:44
Speaker 2: and one that eats into the twenty twenty seventh season, yes,
16:48
Speaker 2: there is that possibility. We all know that. Is it likely.
16:52
Speaker 2: I don't know that it's likely. And let's say I'm
16:55
Speaker 2: hoping against hope. Perhaps, But let's say we don't miss
16:57
Speaker 2: any games, and let's say the season twenty twenty seven
17:00
Speaker 2: goes off as planned. You're gonna want players. The players
17:04
Speaker 2: that are available now, you're gonna want them in twenty
17:06
Speaker 2: twenty seven, the good ones. So if I'm a team,
17:09
Speaker 2: I would not operate with fear of that negative. I
17:13
Speaker 2: would operate as if things were going to be status quo,
17:16
Speaker 2: and if they are not, okay, but you still have
17:18
Speaker 2: that player under control whatever becomes of the twenty twenty
17:22
Speaker 2: seven season and beyond, assuming he is on a long
17:24
Speaker 2: term deal.
17:27
Speaker 1: Yeah, I totally agree with you, Ken. I hope that
17:29
Speaker 1: is what we see. Thanks so much for your time.
17:31
Speaker 1: I'll see you in Vegas next week. Which I said
17:33
Speaker 1: to an executive the other day, it's the GM meetings.
17:35
Speaker 1: It sounds so cool, like, see you in Vegas. We're
17:38
Speaker 1: not leaving the hotel everyone, We're just staying in Vegas.
17:41
Speaker 2: We're not leaving them in any city in America, any
17:45
Speaker 2: small town in America, and any hotel in America, and
17:48
Speaker 2: it would be the same outcome. It doesn't matter.
17:50
Speaker 3: We're gonna be Yeah.
17:54
Speaker 1: Yes, it's not that exciting, but you could check out
17:56
Speaker 1: Ken and it is exciting. Fair Territory Mondays and Thursdays
17:59
Speaker 1: here on the Foul Territory Network with Alana Rizzo as well.
18:04
Speaker 1: So we will be right back here with Shake it Up.
18:07
Speaker 1: Welcome back, Foul Territory, Bridgeroli, Kevin Aerocrats, Steven Talbert joining
18:12
Speaker 1: us for our to do list on the Atlanta Braves.
18:15
Speaker 1: Let's get right to it, Steven, what's the to do
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Speaker 1: list for the Atlanta Braves? They got the manager? What
18:21
Speaker 1: else we got cooking up here in Atlanta?
18:24
Speaker 5: Yeah, they got the manager? What weiss was announced on
18:27
Speaker 5: Monday They just added a bunch of coaches to his
18:29
Speaker 5: staff the last couple of days. So now it's about
18:32
Speaker 5: players and the big things for the Braves. You know,
18:35
Speaker 5: they need a shortstop. They needed a shortstop basically since
18:37
Speaker 5: Dansby left. They need starting pitching help. They lost basically
18:42
Speaker 5: their entire rotation to the sixty dil last year. And
18:46
Speaker 5: then they need bullpen help because they just lost their closer,
18:49
Speaker 5: Russio Glesias free agency. They could bring him back. They
18:52
Speaker 5: also declined some options on some other bullpen pieces, so
18:56
Speaker 5: they need bullpen help.
18:58
Speaker 3: All right, your first thing on your off season, do
19:00
Speaker 3: list a big league shortstop. Orlando Arcia kind of hurt
19:05
Speaker 3: this because he's a big league shortstop who probably doesn't
19:08
Speaker 3: fit into the big league starting shortstop role, but he
19:11
Speaker 3: was an All Star in that magical season for the Braves.
19:16
Speaker 3: Where do the Braves turn? How do they turn? Do
19:19
Speaker 3: you see the Braves dipping into some of that big
19:22
Speaker 3: league talent to maybe trade for somebody that can play
19:25
Speaker 3: shortstop in the big leagues for them?
19:30
Speaker 5: So the hard thing, it's just shortstops are so hard
19:33
Speaker 5: to find. Teams don't trade them. Teams don't when you
19:35
Speaker 5: get good ones you don't trade them. And you know,
19:38
Speaker 5: even when you've got multiple that you know, if you
19:40
Speaker 5: watch the draft, everybody draft shortstops because they can play
19:43
Speaker 5: all of the diamond and so it's just really hard
19:46
Speaker 5: to acquire a shortstop via trade. If you ask me
19:48
Speaker 5: right now, I mean, obviously, they claimed Hassan Kim the
19:51
Speaker 5: last month of the season off waivers from Tampa. He
19:56
Speaker 5: just declined his player option and is now a free agent,
19:58
Speaker 5: so they're gonna have to They're gonna have to sign
20:00
Speaker 5: him on the open market. He's probably the best option.
20:04
Speaker 5: I don't see them getting in the Bobashett sweepstakes, one
20:08
Speaker 5: because he's gonna command probably two hundred plus million dollars.
20:12
Speaker 5: And two there's a lot I mean, there's quite a
20:13
Speaker 5: bit of talk about is he really a shortstop? His
20:16
Speaker 5: metrics last year we're pretty brutal. There's you know, I
20:19
Speaker 5: don't know if he's gonna play second or third or
20:20
Speaker 5: somebody's gonna let him play short. But I think hass
20:23
Speaker 5: On Kim is if you ask, if you said right now,
20:26
Speaker 5: who's going to be the shortstop on opening Day? I
20:28
Speaker 5: would guess Hassan Kim. But if you told me it's
20:30
Speaker 5: definitely not gonna be him. I could not give you
20:32
Speaker 5: another name because they are just very hard. They're very
20:35
Speaker 5: hard to find.
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Speaker 4: Let me start a rumor, let me give you a name.
20:39
Speaker 4: And I know Alex likes to operate in a secrecy
20:43
Speaker 4: and he always finds guys that no one else thinks
20:47
Speaker 4: are possible. Hear me out on this. There's one team
20:50
Speaker 4: that's willing to spend money right now, the Atlanta Brakes
20:52
Speaker 4: from everything that I've heard, And there's one team that
20:55
Speaker 4: is wanting to cut payroll right now. Enter Corey Seeger.
20:59
Speaker 4: How do you think Corey Seeger could fit in that equation?
21:02
Speaker 4: He's also a Tennessee guy, Southeast guy. You like it.
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Speaker 5: I would drive to Dallas Fort Worth and pick up
21:09
Speaker 5: Corey Seeger myself if that was an option. Yes, I
21:14
Speaker 5: would take that in the heart. I mean, he's owed
21:16
Speaker 5: a lot of money, so the Rangers gave him that
21:18
Speaker 5: massive deal. The kry Seger when he's healthy is like
21:21
Speaker 5: one of the five best hitters on the planet. I've
21:23
Speaker 5: loved Cory Seeger since when he was a prospect with
21:25
Speaker 5: the Dodgers, So I would take that in a heartbeat.
21:28
Speaker 5: If the Rangers are actually serious about moving them. I
21:30
Speaker 5: don't know what you know. You would have to figure
21:32
Speaker 5: out the money, you'd have to figure out the prospects.
21:33
Speaker 5: It's not an easy deal to do. But give me
21:36
Speaker 5: Corey Seeger tomorrow. I'd take that all day.
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Speaker 3: I think there's probably five teams that wouldn't sign up
21:43
Speaker 3: for that. So good for you, Tolbert. But your second
21:47
Speaker 3: thing on the list was starting pitching the Braves. The
21:52
Speaker 3: Braves don't need starting pitching. They're the starting pitching factory.
21:56
Speaker 3: They made John Smolts, they made Steve Avery, great Man,
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Speaker 3: Spencer Swelling, Boch, Spencer Streyder. Why do they need starting pitching?
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Speaker 5: Well, if they lost six guys last year to the sixty,
22:13
Speaker 5: which is crazy, I'm not I've been falling baseball a
22:16
Speaker 5: long time. I don't know if I've ever seen in
22:17
Speaker 5: a team's entire starting rotation plus one more be on
22:21
Speaker 5: the sixty dil all at the same time, and they
22:25
Speaker 5: just have a ton of inherent risk, injury risk in
22:28
Speaker 5: their rotation. I mean, if you just go by the
22:30
Speaker 5: names Chris Sale, Spencer Strider, Spencer Swellenbach, Ronaldo Lopez, Grant Holmes,
22:35
Speaker 5: aj Smith, Schalber, just the names on the list, sounds good.
22:39
Speaker 5: That's a good starting five, starting six. The problem is
22:41
Speaker 5: they were all injured for significant parts of last year.
22:44
Speaker 5: They all have injury risk that you have to kind
22:48
Speaker 5: of project forward. So can you go into a season
22:52
Speaker 5: with those six guys and expect that a critical mass
22:55
Speaker 5: of them are going to stay healthy for a majority
22:57
Speaker 5: of the season. I don't think you can. So they
22:59
Speaker 5: have to go get somebody a little more durable. They
23:02
Speaker 5: have some flexibility because Ronaldo Lopez and Grant Holmes both
23:05
Speaker 5: came out of the bullpen and can go back to
23:07
Speaker 5: the bullpen if need be. And that's what the Dodgers
23:09
Speaker 5: did last year. The Dodgers, you know, they they solve
23:12
Speaker 5: the problem of trying to keep pitchures healthy by just
23:14
Speaker 5: adding a ton of depth, ton a ton of ton
23:16
Speaker 5: of depth, and when guys get hurt, just plug somebody
23:19
Speaker 5: else in. And I know teams can't spend like the Dodgers,
23:22
Speaker 5: but I think you can take a page out of
23:23
Speaker 5: their book of move guys to the bullpen, use your
23:27
Speaker 5: flexibility to build depth and protect against injury through a
23:31
Speaker 5: massive arms And when the Braves have you know, the
23:34
Speaker 5: Braves have so much inherent risk in their rotation already.
23:37
Speaker 5: I think that's the way you got to go. I
23:39
Speaker 5: think you have to add at least one durable, quality
23:42
Speaker 5: starter this offseason.
23:46
Speaker 1: So the Braves freed up a little payroll by declining
23:48
Speaker 1: options on two of their top relievers. Or were you
23:51
Speaker 1: surprised though, because now on your to do list is
23:54
Speaker 1: that they need bullpen help. So I mean, in particular,
23:57
Speaker 1: I think the Tyler Kinley moved because he was so
24:00
Speaker 1: good for them, was a little bit of a surprise.
24:03
Speaker 1: Do you think that they would look to re sign
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Speaker 1: either of those guys at maybe longer deals that are
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Speaker 1: a little less aav or are they going to look
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Speaker 1: elsewhere on the market altogether?
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Speaker 5: Yeah, that was surprising. The Kenley move specifically was I'm
24:17
Speaker 5: not gonna say a shock because we talked about the possibility,
24:20
Speaker 5: but it was surprising. They acquired him at the trade deadline.
24:23
Speaker 5: They wanted to see what he would look like if
24:24
Speaker 5: they revamped his his repertoire a little bit, get him
24:27
Speaker 5: out of coops Field. Same thing they did with Pierce
24:29
Speaker 5: Johnson and it worked beautifully. And they had this relatively
24:32
Speaker 5: cheap option of five million dollars and they just declined
24:35
Speaker 5: it yesterday. So on top of the fact they declined
24:38
Speaker 5: Pierce Johnson's option rossill Glacies as a free agent. Joejamenez
24:41
Speaker 5: missed the whole season with knee injury last year. So
24:44
Speaker 5: the bullpen is just up in the air, and I'm
24:48
Speaker 5: fascinated to see what they're gonna do there. I mean,
24:49
Speaker 5: at this point, they're probably gonna to add like four relievers,
24:52
Speaker 5: three or four relievers at this point, including a proven closer.
24:55
Speaker 5: So to answer your question specifically, I would not be
24:58
Speaker 5: surprised if they tried to bring Kenley back. I don't
25:01
Speaker 5: know that you're going to get a lower aa B
25:03
Speaker 5: than five million a year, though, So I don't.
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Speaker 2: I mean, I don't.
25:06
Speaker 5: That was a surprising move. Pierce Jonathon declining that option
25:10
Speaker 5: I can make more sense of Kenley was surprising to me.
25:12
Speaker 5: So it just adds one more thing. I mean, that's
25:14
Speaker 5: just another reliever. They got to go find this all season.
25:18
Speaker 4: I heard Walt Weiss talking about on the radio yesterday
25:21
Speaker 4: about potentially implementing I hate using the word load management,
25:26
Speaker 4: maybe except for Matt Olson because he's got this streak
25:28
Speaker 4: going on, but learning that players sometimes just need a
25:32
Speaker 4: day off. I guess my question to you is It's
25:35
Speaker 4: hard for me to say this cause he's a good
25:36
Speaker 4: friend of mine and I know he loves being in Atlanta.
25:39
Speaker 4: But they have a catching situation going on here with
25:42
Speaker 4: Drake Baldwin's emergence. Do you feel like keeping both catchers
25:47
Speaker 4: allows them to kind of balance that load management of
25:50
Speaker 4: having two kind of one A one B. Or do
25:52
Speaker 4: you see value in maybe trading a guy like Sean
25:55
Speaker 4: Murphy for you know, a laundry list of things that
25:58
Speaker 4: the Braves could use.
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Speaker 5: Yeah, So this has been a big topic ever since
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Speaker 5: Drake Baldwin busts onto the scene as one of the
26:05
Speaker 5: best young players in baseball. Is you have Sean Murphy
26:08
Speaker 5: signed to this long term deal at big money, it
26:10
Speaker 5: makes fifteen million dollars next year. Are you going to
26:13
Speaker 5: let him be a part time player making fifteen million bucks?
26:16
Speaker 5: That's a real question, and especially when you have this
26:18
Speaker 5: laundry list of other things you need to do. You
26:20
Speaker 5: don't exactly have the Dodgers' upper tier payroll, so you
26:24
Speaker 5: know you got a limit an amount of space to
26:26
Speaker 5: do it.
26:26
Speaker 3: So it's a fair question.
26:27
Speaker 5: The thing I would say is the messaging out of
26:29
Speaker 5: the team has been we have to have two catchers.
26:33
Speaker 5: It's one hundred and fifty degrees in Atlanta in the summer, Like,
26:36
Speaker 5: playing one hundred and sixty games as a catcher just
26:39
Speaker 5: doesn't work. And I think a lot of teams have
26:41
Speaker 5: moved to more of a dual catcher, you know, I
26:44
Speaker 5: know JT. Realmuto, you know, was kind of the lone
26:47
Speaker 5: exception for a while doing one hundred and fifty games
26:49
Speaker 5: a year. But I just don't know if that's sustainable,
26:52
Speaker 5: and you have to have two pretty good ones, and
26:54
Speaker 5: so it is a fascinating question of I see the
26:57
Speaker 5: value of keeping him, and I see the value of
26:59
Speaker 5: moving him, especially if if it not only it maybe
27:02
Speaker 5: brings in a piece that you're missing somewhere else on
27:04
Speaker 5: the team, but it frees up payroll to go do
27:06
Speaker 5: even more. So yeah, it's a great question. And I
27:09
Speaker 5: all the messages, all the messaging from the team has
27:11
Speaker 5: been there, going to keep both. But we've heard that
27:14
Speaker 5: before from Alex you know, they said they weren't going
27:16
Speaker 5: to trade William Conturras, and then they traded William conture
27:18
Speaker 5: So you know, we'll see what happens. It's it is
27:21
Speaker 5: a It's a fair question though, because you can make
27:23
Speaker 5: a You can make a logical argument on either side
27:26
Speaker 5: of that.
27:26
Speaker 3: One, right, Sorry, Stephen Brian mccantz calling me. He wanted
27:31
Speaker 3: to say that anybody can catch one hundred and forty game. Wait, no,
27:35
Speaker 3: he got tired too at the end of his career.
27:37
Speaker 3: But yes, catching it Atlanta is the real deal that
27:40
Speaker 3: he that heat'll get to him. Man, but fifteen million
27:43
Speaker 3: for a catcher is not that much money. My question
27:46
Speaker 3: is and it kind of was piggybacked a little bit
27:49
Speaker 3: off of what KP said what weiss Is he too
27:53
Speaker 3: close to what went wrong last year? Or is he
27:57
Speaker 3: the perfect closeness of what went wrong last year? You
28:02
Speaker 3: had injuries in Atlanta and you don't need this guy
28:05
Speaker 3: coming in and going, oh hey, I saw from the
28:08
Speaker 3: outside that you guys did this, and you guys did that.
28:11
Speaker 3: He was so close, he saw the injury, He seize
28:13
Speaker 3: the talent, and he knows this is a playoff possibly
28:16
Speaker 3: another World Series winning team. So is he the perfect
28:20
Speaker 3: person for this job? Is he the perfect person?
28:25
Speaker 5: I don't know the answer to that. I will say this,
28:29
Speaker 5: I think the most important job of a manager is
28:31
Speaker 5: you have to one you have to get the respect
28:33
Speaker 5: of your players and two you have to be able
28:36
Speaker 5: to manage a clubhouse for six months and get twenty
28:38
Speaker 5: six guys. We'll make a ton of money to row
28:41
Speaker 5: in the same direction. And the tactical stuff on the
28:44
Speaker 5: field is very much secondary to just keeping a clubhouse together.
28:48
Speaker 5: And what Weiss has been in that clubhouse for like
28:50
Speaker 5: ten years as the bench coach. The players love him,
28:53
Speaker 5: they adore him. Walt played baseball, He's been at every level.
28:57
Speaker 5: He commands a incredible amount of respect. And so like
29:01
Speaker 5: the biggest hurdles you have to clear as a manager,
29:04
Speaker 5: I feel like he's already cleared, you know. Now will
29:07
Speaker 5: it work? I mean, we'll see. Last year did not
29:09
Speaker 5: go well. I don't know how much of that I
29:10
Speaker 5: would put on Brian Snitker versus really, you know, the
29:14
Speaker 5: injuries were devastating. The offense really struggled last year the
29:16
Speaker 5: first half. We're gonna have to figure out what happened there.
29:19
Speaker 5: I still don't know what happened there. But again I
29:22
Speaker 5: don't know that that was on snit And the biggest
29:24
Speaker 5: parts of being a manager, I think are the parts
29:28
Speaker 5: of what Weiss that I'm most confident in. And so, yeah,
29:32
Speaker 5: it was a surprising hire. People a lot of people
29:34
Speaker 5: thought they'd go outside the organization, new blood, especially after
29:38
Speaker 5: how the last year went. But I understood their logic
29:41
Speaker 5: of he's just highly respected and that's that's a lot
29:44
Speaker 5: of the battle of being a successful big league manager.
29:48
Speaker 4: Yeah. I mean, I'm not that far removed from that clubhouse.
29:50
Speaker 4: And I know the two of them co existed and
29:52
Speaker 4: worked under each other, but two slightly different, not slightly,
29:56
Speaker 4: very big different personalities. Yeah, I love the higher Boltwiss
30:00
Speaker 4: is an incredible man, incredible human being, very intense, where
30:04
Speaker 4: Snitt is a little bit more laid back. Snitt has
30:06
Speaker 4: his moments, but wall is like a cage fighter. He's
30:09
Speaker 4: a UFC fighter, like in a manager's body. So I
30:12
Speaker 4: think he's going to get the most out of these guys.
30:15
Speaker 4: I know the guys in that room love him, respect him.
30:18
Speaker 4: He's a guy you're gonna be willing to run through
30:20
Speaker 4: a wall for. It's not really a question. But like
30:24
Speaker 4: I said, I'm not too far removed from that clubhouse.
30:27
Speaker 4: The biggest elephant in the room for the Braves is
30:29
Speaker 4: just health. Because the same cast of characters that I
30:33
Speaker 4: was there with in twenty twenty three, that one, one
30:35
Speaker 4: hundred and five games is not a whole lot different
30:38
Speaker 4: than they are now. I mean, you know, they've added
30:40
Speaker 4: some young talent, they brought some other pieces, but how
30:43
Speaker 4: the hell do they just stay healthy? Because when healthy,
30:45
Speaker 4: you know they're a top three, top four baseball team.
30:50
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean health is health in the offense. Figure
30:54
Speaker 5: out what happened to the offense. You know, the power
30:56
Speaker 5: has been way down. Austin Riley is kind of taking
30:59
Speaker 5: a couple steps back, just like League just the team wide,
31:03
Speaker 5: like the power has gone away and that was the
31:04
Speaker 5: driving force behind that twenty twenty three record setting offense.
31:08
Speaker 5: But yeah, keeping guys healthy. I don't know the secret
31:10
Speaker 5: sauce to keeping guys healthy. I think, like what you
31:13
Speaker 5: were talking about about building in a couple more off days,
31:16
Speaker 5: I talked about with the pitching staff, adding depth, not
31:18
Speaker 5: having to lean on the same five guys for six months,
31:22
Speaker 5: being able to spread the load around to try to
31:24
Speaker 5: get guys to October. But yeah, I mean, obviously there's
31:27
Speaker 5: plenty of teams that would love to figure out the
31:29
Speaker 5: magic formula to keeping guys healthy. I don't know, but
31:32
Speaker 5: when the guys are healthy, they do need to go
31:35
Speaker 5: back to hitting homers. They need to go back to
31:37
Speaker 5: being an explosive offense. That was what they were built on.
31:40
Speaker 5: That's what they built this kind of this run on.
31:42
Speaker 5: They locked up all of their position players because they
31:45
Speaker 5: expected this thing to be built on offense. And quite frankly,
31:47
Speaker 5: the last two years, the offense just hasn't been good enough.
31:50
Speaker 5: Even when guys were healthy, it hasn't been good enough.
31:52
Speaker 5: And so Profar is gonna get a full year, Acunya
31:55
Speaker 5: is gonna get.
31:55
Speaker 3: A full year.
31:56
Speaker 5: Riley's back next year, Olsen will figure out what they
31:59
Speaker 5: do at DH. Drake and Sean Murphy should be a
32:02
Speaker 5: pretty solid catching tandem. You know, they've got talent, They
32:06
Speaker 5: got to keep it healthy and the offense has got
32:08
Speaker 5: to perform to expectations.
32:11
Speaker 4: Yeah, quick follow up too. You kind of touched on it.
32:14
Speaker 4: I know how important Marcelo Zuna was for those guys
32:17
Speaker 4: being in that clubhouse. Obviously he didn't have a great
32:19
Speaker 4: year the year before historic year. Do you see the
32:24
Speaker 4: Braves not going out and getting a full time DH
32:27
Speaker 4: and just kind of utilizing that spot for the two catchers.
32:30
Speaker 4: Maybe some of that load management is getting Riley or
32:32
Speaker 4: Olsen or Cooney off his feet and allowing them to DH.
32:37
Speaker 5: Yeah, that's been a big question, is what are they
32:39
Speaker 5: gonna do with DH. You know, Azuna did not have
32:42
Speaker 5: a good year. He had the hip stuff. That was
32:44
Speaker 5: still kind of a mystery.
32:46
Speaker 2: You know.
32:47
Speaker 5: I don't know what his market's gonna look like overall.
32:49
Speaker 5: I don't know if the Braves are gonna have interest.
32:50
Speaker 2: I do.
32:51
Speaker 5: I would love to see the team use that DH
32:54
Speaker 5: spot as a way to give multiple guys days off
32:57
Speaker 5: throughout the week, versus having a set DH all the time.
33:01
Speaker 5: I think that's too restrictive on the roster, and I
33:03
Speaker 5: do think it would help keep guys healthy. Like if
33:05
Speaker 5: you got an outfielder that could give a Kunya in
33:07
Speaker 5: profar days off during the week and let those guys DH,
33:10
Speaker 5: that'd help those guys get to October, if you if
33:12
Speaker 5: you did the same thing for Riley and Olsen. I mean,
33:14
Speaker 5: Olson's gonna play every day anyways, but yeah, get guys
33:17
Speaker 5: off their feet. Use the DH as a way to
33:19
Speaker 5: help solve this injury problem that's that's cursed you the
33:22
Speaker 5: last two years. And then on the pitching side, use
33:25
Speaker 5: your bullpen and use your depth to do the same
33:27
Speaker 5: thing for those guys sitting here today. That's my best guess.
33:30
Speaker 5: But yeah, what they do at DH is a big
33:32
Speaker 5: question of the offseason. I mean I didn't put it
33:34
Speaker 5: on the list because they've got other things more pressing,
33:37
Speaker 5: but yeah, they got to I mean, they gotta do
33:39
Speaker 5: something with that DH spot in we'll see what Ozuna's
33:42
Speaker 5: market looks like. I think it's gonna be pretty suppressed
33:44
Speaker 5: because of the year he had and the injury in
33:46
Speaker 5: his age, but we'll see.
33:50
Speaker 1: Great analysis. Thank you so much, Steven, and you check
33:52
Speaker 1: out Hamer Territory on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts.