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Hammer Territory: Jurickson Profar suspended 80 games for PEDs · Foul Territory

0:21
Speaker 1: Welcome one and all to the Hammer Territory Podcast. My
0:24
Speaker 1: name is Sean Coleman.
0:26
Speaker 2: Hope.
0:26
Speaker 1: Wherever you are and wherever you are listening, thanks for
0:29
Speaker 1: tuning in with us. The start of the baseball season
0:32
Speaker 1: is here, and that's about one of the only positives
0:34
Speaker 1: that you can speak to when it comes to following
0:36
Speaker 1: the Atlanta Braves, And unfortunately the hints just keep on coming,
0:40
Speaker 1: as we're going to discuss in this kind of an
0:43
Speaker 1: emergency podcast, if you will, but not for the usual
0:46
Speaker 1: good reasons that we do emergency podcast. As always, my
0:49
Speaker 1: podcast partner here with me, Steven Tobert Steven, i'd ask
0:52
Speaker 1: how you were, sir, but a kind of heart know,
0:54
Speaker 1: regardless of the circumstance.
0:56
Speaker 3: Again, as always, Yeah, what's up, buddy. I'm not gonna
1:01
Speaker 3: say this has been like the worst possible start because
1:04
Speaker 3: there was always like Chris Sale injury stuff that I thought, like,
1:08
Speaker 3: if you were actually dreaming up like the worst case
1:10
Speaker 3: scenario for how the Braves could start this season, you
1:12
Speaker 3: know there'd be something wrong with Sale or something wrong
1:14
Speaker 3: with Strider or Acuna has a setback. So I'm not
1:16
Speaker 3: gonna say this is the worst case scenario. But getting
1:21
Speaker 3: your ass beat for four games the way they did
1:23
Speaker 3: against San Diego. Having the offense not show up, having
1:25
Speaker 3: the bullpen beat just as big of a question. And
1:28
Speaker 3: then we get to Monday, with Game one against the
1:32
Speaker 3: Dodgers later tonight, and we find out that Jerks and
1:34
Speaker 3: Profar has been suspended for eighty games for for Peds. Yeah,
1:42
Speaker 3: that's up there, I mean, the Braves. That's up there
1:45
Speaker 3: with about as bad as a start a first five
1:48
Speaker 3: days of the season as as we could possibly have. So, yeah,
1:52
Speaker 3: I guess it's good to be on with you. I
1:53
Speaker 3: don't yeah, I get, I don't know. I don't know.
1:57
Speaker 1: I don't know either. And of course, you know, in
1:59
Speaker 1: this situation, we know the end result, there's a lot
2:01
Speaker 1: we don't know in terms of what you know has occurred.
2:05
Speaker 1: We know some of the details that we're just gonna
2:07
Speaker 1: stick with the facts and mainly focus on obviously how
2:10
Speaker 1: it impacts the Braves now into the near future and
2:13
Speaker 1: you know, long term as well. But the simple, you know,
2:16
Speaker 1: the simple, straightforward information to deliver is this Jerks and Profar,
2:19
Speaker 1: who is the big off season edition for the Braves.
2:22
Speaker 1: He has been suspended four games into the season. His
2:25
Speaker 1: suspension will be eighty games. As you normally see when
2:28
Speaker 1: it comes to a first time offender when it comes
2:29
Speaker 1: to peds. He was found to have taken a performance
2:34
Speaker 1: a Nancy drug called hCG. I don't know a lot
2:38
Speaker 1: of details about it. It seems like there have been
2:40
Speaker 1: other baseball players who have taken it in the past. Ah,
2:42
Speaker 1: I know that really matters to the Braves that you
2:44
Speaker 1: can't take it, and that, of course is what has occurred.
2:48
Speaker 1: So basically that means for the next eighty games, basically
2:51
Speaker 1: the first half of the season, the Braves will be
2:53
Speaker 1: without Jerks and Profar. Perhaps even more significant is the
2:56
Speaker 1: fact that since Profar is suspended within this Major League
2:59
Speaker 1: Baseball season, he also will be ineligible for the playoffs
3:03
Speaker 1: for the Braves. So if the Braves make the playoffs,
3:05
Speaker 1: which we'll get into, you know, on another episode, the
3:08
Speaker 1: point I'm getting at is is that basically Jerks and
3:11
Speaker 1: Profile is not only out for the first half of
3:12
Speaker 1: this season, he is also out for the playoffs if
3:15
Speaker 1: the Braves were to make it. And the immediate reaction here,
3:19
Speaker 1: Steven is, you know, the hits just keep on coming.
3:22
Speaker 1: You know, when it rains, it pours.
3:24
Speaker 2: What have you.
3:25
Speaker 1: But in terms of Profar itself, a couple of things,
3:29
Speaker 1: a couple bullet points that come to it is, Okay,
3:32
Speaker 1: now you don't get the benefit of the big off
3:35
Speaker 1: season edition that you made in an off season where
3:37
Speaker 1: it certainly seemed that our resources were a bit more
3:41
Speaker 1: limited than many of us had thought. This was the
3:43
Speaker 1: headlining move. Well, now not only do you not get
3:47
Speaker 1: to benefit from that edition for the first half of
3:50
Speaker 1: this season, but also for the playoffs? What does that
3:53
Speaker 1: mean long term in terms of the level that that
3:55
Speaker 1: addition is going to add value? You know, is it
3:58
Speaker 1: going How much did you know potentially these performance and
4:02
Speaker 1: nanty drugs benefit him during his twenty twenty four season. Again,
4:05
Speaker 1: not going to get into all those details, but those
4:07
Speaker 1: are the first thoughts, the first thoughts that come to mind.
4:10
Speaker 1: Not only do you get to benefit from having Jerks
4:12
Speaker 1: and Profar, you don't get to benefit from having him
4:14
Speaker 1: in the lineup, But to what extent will you benefit
4:16
Speaker 1: from him when he returns? I think both of those
4:18
Speaker 1: things are fair to question.
4:20
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean it's brutal. I mean it's brutal. There's
4:23
Speaker 3: no you know, his suspension is unpaid, which basically means
4:27
Speaker 3: he's he's going to be about half of half of
4:31
Speaker 3: his expensive as he was going to be. So the
4:33
Speaker 3: Braves are going to save about six million bucks. What
4:38
Speaker 3: they do with that money, we'll see, you know, that's
4:39
Speaker 3: a whole separate thing. But yeah, I mean, it is
4:43
Speaker 3: fair to question that, you know, Profar had things in
4:47
Speaker 3: his profile that that he did in twenty four that
4:50
Speaker 3: caused the Braves to give him forty two million dollars, obviously,
4:53
Speaker 3: and the fair question is how much of those things
4:55
Speaker 3: are real and how much of those things are because
4:58
Speaker 3: of performances and heads drugs. Now, according to profile, he
5:02
Speaker 3: was tested about eight times last year, and that's normal. Listen,
5:06
Speaker 3: the guy was having a breakout season at the age
5:08
Speaker 3: of thirty thirty one years old. When that happens, you're
5:12
Speaker 3: gonna get tested every other week. I mean, you know,
5:14
Speaker 3: baseball calls it random. It's not random like he got
5:18
Speaker 3: He got tested a ton last year and obviously never
5:22
Speaker 3: popped once. And so I don't know what happened. I mean,
5:25
Speaker 3: I guess we're none of us know what happened, and
5:28
Speaker 3: we probably won't know what happened. Only Jerksen really knows
5:30
Speaker 3: what happened.
5:31
Speaker 2: But you know that.
5:35
Speaker 3: Tells me that his at least the things that he
5:39
Speaker 3: was doing better in his profile maybe are a little
5:41
Speaker 3: more real. You know, I if he was taken this
5:44
Speaker 3: last year, he would have got popped as much as
5:45
Speaker 3: he got tested. So I don't know if it was
5:48
Speaker 3: because of the injury he sustained in spring training that
5:51
Speaker 3: he took something to try to get back. I don't know.
5:53
Speaker 3: I mean, we'll never know, probably, but you know, he
5:57
Speaker 3: took more walks last year that you know, stares aren't
6:00
Speaker 3: gonna help you take more walks, So you know, it's
6:04
Speaker 3: possible that there are things in his profile that are
6:06
Speaker 3: still going to be good once he gets back. But
6:11
Speaker 3: it's fair to question it. It is, It's a thousand
6:13
Speaker 3: percent fair to question it. Like if there are fans
6:15
Speaker 3: of be like, no, I don't believe it, then I'm
6:17
Speaker 3: not gonna argue with it, because like I've that's how
6:19
Speaker 3: I've thought about PD users in the past. So yeah,
6:23
Speaker 3: it's fair to question. And so yeah, it's fair to
6:25
Speaker 3: ask how much of this contractor the Braves gonna get
6:29
Speaker 3: any value from They're obviously not going to get value
6:32
Speaker 3: in the first eighty games of this year or in
6:33
Speaker 3: the postseason this year, so you know they do get
6:37
Speaker 3: that money back, of course, but yeah, then now the
6:41
Speaker 3: last two years of the contract, what do they get.
6:43
Speaker 3: I mean, what kind of guy, what kind of hitters
6:45
Speaker 3: profile are really gonna be. So that's fair, that's a
6:47
Speaker 3: fair question. And you know we're gonna get into a
6:50
Speaker 3: second what the Braves are going to do in the meantime.
6:51
Speaker 3: But it just sucks, you're just really I mean, it
6:55
Speaker 3: was literally the braves only big move the of the winter.
6:58
Speaker 3: I tell you what, for people who thought Alex had
7:00
Speaker 3: a bad winner before this, they're gonna have a field
7:04
Speaker 3: day now because I mean, his one big move is
7:06
Speaker 3: now tainted. So yeah, I mean that turns into just
7:12
Speaker 3: a brutal offseason for the bread I mean, there's no
7:14
Speaker 3: other what I said, The Braves just had an absolutely
7:16
Speaker 3: brutal off season because their one move is now suspended
7:19
Speaker 3: for eighty games for Peds. So a bad start to
7:24
Speaker 3: the season just got substantially worse.
7:28
Speaker 1: And the unfortunate thing is is the turn is you know,
7:32
Speaker 1: of what we know about Profar's profile is the fact
7:36
Speaker 1: that okay, maybe he doesn't lift up to the to
7:39
Speaker 1: the upside of being an All Star like he was
7:41
Speaker 1: last year. But to your point, the one skill that
7:44
Speaker 1: he did have was the ability to get on base
7:46
Speaker 1: and consistently get on base, consistently work counts. That was
7:50
Speaker 1: probably one of the main reasons he was signed was
7:52
Speaker 1: to be able to fill that void that we saw
7:55
Speaker 1: pop up so much without Acuna and others last year. Well,
7:58
Speaker 1: now we're going to be without Profar. And I don't
8:01
Speaker 1: mean to, you know, minimize, of course, his absence, but
8:04
Speaker 1: he's played four games with the Braves. We now know
8:06
Speaker 1: that he's not going to be here for Apple the
8:07
Speaker 1: season of the postseason, the focus turns to, Okay, how
8:11
Speaker 1: do you fill that void that you had hoped he
8:13
Speaker 1: would feel And it becomes even more important to fill
8:15
Speaker 1: it quickly because of the start to the season that
8:17
Speaker 1: we had, and when we break down all the different
8:20
Speaker 1: things that Profar was supposed to eventually bring to this team,
8:23
Speaker 1: it was going to be as a top of the
8:24
Speaker 1: order bat that can extend the lineup, can extend pitches,
8:27
Speaker 1: and get on base frequently. So, Stephen, that's the thing
8:30
Speaker 1: that pops to me is that you now are going
8:32
Speaker 1: to be without a reliable lead off itter for probably
8:36
Speaker 1: the next month and a half. Two Akoony gets back.
8:39
Speaker 1: Who fills that void? I think that you will get
8:41
Speaker 1: into the names here in the second of who can
8:43
Speaker 1: play left field, and I think they're going to be
8:44
Speaker 1: able to field and left field just fine, but who
8:47
Speaker 1: fills that void at the top of the order, which
8:49
Speaker 1: we desperately need right now to be able to get
8:52
Speaker 1: back on track.
8:54
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean that was literally his most valuable skill
8:56
Speaker 3: to the Braves is that they he was a high
8:58
Speaker 3: on base guy. And when you know, we've learned plenty
9:01
Speaker 3: of times over the years that when Akunya is out,
9:04
Speaker 3: the Braves sorely miss specifically that skill because that is
9:10
Speaker 3: unique to Ronald in this lineup, and that he you know,
9:12
Speaker 3: he consistently runs four hundred on base, even last year
9:15
Speaker 3: when he wasn't having the best year before he got hurt.
9:18
Speaker 3: Is on base presenters like three eighty because he just
9:22
Speaker 3: walks a ton. I mean, pitchers are always afraid of him,
9:24
Speaker 3: so he just walks a ton on top of whatever gets,
9:27
Speaker 3: you know, when he hits, So it's a math. I
9:30
Speaker 3: mean that is the biggest though, the single biggest impact
9:34
Speaker 3: for this team will be the lack of on base
9:38
Speaker 3: that they lose because of this you know, this suspension
9:42
Speaker 3: that is the single now defense. There's probably some locker
9:45
Speaker 3: room stuff, you know. I know, Jerricksen is considered like
9:47
Speaker 3: a beloved guy in baseball. This probably will change that
9:50
Speaker 3: a little bit, to be fair. But his on base skills,
9:55
Speaker 3: his ability to work counts. That is the single biggest
9:58
Speaker 3: thing that the Braids are gonna miss here because they
10:00
Speaker 3: don't have a ton of that. I mean, Ozzie Albi's,
10:02
Speaker 3: Michael Harris, Jared Kelnick, you know, the guys that you
10:05
Speaker 3: kind of think of that might be able to fill
10:07
Speaker 3: that role. None of them have that skill. They all
10:09
Speaker 3: strike out, you know, more than they walk. They all
10:13
Speaker 3: walk at you know, kind of a five percent clip
10:15
Speaker 3: or less. They none of them really work counts very well.
10:19
Speaker 3: I mean, that was the big problem last year, and
10:20
Speaker 3: so that was why Profar was added, was to solve
10:24
Speaker 3: that problem. And so now you take him out again
10:26
Speaker 3: and you're left with the same problem from last year.
10:28
Speaker 3: So yeah, we'll get into the names here in a minute.
10:32
Speaker 3: The Braves made of trade today, but that one skill,
10:36
Speaker 3: the on base skill, the ability to work counts, is
10:40
Speaker 3: far and away the most valuable thing Profar was going
10:42
Speaker 3: to bring to this team. And it was supposed to
10:45
Speaker 3: be most valuable why Acunya was out. Well now they're
10:49
Speaker 3: not going to have him for a while. Akunya is out.
10:51
Speaker 3: They'll get him back at some point. But yeah, I
10:54
Speaker 3: mean it just sucks. I mean, I don't know what
10:55
Speaker 3: else to say. It just sucks.
11:00
Speaker 4: Take me out to my t A band doos BArch
11:04
Speaker 4: Down Work, Death, Death Watch, Mas and Binger and RBIs.
11:10
Speaker 3: I'm just glad they have my local de live bar
11:13
Speaker 3: through will root the bright Bos and they don't when
11:17
Speaker 3: in the shame brass.
11:22
Speaker 5: Work stream.
11:27
Speaker 1: Now, well, and I think that you bring up a
11:31
Speaker 1: very interesting dynamic that many may not think of, but
11:34
Speaker 1: I think is significant, especially for a clubhouse that around
11:37
Speaker 1: baseball many have talked about me and one of the
11:39
Speaker 1: best clubhouse atmosphere. You know, you lose so many veterans,
11:43
Speaker 1: long term Braves clubhouse leaders, and Charlie Morton, Max rad
11:46
Speaker 1: aj mentor Travis Arnaut, so on and so forth. You
11:50
Speaker 1: lose all those clubhouse staples. You bring in Jerickson Profar,
11:53
Speaker 1: who he himself is considered to be a good clubhouse edition. Well,
11:58
Speaker 1: now not only are you going to be without it
12:00
Speaker 1: now when he comes back. I don't know if awkward
12:02
Speaker 1: is the right word, but it certainly is not going
12:04
Speaker 1: to be what it once was, given that and the
12:08
Speaker 1: fact that they've lost so many, you know, sources of
12:11
Speaker 1: constant in the clubhouse, considering the start of the season
12:14
Speaker 1: that they've had and now this fallout. I mean, Steve,
12:16
Speaker 1: when do you give any worry to that causing issue
12:19
Speaker 1: within the clubhouse, not in terms of negativity, but in
12:22
Speaker 1: terms of what the Braves need, that chemistry they need
12:25
Speaker 1: to get back going in the right direction. This certainly
12:27
Speaker 1: doesn't help that being the best position that you would
12:30
Speaker 1: hope it would be to get the season going right.
12:32
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I've listened to guys talk about PD
12:34
Speaker 3: users in the past, and they don't speak they don't
12:37
Speaker 3: speak highly of them. And like you said, the Braves
12:40
Speaker 3: are without a lot of their leaders that they've had
12:42
Speaker 3: in the past in that clubhouse. I know Chris Sale
12:44
Speaker 3: is kind of the guy now, but it might get awkward.
12:50
Speaker 3: Quite honestly, it really might. I mean, it might get
12:53
Speaker 3: I mean, I don't I'm guessing when he comes back,
12:55
Speaker 3: they'll open them you know, they'll they'll welcome him back
12:58
Speaker 3: with open arms, because that's kind of what you do
12:59
Speaker 3: for team mates. You know, when Azuna went through his
13:02
Speaker 3: domestic violence suspension, I don't want to compare the two. Obviously,
13:06
Speaker 3: domestic violence is a whole different level. But you know,
13:09
Speaker 3: when he went through that whole thing, he came back
13:12
Speaker 3: and he's still kind of considered a belove member of
13:15
Speaker 3: that clubhouse. So, I mean, you know, I don't know
13:18
Speaker 3: how big a deal it's going to be, But if
13:21
Speaker 3: you told me it was going to be a big deal,
13:23
Speaker 3: it wouldn't shock me. Again, there are plenty of players
13:26
Speaker 3: in baseball that despise guys who use performance in hancing
13:31
Speaker 3: drugs because they feel like it takes money away from
13:33
Speaker 3: clean players. And so obviously, with Drusip Profar just signing
13:37
Speaker 3: up a pretty large free agent contract, there are gonna
13:40
Speaker 3: be plenty of people around baseball that despise him because
13:43
Speaker 3: they feel like he stole that money. Is that fair
13:47
Speaker 3: to say?
13:47
Speaker 2: I don't know.
13:48
Speaker 3: I mean, I'm not in the clubhouse, and I don't
13:50
Speaker 3: know what these what these drugs have done for Profar
13:53
Speaker 3: when he started taking him or when he got popped.
13:55
Speaker 3: I'm still kind of waiting on a timeline to be
13:57
Speaker 3: dropped by somebody reported a report of timeline and all this.
14:01
Speaker 3: But yeah, I mean, I I don't know what to expect.
14:04
Speaker 3: I would expect, you know again, I would expect they
14:07
Speaker 3: they welcome them back with open arms, but there could
14:10
Speaker 3: be some awkward moments, that's for sure.
14:13
Speaker 1: Absolutely, And and you know, shifting gears a bit, you know,
14:16
Speaker 1: discussing you know, Profar obviously the details of you know,
14:20
Speaker 1: why he's going to be absenced again. You know, the
14:22
Speaker 1: focus turns to, Okay, this is one of those situations
14:25
Speaker 1: where you're not going to be able to money bother
14:28
Speaker 1: your way through this in terms of figuring out a
14:30
Speaker 1: way on the fly to be able to replicate his
14:33
Speaker 1: on base skills or you know, the value that he
14:35
Speaker 1: can add from the leadoff spot. But this does bring
14:38
Speaker 1: to light Steven a bit more, you know, sence around.
14:41
Speaker 1: You know, the Braves made a flurry of moves a
14:43
Speaker 1: few weeks before the season and now even into the season,
14:47
Speaker 1: and a couple of moves that weren't necessarily head scratching,
14:50
Speaker 1: but you were kind of like, Okay, they're adding a
14:51
Speaker 1: lot of outfield depth, signing Alex Radugo to a major
14:55
Speaker 1: league contract right before the season. Today, trading for former
14:58
Speaker 1: Cincinnati Reads Outfielderstrup, those moves were made, and you're thinking, okays,
15:03
Speaker 1: are they potentially going to option maybe Brian Da la
15:05
Speaker 1: Cruz or Jared Kellennick to the minors, And then of
15:08
Speaker 1: course we get this news about Profar. So the first
15:10
Speaker 1: thing that stands out is, okay, are both the Verdugo
15:14
Speaker 1: signing and the trade for Fairchild are result of what
15:19
Speaker 1: they knew about Profar? And now that we know that
15:22
Speaker 1: Profar is not an option, what's kind of the hierarchy
15:24
Speaker 1: of these four depth options? You know, Broke Jared Kellnick
15:27
Speaker 1: in there, who will discuss in just a moment, but Stephen,
15:30
Speaker 1: your thoughts on the timing of the Verdugo and Fairchild moves,
15:33
Speaker 1: and also your thoughts you know, on how their roles,
15:36
Speaker 1: how they're important for the organization certainly Just Rose.
15:41
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's kind of why I wanted a timeline because
15:43
Speaker 3: I kind of want to know when the Braves found out.
15:45
Speaker 3: Did they find out today? You know we're recording this
15:49
Speaker 3: on Monday afternoon. Did they find out today? And that's
15:52
Speaker 3: why they traded for Fairchild? I don't know. Oftentimes, the
15:57
Speaker 3: league will inform the player and the team that this
15:59
Speaker 3: is coming, you know, to try to get the appeal
16:02
Speaker 3: out of the way before it's announced publicly. So I
16:05
Speaker 3: don't know how long the team is known about this,
16:07
Speaker 3: and I don't know when Jerksen popped this positive test.
16:13
Speaker 3: You know, if it happened two weeks ago and the
16:16
Speaker 3: Braves knew about it, and you know, it wouldn't surprise
16:19
Speaker 3: me if for Dugo was then a you know, a
16:23
Speaker 3: reaction to that. I don't know that for sure, though.
16:26
Speaker 3: They might have literally just found out today, So I
16:29
Speaker 3: don't know when the Braves found out. Again, we're recording
16:32
Speaker 3: this about an hour after all this drops, so we're
16:35
Speaker 3: still I'm I keep checking my phone to make sure
16:37
Speaker 3: I don't miss an update because I don't want to
16:39
Speaker 3: say anything wrong into a microphone. But we don't know
16:43
Speaker 3: when the Braves found out, and therefore it's hard to
16:45
Speaker 3: tell exactly what their motives were for these moves. I
16:48
Speaker 3: will say this, the Rdugo signing didn't make a ton
16:50
Speaker 3: of sense to me at the time it happened, because
16:53
Speaker 3: they already had Profar, they already had Harris, they already
16:57
Speaker 3: had a Cunya, they already had Keelnic, they already had
16:58
Speaker 3: Daily Cruz. They gave him a major league deal, like
17:02
Speaker 3: it just seemed weird, a weird way to spend money
17:04
Speaker 3: when there were other parts of the team that needed attention.
17:08
Speaker 3: So but maybe they just did that for depth, you know,
17:11
Speaker 3: they they might not have known anything about this at
17:14
Speaker 3: that point. So I don't know. I think the fair
17:17
Speaker 3: child moved today and we're gonna talk about him more
17:19
Speaker 3: in a second. I think that's clearly a I think
17:22
Speaker 3: that's clearly a reaction to this. I mean, obviously they
17:25
Speaker 3: needed another outfielder. So so yeah, we'll find out more
17:28
Speaker 3: in the in the days to come, there'll be more announcements,
17:31
Speaker 3: they'll be in more tweets, more on the record about
17:34
Speaker 3: you know, timelines and stuff like that. But none of
17:37
Speaker 3: it's good. You know, uh, none of it's good. None
17:40
Speaker 3: of it is health is helpful, especially when the team's
17:42
Speaker 3: you know, if the team was four and oh and
17:45
Speaker 3: coming off a big series sweep of San Diego, maybe
17:48
Speaker 3: you know, today would still suck, but maybe it wouldn't
17:50
Speaker 3: suck so much. But yeah, I'm just I'm I'm I'm
17:56
Speaker 3: honestly still kind of processing all this. We jumped on
18:00
Speaker 3: immediately after we heard because that's what we do. But
18:05
Speaker 3: what a I mean, what a just a kick to
18:07
Speaker 3: the nuts. I mean serious, I mean, good lord, this
18:11
Speaker 3: the start of this season. I mean, this is where
18:14
Speaker 3: you restart the Xbox and start it over. I mean, geez,
18:17
Speaker 3: I mean this is just this is unreal.
18:21
Speaker 1: Or this may even be to the point where you
18:23
Speaker 1: take the Xbox into the backyard and just run over
18:25
Speaker 1: it with the lawnmower. You know that that may be
18:27
Speaker 1: a more satisfying outcome from this. But okay, we've gotten
18:30
Speaker 1: the details of Jerks and provar He is out of
18:34
Speaker 1: the equation for half the year and for the playoffs.
18:37
Speaker 1: So what have the What have the Braves done to
18:43
Speaker 1: be able to look at getting depth in their organization,
18:48
Speaker 1: to be able to say, okay, hey, if something were
18:50
Speaker 1: to happen in one of our outfielders, we've now got
18:53
Speaker 1: options that we can explore. None of the options are
18:54
Speaker 1: going to be better than what they had, but they
18:57
Speaker 1: now basically have a two tiered platoon approach. You've got
19:01
Speaker 1: Jared Kellernick and Alex Berdugo, who are going to be
19:02
Speaker 1: your left handed options against right handed pitching. You've also
19:05
Speaker 1: got Stuart errors give me Brian Dela Cruz and Stuart
19:09
Speaker 1: Fairchild as you're right handed versus left handed options. So
19:14
Speaker 1: those are the details. The other thing before we get
19:18
Speaker 1: to the details of that question, Stevehen, we do want
19:20
Speaker 1: to say we're getting breaking news as we are doing
19:23
Speaker 1: this podcast, as we are doing the podcast on jerrickson
19:26
Speaker 1: profar as eighty games suspension. It's just going through that
19:30
Speaker 1: starter Ronaldo Lopez has been added to the injured list.
19:33
Speaker 1: The Braves are calling up Bryce Elder. The details of
19:36
Speaker 1: the move to the injured list for Renaldo Lopez will
19:40
Speaker 1: come out later on obviously, but we'll get into that
19:43
Speaker 1: in just a moment. First, Steven, let's focus on the
19:46
Speaker 1: depth options. When it comes to the outfield. You've got
19:49
Speaker 1: Kellernick and Berdugo as your options left handers versus right handers.
19:52
Speaker 1: You've got Brian Delacruz and Stuart Fairchild as your option
19:56
Speaker 1: versus left handers. You're hoping that at least one, maybe
19:58
Speaker 1: two of those outfielders figures it out to be reliable.
20:01
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20:08
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20:10
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20:12
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20:20
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20:22
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20:24
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20:35
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21:04
Speaker 3: Yeah. I mean, listen, Verdugo is is solid. He's not great.
21:08
Speaker 3: I mean he's kind of like kell Nick. And that's
21:10
Speaker 3: why the Verdugo signing was so strange to me, because
21:13
Speaker 3: I felt very redundant to kel Nick, I think you
21:15
Speaker 3: and I talked about it the night had happened. Just
21:18
Speaker 3: felt like redundant players. But obviously now without profar they
21:23
Speaker 3: both can play at the same time, so it makes
21:25
Speaker 3: more sense. And then yeah, Fairchild and Dayla Cruz Fairschild,
21:29
Speaker 3: you know, he came over. He just got traded today
21:32
Speaker 3: from the Reds.
21:34
Speaker 2: He's got power.
21:34
Speaker 3: Actually, I think he's got like eighteen homers and six
21:37
Speaker 3: hundred career played appearances or stuff like that, so it's
21:39
Speaker 3: kind of a decent amount of pop. He's a good
21:41
Speaker 3: defender in centerfield. I'm sure that's what the Braves. The
21:43
Speaker 3: Braves kind of liked these power, defensive guys. That's kind
21:47
Speaker 3: of what Kelnick's reputation was when he came over to
21:49
Speaker 3: was power and defense, kind of what Michael Harrison's reputation is.
21:54
Speaker 3: So you know, it's not a it's not an unusual
21:56
Speaker 3: fit for them, but I mean they're you know, they're
22:02
Speaker 3: one more kind of fourth fifth outfitter types that you're
22:06
Speaker 3: just hoping you can kind of platoon to death until
22:08
Speaker 3: Ronald comes back. And you know, I'm not gonna sit
22:12
Speaker 3: here and tell you that those guys are gonna be
22:13
Speaker 3: game changers in any way or you know, are going
22:17
Speaker 3: to be impact players for the Braves. But you know
22:21
Speaker 3: it's probably better than running Luke Williams out there. So yeah,
22:25
Speaker 3: that's kind of all I got on on Stuart Fairschad.
22:28
Speaker 3: I'm sure he's gonna, you know, he's gonna get a
22:30
Speaker 3: chance to play more than he probably ever has in Cincinnati.
22:32
Speaker 3: But we'll see, you know, he's gonna get a chance
22:35
Speaker 3: to you know, maybe Ramone Loreano this thing and be
22:38
Speaker 3: an impact player for the Braves out of nowhere.
22:41
Speaker 1: Yeah, one of these guys can turn into Ramone Loriano.
22:44
Speaker 1: And again we've talked about it time and time again.
22:46
Speaker 1: It's it's one of my favorite things that I used
22:48
Speaker 1: to love to talk about the Braves, and you gotta
22:49
Speaker 1: hope that it comes through again. Then being able to
22:51
Speaker 1: make the most of players, you know, being able to
22:54
Speaker 1: get them back to their best times outside of the
22:56
Speaker 1: organization coming in and maybe doing better than many had.
23:00
Speaker 1: But let's kind of you know, go back over where
23:03
Speaker 1: we just what we've discussed and where we are now,
23:06
Speaker 1: because I know we're kind of all over the place
23:07
Speaker 1: when it comes to order of operations for the podcast,
23:09
Speaker 1: because again we're getting a lot of news at once.
23:11
Speaker 1: We were in the middle of discussing the podcast. In
23:15
Speaker 1: a podcast discussing the suspension to Jerks and Profar, who's
23:18
Speaker 1: out eighty games due to performance enhancing drug usage. We've
23:22
Speaker 1: already discussed a fallout from Profar and the options that
23:24
Speaker 1: are there. We'll get into back in just a moment,
23:26
Speaker 1: but as we're doing this podcast, it's just become official
23:29
Speaker 1: that starter Rinaldo Lopez where Lopez who many as we
23:33
Speaker 1: got further into spring training, we're kind of concerned when
23:36
Speaker 1: it came to velocity, kind of concerned when it came
23:39
Speaker 1: to him just not being as crisp as we saw
23:41
Speaker 1: him all last year. It was revealed he's already made
23:44
Speaker 1: to start this season. He is on the fifteen day
23:46
Speaker 1: injured list now with right shoulder information. So it seems
23:50
Speaker 1: like we've gotten a bit of a reason as to
23:52
Speaker 1: why he just didn't seem himself in the spring training
23:55
Speaker 1: and through his first start. Bryce Selder, a familiar name,
23:58
Speaker 1: has been called up. Likely we'll take his spot in
24:00
Speaker 1: the rotation. Steven, I know we don't have a lot
24:02
Speaker 1: of information on that right now. Your initial thoughts on
24:05
Speaker 1: just another hit early in this season for the Braves.
24:09
Speaker 3: I'm about to go jump off a roof. I mean,
24:11
Speaker 3: what is happening.
24:13
Speaker 1: We don't need to put you on the injury list
24:15
Speaker 1: for the podcast, Steven, Please don't do that.
24:17
Speaker 3: I mean, come on, I mean, okay, So Ronaldo Lopez
24:22
Speaker 3: is now on the IL. I guess not stunning given
24:27
Speaker 3: the spring that he had, the lack of velocity. Actually
24:29
Speaker 3: thought the velocity ticked up in his first start against
24:32
Speaker 3: San Diego. He didn't look great. Obviously, he didn't get
24:34
Speaker 3: any swing and missed, but I thought that was more
24:35
Speaker 3: about command than anything.
24:37
Speaker 1: But obviously nine seven ninety eight, I didn't expect to
24:40
Speaker 1: see that, but it was there in that first start.
24:42
Speaker 3: You're right, yeah, I mean it ticked up as his
24:44
Speaker 3: start went along, so I was actually starting to feel
24:46
Speaker 3: better about it. I just thought it was kind of
24:47
Speaker 3: a command and getting sharp type of thing. But obviously
24:52
Speaker 3: not obviously he had some sort of issue. And you
24:55
Speaker 3: never want to see shoulder Honestly, shoulder and elbow or
24:59
Speaker 3: the two thing that you just don't want to see
25:01
Speaker 3: on any injury report. It doesn't mean it's gonna be serious,
25:03
Speaker 3: but shoulder injuries are just the worst for pictures these days,
25:07
Speaker 3: probably worse than elbow injuries at this point. So we'll see.
25:11
Speaker 3: I mean, here, you know, here we go with Bryce Elder,
25:14
Speaker 3: there's gonna be a lot of people talking about the
25:16
Speaker 3: fact that the Braves did not add a starting pitcher
25:19
Speaker 3: in the offseason when everybody kind of thought they needed one.
25:22
Speaker 3: You know, Ronaldo threw more innings last year than he
25:25
Speaker 3: had thrown in the five seasons before, four seasons before
25:29
Speaker 3: that because he was a reliever, and so you know,
25:31
Speaker 3: we had these questions about how would Ronaldo hold up
25:34
Speaker 3: after all the innings he threw last year, How would
25:36
Speaker 3: Sale hold up after all the innings he threw last year,
25:38
Speaker 3: How which Holobock hold up after all the innings threw
25:41
Speaker 3: last year? And of course we're not even a week
25:43
Speaker 3: end of the season and Ronaldo goes down. So listen,
25:48
Speaker 3: it was not a good It was not a good
25:49
Speaker 3: off season for alex Adopolis. I think we can pretty
25:51
Speaker 3: confidently say that. And you know, this is just kind
25:56
Speaker 3: of one more kick to the nuts, quite honestly, you know,
26:01
Speaker 3: Bryce Elder solid, I mean, he's a decent, you know,
26:04
Speaker 3: sixth seventh starter in an organization, But I guess that
26:07
Speaker 3: means he's going up against the Dodgers. When was Ronaldo's
26:10
Speaker 3: scheduled to pitch. Uh, he was scheduled to pitch the
26:12
Speaker 3: third game against the Dodgers.
26:14
Speaker 1: Right now, bullpen game tonight, sail tomorrow.
26:17
Speaker 3: And then Ronaldo. Yeah, so I Elder just got up
26:22
Speaker 3: to pitch against the Dodgers. So you know, prepare yourself
26:27
Speaker 3: for that mentally or you know, emotionally or however you
26:31
Speaker 3: have to prepare yourself for that. Yeah, it's I mean,
26:33
Speaker 3: it just sucks. I mean, this just this season sucks.
26:39
Speaker 3: The first five days of this season have sucked, and
26:43
Speaker 3: so you know, maybe this will be the low point
26:48
Speaker 3: and we got six more months of something to look
26:49
Speaker 3: forward to. But this is a brutal, brutal start.
26:53
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's one of those things where they talk about
26:55
Speaker 1: Stephen where you know, you couldn't have scripted it, Like
26:56
Speaker 1: even if you had the chance to make Hollywood script
26:59
Speaker 1: out the start from the seat in the worst way possible,
27:01
Speaker 1: they still wouldn't have been able to do it this bad.
27:03
Speaker 1: But hey, last year, we started off excellent in the
27:06
Speaker 1: month of April and that's what kept our head above
27:07
Speaker 1: water when we went through five terrible months of the season.
27:10
Speaker 1: Maybe we're just trying to get the worst stuff out
27:13
Speaker 1: of the way in the first five days of the season,
27:15
Speaker 1: then things will start to get incrementally better. Again, that's
27:18
Speaker 1: more of a hope and prayer type situation.
27:21
Speaker 2: But I think that.
27:23
Speaker 1: Now without Renald Lopez, and even if it is a
27:26
Speaker 1: short term thing, is it going to be lingering, you know,
27:29
Speaker 1: is it going to affect his overall effectiveness as a pitcher?
27:33
Speaker 1: You know, with not only in the back of its mind,
27:34
Speaker 1: but could it be something that's recurring. Just a lot
27:36
Speaker 1: of questions, And so that just goes back to kind
27:40
Speaker 1: of what we talked about so much, Stephen, is the
27:42
Speaker 1: fact that those questions, especially about depth, as spring training
27:45
Speaker 1: went along, they remained in place and they got louder,
27:48
Speaker 1: They got louder, they got louder. The other thing that
27:51
Speaker 1: stands out to me is that I think we're going
27:53
Speaker 1: to continue to see Alex Andthopolis be active in the
27:56
Speaker 1: early starts of the season. I feel like the Stuart
27:58
Speaker 1: feil Trap Stuart Flirchild move may not be the last
28:02
Speaker 1: move that we see in terms of a trade or
28:04
Speaker 1: in terms of you know, Alex and Thoppolss goming to
28:06
Speaker 1: get a player who likely is not gonna be in
28:08
Speaker 1: the Braves organization for long, but at least can provide
28:10
Speaker 1: depth for now. This The other byproduct of all this
28:13
Speaker 1: happening is we may continue to see Alex and Thoppolis
28:16
Speaker 1: make moves early in the season just to try to
28:18
Speaker 1: keep depth in place, and hopefully we won't lose anybody
28:21
Speaker 1: else significant as we move forward through April.
28:25
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's gonna be interesting to see what he does.
28:29
Speaker 3: You know, Spencer Streider is supposed to be back in
28:33
Speaker 3: probably about two weeks. They're not gonna rush him just
28:37
Speaker 3: because of this, So you know, maybe maybe Bryce Eldrick
28:41
Speaker 3: can hold down the fort and Grant Holmes and aj
28:45
Speaker 3: Smith Schalver. But yeah, they could definitely trade. I mean,
28:51
Speaker 3: it's just hard to make trades this time of year
28:53
Speaker 3: unless the guy is already kind of I mean, the
28:54
Speaker 3: reason they traded for Fairchild is because the Reds of
28:57
Speaker 3: dfat him on opening Day and you get ten days
29:01
Speaker 3: to trade a guide, so you know, he wasn't he
29:03
Speaker 3: wasn't part of their opening day plan, So the Braves
29:05
Speaker 3: traded for I guess there would be guys like that
29:07
Speaker 3: out there the Braids could go get, you know, technically,
29:09
Speaker 3: guys like Lance Lane I think are still free agents.
29:13
Speaker 3: You know, I don't know. I don't know. I mean,
29:15
Speaker 3: I this offseason taught us don't even try to predict
29:18
Speaker 3: what the hell the Braids are gonna do, what Alex
29:20
Speaker 3: is gonna do, because we thought they would add three
29:23
Speaker 3: or four pitchers this offseason between the bullpen and the rotation,
29:25
Speaker 3: and they didn't add any, at least on a major
29:27
Speaker 3: league deal. So I don't know. I don't know. What
29:29
Speaker 3: they're gonna do depends on you know, I guess how well,
29:33
Speaker 3: probably Bryce Elder pitches. It's a tough draw that his
29:35
Speaker 3: first game is gonna be a Dodgers. That's brutal, and
29:39
Speaker 3: it's gonna be tough to watch, I imagine. But yeah,
29:42
Speaker 3: this I'm afraid to keep talking. I don't know if
29:45
Speaker 3: we're gonna get more news that somebody else is hurt,
29:48
Speaker 3: you know, before this podcast ends. But good lord man,
29:53
Speaker 3: what what did we What did we do? Like? What what? What?
29:56
Speaker 1: What happened?
29:58
Speaker 3: I don't know, I don't know what happened?
30:01
Speaker 1: Well, so what does this all mean?
30:02
Speaker 2: Though?
30:03
Speaker 1: For what we do know, we don't know what else
30:05
Speaker 1: is going to come down the pipeline We don't know
30:07
Speaker 1: what to expect from Jerkson Profar, We don't know what
30:09
Speaker 1: to expect from Ronaldo Lopez when it comes to his injury.
30:13
Speaker 1: But what I do know is that it is now
30:16
Speaker 1: the time of the chat in which we're going to
30:18
Speaker 1: put a spotlight on a certain player. And it's a
30:21
Speaker 1: player that we've talked about quite a bit when it
30:24
Speaker 1: comes to spring training and about opportunity and about being
30:27
Speaker 1: able to bounce back when it comes to taking advantage
30:31
Speaker 1: of making the most of his time with the Braves.
30:34
Speaker 1: And of course we'll give you the details on this
30:36
Speaker 1: spotlight segment presented by Fandel, But when it comes to
30:39
Speaker 1: how are we going to not replace Jerrickson Profar? But
30:43
Speaker 1: my question becomes who really is the has the most opportunity,
30:47
Speaker 1: who would be most ideal to take a step forward
30:50
Speaker 1: and become a big time contributor for the Braves. And
30:53
Speaker 1: I put the spotlight directly on Jared Kilnick. Of those
30:57
Speaker 1: four options that we discussed, Jared Kilnick, briand the cruise
31:00
Speaker 1: to refer John Alex Verdugo Kellenick has the biggest upside.
31:04
Speaker 1: We saw him do this last year. We saw him
31:07
Speaker 1: step up take ownership of that lead off spot. It
31:10
Speaker 1: was for a month. Yes, it didn't last throughout the season,
31:12
Speaker 1: but for a month in the month of June last year,
31:15
Speaker 1: he was a big time contributor in a time when
31:17
Speaker 1: we needed it the most. We need that again. I'm
31:21
Speaker 1: not saying that there should be a lot of faith
31:22
Speaker 1: in seeing what he can and seeing what he can do.
31:25
Speaker 1: But Kellnick, we talked about it. It was a time
31:28
Speaker 1: to show up. It was a sink or swim season, Stephen.
31:30
Speaker 1: Now is the time for him to step up and
31:33
Speaker 1: show that he can live up to the potential that
31:35
Speaker 1: he showed in the minors and for two months in
31:37
Speaker 1: twenty twenty three. The opportunity is even more there there
31:42
Speaker 1: for him now than it was previously to make the
31:44
Speaker 1: most of this situation. I feel the spotlight is directly
31:48
Speaker 1: on Jared Kellnick to live up to his potential and
31:50
Speaker 1: become a reliable part of the Braves lineup.
31:55
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean you would expect, you know, you would
31:57
Speaker 3: think one of these left handed outfeuters because that's what
32:00
Speaker 3: they just lost. So either Kelnick or Rdugo. We don't
32:03
Speaker 3: know when Verdugo's coming up. You signed a major league deal,
32:05
Speaker 3: so you think as soon as he's ready, he has
32:07
Speaker 3: to be up, but I don't know what the exact
32:09
Speaker 3: date is, but yeah, I mean until he comes up
32:11
Speaker 3: and get some playing time, it's got to be kill Nick.
32:13
Speaker 3: I mean they you know, we spent so much time
32:16
Speaker 3: talking about how the Braids were balanced against right handed
32:18
Speaker 3: pitching because they added Profar, they added Drake Baldwin. You know,
32:22
Speaker 3: they had Kelnick and Michael Harris and Olsen, and now
32:25
Speaker 3: they lose Profar and you know, Drake Baldwin goes down.
32:28
Speaker 3: When Sean Murphy comes back up, then now you're kind
32:31
Speaker 3: of back to the same thing where you're just this,
32:32
Speaker 3: you know, so susceptible to right handed pitching. And so yeah,
32:36
Speaker 3: it's got to be one of these left handed outfitters.
32:37
Speaker 3: And Kelnick is the prime example because he's the guy
32:39
Speaker 3: in the roster right now. They need him. They need
32:42
Speaker 3: him to be the guy. The Braves gave up a
32:44
Speaker 3: lot of money last year to trade for him. I
32:46
Speaker 3: mean they're still paying David Fletcher down in the minors
32:50
Speaker 3: because they traded for Jared Kelnick. I mean this was
32:52
Speaker 3: all in response to getting Kelnick last year from the Mariners.
32:55
Speaker 3: They ended up paying like twenty something million dollars plus
32:58
Speaker 3: whatever they're paying Dave Fletcher, you know, so they obviously
33:03
Speaker 3: believed in him, very very strongly to do it. He
33:07
Speaker 3: did not have a good year last year outside of
33:09
Speaker 3: one month. You know, they released the lineup tonight. Michael
33:13
Speaker 3: Harris is leading off. I don't know if they're don't
33:16
Speaker 3: you know, I don't know what they're gonna, don't know.
33:17
Speaker 3: I they're gonna platoon Harris and Ozzy and just have
33:20
Speaker 3: Harris lead off against righty's and Ozzie lead off against lefties.
33:24
Speaker 3: But for that specific role of left field, then yeah,
33:27
Speaker 3: Jerry Kelnick has to step up, and he's got to.
33:30
Speaker 3: My guys just got to learn how to take some walks,
33:32
Speaker 3: quite honestly. I mean, you know, a thirty percent strikeout
33:35
Speaker 3: rate in a five percent walk rate is just a
33:37
Speaker 3: brutal way to go through life. And it's one of
33:40
Speaker 3: the reasons he's never been able to establish himself as
33:42
Speaker 3: a major league player, because you can't strike out six
33:44
Speaker 3: times for every one walk. You just can't. I mean,
33:46
Speaker 3: that's just you just have so little, You have so
33:50
Speaker 3: little to to produce anything when you're striking out at
33:53
Speaker 3: that rate versus how often you're walking so and my
33:55
Speaker 3: guy can take some walks. You know, he's already hit
33:58
Speaker 3: a home run this year, but the rest of it
33:59
Speaker 3: is a bad to look pretty awful, to be honest,
34:03
Speaker 3: That would help a lot. But yeah, the Braves need
34:05
Speaker 3: one of these left handed outfielders in absence of profile
34:07
Speaker 3: until Acuna comes back. They need one of these left
34:09
Speaker 3: handed guys to step up. And Keltic's on the roster
34:12
Speaker 3: right now, so you would have to start with.
34:13
Speaker 1: Him absolutely, and we talk about, you know, stepping up, well,
34:16
Speaker 1: you want to talk about stepping up. That's exactly why
34:19
Speaker 1: this segment is presented by FanDuel. Fandel has stepped up
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Speaker 1: Of course, that was the Fandel spotlight of the day
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Speaker 1: on Jared Kellnick, but you can put that spotlight on
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Speaker 1: any number of players. And as we wrap up this
35:31
Speaker 1: pretty somber edition of the Hammer Territory podcast, Stephen, there's
35:34
Speaker 1: one other player who I think that it at least
35:38
Speaker 1: is a fun way to end the podcast, and that
35:40
Speaker 1: is the return of the beloved uncle Jesse. Jesse Chavez
35:44
Speaker 1: has returned to Atlanta. The one other move, the move
35:47
Speaker 1: that you know kind of was okay, this makes sense
35:50
Speaker 1: that this makes sense.
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Speaker 2: Move of the day.
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Speaker 1: Hector Naris, who did not have a good start to
35:54
Speaker 1: the season for the Braves, designated for assignment and as
35:57
Speaker 1: they brought him back right before the season, Jesse Chavez
36:01
Speaker 1: is back for another stint with the Braves. Steven, your
36:03
Speaker 1: thoughts on that blockbuster move?
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Speaker 3: I mean, sure, you know what the hell you know,
36:11
Speaker 3: you and I talked about I think you and I
36:12
Speaker 3: did a show right before the season started where I said,
36:15
Speaker 3: it's good that the Braves are adding depth with these guys,
36:17
Speaker 3: but it's probably not great that they're still shuffling their
36:20
Speaker 3: bullpen to this level this late in the You know,
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Speaker 3: it's like if you were taking a test and they
36:25
Speaker 3: gave you an hour to finish the test and at
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Speaker 3: the fifty nine minute mark you started racing answers and
36:29
Speaker 3: putting down new answers, Like, that's not a great sign.
36:33
Speaker 3: And so that's kind of how I feel. You know,
36:34
Speaker 3: they've already dfad Hector Narris because he looked terrible. You know,
36:41
Speaker 3: maybe let's not have a guy who only pitched three
36:43
Speaker 3: times in spring training and signed in the middle of
36:45
Speaker 3: March have a guaranteed spot in the in the bullpen.
36:48
Speaker 3: You know, that's probably something to think about the fact
36:50
Speaker 3: that he's that he came in in the seventh inning
36:53
Speaker 3: of All in a one run lead on opening day.
36:56
Speaker 3: He came in a high leverage spot on opening day
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Speaker 3: and then gets DFA three days later. Is is is
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Speaker 3: unreal in a day of unreal things, Maybe the most
37:06
Speaker 3: unreal thing still is that Hector Nurs was pitching the
37:09
Speaker 3: seventh inning of with a one run lead three days ago.
37:12
Speaker 3: Is now df fade. But yeah, Jesse Jovez is back.
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Speaker 3: He's probably gonna suck because he's, you know, a million
37:19
Speaker 3: years old. But you know, with Jesse Java is like
37:23
Speaker 3: time and space don't really factor in. You know, it's
37:27
Speaker 3: like a I don't know what it's a it's like
37:28
Speaker 3: a superman thing. I don't know what's When he puts
37:30
Speaker 3: on a Braves uniform, like the laws of physics no
37:33
Speaker 3: longer reply to him. So I don't know. Maybe he's
37:35
Speaker 3: gonna be awesome. I still can't believe the Braves didn't
37:38
Speaker 3: add like a real reliever this offseason. That's mine. Every
37:42
Speaker 3: time the Braves trade out one of these minor league
37:44
Speaker 3: guys for another one, that's kind of my takeaway is like, yeah, okay,
37:47
Speaker 3: they might be decent, but like why wouldn't you just
37:50
Speaker 3: go get a You know, I'm not gonna relitigate the
37:52
Speaker 3: whole thing. I'm in a bad mood, so I'm not
37:56
Speaker 3: gonna say too much else. But yeah, Jesse Jovas is back.
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Speaker 3: I know some people are excited. I I don't know.
38:02
Speaker 3: I don't know what to expect. He's probably I mean,
38:04
Speaker 3: he's he's like fifty years old, so he's probably gonna suck.
38:07
Speaker 3: But we'll see, we'll see how it goes.
38:10
Speaker 1: A lot of we'll see a lot of we'll see
38:12
Speaker 1: how it goes. That kind of you know, defines the
38:14
Speaker 1: day for the Braves and you know, going forward. In
38:16
Speaker 1: a couple of final thoughts, first off, I'll say this,
38:18
Speaker 1: if it seems like we're a bit more discombobulated, a
38:20
Speaker 1: bit more flustered in this edition of the Hemmer Territory
38:23
Speaker 1: Podcast Hits for Sincere Reasons, where fans just like you know,
38:26
Speaker 1: those listeners who are so thankful, you know, tune in
38:28
Speaker 1: each and every time to get our opinions, to value
38:31
Speaker 1: our opinions. When it comes to covering the Braves. It's
38:34
Speaker 1: been a frustrating day. It's been a frustrating start to
38:36
Speaker 1: the season, and it just keeps morse, it seems. But
38:40
Speaker 1: the thing that I'll say is this is that it's
38:42
Speaker 1: amazing to see what happens when you get that first win.
38:45
Speaker 1: And it may not come tonight, hopefully it comes this weekend,
38:48
Speaker 1: but even if it does, it just getting that first
38:50
Speaker 1: win I think will be a huge step in the
38:53
Speaker 1: right direction where that direction leads who's involved in that
38:56
Speaker 1: direction from this point on. Those blanks will be feeled
38:59
Speaker 1: as time goes on. But like I say, getting I'm
39:02
Speaker 1: not gonna say getting this out of the way to
39:04
Speaker 1: start the season.
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Speaker 2: This sucks.
39:05
Speaker 1: It absolutely is probably one of the worst case scenarios
39:09
Speaker 1: when it comes to starting the season. But I am
39:12
Speaker 1: still going to enjoy watching Braise baseball tonight and I
39:15
Speaker 1: hope you do as well. And I just say I
39:18
Speaker 1: want to say this Stephen, as we wrap up this
39:19
Speaker 1: edition in the Hammer Territory podcast. It's always a pleasure
39:21
Speaker 1: to do this with you. I just want to get
39:23
Speaker 1: back to talking winning Braves baseball with you.
39:25
Speaker 3: Man.
39:25
Speaker 1: I think it's gonna happen at some point this week,
39:27
Speaker 1: but I look forward to it when it does.
39:30
Speaker 3: A single win would do a lot for the Bridge
39:32
Speaker 3: right now. I mean, like if the Braids could just
39:34
Speaker 3: go win a game tonight, that would help a ton
39:37
Speaker 3: They're playing the best team on the planet, maybe the
39:39
Speaker 3: best team ever assembled, so you know, I wouldn't expect
39:42
Speaker 3: a lot, but yeah, a win tonight would help a lot.
39:46
Speaker 1: Absolutely, And we're gonna be with you for all of
39:49
Speaker 1: the latest when it comes to the Braves, obviously, both
39:52
Speaker 1: off the field as well as on the field. Brad
39:55
Speaker 1: and Scott will be back with you, so we'll Stephen
39:57
Speaker 1: and I throughout the week breaking down the Braves matchup
40:00
Speaker 1: against the Dodgers. Make no mistake about it, Yes, the
40:02
Speaker 1: Braves are going to be without pro far Unfortunately they're
40:04
Speaker 1: going to be without low PiZZ. But this is clearly
40:06
Speaker 1: two of the best teams in Major League Baseball record
40:08
Speaker 1: to the side who are going to be playing against
40:11
Speaker 1: each other. Hopefully the Braves can at least get one
40:13
Speaker 1: victory and then we could head back to Atlanta and
40:15
Speaker 1: really get this season started on the foot that we
40:17
Speaker 1: had all hope to start it on last week. Before
40:21
Speaker 1: all the latest, we will be with you here on
40:23
Speaker 1: the Hammer Territory podcast, part of the Foul Territory family
40:26
Speaker 1: of podcasts. You can find myself and Steven at stats
40:28
Speaker 1: sac myself, Steven at be Underscore outliars all on Twitter.
40:32
Speaker 1: You can find Hammer Territory across all forms of social media,
40:35
Speaker 1: as well as Foul Territory Stephen, anything else from you.
40:38
Speaker 3: Sir, nobody get hurt. Let's just try to get through
40:42
Speaker 3: the game without anybody getting hurt and nobody being suspended
40:45
Speaker 3: for pd use. Let's you know, the bar is pretty
40:48
Speaker 3: low right now, so I'm not looking for a win.
40:51
Speaker 3: Let's just get through the game with no one getting
40:53
Speaker 3: hurt and no one being suspended. If we could do that,
40:55
Speaker 3: then it might be a step in the right direction.
40:58
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm gonna not I don't have any wood around,
41:00
Speaker 1: but I'm gonna knock on the nearest piece of wood
41:01
Speaker 1: that I can find. The great thing about hitting rock
41:03
Speaker 1: bottom is the only way that you can go is up.
41:05
Speaker 1: Hopefully that's where we are so far as this season goes,
41:08
Speaker 1: and we'll be better off forward as the season progresses.
41:11
Speaker 1: K Steven Tolbert, my name is Sean Coleman. We'll talk
41:13
Speaker 1: to you again soon here on the Hammer Territory Podcast.