Latest / Foul Territory / Have the Braves hit rock bottom?

Transcript

Have the Braves hit rock bottom? · Foul Territory

0:00
Speaker 1: They expected. Identity of this team is supposed to be
0:02
Speaker 1: the offense right now. That's the point that struggling right now.
0:05
Speaker 1: The Braves need to improve any way that they can.
0:12
Speaker 1: All right, let's talk.
0:13
Speaker 2: Sean Coleman is on the show here, host of Hammer
0:16
Speaker 2: Territory with three other friends, and we encourage you to
0:19
Speaker 2: check that show out. Sean, I wish that we were
0:21
Speaker 2: talking during more positive times. But let's start nice and simple.
0:27
Speaker 2: Are the Braves okay? Are the Braves okay? That is
0:33
Speaker 2: a very very loaded question.
0:36
Speaker 1: I think we have a few minutes, not a few hours,
0:38
Speaker 1: so I won't I won't get too into detail in
0:42
Speaker 1: terms of are the Braves too defeated? Are they're you know,
0:46
Speaker 1: the mentality of them is has changed where they don't
0:49
Speaker 1: feel they'll be able to improve upon this. I don't
0:51
Speaker 1: think that's the case at all. I can go through
0:54
Speaker 1: when whenever I see the Braves go through instances like
0:56
Speaker 1: this over the past few years. One of the reasons
0:59
Speaker 1: why they've been so success is because they've been so
1:01
Speaker 1: good at bouncing back when they go through roles and
1:04
Speaker 1: you know, you could go back to last year, for instance,
1:06
Speaker 1: a disappointing loss and they came back one twelve out
1:08
Speaker 1: of sixteen right after that, So they've been in this
1:11
Speaker 1: instance before, coming off a horrible loss when they really
1:13
Speaker 1: needed a big win, and then they go on a
1:15
Speaker 1: road trip. That's really really important. The big thing though
1:18
Speaker 1: about this instance in time this season for the Braves
1:21
Speaker 1: is that they've never been in this era of the
1:24
Speaker 1: team this slow before. Seven games below five hundred this
1:27
Speaker 1: late in the season. I think the last time they
1:28
Speaker 1: were this many games in our five hundred was twenty sixteen.
1:32
Speaker 1: Nor have they been in a spot where the offense
1:34
Speaker 1: is now more than a year into really underperforming. So
1:38
Speaker 1: are they to the point to where the mentality's changed. Yes,
1:40
Speaker 1: the World Series is still the outcome that they want.
1:43
Speaker 1: Can they still be one of the best teams in
1:44
Speaker 1: the National League to at least get a playoff spot? Yes?
1:47
Speaker 1: But the hole that they're going to have to dig
1:49
Speaker 1: themselves out of it's not been bigger in the Alexanthopolis
1:52
Speaker 1: Brian Snicker era, and a lot of stuff has to
1:54
Speaker 1: change for the positive, and we haven't really seen indications
1:57
Speaker 1: that it will be able to change as fast as
1:59
Speaker 1: it needs to even over the past year.
2:02
Speaker 3: Let's rewind about three weeks. Okay, the Brave are starting
2:05
Speaker 3: to play better ever since the oh to seven start.
2:08
Speaker 3: They're playing six fifteen baseball. Oh when Spencer Strider's coming
2:13
Speaker 3: back from his hamstring, he expects to be great. Acunya's
2:16
Speaker 3: on the horizon and they're back and they have continued
2:22
Speaker 3: the same mo as a outside, not a Braves fan,
2:26
Speaker 3: just somebody that watches Braves baseball. Can they win when
2:30
Speaker 3: Acunya is there? I'm not saying Acunya is making them lose,
2:33
Speaker 3: but they won the World Series in twenty one without Akunya.
2:37
Speaker 3: They ended up making the playoffs without Acunya. Is there
2:42
Speaker 3: something to his like aura and like his like in
2:46
Speaker 3: the clubhouse or are we just using easy stats to
2:50
Speaker 3: pick and choose that maybe he's not the like winning
2:54
Speaker 3: player that he needs to be for this team.
2:57
Speaker 1: I could certainly see where that perspective would come into play,
2:59
Speaker 1: because you're right, you know, we've seen them have success
3:02
Speaker 1: without Acunya. But we've also seen the fact that in
3:05
Speaker 1: that twenty twenty one World Series, one of the biggest
3:07
Speaker 1: reasons why we were able to win that is because
3:10
Speaker 1: it was kind of the opposite of what we're seeing now.
3:12
Speaker 1: We were seeing a lot of players play above their
3:15
Speaker 1: heads to allow for us to be able to be
3:17
Speaker 1: as good as we were. Our bullpen was one of
3:19
Speaker 1: the most dominant bullpens that we've seen in recent history
3:21
Speaker 1: for a playoff stretch. You know, Jorge Hilaire, John Peterson,
3:25
Speaker 1: Eddie Rosario, they were above their head looking at what
3:27
Speaker 1: Eddie Rosario did. Acunya is at that superstar level on
3:31
Speaker 1: a consistent basis. So I get where you're coming from
3:34
Speaker 1: America in terms of you know, could this team potentially
3:37
Speaker 1: you know, you wouldn't think about it, but Couldacunya have
3:39
Speaker 1: a negative effect. I don't necessarily think that's the case,
3:41
Speaker 1: especially now, because there's so many things that Acunya does
3:45
Speaker 1: in the spot that he does it that that is
3:47
Speaker 1: needed to help this team improve. You look at what
3:49
Speaker 1: he's done since he's been back, It's like he's not
3:51
Speaker 1: lost a beat. The other stolen bases are not there,
3:54
Speaker 1: but he's hitting their level that he did during his
3:55
Speaker 1: twenty twenty three MVP season. He gets on base, he
3:59
Speaker 1: allows for us to be to have his presence in
4:01
Speaker 1: the lineup that teams have to position around. You know,
4:04
Speaker 1: you've seen teams do that here recently. Other players just
4:06
Speaker 1: haven't stepped up. So I certainly see in past years
4:09
Speaker 1: where that may have been an opinion that may have
4:11
Speaker 1: had a bit more validity. I just it. Acuna is
4:14
Speaker 1: one of, in my opinion, when the top five to
4:17
Speaker 1: ten offensive forces overall players in the games, and now
4:20
Speaker 1: more than ever, especially in one singular source that can
4:23
Speaker 1: help us out in so many ways, we need him
4:25
Speaker 1: more than ever with how bout our offense is performing.
4:28
Speaker 1: So I think now more than ever, I know, I
4:30
Speaker 1: keep saying that it's just that we haven't been the
4:31
Speaker 1: slow at a point in offense under the Alex and
4:34
Speaker 1: thopless Bryan Sneaker era. He's our best offensive player. We
4:37
Speaker 1: need him to consistently perform where he has been for
4:40
Speaker 1: us to get where we want to be.
4:42
Speaker 3: Do you agree with Tom Glavin? Was that rock bottom yesterday? Yeah?
4:47
Speaker 1: It's got to be. And I asked the same question
4:50
Speaker 1: on Hammer Territory the night before, like me and in
4:52
Speaker 1: Stephen Tolbert, you know Brad Roland, Scott Coleman, you know
4:55
Speaker 1: the other great hosts of the Hammer Territory podcast. We
4:59
Speaker 1: each had danced around the conversation all week long. Is
5:03
Speaker 1: this rock bottom? Is this rock bottom, and then every
5:06
Speaker 1: single game it seemed like that was the new rock bottom. Yes,
5:10
Speaker 1: I hope it's rock bottom. And the reason why I
5:12
Speaker 1: say that is because when you have that disappointing of
5:14
Speaker 1: a loss, when it was that much of a needed
5:17
Speaker 1: win in the fashion that we lost it against a
5:19
Speaker 1: fellow team that's disappointing as well, that's looking to get
5:22
Speaker 1: back into the playoff picture themselves. It really hasn't been
5:26
Speaker 1: any worse. And again I go back to last year
5:28
Speaker 1: we lost nine to eight against the Rockies in August
5:31
Speaker 1: and we had a six year league going into the
5:33
Speaker 1: eighth inning in that game. I thought it was rock
5:35
Speaker 1: bottom last year. Well, this time around, the reason why
5:37
Speaker 1: it's even worse is because we're seven games under five
5:40
Speaker 1: hundred versus being six games above five hundred at that point. So, yes,
5:44
Speaker 1: this is the worst we've been all season long. And
5:46
Speaker 1: I hope and pray do whatever I can to hope
5:50
Speaker 1: that this is as worse as it gets. But we
5:51
Speaker 1: bounce back quickly.
5:54
Speaker 4: You talk about being games under five hundred, they are
5:57
Speaker 4: struggling this year, and we already know that trade deadline
6:00
Speaker 4: is looming.
6:01
Speaker 1: What are your thoughts?
6:02
Speaker 4: I mean, could it be I dare say, maybe get
6:06
Speaker 4: rid of some guys or start all over. Do you
6:08
Speaker 4: see them getting some pieces? There's seven games out of
6:11
Speaker 4: the wild card. It's really not that much if you
6:13
Speaker 4: look at it, but there's a bunch of teams ahead
6:14
Speaker 4: of them. What are your thoughts at the trade deadline?
6:18
Speaker 1: It's to be determined. And I know that that's a
6:19
Speaker 1: cop out answer, but to me, that's just the thing
6:22
Speaker 1: that stands out about this team. Todd is you know,
6:24
Speaker 1: as a player, and I'm sure you experienced at times
6:26
Speaker 1: during your career, is that Yes, as bad as the
6:28
Speaker 1: Braves are performing now, there are still elements of this
6:31
Speaker 1: team that easily can lead to a turnaround if the
6:34
Speaker 1: offense can keep going. Our defense has been one of
6:36
Speaker 1: the best in the game. Our starting pitching has been
6:38
Speaker 1: one of the best since May first. Our bullpen is
6:40
Speaker 1: a mess right now, and hopefully some changes that have
6:42
Speaker 1: recently been made can improve it. But if our offense
6:45
Speaker 1: gets going, we can put the needed two to three
6:48
Speaker 1: week stretch of winning at the level that we need
6:50
Speaker 1: to win to really turn the conversation around. But to
6:52
Speaker 1: answer your question, if we continue on the path that
6:55
Speaker 1: we are, the thing that I'll say is This is
6:56
Speaker 1: that if we go more of a If we go
6:58
Speaker 1: a month or so, especially through some of the teams
7:00
Speaker 1: that we're playing through June, and we remain seven to
7:02
Speaker 1: ten games under five hundred, it probably means that this
7:04
Speaker 1: season isn't going to work out the way that we
7:06
Speaker 1: want to. I don't think that has that much impact
7:08
Speaker 1: on the future. I still think that World Series is
7:11
Speaker 1: still reasonable outcomes for years to come. So I think
7:13
Speaker 1: you could see us both buying and selling older players
7:16
Speaker 1: who are towards the end of their contract with the Braves.
7:18
Speaker 1: They potentially could be potential trade candidates that could make
7:21
Speaker 1: sense for other teams. But we also, if we find
7:23
Speaker 1: the right deal, could buy for the future cost control
7:25
Speaker 1: player that can make sense. So I think that in
7:27
Speaker 1: the end, the most likely scenarios you'll see us both
7:30
Speaker 1: buy and potentially sell if we remain where we are,
7:33
Speaker 1: But if we do get that search that we're desperately
7:35
Speaker 1: looking for, we'll certainly be buyers.
7:37
Speaker 3: All Right, two guys, I need you to pick one, sorry,
7:42
Speaker 3: not a couna Albi's and Michael Harris. Which of these
7:46
Speaker 3: guys when you're watching them on a day to day
7:48
Speaker 3: basis seems the closest to be getting out of it,
7:52
Speaker 3: because if one of them or both of them don't
7:54
Speaker 3: get out of it, it could really signify that trade
7:57
Speaker 3: deadline need for something different.
8:01
Speaker 1: I think that's a great assessment because when you look
8:03
Speaker 1: at besides our main guys, you know, everybody points to
8:06
Speaker 1: Austin Riley, Matt Olsen, Ronald Acuna Junior. It's those second
8:10
Speaker 1: tier of bosom. It's of guys who really need to
8:11
Speaker 1: step up to once again propel us to be one
8:13
Speaker 1: of the best offenses in the league. And those two
8:15
Speaker 1: guys you hit the nail on the head. If there's
8:17
Speaker 1: one guy that I could see it coming out of it,
8:19
Speaker 1: potentially that would be Ozzy Alby's coming into I believe
8:23
Speaker 1: it was yesterday Ozzy had draw had produced seven walks
8:29
Speaker 1: over his past ten games, first time he'd done that
8:30
Speaker 1: September of twenty twenty three. You're seeing him start to
8:34
Speaker 1: have better overall play, approach, better performances at the plate.
8:37
Speaker 1: He's got a couple of clutch hits. He's also been
8:39
Speaker 1: able to hit, you know, with more power. I think offensively,
8:42
Speaker 1: Ozzy Albi's is starting to find his groove a bit more.
8:45
Speaker 1: Now what I will say is. I think though, while
8:48
Speaker 1: it's good to see him working it into a group
8:51
Speaker 1: a bit more, seeing I think he's closer to getting
8:53
Speaker 1: back to his normal production. It's more important in my opinion,
8:56
Speaker 1: for Michael Harris to do that, because I think the
8:58
Speaker 1: power potential was higher with Harris on base or when
9:01
Speaker 1: he's on base. I think that Michael Harris it's much
9:03
Speaker 1: more of a threat. And just in general, if you
9:05
Speaker 1: could get Michael Harris performing out of that nine spot
9:07
Speaker 1: with the Coonie at that one spot, what made that
9:09
Speaker 1: two thousand and three lineup so deadly besides the home runs,
9:12
Speaker 1: was that term Michael Harrison Ronald of Cooney Junior getting
9:15
Speaker 1: on base before our big bats. If Michael Harrison once
9:18
Speaker 1: again do that, that could be a really good indication
9:21
Speaker 1: that we're getting more consistent offensively. But in terms of
9:23
Speaker 1: the two, which one is closer to getting back to
9:25
Speaker 1: the normal level of production, I think Ozzy is edging
9:28
Speaker 1: closer to be in his normal level than Michael is.
9:30
Speaker 1: Right now.
9:32
Speaker 4: My question to you is, there's some guys they've got
9:34
Speaker 4: some contracts here with the Braves talk. We've we talked
9:37
Speaker 4: about this earlier. Being comfortable. Guys aren't performing the way
9:42
Speaker 4: they are. Do you think players right now are a
9:44
Speaker 4: little bit too comfortable, or you think Antopoulis did the
9:47
Speaker 4: right thing by getting all these guys signed and going
9:50
Speaker 4: out there and playing, they're just not doing their job.
9:53
Speaker 1: I think it's the latter, I think right now. Unfortunately, Todd,
9:56
Speaker 1: It's just it's a great question, first off, But I
9:59
Speaker 1: think right now, it's just the simple fact that right
10:01
Speaker 1: now it is just a perfect storm of many players
10:05
Speaker 1: with significantly high sinned ceilings. Many players who right now
10:08
Speaker 1: who should be among the best overall at their positions
10:11
Speaker 1: in all of baseball, they're just underperforming. If you look
10:14
Speaker 1: at this lineup as a whole right now, and you
10:16
Speaker 1: were to say, okay, namely the players that right now
10:19
Speaker 1: are performing at their expected level of outcomes, you could
10:23
Speaker 1: point to Ronald Acuna Junior, and you could point to
10:25
Speaker 1: Drake Baldwin. Beyond that, I don't think there's anybody else
10:28
Speaker 1: that you could point to, especially when it counts. I
10:31
Speaker 1: look the other day and compared our heart of the
10:33
Speaker 1: lineup versus all of the heart of the lineups in
10:36
Speaker 1: baseball with runners in scoring position when it matters most,
10:38
Speaker 1: if you're not hitting home runs, for you to succeed,
10:41
Speaker 1: and the Braves were bottom three to bottom four in
10:44
Speaker 1: every important category WRC plus, slugging, ISO, what have you.
10:48
Speaker 1: They just are not producing when it matters most, so
10:52
Speaker 1: you see it in the lineup. I think the clubhouse
10:54
Speaker 1: dynamic remains a positive. I think these players, more than anyone,
10:58
Speaker 1: know how it's important to get going, and I think
11:00
Speaker 1: they're more disappointed than anyone that they're not getting going.
11:03
Speaker 1: So I could certainly see the idea that maybe they're
11:05
Speaker 1: a bit comfortable since they've got, you know, so many
11:07
Speaker 1: they're taking care of long term and all that different stuff.
11:10
Speaker 1: But what makes this team so good when they're good
11:12
Speaker 1: is that you've got a lot of passionate players who
11:14
Speaker 1: really know the importance of playing together as a team.
11:16
Speaker 1: That's what allowed for them to win the twenty twenty
11:18
Speaker 1: one in the World Series. They know they're capable of
11:20
Speaker 1: doing that again. It's just figuring out how to consistently
11:22
Speaker 1: get back to the level that will allow for that
11:24
Speaker 1: to be a realistic outcome.
11:26
Speaker 3: In a ninth inning yesterday, when Matt Tuyasa Sopo was
11:29
Speaker 3: on the mound and he gave up, oh wait, no, no,
11:32
Speaker 3: they already fired Matt Tuiasa Sopo. How bad was he
11:36
Speaker 3: because he became a scapegoat, but you watched the games
11:39
Speaker 3: every night? Was he really that bad that you're like,
11:42
Speaker 3: I knew that was coming. I totally knew that he
11:44
Speaker 3: was going to be the reason now we're going to
11:46
Speaker 3: turn it around.
11:48
Speaker 1: Yeah. I think it's it is the significance of the
11:52
Speaker 1: change from Matt Tuiyosa Sopo to Freddie Gonzalez, it shouldn't
11:55
Speaker 1: garner a strong reaction. I think it was just simply
11:58
Speaker 1: a point that listen, when it comes to the Braves team,
12:01
Speaker 1: it's pretty clear that with the investments that they made
12:04
Speaker 1: that we just talked about the expected identity of this
12:07
Speaker 1: team is supposed to be the offense right now. That's
12:09
Speaker 1: the point that's struggling. So the Braves kind of just
12:11
Speaker 1: looked at an assessment of every factor that could be
12:14
Speaker 1: impact in the offense. And there has been multiple occurrences.
12:17
Speaker 1: You know, we talked about it a few weeks ago,
12:19
Speaker 1: me and Stephen Tolbert on the Hammer Territory podcast. It's
12:22
Speaker 1: just that it seems like Matt Tuyasa Sopo did not
12:25
Speaker 1: have the best awareness when it came to identifying opportunities
12:28
Speaker 1: where if he made a certain decision, it would put
12:31
Speaker 1: the odds in the braves favor to be able to
12:32
Speaker 1: score runs. And those type of instances had built up
12:36
Speaker 1: over time. So I do think that it was important
12:38
Speaker 1: to get someone there with experience, who had familiarity with
12:41
Speaker 1: the organization. That's why they went with Freddie Gonzalez. So
12:44
Speaker 1: in terms of an overall impact on like getting the
12:46
Speaker 1: offense back on track, it's going to have you know,
12:48
Speaker 1: it's not that big of a change, but I do
12:50
Speaker 1: think that it is a needed change because right now
12:53
Speaker 1: the Braves need to improve any way that they can,
12:56
Speaker 1: and if it includes getting more experience, that can put
12:58
Speaker 1: them in better positions to win over time. I think
13:01
Speaker 1: that it was a needed move to be made, so
13:03
Speaker 1: I applauded the move, But in the end, it's a
13:05
Speaker 1: minor move more than anything that's going to be a
13:07
Speaker 1: significant reason whether or not we get back on track.
13:10
Speaker 3: Maybe some people forgot they got rid of their offensive
13:14
Speaker 3: hitting coach Kevin Sitzer in the off season. Now the
13:17
Speaker 3: offense is struggling. Do they regret that? Do they regret
13:21
Speaker 3: getting rid of asal Fosano, because now Kevin Sitzer's out
13:25
Speaker 3: in Seattle where they never hit, and oh wait, Seattle
13:29
Speaker 3: Mariners can hit now.
13:31
Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't think that they regret really getting, you know,
13:35
Speaker 1: being Kevin Sitzer, you know, coming out of the organization.
13:37
Speaker 1: I know he's in Seattle.
13:38
Speaker 4: Now.
13:39
Speaker 1: The thing I'll say to this is that the thing
13:41
Speaker 1: that needs to really be made, and this is why
13:43
Speaker 1: it is concerning, is that the offensive concerns go back
13:46
Speaker 1: to last April. You could pinpoint April twenty eight, twenty
13:48
Speaker 1: ninth of last year twenty and twenty four, we'll basically
13:51
Speaker 1: say May first. Before May first, the Braves offense was
13:54
Speaker 1: at historical times in twenty twenty three, got off to
13:57
Speaker 1: a really good start in twenty twenty four, and then
13:59
Speaker 1: they just went down, fell off a cliff on May first.
14:02
Speaker 1: And a lot of that happened under Kevin Seitz. Under
14:05
Speaker 1: Kevin Seitzer's tutelage, we saw many players underperforming. We saw
14:10
Speaker 1: the struggles when they're not hitting homers or runners in
14:12
Speaker 1: scoring position. So I think, more than anything, what has
14:15
Speaker 1: happened now that the struggles of much of twenty twenty
14:18
Speaker 1: four carrying over to twenty and twenty five. It's not
14:21
Speaker 1: necessarily that you know, hey, a change in the hitting coach.
14:24
Speaker 1: You know, we failled in that aspect because I think
14:26
Speaker 1: that a new voice was needed. It's just that once again,
14:29
Speaker 1: these players are going through an extended period of time
14:31
Speaker 1: where they're not performing to the level that they would
14:33
Speaker 1: have expected to. That either means that we need to
14:35
Speaker 1: lower the overall expectations of what their ceilings are because
14:38
Speaker 1: they're not making the needed adjustments, or we overall need
14:41
Speaker 1: to make a complete haul of the coaching staff. Not
14:44
Speaker 1: saying that needs to happen now, but there may just
14:46
Speaker 1: need to be a complete organizational refocus of how the
14:49
Speaker 1: offense goes about doing things so these players can once
14:51
Speaker 1: again consistently be able to perform at the high levels
14:55
Speaker 1: they're expected to and should be able to should be expected.
14:58
Speaker 2: To perform on Great info, great energy, Thanks for joining us.
15:03
Speaker 2: Maybe you know we listen to Hammer Territory in a
15:06
Speaker 2: few weeks and all has settled, or maybe even in August,
15:10
Speaker 2: like in twenty twenty one, where they're five hundred ish
15:12
Speaker 2: and then all of a sudden they made some trades
15:13
Speaker 2: and they're a different team and they win the World Series.
15:15
Speaker 2: But we'll see. Good talking to you man.
15:19
Speaker 1: One last thing, I'm gonna go ahead on record and
15:20
Speaker 1: say it right now. The Braves will make the playoffs.
15:23
Speaker 1: I have faith that they're going to make the surge
15:24
Speaker 1: that they need to. I think this offense is going
15:26
Speaker 1: to bounce back. The Braves will be in the playoffs
15:28
Speaker 1: for the eighth straight year. Todd, I say, I see
15:30
Speaker 1: you waving your hands. Hey, Hey, one last thing, I'll
15:35
Speaker 1: in with the last team. The last team that was
15:38
Speaker 1: performing at the level that the Braves were or worse
15:42
Speaker 1: this late into the season seven games under five hundred
15:44
Speaker 1: at their ops or worse that won the World Series
15:47
Speaker 1: was the nineteen fourteen Braves. We're going to put positive
15:50
Speaker 1: vibes into the universe. So I'll we're talking about thanks
15:52
Speaker 1: for the opportunity.
15:53
Speaker 3: I want.
15:53
Speaker 4: I want some of that juice you're drinking down and
15:55
Speaker 4: out there. Brother, we'll talk later.
15:57
Speaker 1: Thanks. I like it.
16:00
Speaker 2: I like it, Sean, I'm all about it. Hey, there's
16:03
Speaker 2: a look at Hammer Territory on YouTube. They run shows
16:07
Speaker 2: usually about four a week. There's four hosts. It's really
16:10
Speaker 2: good stuff. I like Sean of course saying it with
16:13
Speaker 2: his chest, just like Krats I'm sure was proud of.
16:16
Speaker 2: So anyway, that's all the location for your braves information,