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Hammer Territory Holiday Mailbag · Foul Territory

• 0:21
  Speaker 1: Hello everyone, and welcome back to the hammid Territory Podcast.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: This is episode three one three. My name is Brad Rowland,
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: coming to you on a Sunday evening here in late December.
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: It's the holidays in full force, and I'm joined as
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: I almost always am, b Scott Coleman Scott. It's a
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: I guess rare for us recently to have a quiet show,
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: but as we record this, it might be a quiet show.
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: How are you hello, Brad? I am doing well and
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: early Happy holidays, Merry Christmas to you and everybody out there.
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: And it's weird like they signed Hassan Kim basically a
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: week ago, and there hasn't been a whole lot of moves,
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: although there was one transaction that we're going to talk
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: about for the Braves tonight. But the way this offsea
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: and it has gone so far, it's been tough to
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: go more than a few days without some kind of
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: Braves activity. And we'll see. Usually there's a flurry of
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: activity across Major League Baseball the couple of days before Christmas,
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: but then usually it quiets down from about Christmas Eve
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: until the day or two after New Year's Day. It's
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: not a guarantee, but it feels like we might see
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: some real activity across the rest of the league and
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: maybe the Braves will be a part of that in
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: the next seventy two hours or so.
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: Yeah, there was a trade in baseball right before we
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: started recording, and what didn't involve the Braves. But like,
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: there's some stuff that's going to happen in the next
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: couple of days, almost certainly, and we are a little
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: bit spoiled right now. I was looking at our database
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: of previous episodes and in the last twelve days, we
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: have done five shows, or actually six shows in the
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: last twelve days, and I believe three of them were
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: emergency podcasts. So we've had plenty to talk about. And
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: if you are new to the podcast number one, we
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: are Hammer Territory. We are part of the Foul Territory
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: network of podcasts. We cover the Braves all year round.
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: On this particular podcast, it is the two of us
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: Brad and Scott plus Steven Tolbert and Sean Coleman in
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: a regular rotation of the four of us. But if
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: you missed it, the most recent show on the feed
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: was Shawn and Stephen talking about kind of the state
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: of the Braves after that, aforementioned flurry of off seas
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: and activity that's been going on, and today we have
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: a couple of items to discuss. You already mentioned the transaction.
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: We'll get to that in a second, but first on
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: the agenda is basically, we got some questions about this
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: and we'll just mailbag later on some direct mailbag, but
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: like some remaining targets, like a lot of like, hey,
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: who do you guys want the Braves to sign now
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: or trade for now or whatever? We figured we might
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: go kind of area by area. I know the boys
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: talked about this on the most recent episode and you
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: and I tease this on our reaction to Hassan Kim
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: being signed. It felt like then the Braves might be
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: done with, like the main offensive lineup stuff might be
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: not definitely are, but that seems like we should just
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: say that out loud, like perhaps they could add I
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: know that was a speculation that Steven and Seawan did
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: as well, like maybe a right handed bat off the
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: bench kind of thing. Aside from that, Scott, like, I'm
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: not saying they shouldn't sign Kyle Tucker. That'd be cool
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: if they did, but uh, I think they might be
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: right hand battle only. At this point in time, I'm
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: not sure what else they would do unless Alex just
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: changed his entire alexness overnight.
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: I would say, when you look at the offensive side
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: of the Braves right now, and if you make a
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: couple of assumptions with who is going to be on
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: the bench, there might be one bench spot left. If
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: you assume Eli White is a lock for the team,
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: which I think he is.
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: I think he's very likely to be on this I wouldn't.
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: I don't know if I go to lock, but I
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: think he's very likely to be on the team.
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Speed player can steal a base late
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: in a game. Great pinch runner can run into a
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: home run as we saw last season. And then in
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: addition to Eli White, you can also have either Sean
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: Murphy or a backup catcher of some kind, assuming that
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: Murphy is healthy after his hip surgery. You have Mauricio
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: Dubon as your super utility guy, and you have Mike
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: Kistremsky as we believe the primary DH fourth outfielder. Rotate
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: Jerks and Profar and Acunya and whoever else in the
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: lineup that leaves one spot. I could see the Braves
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: just kind of punting it and going with a total
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: nothing burger as a twenty sixth man your Brett Wisely types.
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: Maybe Nacho Alvarez could be in that role, but a
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: player you're basically never going to rely on, or hopefully
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: you don't have to.
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: Rely on a whole lot.
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: But they could go out and add a right handed
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: power bat of some kind of rotating at DH or
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: again in the outfield, the infield, wherever it might be.
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: My hunch is they're just going to kind of roll
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: with somebody internal for that final spot. But it would
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: not totally shock me if Marcello Zuna is sitting around
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: and they want to bring him back for a few
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: million dollars for clubhouse vibes and maybe an upside bat.
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: I mean, you can say, while the top of the
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: order looks pretty good right now, there are some very
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: legitimate questions about the bottom half of the lineup.
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: For sure. I mean we've said this before, but if
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: Marcel doesn't have a market and they could get him
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: on a reasonable contract, and by that I mean the
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: number of reasonable has come down after they've did the
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: other stuff, Like at one point, like a ten million
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: dollars one year deal from Marcelo Zuna seemed like something
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: that could happen to me. Now, I can't imagine them
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: paying ten million dollars for Marcelazuna. The role is too small.
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: But if he has no market at all, like if
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: it's five million dollars, like okay, I'm fine with that,
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: doesn't bother me at all. Besides something like that, I mean,
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: could there's some other name. I know there's been some
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: Robert Refschneider kind of buzz between Diehard Braves fans. I
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: get it like there's a there is a potentially small
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: role there. But we're starting with this just to say
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: they might be and I think almost trending towards probably
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: are mostly done with the offensive side of things, which
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: makes the remaining targets more of a focus of pitching.
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: I wish you have more to say on the on
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: the bats, we could move on to the pitching side.
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: Look the headline, especially when you and I talk, I
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: feel like, even more so than anybody else on the
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: Braves Internet, as they started pitching, because we've banged the
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: drumps so many times about how they just need to start.
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: They need to add somebody else I'm just going to
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: list some names that are still available on the market
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: as of Sunday, December twenty First, in free agents, keep
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: in mind it could be a trade and those are
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: a lot harder to predict, but free agents are available.
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: Freber Valdez, Ragis Juarez, Zach Gallon, Tatsuya and my Chris Bassett,
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: Tyler Malley, Lucas Giolido, Zach Lttel, and Nick Martinez are
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: all guys who are supposed to get real money who
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: are all still available. Out of that group, does anyone
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: excite you? And in fact, I'll let you answer this if
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: you want to now or we do it in a second.
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: We get a question from Fear of the Chop who says,
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: if the Braves sign is starting a pitcher, who do
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: you predict it will be?
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: Now?
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: Predict and want our different things. Keep that in mind,
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: but I'll throw that all to you at once, and
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: I'll let you sit through it.
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: To answer the question. If I had to bet on
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: if the Braves are going to sign a free agent
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: starting pitcher, who would it be today December twenty Second,
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: as most people are going to be listening to the show,
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: my guest would be Chris Bassett. I think he is
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: far more Alexanthopolis like than like a Franber Valdez or
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: Rangers Wars or Zach Gallon because of the financial commitments
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: those guys are going to get. But Alex has spent
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: money in the last six weeks and the Braves might
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: have more money to spend. So I think Chris Bassett
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: probably not going to be someone who you lose your
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: mind over the Braves signing, but a very capable fourth
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: starter in this rotation. He would absolutely make the Braves
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: a better team. It would free up the possibility of
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: putting either Ronaldo Lopez or Grant Holmes if they are healthy,
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: into your bullpen as a bullpen weapon. It just we've
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: said it before, Well say one more time. I would
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: really like to see the Braves at a starting pitcher
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: and someone who moves the needle like. I don't need
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: some of these bottom of the barrel starting pitching free
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: agents to come in, Like, I just don't think that's
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: necessarily worth it. But if you could get Chris Bassett
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: or better, then sign me up all day long, assuming
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: they have some money for them.
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that was my answer as well. We did not
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: talk about the set of time, the thought surprise that
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: would agree on thing we generally do a lot of
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: the time, probably too much for podcast purposes. My runner up,
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: you're you're thinking, I think you're gonna hate based on
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: what you just said. I think the other guy that
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: would be kind of bravesy is Tyler Malley. And the
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: reason I say that is because Tyler Mallley has had
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: some injury stuff, but when he has pitched, he's been
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: quite good, and Alex has not shied away from that
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: in recent years. Even Chris Sale was a hey, when
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: he's pitched, he's been good kind of guy. And Tyler
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: Malley has the under the under the hood stuff that
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: Alex likes, like, hey, maybe better than your ra kind
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: of guy, kind of off the radar. I would have
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: picked Bassett to be, to be fair, but I think
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: Mally has that like kind of like I know he's
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: boring in some ways, but he isn't as boring as
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: you might think. I think his his stuff is pretty interesting.
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: He's just had some health issues. So the upside there
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: is like he's he's had multiple seas where he's had
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: like a low three ZRA on some pretty decent volume
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: when he's been able to stay healthy now can't stay healthy.
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: I don't know, but through Alex's premise, and he keeps
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: saying this, by the way, on local radio, so we're
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: not chronicling every appearance Alex makes, but every time he
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: talks it seems like he's mentioning that we want a
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: starter that can start a playoff game thing. And I'm
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: not saying, Tymy Malley is gonna be an awesome playoff starter,
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: but for me, that really means Alex is saying we
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: want upside more than we want like the lower end
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: endings either type, and Bassett kind of is the lower
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: innings ending type, but he also is more established and older,
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: which is very Alex coded. I think Malley is like
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: the middle tier of like, hey, there's actually some upside here,
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: which is why I think that might be a possibility.
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: I'm not calling for that. I mean the other side
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: of this. I'll ask you first, who do you want
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: them to sign? Do you have a want to prefer
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: like again, want predicted different? Our predictions are Bassett and
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: Malley if they sign somebody, do you have a guy
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: that you're you're yearning for beyond those guys, you.
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: Know, I think it's funny. I'll answer that in just
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: one moment. But I think the playoff starter qualification is
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: funny because you can't tell me that it's the brave
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: needed Chris Bassett, who's been really solid the last four
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: or five seasons, and said, Chris, you were going to
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: go through this lineup one time as our starter, go
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: throw the shit out of the baseball for nine hitters
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: and get us through three. Right, I have to.
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: I have to bleep that now it's got that's unfortunate
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: for us.
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: Come on, man, sorry, it's uh yeah, sorry, Santa, don't
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: move me to the bad list three days before. But
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: let's talk about the top of the market. I love
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: the idea of Framber Valdez. The one thing with Framber
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: other than the big contract he's probably going to get,
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: is the now infamous intentional cross up pitch that he had.
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: If folks want to look it up, Basically, it sounds
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: like Framber and the catcher in Houston had a disagreement
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: about what pitch to throw. Framber then gave up a
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: home run on the very next pitch. I think it
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: was a grand Slam, And then it sure looked like
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: Framber intentionally crossed up his catcher and drilled him in
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: the chess protector with a fastball, and it was awkward.
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: It was just it was a bad look to be blunt.
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: That being said, everybody has a bad moment, and I
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: would be fascinated to know if you surveyed one hundred
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: Houston Astros players who have played with Framber Valdez over
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: the last couple of seasons, what they would say was it.
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: I would like to think we don't get judged by
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: maybe the worst moment of our big league career. But
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: if there's also other players and you can bet Alex
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: and Thopolis is gonna bet this would say, you know,
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: Framber maybe not the best dude, then I think you
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: could probably take him off the board entirely. But they
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: might say I was just as surprised as you to
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: see that happen. Framber has been a good guy in
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: the clubhouse and his teammates like him, then I could
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: see it becoming at least somewhat possible if his market
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: doesn't develop. Rangers warrez quickly. He's been a demon against
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: the Braves, but he just throws so soft and he's
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: not gonna suddenly start throwing harder into his thirties. I
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: just don't see it. And also the Phillies haven't really
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: shown a prepent steed to bring him back, which is
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: a little interesting to me. And then Zach Gallon had
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: such a down year. If he did not have the
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: qualifying offer attached to him, I think I'd be more interested.
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: But because you're taking a big risk on Gallon bouncing
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: back and you would lose the twenty sixth pick and
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: you're probably gonna have to give up a pretty big contract,
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: I personally don't see it with Gallen, but maybe the
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: Braves feel differently.
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: I think Gallen is one of those there's always somebody
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: in the front office to run a coaching staff or
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: both that like, you know, we could fix this guy
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: because he's the upside was so high, like this is
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: a top five, so young finisher multiple times, et cetera,
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: et cetera. I do think frambur is, Look, we're not
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: we are not We always say this, We're not Kenrosenthal,
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: We're not our guy, Kenro's Thall or Robert Murray, who
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: are both thought territory guys and great reporters. We hear things,
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: though there's some Framer bus. I'll just say that out loud.
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: I've heard some framer buss just a little. I'm not
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: saying it's gonna happen, but it's not always, not like
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: some guys like I use I used Kalac Tucker as
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: example earlier, there was a zero such as that was
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: ever happening, right, and we kind of, yeah, that's not
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: what I've heard about famms. So, for whatever it's worth,
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: it's at least plausible to me, he'd be the guy
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: to like, I'm with you. If Alex Alex is famous
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: Robert said's on our show recently, Alex's famous for due diligence.
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: If he don't, if he makes five calls and four
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: of them are like, no, that's that's not a good
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: guy crossed off the list. They do care a lot
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: about makeup in the in the Brads organization. Whether you
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: agree with that or not, they do care about that
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: quite a bit. But yeah, I'm with you. I'd like
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: to see them aim high. I kind of will always
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: be believe that when I see it on a nine
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: figure pitching contract until they do it. But uh, I
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: think we're on the same page. Ame high would be
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: our preference if they don't there is some military that
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: they could go with at some point. Hopefully I answers
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: the question, and we do have more mailback questions coming.
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: And also we have some relievers to discuss in a second,
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: but first they're work with our partners on today's show. Okay, Scott,
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: on the question of reliever targets, we talked about starters,
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: what's about potential rhand about off the page, et cetera.
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: It's funny to me, most of the relievers that I
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: think are like pretty interesting targets are guys that have
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: already been on the Braves, which is kind of Alex
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: coded too. He likes to kind of go back to
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: the same will the biggest name who has not signed
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: as a reliever that markets move fast, by the way,
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: the Braves were part of that. They signed Suarez an
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: Iglesias already, but Pete Fairbanks is kind of the one
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: closer level guy who is not signed. It would surprise
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: me if the Braves did that because it's going to
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: cost some real money. But hey, Alex is never afraid
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: of signing a reliever. Thoughts on pew bearricks.
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: You know, at this point, I think getting a starter
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: is a far more effective use of resources by a lot, Yes,
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: But if Alex has money to spend, like spend it,
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: you know, like go go give yourself a Super Bowl pen,
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: or add another hitter to your mix, or you know,
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: whatever you have to do, do it. Like what if
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: you have the cash to spend, go spend it. I'd
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: rather Alex spend it on reliever, even if this is
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: the world's most expensive bullpen outside of the Dodgers, of course,
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: Like would it be conventional to have Pete Fairbanks, Robert
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: Suarez in Rycel Iglesias in the seventh, eighth, and ninth. No,
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: because those are all three bona fide closers the last
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: couple of years. But if you strike out, maybe Frambra
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: Valdez doesn't check out, Maybe they don't want to commit
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: five years to Ranger Suarez, maybe they don't trust Zach
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: Gallon to bounce back. Like then then add something to
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: your bullpen. I mean, you feel good about a couple
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: of guys in that group, but there's a lot in
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: the back end of the bullpen, which kind of terrifies
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: me if I'm being honest. So yeah, I mean, I
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: think all things equal, I think the bullpen's in good
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: enough shape. I think they can figure it out. I
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: think they can add enough non guaranteed roster invitees to
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: spring training to kind of bridge that gap. But if
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: if nothing works out on the starter market, then by
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: all means at at least one or two more arms
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: to that bullpen mix.
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: I would not mind another five million dollar reliever like
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: who was and believers are voltial. We always say that
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: it's true, but like if the Braves wanted to bring
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: back Pierce Johnson for five million dollars at this point,
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: like I would still do that honestly. Or Tyler kin
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: Lean another guy who the Braves had last year in
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: that similar range. Old friend Kirby Yates is on the
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: super old side but has been good and could be
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: available for a one year deal. Alex loves a one
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: year deal. You mentioned here in our notes. I could
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: get the credit for this. Evan Phillips is the guy
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: who talks about once earlier this winter. I think it's
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: still coming back from TJ, but like it's a potentially
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: interesting reliever. Alex coated price could be lower because back
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: mid season the old chip carry. I'll let you deliver
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: the line if you want to make a trade of
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: that making the trade, you know.
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: Partner, it is like making a trade without making a trade. Yeah,
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: I mean, Evan Phillips is mildly interesting, was once a
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: very good closer with LA had Tommy John probably not
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: going to be ready until August or so next season,
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: but it would kind of be like a couple of
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: years ago when the Brave signed Kirby Yates, he was injured,
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: someone rehabbing, and and then you know, it seems like
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: the Braves are like a year or two early on Yates,
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: which is a bummer, you know, never wrong, just early.
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: But yeah, I mean there's there's options out there. We'll
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: talk about a minor league arm. They just added a
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: couple of days ago as well to the mix. And
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: you know, again, if we're under the assumption that the
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: Braves have maybe twenty five or so million dollars, and
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: that is a total assumption, but if they have twenty
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: five million dollars left to spend this offseason, I would
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: sure hope they're able to add some kind of impact
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: of this group, whether it be in the starting rotation
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: or the bullpen.
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: We agree for sure. And that's kind of again like
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: a purposeful overarching look at what's still available out there.
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: Set it once, we'll say it again. Trades are available.
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: It's just really hard to project trades. But starting pitcher
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: market in particular, like it might be more effective in
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: many ways for the the trade pers or especially if
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: Alex wants the aforementioned guy who started a playoff game.
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: Well, and on that note, so a couple of days ago,
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: the Orioles and Rays did a pretty big trade for
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: Shane Baz.
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: Yep.
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: Now, I don't expect our listeners to be super familiar
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: with Shane Baz's game, and Baz was a big time prospect.
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: Throws has really good stuff, also has some injury risk.
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: The Orioles gave up basically three first round pick level
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: talents in order to get three controllable years of Shane Bass.
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: I mean that was that's or high man.
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: It costs a lot.
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: I mean, I don't even know if the Braves can
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: necessarily swing that deal, but that would be like the
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: equivalent of giving up cam Keminetti Jr. Richie and the
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: twenty sixth pick in the UPEA.
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: I mean certainly, yeah, think of whatever three of your
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: top five prospects if you're the Braves. Given word the
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: system is that's what that price was, and you did
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: mention it, but worth repeating. Bass has three years of control.
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: That's why it cost so much. Like the Braves, I
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: feel like, have always been more in line with a
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: pitcher trade. That's like for a guy with maybe one
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: or two years left, so the price is a little
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: bit lower, but those guys cost more. The short term
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: was they're already in arbitration they make where there's twelve
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: million dollars or something like that. But yeah, the price
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: of guys who are under control for cheap for a
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: long time, it's very high for a reason.
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: Well yeah, and you know, there might just not be
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: a ton on the trade market for starting pitchers this winter,
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: Like apparently the Twins are going to hang on. They
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: just signed Josh Bell to play their first base and.
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: They what I don't know, what are they doing?
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: I don't know. And you know, like Mackenzie Gore is
• 19:29
  Speaker 2: a good pitcher, but because he's in the division, I
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: just don't necessarily see that lining up. I mean, sure
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: there's other options out there maybe, but one, you have
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: to meet a high asking price. In two when it's
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: supply and demand, if there's only a couple of starters
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: out there on the market, Like, I don't know. I mean, sure,
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: Oakland would probably love to get rid of Luis Severino
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: in that contract. But do you want to take a
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: gamble on Louis Severino at twenty million dollars a year
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: that he can bounce back after an awful season, Like,
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: I don't really want to see. I'd probably rather just
• 19:59
  Speaker 2: make aid for one year.
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: Right only at the price is really low. But yeah,
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: I'm with you. It's it's hard to project trains. I know,
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: it's fun, it can be interesting to do. Maybe we'll
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: do it in January. If we get bored, we'll try
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: to do big Dreds on this podcast. But it is hard,
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: and that's why we're doing for agans first. But there's
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: still enough on the market on starting pitching in particular
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: where it's still interesting to talk about the guys that
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: are left, and we'll see where the Braves go. You
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: teesus already? Should we talk about the transaction that happened
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: a couple of days ago. The Braves signed Ian Hamilton
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: to a one year deal. It's non guarantee, but it
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: was a it's a major league non guarantee. Well could
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: be a split. The Braves announced it, so it wasn't
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: like they stuck this one under the under the wire.
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: They tweeted it out, they announced this move. And he's
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: a major league reliever, thirty year old right hander. It's
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: been with the Yankees the last three years. Pretty good
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: numbers with the Yikes. Actually, but his worst year was
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: last year, which is why he's available. He had kind
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: of a rough year. It's twenty twenty five. I will
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: say this is three years ago now, but twenty twenty three,
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: he was like, actually awesome, Like under the hood, all
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: the numbers looked awesome. He's he's always thirty, so it's
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: not like he's thirty eight and he's maybe done. Maybe
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: he's done. We don't know. He's throwing slower down. But
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: I was this is one of those guys where it's
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: like not a joke, Like it's like, this guy could
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: be a part of the bullpen and I would not
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: be surprised at all. He seems like he's at least
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: a real bet and for very cheap. That total sense to.
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: Me, absolutely, And you know it's funny. Whenever a player
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: signs with the team, I tend to look at the
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: other fan basees reaction to it, which is not scientific,
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: but it helps were Yeah, there were quite a few
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: Yankees fans who when and Ian Hamilton signed with Atlanta,
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: they kind of were like, damn it. Of course the
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: Braves signed this guy. That's a really smart like by
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: low see if he can bounce back type of signing.
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: His fastball dipped quite a bit, that the velocity on
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: the fastball was down. That obviously impacted Hamilton, a pitch
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: that he really relied on a couple of years ago
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: when he was so efficient. But it's to me, this
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: kind of feels like Yuel piomps two point zero? Why
• 21:58
  Speaker 2: not man? And you got it? Basically, no guaranteed money
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: if you want, if he makes the team. I'm guessing
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: it's for a million million dollars, maybe two million dollars.
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: It's it's low risk and there is some legitimate upside here.
• 22:10
  Speaker 2: If Phillips can or Hamilton rather can can find what
• 22:13
  Speaker 2: made him successful with the Yankees a couple of years ago,
• 22:15
  Speaker 2: then you've added somebody to your bullpen next for very
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: little money.
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's one of those signings that we might just
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: forget about if it doesn't go well in the spring.
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: Might never talk about him again after that, or he
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: might be your sixth reliever in the bullpen and bring
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: some actual value. Like that's very much a two sides
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: of the coin there, but because of the cost of
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: literally nothing, a non guaranteed deal, it makes total sense.
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: And these are the kind of guys that Alex is
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: always going to sign. And then of course Brays Fancible
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: accused of being a bargain basement guy or was bargain
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: ben Alex is the one we we.
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: With dollar Tree.
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: Alex do Tree, Alex. It's a little bit harder to
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: do that now when he just spent a bazillion dollars
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: in like a week. But uh, that's still it's still
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: out there. But no, I like that move. Will it
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: be impactful? We will see on that. From all right, Scott.
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: In a second, we will answer some mail bad question.
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: We already answer one, but we will answer some more,
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: including some Christmas one. I'm pledging you right now it's
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: pre Christmas. We'll answer a couple of Christmas related mail
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: back questions. We'll getting all that more in just one okay, Scott, First,
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: before we get to the Christmas stuff. A question from
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: Nick seventeen atl who says very succinctly, Officeason grade so
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: far question mark a forward question. I will give you
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: the honors. What would you grade the Braves off season
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: as of Monday, December twenty second.
• 23:35
  Speaker 2: I would go with an AS and there is a
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: real chance to get it to an A or a
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: legitimate A plus, which I gotta be honest bread Two
• 23:46
  Speaker 2: months ago, I had no feel for where this offseason
• 23:49
  Speaker 2: was gonna go. Were they gonna be cheap again and
• 23:52
  Speaker 2: really avoid luxury tax or were they gonna go back
• 23:56
  Speaker 2: to payroll levels where they were previously? And after a
• 23:59
  Speaker 2: down year for the Braves, in all of our hearts,
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: it was like, damn it, I hope the Braves go
• 24:04
  Speaker 2: out and add some talent and change things up a
• 24:06
  Speaker 2: little bit. And sure, maybe they didn't go out and
• 24:09
  Speaker 2: sign Kyle Tucker for four hundred million dollars or didn't
• 24:12
  Speaker 2: go out and sign Dylan C's for two hundred and
• 24:14
  Speaker 2: ten million dollars over the next seven years, but they've
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: added a lot. They've raised the floor of this roster.
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: I think they've raised the upside of this roster as well.
• 24:23
  Speaker 2: I'm at an A minus. Where are you at?
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: We're in the same range I was debating between B
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: and B plus.
• 24:31
  Speaker 2: It's good.
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: I like what they've done. I know I wasn't on
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: a number of the reaction emergency shows, but they have
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: not done a move yet that I have like disliked.
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: There's varying degrees of excitement on this stuff, but even
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: the astrmpsky one, which is the one that they got
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: the most pushback, I like, I kind of like that deal.
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: To be honest with you, the only reason why it's
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: not an A is that started pitching has not been
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: addressed if they had already done. Even if they do,
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: Chris Bassett, I will give it an A minus to
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: an A. My only reason why it's not higher is that.
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: And it's hard because I gave the date earlier, Like
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: we are big proponents of like you can't judge the
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: off season on December twenty second, Like it's it's silly
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: to do that, and I get it. People want to
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: rush to reactions. Think about it. Three weeks ago, Scott,
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: people were furious about the way things were going, and
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: the Brave has made three substantial additions in a six
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: day period, five day period, so like you never know
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: when's gonna happen and what it's gonna happen. So yeah,
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: I'm closer to a minus than I am to be minus.
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: Like it's in that b people and the only reason
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: why it's not higher is because of starting pitching and
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: my valuing that considerably of like needing to do that
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: more than many some fans do. But nothing negative at all,
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: Like I think if you're grading it negatively, I don't
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: really know why you would. Maybe you're just trying to
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: but yeah, be plus and a minus, I guess you're
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: almost the same. But I'm training to be I'll go
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: be plus. I think it's about where I am on this.
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: And if they do anything substantial with the rotation and
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: Chris Bassett, your maledgeby vary Tyler Mallley, who if they
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: add a starter that I think is a real starter,
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: I will go to a minus. A that's robby.
• 26:11
  Speaker 2: Yeah, And you know, if you're trying to be a
• 26:14
  Speaker 2: critic of the moves, then sure you can have real
• 26:16
  Speaker 2: doubts about what does thirty five year old Mikesh Traumsky do,
• 26:20
  Speaker 2: Like can you just copy paste what he's done the
• 26:23
  Speaker 2: last couple of years?
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: That is that is the one to be like to
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: downpl I get why people downplay that. I really do,
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: like I think you needed a step, a step more
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: of nuance to like like that move. The price tag
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: was hired people expected, and then you look at it
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: a little bit deeper, for example, and it's like, oh,
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: it's only nine million, and then ten million, and then
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: this very very cheap mutual you know, biot option thing.
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: So it's like even at first blunch it was like, oh,
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: that's a lot. Oh, it's actually cheaper than it when
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: we thought it was.
• 26:50
  Speaker 2: It's basically a two year, nineteen million dollar contract with
• 26:55
  Speaker 2: a cheaper third year and a buyout. I mean, I know,
• 26:58
  Speaker 2: the whole thing is you roll in the garanteed money
• 27:00
  Speaker 2: to the totally I get lost and I get it
• 27:02
  Speaker 2: me too. But if it was announced as two years
• 27:05
  Speaker 2: nineteen million, I almost wonder if the reaction would have
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: been a little bit lighter, then.
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: It probably would have been. And also, not to do
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: this again, but he fits the roster in that he
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: does one thing really well. He hits right handed pitching,
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: and like that's the strong side of a platoon. He's
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: a better defender than Jerkson Profar. Like there's reasons to
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: anyway we would have to do a whole thing again.
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: But that's the one move where I do think it's
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: totally fine and understandable to not be excited about that.
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: I totally get a Glacias and Suarez on good contracts,
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: like your bullpen went from a giant question mark to
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: a potential strength in two loops. Yeah, and then you
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: know it is what it is in the Hassan Kim, Yeah,
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: it wasn't. It wasn't Boba Schet, but like it's a
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: one year deal. Hard to not like it. I like
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: the off season so far. The only it's just it's
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: more of an incomplete than a negative for me. It's
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: like still like it's done a lot, spent a lot
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: of money. Hard to be upset in fact on the
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: money question. Let's go to the next one. Are we
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: should have more to say on that which we could do?
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: But question from Benjamin packets related and I like the
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: way frame this for our purposes. Are you surprised with
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: the amount of money already committed to the twenty twenty
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: six payroll during this off season? Are you surprised? Not
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: that you like it? Are you surprised? Interesting way to
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: frame it?
• 28:23
  Speaker 2: A little bit. Now, in my true heart of hearts,
• 28:27
  Speaker 2: I really felt like the Braves wanted to reset the
• 28:30
  Speaker 2: luxury tax a year ago where they did reset the
• 28:32
  Speaker 2: luxury tax, but and then they just kind of wanted
• 28:35
  Speaker 2: to clean up their books and then would get closer
• 28:38
  Speaker 2: to payroll, where in twenty twenty four it was up there,
• 28:41
  Speaker 2: like it was much higher than it was in twenty
• 28:43
  Speaker 2: twenty five, with no real change in the overall standing
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: of the team. They were coming off a down year.
• 28:50
  Speaker 2: I'm sure the Braves took note of what attendants looked
• 28:53
  Speaker 2: like in the final two months of the season. I'm
• 28:55
  Speaker 2: sure like the day of revenue was down significantly compared
• 28:59
  Speaker 2: to what they do and the team is good quite obviously,
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: so am I shocked that they have been so aggressive
• 29:06
  Speaker 2: Maybe not like really surprised, but it was a legitimate
• 29:09
  Speaker 2: question coming into it. And obviously I am thrilled that
• 29:12
  Speaker 2: they are spending more at the level the Atlanta Braves
• 29:14
  Speaker 2: should be spending.
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: Yet, yeah, I think when we talked about this last
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: time you and I talked, that was where we landed,
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: was like, Hey, this is where they should be. Like, regardless,
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: there was a lot of frustration last winter, you know,
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: it's funny we are as a show I think accused
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: way more recently. It's funny. Back when you and I
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: were first starting, we were seen as the negative guys.
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: Remember that's got fun memories. It must be in the
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: negative guys.
• 29:38
  Speaker 2: Negative.
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: Now people think we're too positive, which is funny. Maybe
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: it because they're losing and we're you know whatever, but
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: we kind of we were critical of the off season
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: last winter from a spending perspective, and their nuance of
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: that with like, hey, that's not really an Alex Entthopolo's choice.
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: That's a Terry McGirk choice, which is why that's the
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: breakdown comes sometimes. But you're right they were. I think
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: they were what like their seventh in baseball and payroll
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: in twenty twenty four, Like they were up there pretty high.
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: That season didn't go great and maybe the playoffs, and
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: then last year. I will go to my grave believing
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: that Alex had a meeting with someone above him between
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: his exit interview and his next comments that said, by
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: the way, you have less money thing we thought. I
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: will go to my grave on that and he'll he'll
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: never tell you. There's no reason for we're gonna tell
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: you don't Chris as your boss publicly that that's not
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: what happens. But I will go to my grave believing
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: that happened last winter. And the positive thing to bring
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: it full circle now is like that is not happening now.
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: They're spending now, how much they're gonna spend. I think
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: that third tier of CBT tax might be the red line.
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: I think, but hey, unless you're the Mets of the Dodgers,
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: that's probably gonna be a red line for most teams.
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: Maybe the Blue Jays because they have a whole country
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: behind them. It's kind of an interesting things have a
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: whole region behind them.
• 30:51
  Speaker 2: But you know, did you see the Dodgers luxury tax penalty?
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: It's ridiculous. I mean, I get it, I get why.
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: I mean, the Yankees used to be that way too.
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: The Yankees were as recently as a few years ago.
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: The Yankees, I think we're still number one in payroll
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: like two years ago, even more than the Dodgers. This
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: has been recent. The Dodgers are going through the stratosphere.
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: But yeah, isn't it like one hundred something? I don't
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: know how much money is.
• 31:12
  Speaker 2: One hundred and seventy million dollars in penalties for going
• 31:16
  Speaker 2: over the tax just ridiculous. But we don't. We don't
• 31:18
  Speaker 2: need it. We don't need a salary cap, Brad. We
• 31:20
  Speaker 2: definitely don't need one, or a salary floor. We definitely don't.
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: Need or any or any it's or any kind of
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: sanction on deferrals, none of those things, even if your
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: anti salary cap, which I get, maybe some notes, maybe
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: some notes on the on the on the new cbabot
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: the way you can defer contracts so that show hey
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: can't have five hundred million defer or whatever it is. Yeah,
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: So am I surprised To answer the question, I'm really not.
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: I kind of thought they were going to spend more.
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: It's more that I wasn't sure they were going to
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: spend more, and now now we've seen it, so I
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: feel better about it. I'm not shocked or anything. Maybe
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: a slight pleasant surprise, but not overall. If they go over,
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: if they go above the third tier, like for instance,
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: if they if they signed fraanbra Valdez to a giant contract,
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: I will be surprised at that point. Not I won't
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: be shocked anymore, but surprised in a good way. If
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: they spend even more than I think they're gonna spend.
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: But to date, I mean, uh, it's also been very
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: alex coded the way they have spent. They have spent
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: the money, but without any like big long term money
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: and years.
• 32:24
  Speaker 2: But they have eighty million dollars roughly coming off the
• 32:27
  Speaker 2: books in a calendar year, Brad, I mean they it's
• 32:31
  Speaker 2: it's easier said than done to go year by year
• 32:33
  Speaker 2: with your payroll. But I mean eighty million dollars. And
• 32:36
  Speaker 2: of course you're losing Chrysale, you're losing well at the
• 32:39
  Speaker 2: moment you're losing Chrysale, you're losing rayceell Iglacias again, like
• 32:42
  Speaker 2: they can. These things have a way of working themselves out.
• 32:45
  Speaker 2: But I mean, as we sit here today, they have
• 32:47
  Speaker 2: about eighty some odd million dollars coming off the books
• 32:49
  Speaker 2: for next season.
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: They should go ahead and announce the Chrysale extension asap.
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: Go ahead and do that. I'd be fine with that.
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: Do do the Charlie importon style Chris at another year
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: of twenty eight million and for Chris Sale, that's fine,
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: go ahead and do that right now. Let's sign me up.
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: I'm not saying they have to do that. For the record,
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: I'm being kind of funny, but I would not mind
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: that blue box at some point soon to just say, hey,
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: here's one more year, Chris, We'll go to year to year.
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: As long as you want to pitch, please stick around.
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: I'd be fine with that, Okay, Scott, I think we
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: could probably move to the Christmas portion of the podcast
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: in an effort to not go super long, so we
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: will divide the line here everybody. If you don't want
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: to hear our takes briefly on some Christmas things, you
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: can sign off the podcast. We don't want you to,
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: but I don't want to brave. There's a Brase related question.
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: There is one, but it's not going to be about
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: the twenty twenty five, twenty sixteen. Okay. The first one
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: is literally this is a question directly to you, because
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: I have no opinion on this. It's from Ray Addis,
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: who says the question we all want answered is what
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: is the best Christmas episode of the Office? And why
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: I say that? If you don't know, Scott is an
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: Office super fan, which is why he's I see in
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: the Office, The Office is funny. I'm not an Office
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: super fan, So this is all you, my friend.
• 34:06
  Speaker 2: Yes, It's actually a little tradition now that we watch
• 34:08
  Speaker 2: the Christmas episodes, because I think there's seven of them
• 34:12
  Speaker 2: on either Christmas Eve or right before Christmas. Best Office
• 34:15
  Speaker 2: Christmas episode. There are some good ones. I would go
• 34:18
  Speaker 2: with Benny Hannah Christmas Underrated though, would be Classy Christmas
• 34:23
  Speaker 2: where Jim and DWIGHTE have a snowball fight. That's where
• 34:26
  Speaker 2: we will end the office talk, because if you've never
• 34:27
  Speaker 2: seen the show, you probably have no idea what I'm
• 34:30
  Speaker 2: talking about. But the Beni Hannah Christmas episode is not
• 34:33
  Speaker 2: just like the best Christmas episode. It's one of like
• 34:35
  Speaker 2: the top maybe fifteen episodes in the show. And I
• 34:38
  Speaker 2: will say Brad, as somebody who has recently watched Seinfeld
• 34:43
  Speaker 2: for the first time, I am now familiar with Festivus.
• 34:47
  Speaker 2: I think we're gonna have for the rest of us.
• 34:49
  Speaker 2: We're gonna have to work Festivus into our Christmas Eve
• 34:52
  Speaker 2: viewing this year. Great episode, one of my favorites of
• 34:55
  Speaker 2: the whole series. So I am familiar. I had heard
• 34:57
  Speaker 2: of Festivus and like, what the hell does that mean?
• 35:00
  Speaker 2: I do know the origins now, and I am I
• 35:02
  Speaker 2: am educated in Seinfeld.
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: I think me being a little bit older than you
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: is explains the gap here. Like I was watching Seinfeld
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: when it was on, like I was young, but I
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: was like staying up to like watch Steinfeld and thought
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: it was funny. It's very funny. Again, I see there's
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: like one hundred I looked this up. There's one hundred
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: and nine Office episodes. I bet I've seen fifty of
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: them at least I've seen a bunch of Office, just not
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: the whole series. So you're the authority. Please if you
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: want to comment and yell your own thoughts, that's got
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: that's this is the time of do it, I promise
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: you all right. Last one, this is the Braves related
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: question from I believe it's Braves Uga fan. That could
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: be anybody. There are a lot of bridge Uga fans,
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: but that was the handle of the person's sad. This
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: question to us, Hey guys, with the holidays here, what
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: was your favorite Braves themed gift that you ever got?
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: So interesting? I'm bad at remembering guests, but I have
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: a good answer for this, I think. So you go ahead. First,
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: I'm going to defer to you and I'll prey up
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: the rear.
• 35:58
  Speaker 2: You know, I am not a local, but I have
• 36:00
  Speaker 2: a great answer. So my now wife, but back then
• 36:05
  Speaker 2: girlfriend actually bought me a brick outside of Truist Park
• 36:11
  Speaker 2: has my name on it. I think it says go
• 36:13
  Speaker 2: Braves Scott Coleman, and I have a replica of that
• 36:16
  Speaker 2: brick and a stand at my house. It's just to
• 36:18
  Speaker 2: my left. Actually, we had been dating maybe like six
• 36:22
  Speaker 2: months at this point, so that's a pretty cool gift.
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: You know.
• 36:25
  Speaker 2: It's still there when I was in Atlanta last like, and.
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: That's why you married her? That's what right then is
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: what do you decide to marry or is that right?
• 36:32
  Speaker 2: I did, Yes. The next day I went to the
• 36:33
  Speaker 2: jewelry store and bought her a ring and said, you
• 36:36
  Speaker 2: bought me a brick, will you marry me right now?
• 36:39
  Speaker 2: But it's cool, So I don't know, maybe if you're
• 36:40
  Speaker 2: ever walking around Truist Park and you're just gonna say,
• 36:43
  Speaker 2: should we have a pilgrimage to the Scott Coleman brick.
• 36:45
  Speaker 2: I do have a photo with it. It's on the
• 36:48
  Speaker 2: first base side of the of the stadium, outside the
• 36:53
  Speaker 2: stadium obviously, but I did find it the last time
• 36:56
  Speaker 2: I was in Atlanta, like five years ago. It took
• 36:57
  Speaker 2: a little while there's a lot of bricks out there names,
• 37:01
  Speaker 2: but I do have a brick, which was a great gift.
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: I was.
• 37:04
  Speaker 2: I was like, what the hell because it's heavy. I
• 37:06
  Speaker 2: was like, what on earth did you buy me? You know,
• 37:08
  Speaker 2: we will have been dating like six months. It's not
• 37:10
  Speaker 2: like we've been together forever. Now she knew, she knew.
• 37:12
  Speaker 2: There you go, well what about you?
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: No, I it's funny. I I saw Steven our co
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: host Stephen at a game at a game in person
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: this year, and if I had known, we would have
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: gone and found the brick that had been our activity,
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: taken a picture of it, uh, for the for the
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: world to see minus less minus less relational than that,
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: but kind of also relational. So I people may remember
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: this because you've breaking up all the time. I am
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: a park Few High School alum in Lowbern, Georgia, and
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: the Brains have had two very famous park View alums
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: on their team.
• 37:46
  Speaker 2: Uh.
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: The most recent one is Matt Olson, who's very good.
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: I'm a lot older than med Eilson, so I did
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: not know Matt growing up.
• 37:53
  Speaker 2: I did.
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: I didn't do know Jeff Francore so Jeff was two
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: years ahead of me in school, but we played basketball.
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: And I've known Jeff for a long time. I know
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: his wife, I know his mother was a teacher of
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: mine in school. Just keep out in minds, that's the
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: level of seventh grade math teacher Jeffrank KORZMM. So anyway,
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: this is before I was covering the team. I was
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: a fan of the team. But in two thousand and five,
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: so I'm old. I was nineteen Christmas two thousand and five.
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: My parents, who don't get me a lot of gifts.
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: I'm not saying that in a negative way. We're not
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: a big gift family. Just wasn't what we did A
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: lot of they got that. If you don't remember, if
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: you're not old, don't remember this. Jeffrank courts within five
• 38:33
  Speaker 1: was the thing. Oh yes, he came That was the
• 38:36
  Speaker 1: year he came up and was incredible. SI cover all the.
• 38:39
  Speaker 2: Yeff the Natural, The Natural, Cover of Sports Illustrated. I
• 38:43
  Speaker 2: mean Jeff Frank Coremania. If you're not old enough to remember,
• 38:45
  Speaker 2: it was the summer of Jeff Frank core I think
• 38:47
  Speaker 2: he homered in his debut, or like a couple of
• 38:49
  Speaker 2: games into his debut. I mean it was. It was
• 38:52
  Speaker 2: scenes in Atlanta, the Baby Braves it was scenes.
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: In Atlanta, and obviously since you now know of it,
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: like I literally know Jeff went to my high school,
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: it was even bigger deal. For people like me. It
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: was like, I know, this guy is going crazy with
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: the Braves. I'm I'm in college at the time, and
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: my parents got me a like nice like the one
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: of the nice, like authentic whatever whatever. It was. Then
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: the stitched Frankore jerseys for Christmas that year, and like
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: that's all I got. That was it for me for
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: like maybe for years. I might have been my last
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: gift of my parents, but I got one of those,
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: and uh, that was very cool. I still have it.
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: I don't wear it anymore because he doesn't play anymore,
• 39:29
  Speaker 1: but I have it in mind's in my closet, which
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: you can't see. I have. I literally have two. I've
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: had two nice Brave jerseys in my life. That one
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: and a Freddie Freeman one, which I also know Freddy
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: and his family, and so there's all these connections and things.
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: So the next time I get one up, probably Matt Olsen,
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: because like I don't know Matt, but I mean we
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: went to the same school. I love Ronnie. If anyone
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: wants to buy me a jersey. Feel free. I still
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: buy me a jersey everybody. It's fine I should wear,
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: you know when I go to games. Now I'm like
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: working sometimes and it's not quite the same thing. But
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: that was a cool one. I will cherish that one.
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: And knowing Jeff, I wish it had got better for
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: Jeff after that, but at the time, uh, trade value
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: through the roof and all those things, it didn't didn't
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: work out very well.
• 40:13
  Speaker 2: But you know, it's funny. And then we'll we will
• 40:16
  Speaker 2: conclude the Jeff frank Core segment of this podcast. But
• 40:19
  Speaker 2: why I wonder twenty if Jeff frank Core debuted twenty
• 40:23
  Speaker 2: years later, would he have been a player who, like
• 40:25
  Speaker 2: every week on the show, we would have been like, yeah,
• 40:28
  Speaker 2: Jeff had another big week. But dear god, they're.
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: Oh yes, screaming one.
• 40:34
  Speaker 2: No.
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: I mean, I it probably existed then, yeah, but that
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: was early. It was still earlier. I mean, there was
• 40:39
  Speaker 1: blocks happening and stuff, but it wasn't like the full
• 40:42
  Speaker 1: you know, Fangrafts era at that point in time. It
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: would have been like we talk about Michael Harris now
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: on steroids with with Jeff, like every flashing sign he
• 40:51
  Speaker 1: swung at everything. Everyone would have known it was going
• 40:53
  Speaker 1: to cool off. But back then, twenty years ago, like
• 40:57
  Speaker 1: maybe the Sickos, maybe maybe through it's saber at that
• 41:01
  Speaker 1: point in time, they were probably they were probab flashing
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: the light on Jefferent Corps, but not in the mainstream.
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: I wasn't. I was like, this guy's this guy knows
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: is gonna be the greatest player of all time. He
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: might be like the next Hank Aaron And that didn't
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: have but cool gift, Mom and Dad shouts to you guys. Uh,
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: not as cool as the brick though, So Scott's wife
• 41:17
  Speaker 1: wins this one by a lot. Tell her I said that, Scott,
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: and I promise next time I go, you gotta remind
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: me next time I go over to Truist, I gotta
• 41:25
  Speaker 1: try to find the brick because that'll be fun. Yeah.
• 41:26
  Speaker 2: I think I have a little card on like the
• 41:28
  Speaker 2: bottom of the stand that holds the brick that shows
• 41:31
  Speaker 2: like roughly where it is. Yeah, so I'll find that.
• 41:34
  Speaker 2: I'll send it to you. You and you and Steven
• 41:36
  Speaker 2: can take a nice photo in front of it and
• 41:38
  Speaker 2: do a maybe go live from outside of my brick
• 41:41
  Speaker 2: at Truest Part That's what I'll do.
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: I will go live on Hamard's servitory YouTube when I
• 41:45
  Speaker 1: find the brick and just be like, all right, everybody
• 41:47
  Speaker 1: found the brick, and then just clear we can just
• 41:50
  Speaker 1: just end it, all right, Well, thank you Scott for
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: that story. That's all we have on today's podcast. Look
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: you we teased it. We started here when here. The
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: bridge can still do some stuff in the next cup days.
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: There is not a hard moratorium. Most gms that are
• 42:04
  Speaker 1: not like aj Preller or like Jerry Depoto tend to
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: take a break for a few days around Christmas. But
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: Alex isn't afraid to make a move, so we'll have
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: content if things happen. Please subscribe to the show. But
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: if anything happens, I promise we'll break in. We might
• 42:19
  Speaker 1: be in somebody's kitchen for Christmas or something like that,
• 42:21
  Speaker 1: but we'll have a show at some point. Some combination
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: of the formless will react to it. In the meantime, Scott,
• 42:27
  Speaker 1: if we have new listeners, where can they find all
• 42:30
  Speaker 1: of your musings on social media, including what I can
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: only assume will be a live meltdown on Monday Night
• 42:35
  Speaker 1: during Colts forty nine.
• 42:36
  Speaker 2: Ers football is officially dead to me, Brad, it's been
• 42:40
  Speaker 2: a bad It was.
• 42:42
  Speaker 1: Going so well for about for about two months in
• 42:45
  Speaker 1: Scott's life, and then it didn't anymore.
• 42:47
  Speaker 2: That's right. Sorry. I am at Scott Coleman fifty five
• 42:51
  Speaker 2: on Twitter slash x. As always, a big thank you
• 42:53
  Speaker 2: to people for checking out the show, and we will
• 42:55
  Speaker 2: have some kind of content between now and the new year.
• 42:58
  Speaker 2: As Brad said, if there's any transaction, of course we'll
• 43:01
  Speaker 2: do a show, but we'll have something on the feed
• 43:03
  Speaker 2: just to kind of hold everybody over, and then hopefully
• 43:05
  Speaker 2: in January we just get right back up and going
• 43:08
  Speaker 2: and and wrap things up and then before you know it.
• 43:11
  Speaker 2: I think spring training is early this year, I think
• 43:13
  Speaker 2: because of the WBE. I think report dates for some
• 43:18
  Speaker 2: teams start like February tenth or something like that, so
• 43:21
  Speaker 2: it's going to be here before we know it. Hopefully
• 43:23
  Speaker 2: a much better season on the horizon for the Atlanta.
• 43:26
  Speaker 1: Braves, no question about that. Ways compared to last year,
• 43:29
  Speaker 1: I think that we could be safe in projecting that.
• 43:31
  Speaker 1: Maybe no guarantees, but it'd be better than a year ago.
• 43:35
  Speaker 1: If you want so, you can follow me on Twitter
• 43:36
  Speaker 1: slash x at bt Roland and please follow the show
• 43:40
  Speaker 1: as well at Hammer Territory across social media platforms Twitter, Instagram, Facebook,
• 43:44
  Speaker 1: et cetera. And most importantly, subscribe to the show and
• 43:48
  Speaker 1: also tell your friends about the podcast. We know how
• 43:51
  Speaker 1: many Brace fans the friends are race fans that are
• 43:53
  Speaker 1: in the world. I live in Atlanta, but even around
• 43:56
  Speaker 1: the Atlanta area, et cetera. There's a lot of you,
• 43:58
  Speaker 1: so spread the word for us. If you audio listeners,
• 44:01
  Speaker 1: scribe on YouTube. If you're a YouTube subscriber, decribe on
• 44:03
  Speaker 1: audio double up. We appreciate the support in that way too,
• 44:07
  Speaker 1: for our sponsors and everybody else and the network. Door
• 44:10
  Speaker 1: Toory has got a great thing going. There's lots and
• 44:12
  Speaker 1: lots of team shows. If you like other teams as well,
• 44:14
  Speaker 1: we have you come across the board and the flagship
• 44:16
  Speaker 1: a Sparittory with can Rosa Ball. The list goes on
• 44:19
  Speaker 1: and on and on, but thank you everyone listening to
• 44:21
  Speaker 1: the show as always, and we'll see everybody next time.