Latest / Sports Avenue Twisted Podcast / Episode 50 Part I feat. The Tomahawk Talk Podcast - Breaking down the Braves season and roster moving forward

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Episode 50 Part I feat. The Tomahawk Talk Podcast - Breaking down the Braves season and roster moving forward · Sports Avenue Twisted Podcast

0:26
Welcome to another edition of the Sports Ave.
0:28
Twitter podcast. We have two great guests in here
0:31
who's one 1/2 of the Tomahawk Top podcast and we're going to
0:37
have a round table discussion and talk some Braves, some NLS,
0:41
trade deadline season. Ben Weaver, welcome.
0:46
Just introduce to yourself and let everybody else know what you
0:49
do. Yeah, thanks for having me.
0:53
My name is Ben Weaver. You can find me on X at Weaver
0:57
under score Cards. I, me and Jose both are 1/2 the
1:02
Tomahawk Talk podcast, pretty much all things Braves try to
1:06
do. Just have, have a fun podcast
1:11
about the Braves. You know, nothing too serious.
1:14
Obviously we're by the fans for the fans.
1:17
You know, we don't want to, we don't want to take ourselves too
1:19
seriously with it. But hey, we, we try to do the
1:21
best we can and give our, you know, best analysis that we
1:24
possibly can over there. And the other guest today, his
1:28
Twitter handle is Money Mike's headband, by the way, that's
1:31
golden. His name is Jose.
1:34
Welcome Jose. Just introduce to yourself and
1:38
just let everybody else know what you do as well.
1:41
Yeah, thank you for having me. Like Ben was saying, my name is
1:45
Jose. You can find me at ATL Headband
1:47
on X. And we're just regular Braves
1:51
fans, man. We're just regular guys with
1:54
full time jobs who air our thoughts out on the Braves and
1:57
whether it's good, whether it's bad.
1:59
We just try to keep it real over there, try to give people are
2:04
honest thoughts on what's going on with the Atlanta.
2:07
Braves, that's awesome, man. Thanks guys for joining us.
2:12
We're excited to have you both. And yeah man, we're just real
2:16
excited, real honored to have you guys here talk about the
2:19
Braves and what's gone on with them and and everything around
2:22
baseball. So let's dive into it, boys.
2:26
Yeah, man. Thanks for having us again.
2:28
Yes, Sir. OK.
2:30
The first question I want to ask you guys is obviously I want to
2:34
talk about the the Braves season, what has gone wrong?
2:38
And we look into his team. I predicted him to be divisional
2:42
winners. And I know that Alex had a
2:45
somewhat, you know, offseason. He just, he just did what he had
2:49
to do and, you know, getting a profile and thinking that, you
2:53
know, the pitching was good enough.
2:55
Spencer Schwalbach had a great debut last year and he was a big
3:00
reason why the Braves made the playoffs.
3:01
And then this year is just things have been unfortunate for
3:05
them. So Ben, I I would like to start
3:07
with you. So what has gone wrong?
3:11
To be honest, man, it's been a a assortment of different things.
3:15
You know, we've had injuries. You know, we had Chris Sale and
3:19
Spencer Schwellenbach for the majority of the year.
3:22
But, you know, I can't remember exactly when the injuries
3:26
happened, but you know, Chris Sale was diving for a ball
3:29
trying to preserve a shutout in the 9th inning and broke his rib
3:35
cage and then found out, you know, a couple weeks ago that
3:39
Spencer Schwellenbach, you know, fractured his elbow.
3:42
And then Ronaldo Lopez, he went down.
3:47
I believe it was in spring training, you know, hadn't even
3:49
played a, you know, regular season game, just injury after
3:54
injury to the to the starting rotation.
3:56
And, you know, we've had Spencer Schwell, Spencer Strider, I'm
3:59
sorry, Spencer Strider come back.
4:01
And he was shaky to begin with, but he's really found his form
4:04
again. Grant Holmes has done a great
4:07
job, you know, feeling the doing the best he can in the starting
4:12
rotation. I mean, he's turned into a
4:14
really, really good starter for us.
4:17
But the bullpen has just been kind of like, I hate to say it
4:22
like this, but kind of been dumpster diving, trying to find
4:25
people to, to fill in spots. I and you know, cuz Joe Jimenez
4:28
has been out. Ricell's not been himself until
4:32
here recently, but then he gets shelled yesterday, you know,
4:38
just right. We have Raphael Montero who is a
4:41
career journeyman, Iniel de Los Santos, same thing.
4:45
We brought back Jesse Chavez for the umpteenth time, you know,
4:49
and the offense just hasn't clicked like it needed to do.
4:53
And we just had problems with runners in scoring position.
4:56
You know, Austin Riley went down a couple weeks ago.
5:00
Michael Harris and Ozzy for the best majority of the year just
5:03
been terrible. And yeah, it it's just been
5:07
problem after problem after problem and nothing seems to all
5:12
click at the same time, if that makes sense.
5:15
So yeah, it's just been, it's been kind of brutal to watch.
5:20
Jose. Yeah, no, just like Ben was
5:23
saying. I mean, honestly, I could go
5:25
back to the last offseason and start from there.
5:29
After the end of last season, Alex Anthopolis said that our
5:32
payroll would be going up, and over the offseason we didn't
5:37
really add to the team much at all except for Jerks and Profar,
5:40
and then he went down with his PED suspension.
5:45
Later it was known that the front office actually invested
5:48
in some extra parking space for the All Star game, which
5:52
granted, makes sense. But as Braves fans, we kind of
5:57
put two and two together and figured OK, so this is probably
6:00
why they didn't add to the team much except for Jerks and Profar
6:03
in the offseason. So not adding to the team having
6:07
an underwhelming bullpen as well as underperformance by a lot of
6:11
the team. Like Ben was saying, love my boy
6:14
money Mike. But he just, he just now is
6:17
starting to figure it out, kind of starting to dig himself out
6:21
from that hole he's been in the whole season.
6:23
Really. Ozzy Alby's is just now starting
6:26
to figure it out. It's just been a lot of Batman,
6:30
a lot of up and down, a lot of injuries, a lot of
6:33
underperformance. Yeah, from the outside looking
6:38
in, it's just been one of those seasons where you're like, what
6:42
do you do? And it's just like a complete
6:45
write off almost from from the get go.
6:48
And, and, you know, and getting back on track when you've had
6:52
the number of injuries that you have, especially starting off
6:55
with Ronald Acuna not starting the season, you got all the
6:59
pitching injuries that, you know, Lopez going down.
7:04
And like you guys said, like it's just injury after injury.
7:08
And then the underperformance kicked in, you know, and then
7:11
guys, like you said, guys are starting to get it going now.
7:14
But it's it's kind of like you're you're you're a little
7:17
bit too late to the party. But yeah, it's just, you know, I
7:22
mean, being a Blue Jays fan, we can relate.
7:24
We were there last year. We were terrible.
7:27
You know, we ended up selling at the deadline.
7:29
So it's just like, I guess you just got us like kind of just
7:33
say, hey, you know, you're going to have a high pick in next
7:36
year's draft and roll with it hopefully, right.
7:39
But just play out the season, I guess, see what happens when it
7:45
comes to the, you know, we'll talk about the deadline stuff
7:47
later on. But yeah, that it, to me, it's
7:51
just like one of those seasons where you're like, damned if you
7:54
do, damned if you don't, you know?
7:57
And you know, you you were saying the Blue Jays were kind
8:01
of in the same spot last year and that kind of gives me a
8:03
little bit of hope because I mean, you know, the Blue Jays
8:06
have had bounced back pretty well this year.
8:08
You know, they're in the 1st place of AL ES.
8:10
So playing some really, really good ball.
8:14
Now, you still got to figure out what you want to do with Beau
8:17
Bichette. You know, do you want to you
8:18
want to trade him? Do you want to extend him?
8:20
You know, what do you want to do?
8:21
But other than him, like the Jays are set up pretty well if
8:26
they keep, you know, playing like they are.
8:28
And, you know, we were talking about before we started actually
8:31
recording. But you know, you can never have
8:35
too many arms. And so that's one thing that I
8:37
think the Jays need to need to work on.
8:39
But other than that, I mean, like, like I said earlier, you
8:43
know, that you comparing us to the Jays kind of gives me a
8:47
little bit of hope at least for next year.
8:51
It's so ironic that you brought that up because if you remember,
8:55
Alex Adopolis used to be the GM of the Toronto Blue Jays Once
8:59
Upon a time. And it seems like there's
9:01
similar effect to both squads overall.
9:03
One thing the Braves are structured well is that they
9:07
have contracts signed long term. Well, we're going to get to this
9:09
Ronald Acudia fiasco later on. But you know, The thing is like
9:15
I saw some reports like in spring training that Renato
9:18
Lopez velocity was down. And the bigger question is like,
9:23
was he injured? Like to start the year?
9:26
Like The thing is that they pushed him like they felt like
9:28
he was good enough and he was already on the IL and he hasn't
9:30
returned till this moment. And then you see AJ Smith shove
9:34
or bed like feel feel for the guy.
9:37
And it seems like it's been the injuries in the rotation.
9:40
You know, there's a saying to that.
9:42
You can never have enough pitching overall.
9:45
And I'm just curious to see how this roster is going to be built
9:50
up this year and moving forward. The thing is, like, like he
9:53
said, the injuries were tough. You guys had a brutal schedule
9:56
starting off with the Padres of the Dodgers on A7 game West
9:59
Coast trip. I was like, oh, but I mean, I
10:02
didn't expect them to have that record because it was a lot of
10:04
bad luck, it seemed like. But let me ask you guys this
10:07
this question, and I think this is important.
10:09
Like you guys fired Kevin Seitzer and hired Tim Hires, who
10:12
the Rangers fired the year before.
10:15
Like has he been a help to this team or do you think he needs to
10:20
go as well? Because I was talking to some
10:22
Braves fans and they're like, I don't know if he's a fit for
10:27
this team because it's just that the offense hasn't picked up at
10:30
all since, like you would say, the last year and a half in the
10:34
playoffs, right? So what?
10:35
What are your thoughts? I mean.
10:40
It's it's really hard to to say because you know, like you said,
10:45
the offense hasn't been great over the past calendar year.
10:48
It's not just, you know, this year that they just fell off,
10:50
but over the last calendar year, since, you know, about the
10:54
second-half of last year, they've been mediocre at best as
11:00
far as the offense goes. So it's really, really hard to
11:05
say. I don't I don't necessarily
11:06
think it's it's Tim hires fault, but it Kevin Seitzer, if I'm not
11:13
mistaken, he made a comment a few weeks ago talking about, you
11:16
know, you can something to the effect of and this is not
11:21
verbatim, so don't quote me on this, but it was something in
11:25
the effect of you can, you know, teach these guys and tell these
11:29
guys what to do all you want to. But if you if they don't listen
11:32
and if they don't take the approach in game, if they're
11:35
still going to do what they want to do, well, then you there's
11:38
only so much you as a hitting coach can do.
11:43
And, and it's kind of it's kind of hard now.
11:46
Michael Harris, like Jose was saying was is just now coming
11:50
around. He had a pretty good series
11:52
against the Yankees, and so did Ozzy, you know, Ozzy, Ozzy
11:56
Albees. I think next year being another
12:00
year removed from Ozzy's wrist injury and Austin Riley's wrist
12:04
injury, I think those guys next year will be back to closer to
12:09
their career norms. But Michael Harris, I'm just,
12:12
I'm very concerned about him still because of his plate
12:16
approach. And I don't even know if that's
12:19
really Tim Hire's fault. Like even Kevin Seitzer was
12:22
dealing with the same issues. It's just pitchers were throwing
12:24
Michael Harris strikes. And I hate to say it, but if you
12:28
throw Michael Harris a strike, you should be, you know, sit
12:32
down to AA for the rest of your career at this point because
12:36
everybody knows he can mash a strike, but he will swing out of
12:39
his shoes at a curve. But a 58 foot curveball?
12:44
Jose, you have anything to add to that?
12:46
Add to that. I mean, Ben was pretty spot on.
12:50
Like I don't think the problems that we were having were
12:52
necessarily Kevin Seitzer's fault.
12:56
Like he was having some success with the Mariners earlier this
12:59
year, if I'm not mistaken. So I wouldn't say it's
13:01
necessarily him. As a matter of fact, our
13:04
offensive troubles started, I want to say like right around
13:07
the same time Ronald Lacuna went down last year, which was May of
13:11
2024. So I could even go as far back
13:14
as that. As far as Tim Hires, I mean, I
13:20
don't know what is up with him exactly, just because I don't
13:24
know if his style like mashes with the Braves perfectly.
13:28
Well, I'm still not completely sold on him.
13:31
So to be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if they let him go and
13:35
hire another hitting coach this offseason.
13:38
As a matter of fact, I actually want to see a complete overhaul
13:41
in our coaching department. So I don't know it's you can
13:49
coach all day long, but it's ultimately up to the guys to
13:52
actually actually listen and implement those changes.
13:59
And something, something funny I kind of wanted to add to, you
14:02
know, there is a conspiracy theory at least going around on
14:07
on Braves Twitter or X the the balls are different for the
14:12
Braves and for a lot of different, different teams.
14:17
Like the people like to say that the Yankees and the Dodgers get
14:20
the, the live baseballs. And then, you know, the Braves
14:24
are back to the to the dead ball era, which I mean, if you look
14:28
at some of the exit velocities, especially early in the year
14:31
with people like Matt Olson, Matt Olson was still hitting the
14:35
the you know, life out of the ball.
14:38
He was still hitting one O 6, one O 7 exit velocities, but
14:42
they were dying in the warning track, you know, and and Aaron
14:46
Judge hitting the 88 mile per hour EV pop up that goes 4 O's
14:50
deep. It's like, you know where that
14:54
that looks a little little it off in my opinion, but.
14:59
Yeah, we hear we hear that kind of stuff all the time,
15:04
especially being the same divisions and stuff.
15:07
But well, we've talked about some of the negatives for the
15:11
Braves and stuff, but take us like like through the season,
15:15
like some of the ups and downs and and even some positives.
15:18
I know there haven't been many, but I mean, you could talk about
15:21
the farm system, certain guys, you know, just just any positive
15:25
that you can grab onto, I guess. Jose, I'm going to go first.
15:32
The farm system, we have actually quite a few arms that
15:36
I'm excited to see come up very soon.
15:39
So of course we had Didier Fuentes come up very, very early
15:45
in his minor league career. So he was still a little bit too
15:48
early, but I'm still excited for him in the in the future when
15:52
he's ready to come up. Who else?
15:55
I'm actually drawing a blank, Ben.
16:01
Yeah, doesn't have to be a farm system, could be just like any
16:04
positive so you could think of, I know there haven't been many,
16:08
but I mean just anything, anything you can think of that's
16:11
been. A positive Oh any positives man?
16:14
Ronald Lacuna Ron Lacuna is back to 2023 form so definitely happy
16:21
to see him back. Matt Olson has been tearing it
16:24
up ever since beginning of June and just the recent resurgence
16:29
of Ozzy Alves and Michael Harris I would say are the two biggest
16:32
positives recently. Yeah, I I've loved I was going
16:40
kind of piggybacking off Jose too.
16:42
You know, Ronald, of course, Matt Olson even jerks and
16:47
Profar, you know, coming since coming back from yes, it's
16:52
coming back from his PD suspension.
16:54
He's hit two or three bombs. You know, he's played really,
16:56
really well. Sean Murphy and Drake Baldwin
17:00
have, you know, turned into probably combined.
17:04
They're still not as good as Cal Raleigh, which is insane to say,
17:08
but together they both like combined to hit.
17:12
I think it's 26 home runs, close to the 75 RB is.
17:18
And yeah, they've been on just a fantastic tandem behind the
17:23
plate. Plus, I mean, they play really,
17:25
really good defense behind there, too.
17:27
Drake, obviously not quite as good as Sean Murphy, but still
17:31
very good defense. Matt Olson has been hitting the
17:34
cover off the ball. You know, I'm as Jose said, you
17:38
know, we have a couple arms down in the minor leagues like Jr.
17:41
Ritchie who made his AAA debut I believe it was yesterday, you
17:45
know, pitched 5 innings with six KS, one run I believe look
17:51
really good. Cam Caminiti is coming up.
17:55
He's another guy who's looked really good and in the draft
17:59
this year. I'm really, I'm really happy
18:03
about the draft. They got Tate South of scene
18:06
who's a prep shortstop. They got Alex Lodissi, who is a
18:10
Golden Spikes finalist last year in college baseball from FSU
18:15
start and shortstop and then they got a couple you know prep
18:19
left-handed pitcher Briggs McKenzie, who you know can can
18:25
sit low 90s but touch 95. They re really reinvigorated
18:29
their minor league farm system, especially the the mid tier to
18:34
upper level farm system with some talent that is desperately
18:37
missing. Everybody they've they've have
18:41
is in like the FCL or DSL. And you know, the only real
18:47
hitter that I know of who's been killing it down there is Diego
18:50
Torrance, who is a 16 year old kid.
18:53
You know, and and we all know like it's exciting to see that
18:57
from kids that young, but you're not going to know how they're
19:01
going to pan out. It's just impossible.
19:03
So it's nice to see they got some upper level quality minor
19:08
league talent that they can possibly use in the future as
19:13
either trade bait or produced at the Major League, you know,
19:16
level. I would say and I look at I'll
19:22
I'll go into the bullpen because you guys went so deep in it
19:25
days. Bo Hernandez looks like he could
19:27
be the future closer of this team potentially, right.
19:29
The stuff is there, the the like the way he pitches absolutely
19:34
electric. It's just that if he can get his
19:37
command fix a little bit, that's something that they could do in
19:39
the office. Dylan Lee has become a player
19:41
for y'all too. He I know that.
19:45
There's been couple hiccups I've made which reliever hasn't,
19:48
right. So it's like you look at there's
19:52
some ups and downs. I know there's some issues with
19:54
the bullpen with you guys. I mean, I know that that's
19:57
something Alex is going to have to work on in the offseason or
20:00
even this trade deadline if they can get some young assets in
20:04
return. But we'll we'll get into that
20:05
later. But like overall, I still think
20:07
the positive part about the brace, they're still relatively
20:11
young. I mean, Matt Olsen's looks like
20:13
he was struggling the first few weeks and he's come back to what
20:18
he should be, right? And I think that's important
20:21
for. For a player like that, because
20:23
I saw Yankees fans are like, oh, we should have acquired Matt
20:26
also. You know, when they traded the
20:28
A's and if they ended up giving up Oswald Peraza, Anthony Bolpe,
20:34
I was like, no, no, don't do that.
20:36
So it's like, are you? Sure, That was the package.
20:39
Because I, you know, every time I look at Yankee fans on
20:41
Twitter, they're trying to give away Clint Frazier still.
20:44
And he played for him in like 2. Years.
20:47
You know, you know, you know what's so funny about that?
20:49
Because like they say like, oh, like any package deal, like they
20:53
say like they're going to give up that player and they don't
20:55
want to trade them that they haven't turned out to be the
20:57
player they thought they would be.
20:58
So that it just tells you there. So yeah, like, hey, hey.
21:03
I mean, I I wouldn't be complaining with the Braves.
21:05
I mean, Matt Olson's, what, 2930?
21:07
He's in his prime. Like he's he's a Georgia kid,
21:10
right? So I think he he he's he's a big
21:14
positive for you guys. I think.
21:17
See, that's the thing. I look at this like you, you
21:19
guys are considerable Harris and you know, I talked about Jeff
21:22
Mays when he when we had him on and what's his concern like,
21:26
because he was rookie of the year and we thought this guy is
21:29
going to take off and be that next big thing.
21:32
Like some people have compared to like a Jason Hayward.
21:35
Now. I was like, what are we doing?
21:36
The guy's only 24. Like there's so much potential
21:39
in this kid. Like the question is like,
21:42
what's his issue? Like, is it, is it, is it that
21:44
he's aggressive? He's too anxious at the play?
21:47
Does he have a feel for the strike zone?
21:48
Like what's the problem? So for Michael, I would say like
21:55
you were saying, the talent is still absolutely there, Rookie
21:58
of the year in 2022, all that. I think the biggest thing that
22:02
has kind of exposed them this year, which has always been an
22:05
underlying issue for him, is the pitch selection and the chase.
22:09
Chase has been a big thing for him in his career, but in 2022,
22:14
in his rookie year, he still chased quite a lot, but he
22:17
managed to hit the ball pretty well and put up some really good
22:21
offense numbers. Towards the first half of 2024,
22:27
he was chasing quite a bit, then he got hurt.
22:29
He came back and was actually quite good in the second-half of
22:33
2024. This year, from the beginning of
22:37
the season, it kind of felt like he just lost his approach
22:39
completely. He was chasing everything
22:41
outside the zone. He was letting hitable pitches
22:44
go inside the zone. So the classic Michael Harris,
22:47
that bad that you would watch and I love my boy to death, but
22:51
he would take first pitch right down the middle, a hitable
22:55
pitch, and then he would swing out of his shoes on a 58 foot
22:58
curveball in front of the zone or anything outside of the zone.
23:03
So basically being a between a lot of pitches, not really being
23:09
sure what to hit and just chasing a whole lot.
23:14
So that's been his biggest issue right now in 2025.
23:20
Yeah, 'cause we know he's the kid has talent for days.
23:24
Like you see, it's like defensively he's still a stunt.
23:28
Like that'll never change, right?
23:30
For sure. But yeah, but offensively is
23:33
just, you know, yeah, I I couldn't agree with you more.
23:36
When I watch is that bats or when I hear my buddy, when I'm
23:39
listening to him watch the game, I don't even have to watch the
23:42
game. And I know when Michael Harris
23:44
is up because he gets so frustrated.
23:47
And but yeah, it's just it's it's yeah.
23:51
It's just like like you described as that bad.
23:54
That's exactly how it seems to go.
23:57
But a positive that I would I mean, I I love this kid Drake
24:02
Baldwin man that you guys have and I know you mentioned him
24:05
already, but I just think he's I think he's going to be a stud
24:09
like he's he's already he's that stud in the making.
24:12
And if you guys did move on from Murphy in the offseason, I could
24:18
see, I could just, I think you'd be fine, man.
24:22
I, I really do. I think this kid is, is is is
24:26
really good. So yeah, he, he'd probably be
24:29
my, my positive there. I like, you know, go ahead, go
24:34
ahead. I'm sorry, I mean to cut you
24:36
off. No, no, no, go ahead.
24:37
I was finished. So you.
24:39
I just, I don't see them moving on from Sean Murphy.
24:43
They still have three more years of control.
24:45
I know there's been rumors flying everywhere about him.
24:48
But, you know, if they get rid of him, they're also, you know,
24:52
Marcelo Zuna is either gonna get traded before the deadline or
24:56
he's going to walk in free agency in the offseason.
24:59
So you have to fill that void somehow.
25:02
And you're not gonna get the same 40 Homer, hundred RBI
25:07
production from Sean Murphy that you have from Marcelo Zuna over
25:11
the past two years. But I mean, you still got to
25:16
have something. And Sean Murphy is still an
25:18
above average bat. You know, last I checked, his
25:20
WRC plus was still over like 120, which is right in line
25:24
with, you know, what he's done every year of his career except
25:27
last year, which, you know, as Braves fans, you know, we know
25:32
he was riddled with injuries. So I mean, if you can have that
25:37
kind of bad, you know, it was alternating between DH and
25:40
catching with another guy who's basically going to put up, you
25:44
know, just as good at numbers, if not better.
25:46
You got to kind of keep that guy.
25:48
I don't see Sean Murphy getting traded, but if they do, they
25:52
have to get an absolute haul for him just to make it worth it.
26:00
I agree hat if you do trade them, then yeah, it's going to
26:03
be for all the doubt about it. But yeah, no, definitely.
26:10
I mean, I could see them not trading him.
26:11
I just I just brought his knee. I just think you'd be fine if
26:15
you did. But but yeah, I just think that
26:18
that kid, that Drake Baldwin's just he's he's special, man.
26:22
I really do believe that. So you got a good one there.
26:26
A lot of a lot of Braves fans, too, have talked about, well,
26:29
what if, you know, we don't want to sign Drake Baldwin to an
26:32
extension or anything like that. Because what if he turns out to
26:35
be, you know, the same kind of player that Michael Harris has
26:38
turned into recently, which is, you know, I'm like the, the, the
26:43
batting profiles of these two players are so vastly different.
26:47
Like Drake Baldwin is not a master of the strike zone, but
26:54
he is has well versed and what is a strike and what is a ball.
26:59
And he knows like he is so patient at the plate.
27:02
He finds his pitch and he doesn't miss it most times.
27:05
And, and it's a lot of very good to see that he's not, you know,
27:10
shying away from taking a walk or anything like that.
27:16
I want to ask the next question here and what are you looking
27:20
forward to the second-half of the season?
27:21
I know that there hasn't been a lot of bright spots to the
27:25
Braves so far, but I mean, what would you say that you're
27:29
looking forward to? Are you are you calling up
27:31
pitching? Are you calling up offense?
27:33
Are you looking more Nacho Alvarez to see what he fits?
27:36
Or are you looking to the offseason?
27:39
And the one important thing that we might have to talk about this
27:42
right now is about Acuna. So, you know, Alex, Alex say
27:47
he's not going to trade Acuna, right?
27:50
And the important part is that what what do you guys do in the
27:55
offseason when it comes to Acuna's extension?
27:57
Will they be done by this offseason or do you think that
28:00
they're going to let this ride a little bit more?
28:05
I mean, I'd like to see Ronald get extended as soon as possible
28:09
to be honest with you. I know a lot of Braves Twitter
28:13
has been a posting about it pretty much incessantly since
28:18
Ronald's come back. But you got to lock him down,
28:22
man. Like he's the face of the
28:23
franchise. He's by far best player.
28:26
So you got to take the first opportunity you can get and
28:31
extend that man for life. Like he needs to be a Brave for
28:35
life. As far as the rest of the
28:37
season, to be honest with you, my biggest hopes right now are
28:42
just to get Michael Harris back on track, to get Ozzy Alvis back
28:46
on track, get Austin Riley back and get him going as well
28:50
because he's also had some underperformance.
28:54
And just see what you have prospects wise when it comes to
28:56
pitching. If you can do anything possible
29:00
to prepare for 2026, that's probably the biggest
29:04
accomplishment the Braves can have the rest of the season.
29:11
Yeah, yeah, I'm kind of the same way.
29:14
Just get these guys back on track, see what you can do.
29:18
Hopefully Ozzy and Michael can turn it around for an extended
29:22
period of time because it'd be nice to see that way, you know,
29:26
makes that decision on the brace front office a little bit
29:29
harder. About Ozzy's option, as far as
29:33
you know, maybe Nacho, he's going to get probably get sent
29:36
back down once Austin Riley comes back.
29:40
He should be activated on Tuesday from his injury and then
29:46
honestly, he could be traded. Yeah.
29:49
I don't I just don't see the fit.
29:50
It just depends on what the front office wants to do with
29:52
Ozzy. If they pick up his option,
29:54
great. You know, Ozzy will be our
29:56
second baseman next year. If not, I could see Nacho being
29:59
second baseman and then I would like, I mean, honestly, if Jr.
30:06
Ritchie keeps pitching the way he has pitched, I would love to
30:10
see him come up and throw an inning or two in the Braves
30:13
bullpen. And I also saw Blake Burkhalter,
30:17
who is also a very good pitcher in the Braves minor league
30:21
system. He could come up potentially
30:24
and, and you know, get a couple of relief appearances as well.
30:28
They don't have any offensive minor league pieces right now
30:32
that will be Major League ready anytime soon.
30:36
That's just, and that's kind of what I was going on about with
30:39
the draft and everything. I was very happy to see them
30:41
draft some, some offensive talent finally, but they they
30:46
don't really have any offensive pieces.
30:48
So everything, everybody who's going to be coming up will be
30:52
pitchers. So it'd be kind of nice to see
30:54
some fresh arms in there, see what they might have for next
30:57
year, if they even do that. They might want to keep them
31:00
down for the rest of the year, who knows.
31:02
But I just want to see some improvement, you know, finish
31:07
500. That's all I really care about.
31:12
Yeah, I agree with everything that you guys are saying,
31:16
especially with when it comes to CUNA.
31:19
Lock him up, keep him, do whatever it takes to keep that
31:22
kid there, man, because he is unbelievably, he's just
31:29
unbelievable. He's an MVP candidate whenever
31:32
he's on the field. Like just you know, the thing
31:36
with him has just been staying on the field.
31:38
You know, if he's on the field, he is going to produce.
31:41
There's no and if or buts about it.
31:43
So yeah, I'm with you. Just just you got to make him a
31:47
break for life, as Jose put it. And we we I should have brought
31:52
him up earlier when we were talking about the positives, but
31:55
I'll bring him up here now. I think another guy that you'd
31:58
like to see going into the rest of the season continue his
32:02
success has been Grant Holmes. I think he's been fantastic for
32:06
you guys this year. I mean considering he was, how
32:11
many years was he in the minors for before he got caught?
32:14
10 years, 10. Years and he comes up and I
32:18
mean, I mean, just just squash the record, the 4:00 and 9:00,
32:22
but you put all his other stats and they've been phenomenal.
32:26
So for a guy who spent ten years in the minors before getting
32:29
called up, it's just, you know, just, you know, it's kind of
32:32
like a storybook kind of thing, you know.
32:34
So I, I like to see his success, you know, him to finish off
32:41
what's a good, what's been a pretty damn good season, you
32:44
know. Yeah, we actually, we actually
32:47
had him on Tomahawk Talk in the offseason and he could not be a
32:54
nicer person. I mean, he he is such a nice
32:56
guy. And I know I can, I know I can
33:00
speak for myself, but I'm sure I can speak for everybody who's on
33:04
Tomahawk Talk. We hope nothing for the but the
33:06
best for Grant and he has done phenomenal in his role.
33:11
I know a lot of people on X were concerned that, you know, he
33:16
hasn't been a starter in a couple of years or whatever and
33:20
all this that the other, but I'm like, he's the only one who's
33:23
really stayed healthy this entire year.
33:25
Like the the opening day rotation, there's only one name
33:30
that's still in the opening day rotation and that is Grant
33:33
Holmes. And you can't really ask much,
33:36
much more from him. I mean, the dude is pitched to
33:38
like a 3.8 ERA. You know, he, he's done
33:43
everything you've asked and more and he's just looked really,
33:46
really good. Jose, you want to add to that?
33:52
Yeah. Yeah, no, definitely about Grant
33:53
Holmes, man, when are rotations healthy?
33:56
Will people forget a lot of times on Brave Sweater is that
34:01
he's our number 5 starter When our rotations fully healthy for
34:05
our number 5 starter, he's fantastic.
34:09
Like today's star against the Yankees, he allowed two runs in
34:12
the first inning and then what did he do?
34:16
He bunkered down and went six, allowing only three.
34:19
That's a quality start. Yes, it is.
34:22
Yeah, so absolutely. I mean for what Grant Holmes
34:25
gives this rotation, he's just incredibly valuable.
34:31
The other start he had like 15 KS.
34:34
I forgot who it once against but.
34:36
The Rockies. The Rockies.
34:38
That's right, but I mean just nothing but positive things to
34:41
say about great Holmes man, Great picture and even better
34:44
human being. Yeah, it's, I'm just intrigued
34:50
to see what you guys do throughout the way.
34:52
Like I know that the Ronald talk is going to be a a massive
34:58
conversation to be discussed with Alex in the offseason,
35:00
that's for sure. And you know, we go back and
35:03
forth about Alby's here and we think about this for one second.
35:06
So like, so he he and Ronald were together from day one, grew
35:15
up together, played together. I mean, they played in every
35:17
level you could name of. And now it's at the point like
35:21
he has an option. I mean, that contract is still a
35:23
hell of a contract. Like that's probably the best
35:25
contract I've seen in my lifetime.
35:26
Like how do you, what do you get like 7 for what, 42, six million
35:31
a year, Something like that. It's insane.
35:33
I don't even think it was that. Yeah, I.
35:35
Think it was for. 35. That's what I'm saying it's like
35:40
and and and the media was dogging him like his AJ.
35:44
He's like, oh, why couldn't you wait and just wait?
35:48
But I mean, always wanted to guarantee money and we don't
35:51
know what the situation is. Every everybody has their own
35:54
situation. Just like Ronald when he got
35:55
that contract like for for 100 million for eight and which is a
35:59
hell of a contract, right? So overall, it's interesting to
36:03
see. I want to see what pro far is,
36:05
man, if he was healthy, if Profar, if if it weren't for
36:09
like, and you know what? And this is the thing about
36:11
Profar. And it's unfortunate because
36:13
like he only got 1,000,000 last year with the Padres and nobody
36:16
wanted to give him a contract and he played out of his mind
36:18
and the guy was determined to get the contract.
36:20
He can't play blame the Braves for that.
36:23
So it's just that it's so many unfortunate things happen.
36:27
But I mean, I like to see a strong finish from Profar, what
36:32
he looks like. Shortstop Nick Gallon's defense
36:35
is great. I want to see what he's all
36:36
about throughout the way as well.
36:38
And like you said, like I'm intrigued to see what happens
36:41
with Nacho. There's a lot of promise in that
36:42
kid. Like he showed me a lot in that
36:44
series against the Yankees. Like the defense, the way he
36:47
barrels the ball, like, like he has an opportunity.
36:51
I don't know if it's with the Braves that's going to be the
36:53
bigger question like you guys said.
36:55
But I think it's I think you guys bringing up some pitching
36:59
projects and see what they are at the end and figure out from
37:02
there where things go. I think that's important.
37:04
And I think the most important thing is just get healthy and
37:08
Spencer coming back, try to finish strong.
37:10
And unless they plan to shut him down, we don't know.
37:12
But I I think another positive is Spencer Strider being healthy
37:16
finally after a while, right? He's been through some injuries
37:19
the last couple years, right? I mean, the potential is all
37:22
there. The power stuff is all there.
37:24
Like he just needs to be healthy and just puts it put it
37:26
together. Oh yeah, yeah, he he's looked a
37:30
lot better his first four starts.
37:32
I think he had over 6 ERA and then the next, however many it's
37:38
been, I can't remember exactly, but it's been quite a few more
37:42
than six. The ERA is under 3.
37:44
So he's done a phenomenal job, you know, turning it around,
37:48
getting back to his normal self when the Braves are healthy,
37:53
that three headed monster of Sale, Schwellenbach and Strider,
37:56
like that's a tough, tough top three in the rotation.
38:02
So, you know, I'm I'm ready to see what they do next year.
38:05
Hopefully the bats can bounce back a little bit because you
38:08
know, when the pitching has been good, which it was good for the
38:11
majority of the year, the bats have been awful.
38:15
And now the Braves started to score a few runs and the
38:19
pitching has just been awful. Like the game last night against
38:21
the Yankees, they were up 7:00 to 2:00 at one point and then
38:24
ended up losing 13 to 8. So it's they put up runs, can't
38:30
pitch, put up, you know, put up zeros on the board pitching
38:34
wise, can't hit. It's just it's a never ending
38:37
cycle this year and I'm ready, kind of ready for 2025 to see
38:41
its way out. So we talked a lot about the
38:43
pitching here and you talked about the pitching prospects,
38:49
right? What were your thoughts about
38:52
Dane Dunning being traded to the rates because Alex pulled a
38:55
winger here? And I was like, I get the, I get
39:00
the depth here, right? And, and you look at you
39:06
mentioned about the pitching prospects and you look at the
39:10
you look at the depth, right. So at the end of the day, how,
39:15
how do you look at this pitching depth overall?
39:16
And talk about Joey Wentz. Did did you guys decide Joey
39:19
Wentz or you guys acquired him? Yeah, Joey Winches looked really
39:25
good for us. He pitched 4 innings of I
39:29
believe it was no run ball yesterday and then looked
39:34
really, really good. He was first round pick by the
39:36
Braves in 2016 and then when you know, I believe it was to the
39:40
Tigers, got traded to the Tigers.
39:43
And I want to say with Justin Upton, maybe when he got traded,
39:50
I can't remember the exact trade.
39:51
I can't remember the trade. But anyway, no, Joey Wentz was
39:54
the first round pick in 2016 and then obviously bounced around a
39:58
little bit, finally made his way back to the Braves.
40:01
He's looked really good. As far as Dane Dunning goes, I
40:05
like him a little bit more. Just I know he doesn't throw
40:09
hard. He's not flashy, but.
40:12
He looked really, really good in 2023.
40:17
He had a 95th percentile run fastball run value on Baseball
40:21
Savant, which is phenomenal. Means he had one of the best
40:25
fastballs, which I'm assuming was his sinker in the game.
40:30
And if he can rediscover that pitch, like the Braves pitching
40:34
staff, Rick Kranitz loves to make these guys throw whatever
40:39
pitch it is that they throw the best.
40:40
Like Pierce Johnson, for instance, with his curveball.
40:44
Pierce Johnson throws his curveball like 70% of the time
40:47
or something crazy. So if they get Dane Dunning to
40:50
start throwing his fastball 70% of the time and they figure out
40:53
what made it good two years ago, then you have a pretty decent
40:57
reliever or spot starter if you ever need him.
41:00
It's A and they didn't give up anything for him.
41:03
They gave up Jose Ruiz and I'm assuming the cash that they got
41:07
back from the Marlins in the Michael Peterson trade that they
41:10
made like literally a week ago. So they didn't give up anything
41:14
for him. You know, it's a flyer.
41:17
The dude can pitch innings. They just need arms at this
41:20
point. There aren't 20 year olds who
41:22
are not majorly Greta yet. Jose.
41:29
Yeah, I know pretty much what Ben was saying.
41:31
We basically didn't give up anything for Dane Dunning, so as
41:36
long as he can be just OK for us, I think that's a win for the
41:40
Braves. But talk about some of the
41:43
pitching depth, you guys that could be potentially be in this
41:46
team this year and perhaps next year.
41:53
Yeah. So we have.
41:54
We're going to have Chris Sale. We're going to have Spencer
41:56
Schwellenbach. We're going to have Spencer
41:57
Strider. We're gonna have Reynaldo Lopez
42:00
coming back. Joe Jimenez will be back.
42:03
Dylan Lee will be back. Yeah, they'll have and days Bill
42:09
Hernandez. They'll have Jr.
42:11
Richie, who will probably be ready.
42:14
They'll have a guy who went to Georgia Southern in, you know,
42:18
here in Georgia. And his name's Hayden Harris.
42:22
I don't know why they haven't promoted him yet, but he's a
42:25
lefty reliever who's pitched phenomenally in the modern
42:29
leagues this year. Don't have a bunch of arms and a
42:32
bunch of depth that they're they'll have at their disposal
42:36
next year. And then obviously Grant Holmes
42:39
would be back. I mean, they, like I said,
42:41
they'll have a bunch of talent that they can use, you know,
42:46
sale and surely should be healthy.
42:48
Striders should be healthy for the full year.
42:51
They have minor league guys who can come up to like Blake
42:54
Burkhalter, like Drew Hackenberg.
42:57
You. Know just different guys that
43:00
they'll have that will be probably more Major League
43:03
ready. Even Didier Fuentes could be
43:05
closer to Major League ready next year with a full offseason.
43:08
To know you know where he went wrong his first go round.
43:16
I think so as well. Didier, if he gets his last few
43:21
starts here at AAA this year and then he works this offseason, I
43:24
think he could definitely be as an option for next year.
43:27
He has the stuff clearly. I mean the guy climbed 3 steps
43:32
of me a minor League Baseball within like weeks.
43:36
So clearly has stuff. He just needs a good put out
43:40
pitch. He needs just that next to get
43:45
to that next level to be able to be effective in Major League
43:48
Baseball. So I could see him being an
43:51
option as well for next year. Ronaldo Lopez is also should be
43:55
getting healthy quite soon actually, so we we could see him
43:59
start again this year. But I to be honest, I kind of
44:01
want to see him shut down and just be ready for next year at
44:04
this point. So I.
44:07
Personally, I, I think they'll use him as a reliever, to be
44:10
honest with you. They'll put it back in the
44:12
bullpen because that's just too much strain on his arm to be
44:15
going out there throwing, you know, as a starting pitcher.
44:19
Oh yeah, yeah, no, definitely. If we see him back this year, it
44:22
would 100% be as a reliever. What do you guys thoughts on
44:27
Hurston Waldrop, where he stands and going forward?
44:32
I haven't seen Hurston pitch much this year.
44:36
He's been with the strippers. I've seen that he's done well
44:40
through his numbers, but I haven't, I haven't seen him do
44:43
the The problem with him, even in his days at Florida, you
44:47
know, he was really, really good, but he didn't have any
44:51
fastball command. His splitter didn't really have
44:55
command of it, but it had so much movement on it and and it
44:58
was just such a good pitch that he didn't really need to know
45:02
exactly where he was throwing it, especially against college
45:05
hitters. But that's been his issue this
45:08
whole time. It is his command, which I hope
45:12
that he's been working on and taking care of down in AAA this
45:16
year. But you know, he could be an
45:19
option as well. I think his ceiling is as a
45:22
high, high leverage, elite reliever.
45:27
But he, I mean, push comes to shove, he could start in the
45:32
major leagues. It just depends on on what the
45:34
Braves organization thinks about him.
45:39
Where is Ian Anderson in this conversation, because I know
45:42
that it seems, you know, he went on some sort of major detour be
45:47
DFA, go to the angels where he's traded to his buddy Perry Alex,
45:52
of course, and then he comes back in and he signs a mile like
45:55
deal with the. It's so funny how that works
45:58
because like, you know, I, I, I was pretty high and especially,
46:02
you know, when he pitched into playoffs a few years ago.
46:05
And I just don't know what happened to him.
46:07
Like, was he injured? Was he hurt?
46:09
Like has his arm like had fatigue?
46:12
Like, what do you think was his issue?
46:13
Because he he was such a promising pitcher.
46:17
Yeah, injuries did play a part of it.
46:21
I can't remember exactly what his injury was.
46:23
Was it elbow or shoulder, Jose? I think it was elbow.
46:28
I think it was elbow. But he was another guy just
46:31
didn't have command like he would be at 100 pitches by, you
46:34
know, 2 outs in the 4th inning every start.
46:40
And he, you know, pitched really, really well in the
46:42
postseason. Like, to this day, he still has
46:46
the second lowest postseason ERA among starters with at least 10
46:51
starts in postseason history. The only one that is Sandy
46:54
Kofax. That's crazy.
46:57
That's crazy, yeah. Yeah, so, you know, it's kind of
47:00
crazy to think that he was that good in the postseason.
47:05
But I just to be honest with you, man, it I don't I don't
47:11
know if he comes back is is the same guy.
47:14
I don't, I don't see it. And I hate to say it but I just
47:19
I don't see it for him or Bryce Elder at this point.
47:24
Yeah, hasn't really gone too well for Ian Anderson.
47:27
I mean, I just pulled up some of his stats.
47:30
I think he might be hurt right now, actually, because he hasn't
47:32
pitched since June 18th. But in the month of June he had
47:37
a 990 ERA with twelve walks across three starts.
47:41
So command has always been an issue for him from what we saw
47:47
and when it was going well for him.
47:49
And of course his game four-star in the World Series in 2021,
47:52
like he has or had the stuff. But man, just injuries and then
47:57
command issues and he's just not been the same guy since.
48:02
He is on the 7th day IL it says. So yeah, he is hurt again.
48:07
Unfortunately. Ray Kerr is another one who's on
48:12
the 6th day IL. What was what was the issue with
48:14
Kerr? Was was it a was it Tommy John?
48:19
I have no idea on that one. No, yeah, because he was pretty.
48:22
He was a part of your pen last year.
48:23
I thought he did pretty good. Yeah, I honestly forgot he was a
48:28
person if I'm being. Yeah, just looking over your AAA
48:32
roster here and and his name, I'm like, I remember that guy.
48:36
I remember he pitched last year, Lefty, He got, you know, lefty
48:40
specialist got some notes like he's he was like, what?
48:44
I think he's like 6 five, $1.30. Yeah.
48:48
Lefty, yeah, he's a, he's a small guy, or tall.
48:54
But Mikey? Tall yeah 663185.
48:58
OK, there you go. Yeah, there's a couple names.
49:04
There's a John Carlos Lara. That's a name.
49:07
I know he's the name, yeah. He's exciting, he throws he tops
49:13
out one O 3 with his fastball. Reminds me a lot of like a
49:20
right-handed version of Aroldis Chapman.
49:24
Yeah, he's not. Well, except not maybe the size
49:27
of of him as a person, but yeah. I don't know if you all
49:31
remember, but when Chapman first came to America and first came
49:35
up to the major leagues, I mean, he was throwing gas just left
49:38
and right, but he had no idea where the ball was going.
49:42
He, you know, just slung the crap out of the ball and didn't
49:46
care what where it was going out of his hand.
49:49
That's kind of how Laura is right now.
49:52
His command is awful, but he throws one of the hardest
49:56
fastballs in the minor leagues, and he's fun to watch when he's
50:01
on because he can have that pitch.
50:03
But he can also throw a slider, which is a pretty good strikeout
50:07
pitch for him. But if he just holds that
50:10
command just a little bit more, he'll be phenomenal.
50:17
Yeah, because I know that knowing Alex did this with
50:21
Toronto, too, he likes to hoard as much pitching as he possibly
50:26
can. Seems like this year's draft is
50:28
a little bit different. But there's the one kid that
50:30
intrigues me that I know you guys paid a little bit more than
50:33
usual. He's a high school kid, is
50:34
Briggs McKenzie. I think that's a guy to keep an
50:36
eye on down the road, too. So I know knowing Alex, he went
50:40
with a different philosophy and he knows that positional players
50:43
is such a need, right for this organization.
50:46
So it's important to look at the pitching.
50:50
You can never have enough pitching, of course, but that's
50:51
what I think Alex Philosophies was especially even with
50:56
Toronto, he did the same thing. So I think overall he's just
50:59
looking at, you know, what's the depth, what's the situation
51:03
knowing that he he he's still active in trade deadline
51:08
discussions, which we will get to later in this episode.
51:11
But yeah, I mean, I, I like what the Braves have.
51:15
You also have a Owen Murphy who's probably another year at
51:18
least or, or a Lucas Bra. So there's a lot of pitching
51:21
depth. There's a lot and, and, and Joey
51:24
Wentz is another one you guys side.
51:25
So I'm, I'm, I'm intrigued. Interesting too, yeah?
51:29
I'm excited for Owen Murphy too. Him, him and Jr.
51:31
Richie I believe were drafted in the same draft class.
51:34
The only thing is Owen Murphy is coming back from Tommy John.
51:38
So he'll he'll be back in a little while.
51:41
I believe I earn. He might already be back, but
51:43
they'll give him a little bit more seasoning down there just
51:46
to get used to the things. But he's another guy that I'm I
51:49
am very excited about.