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OPPOSITION TERRITORY: Atlanta Braves · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

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Hey, everybody, it's Jeff. I wanted to let you know that we
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recorded this podcast episode on Wednesday, January thirty, first, twenty twenty four.
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By the time you hear this, some things may have changed, but
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we hope you enjoy the show. All right, everybody, Welcome to Opposition
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Territory here at the Philadelphia Sports Table podcast show, the longest running weekly Philly
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sports podcast show in the world, that's right over ten and a half years
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strong. We have got a great discussion coming your way about Major League Baseball
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and one team in particular, the Atlanta Braves. Yes, one of the
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rivals of the Philadelphia Phillies. What has their offseason looked like and how can
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it affect the dynamics of what may happen this year here in twenty twenty four
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in the NL East and Major League Baseball in general. We're gonna get into
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some pitching. We're gonna get into some batting issues as it pertains to the
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Braves. We have got a great guest, so let's get right to it
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and joining us this week on Opposition Territory. Here we have from Battery power
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dot Com. You know we love our espanation sites. He is one of
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the contributors there writing about the Atlanta Braves and Major League of Baseball, we
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have the one and only Chris Willis. Chris, how you doing, buddy.
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Hey Jeff, it's good to be back with you. It's great to
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have you on to talk about this Atlanta Braves team. You know, a
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very very interesting dynamics going on with this team and how it pertains to the
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NL East. And really quick, folks out there, if you want to
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follow Chris on Twitter at Chris Underscore Willis and Chris with a K by the
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way, and again Battery power dot com. They're doing great work over there.
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So actually, before we get in any Braves talk, Chris, I
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wanted to first get into some just some general MLB off season storylines, and
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I guess the first one is Yamamoto his contract, that record setting contract that
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as baseball fans you know, have kind of had the opportunity to digest now
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after some weeks here, twelve years, three hundred and twenty five million dollars
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with the Dodgers, and we've heard a lot about the word deferrals. Deferrals
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has become the buzzword during this offseason, and mainly because of Otani's contract,
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but there were no deferrals in Yamamoto's contract. So I'm wondering, you know,
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just to kind of start off our conversation as we're here in the off
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season, what do you think of Yamamoto's contract in terms of what it means
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for Major League Baseball teams, you know, in the future. I thought
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it was really interesting, just because you know, he wasn't projected to get
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that much when the off season started. Yeah, and then the pros first
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starting pitcher seemed to skyrocket, and you know, and then here we are
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at the think he was interesting because he's a you know, he's a little
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younger Japanese picture than what we typically see come over o. Tony's deferrals obviously
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allowed the Dodgers to make this move. You know, if that doesn't happen,
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then you know, it's probably it's probably a different situation at all the
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same. But you know, I think it speaks too to the the data
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teams have on own guys like this. Now. Uh, you know,
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they've seen him in the World Baseball Classic, they've seen him in Japan.
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You know, I don't think it's just it's a risk, obviously, but
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at the same time, you know, he's a younger guy, they have
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a lot of data on him, they think he can be successful, and
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you know, it's really an intriguing signing. I mean, and to me,
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he was one of the most attractive free agents of the offseason. Yeah,
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you know, I fell out there was probably a lot of teams that
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probably could have used a guy like that. You know, the Braves Phillies
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probably included that. So you know, when you see the prices and you
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see the priceses get into the end of that territory, there's really only a
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few teams out there that's probably gonna, you know, be able to do
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that absolutely. You know, both teams, the Atlanta Braves that you follow
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and the Philadelphia Phillies that I follow. You know, they've been a decent
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chunk of money. You know, they're not the Baltimore Orioles by any stretch
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of the imagination. But I mean it leads me to next topic before we
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get into some Braves talk here, because I just been doing some reflecting and
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it's been a rather slow off season I think for a lot of Major League
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Baseball teams. I mean, every team has made some sort of move here
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or there. But the huge kind of splashes that we continue to see like
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week after week really hasn't happened except for a handful of moves here and there.
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I'm wondering, what do you think about that phenomenon in terms of this
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offseason and what it actually means it's been. It's not been a great off
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season. I don't think. I mean, obviously we had all the news
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with Otani and Yamamoto, but you know, when you look out there and
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you see, you know, several big name free agents still in and signed,
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and you'll fix on the it's fixing b February. I mean Blake Snails,
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Cion Winter, Cody Olenger, Jordan Montgomery, Matt Chadman. I'm sure
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I'm forgetting people too, but I think all those guys have flaws. And
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I think a lot of teams are, you know, just are hedging and
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you know, and I think there's a Scott Boris factor in there too.
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It's not really great for the game because we see, you know, you
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see the NFL, you see the NBA, and how quickly, you know,
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just chaos happens in those off seasons in baseball is more of a long
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drawn out of fair you know. I mean it's just I mean we've seen
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it before though. I mean when you guys signed Bryce Harper, I mean
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that was he was late in the process too. Manny Machado, Yeah,
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yeah, yeah, we've seen him take it. You know, we've seen
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particularly Scott Bors, we've seen him take guys late like this. So,
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you know, I don't think it's unprecedented. I think it's just a little
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disappointing. You know, we look at you just mentioned the Orioles. I
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mean that's a team one one hundred and one games last year were just homegrown
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talent. I mean, what would they have looked like if they had signed
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Yamamoto or something, you know how much I mean, what would the whole
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americanly look like, you know, if they were adding a guy like that
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to the top of that rotation. So, you know, I think the
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TV thing is a factor. I think some teams are using it as a
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communion excuse to you know, I don't know how much of a factor.
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I mean, the braids have been I've been lucky, the braids have been
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really the active, but you know, the braves. Now he rolls up
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to the high enough part that you know, you get all these trades they
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took on a bunch of salary, and then they send a bunch of guys
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out, you know, to try to balance the tax sheet and all,
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and it's hard to keep up with. You know. It's something you were
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used to in the NBA with the salary cap and stuff, but the luxury
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tax is kind of a new thing to keep an eye on, you know,
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from actual league Baseball teams. You know, it's it's complicated. You're
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never really sure what you're looking at. So, you know, from that
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standpoint, I feel like off season has been a little bit of a bummer.
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But you know, we're not far from pictures and catchers reporting. I
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figure, you know, we're gonna see Cody Binger and Blake Snell and a
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lot of guys signed on, so oh yeah, and I'm sure we'll forget
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about it a little bit. But I do wish that we could have a
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stretch where we just had all these trades and signings and you know, and
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a lot of action. Yeah, I wish that too. The one thing
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I wasn't planning on getting into it, but we kind of touched on it
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with the Baltimore Orioles and the Angelos selling that that team. And I really
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do wonder because like outside of Philadelphia Phillies. You know, I've talked about
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it on this podcast before, you know. I'll root for the Seattle Mariners
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are kind of like my al team just because I always loved Ken Griffy Junior
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growing up, kind of always just followed them, like to see them do
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well. But also the Baltimore Orioles. I mean, they're close to Philadelphia,
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it's a tea. I love the ballpark, it's fantastic to visit every
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now and again. And what that team could be like. I truly wonder
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if we're gonna end up seeing over the course of these next you know,
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three, four, five years and even more of a surge of the Baltimore
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Orioles in terms of the m l B story, in terms of where we
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are in twenty twenty four, where we could be in twenty twenty six or
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twenty twenty seven because of this new ownership. Have you been thinking the same
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thing? Oh, I mean to me, they look you know, they
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look like a powerhouse just waiting, you know. I mean they're gonna have
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to identify which of the young players they want to keep, you know,
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which with the current or ownership. You have to wonder if that was even
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gonna happen, you know, and in a lot of ways. But yeah,
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I feel like I feel like that's a team that's a powerhouse and waiting
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and you know, I know it was a painful period for them when they
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were just you know, tanking and running out low low payrolls and just stockpiling
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draft picks and everything. But you can see, you know, the fruits
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of that are are about to pay off. You just hope that ownership's going
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to really maximize it and take advantage of it. Yep. Absolutely, all
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right, Well again, folks are talking to Chris Willis from Battery power dot
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Com covering the Atlanta Braves. So let's get into this Braves offseason and uh
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what it looks like in terms of expectations for Braves fans and what we as
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you know, NL East followers may be seeing from this team. Chris,
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I mean, let's start with pitching here, because Spencer Stryder, you know,
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he said the Braves are gonna need to change or improve the way they
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prepare and focus for the off season. So based on what Spencer, Spencer
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Strider has said here, I'm wondering what do you think he meant by that,
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and is that a reflection of any one person, perhaps a part of
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the team, a part of the staff, anyone in particular, collectively maybe
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as a unit. He was talking about what were your thoughts on Spencer Strider
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here and those comments that he made about the way they prepare and focus for
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the off season. Yeah, I mean I think he I thought they were
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interested in you know, the Braves are very methodical, is a way I
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would describe him. I mean, they come to spring training and their first
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goal is to win the division. You know, they do a great job,
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Bron Snicker does a great job of just folks sitting on the task at
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hand. They don't get too far ahead of themselves, they don't, you
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know, if they have a bad loss, they they they're able to flush
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it real quick and move on. But I agree kind of what uh Striter
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said. But in that, you know, I think he'd like to see
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a little bit more sense of urgency about him now after too first round upset,
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uh you know, losses. You know, I think I think the
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Phillies deserves a lot of credit, you know, in those in those two
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I don't want to get too far removed about what's wrong with the Braves,
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because Phillies had a lot to do with those those two first round exes obviously.
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But you know, I think Striter's strider is a very I don't think
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he's calling anybody out in particular, but I think he's looking at this roster
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and the way they've built it and the way they've spread their resources around that.
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You know, maybe you know, obviously you need to win the the
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DI vision, you need to get into the postseason first, but I think
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he's he's looking at it more as you know, it's World Series or bust
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for this team, really, you know, and and anything less than that
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should be unacceptable, and you know, and I think that's something something a
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lot of fans are going to agree with, you know, just after I
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mean, last year was a magical season, and I'm sure we're going to
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talk about that, but you know, it falls flat when you win one
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hundred and four games, set all those records, have an MVP, a
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unanimous MVP in your lineup, and then you go out in four games in
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the in the division series. So you know, I can see where he's
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coming from. Yeah, absolutely, because like you said, this Atlanta Braves
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team. As a Phillies fan, you know, I look at it and
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have been looking at it year after year and say, my gosh, I'm
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just hoping the Phillies are able to make a wild card spot. Because of
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the methodical way in which the Atlanta Braves have constructed this team and how things
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look for the future. They're not just looking for at one particular season like
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certain teams do out there. They are looking at the long term. They're
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looking at what they're doing within their farm system, how they're replenishing their farm
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system. It's a well oiled machine. And as a Phillies fan, that's
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something that's that really agitates me. I gotta tell you, Chriss. Of
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course, I'm kidding to an extent, but yeah, and I find this
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pitching situation with the Braves very very interesting, the starting pitching, the situation
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with the Braves very very interesting. As we're moving along here, you know,
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Strider and Max Freed, they're gonna be the top starting arms on the
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mound this coming season. Chris as we know, and behind them forty year
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old Charlie Morton, and they acquired Chris Sale as well. So I'm wondering,
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like, what are your thoughts on where this Braves starting pitching staff is
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at as we're looking at twenty twenty four. Are there any type of concerns
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or do you think they're just gonna just gonna just gonna roll. I think
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they're hoping for improvement in the rotation just for the fact that you know,
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Max Fried only made fourteen starts last year. Yeah, Kyle Right was even
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less than that obviously with shoulder injury. To me that it's amazing that they
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were able to win to the degree they did with the pitching injuries that they
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had. I mean, if you had told me going into season Max Freeed
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was gonna be in the only injury list three different separate times, Kyle writ
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was gonna miss most of the season, I would have told you they were
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gonna have to make a trade or it was gonna have a hard time getting
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there. Now, having a historic offense certainly helped, you know, offsets
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lutely, but I think I think they're looking for, you know, a
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little more full season out of freed Obviously, Chris Sale it's a gamble,
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but I think when you saw the price for starting pitching this offseason, I
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thought it was kind of an out of the box edition a little bit.
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You know, he wasn't somebody that I had on my Bengo card as being
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available in the first place. But he's a big game pitcher who's been in
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those spots before. He brings a little bit of an edge too, which
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goes along with what Spencer Strider is saying. I think the challenge for the
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Braves is just gonna be able to keep Charlie Morton, Chris Sale upright,
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Max free too, obviously, and you know, for the postseason. And
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you know that's the tough part because you know, I can't sit here and
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tell you the last two seasons that I felt like the Braves ran any pitcher
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into the ground. They've given extra days of they've you know, they've skipped
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starts, they've have incorporated other guys. You know, they've been very conservative.
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And still they've got the postseason and at least one pitcher has been ailing
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in some capacity. So you know, it's just it's just it's it's kind
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of a flip of the coin, you know. But we see, yeah,
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we see that in Major League Baseball a lot. You know, it's
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not not just with the Braves, whether it's Phillips, whether it's Dodgers.
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You know, it's it's the resiliency of the pitching staff. It's the resiliency
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of the team and how they go about addressing those injuries. You know,
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who steps up, who is able to contribute in this particular way or that
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way, And the Braves have been really been able to do that quite quite
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well. You said, the offense and the productivity that they had last year
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certainly helped with regard to that. However, they just are able to be
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a resilient pitching staff, and I think that says something for the organization too.
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Yeah, yeah, I mean, and you know they had guys step
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up, Bryce Elder. I mean, I guarantee you going into last season,
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they did not expect Brice Elder to have to three one hundred and seventy
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seven innings. You know, he wasn't expected to start in that in that
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division series. And then Charlie Morton gets hurt, you know, in one
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of the last starts of the year, and you know, I mean it's
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it's just one of those things. You got to be the playoffs. With
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the expanded postseason, I still feel like there's a little bit of luck involved
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in that. You need to be playing well, yep, you need to
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be healthy and you know, and and that's the recipe for setting up a
15:26
wrong a long run, because I mean, if you look at the twenty
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twenty one Braves, you know, obviously no kunya and know whatever, but
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they caught they caught lightning in a bottle, the same way the Phillies kind
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of caught lighting in the bottle the next year. And then you know the
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Diamondbacks, you know, Rangers last year. I mean, who who would
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have expected the Diamondbacks to have been in the World Series? Exactly? Exactly
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kills me. Don't bring it up, Chris, absolutely, it's it.
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My gosh. Anyway, that's a whole nother show. And actually fact we
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did that show just just a short time ago. But as we're moving along
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here, buddy, you know, sticking with the pitching, hoping to look
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at the bullpen now, have discussion about that, because the Braves did make
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some changes during this offseason. They made a bunch of changes. We're gonna
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see some pretty hard throwers here, Aaron Bummer, Rainaldo Lopez. And it's
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my understanding that Lopez could potentially be the fifth starter in the rotation. From
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some things that I've read here and there, how are you assessing what the
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Braves bullpen is going to potentially look like this coming season? Here? I
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think they looked at that Phillies model last year of you know, an endless
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parade of guys throwing ninety eight to one hundred, and said, you know,
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we've got to get back to that a little bit. You know.
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Yeah, the bullpen Lopez. I think they're going to give Lopez a chance
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to start. I wonder I still wonder if it's how long they're going to
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stick with that though, after they were able to get Chris Sale. You
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know, I think he makes this bullpen really dynamic, you know, with
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a real live arm. Yeah, they brought back Pierce Johnson, Joe Jimenez.
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You know, you've already got aj Minner right as El Iglacias there.
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You know, the bullpen's a little one thing they backed themselves into last year.
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They didn't have a lot of flexibility down there because it was filled with
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guys with no options. That's one thing they've kind of they've kind of cleared
17:15
out the bottom part of that now, so if they need to bring a
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fresh arm, they got a little more flexibility to do that. So,
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you know, I mean, on paper, it's it's impossible to really predict
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the bullpen because they're always so volatile as you you never know what you're gonna
17:30
get. Somebody's gonna get hurt. But I think the Braves have brought enough
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arms into this and have the flexibility now to bring guys up and down from
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Triple A that they're in a little bit better situation than they were last year.
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And you know, I think there's a little bit of angst in Atlanta
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because the Braves do spend on relievers, and you know, that's a an
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analytics standpoint, that's that's not a that's not something that you really want to
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do. But at the same time, it's worked for them twenty twenty one.
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Yeah, and they're gonna you know, and that's one thing I think
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we're one part of the industry zigs they're trying to zag and building that bullpen
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out is definitely a big part of that. I've seen the Braves as doing
18:11
some unconventional things here and there, and you actually just brought it up the
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investments in the bullpen to the extent that they've done that over the years,
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and I wonder if certain elements of Major League Baseball, certain teams and organizations,
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may try to replicate that even more in the future. I don't don't
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necessarily see it throughout as some sort of injury industry standard in terms of Major
18:33
League Baseball across the board, Chris, But I wonder do you think more
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teams are gonna say, hey, look, you know it's unconventional at times
18:40
what the Braves have done in terms of their investments in the bullpen, maybe
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we should start doing it too. Do you think we're gonna start seeing that
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a little more? I mean, it's hard to say. We'll see.
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I think the big thing is the velocity. I think you're gonna see You're
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gonna see a lot of a lot of high velocity bullpen. You know.
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I think the Braves have built a nasty bullpen for twenty twenty four. You
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know, some of those guys got two and three year deals. We'll see
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how those at age, because that, that to me is the is the
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is the question mark. You know, when you start locking relievers up for
19:07
long term like that, you know, what are you going to do?
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And the Braves have been really traditional in that Brian Snicker lies to have a
19:14
closer. He likes to have a designeady closer. But they'll mix a match
19:18
up and down. You know, from the sixth, fifth, sixth,
19:22
seventh to eight. You know that they can kind of play matchups. You
19:25
kind of know what you're gonna get in the nine, but you know,
19:29
getting there it changes daily, So you know, I think it's gonna be
19:32
interesting. I think the velocity is the thing, and I think the Phillies
19:34
really hit on it last year. And even if we were at Bracefast last
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weekend and those guys talked a lot about you know, the just the quality
19:42
arms that Philadelphia was able to bring in, and you know how hard it
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is to deal with velosity, especially when there's off days in between games where
19:49
those guys have a chance to catch the breath. And I really do I
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think that the I think that's a blueprint that the Braids tried to copy this
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offseason. Again, folks talking Chris Willis from Battery power dot com. They're
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doing really good work down there in terms of MLB coverage. Atlanta Braves coverage
20:07
again Battery power dot com and follow Chris on Twitter at Chris Underscore. Willis
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He's a great, great follow and so close us out here. I guess
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the million dollar question, Chris is whether or not the Braves offense can really
20:19
replicate and do what they did last season. We've kind of, you know,
20:23
touched on it a little bit here during our conversation. I mean,
20:26
they got a lot of guys and familiar faces coming back to the batter's box.
20:32
So do you think they'll have similar output at the plate like they did
20:36
in twenty twenty three this coming season? Why or why not? I Mean
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it's scary to think about. I mean, we kind of got to the
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end of last season it was like, well, what are you guys gonna
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do for an encore man. I mean it's hard to say here and say,
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yeah, hey, you know you're gonna have another season where you hit
20:49
three hundred plus home runs. Everybody's gonna stay healthy. I mean, you
20:53
look at Ronaldcunya. To me, that's one of the in terms of Braves,
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that has to be one of the best seasons in franchise history, top
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to bottom. I mean you get caught up on the homers and the stolen
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bases, and then you look and you see, oh, well he set
21:07
a franchise record for runs scored, and then you're looking, oh, he's
21:11
gonna get two hundred hits. He's hitting three thirty seven. The thing I
21:14
will say about him, I mean, I can't expect reasonably expect anybody to
21:18
have another season like that. I mean, you know, he was so
21:21
dominant. But then you look at the advanced metrics, and I mean he
21:23
outperformed his expected weighted on base by I mean he underperformed it, underperformed it,
21:30
I'm sorry, by a pretty wide gap. You know. So who
21:33
knows with him, I mean, fifty to fifty might be realistic. You
21:37
know, you just hope that he stays healthy and just sit back and enjoy
21:40
it. Matt Olson had a tremendous season. I think he had the kind
21:44
of season that a lot of people were expecting that first seaton, first year
21:48
coming over from Oakland. He's relaxed. Now. I don't know that he's
21:51
going to hit fifty four homers again, but I think somewhere between thirty five
21:53
and forty is is fair. You know, I think this is a really
21:59
good offense. I don't know, you know, I don't know that they're
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gonna be a record breaking offense. Just because how often does that come about?
22:06
You know, I think it's hard to project predict, but I do
22:08
think they're one of the better offenses in the majors and it's gonna be really
22:14
interesting to see just you know, what they can do after reaching last year's
22:18
hots. ZENL East is going to be very very interesting, as you were
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saying here, Chris, and again, folks, Chris Willis from Battery power
22:26
dot Com. Buddy, it is great talking to you. I love having
22:30
you come on the podcast platform here and on our opposition Territory shows every now
22:34
and again. Come back join us down the road. But talk more baseball.
22:37
I'd love to my friend, Yeah, anytime you just let me know.
22:41
Baseball is around the corner, folks. Yes, I my gosh,
22:45
I'm so pumped after this conversation with Chris in terms of what we're gonna see
22:48
in the NL East, I mean, specifically with the Braves, specifically with
22:52
the Phillies. I mean, I have a feeling these two organizations and teams
22:55
are just gonna be battling it out throughout the course of the season. Again,
22:57
I mean, so much comes down to injuries, as we know in
23:00
baseball, and we kind of touched on it. You know how teams are
23:03
able to be resilient when those injuries occur. It's always something we got to
23:07
keep in the back of our minds in terms of baseball baseball season in general.
23:11
So it's going to do it for us here on opposition Territory. I
23:15
hope you enjoyed. If you are new to listening to the Philadelphia Sports Table
23:18
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23:22
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23:26
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23:30
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23:33
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23:37
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23:41
on our regular show that's uploaded Thursdays, and we'll respond to it as well.
23:47
So that being said, folks, you all take care. We'll catch
23:49
you next time.