Latest / Foul Territory / How are the Braves 0-7? Will Acuña rush back? Grant McAuley joins FT

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How are the Braves 0-7? Will Acuña rush back? Grant McAuley joins FT · Foul Territory

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Despite having a great core signed up long term, you're
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: a move or two away from maybe putting this club
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: over the top. And I think that's what's so difficult
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: for people to look at and say, why wouldn't you
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: do that?
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: Get ready for this one. Grant McCauley joining us is
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: super dialed in on the Atlanta Braves, Braves reporter for
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: ninety two nine, the game host of his show from
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: the Diamond, among other gigs as well. You can catch
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: them all over the Atlanta scene. Grant, we spoke about
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: a week ago, I was on your show, But since then,
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: the Braves have lost seven games on the West Coast
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: to start their season. Where do we begin?
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: That's a great question, and I don't know that there's
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: one correct answer for it either, because it seems like
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: if it could go wrong, it has gone wrong. And
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: then some for this Brave's club. But they're not hitting.
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: Obviously that's a huge problem. It's hard to win games
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: when you don't score runs. I think the pitching has
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: some definite holes in it. They're an Oldo Lopez. Injury
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: only makes that worse. And then you have the jerks
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: and profar of it all. So as far as script
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: or conjuring up the worst possible start for a club.
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: Oh and by the way, you played two of the
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: best teams in baseball as well out West, and you
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: haven't been home and what feels like about six weeks,
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: two months, whatever it is. Yeah, you can pretty much
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: look at all these points and say it doesn't add
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: up to anything good for the Braves.
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: You know what the good news is, though, who do
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: they play today or tomorrow?
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: Excuse nobody today, so they can't lose today, So that's.
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: Also good news. But I'm talking about who do they
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: play tomorrow? Yeah?
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: No, I know the Marlins are coming into town. They'll
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: have their home opener. Maybe that'll give them some extra juices.
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: On the back side of that, though, you get the Phillies.
• 1:33
  Speaker 4: No, but listen, in twenty sixteen, we started to nine.
• 1:36
  Speaker 4: Guess that we beat the Indus streak in not tie
• 1:38
  Speaker 4: history the Miami Marlins.
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: So here we go, here we go. Now they can
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: lose three and get to ten. That'll be really bad.
• 1:45
  Speaker 4: But no team has ever made the playoffs after starting
• 1:47
  Speaker 4: oh to seven. Certain people named Ken Rosenthal picked the
• 1:50
  Speaker 4: Braves to win the World Series. I would never do
• 1:52
  Speaker 4: that because that seems crazy now, But can they rebound
• 1:55
  Speaker 4: enough to make even make a run at the playoffs
• 1:57
  Speaker 4: because Owen seven is a large hole.
• 1:59
  Speaker 3: To they got them.
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it definitely is. And I think everybody's seen the
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: stat now that no team has started Owen seven and
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: then gone on to go to the playoffs. In fact,
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: I've seen even more stats than only a handful of them.
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: Of the twenty eight teams that have ever started out
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: Owens seven for a season have even gotten over five hundred.
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: So there's a steep hill to climb, There's no two
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: ways about it. And I don't know how it slipped
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: my mind. You were around for twenty sixteen. That was
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: a club that was in the midst of trying to
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: rebuild itself. Meanwhile, this is a club that, as you
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: just pointed out, has World Series expectations, aspirations and all
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: of that. Is a very different scene for them. So
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: can they rebound? Yes, because I think there are more
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: talented teams than they're playing, like, that's a pretty obvious statement.
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: They're gonna get Ronald Lacuna Junior back, They're gonna get
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: Spencer Strider back, they may have Sean Murphy back by
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: next week. That could help as well. But they've got
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: to start hitting, and I think that's been the real
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: question year over year for this club. They pitched lights
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: out a year ago. I think the pitching can be
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: good this year, expecting it to be what it was
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: last year. Maybe a bit much, but you got Austin Riley,
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: Mattels and Marcelo Zuna, Michael Harris, Ozzy albs add A
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: Kunya back in there. Even without Profar. This lineup has
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: serious teeth, but it has been if you're part of
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: the pun pretty much toothless for much of this year,
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: and that's just not going to play. Even getting up
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: on the Dodgers in that finale trying to avoid the
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: H to seven, they still weren't really able to take
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: advantage of all the opportunities that they had, and it
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: ended up being pretty costly.
• 3:20
  Speaker 5: I know it's the lineup right now, not scoring runs
• 3:22
  Speaker 5: all that stuff. Maybe we'll get to the lineup. But
• 3:24
  Speaker 5: do you feel like this pitching staff when they built
• 3:28
  Speaker 5: this team, whether it was ownership, you know, denying them
• 3:31
  Speaker 5: money to be able to build this pitching staff, do
• 3:34
  Speaker 5: you feel like they kind of hoped they would do
• 3:36
  Speaker 5: good or is this just another the Braves always churn
• 3:40
  Speaker 5: out because this is what I said before, Braves always
• 3:43
  Speaker 5: churn out pitching no matter who it is. You can
• 3:45
  Speaker 5: look in recent history Schwellenbach, Smith Shaber. You have Bryce
• 3:48
  Speaker 5: Elder was an All Star. I know he fell off
• 3:50
  Speaker 5: some Ian Anderson was the was the hero for the
• 3:53
  Speaker 5: World Series. Were they just hoping or do they really
• 3:57
  Speaker 5: have a plan with what this pitching staff's going to
• 3:59
  Speaker 5: be Strider comes back?
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean that's obviously up for debate and critique
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: at this point. Because they went over the offseason, I think,
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: knowing that they had some definite needs there, they pursued
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: Jeff Hoffman. They backed out of that deal. I think
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: the Orioles did as well. They turned their attention to
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: Tanner Scott, who at least would have helped the bullpen
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: that lost aj Mentor and Joe Jimenez may not pitch
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: this year, so that was kind of a double whammy.
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: And then there really wasn't a Plan C or Plan D.
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: And I know you're not trying to force deals and
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: signed players to contracts. It maybe you don't see the
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: fit or it doesn't make sense, but is there nothing
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: else out there? And I know it's hard to trade
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: when your farm system has really been used a lot
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: as trade capital of the past few years and you
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: don't have the kind of prospects that you had a
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: few years ago. But I think that's kind of the
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: question that I would come back to, is was this
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: a case of At the start of the off season,
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: Alex Antopolos said, Look, payroll has gone up every year
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: that I've been here. We anticipate that that could be
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: the case this year. Again, we anticipate that. I don't
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: know if expectation is the same thing as anticipation, but
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: they got to be neighbors at least, and that just
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: didn't happen far. Signing was what two to three weeks
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: before spring training, So to that point, I think a
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: lot of Braves fans were looking around wondering, are we
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: going to do anything this offseason besides hope and besides
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: Wade on Ron Lacuney Junior and Spencer Strider to get back.
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: So yeah, I think this is going to be an
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: ongoing debate about what could have been done over the offseason,
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: why wasn't it done? Because the Braves very profitable. The
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: battery is quite a popular scene and has helped them
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: print money the past few years. You want to see
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: that go back into the product. And even with a
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: top ten payroll, which they do have and they didn't always,
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: they're still room to I think invest more in this club.
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: Despite having a great core signed up long term, you're
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: a move or two away from maybe putting this club
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: over the top. And I think that's what's so difficult
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: for people to look at and say, why wouldn't you
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: do that?
• 5:43
  Speaker 4: We asked that about a lot of teams. Grant trust me,
• 5:45
  Speaker 4: why wouldn't you do that? But the answer is nobody
• 5:47
  Speaker 4: knows except for the owner.
• 5:49
  Speaker 3: So I don't know.
• 5:49
  Speaker 4: Maybe one day, when you own a team, we can
• 5:52
  Speaker 4: I can be your co owner and we can make
• 5:54
  Speaker 4: the moves that we want to make to try.
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: To make people happy. If that happens, it'd be awesome.
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: I love it.
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: I'd love it.
• 6:00
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• 6:03
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• 6:16
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• 6:19
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• 6:23
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• 7:00
  Speaker 4: We're talking pitching. You're talking pitching and the injuries and
• 7:02
  Speaker 4: the pitching and win Stryder come back. But what about
• 7:04
  Speaker 4: the offense. The offense has been awful. They weren't very good. Lad,
• 7:08
  Speaker 4: here's the thing. The offense wasn't great last year either.
• 7:11
  Speaker 4: So this is now going on two years in a
• 7:13
  Speaker 4: row after historic years of you know, these young guys
• 7:17
  Speaker 4: coming out and playing and doing all these things, and
• 7:19
  Speaker 4: then the last couple of years, the offense has been
• 7:21
  Speaker 4: offensive and they haven't scored a lot of runs. And
• 7:24
  Speaker 4: I did the game in San Diego and at the time,
• 7:26
  Speaker 4: I think they made it to like one for thirty
• 7:27
  Speaker 4: something with runners in score position right, And they scored
• 7:31
  Speaker 4: five runs last night, but they were all unearned. I
• 7:33
  Speaker 4: believe they were all Dodger mistakes. So where's the offense.
• 7:36
  Speaker 4: Where's Austin Riley? Where's all of these I know Acune
• 7:39
  Speaker 4: is out, but where's Olsen?
• 7:40
  Speaker 3: Where?
• 7:41
  Speaker 4: Where are these guys that you know that they've been
• 7:43
  Speaker 4: counting Michael Harris, where the heck is he? These guys
• 7:45
  Speaker 4: they've counted on for years they've built their core on.
• 7:47
  Speaker 3: Where'd it go?
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: I think outside of Marcelo Zuna, it's pretty fair to
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: question the last you know, year plus of this club
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: because they simply have not performed. Even before Acuna got
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: hurt a year ago, he was having an incredibly down year.
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: I think he had what two home runs heading to
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: the last week of May. That wasn't the guy that
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: went forty seventy And he's not even back yet. So
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: we'll put him in a box over to the side,
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: because he should make this club better. But Michael Harris,
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: Austin Riley, Matt Olson, I mean, Ozzy Alb's. The list
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: goes on. These are guys you expect to be rum
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: producers and they weren't a year ago. And the Braves
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: they made this change at hitting coach, and you know,
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: you guys played, You've got a much more you know,
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: intimate look at how this stuff works. I'm sure changing
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: the message and the voice and the delivery and looking
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: into other things can be helpful, but I don't think
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: you can lay it at the feet of the hitting
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: coach and you know, point at him and say, look,
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: all these guys forgot how to hit, and it's your fault.
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: I don't really know what the answer, though, is. Besides,
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: I know that pressing is certainly natural. I talked to
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: Austin Riley, matt Olsen a few guys last year throughout
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: the course of the season, and they said, look, we
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: all want to be the guy that comes up with
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: a hit that wins the game, that wins the series,
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: that turns our season around. But you can't do it
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: every single bat, and you can't take that up there
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: with you. I feel like they almost have to be
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: kind of minimalist, if that's possible. I know, this is
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: a game that will just beat you down when you're
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: carrying this around with you. But that, I think, as
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: much as anything, is the problem because physically they're in
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: the prime of their careers. So it doesn't really make
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: any sense to watch everybody slump or fall off to
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: this degree, to regress to this degree for as long
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: as they have.
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: How much of a bummer is the Profar news? And
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: what was your reaction when you saw that, as well
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: as the reaction from Braves country, Because this guy had
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: a ton of success last year. It was by far
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: the best year of his life in baseball, and Braves
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: fans don't have the connection to him. You know, Padres
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: fans fell in love with Profar last year. But it's
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: not like Braves fans are going to be defending any
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: iota of what just happened.
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: Right, No, No, he doesn't have that kind of equity
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: with this club. But I mean, I will say when
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: he came in and spring training, that first impression that
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: everybody got of him was, Hey, this guy's part of
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: the solution. You know, I know that the vibe that
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: he brought to the club was energetic, was upbeat, was
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: the kind of thing that you're feeling like, Okay, we
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: want to energize this club a little bit. We need
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: somebody to help us out at lead off with no
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: Ron Lakuny Junior and Alexandoppolos said this on the record
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: several times. When they identified hitters over the course of
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: the winner that they liked, it was obviously Juan Soto
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: and then a large gap, and then they felt like
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: Jerkson Profar was maybe that guy to circle back to
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: depending on how his market shook out. They got that
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: deal done clearly. I think there's some buyer beware when
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: an over thirty player, you know, breaks out or has
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: that career year and you kind of wonder, well, can
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: he replicate that? But they felt like all the advanced metrics,
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: the underlying data said sure, we think he can, and
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: a three year deal makes sense. And then something like
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: this happens, and now I don't know what kind of
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: player you're truly getting, and I think it's fair to question.
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: And this has been going on for a long time
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: and a jerks and profile is not the only guy
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: that's gotten himself into this kind of hot water. But
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: I don't know really. You know, if there's a way
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: to get over this very quickly, it's going to be
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: a very steep hill for him to climb to kind
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: of win back the club that he hasn't been a
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: part of for very long. But yeah, I think for
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: fans watching a club you struggle to score as much
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: as this team did and then lose a guy that's
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: supposed to be part of the fix for this team,
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: it's an extra level of frustration that I don't think
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: they're going to get over anytime soon.
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: Because this is such a bad start, and I don't
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: want to go too hard on the history grant because
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: we have three wildcard teams these days, so it's not
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: impossible for the Braves to go zero to seven and
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: then bounce back. You and I spoke about this. I
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: said two and five, maybe even one in six on
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: this trip, and I'm like, I'm still not going to
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: be worried. I am not too concerned yet. I'm with aj.
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: I think they could beat up the Marlins this weekend.
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: My question is, though, do you think that they speed
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: up the Ronald d'acunya junior rehab process because they feel
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: like they might have to get them back sooner to
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: win a few extra games to sneak into the playoffs.
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: I know it's super early, but these are seven losses
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: and it's a very competitive National League. The Padres look
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: like they're going to be better than many anticipated, The
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: Giants look like they could be better than anticipated. These
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: are all potential wild card contenders with Atlanta. So do
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: you think that they will look at this and say,
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: we're being so cautious with Akunya, but he is, so
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: let's get his bat back in the damn lineup.
• 12:03
  Speaker 3: Yeah?
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: I wish, or I think and I'm sure that they
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: wish that there was a clearer path to bring him back.
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: But your DH is Marcelo Azuna. He's your best hitter.
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: Do you dare maybe put him in the outfield some
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: which he by the way, hasn't played and going on
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: two years? Do you want to roll the dice and
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: put him out there? What if something happens to Marcel
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: and then he gets hurt and now you're without Azuna
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: and Acuna wasn't all the way back, So we could
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: probably come up with a lot of what if scenarios.
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: But if that dhpot was open, I think they might
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: be more open to that idea, but the fact is
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: they need him to come back and be the regular
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: right fielder. He said, Physically he was ninety ninety five
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: percent when he showed up for spring training, but he's
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: just now looking to get cleared for the running drills.
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: He needs to do more outfield work and then obviously
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: the rehab assignment. So, to make a long story short
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: as I can, I just don't see them pushing his
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: timetable up by very much. But if he physically checks
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: all the boxes and passes all the tests and feels
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: like he's ready and he can make the team better,
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: I think at that point you do have to kind
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: of look around and say, Okay, well why not because
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: the alternative is just kind of churning through a lot
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: of fourth and fifth outfielder types, and I don't think
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: that's gonna help energize the offense the way that an
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: MVP caliber player like Ronald Lacuna Junior certainly could both
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: on the field and also I think the momentum that
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: he could bring with him to just kind of lift
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: the spirits of this club at a time where they
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: could very much use all that they can get.
• 13:19
  Speaker 5: Do you think Brian Snitker is going to be the
• 13:22
  Speaker 5: manager again next year.
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: That's a really good question, and I've gotten that one
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: a lot, and I've kind of wondered about it. I mean,
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: next year would be fifty years in the Braves organization.
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: Does he need that to cap it all off? No,
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: but it's a nice round number. I kind of wondered
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: if this might be his last year, just based on
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: the last couple of seasons and how trying twenty twenty
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: four was. But then they got knocked out of the
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: playoffs and the first thing he said was I can't
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: wait to be back at spring training, and that's it's
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: just who he is. So I wouldn't be surprised if
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: he does decide at some point this year, especially if
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: things kind of continue to spiral or go out of control.
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: If he doesn't make that decision himself, but one more
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: year and beyond that, I think you're probably looking at
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: that transitional period and they're looking at a new perhaps
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: a new manager at that point. So I know that's
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: a really long answer to say. I don't know, but
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: it's just hard to tell right now. I think that
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: how this season plays out might inform that decision. A
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: lot for Brian Snicker at this stage in his life.
• 14:16
  Speaker 3: Grant I asked him this on Saturday.
• 14:18
  Speaker 4: I asked him, I said, hey, I was sitting with
• 14:20
  Speaker 4: Snitt and who I played for, and I said, hey,
• 14:22
  Speaker 4: you know, what do you think? And he gave the
• 14:25
  Speaker 4: exact answer. I don't know, but I know this. He
• 14:28
  Speaker 4: did say, the fifty years does mean something. So you
• 14:31
  Speaker 4: can say doesn't mean anything, why does it matter? But
• 14:33
  Speaker 4: think about fifty years in one organization, the only organization
• 14:38
  Speaker 4: Brian Sticker has ever known.
• 14:40
  Speaker 3: Fifty years with that organization. Yeah, and think about it.
• 14:44
  Speaker 4: He's going to be part of the organization one way
• 14:46
  Speaker 4: or the other. But he's been fifty years on the
• 14:49
  Speaker 4: field with this organization, not just fifty years in the
• 14:52
  Speaker 4: organization on a field. So I think that does mean
• 14:54
  Speaker 4: something to him. Do I think it's enough to make
• 14:57
  Speaker 4: him come back.
• 14:58
  Speaker 3: I don't know.
• 14:58
  Speaker 4: He also at the same time was like, I want
• 15:00
  Speaker 4: to see my grandkids play and I want to spend
• 15:01
  Speaker 4: time with my family. I've never got to travel at O.
• 15:04
  Speaker 4: There's places I want to do, things I want to do.
• 15:05
  Speaker 4: So I don't know, but I think in some capacity
• 15:08
  Speaker 4: he'll make the fifty years, Whether it's you know, special
• 15:11
  Speaker 4: assistant or whatever it is, or manager. I think it's
• 15:13
  Speaker 4: kind of going to be up to him unless they go,
• 15:15
  Speaker 4: oh in one sixty two, which I don't think is
• 15:17
  Speaker 4: going to happen.
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: Yeah, no, I don't think that's going to happen. But
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: think about this start for Brian Snitger as far as
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: the managing coaching side is concerned. His playing career was
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: just a few years and then Hank Aaron calls him
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: up and says, hey, we think a lot of you
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: would you like to join an organization as a coach.
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: I mean, that's how far back his history goes, how
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: deep those roots are. Obviously all the time he spent
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: under Bobby Cox, He's managed or coached at virtually every
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: level and every affiliate the Braves have had for that
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: fifty years or played there. So I would think that
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: fifty's pretty meaningful for him. But you know, I know
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: he does love being a grandfather, a husband, and you know,
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: like everybody, he'd probably like to take a vacation when
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: it's warm outside. So we'll see what happens.
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's true. Grant. Great to have you as always,
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: and we'll see if things improved this weekend for the Bravos.
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: Check out Grant on Twitter and follow all of his
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: shows and everything that he does at Grant McCaulay on Twitter.
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: Thank you, Grant, Thanks guys, Always a pleasure.