Latest / Sports Avenue Twisted Podcast / SATP Ep.42 feat. Shawn Coleman

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SATP Ep.42 feat. Shawn Coleman · Sports Avenue Twisted Podcast

0:27
Welcome to another edition of the Sports Ave.
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Twisted podcast. We have a special guest in here
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who has the expertise of covering the braids on the
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Hammer territory. Sean Coleman, welcome to the
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show. We appreciate you being here
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just to let the world know what you do and everything else.
0:44
Hey, thanks for having me guys. Pleasure talking with you all.
0:47
Looking forward to talking. Well, I'll take this back.
0:50
I'm glad to be here to talk Braves with y'all.
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Don't know how much I'm looking forward to it as of right now
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so. Well, thanks for joining us
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today, man. We're excited and honored to
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have you and you've been highly recommended.
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So and, and love the work you do with the Braves and we're just
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excited to get talking Braves with you.
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And I know that you say you're not really too excited about
1:14
what's going on with the Braves, but, you know, we'll talk about
1:17
it anyway. That sounds good.
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OK, Let's just this thing started here.
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So the first question we want to ask you here, we knew the Braves
1:26
had a tough schedule to start the year.
1:28
We don't have to go into detail about that, But they've been
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very streaky up and down and it's been such a weird baseball
1:35
year for a lot of teams. So when you look at your team
1:39
right now, while you could talk about the beginning and you
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could talk about where they're at right now, like how do you
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look at the whole process where the Braves are at?
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Well, the the main thing is is that, you know, we had kind of
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hoped, you know, coming on, but we'll start, you know, a few
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years ago in 2023, the Braves, obviously their offense was
1:58
historic, especially when it came to hitting home runs.
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They tied the all time record, the 19 Twins, the 2019 Twins
2:05
with the most team homers in the season.
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And then we fall off in 2024 when it came to hitting homers.
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I know that there's a lot of talk and even some confirmation
2:14
that you know the ball, just not as traveling as far homers or
2:18
not as as likely of an outcome as they were even two years ago.
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So in April 2024, our offense, you know, still looks pretty
2:27
good, but as soon as the calendar hit May of 2024, our
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ability to hit home runs just became a lot more inconsistent.
2:35
And so that put more of a spotlight on our ability to
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drive in runs without hitting the Homer.
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And that is where this team struggles and they struggle
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badly. Last year for May 1st on we were
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very bad it in terms of, you know, producing with runners in
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scoring position. Some of that had to do with some
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of our worst hitters being up a bit more frequently than other
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teams. The other thing is, is that we
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just had a high strikeout rate. Some of our best hitters struck
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out quite a bit, you know, when it came to trying to drive in
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runs. And so our offense cannot
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consistently score above four runs even though our pitching
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was good. If you're not going to win a lot
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of games when you're averaging, you know, around four runs per
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game. And the thing the story of this
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season so far is that it's come right back over since May 1st,
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our pitching has been one of the best in baseball, but we're
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averaging 4.1 run per game. The middle of our order, which
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is if you combine the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th spots in the lineup,
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it's it's one of the five worst part of the orders in baseball
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when it comes to driving in runs.
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And of course, again, when we're not hitting home runs, we just
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are not putting runs up on the scoreboard.
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And the even more concerning thing now is that you've got
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more than a year's worth of proof.
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This has been a struggle for our offense, despite the fact that
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we have Ronald Acuna junior, who's otherworldly right now
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being at the top of the order. So it's it's the inability to
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score runs are starting pitching has been just fine.
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Our bullpen is significantly worse than it's been in the
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past. So if you've got an offense
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that's not scoring runs consistently, plus a bullpen
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that's going to be prone to a potential blow up, it's hard to
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put consider consistent wins. And that's why we found
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ourselves 8-9 games below 500 and very unlikely to make
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playoffs at this point. You mentioned about the lineup
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and you know, usually you have a top five lineup in baseball when
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you look at it on paper, you know, got all these great
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hitters, you know, like you mentioned Acuna, Matt Olson,
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Ozzy Alby's and you know, Drake Baldwin's been killing it and
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you know, you got Matt Olson of course.
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So what's been would you say is, is, and you said you touched on
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the biggest issue, but just individually what what's going
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on with a lot of these hitters that they're the reason for
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their struggles And do you feel like a change is needed, like a
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little bit of a shake up maybe? A shake up, I don't necessarily
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think a shake up is needed to be done just for the sake of doing
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1. Like you know, it, it, it, it
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doesn't make a lot of sense to me to, to trade away an asset
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that you know for an asset just you that you don't know just
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because it's a different asset. What it comes down to is it
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comes down to a few of our best hitters have been streaky and
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then our second tier hitters have kind of plateaued.
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Matt Olson as well as Austin Riley, they have been very
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streaky. Now the hope is is that we're
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getting into the summer months, typically between June 15th and
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August 15th on an annual basis. Austin Riley's one of the best
5:41
centers in baseball. Matt Olson does the same thing
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in July and August. You've seen both of them.
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You know, Matt Olson recently has been on a pretty good hot
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streak, but yet the streakiness of those two makes it less
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likely that they're going to both be on for an extended
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period of time, which is what we really need right now.
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So that's hurting us. And then for Ozzy Alby's and
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Michael Harris, the second, both of them have just been awful
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offensively. You know, they they've trended
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towards being one of the worst at their specific positions in
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baseball offensively when you expect so much more out of them.
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And it's because they've plateaued.
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Michael Harris the second cannot walk and he and he swings it too
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many pitches outside of the zone.
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Ozzy Alby's has shown a bit more plate discipline, but he's done
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far less in the in the he's done far less this season than in the
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past when it comes to his contact.
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His bad is slowed down, he's popping up more.
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He's just not doing nearly as much damage as he did in the
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past when it comes to count when it comes to contact.
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So all that put together and plus our left field and
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shortstop situations have not improved at all.
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You put all that together and that's more than half of your
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lineup where you're talking about inconsistency more than
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you are, you know, significant production.
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And that leads to, you know, our offense being league average
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when runners aren't on base and very bad when runners are on
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base. So it's just up and down the
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lineup. It's streakiness.
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It's not meeting expectations because of plateauing and just
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not getting hardly any offensive production at all.
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And left field and shortstop. So the next question I want to
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ask you is something that happened in the offseason.
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And Kevin Seitzer was the heading coach of this team for a
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few years, obviously with the connection with Alex and
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thoughtless being in Toronto. But they surprisingly fired him
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and they hired Tim Hires who came from the Texas Rangers
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organization. When you look at a guy like him,
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and I think he's a Georgia guy, I believe Tim Hires.
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So how do you how do you look at this?
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Like do you think it has to be like a certain change of what
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Tim Hires has done because he's won a World Series with the
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Rangers and thinking that they could structure and try to work
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things out. But like you said, the offense
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has been fluctuating on a on a weekly basis.
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So what are your thoughts on that hitting staff?
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I think the hitting staff, it just kind of goes to show that,
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yeah, so last year change was needed.
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You know, the offense fell off. We had had our stat, we had had
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our coaching staff together for quite a bit of time.
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I felt that a new voice was needed.
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And I know Kevin Seitzer has gone to Seattle.
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He's had some initial success. I think they've fallen off a
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bit. But he's, you know, had some
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good work with with Kyle Raleigh and then and others.
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But but overall, I think Seattle's probably falling off a
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bit. I think Tim Hires was a fine
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hire. I don't necessarily think that
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he needs to go anywhere as of right now.
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I just think it comes on the players.
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It really does come on the players when you have as many
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significant sources of talent in the Braves lineup.
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It just comes to them needing to make the changes that they need
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to make and staying with them in order to be able to get the job
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done. And right now, we just do not
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have the consistency from several spots in our lineup of
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putting good at bats together. You know, I didn't mention
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Marcelo Ozuna earlier, but you know, he walked a ton to start
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the season, but now it almost seems as if that's made his
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approach to passive. Plus he's probably a bit limited
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when it comes to his hip, even if he speaks to it or not.
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But the point that I'm getting at is, is that yes, the hitting
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coach has an impact, But if you've gone from one hitting
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coach who was considered one of the best in the game to another
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who's considered one of the best in the game, yet you still have
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the same offensive issues. Sure, they need to be more
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effective and adjustments being made, but in general, it's just
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our hitters right now are not doing their job.
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So either we need to alter expectations from what we once
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thought they would be, or it's a whole organizational change of
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how we need to approach our offensive output.
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You touched on Ozzy Albee's a little bit.
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He's really struggled this season to a tune of 6/6/19 OPS,
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I believe, which just isn't Ozzy Albee's.
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He's considered one of the best offensive second baseman in the
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game and for whatever reason, he hasn't been able to get going
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this season ever since, really ever since his wrist injury last
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year. I think it is a 228 average.
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He only has six home runs, 25 RBI.
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So why do you think he struggled this year?
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What have you noticed from his play is his mechanics is
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swaying. What's he doing differently this
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season then? Or sorry, what's he not doing
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differently this season that he's done in the past?
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It's been so successful. It's the quality of contact.
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You know, there are several stats out there that you can
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look at that show that overall, when it comes to Ozzy Alby's,
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his performance this year, he's just not getting the same
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quality of contact. It's slower bat speed.
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It's not getting as many barrels.
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The hard hit percentage is not there.
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He's not hitting as many line drives.
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And it just over the years, you also have a player, his
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discipline, his his walks are a bit up this year, but you also
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have a player who is now, you know, put together over 550 at
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bats for what, 5 plus seasons? Plenty of these pitchers have
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seen Ozzy Abby's enough to know what works against him or what
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works effectively against him to allow for him to be productive
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offensively. And if he doesn't take a lot of
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walks, they're not going to give him a lot of pitches to hit.
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So they're going to be able to take advantage of it.
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So I just think overall it's a bit slower that speed.
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It may have a little bit to do with the wrist injury, but his
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approach this year is just not leading to the same quality of
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contact. So even if he is making contact,
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it's still playing right into the pitcher's hands because it's
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going to lead to outs more effectively than it usually
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does. But yeah, ever since 2023 when
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he hit those 33 home runs, he's fallen off significantly.
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And when you look at a lot of the offensive metrics that the
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underlying stats as they call them, there's not a lot of
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encouraging signs there. It's just his overall quality of
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contact when he does hit the ball is nowhere near where it
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was two years ago. The next question I want to ask
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you is about the rotation and they've been pretty decent right
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now even though you guys lost free for Freed for all that
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money, he's the highest paid left-handed pitcher in MLB
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history and understanding with Alex and stuff, he was not going
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to do that deal because he has guys in the system.
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But look currently, look at the rotation right now, Spencer
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Strider, he's starting to come into form again.
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He had a hell of a game yesterday.
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Shout out to Grant Holmes, man, like what a story that he's been
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through in his career and he's he's settled in so greatly for
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the for the Braves 15 strikeouts.
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I believe today. Bryce Elder, he's been up.
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He had a great game, but has struggled a bit up and down.
12:17
Chris Sale rating Sion winner and I think the guy who has the
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most upside in that rotation, Spencer Schwalenbach, like talk
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in depth about that rotation of where it stands.
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Yeah, it's, it's to me, it's a top 10 rotation in baseball and
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it's a rotation that if we were to make the playoffs that sells
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Strider and Swellenbach combination would be highly
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effective. You know, you would have you
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would feel pretty good about yourself in a playoff series
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with that rotation. Yeah, it remains among the best
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in baseball. It proved to be that last year.
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It's proved to be that so far this year.
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And you know, you mentioned Max Freed.
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That's kind of the reason probably why Alex Anthropolis
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didn't want to spin that 218,000,000.
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Now Freed has been worth every penny of it so far for of the
12:58
Yankees. He may start for the American
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League in Atlanta in the All Star Game.
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So kudos to him. All the credit to him and he
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certainly has proven to be worth it.
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But the starting staff is the strength of our team.
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It's crazy to admit that. It's crazy to admit that we went
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from less than two years ago being a historically good
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offense to where the identity of our team ever since then has
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been our starting rotation. But it remains strong.
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Chris Sale is is right up there, I think in the top five of Sion
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conversations this year. Ever since May 1st, he's been
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highly effective. Spencer Swellenbach is right in
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the ship. He may be in some All Star
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conversations. Grant Holmes has been a bit of a
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revelation. He stepped up and done his job.
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Obviously won't get into too much detail today, but 15
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strikeouts, I know it was against the Rockies, but he's
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been very good. Spencer Strider's had some
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struggles since he's come back from his internal brace surgery,
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basically a version of Tommy John, but he's been, he didn't
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quite well yesterday. So our starting staff is the
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strength of our team. It's the quality of our team.
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It is the one part of our team that truly, when you look, you
13:58
could see this being not only a playoff team, but a team that
14:00
could have success in the playoffs, and I think that's
14:03
going to remain consistent. So even if this year doesn't
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work out as we had hoped it would with how young Strider and
14:08
Swellenbach are and how effective Sell remains, I still
14:11
think that that's a reason why you look at this year and say if
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it doesn't work out, that's fine.
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We still feel good about our pitching rotation for a few more
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years and I think that it's the strength of this team at this
14:21
point. Raves have had some pretty nasty
14:27
injuries this year, derailed them from the get go with
14:30
Reynaldo Lopez done for the season.
14:33
They started the season without Strider and Acuna who are back
14:36
now. Kunas killing it.
14:38
Strider really hasn't looked himself until you know, he's
14:41
starting to look back in the form yesterday after getting 13
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strikeouts just looked really good against the Rockies and
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Nacho Alvarez is starting to rehab too.
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Yet AJ Smith, shaver with the torn UCO is done for the year
14:56
days. Bell Hernandez, a right forearm
14:58
inflammation. Stewart Fairchild dislocated
15:01
pinky. Joe Jimenez had left knee
15:03
surgery and then to add on, add on to it yet Jerks and Profar
15:08
who had an 80 game suspension. It just seemed like everything
15:11
snowballed for you guys right off the get go.
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So my question to you is, did you believe that a lot of that
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had to do with a lot of the underperformance and what's gone
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on this year or is it just, you know, it is what it is, it's
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injuries, a part of the game? Yeah, but but it's a good
15:28
question. But with with with how long the
15:31
underperformance is offensively as well now and now going on,
15:34
you know, nearly a year and a third of a season, you know, I
15:38
think it's kind of separate and the Braves have just had bad
15:41
injury like over the past few years.
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The thing that kind of hurt us this year though, is that in an
15:45
offseason where we've lost like you go back two years ago, we've
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lost a lot of quality since then.
15:50
We've lost AJ Minter, we've lost Max Reed, we've lost Charlie
15:53
Morton, among others. I know that we've gained Sale,
15:56
but our bullpen is is is significantly worse than it was
15:59
in the past. So we've dealt with injuries to
16:02
this effect over the past few years.
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We just don't have as much depth this year to make up for it.
16:07
So the underperformance of the offense and the and the overall
16:10
inconsistency of the bullpen, that in of itself are two big
16:13
factors that are going to keep you from winning at the level
16:16
the Braves are expected to. But yeah, the quality that we've
16:18
lost from injuries pro far is what was Lopez as well as Miss
16:22
Java. Those certainly did.
16:25
Those are hard to overcome because of how good those guys
16:28
can be. But we've had OK production in
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their place. But again, I still feel the
16:34
underperformance of the offensive issue.
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But when you already had less depth coming into this season,
16:40
the previous season, losing that many guys at that significant of
16:44
a level, it is, it's it's no small thing.
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So we're going to get pro far back in a few weeks.
16:50
Smith Jobber is likely going to be out at least for another
16:52
year. We're not a Lopez's a wild card.
16:54
If we somehow bounce back, I imagine you probably could see
16:58
him in the bullpen. But yes, those guys that losing
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those guys definitely have hurt our depth, the overall quality,
17:04
you know of our staff days well as well.
17:07
But in general, I think that that's kind of a second factor
17:11
or not as much of a factor overall as the underperformance
17:14
of our offenses when it comes to where you look at our record
17:16
right now. You traded for Kalanick.
17:19
I just want to ask you about him because he's underperformed this
17:24
season. Where does he stand in all this?
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Yeah, he at this point Jared Kalanick is is I don't feel that
17:32
he basically is a loss. He basically was a miss by our
17:35
organization. We tried our best to, you know,
17:38
make finding. We tried our best to go about
17:41
being creative financially to be able to acquire him instead of,
17:46
you know, like just paying the prospects because we, you know,
17:48
we didn't have feel that we had the prospects to pay for him at
17:50
the time. But the Braves sell something in
17:53
his early in the in the first two months, his performance in
17:56
the first two months of 2023, I imagine the Braves saw something
18:00
that they felt could allow for him to tap into that production
18:03
potential more consistently. And it's just not been there.
18:07
You know, he had a really good initial month in 2024 when a
18:11
Kenya went down as our leadoff hitter.
18:14
But ever since then, pitchers have figured him out.
18:16
He's not been able to walk at nearly the same rate and he
18:18
strikes out too much in order to be able to make a consistent
18:21
impact. Obviously, when we, you know,
18:23
with even with what has happened with Pro far, when Pro Far went
18:26
down and Akuna was not available for the first two months, it was
18:29
the perfect opportunity for Jared Kilanick to kind of regain
18:32
some value to really, you know, make an opportunity to where he
18:35
can once again put his MLB career back on track.
18:39
He didn't take advantage of it. He's since been sent down and
18:41
over the past month, he struggled just as much a AAA as
18:44
he did in the majors. So at this point in time, I
18:47
don't think the Kelanic is any type of, you know, significant
18:50
factor in our future, you know, and then you may even see that
18:53
this could be his last year with the organization.
18:55
He's just not been able to deliver on his promise and he's
18:58
not a reliable source for any of the needs that we have.
19:03
So the next question I want to ask you is probably one of the
19:05
bright starts in the Braves organization is Drake Baldwin,
19:09
rookie catcher. And you guys always find
19:11
catchers like you guys had a Shay Laglieres, you got a
19:14
William Contreras, and now you find a Drake Baldwin.
19:16
It's amazing that for a guy like him and look, he's only played
19:20
what, 46 games? Not too many games I understand
19:23
because there's Sean Murphy, but looking at to break Baldwin's
19:27
rookie stats so far, he's bad. 295 a, 30 OPS, seven home run,
19:31
19 RBI in a 45 game sample sizes, which is pretty good for
19:35
a catcher because you don't see catchers produce at that level
19:39
as a rookie. So the question to me is this
19:42
here you guys have Sean Murphy locked up for a few more years.
19:47
Is he is, is this tandem going to be a thing moving forward?
19:51
Let's just say the next two to three years because I think
19:54
Drake Baldwin needs to get more seasoning in the lineup.
19:57
But if not, then how? How do you see this play out?
20:02
Well, it's a very interesting dynamic and you know, I think
20:05
that it was a much more the noise behind the conversation
20:11
was higher two to three weeks ago because great Baldwin's kind
20:14
of cooled off a bit. You know, said some of the
20:16
pitching around the league has figured him out.
20:18
He's not been playing as much so on so forth.
20:21
But don't get me wrong, he still has been absolute an absolute
20:23
revelation so far this year. He just caught Striders latest
20:26
start still putting the ball and play with command.
20:29
So there's a lot to like about Drake Baldwin for the future.
20:33
But as of right now, for right now, I don't really think that
20:37
you mess with the catching situation for the Braves because
20:39
like our starting pitching, it's the one positional spot for the
20:42
Braves outside of Makunya where we're actually among the major
20:46
leagues best. I think coming into the day, we
20:48
had the third best F4 catching situation in baseball, but you
20:52
know, that's contributed contributions defensively as
20:55
well as offensively. So juggling playing Murphy and
20:59
Baldwin, I think it's the right approach for the Braves and then
21:02
losing them effectively as a pinch hitter, whichever 1 is on
21:04
the bench that game, I think that that's the right approach.
21:07
And you just see that out through the rest of the season.
21:10
Now, after this season, it becomes a bit interesting
21:13
because, say the Braves continue to struggle, you know, maybe
21:15
they look to trade Marcel Ozuna, you know, at the trade deadline,
21:19
see what they can get for him that opens up the DH spot, you
21:21
know, which eventually put one at DH and have one catch and you
21:25
could regularly have them as a part of the lineup.
21:28
And then he's a free. Ozuna would be a free agent
21:31
actor this year. You potentially could see that
21:33
through going forward with Drake Baldwin and Sean Murphy having a
21:36
spot in the lineup for both of them.
21:38
I feel though, that the most likely scenario is if Drake
21:41
Baldwin continues to be successful, Sean Murphy has a
21:44
Goodyear. You see one of them traded in
21:46
the offseason. Now, it's much more likely in
21:48
the offseason than during the season because catching is such
21:51
a hard position to trade during the season because then the
21:54
catcher has to learn all the new approaches of an organization
21:56
when it comes to catching the bath.
21:58
But with the clear needs that this team has, and there are
22:01
much more of them than many thought coming into this year,
22:04
one of those 2 is going to be one of your better assets.
22:07
So I imagine that it makes sense to part with one of them in the
22:09
offseason to feel maybe one or two other needs elsewhere.
22:13
Because the Braves are definitely going to have to do
22:15
some reshuffling if this year doesn't work out.
22:17
And with the catching position once again being that, you know,
22:20
an area of surplus strength, I could see a mood being made with
22:23
one of them in the offseason. But for this season, I think the
22:27
only other significant move that you would see with them is if
22:29
Ozuna were to be traded. Then you would have one of them
22:33
DH and one of the other catching most nights.
22:38
Braves bullpen has had a really rough go this year, mainly in
22:41
the back end. You got guys like Pierce
22:44
Johnson, Aaron Bomber and yelled to the Santos.
22:47
They acquired Rafael Montero, Jose Lo Ruiz, Dylan Dodd, and
22:52
with injuries today's ball Hernandez and Joe Jimenez.
22:55
You know, it's it's tough and then you have this and then you
22:58
have the struggles of Razel Iglesias not looking like his
23:02
usual self. What's been the biggest issue
23:04
with the bullpen and the reason for the struggles of Iglesias?
23:08
Or is this just a thing where, you know, he's at the end of his
23:10
career and he's having trouble getting out?
23:13
Yeah, it's the overall quality of the arms.
23:16
You know, the the Alex Anthropolis, he always had in an
23:20
unusual way, spent quite a bit. He had seemed so financially, he
23:24
had seemed so, you know, concentrated on being, you know,
23:28
fiscally responsible in many areas of the ball club.
23:32
But then when it came to the bullpen, he would spin because
23:34
he wanted quality in the back end of the bullpen.
23:37
Well, the problem is, is that this year he could not get that.
23:39
We got we got some rumors that, you know, maybe they were in on
23:44
Jeff Hoffman, Tanner Scott earlier on in the offseason.
23:47
It fell through with Osteo Jimenez.
23:49
We just never found a replacement for him.
23:53
But the big thing that's hurting the Braves now is that they
23:55
just, they do not have nearly as much consistency when it comes
23:59
to their overall bullpen. One of the biggest things is
24:02
walks. I mean, you know, Daysball
24:03
Hernandez was doing really well to start the year, but it was
24:06
all smoke and mirrors because his underlying stats suggested
24:10
that he was due for regression. It's really the fact that the
24:13
Braves have nowhere near the quality overall in their bullpen
24:16
they've had in previous years and their most important
24:19
relievers, which would be Ricella Gliesis and Baseball
24:21
Hernandez. They were always set up for
24:24
regression. The regression monster hit just
24:27
at one time. So it's the fact that we are
24:29
walking too many people. It's the fact that we're not
24:31
striking out enough. We've also had some weird luck
24:34
when it comes to ball in play. But in general, also the overall
24:37
effectiveness of the back end of our bullpen falling off.
24:40
Just a lot of different factors have come in to where we're not
24:43
consistent at all. And even when our offense has
24:45
good days, our bullpen comes up and just absolutely lays an egg,
24:49
much like you saw today when Grant Holmes had 15 strikeouts,
24:52
then our bullpen gave up six runs to the worst team in
24:54
baseball in one inning. So the inconsistent see comes to
24:58
a lack of overall quality, regression, hitting our best
25:01
relievers and also our inability to avoid walks.
25:05
We just walked too many hitters as a bullpen and that's what
25:09
really is hurting us right now. So one question I want to ask
25:12
you about the bullpen here is that you looked at the track
25:15
record. He signed Kenley Jansen to a one
25:18
year deal. He's gone.
25:19
He traded obviously for Iglesias.
25:21
Is there any long term solution like who would be the closer of
25:25
this team? So potentially you could see
25:29
Dazebol being that guy. You would love to potentially
25:31
see him being that guy, but you're going to have to see a
25:34
lot more effectiveness when it comes to you know, he's a guy
25:37
that throw averages 98 mph on his fastball, but he his K
25:42
percentage and wall percentage are nearly a one to one, which
25:46
you never want to see from a reliever.
25:47
Despite throwing nearly 98 MPH on his fastball and having a
25:50
very good slider. His strikeout rates like a 19%.
25:53
His walk rates at like 17%. So overall, his stuff looks like
25:57
he could be a closer, but days will probably is not necessarily
26:00
going to be the guy that that answer could be in in our minor
26:05
leagues. You know, we've got a couple of
26:07
potential options. John callers.
26:09
Laura, I know is someone he he's a he's a power arm in the
26:13
bullpen that many are excited about.
26:15
He's been one of our brighter spots when it comes to the minor
26:18
leagues. And then I'm sure that it's
26:19
going to be something that Alex Apopolis is going to look for in
26:22
the offseason because where I sell Iglesias is going to be a
26:25
free free agent at the end. So I would say right now, the
26:29
long term answer for the Braves when it comes to their closure
26:31
position probably is not within the organization.
26:34
And it's going to be one of the bigger questions that we look
26:36
forward to feeling during the offseason, especially coming off
26:40
a previous offseason where we nowhere near answered questions
26:45
with our bullpen like we had in previous years.
26:49
So the next question I want to ask you is the next guys in line
26:52
in the system and you look at the Braves farm, it's pitching
26:56
heavy right now. You look at the Jr.
26:59
Richie's, you look at the Drew Hackenberg.
27:01
So Lucas Barnes, Bronze, Owen Murphy's, The Hurst and
27:04
Waltrips. Like, how do you look at the
27:07
totem Pearl pole of that situation?
27:09
Who would be the next guy in line to get called up if you had
27:12
to go pick a pitcher? And where does the rest of the
27:15
pitcher stand in the organization?
27:18
Yeah, the Braves overall, I think right now pitching remains
27:23
the strength of our minor league system, especially at the top.
27:27
We don't necessarily have as clear of sources of quality as
27:32
we've had in the past. Hurst and Waldrop I don't think
27:35
has lived up to expectations coming off being the first round
27:38
pick last year. I know that you know the name
27:40
that a lot of people were really paying attention to is Didi R
27:46
for Wentez. Forgive me if I said his name
27:48
wrong. I'm yes, but guy who turns 20
27:52
this week, but was just called up to triple AI.
27:54
Think only the third minor leaguer this year who's been in
27:57
AAA had a really solid outing. Just a really good fastball
28:01
slider combination potentially could see he he's been the
28:05
fastest riser. He's been that breakthrough arm
28:08
in our system this year. I know a lot of people were
28:10
excited about him. And then, yes, you've got Jr.
28:12
Murphy, you've got oh, or she got Owen Murphy, you've got
28:15
Richie, you've got Cam Caminiti. Although waiting to hear about
28:19
Caminiti because evidently he left his start early with a
28:22
trainer today, so we'll kind of see how that works out.
28:26
You've got a lot of intriguing talent, I feel, and perhaps one
28:30
of those guys could emerge like a Swellenbach or a Strider
28:34
because again, neither Spencer Swellenbach or Strider, no one
28:37
expected for them to come, you know, just Blazing Saddles into
28:41
the into the majors like they did.
28:42
So maybe one of those guys do potentially become available.
28:46
But I think right now for the Braves, you probably don't have
28:49
that clear cut. Hey, if we need someone else to
28:51
come up and be with our big league organization for a while,
28:54
we feel confident this guy can get the job done.
28:57
Maybe Kirsten Waldrop is that guy.
28:59
But I don't think that you have as much confidence in the
29:04
reliability of an option in our minded league system right now
29:07
like you had when we had Bryce Silver and AJ Smith Shaver in
29:10
the minors. So I think there's a lot of
29:12
intriguing options at the modern league level when it comes to
29:15
our arms. But the strength of it is more
29:17
in the quantity than the quality right now.
29:20
Maybe that changes in a year, but it'll be interesting to see,
29:23
especially as hopefully we can get a stretch where a lot of
29:25
these younger arms are healthy. And if a Wentes can stay on the
29:29
trajectory that he's shown so far, he may be the next, you
29:32
know, really big name to watch when it comes to the Braves
29:36
having success with young pitchers.
29:40
Nacho Alvarez recently had a rehab start, I believe it
29:44
started in the FCO and then they after one game they they brought
29:47
him up to Gwinnett. So what's the plan for him as he
29:50
rehabs and gets healthy? Are they going to call him up to
29:53
the main roster? Do you think it's possible that
29:55
he's used in the trade or is he the shortstop of the future with
29:58
no clear shortstop on the roster right now?
30:02
I think the Braves want him to be that.
30:03
I don't think he is that he does not have the fielding upside to
30:07
be a reliable shortstop. And the Braves obviously value
30:10
of defense at the shortstop position.
30:12
But the other thing about it is, is that there's just not a lot
30:15
of upside or or at least projectable upside when it comes
30:19
to Nacho Alvarez's performance at the plate.
30:22
You know, the big thing, the big strength of his in the Miners
30:25
has been his ability to get on Bates, which is a great thing.
30:27
And that's a need for this Braves lineup.
30:29
They need to get on base more. But The thing is, is that
30:32
Alvarez just kind of like we talked about with Ozzie Albee's,
30:35
Alvarez has shown very limited potential when it comes to what
30:39
he can do when he puts the ball in play.
30:41
So he is on base skills when he gets to the majors are dwindled
30:45
down a bit because pitchers are going to be like, OK, we know
30:49
that you can't do much when you make contact, but we're just
30:51
going to throw high velocity pitches in the zone and make you
30:54
beat us with that. And he got a little bit of a
30:56
coffee, coffee cup of coffee last week looking or last year
31:00
look completely overmatched when he came up.
31:02
I'm sure that the Braves, you know, are going to, you know,
31:04
continue to feature him at AAA would love to see him
31:07
potentially improve or have a breakthrough and his approach
31:10
overall, you know, over the next year or two.
31:12
But I'm not saying he's a non prospect, but he definitely is
31:16
not in my opinion, considered to be or a reliable option to be or
31:19
a shortstop in the future. And in my general opinion, I
31:22
don't think that there's a lot of upside with him as a, you
31:25
know, significant factor in the future of our offense because I
31:28
just don't think he's going to have the overall potential with
31:31
his bat to be a consistent starter in the majors.
31:35
So with that being said, because the Braves farm is pitching
31:39
heavy, but there's intriguing guys that's in the system that
31:42
are like two or three even for or even further away with the
31:46
likes of Jose Perdomo and Diego Tornaz and John Gill.
31:49
Like is there any pathway to like see if you guys have to go
31:54
go outside the organization, address a need or do you think
31:57
you could do to go internally like a Nacho Alvarez?
32:00
But like you said he's not a short sub so haha.
32:02
How did that play out with these younger core guys in like that
32:06
are deeper down the road? Well, we'll see.
32:09
And that's the thing about the Braves organization is that over
32:11
the past few years, they've looked to the to the amateur
32:15
draft to fill out the top of their minor league system with
32:19
quality arms because that's where they felt they needed to
32:22
invest their those resources because they've had so much
32:25
because they have so much of their offensive core locked up
32:28
long term. And then from that, the
32:30
international draft is kind of where they went in order to add
32:33
offense. We do have some intriguing guys
32:35
on carry is another, you know, guy that I know a lot of people
32:38
are getting excited about there. There there is some notable
32:41
names in our lower minors. Offensively, Jose Perdermo
32:45
hasn't really gotten going yet. You know, he's potentially got
32:47
to watch as well. The point that I'm getting at
32:49
is, is that talking about could the Braves rely on position
32:54
players to fulfill spot needs in the offense since Baldwin is now
33:00
up to the majors? I don't think there's really
33:01
going to be another name in the binders for at least a year that
33:04
you're going to talk about is being a reliable option to fill
33:08
a Major League spot. So, for instance, when it comes
33:10
to our shortstop position, we're going to have to go outside the
33:13
organization to find someone to be our shortstop of the future.
33:16
Do we have the assets to do that?
33:17
Sure. But I don't think that that's
33:19
something that you're going to find internally because of how
33:21
young some of our best position prospects are.
33:23
So again, I think that our overall potential on our farm
33:28
when it comes to position prospects is a bit better than
33:30
it was a year ago, but all that potential is still so far far
33:33
down in the minors. It's not going to be a source of
33:36
reliability to help supplement our offense anytime soon.
33:40
So Brian Snicker is in his final year of his contract as a
33:44
manager. We've seen a lot of things
33:46
that's gone down. Even though he has a World
33:48
Series under his bat, not not too many managers can say that,
33:52
but he's been with the organization for 49 years.
33:56
So with that being said, who would be the successor for the
34:00
Braves managerial position moving forward?
34:03
Is there names that come up in your mind?
34:05
Because some people believe that Terry Pendleton could be an
34:09
option, Some people want Mark DeRosa as an option.
34:12
Like what are your thoughts on that?
34:14
The Braves do not need to go. In my opinion, the Braves do not
34:18
need to go with some type of lineage higher.
34:20
The reason why that is is because Brian Snicker has been
34:24
an and one of the most pivotal and most well respected and well
34:30
deserved for that. He's been one of the most
34:32
significant non player figures in the Atlanta history of the
34:37
Braves organization. Like you know, you look at Bobby
34:39
Cox, in my opinion, he has had the second best stretch of
34:43
managing in the history of Atlanta baseball, Atlanta Braves
34:47
baseball besides Bobby Cox. So for that, I think that he is
34:51
owed to see this year out and see what could happen at the
34:54
Braves by some miracle word, turn it around.
34:57
But at the end of this year, I think that it's time to make a
35:00
change. And The thing is, is that if you
35:02
don't make a turn around this year, you've now had nearly two
35:06
years of what was supposed to be the strength of your team not
35:09
performing anywhere near where you expect for it to.
35:12
So for that, this organization will need a reset.
35:15
And I don't feel that that is, you know, Snicker probably going
35:18
into being a special assistant to the GM or the franchise like
35:21
you see a lot of managers do when they retire and then hiring
35:23
like a Walt Weiss to be his replacement.
35:26
I don't think that you make an internal hire if you've had such
35:30
struggles with our offense. You need a new organizational
35:33
approach and a new voice. So to answer your question, in
35:37
my opinion, I do think this will be it for Snicker at the end of
35:39
this year, especially if the Braves don't turn it around.
35:42
I think that that would be the right outcome after what we've
35:45
seen over the past couple of years.
35:47
And I think the even more important outcome is to go
35:49
outside our current sources within the organization to find
35:52
a new voice that can come, get a fresh perspective that hopefully
35:55
can get a lot of our talented young players in our core going
35:59
once again. Well, it's interesting to see
36:03
that that the Braves brought a familiar face who used to be a
36:07
manager in this organization. And Freddie Gonzalez, I don't
36:10
see him as a manager, but when you saw that hiring, which I was
36:13
kind of shocked about what, what were your initial thoughts when
36:17
you saw that hiring? At the time, the Braves needed
36:20
to find any and every way that they could to improve their
36:24
overall offensive approach when it came to getting the job done
36:27
and trying to add consistency. Matt Tuya Sopo has been has been
36:31
a coach in the Braves organization for several years,
36:34
but the problem is that over the past two years there have been
36:37
more occurrences than you should be able to remember in which he
36:41
has not been effective as a third base coach.
36:43
The best way that I can describe it and I put it into, you know,
36:47
words I feel comfortable putting it into when we talked about it
36:50
on our podcast to Hammer Territory podcast from that
36:53
third base coach, from that third base coaching source team
36:57
should know that that source is going to consistently be aware
37:01
of making decisions that are going to put your the odds of
37:05
your offense getting the job done.
37:07
He's going to be able to add value to that.
37:10
He's not going to make decisions that are going to eliminate
37:13
those type of opportunities. And that too, we also sofa made
37:16
too many mistakes when it came to sending runners home or
37:19
bringing them the third or what have you to be affected.
37:22
So when they brought in Freddie Gonzalez, I thought it made
37:25
sense because you have someone who's been a third Bay Coast
37:28
before, has managerial experience, knows the
37:30
organization. You have someone who was going
37:32
to be more consistent in having that awareness.
37:34
And I'm not saying that it's been a significant factor, nor
37:37
am I saying that it is going to be a significant factor.
37:39
But just the fact that since Freddie Gonzalez has replaced
37:42
Tuyasa Sopo, I can't remember a time where Braves Country has
37:45
been like, what is Freddie doing like they did with that?
37:50
He says that it was the needed improvement in that spot that we
37:53
had. So yes, it was a minor
37:54
improvement, but where the Braves offense is, you take any
37:57
minor improvement that you can make.
37:59
So it was a work while change that that needed to happen.
38:03
In the offseason, the owners of the Braves, the Braves holdings,
38:07
acquired various real estate around in around the truest park
38:11
area and they spent a lot of money doing so.
38:15
Do you feel like that might have affected the way the offseason
38:18
went and and the lack of not acquiring, not having the funds
38:23
there to acquire what they needed to acquire death wise?
38:29
I to be honest with you on that, I don't have enough knowledge on
38:33
that whole side of things to be able to put together a what I
38:37
feel would be a credible opinion.
38:39
So I don't really have much to add for from that perspective on
38:42
things. Umm, just from what I what we
38:46
covered, what we talked about and what happened versus what we
38:50
expected this offseason. I do feel as the offseason went
38:53
along, what the Braves thought that they were going to have
38:56
what the resources, the level of resources the Braves thought
38:59
they were going to have at the beginning of the offseason
39:02
dwindled down as the offseason went along without moves being
39:05
made. And so I do think that it played
39:06
a factor in whatever way, shape or form you want to look at it
39:09
in the Braves not being able to fill needs this past all season
39:12
like they had hoped. But as far as you know, what
39:15
ownership doing outside of the Braves and all that different
39:18
stuff, I know that it didn't, it didn't bring about the best
39:21
look, but I just don't have enough knowledge on that as a
39:23
whole to be able to give a credit.
39:25
That's a perfect answer, man, perfect answer.
39:30
Let's talk about the president of the Braves organization.
39:34
It's Alex Anthopolis. He was hired as the president of
39:38
Braves baseball operations back in 2017.
39:40
And, and, you know, building this team, he was an inherited
39:44
situation, of course. And obviously he has
39:46
restructured the team, rebuilt this team to certain needs.
39:49
And, you know, he ended up winning a World Series this
39:53
year. But, you know, these last couple
39:55
years, I know some friends are pretty frustrated about that.
39:58
And now he's signed till, I believe, till the end of 2031.
40:01
Like how do you look at him as a tenure?
40:05
With the Braves organization, you think he's done enough and I
40:07
get the whole extension that he's done well on that.
40:10
And tell me what you think about the whole process of him being
40:13
the president of baseball operations with the Braves so
40:15
far. I think he's been an
40:17
overwhelming success. You know, the Braves are not in
40:21
the position that they are for as long as they have been
40:24
without him making several right decisions.
40:27
And I think at the time when he made a lot of these extensions,
40:30
it made sense. It made sense Now we may have
40:33
made one too many where at some point you just become so fixed
40:38
on the core that you have, you may have not have enough
40:41
flexibility if several spots of that core are underperforming at
40:46
the same time, which we'll stand right now.
40:49
That may have been that. I think that's a fair criticism
40:52
of things. But I think that Alex and
40:55
topless has done fine. He's done outstanding as our GM.
40:58
He's made moves when they needed to be made to improve this team.
41:01
He's also made decisions long term that may not have been the
41:06
best in the minds of Braves Country, but then he pivoted to
41:09
make moves that were sensible, that did allow for us to be able
41:12
to not not just like for instance, when we when it was
41:14
pretty clear Freddie Freeman was not going to be with the Braves
41:17
long term, he positioned to get arguably the second the second
41:20
best first baseman in baseball in Matt Olson.
41:23
He has done far more good than he has negative in his time with
41:28
the Braves. But here recently his track
41:31
record hasn't been as successful.
41:33
And now we're potentially coming on to a pivot point of the era
41:36
of Alex Anthropolis with the Braves where what has worked for
41:39
us so far, it was successful two or three years ago, it's not
41:43
successful now. So what are you going to do in
41:46
order to make that pivot to change the approach of the
41:48
organization to get better results?
41:51
And The thing is, is that with all the long term contracts that
41:53
you have, you don't just have a ton of room to make a big shake
41:56
up that, you know, many may think it is warranted.
41:59
So the point what I'm getting at is that Irene confident in Alex
42:02
Anthropolis, I do feel he should be the mind that should still be
42:05
in place to shape our future. What that looks like, I'm very
42:08
interested to see. But in the end, I do think that
42:12
he's the right man for the job. But he's just going to have to
42:15
realize, and I think he knows this, the time has come to where
42:17
he's going to have to change his own approach when it comes to
42:20
doing his job, more than likely in order to get better results
42:23
or the desired results that we all want on the field.
42:28
So next question I have for you is a two-part question.
42:30
It actually presents 2 scenarios heading towards July, July 31st
42:38
trade deadline. I mean there's only two
42:41
situations, it's buyers or sellers.
42:43
So if you guys are buyer, if you guys are sellers, who are some
42:48
guys? Do you think that you guys could
42:50
part with the season to try and improve your roster for next
42:53
year? And if you're buyers who are
42:57
guys that you think you could go after and to possibly augment
43:02
this team for not only now but in the future?
43:06
And could you potentially do both?
43:08
Maybe? Yeah, I think we could do both.
43:10
I think that we could do both. And I don't mean to give a cop
43:13
out answer. I know that it's it's more of a
43:15
compelling answer if I were to give names outside of the
43:17
organization that we potentially to go after.
43:20
I'll be honest, I've not done just a ton of research on that
43:22
as of yet. But the point that I will say
43:24
is, is that a few names so it so if Atlanta stays at their
43:28
current spot, are there even more games under 500, say a
43:35
month from now? I could see, you know, impending
43:38
free agents like Marcelo Zuna as well as Russell Iglesias, Aaron
43:42
Bummer as a bullpen arm. I could see those type of guys
43:46
potentially being traded. I don't think that we're going
43:48
to, you know, put a lot of effort into even listening on
43:51
sale because again, even if this year were to not work out, we
43:55
still are going to be tremendously focused obviously
43:57
on winning. You know, beyond this year,
44:00
we're still going to have the World Series as our overall
44:03
desired out here. So I think the Marcel Ozuna Rice
44:07
of Iglesias, maybe a bullpen piece.
44:09
Those could be the guys that we can sell as far as guys that we
44:12
could acquire. I think that shortstop in left
44:15
field are definitely the spots where we would like to improve
44:18
jerks and profile. Obviously coming in helps out
44:21
with that. But if we were to make the
44:22
playoffs, we can't rely on him. Shortstop at finding a long term
44:25
option at this trade deadline is probably going to be hard to do.
44:28
But I do you think that even if the Braves are sellers for this
44:31
year, if the right deal came for a short stop that we could have
44:34
under cost control beyond this year, you could see it happen.
44:37
So you know, Iglesias, Ozuna, maybe another, you know, veteran
44:42
or two that you could see, you know, the Braves being able to
44:44
replace and then trading now can bring in an asset for the
44:46
future. Those would be the guys that we
44:48
could sell, areas we would focus on, probably outfield, shortstop
44:51
and bullpen. If we were to buy and if they
44:53
were to make a significant move, I think there would be some type
44:57
of cost control, bullpen arm or maybe a shortstop.
45:01
I know we were talking behind closed doors before we started
45:03
this recording and there was one man name we mentioned about.
45:07
I know that, you know, not a people, a lot of people know
45:10
about this, but like I know that Braves are looking for a
45:14
starting pitcher under control. And knowing Alex, the fact that
45:19
he is a type of guy who likes to look for players under term not
45:24
only for this year but beyond the years.
45:26
Like for example, when you guys traded for Chris Sale, for
45:29
example, you guys gave him an extension.
45:32
By the way, I want to ask you this question.
45:35
Is there any possibility, let's just say if you die, you guys
45:38
become sellers? Does Chris Sale get get traded
45:42
in any extent if if there's like a substantial offer given to
45:46
them? If, if, if someone were to come
45:49
and, and offer us, you know, and I know that many of your
45:53
listeners may know this or not know this, but of course, I
45:57
another team that I, that I cover is the Memphis Grizzlies.
46:00
And there was a big basketball trade today.
46:03
And I use this as an example. The Memphis Grizzlies traded
46:06
Desmond Bade today to the Orlando Magic because they got a
46:09
deal that basically they could not say no to, a deal that just
46:12
put them in a much better position in in multiple aspects
46:15
of the organization that made it worth doing.
46:18
That's the type of deal that the Braves would have to get or the
46:20
type of offer the Braves that would have to get in order for
46:23
them to trade Chris Sale. Like they would have to get a
46:28
very intriguing starter that's cost controlled, someone that
46:31
they know could come in and be a mid rotation to top of the order
46:35
type potential as a starter. Plus I would think a a long term
46:39
either outfield or shortstop option, a significant source of
46:43
offense, either shortstop or outfield for them to consider
46:46
trading Chris Sale. So in other words, I put it at
46:50
basically a 98% chance or more that we hold on to Chris Sale
46:55
because again, if this year doesn't work out, 2026, you're
47:01
still going to have many of your best players in place.
47:04
And that rotation led by Sales, Strider and Swellenbach could
47:08
again be among baseball's best, especially in a playoff
47:10
scenario. So I find it very unlikely that
47:13
we trade Chris Sale. I just, it would take an offer
47:16
we could not say no to. And I'm not sure that many teams
47:18
are going to want us to do that for the Braves.
47:21
No, that's a, that's a, that's a fairpoint because I know that
47:24
like you said with Alex, it's like it's all about extensions,
47:27
right? Like he likes to extend guys and
47:29
Chris Hill just got an extension like.
47:31
But the other question I want to ask you before we get to the
47:34
next segment is, is there any possible way that he could still
47:40
pull out a trade? If they have to trade someone
47:42
within a roster to go get like a significant player, like a
47:44
starting pitcher like I mentioned, like a Logan Gilbert,
47:46
for example, or I don't know who else will be out there.
47:49
I'm pretty sure there'll be no name more names.
47:51
They'll be out there as the time goes.
47:54
But could you see another player coming into his organization
47:57
that has term? Sure.
48:00
Yeah. Like I say, I mean, I think that
48:02
short swap would be the one place where we would look to add
48:06
that type of potential and maybe a little bit less at left field.
48:11
Because again, the reason why I don't necessarily know if we're
48:14
going to put significant assets toward adding a cost control
48:17
starting pitcher is because right now that's the strength of
48:20
our Major League team in the present and it's also the
48:24
strongest part of our minor leagues in terms of depth.
48:28
So strengthening the strength I think is very important, you
48:33
know, especially if you have all facets of your team working.
48:36
But that to me would be the type of move that we would probably
48:39
look to make in the offseason. So any type of if you were to
48:43
see a significant trade for the Braves and it would be someone
48:46
they would try to go out and get that they can control long term
48:49
if it's a starter that they're going after.
48:51
I it wouldn't surprise me if Alex doing that.
48:54
I just think it probably would be in the offseason.
48:58
So the next sorry, you want to go ahead Rob or?
49:02
No, no, you go ahead, Rocky. I was, I was, I was going to say
49:05
about Chris Sale, actually, he has an $18 million team option I
49:11
believe, which is like pretty friendly for any team that would
49:15
either want to acquire them or the Braves themselves for next
49:18
year. So I can I could see why you
49:20
wouldn't want to trade them. Yeah, as a matter of fact, if he
49:23
if he has another year like you did this year, I could easily
49:26
see the Braves extending you for multiple years beyond this year.
49:29
I think especially when you see the Braves having this type of
49:32
struggle that they are even beyond Chris Sale being among
49:36
the best pitchers of baseball right now.
49:37
His overall presence as a clubhouse leader and a veteran
49:40
is exactly what you need, especially when we've lost so
49:43
many of those type of guys over the past few years.
49:45
I think the Braves absolutely are going to value having Sale
49:50
long term for what he does on and off the field, much more
49:53
than the potential offer they're going to get for him.
49:55
So that's why I feel so strongly that there's very little chance
49:58
he's going to. Be in a rotation that's out of
50:01
trouble with consistency. He's the beacon of consistency,
50:04
so yeah. Well, that and also he's he
50:07
thankfully he was injured at the wrong time last year,
50:09
unfortunately and thankfully he didn't want as much.
50:11
But yeah, you're right, him being and for a team that is so
50:14
inconsistent, the source of consistency that he is it just
50:18
there may not be another situation he's more valuable in
50:22
than what he currently is for the brothers.
50:24
Right. So the next question I want to
50:27
ask you is who's in line to sign an extension and Chipper Jones
50:33
Braves lifer day one and and the last day he retires as a Braves.
50:38
He, he quoted that in order for you to be a Braves for life, you
50:45
have to take a tad bit of a discount to to do that.
50:47
And he's done that with multiple players like the Sean Murphy.
50:50
He's like the Matt Olsen's Austin Rider.
50:53
Looks like he's going to retire as a Brave Acuna.
50:56
We'll see where that goes because I think he's a free
50:57
agent after 28 and then Albies after 27.
51:01
Who do you think are the next guys in line and such a whether
51:04
it's in the minors or in the majors?
51:07
I mean, you know, the first guy that really stands out is
51:09
Spencer Swellenbach. You know, he may be a guy that
51:11
they can lock up. They did that with Spencer
51:13
Strider. And so they, they may want to
51:15
look at Spencer Swellenbach if they were to trade Sean Murphy,
51:18
they, they may have talks with Ray Baldwin.
51:21
But I, I believe that there's also a bit of reason for the
51:25
Braves to not necessarily look to give these type of extensions
51:29
that they did in the past, because right now they're
51:31
dealing with the fact that, you know, hey, they're they're kind
51:33
of dealing with the downside of giving so many of those
51:36
extensions out. So I don't necessarily think
51:37
that's going that reason alone will keep Alex from offering an
51:41
extension where it's sensible, like to a swelling Bach or a
51:45
Baldwin. I think more than anything, the
51:47
most likely scenario could be you could see them maybe keeping
51:51
Ozuna around for another year or two if they wanted to.
51:54
But if I had to put my money on an extension being done maybe in
51:57
season or after the season, I would think they would look to
51:59
sign the sale. I think that they would look to,
52:01
you know, make it to where sales not going to go into where he's
52:04
only got a year left on his contract.
52:06
I think that of all the players on the team, Chris L probably is
52:09
the most likely to get an extension.
52:11
But in terms of what guys could the Braves extend like they've
52:15
done with so many of their players over the past five or
52:17
six years, Spencer Swellenbach and Sean Murphy straighted,
52:20
Drake Baldwin come to mind. But do I think that anything
52:23
like that's going to happen this year or even within the next 12
52:26
months? I feel that it's much less
52:28
likely after the struggles that we've seen with this team over
52:31
the past year than it was maybe 12 or 24 months ago.
52:36
Well the one name that comes up in my mind that he just got
52:40
called up to AAA last year last night sorry, or yesterday with
52:44
DD fluentes. Like let's just say if we were
52:47
to get a call up if something happens, like could you see a
52:50
guy like him get extended maybe in the offseason even though he
52:54
has like 7 years of control? No.
52:58
And, and the reason why I say that is because with how young
53:01
he is and with how much of A power arm that he is, you know,
53:05
we extended Strider because he was an older arm.
53:09
You know, when he was drafted, he showed just how electric he
53:12
was in the majors. After that 2022 seizing, that's
53:16
when we extended him. And even now, that extension
53:19
looks a bit questionable. You know, he's electric.
53:22
He's good when he's healthy and you hope that he's going to go.
53:25
He's going to be that way moving forward.
53:28
He's been absolutely electric when he's been on the mound much
53:32
more often than not. But with that injury already
53:34
occurring, it's still not a guarantee that he's going to
53:36
consistently be as elite as he once was, at least this year.
53:39
So no, I don't think that that Fuentes is anywhere close to
53:42
being an extension candidate. You're just with how young he
53:45
is, with the fact that he's a pitcher and with the fact that
53:48
you have, you're likely not going to see anywhere what you
53:51
need to see to feel comfortable extending him.
53:53
And also with the fact that the braziers cost conscious, as
53:56
they've appeared to be over the past 12 months, they want to
53:58
make sure that they get as much value at cost controlled sources
54:01
as possible. I just don't see Fuentes being
54:04
an option now he comes up and has a, you know, Fernando
54:07
Valenzuela in the rotation or, you know, Francisco Rodriguez,
54:12
you know, impact on the bullpen over the next 12 months.
54:15
Maybe that changes things. But no, somebody like, I don't
54:17
think that there's anybody in the minor leagues right now
54:19
that's not made their Major League debut that's going to be
54:21
worth extending for the race. With the 5th tough toughest
54:26
remaining strength to schedule rest of the way, the Braves have
54:32
currently the next a lot of it comes within the NL E.
54:35
On next 13 games you play I think 10 of them against the
54:39
Mets and the Phillies and he got three against the Marlins in
54:42
there. So tell us what your feeling is
54:45
on the rest rest of the season, strength of schedule and is this
54:48
are you guys at a break make or break point in the season over
54:51
the next 13 games? Oh, absolutely, 100%.
54:55
The next two weeks are going to define the season.
54:57
And I'm not trying to be dramatic by saying that, but
55:00
you're played against two of the five best teams in the the
55:05
majors, you know, you play the bets, you know, 2 times over the
55:08
next three weeks. And after that, the Phillies get
55:10
the Marlins in there. The Braves have to be in
55:13
probably 10 of these 13 games at least to feel like they've
55:16
really turned their season around.
55:19
And I don't think that's going to happen.
55:20
So if the Braves go 500 or worse over this stretch, the riding is
55:24
pretty much on the wall at that point.
55:26
You're halfway through the season.
55:28
I know that it's been done before where teams have come
55:30
back to make the playoffs when they look so far out of it, you
55:34
know, even into August. But this Braves team playing at
55:37
a league best rate when it comes to the level of winning that
55:40
they need to seems like a very far fetched reality to think of.
55:45
So yes, you bring up a great point over the next two weeks
55:48
with as much as we play against the NL East and and how pivotal
55:51
those series are, not only playing one of the worst teams
55:53
in the Marlins, but teams were trying to catch in the in the
55:56
Mets and the Phillies. We've got to be successful.
55:58
And if we don't, I think that pretty much puts the writing on
56:01
the wall that 2005 just, it's not going to workout like many
56:04
of us had hope. So the final question I want to
56:08
ask you is if you have any final thoughts, I want to talk about
56:11
the upcoming draft and knowing Alex, knowing the GM slash
56:17
president, what he is, he always goes after pitching, pitching,
56:20
pitching, right? And it seems to be the theme.
56:24
But could you see a different mindset of change knowing the
56:27
fact like there's so much pitching in the minors for the
56:30
Braves that maybe it's time to look for a shortstop or another
56:34
positional player or, or even or any other some sorts?
56:38
Or does he continue to continue to stick with the same theme
56:42
with drafting a pitcher? I think that Alex Adopolis is
56:46
going to continue to go with what he he makes sense because,
56:49
you know, overall they've done pretty good.
56:51
They they either through trades or, you know, through turning
56:55
the pitchers that they've drafted into members of the
56:58
rotation or, you know, intriguing parts of their minor
57:02
league system. I think they've done a pretty
57:04
good job of taking their picks and turn and getting the value
57:07
out of them that you had hoped. I do feel that there probably
57:10
has been a bit too too much of it and that's why you don't have
57:14
a lot lot of, you know, potential, you know, positional
57:17
player value high in the minors. So yes, I would like to see, you
57:21
know, maybe a bit high, a significant offensive source or
57:27
a significant position player, a source be a higher pick in this
57:31
draft. I think that would be worth it.
57:33
At the end of the day, though, I think Atlanta feels very
57:35
confident how they develop their players.
57:37
They've been on record of saying, you know, their their
57:39
focus is not to have as many players as possible being in the
57:42
top 100. They want to get players in
57:45
their system that they feel are going to develop the way that
57:48
they want to develop them. And it's hard to argue against
57:51
the Braves track record of developing pitchers as well as
57:54
some position players. So to answer your question, I
57:57
think it's more likely than that they're going to stay focused,
57:59
that they find an arm that they like, yes, they're going to add
58:01
him and then they'll add some intriguing prospects, you know,
58:04
as we go through the draft. But I feel like that there's
58:07
more sense in them potentially putting a bit more emphasis on
58:10
getting one or two, you know, higher value position players in
58:14
this draft than they've done in the past.
58:16
I can see that. So maybe this draft this year,
58:19
the overall approach for the Braves may be there may be a bit
58:22
more intrigue to it than there has in the past.
58:25
But at the end of the day, I think if the right pitcher is
58:27
there, Alex and Topless is going to look to add as many arms as
58:29
possible because it's led to good overall success so far when
58:33
it comes to his draft. Sean Coleman, we thank you for
58:37
being a guest here. Great insight, great
58:40
information. Where can we find you in social
58:43
media and everywhere else? Yeah, you can find me at Stats
58:46
SAC on Twitter slash XI don't do a lot of Instagram or Facebook
58:50
or anything like that. You can also find the podcast
58:55
that we do for the Braves, a part of the foul territory
58:58
family, a podcast at at Hammer territory across all forms of
59:04
social media. We we are on four times a week
59:08
at least. So you'll find our stuff there,
59:10
video and audio. I just really enjoy talking the
59:13
Braves and I can't thank y'all enough for having me.
59:15
It's been really fun, really fun conversation.
59:17
Great questions. So thanks for the opportunity.
59:20
Thank you very much for joining us today, man.
59:22
It was, it was awesome. Great to learn more about what's
59:26
going on in Braves land. And I mean, being Rocky, being
59:29
Jays fans, we put up with all this last year.
59:31
So we we completely understand the way the Braves community's
59:36
feeling right now. We were there with you so but it
59:40
was great talking to you, man. Love talking baseball and
59:43
learning more about other teams. So hopefully we can have you
59:46
back down the road, man, one day.
59:48
It was it. It would be awesome.
59:50
Yeah, it would be great to talk talk with y'all again.
59:52
Y'all have a good day. Thanks again for having me.
59:54
And hopefully we could get you to talk about the Memphis
59:57
Grizzly down the road, but we will place the description below
1:00:00
where you can find Sean, Sean Coleman.
1:00:02
But till next time, take care, be kind to each other.
1:00:06
Signing off on Father's Day on Sunday, June 15th, 2025.