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

0:24
Speaker 1: Welcome to Opposition Territory here at the Philadelphia Sports Table
0:28
Speaker 1: podcast show, the longest running weekly Philly sports podcast show
0:31
Speaker 1: in the world, twelve years strong. We got a great
0:34
Speaker 1: opposition Territory podcast coming away this week as we dive
0:38
Speaker 1: into the Atlanta Braves within the NL least. What has
0:41
Speaker 1: this team been doing? What have they not been doing
0:44
Speaker 1: at times during the course of this twenty twenty five season.
0:47
Speaker 1: A very surprising team and rival of the Philadelphia Phillies. Again,
0:51
Speaker 1: here in our Opposition Territory podcast, we have from SB Nation.
0:55
Speaker 1: He is the MLB editor over there, a great friend
0:59
Speaker 1: of the show of having them on. Chris Willis Chris Buddy.
1:02
Speaker 1: Thanks so much for joining us this week to talk
1:04
Speaker 1: about this Braves team.
1:06
Speaker 2: Yeah. Thanks. I don't know how enjoyable we're talking about
1:08
Speaker 2: the Braves are right now. Yeah, thanks for having me.
1:11
Speaker 2: I always appreciate this.
1:12
Speaker 1: For Phillies fans, this interview might be enjoyable. I don't
1:16
Speaker 1: know if there's Braves fans watching Bless your soul with
1:19
Speaker 1: regard to where this season is at, But look, I
1:23
Speaker 1: wanted to dive into the start of the season, like
1:27
Speaker 1: I'm talking the beginning of this Braves season that first week,
1:32
Speaker 1: I'm you know, we're all excited baseball has started, and
1:36
Speaker 1: I'm looking at the standings of course in the NL East,
1:40
Speaker 1: and I'm like, oh my gosh, I'm like, this Braves
1:42
Speaker 1: team has lost five games in a row right out
1:45
Speaker 1: of the gate. So very surprising based on you know,
1:48
Speaker 1: if you listen to this podcast, where our predictions were
1:51
Speaker 1: for what was going to happen in this NL East
1:52
Speaker 1: this coming season, based on talent within every single team
1:57
Speaker 1: within the NL East. It just so surprised. Saying how
2:00
Speaker 1: the Braves started the season again losing five games in
2:04
Speaker 1: a row right out of the gate. Chris, I'm wondering here,
2:08
Speaker 1: as this team was supposed to be, you know, a
2:10
Speaker 1: contender in the NL East here, how did the start
2:13
Speaker 1: of the first week of this season really kind of
2:16
Speaker 1: set the tone for this Braves twenty twenty five season
2:19
Speaker 1: in your opinion.
2:21
Speaker 2: I mean, I think you hit on it. I think
2:23
Speaker 2: it's set the tone. And unfortunately they've been they've been
2:28
Speaker 2: trying to dig theirself out ever since and just haven't
2:32
Speaker 2: been haven't been able to. You know, anytime they start
2:35
Speaker 2: on the West Coast, it's always it always sends up
2:37
Speaker 2: red flags historically, they've not played really well in San Diego,
2:41
Speaker 2: which is where they opened up. Andre's a pretty good
2:43
Speaker 2: team as well. But you know, I think two other
2:47
Speaker 2: things happened right in that week too. You know, they
2:50
Speaker 2: lost Reinald basically lost Reynaldo Lopez early. Sure, it's some
2:54
Speaker 2: Profar got suspended. You and I talked earlier in the
2:58
Speaker 2: year about Profar. Was the were really their only major
3:01
Speaker 2: acquisition during the offseason. Yeah. I don't want to lay it.
3:04
Speaker 2: I don't want to lay all these struggles on him,
3:07
Speaker 2: but you know, it was just like, what's gonna happen next?
3:10
Speaker 2: You know, what's happening next. They started the season without
3:12
Speaker 2: Spencer Strouder, without Ronald Lacunya, you know, just and they just,
3:16
Speaker 2: for whatever reason, they have just not been able to
3:19
Speaker 2: put anything together. But yeah, I think you can look
3:21
Speaker 2: back to that first week and we're still seeing some
3:24
Speaker 2: of some of the things we saw that first week
3:27
Speaker 2: in terms of performance, and you know, it just it,
3:30
Speaker 2: for whatever reason, just has not clicked.
3:32
Speaker 1: Do you think some of the Braves players over these years,
3:35
Speaker 1: and I'm not necessarily talking about Ronald Lacunya, because we
3:38
Speaker 1: know what type of talent he is but other Braves
3:40
Speaker 1: players that performed well and even consistently over the past
3:45
Speaker 1: few years have kind of seen a drop off because
3:48
Speaker 1: perhaps they were really and this is baseball. You know,
3:51
Speaker 1: we know baseball. We've been watching our whole lives. You know,
3:54
Speaker 1: whether guys get hot at certain point during their career.
3:57
Speaker 1: You know, we know that certain guys get hot and
3:58
Speaker 1: cold during the course of a season, but it's certain
4:00
Speaker 1: points in their careers some guys just end up losing
4:02
Speaker 1: it for a few years. You know, they have to
4:04
Speaker 1: get it back. Are we seeing that with some of
4:06
Speaker 1: the talent on this team.
4:09
Speaker 2: I mean, I think it's a good I think it's
4:11
Speaker 2: a good question. You know, Ronald Lacunye of Matt Olsen
4:15
Speaker 2: have have played well. Cunya since he came back. Austin
4:18
Speaker 2: Riley's been good, but he's not had that blistering month
4:22
Speaker 2: that you kind of expect expected from him. And that's
4:26
Speaker 2: kind of been the last two seasons. And I can,
4:28
Speaker 2: I can kind of you can kind of point to
4:30
Speaker 2: a lot of things from last season that have carried
4:34
Speaker 2: over to this season. And I think we all remember
4:36
Speaker 2: twenty twenty three when the Braves just had the unbelievable
4:38
Speaker 2: lineup tied the major league record for home runs. You know,
4:42
Speaker 2: just scoring runs was not a problem, right, But now
4:45
Speaker 2: we're as we're a season and a half into that,
4:48
Speaker 2: this offense just has not performed. You've seen, you know,
4:51
Speaker 2: whether it's a change in approach, injuries, guys like Ozzy
4:57
Speaker 2: Albius's back to have backed up Michael Harris, one of
5:00
Speaker 2: has put up some of the worst offensive numbers of
5:03
Speaker 2: any regular Uh. These are guys that they signed to
5:06
Speaker 2: extensions that they're counting on. Yeah, and I mean, what
5:09
Speaker 2: what you've ended? What it's the results been. You know,
5:12
Speaker 2: it's just this lineup that's not just not really good.
5:16
Speaker 2: It's top heavy, you know, at the best, and then
5:18
Speaker 2: that bottom of the order is just not forming. And
5:20
Speaker 2: that was one of the staples of that twenty twenty
5:22
Speaker 2: three team. I mean, yeah, they could just rock you
5:24
Speaker 2: over with that lineup. And uh, and I mean, you know,
5:28
Speaker 2: Drake Balwin's been a good surprise. Sean Murphy's not been
5:31
Speaker 2: bad either. I mean he's hitting better than league average
5:34
Speaker 2: in terms of way to runs created. So the catcher's
5:37
Speaker 2: position has not been bad. That's been a nice tandem there.
5:39
Speaker 2: But you know, you're seeing marcel A Zuna hasn't done
5:43
Speaker 2: a whole lot this seasons.
5:44
Speaker 1: Been very inconsistent.
5:45
Speaker 2: He has been very consistent, battling a hei up injury
5:50
Speaker 2: I think has really sapped his power. But I mean,
5:53
Speaker 2: he carried this team last year offensively, so it's hard
5:55
Speaker 2: to it's hard to be, you know, overly critical of him.
5:59
Speaker 2: But he's in his walk here and I'm sure this
6:02
Speaker 2: is you know, I'm sure the pressure is mounting. And
6:03
Speaker 2: that's I mean, that's one thing. You know, they fired
6:06
Speaker 2: their hitting coach last year, Kevin Sitzer, and one of
6:09
Speaker 2: the things he said on the way out was he
6:11
Speaker 2: just could not get those guys to stop pressing. And
6:14
Speaker 2: I feel like it's just been a continuation of that
6:16
Speaker 2: because we know this team's talented, but just for whatever reason,
6:20
Speaker 2: I mean, it's like we've seen way too many times
6:23
Speaker 2: runners second and third, nobody out and the Brakes come
6:25
Speaker 2: out of this with no runs. Yeah, And I mean
6:27
Speaker 2: and and a lot of that, I just feel like
6:30
Speaker 2: a lot of that's mental. You can't you know, you
6:33
Speaker 2: can't measure stuff like that, but just you know, it's
6:36
Speaker 2: been frustrating. It's frustrating to watch not in and not out,
6:40
Speaker 2: but you know, I mean, this is this is where
6:42
Speaker 2: they're at.
6:42
Speaker 1: Yep, this is where they're at in the NL East
6:44
Speaker 1: for sure, And we're gonna get into whether or not
6:46
Speaker 1: this team can actually make any sort of quote comeback
6:51
Speaker 1: as we wrap up our discussion. But first I wanted
6:55
Speaker 1: to get into this pitching rotation and just the pitching
6:59
Speaker 1: in general from what we've seen with the Braves here, Chris,
7:02
Speaker 1: because it seems like the Braves missing Charlie Morton at
7:07
Speaker 1: this point, Like that's it's kind of a real thing here,
7:10
Speaker 1: you know. I mean, at the beginning of the season,
7:11
Speaker 1: Charlie Morteny wasn't performing the best on the mound, and
7:14
Speaker 1: he certainly turned things around here in twenty twenty five
7:17
Speaker 1: for himself. Since returning to the Orioles lineup in May,
7:21
Speaker 1: he now has a sub A three hundred er. So
7:25
Speaker 1: I'm wondering, like, do you think it was a mistake
7:27
Speaker 1: to let Charlie Morton walk in the off season, you know,
7:30
Speaker 1: given some of the pitching issues the Braves staff has here.
7:35
Speaker 2: I mean, it's it's proven that way, you know. Coming
7:38
Speaker 2: into the season. Look, I don't think enough Braves fans
7:40
Speaker 2: appreciated Charlie Morton I mean we remember, you know, twenty
7:43
Speaker 2: twenty one, he was outstanding. The last few years. You know,
7:46
Speaker 2: he's run hot and cold. You know he'll have us.
7:49
Speaker 2: He'd have a start where you give up three home
7:50
Speaker 2: runs in five runs early, six runs early and get
7:53
Speaker 2: knocked out. But there was a lot. But he logged
7:55
Speaker 2: in and thirty starts a season every time he was
7:58
Speaker 2: with Atlanta, And that was something that I think it's
8:01
Speaker 2: easy to take advantage of the numbers. You know, we're
8:03
Speaker 2: always solid, and you're talking about a guy that was
8:06
Speaker 2: penciled in to be your number three and number four starter.
8:10
Speaker 2: I think coming into the season, the Braves thought they
8:12
Speaker 2: had enough pitching depth, uh And it looked like they did.
8:15
Speaker 2: You know, they knew they were getting Strider back. You
8:18
Speaker 2: knew you had guys like A. J. Smith Shaver who
8:22
Speaker 2: they were counting on to to step up and come in.
8:25
Speaker 2: But what's happened is they've been just hit with so
8:27
Speaker 2: many injuries. I mean, if you look at their I
8:31
Speaker 2: the list of on the IL right now, I mean,
8:33
Speaker 2: you've got Lopez, we just talked about, Chris Sale, Spencer
8:36
Speaker 2: Schwelling Bach and then Smith Shawver who's out with Tommy
8:39
Speaker 2: John you know. I mean that's that's four, that's four
8:43
Speaker 2: of your five rotation people at this point. You know,
8:46
Speaker 2: you got Spencer Strider and Grant Holmes and then they're
8:49
Speaker 2: just basically piecing this thing together from the from the
8:53
Speaker 2: from their own and uh, you know right now they've
8:56
Speaker 2: only got four starters on the on the roster and
8:58
Speaker 2: just pitched the bullpen game over the weekend. Yeah, so
9:01
Speaker 2: you know, they're to the point where they don't really
9:05
Speaker 2: have a person to call up. Bryce Elder probably would
9:09
Speaker 2: have already been sent down if they had anybody they
9:13
Speaker 2: called a twenty year old rookie and Diddier Flints, Uh,
9:17
Speaker 2: he probably would have made a spot start. He's I
9:19
Speaker 2: think he's in line for his fourth start now, you know,
9:23
Speaker 2: he he doesn't belong in the in the majrisge yet.
9:26
Speaker 2: He's got a good arm, but you know it's out
9:28
Speaker 2: of necessity at this point. So yeah, Charlie Morton would
9:32
Speaker 2: look really good in this rotation right now if you could,
9:35
Speaker 2: if you could hand the ball to him. Uh. But
9:38
Speaker 2: you know, I mean, coming in, like I said, I
9:40
Speaker 2: think I think we were guilty of not appreciating Charlie
9:44
Speaker 2: Morton quite as much. But you know, coming into the season,
9:47
Speaker 2: they thought they had enough starting pitching death and it
9:50
Speaker 2: just you know, when the injuries, the injuries piled up,
9:53
Speaker 2: and this is this is where they're at.
9:54
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean I did want to ask you next,
9:57
Speaker 1: you know, you know, how this starting rotation could inevitably
10:02
Speaker 1: stabilize itself here. I mean, you talk about the injuries,
10:06
Speaker 1: you talk about like the lack of depth, you know,
10:09
Speaker 1: and whether it is calling up someone from Triple A perhaps.
10:12
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't dive into other teams farm systems, uh,
10:17
Speaker 1: you know, I of course we dive into the Phillies
10:20
Speaker 1: farm system a decent amount here on this podcast platform.
10:23
Speaker 1: But in terms of really being able to stabilize this
10:26
Speaker 1: starting rotation for the remainder of the season here, if
10:29
Speaker 1: this team has the opportunity you know, to you know,
10:32
Speaker 1: one get healthy perhaps or or you know, bring somebody up,
10:37
Speaker 1: how how can it be stabilized? Is that even really possible?
10:40
Speaker 2: Here? You know, it's it's gonna be interesting. They've got
10:44
Speaker 2: a top top prospect in Hurston Waldrip who struggled at
10:48
Speaker 2: Triple A, and I mean if he was pitching anywhere
10:51
Speaker 2: close to what they thought he would be, he'd be
10:53
Speaker 2: in the Major shot now notable. He's their top guy,
10:58
Speaker 2: and I mean he's I think he's got like a
11:00
Speaker 2: teen percent walk crad at Triple A. It's just not
11:03
Speaker 2: I mean, if, like I said, he would be in
11:05
Speaker 2: the Major. Things are dire enough now that if he
11:08
Speaker 2: would be in the Majors, and he may be in
11:10
Speaker 2: the next week because they're gonna have to add another starter.
11:14
Speaker 2: So you know, I mean, this is one of those
11:15
Speaker 2: situations where the Braves really look like sellers right now. Yeah,
11:18
Speaker 2: but they may have to go out and try to
11:21
Speaker 2: trade for a starter just to try to get this,
11:24
Speaker 2: get through this, get through the rest of the season. Yeah,
11:27
Speaker 2: I mean, and I mean that's crazy to think about.
11:30
Speaker 2: But you know, I mean, Chris Sale, they say he's
11:32
Speaker 2: going to be back, He's on the sixty day aisl
11:35
Speaker 2: It's probably gonna be the end of August before we
11:37
Speaker 2: see before he's back throwing Spencer Schwellenbach. I'm thinking if
11:41
Speaker 2: they're out of the race, I don't think Schwellenbach will
11:44
Speaker 2: pitch anymore this year. He's got a fractor in his elbow.
11:47
Speaker 2: You know, if they were to climb back in it,
11:49
Speaker 2: then maybe, you know, maybe he's back but you know,
11:52
Speaker 2: I think it makes sense not to Smith. Shauv's already
11:55
Speaker 2: out for the season and miss part of next season
11:57
Speaker 2: with Tommy John and Lopez the the you know, the
12:01
Speaker 2: proagnosis on him was he might be back, he might not.
12:04
Speaker 2: So again, if they're out of the they're out of
12:06
Speaker 2: the race. I don't know that you're going to see
12:08
Speaker 2: him at all. So it's not gonna It's not pretty
12:11
Speaker 2: at the moment.
12:12
Speaker 1: It seems like a lot of season, it does. It
12:14
Speaker 1: seems like a lost season. If I'm a Braves fan,
12:16
Speaker 1: I would say, actually, don't sell at the trade deadline.
12:19
Speaker 1: You know, you need to keep assets for the future.
12:22
Speaker 1: If I'm a Braves fan, I'm saying no, you know,
12:24
Speaker 1: it may just be a lost season here.
12:26
Speaker 2: Chris, Yeah, And I mean it's really I know we're
12:29
Speaker 2: going to talk about that some more in a minute,
12:30
Speaker 2: but I mean it's really it's really feeling that way,
12:34
Speaker 2: you know at this point, Uh, you know, Sale meant
12:37
Speaker 2: so much to them seeing him get hurt. You know,
12:40
Speaker 2: I feel like Sale pitched them into the postseason last year.
12:43
Speaker 2: You know, we had all these same struggles, but it
12:45
Speaker 2: was like the Pigeon staff just kind of kept them
12:48
Speaker 2: kept their heads above water enough to get into the
12:51
Speaker 2: postseason and to see him get hurt and then Schwellingbock
12:54
Speaker 2: come a couple of weeks later and get hurt behind them.
12:58
Speaker 2: It's just not it's just hard. It's just gonna be
13:00
Speaker 2: really hard for this team to, you know, to overcome
13:03
Speaker 2: those type of losses. Yeah.
13:05
Speaker 1: Absolutely, it's gonna be difficult for sure. And folks, we're
13:08
Speaker 1: getting ready to take a break here. Stick with us
13:11
Speaker 1: because we've got a lot of braves talk coming to
13:14
Speaker 1: you here on this Opposition Territory podcast. But again, want
13:18
Speaker 1: you to head over to SB Nation MLB all their
13:21
Speaker 1: coverage Chris and his crew over there doing a great,
13:24
Speaker 1: great job. Chris, Where can folks find you on the
13:26
Speaker 1: socials out there? I know you're on Blue Sky as well.
13:29
Speaker 1: Let folks know where they can find you online and
13:31
Speaker 1: what you're doing.
13:32
Speaker 2: Yeah, you can find me on Blue Sky and SB
13:35
Speaker 2: Nation Blue Sky and my names spell it with a K,
13:39
Speaker 2: so kri is underscore, Willis say, Blue Sky. That's the
13:42
Speaker 2: best place to find me.
13:43
Speaker 1: All right, sounds good? And if you are watching on YouTube,
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13:53
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13:57
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14:00
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14:06
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14:09
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14:12
Speaker 1: you're watching on YouTube. We greatly appreciate that we are
14:15
Speaker 1: going to take a break, but when we get back,
14:17
Speaker 1: got more Braves talk. All right, we are back with
14:21
Speaker 1: our good friend Chris Willis from SB Nation. He's the
14:24
Speaker 1: MLB editor on that fine, fine website. And as we're
14:28
Speaker 1: continuing to talk about the Atlanta Braves here, I mean,
14:32
Speaker 1: it's a tough season, Chris, as we've been talking about
14:35
Speaker 1: before the break here, I do wonder if there is
14:39
Speaker 1: a you know, quote bright spot on this team, if
14:42
Speaker 1: there may be is an individual who isn't getting there
14:45
Speaker 1: due I want to bring something a little positive to
14:47
Speaker 1: the conversation here. Who has been that one maybe under
14:51
Speaker 1: the radar bit of excitement for the Braves this season?
14:54
Speaker 1: And why who's that person?
14:57
Speaker 2: Well, I mean Ronald Acuna Junior's obviously getting him back
15:00
Speaker 2: and getting to watch him every day. But that's that's
15:02
Speaker 2: kind of the lazy answer. I mean, he's you know,
15:04
Speaker 2: everybody knows him. He's starting All Star Game again at home,
15:08
Speaker 2: and you know, I'm expecting him to put on a show.
15:10
Speaker 2: But I mean, I don't know if enough people have
15:12
Speaker 2: talked about Grant Holmes. Holmes is a great story. He's
15:16
Speaker 2: a great story. You know, languished as in the minors
15:19
Speaker 2: for many years. Brays brought him up last year more
15:22
Speaker 2: as a reliever, kind of stretched him mind. At the end,
15:25
Speaker 2: he made some spot starts. He came to Spring this
15:27
Speaker 2: year to challenge for rotation spot. I think they thought
15:33
Speaker 2: they had enough guys that he would probably open in
15:35
Speaker 2: the rotation and then might get bumped to the bullpen
15:38
Speaker 2: when Strider came came back. He's ended up being a
15:42
Speaker 2: very important spot. I mean, he's probably their number two guy.
15:45
Speaker 2: What he is, their number two guy now behind behind Strider.
15:49
Speaker 2: A lot of strikeouts. Lately, he's getting zero run support.
15:53
Speaker 2: It's it's frustrating. But I mean, if I don't think
15:56
Speaker 2: enough people have really paid attention to the to the
15:59
Speaker 2: numbers and the innings that he has put up for
16:02
Speaker 2: the Brazen I mean, to me, he would be. He's
16:04
Speaker 2: kind of the unsung hero at this point if you
16:07
Speaker 2: can have one on a team that's a far under
16:09
Speaker 2: five hundred.
16:09
Speaker 1: Yeah, well it leads us now to done, done, done.
16:15
Speaker 1: The disappointing aspects of this team. I wanted to flip
16:18
Speaker 1: the coin here just to get your thoughts on who
16:21
Speaker 1: has been kind of the biggest disappointment of this Braves
16:25
Speaker 1: team and season thus far. There's a lot of disappointing
16:28
Speaker 1: aspects and storylines and talent of course happening in Atlanta,
16:32
Speaker 1: But what are your thoughts here in terms of what
16:34
Speaker 1: we've been talking about, what we've seen on the mound,
16:36
Speaker 1: what we've seen in the batter's box. What's the most
16:39
Speaker 1: disappointing aspect of this season in terms of talent.
16:42
Speaker 2: I mean, it's just that they've struggled to score runs.
16:45
Speaker 2: I mean, that's the crazy thing, because we saw the
16:48
Speaker 2: same group in twenty twenty three and it looked like
16:51
Speaker 2: that was never good. They were never going to have
16:53
Speaker 2: a hard time scoring runs. I mean, you could, you know,
16:55
Speaker 2: you could get away with playing Orlando Arcia at shortstop
16:58
Speaker 2: or something because they had enough offense everywhere else. I mean,
17:03
Speaker 2: if you know, if we're talking to individual players, id
17:05
Speaker 2: Alby's worries me. He's battled a lot of injuries. You know,
17:09
Speaker 2: he's he's he's struggled. But I think really probably Michael
17:12
Speaker 2: Harris is probably the biggest, the biggest eye opener. I
17:16
Speaker 2: think a lot of people, a lot of people at
17:18
Speaker 2: a lot of people thought that, you know, a twenty
17:20
Speaker 2: twenty season thirty eight. You know, if we wanted to
17:23
Speaker 2: dream big, maybe a thirty thirty season was possible from him.
17:27
Speaker 2: He had been taking steps forward also for a while.
17:31
Speaker 2: You know, there's always been a little bit of a
17:33
Speaker 2: question mark about his his displate discipline. This year, I
17:38
Speaker 2: think he's going one hundred and fifty something at bats
17:41
Speaker 2: right now that he hasn't walked, you know, he's just
17:44
Speaker 2: swinging and everything. I think they were counting on him
17:47
Speaker 2: to grow into a guy. Maybe that's hitting second in
17:50
Speaker 2: this line up behind Acunya, and you know he's still
17:53
Speaker 2: go gug Calbert defensive player, but the offense is just cratered.
17:57
Speaker 2: And I mean he's another one. I'm sure he's working
18:00
Speaker 2: as hard as he can to get out of it,
18:02
Speaker 2: and he's pressing and like most of these guys in
18:05
Speaker 2: this lineup are. But I would say his offensive performance
18:08
Speaker 2: has probably been the biggest disappointment from a brave standpoint,
18:12
Speaker 2: biggest surprise, you know, because I mean, this is a
18:15
Speaker 2: guy they locked up, and I mean we celebrated all
18:18
Speaker 2: the you know, it seemed like they were trading for
18:20
Speaker 2: guys and they'd sign them to a team friendly deal
18:23
Speaker 2: and everything. But you're seeing a little bit, you're seeing
18:26
Speaker 2: the reverse side of that. When you lock guys up
18:28
Speaker 2: like that, you better hope that they're they're going to perform,
18:34
Speaker 2: you know, all the way through those contracts, and and
18:36
Speaker 2: that's because it SAPs your flexibility. I think they're right
18:40
Speaker 2: under the tax right now. I mean it's hard to
18:43
Speaker 2: trust public numbers and stuff, you know, but that's another thing.
18:47
Speaker 2: And I know we're going to talk about the rest
18:49
Speaker 2: of the season in a minute, but you know, it's
18:51
Speaker 2: a point now where you know, maybe they don't need
18:54
Speaker 2: to buy the trade deadline. They need to reset their
18:56
Speaker 2: tax penalties because they've been in a tax team in
19:00
Speaker 2: the last couple of years. Yeah, if it's a lost season,
19:02
Speaker 2: then just and then try to, you know, try to
19:05
Speaker 2: address some of these issues. Dur nofices.
19:07
Speaker 1: Yeah, I saw a stat and I thought it was interesting.
19:09
Speaker 1: Chris just wanted to bounce it off of you. How
19:11
Speaker 1: the Braves are are worst hitters on the road, and
19:15
Speaker 1: it's pretty drastic because at home as a team, the
19:19
Speaker 1: splits are two fifty seven, three twenty five and three
19:23
Speaker 1: ninety eight away. It's they're the splits are two thirty three,
19:28
Speaker 1: three twelve and three seventy two. I just it's it's
19:33
Speaker 1: really it's really bizarre too because despite the lower slugging,
19:37
Speaker 1: it's not a home run problem from my understanding necessarily,
19:41
Speaker 1: So it's just it's so bizarre, you know what we're
19:44
Speaker 1: seeing this season. I feel like this Braves team like
19:48
Speaker 1: they're an anomaly in a way. If I'm taking something
19:50
Speaker 1: away from this conversation. You know, we can all talk
19:53
Speaker 1: about how certain baseball teams and players they're good, they're bad,
19:56
Speaker 1: you know, they're just in a cold rut right now,
19:59
Speaker 1: or the are hot, they're on fire. With this Braves team,
20:02
Speaker 1: I just feel like they're an anomaly at this point,
20:04
Speaker 1: Like you said, a bunch of the same players from
20:06
Speaker 1: twenty twenty three, and it's just it's not that they
20:09
Speaker 1: just don't have a cohesive identity here.
20:13
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I mean and then going back to something
20:15
Speaker 2: else that I went to mention when we was talking
20:16
Speaker 2: about Charlie Morton, and I don't know how you measure
20:19
Speaker 2: this stuff. I mean, you hear it all the time.
20:20
Speaker 2: But we saw them, you know, we've saw them recent years.
20:24
Speaker 2: We've saw Freddie Freeman walk out, you know, and they
20:27
Speaker 2: replaced him with Matt Olsen. You saw Dansby Swanson leave.
20:31
Speaker 2: You know, those those were good clubhouse guys. They had
20:34
Speaker 2: guys like that. And then you know, this year Travis
20:36
Speaker 2: Darnaut left. You know, they didn't pick the option up
20:39
Speaker 2: for him. Drake Baldwin had a lot to do with that.
20:42
Speaker 2: Charlie Morton was a you know, another veteran. I mean,
20:46
Speaker 2: there's leadership leaders in that clubhouse. Yeah, you know, but
20:50
Speaker 2: I don't want to undersell, you know how much guys
20:52
Speaker 2: like Darno Morton meant to a lot of those younger
20:56
Speaker 2: players and stuff. And just for whatever, you know, again,
20:59
Speaker 2: you know, I don't think I don't think they've tuned
21:01
Speaker 2: out Brian Snicker. They do have a new hitting coach.
21:05
Speaker 2: There's some signs that they're trying to change their approach,
21:08
Speaker 2: you know, I don't know. I don't know if that's
21:09
Speaker 2: that was the best I thought firing Kevin Seitzer was
21:12
Speaker 2: a little bit of a knee jert reaction. But you know,
21:15
Speaker 2: I think this team was built to slug, and I
21:18
Speaker 2: think they've tried to be a little bit of something
21:20
Speaker 2: else this time. They've tried to zig a little bit
21:23
Speaker 2: and I don't and it's just not worked to the
21:26
Speaker 2: level that it needs to be. And you know, how
21:30
Speaker 2: do you fix that? I don't exactly if I had
21:33
Speaker 2: to answer. If I had the answer, I wouldn't be
21:34
Speaker 2: sitting here right exactly.
21:36
Speaker 1: So, you know, no silver bullet for the Atlanta Braves
21:39
Speaker 1: at this point. But buddy, before I let you leave,
21:43
Speaker 1: as of us recording this here and then the final
21:46
Speaker 1: topic we wanted to get into, the Braves have a
21:48
Speaker 1: record of thirty nine and fifty. They're sitting forth in
21:51
Speaker 1: the NL East, and I guess the real question is
21:54
Speaker 1: can this team get to a point where they may
21:56
Speaker 1: be competitive in the NL least this season like many
22:00
Speaker 1: of us thought they would be. I don't know what
22:02
Speaker 1: are your thoughts here? It seems like probably not, but
22:04
Speaker 1: who knows, you know, this is baseball. I mean, weird
22:06
Speaker 1: things happen.
22:07
Speaker 2: It's you have to you know, I want to put
22:10
Speaker 2: the cabot out there. I mean, you know, we lived
22:12
Speaker 2: through twenty twenty one. Yeah, Ronald blows his knee out.
22:16
Speaker 2: Ronald Cooney blows his knee out. Ian Anderson came up
22:19
Speaker 2: with a shoulder injury. On that same weekend, they were
22:22
Speaker 2: below five hundred. I may have written that this season
22:26
Speaker 2: was over, you know, and we obviously know what went
22:29
Speaker 2: what happened after that. You know, they caught fire, ran
22:32
Speaker 2: straight through the postseason, won World Series. But I think
22:35
Speaker 2: it's different with this team now, the rotation injuries. I mean,
22:39
Speaker 2: the Brakes could go trade for a starter, and they
22:42
Speaker 2: probably need to at least at this point, you know,
22:46
Speaker 2: And that's just not I don't think they I don't
22:48
Speaker 2: think they have the system to go out and get
22:50
Speaker 2: those type of guys. I don't know that those guys
22:52
Speaker 2: are going to be available anyway. You know, you see
22:54
Speaker 2: a guy like Sandy al Contra, but there's going to
22:57
Speaker 2: be a ton of people wanting him, and there's going
22:59
Speaker 2: to be a lot and there's some questions with him too.
23:02
Speaker 2: The stuff's there, though, and you know, I just don't
23:05
Speaker 2: know if they've got it. I don't know if they
23:06
Speaker 2: can overcome this many losses. So yeah, more and more
23:10
Speaker 2: and more. It just feels like a lost season. And
23:12
Speaker 2: it could be an anomaly. I mean, we could be
23:14
Speaker 2: sitting here next this time next year talking about how
23:17
Speaker 2: this team looks completely It's the same group of guys,
23:19
Speaker 2: but it looks completely different. But there is there are
23:22
Speaker 2: enough concerns now this has been a year over over
23:25
Speaker 2: a season and a half now where this offense just
23:29
Speaker 2: has not clicked the way it did in twenty twenty three.
23:32
Speaker 2: Some of these guys are locked up long you know,
23:34
Speaker 2: on long term deals. It's gonna be really interesting and
23:38
Speaker 2: really challenging. I think to kind of turn this thing
23:41
Speaker 2: around and get it headed back in the right duraction.
23:43
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, this team definitely feels like the Philadelphia seventy
23:46
Speaker 1: six ers in a lot of ways. I'll tell you, folks,
23:48
Speaker 1: if you follow basketball, they definitely feel like a Sixers team.
23:51
Speaker 1: But again, we appreciate you Chris jumping on board here
23:56
Speaker 1: on our Opposition Territory podcast this week again, folks, Chris
23:59
Speaker 1: wellism SB Nation Again. Let folks know where they can
24:03
Speaker 1: follow you online.
24:03
Speaker 2: My friend, best place to find me is at Blue Sky.
24:06
Speaker 2: I'm not on the socials lock I was at one time,
24:09
Speaker 2: but yeah, that's a good place, you know, reach out,
24:12
Speaker 2: say hi. I love interre acting with people and stuff
24:15
Speaker 2: and it's always good time coming on with you. I
24:17
Speaker 2: appreciate you having me.
24:19
Speaker 1: Always fun, my friend. Looking forward to talking to you
24:21
Speaker 1: at some point down the road. If you're willing to
24:22
Speaker 1: come back, I'd love to have you.
24:25
Speaker 2: Oh, no doubt, no doubt. Just let me know. Maybe
24:27
Speaker 2: something around the postseason. We'll talk about the playoff baseball.
24:30
Speaker 1: Sounds good, my friend. That's going to do it for
24:33
Speaker 1: us here on Opposition Territory this week. Please share our
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24:39
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25:06
Speaker 1: next time.