July 27, 2025 • 45 mins
Brad Rowland and Scott Coleman co-host Episode 239 of the Hammer Territory Podcast. Topics include the injury to Grant Holmes, the acquisition of Erick Fedde, a bad season getting worse for the Atlanta Braves, Michael Harris's strong week, the upcoming MLB Trade Deadline, and much more.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Hello everyone, and welcome back to the Hammer Territory podcast
is episode two three nine. I'm your host, Brad Roland,
coming to you on a Sunday evening. It is late July,
and I'm joined as I always am, by Scott Coleman. Scott,
I could do the same opening that we've done in
the last several Sundays, or we could just acknowledge the
Braves lost again and it was every day at this point.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
How are you, hello, Brad, Good to see you, my friend.
You are currently recording live from rural Kentucky.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
That's correct.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
If anybody ever questions Brad Roland's dedication to this podcast,
he is in the middle of nowhere. And yeah, they
lost on Sunday. They have not one on a Sunday
and more than two. They lost yesterday, they lost the
day before that. They're probably going to lose tomorrow. They're
probably gonna lose again the day after that. This team,
you want to talk about, just the absolute defeatist of
(01:12):
all teams.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
I mean they are.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
This is a dead baseball team walking. There's fifty eight
games to go. If they could forfeit fifty eight games,
sign me up. Let's do it, because I mean, it's
just it's borderline depressing to watch this team go out
there and get their ass kicked seemingly every single night.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
Yeah, we'll get into a little bit more of that
later on in the show. But the Braves currently have
a bottom five winning percentage in all of baseball, which
is an unthinkable statement, and that is where things are
at this moment in time. We should say at the
top of the show, if you're new to the podcast,
first of all, God bless you for joining us now
for the first time. Thank you for being here. Please
subscribe to Hammer Territory anywhere you find your podcast. We're
(01:50):
part of the Foul Territory network of podcasts that we
cover the Braves year round. So join us. We will
not stop talking about the Braves. People keep sending us
notes either trying to let us off the hook, were
trying to encourage us, or both, and we appreciate it
for sure, but we're gonna be doing podcasts no matter
what happens with the Braves. There's unfortunately some bad news
even on top of the bad results for the Braves,
(02:11):
that we'll get into, then a trade room or two,
some game stuff. Michael Harris had a good week. If
there was a positive of the entire week, it was
probably that. But let's lead with the not so great
news because it's the biggest news. That's Grant Holmes going
on the sixty day aisle actually pretty quickly with right
elbow inflammation. Grant's had a really good season. He's been
(02:33):
one of the brighter spots of this club this year.
But he left the game a couple days ago now
and within what forty eight hours twenty four hours he
was immediately on the sixty day We don't know if
he's like out for a year like this is one
of those injuries that could be a hey, he has
to have Tommy John he's going to miss the season.
But regardless, his season in twenty twenty five is all
(02:55):
but over him and it basically has to be over
based on this machination. So what was your reaction to that?
And obviously, you know, Rock to his season and another
guy that is now out for either the year or
most of the year of the Brace.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
It just sucks, and it sucks for Grant Holmes, who
is one of the very few, honest to goodness bright
spots on this entire team. The entire opening day, starting
rotation is now on the sixty day injured list and
the one note one side quick side note. People are
going to point to the starting pitching injuries as why
(03:30):
this season has been so bad, and that is part
of it, but it is not the reason this team
is so bad. I almost wonder, like the broadcast today
for a moment was talking about the injuries, and yes,
it's fair to say no team is going to overcome
losing an entire starting rotation, worth but this team has
so many problems beyond the rotation right now to just
(03:51):
wanted to at least say that out loud. But for Holmes,
it sucks. We'll see, maybe by the time people are
listening to the show, we'll have some more clarity. It
sounds like Holmes was undergoing some testing and then we'll
meet with the doctors.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
I do think that.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
Grant's season was probably nearing an end no matter what.
In the next few weeks. He was already surpassed his
career innings maximum or is high in innings pitched. He
had made twenty one starts. They were not gonna have
Grant Holmes go two hundred innings in a lost season.
So I think Holmes was gonna be shut down anyway.
So maybe the glimmer of hope here is that he's
(04:29):
going to be okay, doesn't need surgery. But if he's
not okay, if he needs surgery, not only do you
lose him in this season from hell, but then you're
probably going to be without Grant Holmes for the entirety
of twenty twenty six. And that is a legitimate loss,
Oh for sure.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
I mean, that's one that we'll probably talk about more
when we get the definitive news if that happens. Hopefully
it doesn't happen. To your point, there is a realistic
scenario where he just has a issue of some kind
that could give him, you know, whether it's PRP or
whatever the injection is, give him a bunch of time off,
shut him down, and he comes back next year and
he's fine. That's the great scenario. If not, though, like
to your point, it would be really bad for next year.
(05:07):
Not that he's a star, and he is, you know,
a guy who is more of a back end of
the rotation guy in the rotation. But regardless, either a
high end bullpen arm BA can starter like has real value,
has had a good season. It ends with a three
point nine nine era for the year, Like that's a
guy that you would one hundred times of one hundred
be really thrilled with, and you hate it because he's
a great story. Everybody loves the guy. All that stuff
(05:29):
you mentioned just to I could re emphasize what you
just said in passing all five opening day starters on
the sixty day l at the same time by the
end of July is actually insane. And yes, Strider was
not in the opening day rotation. He's the one guy
that they can still count on to make starts. So
but we'll talk about that more in a second. This
rotation is utterly disaster prone right now. It's just like
(05:50):
there's nothing there. I agree hardly with your point, by
the way, about this not being the reason. You know,
if you're the team broadcast I you're gonna be searching
for things to talk about. I don't really blame those
guys for pointing that. And look, when I would draw
the line, I I want to know what you think
about this. To this point, or even I would say
two or three weeks ago before sales Schwallbach White down
(06:15):
to that point, the rotation was certainly nowhere near the
reason why they were struggling. I do believe that it
will be a big part of the reason why they
end up with ninety plus losses by the end of
the season, if that makes sense. Like now, not that
it matters anymore, It doesn't really matter at this point
what they do winter loss, but now it's so bad
that they have no chance. Honestly a lot of nights
(06:37):
and we will talk about it more later, but they
have the worst era in the sport since the All
Star break, and it's because they don't have anybody left
and now as well. It kind of feeds on itself.
The bullpen was pretty good for a while. Now they
have no length in the starting pitching, so they have
to overtax the bull It feeds on itself and that
self and itself, so by the end of the year
it's gonna look worse than it actually was for the pitching. Yeah,
so I think we'll probably be banging that drive. I
(06:59):
saw our colleague step until work. Who's still I think
maybe on a cruise somewhere. It's Pye on his way back.
Make at the same point too, like it's not really
the reason we know that. The diehards know that I
hope that we don't get that lost later on and
that the team at least says it's as a sober
look at itself the off season to say, hey, yeah,
it got bad. It got real bad because the pitching
can fill apart, but they couldn't score runs for the
(07:20):
first two and a half months of the season and
that was really the problem for most of the ways. So, uh,
weird season, Scott, weird season.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
It is a weird season, indeed, and now we're seeing
the snowball effect. And it's why when they lost Sale,
I mean, Steven and I did in a mini emergency
show that afternoon and we, I mean we basically said
the season was over at that point because there was
just there's no one left. And then they lose Schwallenbach
two weeks later, then it was really over. And then
to lose Grant Holmes, who just I mean, the dude
(07:48):
stuck around in the minor leagues for a decade finally
gets a chance just over a year ago. Has been
such a good story. And now he has an elbow
injury of some kind and let's sincerely cross our fing
that he's going to be okay, And it's just more
of a rest and maintenance thing. But I mean, good lord,
b I mean, how's your.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
Elbow these days? Do you have anything left?
Speaker 2 (08:08):
Or if you know, if you're a listener you played
college ball, you might get a phone call from alex
and Thoppolis because dear lord, I mean, they might not
even have enough guys in Gwinnett who can, like in
good confidence they can give a baseball to to start
these final two months without just sending them out to
the absolute frickin Wolves. You have a forty man roster
you have to figure out to make room. It is
(08:29):
going to get so ugly on the pitching side of
things down the stretch. Even if the offense hits a
little bit better than they did earlier in the year.
I mean, man alive, it's gonna be scary hours for
the pitching staff.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
The Braves currently have one starting pitcher that we know
is a Major leaguer, Yeah, one, and it's Special Strider, who,
by the way, they have every incentive to be careful
with down the stretch. Like, if you're a Special Strid,
are you going to be throwing games in late September?
(09:04):
I kind of don't think so. In a last season,
so we'll get into a guy they acquired in a
second who they who actually has been a major leaguer.
He isn't a great major leaguer, but he's a major
leaguer we think, and some other stuff of course coming
up on the podcast. The boy's again made a trade
literally today, not a high profile one, but we'll get
into that, the fallout and much more after a word
from our partners.
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Speaker 1 (10:23):
Promos, Okay Scott. The Braves to make a trade on
Sunday to acquire Eric Fetti. And it's kind of funny
because I think you saw this. I had Eric Fetty's
name written down in our doc before they made the trade,
and it was because he had been DFAD a couple
of days ago, and it was like, hey, if the
Braves want a guy who could throw some nnings, Eric
(10:46):
Fetty might be a great option for that. And literally
they traded a form before we can even talk about
on the podcast. He isn't very good. It's a player
to be named later. Going to Saint Louis, the Carls
are gonna pay most of is what I saw reported
his salary for the seasons that the Bridge are just
kind of we'll see who they send out for him,
but it probably won't be a huge prospect. He was again,
he was already dfa that Carlos will already give me
(11:07):
up on him. But he did have a good year
last year in twenty four veteran guy, thirty two year old.
This year he's been bad. We could just be honest
about that era in the fives, not really checking anybody out,
like he's a very uh not exciting addition, that's the
way that I put that. But again, this is a
(11:28):
guy who has thrown twenty starts in the majors this year,
and even if he's bad, it's a guy who could
throw six hands a night, and that's actually just of
huge value to the organization right now. And our guy
Ken Rosenhal actually already reported he's gonna start on Tuesday,
like the Brace would said that, but if Ken says it,
it's gonna be true. So Fetti Tuesday and a guy
(11:50):
that people have maybe heard of, so that's something.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
Yeah, So the name Eric Fetty is familiar. He was
with the Nationals for many years. Was pretty bad, I mean,
was the definition of a fifth starter on a bad team,
and then out of absolutely nowhere. Last season was really good,
And David O'Brien actually reported that a year ago, when
Eric Fetty was available at the trade deadline, the White
(12:15):
Sox were asking for Drake Baldwin.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
That's right, thank god.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
Sometimes the best year to imagine.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
I mean, I don't think the bands would have ever
done that, but can you imagine if that had happened.
But no, Actually, I want to note this before I forget,
he actually spent twenty twenty three, So the year before
he came, the year before he was good. Last year
in Korea, like he was out of he was out
of the majors, like was off the radar, had a
great year in Korea, came back, actually had a lot
of interest, and then had like a borderline like all
(12:45):
star level season in twenty twenty four and a lot
of smoking mirrors. Like he's never been a great stuff guy,
but like it's been a total roller coaster ride. But
you're right, it's so funny, Like he got traded for
real stuff last year, Like he got traded from the
White Sox to the Cardinals and the Carls real stuff him,
They would try to get him, you know, all this stuff.
And now he's getting sold for not nothing, but close
to nothing to a bad team just to fill innings.
(13:07):
And hey, by the way, I'm fine with it. Like
I'm actually I'm probably irrationally excited about this just because
he's he might be a major league pitcher. It's I
don't mean, I don't mean to be that guy, but
it's like he might. He's just gonna be able to
throw innings.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
I think, yes, that's exactly right. Fetti is gonna throw
ninety plus pitches every fifth day when he goes out
there because there is no future commitment to him. You
were truly buying an arm to cover every fifth day
for the next two months. And give me Eric Fetti
out there over you know, Diddy or Fuentees. Because Didtier
should be in Gwinett developing. Don't hijack Didtier's development in
(13:46):
a lost season. Let him continue to pitch and pitch well.
He actually threw really well today with Gwinnett, which is encouraging.
You know, even Hirston Waldrip, who's probably gonna be called
up here soon. I mean, you know, I wonder bred
in the next week, as there are trades across the league.
I wonder if We're going to see more Eric Fetti
types get dfaed by contending teams, pitchers who are serving
(14:09):
a role for a good team. But they're gonna acquire
somebody and then need a roster spot, So maybe the
Braves can kind of pick up the scraps. Again, not
a soul on Earth is gonna say Eric Fetti is
going to do much for this team. Yeah, but they
need someone, man like, literally, they have to pick up
someone unless they want to start throwing a bunch of
twenty one year old prospects out there. And I just
don't think that's worthwhile in a lost season.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
Yeah, and we'll probably do more this in August, when
all the deadline stuff is passed. But there is a
argument already happened in a line I don't know if
you've seen it, about basically like how you handle the
rest of the season pitching wise, and how much you
throw your kids and how deep you go in the work.
I get all that. I mean, it's there are pros
and cons to all of it, But I'm with you,
like you don't want to have you don't want to
(14:50):
have to throw your twenty two year olds if they're
not ready. If they are that's fine. I'm totally fine.
I think the Braves will give some guy who are
younger some chances down a stretch that makes total sense,
but you don't want to have to because you have
literally nothing else. And that's where the Braves kind of
are at this very moment. Like again, they have one guy.
I mean, if you want to say Bryce Elder just
(15:12):
to because the results don't matter. Sure, he's been absolutely
awful for a while now, but okay, a guy and
a half because Bryce will always take the ball. But
other than that, you start to fill three spots at night. Yeah,
you have you have names. I mean we could run
through them. You got Dane Dunning who's been a reliever
right now, but he could start for you. You know,
David Daniel has been pitching in the rotation. Like, there
are names people know. Hirston Waldrip was scratched on Friday.
(15:34):
People were hoping he would come back and be in rotation.
Maybe he will be. I mean we don't know, but
he's a guy people know anyway. Blake Blake pork Alter Jr. Richie.
I mean, there are names that are of varying interest.
Nathan Wilds is like another boring quad a guy you
can throw out there, you'll see all these guys, probably
maybe not all the young guys, but some of them.
But I do think that I saw people already kind
(15:56):
of yelling like, oh, Eric Face is gonna take the
place of shouldn't this? Then he's going to somebody that's
the young They'll be a part of the future of Like,
I get what you're saying, guys, but there's so many
innings available, but that's not really concern to me.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
That's true. We have no shortage of available starts and
innings in August and September. Yeah, I mean sure, if
you feel like Jr. Richie can go out there and
maybe make a couple of starts, give him a chance.
It's you know, you're probably not going to ruin the
kid's career if he makes two starts after Labor Day.
I think we saw enough of Diddy or Frontes just
(16:29):
for his mental sake. I don't think we need to
bring Fuentes back up. But yeah, man, I mean again,
there's there's fifty eight baseball games left. They're not going
to have Strider go to the very end of the year.
I don't think I think that feels silly especially coming
off of the elbow surgery, They're gonna have to figure
out something. And honestly, in terms of the deadline too,
(16:51):
like not only could they claim a pitcher, but I
mean they might just trade for a veteran that a
team just wants to get rid of just to purely innings,
and they're not going to give up prospect. The money's
probably going to balance out. But again they ad somebody
got to do it. I mean, you have to play
these games. And then we joked off the top about
just hitting the fast forward button and forfeiting.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
The next two months. But you have to play these games.
They're professionals.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
They got to go out there and they got to
figure out something because, as you said, currently it's Strider.
I guess Eric Fetti, Bryce Elder, and god knows what.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
I think Joey Wentz probably gets a couple more starts,
Like he was just started out pretty well, and he's
the one He's the one guy I haven't just said
the name of yet. Joey Wentz has spent in the
rotation the last couple turns. That's fine, Like I don't
think he's aspiring. He's not really a prospect at this
point he was a prospect, but he's not. He's twenty
eight years old, twenty nine years old, he's twenty eight now.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
Heel, Yeah, he can get through a lineup once. I
think that's probably it though.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
Right, And that's the thing, like again, you're putting your
bullpen in a possible position. All these things. So we'll
stop on this topic. It's just one of those reminders
that yes, Eric Fetty is an incredible boring he's been
bad this season, but also it's a major league pitcher
and he's a starter with a rubber arm and throw
him out there and again, you know, giving up very
little to do. So we talked about other options. Do
(18:14):
you want to I'll give you dealer's choice as well
as I sometimes do on the show. Scott, do you
want to talk about the small takeaways from this week
of games or do you want to discuss the one
kind of crackle of a rumor that we have about
the traded line. Let's do that.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
Let's do a little trade rumor here in the middle
portion of the pod.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
All right, So the Athletics and North Side territories. Patrick Mooney,
who covers the Cubs, a team that's actual contending for something.
The Cubs are good this year. He wrote this week
that Rysol Iglesias is quote one of several options under
consideration end quote for Chicago. Not exactly a lead the
(18:53):
podcast rumor at this point in time, but really, I mean,
what's that stuff that Scott. There hasn't been a lot
of like specific rumors yet about the Braves. We got
the Ozuna Hector Gomez thing that kind of got refuted
and then back to that's kind of out there. Still.
Ozuna is obviously very available, we know that, but he
has to say, yes, Rycel does not have the ability
(19:13):
to turn down a trade, so they can trade him easier.
I will now be honestly shocked if he's not traded,
because why wouldn't he be traded at this point? But
what do you make of this? I mean, the Cubs
are a team that has a need and has money
to spend. And we've covered this before, but the Braves
should just be like paying the money, even like pay
(19:34):
Risel and get better stuff back. Like were you out
on this whole thing with Rysel?
Speaker 2 (19:37):
Yeah, he's one of the obvious trade names here, and
obviously Iglesias is not having a good season and he
blew the save on whatever night that was. They all
blend together. It's he had that great stretch where he
was terrible and then he was really good for six weeks,
and then his last two starts I think have not
been very good. Our last two appearances, rather so the
(20:00):
even though Aglesius is not that good and he has
damaged goods, at this point in the year, you have
to remember put yourself in the mindset of a contender
where maybe you just lost two relievers from your bullpen.
Like the Toronto Blue Jays, who have either the best
record or second best record in the majors right now,
they have bullpen issues, so you know that they feel like,
(20:20):
all right, we have a chance this year. We can
win the division, get hot for three weeks, get to
the World Series. But Ricelaglasias would be significantly better than
some of the options Toronto has internally at this point.
The Cubs make a lot of sense. I mean, all
the contenders could use a Rys Laglacias, someone who has
been very, very good for a long time, even if
he is a bit older now. And it really I
(20:43):
mean that's the same case for is Marcelo Zuna having
a good year? No but some teams have horrible production
out of the DH spot. Similarly, Pierce Johnson good reliever,
not an amazing one, but again, Pierce Johnson's a lot
better than some of the guys the Cubs and the
Blue Jays are thrown out there, even like Aaron Bummer,
Like I do wonder, Brett, I want to say this
out loud on the show. The Dodgers just lost Tanner
(21:06):
Scott to an elbow injury. Doesn't Aaron Bummer kind of
feel like a Dodger tight pitcher. Obviously a lot of
similarities with the front offices, with Anthopolis and some of
the lieutenants there who came over from LA. I don't know,
I could see like the Dodgers there, if another team
loses their lefty setup man in the next couple of
days or has lost their lefty set up man, maybe
(21:27):
Aaron Bummer, even if he's not great, is a worthwhile
gamble because you never know. Maybe you're using Bummer to
get Bryce Harper out in the NLDS. You need someone
to make those pitches.
Speaker 1 (21:38):
No, I'm a Humber sent with you. That makes total sense.
I know we've been saying this a lot, and some
will be repetitive. We did. I wasn't on the show,
but we did a full eighty minute deadline extravaganza that,
by the way, still holds up in full right now.
That was almost I was like ten days ago, but
it's still like very relevant. Listen to that show if
you missed it. But yeah, I mean all the bullpen guys,
(21:58):
all of them, even Bill Lee, who is probably like
the least likely to be traded out of all those
guys because he's got the most control, He's the cheapest.
Every one in the bullpen, and I mean everyone in
the bullpen should be available everyone. That's my opinion. Now,
if you go not to relate the whole thing again
the Alex club, you know team control bit that he
always says, technically Johnson, Bummer Lee, all those guys are
(22:20):
underteae control. We'll see. But yeah, I mean a Cleasi
is not to I want out the people because that
it was off throaker conversations, But people that host shows
on our network have reached out to me to say, hey,
how available is Iglacias And this has been the last
couple of weeks, and not Patrick who were talking about
and reported us publicly. And the answer is like very available,
(22:43):
like obviously earlier. But I think the reputation of Aglesias,
not just with people like us, but people like in
the league is higher than braves fans reputation of him
right now. Like Braves fans have watched him be bad
this year. That's of course true. You're right that he
had that stretch, but some of the peripherals are better
than his performance, even if you don't care about that.
Teams do, I promise your teams do. Oh yeah, so,
(23:06):
I think for all the world, it will legitimately shock
me if he's not traded. I don't understand a world
why he wouldn't be traded. I mean, I don't mean
that negative way. I think we probably defended Brysell more
than most have this season. But like, there's just no
reason not to move. Like literally, I can't think of
a reason. He's expiring, pay a salary whatever, but uh,
he has he'll have suitor. I'm confident that Braves could
(23:29):
trade him multiple places in the next four days if
they want to. It's just like which package is the
most enticing money wise, prospect wise, all of those things.
But yeah, I mean, because they're on the list, You're right,
all those teams. Anybody that's trying to buy can you
use Rycel Glaciers even if Braves fans think he stinks,
Now he might stick now that's possible. But they're trying
(23:49):
to these teams that are trying to add I mean,
relieve is revoltaible. I mean times we have to say this.
If you get the guy that just just had that
stretch of six weeks, If that's the guy you get,
you're thrilled. If you're a team buying on a Glacias
for again, very very cheap like Unfortunately for the Braves,
I can't image they're gonna get a king's ransom for
any of these guys. But yeah, Bummer should be available,
(24:10):
Lee should be available, Johnson should be available, and especially Iglasious.
I don't know about you affect the lastest question right now,
are you with me? Because I kind of showed my
hand that Aglacis is the single most likely player to
be traded for the Braves. Yes, yeah, I think that's
the case, only because Ozuna can say no, that's the
(24:30):
only I mean, they're kind of neck and neck, and
like Ozuna, it goes ahead because he has the ability
to turn down a trade, that's basically, and.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
Only a couple of teams need DH help, whereas every contender.
You can be a contender with the best bullpen in
baseball and you still need more relievers like that. You
never say no to Iglacias, who's pitched in the highest
of leverage in the sport. He's a vet, He's been
doing this a long time. He's not gonna have stage
fright going out there in the ninth inning of a
(24:59):
soul stadium in the playoffs. And I mean, look at
the standings right now, Brad. There are maybe seven or
eight teams who are going to be selling and twenty
ish who are presumably gonna be buying. And every team,
every team buys relievers. I mean, yeah, you go back
to when the Braves were good, not that long ago,
but like they're always in the market for a reliever
(25:21):
in July.
Speaker 1 (25:21):
Like everybody has, even the Dodgers. We all laughed this
all winter about the Dodgers being this like perfect roster
and they need pitching somehow because they have so many injuries.
They be pitching, because everybody needs pitching this time of year.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
Everybody looking at the standings. And then we'll wrap up
Braves are selling. The Nationals are selling, although honestly, from
the pitching side, Nats don't have a whole lot. The
Pirates are selling, the Rockies are selling, God bless them.
The Rockies don't have much to sell. The Orioles are selling,
the White Sox are selling, The Athletics are probably selling. Yeah,
(25:58):
the Athletics will sell. But other than that, like, you know,
the Angels are probably gonna sell, The Twins might sell,
the Rays might sell. The Diamondbacks are probably going to sell.
But you know, okay, what was that Nine teams and
everybody else is going to probably be trying to buy.
It's it's supplying demand, and the Braves should be able
to get They're not going to get a top one
(26:19):
hundred prospect for Rice Degalacias, no, but they might get
something decent. If they have six teams fighting over him, price.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
Goes up, yep. And the Braves might have the most
if they're willing to trade guys like Bummer and Lee
or Johnson, any of those they might they might have.
They may have the most relievers of quality to trade
of any of those teams, because like, those teams are
bad teams and they were already bad teams. The Prayers
are bad team now, but they weren't supposed to be.
And they're built like a team that was trying to
(26:47):
win this year, which because they have four or five
guys that they're invested in that are relievers. All right,
let's move on to a little bit of game talk,
not a ton. A couple of observations and then we'll
get out of here. One of which is that the
Braves have lost five games in a row. That's just
one of those things. But they're now at there low
point of their season. Record wise, they're forty four and sixty.
(27:12):
Forty four and sixty. They're seven of nineteen now, sorry,
seven and nineteen, the last twenty six games. Like they've
fallen off the cliff and predictably to some degree, and
the pitching is given out. That's where we are. The
pitching's given out, just to give a number on that
they've lot and this five game lostory. They've allowed nine runs,
nine runs, eight runs, six runs and eight runs in
(27:34):
the last five games. So we went into it a
little bit more earlier, but it's caving in on itself
now in a way that is predictable. They've actually been
better offensively. It's kind of funny. They've been better offensively
in the last couple of weeks and it doesn't matter
anymore because they have the pitching. It hasn't those the
well I said better, I don't. That doesn't mean great.
It just means better. It doesn't mean right. Could only
(27:56):
go up.
Speaker 2 (27:58):
You know, when the Braves lost on Friday night, Our
friend Steven Tolbert pointed this out. But when the Braves
lost on Friday night, it was their fifty eighth loss
of the season. They lost fifty eight games. The entirety
of the twenty twenty three season, they were one hundred
and four and fifty eight.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
It was July twenty fifth when they did that.
Speaker 2 (28:22):
Just a couple of years ago. Man like, we won't
go depression mode again. But World Series one hundred and
one wins, one hundred and four wins. Even last year
when they won eighty nine games with the entire offense
hurt made the postseason to this brad to one of
(28:43):
the laughing stocks of the league, and good lord will
we won't go down this hole again.
Speaker 1 (28:49):
But it's just it was sad. We'll have to at
some point. But as a point we'll probably do a
retrospective like when there's a little more distance. But you're rhy.
I mean even the biggest Braves hater skeptic anybody, no one,
no one, and I mean no one thought forty four
and sixty, Like nobody thought that in the world. So uh. Anyway,
(29:12):
so Friday, nothing we way to add other than like
they faced Nathan Evaldie, which I thought was funny in
a cruel way because we spent all winter talking about
Nathan A. Evaldi as like the perfect Braves target. We
wanted him, they didn't get him. He's been awesome this year,
he has hey, including on Friday against the Braves. So
that was funny, right, Yeah, we were right. We're not
(29:33):
always right, We're often wrong, but we were not wrong
about Ithie Valday didn't see him. Yeah, So anyway, that
was the only thing on Friday other than Michael Harris
we'll talk about right now, because Michael Harris had a
heck of a week and a weekend. Saturday was kind
of the centerpiece of that. But he home We're on Friday,
and then on Saturday Michael Harris went like legitimately crazy.
(29:54):
He had a home run, two triples, in the same
game and a double. And I will be honest with
everybody listening, I was not watching. I was following the game,
but I was I'm working at Scott alluded to at
the beginning of the podcast in Kentucky, I couldn't watch
live and I got a text from Scott. I was
already following. I got a test from Scott that included
an explotive that I won't share on the air. But
(30:16):
I was like, what happened now? I thought something a
tothing bad happened. I was like, Oh, Harris, just Homer
or triple together. It was like, Michael Harris is just
having out of my experience apparently on July twenty sixth,
Like it's only one day or two days or three days.
But hey, Michael Harris, that's fun.
Speaker 2 (30:29):
Hey man, If you want to pick one single topic
for the second half of this season for the Braves
that they need to go their way, it is Michael
Harris continuing this and continuing to figure things out. Not
just the weekend in Texas, which was very, very good,
but even against the Giants, Harris had a lot of
(30:50):
hard contact. He lined into one out I think right
to the third baseman that was like one hundred and
nine miles an hour and should have been a hit.
He had the two triples, one of them was a
home run in most parks. I think he had three
homers all week long, including one to dead center at
Truist and then two in Texas. So there's some legitimate
(31:10):
things to be encouraged about. And then you add on
the fact that Michael Harris changed up his batting stance,
moved his feet.
Speaker 1 (31:17):
Around a little bit.
Speaker 2 (31:18):
And then Mike Petrullo of MLB dot Com had a
note that Michael Harris, even if it is a smaller sample,
has more of an uppercut in his swing in recent days,
which is interesting. It's a little bit more in line
with Lee gaverage where he was below the gaveraged before that.
So again, new swing and the fact that Harris immediately
(31:43):
has seen results as a result of it as a
product of it is really encouraging. And by far and away,
I mean if the Braves were good and then Michael
Harris had the week that he just had, it would
have led the show because it's like, Okay, maybe is
Michael Harris back? Is Is he going to be the
super talented kid that we all know him to be.
It's just a couple of games. We'll see how he does.
(32:04):
But it just feels like Mike is more confident and
more comfortable up there.
Speaker 1 (32:08):
Yeah, it does. And trust me, we're not trying to
say it's all fixed. It's not a big enough sample size. No, No,
I think that I'm glad you brought the Petrilo tweek
because that gives a little bit of for me, that
gives some reason for optimism more than just like, hey,
he had a good three days. Like because Michael's got talent.
We all know that by the way Sarah Langs and
(32:30):
you pulled this. But everyone's ready for the cycle, which
he had a chance at he was. It's a rare
time where he going to his fourth plade appearance without
the single, the easiest part to get of the cycle,
and he tripled, and it's like, way, way, way, way
harder to do what Michael did then get the hip
of the cycle. According to Sarah Langs, there have been
(32:50):
three hundred and six cycles in history. It's not that many,
but there have only been seventy three people ever in
a game that I have had two triples at a home run,
so rare if air for Michael on Saturday, by the way,
they lost the game, which is like, so Braves and
it was great.
Speaker 2 (33:06):
I actually watched on Saturday night. I was around doing
stuff like have.
Speaker 1 (33:10):
The game on.
Speaker 2 (33:11):
It was a great game, really entertaining back and forth,
and then the Braves lost, and that's just like the
perfect memory of this year.
Speaker 1 (33:19):
No, but I mean my on Harris, like we'll save
a lot of the analysis of guys like down the
Stretch for like down the Stretch, but he has all
his numbers jumped a ton in one day, which is
kind of funny because that's just how bad he was
for so long and how good he was that day,
like a giant jump in the stats. But actually our
guy Stephen Tolbert had this. He has He's always had
(33:40):
a big first half second half split. Now it's only
a few years sample. Obviously, Michael's came up mid season,
a couple of short you know all that, so keep
that grain of salt for sure, mountain of salt. But
he's always been a second half guy versus the first
half guy. In fact, in his career right now he
has eighty w RC plus in the first half, which
is bad, then one in the second half h I mean,
(34:03):
I don't know if that means anything. I mean I
could I could think of some guys who actually had
that traditional split, like old pal Mark to Share, I
had that like famously, that's I'm old. That's like the
person always.
Speaker 2 (34:14):
Think that I think of when it comes to that,
I was gonna say, that's a deep cut, nice pull.
Speaker 1 (34:18):
I mean, he was like known for that, like he
was all I mean, it was always with him too.
He was always gonna be a slow starter, and then
he just got scalding in like late May, and then
it was just hot rest of the way. I don't know
if Michael Harris is gonna be that, nor am I
saying otherwise, neither is Stephen. It's just an interesting observation like, oh,
maybe he's just gonna be this. But I to me
(34:39):
more importantly is the swing change. He's still never gonna walk.
We understand that this a change or swing does not
does not change the fact that it doesn't take walks.
That's that's a different that's a separate thing. But there
is a pathway. It's more of the Assie Albies model, honestly,
of like if you hit for power, it covers up
(34:59):
a lot of other things, like Michael's OBP is probably
never gonna be very good, just barring a just a
massive sea change. But if you hit for more power,
you could be a decent hitter again. But what you
can't do is never get on base and never hit
for power. That combination doesn't work.
Speaker 2 (35:16):
And he hits the ball hard like Mike, even this
year when his numbers were in the absolute toilet when
he did make contact, he still is making decent contact
with the ball. It just wasn't resulting in anything. A
lot of ground balls at I was gonna took the
words out of my mouth too much on the ground
hit the baseball in the air, which he did this
past week. So again, if there's maybe one on field
(35:39):
storyline that we're tracking these final two months, Michael Harris
is my easy number one. I mean, I guess Ozzie
Alby's if he can turn his season around, his career around. Obviously,
Drake Baldwin. I mean, there are reasons to watch the
on field product or at least follow along in the
box score. But yeah, hey, great week for Mike by
(35:59):
far and away the player of the week for the team.
And let's see, let's keep it rolling, hopefully as a
good couple of series ahead of him, because then it
can feel like, Okay, talented player, horrible first half. Has
he made enough adjustments to get that behind him?
Speaker 1 (36:14):
Let us hope that's a storyline that Look, we're going
to be in need of some semi positive storylines to
follow down the stretch, and Michael getting it together for
the future would be huge among them. Sunday's game was
just over in a flash. I mean Bryce Elder got
absolutely rocked. Eight runs allowed. His ERA is now six
(36:35):
point two three for the season, HISRA is over ten
and his last seven starts. I don't mean to be
mean to Bryce, but he's currently the number two starter
I guess for the Braves. Oh, anyway, we'll leave it there.
That's all we have to say about that. It's just
that he's I mean to be charitable. There was a time,
(36:56):
and it was a long time, honestly, where like even
if you thought Bryce was not very good, and I
kind of always thought that you could have thought, like, hey,
at least he'll throw you five six innings, And recently
it's been so bad. He can't he can't stay out,
he can't stay on the field. Like he keeps getting
bounced in the fourth inning because he can't get anybody out.
I mean, it's it's troubling. I feel I actually felt
(37:17):
bad today, like I did. I was able to watch
some some of today and it was just it was
not competitive, I mean truly, and I mean it hasn't
been competitive for the last like month, maybe more than that.
For Bryce, he had that again, that start that maybe
we'll never forget that, like dominant outing six weeks ago,
and it's been like everything's been a disaster since then.
(37:38):
So hopefully gets it fixed out because like he should
be your eighth starter, not your second or third. But man,
it's I felt if I feel bad watching him right now.
I hope he can get it figured out to where
go back to being like the guy who could run
a five R Like that's not a great pitcher, but
like that's a guy you could throw out there if
you need him. Right now, he's not even that at
(37:58):
the moment. Unfortunately.
Speaker 2 (37:59):
Well and Rice is gonna have to eat it, I know.
Speaker 1 (38:02):
And that's the thing, like they're trying to let him
eat it, and today they couldn't do it. I mean
it's I know, and look Brian Sticker is not gonna
just stop trying to win. Like That's one of the
things that we should probably emphasize throughout this next two
months is that, like, yeah, obviously there's some considerations beyond
winning baseball games. Now for the Braves, there have to be.
But in the moment, like if your snit, you're not
(38:23):
gonna be like turn your brain off and like not
try to win. These are pro athletes, they're competitive guys.
They're gonna try to win games when they're playing in
them and planning for them. But when you're getting getting
when you give him eight runs in three innings, like
you can't keep pitching at that point, Like it's not realistic.
Speaker 2 (38:39):
We're gonna see I mean, they might just have to
keep sending them out there. They it's gonna be ugly, Brad,
This pitching is gonna be really ugly down the stretch,
And I agree. I mean, I don't want Bryce Elder
to be, you know, embarrassed when he's coming up from now.
Speaker 1 (38:54):
I felt bad today, I really did. Like I don't
mean that. I mean, I know I'm snarky sometimes I don't.
I felt genuinely bad, Like Bryce is He's better than
this man. Like I'm not saying he's good, he's not, honestly,
but he's better than this. I mean he's and he
has been better than this. It's just that he's picking
a bad time to be really really really really bad.
Bryce Elder and stuff. So I just want to mention
(39:15):
that it was the only takeaway from today, Like nothing
else happened today, Like they were down eight to one
in the blink of an eye and that was it,
Like it was just a baseball game that happened. They
lost another game. We would normally preview the upcoming series.
We kind of did that a little bit already with
the report from Ken Rosenthal that Fetny's gonna pitch on Tuesday.
They did announced Riter on Monday, so that's a it's
(39:36):
always worth watching Spencer on Monday, worth watching Acunya, worth
watching Bowl win. We'll get into all that in August
and September, like reasons to watch this team, basically it
will be a topic. But in the meantime, they have
three in Kansas City, then they go to Cincinnati for two,
and then they do the Bristol game is on Saturday
this week. I'm sure the league is not exactly thrilled
(39:59):
that the Braves there huge draw for the Bristol game.
If you don't know this is happening, they're playing at
a speedway like they're playing at a racing venue, and
I'm sure they'll draw a massive crowd. Still, the Braves
are the team of this region, as we've covered for years,
but man, it'd be better for the sport and better
for everybody at the Braves were good and they're really
really not good right now. That's unfortunate. We'll talk about
(40:20):
later in the week. But that's what's the week coming up.
But the big thing is, of course the deadline Thursday.
That's the thing.
Speaker 2 (40:26):
Yeah, yeah, all eyes on the deadline. We should time
stamp this. It is just before midnight Eastern Time on
Sunday night going into Monday morning. So there's almost certainly
going to be movement for the.
Speaker 1 (40:38):
Braves this week.
Speaker 2 (40:40):
We will have a show breaking it down no matter
how big or how small the return is. There are
three games in Kansas City the Royals. There are five
hundred ish team great story a year ago, have struggled
this season. And one cool note though, Brad, you mentioned
Strider's pitching on Monday and ssuming all goes well, and
(41:01):
assuming which is far from a guarantee these days, but
assuming all goes well, that lines up Strider to start
in the I don't even know the right word for it,
this grand show in front of seventy thousand fans, half
of which are going to be depressed Braves fans. But
Strider will get to pitch at the Speedway more than likely,
(41:22):
which would be cool, national audience, big stage, all those things.
But yeah, Reds are Reds aren't. Reds are not a
bad team either, So this might be another tough week
for the Braves.
Speaker 1 (41:33):
I am glad about that. And again, we'll probably prive
you it at a little bit later on in the week,
but Strider gives you your best possible chance that night.
It's officially called the MLB Speedway Classic. For the record,
it's on Saturday. It's on big national Fox TV. Like
it's gonna be spectacle, it's actually it's gonna be cool.
I wish the Rads were better, but it'll be a
cool atmosphere. No matter what I would go, if I
(41:56):
was able to, I'm not able to go. We should talk.
Maybe Sean's going, Shawn wasn't to see he should go anyway.
So that's coming up this week, but the deadline is Thursday.
It's at six pm Eastern on Thursday, so the Brain's
actually play Thursday night after the deadline, which would be interesting.
But we will have a show that day for sure.
No matter what. In the meantime, I expect them to
(42:18):
do something and buy something. I mean maybe some things plural,
but we don't know if that will be the last day.
It could be to night, could be tomorrow. We'll see.
We'll have shows if they make a transaction, if they trade,
If they trade I Glaciers, that will be a reaction
show as fast as we could possibly do it. Same
with Thozuna. They won't be earth shattering in the way
that would be if they were buying. Like there's even
you know, tray for Hori Solier last year was a
(42:39):
much bigger deal than anything they're gonna do this week.
I think maybe they will surprise everybody, but we'll be
here covering them, jumping into action. Steven's back from his
world tour, so that we'll all be churning out content
in the next few days.
Speaker 2 (42:53):
Yeah, probably going to be a busy week ahead, Brad.
We'll see, we will figure out who's doing what shows
it is. You know, I talked to Sean the other
night and we were both just so bummed that this
is usually such a fun time of the baseball calendar.
Second half in full swing, Pennant Chase start to think
about playoff matchups. Who are they going to add? Who
(43:15):
are they going to trade for?
Speaker 1 (43:16):
Instead?
Speaker 2 (43:17):
It's okay, which underperforming veteran are the Braves probably going
to trade in the next seventy two hours. It is
what it is, and as we always say, win or lose,
we will do a show. Unfortunately, there's been a lot
of losing, and I think there's probably gonna be even
more losing on the horizon.
Speaker 1 (43:32):
I tend to agree with that. Well, Scott, we should
get out of here on this Sunday evening. Folks can
be following you where on social media if they are
new to the podcast or new to Scott in general.
Speaker 2 (43:44):
Oh Man, Scott Coleman fifty five on Twitter slash x.
Speaker 1 (43:49):
It's a dark place these days.
Speaker 2 (43:50):
It is. I can tweet man, this movie's great, and
I get seven replies talking about how they want to, like,
you know, blow themselves up or something, and it's.
Speaker 1 (43:59):
Yeah, it's uh. Being known for covering a team on
social media and having that team be the disaster the
current Braves are makes for a tough social media experience
because even if you're trying to escape it, you can't
escape it. But we'll be here. Follow Scott. Listen Colt
training camps un our way, So follow Scott for that.
(44:19):
Anything else.
Speaker 2 (44:21):
Please as follow year Anthony Richardson is going to complete
nine passes in a game and he's going to break records.
Speaker 1 (44:28):
Oh we're all three else, Okay, well follow me if
you want to on x slash Twitter as well at
bt Rowland more basketball for me, but there's baseball stuff
there as well. Follow our colleagues, Follow Sean, follow Steve,
and follow the show at Hammer Territory across social media
platforms Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. And please please please subscribe
to the podcast. Like we said multiple times, we will
(44:50):
not stop doing shows no matter what happens, So please subscribe.
Auto download, rate, review, tell your friends, and we'll see
everybody next time.
Hello everyone, and welcome back to the Hammer Territory podcast
is episode two three nine. I'm your host, Brad Roland,
coming to you on a Sunday evening. It is late July,
and I'm joined as I always am, by Scott Coleman. Scott,
I could do the same opening that we've done in
the last several Sundays, or we could just acknowledge the
Braves lost again and it was every day at this point.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
How are you, hello, Brad, Good to see you, my friend.
You are currently recording live from rural Kentucky.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
That's correct.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
If anybody ever questions Brad Roland's dedication to this podcast,
he is in the middle of nowhere. And yeah, they
lost on Sunday. They have not one on a Sunday
and more than two. They lost yesterday, they lost the
day before that. They're probably going to lose tomorrow. They're
probably gonna lose again the day after that. This team,
you want to talk about, just the absolute defeatist of
(01:12):
all teams.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
I mean they are.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
This is a dead baseball team walking. There's fifty eight
games to go. If they could forfeit fifty eight games,
sign me up. Let's do it, because I mean, it's
just it's borderline depressing to watch this team go out
there and get their ass kicked seemingly every single night.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
Yeah, we'll get into a little bit more of that
later on in the show. But the Braves currently have
a bottom five winning percentage in all of baseball, which
is an unthinkable statement, and that is where things are
at this moment in time. We should say at the
top of the show, if you're new to the podcast,
first of all, God bless you for joining us now
for the first time. Thank you for being here. Please
subscribe to Hammer Territory anywhere you find your podcast. We're
(01:50):
part of the Foul Territory network of podcasts that we
cover the Braves year round. So join us. We will
not stop talking about the Braves. People keep sending us
notes either trying to let us off the hook, were
trying to encourage us, or both, and we appreciate it
for sure, but we're gonna be doing podcasts no matter
what happens with the Braves. There's unfortunately some bad news
even on top of the bad results for the Braves,
(02:11):
that we'll get into, then a trade room or two,
some game stuff. Michael Harris had a good week. If
there was a positive of the entire week, it was
probably that. But let's lead with the not so great
news because it's the biggest news. That's Grant Holmes going
on the sixty day aisle actually pretty quickly with right
elbow inflammation. Grant's had a really good season. He's been
(02:33):
one of the brighter spots of this club this year.
But he left the game a couple days ago now
and within what forty eight hours twenty four hours he
was immediately on the sixty day We don't know if
he's like out for a year like this is one
of those injuries that could be a hey, he has
to have Tommy John he's going to miss the season.
But regardless, his season in twenty twenty five is all
(02:55):
but over him and it basically has to be over
based on this machination. So what was your reaction to that?
And obviously, you know, Rock to his season and another
guy that is now out for either the year or
most of the year of the Brace.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
It just sucks, and it sucks for Grant Holmes, who
is one of the very few, honest to goodness bright
spots on this entire team. The entire opening day, starting
rotation is now on the sixty day injured list and
the one note one side quick side note. People are
going to point to the starting pitching injuries as why
(03:30):
this season has been so bad, and that is part
of it, but it is not the reason this team
is so bad. I almost wonder, like the broadcast today
for a moment was talking about the injuries, and yes,
it's fair to say no team is going to overcome
losing an entire starting rotation, worth but this team has
so many problems beyond the rotation right now to just
(03:51):
wanted to at least say that out loud. But for Holmes,
it sucks. We'll see, maybe by the time people are
listening to the show, we'll have some more clarity. It
sounds like Holmes was undergoing some testing and then we'll
meet with the doctors.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
I do think that.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
Grant's season was probably nearing an end no matter what.
In the next few weeks. He was already surpassed his
career innings maximum or is high in innings pitched. He
had made twenty one starts. They were not gonna have
Grant Holmes go two hundred innings in a lost season.
So I think Holmes was gonna be shut down anyway.
So maybe the glimmer of hope here is that he's
(04:29):
going to be okay, doesn't need surgery. But if he's
not okay, if he needs surgery, not only do you
lose him in this season from hell, but then you're
probably going to be without Grant Holmes for the entirety
of twenty twenty six. And that is a legitimate loss,
Oh for sure.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
I mean, that's one that we'll probably talk about more
when we get the definitive news if that happens. Hopefully
it doesn't happen. To your point, there is a realistic
scenario where he just has a issue of some kind
that could give him, you know, whether it's PRP or
whatever the injection is, give him a bunch of time off,
shut him down, and he comes back next year and
he's fine. That's the great scenario. If not, though, like
to your point, it would be really bad for next year.
(05:07):
Not that he's a star, and he is, you know,
a guy who is more of a back end of
the rotation guy in the rotation. But regardless, either a
high end bullpen arm BA can starter like has real value,
has had a good season. It ends with a three
point nine nine era for the year, Like that's a
guy that you would one hundred times of one hundred
be really thrilled with, and you hate it because he's
a great story. Everybody loves the guy. All that stuff
(05:29):
you mentioned just to I could re emphasize what you
just said in passing all five opening day starters on
the sixty day l at the same time by the
end of July is actually insane. And yes, Strider was
not in the opening day rotation. He's the one guy
that they can still count on to make starts. So
but we'll talk about that more in a second. This
rotation is utterly disaster prone right now. It's just like
(05:50):
there's nothing there. I agree hardly with your point, by
the way, about this not being the reason. You know,
if you're the team broadcast I you're gonna be searching
for things to talk about. I don't really blame those
guys for pointing that. And look, when I would draw
the line, I I want to know what you think
about this. To this point, or even I would say
two or three weeks ago before sales Schwallbach White down
(06:15):
to that point, the rotation was certainly nowhere near the
reason why they were struggling. I do believe that it
will be a big part of the reason why they
end up with ninety plus losses by the end of
the season, if that makes sense. Like now, not that
it matters anymore, It doesn't really matter at this point
what they do winter loss, but now it's so bad
that they have no chance. Honestly a lot of nights
(06:37):
and we will talk about it more later, but they
have the worst era in the sport since the All
Star break, and it's because they don't have anybody left
and now as well. It kind of feeds on itself.
The bullpen was pretty good for a while. Now they
have no length in the starting pitching, so they have
to overtax the bull It feeds on itself and that
self and itself, so by the end of the year
it's gonna look worse than it actually was for the pitching. Yeah,
so I think we'll probably be banging that drive. I
(06:59):
saw our colleague step until work. Who's still I think
maybe on a cruise somewhere. It's Pye on his way back.
Make at the same point too, like it's not really
the reason we know that. The diehards know that I
hope that we don't get that lost later on and
that the team at least says it's as a sober
look at itself the off season to say, hey, yeah,
it got bad. It got real bad because the pitching
can fill apart, but they couldn't score runs for the
(07:20):
first two and a half months of the season and
that was really the problem for most of the ways. So, uh,
weird season, Scott, weird season.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
It is a weird season, indeed, and now we're seeing
the snowball effect. And it's why when they lost Sale,
I mean, Steven and I did in a mini emergency
show that afternoon and we, I mean we basically said
the season was over at that point because there was
just there's no one left. And then they lose Schwallenbach
two weeks later, then it was really over. And then
to lose Grant Holmes, who just I mean, the dude
(07:48):
stuck around in the minor leagues for a decade finally
gets a chance just over a year ago. Has been
such a good story. And now he has an elbow
injury of some kind and let's sincerely cross our fing
that he's going to be okay, And it's just more
of a rest and maintenance thing. But I mean, good lord,
b I mean, how's your.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
Elbow these days? Do you have anything left?
Speaker 2 (08:08):
Or if you know, if you're a listener you played
college ball, you might get a phone call from alex
and Thoppolis because dear lord, I mean, they might not
even have enough guys in Gwinnett who can, like in
good confidence they can give a baseball to to start
these final two months without just sending them out to
the absolute frickin Wolves. You have a forty man roster
you have to figure out to make room. It is
(08:29):
going to get so ugly on the pitching side of
things down the stretch. Even if the offense hits a
little bit better than they did earlier in the year.
I mean, man alive, it's gonna be scary hours for
the pitching staff.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
The Braves currently have one starting pitcher that we know
is a Major leaguer, Yeah, one, and it's Special Strider, who,
by the way, they have every incentive to be careful
with down the stretch. Like, if you're a Special Strid,
are you going to be throwing games in late September?
(09:04):
I kind of don't think so. In a last season,
so we'll get into a guy they acquired in a
second who they who actually has been a major leaguer.
He isn't a great major leaguer, but he's a major
leaguer we think, and some other stuff of course coming
up on the podcast. The boy's again made a trade
literally today, not a high profile one, but we'll get
into that, the fallout and much more after a word
from our partners.
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Speaker 1 (10:23):
Promos, Okay Scott. The Braves to make a trade on
Sunday to acquire Eric Fetti. And it's kind of funny
because I think you saw this. I had Eric Fetty's
name written down in our doc before they made the trade,
and it was because he had been DFAD a couple
of days ago, and it was like, hey, if the
Braves want a guy who could throw some nnings, Eric
(10:46):
Fetty might be a great option for that. And literally
they traded a form before we can even talk about
on the podcast. He isn't very good. It's a player
to be named later. Going to Saint Louis, the Carls
are gonna pay most of is what I saw reported
his salary for the seasons that the Bridge are just
kind of we'll see who they send out for him,
but it probably won't be a huge prospect. He was again,
he was already dfa that Carlos will already give me
(11:07):
up on him. But he did have a good year
last year in twenty four veteran guy, thirty two year old.
This year he's been bad. We could just be honest
about that era in the fives, not really checking anybody out,
like he's a very uh not exciting addition, that's the
way that I put that. But again, this is a
(11:28):
guy who has thrown twenty starts in the majors this year,
and even if he's bad, it's a guy who could
throw six hands a night, and that's actually just of
huge value to the organization right now. And our guy
Ken Rosenhal actually already reported he's gonna start on Tuesday,
like the Brace would said that, but if Ken says it,
it's gonna be true. So Fetti Tuesday and a guy
(11:50):
that people have maybe heard of, so that's something.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
Yeah, So the name Eric Fetty is familiar. He was
with the Nationals for many years. Was pretty bad, I mean,
was the definition of a fifth starter on a bad team,
and then out of absolutely nowhere. Last season was really good,
And David O'Brien actually reported that a year ago, when
Eric Fetty was available at the trade deadline, the White
(12:15):
Sox were asking for Drake Baldwin.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
That's right, thank god.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
Sometimes the best year to imagine.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
I mean, I don't think the bands would have ever
done that, but can you imagine if that had happened.
But no, Actually, I want to note this before I forget,
he actually spent twenty twenty three, So the year before
he came, the year before he was good. Last year
in Korea, like he was out of he was out
of the majors, like was off the radar, had a
great year in Korea, came back, actually had a lot
of interest, and then had like a borderline like all
(12:45):
star level season in twenty twenty four and a lot
of smoking mirrors. Like he's never been a great stuff guy,
but like it's been a total roller coaster ride. But
you're right, it's so funny, Like he got traded for
real stuff last year, Like he got traded from the
White Sox to the Cardinals and the Carls real stuff him,
They would try to get him, you know, all this stuff.
And now he's getting sold for not nothing, but close
to nothing to a bad team just to fill innings.
(13:07):
And hey, by the way, I'm fine with it. Like
I'm actually I'm probably irrationally excited about this just because
he's he might be a major league pitcher. It's I
don't mean, I don't mean to be that guy, but
it's like he might. He's just gonna be able to
throw innings.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
I think, yes, that's exactly right. Fetti is gonna throw
ninety plus pitches every fifth day when he goes out
there because there is no future commitment to him. You
were truly buying an arm to cover every fifth day
for the next two months. And give me Eric Fetti
out there over you know, Diddy or Fuentees. Because Didtier
should be in Gwinett developing. Don't hijack Didtier's development in
(13:46):
a lost season. Let him continue to pitch and pitch well.
He actually threw really well today with Gwinnett, which is encouraging.
You know, even Hirston Waldrip, who's probably gonna be called
up here soon. I mean, you know, I wonder bred
in the next week, as there are trades across the league.
I wonder if We're going to see more Eric Fetti
types get dfaed by contending teams, pitchers who are serving
(14:09):
a role for a good team. But they're gonna acquire
somebody and then need a roster spot, So maybe the
Braves can kind of pick up the scraps. Again, not
a soul on Earth is gonna say Eric Fetti is
going to do much for this team. Yeah, but they
need someone, man like, literally, they have to pick up
someone unless they want to start throwing a bunch of
twenty one year old prospects out there. And I just
don't think that's worthwhile in a lost season.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
Yeah, and we'll probably do more this in August, when
all the deadline stuff is passed. But there is a
argument already happened in a line I don't know if
you've seen it, about basically like how you handle the
rest of the season pitching wise, and how much you
throw your kids and how deep you go in the work.
I get all that. I mean, it's there are pros
and cons to all of it, But I'm with you,
like you don't want to have you don't want to
(14:50):
have to throw your twenty two year olds if they're
not ready. If they are that's fine. I'm totally fine.
I think the Braves will give some guy who are
younger some chances down a stretch that makes total sense,
but you don't want to have to because you have
literally nothing else. And that's where the Braves kind of
are at this very moment. Like again, they have one guy.
I mean, if you want to say Bryce Elder just
(15:12):
to because the results don't matter. Sure, he's been absolutely
awful for a while now, but okay, a guy and
a half because Bryce will always take the ball. But
other than that, you start to fill three spots at night. Yeah,
you have you have names. I mean we could run
through them. You got Dane Dunning who's been a reliever
right now, but he could start for you. You know,
David Daniel has been pitching in the rotation. Like, there
are names people know. Hirston Waldrip was scratched on Friday.
(15:34):
People were hoping he would come back and be in rotation.
Maybe he will be. I mean we don't know, but
he's a guy people know anyway. Blake Blake pork Alter Jr. Richie.
I mean, there are names that are of varying interest.
Nathan Wilds is like another boring quad a guy you
can throw out there, you'll see all these guys, probably
maybe not all the young guys, but some of them.
But I do think that I saw people already kind
(15:56):
of yelling like, oh, Eric Face is gonna take the
place of shouldn't this? Then he's going to somebody that's
the young They'll be a part of the future of Like,
I get what you're saying, guys, but there's so many
innings available, but that's not really concern to me.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
That's true. We have no shortage of available starts and
innings in August and September. Yeah, I mean sure, if
you feel like Jr. Richie can go out there and
maybe make a couple of starts, give him a chance.
It's you know, you're probably not going to ruin the
kid's career if he makes two starts after Labor Day.
I think we saw enough of Diddy or Frontes just
(16:29):
for his mental sake. I don't think we need to
bring Fuentes back up. But yeah, man, I mean again,
there's there's fifty eight baseball games left. They're not going
to have Strider go to the very end of the year.
I don't think I think that feels silly especially coming
off of the elbow surgery, They're gonna have to figure
out something. And honestly, in terms of the deadline too,
(16:51):
like not only could they claim a pitcher, but I
mean they might just trade for a veteran that a
team just wants to get rid of just to purely innings,
and they're not going to give up prospect. The money's
probably going to balance out. But again they ad somebody
got to do it. I mean, you have to play
these games. And then we joked off the top about
just hitting the fast forward button and forfeiting.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
The next two months. But you have to play these games.
They're professionals.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
They got to go out there and they got to
figure out something because, as you said, currently it's Strider.
I guess Eric Fetti, Bryce Elder, and god knows what.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
I think Joey Wentz probably gets a couple more starts,
Like he was just started out pretty well, and he's
the one He's the one guy I haven't just said
the name of yet. Joey Wentz has spent in the
rotation the last couple turns. That's fine, Like I don't
think he's aspiring. He's not really a prospect at this
point he was a prospect, but he's not. He's twenty
eight years old, twenty nine years old, he's twenty eight now.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
Heel, Yeah, he can get through a lineup once. I
think that's probably it though.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
Right, And that's the thing, like again, you're putting your
bullpen in a possible position. All these things. So we'll
stop on this topic. It's just one of those reminders
that yes, Eric Fetty is an incredible boring he's been
bad this season, but also it's a major league pitcher
and he's a starter with a rubber arm and throw
him out there and again, you know, giving up very
little to do. So we talked about other options. Do
(18:14):
you want to I'll give you dealer's choice as well
as I sometimes do on the show. Scott, do you
want to talk about the small takeaways from this week
of games or do you want to discuss the one
kind of crackle of a rumor that we have about
the traded line. Let's do that.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
Let's do a little trade rumor here in the middle
portion of the pod.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
All right, So the Athletics and North Side territories. Patrick Mooney,
who covers the Cubs, a team that's actual contending for something.
The Cubs are good this year. He wrote this week
that Rysol Iglesias is quote one of several options under
consideration end quote for Chicago. Not exactly a lead the
(18:53):
podcast rumor at this point in time, but really, I mean,
what's that stuff that Scott. There hasn't been a lot
of like specific rumors yet about the Braves. We got
the Ozuna Hector Gomez thing that kind of got refuted
and then back to that's kind of out there. Still.
Ozuna is obviously very available, we know that, but he
has to say, yes, Rycel does not have the ability
(19:13):
to turn down a trade, so they can trade him easier.
I will now be honestly shocked if he's not traded,
because why wouldn't he be traded at this point? But
what do you make of this? I mean, the Cubs
are a team that has a need and has money
to spend. And we've covered this before, but the Braves
should just be like paying the money, even like pay
(19:34):
Risel and get better stuff back. Like were you out
on this whole thing with Rysel?
Speaker 2 (19:37):
Yeah, he's one of the obvious trade names here, and
obviously Iglesias is not having a good season and he
blew the save on whatever night that was. They all
blend together. It's he had that great stretch where he
was terrible and then he was really good for six weeks,
and then his last two starts I think have not
been very good. Our last two appearances, rather so the
(20:00):
even though Aglesius is not that good and he has
damaged goods, at this point in the year, you have
to remember put yourself in the mindset of a contender
where maybe you just lost two relievers from your bullpen.
Like the Toronto Blue Jays, who have either the best
record or second best record in the majors right now,
they have bullpen issues, so you know that they feel like,
(20:20):
all right, we have a chance this year. We can
win the division, get hot for three weeks, get to
the World Series. But Ricelaglasias would be significantly better than
some of the options Toronto has internally at this point.
The Cubs make a lot of sense. I mean, all
the contenders could use a Rys Laglacias, someone who has
been very, very good for a long time, even if
he is a bit older now. And it really I
(20:43):
mean that's the same case for is Marcelo Zuna having
a good year? No but some teams have horrible production
out of the DH spot. Similarly, Pierce Johnson good reliever,
not an amazing one, but again, Pierce Johnson's a lot
better than some of the guys the Cubs and the
Blue Jays are thrown out there, even like Aaron Bummer,
Like I do wonder, Brett, I want to say this
out loud on the show. The Dodgers just lost Tanner
(21:06):
Scott to an elbow injury. Doesn't Aaron Bummer kind of
feel like a Dodger tight pitcher. Obviously a lot of
similarities with the front offices, with Anthopolis and some of
the lieutenants there who came over from LA. I don't know,
I could see like the Dodgers there, if another team
loses their lefty setup man in the next couple of
days or has lost their lefty set up man, maybe
(21:27):
Aaron Bummer, even if he's not great, is a worthwhile
gamble because you never know. Maybe you're using Bummer to
get Bryce Harper out in the NLDS. You need someone
to make those pitches.
Speaker 1 (21:38):
No, I'm a Humber sent with you. That makes total sense.
I know we've been saying this a lot, and some
will be repetitive. We did. I wasn't on the show,
but we did a full eighty minute deadline extravaganza that,
by the way, still holds up in full right now.
That was almost I was like ten days ago, but
it's still like very relevant. Listen to that show if
you missed it. But yeah, I mean all the bullpen guys,
(21:58):
all of them, even Bill Lee, who is probably like
the least likely to be traded out of all those
guys because he's got the most control, He's the cheapest.
Every one in the bullpen, and I mean everyone in
the bullpen should be available everyone. That's my opinion. Now,
if you go not to relate the whole thing again
the Alex club, you know team control bit that he
always says, technically Johnson, Bummer Lee, all those guys are
(22:20):
underteae control. We'll see. But yeah, I mean a Cleasi
is not to I want out the people because that
it was off throaker conversations, But people that host shows
on our network have reached out to me to say, hey,
how available is Iglacias And this has been the last
couple of weeks, and not Patrick who were talking about
and reported us publicly. And the answer is like very available,
(22:43):
like obviously earlier. But I think the reputation of Aglesias,
not just with people like us, but people like in
the league is higher than braves fans reputation of him
right now. Like Braves fans have watched him be bad
this year. That's of course true. You're right that he
had that stretch, but some of the peripherals are better
than his performance, even if you don't care about that.
Teams do, I promise your teams do. Oh yeah, so,
(23:06):
I think for all the world, it will legitimately shock
me if he's not traded. I don't understand a world
why he wouldn't be traded. I mean, I don't mean
that negative way. I think we probably defended Brysell more
than most have this season. But like, there's just no
reason not to move. Like literally, I can't think of
a reason. He's expiring, pay a salary whatever, but uh,
he has he'll have suitor. I'm confident that Braves could
(23:29):
trade him multiple places in the next four days if
they want to. It's just like which package is the
most enticing money wise, prospect wise, all of those things.
But yeah, I mean, because they're on the list, You're right,
all those teams. Anybody that's trying to buy can you
use Rycel Glaciers even if Braves fans think he stinks,
Now he might stick now that's possible. But they're trying
(23:49):
to these teams that are trying to add I mean,
relieve is revoltaible. I mean times we have to say this.
If you get the guy that just just had that
stretch of six weeks, If that's the guy you get,
you're thrilled. If you're a team buying on a Glacias
for again, very very cheap like Unfortunately for the Braves,
I can't image they're gonna get a king's ransom for
any of these guys. But yeah, Bummer should be available,
(24:10):
Lee should be available, Johnson should be available, and especially Iglasious.
I don't know about you affect the lastest question right now,
are you with me? Because I kind of showed my
hand that Aglacis is the single most likely player to
be traded for the Braves. Yes, yeah, I think that's
the case, only because Ozuna can say no, that's the
(24:30):
only I mean, they're kind of neck and neck, and
like Ozuna, it goes ahead because he has the ability
to turn down a trade, that's basically, and.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
Only a couple of teams need DH help, whereas every contender.
You can be a contender with the best bullpen in
baseball and you still need more relievers like that. You
never say no to Iglacias, who's pitched in the highest
of leverage in the sport. He's a vet, He's been
doing this a long time. He's not gonna have stage
fright going out there in the ninth inning of a
(24:59):
soul stadium in the playoffs. And I mean, look at
the standings right now, Brad. There are maybe seven or
eight teams who are going to be selling and twenty
ish who are presumably gonna be buying. And every team,
every team buys relievers. I mean, yeah, you go back
to when the Braves were good, not that long ago,
but like they're always in the market for a reliever
(25:21):
in July.
Speaker 1 (25:21):
Like everybody has, even the Dodgers. We all laughed this
all winter about the Dodgers being this like perfect roster
and they need pitching somehow because they have so many injuries.
They be pitching, because everybody needs pitching this time of year.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
Everybody looking at the standings. And then we'll wrap up
Braves are selling. The Nationals are selling, although honestly, from
the pitching side, Nats don't have a whole lot. The
Pirates are selling, the Rockies are selling, God bless them.
The Rockies don't have much to sell. The Orioles are selling,
the White Sox are selling, The Athletics are probably selling. Yeah,
(25:58):
the Athletics will sell. But other than that, like, you know,
the Angels are probably gonna sell, The Twins might sell,
the Rays might sell. The Diamondbacks are probably going to sell.
But you know, okay, what was that Nine teams and
everybody else is going to probably be trying to buy.
It's it's supplying demand, and the Braves should be able
to get They're not going to get a top one
(26:19):
hundred prospect for Rice Degalacias, no, but they might get
something decent. If they have six teams fighting over him, price.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
Goes up, yep. And the Braves might have the most
if they're willing to trade guys like Bummer and Lee
or Johnson, any of those they might they might have.
They may have the most relievers of quality to trade
of any of those teams, because like, those teams are
bad teams and they were already bad teams. The Prayers
are bad team now, but they weren't supposed to be.
And they're built like a team that was trying to
(26:47):
win this year, which because they have four or five
guys that they're invested in that are relievers. All right,
let's move on to a little bit of game talk,
not a ton. A couple of observations and then we'll
get out of here. One of which is that the
Braves have lost five games in a row. That's just
one of those things. But they're now at there low
point of their season. Record wise, they're forty four and sixty.
(27:12):
Forty four and sixty. They're seven of nineteen now, sorry,
seven and nineteen, the last twenty six games. Like they've
fallen off the cliff and predictably to some degree, and
the pitching is given out. That's where we are. The
pitching's given out, just to give a number on that
they've lot and this five game lostory. They've allowed nine runs,
nine runs, eight runs, six runs and eight runs in
(27:34):
the last five games. So we went into it a
little bit more earlier, but it's caving in on itself
now in a way that is predictable. They've actually been
better offensively. It's kind of funny. They've been better offensively
in the last couple of weeks and it doesn't matter
anymore because they have the pitching. It hasn't those the
well I said better, I don't. That doesn't mean great.
It just means better. It doesn't mean right. Could only
(27:56):
go up.
Speaker 2 (27:58):
You know, when the Braves lost on Friday night, Our
friend Steven Tolbert pointed this out. But when the Braves
lost on Friday night, it was their fifty eighth loss
of the season. They lost fifty eight games. The entirety
of the twenty twenty three season, they were one hundred
and four and fifty eight.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
It was July twenty fifth when they did that.
Speaker 2 (28:22):
Just a couple of years ago. Man like, we won't
go depression mode again. But World Series one hundred and
one wins, one hundred and four wins. Even last year
when they won eighty nine games with the entire offense
hurt made the postseason to this brad to one of
(28:43):
the laughing stocks of the league, and good lord will
we won't go down this hole again.
Speaker 1 (28:49):
But it's just it was sad. We'll have to at
some point. But as a point we'll probably do a
retrospective like when there's a little more distance. But you're rhy.
I mean even the biggest Braves hater skeptic anybody, no one,
no one, and I mean no one thought forty four
and sixty, Like nobody thought that in the world. So uh. Anyway,
(29:12):
so Friday, nothing we way to add other than like
they faced Nathan Evaldie, which I thought was funny in
a cruel way because we spent all winter talking about
Nathan A. Evaldi as like the perfect Braves target. We
wanted him, they didn't get him. He's been awesome this year,
he has hey, including on Friday against the Braves. So
that was funny, right, Yeah, we were right. We're not
(29:33):
always right, We're often wrong, but we were not wrong
about Ithie Valday didn't see him. Yeah, So anyway, that
was the only thing on Friday other than Michael Harris
we'll talk about right now, because Michael Harris had a
heck of a week and a weekend. Saturday was kind
of the centerpiece of that. But he home We're on Friday,
and then on Saturday Michael Harris went like legitimately crazy.
(29:54):
He had a home run, two triples, in the same
game and a double. And I will be honest with
everybody listening, I was not watching. I was following the game,
but I was I'm working at Scott alluded to at
the beginning of the podcast in Kentucky, I couldn't watch
live and I got a text from Scott. I was
already following. I got a test from Scott that included
an explotive that I won't share on the air. But
(30:16):
I was like, what happened now? I thought something a
tothing bad happened. I was like, Oh, Harris, just Homer
or triple together. It was like, Michael Harris is just
having out of my experience apparently on July twenty sixth,
Like it's only one day or two days or three days.
But hey, Michael Harris, that's fun.
Speaker 2 (30:29):
Hey man, If you want to pick one single topic
for the second half of this season for the Braves
that they need to go their way, it is Michael
Harris continuing this and continuing to figure things out. Not
just the weekend in Texas, which was very, very good,
but even against the Giants, Harris had a lot of
(30:50):
hard contact. He lined into one out I think right
to the third baseman that was like one hundred and
nine miles an hour and should have been a hit.
He had the two triples, one of them was a
home run in most parks. I think he had three
homers all week long, including one to dead center at
Truist and then two in Texas. So there's some legitimate
(31:10):
things to be encouraged about. And then you add on
the fact that Michael Harris changed up his batting stance,
moved his feet.
Speaker 1 (31:17):
Around a little bit.
Speaker 2 (31:18):
And then Mike Petrullo of MLB dot Com had a
note that Michael Harris, even if it is a smaller sample,
has more of an uppercut in his swing in recent days,
which is interesting. It's a little bit more in line
with Lee gaverage where he was below the gaveraged before that.
So again, new swing and the fact that Harris immediately
(31:43):
has seen results as a result of it as a
product of it is really encouraging. And by far and away,
I mean if the Braves were good and then Michael
Harris had the week that he just had, it would
have led the show because it's like, Okay, maybe is
Michael Harris back? Is Is he going to be the
super talented kid that we all know him to be.
It's just a couple of games. We'll see how he does.
(32:04):
But it just feels like Mike is more confident and
more comfortable up there.
Speaker 1 (32:08):
Yeah, it does. And trust me, we're not trying to
say it's all fixed. It's not a big enough sample size. No, No,
I think that I'm glad you brought the Petrilo tweek
because that gives a little bit of for me, that
gives some reason for optimism more than just like, hey,
he had a good three days. Like because Michael's got talent.
We all know that by the way Sarah Langs and
(32:30):
you pulled this. But everyone's ready for the cycle, which
he had a chance at he was. It's a rare
time where he going to his fourth plade appearance without
the single, the easiest part to get of the cycle,
and he tripled, and it's like, way, way, way, way
harder to do what Michael did then get the hip
of the cycle. According to Sarah Langs, there have been
(32:50):
three hundred and six cycles in history. It's not that many,
but there have only been seventy three people ever in
a game that I have had two triples at a home run,
so rare if air for Michael on Saturday, by the way,
they lost the game, which is like, so Braves and
it was great.
Speaker 2 (33:06):
I actually watched on Saturday night. I was around doing
stuff like have.
Speaker 1 (33:10):
The game on.
Speaker 2 (33:11):
It was a great game, really entertaining back and forth,
and then the Braves lost, and that's just like the
perfect memory of this year.
Speaker 1 (33:19):
No, but I mean my on Harris, like we'll save
a lot of the analysis of guys like down the
Stretch for like down the Stretch, but he has all
his numbers jumped a ton in one day, which is
kind of funny because that's just how bad he was
for so long and how good he was that day,
like a giant jump in the stats. But actually our
guy Stephen Tolbert had this. He has He's always had
(33:40):
a big first half second half split. Now it's only
a few years sample. Obviously, Michael's came up mid season,
a couple of short you know all that, so keep
that grain of salt for sure, mountain of salt. But
he's always been a second half guy versus the first
half guy. In fact, in his career right now he
has eighty w RC plus in the first half, which
is bad, then one in the second half h I mean,
(34:03):
I don't know if that means anything. I mean I
could I could think of some guys who actually had
that traditional split, like old pal Mark to Share, I
had that like famously, that's I'm old. That's like the
person always.
Speaker 2 (34:14):
Think that I think of when it comes to that,
I was gonna say, that's a deep cut, nice pull.
Speaker 1 (34:18):
I mean, he was like known for that, like he
was all I mean, it was always with him too.
He was always gonna be a slow starter, and then
he just got scalding in like late May, and then
it was just hot rest of the way. I don't know
if Michael Harris is gonna be that, nor am I
saying otherwise, neither is Stephen. It's just an interesting observation like, oh,
maybe he's just gonna be this. But I to me
(34:39):
more importantly is the swing change. He's still never gonna walk.
We understand that this a change or swing does not
does not change the fact that it doesn't take walks.
That's that's a different that's a separate thing. But there
is a pathway. It's more of the Assie Albies model, honestly,
of like if you hit for power, it covers up
(34:59):
a lot of other things, like Michael's OBP is probably
never gonna be very good, just barring a just a
massive sea change. But if you hit for more power,
you could be a decent hitter again. But what you
can't do is never get on base and never hit
for power. That combination doesn't work.
Speaker 2 (35:16):
And he hits the ball hard like Mike, even this
year when his numbers were in the absolute toilet when
he did make contact, he still is making decent contact
with the ball. It just wasn't resulting in anything. A
lot of ground balls at I was gonna took the
words out of my mouth too much on the ground
hit the baseball in the air, which he did this
past week. So again, if there's maybe one on field
(35:39):
storyline that we're tracking these final two months, Michael Harris
is my easy number one. I mean, I guess Ozzie
Alby's if he can turn his season around, his career around. Obviously,
Drake Baldwin. I mean, there are reasons to watch the
on field product or at least follow along in the
box score. But yeah, hey, great week for Mike by
(35:59):
far and away the player of the week for the team.
And let's see, let's keep it rolling, hopefully as a
good couple of series ahead of him, because then it
can feel like, Okay, talented player, horrible first half. Has
he made enough adjustments to get that behind him?
Speaker 1 (36:14):
Let us hope that's a storyline that Look, we're going
to be in need of some semi positive storylines to
follow down the stretch, and Michael getting it together for
the future would be huge among them. Sunday's game was
just over in a flash. I mean Bryce Elder got
absolutely rocked. Eight runs allowed. His ERA is now six
(36:35):
point two three for the season, HISRA is over ten
and his last seven starts. I don't mean to be
mean to Bryce, but he's currently the number two starter
I guess for the Braves. Oh, anyway, we'll leave it there.
That's all we have to say about that. It's just
that he's I mean to be charitable. There was a time,
(36:56):
and it was a long time, honestly, where like even
if you thought Bryce was not very good, and I
kind of always thought that you could have thought, like, hey,
at least he'll throw you five six innings, And recently
it's been so bad. He can't he can't stay out,
he can't stay on the field. Like he keeps getting
bounced in the fourth inning because he can't get anybody out.
I mean, it's it's troubling. I feel I actually felt
(37:17):
bad today, like I did. I was able to watch
some some of today and it was just it was
not competitive, I mean truly, and I mean it hasn't
been competitive for the last like month, maybe more than that.
For Bryce, he had that again, that start that maybe
we'll never forget that, like dominant outing six weeks ago,
and it's been like everything's been a disaster since then.
(37:38):
So hopefully gets it fixed out because like he should
be your eighth starter, not your second or third. But man,
it's I felt if I feel bad watching him right now.
I hope he can get it figured out to where
go back to being like the guy who could run
a five R Like that's not a great pitcher, but
like that's a guy you could throw out there if
you need him. Right now, he's not even that at
(37:58):
the moment. Unfortunately.
Speaker 2 (37:59):
Well and Rice is gonna have to eat it, I know.
Speaker 1 (38:02):
And that's the thing, like they're trying to let him
eat it, and today they couldn't do it. I mean
it's I know, and look Brian Sticker is not gonna
just stop trying to win. Like That's one of the
things that we should probably emphasize throughout this next two
months is that, like, yeah, obviously there's some considerations beyond
winning baseball games. Now for the Braves, there have to be.
But in the moment, like if your snit, you're not
(38:23):
gonna be like turn your brain off and like not
try to win. These are pro athletes, they're competitive guys.
They're gonna try to win games when they're playing in
them and planning for them. But when you're getting getting
when you give him eight runs in three innings, like
you can't keep pitching at that point, Like it's not realistic.
Speaker 2 (38:39):
We're gonna see I mean, they might just have to
keep sending them out there. They it's gonna be ugly, Brad,
This pitching is gonna be really ugly down the stretch,
And I agree. I mean, I don't want Bryce Elder
to be, you know, embarrassed when he's coming up from now.
Speaker 1 (38:54):
I felt bad today, I really did. Like I don't
mean that. I mean, I know I'm snarky sometimes I don't.
I felt genuinely bad, Like Bryce is He's better than
this man. Like I'm not saying he's good, he's not, honestly,
but he's better than this. I mean he's and he
has been better than this. It's just that he's picking
a bad time to be really really really really bad.
Bryce Elder and stuff. So I just want to mention
(39:15):
that it was the only takeaway from today, Like nothing
else happened today, Like they were down eight to one
in the blink of an eye and that was it,
Like it was just a baseball game that happened. They
lost another game. We would normally preview the upcoming series.
We kind of did that a little bit already with
the report from Ken Rosenthal that Fetny's gonna pitch on Tuesday.
They did announced Riter on Monday, so that's a it's
(39:36):
always worth watching Spencer on Monday, worth watching Acunya, worth
watching Bowl win. We'll get into all that in August
and September, like reasons to watch this team, basically it
will be a topic. But in the meantime, they have
three in Kansas City, then they go to Cincinnati for two,
and then they do the Bristol game is on Saturday
this week. I'm sure the league is not exactly thrilled
(39:59):
that the Braves there huge draw for the Bristol game.
If you don't know this is happening, they're playing at
a speedway like they're playing at a racing venue, and
I'm sure they'll draw a massive crowd. Still, the Braves
are the team of this region, as we've covered for years,
but man, it'd be better for the sport and better
for everybody at the Braves were good and they're really
really not good right now. That's unfortunate. We'll talk about
(40:20):
later in the week. But that's what's the week coming up.
But the big thing is, of course the deadline Thursday.
That's the thing.
Speaker 2 (40:26):
Yeah, yeah, all eyes on the deadline. We should time
stamp this. It is just before midnight Eastern Time on
Sunday night going into Monday morning. So there's almost certainly
going to be movement for the.
Speaker 1 (40:38):
Braves this week.
Speaker 2 (40:40):
We will have a show breaking it down no matter
how big or how small the return is. There are
three games in Kansas City the Royals. There are five
hundred ish team great story a year ago, have struggled
this season. And one cool note though, Brad, you mentioned
Strider's pitching on Monday and ssuming all goes well, and
(41:01):
assuming which is far from a guarantee these days, but
assuming all goes well, that lines up Strider to start
in the I don't even know the right word for it,
this grand show in front of seventy thousand fans, half
of which are going to be depressed Braves fans. But
Strider will get to pitch at the Speedway more than likely,
(41:22):
which would be cool, national audience, big stage, all those things.
But yeah, Reds are Reds aren't. Reds are not a
bad team either, So this might be another tough week
for the Braves.
Speaker 1 (41:33):
I am glad about that. And again, we'll probably prive
you it at a little bit later on in the week,
but Strider gives you your best possible chance that night.
It's officially called the MLB Speedway Classic. For the record,
it's on Saturday. It's on big national Fox TV. Like
it's gonna be spectacle, it's actually it's gonna be cool.
I wish the Rads were better, but it'll be a
cool atmosphere. No matter what I would go, if I
(41:56):
was able to, I'm not able to go. We should talk.
Maybe Sean's going, Shawn wasn't to see he should go anyway.
So that's coming up this week, but the deadline is Thursday.
It's at six pm Eastern on Thursday, so the Brain's
actually play Thursday night after the deadline, which would be interesting.
But we will have a show that day for sure.
No matter what. In the meantime, I expect them to
(42:18):
do something and buy something. I mean maybe some things plural,
but we don't know if that will be the last day.
It could be to night, could be tomorrow. We'll see.
We'll have shows if they make a transaction, if they trade,
If they trade I Glaciers, that will be a reaction
show as fast as we could possibly do it. Same
with Thozuna. They won't be earth shattering in the way
that would be if they were buying. Like there's even
you know, tray for Hori Solier last year was a
(42:39):
much bigger deal than anything they're gonna do this week.
I think maybe they will surprise everybody, but we'll be
here covering them, jumping into action. Steven's back from his
world tour, so that we'll all be churning out content
in the next few days.
Speaker 2 (42:53):
Yeah, probably going to be a busy week ahead, Brad.
We'll see, we will figure out who's doing what shows
it is. You know, I talked to Sean the other
night and we were both just so bummed that this
is usually such a fun time of the baseball calendar.
Second half in full swing, Pennant Chase start to think
about playoff matchups. Who are they going to add? Who
(43:15):
are they going to trade for?
Speaker 1 (43:16):
Instead?
Speaker 2 (43:17):
It's okay, which underperforming veteran are the Braves probably going
to trade in the next seventy two hours. It is
what it is, and as we always say, win or lose,
we will do a show. Unfortunately, there's been a lot
of losing, and I think there's probably gonna be even
more losing on the horizon.
Speaker 1 (43:32):
I tend to agree with that. Well, Scott, we should
get out of here on this Sunday evening. Folks can
be following you where on social media if they are
new to the podcast or new to Scott in general.
Speaker 2 (43:44):
Oh Man, Scott Coleman fifty five on Twitter slash x.
Speaker 1 (43:49):
It's a dark place these days.
Speaker 2 (43:50):
It is. I can tweet man, this movie's great, and
I get seven replies talking about how they want to, like,
you know, blow themselves up or something, and it's.
Speaker 1 (43:59):
Yeah, it's uh. Being known for covering a team on
social media and having that team be the disaster the
current Braves are makes for a tough social media experience
because even if you're trying to escape it, you can't
escape it. But we'll be here. Follow Scott. Listen Colt
training camps un our way, So follow Scott for that.
(44:19):
Anything else.
Speaker 2 (44:21):
Please as follow year Anthony Richardson is going to complete
nine passes in a game and he's going to break records.
Speaker 1 (44:28):
Oh we're all three else, Okay, well follow me if
you want to on x slash Twitter as well at
bt Rowland more basketball for me, but there's baseball stuff
there as well. Follow our colleagues, Follow Sean, follow Steve,
and follow the show at Hammer Territory across social media
platforms Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. And please please please subscribe
to the podcast. Like we said multiple times, we will
(44:50):
not stop doing shows no matter what happens, So please subscribe.
Auto download, rate, review, tell your friends, and we'll see
everybody next time.
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