August 20, 2025 • 38 mins
Hurston Waldrep pitched well again for the Atlanta Braves on Wednesday as his mid-2025 breakout continues. In episode 253 of the Hammer Territory podcast, Scott Coleman and Stephen Tolbert talk Waldrep, a concerning injury update for Austin Riley, a promising injury update for Spencer Schwellenbach, and more.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Hello everyone, and welcome back to another episode of the
Hammer Territory Podcast. I am Scott Coleman and I am
joined this evening by the great Stephen Colbert. And Stephen,
I mean the Braves. As weird as this season have been,
they have now won four series in a row, and
let's just get right into this tonight. Hurst and Waldrip
(00:54):
is becoming a thing I think, not just with Braves fans,
but even nationally like the MLB Twitter accounts and gave
Hurston a shout out. This dude looks like in a
very short period of time that he might be a
very real piece for the Atlanta Braves moving forward.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Yeah, it's a buddy. It It is almost a perfect
encapsulation of what this season has been when you look
at what it has happened lately where the Braves. The
Braves basically have to survive Spencer Strider starts so they
can thrive and Hurston Waldrip starts like on what planet
(01:30):
did anybody have that? You know on the Bingo card
in twenty twenty. But that's just how this year is gone.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Yeah, you didn't have that segment in March when we
were talking.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
About just hold on for dear life and the Spencer
Strider starts so that we can get to the shut
you know, the shutdown performance from Hurston Waldrup. But that's
what's happened. I mean, this kid on a zero point
seven to three e er and four starts with the braves.
I understand it's not against the best offenses in the world,
but you and I talked about it on Sunday, Like
the White Sox were hot. Like the White Sox can hit.
(01:59):
They've got some young dudes that hit. I mean, Spencer
Strider and Bryce Elder both learned the hard way. Like
these dudes are not are no joke. I know they're
the White Sox. I know they don't win a lot,
but they mainly don't win a lot because they don't pitch.
They've got some dudes that can hit, and they did
nothing tonight against herschel Waldrop. This splitter slider, curveball combo
thing he's got going. It's just nasty as hell, and
(02:21):
you know it's it's allowing him to use his fastball,
which was unusable last year. He's racking up strikeouts. He's
got a fip in the ones. Yeah, Like it's not
even like crazy. You know, there's not like a massive
regression monster coming. It's wild, it really is. And man,
you cannot overstate, and we have said it multiple times,
with how much injury risk there is attached to this rotation.
(02:43):
You cannot overstate the value of having a guy this cheap,
this young, under this much control, this many team options
are club options, minor league options being available next year.
It's just gonna be a you know, it's gonna make
the offseason substantial user for Alex. If this continues. I
don't want to get ahead of ourselves, but if it
continues at this rate, my god, what a story.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
I mean, what a story. Indeed, and you mentioned so.
Now in twenty four and two third innings, Hirston Waldrip
has a zero point seven to three ERA, a one
point nine zero FIP, and a three point zero seven
x FIP. He has legitimately been as good as any
starting pitcher in the National League over these last few weeks.
(03:29):
And I'm glad you mentioned. The White Sox are actually
kind of like a sneaky good offense, especially lately. They've
called up some players, They've moved around some pieces post
trade deadline. I believe they came into the day fourth
in all of baseball in WRC plus in the second half.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
Of the year.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
And we just saw I mean, they put up twenty
three runs in the first two games of this series
and they got nothing tonight. It wasn't even like they
just ran into some bad sequencing. Waldrip went seven innings,
only gave up four hits in one wall. One of
those hits and the one and only walk came to
the first three batters of the game. So after that
(04:06):
he was even more in cruise control. Seemed like in
the first inning Waldrop didn't have great command, but I mean, dude,
after that, it was just smooth sailing seven strikeouts, And
you said it that that splitter and when he has
other stuff even close to the plate, these big league
hitters just don't know what to do against him.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
Yeah, And I thought that was another moment, like in
the first inning where last year's Hurston Waldrop and this
year's Hurston Waldrop diverge, right, because I feel like last year,
you know, you start out that first inning in a
decent amount of trouble, you're giving up you know, last
year he's given up two, three, four runs in that inning.
Just happened every time this year, he just kind of
smoothly gets out of it, and he's so much more
(04:47):
confident on the mound, you know, I know, like one
of the hits was like a blue pit from Robert
was like, it's like a seventy min ar blue pit.
Another one was like an eighty min r a blue
pit like it was, and we you and I talked
about it last time we talked. The dude does not
give up hard contact. He doesn't give up barrels, he
misses bats. He's got it like a twenty seven percent
strikeout rate, which is plenty good. I mean, you can
(05:09):
you can thrive at that. I think he's got like
a fifty two percent ground ball rate. You add all
that together plus the arsenal, I mean, you know, plus
all the peripherals like it, it really does look legitimate.
It's not gonna be Listen, he's not going to pitch
to an O seven to three era for the rest
of his career. But like a solid mid rotation even
(05:32):
if you know, if everything clicks, a top rotation guy.
He was a first round pick. I mean, he's got
the pedigree for it. So yeah, just incredible. All the
credit in the world to him. Because he's clearly made
change it. He's clearly you know, he's he is adjusted.
Once he got to the upper miners and he hit
a wall, he had to adjust and he did it.
And that's also speaks volumes for like, at some point
(05:54):
the big leagues are going to adjust to him and
he's going to have to adjust again. And the fact
that he's already done it and had this much success
and been willing to do it is a good sign
for when that inevitably happens at this level, because it's
going to it's gonna happen. Yeah, and he's already shown
he's a willingness and an ability to do it, and
that's that's not a small thing.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
There was a really cool clip of Hurston Waldrip and
Rick Kranitz. I think it was in the start his
most recent start before tonight, and he had just finished
up his game he threw six innings in Cleveland and
Cranits was saying something and Waldrip was locked in and
listening to every single word, eye contact, paying attempt, Like, clearly,
(06:34):
this kid wants to be great, and he does deserve
credit for making the adjustments because frankly, up until he
reached the upper levels of the miners. With the Braves,
he's probably never really run into roadblocks. And his entire
life playing baseball, his first round pick, he was dominant
in college. I'm sure he was dominant in high school,
little league. I mean ever since he's probably five years old.
(06:56):
This kid's been the best player on the field. And
sometimes players don't know how to react when they have
some adversity. And they of course have their coaching with
the Braves, and then they have outside coaching and advisors
who work with them. I mean, this kid, if you
want to maybe I'll do this sometimes if I'm bored
because I'm a crazy person. But put on Waldrop's start
last year when he debuted against the Nationals, and then
(07:17):
put on one of his starts these last couple of weeks,
you wouldn't believe it's the same pitcher unless I told
you going into it and listen.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
That's another thing that we probably need to mention more.
We probably don't mention enough, Like the Braves need to
keep Rick Kranitz at all cost, Like I know there's
going to be turnover on the coaching staff in the
off season. That dude is just awesome at his job,
Like the braves pitching development in the upper miners and
at the major league level has been absurdly good. I
(07:46):
know they haven't been able to keep guys healthy, but
that's not that's not on Kranits. He's very clearly awesome
at his job. I don't think Sean Murphy and Drake
Baldwin get enough credit for an especially Murphy because he
was here last year. I don't think Murphy gets enough
credit for what he does with the pitching staff. There
was a moment into night's game where Waldrip had an
eleven pitch at bat. He was he was near the
end of his start. He had an eleven pitch at bat.
(08:08):
He finally got an out. Murphy took the slowest walk
I've ever seen a human being, taken my life out
to the mound. He stood out there forever, made the
umpire come get him, took the slowest walk I've ever seen.
Coming back, he gave Waldrip like a you know, three
or four minute break in the middle of an inning,
and he got out of it, and like that's the
stuff that like pros, like heady veteran catchers do, And
(08:29):
Murph has never gotten enough credit for The Braves had
the best the ARA in baseball last year, and Murph
never got the credit he deserved for that, and I
don't think he gets enough credit for what he does
with the guys this year. And yeah, but you got
to keep Rick Creandits. Whatever happens with the coaching staff
next in the offseason, you bet you better keep this
guy as your pitching coach.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
Yeah. Absolutely, And that's a great point. I don't think
we've really talked about that. We've talked around, of course,
that this is likely going to be Snit's final year
with the Braves, and presumably a new manager will come
in and want his own guys or at least some
of his own guys on the coaching staff. But in
that interview process, you better believe if alex Yanthopolis is
not saying, Look, if you want to bring in a
(09:10):
new hitting coach, I'm not gonna fight you. If you
want to bring in your own first and third base
and bench coaches, go ahead. But I could not agree
more if they let Rick Kranitz go over over this offseason,
that would be a huge loss. I mean, people talk
about losing Ron Washington and Eric Young, and I agree
wholeheartedly with that. Losing Rick Kranitz for what he has
(09:32):
done for this pitching staff in recent years would be
I mean, that would be a huge loss for this team.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
Yeah, And I don't, like I've never heard it's not
normal that like your pitching coach would become your manager,
Like I don't that's not usually the path that's taken.
It's like usually the bench coach is like like everybody,
I've just kind of been working on an the assumption
that what wiss is going to be the next manager.
I don't know that for sure, because but he's been
with SNIP for like nine years as his bench coach,
(09:59):
he's managed in the big leagues, he played for the Braves,
Like it makes all the sense in the world. And
I don't know if rig Kranitz has any interest in
being the manager, but whatever happens, unless he's the manager,
I really hope the plan is to keep him around
as the pitching coach, because ever since he's come on board,
I mean, you see it with a young I mean
you mainly see it with the young guys like you're
(10:19):
talking about with that conversation with Waldrop or like you know,
he's obviously very good at getting guys to calm down,
to breathe, to make adjustments. He obviously has a very
good you know, communication, very you know, he can get
across his point and that's not always easy, especially when
you're dealing with generational gaps. You could have a forty
year old pitcher and a twenty year old pitcher on
(10:40):
your staff. You gotta be able to talk to both
of them. Yeah, and he's obviously very good at it.
So yeah, I hope they keep him.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
And really that was I mean, pitching was the story
of Wednesday night's game. It was a one nothing win
for the Braves. The only run of the game came
across on a week bouncer from Ozzie Alby's that was bobbled.
So the brain it's got one run I think in
the third or fourth inning.
Speaker 3 (11:03):
And that was it.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
And in relief of Waldrip, Pierce Johnson came in was nails.
Rice Iglasias continued to be awesome. I think he got
three outs on eight pitches maybe, And I mean it
was really impressive tonight from the pitching staff. And of
course now the Braves are off on Thursday, so kind
of give that bullpen of breather, keep everybody fresh. We've
got about five and a half weeks left in the season,
(11:24):
and games like tonight mean a lot to keep your
bullpen because we know, especially if they get to a
point eventually when they shut down Waldrip they shut down Strider,
the innings are going to be at a premium and
they're going to need people to be somewhat healthy and
fresh in order to make it to the finish line.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
Yeah, it was like a two It was like a
two hour right, like a right out a two hour
game tonight, just rapid pace game. Obviously it's a one
nothing game. It is funny. I mean, these two teams
scored three million runs in the first two games, and
then the Braves won a one nothing game. The fact
that they're winning these one one run games now is
just hysterical. I mean, like, of course, now that the
(12:00):
season is basically over, they're winning almost every one run
game they're playing. But yeah, the offense didn't have a
great night. But it's also a massive thing. And I
didn't think about this until just now that like Streider
and Elder had very short starts and like, so the bullpen,
the bullpen was probably pretty down tonight, Like there's probably
three or four guys not available tonight, and Herson went
(12:22):
through seven easy easy. He probably could have gone eight.
I'm actually pretty impressed that Snit didn't do that. Normally
Snit tries to get one more inning out of a guy.
But yeah, Pierces Johnson, h Rossio Iglesias. It just makes
me laugh every time I see him pitching for the Braves.
It's it's unbelievable. But yeah, he's been hot. So got
to save off day and the Mets coming to town,
(12:43):
and that's gonna be a that's gonna be a fascinating
series for on multiple levels.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
Yes it is, So we're gonna talk about the Mets
series a little bit later in the show. We also
have some good injury news and bad injury news that
we're gonna talk about here. But first we're gonna take
a quick break.
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Speaker 1 (14:03):
All right, Stephens, So we got two pieces of injury
news today. We'll start with the not as positive one,
so Austin Riley, who has been on and off the
injured list for about a month and a half at
this point. During his media availability today, Brian Snicker said
that Austin is actually going to travel to Philadelphia to
(14:24):
see a medical specialist about this lower abdominal issue that
he has been dealing with. There was some concern that
Riley might be dealing with a sports hernia, which would
not be great. Of course, if it is a sports hernia,
that would end his twenty twenty five. I'm guessing we
should probably get some clarity on this, maybe Thursday, maybe Friday,
depending on when Riley sees the doctor. But not great news.
(14:47):
I guess it is at least somewhat reassuring that now
he is seeing a specialist who should be able to
give him a little bit of clarity.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
Yeah, you kind of felt us coming because every single
update was a bad one. It was like, but you know,
Austin's running today and he still felt pain. Austin's running
today and it's still grabbed him. Austin's running today and
he's still you know, it still hurts. Like you know,
we did this for like a week, and I was like,
all right, well maybe we should stop running the guy
first of all, and second of all, clearly something more
(15:17):
than just a you know, just pulled muscle or whatever.
And obviously we got the news today they could be
a sports turney, like you said, that's going to be
you know, multiple multiple weeks, depending on the severity. If
that's what it is effectively ending is twenty twenty five,
there's very very little reason to even try, even if
it's not a sports toorney. I'm not sure how aggressive
I would be, like just trying to get a base.
(15:39):
It's different for pitchers because you want to set up
their offseason and you want to get them to a
certain amount of pitches and innings to help next year.
With hitters, it's it's, you know, the thresholds just aren't
the same. I don't really know that I would be
pushing too hard to get Austin Riley back. Nacho's done
pretty well over there. It's not like, you know, the
team's not going anywhere anyway, so let him rest, let
(16:01):
him whatever it is. Even if it's not, if it's
a sports tourney, there could be surgery attached to it.
We should say that. I don't think it was would
ever be anything that would you know, affect twenty twenty six,
But it's not a great you know, it's not a
great development. Of course, everybody was hoping to see Austin
back before the seams went over the news today probably
meant that's pretty unlikely to happen.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
So we'll see what the recognended excuse me, recommended treatment
plan will be. Maybe it's rest and recovery and some rehab,
maybe it is surgery. At least Austin does have the
calendar on his side when it comes to twenty twenty six.
Again not doctors, but I can't imagine this is something
that will linger into next season, and of course we
(16:43):
want him to have as normal of an off season
as he can because I mean, you know, this was
a weird year for Riley, and it was an injury
riddled year in twenty twenty four too. Obviously the Braves
need more out of this guy. We have seen him
at his very best just carry this lineup for weeks
at the time, but it's now I think it's probably
fair to say that with the injuries included, it's been
back to back disappointing years for Riley.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
Oh yeah, I mean even when he's healthy, I mean
he has you know, he I think, yeah, I think
even if he doesn't play again this year, I think
he logged four hundred and fifty plate appearances, maybe five
hundred plate appearances this year, he's got a one oh
four WRC plus, So you know, that's well well below
his standard, not even just what the Braves expect or need,
(17:27):
but like I'm sure that's, you know, incredibly far below
what he expects of himself. Like we're not saying anything
that Austin wouldn't tell you himself, Like he he knows
he needs to be better than that, and the Braves
definitely need him. But you can't do any of that
to get healthy. And he's had two years where he's
not been healthy, especially you know, I think twenty twenty
four and twenty twenty five we're gonna end up being
(17:48):
season ending injuries. In August I think I can't remember
exactly when he broke.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
His right wasn't in August, it was August because they thought, okay,
if he has six to eight weeks, maybe he's back
for the playoff push or the first round of the postseason.
But then you know, it was clear he was not
going to be back.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
Yeah, so this will be a second year in a row.
Season ended in August after you know, not a great
performance leading up to that point. So twenty twenty six
is going to be a big year for Austin Riley,
and everything begins with being healthy. So let's hope it's
good news. Whatever it is, he can get get it
fixed and get into twenty twenty six at the very
least feeling good, and that leads to better production.
Speaker 1 (18:28):
And in some I guess better injury news. We do
know that Spencer Schwellenbach is going to was effectively shut
down in terms of pitching in Major league games. But
Spencer was out on the field on Wednesday. Our good
friend Grant McCauley thought he probably threw forty or fifty pitches.
Was throwing, looked good, looked healthy, And it seems like,
(18:51):
as long as everything continues to progress in the right direction,
that Spencer Schwellenbach is hoping to throw a live batting
practice before the end of the sear just to kind
of have something to build off of, clear that mental
hurdle and ideally go into the off season. One hundred healthy.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
Yeah, so these are the ones where it really does matter,
like how far he gets in his rehab before the
season ends, because it obviously dictates the off season. If
he gets to the point where he's throwing bullpens or
live VP where he's actually letting it go full tilt
from a mound, that's a big deal. That is a
very even if you never see him in a game,
(19:30):
it lets him know exactly where he is going to
the offseason and what he needs to do, versus just
having it be a giant mystery, like I don't like
I didn't throw a live bullet for the last, you know,
four months of the three months of the season. I
have no idea where my arm's at. If you if
you get to the point where you're throwing bullpens before
the season is at least you know you know where
you're at when you when the season was over, and
(19:51):
therefore what you need to do in the off season.
So yeah, it's a big deal, even we never see
him in games, So those are updates to follow, but
it's really good news that he's already at this point.
Another guy, obviously, the Braves Katy would be so helpful
to have Spencer Swallenbach healthy and available in twenty twenty six.
But you know, with the injury lock to Brais have
(20:11):
had the last couple of years, who knows.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
And I mean it's really easy to dream on this
rotation in twenty twenty six. Man, Yeah, you get a
healthy or mostly healthy Chris Sale, Spencer Schwellenbach, Hurst, and
Waldrip the way he's throwing the ball, Spencer Streider with
a normal off season. Let's all cross our fingers and
hope that he's more like himself. I mean, that's a
fantastic one through four. We'll see what happens with Ronaldo Lopez,
(20:38):
Grand Holmes. Braids could always add somebody in the off season.
Maybe too somebody's in the off season, which is probably
prudent given the number of injuries this team has had.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
But you know what does this you know, what does
this Joey Wentz thing look like? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (20:53):
Yeah, so there's some there's some reasons for optimism here,
even if I guess every team in baseball has some
kind of injury concerned with their rotation at basically every
single day of the year. And I feel like the
last couple of years, especially the Braves have just gotten
unusually killed by injuries to their starters. But there's some
(21:13):
pieces here, Steven, like there's there's a real world where
you can tell yourself a story without having to connect
too many dots, that this team could and probably should
be right back at the top of the division and
contending for the World Series this time in nine months
on opening day.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
Oh yeah, I mean they had the best era in
baseball last year, like with a lot of the same guys.
And you know, if Hurston Waldrop, if this is like
real for Hirst and Waldrup, if this is even close
to reel for Joey Wentz, you know, I'm guessing that.
You know, if you look at the other six guys, Sales, Strider, Swollenback, Lopez, Holmes,
(21:50):
A J. Smith, Schalver, you look at all those guys,
obviously a lot of injury risks. Some of those are
not going to go well. It's just the nature of
how you know you have this many injury concerns. Some
go poorly, some go well, you know those are the numbers.
What you can't have, is it all go poorly? Like
you just need some average, like some average injury luck.
Is kind of what the Braves are due for I'm
(22:12):
not asking for like perfect injury. Look, I'm just looking
for like average injury luck because the last two years
they've just been decimated by injuries. So get a couple
of those guys pitching healthy. You know, if you get
Sale Schwellenbach and Hurston Waldrup and something from Ronaldo Low, like,
(22:33):
even if the other guys aren't there, like, you can
still build a decent rotation. Maybe add somebody in the
off season. Yeah, it's got plenty of potential.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
Yeah, it really does. So we'll keep an eye on
Riley and on Schwellenbach these final six weeks see what
we can hear. Hopefully good news on both ends. As
a gigantic boom of thunder goes off outside, we'll see
if my house is still standing in five minutes. Steven,
all right, so we're gonna take another quick break here
to hear from a word from our partners on the podcast.
(23:01):
But we do have a fun segment where we're going
to talk a little bit about realignment in Major League Baseball.
We're also going to preview the met Series. More on
that in just a moment.
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Speaker 1 (24:14):
Right, Stevens, So this is going to be a little
bit of a tease of an episode that we are
going to have on the network on Thursday. So if
you were not subscribed, if you don't tune in, if
you don't follow us on YouTube, please hit those buttons
so you can get this in your feed in the
next twenty four hours or so. But all the talk
(24:35):
this week in Major League Baseball is about realignment and expansion.
Rob Manfred went on Sunday Night Baseball and talked about
it and talked pretty openly about a desire to not
only expand by probably two teams, but also redoce some
of the divisions that have really been in place for years,
now decades at this point, to make them a little
(24:57):
more geographically convenient, because some some of them are geographically
convenient and some of them are not at all. So
I wanted to get your take. The prevailing idea here,
if folks have not seen, is the Braves would basically
be in a Southeastern Division, probably with the Miami Marlins,
(25:19):
the Tampa Bay Rays, and then presumably an expansion team,
maybe in Charlotte, maybe in Nashville, those are two popular cities.
I mean, at first glance, we don't know what the
schedule would look like, we don't know what the game
breakdown would look like, but if you're telling me there's
a world the Braves could be in a division with
the Marlins, the Rays and an expansion team, I mean
(25:43):
I would take that all day long.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
Yeah, the expansion is always tied to realignment, right, like
the two always get grouped together because obviously, and Baseball
has made no secret of the fact that they want
to get to thirty two teams. They want a more
NFL like model. They've seen you know that that's been
a It's not even been a secret. I think they've
(26:06):
just openly said it multiple times. And so if you
go to thirty two teams and it makes more it
obviously makes a lot more sense to have eight four
team divisions, just like the NFL does. So how you
do that? I mean you can throw a rock in
the ocean and hit somebody's brand new realignment map, Like
there's a million of them out there. Everybody's got an
(26:27):
opinion of this team should be with this team, and
Sean and I will get into that a lot more
depth on tomorrow's show, but what I will say is this,
it is crazy that the Braves have operated this long
as the only team in the southeastern part of the
United States. Like there's an entire SEC football footprint that's
like nine states, where like there's one baseball team. It's crazy,
(26:52):
and I don't know how they've done it. I'm sure
they love it because there it makes their footprint massive.
But you know, and listen, I understand there's there's Florida,
there's the Miami Marlins in the temporary and there's not
a soul alive that considers South Florida part of the
part of the Southeast. Like that's that's that's not even
(27:12):
the same you know, it's not even the same culture,
same region anything. So like a team in Charlotte, a
team in Nashville makes all the sense in the world
there they're any kind of expansion that's done, I'm guessing
one of them is in the Southeast. It had it
almost has to be, like you don't need another Northeast team.
I'm gott. What I've seen most is one team in
(27:33):
the Southeast and one team in the Northwest. Is kind
of the layout that I've seen, which makes a lot
of sense just on TV markets like Charlotte. There's no
reason Charlotte shuldn't have a baseball team quite honestly, So
we'll see what happens. It is a fascinating conversation. People
get very mad because, like they see these realignment maps
and like, you know, I saw one where the Braves
(27:54):
were in the American League. I saw one where like
the Reds were in the American League, the Phillies. You know,
some of these teams have been around for like one
hundred and forty years and in the National League the
whole time. Like, you know, people get really upset about that. So, yeah,
there's some history you have to pay attention to and
you probably need to respect a little bit. But it's coming.
I mean, they're going to thirty two teams, that's inevitable.
Speaker 1 (28:16):
Yeah, So again, Steven and Sean are going to do
a full on show. There's an off day on Thursday,
makes perfect time to talk about this. We'll see. We
also have this pending collective bargaining agreement coming up with
the league and the players Association that seems like it's
going to get really ugly, just like it was a
(28:36):
few years ago. I mean, it's a hot time in
Major League Baseball.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
Yeah, And I did want to add because this matters.
It came out a couple of days ago, so MLB
has been negotiating brand new TV rights deals all over
I don't know if you saw this, the report out
a couple of days ago, as they're selling MLBtv to ESPN,
They're getting out of Apple completely, They're going to Peacock
(29:01):
and NBC for the Friday night stuff. This is all.
This is all, this is none of It's not a
coincidence that all of this is happening at the same
time as TV deals are being negotiated. Like you know,
with expansion probably comes expanded playoffs. Unfortunately I hate expanded playoffs,
but it makes the league a ton of money, and
(29:22):
you can sell your TV rights for a lot more
money if you have more teams, if you have more
playoff games. Like, all of this is connected. It's not
a coincidence that all of this is happening at the
same time. So as you see reports come out of
MLB getting out of this TV and into ESPN, into NBC, Peacock,
stuff like that, all of this is connected.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
It feels like in three years, four years, major League
Baseball as we kind of know it today is going
to look very very different than I mean, it makes sense,
and TV deals have changed dramatically over the last decade
with people cutting the cord and streaming, and I mean,
there's just so many dollars at play here, and we'll
(30:03):
see how it all shakes out. So again, we'll have
that show a little bit later in the week.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
And I'll add this, the Braves regional TV deal is
up and the end of next year. I think that
next year is the last team.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
Finally. Wasn't it like a twenty year deal or something
crazy like that.
Speaker 2 (30:18):
And one of the worst deals in sports for what
you know, for the in terms of the Brave side. Now,
the TV side got an incredible bargain. They did renegotiate
it like five or six years ago to get it
more like middle of the pack. For a long time,
it was arguably the worst TV deal in the sport.
But that finally comes up at the end of next year,
I think for twenty twenty seven. So not only you know,
(30:39):
on a national level, is MLB going to be changing,
you know, a lot of TV stuff the Braves on
a regional level could be you know, they could build
out their own streaming service, which is a lot a
lot of teams do. They could start their own network.
You know, a lot of markets the size of the Braves, Dodgers, Yankees,
Mets Cubs like they they don't sell their rights to
a regional network. They have their own network. So we'll see.
(31:04):
There's a lot of ways the bridge could go.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
Yeah, the media stuff is going to be fascinating over
the next couple of years because there's not fewer people watching.
They're just watching in a million different ways compared to
twenty years ago, where you'd flip on your TV and
the game would be on the same channel every night,
and that was kind of like the one and only
way to watch. And I guess, of course you have
the radio. So we will see, all right, Stephen, One
(31:29):
last thing before we get out of here. The New
York Mets are coming to Atlanta for the final time
this year on Friday. The Braves, of course, took two
out of three from New York last week and are
seven and three against New York this year, so it's
a chance to twist the knife a little bit deeper
into the New York Mets, who have been really going
(31:51):
through it. They lost again on Wednesday. You know, let's
make life a little more difficult for these guys who
are just hanging on for dear life. In the wild
card race.
Speaker 2 (32:00):
Yeah, I've been keeping up with it just because it's
one of the only interesting races out there. But the
National League wild card race kind of the you know,
really the third team is kind of the big race
right now. The Cubs and the Padres are pretty locked
into those first two spots at the moment. But like
(32:20):
the Mets lost tonight, which means they're only half a
game up on the Reds, and the Reds haven't played
yet today and they're playing on the West Coast. So
if the race, if the Reds win tonight, the Mets
and the Reds are tied for that last wild card spot.
So yeah, go red I'm about to become a big
Reds fan. But yeah, the Mets. Obviously the Mets come
to town. I think the I think it's Joey Wentz, uh.
Speaker 1 (32:48):
It'll be Joey Wentz, Eric Fetti and then Spencer Schreider
this weekend for the breaks.
Speaker 2 (32:53):
So you know it's gonna be another Strider start against
the Mets. Those have not typically gone very well, so
that's another data point to watch with Spencer. But we
can see Joey Winz again on Friday night. Every start
he had he makes, you know, matters for the Braves
just in terms of twenty twenty six. But yeah, let's
go ruin the Mets season. Like I know, playing spoilers
not nearly as fun as being in the playoffs yourself,
(33:14):
but it's better than just rolling over and playing dead
for these teams. Go play spoiler, you know, go take
two out of three like you did in New York
the Braves. The Tru's Park has been a house of
horrors for the Mets if you go back and look,
since that place open, the Mets cannot win there. So yeah,
go beat the crap out of the Mets. Let's let's
let's at least make it fun.
Speaker 1 (33:36):
I believe I saw this stat about a week ago
when they won that series in New York. But I
believe now the Braves have beaten the Mets in the
season series eight consecutive years, going back to when the
Braves were terrible, even before the division run. They have
just flat out owned the Mets. And I mean, you
want to talk about some of the most fun moments
of this entire run the Braves had, remember taken they
(33:59):
swept them in two in order to win the division.
Do I remember that right, Yeah, they beat de Gram, Scherzer,
and Bassett, who were their three best pitchers that you remember.
Dansby hit a homer in every game, Matt Olson hit
a homer in every game. They were all prime time
I think if memory, like, one was on TBS, one
was on ESPN, one was on Big Fox.
Speaker 2 (34:19):
And that too. That was the second to last series
of the year, and that was effectively to win the division.
Now it didn't. Actually they had to win one more
against the Marlins in the next series, which they did.
But yeah, I mean so many awesome Like there was
a game last year or Pete Alonzo hit a home
run and started talking shit to Bryce Elder and the
Braves came back and just beat the breaks off of
(34:41):
them the rest of the year. I don't know if
those last year, that might have been two years ago,
but it was just it's fun to beat the Mets.
I can't stand the Mets. I hate the Mets. Go
beat the Mets.
Speaker 1 (34:52):
Yes, go beat the Mets. Indeed, they're the marching orders
for the weekend. Uh Steven, We're gonna get out of here.
Any final thoughts the Braves, another series win, another fantastic
outing from Hurston, Waldrip. You know, good vibes right now
around this team, even in a season that's been really challenging.
Speaker 2 (35:10):
Yeah, and I am having fun, Like I don't want
to lose. I don't want to just lose games. I
don't want to just I don't want to lose a
hundred games. You know, go spoil, go spoil good teams.
You know, going to Cleveland and sweeping that series was fun.
Beating the Mets is fun. Like, I want to beat
the Mets again. I know the Braids aren't going anywhere,
but you know, they'll have a good draft no matter
where they draft. You know, let's get some vibes. Hurst
(35:34):
of Waldrop, the Hurst of Waldrip story is just insane. Yeah,
I mean, that's gonna be something to watch the rest
of the year. Joey Wentz of course, pitches on Friday.
Spencer Strider, what happens with him. There's still plenty to
look at and talk about.
Speaker 1 (35:46):
There really is. And again, as always, thank you to
everybody for tuning in. We've had some good moments this year,
we've had god knows, we've had some bad moments, but
we really do appreciate the continued support for the show
and I'm gonna make one little plea here in the
final seconds of the show. If you are an audio listener,
if you would do us a gigantic favor, go to
(36:07):
our Hammer Territory YouTube channel and subscribe. We're trying to
get to a big round number, which would be great.
Of course, if you're a longtime listener, you know, we
never even touched video until about nine months ago, so
we have navigated that over the last year. And if
you're watching us on YouTube, one, thank you. And two,
if you don't already, please subscribe that way you'll know
(36:28):
whenever Steven and Seawan do this realignment episode on Thursday,
and of course then we're also going to do our
usual spot on Sunday night recapping the met series. It'll
be in your feeds and easy to take in audio
video however you get your shows.
Speaker 2 (36:41):
Yeah, and we appreciate it. Just incredible support that we've gotten.
And yeah, the YouTube thing is new for us. We're
still working through it, but you know, you guys have
found us pretty well over there. We're just trying to
grow it. You know, it just helps everybody to grow it.
So yeah, if you're an audio even if you don't
really watch it on YouTube just you know, go clip
that subscribe button. It just helps it helps us grow
the channel, get it, get it out there a little
(37:03):
bit more.
Speaker 1 (37:03):
It really does hit the little thumbs up icon again.
Takes five seconds out of your day. We really do
appreciate it. All right, Steven, we're gonna get out of here.
A nice series for the Braves. Hopefully they can continue
their winning ways against the Mets this weekend. He is
Stephen Tolbert at b Underscore Outliers on Twitter. I'm Scott
Coleman at Scott Coleman fifty five. We'll be back with
(37:25):
a couple more shows this week and we will see
everybody next time. They are diffrents
Hello everyone, and welcome back to another episode of the
Hammer Territory Podcast. I am Scott Coleman and I am
joined this evening by the great Stephen Colbert. And Stephen,
I mean the Braves. As weird as this season have been,
they have now won four series in a row, and
let's just get right into this tonight. Hurst and Waldrip
(00:54):
is becoming a thing I think, not just with Braves fans,
but even nationally like the MLB Twitter accounts and gave
Hurston a shout out. This dude looks like in a
very short period of time that he might be a
very real piece for the Atlanta Braves moving forward.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Yeah, it's a buddy. It It is almost a perfect
encapsulation of what this season has been when you look
at what it has happened lately where the Braves. The
Braves basically have to survive Spencer Strider starts so they
can thrive and Hurston Waldrip starts like on what planet
(01:30):
did anybody have that? You know on the Bingo card
in twenty twenty. But that's just how this year is gone.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Yeah, you didn't have that segment in March when we
were talking.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
About just hold on for dear life and the Spencer
Strider starts so that we can get to the shut
you know, the shutdown performance from Hurston Waldrup. But that's
what's happened. I mean, this kid on a zero point
seven to three e er and four starts with the braves.
I understand it's not against the best offenses in the world,
but you and I talked about it on Sunday, Like
the White Sox were hot. Like the White Sox can hit.
(01:59):
They've got some young dudes that hit. I mean, Spencer
Strider and Bryce Elder both learned the hard way. Like
these dudes are not are no joke. I know they're
the White Sox. I know they don't win a lot,
but they mainly don't win a lot because they don't pitch.
They've got some dudes that can hit, and they did
nothing tonight against herschel Waldrop. This splitter slider, curveball combo
thing he's got going. It's just nasty as hell, and
(02:21):
you know it's it's allowing him to use his fastball,
which was unusable last year. He's racking up strikeouts. He's
got a fip in the ones. Yeah, Like it's not
even like crazy. You know, there's not like a massive
regression monster coming. It's wild, it really is. And man,
you cannot overstate, and we have said it multiple times,
with how much injury risk there is attached to this rotation.
(02:43):
You cannot overstate the value of having a guy this cheap,
this young, under this much control, this many team options
are club options, minor league options being available next year.
It's just gonna be a you know, it's gonna make
the offseason substantial user for Alex. If this continues. I
don't want to get ahead of ourselves, but if it
continues at this rate, my god, what a story.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
I mean, what a story. Indeed, and you mentioned so.
Now in twenty four and two third innings, Hirston Waldrip
has a zero point seven to three ERA, a one
point nine zero FIP, and a three point zero seven
x FIP. He has legitimately been as good as any
starting pitcher in the National League over these last few weeks.
(03:29):
And I'm glad you mentioned. The White Sox are actually
kind of like a sneaky good offense, especially lately. They've
called up some players, They've moved around some pieces post
trade deadline. I believe they came into the day fourth
in all of baseball in WRC plus in the second half.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
Of the year.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
And we just saw I mean, they put up twenty
three runs in the first two games of this series
and they got nothing tonight. It wasn't even like they
just ran into some bad sequencing. Waldrip went seven innings,
only gave up four hits in one wall. One of
those hits and the one and only walk came to
the first three batters of the game. So after that
(04:06):
he was even more in cruise control. Seemed like in
the first inning Waldrop didn't have great command, but I mean, dude,
after that, it was just smooth sailing seven strikeouts, And
you said it that that splitter and when he has
other stuff even close to the plate, these big league
hitters just don't know what to do against him.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
Yeah, And I thought that was another moment, like in
the first inning where last year's Hurston Waldrop and this
year's Hurston Waldrop diverge, right, because I feel like last year,
you know, you start out that first inning in a
decent amount of trouble, you're giving up you know, last
year he's given up two, three, four runs in that inning.
Just happened every time this year, he just kind of
smoothly gets out of it, and he's so much more
(04:47):
confident on the mound, you know, I know, like one
of the hits was like a blue pit from Robert
was like, it's like a seventy min ar blue pit.
Another one was like an eighty min r a blue
pit like it was, and we you and I talked
about it last time we talked. The dude does not
give up hard contact. He doesn't give up barrels, he
misses bats. He's got it like a twenty seven percent
strikeout rate, which is plenty good. I mean, you can
(05:09):
you can thrive at that. I think he's got like
a fifty two percent ground ball rate. You add all
that together plus the arsenal, I mean, you know, plus
all the peripherals like it, it really does look legitimate.
It's not gonna be Listen, he's not going to pitch
to an O seven to three era for the rest
of his career. But like a solid mid rotation even
(05:32):
if you know, if everything clicks, a top rotation guy.
He was a first round pick. I mean, he's got
the pedigree for it. So yeah, just incredible. All the
credit in the world to him. Because he's clearly made
change it. He's clearly you know, he's he is adjusted.
Once he got to the upper miners and he hit
a wall, he had to adjust and he did it.
And that's also speaks volumes for like, at some point
(05:54):
the big leagues are going to adjust to him and
he's going to have to adjust again. And the fact
that he's already done it and had this much success
and been willing to do it is a good sign
for when that inevitably happens at this level, because it's
going to it's gonna happen. Yeah, and he's already shown
he's a willingness and an ability to do it, and
that's that's not a small thing.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
There was a really cool clip of Hurston Waldrip and
Rick Kranitz. I think it was in the start his
most recent start before tonight, and he had just finished
up his game he threw six innings in Cleveland and
Cranits was saying something and Waldrip was locked in and
listening to every single word, eye contact, paying attempt, Like, clearly,
(06:34):
this kid wants to be great, and he does deserve
credit for making the adjustments because frankly, up until he
reached the upper levels of the miners. With the Braves,
he's probably never really run into roadblocks. And his entire
life playing baseball, his first round pick, he was dominant
in college. I'm sure he was dominant in high school,
little league. I mean ever since he's probably five years old.
(06:56):
This kid's been the best player on the field. And
sometimes players don't know how to react when they have
some adversity. And they of course have their coaching with
the Braves, and then they have outside coaching and advisors
who work with them. I mean, this kid, if you
want to maybe I'll do this sometimes if I'm bored
because I'm a crazy person. But put on Waldrop's start
last year when he debuted against the Nationals, and then
(07:17):
put on one of his starts these last couple of weeks,
you wouldn't believe it's the same pitcher unless I told
you going into it and listen.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
That's another thing that we probably need to mention more.
We probably don't mention enough, Like the Braves need to
keep Rick Kranitz at all cost, Like I know there's
going to be turnover on the coaching staff in the
off season. That dude is just awesome at his job,
Like the braves pitching development in the upper miners and
at the major league level has been absurdly good. I
(07:46):
know they haven't been able to keep guys healthy, but
that's not that's not on Kranits. He's very clearly awesome
at his job. I don't think Sean Murphy and Drake
Baldwin get enough credit for an especially Murphy because he
was here last year. I don't think Murphy gets enough
credit for what he does with the pitching staff. There
was a moment into night's game where Waldrip had an
eleven pitch at bat. He was he was near the
end of his start. He had an eleven pitch at bat.
(08:08):
He finally got an out. Murphy took the slowest walk
I've ever seen a human being, taken my life out
to the mound. He stood out there forever, made the
umpire come get him, took the slowest walk I've ever seen.
Coming back, he gave Waldrip like a you know, three
or four minute break in the middle of an inning,
and he got out of it, and like that's the
stuff that like pros, like heady veteran catchers do, And
(08:29):
Murph has never gotten enough credit for The Braves had
the best the ARA in baseball last year, and Murph
never got the credit he deserved for that, and I
don't think he gets enough credit for what he does
with the guys this year. And yeah, but you got
to keep Rick Creandits. Whatever happens with the coaching staff
next in the offseason, you bet you better keep this
guy as your pitching coach.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
Yeah. Absolutely, And that's a great point. I don't think
we've really talked about that. We've talked around, of course,
that this is likely going to be Snit's final year
with the Braves, and presumably a new manager will come
in and want his own guys or at least some
of his own guys on the coaching staff. But in
that interview process, you better believe if alex Yanthopolis is
not saying, Look, if you want to bring in a
(09:10):
new hitting coach, I'm not gonna fight you. If you
want to bring in your own first and third base
and bench coaches, go ahead. But I could not agree
more if they let Rick Kranitz go over over this offseason,
that would be a huge loss. I mean, people talk
about losing Ron Washington and Eric Young, and I agree
wholeheartedly with that. Losing Rick Kranitz for what he has
(09:32):
done for this pitching staff in recent years would be
I mean, that would be a huge loss for this team.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
Yeah, And I don't, like I've never heard it's not
normal that like your pitching coach would become your manager,
Like I don't that's not usually the path that's taken.
It's like usually the bench coach is like like everybody,
I've just kind of been working on an the assumption
that what wiss is going to be the next manager.
I don't know that for sure, because but he's been
with SNIP for like nine years as his bench coach,
(09:59):
he's managed in the big leagues, he played for the Braves,
Like it makes all the sense in the world. And
I don't know if rig Kranitz has any interest in
being the manager, but whatever happens, unless he's the manager,
I really hope the plan is to keep him around
as the pitching coach, because ever since he's come on board,
I mean, you see it with a young I mean
you mainly see it with the young guys like you're
(10:19):
talking about with that conversation with Waldrop or like you know,
he's obviously very good at getting guys to calm down,
to breathe, to make adjustments. He obviously has a very
good you know, communication, very you know, he can get
across his point and that's not always easy, especially when
you're dealing with generational gaps. You could have a forty
year old pitcher and a twenty year old pitcher on
(10:40):
your staff. You gotta be able to talk to both
of them. Yeah, and he's obviously very good at it.
So yeah, I hope they keep him.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
And really that was I mean, pitching was the story
of Wednesday night's game. It was a one nothing win
for the Braves. The only run of the game came
across on a week bouncer from Ozzie Alby's that was bobbled.
So the brain it's got one run I think in
the third or fourth inning.
Speaker 3 (11:03):
And that was it.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
And in relief of Waldrip, Pierce Johnson came in was nails.
Rice Iglasias continued to be awesome. I think he got
three outs on eight pitches maybe, And I mean it
was really impressive tonight from the pitching staff. And of
course now the Braves are off on Thursday, so kind
of give that bullpen of breather, keep everybody fresh. We've
got about five and a half weeks left in the season,
(11:24):
and games like tonight mean a lot to keep your
bullpen because we know, especially if they get to a
point eventually when they shut down Waldrip they shut down Strider,
the innings are going to be at a premium and
they're going to need people to be somewhat healthy and
fresh in order to make it to the finish line.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
Yeah, it was like a two It was like a
two hour right, like a right out a two hour
game tonight, just rapid pace game. Obviously it's a one
nothing game. It is funny. I mean, these two teams
scored three million runs in the first two games, and
then the Braves won a one nothing game. The fact
that they're winning these one one run games now is
just hysterical. I mean, like, of course, now that the
(12:00):
season is basically over, they're winning almost every one run
game they're playing. But yeah, the offense didn't have a
great night. But it's also a massive thing. And I
didn't think about this until just now that like Streider
and Elder had very short starts and like, so the bullpen,
the bullpen was probably pretty down tonight, Like there's probably
three or four guys not available tonight, and Herson went
(12:22):
through seven easy easy. He probably could have gone eight.
I'm actually pretty impressed that Snit didn't do that. Normally
Snit tries to get one more inning out of a guy.
But yeah, Pierces Johnson, h Rossio Iglesias. It just makes
me laugh every time I see him pitching for the Braves.
It's it's unbelievable. But yeah, he's been hot. So got
to save off day and the Mets coming to town,
(12:43):
and that's gonna be a that's gonna be a fascinating
series for on multiple levels.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
Yes it is, So we're gonna talk about the Mets
series a little bit later in the show. We also
have some good injury news and bad injury news that
we're gonna talk about here. But first we're gonna take
a quick break.
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Speaker 1 (14:03):
All right, Stephens, So we got two pieces of injury
news today. We'll start with the not as positive one,
so Austin Riley, who has been on and off the
injured list for about a month and a half at
this point. During his media availability today, Brian Snicker said
that Austin is actually going to travel to Philadelphia to
(14:24):
see a medical specialist about this lower abdominal issue that
he has been dealing with. There was some concern that
Riley might be dealing with a sports hernia, which would
not be great. Of course, if it is a sports hernia,
that would end his twenty twenty five. I'm guessing we
should probably get some clarity on this, maybe Thursday, maybe Friday,
depending on when Riley sees the doctor. But not great news.
(14:47):
I guess it is at least somewhat reassuring that now
he is seeing a specialist who should be able to
give him a little bit of clarity.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
Yeah, you kind of felt us coming because every single
update was a bad one. It was like, but you know,
Austin's running today and he still felt pain. Austin's running
today and it's still grabbed him. Austin's running today and
he's still you know, it still hurts. Like you know,
we did this for like a week, and I was like,
all right, well maybe we should stop running the guy
first of all, and second of all, clearly something more
(15:17):
than just a you know, just pulled muscle or whatever.
And obviously we got the news today they could be
a sports turney, like you said, that's going to be
you know, multiple multiple weeks, depending on the severity. If
that's what it is effectively ending is twenty twenty five,
there's very very little reason to even try, even if
it's not a sports toorney. I'm not sure how aggressive
I would be, like just trying to get a base.
(15:39):
It's different for pitchers because you want to set up
their offseason and you want to get them to a
certain amount of pitches and innings to help next year.
With hitters, it's it's, you know, the thresholds just aren't
the same. I don't really know that I would be
pushing too hard to get Austin Riley back. Nacho's done
pretty well over there. It's not like, you know, the
team's not going anywhere anyway, so let him rest, let
(16:01):
him whatever it is. Even if it's not, if it's
a sports tourney, there could be surgery attached to it.
We should say that. I don't think it was would
ever be anything that would you know, affect twenty twenty six,
But it's not a great you know, it's not a
great development. Of course, everybody was hoping to see Austin
back before the seams went over the news today probably
meant that's pretty unlikely to happen.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
So we'll see what the recognended excuse me, recommended treatment
plan will be. Maybe it's rest and recovery and some rehab,
maybe it is surgery. At least Austin does have the
calendar on his side when it comes to twenty twenty six.
Again not doctors, but I can't imagine this is something
that will linger into next season, and of course we
(16:43):
want him to have as normal of an off season
as he can because I mean, you know, this was
a weird year for Riley, and it was an injury
riddled year in twenty twenty four too. Obviously the Braves
need more out of this guy. We have seen him
at his very best just carry this lineup for weeks
at the time, but it's now I think it's probably
fair to say that with the injuries included, it's been
back to back disappointing years for Riley.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
Oh yeah, I mean even when he's healthy, I mean
he has you know, he I think, yeah, I think
even if he doesn't play again this year, I think
he logged four hundred and fifty plate appearances, maybe five
hundred plate appearances this year, he's got a one oh
four WRC plus, So you know, that's well well below
his standard, not even just what the Braves expect or need,
(17:27):
but like I'm sure that's, you know, incredibly far below
what he expects of himself. Like we're not saying anything
that Austin wouldn't tell you himself, Like he he knows
he needs to be better than that, and the Braves
definitely need him. But you can't do any of that
to get healthy. And he's had two years where he's
not been healthy, especially you know, I think twenty twenty
four and twenty twenty five we're gonna end up being
(17:48):
season ending injuries. In August I think I can't remember
exactly when he broke.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
His right wasn't in August, it was August because they thought, okay,
if he has six to eight weeks, maybe he's back
for the playoff push or the first round of the postseason.
But then you know, it was clear he was not
going to be back.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
Yeah, so this will be a second year in a row.
Season ended in August after you know, not a great
performance leading up to that point. So twenty twenty six
is going to be a big year for Austin Riley,
and everything begins with being healthy. So let's hope it's
good news. Whatever it is, he can get get it
fixed and get into twenty twenty six at the very
least feeling good, and that leads to better production.
Speaker 1 (18:28):
And in some I guess better injury news. We do
know that Spencer Schwellenbach is going to was effectively shut
down in terms of pitching in Major league games. But
Spencer was out on the field on Wednesday. Our good
friend Grant McCauley thought he probably threw forty or fifty pitches.
Was throwing, looked good, looked healthy, And it seems like,
(18:51):
as long as everything continues to progress in the right direction,
that Spencer Schwellenbach is hoping to throw a live batting
practice before the end of the sear just to kind
of have something to build off of, clear that mental
hurdle and ideally go into the off season. One hundred healthy.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
Yeah, so these are the ones where it really does matter,
like how far he gets in his rehab before the
season ends, because it obviously dictates the off season. If
he gets to the point where he's throwing bullpens or
live VP where he's actually letting it go full tilt
from a mound, that's a big deal. That is a
very even if you never see him in a game,
(19:30):
it lets him know exactly where he is going to
the offseason and what he needs to do, versus just
having it be a giant mystery, like I don't like
I didn't throw a live bullet for the last, you know,
four months of the three months of the season. I
have no idea where my arm's at. If you if
you get to the point where you're throwing bullpens before
the season is at least you know you know where
you're at when you when the season was over, and
(19:51):
therefore what you need to do in the off season.
So yeah, it's a big deal, even we never see
him in games, So those are updates to follow, but
it's really good news that he's already at this point.
Another guy, obviously, the Braves Katy would be so helpful
to have Spencer Swallenbach healthy and available in twenty twenty six.
But you know, with the injury lock to Brais have
(20:11):
had the last couple of years, who knows.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
And I mean it's really easy to dream on this
rotation in twenty twenty six. Man, Yeah, you get a
healthy or mostly healthy Chris Sale, Spencer Schwellenbach, Hurst, and
Waldrip the way he's throwing the ball, Spencer Streider with
a normal off season. Let's all cross our fingers and
hope that he's more like himself. I mean, that's a
fantastic one through four. We'll see what happens with Ronaldo Lopez,
(20:38):
Grand Holmes. Braids could always add somebody in the off season.
Maybe too somebody's in the off season, which is probably
prudent given the number of injuries this team has had.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
But you know what does this you know, what does
this Joey Wentz thing look like? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (20:53):
Yeah, so there's some there's some reasons for optimism here,
even if I guess every team in baseball has some
kind of injury concerned with their rotation at basically every
single day of the year. And I feel like the
last couple of years, especially the Braves have just gotten
unusually killed by injuries to their starters. But there's some
(21:13):
pieces here, Steven, like there's there's a real world where
you can tell yourself a story without having to connect
too many dots, that this team could and probably should
be right back at the top of the division and
contending for the World Series this time in nine months
on opening day.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
Oh yeah, I mean they had the best era in
baseball last year, like with a lot of the same guys.
And you know, if Hurston Waldrop, if this is like
real for Hirst and Waldrup, if this is even close
to reel for Joey Wentz, you know, I'm guessing that.
You know, if you look at the other six guys, Sales, Strider, Swollenback, Lopez, Holmes,
(21:50):
A J. Smith, Schalver, you look at all those guys,
obviously a lot of injury risks. Some of those are
not going to go well. It's just the nature of
how you know you have this many injury concerns. Some
go poorly, some go well, you know those are the numbers.
What you can't have, is it all go poorly? Like
you just need some average, like some average injury luck.
Is kind of what the Braves are due for I'm
(22:12):
not asking for like perfect injury. Look, I'm just looking
for like average injury luck because the last two years
they've just been decimated by injuries. So get a couple
of those guys pitching healthy. You know, if you get
Sale Schwellenbach and Hurston Waldrup and something from Ronaldo Low, like,
(22:33):
even if the other guys aren't there, like, you can
still build a decent rotation. Maybe add somebody in the
off season. Yeah, it's got plenty of potential.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
Yeah, it really does. So we'll keep an eye on
Riley and on Schwellenbach these final six weeks see what
we can hear. Hopefully good news on both ends. As
a gigantic boom of thunder goes off outside, we'll see
if my house is still standing in five minutes. Steven,
all right, so we're gonna take another quick break here
to hear from a word from our partners on the podcast.
(23:01):
But we do have a fun segment where we're going
to talk a little bit about realignment in Major League Baseball.
We're also going to preview the met Series. More on
that in just a moment.
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Speaker 1 (24:14):
Right, Stevens, So this is going to be a little
bit of a tease of an episode that we are
going to have on the network on Thursday. So if
you were not subscribed, if you don't tune in, if
you don't follow us on YouTube, please hit those buttons
so you can get this in your feed in the
next twenty four hours or so. But all the talk
(24:35):
this week in Major League Baseball is about realignment and expansion.
Rob Manfred went on Sunday Night Baseball and talked about
it and talked pretty openly about a desire to not
only expand by probably two teams, but also redoce some
of the divisions that have really been in place for years,
now decades at this point, to make them a little
(24:57):
more geographically convenient, because some some of them are geographically
convenient and some of them are not at all. So
I wanted to get your take. The prevailing idea here,
if folks have not seen, is the Braves would basically
be in a Southeastern Division, probably with the Miami Marlins,
(25:19):
the Tampa Bay Rays, and then presumably an expansion team,
maybe in Charlotte, maybe in Nashville, those are two popular cities.
I mean, at first glance, we don't know what the
schedule would look like, we don't know what the game
breakdown would look like, but if you're telling me there's
a world the Braves could be in a division with
the Marlins, the Rays and an expansion team, I mean
(25:43):
I would take that all day long.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
Yeah, the expansion is always tied to realignment, right, like
the two always get grouped together because obviously, and Baseball
has made no secret of the fact that they want
to get to thirty two teams. They want a more
NFL like model. They've seen you know that that's been
a It's not even been a secret. I think they've
(26:06):
just openly said it multiple times. And so if you
go to thirty two teams and it makes more it
obviously makes a lot more sense to have eight four
team divisions, just like the NFL does. So how you
do that? I mean you can throw a rock in
the ocean and hit somebody's brand new realignment map, Like
there's a million of them out there. Everybody's got an
(26:27):
opinion of this team should be with this team, and
Sean and I will get into that a lot more
depth on tomorrow's show, but what I will say is this,
it is crazy that the Braves have operated this long
as the only team in the southeastern part of the
United States. Like there's an entire SEC football footprint that's
like nine states, where like there's one baseball team. It's crazy,
(26:52):
and I don't know how they've done it. I'm sure
they love it because there it makes their footprint massive.
But you know, and listen, I understand there's there's Florida,
there's the Miami Marlins in the temporary and there's not
a soul alive that considers South Florida part of the
part of the Southeast. Like that's that's that's not even
(27:12):
the same you know, it's not even the same culture,
same region anything. So like a team in Charlotte, a
team in Nashville makes all the sense in the world
there they're any kind of expansion that's done, I'm guessing
one of them is in the Southeast. It had it
almost has to be, like you don't need another Northeast team.
I'm gott. What I've seen most is one team in
(27:33):
the Southeast and one team in the Northwest. Is kind
of the layout that I've seen, which makes a lot
of sense just on TV markets like Charlotte. There's no
reason Charlotte shuldn't have a baseball team quite honestly, So
we'll see what happens. It is a fascinating conversation. People
get very mad because, like they see these realignment maps
and like, you know, I saw one where the Braves
(27:54):
were in the American League. I saw one where like
the Reds were in the American League, the Phillies. You know,
some of these teams have been around for like one
hundred and forty years and in the National League the
whole time. Like, you know, people get really upset about that. So, yeah,
there's some history you have to pay attention to and
you probably need to respect a little bit. But it's coming.
I mean, they're going to thirty two teams, that's inevitable.
Speaker 1 (28:16):
Yeah, So again, Steven and Sean are going to do
a full on show. There's an off day on Thursday,
makes perfect time to talk about this. We'll see. We
also have this pending collective bargaining agreement coming up with
the league and the players Association that seems like it's
going to get really ugly, just like it was a
(28:36):
few years ago. I mean, it's a hot time in
Major League Baseball.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
Yeah, And I did want to add because this matters.
It came out a couple of days ago, so MLB
has been negotiating brand new TV rights deals all over
I don't know if you saw this, the report out
a couple of days ago, as they're selling MLBtv to ESPN,
They're getting out of Apple completely, They're going to Peacock
(29:01):
and NBC for the Friday night stuff. This is all.
This is all, this is none of It's not a
coincidence that all of this is happening at the same
time as TV deals are being negotiated. Like you know,
with expansion probably comes expanded playoffs. Unfortunately I hate expanded playoffs,
but it makes the league a ton of money, and
(29:22):
you can sell your TV rights for a lot more
money if you have more teams, if you have more
playoff games. Like, all of this is connected. It's not
a coincidence that all of this is happening at the
same time. So as you see reports come out of
MLB getting out of this TV and into ESPN, into NBC, Peacock,
stuff like that, all of this is connected.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
It feels like in three years, four years, major League
Baseball as we kind of know it today is going
to look very very different than I mean, it makes sense,
and TV deals have changed dramatically over the last decade
with people cutting the cord and streaming, and I mean,
there's just so many dollars at play here, and we'll
(30:03):
see how it all shakes out. So again, we'll have
that show a little bit later in the week.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
And I'll add this, the Braves regional TV deal is
up and the end of next year. I think that
next year is the last team.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
Finally. Wasn't it like a twenty year deal or something
crazy like that.
Speaker 2 (30:18):
And one of the worst deals in sports for what
you know, for the in terms of the Brave side. Now,
the TV side got an incredible bargain. They did renegotiate
it like five or six years ago to get it
more like middle of the pack. For a long time,
it was arguably the worst TV deal in the sport.
But that finally comes up at the end of next year,
I think for twenty twenty seven. So not only you know,
(30:39):
on a national level, is MLB going to be changing,
you know, a lot of TV stuff the Braves on
a regional level could be you know, they could build
out their own streaming service, which is a lot a
lot of teams do. They could start their own network.
You know, a lot of markets the size of the Braves, Dodgers, Yankees,
Mets Cubs like they they don't sell their rights to
a regional network. They have their own network. So we'll see.
(31:04):
There's a lot of ways the bridge could go.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
Yeah, the media stuff is going to be fascinating over
the next couple of years because there's not fewer people watching.
They're just watching in a million different ways compared to
twenty years ago, where you'd flip on your TV and
the game would be on the same channel every night,
and that was kind of like the one and only
way to watch. And I guess, of course you have
the radio. So we will see, all right, Stephen, One
(31:29):
last thing before we get out of here. The New
York Mets are coming to Atlanta for the final time
this year on Friday. The Braves, of course, took two
out of three from New York last week and are
seven and three against New York this year, so it's
a chance to twist the knife a little bit deeper
into the New York Mets, who have been really going
(31:51):
through it. They lost again on Wednesday. You know, let's
make life a little more difficult for these guys who
are just hanging on for dear life. In the wild
card race.
Speaker 2 (32:00):
Yeah, I've been keeping up with it just because it's
one of the only interesting races out there. But the
National League wild card race kind of the you know,
really the third team is kind of the big race
right now. The Cubs and the Padres are pretty locked
into those first two spots at the moment. But like
(32:20):
the Mets lost tonight, which means they're only half a
game up on the Reds, and the Reds haven't played
yet today and they're playing on the West Coast. So
if the race, if the Reds win tonight, the Mets
and the Reds are tied for that last wild card spot.
So yeah, go red I'm about to become a big
Reds fan. But yeah, the Mets. Obviously the Mets come
to town. I think the I think it's Joey Wentz, uh.
Speaker 1 (32:48):
It'll be Joey Wentz, Eric Fetti and then Spencer Schreider
this weekend for the breaks.
Speaker 2 (32:53):
So you know it's gonna be another Strider start against
the Mets. Those have not typically gone very well, so
that's another data point to watch with Spencer. But we
can see Joey Winz again on Friday night. Every start
he had he makes, you know, matters for the Braves
just in terms of twenty twenty six. But yeah, let's
go ruin the Mets season. Like I know, playing spoilers
not nearly as fun as being in the playoffs yourself,
(33:14):
but it's better than just rolling over and playing dead
for these teams. Go play spoiler, you know, go take
two out of three like you did in New York
the Braves. The Tru's Park has been a house of
horrors for the Mets if you go back and look,
since that place open, the Mets cannot win there. So yeah,
go beat the crap out of the Mets. Let's let's
let's at least make it fun.
Speaker 1 (33:36):
I believe I saw this stat about a week ago
when they won that series in New York. But I
believe now the Braves have beaten the Mets in the
season series eight consecutive years, going back to when the
Braves were terrible, even before the division run. They have
just flat out owned the Mets. And I mean, you
want to talk about some of the most fun moments
of this entire run the Braves had, remember taken they
(33:59):
swept them in two in order to win the division.
Do I remember that right, Yeah, they beat de Gram, Scherzer,
and Bassett, who were their three best pitchers that you remember.
Dansby hit a homer in every game, Matt Olson hit
a homer in every game. They were all prime time
I think if memory, like, one was on TBS, one
was on ESPN, one was on Big Fox.
Speaker 2 (34:19):
And that too. That was the second to last series
of the year, and that was effectively to win the division.
Now it didn't. Actually they had to win one more
against the Marlins in the next series, which they did.
But yeah, I mean so many awesome Like there was
a game last year or Pete Alonzo hit a home
run and started talking shit to Bryce Elder and the
Braves came back and just beat the breaks off of
(34:41):
them the rest of the year. I don't know if
those last year, that might have been two years ago,
but it was just it's fun to beat the Mets.
I can't stand the Mets. I hate the Mets. Go
beat the Mets.
Speaker 1 (34:52):
Yes, go beat the Mets. Indeed, they're the marching orders
for the weekend. Uh Steven, We're gonna get out of here.
Any final thoughts the Braves, another series win, another fantastic
outing from Hurston, Waldrip. You know, good vibes right now
around this team, even in a season that's been really challenging.
Speaker 2 (35:10):
Yeah, and I am having fun, Like I don't want
to lose. I don't want to just lose games. I
don't want to just I don't want to lose a
hundred games. You know, go spoil, go spoil good teams.
You know, going to Cleveland and sweeping that series was fun.
Beating the Mets is fun. Like, I want to beat
the Mets again. I know the Braids aren't going anywhere,
but you know, they'll have a good draft no matter
where they draft. You know, let's get some vibes. Hurst
(35:34):
of Waldrop, the Hurst of Waldrip story is just insane. Yeah,
I mean, that's gonna be something to watch the rest
of the year. Joey Wentz of course, pitches on Friday.
Spencer Strider, what happens with him. There's still plenty to
look at and talk about.
Speaker 1 (35:46):
There really is. And again, as always, thank you to
everybody for tuning in. We've had some good moments this year,
we've had god knows, we've had some bad moments, but
we really do appreciate the continued support for the show
and I'm gonna make one little plea here in the
final seconds of the show. If you are an audio listener,
if you would do us a gigantic favor, go to
(36:07):
our Hammer Territory YouTube channel and subscribe. We're trying to
get to a big round number, which would be great.
Of course, if you're a longtime listener, you know, we
never even touched video until about nine months ago, so
we have navigated that over the last year. And if
you're watching us on YouTube, one, thank you. And two,
if you don't already, please subscribe that way you'll know
(36:28):
whenever Steven and Seawan do this realignment episode on Thursday,
and of course then we're also going to do our
usual spot on Sunday night recapping the met series. It'll
be in your feeds and easy to take in audio
video however you get your shows.
Speaker 2 (36:41):
Yeah, and we appreciate it. Just incredible support that we've gotten.
And yeah, the YouTube thing is new for us. We're
still working through it, but you know, you guys have
found us pretty well over there. We're just trying to
grow it. You know, it just helps everybody to grow it.
So yeah, if you're an audio even if you don't
really watch it on YouTube just you know, go clip
that subscribe button. It just helps it helps us grow
the channel, get it, get it out there a little
(37:03):
bit more.
Speaker 1 (37:03):
It really does hit the little thumbs up icon again.
Takes five seconds out of your day. We really do
appreciate it. All right, Steven, we're gonna get out of here.
A nice series for the Braves. Hopefully they can continue
their winning ways against the Mets this weekend. He is
Stephen Tolbert at b Underscore Outliers on Twitter. I'm Scott
Coleman at Scott Coleman fifty five. We'll be back with
(37:25):
a couple more shows this week and we will see
everybody next time. They are diffrents
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