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September 17, 2025 • 41 mins

Brad Rowland and Scott Coleman co-host Episode 269 of the Hammer Territory Podcast. Topics include a sweep of the Washington Nationals and a five-game winning streak for the Atlanta Braves, Matt Olson staying hot, an encouraging Hurston Waldrep start, Ha-Seong Kim, the upcoming weekend in Detroit, and much more. 

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Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Hello everyone, and welcome back to the Hammer Territory podcast.
This episode two six nine. I'm your host, Brederi and
it's you on a Wednesday evening, and I'm joined, as
i often them, by Scott Coleman. Scott, you're back. You're
not sleeping still? How are you?

Speaker 2 (00:37):
You know? Brad? I was just thinking about this. As
bad as this season has been for the Braves, we
only have nine games left for six months, seven months, yep.
And even when the Braves are dead in the water,
there's still just something special about turning on the TV
at night and watching the Braves play, even if they're

(00:58):
not playing for a whole lot. At this point, it's
sad and I think the realization that the season is over,
even if it was far from the season we were
hoping they were going to have. In another world, the
Braves would have swept the Nationals this week and we'd
be talking about playoff look ahead and who might they
play in the first round and can they get the
buy and all of those things, and of course that's
not what we're doing tonight. But yeah, man, I mean

(01:20):
ten days and nine games left in this season. It's
gone by fast, and I think there's always that moment
of like, wow, it is definitely over with before we
know it.

Speaker 1 (01:31):
Yeah, it has come by fast, and it's a good
point that I hadn't thought about a ton today. But
it is getting late early for baseball, and you and
I like baseball, and we'll watch the playoffs, so like
they'll be baseball on still, but it won't be brave baseball,
so it's different. For sure. We'll get into what happened
today if anybody missed it, and I'm sure people did.

(01:51):
I talked to Steven on a show late, late late
on Tuesday evening post rain delayed doubleheader. That was a
late one, maybe a little bit of a delirious episto
of the podcast. But please subscribe to Amber Territory, listen
to that, check us out anywhere you get your podcasts.
We appreciate the support, and we are here twelve months
a year, thirty two weeks a year covering the Braves
in this space. So check it out and tell your

(02:12):
friends about the show. But yeah, also, here's the weird
thing about it. We talked about the season being over.
The Braves are red hot. All of a sudden, They've
won five games in a row. They just swept the
Nationals on the road in a four game series. The
combined score of the four games was thirty one to ten.

(02:33):
So they not only swept the Nationals, they blasted the
Nationals in this series. And the Nationals are bad, so
that's worth keeping in mind. Doubleheader weirdness, afternoon getaway day
game today like not the most high intensity baseball series
you'll ever see in your life from fan interest standpoint
and all that. But I did mention it on the
show briefly yesterday with Steven, But the Braves are and

(02:55):
you talked about it on Twitter today too. This way
Street basically makes the Braves all but dead for like
the top two or three spots in the lottery. They
were like right there on the precipice of being in
competition with the Pirates for the number two spot in
the lottery. That is, that dream is not dead. They
can still win the lottery. I mean, they're gonna have
decent hods to do that. But if you are someone
who is a monetary in the Techathon page each and

(03:16):
every day, it's been a bad week for you, but
a positive week for the Braves. And I've seen a
lot of people talking about this and it's I think
it's fair. Like even last night we got some comments
it was like, well, I like when the Braves win,
and it's like, you know what, tough to argue, like
it is more fun when they win. Like the ViBe's
been pretty good this week, even if the games don't matter.

Speaker 2 (03:34):
Yeah, So I guess we'll do the quick tankthon update here.
The White Sox by far and away are going to
be the one, and the Pittsburgh Pirates, who are just
god awful. Like I have a good friend who's a
Pirates fan, and I mean, I know we complain about
things with the Braves, but try being a Pittsburgh Pirates

(03:55):
fan for five minutes. I mean, our worst days are
like sun shining rainbows for the Pittsburgh Pirates. And then
the Minnesota Twins are losing as we talk. So I
think the Twins will have a four game advantage maybe
three game advantage in the lost column on Atlanta. But
at the end of the day, short of the Braves
going nine to oh over the last week and a half,

(04:18):
which would be very on brand for this season, Brad,
like when they are truly dead, they go on like
their best winning stretch of the year, more likely than not,
Braves will have either the fourth or fifth best odds
and getting the number one pick in the lottery. Again,
it's a lottery system, so it's not like they're locked
into any pick by any means. And I don't think
anyone should lose sleep. The difference between picking fourth or

(04:40):
picking sixth, or even picking one or two in the
MLB draft is generally not something that's gonna dramatically sway
the future of a team. Of course, we'd rather have
the highest pick possible get the most money possible for
the later rounds, but you know, something to keep an
eye on this last ten days of the year. That Frankly,
I don't think anybody in Braves Country had as a

(05:01):
possibility back in March and April.

Speaker 1 (05:05):
For sure, And I mean you said it. There is
a scenario where the Braves keep winning and they could
get as low as like seventh in the lottery odds
if they kept winning like they were only two games
ahead of or behind. However, you want to put that
the seventh seed in the lottery right now with what
the the orioles are because the brain like look, and

(05:27):
this is a I was gonna get to this in
the second we'll just do it now as part of this.
Today was the seventy seventieth win of the year for
the Braves, obviously not where they wanted to be, But
we were talking six weeks ago, probably about one hundred
losses being like possible, which is crazy. That's where the
Vibes were in early August, like, and they were on
pace for any roughly one hundred loss season. And since then,

(05:51):
like they were forty eight and sixty seven. I think
it was like August eighth, they were nineteen games under
five hundred yea. Since then they are twenty two and sixty,
which is again to use the on brand word probably
too much. It is on brand to have the season
be totally dead. And then suddenly the Braves go twenty
two and sixteen over a six week span, which isn't
like on fire, but that's kind of the pace you

(06:14):
were supposed to be at in the first place. And
like twenty two and sixteen is a fifty eight percent
winning percentage. That's like a playoff level team. It's not
an elite it's not an elite team, but it's a
playoff level team. And it's just it is kind of funny,
but also at least some of the maybe five years
from now, ten years from now, we look back at
Baseball Reference and were like, hey, the Branders were pretty

(06:36):
rough in twenty twenty five, but they were not like
one hundred loss rough. Like maybe that would be a
little bit of a sanctuary for us in the future
to say like they weren't as bad as like it
seemed like it might be for a while, because it
actually was like on Pace four disaster, they might win
seventy five, that might win more than that. I mean,
that's on one hand, I almost think it's misleading because

(06:59):
the season was probably one than that. But they hey,
they're at seventy now, they have seventy wins.

Speaker 2 (07:03):
Well, and I know that run differential is not scientific.
I know it is not the end all be all,
but it's the general name of the game is nip
Brad score runs and don't give up runs, and score
more runs than your opponent. And we know how terrible
the Braves have been this year in one run games.
God knows, they have given away so many games. We

(07:26):
could probably do a two hour podcast on like the
worst most frustrating losses of the year, But just for
a little context. You mentioned this team. They have seventy wins,
probably gonna end seventy five seventy six, not bad by
any means below five hundred. But the Atlanta Braves have
a negative twenty five run differential and they are seventy

(07:46):
and eighty three. The Cleveland Guardians in the American League
also have a negative twenty five run differential and they
are eighty and seventy.

Speaker 1 (07:58):
One game difference in the standards.

Speaker 2 (08:02):
If the Braves with the same run differential as the
Guardians had the same record as the Guardians, the Braves
would have a two game lead on the New York
Mets for the final wildcard spot. And that tells you
everything you need to know about this season. It's baseball,
And I think you have to say kind of like
two years ago where the Padres had the season from

(08:25):
hell and they went like ten to forty in one
run games. But what have the Padres done since then?
They've been top five, almost went to the World Series
last year. I mean, they've been good as anyone. And
I think if you're trying to be optimistic with the Braves,
you say, yes, this season was terrible. The team sucked.
They had injuries everywhere. They could not win a close
ballgame for five months. But I think you can tell

(08:48):
yourself a story of hey, maybe it's going to balance
out next year. The ball is going to bounce their way,
and God willing, the Braves are going to be back
where they want to be with ninety plus wins and
competing for an NL East and then a.

Speaker 1 (08:59):
World Series for sure, And you know you can't.

Speaker 2 (09:04):
It is fun.

Speaker 1 (09:05):
There's been a funnyest synergy with the Guardians having the
same run differential. They've gotten very very lucky, and the
Brads have gotten very unlucky. And like the middle ground
is the Braves. With this one differential, they probably should
have like seventy five wins right now, which still would
have been way below where they were supposed to be.
It would have been a bad season, but they'd be like,
you know, it's five more wins. They're five years below that.

Speaker 2 (09:25):
According to their run differential, they are expected win loss
is seventy four and seventy nine.

Speaker 1 (09:31):
Yeah, and that's more like what they've been. But yeah,
I'm looking, I'm talking to make sure this is still true,
and I believe it still is only one team in
the Major leagues has a worse winning percentage in one
run games and it's the White Sox, and the White
Sox are horrendous, So they're not as bad as the Rockies, who,
by the way, have a like literally historically bad profile

(09:54):
this year. But yeah, the brids that come, they've been
they've been both frustrating and unlucky, underperforming and unlucky, whatever
word you want to put it. It's been that kind
of season. So anyway, they are getting hot now for
no reason. But it's been still kind of enjoyable to
watch some positive and they've been some legitimately positive signs

(10:15):
over the last week or so. We'll get into the
game today in a moment. First, though, Scott, a word
from our friends at DraftKings and our player spotlight segment
on today's show. Weriche qucures today by the folks at
DraftKings and the Pick six at the official daily fantasy
partner of the NFL, and that is Draft Kings, and
we'll focus today in our player spotlight on louly acquired

(10:36):
shortstop Hassan Kim. We will not do the whole Hassan
Kim will there won't they that we did that yesterday.
We will do it a lot over the next several weeks,
but one in the spotlight. He's been really good on
the field. Briefly on this discussion. He's a five game
hitting streak, which is been crazy, but he's reached base
in thirteen of his last twenty four played appearances, and
if you're good at math, that's more than half the time.

(10:57):
That's generally good. Scott, and I wonder what you think
of the Hassan Kim experience because the numbers since he
got through the Braves look like the Braves would hope
they've looked.

Speaker 2 (11:06):
So it's been kind of an interesting run for Hassan Kim.
He started out very well and then he was pretty
bad for like two weeks. I think I tweeted over
the weekend that he had like a seventy WRC plus
with the Braves, and since then he's been fantastic and
those numbers are way better than what they were before.
And you know, just a little note I picked up

(11:27):
from David O'Brien, he said that Hassan Kim has also
just blended in really nicely with the Clubhouse, which is
good to hear. I think Hassan Kim either set out
loud or someone reported that he really didn't feel super
comfortable in Tampa Bay with the Rays. Now that there's
anything bad going on there, but he just didn't vibe

(11:48):
with the clubhouse. And I think that's the thing that frankly,
as fans and this podcasters, we don't get to see
a ton of because we're not in the clubhouse, we're
not on the team plane, we're not on the bus,
we're not at the hotel. But you know, all good
from Hassan Kim. About what's six weeks from now, Brad,
I guess we'll have definitive clarity on his player option.
I still think there's a chance that Braves work out

(12:10):
some kind of an extension before that. But up until then,
I think Kim has shown he's healthy, which is the
big hurdle. That was something that really kept him down
for the better part of this season, and he's shown
that why he can be a valuable contributing shortstop. I
guess we just kind of have to hold our breath
and hope he doesn't go too hot over these last
ten games, or then he might be a little more

(12:31):
tempted to test the market.

Speaker 1 (12:32):
Yeah, A one to twenty five diversity plus with the
Braves a three to ninety base percentage glove looks good.
He's a good baseball player. I think that's just the
broad strokes of things. And you mentioned the clubhouse fit
like he and Jerks the profar have a long standing relationship.
They're close friends. That probably helps things for everybody involved.
So that's what a spot like that. Kim has been
good showing the promise that might lead to some excitement

(12:54):
about the Braves if he's on the roster, and it's
still an if at this point in to but we'll
cover that quite a bit more later on this season. Now, Scott,
we will talk about some pick six options for the
weekend and in fact for the Thursday night game in
the NFL. That's where we'll go today with pick six Deers.
Troy Scott, you want to go first or meet with
our picks for pick six this week?

Speaker 2 (13:16):
You go ahead, Brad, this is your realm.

Speaker 1 (13:18):
Okay, I am going to take and if you're watching
on YouTube, you can see this shown on the screen.
I am going to take the more than zero point
five touchdowns scored for James Cook the Bills running back.
Because when you include the playoffs, hes scored in eight
of the last nine games. That's pretty good. Also facing
a Dolphins defense that's not exactly inspiring. So that's my

(13:39):
half of this. Scott, where you going with your pick
six selection on Thursday? So as we all know, this
is a pro Coleman podcast, Yes it is. So I'm
going to go more than forty three and a half
receiving yards for Keon Coleman, my fellow Coleman, Sean Coleman's
brother from another mother. We'll go more than forty three

(14:01):
and a half receiving yards for key On Coleman on
Thursday night.

Speaker 2 (14:03):
Should be a lot of points scored from both teams
and hopefully a good game. Well, you know, I think,
especially with the Braves off on Thursday, it'd be nice
to have something entertaining to.

Speaker 1 (14:12):
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(14:47):
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Speaker 1 (14:53):
All right, Scott, let's briefly discuss the game on Wednesday,
because it's the only game that's happened between podcasts to
give them more plug for the show on Tuesdays. Steve
and I talked about three games because it was a
double header on Tuesday. We cover that. If you missed anything,
dive into that podcast. The Braves trailed three to nothing
on Wednesday afternoon. In the series finale, they won the
game nine to four, so things flipped in their direction.

(15:16):
We'll talking about Herston Water be in a second. I
have to. I'm obligated to do this because we talked
about madd Olson last night. But madd Olson continued to
be ridiculous. He homered again today. It's his fifth and
six games his ops in that time, Scott is like
sixteen hundred days. He's been the best player in baseball
this week. You know we have this month. I mean,

(15:36):
Matt Olson's going to be Nation League Player of the Month,
I think. I mean if he stays hot for sure,
like he curR. If the award was given out on
September seventeenth, I believe he would win it going away.
I think he's leading in the Nation League and home
runs this month, all those things. But we'll do the
whole deep oth of the game from yesterday. But madd
Olson stayed hot within our homework today.

Speaker 2 (15:54):
Yeah. I mean we've seen over the last four years
Matt Olson's hot streaks can carry a team. And he's
just so locked in right now and kind of an
I don't even know the right word. But Matt got
off to a great start and then cooled down a
bit and then has been out of his mind for
the last couple of weeks. And his season long numbers,
this is clearly his second best year with the Braves. Now,

(16:17):
he will never touch twenty twenty three because that was
just an unbelievable year, one hundredth percentile. Everything went right
for Matt that year. Baseball's were different, but really just
a really good baseball player, Like definitively we can say
that now that there was ever any doubt or question
about that when the Braves traded for Matt Olsen, but

(16:37):
just a really, really damn good first baseman for this
team had the I mean, in some years, Matt would
have won MVP back in twenty twenty three if it
wasn't for his teammate and a couple other players in
the National League. He might even get some down ballot
votes for MVP in the National League this year. I'm
not saying he's gonna get top three or top five,
but they vote up to ten players think so Matt

(17:01):
might get some you know, eighth, ninth, tenth place, certainly
deserving and again just a really good ballplayer. Good offense,
good defense, zero drama goes out there literally every single day.
It's just all good things for metalson a really nice season.

Speaker 1 (17:17):
We've been chronicling the first base discourse mostly on social media,
to be honest, but he is comfortably leading all MLB
first base But now in fangrause War. Actually, the guy
who's closest to him, I think is either La Garrea
or the rookie Kurtz who doesn't even qualify yet for
the A. He's been ridiculous, but the national league it'ts
Mattelson by a decent amount. And to your MPP point,

(17:40):
he is currently in the top ten in fangrafs War
of National legue players and at first base. It's kind
of hard to do because there's a penalty with f
war with positional stuff. Fortunately, his defense is really good,
which helps him kind of to gate that a little bit.
But awesome season and when we say that out loud
for another home run today. In fact, it was a
good day at the office offensively, for like most of

(18:01):
the roster, they had six guys. Six guys have multi
hit games on Wednesday afternoon. That's actually hard to do
in the same game quickly. Also, the Kuna had Baldwin
kim Ozuna and Nacho Albais with a multi hit games well.

Speaker 2 (18:17):
And they were shut out early like they couldn't get
anything going early on.

Speaker 1 (18:20):
They were down three up. That for what I think
it was like they didn't sw the sixth inning, fifth inning,
one of those. Yeah, it was a weird game. They
they it was all in bunches. But they they did
score again thirty plus runs in the series, but they
didn't scratch all the sixth inning today and you still
had a game where you have all those guys. Nobody
went like nuclear on their own. I mean, Ozuna had

(18:40):
a good game again, Kim which talked about earlier Baldwin.
We did the segment last night. You know, Kate Horton
versus Drake Balwin is not going super well in the
in the betting odds right now for Drake, I believe
as of right now. Always that's it earlier today, Yeah,
it's actually even a bigger gap. Even Bawlin had a
good game today. Horton is now minus three at DraftKings

(19:01):
as we were recording this. So that is not Look,
that's not the n allb all. I think markets are
smart on this stuff. But also it's a panel of
thirty voters, so it's this is not this is not
the NBA voting where like there's one hundred people and
it's really easy to get a sample. You don't even
know who has a vote until pretty late in this process.
So like it's there are more surprises in MLB awards,

(19:22):
so don't don't give up hope. Everybody but Balwin. Baldwin
might be in a little bit of trouble, but he
had a good game today. So all I could ask
for is just keep stacking good games for Drake and
hopefully by the end of the year it swings his way.

Speaker 2 (19:32):
Yeah, really nice series. We talked on the Sunday show, Brad,
you and I that that Drake had kind of fallen
on hard times for two weeks. And I mean, he's human,
just like anybody else. He's gonna have a bad stretch.
But really nice to see Drake pick it up and
have some of his best games in a while down there,
I guess up in Washington. Just such an impressive hitter,

(19:53):
Rookie of the year or not? Oh yeah, one a
freaking rookie year.

Speaker 1 (19:57):
Right, regardless of whether it gets it or not. You know,
he's gonna have NPS around eight hundred probably by the
end of the season. As a catcher who's at least
a pretty good defender, not an elite one, but certainly
is totally fine there. And as you said, the last
couple days he had he had three hits Monday, had
the pitch hit double on Tuesday, and then two hits today,
So a good little stretch to bounce back from that

(20:18):
cold streak for Drake. The other headliner was Hurston Waldrup,
who pitched on Wednesday afternoon after his worst outing of
the year on Friday. He pitched quite well today. It
was four scrollss innings and then the fifth ending got
away from him a little bit, give up three doubles
in manning, but still ended up with five innings, three runs,
five hits, eight strikeouts and importantly for me, zero walks.

Speaker 2 (20:43):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (20:43):
Love to see that.

Speaker 2 (20:45):
Yeah, I mean that's very much the thing. You kind
of circle and underline and bold and do whatever. No
walks for Hurston Waldrip today, really good sign. I know
he's facing the Nationals. I know there were like three
hundred people in the stands to it was not not
necessarily a great environment, but credit to Hurston bounced back nicely.

(21:06):
Not that anyone I think had real concerns. The Astros
are a good team. You got you were there, Stephen
was there. You talked about just some of the bad
luck and misfortune that Hurston had, but really encouraging a
ton of swing and miss a lot of strikeouts today,
and other than that fifth inning, he was pretty much
in control the whole way.

Speaker 1 (21:24):
Yeah, and you know, he still got unlucky with bad
bep I think the bepop bellow was like four to
twenty in the game. Like, he pitched well today. I
was encouraged by that. That still bounce back. And you know,
the season on numbers look good. The IRA of three ish,
fifth of three point two or so looks fine. And
I mentioned the walks. I always care about walks, but
he had eleven walks in his previous fifteen innings, so

(21:47):
I was getting a little worried about his command. And
then hey, you closed down that top real fast if
you don't walk anybody, and he didn't today.

Speaker 2 (21:53):
So yeah, especially for a pitcher who the command was
like the thing for Hurston, like can he not only
through enough strikes, but through effective strikes establish his fastball
get hitters off like that? That's not a small thing
for a guy who had some real command and control
questions coming up through the minor leagues.

Speaker 1 (22:11):
No. Absolutely, he Again, we talked about it last night,
but even in response to that, people were asking, you know,
maybe I don't accusing the right word. Like people think
that we're too low on him, that's fine. I thought
we were pretty complimentary of him last night. It wasn't
like we're saying he's not a factor. He definitely is.
It's just more that we got to see more and
there's a gap for me and there's a show we'll

(22:33):
probably do relatively soon about the state of the rotation
for twenty twenty six in probably deeper die fashion, But
he is part of the mix, Like without question, it
should surprise no one if he makes a start in
the first week of next season, which is a huge
credit to him. Again, like the rise of Walter been

(22:55):
in the last like two months is rather crazy. From
like people have probably forgot about this by now. The
guy literally had to drive himself to Bristol to make
an unsanctioned, unplanned It wasn't even start it was it
was actually a relief quote a relief appearances they had

(23:15):
started that game and had to restart it. But like
that was the start of the year for Walter but
at the major league level, and all positives from there
so encouraging today.

Speaker 2 (23:24):
I mean just not today and the last however, long
since that start against the Reds in Bristol. It's just
been such a whirlwind for Walter and he was someone
a few months ago. I know you and Stephen talked
about it, but it's like, is this guy a reliever?
Like is it before he made those adjustments early this
season in Gwenett, I mean, it was looking like that.
And that was always something that was maybe in Hurston's

(23:46):
profile as a prospect because he did not have a
ton of great secondary offerings. But he has come so
far in six months. A credit to him for changing
his approach and changing how he pitches on the mound.
And I think I think I have been burned, and
we've all been burned by young starting pitchers, often because

(24:07):
of injury, soroka this past season A J. Smith, Shaver,
Kyle Wright. I can go down the list, Sean Newcomb,
Like we've seen young talented pitchers come up and really
flash and really pitch well, and then whether from injury
or just baseball really being really difficult and getting out
major leaguers being really difficult, it doesn't always work out

(24:28):
that way or the way that we thought it was
going to be. So I think guarded optimism is how
I'm going into the offseason with Waldrop. If I had
to bet, I would guess he's in the opening day
rotation and we'll be fine there. Ideally, he's more of
like the fifth starter because one, God knows somebody's gonna
get hurt, and two then you're not necessarily counting on
him in his first full major league season to be

(24:49):
like the guy. Ideally, you want him to be behind
a healthy sale Schwallenbach, Strider at someone in free agency,
Lopez Holmes, like you name it. We need to have
a onundions of riches and be greedy this offseason other
than crossing our fingers and praying that they can navigate
six months with a thin rotation.

Speaker 1 (25:09):
Yeah, pitching is very volatile for injury reasons, also for
performance reasons for young pitchers, like guys come up, they
flash and then the leaf figures them out and occasion
that doesn't rectify itself, like you know, Bryce thought it
was an All star. Let's go to example like Mike
Fultonevich is another one where like he had he had
one like truly awesome season and that was essentially it

(25:32):
for Mike Fulton Iviche and it wasn't you know, so injuries, adjustments,
all those things, but.

Speaker 2 (25:38):
Even like flashes in the pant you know two ky
tws sant would flash. Sure, remember Louise Gahara, like that
dude had an all time September And I was like,
Holy the brains, haven't I.

Speaker 1 (25:48):
Mean we were Yeah, I was gonna say he was.
He was one of you just named two of my
two of my guys that did not work out. I
was maybe maybe they scarred me for life on prospects.
I mean, I'm famously anti prospect generally speaking. But it's
funny because Tuki was like always my guy, like, and
it didn't. It didn't work for Tuki.

Speaker 2 (26:08):
It's that curveball man, that curveball. I remember. I was
in Atlanta, my one and only trip to Truest Park
against the Cardinals, and Tuki threw the most absurd curveball
I have ever seen to strike out then Saint Louis
Cardinal Marcelo Zuna. Ozuna was laughing going back to the
dugout because like, what are you supposed to do? What
is the fact Tuki was my guy too? I love
to That's just a bummer. He's still floating around somewhere.

Speaker 1 (26:31):
Yeah, he's still making appearances.

Speaker 2 (26:33):
In the majors or maybe in the minors. Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (26:36):
So anyway, that's today's segments on the on the game again.
If you want more on the rest of the series,
check out the show from me yesterday. But uh, five
games in a row, they're suddening red Hot Scott. We'll
get into some news and a bit of a look
ahead to the weekend in Detroit after a word from
our partners.

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Speaker 1 (27:56):
All right, Scott, not a ton of news, but there
is one roster move that happened on Wednesday, and it
was it was it's kind of injury related, the kind
of process related. So anyway, the Braves placed Jig Freiley
on the sixty day IL today. He was already injured.
We thought he might might not come back to the season.
He won't come back to the season. It was reported.

(28:17):
I think it was by Dob. It's not a serious injury,
but this late in the year, there's no really reason
not to put him on sixty day if you wanted
to create a spot, and they did that to make
room for Carson Ragsdale. With the Braves claimed off of
waivers from the Orioles. He was sent to go net
right away, So like this is that alone makes this
more of a fringy ad. But a twenty seven year
old right hander mostly a starter in the minors with

(28:39):
the Giants and the Orioles has pitched three times in
the major so like, not a huge sample size. We
don't really know. This could be a like they see something,
This could be a like why not. We don't really know.
There's a reasonable way until now to talk about this.
It's not a huge deal. But because the hook was
also Freiley, who will talk about in a second. But
right still just like a guy and we look, we've

(29:02):
been saying take shots like acchoir guys, get a look
at him, no reason not to. And he's another one
to add to the list because, as we discussed yesterday,
the braves of that eighteen guys, Mike starts this season,
maybe he becomes nineteen at some point next week or something.

Speaker 2 (29:16):
He might truly yeah, I mean he might be might
might twenty starters by the end of the year. Yeah.
Carson Ragsdale, I would just my only take. I would
love to be in a front office, like just to
be a fly on the wall in a front office
for a couple of days and just see the process
of like one of Alex's lieutenants being like Alex, Carson Ragsdale,

(29:39):
Let's grab this guy, Let's see what he can do.

Speaker 1 (29:42):
Let's just he's on waivers.

Speaker 2 (29:44):
Let's just let's say, let's take a look like the
database and stuff they have, not just the Braves, every team.
It would just be fascinating to look over someone's shoulder
for you know, for a couple of days and see
how they operate and why on earth do they like
Carson Ragsdale must be something and it's probably nothing special,
but it's like, hey, let's get the guy. And it's
not just this pick up, it's any other pickup they do.

(30:07):
It is uh, it is such a funny, fascinating game
with just so many players being available at every day,
with waivers being every day and forty man rosters and
active rosters and DFAs and all that stuff. It's it
would just be an interesting you know. So you know, Alex,
I know you listen to all of our shows, listen
to all of our opinions. Please, I would love to
come by and see how you run the show.

Speaker 1 (30:28):
I think it's quite clear at this point, he does
not listen or take our opinions into account in any way,
but hey, we can dream. I would listen. I would,
I would How do I say this? I would surmise
with some education that someone in the front office has
heard our podcast. I'm pretty sure that. I'm pretty sure
that's happened from what I can when I can, when

(30:50):
I can glean from behind the scenes. Not alex though,
to be very clear, uh, speaking of Jake Freanley quickly,
it's a straind oblique. So that's not great, but it's
not a long term thing. I feel like we should
just talk about Frailey for the last time this season
because he's gonna be gone now, but he's going to
keep patrol for next year. Like he could be a

(31:10):
non tender candidate. I'm not saying the redis definite, deinitely
gonna keep him, but he could be on the team
next year at a relatively modest cost. And if people
didn't realize this or haven't been playing a close attention
that they have recently, I totally get that. But Frehley's
claim to fame and his real role in the Majors
is that he matches right handed pitching. That is what
he does. That's what he's done for his entire career,

(31:33):
last five seasons in the majors, more than twelve hundred
play appearances. He has a one to fifteen WRC plus.
I guess Righty's so like he's a corner outfielder who
can hit ridies and that isn't a sexy skill set,
but it is a useful one, particularly for a bench bat.
And you know, with the DH you don't have to
have I mean, it helps to have versatility, Like you

(31:53):
want your Eli Whitees, you want your Nick Allen's. I
get it, you went backup catcher. But there is a
spot on the bench for a pinch hitter or a
platoon guy in a corner outfold spot, and Freiley can
be that. He takes walks like he's Actually when they
claimed him, he was only got a clean one of waivers,
and it was like not nearly is the Hassan Kim level,
but it was like WHOA Jake Freiley was available, like

(32:15):
for free? They just got to claim Jake Frailey like
he's a He's a real major leaguer, That's what I'm saying.
He's not Carson Ragsdale with due respect of Carson Ragsdale.
Jake Freiley was like, oh, like that makes sense that
he'd be on a good team. Like he's a real player,
which is keep we're keeping in mind.

Speaker 2 (32:28):
Yeah, and really the decision will be do they want
to tender him a contract. Yeah, this past season, Jake
Frailey made three point one two five million dollars, So just.

Speaker 1 (32:39):
Which is bench bench bat money?

Speaker 2 (32:42):
Yes, so probably four million dollars in ARB. If the
Braves want to keep Freiley around, that's uh, that's that's
probably something we really have to think about.

Speaker 1 (32:51):
I don't know, it's on it's on the margins for sure.
It's not a clear.

Speaker 2 (32:53):
Decision, but yeah, yeah, especially this early in the offseason,
Like I don't think you're going to have twenty teams
lining up and calling Jake Frayley. If they decided to
non tender him, maybe you could bring him back later
in the offseason for a million dollars two million dollars
save yourself a little bit, especially if we're hopeful, and
maybe it's foolish hope, but hopeful the Braves are going
to spend some real money this year or this offseason

(33:15):
to move the need a little bit more. But yeah,
Jake Frayley, if he's on the team next year, I
could totally see it. He's a valuable player. He has
a very set skill set. I mean, god knows this
team can't keep an outfield healthy, so he'd probably play
at some point. He'd probably be in there.

Speaker 1 (33:30):
It does. We will do, of course, a deeper preview
on the tender slash non tender candidates when we get
there in a couple of weeks. But he is one
where it's not clear. It's not an auto yes, it's
not an auto no, but they do have control room
if they want to, And we will talk about him
again now for a couple weeks of the match because
he's out of side of mind for a little while.

(33:51):
Last time for you out here, Scott. The Braves have
their final, final, final road series of the season this weekend.
They have a day off on Thursday after a busy
week with four games in three days, but they play
starting Friday in Detroit. They have announced I'm gonna double
check out division that nothing's changed. Uh yeah, it's Bryce
Elder on Friday, Joey Wentz on Saturday, and Specier Schreider

(34:14):
on Sunday. The Tigers have a lot to play for.
Well thirty one the division, so does like I have
that much to play for. But this is a playoff
level team that's still going to be trying. I would
imagine they're going to the playoffs, et cetera. So a
little spoiler opportunity, a little you know, evaluation of pitching.
Not the biggest thing in the world, but uh, this
is it for the road this year, and Detroit is

(34:37):
a fun team, so a little bit of a maybe
some extra casual interest because they're actually playing a good team.

Speaker 2 (34:41):
The Braves will not see Trek Scooble, which is kind
of a bummer. I mean, that guy's incredible. He Schooble
is scheduled to pitch on Thursday. I guess if it
rained or something that could change. But no Schooble. But
the Tigers good team. They were incredible in the first
half of the year. They've cooled off a bit, they
got off the really bad to start after the All
Star break, but good team. I mean me personally, I'm

(35:04):
gonna be rooting for the Tigers in the playoffs. That
it means not you know, historically a team that has
not won a ton in recent years and not a
huge payroll. They're a younger team, they're a fun team.
They really kind of came on like Gangbusters a year
ago and they rolled that into twenty twenty five and
have continued to be good. So good team. I don't
know if it's the final home series of the year

(35:26):
for the Tigers, but you can imagine that ballpark will
be filled and energized and everything, and maybe the Braves
can be spoiler. That'd be cool. And if they can't,
then guess what they just in the Tankathon power rankings.
They're going to move up a little bit if they
lose a couple of games this weekend.

Speaker 1 (35:41):
Yeah, and it is just checked. It is their last
home series, so that plans to be rocking. I'm sure weekend. Also,
Saturday's game Sunday we're all used to be in really early.
Saturday's game is a one to ten pm Easter Time start,
so a couple really early games. We'll see how that goes.
But by I'll just I'll just really people know that
I am not everyone knows this, but I'm a Michigan

(36:03):
University of Michigan fan. I inherited that from my father
and I say that because my dad also grew up
a Tiger's fan, so I'm not I'm not a Tigers fan,
but like, if I were to have a second team,
it would be the Tigers, and I will room for
them as well. So I hope they win this weekend.
I'm kind of agnostic as to the results, to be honest,

(36:24):
but in the playoffs, I might jump on the bandwagon.
Hopefully the make a run. It'd be fun to see that.
And I have family that's the best of the Tigers.

Speaker 2 (36:30):
So boy, what kind of money could you have made, Brad.
I'm looking at the standings here. If you parlayed the
Toronto Blue Jays, the Detroit Tigers, and the Seattle Mariners
winning the three divisions in the American League, I mean, I.

Speaker 1 (36:46):
Guess, yeah, Seattle might not win still because they're tied
with Houston right now, so that right, yeah, yeah, but
the other two, Yeah, Toronto was not in favorite in
the East. Of course, the Yankees were. I believe the
Tigers were, maybe like because of the the Central was
so mess that it wasn't like a huge upset that
Attickers will win to Central, but like they weren't the
Faber I don't think coming in the season. So uh yeah,

(37:07):
you get some long odds. Our friends, our friends at
Draft Kings would have probably taken that action from you
and been unfortunately sad when you won. But yeah, uh
interesting enough. We'll be following baseball. I'm not gonna do
a ton of that right now, like you know, not
Braves talk, but when playoffs arrive, we'll be watching. So
I mention it at times.

Speaker 2 (37:26):
So yep, I think that's kind of our roadmap, not
to put the cart before the horse. But in October,
I think we'll do some playoff baseball talk and then
also just preview the off season because I mean, this
is a really important offseason for the Braves. We look
at firm, we will time stamp this. It's just before
midnight on Wednesday evening. We still have no announcement of

(37:47):
any kind on Brian Snicker.

Speaker 1 (37:49):
I was I wasn't gonna bring it up on today's show, soap,
but you did it for me. It's okod we'll keep
a streak alive. We still don't know. And by the way,
if there was a time, you would imagine if they
thought about this and coordinated it, you want it out
there before they come home, because it could be Brian
Snicker week next week at truest point. Yeah, if they
were gonna do it, you got it. You probably want

(38:11):
to get that out there before before Monday when they're
playing again at home. So here a couple more days
if if that happens. By the way, if we get
news that will be an emergency level reaction from us,
we will have at least one more show between now
and Sunday, I think is the plan, and then we'll
have our usual usual Sunday show. But yeah, it's it's
a thing to keep on the radar for sure. Other

(38:32):
than I mean the odd waiver claim your Carson wragsdalees,
that's like, that's clearly the the news hook the next
few days. Probably knock on Wood on injury stuff, of course,
But yeah, Snith's status is it is it? Every day
people ask us and we don't have an answer for you,
and uh, we'll see how that goes. I'm sure it'll
get more attention when they come home, because that's just

(38:54):
what happens. Like, Yeah, you get larger media pools, you
get the local TV folks that have less inhibitions and
with what with what they asked us the way that
I'll put that, Because they don't have to deal with
it every day, it will become more more of a
circus as the week goes along. Next week, so we'll see.

Speaker 2 (39:09):
We'll see. Yeah, I was gonna say, an interesting last week,
week and a half of the season for the Raves.

Speaker 1 (39:15):
Absolutely all right, Scott, let us get out of here
in a recentale time by our standards, Folks can find
you on social media rooting on your Indianapolis Colts at
Scott Coleman fifty five.

Speaker 2 (39:27):
That's that correct, That is the one. Yes, lots of
football takes lots of college basketball starts in like a month. Brad.
I'm I'm pumped.

Speaker 1 (39:36):
I'm just really following along with your seinfield your your
seinfeld I just rewatch side feel watch because you're you're
so young, like this is this is where we're not
I'm not that much older than you, but this is
like affirmed to me the age gap between you and I,
like Seinfeldt was unavoidable when you when I was a
certain age and I am a little bit older than you,
and I think you met you were able to miss

(39:56):
it because of that age gap.

Speaker 2 (39:58):
That and I actually asked my mom and they were
not fans, like my parents didn't really watch Seinfeld, so
there was like they were more like everybody loves Raymond
was always on, Cheers was always on. We should do
like a nineties eighties, nineties sitcom show. Sometimes funny, that
might be it might be an October topic at this rate,
so we've been we've been churning through our off season

(40:19):
content in August and September, so we might be a
stuff talking about I do enjoy Seinfeld. Then there's also
now the unintentional like nostalgia of like the eighties and
nineties and you know, payphones and just a I don't know,
a simpler time in life.

Speaker 1 (40:34):
Brad. So yeah, follow along with Scott on his Seinfeld journey,
but also for his baseball tics. Follow me if you
like to at bt roll and follow the show at
Hammier Territory on x lash Twitter, We are on Instagram, Facebook,
et cetera. But I would say, more importantly than all
of that, please subscribe to the Hammer Territory podcast. Listen
to the show, watch the show, leave comments, leave rating

(40:56):
the reviews, and help us to spread the word. If
you enjoy the pod, Sincerely, thank you, Number one Number Two,
tell a friend I know you have Braised fan friends.
Everyone does. I have friends. I have friends that all
listen to the show. It bothers me, like, guys, you're
friends of mine. Let's listen to the show.

Speaker 2 (41:11):
And that friendship. Now, bra come on, text them all
and say subscribe or I am no longer your friend.

Speaker 1 (41:19):
Subscribe.

Speaker 2 (41:21):
Don't do that.

Speaker 1 (41:22):
I'm not gonna do that anyway. Thank you everyone for
listening to the podcast. We'll have more coming up later
on this week, and we'll see everybody next time.
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