Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:21):
Who are coming and all to the Heir Territory Podcast
presented by Fox One. My name is Sean Coleman. Hope,
wherever you are and wherever you are listening, you are
having a wonderful week in the midst of the Champion
Chip Series. But while baseball is going on on the diamond,
there is plenty to discuss when it comes to what
should be a busy off season for the Braves. And
(00:43):
we've opened it up to our listeners a special mailbag
edition of the Hair Territory Podcast. And of course there
are a few, if any, who are better equipped to
answer your questions than the one and only Steven Tolbert Stephen.
Good to see you against here. It's been a little
bit Hope you're well and looking forward to talking some
Raves baseball with you with some pretty good questions from
our listeners.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Yeah, what's up, buddy. Yeah, we threw it out to
the listeners. We kind of crowd sourced some questions tonight.
The listeners as normal, came through Clutch. They sent a
bunch of really good questions. We kind of grouped them together.
We got four or five that we're gonna try to
answer tonight. Go kind of deeper into some of them
and kind of the spirit of the question and maybe
expound on it a little bit. But yeah, it's you know,
(01:27):
we're right in the middle of the playoffs. Of course,
the ALCS the NLCS are both going on right now.
World Series will be you know, near the end of
the month, and then boom, we're into the offseason mode
and that's when it's gonna really start getting fun. I
do expect the Braves to hire a manager sometime between
now and then. We'll see what happens. Obviously we'll come
on and break that, you know, have an emergency show
(01:47):
whenever that happens. But yeah, we gotta mail back question tonight.
Some fun things to talk.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
About, absolutely, absolutely, and let's get right into it, because
I think that the you know, current managerial opening, you know,
another you know, already attractive managerial opening came available, I
think a bit unexpectedly over the past forty eight hours.
Mike Sheilt retired from being the Padres manager. So there,
if you're if you're a hot prospect, if you're someone
(02:13):
like a Ryan Flaherty or others that we've seen mentioned
with under multiple openings, you know, there's plenty to choose
from and for the Braves that could make them want
to act sooner rather than later. And let's start there
when it comes to our mailbag questions. This comes from
Jason Reese at Jase eleven twenty nine. Jason, thank you
for the question, how do you like George Lombard as
(02:36):
a possible manager for the Braves? And Steve and I
have he checks a lot of boxes. As the first
initial answer that I want to give, but also when
it comes to him, you know, I mentioned that I
would really like an option that has had past managerial experience,
but more than anything, I want to coach that's been
(02:58):
around a while and not only been around, but has
contributed to multiple winners. He's been around a lot of
winning baseball. I think that's the big box that George
Lombard chicks, among many other connections to the Braves and
Alex and Thoppless.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
Yeah, so this is a name that we've heard a lot,
and especially behind the scenes, maybe not more on the
public side, but on the private side. This is a
name we keep hearing that you really need to watch
out for because and there's a few reasons. One is
(03:34):
he's gotten very obvious ties to the Braves.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
He was.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
A former player, a former top prospect for the Braves.
He was actually committed to go to the University of Georgia,
which I did not know that, but was drafted in
the second round by the Braves, so they bought out
his commitment and he joined the organization. He's obviously a
Georgia guy, so you know, he had his playing career
with the Braves, which didn't pan out the way he
wanted to. But since then he's been a coach in
(04:01):
the majors for a long time. And he was actually
in LA with the Dodgers as their first base coach
while Alex Nthoppolos was working for the Dodgers, So that's
probably the first time him and Alex ever cross pass.
And he did the Dodgers job from twenty seventeen to
twenty twenty through their World Series, and then over the
last five years he's been the bench coach for aj
(04:24):
Hinch in the Tigers organization, and the Dodgers and the
Tigers are two organizations that push kind of modern baseball forward.
You know, they're not stuck in the past. Aj Hinch
specifically is a pretty forward thinking manager. The fact that
this guy has spent the last five years as his
bench coach, and we've talked about that in the past.
(04:44):
A bench coach's kind of the natural, you know, that's
the natural last step before you become a manager, is
you're a bench coach. And he's been there for five years,
Like it's not a small amount of time.
Speaker 3 (04:56):
And like I said, he's he's.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
Been with the Dodgers, been with the Tigers, he knows
how Alex he has ties to the Braves. Like it
makes a lot of sense. And you know, the one
thing that I would say is like maybe a negative
is he does he just doesn't have that managerial experience.
And when you have a team that's trying to win
a World Series, that's capable of winning a World Series,
hiring a first time manager has its own levels of
(05:20):
risk and challenges and whatever.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
So I think that's a fair counterpoint.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
But like I said at the top, we've heard I've
heard the name George Lombard a lot, and I'm not
saying it's you know, I'm not saying where there's smoke,
there's fire, but that is certainly a name that I
would watch out for. He is highly respected in baseball.
He is everybody in baseball thinks he is going to
(05:45):
be a manager at some point. It's just a matter
of when and what team pulls the trigger on it.
Do not be surprised at all if it's the Braves
and it's right now that he's the next manager. I'm
not saying it's going to be not reporting that, but
that's a name that we keep hearing a punch and
I think there's some pretty valid I think there's some
pretty valid smoke there.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
Yeah, And I mean, you know, again, he checks those
boxes of just everything that you just common sense would
tell you would be valued in looking for, you know,
the next Braves manager. Of the connections to alex Enthopolis,
connections to the organization. He's had impact over the past
decade in winning organizations. But it's also not you know,
take away the fact that he also is he's part
(06:27):
of a baseball family, right you know, George Lombard himself,
you know why he didn't necessarily panned out as a player.
He obviously has as a coach, but he right now
he has an older son in George Lombard Junior, who
is a top prospect in the Yankees organization, and he
just so happens to have his younger son, Jacob Lombard,
who's a shortstop who's potentially a top five pick in
(06:48):
next year's draft, so you know, you can make some
connections there as well. So the point is is that, yes,
I think not only is he a very sensible potential
managerial prospect that the Braves could add, but he's a
very sensible one. I think that there would be a
lot of good potential with him leading the organization, especially
with the other managers that he's been on staffs with.
(07:12):
I think that it would be I don't necessarily know
if home run high would be the way to describe it,
but I definitely think that he would be one of
the better choices when it comes to being a manager.
With that being said, we talk about the manager position
being really what's on on the you know, at the forefront,
it's the priority right now. We've also talked about what
our priorities potentially this offseason, and it comes back to
(07:36):
pitching rotation as well as the bullpen. But Steven, we
got a couple of different questions from folks regarding this,
what about the offense, Because again I think that it's
a fair question when you look at the past two years.
The one aspect of this Braves team that stands out
as being the closest to being contender worthy in terms
of quality has been the starting rotation. It's been the
(07:58):
offense that's underperformed. So you think to yourself, that should
be an area where the Braves look to add. But
why is it not in European opinion, steven maybe a
bigger priority.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
No, that's a fair question, and you know it's wide
throughout the season. I did not want We talked about
this a few times. I did not want the narrative
of the twenty twenty five season to be the injuries
to the pitching staff. Is what did the season end?
A because it's not true. It's an irresponsible narrative. B
(08:31):
because it's it's only.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
Half the story.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
You have to you have to combine that with the
fact that from April till basically the middle of July
they couldn't score runs. And that's where they mostly healthy offense.
I mean they didn't have Profar at the time because
he was still doing the eighty game suspension. But Acunya
was back. Not only was Akunya back, Acunya was hitting
(08:54):
like prime Barry Bonds. You remember that first, you know,
a couple of months he was back before he went
through a little cold spell in August. He was a monster,
and they still couldn't score runs because the rest of
the lineup wt cold. And it is you have to
talk about the offense when you talk about the twenty
twenty four and twenty twenty five seasons, just as much,
(09:15):
if not more than the injuries that they suffered in
the twenty twenty four and twenty twenty five seasons.
Speaker 3 (09:20):
So a perfectly fair question.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
We had a number of people ask this, like why
is the offense not being talked about more?
Speaker 3 (09:26):
And I would say two things.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
One, I think it is being talked about because the
number one priority and Alex mentioned it as shortstop. And listen,
the Braves have had a black hole offensive late shortstop
for like three years now, well two years. The first half,
for the first half of twenty twenty three for land
Arc was really good, but since then they've been probably
the worst hitting team in baseball when it comes to
(09:48):
that position. And so the reason everybody's talking about Hassan
Kim Hassan Kim Hassan Kim is because he is such
a massive upgrade on offense at that position. So anytime
you hear the name Hassan Kim, that is saying the
offense needs upgrades. And this is the primary with upgrade.
Take your weakest hitting position, which is shortstop, and add
(10:08):
a legitimate, like above average or better hitter. And so
that's why Hassein Kim is such a big name is
because he is he is literally the biggest he he
covers up the biggest weakness the Braves have, which is
offense at shortstop. The second thing I would say to
that is, that's why we keep talking about the DH
on this show. That's why we keep talking about potentially
(10:29):
an outfielder. That's why we you know, Scott and I
did a show on Sunday where we did an entire,
like fifteen minute segment on the DH and all the
different ways they could go and you know, potentially trading
for somebody or signing an outfielder like because the offense
is not a finished product.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
It's just not.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
And we've already talked about the streakiness of this offense
with Michael Harris and Ozzy Albi's both being incredibly streaky.
Austin Riley, Matt Olsen being incredibly streaky. Even a Kunya
goes through you know, he's not a streaky as everyone else,
but he's not, you know, immune to these kind of
three week, four week slumps every now and then. They
(11:07):
just have a ton of streaky hitters. So you just
need more talent and you can't have offensive black holes.
That's why his shortstop is so critical. That's why Hassan
Kim is so critical, and that's why I think, you know,
we said it on the show on Sunday, like I
think DH is not being talked about enough, Like DH matters.
We got to go find another good hitter to compliment
(11:29):
these other hitters that can be good but can also
be awful for times. And you got to be able
to you gotta be able to sustain that and weather that,
and you do that through more talent.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
And so it's a fair question.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
The offense was the problem in twenty twenty four and
for the first half of twenty twenty five, basically the
competitive portion of twenty twenty five, the offense was the culprit.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
So Hassan Kim and a.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
DH is a big part of this offseason, and I
think it does need to be talked about more.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
I agree with you. I definite think those are two areas,
especially if that other DH option can play the outfield
as well a bit more simpler perspectable Minyand when I
say simpler, I mean, you know, just to me, it
just comes down to this, you just have less room
to add value on the position player offensive side than
you do on the pitching side, because when you look
(12:19):
at the Braves overall position players, they're besides shortstop, you
have a player already in place in the eight or
in the seven other positions that you have multiple years
of control over and that you either owe money to
or just make sense to be playing, and they're going
to be playing every day. So that's the reason why
I say that offense is probably not being talked about
(12:40):
as much as pitching because you just don't have as
much room to add value because of a lot of
those players you've already got in place for multiple years
of control, they may not necessarily have the best value
to move, so it doesn't make sense to move them.
So I just think that's the issue, and that's the downside,
you know, like we've discussed about having so many extensions
out there, if they're not performing to their expectation. I
think in terms of you know, why the pitching is
(13:02):
being talked about a bit more than the offense. To
Stevens point, it is because of the fact that you know,
pitching probably makes sense is the big addition, and we
are talking about offense on the shortstop side. But I
just think it really comes down to the fact that
you've already got a lot of your main offensive players
in place. You could see another significant move or two
on the pitching side make a bit more sense. However,
(13:25):
we talk in general in general about where the Braves
could add. What about some specific names, and what exactly
is the order of operations to get those moves made.
That's another mailbug question here in just a moment after
a word from our.
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Speaker 1 (14:44):
So Steve and I think that if you were to
set up this off season and if you were to
ask yourself, okay, what would make this a successful off season?
What needs being filled would really stand out as helping
to define this off season as a s success. And
I think that four stand out. Hiring the right manager,
(15:05):
filling the shortstop position with the reliable option, getting another
significant arm for the rotation, and getting a somewhat reliable
to reliable option in the bullpen. Would you agree that
that would be a pretty good assessment of the big
needs this offseason.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
Yes, I I could.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
I could quibble a little bit on the order, but yes,
in terms of total totality.
Speaker 1 (15:29):
Yes, yeah, And I didn't mean to put them in
any order or anything, just was listing them off as
the four main ones. Well that that's just a fun
way of looking at it. And we had a fun
question from Sea Breeze e O on Twitter. I like
I like the I like the name. How would you
grade this offseason if a if AA only does these
(15:52):
three things trade for Pablo Lopez, extend Hasan Kim, and
sign Devin Williams Now, I think Braves would probably do
a bit more in you know, a perfect offseason. But
if you're looking at those level of names being added
to the Brakes, I think that that is a pretty
(16:17):
reasonable expectation for what a highly successful offseason would look like.
You've got three pretty significant additions via trade in free
agency that I think really could improve this Braves team
going forward. And I like the way that he positioned
it in that I truly do think that the big
moves for the Braves of this offseason is if they
(16:38):
can extend Kim, that's your main offensive signing, and you
will see them add a significant arm to the rotation,
be a trade or via free agency, and then I
think that they're going to go try to find a
value adding the bullpen someone that was successful in the
past that maybe has fallen off a little bit here recently.
But yes, I don't know about those specific names that
were mentioned, but names on a similar levels of those guys.
(17:03):
If you can get three of those of these additions,
three additions at that level to this team, I would
consider that a very successful offseason.
Speaker 3 (17:14):
Yeah, so let's just go through them real quick.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
So of course, signing Hassan, Like, if you start the
off season by signing Hassan Kim, then everything else, like
you've created a floor for the offseason where it's not
probably gonna drop below like a be right, Like, if
I know for a fact that Hassan Kim is gonna
be the shortstop next year, a lot of my anxiety
(17:37):
about the off season is already gone because, like that's
just a massive upgrade at literally your biggest you know,
your number one week spot on offense, which is shortstop.
So if you do that, if you start there, you're
really gonna have a hard time convincing me they're gonna
have a bad offseason. Now, they might not have a
great offseason, but adding Hassan Kim alone get me to
(18:00):
like a B in terms of a grade. So then
you moved to Pablo Lopez. And I've always loved Pablo Lopez.
I wanted the Braves to go after him when he
was in Miami, and you know, the Twins made that
really aggressive trade for him. I think that was the
Luis Riis trade if I remember correctly. And Arise has
already been traded back to the or to the Padres
(18:20):
since then.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
But Arise in two prospects for Pablo Lopez.
Speaker 3 (18:24):
Yeah, yeah, that's right.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
So and yeah so, and Pablo has always been underrated
just because he played in Miami for so long. Now
I will say the one you would have to trade
for Pablo. He's still under contract. He's he's he signed
to a very reasonable contract. I think he signed through
twenty twenty seven, so you have multiple years of control.
The thing is he didn't miss a good chunk of
last year with elbow concerns. He had an MRI I
(18:51):
know in late September that showed there was no structural
damage to the ligament, which is good of course. So
and obviously any trade would include medical he would have
to pass a physical and all that stuff. So there's
a little hesitation there. But prior to that, prior to
that injury scare, Pablo had been really consistent in terms
of like stacking thirty plus start seasons. I think he
(19:14):
had like three or four straight thirty two start seasons
before this, before twenty twenty five. So, and he's very good,
and he's under team control, and he doesn't he's not
gonna break the bank in terms of I think he
makes like sixteen million years, seventeen million years, something like that.
I have to go back and look at the contract,
but I remember when he signed it, so I think
it's something like that. So of course, if you know,
(19:36):
if the Braves announced a trade for Pablo Lopez tomorrow,
the first thing I would do is come in here
and I'll talk about the elbow. I talk about the
concerns with the elbow. But I would mention he's a
very good pitcher, he's under a very very reasonable contract,
he's got multiple years of control, all good things. And
then you had Devin Williams. Devin Williams certainly probably did
not have the season that he wanted in New York.
Obviously got traded right before the season started to New York.
(20:00):
That you know, Milwaukee and New York kind of made
that weird.
Speaker 3 (20:03):
Uh not weird.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
It was just kind of contender to contender trade, which
you don't see a ton and playing in New York
is a different animal. I'm not gonna put a ton
on twenty twenty five A. It's one year of a reliever.
Speaker 3 (20:15):
B I don't. I didn't think he pitched that poorly.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
I just didn't go as well as they wanted to.
And you know, the expectation was he was going to
be their lights out closer and he wasn't. And you
know he lost that job at some point in the
middle of the year. So, but it would depend on
the contract. You know, as Devin signing a one year
show me deal to try to get back on the
market after a good season, is he is he signing
kind of a multi year deal to lower a v
(20:40):
You know, any any any type of reliever edition is
going to be contract based in terms of how I
value it. But the Braves need more help in the bullpen,
and I think Devil Walliams is still a really good reliever. Again,
I don't put a lot of stock in one season
in New York.
Speaker 3 (20:54):
So I would be fine with that offseason.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
I don't know if I graded an A, but if
you told me right now, that's the off season. You know,
it come down to what did they give up in
the trade for Pablo, how much money did they pay
Devin Williams, and what was the final contract number on
Hassan Kim if it ends up being a free agent signing,
right the devil's in the details for actually grading those deals.
But in terms of player ads, I wouldn't hate that,
(21:20):
and I.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
Think that it's a very along the lines of what
AA has done in the past type off season, you know,
when we talk about it. By the way, again, we're
doing a mailbag edition here of the Hammer Territory podcast
presented by Fox One, and we're discussing we're discussing, you know,
specific names, what level of names, and how many of
(21:42):
them could be added to the Braves this offseason. A
question from a listener, remember of Braves Country on what
about potentially an off season of trading for Pabul Lopez,
signing Hassan Kim, and signing a Devin Williams. But I
think that it's the nature of those moves that also
makes sense right, because Hassan Kim would be probably in
the four to five seventy to eighty million dollar deal.
(22:04):
You know, I looked it up before this show. Stephen
correct me if I'm wrong, that would be right near
the largest free agent free agent contract AA has ever
given out in terms of a pure free agent to
this day. I believe that Russell Martin five years, eighty
two million back in twenty fourteen with the Toronto Blue
Jays was the largest contract he's ever handed out to
(22:25):
a pure free agent, not extension, not you know, not
someone that he traded for then extended. I could be wrong,
but I believe that that may be the largest free
agent contract he's ever signed. The point that I'm go ahead.
Speaker 2 (22:40):
They ended up picking the option up on Ozuna, so
at the end that contract ended up being five years
and eighty something million, right.
Speaker 1 (22:50):
But initially it was a one year, eighteen million dollar
deal that was pro rated in the twenty twenty year
and then he was extended for four sixty five before
the twenty one season.
Speaker 2 (22:59):
He wasn't extended though Son is a free agent. It
was a one year deal and then they signed him
late as a free agent, so it.
Speaker 3 (23:05):
Was a free agent contract.
Speaker 2 (23:06):
So I think the final I think you're still right though,
because I think the Russell Martin deal actually was bigger. Yeah,
So I think if you add in the option, they
ended up picking up Azuna's final deal into being like
five for eighty.
Speaker 3 (23:18):
Or something eighty.
Speaker 1 (23:19):
But to the point though it's that five year, eighty
million dollar deal, it really has been the range of
where Alex has been comfortable. He's extended people for more.
But the overall point, and you're right, it's two examples
are better than one. The overall point is is that
the Braves are not going to go out there, as
you mentioned last episode and be at the top of
the food chavem when it comes to free agents. He
wants to get value. There would be value in that
(23:42):
hasan Kim edition with how big of aholl the Braves
have had it shortstop. There would be value going to
get a player like Pablo Lopezu's value may be a
bit low because of the injury scare, but has multiple
years of control that could come in and really perform well.
And there could be value with getting an underrated signing
like a Devin Williams who's done well in the past,
could come into the brain system and do well. Once again,
(24:03):
there's value in those moves, and that's what we know.
Alexandopolis puts a lot of value on for better but
for last way of putting it. So it's not just
the names, it's the fact that the process about getting
those names really seems to be a sensible way for
Alex and Popleys to operate this offseason as he has
in the past.
Speaker 2 (24:23):
So let me ask you a question, Sean, And I'm
assuming you didn't look this.
Speaker 3 (24:27):
Up before, so I'm gonna take your word.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
We all heard the same stuff about Devin Williams all year,
about the kind of year he had in New York.
If I just if I just said, what do you
think Devin williams FIP was in twenty twenty five?
Speaker 3 (24:41):
What do you think it was?
Speaker 1 (24:45):
I would say a three point three to five.
Speaker 3 (24:49):
His FIP in twenty twenty five was a two six eight. Yeah, okay,
and his ex FIP was a two nine to five.
Speaker 2 (24:57):
So you can forget everything I just said about Devin
Williams son a one year show me deal. Devin Williams
gonna get paid, Devin Wallie's gonna get paid a lot
of money people don't care about.
Speaker 3 (25:05):
He had.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
He had his era was almost in the fives. It
was a four to eight. But his strikeout numbers were insane.
He was striking out thirteen per nine innings.
Speaker 3 (25:15):
He had.
Speaker 2 (25:15):
His FIP and x FIP were both looked great. His
velocity still look normal. You could forget Devin Williams on
a value count. Devin Williams gonna get paid a lot
of money, so that might change the That might change
the evaluation here, And it doesn't mean Alex won't sign him.
Like you said that, one of the biggest contracts he
ever handed out was to a closer when he signed
will Smith, and he traded for even bigger contracts when
(25:37):
he traded for Rossly Iglesias. He took on that entire deal,
which is essentially like a free agent signing basically. So
he has shown he will spend money on bullpen. He
will especially spend money on closers. So Devin Williams could
still be the name, but I think it's gonna cost
a premium.
Speaker 1 (25:55):
And Devin Williams also, but I'm not necessarily saying they're
the same repertoire. But it's a similar setup as rice
E Iglesias. We know Ryce eel Iglesias, you know, best
pitch is that change of It's the same with Devin Williams,
not justly overpowering stuff. So maybe he thinks Williams age
as well. So yes, I think that Williams could be there,
but to your point, he could pay. But in general,
the question about the level of names mentioned in that
(26:17):
question and the order of operations, the way about going
to get those names, I think that it is a
very sensible way of looking at the off season. And
if the Braves go about filling in, you know, those
needs that we talked about, an anchor guy in the bullpen,
significant rotation edition and you know another you know, or
the shortstop position obviously with Kim. If you've got that
(26:39):
as the basis for your off season, I think that
it is a very successful off season. But we talk
about sensible approaches to the off season. How AA could
go about operating like he has in the past. But
in the past, Alexandoppolis has been known to come out
of left field plenty of times to make some very
noteworthy moves. Could that be in play this offseason as well?
(27:03):
More on that particular thought in just a moment after
another word from our partners KP.
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Speaker 1 (28:09):
So Stephen, you know we use left field. You know
I feel bad for left field because sometimes it's it's
kind of made fun of as the position on the diamond.
It's the unexpected area of the diamond where where things happen,
you know, when people describe what's going on. Again here
on the Hammer Teryory podcast presented by Fox One, Stephen,
if there was a move out of left field? This
(28:31):
question comes from let's see here not your father's podcast. Yeah,
not your father's pod. Are there any out of left
field moves you could see Alex making this offseason that
where that he would move a guy from the big
league team for a significant edition And he mentions other
than Sean Murphy who's been talked about now that qualifier,
(28:55):
that specific specific detail about of out of left field
move that that changes things a bit. But but what
are your thoughts about that and out of left field
move in and listen, Eve, it's even not moving a
guy off the roster. What would be an out of
left field move that you may be in favor of
this offseason?
Speaker 2 (29:15):
Yeah, so Alex is always good for not always good
for one of these, but can oftentimes be good for
one of these the way you know, obviously trading will
contreras in that offseason, no one, no one saw coming,
and obviously today there's a lot of people that still,
you know, don't enjoy that fact. But the fact is
we didn't see it coming. You know, the name I
(29:35):
always think about because he looks so good and he's
been linked to the Braves before is Jacob de Gram
in Texas because a the Rangers are reportedly trying to
cut payroll be he looked like old Jacob de Gram
last year. He's still got multiple years of team control.
The Rangers would definitely have to eat some of that money.
(29:57):
He's like, I think he makes like thirty five million
dollars year. I don't think the Braves would go there.
But like, if you told me they're gonna do like
a Chris sale where they go get a veteran like
ace level pitcher who had some injury concerns but they
feel good about and you told me it was Jacob
de Grim, it wouldn't stun me.
Speaker 3 (30:19):
Now again, you have to figure out the money. The
money is a.
Speaker 2 (30:21):
Big factor, and I'm I know I'm gonna get people
responding to this. You know, have you seen Jacob de
Graham's contract. It is a lot of money. But I
think it's only two years. I think it's only twenty
twenty six and twenty twenty seven. I think he has
a club option after that. I have to go back
and look, but I think he makes like thirty five
million dollars this year at thirty five million dollars next year,
So you'd have to figure out the money side. But like,
(30:43):
that's the level of move I would put in terms
of like, we did not see the Chris Sale move coming.
No one saw that move coming. I mean, as out
of left field as it gets. It was on no
one's radar because Chris Sale had these injuries. He had
used to have been an ace, but he'd had these
injuries and kind of had left peace people's mind in
that way and in a lot of the same ways
I can say about de gram and again de Graam
(31:06):
has spoken highly about the Braves in the past. I
actually thought the Braves might aggressively go after de Groam
when he became available with the Mets.
Speaker 3 (31:15):
So that would not stun me.
Speaker 2 (31:16):
There's a couple of out you know, outfielders are tough
because it's you know, I would not be stunned if
they went back to the Byron Buxton deal.
Speaker 3 (31:24):
You know, anybody with the Twins.
Speaker 2 (31:26):
The Twins are clearly clearly resetting the whole thing. So
like a Pablo Lopez Joe Ryan, the Twins still have
some decent relievers, Like none of that would surprise me.
You should never be surprised with anybody from the Rays.
They move people all the time. Brendan Lao for the
Rays would make a lot of sense. They've got some
pitching that would be interesting.
Speaker 3 (31:46):
I mean not. You know, trades are tough because you
can really throw out so many names.
Speaker 2 (31:50):
But de Gram is stuck in my head for the
last couple of weeks just because of the parallels to
Chris Sale and how it feels a lot the same.
Now again, they have to work out the money. The
money is no joke. But if they were able to
do that, and the Rangers reportedly want to cut payroll,
that would not that would not stumny.
Speaker 1 (32:09):
So we are on similar tracks when it comes to
the out of left field move that I think the
Braves could make, and mine is more kind of the
format of the type of move that would come out
of left field than it is necessarily just an completely
off the radar move. I think that there is a
lot of sense being made in the Braves making a
trade to fill two needs at one time. I've seen
(32:31):
this discussed a bit on Braves Twitter, and I agree
with it as well.
Speaker 3 (32:34):
You know, for TONI we're talking about we're talking about Ontani.
Speaker 1 (32:37):
No, no, not that, not that level of killing two
birds with one stone. But Frank Ran in the past,
like will Owmen and Reed Johnson a bit bit to
a bit bigger scale though, you know, being able to
go out and get an arm and a bat in
the same move, that could make sense. Now it's identifying
the teams where it would make sense to go do that.
(32:59):
And you know, for instance, I don't think like the
Braves would go to the level of a Pablo Lopez
and Joe Ryan plus a Byron Buckston from the Twins
or Mitch Keller and Brian Reynolds from the Pirates. I
don't necessarily think that they would look to take on
two long term contracts like that in a move. But
what if you go to the Cardinals and you potentially
want to look at, you know, a Sunny Gray and
(33:20):
a Lars Nootbaar, if they would be interested in that,
if you could offer the right type of prospect package
to go get that type of combination. Talk about the
Rays a Brandon Law and a Griffin Jacks. You're able
to get your anchored gopen piece, plus you're able to
get that utility guy. Maybe if you want to take
another chance on a former top prospect who didn't pan out,
(33:40):
if you want to go talk with the Rangers who
want to cut costs, what about Nathan Yavali Valdi and
Evan Carter as a potential combination that could make sense.
The thing that I'm getting at is is that I
think that tandem type trade could make a lot of
sense for the Braves. It could potentially be that value
type move that Alex really values. And here's the other
(34:01):
reason why I think that it could make sense to
do it this offseason because the Braves, I feel, have
a bit more ammunition, have a bit more in that
prospect coupverared to trade this off season. But they also
are going to have a bit more ability to replenish
anything that they trade in that twenty six draft, especially
(34:21):
if Drake Baldwin wins Rookie of the Year. So I
think that that type of move could make a lot
of sense that Toronto Alex type move. You hear that
music playing that type of move, killing two birds with
one stone, filling two needs with one trade. I definitely
think could make sense, and this would be the time
to do it to really improve the team for twenty six.
Speaker 2 (34:42):
Yeah, I mean I could see, you know, especially the
Cardinals one again, Sonny Gray makes a lot of money
next year. You have to work out the money. But
the Cardinals. Cardinals are in such a weird spot. I
don't really know what they're doing. The Brewers and the
Cubs have just so completely passed them. You know, they're
kind of stuck in the middle, which is where you
don't want to be.
Speaker 3 (35:04):
What's the GM's name.
Speaker 2 (35:05):
They just retired there, John Mosela, Mazela, that's right, he
just retired. So they got a whole new front office
coming in not tied to any of those players. So
I would not be surprised if if Saint Louis is
aggressive and trying to move pieces around. They have a
couple of hitters that I would be interested in. Brendan
Donovan has always been one of my favorite players, but
I don't know if they would let him go, But yeah,
(35:27):
that would make sense. Yeah, the Rays, like I always
say Brenda Lalle is gonna get traded every year, like
he's just the type of guy they usually move on
from for a young player.
Speaker 3 (35:37):
They haven't done it yet.
Speaker 2 (35:39):
The Pirates do make some sense with uh, with with Keller,
I don't Yeah, I don't know if the Braids would
take on that deal though. Yeah, I mean there's there's
there's there's stuff out there. Again, trades are so difficult
because a you don't know who's available. Like I can
make some interesting trade with the Giants, I can make
some interesting trades with the Diamondbacks. I can make some
interesting trades with the Padres. You know, there's always been
(36:01):
talk like the Padres are trying to clear money. The
Padres have kind of outspent there. You know, they are
allotment the last few years and at some point I
got have to roll it all back. If they ever
got to that point, I could make some interesting trades
with the Padres. You know, there's there's teams out there,
but you never know who's actually available. We don't get
that on the public side.
Speaker 3 (36:20):
We don't. We just don't get that information. Now. We
hear stuff privately sometimes, but we have very rarely. Is
it to that level, So.
Speaker 2 (36:27):
We'll see I could, I could see a lot of that,
But for some reason, de Gram is stuck in my
head as like the Chris Sale move. And maybe I'm
being biased because the Chris Sale move worked out so well,
because the d Gram move would also obviously have some
serious risk attached to it and it could blow up
in your face pretty hard if he gets hurt again.
But yeah, I mean I with Alex, you always need
(36:49):
to expect that there might be something like that coming
down the pike.
Speaker 1 (36:53):
Yeah, And you know the thing is is that again,
he probably hasn't made as many headlines through trades like
he didn't try. But when you look at this current
Braves team, the big moves that he's added that weren't
part of the Braves organization, Matt Olsen, Sean Murphy, Chris Sale,
all of Ryce so Le Iglesias, all of them trades.
You know, Marcello's are not really signed, but the majority
(37:15):
of them have been through trades. So I would not
be surprised if he went that route again, and if
he made sense to make a tandem deal. I think
this will be the off season to explore it again,
especially with the enhance stability in the twenty sixth draft
to replenish, you know, some of what you may trade
in a potential move this off season. Stephen, do you
(37:36):
have anything else? As we wrap up this mail bag
edition of The Hammer Territory Podcast, thanks so much, listen.
The reason why we do mail bag additions is because
it allows for us to be able to cover topics
that you, the listener's braves country finds interesting and also
it's just fun to talk about. It's fun to speculate.
This is the time to speculate. This is the time
to get a little crasp it comes to predictions and
(37:58):
that is always fun. Stephen, anything else for you? As
we wrap up this edition of the Hammer Territory Podcast.
Speaker 3 (38:04):
No shout out to the listeners for coming through with
some questions.
Speaker 2 (38:07):
I sent that tweet out of like five pm Eastern,
which is like the exact opposite time that you want
to be sending out a tweet anytime you need engagement
to go with it, and there was just a ton
of responses. We We're gonna save a bunch of them
because this is not the last mail bag that we're
going to do this offseason for sure, so we'll get
to more of them as we go through the off season.
(38:28):
We just picked four or five that we felt were
the most interesting tonight. But yeah, shout out to the fans.
Of course, we're just kind of in wait and see mode.
Speaker 3 (38:36):
On the manager. I do think the news is going
to come.
Speaker 2 (38:38):
I think it's going to be just out of nowhere,
a blue box gets tweeted out by the team account
and the Brays have anue manager. I do not see
there being a lot of smoke leading up like there
is for some other clubs. There are a lot of
openings in baseball right now for managers. There's like seven
or eight. I think the Padres made eight or nine.
I can't remember exactly how many. There's a I don't
(39:00):
really remember an obviouseeason with this many teams needing managers.
So that could lead to this emergency where the Braves
want to make a move to get their guy because
there's heavy competition for him. So we'll see, we'll see
what happens. Obviously, as soon as it drops, we'll be
on here talking about it. And then when we get
to the end of the month and kind of beginning
(39:21):
of November, we jump into the season or the off season,
and there's a whole bunch of dates that stack up
and are important, and we'll get to all that when
it's time, but we appreciate the support as always, and yeah,
we'll be here to cover at all.
Speaker 1 (39:33):
And I do I've seen a couple of you know,
think pieces out there that have written about it and
all that different stuff. I feel like there's not much
debate there. The Braves are the most attractive job out
there right now when it comes to filling a manager's position.
I'm sorry, but all I have to do is just
mention the name Ronald Acuna Junior and that immediately takes
(39:55):
care of eighty percent of the argument. And I know
I may be a bit biased, but I don't think
that it's going to come down to that. Like I
think that Alex probably has a candidate or two in
mind that he's probably not gonna have to fight other
teams for. But it doesn't hurt that the Braves are
a pretty attractive job compared to their long term outlook.
And it starts with Alex and Thopolis himself as well.
So again I agree with you. I think the manager
(40:17):
position is going to be filled, and hopefully quickly, because
then that can lead us to you know, purely focusing
on what to add to the roster. But again very
busy offseason. As Scott and Stephen discussed last time as well,
we know that Alexanthopolis loves to do his heavy lifting
in early November, so once we get past the games
being played in ending this season, we really could see
(40:38):
Alex and Thoppolis take center stage. But can't thank you
enough for joining us on this edition of the Hammer
Territory Podcast, again presented by Fox One. You can find
me at a Stat's sac on Twitter slash ck Steven
Tolbert to be underscore outliers. Make sure you follow Hammer
Territory across all forms of social media, part of the
Foul Territory family of podcast Don't Forget. You can also
(41:00):
go to get apparel, Get Hammer Territory Apparel. Where can
they go? Stephen to get a Hammer Territory.
Speaker 2 (41:05):
Apparel hammiturtuur shop dot com. I'm a big as tumbler guy,
so this is where I go for my stuff. But yeah,
Hammer turturishop dot com.
Speaker 1 (41:15):
Shirts, you've got pullovers, you've got tumblers. I don't know
if they've taken up my idea of autograph pictures of
me and Stephen on the podcast. But hey, it's time
there that that that may be a hot seller in time.
Until next time, go brave. We'll talk to you again
soon here on the Hammer Territory podcast