August 14, 2025 • 37 mins
In Episode 250 of the Hammer Territory Podcast, Shawn Coleman and Stephen Tolbert enjoy talking victory for the Atlanta Braves thanks tw Ozzie Albies, Michael Harris II, and Bryce Elder. Plus, Ronald Acuña Jr. is likely returning this weekend and how questions, many questions, remain for some of the Braves most notable arms next year.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
Welcome one and all to the hum A Territory Podcast.
My name is Sean Coleman. Hope, wherever you are and
wherever you are listening, you are having a great start
to what should be hopefully a long weekend for all
of us, because we're actually enjoying Braves baseball right now.
I say a long weekend because we get to look
forward to Braves baseball. I say that with excitement because
(00:44):
they've been playing good baseball as of late. And once again,
this bravese team right now is My podcast partner is
always Stephen told Bert is with me.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Stephen.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
What's standing out about some of these wins right now
is that we over the past fifteen months, have seen
so many of these type of games like we saw tonight,
a four to three come from behind victory late against
the Mets. So many of these games have resulted in losses.
We're even down a run or two, and it seems
like an insurmountable hill to climb, but yet we get
(01:14):
the job done. And tonight what made it extra special
It came on the heels of great performances from Ozzie
Alby's and Michael Harris. The second.
Speaker 3 (01:23):
Yeah, well so buddy. You know, this is what I
was talking about on our last show, was like, it's
still fun for me to win game, like it's still
fun to watch wins, like I don't. I don't. I'm
not watching tonight's game thinking, man, I really hope they
lose this game so we get a slightly better odds
at a slightly better draft pick, Like I just I
can't do that. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not gonna
(01:45):
watch games like that like I want. I was watching
this game thinking, my god, do I want the Mets
to lose two games in a row to Carlos Carrasco
and Bryce Elder, Like that's what I want. I want.
I want to watch Mets talk show Radio Go New.
I want to watch Frank you know, have an aneurysm.
I want to I want to watch the Meltdown because
(02:05):
it's just funny. You know, the Braves are having a
crap season, so you know, misery loves company. Let's see
if we can make the Mets season miserable. And so
tonight was fun and it was fun being on Twitter,
like everybody, what has been a really disappointing and negative
season A lot of the year, like everybody was just
enjoying themselves and when you know, the Braves went up
(02:28):
late in the game, four to three. The Braids won
four to three. We're gonna talk about it all, Bryce Elder,
Michael Harris, Ozzy Albi's might be a bigger topic tonight,
but you know, everybody was just excited. And that's what
I miss. I miss. That's the thing you miss when
you're not when you're not very good, is like the
excitement that comes when you do well and you're right,
you're one hundred percent right. These are games the Braves
(02:49):
have lost the last eighteen months, these one run games.
You know, they don't come back against other teams bullpens
the way they used to. So yeah, I mean, and
of course it's Michael Harres. It comes through with a
big hit, like just a fun night, just a really
fun night.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Yeah. And again, it's what adds to the fun is
winning games that you're not used to seeing this win.
But also again the names that we've mentioned, Michael Harris,
Ozzy Alby's, Brice Elder, there's been much more negative about
their performance this year than positive. Let's just be honest,
but it was good to see them contribute to a win.
And I want to start with Ozzy because it always
(03:28):
feels good to see Ozzie have these type of games
because you know, as much as we talk and you know,
just to be honest criticize, you know, Ozzie when it
comes to his performance as of late, and even though
the past couple of years, he's such a lovable personality.
He's such a great part of this organization who that's
been here for years now, you want to see him
succeed and seeing him be able to get the job
(03:50):
done on the road against a rival who you know
is struggling right now, but going after a playoff spot,
it was great to see Ozzie step up. The big
thing for Ozzy though, is at some point you have
to hope that a game like this can help him
put to put together a stretch of really good production.
He did pick up his game in July a bit,
(04:10):
but he fell back off, you know, pretty drastically in
August before this game. You really hope that this game
can turn that knob again for Ozzie to own and
we could see just how impactful of a player he
can be.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
Yeah, listen, Ozzy. For a lot of people, there are
a lot of people in the Brays fan base where
Ozzie is their favorite player. He's a very lovable dude.
Like he's got this whole Instagram following with his fish
and like he's just always smiling, and him and Ronald
have this like almost like brotherhood friendship. And you know,
(04:45):
we've all watched Ozzie grow up. I mean, Ozzie came
up in twenty seventeen. It's been you know, it's been
eight nine years and it's hard to believe it's been
that long. But or Ozzie might have even come up
in twenty sixteen, I can't remember. No, I think it
was Danceby that came up to those. I think Ozzie
came up twenty seventeen, seventeen. Yeah, but still, it's been
(05:08):
a long time and he's been a part of this
entire run and they're just brace fans that love him
to death. And listen, it's been a bad year for Ozzie.
That's he's got a you know, even accounting for tonight,
he's got a seventy eight WRC plus for the season,
which is obviously very bad. His defense is not what
it used to be. His sprint speed, you know, his
(05:28):
bad at ball. Data's you know, exit velocity, you know
swing rate, all that stuff is just not as good
as it used to be. And there's been a lot
of conversation about what are the Braves gonna do at
second base come the winter, because the guaranteed portion of
Ozzie's contract is over after this year. He's got club options,
but those options can be declined if the Braves still choose.
(05:52):
So it's just good you you don't really, I mean,
we don't know for sure how many more games we're
gonna watch Ozzie Alby's playing Braves uniform. Now. The general
consensus has been he's gonna get that option picked up,
mainly because there's a big buyout attached to it and
you're really not saving that much money. But like, it
wouldn't be crazy, It wouldn't be like some crazy development
(06:13):
if the Braves moved on from Ozzie this offseason. And
so like for Braves fans who have grown up with
this guy for the last eight or nine years, who
loved this guy who is literally their favorite player, like Knights,
like tonight Man, they're just fun, Like it's just a
nice remind you that this dude's still got a little
bit of talent, maybe not what it used to be,
(06:33):
but and we'll see, We'll see what happens in the offseason.
We're not gonna make tonight too negative because they won
a really fun game. But with Ozzie, we're just gonna
have to see. We're gonna have to see if they find,
you know, the buyout to be too much, if they
find something else they like at second base, if they
feel like they really need to interject some offense and
there's not a lot of positions on the diamond where
(06:54):
they can do it, maybe second base is that spot.
You can make an argument, certainly, But for one night
at least, it was nice to see Ozzy contribute to
a win that was fun.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
And that's the thing that I think, you know, it
also needs to be a part of the conversation, is that,
you know, I've kind of been on the side where
I think they're going to pick the option up, but
I think it makes sense for them to because just
like the Michael Harris situation, at the end of the day,
I know that many feel that, you know, another option
at center field or at second base may be what's
best for the Braves, and I get that with how
(07:27):
much Ozzie and Michael Harris have struggled, But I disagree
on the fact that I feel like the best overall
outcome for this team to get back to me and
a true contender is Ozzy and Michael getting closer to
their old selves once again. Now, put whatever you know
percentage chance you want to on that happening, But I
do think that that is the best route for the
(07:48):
Braves to get the production that they need from those
positions while then also using their resources to fill other positions.
So at nightlight, tonight reminds you that Ozzie still has
it at times. Michael is reminding us that he still
has it at times and can put put it together
over a long stretch. We just need to see it
happen over a full season. That's much easier said than done.
To your point, though, it is great to talk about
(08:10):
it for one night, but really, for Ozzie, the big
thing would be if this could be the start of
a really good stretch that can kind of put to
bed any conversation about the brains going in another direction
this offseason.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
Yeah, that's fair, Like Ozsie can still change the narrative,
you know, there's you know, there's gonna be people that say, well,
it's kind of a it's kind of garbage time of
the season. You know, the the competitive part of the
season is over, So anything that happens from here on
out shouldn't matter a ton. But if Ozzie goes on
a heater the last six seven weeks, you know that
(08:44):
that that's a data point that's going to be considered.
I don't know, I really, I mean, I really have
no idea. If you if you said, like Steven, you
have to place, you know, your entire net worth on
Are they going to pick up the option or are
they not going to pick up the option? I would
definitely towards they're going to pick up the option, just
because it's a seven million dollar option with a four
million dollar buyout, Like the savings just aren't that much.
(09:07):
But again, I can certainly see an argument where the
Braves need offensive infusion from somewhere. Every other position on
the diamond is either locked up to a long term
deal or hard to find, you know, like a shortstop,
so second base might be the place to go. You know,
I can understand that argument. So we'll see, we'll see
with Ozzie, but for one night, all of the big
(09:29):
Ossie fans got something that year for a really good
game and the Braves won. And so you know, we
haven't had both of those at the same time, you know,
very often this season.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
And I also want to mention another factor in the win,
a big factor in the win, and that was the
performance of Bryce Elder, who you know, again it's rare
to see this level of performance from him, but it
should not take away from the fact that it was
in a big moment, you know. We yeah, I know,
may people want to talk about us being the garbage
time of the season. Well, the Mets are, like the
Mets are trying to play competitive ball right now, and
(10:00):
we looked like the better team and Bryce Elder looked
quite well out there on the mound. But you mentioned
when Ozzie and Dansby came up just a second ago, Steven,
And of course we all know that twenty and eighteen
really was kind of the start of this current era
of the Braves where they made the playoffs all those
years in the world won of the World Series and
things like that. I looked it up since two thy
(10:22):
and eighteen the overall leaders in innings pitch for the
Braves since twenty and eighteen till now. Charlie Morton, excuse me,
Max Breed, Charlie Morton, Spencer Strider, Bryce Elder. Bryce Elder
has thrown the fourth highest amount of innings for the
(10:44):
Braves of any pitcher since the start of twenty and eighteen,
and he didn't make his first appearance to the start
of twenty twenty two. I know he struggles. I know
a lot of the times he sucks. It's this simple truth.
But one thing that I will give Bryce Elder credit for.
He goes out there and he takes the mound, and
even when he's struggling, he continues to throw innings for
(11:07):
this Braves team that right now are badly needed. Now,
that's probably more negative than positive in terms of looking
at that as a way to compliment a player, But
on nights like tonight, I'm happy that they happen for
Rice Elder because he definitely has shown a commitment level
to the Braves. He stays healthy, he takes the ball
every fifth day. Yes, more often than not. He pitches
(11:28):
very bad, But when he does pitch good, I think
it's well deserved, and I think that why you may
not want to put a ton of value on him
taking the ball every fifth day. It may be working
out more for the Braves right now than many may
realize because of the fact that they can at least
write him in for five to six innings.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
Yeah, I mean, I would imagine that stat about innings
pitch has a lot to do with the injuries that
the Braves have encountered the last few years. And Ellen
to your point, Elder doesn't get hurt like he does
pitch a lot. I mean, he's pretty durable. There's plenty
of brace fans that would tell you that's a terrifying
stat that Bryce Ellers pitched the fourth most innings since
(12:11):
twenty eighteen. The problem with Bryce and Bryce was really
good tonight. The problem with Bryce is he has these
games where he's he's like really good, and you're like
there was a point where Bryce could be like a
solid fourth or fifth starter for you, Like he was
never as good as that his first half of twenty
twenty three where he was an All Star, but like
(12:34):
there's a world where Bryce is like a solid fifth,
sixth starter where he's not gonna kill you. And then
over the last like year, plus he's kind of moved
past being a solid fifth or sixth starter for you,
and he's been like the worst pitcher in baseball. And
that's like that it doesn't sound like much to be
(12:58):
a solid fifth starter, but like if Bryce could be that,
that's very valuable. The problem is that's not He hasn't
even been that. He's been like six and a half
ERA six and a half FIP the last thirty starts,
and so like I don't want, I don't need Bryce
to find his twenty twenty three form, but like just
(13:21):
go back to being like a solid fifth starter where
you're like a five VR guy. Like if you're a
five R guy and you're given innings, that's got value.
I mean it does. That has value over one hundred
and sixty two game season. If you get up into
like the six and a half ERA seven ERA, then
you're not really even playable. And that's that's kind of
(13:44):
where Bryce has come from and where he's gotten into.
And that's like if you're looking for if you want
improvement from Bryce, he's never going to be a great starter,
But like there is a world where he's a solid
fifth starter if he can get back to that if
he can avoid the eight earned runs and two inning
games that he has a ton of, and then every
(14:04):
once in a while hits you with a gym like
you did in San Francisco that one game, or even tonight,
which was really good. He's just got to get he's
got to get back to being like that five era
a guy that has value. It does that has a
ton of value over a season. When you're like a
six and a half ur guy, you just you're not
really even playable, quite honestly, and so you know, it's
(14:27):
it's it's a it's not a clear cut thing. But
like Bryce can be a valuable member of the rotation.
He's never gonna be a good member of the rotation,
but he can be a valuable member of rotation. He's
just got to get back to being more of a
fifth starter than more of like a ninth or tenth starter.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
Yeah, I mean, you know, or you know, just a
general back back get away from being one of the
worst starters in baseball. And the big thing with him
is is you know, getting that control under you know,
under control, because less he walks, the more effective his
stuff will be. But hey, at the end of the day, again,
it's great to see these wins. And I had had
discussions recently on Twitter Stephen, you know, just in general
(15:05):
talking about, you know, what the rest of the season
looks like, what's the outcome going to be there. This
is one of the examples that I'm getting at. It's
good to see people like Ozzie and Michael Harris the
second playwill playwill like, We're going to need them to
do next year and get a win for their efforts.
That's what really stands out to me. But a few
other things that stood out today were some pretty interesting
(15:27):
notes before the game, once again from Brian Snicker, some
updates when it comes to many arms, many notable arms
that are currently out of the Braze rotation. That and
more after a word from our.
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Speaker 1 (16:40):
So Stephen, Probably the most exciting news of the day
is the imminent and I mean that literally imminent return
of Ronald Raccooney Junior. It was reported that today that
he worked out with the team in New York, then
went ahead and flew to Cleveland where the Brains will
be played over the weekend against the Guardians, and he
could be back as soon as tomorrow. You know, we
saw that earlier this year when he would be coming back,
(17:01):
and with how well he was playing at Gwinnett coming
back from his major knee surgery, he came back sooner
than expected. On a Friday, and looks like we could
see that once again, and by oh bye, how fun
it would be to see him in this lineup with
how well some of the other players are hitting right now.
Speaker 3 (17:18):
Yeah, it looks like that's the plan. He was on
the field today in New York and all the beat
writers said he looked really good. You know, I think
he's looked really good for like a week now. I
think the Breads are just being abundantly cautious, which is
exactly what they should do. And then it was reported
that they went ahead and sent him to Cleveland before
the game even started. I think that was because it's
a getaway day and they were playing a night game,
(17:40):
and there's a very good chance the team is going
to get into the hotel at like two or three
in the morning, and there's no reason to have your
the dude that's coming off the injured list to do that.
A lot of times you'll see teams do this with
you next day starting pitcher as well. They'll go ahead
and send him to the next city so you get
a good night's sleep. And so the only reason you
would really do that with Ronald is if he's gonna
be activated tomorrow. That's kind of the the dots people
(18:03):
are connecting makes all the sense. So yeah, I think
he's coming back tomorrow. You and I talked about this
either our last show or the show before that. I'm
very curious see what they do with the lineup with
Profar you know, really coming on the last month, the
walk rate really being high, you know, kind of being
a pretty solid lead off hitter, Like, what do you
(18:24):
do with Ronald? And you and I had this whole
conversation about bat him second, beat him third, bet him fourth. Yeah,
I know you're a bad second guy. I'm a bad
second guy too. You know, he's too good to bat
him forth. So I'm curious to see what they do.
And my guess is he's gonna go back to third.
That's where he was when he got hurt. Snitcher is
a very much as said it and forget it manager,
(18:45):
So you know, I'm guessing a nurse is gonna win
the day and he's just gonna go back to where
he was when he got hurt. But that's gonna be
That's gonna be a fascinating thing to watch over the
last six weeks of the season, is how this lineup
works with akuny in the middle of it, because let's
be honest, I mean, we've seen him at the top
of the lineup for so long, and it's been a
pretty good lineup the last month. How does it look
(19:06):
with Acunya in the middle of it, and how does
he look? And obviously there's gonna be a lot of
attention paid to the calf and any sort of lingering issues,
But baseball is always more exciting when Ronald Kunya Junior
is playing, and so tomorrow's game is going to be
that much more fun.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
And I give credit to the Braves on both fronts.
Right they're being cautious as they should be, even if
he clearly seems to be one percent, But they're also
completely completely against shutting him down because they know that
that's not what he wants. They know that's not what's
best for the team. You know, if the level of
player that Ronald of Couya Junior is, if he's wanting
to go out there and play with where the Braves
(19:44):
are in the standings, then you go out there and
let him play. You go out there and let that
positive impact, those vibes that come from Ronald of Kunya
Junior being a superstar flow down through the rest of
the team. Same thing works with Chris Sale. As competitive
of a person as Chris Sale is, you want him
to take them down. If he is healthy. Thankfully, he's
going to get a second straight rehab start. Looked very
clean in his first. I believe it's gonna be Saturday
(20:06):
for Gwinnette. But Steven with Ron Raccoon, you Junior coming
back this weekend, we could easily see a week from
now talking about the Chris Sill return being eminent as well.
Speaker 3 (20:15):
Yeah, we said on the last show, these guys are
on the doorstep and Acunya's already kind of walking in
the door. Say they go ahead, and they went in
scheduled another rehab start. We assumed that was gonna be
the case when he only threw forty pitches. You're gonna
slowly build him back up, but you know that kind
of puts him in line. You do one this week,
you do another next week, kind of around the beginning
of September, maybe even right before of him being back
(20:38):
in the rotation. And again we've we've we've gone over
those multiple times. If he's healthy and the bonus healed
the broken rib is healed and he's got you know,
limited pain or tolerable pain. Let him pitch. There's no
reason not to let him pitch. That's gonna help his
off season. So let him pitch, and we'll obviously try
(21:00):
how he does it is in his rehab starting Gwinnett
and hopefully it's the green lights from there and we
get at least you know, a few maybe two or
three Chris Sales starts here before the season's over.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
Absolutely, and well it's great to talk about, you know,
when it comes to the you know, true notable names
of Ronald of Huge Junior and Chris Sille is definitely
a positive seeing them on their way back to joining
the Braves this season. It was also a bitter at
sweet day when it comes to some updates on some
other notable arms who could be done for the twenty
twenty five season. More on that in just a moment
(21:33):
after another word from our party.
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Speaker 1 (22:36):
So Stephen, of course, you know we continue to get
positive updates, continue the incremental steps of Ronald Accuna Junior
and Chris Sill joining the Braves. But unfortunately, it was
also revealed today that it looks like when it comes
to Ronald Lopez as well as Spencer Schwellenbach. And of
course we kind of alreadyknew with Joejmenez. You know, Jamendez
had a bit of a setback here recently when it
comes to his rehab. Overall, Renald Lopez and Spincher swelling Bok,
(23:00):
they've just kind of been taking it slow. But the
point that I get that for each of those three
pitchers it looks as if their twenty twenty five season
is over.
Speaker 3 (23:10):
Yeah, it was tough news. It wasn't necessarily unexpected news,
but and you kind of have to take these one
at a time. So with Schwellenbach obviously the most important
guy on this list, it's such a weird injury to
break a bone in your elbow. It's such a weird injury.
I don't even know, Like I don't even know the
physics of like what all that effects. Like when you know,
(23:33):
when you're talking about like the rehab process, like is
it like rehabbing a ligament in your in your elbow
or is it like rehabbing a bone that's been broken?
I don't know. I've really never heard of this injury before,
so I have no idea what And.
Speaker 1 (23:50):
I don't mean to interupt when he said when he
said when it came to this injury that he felt
like it was caused by the increase of velocity that
he's recently seen that can surgery of it as well,
because I know that it led to a bone injury
that will heal pretty quickly. But when he gets back
on the mound, is is we're all going to be
able to handle that over the long term. That that
was a bit concerning the.
Speaker 3 (24:10):
Year, right, It's just such an un It's such an unnu.
It's just such a weird injury. We don't really have
any baseline for like a return or like a rehab,
and you know, it does it's a level of uncertainty
going into the off season, right because we don't really
know and I'm not sure the team really knows. And
that just kind of continues a theme because then you
go to the next guy, which is Ronaldo Lopez and listen.
(24:32):
Ronaldo Lopez had arthroscopic shoulder surgery on April eighth, and
it was reported at the time that he was gonna
go down for twelve weeks and then started throwing program,
and twelve weeks was up. I counted, I think it's
the first week of July. It was twelve weeks, and so,
you know, there was the messaging early on was that
(24:53):
it's a good chance Ronaldo's gonna pitch again this season,
and so the fact that he's not, I don't know
how much of it because of where the team is
in the standings or how much of it is just
like his rehab is not maybe going as well as
they hoped. They haven't really given us a lot of
details on Ronaldo. So again, like it's a shoulder, which
(25:14):
is terrifying of course, and it's just more level of
uncertainty in the rotation, Like it's it's not great that
he was supposed to be back, you know, potentially in
August and now he's not going to be back at all.
Now again that could be because of where the Braves
are in the standings, But again, like with Chris Sale,
if they thought he could get back and pitch a
little bit to set up a normal offseason, I think
(25:36):
they would have done it even where they are in
the standings, because that's what they're doing with Sale. Like
if he could, if he could do it, if he
could physically do it, I think the team would want
him to do it, because this is literally what's happening
with Chris Sales. So I I think it's because his
rehab is not going exactly how they hoped. And so
now you got another layer of uncertainty and concern in
(25:58):
a major part of your rotation are supposed to be
a part of your rotation next year. So those two
combined along with like the uncertainty around Grant Holmes, is
he going to be out? Is he going to be
in next year? A J Smith Shaver. You know, like
when Chris Sale and Spencer Strider are the two like
least questionable parts of your rotation in terms of like injury,
(26:21):
that's not a great place to be. And that's kind
of where the Braves are, like they going into next year,
Like the questions around the rotation are just going to
be so massive. And you know we've already talked about
Spencer and and all the stuff he's going through with
his velocity. There's an uncertainty there. Of course, Sale is
at the age he is and the injuries he collects,
(26:43):
there's uncertainty there. Like one through six and the Braves rotation.
There are massive questions for next year, so that's gonna
be a fascinating thing to watch in the off season.
And then joejaman As you know, that just kind of stucked.
I mean, it was a weird knee injury they did
serve in the offseason, and then it ended up being
way worse than they thought. And then it came out
(27:05):
the other day that like his knee wasn't responding well,
it wasn't able to hold the weight. Joe is a
very big guy. Joe's a huge guy actually, and so
just you know, just mark one more for massive uncertainty
going into twenty twenty six. And all of these guys,
especially Jimenez and Ronaldo, you know, are signed for decent
(27:27):
amount of money next year. Schwallenbach is still a league
minimum deal, but Ronaldo and Jimenez make real money next year.
So a lot of uncertainty with some pretty prominent names
in the Braves pitching staff that we're probably not going
to have answers to until we get to twenty twenty six,
and even then it might still be up in the air.
Speaker 1 (27:48):
Yeah, and that's kind of what is going to make
this off season a bit more interesting, even to the
point of a bit concerning. And what I mean by
that is is that it's just it seems like this
off's upcoming off season is kind of going to combine
two of the you know, biggest concerns that you've had
the previous two off seasons. Two off seasons ago, it
(28:09):
was the Braves clearly adding you know, a starting rotation
level talent back to you know, the organization with so
many potential starting pitchers leaving the organization as we've seen
do over the past couple of years. This past off
season it was the bullpen where we had questions and
of course that wasn't answered. Well, now you potentially have
to feel, you know, multiple spots on both ends because
(28:30):
you've got so many of your starting rotation. You got
so many questions around that, just like we had this
past off season, but now you've had even more injuries
and of course the ineffectiveness of the bullpen. A couple
of things that you know that makes me wonder about
is we're in that early to mid era or area
of the season in August where you typically see teams
(28:50):
do extensions. I wonder if the Brace potentially could go
to Ryce Ella Iglesias and see if he would be
willing to stay around for another year. You know, him
being at the back end of the road of the
you don't necessarily guarantee of the closer spot, but that
is something you at least know that he's going to
be healthy, he'll take the mound, and he still has
the capability of getting the job done. That could be
a route that you can go. But the overall point
(29:12):
that I'm getting at is is not only do you
have so many of your most important pitchers entering an
offseason where they're not in one hundred percent health, but
you also don't know what their outcome beyond this year
is going to be. We're not going to be in
the bullpen. Who's going to be your ace next year?
Along with sale, who's going to potentially be your closer?
All those questions remain, and so this team at some
(29:33):
point has to find answers, and it's just frustrating that
obviously a bit concerning that not only do some of
the older questions continue to get louder, but new questions
form and we don't see a lot of answers when
it comes to the consistency and reliability of RAF staff.
Speaker 3 (29:54):
Yeah, I mean, I mean just think about it. Just
go like position by position on the pitching staff, Like
literally one through five in the rotation have had some
sort of major injury this year. You know, Strider is
dealing with a drop in velocity and we don't know
what that's gonna end up being for him. Holmes has
got this pending Tommy John surgery, Ronaldo's got the shoulder,
(30:17):
schwellenbas got the elbow. Right, that's the whole rotation, and
then you go to the bullpen. Rossioglaciers is a pending
free agent. He just came off a pretty rough season.
Joejamenez was supposed to be the primary setup guy. He's
been out the whole year and is it coming back
and has got this questionable knee. Like every spot and
like critical spot for the twenty twenty six pitching staff
(30:39):
is like got a massive question And I don't I mean,
I don't even think the.
Speaker 1 (30:47):
Same thing we said twelve months ago to.
Speaker 3 (30:50):
At least last offseason. We had like Sail coming off
as Cy Young, we had schwellenbag Like, we didn't have
those questions with those guys, even Ronaldo had such a
good year last year, like we didn't have that. Now
it's every Now, it's everybody now, it's every every critical
name in the on the pitching staff, maybe not named
(31:11):
Dylan Lee, like that might be the one guy who's
like solid, really good picture that is should be fine
for next year. Outside of that, like everyone else, it
has got this massive question attached to their name, and
a lot of them are paid real money. I have
no idea. I have no clue how Alex is gonna
handle this in this offseason. I don't know. I mean,
(31:32):
I I just don't think you can just go into
and thinking, yeah, everybody's gonna be fine. We don't really
need to do much. Like the odds of all of
these guys being fine next year it is. It seems
tiny like you're gonna have some You're gonna have some
of this go poorly. Maybe not all of it, maybe
not most of it, but some of it's gonna go
poorly for next year. That's just how pitching is. So
(31:55):
how the Braves approached the rotation and the bullpen in
the offseason. Man, you want to talk about a fascinating
toy line, and then you add on top of that
the offense was a big weakness for the team for
a large part of this season. I mean, hell, it's
gonna be It's going to be a fact. I mean
we've talked about a lot, but it's gonna be a
fascinating offseason.
Speaker 1 (32:16):
And the thing that I'll say is this, though, is
that we know that Alex is not shied away from
giving away big contracts if he felt it made sense.
I know many are thinking to themselves, will be once
to g go about a big contract? Why didn't he
just keep Max free? Well, I don't think he's gonna
go that big. But you know, being tied to names
like Aaron Noah, Nathan Yvaldi, Jeff Hoffman, you know Tanner
(32:36):
Scott as well, Alexon Toopoless will make the big move
if it's makes sense, if it makes sense, if it's
someone that he truly feels can help this team. So
I think as much as the Braids are sitting here
talking about they're rolling in the money, I think at
some point, for the right person, they will open up
the you know, purse strings a little bit, open up
the pocketbook. But that's the thing about it. You're probably
going to have to see that happen. Because as awesome
(32:57):
as it is to see a hirston Waldrop and their
internal options potentially improved to the point to where they
can be in the majors, you've got to solidify this
at some point with what has already been a reliable
armor two outside of the Brads organization. I think that
that could be something we see this offseason is a
bigger than expected to move for another arm to be
(33:18):
added to the Brave staff.
Speaker 3 (33:21):
Yeah, I mean I think they have to go get
somebody that's like a durable starter. I mean the Braves
have just kind of quietly built an extremely risky rotation.
I mean they just have like the durability of Chris Sayle,
the durability of Spencer Strider, the durability of Ronaldo Lopez.
Now you've got Grant Holmes with this elbow, you know,
(33:42):
pending Tommy John. I do think, like I Ivaldi last
offseason would have made so much sense. I think they
have to go get somebody like that. And I listen,
we do need to point out We've said this before
on the show. Next year at Triple A, they will
have some really high level pitching prospects that are a
(34:04):
quality that they have not had in several years. You know,
Fuentes Waldroup, there's a bunch of them, Jr. Richie I
think is in Triple A now. And then you have like,
you know what is Joey Wentz. We don't know is
Joey Wentz real? This is any of this real? Or
you know what is he? So they do have some
young guys, but yeah, I mean it's gonna be fat.
(34:27):
I mean you almost feel like they have to go
get somebody who's reliable and dependable and approven major league
starter who has shown they can get through a full
major league season healthy, which no, none of the Braves
can apparently do the last few years. I don't know,
it's gonna be a fast It's going to be a
fascinating offseason.
Speaker 1 (34:46):
And I think it goes back to the point of,
you know, yes, injuries are not clearly the biggest factor
in what has derailed the Braves twenty twenty five offseason.
It's obviously ben underperformance, mainly from the offense. But I
do think that it's worth, you know, mentioning that, you know,
if you feel that the Brave struggles over the past
fifteen to eighteen months has mainly been the offense. Yes,
that that probably is true, but questions around this starting staff,
(35:09):
especially when it comes to injuries and freak went off
injuries that you just can't control, that's played a factor
as well. You just hope at some point in time,
maybe for a season or two, we could have more answers.
Thank question, Steven, Do you have anything else that as
we wrap up this edition of the Hammer Territory podcast.
Speaker 3 (35:26):
No, the Braves just took two out of three from
the New York Mets, with the two wins coming with
Carlos Carrasco and Bryce Older on the mound. So while
the Mets are in a free fall and listen, there
hasn't been a lot to cheer about this year for
the Braves. For Braves fans, I would suggest for Brase
fans for tonight, for tomorrow, just hop on, hop on
(35:49):
Mets Twitter, hop on, you know, turn on the radio,
listen to a Mets calling show. If you just want
to experience some joy and what has been a largely
joyless season, really enjoy the next twenty four hours of
watching Mets fans. Just I mean, you're talking about one
foot off the ledge level, you know, meltdowns. It was,
(36:14):
it was. The last two days were a lot of fun,
and you know, I would love more games, more series
like this, But man, the last two days were a
lot of fun, and your muted.
Speaker 1 (36:28):
The thing I'll say is this is that one thing
that I would continue to love to play because it
means that we're playing well, and guys who need to
play well or play well, let's continue to play that. Spoiler.
Cleveland has gotten a bit of a you know, going,
you know, potentially knocking on the door against Detroit, though
I think Detroit eventually will be just fine. But hey,
if we want to continue to play spoiler, let's keep
(36:49):
doing it. But agreed, Hey, we've been played really good
ball for the past week. Let's enjoy the most of it.
And hope you enjoyed this edition of the Heer Territory podcast.
You could find myself at Stat's Sac on two, Stephen
at be Underscore, Outliers on Twitter, Slash x Hammer Territory
across all forms of social media, part of the Foul
Territory family of podcasts from Brad Scott, Stephen and myself.
(37:12):
Cannot thank you enough for always tuning in and being
support of us. Win or lose, but hey, it's nice again.
When we see who wins the losses, go braves. We'll
talk to you again sup here on the Hammer Territory
pop
Welcome one and all to the hum A Territory Podcast.
My name is Sean Coleman. Hope, wherever you are and
wherever you are listening, you are having a great start
to what should be hopefully a long weekend for all
of us, because we're actually enjoying Braves baseball right now.
I say a long weekend because we get to look
forward to Braves baseball. I say that with excitement because
(00:44):
they've been playing good baseball as of late. And once again,
this bravese team right now is My podcast partner is
always Stephen told Bert is with me.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Stephen.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
What's standing out about some of these wins right now
is that we over the past fifteen months, have seen
so many of these type of games like we saw tonight,
a four to three come from behind victory late against
the Mets. So many of these games have resulted in losses.
We're even down a run or two, and it seems
like an insurmountable hill to climb, but yet we get
(01:14):
the job done. And tonight what made it extra special
It came on the heels of great performances from Ozzie
Alby's and Michael Harris. The second.
Speaker 3 (01:23):
Yeah, well so buddy. You know, this is what I
was talking about on our last show, was like, it's
still fun for me to win game, like it's still
fun to watch wins, like I don't. I don't. I'm
not watching tonight's game thinking, man, I really hope they
lose this game so we get a slightly better odds
at a slightly better draft pick, Like I just I
can't do that. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not gonna
(01:45):
watch games like that like I want. I was watching
this game thinking, my god, do I want the Mets
to lose two games in a row to Carlos Carrasco
and Bryce Elder, Like that's what I want. I want.
I want to watch Mets talk show Radio Go New.
I want to watch Frank you know, have an aneurysm.
I want to I want to watch the Meltdown because
(02:05):
it's just funny. You know, the Braves are having a
crap season, so you know, misery loves company. Let's see
if we can make the Mets season miserable. And so
tonight was fun and it was fun being on Twitter,
like everybody, what has been a really disappointing and negative
season A lot of the year, like everybody was just
enjoying themselves and when you know, the Braves went up
(02:28):
late in the game, four to three. The Braids won
four to three. We're gonna talk about it all, Bryce Elder,
Michael Harris, Ozzy Albi's might be a bigger topic tonight,
but you know, everybody was just excited. And that's what
I miss. I miss. That's the thing you miss when
you're not when you're not very good, is like the
excitement that comes when you do well and you're right,
you're one hundred percent right. These are games the Braves
(02:49):
have lost the last eighteen months, these one run games.
You know, they don't come back against other teams bullpens
the way they used to. So yeah, I mean, and
of course it's Michael Harres. It comes through with a
big hit, like just a fun night, just a really
fun night.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Yeah. And again, it's what adds to the fun is
winning games that you're not used to seeing this win.
But also again the names that we've mentioned, Michael Harris,
Ozzy Alby's, Brice Elder, there's been much more negative about
their performance this year than positive. Let's just be honest,
but it was good to see them contribute to a win.
And I want to start with Ozzy because it always
(03:28):
feels good to see Ozzie have these type of games
because you know, as much as we talk and you know,
just to be honest criticize, you know, Ozzie when it
comes to his performance as of late, and even though
the past couple of years, he's such a lovable personality.
He's such a great part of this organization who that's
been here for years now, you want to see him
succeed and seeing him be able to get the job
(03:50):
done on the road against a rival who you know
is struggling right now, but going after a playoff spot,
it was great to see Ozzie step up. The big
thing for Ozzy though, is at some point you have
to hope that a game like this can help him
put to put together a stretch of really good production.
He did pick up his game in July a bit,
(04:10):
but he fell back off, you know, pretty drastically in
August before this game. You really hope that this game
can turn that knob again for Ozzie to own and
we could see just how impactful of a player he
can be.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
Yeah, listen, Ozzy. For a lot of people, there are
a lot of people in the Brays fan base where
Ozzie is their favorite player. He's a very lovable dude.
Like he's got this whole Instagram following with his fish
and like he's just always smiling, and him and Ronald
have this like almost like brotherhood friendship. And you know,
(04:45):
we've all watched Ozzie grow up. I mean, Ozzie came
up in twenty seventeen. It's been you know, it's been
eight nine years and it's hard to believe it's been
that long. But or Ozzie might have even come up
in twenty sixteen, I can't remember. No, I think it
was Danceby that came up to those. I think Ozzie
came up twenty seventeen, seventeen. Yeah, but still, it's been
(05:08):
a long time and he's been a part of this
entire run and they're just brace fans that love him
to death. And listen, it's been a bad year for Ozzie.
That's he's got a you know, even accounting for tonight,
he's got a seventy eight WRC plus for the season,
which is obviously very bad. His defense is not what
it used to be. His sprint speed, you know, his
(05:28):
bad at ball. Data's you know, exit velocity, you know
swing rate, all that stuff is just not as good
as it used to be. And there's been a lot
of conversation about what are the Braves gonna do at
second base come the winter, because the guaranteed portion of
Ozzie's contract is over after this year. He's got club options,
but those options can be declined if the Braves still choose.
(05:52):
So it's just good you you don't really, I mean,
we don't know for sure how many more games we're
gonna watch Ozzie Alby's playing Braves uniform. Now. The general
consensus has been he's gonna get that option picked up,
mainly because there's a big buyout attached to it and
you're really not saving that much money. But like, it
wouldn't be crazy, It wouldn't be like some crazy development
(06:13):
if the Braves moved on from Ozzie this offseason. And
so like for Braves fans who have grown up with
this guy for the last eight or nine years, who
loved this guy who is literally their favorite player, like Knights,
like tonight Man, they're just fun, Like it's just a
nice remind you that this dude's still got a little
bit of talent, maybe not what it used to be,
(06:33):
but and we'll see, We'll see what happens in the offseason.
We're not gonna make tonight too negative because they won
a really fun game. But with Ozzie, we're just gonna
have to see. We're gonna have to see if they find,
you know, the buyout to be too much, if they
find something else they like at second base, if they
feel like they really need to interject some offense and
there's not a lot of positions on the diamond where
(06:54):
they can do it, maybe second base is that spot.
You can make an argument, certainly, But for one night
at least, it was nice to see Ozzy contribute to
a win that was fun.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
And that's the thing that I think, you know, it
also needs to be a part of the conversation, is that,
you know, I've kind of been on the side where
I think they're going to pick the option up, but
I think it makes sense for them to because just
like the Michael Harris situation, at the end of the day,
I know that many feel that, you know, another option
at center field or at second base may be what's
best for the Braves, and I get that with how
(07:27):
much Ozzie and Michael Harris have struggled, But I disagree
on the fact that I feel like the best overall
outcome for this team to get back to me and
a true contender is Ozzy and Michael getting closer to
their old selves once again. Now, put whatever you know
percentage chance you want to on that happening, But I
do think that that is the best route for the
(07:48):
Braves to get the production that they need from those
positions while then also using their resources to fill other positions.
So at nightlight, tonight reminds you that Ozzie still has
it at times. Michael is reminding us that he still
has it at times and can put put it together
over a long stretch. We just need to see it
happen over a full season. That's much easier said than done.
To your point, though, it is great to talk about
(08:10):
it for one night, but really, for Ozzie, the big
thing would be if this could be the start of
a really good stretch that can kind of put to
bed any conversation about the brains going in another direction
this offseason.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
Yeah, that's fair, Like Ozsie can still change the narrative,
you know, there's you know, there's gonna be people that say, well,
it's kind of a it's kind of garbage time of
the season. You know, the the competitive part of the
season is over, So anything that happens from here on
out shouldn't matter a ton. But if Ozzie goes on
a heater the last six seven weeks, you know that
(08:44):
that that's a data point that's going to be considered.
I don't know, I really, I mean, I really have
no idea. If you if you said, like Steven, you
have to place, you know, your entire net worth on
Are they going to pick up the option or are
they not going to pick up the option? I would
definitely towards they're going to pick up the option, just
because it's a seven million dollar option with a four
million dollar buyout, Like the savings just aren't that much.
(09:07):
But again, I can certainly see an argument where the
Braves need offensive infusion from somewhere. Every other position on
the diamond is either locked up to a long term
deal or hard to find, you know, like a shortstop,
so second base might be the place to go. You know,
I can understand that argument. So we'll see, we'll see
with Ozzie, but for one night, all of the big
(09:29):
Ossie fans got something that year for a really good
game and the Braves won. And so you know, we
haven't had both of those at the same time, you know,
very often this season.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
And I also want to mention another factor in the win,
a big factor in the win, and that was the
performance of Bryce Elder, who you know, again it's rare
to see this level of performance from him, but it
should not take away from the fact that it was
in a big moment, you know. We yeah, I know,
may people want to talk about us being the garbage
time of the season. Well, the Mets are, like the
Mets are trying to play competitive ball right now, and
(10:00):
we looked like the better team and Bryce Elder looked
quite well out there on the mound. But you mentioned
when Ozzie and Dansby came up just a second ago, Steven,
And of course we all know that twenty and eighteen
really was kind of the start of this current era
of the Braves where they made the playoffs all those
years in the world won of the World Series and
things like that. I looked it up since two thy
(10:22):
and eighteen the overall leaders in innings pitch for the
Braves since twenty and eighteen till now. Charlie Morton, excuse me,
Max Breed, Charlie Morton, Spencer Strider, Bryce Elder. Bryce Elder
has thrown the fourth highest amount of innings for the
(10:44):
Braves of any pitcher since the start of twenty and eighteen,
and he didn't make his first appearance to the start
of twenty twenty two. I know he struggles. I know
a lot of the times he sucks. It's this simple truth.
But one thing that I will give Bryce Elder credit for.
He goes out there and he takes the mound, and
even when he's struggling, he continues to throw innings for
(11:07):
this Braves team that right now are badly needed. Now,
that's probably more negative than positive in terms of looking
at that as a way to compliment a player, But
on nights like tonight, I'm happy that they happen for
Rice Elder because he definitely has shown a commitment level
to the Braves. He stays healthy, he takes the ball
every fifth day. Yes, more often than not. He pitches
(11:28):
very bad, But when he does pitch good, I think
it's well deserved, and I think that why you may
not want to put a ton of value on him
taking the ball every fifth day. It may be working
out more for the Braves right now than many may
realize because of the fact that they can at least
write him in for five to six innings.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
Yeah, I mean, I would imagine that stat about innings
pitch has a lot to do with the injuries that
the Braves have encountered the last few years. And Ellen
to your point, Elder doesn't get hurt like he does
pitch a lot. I mean, he's pretty durable. There's plenty
of brace fans that would tell you that's a terrifying
stat that Bryce Ellers pitched the fourth most innings since
(12:11):
twenty eighteen. The problem with Bryce and Bryce was really
good tonight. The problem with Bryce is he has these
games where he's he's like really good, and you're like
there was a point where Bryce could be like a
solid fourth or fifth starter for you, Like he was
never as good as that his first half of twenty
twenty three where he was an All Star, but like
(12:34):
there's a world where Bryce is like a solid fifth,
sixth starter where he's not gonna kill you. And then
over the last like year, plus he's kind of moved
past being a solid fifth or sixth starter for you,
and he's been like the worst pitcher in baseball. And
that's like that it doesn't sound like much to be
(12:58):
a solid fifth starter, but like if Bryce could be that,
that's very valuable. The problem is that's not He hasn't
even been that. He's been like six and a half
ERA six and a half FIP the last thirty starts,
and so like I don't want, I don't need Bryce
to find his twenty twenty three form, but like just
(13:21):
go back to being like a solid fifth starter where
you're like a five VR guy. Like if you're a
five R guy and you're given innings, that's got value.
I mean it does. That has value over one hundred
and sixty two game season. If you get up into
like the six and a half ERA seven ERA, then
you're not really even playable. And that's that's kind of
(13:44):
where Bryce has come from and where he's gotten into.
And that's like if you're looking for if you want
improvement from Bryce, he's never going to be a great starter,
But like there is a world where he's a solid
fifth starter if he can get back to that if
he can avoid the eight earned runs and two inning
games that he has a ton of, and then every
(14:04):
once in a while hits you with a gym like
you did in San Francisco that one game, or even tonight,
which was really good. He's just got to get he's
got to get back to being like that five era
a guy that has value. It does that has a
ton of value over a season. When you're like a
six and a half ur guy, you just you're not
really even playable, quite honestly, and so you know, it's
(14:27):
it's it's a it's not a clear cut thing. But
like Bryce can be a valuable member of the rotation.
He's never gonna be a good member of the rotation,
but he can be a valuable member of rotation. He's
just got to get back to being more of a
fifth starter than more of like a ninth or tenth starter.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
Yeah, I mean, you know, or you know, just a
general back back get away from being one of the
worst starters in baseball. And the big thing with him
is is you know, getting that control under you know,
under control, because less he walks, the more effective his
stuff will be. But hey, at the end of the day, again,
it's great to see these wins. And I had had
discussions recently on Twitter Stephen, you know, just in general
(15:05):
talking about, you know, what the rest of the season
looks like, what's the outcome going to be there. This
is one of the examples that I'm getting at. It's
good to see people like Ozzie and Michael Harris the
second playwill playwill like, We're going to need them to
do next year and get a win for their efforts.
That's what really stands out to me. But a few
other things that stood out today were some pretty interesting
(15:27):
notes before the game, once again from Brian Snicker, some
updates when it comes to many arms, many notable arms
that are currently out of the Braze rotation. That and
more after a word from our.
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Speaker 1 (16:40):
So Stephen, Probably the most exciting news of the day
is the imminent and I mean that literally imminent return
of Ronald Raccooney Junior. It was reported that today that
he worked out with the team in New York, then
went ahead and flew to Cleveland where the Brains will
be played over the weekend against the Guardians, and he
could be back as soon as tomorrow. You know, we
saw that earlier this year when he would be coming back,
(17:01):
and with how well he was playing at Gwinnett coming
back from his major knee surgery, he came back sooner
than expected. On a Friday, and looks like we could
see that once again, and by oh bye, how fun
it would be to see him in this lineup with
how well some of the other players are hitting right now.
Speaker 3 (17:18):
Yeah, it looks like that's the plan. He was on
the field today in New York and all the beat
writers said he looked really good. You know, I think
he's looked really good for like a week now. I
think the Breads are just being abundantly cautious, which is
exactly what they should do. And then it was reported
that they went ahead and sent him to Cleveland before
the game even started. I think that was because it's
a getaway day and they were playing a night game,
(17:40):
and there's a very good chance the team is going
to get into the hotel at like two or three
in the morning, and there's no reason to have your
the dude that's coming off the injured list to do that.
A lot of times you'll see teams do this with
you next day starting pitcher as well. They'll go ahead
and send him to the next city so you get
a good night's sleep. And so the only reason you
would really do that with Ronald is if he's gonna
be activated tomorrow. That's kind of the the dots people
(18:03):
are connecting makes all the sense. So yeah, I think
he's coming back tomorrow. You and I talked about this
either our last show or the show before that. I'm
very curious see what they do with the lineup with
Profar you know, really coming on the last month, the
walk rate really being high, you know, kind of being
a pretty solid lead off hitter, Like, what do you
(18:24):
do with Ronald? And you and I had this whole
conversation about bat him second, beat him third, bet him fourth. Yeah,
I know you're a bad second guy. I'm a bad
second guy too. You know, he's too good to bat
him forth. So I'm curious to see what they do.
And my guess is he's gonna go back to third.
That's where he was when he got hurt. Snitcher is
a very much as said it and forget it manager,
(18:45):
So you know, I'm guessing a nurse is gonna win
the day and he's just gonna go back to where
he was when he got hurt. But that's gonna be
That's gonna be a fascinating thing to watch over the
last six weeks of the season, is how this lineup
works with akuny in the middle of it, because let's
be honest, I mean, we've seen him at the top
of the lineup for so long, and it's been a
pretty good lineup the last month. How does it look
(19:06):
with Acunya in the middle of it, and how does
he look? And obviously there's gonna be a lot of
attention paid to the calf and any sort of lingering issues,
But baseball is always more exciting when Ronald Kunya Junior
is playing, and so tomorrow's game is going to be
that much more fun.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
And I give credit to the Braves on both fronts.
Right they're being cautious as they should be, even if
he clearly seems to be one percent, But they're also
completely completely against shutting him down because they know that
that's not what he wants. They know that's not what's
best for the team. You know, if the level of
player that Ronald of Couya Junior is, if he's wanting
to go out there and play with where the Braves
(19:44):
are in the standings, then you go out there and
let him play. You go out there and let that
positive impact, those vibes that come from Ronald of Kunya
Junior being a superstar flow down through the rest of
the team. Same thing works with Chris Sale. As competitive
of a person as Chris Sale is, you want him
to take them down. If he is healthy. Thankfully, he's
going to get a second straight rehab start. Looked very
clean in his first. I believe it's gonna be Saturday
(20:06):
for Gwinnette. But Steven with Ron Raccoon, you Junior coming
back this weekend, we could easily see a week from
now talking about the Chris Sill return being eminent as well.
Speaker 3 (20:15):
Yeah, we said on the last show, these guys are
on the doorstep and Acunya's already kind of walking in
the door. Say they go ahead, and they went in
scheduled another rehab start. We assumed that was gonna be
the case when he only threw forty pitches. You're gonna
slowly build him back up, but you know that kind
of puts him in line. You do one this week,
you do another next week, kind of around the beginning
of September, maybe even right before of him being back
(20:38):
in the rotation. And again we've we've we've gone over
those multiple times. If he's healthy and the bonus healed
the broken rib is healed and he's got you know,
limited pain or tolerable pain. Let him pitch. There's no
reason not to let him pitch. That's gonna help his
off season. So let him pitch, and we'll obviously try
(21:00):
how he does it is in his rehab starting Gwinnett
and hopefully it's the green lights from there and we
get at least you know, a few maybe two or
three Chris Sales starts here before the season's over.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
Absolutely, and well it's great to talk about, you know,
when it comes to the you know, true notable names
of Ronald of Huge Junior and Chris Sille is definitely
a positive seeing them on their way back to joining
the Braves this season. It was also a bitter at
sweet day when it comes to some updates on some
other notable arms who could be done for the twenty
twenty five season. More on that in just a moment
(21:33):
after another word from our party.
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You know what.
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And uh, I think you keep chasing until you get
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That's right.
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Speaker 1 (22:36):
So Stephen, of course, you know we continue to get
positive updates, continue the incremental steps of Ronald Accuna Junior
and Chris Sill joining the Braves. But unfortunately, it was
also revealed today that it looks like when it comes
to Ronald Lopez as well as Spencer Schwellenbach. And of
course we kind of alreadyknew with Joejmenez. You know, Jamendez
had a bit of a setback here recently when it
comes to his rehab. Overall, Renald Lopez and Spincher swelling Bok,
(23:00):
they've just kind of been taking it slow. But the
point that I get that for each of those three
pitchers it looks as if their twenty twenty five season
is over.
Speaker 3 (23:10):
Yeah, it was tough news. It wasn't necessarily unexpected news,
but and you kind of have to take these one
at a time. So with Schwellenbach obviously the most important
guy on this list, it's such a weird injury to
break a bone in your elbow. It's such a weird injury.
I don't even know, Like I don't even know the
physics of like what all that effects. Like when you know,
(23:33):
when you're talking about like the rehab process, like is
it like rehabbing a ligament in your in your elbow
or is it like rehabbing a bone that's been broken?
I don't know. I've really never heard of this injury before,
so I have no idea what And.
Speaker 1 (23:50):
I don't mean to interupt when he said when he
said when it came to this injury that he felt
like it was caused by the increase of velocity that
he's recently seen that can surgery of it as well,
because I know that it led to a bone injury
that will heal pretty quickly. But when he gets back
on the mound, is is we're all going to be
able to handle that over the long term. That that
was a bit concerning the.
Speaker 3 (24:10):
Year, right, It's just such an un It's such an unnu.
It's just such a weird injury. We don't really have
any baseline for like a return or like a rehab,
and you know, it does it's a level of uncertainty
going into the off season, right because we don't really
know and I'm not sure the team really knows. And
that just kind of continues a theme because then you
go to the next guy, which is Ronaldo Lopez and listen.
(24:32):
Ronaldo Lopez had arthroscopic shoulder surgery on April eighth, and
it was reported at the time that he was gonna
go down for twelve weeks and then started throwing program,
and twelve weeks was up. I counted, I think it's
the first week of July. It was twelve weeks, and so,
you know, there was the messaging early on was that
(24:53):
it's a good chance Ronaldo's gonna pitch again this season,
and so the fact that he's not, I don't know
how much of it because of where the team is
in the standings or how much of it is just
like his rehab is not maybe going as well as
they hoped. They haven't really given us a lot of
details on Ronaldo. So again, like it's a shoulder, which
(25:14):
is terrifying of course, and it's just more level of
uncertainty in the rotation, Like it's it's not great that
he was supposed to be back, you know, potentially in
August and now he's not going to be back at all.
Now again that could be because of where the Braves
are in the standings, But again, like with Chris Sale,
if they thought he could get back and pitch a
little bit to set up a normal offseason, I think
(25:36):
they would have done it even where they are in
the standings, because that's what they're doing with Sale. Like
if he could, if he could do it, if he
could physically do it, I think the team would want
him to do it, because this is literally what's happening
with Chris Sales. So I I think it's because his
rehab is not going exactly how they hoped. And so
now you got another layer of uncertainty and concern in
(25:58):
a major part of your rotation are supposed to be
a part of your rotation next year. So those two
combined along with like the uncertainty around Grant Holmes, is
he going to be out? Is he going to be
in next year? A J Smith Shaver. You know, like
when Chris Sale and Spencer Strider are the two like
least questionable parts of your rotation in terms of like injury,
(26:21):
that's not a great place to be. And that's kind
of where the Braves are, like they going into next year,
Like the questions around the rotation are just going to
be so massive. And you know we've already talked about
Spencer and and all the stuff he's going through with
his velocity. There's an uncertainty there. Of course, Sale is
at the age he is and the injuries he collects,
(26:43):
there's uncertainty there. Like one through six and the Braves rotation.
There are massive questions for next year, so that's gonna
be a fascinating thing to watch in the off season.
And then joejaman As you know, that just kind of stucked.
I mean, it was a weird knee injury they did
serve in the offseason, and then it ended up being
way worse than they thought. And then it came out
(27:05):
the other day that like his knee wasn't responding well,
it wasn't able to hold the weight. Joe is a
very big guy. Joe's a huge guy actually, and so
just you know, just mark one more for massive uncertainty
going into twenty twenty six. And all of these guys,
especially Jimenez and Ronaldo, you know, are signed for decent
(27:27):
amount of money next year. Schwallenbach is still a league
minimum deal, but Ronaldo and Jimenez make real money next year.
So a lot of uncertainty with some pretty prominent names
in the Braves pitching staff that we're probably not going
to have answers to until we get to twenty twenty six,
and even then it might still be up in the air.
Speaker 1 (27:48):
Yeah, and that's kind of what is going to make
this off season a bit more interesting, even to the
point of a bit concerning. And what I mean by
that is is that it's just it seems like this
off's upcoming off season is kind of going to combine
two of the you know, biggest concerns that you've had
the previous two off seasons. Two off seasons ago, it
(28:09):
was the Braves clearly adding you know, a starting rotation
level talent back to you know, the organization with so
many potential starting pitchers leaving the organization as we've seen
do over the past couple of years. This past off
season it was the bullpen where we had questions and
of course that wasn't answered. Well, now you potentially have
to feel, you know, multiple spots on both ends because
(28:30):
you've got so many of your starting rotation. You got
so many questions around that, just like we had this
past off season, but now you've had even more injuries
and of course the ineffectiveness of the bullpen. A couple
of things that you know that makes me wonder about
is we're in that early to mid era or area
of the season in August where you typically see teams
(28:50):
do extensions. I wonder if the Brace potentially could go
to Ryce Ella Iglesias and see if he would be
willing to stay around for another year. You know, him
being at the back end of the road of the
you don't necessarily guarantee of the closer spot, but that
is something you at least know that he's going to
be healthy, he'll take the mound, and he still has
the capability of getting the job done. That could be
a route that you can go. But the overall point
(29:12):
that I'm getting at is is not only do you
have so many of your most important pitchers entering an
offseason where they're not in one hundred percent health, but
you also don't know what their outcome beyond this year
is going to be. We're not going to be in
the bullpen. Who's going to be your ace next year?
Along with sale, who's going to potentially be your closer?
All those questions remain, and so this team at some
(29:33):
point has to find answers, and it's just frustrating that
obviously a bit concerning that not only do some of
the older questions continue to get louder, but new questions
form and we don't see a lot of answers when
it comes to the consistency and reliability of RAF staff.
Speaker 3 (29:54):
Yeah, I mean, I mean just think about it. Just
go like position by position on the pitching staff, Like
literally one through five in the rotation have had some
sort of major injury this year. You know, Strider is
dealing with a drop in velocity and we don't know
what that's gonna end up being for him. Holmes has
got this pending Tommy John surgery, Ronaldo's got the shoulder,
(30:17):
schwellenbas got the elbow. Right, that's the whole rotation, and
then you go to the bullpen. Rossioglaciers is a pending
free agent. He just came off a pretty rough season.
Joejamenez was supposed to be the primary setup guy. He's
been out the whole year and is it coming back
and has got this questionable knee. Like every spot and
like critical spot for the twenty twenty six pitching staff
(30:39):
is like got a massive question And I don't I mean,
I don't even think the.
Speaker 1 (30:47):
Same thing we said twelve months ago to.
Speaker 3 (30:50):
At least last offseason. We had like Sail coming off
as Cy Young, we had schwellenbag Like, we didn't have
those questions with those guys, even Ronaldo had such a
good year last year, like we didn't have that. Now
it's every Now, it's everybody now, it's every every critical
name in the on the pitching staff, maybe not named
(31:11):
Dylan Lee, like that might be the one guy who's
like solid, really good picture that is should be fine
for next year. Outside of that, like everyone else, it
has got this massive question attached to their name, and
a lot of them are paid real money. I have
no idea. I have no clue how Alex is gonna
handle this in this offseason. I don't know. I mean,
(31:32):
I I just don't think you can just go into
and thinking, yeah, everybody's gonna be fine. We don't really
need to do much. Like the odds of all of
these guys being fine next year it is. It seems
tiny like you're gonna have some You're gonna have some
of this go poorly. Maybe not all of it, maybe
not most of it, but some of it's gonna go
poorly for next year. That's just how pitching is. So
(31:55):
how the Braves approached the rotation and the bullpen in
the offseason. Man, you want to talk about a fascinating
toy line, and then you add on top of that
the offense was a big weakness for the team for
a large part of this season. I mean, hell, it's
gonna be It's going to be a fact. I mean
we've talked about a lot, but it's gonna be a
fascinating offseason.
Speaker 1 (32:16):
And the thing that I'll say is this, though, is
that we know that Alex is not shied away from
giving away big contracts if he felt it made sense.
I know many are thinking to themselves, will be once
to g go about a big contract? Why didn't he
just keep Max free? Well, I don't think he's gonna
go that big. But you know, being tied to names
like Aaron Noah, Nathan Yvaldi, Jeff Hoffman, you know Tanner
(32:36):
Scott as well, Alexon Toopoless will make the big move
if it's makes sense, if it makes sense, if it's
someone that he truly feels can help this team. So
I think as much as the Braids are sitting here
talking about they're rolling in the money, I think at
some point, for the right person, they will open up
the you know, purse strings a little bit, open up
the pocketbook. But that's the thing about it. You're probably
going to have to see that happen. Because as awesome
(32:57):
as it is to see a hirston Waldrop and their
internal options potentially improved to the point to where they
can be in the majors, you've got to solidify this
at some point with what has already been a reliable
armor two outside of the Brads organization. I think that
that could be something we see this offseason is a
bigger than expected to move for another arm to be
(33:18):
added to the Brave staff.
Speaker 3 (33:21):
Yeah, I mean I think they have to go get
somebody that's like a durable starter. I mean the Braves
have just kind of quietly built an extremely risky rotation.
I mean they just have like the durability of Chris Sayle,
the durability of Spencer Strider, the durability of Ronaldo Lopez.
Now you've got Grant Holmes with this elbow, you know,
(33:42):
pending Tommy John. I do think, like I Ivaldi last
offseason would have made so much sense. I think they
have to go get somebody like that. And I listen,
we do need to point out We've said this before
on the show. Next year at Triple A, they will
have some really high level pitching prospects that are a
(34:04):
quality that they have not had in several years. You know,
Fuentes Waldroup, there's a bunch of them, Jr. Richie I
think is in Triple A now. And then you have like,
you know what is Joey Wentz. We don't know is
Joey Wentz real? This is any of this real? Or
you know what is he? So they do have some
young guys, but yeah, I mean it's gonna be fat.
(34:27):
I mean you almost feel like they have to go
get somebody who's reliable and dependable and approven major league
starter who has shown they can get through a full
major league season healthy, which no, none of the Braves
can apparently do the last few years. I don't know,
it's gonna be a fast It's going to be a
fascinating offseason.
Speaker 1 (34:46):
And I think it goes back to the point of,
you know, yes, injuries are not clearly the biggest factor
in what has derailed the Braves twenty twenty five offseason.
It's obviously ben underperformance, mainly from the offense. But I
do think that it's worth, you know, mentioning that, you know,
if you feel that the Brave struggles over the past
fifteen to eighteen months has mainly been the offense. Yes,
that that probably is true, but questions around this starting staff,
(35:09):
especially when it comes to injuries and freak went off
injuries that you just can't control, that's played a factor
as well. You just hope at some point in time,
maybe for a season or two, we could have more answers.
Thank question, Steven, Do you have anything else that as
we wrap up this edition of the Hammer Territory podcast.
Speaker 3 (35:26):
No, the Braves just took two out of three from
the New York Mets, with the two wins coming with
Carlos Carrasco and Bryce Older on the mound. So while
the Mets are in a free fall and listen, there
hasn't been a lot to cheer about this year for
the Braves. For Braves fans, I would suggest for Brase
fans for tonight, for tomorrow, just hop on, hop on
(35:49):
Mets Twitter, hop on, you know, turn on the radio,
listen to a Mets calling show. If you just want
to experience some joy and what has been a largely
joyless season, really enjoy the next twenty four hours of
watching Mets fans. Just I mean, you're talking about one
foot off the ledge level, you know, meltdowns. It was,
(36:14):
it was. The last two days were a lot of fun,
and you know, I would love more games, more series
like this, But man, the last two days were a
lot of fun, and your muted.
Speaker 1 (36:28):
The thing I'll say is this is that one thing
that I would continue to love to play because it
means that we're playing well, and guys who need to
play well or play well, let's continue to play that. Spoiler.
Cleveland has gotten a bit of a you know, going,
you know, potentially knocking on the door against Detroit, though
I think Detroit eventually will be just fine. But hey,
if we want to continue to play spoiler, let's keep
(36:49):
doing it. But agreed, Hey, we've been played really good
ball for the past week. Let's enjoy the most of it.
And hope you enjoyed this edition of the Heer Territory podcast.
You could find myself at Stat's Sac on two, Stephen
at be Underscore, Outliers on Twitter, Slash x Hammer Territory
across all forms of social media, part of the Foul
Territory family of podcasts from Brad Scott, Stephen and myself.
(37:12):
Cannot thank you enough for always tuning in and being
support of us. Win or lose, but hey, it's nice again.
When we see who wins the losses, go braves. We'll
talk to you again sup here on the Hammer Territory
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