Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:21):
Welcome on and all to the Here Territory Podcast. My
name is Sean Coleman. Hope, wherever you are and wherever
you are listening, you had an amazing weekend. You had
an amazing Monday, and you had an amazing time seeing
the Braves get a victory against what should be a
playoff team, one of the better pictures in the National
League on the mound, the Braves countered with Bryce Elder,
(00:42):
who's been absolutely magnificent as of late, and the Braves
got a victory. And of course, with where we are
in the time of the season, none of that matters
with the news that was dropped today. Kidding aside, we
have an action packed episode of the Hammer Territory Podcast
with you and as always, the best pot podcast partner
that anyone can think of for myself, Steven Tobert is
(01:05):
here as always, Stephen. Good getting to see you, sir.
Hope all has been well on your end. You actually
got to see your team win a college football game
this weekend. Go ahead, Steven, Wow.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
That's how we're starting. Okay, all right, it's gonna be
that kind of show. What's up, buddy? Who needs enemies
when you got friends like these? Yeah, we actually got
to see a win for the Braves tonight. I'm not
talking about my college football team. We got to see
a win tonight. Bryce Elder Pischwell, we're gonna get into
all that, but unfortunately, the news of the day kind
(01:37):
of stole the headlines. And you could probably tell if
you're listening to this or watching this by the headlines
that we had some pretty massive, unexpected, kind of bombshell
news come out about one or two PM something like that,
and it, you know, has big effects on the rest
of the season, potentially on next season, potentially on the
off season. So there's a lot to get into tonight.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Absolutely, and we'll get jumped right into it. Of course,
can't thank you enough for tuning in, watching, listening however
you enjoy the hamm a Territory podcast. We cannot thank
you enough for all the support for of the Foul
Territory family of podcasts. And what Stephen is alluding to
is that earlier this afternoon it was announced by the
Braves who had made multiple roster moves, which we'll get
(02:21):
into a bit later on the show, the specifics of
the roster moves that they made, but the big news
of the day concerns Sean Murphy and the fact that
Sean Murphy will be out for the rest of the
year and likely we'll be rehabbing for much of the
off season due to a tear in his hip.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Now.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
I can't remember if it was the labrum or something
along those lines, but it's a significant injury that is
actually going to require surgery later this week. That, in
of itself is a significant development. That is a significant
news nugget in and of itself. But adding to adding
to that is how this all came about, Stephen. You
(03:01):
know the fact that you know, Sean Murphy basically has
been dealing with this for three years. He's dealt with it,
he's gonna gone through pain management, He's dealt with others
while dealing with this, and then it just got to
the point get evidently over the weekend where it just
came again. The word use was unbearable. But the fact
is is that this has been going on for three
years and the organization didn't find out about it till Sunday. That,
(03:25):
of itself, I think it's fair to raise questions about that.
So let's get into it. Stephen, what were your initial
reactions and you know, what questions did you formulate and
come back with the answer so on? Just what were
your initial thoughts when you heard all the details of
this pretty significant development when it comes to Sean Murphy.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Yeah, I mean it was a bombshell. Of course, he's
got a I think it's called a laboral tear and
his hip. He is gonna have the surgery. There's different
treatments if you do the surgery, and it's it ends
up being a four to six month kind of recovery time,
and obviously six months is where you get into spring training.
So you know, when the Braves announced it today, they
(04:05):
announced that he's gonna be ready for spring training, that
felt a little optimistic to me. I'm not sure I
would write that in pen just yet. I've actually talked
to some people in the last few hours since this
all came out that that either have had this surgery
or have family that I've had this surgery, and They've
all said the same thing. This is a major, major
(04:26):
surgery and it takes a long time to come back from.
And so I'm not sure I would just go ahead
and say full on that Sean Murphy's gonna be one
hundred percent ready to go for spring training. I'm not
sure that's true, but yeah, it was shocking the news dropped.
And then immediately after the news drop, we found out
that he's been dealing with this for three years. He
(04:47):
told the team about it this week, but he's been
dealing with it off and on for three years, which
is crazy to me. I don't understand this culture of
like trying to play hurt. You know, started with Freddy
frielin did't start with Freddy Freeman, but kind of Freddy
Freeman was the most famous case in recent history. With
the Braves were like, you know, you gotta be out
there every day, and you can't. You can't miss time,
(05:09):
and you gotta ignore injuries and even if you're even
if you're not you know, playing able to play to
your your best, you should still be out there. And
I'm not a big fan of that mindset, to be honest,
I think it ends up doing more hurt than good.
In Shawn's case, I think it's certainly done more hurt
than good. Especially listen after twenty twenty three, you know
(05:31):
he had that amazing season. He's got a he's got
a fully guaranteed contract, like he's not playing for more money, Like,
just be honest with the team that you're hurt. And
we're talking about a hip, I mean, we're talking about
Imagine trying to hit, you know, I mean, think about
how your hips fire when you're trying to swing a
baseball bat or a golf club or anything athletic. Now
(05:52):
imagine trying to hit major league pitching with a torn hip.
I mean, I just don't understand why. I mean, I
do understand they're highly competitive people, they want to be
out there, but like you know, this stuff kind of
drives me crazy a little bit. And I disagree with
the way Sean handled it. He should have been up
front from the beginning. I understand it's somewhat of a
pain tolerance thing, and the pain got to the point
(06:14):
where he just couldn't bear it anymore. But by that
point you should have said something a long time ago,
long time ago. So yeah, it was a shock. It's
a shock how long he's been dealing with it. And
again with the timetable, I know they said he's gonna
be ready for spring training. I'm not sure I would
go that far just yet.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
And let's also look at it from the perspective of
you know, this is now a trend with Sean Murphy.
You talk about, you know, trying to hit with a
with a pretty significant hip injury trying to catch as well,
you know, having an injured hippole trying to catch that
has got to be painful also. So the first thing
I want to say is I agree with you, is
that at some point along the line, this shouldn't have
(06:57):
gone on three years without there being more not known
about what was happening, especially last year. I know the
Braves really didn't have, you know, a secondary option besides
Travis Darnaud to come in and pair with him. But
Sean Murphy has to say something, you know, and I don't.
Necessarily I can't speak to how big of a culture
(07:17):
still remains of trying to play through injuries and all that,
but I will say that this organization now has a
track record this season alone of questionable developments leading to
significant injury concerns. You know, there was the coaching staff
not being able to recognize what was going on with
aj Smith Shaverer. It took Spencer Striders saying something. Of course,
(07:37):
the Acunya you know scenario in which he played, you know,
with what he felt was a hurt achilles and now
this Sean Murphy development. I'm not saying as if the
organization is doing something completely wrong, but there just seems
to be a lack of effective level awareness of when
a player is playing hurt and that has got to improve,
(07:57):
especially with how much injuries have been impacted this team
over the past couple of years. That's the first thought
that I want to hit on. The second thought now
is the ripple effect that this has on the off season,
because now this pretty much put in place. I know
that you could probably bring or you could probably still
(08:19):
look to trade Sean Murphy if you found the right deal,
but teams aren't going to sit there and want to
pay a probably a good enough price for you to
consider trading Sean Murphy with him now coming off two
years of significant injuries and the fact that he has
struggled at the plate outside of July of this year
over the past two years. See, that's the other thing
(08:40):
that stands out about this is that now we're going
to in twenty and twenty four, twenty and twenty five,
and likely twenty twenty six, and each of those in
the past three years, Sean Murphy will have started the
season on the IL. I imagine that's how he's going
to start twenty twenty six. So not only does this
impact potentially your off season plans because now Sean Murphy
doesn't be I'm a trade asset, he likely is going
(09:01):
to be with the team, you also are probably going
to have to figure out your catching position behind Drake
Baldwin to start next year. So in multiple ways, it
has a significant impact and unexpected impact on next year's plans.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
Yeah, it's just uncertainty. And you know, for such a
large part of the season, one of the only things
the Braves had going for them was like their catcher
position was one of the best in baseball. I mean,
there was a big chunk of the early part of
the season really probably the first three or four months,
where Baldwin and Murphy were arguably the best catching tandem
(09:38):
and baseball, and that's one of the few things the
Braves could kind of count on. And now you go
into the off season and you already have uncertainty at
so many other places, especially the rotation, where you know,
it's probably the most significant level of uncertainty and most
impactful in terms of it's you know, how it can
change an entire season. You have uncertainty in the bullpen,
(10:01):
you still have an uncertainty with your offense, you know,
and now you've got you know, what was originally one
of your better you know, positional setups with Baldwoo Murphy.
Now that's uncertain because you don't know what Murph's gonna
be doing next year. You don't know how long he's
gonna be, you don't know how his rehab's gonna go.
If you had any inclination of trading him in the offseason,
that's pretty much out the window. I mean, the Braves
(10:24):
still o Murphy. I think fifty million dollars, forty five,
fifty million dollars something like that. I think he's got
three years at fifteen million dollars a year, and then
I think he's got to buy out. It's a it's
a chunk of money. So a team's not just gonna, like,
you know, gladly trade for that contract right now, not
knowing you know, ay, how how long Murphy's gonna be
(10:47):
hurt and be what he's gonna look like on the
other side of it. So, yeah, it is more uncertainty,
and it's just another it's another thing that this team
kind of has to weather. And this offseason is gonna
be fascinating, Sean, I mean, this offseason is just gonna
be so damn fast. I don't I mean, they've got
(11:07):
so much uncertainty at players, with players that are locked
into contracts. I genuinely don't know what they're gonna I
don't know if they can afford to just go into
next season with all of these guys under contract and
just hope that the majority of them work out next year.
(11:27):
That just seems like a incredibly low probability thing to happen. So, man,
what a fascinating off season the brands are in store for.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
Yeah, because I mean we've already seen it not work out, right,
it has not worked out over the past two years,
and we're now really getting into the point of where
these contracts now are getting more expensive raises to players
like Spencer Strider and others as well. And don't get
me wrong, if it does work out, you've got a
World Series contender on your hands. Make that clear. The
(12:01):
outcome of this in the positive aspects, which still is
a very it is a very relevant outcome. It's a
very realistic outcome, you could still have a World Series
contender on your hands. But I do agree with you, Stephen.
We now have more uncertainty that we had anticipated going
into this offseason, on top of the fact that we've
had two straight seasons where it's not worked out anywhere
(12:23):
close to where we had hoped. One other final thing
that I do want to speak to again talking about
how this development could impact the rest of this season
as well as the off season. One big thing that
this does do is it's going to allow for Drake
Baldwin to really take over that catcher spot and basically
play every day. But the thing that I will say
(12:45):
is this is that when we talk about the fact
that this team is going to probably have both Murphy
as well as Baldwin next year, I'm not to the
point I haven't seen enough where I clearly am for
the catcher DH approach where one DH is one catches
going into next season. So when I talk about how
this impacts the off season, not only are you potentially
(13:06):
going to have to find added catcher depth to start
the season, but you also potentially are going to, if
it's not Marcello Zuna, find another bat to take on
that dhroll or potentially fill another position and keep that
dhroll as an open door to where maybe Ronald or
Jerks and or the one of the two catchers dhs.
That's what we mean when we say it's just adding
(13:27):
more questions to an off season that already had plenty
of them to deal with.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
Yeah, it's a good point. I mean, the catching position
is directly tied to the DH position, and the DH
position is directly tied to what you do with Ronald
and what you do with Profar, and like what's free
agents you go after, and so like Yeah, and I
don't know, you know, I don't know how interested they've
ever been in the whole one guy catches the other
(13:55):
guy is the DH scenario. Anyways, That's just stuff we
speculated back when both catchers were hitting really well. It's
kind of been a long time since both catchers hit
really well though, to be honest, So I don't know
if that was ever a realistic option for them. Anyways.
They might have always set out to go get a DH,
(14:15):
or go get an outfielder and let Ronald and Profar
and you know, new outfielder and the catchers and let
them all rotate DH, which is without knowing specific names
is probably the way I would lean. But yeah, yeah,
I mean you're one hundred percent right. The catching position
(14:36):
impacts all of that because obviously you have Baldwin and Murphy,
and now you're probably almost certainly gonna have Murphy next year,
so you know, if they were planning on that, they
probably have to adjust those plans. So it is just
one more thing to account for. And Alex, I mean
they're adding up for Alex the number of things he
has to account for this winner, and you know the
(14:57):
number of things that are gonna have to go well
for the Braves spring and summer next year, so this
thing doesn't go off the rails again like it has
in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
The thing I'll end with as far as this scenario goes,
and you're right about the idea of perhaps them going
to get another outfielder and then then rotating now the
DH spot. You know that the reported interest in Byron
Buxton is an example of that, though I'm not sure
how you know Haws I'm kim, and his salary being
around next year impacts it. Again, just more questions, more questions.
We've got plenty of time to discuss that, but I
(15:27):
do want to end with this note, as many questions
potentially are added to the off season from this development.
There's again one outcome that is very much on the
table to where a lot of these questions could become
less significant, and that is Sean Murphy becoming a healthy
Sean Murphy once again and showing at times what he
did in the first half of twenty twenty three and
(15:48):
also about six weeks ago that Sean Murphy still could
really show up next year for the Braves and that
can make him an asset once again. But getting to
that point, the journey to that destination is once again
going to be a rocky one, and I know this
organization is tired of such journeys. But that was just
one part of the news that was revealed today. Will
(16:09):
have plenty more to discuss in a moment after a
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Speaker 1 (17:19):
So Stephen the other news of the day. We actually
talked about it on the last edition of the Hambit
Territory podcast that You and I did. We discussed how
another maybe not so much talked about storyline is how
is this coaching staff going to evolve as the off
season goes on? If Brian Snicker were to step aside,
what does that mean for the rest of its coaching staff?
So on and so forth. And by the way, all
(17:41):
this news is coming from the fact that Alex and
Thopless he actually had a Q and A he spoke
with the media today, So that's why we have multiple
significant storylines to discuss. But the thought with Brian Snicker,
the conversation was around, well, you know, as there been
any thought, has there been any updates on his future
with the squad? And we didn't really get like a
definitive answer, but Steven, it certainly seemed like the way
(18:05):
that Alex was talking, any anticipation that's been there that
Snicker could you know, potentially retire and you know, move
on to another role with the Braves, that very much
seems to be like a realistic possibility. That's kind of
what Alex and Thoplss spoke to how he always have
a place with the Braves. Any decision about when he
wants to make a decision, whether it come early come
later on the off season, that's up to him. One
(18:27):
thing I do think is that the Braves would want
to get undefenditive and definitive answer as early in the
offseason as possible. But I came away from Alex's comments
about Brian Snicker being the fact that I think this
organization is preparing for a change at the manager spot
in this offseason.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
Yeah, I mean, he did not say it outright. He
gave a pretty wishy wash the answer, which is is
what Alex does. But anytime you start hearing, you know,
a front office guy talking about a manager like retrospectively,
like he's always going to be a part of the
organization and he's always got a place here. Anytime you
start hearing stuff like that about a guy who's still
(19:06):
on the job, he's not gonna be on the job
for long, Like you don't talk about that. You don't
talk about like that about a guy who just signed
a three year contract extension. You talk about you know,
you talk about that's something you talk about when the
guy's in the last month of his coaching career most likely.
(19:26):
And yeah, I I I. The way I see it
playing out is I think somewhere around the last day
of the season, maybe the last day of the season,
Snit will announce that he's retiring. There is not a
single person in baseball, not a single person that we've
talked to in front of the camera, behind the camera,
on the record, off the record, not a single person
(19:47):
we've talked to that thinks Brian Snicker is going to
manage next year. And listen, if the Braves wanted to
truly like get rid of this, you know this, these questions,
they could announce that he's signing a contract extension and
any point and could have done that at any point
in the last year, two years, three years, and they
haven't done that. They you know, I don't know if
(20:08):
they haven't put in a contract extension in front of
Snit because they don't have any interest, or they have
put one in front of him and he hasn't taken
it because he doesn't have any interest, or a combination
of both. Whatever it is. The tea leaves point to
a one very clear direction, and that is enjoy. If
you are somebody who loves Brian Snicker enjoys his managing,
(20:29):
enjoys watching him being the manager of the Braves. I
suggest you pay attention strongly over the next two and
a half three weeks because it is almost certainly coming
to an end once we get to October, and certainly
once we get into twenty twenty six, and it's.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
Time, right like, it's clearly time. Brian Snicker, he won
his eight hundredth victory with the Braves tonight, and about
all means. I want to make this clear. The two
separate truths can certainly exist in the same time in
most cases, and that is the case with Brian Snicker.
On one hand, this is the second best Braves manager
(21:11):
in franchise history over the past one hundred years. That's
just absolutely the truth. He's got the second most winning
that time for him since Bobby Cox. He has been
our leader through probably the second most successful stretch of
success in Braves franchise history outside of what happened in
the nineties. In two thousands. He is a wonderful person,
both in terms of being a baseball person and a
(21:32):
person in general, beloved across the game. He deserves all
the praise, all just anything positive that goes Brian Snicker's way.
He deserves it. But there's also just the simple truth
that the instances of you just watching the Braves and
seeing decisions that are made. And I'm not saying that,
you know, I can only speak for myself. I'm not
(21:53):
suggesting I know more about the game than Brian Snicker.
As many have said, he's forgotten more than I'll ever know.
But I do feel that it's clear that there's more
instances where you're left thinking why did he do that?
Where was the value added in that decision? Than thinking, Wow,
he really put us in a position to succeed there.
The Braves need a new voice at the helm of
the squad that's going to put them in a position
(22:15):
to where they can succeed more. And that's why I
think Brian Snicker's time is simply run its course. It
happens with every manager, with every organization. Love Brian Snicker.
He's been tremendous, but the time is right for this
to occur, for the Braves to get a new voice
at the head of the squad.
Speaker 2 (22:33):
Yeah, I was thinking about this. So if you're a
college basketball fan, you'll know the name Buzz Williams, who
is the Texas A and M coach, and he just
left to become the coach at Maryland, I think is
where he went. And he had a really interesting take
on it. He said, after about five six years, your
(22:54):
voice just kind of gets stale and it's time to
move on. And if you look at his track record
throughout his career, he's always done that Marquette Texas A
and M. You know, after about five or six years
he leaves because he's he just feels like it can
only end badly if you stay too long. And with Snit,
I don't It's never been just one thing like It's
(23:16):
not like one egregious thing that happened. It's not like
anybody puts the twenty twenty five season at the feet
of Brian Snicker. No one blames him for what's happened
this year, but it's just time for something new. It's
just gotten a bit stale. And I think that I
find that to be the case with not only the manager,
but also in some ways the roster. Like I think
(23:38):
the roster needs a shake up. I think the coaching
staff needs to shake up. I think the front office
needs to shake up. Not a major one at the top.
I'm not talking about alex Adoplass, but I'm just talking
about they need some new blood, they need some new life,
they need some new ideas they need. It has just
gotten stale. And that's no one's fault. It's you know,
the old saying is familiar. He breeds content. Like just
(24:01):
the more you're around the same group of people year
in year in, year in, year in year out, you know,
it just gets stale. And and I just think it's time.
And Snicker's also been in you know, he's been around
the organization for fifty years. I mean, I'm sure the
guy would like to go spend some time with grandkids
and you know, not have to worry about the nonsense
that we talk about on a daily basis, and not
(24:23):
have to worry about knuckleheads like us talking about the
stuff that you know, he has to worry about on
a daily basis. I'm sure he's got much better shit
to do. So I I do fully expect this to
be the last month of Brian Snicker's, you know, coaching
career with the Braves or any any team. I think
he'll stay in the organization. He'll get some sort of
(24:43):
you know a Maritas you know, lifelong position in the
front office where he can come to spring training anytime
he wants, very much like Bobby, you know, he can do.
You know, he's got a lifetime pass to be around
the team as much as he wants. I just don't
think he's going to be the manager. And that is
going to kick off a another fascinating part of this
offseason is who is going to be the next manager
of the Braves and then what does their coaching staff
(25:06):
behind them look like? Because those are massive questions as well,
just another massive, massive piece of what is going to
be a massive, massive offseason for the Braves and Muted buddy.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
Everybody has in their mind that you know, when it
comes to you know, that window of opportunity, that window
of competing, and the Braves have had an extended one,
the Braves run of being a true contender. It's not
over with in my mind by any means, but it's
been going on for nearly a decade. You know, we're
coming up on you know, I know they're not going
to make the playoffs this year, but it lasted for
(25:43):
seven years. That's an extended period of time for an
organization and while everybody kind of envisions going up a
little bit, going up a little bit, going up a
little bit each year, to you have that two or
three year window too, you really are a World Series favorite.
The Braves kind of peaked early in twenty twenty one,
and ever since it's just kind of gone, yeah, restly downhill,
(26:03):
trouble in the playoffs, trouble being able to stay healthy,
offense falling off a cliff last year and then this year,
everything just kind of all falling to bottom at times.
When you have that occur over as long as stretch
as we've had it, which basically is four years now
since we won the World Series, it's time that the
staying with the current regime it's run stale. Just having
(26:26):
something new in and of itself can have value. So
it's going to be very interesting to see what the
Braves do on that end. One other small but significant
discussion that Alex and Tooplass talked about was he talked
about Ryce cel Iglesias and how good ry sel Iglesias
has been in the second half of the year, very
much compared you know, Iglesias has been to the level
(26:47):
that he was all of last year in terms of
how successful he's been on the mound, and Alex and
Thopless was asked about the fact that you have any
regrets about not trading Iglesias at the trade deadline, and
Alex basically repeated what he said at the trade deadline.
We were not going to trade players just for salary relief.
We were only going to trade players if we were
able to get prospects to help us in the future. Now,
(27:09):
I mentioned to Brad Steven when we were talking about
the Hassan Kim. Addition, we've now also had a Jake Frayley, Kim,
Alexis Diaz, players who formerly were successful major league players
who could potentially be a part of next year's team.
How the Braves have been active on the waiver wire
has made me be less concern about their inactiveness at
the trade deadline. But I do think that it's very
(27:30):
interesting when it comes to Alex and Thoppless. He's not
going to make a move for salary relief. That I
don't want to read too much into, but at the
very least, it lets me know that money may not
necessarily be as big of a concern as many of
us think that it is. Number One and number two,
he values continuity in terms of players that he knows
(27:51):
he could be successful here. We would rather than be
here than them not. And I think that adds value
in a positive way for this team that certainly seems
to value continuity highly.
Speaker 2 (28:04):
I imagine there the people that are kicking themselves about
not adding iglesias are the other teams more than and
Doppless is kicking himself about not dealing them. I mean,
the offers you get are the offers you get. Like
you you know, you have no control over what offers
you get. Now, I will say I think the Braves.
(28:26):
I think one reason the Braves didn't get the offers
that they wanted to get was because the Braves were
not willing to pay down the contracts. I have not
been able to confirm that at any point, but I
do believe that's the case where they just weren't willing,
and I think that impacted the offers they got. And
I think that's why anytime Alice is talking about it,
has talked about those potential deals, he's always said the
(28:46):
same thing, which is the only thing teams were offering
were salary relief, which means he was asking them to
take on the full salary, and I think that did
impact both of those guys market. But listen, if I'm
a player team, I'm pretty pissed at myself if especially
if I've had bullpinch, you know, disruption since the trade deadline.
(29:10):
I knew it. I mean, Glaciers has just got such
a long track record of success and at the highest
levels of this game, in in the ninth inning and
high leverage like and there's just not a lot of
those guys out there available at any trade deadline. And
the fact that no one was interested for seven million
bucks or whatever he was. I think it was like
six million bucks actually for whatever he had left on
(29:32):
his deal for the last two months of the season.
It's still very surprising to me. And I mean, there's
nothing you can do about it now, you know, I
hate that the Braves are spending this six million dollars
just letting Iglacias pitch on a bad team. I would
have much other than spent it by sending it to
another team so that they would have sent us some prospects,
but that's not the way they chose to go. So,
(29:52):
you know, it is what it is. There's nothing the
Braves can do about it, but I guarantee you there
are teams around the league that are are looking back
on the trade down wishing they would have been a
little more aggressive on Aglecias, especially given the state of
some of the bullpens around baseball at the moment.
Speaker 1 (30:08):
And to be honest with you, I would love to
have Iglecias back, but that's kind of another byproduct for.
Speaker 2 (30:13):
All of this.
Speaker 1 (30:13):
With how good he's had at the end of the season,
I imagine that, you know, he certainly could be looking,
you know, to have a closer spot somewhere, and if
that's for us, that's great, but it's not off the
table to where he certainly can give him the multi
year deal where he's making double digit salary each year.
Excuse me, you know, more than ten million average annual value.
(30:33):
I don't necessarily know where that works into the brace
fan it plans it would be cheaper, But let me
put it this way, rycell Iglesias, I would be more
than happy to have him back, even in the closed role,
with how well he's into the season. But that's kind
of lower on the totem poll after all the other
things that we talked about that add to what again,
is going to be a fascinating season or off season
for the Braves. But there's still a little bit of
(30:55):
this season left, and there still is some exciting moments
to be able to watch, and perhaps the most exciting
moment will take place tomorrow in Game two of the
series against the Cubs. We'll discuss that in just a
moment after another word from our partners.
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Speaker 1 (32:10):
So, Stephen, of course, you know we have talked about
it nearly on a weekly basis, and it's for good reason,
because it's actually become a bigger storyline than many of
us had hoped. But it still remains one that could
really work out well for the Braves. We talk about
certainty added to the off season, having an extra pick
to work with and adding to our slot total. There
(32:32):
are our money total that we could use and what
should be a very deep draft next year that would
be a great development and all that. Of course rids
on Drake Baldwin winning Rookie.
Speaker 2 (32:42):
Of the Year.
Speaker 1 (32:42):
And I bring that up because Drake Baldwin right now
is actually second you know, me and you have talked
about it multiple times over the past month. Where the
odds are currently currently, Cade Horton of the Cubs is
a slight favorite ahead of Drake Baldwin. And the thing
is is that tomorrow they'll be facing each other for
the second time in a week. Cad Horton will be
on the mound. He pitched last week against the Braves
(33:04):
through five excellent innings against Atlanta. He'll be on the
mound tomorrow for the Cubs. Drake Baldwin, of course, now
likely will be playing mostly every day when it comes
to what he did another you know, great night tonight,
or at least in his first at bat, a really
awesome opportunity for Braves fans to witness tomorrow. And you're
hoping that if Drake Baldwin can put another hot streak together,
(33:25):
he'll be able to win the Rookie of the Year
award and get that extra draft pick for the Braves.
Speaker 2 (33:31):
Yep, Cad Horton versus Drake Baldwin Part two. Obviously, the
Braid has just played the Cubs last week, so and
Kate Horton came out and threw he actually threw a
no hitter for the first five innings, got pulled at
seventy five pitches. That is notable that you know, you
probably should keep that in mind that he is on
a pretty strict pitch count. The Cubs are not playing
(33:52):
around with his pitch count at all. So and I
don't know if it'll be seventy five pitches like it
was last week, or if it'd be more or less.
But you know, if you if you're the Braves, you
have to know, like, if you work this guy's count
a little bit in the first three or four innings,
you have a very good chance of getting him out
of the game. And they're not gonna let him throw
ninety one hundred, one hundred and ten pitches. They've shown that,
(34:12):
so you know, the Braves have been much better taking walks.
Let's have a patient approach tomorrow, maybe try to get
this kid out. He's very talented, Like you said, he
is the front runner for Rookie of the Year right now.
He's just pitched insanely well. And the Cubs are a
better team than the Braves, and so the Cubs are
playing in more high impact games than the Braves, and
(34:35):
you know, Drake's just got to be that much better.
When you're on a bad team, you know, is that fair?
Probably not, but that's just the way it is. He's
got to be that much better. And you know, I
do think if the voting were today, you know, just
because of the Vegas odds doesn't mean it's written in stone,
like if the voting were today, Drake Baldock would still
very much win. I think Kate Horton would win. But
(34:59):
I could I could be wrong. He could be the
leader in the clubhouse for all we know. You know,
we're not going to know until the voting, but days
like tomorrow that you know, his teammates could really help
him out by putting an eight spot on Kate Horton
in the first three innings and Drake going you know,
three for three with a couple of doubles. You know,
anything like that will help his cause because it is
(35:20):
a neck and neck. I mean, even if you think
Drake Baldwin is ahead right now, it is not by much.
It is a tight race. And you know, we've already
laid out multiple times on the show why it matters
for the Braves that Drake Baldwin wins this award. So
tomorrow's a big kind of chapter of that story. Is
is Horton Versus Baldwin Part two.
Speaker 1 (35:42):
And the other thing I want to add to this
discussion is that, yes, the draft pick coming with Drake Baldwin,
we make it seem as if that's even more important
than Drake Baldwin himself winning Rookie of the Year, and
yet it's a what it means a lot to the organization.
It would be a nice little consolation prize from what
we've experienced this year. But to add to the reason
why I think Drake Baldwin deserves it over Kate Horton,
(36:05):
Drake Baldwin has been doing this all year as a catcher,
playing not every day, but he's played in big moments
and is delivered in big moments. And to me, the
other thing that stands out about Drake Baldwin, He's in
his rookie year. He's been consistent for the most part
all season long. And his numbers, his underlying numbers, those
metrics that we always talk about, they support what he's done.
(36:29):
They show that what he's done is legitimate. He may
even be underperforming a bit what he actually should be doing.
So for those reasons, I feel Drake Baldwin is definitely
in position to win and deserves to win the Rookie
of the Year contest. It likely is going to take
another hot streak and hopefully that occurs starting Tomorrow night
against Horton directly. Also want to talk about tonight's game, Stephen,
(36:51):
because it was a good victory. The Braves got a
needed victory. Much like Friday night. They faced a quality
picture on the mound, a team that's in position to
make the playoffs, and they look like they belonged. Ozzie
Albi's went deep with another left handed hitter again. I
know many are pointing out that how he's hitting against
right hand how he's hitting right handed against left handed pitching,
(37:14):
That may be the most positive indicator of all We're
getting back to Ozzie being Ozzie. But I also want
to put the spotlight on Bryce Selder, who gets some
pretty legitimate competition, has been absolutely outstanding his past four starts.
I don't think that means he gets a rotation spot
next year. I don't think it means anything significant. But
when we talk about as many Braves as possible ending
(37:35):
the year in as good a way as possible, Bryce
Elder is certainly taking advantage of that. He was in
command tonight, and he got the job done against a
pretty legitimate opponent.
Speaker 2 (37:45):
I'm not sure there is any pitcher in baseball with
a higher range of outcomes than Bryce Elder. I quite literally,
anything could happen in a Bryce Elder start, and I
would kind of believe it. I'd be like, yeah, that's
you know. He could give up nine runs before recording
it out, he could throw one hitter and anything in between,
and I'd be like, yeah, I mean that makes sense.
(38:07):
The dude is there's not a soul on the planet
that can figure out what Bryce Selder is or what
he's gonna do next, because we've seen him go on heaters,
we've seen him go on i mean just fall off
a mountain, and tonight he was really good. He's been
really good, like four starts in a row, three or
four starts in a row. It gets really good teams.
(38:31):
So I don't know what to make of it. I
don't think the Braves know what to make of it.
I don't think Bryce Seldon knows what to make I'm
guessing he's as confused as the rest of us as
to what happens on a night to night start for him.
But he pitched well tonight, and the offense did enough.
You know, you still got a Cunya batting six, which
we're not going to get. The whole thing tonight still
annoys me, but it is what it is at this point.
(38:52):
You know, Brian Snicker clearly thinks it's a way to
get him out of his funk. Whatever the offense did enough.
Matt Olsen had a another homer. Medalson is heating back up.
He had a really slow August. He's heating back up.
Ronnie did break his over streak, he did have an
RBS single tonight. Drake Baldwin had a double. Ozzie Albi
(39:12):
said another homer, So you know, it was a good start.
We're gonna talk about Spitzer Strider here in a second
in the show, But yeah, the offense did enough. We
need the office to be more consistent. It would be
lovely to see Ronnie come all the way back before
the season ends. But Bryce elder Man, I don't know,
I have no answers I have I don't even know.
I don't even I don't even know how to begin
(39:34):
to give an answer about Bryce selder Just every single start,
anything can happen, and in a lot of ways. That
makes him the most interesting man on the team. Literally,
any outcome on any given night is attainable for him,
and it's it's wild. It's wild to watch, quite honestly.
Speaker 1 (39:52):
Yeah, it's a year of riddles, right, Like we talked about,
this has been one big question mark all year and
the Braves had just come out the last three weeks
of the season and just wear a question mark on
their hats. That's what they should do, because that's been
one big question mark. But after all of today's action, Steaven,
after all of today's news, all today's action, and then
(40:12):
again it's it's been a mixed bag of positive and negative,
but at least it ended well on the field. The
biggest question of all, and I think this may be
of the season. The hell happened to Spencer Strider's mustache? Seriously,
it's just it's different. Listen, I'm here for change, I'm
(40:34):
here for trying something new. But but the man looked
like he could whoop bass against anybody with that mustache,
and I'm sure that he still can, but it's just
it's a different look. He looks ten years younger that
that stash was like one of the it was like
one of the biggest, like the most identifying features in
Baseball Strider's stash. When you saw that, it struck fear
(41:00):
in hitters everywhere. Just I miss the stash.
Speaker 2 (41:06):
I'll tell you this. That mustache. I don't know what
it is about it. Maybe it's because he's got a
really really dark hair, maybe it's because it's like jet black.
But it like changes his whole face. Like if Spencer
Strider committed a crime with the mustache and then shaved
(41:28):
and was like on the run the rest of his life,
he would never be caught because that looks like two
different human beings. Like I thought that was like Pete
Alonzo's son, Like they he looks exactly like Pete Alans.
It's the weirdest thing I've ever seen. Yeah, you know
they shout him in the dugout. It's like he's playing
out like the whole Major League Ricky Vaughan storyline, except
(41:48):
it's with the instead of a mustache, that's with the
black glasses that Ricky Vaughan had. You know, he took
him off for the second one and he lost all
his powers, and he put him back on at the end.
Maybe we'll see the mustache return next year. I don't
know it was. I mean it was. It was weird
as hell. I mean, he really he looked twelve. He
looked like a ball boy, said, I made the joke.
He looked like Bennie the Jet Rodriguez was about to
(42:09):
teach him how to throw a baseball. That's I mean,
he it's crazy how much that mustache like changes his face.
So yeah, I mean he's kind of having one of
those years where, like, you know, it's like a high
school girl who breaks up with her boyfriend and cuts
all her hair off. Like he's having like that kind
of you know, existential crisis kind of year where he's like,
(42:29):
you know what, screw it, nothing else is going right
this year. We're going with a new look. And there were,
honest to god, people were as mad about that as
anything that's happened all year long. People love that mustache.
That mustache had its own Twitter I had multiple Twitter accounts.
It's gotta I mean, it's its own celebrity at this point.
(42:49):
So it was a shocking, shocking turn of events.
Speaker 1 (42:56):
I'm still in shock. Yeah, kill me, Strider, You're kill me.
Just don't make it. Foreverse even did there I did.
Speaker 2 (43:03):
I picked up all that I had to give a.
Speaker 1 (43:06):
Little sandlot, you know, shout outs. Now, listen, I'm I
don't ever think this will get back to Spencer Strider,
but if anybody ever expresses to Spencer Strider our reactions
to him being without his mustache, I want to make
it clear, if he ever asked directly, it looks absolutely fantastic,
best decision he's ever made. I keep it that way
(43:28):
if he prefers. All joking aside, we want to end
the show on a bit of a hilarious note, because listen,
we deserve a bit of hilarious in our lives right
now as Braves fans. But it was a change, and
it's one of those changes that you're just not prepared for. Man,
even if I would have gotten a week's notice, I
still would not have been prepared for it. But no, Hey,
at the very least, let's put it this way, the
(43:50):
end of the season for the Braves, I think has
been a bit more eventful than any of us had anticipated.
Maybe not necessarily all in a positive way, but at
the very least has been eventful. Stephen, do you have
anything else for us as we wrap up this edition?
The Hammer Territory podcast.
Speaker 2 (44:05):
No, and I guess we should mention that obviously. We
talked about Kate Horton pitching for the Cub tomorrow. Tomorrow,
Spencer Strider pitches for the Braves, and then Chris Sale
is on Wednesday, day off Thursday, and then the Astroals
come to town. So you're gonna you're gonna get another
Spencer Strider started to mark. Striders start tomorrow. Just another
(44:25):
data point to watch. I'm curious to see, you know.
The outing he had against I think Miami was decent.
The next one not quite as good. They pushed him
back a couple of days. There was some speculation on
whether he was hurt. I don't think he's hurt. So
it's just gonna be just see what he looks like tomorrow,
and that's gonna be the big thing. And then we moved,
you know to Chris Sale, and then the Astroals come
(44:46):
to town for the weekend.
Speaker 1 (44:48):
Yeah, you know, and it looks like that what we
could be seeing, what we could be lining up to
see is over the next three games. You know, we
talked about it last week. The Braves are gonna get
the opportunity to really see where they stand. It didn't
work out well against Seattle, But see where some of
these individual players stand. You know, again, more about the
process over the results. Right now, See where there's some
of these individual players stand. You've got Spencer Strider facing
(45:09):
the Cubs for a second straight start, a playoff team
they saw him last start. What can he do adjustment
wise to maintain success at least in terms of run prevention.
You've got Chris Sale on the mount tomorrow against the
Cubs and then Hirston Waldrip on the mound against the
Astros on Friday. So plenty to watch board this week,
of course, going along with Drake Baldwin hopefully having a
(45:30):
great week. Listen, Ken, thank you enough for joining us
here on the Hammer Territory podcast. We're always here to
cover with the Braves, always here to deliver content, hopefully
in a fun and informative way, sometimes in a not
so fun way if a rant or two is involved,
though a lot of time it's certainly warranted. For Steven Tolverd,
you could find him at b Underscore Outliers on Twitter
(45:51):
slash x. My name is Sean Coleman. You could find
me at Stat's Sac Hammer Territory Tory across all forms
of social media, part of the Foul Territory family of
podcast Shout out to Brad Rowlands, shout out to Scott Coleman,
shout out to Grant McCauley who was an awesome guest
on Sunday, and shout out to the Braves. A hell
of a day off the field and on the field.
(46:11):
Hopefully Sean Murphy comes back better than ever.
Speaker 4 (46:15):
Rain.
Speaker 1 (46:15):
Until next time, go Braves. We'll talk to you again
soon here on the Hammer Territory Pot