Exploring Extensions for Ronald Acuña Jr. and Drake Baldwin

00:00:19
Speaker 1: Welcome one and all to the Humber Territory Podcast. My name is Sean Coleman. Hope, wherever you are and wherever you are listening, you are having a great week. It's hard to believe that we're already almost in March of twenty twenty six, but spring training is here in folks. What that means is it's nothing but consistent baseball for what the next seven plus months. And we've got plenty to talk about when it comes to the first week of spring training.

00:00:46
Speaker 2: But before we.

00:00:46
Speaker 1: Get into what's going on on the field, big news this week from the Braves is that they extended ace Chris Sale and now have him in the fold for at least the next three seasons. But with Chris Sale now extended, are there any other potential players, potential major players for the president in the future for the Braves that it could make sense to explore extensions with The number one name that comes to mind is Ronald 'cunu Junior. Let's talk about a potential extension as we mix it up engineered by Fasten All Ah. Yes, but extension times are here. I think there's two times during the year, Steven when extensions occur typically you see it like after the trade deadline in August. I know that July August area alex and Thopolis has done some moves there and then also of course spring training. But now with Chris Hill extended, which was indeed which was an obvious one one that you had to do. It's something so obvious now, right because you've got so many owners, you've got so many extensions already on your roster from previous seasons. But it really does make sense to at least start thinking about the future of Ronald acudi Juor now he's under contract for three more seasons. So this is nothing that you have to do immediately, nothing that is a must right now, but I think that it is at least worth talking about because he is the biggest factor into the Braves being successful again, as I've stated many times, have you stated many times, there is no singular bigger factor to the Braves getting back to be in the contender that Ronald Acudiu Jr's performance, and you certainly would to keep that around as long as possible.

00:02:34
Speaker 2: Yep.

00:02:34
Speaker 3: So, uh, Scott and I did the show on Tuesday and we got the news of course at Chris Selle is signing the extension and.

00:02:44
Speaker 2: Not shocking news by any means.

00:02:45
Speaker 3: We kind of saw it coming, talked about it multiple times this offseason, where you know, he's the Ason staff and he only had one year of team control left, which was twenty twenty six, and if you're gonna get some done, you need to get some done now because once he once the season starts, probably gonna walk. So it wasn't a move necessarily that we knew was coming immediately, but it was a move that we expected.

00:03:08
Speaker 2: And now that that one.

00:03:09
Speaker 3: Is out of the way, it is very there's a very obvious question to ask, and that's who's next and when your star when you're franchise player.

00:03:19
Speaker 2: In Ronald Cooney Jr.

00:03:21
Speaker 3: Is now on the team option portion of his contract right like the from here to the end of his deal, he's on the seventeen million dollar team options. He's signed this ridiculous team friendly contract back when he was a prosper or not a prospect, but a really young major leaguer, one of the most team friendly deals in the history of the game, quite honestly, and even when you factor in the two acls that he's that he's torn, it's just been a steal of a contract for the braz I mean, they've gotten an MVP season, they've got, you know, the amount of production they've gotten, They've the most they've ever paid him is seventeen million dollars in any one season, and that's the most they'll pay him to the end of this contract, which is just an absurd bargain. And so now we're to the point where, and CJ said it on the on the broadcast the other day, we're entering Ronald Curere Junior's ninth season in the majors, which is crazy. I don't know if I've heard something that made me feel as old as that. Because I'm in I can remember his debut vividly, like I remember like it was yesterday when he was in Cincinnati and that homer he hit in that first series.

00:04:27
Speaker 2: So it just time flies, and.

00:04:29
Speaker 3: I can't believe already coming up on the end of this deal, this is the next big one. Like Chris Sale had to get done because he was a a pending free agent, Acunus is not that urgent. He's still got twenty six, twenty seven, twenty eight all under team control. But it's close enough now where it's it's gonna be a topic of conversation. And so I think, yeah, as we sit here today, next con next extension that needs to be talked about.

00:04:55
Speaker 2: It's Ronald Currier Jr.

00:04:57
Speaker 3: And Man, there's some fascinating aspects to what a potential deal for him could look like.

00:05:02
Speaker 1: Yeah, and there's so many factors that go into this. And the thing about it is is that, like there are several factors that could be explored, you can do a full show on just one or two of the factors that'll be, you know, in the future, something that we'll certainly, you know, look into. But a couple that stand out to me. Number one, when you consider all the factors that add to the complexity of looking at an extension for Ronald Acuna Junior, the first thing that stands out is it's going to require the Braves to go out of their norm right. It's going to be just just in terms of the contract value itself. If an extension occurs, it's going to be far beyond anything the Braves have ever done, this regime has ever done, or how they've operated. You look also at the fact that they've also been willing to let stars walk in recent past, Freddie Priman, Dansby Swonts, and Max Read because they just were not going to pay them what you know their market would allow. Now all of those have left in free agency, which is an important I'll let you get more into that, versus looking to offer an extension. But the other factor that I think is worth noting is that it is so rare, not just for the Braves, but in terms of baseball history itself for a player to be multiple years beyond that initial six years of control that every player starts out their career having, and still having multiple years left on their current contracts for them to look at an extension. Ronald kccuna Junior still has three years left on his current contracts, and I know many in Brave's country want him to be a Brave for life, which makes perfect sense. I want that as well, But it's just so rare when it comes to a player being at the point in his career that Ronald is on, with the amount of control he has left on his current contracts for them to sign an extension, because there's so much that could happen for the remainder of his contract. One fun note, though, is that the last close example of a player doing that would be Miguil Cabrera back in believe in the twenty fourteen offseason. At that time, Cabrera still had two years left on the contract that he was on, and he did sign, to believe a ten year or eight year, eight or ten year extension with two years left on his current contract. I believe that he had two years left on his contract then signed an eight year extension. Of course, that's a notable name because we know the connection he has with Ronald. So if there's one player that's done it, it's been Miguel Cabrera. That could be a reference point for Ronald. But again, it's just so rare for a player to sign an extension where they are currently where Ronald is currently in terms of his career contract status.

00:07:37
Speaker 3: Well, yeah, and he came up so early, right, and he immediately signed that long extension, and so he's kind of at a place where a lot of players never get to because most players don't come up at the age he did. Most players don't sign a ten year, nine year extension at the age he did. So yeah, he's kind of a unique case. He's had the major knee injuries that matters he plays in the outfield. Listen, outfielders are harder to judge long term. It's just easier to peg where guys who play on the dirt are gonna be in ten years because you can always move them the third base or first base. In the outfield, it's a little different, right. And then you do have the DH now, which helps a little. And then the interesting thing with Ronald is so he's got three years of team control left twenty six, twenty seven to twenty eight, so there's not urgency to.

00:08:22
Speaker 2: Do it immediately.

00:08:24
Speaker 3: But here's the deal. Ronald's coming off his second ACL and last year was a good season, but obviously he only played like one hundred games or so, and so you might if you do it now, you might get a little bit of a discount just because you know he's not coming off.

00:08:39
Speaker 2: An MVP season.

00:08:41
Speaker 3: If you wait a year and try to do it with two years left on the deal and do it next offseason, you might run into a situation or Ronald just put up an eight win season, a nine win season, which case I don't even know if the Braves could afford him at that point. I mean, we've never seen the Braves go into the three hundred million, four hundred million dollar range before. And I don't know if that's what Acuna would cost, but I'm I'm guessing that's what Acuona would cost. He's coming off a nine win, he's you know, he's just won his second MVP.

00:09:10
Speaker 2: I mean, you talk about crazy expensive.

00:09:12
Speaker 3: So it is a it's a fascinating subject, and I'm I would love to know where the Braves stand on this because the injury history matters, right, you gotta consider it again. And he's he's playing in the outfield. You know, where are you gonna put him if he if he tears up another knee? Is he just a DH for the rest of his career? Like, that's a question that you have to answer before you give the guy a ten year deal worth you know, three hundred, four hundred million dollars, three or four one hundred million dollars. So it is a fascinating question. I do think it's more likely to happen next offseason, But I do think the Braids are taking a little bit of risk because if the guy goes out and has a monster year, there's a very good chance he's gonna price himself out of Atlanta. And I just can't think of a I can't think of an image I want to see less than Ronald Acuna Junior running around in like.

00:09:56
Speaker 2: A Dodger's uniform.

00:09:58
Speaker 3: It just makes me sick to my stomach all and I'm going to be fascinating to see where this negotiation goes.

00:10:05
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that the five largest contracts in terms of total value in history are Shohey Soto, the extension that Vlad Guerrero signed, Mike Trout and Will as well as Aaron Judge. And that's natural because it just the contracts just get more as you go along, and so that's going to be your comparables from from a price standpoint, right, those players that I mentioned, I don't know.

00:10:29
Speaker 3: The Judges contract specifically is one that I think they would probably try to link it to.

00:10:34
Speaker 1: He signed nine years, four hundred and sixty million. Now, of course Judge was a few more years over because he started out so in his midjorities basically, But that Judge Trout area, I think is where it makes sense. And Trout is an interesting case study for potential Ronald you know extension, because don't get me wrong, Ronald through this point in his career, even when healthy, has not been to the level of Mike Trout. But when you look at how Ronald's career has gone, and if you go every hundred games, the offensive print of his career, of the offensive production, that he's reached those thresholds. The only one that's done it or come close to it is Mike Trout. Mike Trout signed that what thirteen twelve thirteen year, four hundred million dollars four and twenty million dollars dear deal I think two years before he was a free agent, so Ronald would be ex signing a bit more into his career, but I think that that range, that ten to twelve, probably around four hundred million, would be a starting point of getting the conversation started for Ronald. But the thing you also have to consider is look at how Trout has aged, look at how his contract has developed over time. It's not aged gracefully. It's not then you know the best value in terms of contract. So that's another thing to keep in mind. Again, I don't know how close I am when it comes to numbers, but it just goes to show just how complex, how how many factors have to go into making this be the right move for both the Kunya Junior and the Braves, And that's the reason why I think you probably wait another.

00:12:04
Speaker 2: Year or so.

00:12:05
Speaker 1: But to your point, it could be risky, but of course there's gonna be risk no matter which way you go.

00:12:08
Speaker 3: Yeah, and yeah, a lot of these deals don't age well, right, you got to get the value in the front end. The Braves obviously have gotten a ton of value already out of Ucunia on a really third cheap contract, so maybe they could justify it a little bit more that way. But yeah, I mean, you're you kind of got to know that the last two or three years of these dealers are not gonna be great. So and like you said, Trout, you've just been hurt, and outfielders get hurt, like their legs matter a lot more than third basement or first basement. Like there's the reason they move Bryce Harper to the infield. So just it's something to keep in mind that the outfield portion of this makes it even more complicated than then it otherwise would be. So it's just gonna be an interesting thing to watch.

00:12:45
Speaker 1: But at the end of the day, it's just it's hard to really see moving on, you know. Three years from now without Ronald acuni junior. The good thing is you have time. But as we get towards it being more of a reality in the next six to twelve months and beyond, it's really going to be fascinating conversation as we move forward. But while there's many different things to consider when it comes to potentially extending Ronald 'cunya Junior, one thing that you should be certain about is trusting fasten All fasten All Industrial supplies, innovative solutions. Want to learn more, visit fastenoll dot com.

00:13:20
Speaker 2: So Stephen.

00:13:21
Speaker 1: When it comes to these potential extensions that we want to talk about, it's not just about ronaldccunyea junior, right, It's another one that's really fun to think about is Drake Baldwin because to me, he naturally would be after ronald'cony junior, the next guy that you would want to explore. And I think that one of the biggest reasons why it makes sense to explore Drake Baldwin again, very little chance it happens now but maybe in the next year or so, is because of the potential with the bat I think that the Braves probably could look at Drake Baldwin comfortably being behind the plate or at least another six seven, you know, maybe eight years or beyond. Maybe for the next decade. He could be a reliable catcher defensively, but it's the bat that we saw being so good in so many situations. Locking that into place into the twenty thirties, into his thirties would be a really awesome development for this team because once again you're adding a good source of offense to the core you already have in place, which we know in this era of the Braves is going will it's when they have a high powered offense as they're calling card.

00:14:30
Speaker 3: Yeah, So obviously an extension with Drake is on the other end of the spectrum where Acunya is approaching the extremely expensive part of his career, Drake is just starting his career, so he's in the dirt cheap part of his career right. He's still a pre arbitration player, basically a league minimum player, and the Braves can just keep reopening him, I think probably for this year and next year.

00:14:51
Speaker 2: So the Braves have all the leverage.

00:14:53
Speaker 3: In these conversations like teams do over players you know that are just starting out, so there's no rush here. You know, obviously, the earlier to do it probably the better bargain you get. You know, if Drake goes on to have another like one thirty WRC plus kind of season as a catcher, it's gonna get more and more expensive obviously, So the earlier you do it, the better you're gonna get in terms of a deal. I will say this about the extensions, and this is probably something we should have brought up more back when the bradsers signing all of these extensions, is, even if individually all of them are team friendly, when you add them all up collectively, the risk goes up because you have so much less.

00:15:34
Speaker 2: Flexibility on your roster. You're just locked into more players.

00:15:38
Speaker 3: Like even if on an individual basis, none of them are bad contracts, as a collective they give you less flexibility overall. So with that being the case, and what's happened to the offense the last couple of years, I am curious to know where Alex stands on, like, you know, maybe because anytime the Braves want to upgrade an offensive position, they're kind of stuck on these extensions because like, well, I can't up because we gave the guy a five year extension or whatever. And you know, I don't think that's gonna happen with Baldwin. I think Baldwin's gonna be a pretty good hitter for most of his career. But if you don't have to sign the extension, if you've got this much team control in front of him, I do wonder if you wait, even though it might cost you a little extra money. I think maybe the added flexibility of not having that money on the.

00:16:22
Speaker 2: Books is gonna matter. I don't know, I could be wrong.

00:16:25
Speaker 3: I would love to know what they think about that, because you know, they could probably get him pretty chap right now, because you just design any leverage and negotiations, which is just the nature of how contrasts work in baseball.

00:16:34
Speaker 2: But it's a fan that's another.

00:16:36
Speaker 3: You know, if Acuna is not, If Acunya is one, then Baldwin's probably two. Now that sale is done. You know that's probably one and two. Have got the most interesting names to think about. Are the brains gonna try to get something done long term?

00:16:48
Speaker 1: And I think that's the biggest pro and comm when it comes to Drake bald When you know, the pro is that even if you do sounding to an extension, you would get the first few years at a relatively cheap cost because if we're in terms of team control, so he really wouldn't be coinciding with more of the richer contracts that the Braves have. You also, of course have in there the factor that you have Sean Murphy signed for fifteen meters per for the next three years, and then that's something certainly to consider. And if Baldwin did sign an extension, his salary does not you know what counts towards the payroll that matters. I guess you could say is not what he earns each year. It's the average of the extension. So quite a bit goes into this thought process. Again to your point, that's why probably a year from now it makes sense. But again I go back to I do think in time it really does make sense to Baldwin up again, I know that too many extensions, too much of a good thing, you eventually run into the law of diminishing returns. And we've seen that with Riley, we've seen that with Harris, seen it with Alby's over the past couple of years. But as some of those contracts, you know, potentially you know you're going to free up a lot of money next year, so you still have some flex ability you potentially could, you know, in time trade Sean Murphy. I think that there are things that you can do to make a Baldwin extension make sense in time. But again I go back to more than anything, if the Braves were really looking to want to lock in the offense, give the offense the best boost that it can, being able to get some of those free agency years for Baldwin could make sense, and if it, if not now, I definitely think that the priority of making Baldwin an extension candidate. It doesn't approach a couna junior, but he becomes a bigger priority as time goes on.

00:18:43
Speaker 3: Yeah, and you'd have to remember, like Profile is gonna come off the books while Baldwin is still pretty cheap. Murphy has got three years left. So by the time Baldwin gets to arbitration, Murphy's about off the books. Heremsey's gonna be off the books by then, so you're gonna have some money to play with, you know. Olsen and Riley obviously are locked up for a long time, but I think Streider's got three years left, so he might be off the books by then, so you have money to play with the only other thing you have to consider is that you know, catchers age different.

00:19:14
Speaker 2: It's just a much more physically demanding position. You can really.

00:19:20
Speaker 3: You can either have catchers that really have great long jevy like you see Salvago Perez or Yadie E Molina, or you see guys who drop off really hard after thirty. And I've seen both, so I don't know if it's more risky. Maybe that's anecdotal, but you just gotta be careful with catchers because they're just the wear and tear on them is so much more than anybody else. It obviously helps in the brave situation that they really do it by tandem. Quite a bet it would help a lot of Sean Murphy kind of woke back up and was healthy and could split time with Drake. But yeah, it's gonna be interesting. I definitely know think it'll be this offseason. I wouldn't even expect it next off sea. It might it might be like two off seasons from now, once arbitration is kind of staring them in the face because even then they still got a ton of leverage, and by then you got a new CBA. You got more contracts coming off the books, maybe they can justify it a little bit more.

00:20:08
Speaker 2: But I agree with you.

00:20:09
Speaker 3: Listen, the offense has been a problem the last years, and Baldwin has been a monster. So and if he does it again this year, it's a guy you just got to you gotta keep.

00:20:17
Speaker 2: So it's gonna be to see what they do. Man.

00:20:20
Speaker 1: The other thing is when you consider it if if Baldwin were to get into his thirties towards the end of a potential extension and he were to struggle defensively, well, now you're looking at Akuna Junior, Baldwin, Riley as well as Olsen, who probably three to five years from now, all continue to make more sense. Being in that DH row you there for a few years, you're really locked in to a bunch of guys who aren't really contributing. They're probably negating from their offensive value through their defensive value. I can understand wanted to avoid long term kind of that bottleneck as well. Numbers wise, though, I think it's a fun case study to look at. When it comes to Baldwin, you know, he's definitely not gonna sign a contract. I don't think that just takes care of his arbitration years, like a really cheap contract like Savador Pez or Yaddie evernlen And did several years back. He's not to the point, nor has he established the overall long term production that a Will Smith or a Buster Posey did when they signed eight to nine hundred and fifty million dollar extensions with the Dodgers and in the Giants in the past. Probably the best comparable is the one that happened last year, Samuel Massaio of the Orioles. Now he is much more of a power prospect, younger, three plus years younger. I don't think that he's as thought of defensively as a catcher. But he's signed an eight year, sixty eight million dollar extension similar to the extension Michael Harris has. He's signed an eight year, sixty eight million dollar extension before he even started his career last year. I think that if you approach Baldwin with that type of contract extension again, it's a conversation starter. Say he puts up another three to four win year this year one hundred and twenty WRC plus, then maybe you're possibly talking about a six seven year, ninety two one hundred million dollar extension. That probably is what you're looking is the scale up of a potential extension looking like for Baldwin. But I agree with you at the end of the day, Stephen, I think for Baldwin's case, especially with how big of a priority a Cootie is and what his cost is going to be, you focus on getting to COOTI done. Then you worry about Baldwood. So this may be a conversation that won't come to actual reality for multiple years if it even does.

00:22:33
Speaker 2: Yeah, and listen, and Baldwin's fantastic.

00:22:38
Speaker 3: This is This is nothing against Baldwin, but you just have to be so careful, especially when you don't know what this new CBA is going to be.

00:22:43
Speaker 2: You just got to be.

00:22:44
Speaker 3: Careful dishing out so much guaranteed money to so many different position players.

00:22:50
Speaker 2: You know, I haven't looked.

00:22:52
Speaker 3: I would think just the Braves have more money locked up into extensions than just about any other team. I can't think of a team that's that's done this as aggressively. And I will say this, the Braves do have a bit of a formula on these extensions. It's always like we'll give you, you know, more money than you would have made otherwise in your first three years, but in exchange, we want two of your free agent years covered in the extension.

00:23:17
Speaker 2: We probably want a club option at the end.

00:23:19
Speaker 3: Like there's a formula that they've used for all these deals, so you know you can you can pretty easily build one out that that. You know, it just comes down to Drake's is Drake's representation or is Drake interested in doing anything like that. He did come up as a little a little bit older of a prospect. I think he debuted at twenty four, So he's going to be a guy that if he goes to free agency, it's going to be like thirty one, which is obviously on the wrong side of where you get big money. So he might be a guy that's more interested in an extension than somebody who came up at like twenty one.

00:23:49
Speaker 2: So we'll see. It's you know, I don't I don't expect it at all this offseason. I really don't expect it next offseason.

00:23:55
Speaker 3: I imagine they're gonna want to see what they get out of Sean Murphy the next couple of years. Get through some of these other extensions, get a coonia paid or not paid, I guess is the other option there. Like you said, they have let stars walk, and then you can kind of decide which You've got so much time with Dre. You still got like five years of team control with Drake, so you got plenty of time.

00:24:13
Speaker 2: There's no need to rush this one.

00:24:15
Speaker 1: Yeah, agreed. But the whole thing is coming to the realization that these conversations are going to start carrying more legitimacy as we go into the future, and they should. Right again, you talk about several of those players, Steven that you know, Sell Strier, you know Murphy, Several of these players are going to see their contracts come up in three years. I continue this, The Braves don't want this current window to stop in three years by all these players potentially going elsewhere.

00:24:45
Speaker 2: Now.

00:24:45
Speaker 1: I know that some of them may make sense because you know, they didn't pan out to be what you thought they were. But locking up Ronald Acunu Junior again, it's going to be a massive commitment, But I think that it probably is going to make sense just how important he is to the present and during the Braze, and I think in time, especially if he stays productive, Drake Baldwin will become a priority to extend as well. But we could talk about what ifs all day long off the field. What about all the field, We've got some things that we can actually talk about when it comes to actual baseball being played. Steven and I will give a few of our early spring observations in just a moment after.

00:25:22
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00:26:34
Speaker 1: Now, Steven, I don't want to sit here and say that I have such a pulse on Braves Country that I can speak for the majority of them when it comes to what they're looking forward to now that baseball is actually being played. But I do feel with confidence there are many in Braves Country who one of the things that they look forward most to when baseball is back is you one of the best when it comes to to breaking down the Braves Steven Tolbert, and I'm such a fan of alliteration that your observations, what you have noticed in spring the perfect name for Tobert's takeaways two to three takeaways, and I'll throw in a couple of my own Tobart's takeaways as to what has really stood out when it comes to spring training. By the way, you're welcome for being the ultimate heype man for you, sir, my friend, the ultimate hepe man for you.

00:27:30
Speaker 2: That was even for you, that was over the top.

00:27:33
Speaker 1: When it comes to your observations from spring trading, Steven Tobert, what is the top Tolbert takeaway?

00:27:42
Speaker 3: So, yeah, I think you have to start with Michael Harris. He's got two walks and five plate appearances. Those are tiny numbers. It's tiny sample and spring training that basically means nothing. But I mean, the guy went months last year without having two walks. So the fact that he has two walks in two games, you know, was against Paul Skeens where he's doing some pretty nasty stuff that Mike was able to layoff. Even the bat after that where he didn't walk. He took really two really good pitches first two, got ahead to and oh, got a fastball right down the middle and it hit it like one hundred and twelve miles an hour for a single, So.

00:28:16
Speaker 2: Really good early from Mike. Good play, discipline.

00:28:20
Speaker 3: If he'd just come out swinging at everything, I would have I would have been a lot sadder than I am. So credit to Mike. That was one of the first things I noticed. On the other side, I am a little bit worried about Ronaldo Lopez's velocity. It's not like we're not like a red alarm fire stage yet, it's still early. He's a veteran, so he's gonna you know, he's gonna pay some self, especially after missing all of last year. But first first time on the reading, he was like ninety ninety one for most of the game, and you know, when he was a reliever, you know, Ronaldo was throwing one hundred miles an hour as a starter, he was more ninety four ninety five, like you know, so he's not that far away from where he was as a starter. But still three or four miles an hour is no joke.

00:29:04
Speaker 2: So that's something. Again, it's too early to panic.

00:29:08
Speaker 3: It's not like this is a serious issue that we need to talk about right now, but just something don't watch is Ronaldo's velocity that I noticed was a little bit down and then the last thing seeing Austin Riley hit that ball to dead center field like four hundred and fifty feet. I've said it, I don't know how many times I've said it on the show the last the last couple of years. But if you wanted to boil the Braves offense down to one number for one player, it would be Austin Riley's slugging percentage. Because when that dude slugs, when that dude hits homers and doubles and drives and runs, everything about the Raves offense goes smooth, is easier because you know what you're gonna get from Ronald, you know what you get from Olson. I think Drake Baldwin's gonna be good. I think Profar is gonna be good. Austin Riley being like back to slugging five hundred Austin Riley is a massive boost for this offense. And I mean, and he destroyed that ball the dead straightaway centerfield. He didn't hook it, he stayed with it. He hit it to the he might even hit a little bit to right center. So it was a beautiful thing to see. Again, we're very early in camp, We're not gonna, you know, take too much out of anything. But those are just some early things I noticed that I'm paying attention to.

00:30:19
Speaker 1: Yeah no again, something that that you know, I feel correlates well with when you know Austin Riley is locked in, and like I'm talking about in top ten, MVP fish for Austin Riley, like he's done multiple times in his career. That's when he's driving the ball to right field. And I don't have the numbers in front of me and memorized, but I would imagine that he did that with authority in twenty two and twenty three, for instance, and he spell off a bit in twenty four and twenty five. So the placement of that home run matters. If he could start driving the ball out to right center again, that's a really good indication that not only is he locked in, but he's back to you know, top ten to BP level Austin Riley. Two quick takeaways from me that I think are really exciting to see. Of the Braves hitters three right now have multiple extra base hits, Matt Olsen, Mikey Strimsky as well as Great Baldwin. You talk about Michael Harris taking multiple walks. Profar has had some good at bats. The left handed presence in this Braves lineup could be for real. And if it is, that is a great development, because you wanted to talk about Austin Riley slugging percentage boiling the Braves offense down to one singular players statistic, well, the one split maybe of all the splits, the one split in baseball in terms of team production that correlates the best with If your team's elite in this area, they're very likely to not only make the playoffs, but its advance is offensive ability against right handed pitching. If the Braves can have one of the best trios or quartets of left handed hitters against right handed pitching in the game, that is a really big development. That's what's going to keep your offense consistent. So seeing the you know, Olsen's, Thet's, the Profars to Baldwin's, all those guys being productive, it's really really good to see what additional observation is the Braves relief depth. And I'm talking about like James Krinshack, Hayden Harris, Dylan Dodd, those guys have looked very good. They not only look good, but they've shown good swing and miss potential. That's really awesome to see because even though none of those players may make the team, one of them probably will, but you're likely going to see at least two or three of them during the season because of injuries that occur or struggles or what have you. So the Brave is being able to have depth. They know who they're back end guys to the bullpen are, but if they can have depth to rotate out of that fifth and sixth inning options with the last two spots in the bullpen, that's a really underrated point of this roster, especially when that goes through injuries, because if you can not only have a strong bullpen, but you can have a deep one in terms of options, that's the best way to balance out a concerning rotation when it comes to injury. And I do think that some of those guys could emerge as reliable options at the back you know, in the top of the bullpen you gave Tag. It's never a bad thing to have as many options as possible to fill out those six and seventh th dy roles.

00:33:19
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I think it's fair to say the bullpen is the deepest part of the team. When you look at the top level talent they have at the back end, the middle level talent they have in the middle, and then they have a bunch of like probably eight, nine ten guys that can reasonably fill out the bottom of a bullpen. You know, They've got some young prospects who I'm not really ready to say are going to contribute as starters, which is why I'm worried about the rotation depth. But I do think one or two of them could be close enough to being able to contribute on the bullpen, right, So that helps the bullpen depth even more so. I think the bullpen is clearly the deepest part of the team, and I agree with you of course, the left handed production. I mean, we spent years trying to get the Brives to add more left handed production, especially in the bar the ballpark they play in that just plays up so much more to left handed power. Having Olsen, Profar Baldwin, you know, Michael Harris, Ossi, Alby's strip Ski like, of course that's a big part. And so yeah, it's good to see. I do think I especially Strips I've talked about a lot. I think he's gonna have a good year, So yeah, I agree with that, and we'll see. You know, it's still early. We're gonna get through that. We had to get We got to get through the WBC, and so it's gonna be a bit of an unusual spring. I imagine we're gonna see some of the more lesser known players stay in camp longer because a lot of players are gonna be leaving for the WBC. So I don't think we'll see cuts as early as we normally do. But you know, we'll get through the WBC, we'll start seeing the everyday guys play more and more and then before you know it, regular seasons here.

00:34:49
Speaker 2: So it's it's knocking on the door. Yeah.

00:34:54
Speaker 1: And the great thing is is that you know, again it's just gonna get more fun, more entertaining, and again these extensions for Ronald Acunua, potential extensions for Ronald Acunu Junior and Drake Baldwin, give it less than a five percent chance either one of them occurs this off season. It's important to kind of set the stage four important discussions that will come in the future, and I know that in previous discussions that we had, Stephen. One additional thing from you is that the Braids also probably want to see kind of how this CBA plays out, you know, this new CBA, what that potentially can mean when it comes to extensions. So that's another important factor when it comes to these discussions as well. But the great thing is is that we're back to having discussions about ball being played on the field, and that's just going to be a consistent, day by day thing, and we're going to have you covered here, if not daily, every other day.

00:35:42
Speaker 2: When it comes to the.

00:35:43
Speaker 1: Hammer Territory podcast, you can bind Steven Tolbert at b Underscore, Outliers on Twitter, slash edits myself at stats Sac in the same place. Hammer Territory across all forms of social media, part of the Foul Territory family of podcasts. Until next time, go Braids. We'll talk to you in soon here all the Hammer Territory Podcast.

00:36:05
Speaker 2: Yeah,