Braves Trade Rumors, First Round Shortstops, and the All-Star Break

00:00:21
Speaker 1: Hello, everyone, Welcome back to the Hammer Territory podcast is episode two three two. I'm your host, Brad Rowland, coming to you on a Sunday. It's mid July, and I'm joined, as I always am wisdoms often in these days, by my friend Scott Coleman. Scott is July thirteenth. The first quote unquote half of the season is finally over. I will use that verbiage, how are you feeling.

00:00:44
Speaker 2: Hello, Brad? I am doing okay. Of course this was not the first half that anybody really had in mind for the Braves, but there is a lot to get to on the show tonight. Of course, the first round of the MLB Draft is actually ongoing as we speak, so we have that to talk about. It's also trade deadline rumor season, and there's plenty of that with Braves, and then of course three games against Saint Louis and then some other news. So it'll be a jam.

00:01:09
Speaker 1: Pack show tonight it will be, and mercifully for us, it probably won't be and focused entirely on baseball games. We'll have lots of things to talk about that are not the actual games from this weekend. We should at least note as a teaser for later on that the Braves have now lost eight consecutive Sunday baseball games. You and I have been doing this podcast for a long time. We had our old friend carls Clausel on the show last week. He and I have been Josy for even longer. And it's always been not only but like somewhat a Sunday show. Sunday's been our most consistent day all the way through what it used to be once a week, even it was on Sundays and Scott that kitt went on Sundays, and it's kind of becoming funny now it's been two months.

00:01:52
Speaker 2: It has been two months, and the last time the Atlanta Braves one on a Sunday was in Boston at Fenaway Park. This was two days before Spencer Streider was going to make his second debut of the year, and it was five days before Ronald Licunya Junior came up and took the league by storm after the injury. That was a long time ago, and of course the Braves were actually a game above five hundred. They were twenty four and twenty three. The last time this team won on a Sunday. It will be at least two months. By the time the Braves play next Sunday, it will be two months and two days since the last one day game on a Sunday. Just very weird, as fate would have it. Maybe it's time, maybe Stephen and Sean start doing the Sunday shows you and I take like Tuesdays. Then they would never win on Tuesdays and go un defeated on Sundays. I don't know, it's weird, but you know, before a four day break, which I think every single person is probably looking forward to, both players and fans of frustrating somehow on par on very par for the course loss on Sunday.

00:02:56
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think my personal record on days we have recorded this season is like Rockies level bad. But well, I'll figure that out one time went on board. I will calculate that, but not today on the podcast, Scott, I don't know about you. I think we should probably start with the first round pick because it just happened about an hour ago as we're recording this on Sunday evening. For the record, the Braves have two more picks tonight. They will be made by the time you listen to this podcast, but after we record it so they have sixty to ninety six. We will cover that in detail later on this week. I pledge to you that on behalf of the four of us. With that said, the Braves have the twenty second pick, and I previewed the draft mostly because I was just asking questions to my old pal Carlos, who does this professionally. But the Braids made their first pick tonight, number twenty two. Overall, they selected shortstop Tate Southhassen, a talented five to eleven middle infielder can play all over the diamond. I saw. I think it was J. J. Cooper talking about, you know, basically why teams draft shortstops so often. It's because shortstops are the best apples and they can kind of play everywhere. They're not always going to be short stops, but they might be shortstops. It seems to be that this is a pick that was not like a slam dunk, but a guy that people like. Have you cobbled together any reaction because I always admit, as I did with Carlos, I don't know anything about these guys, and I refuse to pretend otherwise I'm not even gonna do my cram session right now and be like, hey, this is what this guy I don't know. Man, I am passing a long information from other people. How do you feel.

00:04:24
Speaker 2: Yeah, we will defer to the experts, and there are really good ones around the draft. But Tates South to scene, I guess the cliff notes version. He is currently committed to USC the University of Southern California. We would sure think the Braves will sign him. However, the slot for the twenty second pick in the draft is three point nine million dollars. Now, just because if folks aren't super familiar with the draft, just because a slot is three point nine million for a pick, it does not mean the Braves have to give him that much. They could give him more, they could give him less, most people think be slightly underslot, which then allows the Braves to use that money in every round from two to twenty to hopefully sign as many talented players as they can. So we'll see. Well, usually it's within a few weeks we start to get figures on that. But Tate South the Scene is the younger brother of a player who the Cubs took in the fourth round last year got a one million dollar signing bonus. His other brother currently plays at USC So it sounds like South the Scene has really good bloodlines, is a really really good athlete and really does kind of everything well across the board. Maybe he doesn't have any super loud tools where you look at him and go, holy cow, this kid could hit fifty homers one day or steal fifty bases one day if it all clicks. But he also doesn't have any glaring weaknesses, which is encouraging for a kid his age and his size, and of course the ability to play all over the field. So obviously the Braves are excited. I believe Rony Shaw, the director of scouting for the Braves, spoke very highly. You can go see those quotes about South the Scene, but hey, it's a shortstop. And for the first time in forever, they did not take a pitcher in the first round of the draft, which was maybe the biggest surprise of the night.

00:06:15
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was since twenty nineteen. I talked about a lot with Carlos the other day. It is like the Braves just keep taking pictures over and over and over again, and there's something inherently wrong with that. It's just been what they've been doing recently. But they did not do that here, Reading from the Baseball America Sky Report, which I think Carlos wrote, I imagine he did. Shortstop is his private position, but also has played some center field and projects is a potentially good defender at either spot. He's also really far away. This is a prep shortstop. Keep that in mind. This is not the basketball draft or the football draft, where he'll be up soon. It'll be a few years. For a high school player of any kind, it's generally going to be a few years. Yeah, I mean, and that's I mean, every once in a while you get you get a freak guy who comes up a twenty one years old, but usually it takes longer than that. He's still eighteen, so it'll be a while. But that's not what you That's not what the draft is for. You're taking guys for the future, not what the draft is for for any sport, but especially not in baseball. You are, yes, source out as a position of need for the Braves. We do know that, but he won't be filling it for a while, so I wouldn't get too care with with that. But uh, you're just taking the best guy you get. The underslot thing matters a lot. I can uh you you were correct earlier in saying they could sign that players can sign for below at slaught or above. I feel pretty confident it will not be above. It will be it will be uh at the very worst for the Braves, it would be at slop. I think it's almost certainly going to be under me. Every sing I don't know about you. Every single person that I think is smart with this stuff is projecting that part of the deal here is that maybe he would sign for less than a three three point nine laer so.

00:07:50
Speaker 2: And I know it's again, folks might really be locked into the NFL draft or the NBA draft, which just happened. MLB's draft is so much different, And if you look at a list of a draft from maybe five, six, seven years ago, where you have a better idea of what players are good and who isn't going to work out, it is so random and so scattershot. And the odds of hitting on a first round pick, sure they're a little bit higher, but honestly not that much greater than hitting on a second, third, fourth, And then there's always a handful of picks in the teams rounds that hit. But it is about as difficult of a draft as there is. It's why teams prefer doing what the Braves tend to do, which is underslot deals. Then you can try to sway maybe a college commit who is a top prospect nationally to sign and fore go college and because you've saved some money up top. So it's the takes we're flying. I always laugh at that. I can see maybe if folks have like strong opinions on the NFL draft, because hey, maybe you've been watching that Georgia running back for three years and you feel really strongly one way or the other. But for baseball, I mean, this kid's eighteen years old playing high school ball in Nevada. I mean, come on, let's not pretend this is either the greatest pick or the worst pick of all time.

00:09:09
Speaker 1: You said it right there. I won't go into my full five minute rant about this, but you're one hundred percent right. Even in the sports that people think they know more because they probably do, like football and basketball, you're still wrong a lot. I cover the NBA draft like very seriously. I would say, I'm not like a full time person, but I've been doing it pretty seriously for a long time. You're just going to get a lot of stuff wrong. We all know less than we think we do. That's just generally what it is, and baseball is even to the tenth degree of that. I laugh. And there are people and we'll try to have somebody on actually in the near future that knows, actually knows things and scouts these guys, whether it's a BRACE person or a national person or whatever. They're people that I definitely think have really informed opinions of these guys, not saying otherwise, but random fan does not. We don't. I mean, that's the thing. I like to be upfront with our listeners, like, we're not watching prep tape. You and I. It's just not happening. So I'm not.

00:09:58
Speaker 2: Grinding YouTube scouting reports of shortstops playing high school ball in Nevada. It's just we'll see. I will, I joked on Twitter. I will let everybody know definitively in about seven years if this was a good pick or not. You have my word, like subscribe, follow the podcast, and in twenty thirty two that episode, I promise you will do it, if Brad we haven't lost our minds by then, And and weigh in on the twenty twenty five Brave Draft class.

00:10:25
Speaker 1: Yeah, what's more thing about that, whether we'll still be doing the podcast at that point or whether we'll be right about this pic. I like the pick, Scott, I'm in you know, sign me up, big Tate fan. Just that's my guy, long long serving Tate South of Seaven enthusiast. And then we'll see what happens. All right. We have more to get to, including a not so fun story about Austin Riley being injured, as we'll talk about in a second, plus some game stuff, all star stuff, trade stuff, and more after a word from our partners.

00:10:53
Speaker 2: AJ.

00:10:54
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00:10:58
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00:11:08
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00:11:55
Speaker 1: Right, Scott, let us get this out of the way. It's not the greatest story in the world. Austin Riley is on the injury list, and that broke after our most recent episode, so I thought to Carlos on Thursday, and then Riley was pulled from the game in the fourth inning on Friday in Saint Louis. He said after the game he felt it when he filled a bunt in the secondanding. It's an abdominal issue, lower abdominal issue. Not really sure how long he'll be out. They've not given any other vision that I've seen, unlest I miss something here. He's eligible returned from the il like not very long after they get back from the break, So maybe it's something minor. I'd be great if it was. In the meantime, it's just another thing because while Riley has the high good season by his standards at all, he had been starting to come alive actually, like for about two weeks he had been looking like Austin Riley, and of course with this curse season, as soon as that happens, he goes down. What do you make of this? And we're kind of in the dark, but it's not a great story.

00:12:50
Speaker 2: No it's not. And you took the words out of my mouth that Riley had been better for the last few weeks, and we have seen Austin Riley's heaters can carry him and carry the team for weeks on end. And he's historically been someone who's had really good summer months. So the timing is bad. You just finally get Profar back. They've started doing both Murphy and Baldwin in the lineup, which is a lot of fun. The lineup really, even if it wasn't necessarily turning out nine runs every night, the lineup just looked better with Akunyaan there and Riley and the catchers and Profar but we'll see. I'm it's kind of odd that Braves haven't put any kind of timeline on it, at least publicly unless I missed it, and if we did, please let us know. But yeah, not great. Hopefully it's a minor thing. At least it's not like an oblique injury, which can just be devastating for hitters. But yeah, hopefully Austin is doing okay, has the break, which is nice. He won't miss a ton of games if it's not a super long absence and get him back in there, even if it is somewhat fun to watch Nacho Alvarez see what he can do at third base.

00:13:55
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, it's interesting, not surprising that they the Nacho route because they don't really have an incumbent like we talked about before with Rowley. It's been a while, but it's like he's one of the guys in this organization. There's just no one behind him, like their their backup utility guy. You know, Luke Williams can't hit like at all back when it was Nick Allen's utility guy. We know he can't hit now, he's playing shortstop, where he should be. He's been great defensively there, but they just had nobody else that had to be Albarez. He's come back. He was injured for a large part of the first half of the season. He's come back the last couple of weeks and look pretty good in Guinette. There's a split on him. I'm not super high on Nacho, but he's looked good in Guinette, So we'll see how this goes. And he's not a zero. Probably he's still a prospect. He's not a total zero of a guy. Like he was the best position playerpproximate the Braves had for a while, and that may probably been a little bit overrated to Braves fans because he just wasn't that level of guy. I think even Carlos mentioned that in passing on Thursday, like, hey, we never had Nacho that high. Well, like, I don't think anybody did. It's the Braves system at that point because he was kind of the only one other than Bolt when who Keep You kind of came rapidly past him, but Noto was a real guy. So nothing else a chance to see him in the majors again, because the first time, it did not go well, but he just wasn't ready. So we'll see he was.

00:15:06
Speaker 2: Not ready a year ago, and we'll see where he's at now. He had some injuries in Gwinnett which also kind of stunted his twenty five so far. But regardless, and maybe there's a little more roster availability in two and a half weeks after the trade deadline. But I think it probably makes sense to have Nacho with the Braves in the second half of the season, play him at third base while Riley's out, maybe play him some at second base, because frankly, this team is going to have some very real questions that need to be answered this offseason. And if you can see Nacho for one hundred, one hundred and fifty two hundred played appearances in the second half, you might be able to get a little bit of clarity into could this kid start next year, could he be a utility piece, or is he just clearly still not ready and should probably spend another six months down in Gwinnett.

00:15:53
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's well said. The other roster move is way less significant than Riley Nacho's stuff is that Day's bell got set down to triple A. He can't throw strikes. Breaking news. He can't throw strikes, and they brought up I believe r Swerrow was like the maybe the best reliever by the numbers and the entire the entireity of Triple A this year. I'm not sure if that's real. He's an older guy, but uh, mostly for me, I don't know about you. The headliner for me was Day's botting set down. I don't know what you've been of that.

00:16:22
Speaker 2: You know, Daves Bell Hernandez has really good stuff, he does. But in thirty innings this season, days Bell has walked twenty four batters and he also issued one more intentional. So twenty five total walks in thirty innings is impossible. And it's not like this was a guy who had great command in the minor leagues. Frankly, it's the reason that days Bell was in the minors for so long. He's like twenty eight years old. Even though he's just now getting a taste of the big leagues, he's always had command problems. It's a thing for him. I know he did get squeezed a little bit on Saturday by the homeplay umpire, but this is more than just a one appearance thing I think for the Braves, twenty four walks in thirty innings is not gonna cut it. And frankly, I know some people are really high on days Bell. I'm rooting for the guy, and I think he could be a really successful major leaguer if he ever figures out his command. But I mean, it's just it is an uphill battle every time he goes out there, because it feels like you blink and he's walked the first two hitters and suddenly he's in a big time jam.

00:17:28
Speaker 1: That's right. And I think we've always I've been a little bit lower on him because of that. Like even in the in the miners, people always loved him because he looks great when it was great, Like he can miss bats. I get that, Oh yeah, yeah, he gotta throw strikes at some point, and he hasn't been able to do that. So a little bit of a refresh and we'll see. I'm sure he'll be back up. I mean, this might be uh a developmentally focused second half of the season.

00:17:50
Speaker 2: Scott I was gonna say, but he may not be in Gwinnette for super long, maybe like three weeks, And honestly, three weeks almost exactly and he'll be back in Atlanta.

00:17:59
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's probably true. All right, I'm gonna challenge us to do a weekend game wrap up in like ten minutes or less. Are you ready?

00:18:09
Speaker 2: This is not usual for us, But when your team is twelve games below five hundred at the All Star break, we have to change the format. I guess a little bit.

00:18:16
Speaker 1: Yeah, there are a lot of topics and the games. Look the feedback we get all the time, this is anecdotal. I don't think people are living and dying right now in the way they usually do on games. I think people have kind of given up. I get why. I will continue to say it's not a zero point zero percent chance of making the playoffs, but it's not a very good chance of making the playoffs. So if they have won today, if they had swept today, Scott will be have done games earlier. Maybe I would say maybe.

00:18:41
Speaker 2: But somebody somebody asked me one night this week how many games the Braves would have to win consecutively before I would change my mind on selling. I think this was Friday night. My answer was fifteen. They would have to go on a fifteen game street. No, no, under would get them five games above five hundred. If they're not at least a few games above five hundred by the break, there's you cannot justify buying unless you're at least a few games above five.

00:19:09
Speaker 1: You're out. You're out of your you're out of your mind. Under under fifteen, this will be a rare time when you and I are just completely at odds, which is this is great podcasting. Usually we agree too much. That's just what we do. The number is far lower than the fifteen. It might be like eight no double, its fine, bair no, no, yeah, okay, I mean we'll never know they lost today, so we're out the window. That's right, a rare disagreement from us. Okay, quickly. On the weekend, they won Friday and Saturday. Friday's game was the uh sewn Murphy experience. Two home runs for Sean Murphy. It's almost like he's good at baseball. Weird, Scott. Oh yeah, well you mentioned before they sat o Zuna twice this weekend, which was interesting because I think, I don't know about you. I had the thought of maybe they will play Ozuna until the trade deadline and then stop or not stop, not stop entirely, but play him a lot less and they've started to do it now, which I find interesting. I wonder if it's like they want to Marcel, and Marcel was like, I'm going to block any trade, so go ahead kind of thing. I don't know. I just I'm guessing entirely there. But in fact he saw two out of three days before the break. I was like, wow, that's interesting.

00:20:19
Speaker 2: It was interesting. And also Marcel actually had a pretty good week.

00:20:23
Speaker 1: It looks better.

00:20:24
Speaker 2: He does look better. Two homers, a double, hit the ball hard. So maybe the Braves between a good week on the field and then also sitting him Friday, sitting him Sunday. He now gets four full days off with the break, maybe they're hoping that this is going to be able to kind of give him some juice these next two weeks after the All Star Game, just to be able to I mean, obviously you want to trade Marcel short of going on a fifteen game winning streak because you want some kind of prospect return and probably some salary relief too. That doesn't hurt, but especially the prospect thing, but it also is the whole Baldwin playing every single day thing that we have talked about many times on the pot at this point. So yeah, hopefully Marcel good two weeks after the break, you can trade him, maybe send him to a contender, a team so he has a chance to go get another World Series. But yeah, I mean it was Uh, let's give Sean Murphy his flowers. This weekend was very much the Sean Murphy weekend. Fantastic game. Friday, had the biggest swing of the game on Saturday. The dude is good. That is a big win for Hammer territory. We have been Sean Murphy defenders for years at this point, and he had I mean, he's playing great baseball right now. He had a terrific week.

00:21:36
Speaker 1: Yeah. At the end of Saturday, I looked up at Fangrafts after the home run that he hit. I believe he was fifth among catchers in all of Major League Baseball and Fangrafts four fifth while playing half the time. While playing half the time, so basically, on a per game basis, he's probably been third behind cal Raley and Will Smith I catcher and all baseball this year, he's been not good. Like I wonder if you whole brace fans and said, who has who's been more valuable by war ballwin or Murphy? If they would know the answer, and it was Murphy as of today. So anyway, Murphy's been good for a long time. He was never not gonna be good. He got hurt last year. It is what it is. But three hundred runs this weekend, we'll stop victory knockbound map. But he's a good player. We should note because we've been praising Grand Holmes up and now and I will still do that. He finally had a bad outing on Friday after eleven consecutive three runs or less outings. That's a crazy long streak for a supporting pitcher. He got rocked on Friday. They won, anyway, but anything can started you about that performance. For me, it's just like it's one. It's one for whatever.

00:22:37
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's just one. The Cardinals have a pretty good lineup. They have a balanced line up with a lot of lefties. I mean, Holmes just didn't have his best stuff, didn't have the slider, the fastball command was a little iffy and getting hard. So hopefully just a blip on the radar. Holmes has been so good, and I mean sure, if he goes out there and his next starting gets absolutely crushed, maybe we start to panic. A bit, but no, I think it was just one of those games and a guy who's been really really good for about two months now he was due for one.

00:23:05
Speaker 1: And hey, the bullpen through six scoreless settings on Friday to make it to the point where that actually could win the game anyway despite Holmes getting rocks. So that was a fun team win a couple of guys.

00:23:14
Speaker 2: So a big for all of the I think legitimate concerns we had about the really the whole pitching staff, but the bullpen, especially here. The bullpen's awesome. This is a great bullpen.

00:23:27
Speaker 1: It's been good all year. I mean earlier it was kind of wavy. But even when it was not that good, it was not as bad as people put as people made it out to be. It just never it never was by the numbers at any point.

00:23:37
Speaker 2: And especially lately, like the last month or so. I think Sean had the numbers a couple of days ago on the show about this bullpen is like top five and every stat that you want to look at dating back to maybe June first and even in May, and you're right, the first couple of weeks there were some blow ups. They were also cycling guys like Hector Nearris in that bullpen, which was just not gonna happen. But yeah, credit to the bullpen quite honestly, whenever they have gone into the game. I mean, I guess other than Jesse Chavez on Sunday afternoon, and why is Jesse Chavez on this team? Yeah, we'll never know. But regardless of whatever, yeah, had tipped to the bullpen, they have done more than their fair share of the bargain, especially lately.

00:24:19
Speaker 1: So before Jesse Chavez came into the game on Sunday, the Braves were sixth in all of baseball and reliever era this year. Now there's seventh posted Jesse blow up, but they were sixth, So that's really good. That's really really good for a team that's had its closer blow up for two months basically no Jimenez all year, like they've been that they've done the job, man, that's not but the problem it just hasn't been at all, even though that was honestly on paper that was the weakest point of the team coming into the season if you factored in like no Jimenez all the other stuff.

00:24:52
Speaker 2: And then as front off front office deserves some credit for finding Rafael Montero off the scrap heap. I think, what are they paying them all? Like three million dollars, that's that's nothing.

00:25:02
Speaker 1: And there was a moment where I mean, I'll raise my hand. I thought he should have been dfaed at one point because there was a while there where it was not going well and they stuck with him over other guys and that has proven to be the right move.

00:25:15
Speaker 2: So anyell Delo Santos. Again, no one's saying that de Loo Santos is prime Mariano Rivera, but totally fine season in the middle innings. We'll see what they do with guys like Pierce Johnson and Aaron Bummer and Iglesias at the trade deadline in a few weeks. But yes, overall, bullpen, great job. They're the maybe not the only positive on the pitching stat on the pitching side this year, but really just across the board, they've done a nice job.

00:25:45
Speaker 1: They have. We mentioned Saturday the Murphy homer was the big swing to win the game. Ronnie Hobart as well, and a storyline that we have to bring up. Ronnie hit third on Saturday and that was the first time he has not been in the lead off spot in a game he has started. Since twenty nineteen, he has been the lead off hitter the entire time he has played for six seasons. Obviously he missed one of those seasons in full another one part of the season, but still he's been the lead off guy, and when he's coming to pitch hit, he's been in other spots. He has quite literally never taken a swing at number three in the lineup until Saturday. What'd you make of that?

00:26:21
Speaker 2: I actually really liked it. This lineup with a Kunya third, Olson second, Profar leading off was one that we kind of talked about and teased a little bit on the show a few weeks ago, not knowing exactly what Snit had in mind for Profar, but I like it. I know I love Ronald in the lead off spot just like everybody else. But clearly, based on what are we in ninety games in we have a ninety game sample that this lineup is just not working on a nightly basis. Change it up. Let Akunya bat third, get him behind Olsen and Profar. Side note, jerks and Profar looks really good. And that's not a small thing for a guy who got popped thro p and had a lot of questions. But yeah, I'm I'm fine with this lineup. I know some people were excited about it, some people hated it, but I like it. I mean, why not roll with it for a little while. What do you have to lose?

00:27:11
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean I there is some nerdy data that will tell you that you don't want your best hitter hitting third because there's it's the most likely chance to have nobody on and two outs is when you're bat third. I don't think it's that big of a deal, and not even be enthusiast would say it's a huge deal. Like I think in a vacuum, I'd rather have Ronnie hit second. But Matt Olson's really good too, so it's you know, what are you gonna do? It's fine and uh no, I have no I have no problem with it. And it just was different and I was surprised to see it because just hasn't happened. I mean, any times something happens has never happened, it's like, oh that's a that's a notable change and batting order stuff. We do a lot less of that than we used to. I gotta say on the podcast is I don't think it matters that much. I really don't. But it was interesting enough where it was like, oh, this has to be a topic because it was. Yeah, when running run, especially running when like a top five player in the world changes his life spot, it's okay, let's nop.

00:28:02
Speaker 2: So let me ask you this Friday after the break. Is it Cunya leading off or is it Cunya batting third?

00:28:11
Speaker 1: I'll say third.

00:28:12
Speaker 2: I kind of think so it worked enough.

00:28:15
Speaker 1: Like they you know, they lost today. They did, they scored runs today, Like I think, is a for better or worse as a if it's working, ish let it go kind of manager. He's that kind of guy. He doesn't seem to like make changes while they're winning or while they're scoring. And today's offense was not really the problem. It was just a Jovaz basically was the only problem today. So yeah, I think they probably will do it. But you know, wouldn't shot me if he's leading off either. I mean, I just you know, we'll see. But it was more than a one day experiment.

00:28:43
Speaker 2: Uh.

00:28:43
Speaker 1: It happened twice, and we'll see. I'm gonna go with third, though, would you agree?

00:28:48
Speaker 2: Yeah? I think so. I would keep doing this for at least a little while and see how it goes all right.

00:28:53
Speaker 1: More to come in a second on the rest of Sunday, and then a segment actually on the trade deadline a little bit earlier with some reporting over the weekend that was notable. We'll get into all of that and more after word from our partners Kratz.

00:29:08
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00:29:21
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00:29:34
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00:30:08
Speaker 1: All right, Scott, A couple more things from the weekend. Old friend Joey Wentz is back, former top forty pick of the Braves. It's been actually it was nine and nine plus years after they took him in the draft. He'd never made it the majors. In Atlanta, he made the majors. He was in Detroit other places, made the majors and looked really good. Actually over the weekend. His data before that more of a mixed bag, but obviously was a live arm, always has been. He's still in the league. It's been a long time. He's been around, kicking around. But what did you make of that because he's in the mix old friend.

00:30:39
Speaker 2: Yeah, old friend Joey Wentz. I think he was in the Shane Green deal many years, that is correct, I believe, yes, Yeah, so Wentz once upon a time, big time prospect. Never really worked out for him statistically, just not very good at the majors. Kind of like a for a pitcher that you see a lot of the baseball. But Wentz looked really good, like legitimately good on Saturday. Had a bunch of strikeouts, a lot of swing and miss, and his pitch data from the performance over three innings was encouraging across the board. His stuff graded out pretty well. So the Braves might have found something. And right now they're running two out of five bullpen games. I wouldn't be surprised if they continue to roll Wentz out there. And sure, maybe in a week or two the fairy dust falls off and he gets clovered and they move on. But it's pretty clear at this point with the record and the bullpen and really the starting rotation being so injured, it feels like they're just going to kind of cycle guys in there for a couple of innings at a time, and hey, if you pitch well, you keep your job, and if you don't pitch well, you get DFAED.

00:31:45
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I speaking of the cycle, David Daniel pitched on Sunday, pitched pretty well, you know, four innings, one run, did walk three to struck out five. He's it seems like he's like the next guy out to actually be a starter like they opened with Aaron Mumer. We all know Bummers a reliever and only a reliever. But you know Nathan Wiles came up. I can't went down once. Like they have a bunch of guys. I mean, we can name all that we won't. The only one that anyone knows is Waldrop that they have not gone to yet this season. But they're just and once they add somebody, and I think we already know how you feel about adding somebody. Scott in general, buying to use the word by is like it's taboo with you right now. So if they don't do that, it's gonna be a lot of this. It's gonna be a lot of like the cycle every every fourth day, every third day. It's gonna be I would like it, honestly. Here's what they for a post all start break. They got to change the rotation because you can't do back to back bullpen days like they gotta stagger. You got to separate these guys. The three guys you do have, they can't be in a row anymore with with this, with the waves is going. That's a small thing, but it's like it matters to me.

00:32:52
Speaker 2: You can't do that and I'm still a little surprised they really have not added a veteran anything. Yeah, anything, I mean when.

00:33:01
Speaker 1: I mean Joey Wentz. Joey Went's the guy that added.

00:33:04
Speaker 2: Yeah, just someone to eat innings. Because honestly, I know they've done bullpen games for about a week and a half now, but I would be very surprised if they spend the final two and a half months of this season running forty percent bullpen games. I mean, those guys are gonna be dead.

00:33:20
Speaker 1: It won't happen. No bye in August.

00:33:22
Speaker 2: And if you end up trading, and this is a professional teas and a professional segue, if you end up trading someone like Pierce Johnson, who's really good, or Aaron Bummer who's versatile out there, then you're even I mean, then you're even thinner than you are now trying to do bullpen games like this.

00:33:37
Speaker 1: I'm going to ruin your segue just for one more thing, because I have to make sure I say this. I'm sorry, it's that's terrible, terrible of me to do. But other than Sunday's game being a seven hour marathon, and it really was seven hour marathon, are we already apologize Justice? Chavez, which was the reason they lost the game. Why was he pitching? I get it, I get it. To the what we just made. They don't really have a lot of fresh arms right now with the way they had to carry this by putting Chivas in a game where you're up by two. I know this season doesn't matter anymore. I get it. But it's three to one and your worst pitchers pitching. I don't understand. But anyway, the real thing I wanted to say, Michael Harris should have walked. He hasn't walked in two months. He should have walked today. He got screwed. That's all I want to say.

00:34:18
Speaker 2: He got screwed. It was a big situation too for Mike and he had a really good game today and it should have been a walk. I had the tweet queued up and everything ready to go. I was like, I was about to look and see how many had bats it'd have been since Michael Harris had last walked, and it was low. It was at least somewhat close. The homeplayed umpire today had a bit of an adventure, but it was Ball four should have been bases loaded, and who knows, maybe the game would have ended differently, if the umpire doesn't blow the call.

00:34:48
Speaker 1: Yeah, in a different time when the game has mattered more to us than they do right now, that would have been higher in the show. Also, it was very funny, is the right word? I think that In the next inning, Ozuna walks to lead off the inning and the Cardinals manager gets thrown out of the game with a lead, arguing balls and strikes on a pitch that was like he I was like all the pitches that was gonna wear balls like it wasn't like he got reverse squeezed. And then the Bravest, of course, in typical fashion, had a chance to tie the game, and then they failed to tie the game. Uh okay, Scott, let us transition and do a new segment actually from our friends at Truest. It's called Money Moves. Show me the money, all right, Scott, it's our Money Moves segment, and it's going to focus on some reporting around the trade deadline that happened in the last few days and kind of just to kickoff. We'll probably do it even a full maybe even a full show on the deadline the next couple of weeks because it's we're getting there. It's July thirteenth, the deadlines eighteen days away as we're recording this. But Robert Murray, who does a really good job, actually underrated insider breaks news is good, reported I leave was on Thursday because I touched on the briefly on the Carlos Show that the Braves still about discussed Chris Sale at all in trade talks and will not discuss him. And they also and he also reported they will not consider moving quote any other player under control beyond twenty twenty five end quote. Now we've heard this before, that's been out there a little bit before, but this is fresh reporting post losing skid, not two months ago. Not what Alex said recent reporting later on it's Bob nightingale so Asterisk supplies. But he said the Braves are making Ozuna and Iglesias, who are expiring contracts not under control quote, and a few others available. We don't know who those guys are, but interesting stuff here. I'll ask you this to get this started. Do you believe there is no chance they trade anyone with team control beyond the season.

00:37:01
Speaker 2: I think they could. I think they actually will, but I think it's going to be a reliever. I don't think they're trading a position player that includes Sean Murphy because it is exceptionally difficult to trade a catcher mid season. And I don't think they're trading Cursale or Schwellenbach. I know a couple people have mentioned Grant Holmes actually as like an under the radar trade. If a team wanted to like blow the Braves away, then I would probably be interested. But short of just somebody wanting to overpay for Holmes and not that Spencer Schrider, I don't think he's getting moved. So yeah, I think the only players who technically have multiple years of control are Bummer, who has a guaranteed deal next season, and Pierce Johnson, who has a seven million dollar player option, which, short of injury, is a it's.

00:37:50
Speaker 1: A club option. Club option too, club option.

00:37:52
Speaker 2: Excuse me? Yeah sorry, club option ninety nine percent chance to be picked up short of injury.

00:37:58
Speaker 1: Yeah. No, I'm with you, And I've even seen them won't it doesn't matter. But I've seen some inaccuracies out there about like who's under team control or not. Pretiant is undeath control, Like if you have a Colloll option, you are under team control. It's the team's choice what to do with you at that point, but you are under team control. Bummer, as you said, has a guaranteed contract that they're restructure, but it's guaranteed, it's locked in. Yeah. The way I put it on Thursday, when I was talking to myself into a microphone was basically like, if this is the way the Braves are thinking, I think it's the wrong way to think. I generally think Alex is good at his job. We've criticized Alex several times. It's not like we're above criticizing Alex. I think they like fire Alex. Brigade is kind of out of control right now. I think it's kind of silly, But I think that it would be kind of it would be silly or miss misplaced, or how do you want to put that? To draw really the red line and say we are not trading anyone with control. That seems silly to me, given where they are right now and given where they even more last year. I mean, they were a good team last year, but they were not a great team last year. And then so all that said, it doesn't mean they have to trade anybody. They don't have to, But beyond that, we are in lockstep about the relievers. We've defended Aaron Bummer a lot. I think Aaron Mummer's good. I think Aaron Bummer has value. If you can get a real offer for Aaron Bummer, you should probably trade Aaron Bummer because he's a reliever.

00:39:18
Speaker 4: Pierre S.

00:39:18
Speaker 1: Johnson's same thing, Like, if you've got a real prospect return of any kind for a reliever when you are going nowhere this season and yeah, next year matters, but relievers are volatile. That's like, this is the whole thing, Like you're trading for a reliever to win this If you're the other team, yeah, it might help you that you have to control beyond the seat, beyond this year on Bummer or Johnson, but you're really doing it for now if you're trying to trade for Baron Bummer. So it should be the reverse if you're the team selling, like you should be willing to sell relievers for sure. Yeah, like Dylan Lee, Dylan Lee's super cheap. If you want to keep dying. If you want to say Dylan is in a different tier, I'm okay with that because Dylan Lee like makes nothing and is really good. Fine, But Johnson and Bummer have real money and they're good relievers, but they should be traded if they have good offer.

00:40:00
Speaker 2: And yes, absolutely I agree. The other player who we mentioned a little earlier in the show that I think is a legitimate trade candidate is Rafael Montero. Montrero's numbers are really good about six weeks now, and I could see the Braves trading him. I think Aaron Bummer. I know he's a little bit of a love him or hate him player with the fan base, but Bummer is a weapon against left handed hitters. And you're telling me a team like I don't know, the Dodgers, the Mets, the Phillies, the Cubs, they don't look at some of the left handed sluggers who are in playoff contention on these really good teams and go man. It would be good to be able to try to neutralize sho Hey and Freddie in a best of five, or Harper and Schwarber in a best of five. That's the thing. Pierce Johnson Righty's don't hit Pierce at all. Iglesias has been awesome since he was I guess technically demoted from his closer role after that disastrous blow up against Arizona. So let me ask you this, brad rapid fire these questions, and then I'll answer after you answer each one. Will the following players be on the Atlanta Braves roster on August first? U? Oh? Number one? Rice e Iglesias, Yes or no? He will be on the Braves on August first?

00:41:13
Speaker 1: No?

00:41:14
Speaker 2: I agree. No. Marcelo Zuna? Is he on the Braves on August first? With a reminder that one he may not pass the physical and two Ozuna can veto any trade because he has ten and five rights as a player.

00:41:31
Speaker 1: I think he will be on the team for exactly the reasons you just laid out. If he was if he did not have ten to five, I think he would be traded.

00:41:41
Speaker 2: I kind of agree with you. I'm I know, we'll see. We'll get to that later. Let me let's continue the exercise. Okay, Aaron Bummer? Is he on the Braves on August first?

00:41:53
Speaker 1: Now you get to a territory where it's like, do we believe the reporting? Do we believe what Alex has said? I think Aaron Bummer will be on the team.

00:42:07
Speaker 2: We disagree there. I think Bummer is getting traded.

00:42:10
Speaker 1: It's close for me.

00:42:11
Speaker 2: I think the Braves can sell Bummer as a shutdown lefty and.

00:42:16
Speaker 1: Look, I'm not looking again they should trade him, and I think he's really good and they's just still trade him. So that that's such why I.

00:42:22
Speaker 2: Think in one more note on some of these players, So Bummer signed for nine and a half million dollars next year, that is not an insignificant amount of money. And we have talked about this offseason. It feels like the Braves need to have a come to Jesus moment this offseason to really evaluate and basically take maybe five players and say, Okay, these players are locked in and everybody else is on the table. And if you can take nine and a half million dollars in savings from a lefty reliever who is good but not a Aaron Bummer, is not the difference between a playoffs or a World Series next year. But then use that nine and a half million dollars to go sign Kyle Schwarber, who's like a top ten hitter in the game. Right now, That's something I would be in favor of. So I'm going to disagree to continue the exercise. I will say that Bummer does get traded. Okay, Pierce Johnson, is he a member of the Braves on August first. No, he is traded, Okay, and I'm going to say that, yes he is. He's still on the tap.

00:43:21
Speaker 1: That's fine. No, I think we could both be right.

00:43:24
Speaker 2: We're wrong.

00:43:24
Speaker 1: I think that's very much the case. One reason this is going to sound so stupid, and as I say it out of my mouth, it sounds really dumb. I think that they could act like he's not under teath control when they trade him, even though he is. You know what I mean, I can I can already see the dance that Alex tries to do when they trade Piers Johnson and say, well, you know, wasn't locked up for next year, didn't didn't have the same guarantee that Aaron Bummer did. I'm kidding, but I'm also not. But no, either one both. I would make calls and listen to calls on both relievers. I just pulled the stat By the way, I forgot to say it earlier on Aglesiast, he has not allowed an earn run. This is Graysla Glaciers. It's not allowed an Earth run since June fifth. He's gonna get traded, I mean, by the way, if they don't trade Glaciers. I'm gonna be That's the one guy where I will be losing my mind if he saw the team and again I think he's good. I think he's good again. I was.

00:44:17
Speaker 2: I thought he was good the whole time. He blew up.

00:44:20
Speaker 1: That did happen. He was really bad for two months, But like I was, never like how he's broken forever. He's really good again. They have to trade him. They have to he's expiring. You have to trade him. At looks Alazuna. There's a realistic scenario where he's just like, nah, man decline, you know what I mean. He has the ability to say no. Aglecius does not have that ability.

00:44:38
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, And we'll see and then we'll wrap up this kind of trade segment here. But it's also one other interesting piece of all this is financially, how much are the Braves willing to eat of these contracts. So, for example, r Ice sell Iglacias by trade deadline time. I believe he's owed six million dollars for the rest of the year. Do they eat some of that money to get a better prospect return they should. One one legitimate question I have is say the Braves trade to Glacias and Bummer. Okay, so that's a legitimate financial savings. It's gonna be well, Bummer's only making three and a half million, but let's say all in that saves them seven million bucks in addition to the nine and a half that Bummer is on the books for next year. Can they take that seven million dollars in savings this year and roll it to the twenty six budget. Well, if they were not a publicly traded company, maybe they'd be able to do that easier. No, I have the same question you do. And I will also make one more point on the financial front, and we'll get into this more later on.

00:45:34
Speaker 1: I promise we all know. And Alex has said this, he had he always keeps money, a little bit of money to spend at the deadline, which they're not going to spend, it seems like. So you would think between that and whatever you trade, like you should be willing to take keep all the money you should be you should be willing to take if you can trade Marcel Zuna and pay him all the money and get real hosp capital back, you should be willing to do that because you don't you want to have spent more. You obviously as we've covered at nauseum cut salary from last year to this year. You're already cheaper. You're not spending any more money, you're not buying anymore. Like, Yeah, they're gonna lose some money at the box office, so to speak, because the attendants will be down the rest of the season. I'm pretty confident post All Star break Schools back in August, people are not gonna going to the games anymore. It won't be empty, it won't be like Pirates empty, Like it's gonna be fine, but they're not gonna be sold out every night. So there's that trade off too. But there's always the weirdest what it's a team that's publicly traded. How much does that matter? How much does the payroll go on that? But you're right in theory, you should be able to at least file a few million away for next year if you're Alex and say, hey, Terry, like I say you this now, can I please have this next year to spend?

00:46:50
Speaker 2: Yeah? In theory, yeah, we'll see, I mean the next few weeks. I mean, it's a weird situation for the Brakes because for seven years now it's been yes, they're buying what are they buying and this year? I think pretty clearly it would not be a shock if they It would not be a total shock if they went out and traded for a player with multiple years of control. Is that because this team is too good to not be competitive in twenty six or at least try to be competitive in twenty six? Yeah, but then you're also paying a premium, and you're paying for a half a season where you're basically dead. I would guess that Alex would prefer to just do that deal on November fifteenth, then July thirtieth, and have to pay a premium on top of all the craziness that the deadline brings.

00:47:34
Speaker 1: We agree, I think he certainly would be open to adding a player like that. If they trade anything of value for a rental, we're gonna go nuts on the show. I'm pretty sure you, even more than me, will go nuts if they Yeah, they're trading for a rental. They won't do that, I don't think. But you're right if they trade for someone with control, totally get that pending price and we'll have to see there's the whole shoan, or if you discussion will have at a later date, where like he could be available, but your point's perfect, and that he catchers in season tough, he's really good. At the same time, there's the whole Michael Harris discussion, like would a team buy on him at his like previous form if you if if you think he would, maybe you would think about it. But I don't think Alex is willing to get there yet. We'll see, but anyway, there's topas galore. We'll probably do a whole trade show at some point in the next few weeks, but we will.

00:48:28
Speaker 2: And just to say it out loud, there was a report that the Tampa Bay Rays and the San Diego Padres are two teams that are interested in Sean Murphy.

00:48:38
Speaker 1: It was Jim Bowden, just for the It was not a it was not Ken Rosenthal. It was not our guy, Ken rosen Thal that reported this.

00:48:45
Speaker 2: So but it would make sense because as we have said for years, Catcher is a wasteland. The the Padres Catcher situation is impossibly bad and has been for a few years now. So those are interesting because those teams have high level shortstop prospects who would be of interest to the Braves. We'll see again. I think the Murphy discussion is a very real one to have this off season. But I would be very surprised if they moved Murphy in the next three weeks, not because it isn't necessarily what's best for the team long term, but because catchers and learning an entirely new pitching staff in the middle of a pennant chase is really hard to do.

00:49:26
Speaker 1: Yeah, that feels like an off season thing and what we'll have to see, but I we agree on that, and I think it'll be It'll be interesting in the next eighteen days, will be really interesting for different reasons than usual. But there are they still have stuff to talk about. I did a segment with the Foul Territory guys about this too, Like there's lots of instability, and we wish it was better instability. Wish they were buying instead of selling, but that is not where the cards have brought us at this point in time. With the All Star festivities starting in Atlanta this week, we're going to let you know right now that our friends from Foul Territory will be doing the show live Monday and Tuesday from the Truest Community Center right next to the ballpark, and starting this weekend, the truest community Corner is kicking It ninety style snap picks at photo Ops, score Roch, youer giveaways and jam to your favorite throwback hits as well. Plus you can meet your favorite Braves Royalty like Jipper Jones, Fred McGriff, Andrew Jones, David Justice and more, all while supporting local small businesses. They're open at noon each day, Saturday through Tuesday. Come watch the show and say hi to the ft guys. All right, Scott, before we get out of here, a brief look ahead of the week to come. No games, it's till Friday. Weird. There is all star stuff in Atlanta. I'm not in Atlanta, despite the fact that I live there. I'm recording this from a hotel in Las Vegas covering NBA Summer League. You don't live in Atlanta anyway, but there is stuff happening. The drafts happening in Atlanta. There was all kinds of crowd shots at the battery that I was seeing on TV tonight. Gore was there, guest of the podcast. Carlos has been on TV all night tonight. There's a lot going on the Derby's Monday. There was one bit of derby news Ronald pulled out and met All and replaced him. So they're still a brave as rooting interest. I'm assuming Ronnie is just like, Hey, I was hurt the other day, can I be careful? That's my guest. No one said that to all knowledge. But was that the assumption you're making as well?

00:51:11
Speaker 2: Yeah, it sounds like they're just being smart with Ronald. And the fact, by the way, God bless when the Acunion, when the Acunyan news came out that he was doing the derby, my first reaction was legitimate excitement and happiness that he felt good enough to be able to do it, and then about five seconds later like honest fear of like, oh my god, what if he hurts that knee swinging very hard like sixty times in a for fun competition. It's for the best. Let Ronald relax and joy he'll be going crazy on the sidelines. And the fact that Braves have a very legitimate contender to win the derby in Matt Olsen also kind of alleviated it a little bit. They weren't like, hey, Michael Harris wanted to do the home run derby, like that would have been that would have been maybe.

00:52:00
Speaker 1: Maybe more of a shame. So can you imagine if they if they announced the Michael Harrison of the Derby, that would have been the funniest Twitter reaction you've ever seen. By the way, I think Matt Olson at DraftKings is like the fifth favorite or something like that. I kind of like Matt Olson and his chances. Matt's got real, real, real power, and he's playing at home chop house. I can see Matt winning it for sure. I don't know if i'd pick him, but he's he's got a chance.

00:52:29
Speaker 2: Yeah, and left you want to be a lefty hitter at Truest Park if you're going to win a home run competition. I know cal Rally has crazy power, like he's I think he's the odds on favorite, but you know it's it is much easier to hit a home run to the chop house than it is hitting one to left field or left center field is really big, So yeah, I think Matt has a legit chance. And you know he's a big guy. Was he like six four two forty. It's not only a power contest, but an endurance contest. You have to know, I mean you have to you're swinging a bat really hard, really consecutively and trying to hit the ball four hundred feet every time. I mean, you got to be able to withstand that. And we'll see. We'll be rooting for Matt hopefully he can get to win on Monday night.

00:53:12
Speaker 1: Yeah, a hotel guy in the derby is gonna be fun and he will have the crowd behind him. We can assume that anyway. Then Tuesday is the game itself. Ronald and Matt Olsen are the only two guys playing. Chris Sale didn't make it as a refresher, but he is unavailable of course, but Run is starting. That'll be fun. I have nothing else to add. I'll watch, but I mean analysis from the All Star Game is just like it's baseball. Let's watch it together and have fun. That's all I got for you.

00:53:38
Speaker 2: I hope everybody has fun. I hope the braves, but the one you two braves who are in it, I hope they do well. And I hope everybody stays healthy. It is And if you're local or even not local, and have a ticket to the festivities and you get Paul Skeins against Trek Scooble as the starting pitchers, I mean, those dudes are ridiculous, probably the two pitchers in the game right now, and it should be a lot of fun.

00:54:03
Speaker 1: We like baseball and baseball what we played, and you know it's it's an exhibition, but it's still cool. H oh. Briefly, the Futures you have already happened. It happened Saturday. The Brace had two guys in it. Jo Ritchie hitting, Harris took part. I always hate how they don't will they market the Futures game. It's kind of buried there's real games happening at the same time. It's just like, why is this not a standalone event? I'll never understand it. But that happened already, so why not?

00:54:28
Speaker 2: Why not put the Futures Game on Wednesday? There's like nothing that goes on after the Y All Star Game itself. It'd be a cool moment. But yeah, playing it on a Saturday in the midst of all the other fifteen baseball games that are going on kind of silly, just kind of on brand for baseball, I guess. But but yet, j R. Ritchie looked really good. I think there's maybe a small chance that Richie gets a call up in September to see if he can do anything.

00:54:54
Speaker 1: I would say there's a chance of that for sure. I mean anybody that's double A or higher right now, anybody on any and they're gonna say, you could be pssioning it the timber. I mean literally anybody.

00:55:03
Speaker 2: And then quite frankly, like someone like Hayden Harris, who is a great story, is probably somebody who should be up in the major leagues anyway right now, Like, bring Hayden Harris up, give Jesse Chaves a big old hug and say, Jesse, thank you for everything. It's time to retire, and let Hayden Harris throw out of the bullpen for two and a half months.

00:55:22
Speaker 1: I think he'll I think as soon as the deadline is passed, he might be there the rest of the season, maybe even before that. But like I feel like, maybe you give him the break he did the futures game. Maybe that's what it's like, Hey, we're gonna start you off. He might be in the bullpen on Friday. It wouldn't stun me at all. Yeah, maybe they wait two more weeks and say, you know, maybe they trade, for instance, to recycle what we just talked about. Bummer or Johnson gets traded Rysell gets traded whatever, and they turn and say, hey, young fella, you're replacing one of these established guys and go get them. So we'll see and we'll talk play between now and then. But the Braves do open the second half of the season, the second half of quotes by hosting the Yankees starting Friday.

00:56:06
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, I will say the only note I have on that, which is a little bit of a bummer. So Max Freed was maybe gonna start for the American League in the All Star Game, of course at Truist Park, a place he has so many memories. Max has another bad blister. What on earth is wrong with Max Fried's finger? That thing has been It's been a problem for nine years now. It's crazy. But Max Freed, I would be I think he went on the injured lister. Is going to go on the injured list with a bad blister. Freed will not pitch, I don't think in that series in Atlanta, which is a bit of a bummer. I'm sure he would have gotten a rousing ovation, either at the All Star Game or in the series itself. But yeah, Aaron Judge, if you can keep Aaron Judge quiet, you have a pretty good chance against New York I'm sure. Unfortunately, there'll be a lot of Yankees fans at Truest Park. So one encouraged them to spend all their money and two, let's get a couple wins and send the yank He's home sad.

00:57:02
Speaker 1: Yeah, Aaron Judge might just be in Atlanta for a week. Maybe you'll go on vacation in between. But he might just be in Buckhead from Wednesday to Friday, So we'll see how that goes. All right, Scott, We've covered enough ground on this Sunday Evening episode. We will have shows this week, even though there are no games. We will have multiple podcasts on multiple things. Will be a draft focused at some point, trade focus at some point, talking about the storylines. We'll get it. We'll get into all that stuff, I promise you between now and the games rezuoming on Friday. So please subscribe to Hammer Territory anywhere you find your podcasts. If he made it this far, we appreciate it in the first place, but just check us out all the time. Tell your friends as well, Scott. Folks can follow you on social media at Scott Cold fifty five. Is that correct?

00:57:43
Speaker 2: That is the one brad Go Colts. Oh, I wish I had happy football things to think about, but I don't you know, maybe maybe Daniel Jones will shock the world. Now I'm not. I am not that delusion.

00:57:56
Speaker 1: Hey, takes car and Carter Bryant in summer League. You're you're there, a basketball guy.

00:58:02
Speaker 2: There we go. Yes, college basketball not far away. That's probably gonna be a little better.

00:58:06
Speaker 1: But yes.

00:58:06
Speaker 2: Thank you to everybody for checking out the show we are gonna have. I mean, I think some we were talking today behind the scenes about some ideas for shows between now, All Star week, trade deadline coming up, so we're gonna have some fun stuff on the horizon. And as always, a big thank you to both our longtime listeners as well as new folks who have found the channel. Welcome aboard. We do a lot of shows and Winter Lose. We always do a podcast.

00:58:29
Speaker 1: We will always be here. Thank you for being here Scott on this Sunday, being patient with me as I travel through the desert, not far from where you actually are right now. But stay tune everybody. We appreciate you listening. As always, we'll see you at some point during the All Star break, and we'll sign off now so thanks for listening. As always,