Starting Pitching, Framber Valdez, Ketel Marte, and More

00:00:22
Speaker 1: Welcome one and all to the Hammer Territory podcast. My name is Schawan Covid. Hope wherever you are and wherever you are listening, you have had a happy, healthy, and wonderful holiday season. I'm very late Merry Christmas to all of our listeners. In early happy New Year. We're kind of in not necessarily the dead zone, but that you know, that zone where it's kind of relaxation. You don't have a lot going on, You're still around friends and family, still in the festive mood with the holidays and everything else. But you know what, we're also in the midst of the baseball off season and we're covering a team that's done a lot but likely is not done. So we still have plenty to talk about and as always one of the best when it comes to breaking down the braves. My podcast partner Steve and Tobert hope you and your family had a wonderful Christmas er. As always good getting to talk with you.

00:01:06
Speaker 2: What's up, buddy, Yeah, we are in this, you know, in between two major holiday kind of dead zone where most of the time stuff doesn't happen. Like on Christmas Day, we did get a the I think the A's signed Tyler Soderstrom to a big extension. I remember a couple of years ago, this is the time period the Braves traded for Chris Sale. It was like the last day of the year. So like, stuff does happen at this time, but it's it's exceedingly rare. A lot of front offices spend most of this time off, you know, the week between Christmas and things, or Christmas and New Year's, so I'm not expecting much. I was hoping we'd get a big flurry right before Christmas, but we didn't really get that. Still a lot of big name free agents on the board. I did an update on Twitter a couple of weeks ago, and like, only two of the top ten YEA free agents have signed. A lot of the middle of the class has signed, but the top of the class is still on the board. So a lots of still happen this offseason. And again with the Braves. The Braves have probably done more heavy lifting than just about any other team. But as we've said, and as we're going to talk about on this show, doesn't mean they're done. Uh, there could still be more coming, so we'll see what happens.

00:02:25
Speaker 1: Yeah, and in my opinion. As a matter of fact, with what they've done already, it means it means even more that they shouldn't be done right. You know, there's levels to what we've talked about. You know, we talked me and you have talked extensively about getting that difference maker on the offensive side, but instead they filled needs. They've made smaller moves, but they've enhanced the significance of those smaller moves by continuing to make those moves, by continuing to fill those needs. Individually, signing to mikeys Strumsky or a Hassan Kim or trading for Mauricio Duban may not seem like that, you know important, they're that significant, you know, in a vacuum in a singular sense on their own, but collectively, you see how this team has improved. But that again shines the spotlight on why this team definitely needs to go after a starting pitcher, pitcher and to that point, a significant starting pitcher, because that's where they can make their difference, right, that's where they can truly become, you know, one of the elite staffs in baseball, and you still have plenty of starting options out there. You know, I know that Scott and Brad had talked about it, but from ber Valdez, Zach Gallon, Rangers Suarez, I may, from Japan, Chris Bassett, among others. There are some significant options that are out there. The Braves have money with all they've done so far. To me, that makes it make even more sense to go and be aggressive in adding that starter sooner rather than later.

00:03:52
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean a splash is still out there, like if you want to make us like that was the point of you know, most of the top ten is still unsigned, and that's not just the Braves. Any team out there can still go make a significant splash for twenty twenty six if they want to. If you listen, Kyle Tucker is gonna change somebody's entire outlook of their offseason. Uh, Fran bar Valdez is gonna change somebody's entire outlook. Ranger Suarez, you know, I mean there's still guys that Gallon, Cody Bellinger is still gonna change somebody's off season pretty dramatically. So you know, when the top of the with so much of the top of the class is still unsigned, like even though a lot's happened already, this offseason, not as much as we want and certainly not at the pace we want, but still a lot has happened, and as much as has happened, there's still significant updates and significant improvements that are gonna be made by multiple teams. So, you know, even though we're you know, more than halfway through this offseason, in a lot of ways, the biggest moves are yet to come. And like you, you know, like we're by to talk about, especially on the pitching side, where I agree with you, I think the Braves can make the biggest splash. Even though we did get a position player kind of update for the Braves that was a bit surprising that we're going to talk about. I agree with you the starting pitchers, where you can really go submit a fantastic offseason if you go add one more impact player at that position, then you can really say the Braves had a top to bottom, you know, every single aspect, every single hole they had on the team, they really went out and filled aggressively. And I would feel really good about the offseason if they went out and added one more significant starter to their group.

00:05:42
Speaker 1: Yeah, and to expound on why it makes sense, you know, the the part of this team again. You know, again, something that I want to point out from the from the beginning of twenty twenty four through the midst of twenty twenty five. Even for most of that part we were disappointing as a team, we still had arguably the best starting staff in baseball. I go to the middle of twenty twenty five because that's where we really you know, that was around the time where Swell and Bock and Sell and others you know, started getting injured and out for an extended period of time. But the one aspect of our team that has been closest to a level that you need to contend is starting pitching. And that's why I think it's worth adding a significant difference maker who also is durable. You know, Durability is a big thing, and it's also with all the options that we mentioned that are out there, all it costs is money, right, That's all that it's going to cost. It's not going to cost you prospects. Now, you could go trade for a controllable arm, but you've got you probably want, you know, proven ability, you want durability. And to me, that shines the spotlight on one individual above others who I think the Braves could get to a level of comfort with this individual more than others could because of the connections that they have, and that's from Bert Valdez. I wrote a piece over at battery power dot com just because when you really look at fromer Valdez, one of the things that's unique about him that probably is not necessarily there so much with others is that you had the incident last year during the season where he crossed up his catcher or excuse me, there is speculation that he crossed up his catcher in the midst of a game that definitely did not have, you know, the most positive reaction around baseball. I don't think one ten second occurrence defines, you know, a free agent's profile, especially above their production. But I mentioned that though, because there may be character concerns that are out there when it comes to Fromer Valdez.

00:07:34
Speaker 2: Well.

00:07:35
Speaker 1: Former Braves assistant general manager Dana Brown is the Astros general manager. The Braves just signed Martin Maldonado, who's one of the closest relationships Valdez has in the industry, to support the major league franchise. One of the reasons why I feel the Braves couldn't make a move for from Bervaldez. You've got two reliable resources that can give you all that you need to know about whether or not Fromber is a good fit for this team. We know that Alex and Thopless really vets thoroughly explores every aspect of a player before he adds them. He's got two pretty close sources to explore on Fromber if he wanted to add them. That to me may be the biggest obstacle because after that, when you come to the profile that from Rvaldez has, he's almost identical to Max Free, who you know better than anybody. Durability, one of the has drown one of the highestenning totals of anybody over the past twenty years, and he has thrown more playoffenings than anybody since twenty twenty. As well, he checks all the boxes, and with the age that he's at, those concerns are out there. Character Wise, he may be in a contract range you be comfortable with as well. From Rivaldez to me is the best singular source that can check as many boxes as you want to add to our rotation.

00:08:56
Speaker 2: Yeah, and listen. You can also you can call up Marie A dubond and say, hey, you just played with him for the last five years. What kind of guy is he? How is he? How is he viewed in the clubhouse? You know, last year the Braves and the Astros got together on the Raphael Montero deal. I think I think he came from the Astros. So like, these are organizations that talk a lot. Obviously made a trade last year, made a trade this year. So like you said, there is no Alex will know exactly what he needs to know to decide whether or not fran Barvaldez should be a part of this organization. He there will be no shortage of information. And if he calls and he gets hey, you know that incident with the catcher was a one time thing. He was very frustrated. I think he'd just given up a grand slam. I think him and the catcher were on the wrong page. It was just a bad It wasn't a good moment for him. Not making excuses. It's a bad moment, but it was isolated, like he's been an upstanding citizen before that end since then, or he's gonna make all his phone calls, he's gonna learn this guy is a this guy's an asshole, like this guy is. You don't want this guy on your run, Like this guy should not be on your team, And any hint of that, any not even words that strong, any hint of that, and Alex is probably gonna say no, especially for the money that you're talking about. You're talking about, I mean, if he gets what he's projected to get, which is like five years and thirty million a year, you can't have even a hint of the guy is not a good teammate because he's all of a sudden gonna be the highest paid player on your team, and you want to talk about something that could blow up quickly. So yeah, there's no doubt in my mind Alex has plenty of resources to go do all the due diligence that you have to do anytime there's even the hint of character questions. But I'll say this, if there were character questions, I wouldn't I don't think I would hear about his market being as strong as I've heard his market being. Like if these were real and there were moreultiple incidents, and there were multiple teammates saying, do not sign this guy, You do not want this guy in this clubhouse, I don't think his market would be as strong as it is, because everything I've heard about his market is you know, that five year, one fifty number that got thrown out early is either on the money or it might even be low. So my guess is it was it was probably more of an isolated incident. But we don't know. I mean, we don't know, but Alex will know, I promise say. Alex has got plenty of connections, plenty of people he can talk to, including his brand new utility player that he just traded for to figure out who Framber Valdez is, you know, And I'm not going to pretend to be able to sit here and tell you because I have no idea what kind of person he is, what kind of character he has, And that is probably a big sway on whether or not I would give him this contract or not. If it was just about production on the field, I would have very little reservation other than I don't like giving pictures five year deals. If you could somehow get him for a four year deal, it would be even better. But you know, that stuff we just don't have access to, and we won't know until after, and we may never know specifically with Valdez. If the Braves did their due diligence and it just came back to negative for them to continue. That's stuff we rarely get an inside look into, but Alex has no shortage of ways to find that information out. And whatever answer gets, will I promise you dictate very strongly their next move, whether it's continuing down the road with Framburgh or moving on to the next guy.

00:12:33
Speaker 1: And there are plenty of options out there. The other part of this is that, you know, is I think that I've lighted up a bit on it just because we've been able to fill somebody needs without giving up prospects. Is the aspect of listen, if we're going big game, honey, when it comes to adding the starting pitcher that likely needs that twenty six pick is going to be given up, give you both. You know, at one point we're like, let's keep that, you know, let's trade for what we need. But they haven't and they've not given up any prospects. If the market for these starting pitchers that are out there with the draft pick tied to them is going on as long as it is, I know that the markets could be strong, But what's the first guy sides maybe there was contracts to come down to bit. If you get a really good contract opportunity with the Swoz or a Gallon or a Valdez, it's gonna stay at first, I think. But I think the Brays are okay do it. I think they would be okay giving up that pick. And the more I think about it, if we truly are going to go with starting pitching as our way of being kind of over the top of where we're going to be elite and we can win, now I'm a bit more okay with it than it was, you know, even a few weeks ago.

00:13:40
Speaker 2: And even like a Chris Bassett, like what not pissed me off in any way, shape or form. Like I know people want the big the big name, but just some durability, just some extra depth. And again, Bassett wouldn't cost the draft picks, so you would be able to get through your entire offseason and still maintain your entire draft even though you got you know, you got unlucky with getting the ninth overall pick that certainly could have been better. But yeah, if you sign a guy like Bassett and you just you just go with depth. I understand the Braves logic. Though, of and we've heard this that they are aiming very large and if they don't get it, then they might just rely on the depth they have. I do understand that logic to an extent, and I applaud them for being as aggressive as they've been. Payroll is at a level we have not seen ever, and apparently there's still more to spend, so you know, you have to give them credit for that. And I understand the logic of trying to get one of these big guys that can directly impact a playoff series. But I think even a guy like Bassett could help a playoff series, even if it's like you know, Scott said this the other night, and I agreed with him, Like you know, kennon, impact a playoff series has levels, Like you could send Chris Bassett out for a one time through the order, you know, for the first three innings of a playoff game. Would you send him out for the you know, fifth, fourth, fifth, and sixth inning? Probably not. But there are plenty of guys the Braves could still sign that aren't fran Bravaldez that could help in a playoff series, So that would not upset me. I you know it wouldn't be quite the same level of offseason as getting one of these top guys. But just any pitching depth at all, I'm gonna be happy with because you just can't have enough. And I don't think the Braves currently have enough. And we've all said that from day one that we want a starter, and they've really they've done a really good job adding to bullpen. Go get a starter and you can feel you can feel really good about this offseason.

00:15:35
Speaker 1: And speaking of pitching depth, and I agree with you, Chris Bassett level signing you know, probably would not be you know that that can only be viewed as a positive. But the one thing that I will say is is that I don't think anybody needs to, you know, tell Alex and Thoppless, or tell anybody that listens to Alex and Thopless you know how much he values pitching depth. It clearly is a priority. And we got a unique perspective from a foul territory zone Rosenthal about that last week. A bit more on Kim Rosenhal's latest report of the Braves in just a moment after a word from our partners. So in the week leading up to Christmas, Stephen, you know, Kim Rosenthal and basically every other day retch a great article for The Athletic and he'll you know, expand on it in his Chawfair Territory, which you can find on the foul Territory family of podcasts. He talked about the Braves and you know, typically he's been talking about the moves that they made and what's to come next, and of course he's ended up pitching, but he also talked about katel Marte and he talked about the fact that the Braves are not a fit for katel Marte because of the fact that they really don't want to give up their young pitching, especially Hirston Walder. Now, I want to put a little bit of perspective on this, and I will admit this speculation is this is speculation on my part, So Stephen correct me if I'm wrong. I feel like the Braves probably checked in on Cantel Marte at some point due diligence wise, just like they did with Byron Buxton, his contract would be a great fit. I feel they could have put him at short for a year and then made a decision on you know, putting him at second, you know, once Ozzie, you know played another year with us. I feel they would have done that been just fine with that. I feel like they probably checked it at some point and the ass even though the Braves I think are one of the better fits to give the Diamondbacks who want young pitching, the Braves could have given a good quantity with some quality to the Diamondbacks for Marte, I feel like the Braves just did not want to give the young pitching up. Now, that may not necessarily be the most effective way of go about doing things, but I think that what it came down to was that the Braves probably talked with the Diamondbacks about count tell Marte. Not only was it not the cleanest spit, it probably was a bit too rich for their blood, and they just pivoted towards instead of making the home run move they potentially would add with going after Buckston, they quickly maneuvered to just feel needs with high floor type guys. Is that kind of the read that you have on it? And then from there I want to talk a bit more about what this could indicate as far as future moves. It's not necessarily the Saw season, but maybe into the season for the breaks.

00:18:20
Speaker 2: So my read on this could tell Marte's stuff is one. He is one of the best players in baseball. Absolutely, He's on a relative to his talent level. He's on a dirt cheap contract in multiple years of team control. I think he makes like fourteen million dollars a year or something like fifteen million dollars a year something like that. Not that disimilar to the Buxton deal, but I think it's even longer than the Bucks to deal. He is on the older side. I think he's thirty two, but still he's one of the best players in baseball. Yes, the Diamondbacks are not the biggest payroll team in the in the world. Everybody knows that. So and the bi Dinarybacks are trying to win. So, Like when I first saw it, I was thinking, why are the diamond Backs so eager to get rid of katl Marte, Like, this guy is one of the best players in baseball. You don't get guys like that at fourteen million dollars a year very often. They're trying to win, you know, I don't really get why they're trying to get rid of them. And then you start reading and like, apparently there's a lot of people in that organization that just don't like kateel Marte. Yeah, there's been some locker room stuff. You know, he's and I'm not going to pretend to know the ins and outs. We don't cover the Diamondbacks and so we don't live in this stuff every day. But there's just a lot of smoke that he's kind of worn out his welcome there. To be quite honest, that's the that's one of the only reason. Unless the guy is actively demanding a trade, and maybe he is, you don't really trade what is essentially your best player. I think it's fair to say kateell Martin. I mean, I know Corbyn Carroll is awesome. I mean you could probably make that argument, but one of your two best players on a dirt chief contract on a team that's trying to win, unless the guy has kind of worn out, he is welcome. And so if you told me that alone was the reason the Braves aren't a fit, I would believe it. Now, we'll never know exactly, I'm I guarantee you Alex checked in. He checks in on everybody. You're not doing your job if you're not at least making the phone call. But again, like same thing with Framber, like if there's any hint that this guy is gonna be a pain in the ass to manage, especially when you have a brand new man, not a brand new manager. I mean what Wisse has managed before, but he's a new manager to you. You don't want to make his life any more difficult than it already is with bringing in guys who were going to be clubhouse problems. Now, I don't know, KA tell Marte that might be an unfair statement to say that he's a clubhouse problem. It might be something on the Diamondbacks end, where, like you know, they did something that kind of pissed him off. I have no idea we're We're not in that world, but there has just been a lot of smoke that he is. Something in that clubhouse is not working. Whether it's him, whether it's them, I don't know. So my guess is I think the Braves would give up some of this show pitching.

00:21:00
Speaker 1: Now.

00:21:00
Speaker 2: I don't know if they'll give a person Waldroup, but I think they would certainly give up some of it to make a trade. I think they would have definitely given it up for Buxton, but I don't think they're willing to give it up and take on a potential clubhouse problem. I think they'll do one of those. I don't think they would do both. So that's my rito, Marte. Anytime somebody that good, who's that cheap, is being like actively shopped, I'm always curious because that's usually one of the only reasons a guy like this gets traded because he makes too much money. You're trying to clear it. That's not Marte. He makes, you know, nothing relative to his talent. So I just assume there's something wrong in the clubhouse. We'll see where he gets moved to. I've heard the Mets, I've heard a bunch of teams. But if if that stuff is true, and I'm not saying it is, but if it is true, I don't expect the Braves to be involved. And I think they would give up the pitching if that wasn't a big question. But I don't think they would do both.

00:22:00
Speaker 1: That's a very fair point, right, And I think that you know you're correct, and that the club outspit has to be there, you know, and everybody knows that the Graves put a high value on that. It does though kind of you know, also shot a spotlight on the fact that we talk about the Braves' current starting rotation Strider Sale Swallow Moch Rinaldo Lopez, if they add another starter, you know, Hurst and Waldrip, so on and so forth. We talk about how quality that has been, but just like we also talked about last year, it could be that in theory, but there remains a lot of question marks, right like, not only in terms of what you're going to get from those pitchers this year, but what are they going to look like after this year? Like what are they going to look like for twenty seven and beyond. We don't necessarily know what version of Strider we're going to get. We hope that we get what he was, but you know, what does that look like if he's not. I imagine that they're probably you've been an advocate of this. I imagine they'll probably, you know, look to keep him around, you know, beyond twenty six. But just naturally, a clode could happen to any point. I think Spillerbach is a top of a rotation option. I think that makes sense. Rinaldo Lopez, You'd love to see him get back to being a reliable starter, but that shoulder, as long as it's barking, you just don't know what is Hurston Walder could have looked like second third time through the league. These are natural questions you can bring up about any rotation. But I think for Alexandoppolis, who is who has seen multiple years now of not having quality pitching depth be there like he woulded. That's why he's probably he's always has been, but that's why he probably is a bit more resilient. In a year from now, you could have Hurston waldri Ip, you could have a healthy ag Smith, Shav Jr. Richie Kim, Kimmanitti, you can have a very attractive depth covered of young pitching. I think that Alexandoppoless probably does a bit more value on having that available now than he did in the past. But I agree with you say mid season something comes up, he could pivot to still add another significant offensive piece hit the offense needs.

00:24:13
Speaker 2: And I'll say one more thing about the Braves and Marte. So my first answer was focused mostly on Marte and the Diamondbacks from the Braves perspective. I was thinking about this the other day. They technically do not have a middle infielder on a guaranteed contract after this year. Mariso Dubon has got one year of team control left. He's this is twenty twenty six as his last year of arbitration. Hassan Kim obviously just signed a one year deal, and Ozzie Albi's has already passed the guaranteed portion of his deal. He's just on these club options. It's kind of a year to year club option thing. Now. He does have the buyout, which I guess technically is guaranteed money, but it's a buyout, it's not a guaranteed year contract. So that's That's basically the Braves three main middle infielder and all of them could be gone after this season. So like, it wouldn't surprise me at all to see the Braves at some point try to address some sort of long term answer somewhere in the middle infield. Some of that's gonna depend on Ozzy, quite honestly. Like, like, Ozzy is a very clear candidate if he has a bounce back year for signing an extension of some sort, but he's got to show something. You gotta show us that you're not just completely done as a major league player. Like he's looked for a concerning amount of time where all of the skills have basically declined at a rapid pace, and now he's already dealing with the wrist, you know, thumb injury, whatever it is that he's gonna be. He ended last year with Hassan Kim again, a one year deal. I'm guessing he signed that one year deal to have a good year and then get back out and sign a major deal somewhere else. I doubt that's gonna be with the Braves. So like, from that perspective, checking on Martein makes sense, Like you don't actually have any long term answers at shortstop or second base as currently constructed. And I know they just drafted a bunch of shortstops in the last draft, and we'll see what those guys develop, but currently you don't have a clear answer in your minor leagues either for either one of those spots. So like that, you know, it's not a question this year because they've signed they traded for Debond, and they signed Hassan Kim. But like after this year, the mental infield very kind of quickly has become in totality a big question going forward. Shortstop has always been a question, but now with Ozzie's you know, inconsistent play and the fact that his contract is through the guaranteed portion. They don't have a long term answer at shortstop, our second base. So from that perspective, I certainly understand checking in on Marte.

00:26:49
Speaker 1: And the other thing to remember is that it's as active as they have been, you know, this off season, and even though they're probably going to sign another picture to a multi year deal, you also they positioned it to where they maintain I know some people may not want to hear this, but it is a significant development as well. They haven't given up prospects, so they still can be a factor in trades for a significant player. But they also are going to have a lot of money to operate with next off season, you know, you know the bullpen pieces, Bummer and and Mines and Iglesias, you know, Hasan Kim Just that alone gets you nearly fifty million dollars available. Now, obviously it doesn't work out where it's always you know, going to be a clear fifty million, But my point is is that they have next off season to still address it, so you're correct, even absolutely they need to address it. They that will become a bigger question as time moves forward when it comes to long term options up the middle, but thankfully they do have multiple ways they can go about addressing those in time.

00:27:45
Speaker 2: And let me say this, we'll talk about this as it gets closer. We're not we're not ready to do twenty twenty six previews yet. We're still in off season mode. But just a little nugget that we're certainly going to talk about at some point. Ozzi Albi's is gonna have to play at a certain level to justify not having Hassan Kim play at second and Mauricio Dubon play it short like I'm not sure if Ozzi plays like he did for most of last year, I'm not so sure that Brav's best situation isn't putting Dubon at short, who's a much better defender than Hassan Kim, and putting hass On Kim at second. Ozzi is going to have to play at a level that convinces the team not to do that, because I think that's I think that's a possibility, and I don't I think everybody is just automatically saying hass On Kim is the shortstop, Ozzi Alby is the second baseman, and that's certainly how they're gonna start, But if Ozzi Albi's continues to regress at the level he has the last couple of years, I would at least explore putting Dubon at short and putting hass On Gimmitt second, because that's certainly a better defensive setup, and if Ozzi's not hitting, it might be a better offensive setup too. So again, that'll be more once we get past January into the when we start previewing the team for twenty twenty six. But I just want to put that little nugget out there. I'm not Ozzie is going to actually have to play at a level that justifies him keeping that starting spot.

00:29:19
Speaker 1: Yeah, and we're not necessary you know, I don't want to put words at your mouse, Steve, and you're not necessarily saying that Ozzie is not going to, you know, not start. But listen, we he.

00:29:28
Speaker 2: Is definitely going to start the year as the second basement.

00:29:30
Speaker 1: But listen, we've seen the downside of how these injuries are taken a toll on Ozzy. And no disrespect to Ozzie. Absolutely I'm speaking for myself here. Absolutely love Ozzy out obvious to person, love what he does on the field, like like the best version of the Braves is Ozzie being at his best. It absolutely is the truth. But how certainly you're going to consistently get that That's become a bigger question over the past few years. And when we say that the Braves have added the versatility, it's to be able to answer these questions. Okay, we've addressed shortstop, but what if up the middle will yet we're one of the worst position groups in baseball. Well, we now have options to make changes to your point, So that's what comes with that. That's what comes with versatility. And even though it may lead to tough results at the end of the at the end of the day, the only results that matter. What do the brains need to turn around to be able to win consistently? And now that they've got some options to where hey, if you're not playing you know, at the level that can help us win, we've now got options that potentially, uh, you know, could could make it to where you're you're not playing as much. So it'll definitely be an interesting thing to see. So we talked about the starting pitching options. We've talked about you know, speculated interests and could tell Marte. That shows that this off season, in terms of the roster, in terms of the product on the field, there's still plenty to look forward to. But what about outside of that? What else this off season are some storylines to potentially pay attention to that could become bigger as we move forward in twenty twenty six. A bit more on that in just a moment, So Stephen, obviously the big storyline that everybody is talking about this off season, and we'll we will expand on these certain topics in time. But this is more just this third segment is more just to kind of give you know, listeners storylines to pay attention to. That obviously, is the potential of a lockout quote unquote you know CBA, you know, negotiation window where there's not anything going on in baseball. That looms very large. I believe that the last time we saw this was between the twenty twenty one and twenty twenty two season, the year that Freddie Freeman went to the Dodgers and we traded for att Also, that is a very real possibility. When I say possibility, I mean now more than five years ago. It seems to be an expectation that games will be lost in the twenty twenty seven season. That is something that many need to pay attention to because it could mean a shorter season in twenty twenty seven, and it could also mean a lot of changes for twenty twenty seven and beyond that we currently see in baseball.

00:32:16
Speaker 2: Yeah, and listen, it has impact on this offseason because and I can't remember who said this, it might have been Jeff Passing, but yes, if you're signing a two a guy to a two year deal, teams are already factoring in that that the second year of that deal is not going to be one hundred and sixty two games. Like That's how that's how.

00:32:37
Speaker 1: Certain it was. Trade candidates and his trade piece not only signing them, but trading.

00:32:41
Speaker 2: For trading for them, right changes the value. Yeah, for sure, you're getting less games. That's how certain people are operating under the idea that there's going to be a lockout and and impacted games in twenty twenty seven. Now, we got lucky, and you know when the Braves won the World Series in twenty twenty one, obviously the lockout happened that offseason. That was the last time the CBA was up for negotiation, and they got the deal done literally just in time to save one hundred and sixty two game season. If you'll remember, they actually took the first two series of the season and put them at the end, which is why the Braves and the Mets were playing each other for the division title that year. Remember the Braves chased down the Mets and the second to last series was with the Mets. Well, originally that was supposed to be the first series of the y or the second series of the year, and it got moved to the end because of the lockout, so they were still able to play one hundred and sixty two last time. There is much less confidence this time that they're gonna be able to play one hundred and sixties two games. And you could tie it pretty much all to the Los Angeles Dodgers because the last two years, the Los Angeles Dodgers have outspent everybody damn near two to one and they are dominating the sport. And people believe that there needs to be some sort of salary cap, and the players have always been no cap, no question, it's a non starter, and that alone. There's other issues, but honestly, that alone is the reason why so many people are convinced there's gonna be a lockout and it's gonna cost games in twenty twenty seven, and so it does matter this offseason. It matter even though it's a year away. You're signing contracts now for the twenty twenty seven season and they're being impacted by this reality. So yes, you know, there's other there are there's other storylines we're gonna get to that are more pertinent. But you need to be aware as a baseball fan that this is coming down the road. It's coming very quickly, and it is going to have an impact, not only now. It's gonna have an impact at the trade deadline when we get there, and it's certainly gonna have an impact once we get to the end of the twenty twenty sixth season, because a lockout is going to be imminent.

00:34:47
Speaker 1: Speaking of you know, the business side of things, of another one that you know, in recent days, we've gotten more information on you know, we we we've been through over the past couple of seasons. There's a bit of uncertainty. The last of season we you know saw you know, how are we going to be able to watch Braves games via FanDuel? And you know, you know, Amazon picked it up and it was, you know, seemed like a pretty good solution. Well, now there's been more to that. There's there's more development when it comes to FanDuel and you know, its future to be able to cover you know, teams across multiple sports, and it certainly seems like now that there's going to be you know, it's just going to change. You know, fandel is not going to be the source you know for much longer, depending on you know, when certain you know things happen. Steven, last off season, you did a wonderful job keeping folks up to date and covering that. But that, once again, I don't necessarily know if it's going to be as big of a storyline to watch like an update for every week, but it does. It is important to keep in the back of your mind to know where, if a change does occur, where you can go to access Braves games.

00:35:48
Speaker 2: Yeah, here we are again once again talking about how people are going to watch games in twenty twenty six. Obviously, last offseason, we you know, we talked about it extensively. We tried to cover it, you know, wall to wall because it matters because people want to know where they can watch games. It matters to the everyday fans. And here we are again. You know last year it was Diamond Sports Group who owned all of the rsns, the regional sports networks. I do want to make a point. People get confused. They think it's FanDuel that owns this stuff. Fandel literally just bought the naming rights, like this has nothing to do with FanDuel the company. Yeah, it's like Truest. I met this point on Twitter. It's like Truest Bank bought the naming rights for Truest Park. But true at Bank doesn't in any way, shape or form operate Truest Park. He just bought the name. So Fandel is just the name. These are the regional sports networks that have been around forever. It was Bally before, it was like Fox Sports Southeast or whatever before that. These rsns have been around forever, and this business model has been slowly dying for about fifteen years now, and I mean slowly dying. And we might be at the final nail because so last offseason, people remember they came out they were doing this whole bankruptcy court and if they didn't figure out a way to get out of bankruptcy court, then the Braves, you know they were going to completely dissolve, Well they kind of got a life preserver at the last moment. They made it out of bankruptcy court and everything got to operate the same as it as normal last season, so you know, fans got to watch games on Fandel's Sports Network just like normal. Well, we got to report a couple of days ago that the company that ended up being created out of bankruptcy court, which I think is called like Main Street Sports or something like that, who now owns these regional sports network they're like a week away from completely dissolving because they have no money. And in the report it said they've already missed a December payment to the Saint Louis Cardinals, who are one of the fourteen Major League teams that are under these rsns. The Braves are also one of the fourteen, which is why this matters to us. And if this company dissolves, if this this parent company to these rsns dissolve, then and the Braves TV rights are once again up in the air completely. We have no clue as I sit here right now, I have no clue where the Braves are gonna be on television next year, and that alone makes this a story worth following and tracking. Now, obviously I do not expect fans to be you know, diving into the court documents like we were doing last year. We will try to keep people as up to date as we can anytime we get information. But that dropped right before Christmas, that, like this parent company, was like a week away from dissolving. There is a potential lifeline out there. There's a London based company that might buy the whole thing and keep everything status quo. That could happen and then nothing changes, but just be aware. We are once again on the where are the Braves gonna be on TV? Watch like we were last offseason, and like last off season, we will do our very best to keep it up to date. As soon as we get any information, well, we'll tack it onto you know, not every show we do, but you know, when it's relevant, we'll tack on the shows so that you know where you can watch the Braves next year.

00:39:04
Speaker 1: Absolutely, And that's the reason for bringing up these storylines. It's it's not to you know, worry listeners, it's not to you know, be negative, but it's it's to shed light on not only the fact that you know, your regular way of watching the Braves could change, you may have to alter that. But also a year from now we could be talking about when are the Braves actually going to play, how next, how many games are they going to play. So these two storylines may not necessarily fully complete and you know, be fully defined in twenty twenty six, but they certainly are going to continue to evolve, and that's the reason for watching them. To make sure that you're on top of things, which we will be, to make sure everybody kind of knows what's going on so that there's no surprises, because at some point in time, on both of these fronts, the results that come from this are going to have a major impact on obviously not only how you watch the Braves, but the game of baseball and the future of the game of baseball as a whole.

00:40:03
Speaker 2: And one last thing on the TV stuff, just remember, the Braves deal with these RSNS runs out in twenty twenty seven. So this is all under the backdrop of at some point the Braves are going to be free agents and are going to be able to sign a new TV deal anywhere they want or and this is what I hope they do or create their own network and just control control it all in house, which is what most big market teams do, and the Braves are a big market. The Braves have a massive footprint in the TV market of baseball because of how many years they were on TBS and how national their fan base is. They can certainly support starting their own network and just controlling it in house. Then you're not dealing with rsns. You're not having to worry about some third corporation, some middleman corporation going under and screwing up everything for you. You just control it all. That's what the Yankees do, That's what the Mets do, That's what the Cubs do, is what the Dodgers do. Like these big networks, have their own, they have their own station. They control it all in house. I hope that's the direction the Braves go. That's still a couple of years away. First, we got to get through all of this nonsense. But just keep that in mind as well. All of this is on the backdrop of not in the not too just the future of the Breads are actually going to be TV free agents, and you know that's going to be a massive storyline when he gets here.

00:41:26
Speaker 1: Hey and with how well the brains are done with the business model of you know, the battery. You know that they're surrounding areas generating you know, consistent revenue for the steam which helps support the off season that we've seen this offseason. You would think that they can get a you know, a good spot going with maybe their own TV deal. If they can find success through them being you know, free agents in the near future TV wise, that could be just another revenue stream to really keep the finances in place to support a winner long term. Steven, anything else from you as we wrap up this edition of the Hammer Territory podcast.

00:41:59
Speaker 2: No, I just want to say Merry Christmas to everybody. You'll probably be listening to this a couple of days after Christmas, a couple days before New Year's, So Merry Christmas. Hope everybody had a happy and healthy, merry Christmas. Hope that everybody has a happy New Year. Obviously, we are gonna be here, you know, twenty twenty six is literally on the doorstep, and we're gonna be here to cover it, just like we were in twenty twenty five, just like we were in twenty twenty four. Going back many years now, if you if you count the old podcasts. So yeah, make sure you follow along. I think the Braves might still have a decent sized move left in them. I think the Braves might have a couple of small moves left in them. I don't think they're done. And what we've heard kind of behind the scenes is they're not done. So you know, make sure you're tuned in, make sure you get those. You know, anytime something happens, we go live as soon as we can get to a mic. It's usually, you know, maybe an hour later, but we usually try to do an emergency show as fast as possible. So make sure you're subscribed and you get all the new content.

00:42:55
Speaker 1: Hey, and you never know, you know, you never know what you're gonna get. You know. That's the thing about these Habit Territory podcasts that they're gift wrapped at some point in times. You know, with the holiday season, be here, you could get a surprise Stranger Things season five breakdown from yours Truly along with Steven. You could get the forecast of a college football playoff game. You could even get a breakdown of Stephen Tilbert's favorite Christmas meal that he thinks he can cook, but nobody else actually agrees, but hey, all that speculation is to leave you sitting on the edge of your seat For the next Hammer Territory podcast for Stephen Tolbert. You can find him at b Undersquare Outliers on Twitter, slash x. My name's Sean Coleman at Stat's sac Brad and Scott will be with you on Sunday. Hammer Territory across all forms of social media, part of the Foul Territory family of podcasts. Until next time, Go brades. We'll talk to you again soon here on the Hammer Tury