AJ Minter, Andruw Jones, and the Silent Offseason That Endures

00:00:21
Speaker 1: Welcome to Hammer territory. My name is Sean Coleman. Always a pleasure to be with you wherever you are and wherever you are listening. Hope that you are warm. First off, probably wherever you are in the US, probably cold. And also just to hope you're enjoying good playoff weekend when it comes to football, some good college and professional basketball. But hey, we are here to talk about baseball, and is always here to talk baseball with me. It's my podcast partner, Steven Talbert Stephen. Good to see Egan, Sir. Ready to talk a little braise baseball with you.

00:00:51
Speaker 2: Now, what's up, Sean. It's always good to do these with you, buddy. Yeah, I mean, listen, it's been more of the same right, Like we're still waiting on anything at this point. Watching other teams sign good players, watching other teams sign former Braves players, watching other teams, you know, take away guys, that we're on the twenty twenty one team has kind of been a theme of this offseason, and it happened again recently. So we're gonna talk about that. We're gonna talk about Tenner Scott, talk about the Dodgers. Yeah, some stuff to get into because the feeling online is not great. Right now, I'll start there. I think that's fair. We have tried to be very fair on this show where we tell people we're okay, if you judge the offseason, let's just wait till the end of the off season to judge it, which I think is fair. I think that's a reasonable request. And the off season is getting, you know, it's getting you know, the saying is it's getting late quick you know, getting late very quickly. And we're three weeks out from spring training and still not a thing to talk about. So there's a lot of frustration out there, and you know, Sean and I are going to talk about it here for a few minutes.

00:02:09
Speaker 1: Absolutely, And let's start with the well, you know, with the Tenner Scott signing by the Dodgers four years seventy two, meion once again their financial finago league, not suggesting that anything you know wrong is going on there, just you know, obviously the same creative way of signing big name free agents that they've had over the past couple of offseason you know, continues. And we'll first start with Tenner Scott because you know, there was a bit of you know, anticipation that the Braves could be in on Tenner Scott. Davill Brian had, you know, kind of alluded to that fact, and you know, it made sense from you know, the way that Alex and Thopless had operated in the past. It would have been a smart it would have been. It made sense to go after Tenner Scott in my opinion, because of how an effective of a reliever he is, and also how many National League teams have very good left handed hitters. But the thing that stands out to me, Stephen is this is that, yes, it made sense to go after Tanner Scott, and I would imagine the Braves probably did have interest up until the very end. But the Braves also probably had as we've seen Alex and Popoulos have in the past, they probably had their set amount that they were going to be willing to spend, and it likely was lower than what the Dodgers had suggested. So I feel like that Tanner Scott, yes, he would have been a great addition to the Braves, but for what he signed with the Dodgers, I'm okay with this development being. With this development happening, of course, I would have rather him, you know, gone to the Cubs or another team, but at the price that was paid for him. I'm okay with the Braves. Haven't set this one out.

00:03:38
Speaker 2: Yeah, So in a vacuum, this is not a deal you're that most people would be overly jealous of. You know, paying relievers for three four years, you know, seventy two million dollars is is not something that I would ever typically recommend. We've talked about it on the show. Alex in his short time as the Braves, you know, president of Baseball Ops has actually shown a much stronger willingness to pay big money for relievers than I would ever be comfortable with.

00:04:11
Speaker 1: And so this is not.

00:04:14
Speaker 2: On the surface, this is not something that you would think like the Braves would be in. But I tweeted this out earlier. I will say this, you know, once you factor in the deferrals, because it's a Dodger contract, so obviously there are deferrals, there's about twenty million in deferred money, and once you factor the deferrals in, this deal is actually not all that dissimilar to the one that Rossillo Glacias signed with the Angels in twenty twenty two. He signed for four years at sixteen million dollars per year. Scott just signed for four years at eighteen million dollars per year, but again there are deferrals in there, and once the union, you know, once they calculate the present day value of this contract, it's going to be very similar to what aglesi has got. And of course we know that the Angels gave a Glaciers that contract and then four months later the Braves traded for the entire contract. So they were comfortable giving Iglesias sixteen million dollars a year to be a back end pitcher. And if you look at it, that's kind of what closers you know, they signed Kenley Jansen for like seventeen million. Like sixteen to eighteen million dollars is kind of what really strong back in high leverage relievers make now. And so I don't think the contract is as crazy as some other people do. I think it's pretty in line with what closers make. And I don't know if if Tanner Scott's going to be the closer. The Dodgers don't haven't typically had a closer. They do it by committee and by matchup, but he's gonna be one of their best high leverage relievers for sure. And that was my point with the Braves was that you know, Glaciers is thirty five, he's got one more year left on his deal. If they had done this with Tanner Scott, it would have made sense to me because Tanner it's kind of a bridge to Tanner Scott becoming your closer after this year. And again, if you're paying your closers sixteen to eighteen million dollars a year, it makes sense to me. Like I know a lot of people, I these are not deals that I would sign, but that's just kind of the market.

00:06:07
Speaker 1: Rate for elite relievers.

00:06:08
Speaker 2: So I would have been more likely to do this contract than maybe a lot of people were, or at least I would have understood it more. But it didn't happen. And you know, there was a lot of there was a lot of scuttle butt that the Braves were interested in Tanner Scott and so it was a very it was a very loud reaction online today when I think it was this morning when that news dropped that the Dodgers had signed him, and of course coming off the rookie Sasaki news, it was just like another gut punch, like the Dodgers just get everybody, and I understood it. I completely understood the frustration. If the Braves had made three or four trades or signings to this point, the frustration would have been substantially less. But because we're still here, they have still done nothing. Every time one of these big names comes off the board, especially if they had any connection with the Braves, it just gets you know, it just gets louder and louder and louder and louder. And you know, I'm actually kind of curious for your opinion show where are you? Where are you on the frustration meter with how this offseason is gone.

00:07:10
Speaker 1: I'm I'm not that high when it comes to being frustrated at the moment. And the reason why I think that is is because for me, I feel is if the biggest, the biggest development that needs to happen for the Braves to get back to where we need for them to be like they were in twenty two to twenty three in the regular season is already on the team. It's the internal improvements and better health from our players, our players simply playing to the level that they need to be. Another reason why I'm not necessarily that frustrated or that concern is because I feel like that Alex Enthopolis, while he's not made a moves of yet, while he usually likes to strike early, he's never been someone who has been reactive to what other teams have done, or he's never been someone that has been, you know, gonna make a move just to make a move. I still have I still have confidence in a move or two is going to be made. I don't think they're going to go into the season with all these openings that are there. And I also feel is if once we see maybe one of the one or two free agents like an Anthony Sender or a Jack Flarity or someone along those lines, not those specific players, but along those lines, I do think that we potentially will get a notable free agent who just is ready to sign a short term deal and be in an environment where they know that they're going to win, they know that they're going that they contribute, it's going to be notable. So I think that that's one way he's gonna be able to fill a need plus also make a trade. So I I don't have that much frustration because I trust in the creativity of Alex and topless. The thing that I will say though that does start to get a bit worrisome is the fact that even with the Brave, even though I have faith in the creativity, the thing is is that these free agents who we I feel made sense for the Braves, they're going to the Dodgers or like for instance, you know you're seeing those direct teams that are right there with the Braves or above them in the National League. They are getting names that make sense for the Braves. We're gonna talking about another in just a second, and Stephen, that's something that you know is not necessarily concerning the Dodgers. Were going to go into this season being better anyway. But the thing about the Dodgers that stands out to me is that, yes, they are the best team in baseball if everything hits. But we just recently have gone through a two year stretch where the Braves have been considered that and they weren't because of the injuries that occurred. One thing that I think that stands out about the Dodgers. Yes, they have a ton of talent, they're deeper than they were last year, but it's got to stay healthy. I think that may be the biggest question mark for the Dodgers. Can all of this talent that they have put together can stay healthy through a season for them to consistently be able to repeat as potential World Series favorites.

00:10:07
Speaker 2: Well, that's kind of what I love what the Dodgers have done, because they've you know, they've got like seven or eight starting pitchers right now. Like they've done they've tried to do their best to kind of make themselves bulletproof to injuries. And they won the World Series last year with a ton of pitching injuries. They had a ton of bullpen games in the playoffs, and they've went out and just added an insane amount of depth all over the field, every position, the bench, the bullpen obviously now with Tanner, Scott, the rotation, a ton of I mean they signed you know, they hired Otani and Yamamoto, and then they added Blake Snell, and then they added Societ. I mean, they just have an insane amount of depth. And that's where I get concerned with the Braves is that the Braves are very much tied to a handful of injuries and there's not a lot behind, like especially in the rotation, the rotation, the bullpen, like left field and shortstop. I can live with a little bit, because the rest of the offense should be really good, Like if everybody's back, then the rest of the offense should be good. Now, obviously they're tied to Akunya's injury and how well he comes back, But they do have a lot of talent on offense. That's that's not a subjective opinion, that's just an objective truth. They have a ton of talent on offense. But the rotation, I'm just very worried about the death. I'm very worried about Spencer Strider's recovery. I'm very worried about the amount of innings that Sail Lopez and swollen back all through last year and the residual effect that's going to have on twenty twenty five. And just one more really strong arm in the rotation would make me feel substantially better. And then the same thing in the bullpen. They have lost We're gonna get to him in a minute, but they've lost aj Mintter, they've lost Jojimnish for probably the season. You know, Iglesias is thirty five, on his last year of his deal and they haven't added anything. And I just if Aglesias gets hurt or has a down year. As currently constructed, their bullpen is a mess. I mean, I mean, at that point, your best reliever is like Aaron Bummer or Dylan Lee, and that's I mean, you got to it's got to be better than that. So I get the frustration. I there are people that are watching this wanting me to just completely unload on the team right now. I'm not gonna do that. We said we would do that if we got to the end of the offseason and they did nothing. This is not the end of the off season. This is January sixteenth or seventeenth, I forget what the day's date is, but it's not the end. There's a lot of names still out there. There's a lot of trade candidates still out there, a lot of free agents still out there. You know, we are one or two blue squares away from this being a really good offseason and the narrative being completely different. So I'm not I'm not ready to just unload on them yet, but I understand the frustration, and I get why every time one of these people get signed, when these big players get signed, people get madder and madder and matter because there are holes on this team that I think they need to address specifically with the pitching staff, you know, left field and short stoff. I would love, I would love if they finally got a left fielder, but I'm not I'm not living and dying with that. But the pitching staff I think needs some They need some reinforcements bullpen rotation, and you know, we'll see what they do.

00:13:27
Speaker 1: Yeah, agreed. And the thing, you know, I talk about the fact that I have faith in the creativity of Alex and Thopless, and so we see all these free agent names that you know, are you know, going off the board, and again I do think that there are some names that could eventually make sense, especially as we get closer to spring training. I do think Alex and Thoppless maybe kind of playing that waiting game a bit, seeing if there's a name that he likes that will continue to go down in price as we get closer and closer to spring training in the start of the season. But on the flip side of things, you mentioned there were a lot of trading can trade candidates out There's Steven But to me, again, one thing that kind of comes up in my mind again, I love the creativity of Alex and Thopless, but how creative is he willing to get with his most notable prospects Hirst and Walder, A. J. Smith, Shauber, Drake Baldwin, among others. You just talked about the fact that we've aught we've been seeing injuries smaller portion in twenty twenty three, major portion in twenty twenty four. Those prospects I just mentioned are our most obvious depth pieces. So we talk about the potential of film needs through trades. But if we don't want to trade any of those top prospects because we feel that those are our depth pieces, it kind of gives it brings up a very limited, you know, very limited resources for Alex and thoughtless to operate from when it comes to trades. So even though there's some notable free agents out there, there's some notable trade candidates out there as well. It comes back to my mind is what are the thoughts on those top prospects. Are we looking at them and maintaining them as depth pizzas that eventually could jump up to be major pieces in the case of injuries, or could we potentially see one or two of them happened in trades that the right deal comes along.

00:15:12
Speaker 2: Yeah, And I've thought about that, because you're right, the Braves A don't have a ton of top prospect I mean, there's still probably a bottom third farm system. It's better than it was, but they still don't you know, they're not a top five farm system by any means, So they don't have a lot of them, and they're very protective of the ones they have at the moment. You know, I don't think they're just gonna give Drake Baldwin away. But I will say this, there are enough teams and I do try to make a habit of reading, trying to read about everything going on with every other team in the league, just to have a baseline understanding of what's happening. There are a lot of teams in the league right now that are still trying to cut money, and there are potential ways you can make trades. You know, the Chris Sale trade last year. You know the potential Jordan Montgomery trade, something like that, where the other team is just trying to clear some payroll and you have some you have an upside play and you can get value that way. And I do think alex Is gonna explore those because like I said, there's there's probably from what I've been reading there's probably still six or seven teams that need to cut payroll aggressively cut payroll at some point in this offseason. And one thing I know for sure is that Alex has money to spend, like the payroll. Cash payroll right now is about forty million dollars under what it was at the end of last year. I'm not talking about luxury tax. That's a whole separate thing. It's too complicated to get in this episode, but just pure cash payroll, they're at about one hundred and ninety five million right now and they ended the year at two thirty five. So there's plenty of money to spend and if you can, if you can find value in places where other teams need to cut money and therefore are are hamstrung and don't have a ton of leverage in terms of asking for prospects, there's a lot of trades to be made out there right now, and I just with Alex's creativity, I would just be stunned. I would be stunned if he didn't come up with something where they get a really good player without having to give up much. And because he's done it before, we've seen him do it before, and I think he's gonna do it again. I know people are pissed. I know people are frustrated, and it has been a brutal offseason. Listen, there is no You don't have to tell us about how brutal we have to do a podcast three or four times a week, like we know how slow and how brutal this offseason has been. You don't have to tell us, and we're just as frustrated. But I've said it all along, I'll say it again. It is only fair to wait till the end of the off season to judge the off season. And we're not there yet. And there's a ton of players still out there on the free edgent market, on the trade market. There's plenty of money for Alex to spend. I'm just not I'm not there yet. I'm not ready to burn it down. I'm not ready to scream at anybody. I still think it's coming. I think improvements are coming, and I really hope I'm right. I really hope I'm not wrong, because that would be a brutal episode we would have to do if we are wrong and they do nothing and they cut payroll by forty million dollars, that's gonna.

00:18:07
Speaker 1: Be a brutal episode.

00:18:09
Speaker 2: We'll do it, don't get me wrong, We'll do it, but it's gonna be a brutal one. And I just hope, I just really hope they just go out make the moves. There's players out there, there's value out there, improve the team, and we can get onto twenty twenty five and have a great season.

00:18:26
Speaker 1: Yeah. And then the other thing that I'll say is this is that you know, when it comes to, you know, the moves that they are, the lack of moves that the Braves are making, is that, you know, it makes the fact that when one when a former Brave goes elsewhere, it makes it you know, I don't know if sting's even more is the way to describe it, but it makes those moves when former Braves go elsewhere stick out a bit more because you're like, well, we at least could retain those players that we already had. And the latest example of that is aj Minter, who not only went elsewhere, but he went to division right division rival in the New York Mets, and also went to being lost to with a two year twenty two met another deal. It seemed like a deal that the Braves could have afforded, but it made them better obviously when it comes to the Mets as well, filling the need for them. But Steven, here's the thing that I'll say. I know, people black of moves are frustrating see him enter go to a division rivals frustrating, especially how bloved Mentor was. But I'm actually okay with the deal that the Mets paid for Mentor the Braves not matching that I would have been okay bringing Mentor back probably for two fifteen to twenty. Okay, that's fine as well. But when it comes to AJ Mentor, I will say the one thing that stands out on the surface, he had a pretty decent season last year before the injury. But last year was the first time since twenty eighteen his FIP was above four. It was a four point four to five last year, So I think that the underlying statistics on ag Mentor suggests that last year he was not as good as he is previously. Being like Ian would have loved to have had him back, But personally I'm okay with what the Mets paid for him, that AJ Mintor went elsewhere.

00:20:08
Speaker 2: I mean, yeah, again, it's the same thing like it's in a vacuum. It's not that big a deal. I mean, it's not you know, they gave him an opt out, which is a big deal. He got twenty two million, which is a lot more than people thought with the hip injury. You know, a lot of people were thinking he was gonna have to take a kind of a pillow contract, a one year prove it deal. So the fact that he got twenty two guaranteed with an opt out is significant. And again, in a vacuum, you're fine letting aj Mintro walk with a with a twenty two million are guarantee and an opt out. That's not something that Braves would typically do. But when nothing else has happened, again, same thing. And now another one of your you know, twenty twenty one World Series pieces is off to another team. And listen, that's been a theme and that's not helping. Like, that's not helping. I mean this offseason you've had they traded hayesel Air World Series Hero the you know, they declined Travis Darnaut, who was on the World Series team. Max Freed went elsewhere on the World Series team. Charlie Morton went elsewhere on the World Series team Aj Mincher went elsewhere on the World Series team. Like that's been a theme this offseason where not only are they losing players, but like this twenty twenty one World Series team has been dismantled basically. I mean there's like two or three guys left and that's it. So it's just not helping. And yeah, I don't like I didn't when I saw Aj get that kind of contract with an opt out, I wasn't thinking, Man, the Braves should have done that. I actually have some concerns about AJ long term the hip injury. I'm extremely happy for him by all accounts. He's a really class dude. Was a big part of that clubhouse. I think the Braves have lost a ton in the clubhouse. I've said that before with with Darnault and Charlie Morton and Max Freed. They've lost a ton in that clubhouse and AJ is another one. And so I'm I'm super happy for him. But I yeah, that's not one that I was just like, man, I I need that contract on the Braves. Braids don't hand out opt outs anyways, But when you stack it up against they've done nothing. They've done absolutely nothing. The bullpen desperately needs help. The joehaman Is news at the beginning of the off season did not help. It just make you know, it just it just adds on. It's just another kind of it's you know, it's just you're just piling and piling on stuff for people to get mad about. And that did not help. And so having the AJ Mintor news, the Tanner Scott news drop you know, this close to one another. It's been brutal and it would really help us a lot. If the Braves could could make a move here pretty damn soon, that would that would help a lot.

00:22:41
Speaker 1: Well. The other thing that I think stands out with the Joejimans injury as well as AJ Mentor going to elsewhere, is the fact when you look at it, and I think that this is the case with most teams, when you look at the aspect of teams, I think it's a pretty common trait that the bullpen is probably where you see the least impact from homegrown talent. I think if you were to go up and down major league teams, there's not bullpens out there where you know, five or six of the members were home grown from the farm system. But with the Braves, especially with how good they've been at developing pitching. It's the fact that they've not really had a lot of bullpen pieces that have been homegrown. You've got Dylan Lee, but before that you have an aj mentor. Who was the last notable arm that was homegrown and Steven Krabby. If I'm wrong, I think before that it may have been Craig Kimprel. That's the point that I'm getting at. You're you're looking at nearly fifteen years of their of you being able to kind one hand, how many, you know, Braves notable relievers have come from the farm system. So that I think also is what's standing out that to me is something that kind of you know, was not talked about enough from that wave of high level pitching talent, at least in the miners that came at the middle and end of last decade, is that none of them turned into valuable relievers, which I think, you know, was a bit of a frustration. But I think that that's something that also stands out, is that the fact that we do not have a lot of relief pitching prospects or depth in the minor leagues. That's something that I think Alex and Thopless may address in time, maybe through the draft, what have you, but having a homegrown, reliable relief prospect right now would really help.

00:24:17
Speaker 2: No, it's a good point. I mean, you know, you look at ever since Alex has been the president of Baseball Ops, They've done what seven drafts, six or seven drafts, I think, and Dylan Lee is currently the only only guy that's come through the system that's currently in the bullpen. I mean that's you know, aj Mincher was here before Alex and Doppels got here. So yeah, that's a great point. I mean it's not something I'd really thought about, but yeah, they really have not developed a lot of bullpen talent in a long time. Really, and that you know, you would think the number of pitchers that they acquired during the rebuild. You know, not all of them are gonna hit, but you think one or two would hit as starter and then one or two were hit as a bullpen piece and then maybe the rest, you know, fall off. But that didn't happen really. I mean, Max Freed hit, Mike Soroka hit for a minute, Ian Anderson hit for like a minute, and that's about it. I mean, Kyle Wright hit for a minute. I mean it was that was it. You know, they didn't they didn't get any bullpen arms out of that all out of all that pitching, which is kind of wild to think about. Actually, So yeah, you're right. I mean they really have not developed a lot of bullpen and that's you know, that's part. I mean, that's that's kind of why they are where they are right now, where they they have. They lost too of their top setup guys and Mentor and Jimenez, and they don't have anybody internally that can just naturally step into those roles. Now they'll say Daves Bill Hernandez, and that's fair. He is. He is in the bullpen currently, and we'll see what kind of guy, you know, We'll see how good he is. But yeah, they just need more. They need more in the bullpen, and it doesn't seem like the farm is the place to get it at the moment. Maybe we're wrong. Somebody could always, you know, bullpen, somebody could always come out of nowhere and make a big impact to twenty twenty five and make us eat our words here. But I think you make a good point. As of now, they have not done a great job developing guys who can pitch out of the bullpen, they've typically had to go get those externally. And we've seen Alex add to the bullpen every year basically because he has to because there's not a lot coming in the system to help. So yeah, that that does not help, and it has definitely led to or partly led to where they are right now.

00:26:32
Speaker 1: Well, and the good you know kind of what hedges the the you know, what prevents the lack of bullpen depth in the minors and things like that from hurt and more is the Braves to have had a pretty good track record of helping relievers who come from elsewhere, what's they arrived in Atlanta do better in Atlanta than they did previously. So that's a way to hedge against not having a lot of relief depth. But speaking of depth, you know, I don't necessarily know if this is a notable signing, but at least he is a veteran major leaguer who the Braves signed at a clear area of need, and that was them signing veteran catcher Kurt Casally to a minor league deal. When it comes to catching, now, Casally has played you know, a you know, good portion over of each season over the past several seasons, but he feels more kind of as a last result resort emergency catcher. Steven He's not had I believe, more than a six to sixty ops in a season I believe since twenty twenty. He's just he's he's very he's very does very little with the bat. He's a very small threat with the bat. Probably can command a pitching staff in case of an emergency, but he doesn't feel like the back of the answer to the question of who's going to be our backup catcher. He just feels like he's another option that they're bringing in for spring training and he may get a run if we were to see another injury to Sean Murphy or whoever else they may potentially bring in, or even Drake Baldwin if they call him up in some portion this season.

00:27:59
Speaker 2: Yeah, listen, back up catcher is not a position. We've talked about a ton. You know, obviously, we had that whole show with Aj Prasinski, and big shout out to Aj for doing that show. That was actually our last show of mine. In your last show, check that episode out if you haven't. We talked a lot about the catching situation with aj obviously being a former major league catcher. But yeah, you know there was a world where the Braves went out and acquired a backup catcher. I agree with you. I don't think Cassily is is that. I think he's more minor league depth. I guess it's gonna be Chad with Trump. Yes, that's what they're gonna do. I thought maybe there was a chance they would go out and get a veteran catcher to be Murphy's backup. But I mean, you know, Trump is cheap and and has caught everybody on the rotation, so that you know that matters. That's a big deal. Actually, So I guess it's gonna be Trump. But yeah, I think Cassili is just gonna be minor league depth in case somebody gets hurt. You know, if somebody gets hurt for ten days. I don't know if you want to necessarily disrupt Drake Baldwin's you know, progression, his his development and have to just bring him up for ten days. This way, you could maybe bring somebody else up for ten days and and and keep Baldwin down. I'm very sure if Drake Baldwin's gonna make it to the end of the offseason still in Atlanta, Brave. That's not a guarantee. I mean, typically when you have a catcher like Sean Murphy who's in is still in the prime of his career, locked up for this long, like it would be a no brainer that your top prospect as a catcher you trade him like that's that would typically be the case, and that might still happen. We don't know. But if Dreg Baldwin is still in around when spring training and the season starts, then it is gonna be a see what they do with him. Is he just catching in Triple A every day? That would be my guess right now. But I'm guessing he's not gonna ever be a backup. I don't think he's ever gonna sit the bench so in Atlanta, So I think that's what's gonna happen, And I'm guessing Casili would just be his backup in Triple A. But yeah, this catching situation is really interesting. If if Dreg Baldwin makes it to the you know, season, still in the organization is one question, are they just gonna do Trump as the backup? Is Murphy actually gonna catch eighty percent of the time. Like we've been told, the catching situation is very fluid, and I'm very curious to see what they do. But yeah, Casilly's just a guy. He's just a minor league. He's probably just gonna be minorly depth. Probably Baldwin's back up in triple A, if I had to guess, And that's a decent guy to learn from. If you're Baldwin, you know, having a veteran guy in triple A with you, she's probably value to that. I'm sure that's part of the calculus here. So yeah, I don't think this is anything more than triple A depth and giving Baldwin a guy to bounce stuff off of.

00:30:33
Speaker 1: And you also have to consider the fact that you know the Braves another reason why they may you know, not necessarily be you know that receptive to trading Baldwin away is what if Murphy gets injured again. You know, if he gets injured and you trade Baldwin away, you know, that's kind of like, you know, if if Rice Iglesias were to get injured, you know, you're your world of hurt at the catching position. So again just again goes back to that lack of depth that you had mentioned as well, so the whole key to this, Stephen is that you know the Braves. You know. I think this is what stands out to me if we were to talk about is there something that I am frustrated with or are something that surprises me? Again, it's not necessarily that they haven't gone out and got a notable name or made a big move. I think the biggest thing to me is that they not addressed any of the needs that they have. That to me is where Alex and Thoppolss so far this off season has not acted like himself, has not gone out and done things. Yes, they've done a bunch of minor league signings, and one or two of those names may eventually emerge as filling those needs in time, But Alex and Thoppoless is always been very astute at going out in filling needs, even needs you may not have thought that the Braves had. When we talk about the moves that have not been made, the one thing that I will say that stands out to me as we are getting closer to time, like you're talking about it's getting late quickly, is that we've still got those four or five needs that are out there and we've not addressed any of them in terms of adding, you know, notable talent the organization. What that makes me feel is is that when it comes to what the Braves are going to be looking at in spring training, it's that they also feel like that a player like, for instance, Orlando Arcia are perhaps Jared Kellennick. Those names that struggled last year. I feel the further and further that we go in the off season and the west moves that we see, one other thing that stands out to me is those names that really struggled last year, the Braves either have faith or at the very least the importance of those names performing well. It becomes even more important going into twenty twenty five.

00:32:34
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I'll say this about the lack of moves because we did learn this this week. I guess we need to mention on the podcast is that apparently the Braves did have a deal with Jeff Hoffman back in November. If you miss it on Busterer Only this podcast he talked about it's already been reported that the Braves and the that Hoffman had a deal that was nixed by concerns about his shoulder. According to Busser Only, they had that deal was back in November, It's pretty early in the AUSO season, and you know, they they didn't fail his physical, but they were concerned enough about the shoulder to want to decrease the number of the contract, and Jeff Hoffman wasn't interested in that. And then the same thing happened with the Orioles and then he eventually signed with the Blue Jays. So they, I mean, you know, they aren't just like sitting on their hand. They're not They're not not just at the beach like that are true. They're clearly trying. They they they thought they had to deal with Jeff Hoffman, which, by the way, if that deal had gone through and he was going to be a starter or a reliever, it's a whole different tone of this offseason, right Like it just goes.

00:33:36
Speaker 1: To your point, where there one move away from.

00:33:38
Speaker 2: This exactly, we are literally one tweet, we are one blue box there he is, sorry, No, we are we are one tweet away or one or two tweets away, you know, from this whole offseason looking different. And that's why again I get the frustration. Trust me, I am not here telling you that you have no right to be frustrated. I completely understand. One day, I'm gonna release the dms that we send each other every day, and it's gonna be I mean, we have to put an R rating on the dms that we send each other because there's so many you know, F bombs and in our dms every day. But I get so, I get it. And but the off season is not over, and there is an unusually large number of names still out there. It's been a very slow offseason for a lot of people, for a lot of teams. It's been like the last three or four weeks. It is crawled. It is, it is grinded to a halt.

00:34:33
Speaker 1: And so.

00:34:35
Speaker 2: You know, if the the Brakes could come out tomorrow and sign Jerkson Profar for left field, and like everybody feels different, Like I'm not saying it's gonna happen, but he could. So I'm just not ready. I'm not ready to kill him yet because A it's a good team. It's still a very good team. And B there's a lot of off season left. There's a lot of players out there trade and free agents that can help this team. So and there's money to spend, so we will maintain our if we get to the end of this soft season and they've done nothing. We will kill them for it, I promise you we It's been building up for four months, so it will happen. But we're not there yet, and there's a lot of names money to spend, so don't give up just yet. It's a it's a long winter. Still, things could happen. And again, we're like one or two tweets away from having a completely different feeling of this offseason. So that would be my closing, my closing thoughts.

00:35:27
Speaker 1: And if it feels like that we're being repetitive, or or we're coped, or or we're going through those stages of just not necessarily denile but trying just to deal with the with the unexpected development, that's me talking.

00:35:38
Speaker 2: That's me talking to myself, yes, talking to anybody.

00:35:41
Speaker 1: We're speaking much of it. We're speaking just as much to ourselves, if not more to ourselves. This is therapy anybody else exactly exactly the therapy through words. A lot of times that can that can lead to better mindset. But setting all that aside, one notable development that we also will see this week is the announcement of the twenty twenty five Major League Baseball Hall of Fame class, and of course a couple of former Braves are notably in the running to have their names forever enshrined in Cooperstown. As of right now, as of this recording, it does look like that first time eligible players each Rosuzuki and CC Sabathia their locks, they're going to be in this class. Billy Wagner, who I believe this is his tenth year, which is the final year in this stage of the induction process, he I believe is a eighty five percent He should be making it as well. And the other name is Carlos Beltran, who I think is at eighty percent, eighty one, eighty eighty one percent right now. Those are the four players that I believe are likely going to be making the Hall of Fame this year. But of course the name that Braves Country has been waiting years to hear finally get his just do of being a Hall of Famer, and that is Andrew Jones. Andrew Jones I believe right now is at seventy two to seventy three percent. The one thing to remember when it comes to what's known publicly on these votes is that traditionally, each year players will naturally see their overall percentages that they have go down a bit once the final vote is noted. So even though Andrew is at seventy two to seventy three, he needs seventy five percent, it seems like he's right on that threshold. He's probably a little bit further away than what's publicly known. So what I'm getting at is more than likely the thing to take away from the voting this year for Andrew Jones. He's made once again necessary progress. He's probably going to get another eight to ten percent boost. That likely means that twenty twenty six is going to be his year. But Stephen, still, I think he's close enough to where later on this week it's going to be worth making sure to hear what names are going to be called. And if it is just Billy Wagner, certainly deserved, but hope Andrew is in that class. But if it's not this year, it'll more than likely be next year. Yeah.

00:37:56
Speaker 2: I mean, if I'm being honest, I've gotten to the point where I want Andrew in the Hall of Fame just so we can stop talking about whether or not Andrew Jones should be in the Hall of Fame and now I've kind of adopted that policy for I think that's just gonna be my standard policy for every single player, Like should Pete Rose be in the Hall of Fame? Sure, just so we don't have to ever hear anyone ask that question. I'm so sick of that question. And you know, Andrew has a real case, Like it's not like some crazy notion that he should be in the Hall of Fame. He's got a real case. So yeah, I hope he gets in. You know, Brian McCann, I have no idea if he's gonna you know, with catching, it's always so weird with catchers because they don't they don't accumulate the same value the way position players do. You know, there's a question about uh Buster Posey and and and Brian McCann and Joe Mauer, and you know, there's all all these you know, people comparing and contrasting. I have no idea if Brian McCann will get in again. If that stopped, if Brian mccainnon getting in stops us from having to talk about it, then I'm all, I'm all about it. Anybody who wants to get in can get in. As long as we have to talk about it anymore, so we'll see. You know, I'm like you said, it is very true that the the non public ballots are much more conservative than the public ballots. So when it comes to the ballots that get published, you better have like a four or five percentage point margin because you're gonna drop once all the non public ballots get tabulated. And if Andrew's only at seventy two percent right now on the public side, he's not getting in at the moment. So you got to have a pretty good margin because it drops once all the all the other ballots come in. So we'll see. I think that gets announced. You probably know better than I. When is that. When does that get announced?

00:39:37
Speaker 1: Tuesday? I think it's twenty first Tuesday.

00:39:39
Speaker 2: Okay, so we are we are mercifully coming to the end of this Hall of Fame season and we will be back at it again next year. But yeah, hopefully Andrew getson that would be great.

00:39:51
Speaker 1: Yeah, and hopefully earlier this week. We'll also be surprised, you know, by a mover to being made by the Braves. But of course we're gonna be here with you covering it all. When it comes to the Hammer territory, podcast. You can find myself at Stats as they see on Twitter, Steven at Binderscore Outliers find Hammer Territory across all forms of social media of course, part of the Foul Territory family of podcasts. Again, we had Aj Perzinski recently on a show to talk with us about the Braves catching situation. Grant McCauley was previously on the show as well, talking about the Braves off season. I'll have a special guest with me and Stephen probably later on this week or early next week, talking about the bravest international signings in the braz Minor league system and the outlook for it in twenty twenty five. So plenty of content coming your way regardless if a move is made or not. For Stephen Tobart, my name is Sean Coleman. Always a pleasure. We'll talk with you again Suit here on the Hammer Territory pod