Braves Holiday Mailbag!

00:00:21
Speaker 1: Hello everyone, and well the episode one two eight of the Ever Territory podcast. I am your host, Brad Rowland, coming to you on a Sunday here in it's really holiday week in late December, and I'm joined my friend Scott Coleman. Are normal time slots, Scott, it's also an old podcast.

00:00:35
Speaker 2: What's going on? Hello, Brad? Maybe in old podcast form. We will release the show and moments later there will be a transaction as we said here, as you said a couple of days before Christmas, still radio silence. I mean, I was thinking about this earlier. What is the biggest quote rumor unquote that we've had. Is it that John Morossi said the Braves are kind of interested in bringing back old friend in aj mentor?

00:01:03
Speaker 1: Is that?

00:01:04
Speaker 2: Is that the rumor so far the off season. I don't know, man, It's it has been very dry in these streets.

00:01:10
Speaker 1: Yeah, of the rumors that still have some relevance of guys who have not signed yet, that's definitely the leader in the club house. There were there were a couple of Nathany Valdi ties that became irrelevant, you know, those kinds of things. But yeah, I think the pickings are pretty slim, but certainly that is one that is out there. AJA is still unsigned as we're recording this podcast, so the dream still lives on. But welcome to the podcast for everybody one. Please check out the show and subscribe anywhere you find your podcast. We're part of valid territory, you know, if anywhere you find podcasts basically on the audio side and the and on video. If you want to watch Scott and I or Sean and Stephen in video form, we encourage you to do so and like the video as you're watching it on YouTube. Look, there's not a ton of news, but there is one transaction we'll get to. Plus one member of the roster from last year is not going to be in the roster this year. Rise necessarily, but old pal g Orshella is off the market. He is now a member of the something Athletics. I'm not sure what's he even call them? I mean, I think right now are they Aren't they just the athletics. There's no like officially they're just the athletics, but the sacramento is whatever.

00:02:16
Speaker 2: They Yeah, I believe that is correct. I believe they're just the athletics. I don't know if they even bothered with like a trademark for Sacramento. But now there's drama about whether or not they're ever even going to play in Vegas. Oakland is a basically and now who knows, Brad, maybe they're gonna they might play in your backyard. The way this is going, uh they that is a very ugly situation. But yes, good for Geo Orshella. It sounds like Geo is gonna get a chance to be the third baseman for Oakland. And we know that he did a really nice job for this team, especially down the stretch. Team was basically drawing dead without Austin Riley and Orchella gave him a lot, not just offensively but defensively too, So good for him. Just over two million bucks. I think he can be three million dollars if Geo hit some incentives. And I think we knew wou'd be tough for him to come back to Atlanta, but good for him for landing on somewhere and presumably I'll get a chance to play every day.

00:03:11
Speaker 1: Yeah, we didn't rule it out that he would come back, but certainly was not expected to come back by any means, and there wasn't a huge role for him in Atlanta no matter what. So yeah, coograss to him a good spot to kind of land for him. In general, I think he is basically a super low end starting caliber player and Oakland is the super low end, and that makes some sense for all parties like he's. He can be a starter of there, hopefully have a good season, get paid some and then we'll see what happens. The Braves did make, though I believe this is this correct s, guy can correct me if I'm wrong, their first move of the off season that actually acquired a player on a major league contract. Am I right about this? I think I am. But they acquired a rightheaded pitcher named Davis Daniel from the Angels in exchange for minor league lefty Mitch Ferris. This happened a couple of days ago. Did we joke about emergency podcast? Yes we did, or were actually going to do one for Davis Daniel. All due respect, we were not, but hey, here we are, and hey, they traded for a player that we don't. Honestly, I'll be honest with you, Scott, I'd never heard of in my life. But he's on a midgor league contract, So what's going on? What do we make of this?

00:04:16
Speaker 2: So Davis Daniel, I think, for one, alex Enthopolis and Perry manassion must have like a contractual obligation to trade with each other because it's been only a couple of years, and it feels like we're good for at least a few moves every single calendar year. But you know, it is a I think we'll say this. I think in terms of who Davis Daniel is, he is a twenty seven year old journeyman at this point, He's made the major leagues, He's he made a couple of starts with the Angels last season. Interestingly enough, Davis Daniel actually threw eight scoreless innings in the first start of his career this past summer, eight scoreless with eight strikeout against a pretty hot Detroit Tigers team at the time. But then after that he got blown up in basically every start. And for a twenty seven year old journeyman, that's not a big surprise by any means. But I'm guessing that, like maybe a half dozen others in the station right now, Davis Daniel, he's going to be in the mix. He could presumably fill in as like a fifth or sixth starter, type. Maybe they put him in the bullpen to eat innings if they need that Jesse Chavez role, or very crucially and importantly here, Davis Daniel has a minor league option which puts him in play for Gwinnett. If I had to bet money, I would say that is where Davis will spend most of the year. But again, he's an arm he's been at the major league level before. And we'll do our usual bit now that you need a whole bunch of pitchers to cover one hundred and sixty two regular season games.

00:05:49
Speaker 1: Yeah, and look, when I saw the deal come across, I honestly assume as he's a reliever, just because I hadn't heard of him, and because of just what the mark it generally is, like a reliever I haven't heard of is more likely to be a a real bullpen piece than a starter I've never heard of, If that makes sense. I'm not saying that I know everything about baseball, but that's just the math of it all. Like there's some relievers around around the league that have been pretty good that I just don't know anything about, sure, and I just will be honest about that. But he's a starter by all accounts like maybe maybe they see something in him that they like. But he's been a starter basically across the board. Nine ever. Sent of his minor league appearances are more as a starter, and the majors he's been a starter for the most part. The profile of his offerings that we can see from the stats from stack cast, from the numbers is basically starter. Like he doesn't throw hard, for instance, like he sits in the low nineties. He's not a guy who is going to blow you away. He does have some good breaking stuff by all accounts, Like he's on some prospect lists dating back, even though he's not a prospect age anymore. He's twenty seven years old, but he was not like a total non prospect. He's been on them. He's been on the radar for fangrafts and pipeline like he's been on some of these lists the last couple of years. But yeah, I think that certainly, how doing minor of the option is huge. I don't I kind of doubt to make the stray if he doesn't have a minor the option, to be honest, and you know, you put him in the mix with all those days that we always throw out there he's not as talented as the you know, Waldrop Smith Shaber guys, but in that next year down where he might be your eighth, ninth, tenth guy in the in the organization for next year. And you've said it already, but you need twelve thirteen guys of course of the season, and maybe he's this year's version of Allan Winans or whatever, like maybe that's that's kind of the level that I'm seeing based on what I've been able to find from his profilelicancy.

00:07:36
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think he's kind of profiles more of that innings eater type. And with a lot of off season to go, we don't know who's going to get moved in and out of the organization. Maybe the Braves swing a deal or two and Bryce Elder gets moved or Alan Winings gets moved or ag Smith Schaver or Ian Anderson or one of these types who are at the moment you're going to be in the mix to make starts for the Braves at some point next year, even if they are not super encouraging options. You always need depth. Gwinnette needs starters, and you can blink and all of a sudden you were in search of somebody to make a start on a Wednesday afternoon against the Marlins on getaway day, and if you got to hand them all to Davis Daniel, then you do it and cross your fingers and hope for five innings. But that's kind of I think the big takeaway is it's a depth piece. He has a minor league option, and who knows, maybe at some point this regular season we will do a one of our podcasts and talk about him making a start. But I'm gonna guess again, unless you go to a lot of Gwenette Striper games, you're probably gonna see very little of him in Atlanta.

00:08:40
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think I would. Maybe maybe it's a fun over under of will he make a measure week start or not? With the Braves, I think I actually might say yes at this moment, only because I am just to stay with our bit of how many guys make starts. I think I probably would say yes, But it might be exactly one for exmstance. It might be one of those like we don't see it coming, somebody gets back up being in another arm that's available that day, Like it's half the time, it's a lot. It's about who's who stretched out in that moment when you have an injury, that's like lined up. That's how you get to some guys that you never would have maybe gotten to before. So okay, okay, Scott, it over under one and sorry, over over zero point five starts for David.

00:09:17
Speaker 2: Daniel, I will take the over. I can already hear the crazy outrage when Chris Sale or Ronaldo Lopez are said to make an afternoon start and the Braves have an off day the next day, and someone goes, gee, we could give Chris Sale forty eight hours off if we have Davis Daniel make a spot start today, Let's do it. And of course then the internet gets set on fire and the Braves lose what they probably should have won in a baseball game, and then we talk about it. But yeah, over under half of a start, yeah, I'll say he makes hopefully not more than one.

00:09:52
Speaker 1: Brad, I don't know.

00:09:53
Speaker 2: Yeah, there are stories of guys in like their late twenties getting a chance and finally breaking through, But yeah, I'm not banking on that by any.

00:10:03
Speaker 1: Means, right, and not to reiterate it too much, but I don't think that he is necessarily the profile of guy that Alex does tend to look at sometimes of like an upside play he doesn't really have. It's not an upside play, I don't think. I think it's like truly it sees something they like in him. They've on the profile. I don't imagine it's probably probably the breaking stuff, like his current and slider have good numbers, for instance, but his velocity as a starter, like, I don't really think that's a huge upside swing for them, especially at this age. But maybe they just have maybe a little old tweak here, a little tweak air there, or maybe he's maybe they think he's gonna be a somehow gonna be a good reliever, like he's a stream reliever to me. But that's an option too. So also they didn't trade much of anything. Mitch Ferris is a name that I recognize from the Brave System, a fourteenth round pick from twenty twenty three, but he was not in the Battery Power Top thirty, which is not gospel. But I tend to trust those guys pretty well on the system. Pretty fringy prospect, like not someone who I'm going to show a tear about trading in December. So all in all, it's a transaction Scott. We covered it.

00:11:04
Speaker 2: It is a transaction. God, let us hope there are bigger transactions around the corner. But yes, we would be remiss to not at least talk about it because he is on the forty man roster and I think you're right that they have not added a guaranteed contract if you will a player who has to be on the forty man. Yeah, so we'll see maybe at some point Davis Daniel World Series Hero for the twenty twenty five Atlanta Braves. We will sing about him the way we sing about Tyler Matzik and Eddie Rosario.

00:11:35
Speaker 1: All Right, the rest of today's show will be mail bag questions in holiday mail bag style. We are still hoping that this show becomes outdated in the next couple of days, and if that happens, we'll record again. But here we are mail bag a couple of like players to the questions like trade target questions, which we don't do a ton of. But the first one we got was actually about Hayesu Sanchez from the Marlins backstory. There is that the Marlins have been similarly selling even more than even usual recently. They've traded some guys in the last couple of days. I would say, head by by Lozardo to Philadelphia on Sunday. The Marlins are always doing this, I guess. But what do you make of heyesu Sanchez is potential target in the outfield, as you know, someone that people keep asking about.

00:12:21
Speaker 2: Yeah, so it's pretty clear that the Marlins are going to do a rebuild of some kind. You mentioned Zeus Lozardo was traded to Philadelphia. Jake Berger, who just tormented the Braves last year. Jake Berger has been traded away as well. So I mean, the Marlins are not going to be Chicago White Sox bad, but they might lose like one hundred and ten games next year, Brad, and they're going to be very bad in a really good NL East. But to get back to Jesus Sanchez an interesting player. He's twenty seven years old, he has three years of arbitration to go, so he's cheap, been cost effective. Now on the whole, Jesus Sanchez has a ninety nine career WRC plus, which is very average. Nobody is going to get super excited about a twenty seven year old with a ninety nine WRC plus. But he hits the baseball very hard and he has been a big time underperformer of what his expected metrics say he should have done. Those are two things that Alex and THOPPLSS and the front office have looked for in the past with players on the surface, guys who maybe aren't great or don't have big time production. But there are things in Sanchez's profile that would lead me to believe that. I'm guessing that his name has come up at some point this winter as the Braves try to figure out who they are going to add for left field. So an interesting name, nonetheless, and if Miami is willing to trade him, I don't think they have any objection to trading within the division because obviously they just traded Lozardo to Philadelphia. You know, he Hazus. Sanchez is an interesting enough name for a couple of reasons for me, a player who I could see the Braves being interested in if maybe they strike out on other options in the outfield.

00:14:11
Speaker 1: Yeah, I wish he was the opposite profile, like to where he would fit with Kelnick, for example, But he and Kellemick both hit raise much better than lefties, which makes that pairing together not exactly ideal. But yeah, I could definitely see the Braves liking Sanchez, and I checked while you were talking. The Marlins are currently projected as of third worst team in baseball in the Betty market, ahead of only the White Sox and the Rockies. So that kind of tells you where they are not going to be good and if they're going to sell even further. It's not a bad idea. I don't mind this. I think that he is better than they could do in some spots in the corner with other guys. To be clear, we've not heard anything about this as like an actual topic, but a name that I had not super considered. And if the Marlins are going to lean into the void, yeah, if you're good cheap enough, why not you don't want to pay market value. I don't think for him, maybe unless they just really love him for some reason, but I think a name to keep in mind any's cheap. I mean not that that is gonna placate any fans right now that the Braves are because you know, Scott the race are really really everyone wants to tell us they're really cheap. I believe they finished fifth last year in payroll. Officially this week that was a square whee bit by baseball. So the fifth largest payroll in baseball, super cheap, just.

00:15:24
Speaker 2: Saying, yeah, I know it's a never ending battle payroll in the Atlanta Braves and their fans. Name a better argument, never ending, never dying argument between That's right, you know, But I guess to put a ball on Sanchez again. As you said, it's not like this has been heavily rumored or anything, but it was conjecture and we got a question about it. But just to give you a quick breakdown as to why I'm interested, Sanchez last season had a one eighteen WRC plus against right handed pitching, which is quite good. Against lefties, he had a third worst, so you literally can never have him face a left handed pitcher. But I think something that this podcast has been banging the table on for a long time. The Braves need to have more capable left handed hitters in the lineup. They need to be able to play matchups better, because that's something that really comes into play in the postseason. You think about the Braves's offensive woes the last couple of years, they have almost exclusively seen right handed pitching in the playoffs and they have done nothing against it. I mean, full stop, they have been flat out terrible offensively three years in a row. Now, I'm not saying jous Sanchez is Barry Bonds and he's going to carry this team deep into the playoffs, but he's an interesting name. He's a cheap player, or a cheap enough player, and if you could add him as a left handed power bat in the middle of your order, you're also getting him out of Miami, which is just awful at developing hitting talent, whereas the Braves are usually quite good. So he's an interesting And again, if if we could peek into Alex's office and look at all the names on their whiteboard in the corner, I would guess that Sanchez is on there somewhere. He may be like a fifth or a sixth option, but again, an interesting player and someone who does some things the Braves could really use.

00:17:16
Speaker 1: Yeah, and looking at his profile, he did have what I would call a legitimate batted ball profile breakout last year, Like it didn't show up in the in the actual numbers as far as, like you know, Ops was concerned. But it's about a boldy that was really good last season and a guy that Alex does like those kind of guys where it's like, Hey, this guy hasn't quite popped yet, but there's reasons under the surface to say that he might just could be a could be interesting an interesting fit. And you're right, I mean, I can just I can hear our colleague Steven Tolbert talking about the need for a righty masher, so a left handed guy who can smash right handed pitching, and perhaps that's he substantius, so we will see, all right, Scott. Similarly more of a general question than a mailbag question. But people keep asking a Boba Schett, who we've mentioned on the show. I think at some point in our myriad shortstop discussions over the last I don't even want to say how long. It's been a long time we've talked about shortstop as an upgrade point. But our colleague from foul Territory, Ken Rosenthal, talked about Bashett being available quote at a high price this week in trade. My response, and I just saw that I brought this down. I forgot about this that a high price is relative, Scott. A high price is a high price is different from other people for certain people. So if it actually is a super high price for is it one year of control? Yeah, one year of control on Boba Sheet. That would be a kind of a tough sell for one year of control. But if it's more of a modest price or look, he's he's not gonna be free, I'll say that right now. But Boba Sheet is extremely talented. So what do you make of this potential link And again not a rumor for the Braves yet, but a guy that is at a position of need.

00:19:01
Speaker 2: So I think with Boba Shed and we talked about him a bit during the middle of the season, just before the trade deadline, but you would be buying low on a talented player. I mean, that's that's really what this would be. Because if the Braves tried to trade for Bobashett a year ago, the price would have been astronomical.

00:19:19
Speaker 1: Well, well there would there would there would have a better price they would allowed to check probably a year.

00:19:23
Speaker 2: Yeah.

00:19:24
Speaker 1: Yeah.

00:19:25
Speaker 2: And there's still a little bit of question over Toronto and like what they're trying to do. They have some talented players on expiring contracts, and they're also like the maybe the worst team in the NL East or the AL East right now. So I don't know what Toronto's doing and they have done very little this winter, but you know Bishett from basically his debut in twenty nineteen up through twenty twenty three, he was like a top five offensive shortstop, a one hundred and twenty eight WRC plus, which is very very good. Defensively, there are some questions he's not very good defensively. I think down the road, Bishett is not going to be a shortstop and they're going to have to probably move him. But for one more year, I think Bishett could handle short and lo and behold. The Braves have a need at shortstop. And the reason that Bishett is available is because he was just flat out bad and injured for all of twenty twenty four. I think he played in about eighty games, but he was never healthy. I think he hit the injured list multiple times, and even when he was out there. I know I was doing reading during the middle of the season and a Blue Jays beat writer said, just Bishett does not look like himself. He's not driving the ball. He looks very slow in the field, like he was clearly just not healthy and trying to play through it. So again, no direct rumor on the Braves and Bishett, but an interesting player because frankly, there's only a couple of shortstops who are even presumably available right now, who are better than Orlando Arcia and Bashett In some ways, is kind of like a oh okay, I could see the Braves going out and trying to buy low strike gold the way they kind of struck gold on a Josh Donaldson, for example, a one year deal, and then you probably shake hands and say thanks so much. We're you know, we're not interested beyond twenty twenty five.

00:21:19
Speaker 1: Yeah, I would suppose that's probably the case, especially because of the defense. Like, not only is there the contractual stuff, but I don't think that Alex would cross him off because of the defense for right now, given where they are at shortstop. But long term, I don't think that the Braves want a defensive liability at shortstop. I think they want a good or better defender at shortstop. Maybe not again I say want not nee, but they might just at a certain point, if you that's the that's the guy you can get. You just take you bite the bullet and you hold on for dear life and surround it. But especially given where Ozzie is at second not where he used to be for example, like you might want a better defender at Shwarts stop. But Bobasha it's a lot more talented than the options they have available, and uh yeah, maybe maybe a one year thing. But again that's why you don't want to you know, there is a limit. It's a tough market because you don't want to overpay for a guy for one season when you think it's gonna when you think it's gonna be one season. It's different if it's a player that you might extend or might resign. But if you're going into it saying, all right, this is probably gonna be a one year rental, you can't pay market price. It's a hard to do that. Now, if you're the Braves and you're trying to win the World Series, it's easier to do that than it's for some teams that may not have that expectation. But it's probably a kind of a narrow band for the Braves to find a deal here. But hey, it's possible, especially if they if he actually is available, like it's going to do it.

00:22:38
Speaker 2: And depending on what Toronto wants to do. Basheed is owed sixteen and a half million dollars next year. Yea quite a bit of money. Again, I don't know what what Toronto's thinking. They might try to run it back and get destroyed by New York and Baltimore and probably Boston too, but they could sell, and if they do sell, I would be in to know what the price is. Is Onda Shed, as you said a moment ago, you're not giving up big pieces for one year of a renald shortstop who's owed legitimate money next year, But if the price is right, I would be in favor of taking a gamble on it. He again man a very very talented player and a really good hitter up until twenty twenty three, and I think this past season you can just kind of toss out because of all the injuries. It's just a matter of if Toronto is ready to give up on him, and if the Braves are willing to give up whatever it would cost in order to get it.

00:23:33
Speaker 1: Well, like you said, it's a twenty six twenty seven year old who had a five year whin though he had a one to twenty eight Darcy plus over pis seasons. True guys, those guys who can at least fake shortstop. Those guys do not grow on trees. So if he becomes available, yes, you're buying low on him for a reason all those things, but it is worth circling to be sure. We have one more question before we get out of here on this holiday millbag focused episode, Scott, and it comes from Cap who says, right now, would you bet the over or the under on the Braves season win total? And that's a good way getting into this scout because they're now available. Look, we agree, I think on this. The Braves roster is probably going to change a little bit between now and opening day, but it gets earlier every year. If you don't know this, sportsbooks put out these projections of wind totals earlier than early, earlier, and earlier, I would say, and right now, and look, some of this is probably they're probably baking in a little bit of additions. They're not necessarily saying this is the roster and Amber right now we have to make this. But long story short, the Braves are at ninety four and a half wins at FANDOL and DraftKings right now as we're talking, and they're at ninety three and a half wins at BENMGM, so they're in the low to mid nineties. This is an important thing before I make you guess or project or pick whatever it is, Scott, the Braves and the people are gonna hate that they're negative out the break. Right now, the Braves have the third highest over under win total in baseball, behind only the Dodgers and the Yankees. So that goes in conjunction with what we've been saying the last couple of weeks. Of all the projections from the depth charts at Fangraunts, et cetera, the Braves, even as constructor, right now are seen as quite good. So anyway, Scott, does that seem right to you? Does it seem too low? Does it seems too high over under? Yeah?

00:25:26
Speaker 2: So if you balance out those lines projections, it has the Braves that ninety four wins. You know that sounds about like blindly. If I didn't know, if I didn't see your notes in the document, I would have guessed like ninety four ninety five wins. I do think it's worth noting. And you said this a moment ago too, but Vegas is anticipating the Braves adding something. Now. Sure, if the Braves shock the world and go out and trade for Corey Seeger like legitimate all star tomorrow, it's gonna move probably more, but just say the Braves signed a d since starting pitcher, a pretty good left fielder, and a couple relievers. That line is not going to dramatically shift because Vegas is banking in some I guess expected upgrades for the roster, but you know that feels right to me. If man, I think there was really good news this past week, if folks missed it, that Spencer Strider is anticipating having basically a normal spring training in his own words, he said as much on the Corey Kluber podcast a couple of days ago. I'd highly recommend listening to that if folks have not already. But Strider feels like he's good to go. There's workout videos of Rondacuna Junior pushing like hundreds of pounds of weights and pressing off on that knee.

00:26:43
Speaker 1: He looks great again.

00:26:44
Speaker 2: You never want to buy into the offseason hype machine too much, but if I had to bet it today at ninety three and a half ninety four and a half, I would take the over with the caveat that A A lot rests on those two players indeed being healthy and b the NL least is going to be ridiculously good next year. The Phillies and the Mets, I would guess are probably top five, top six and wins, and the Washington Nationals too, or like a sneaky put them in the American League Central, that might be like an eighty win team. I don't think they're gonna be that good next year, but I think the Nationals are not going to be a pushover by any means. It's gonna be a tough division for sure, and that obviously plays a factor into how many wins the Braves can wrack up.

00:27:28
Speaker 1: Yeah, the division is pretty tough, and I actually said this, I think erroneously earlier. The Dodgers are clearly number one. They're like in their own tier in projections right now. But after that, the Braves and Yankees basically have the same projection in the in the sports books at two and three, and then there's this small small gap, and then the Mets and Phillies are such we tied in four to five. So like, that's three of the top five teams in baseball by the Betty market right now in the National League East. Then that's should be okay, et cetera, et cetera. So yeah, I have both called for we all understand the Braves need to do some stuff. They're not. We're not saying that they don't. I also have said, we'll say again right now, if the Braves didn't do anything else, we would be mad about that and express that. But I would still turn around and say, this is a good baseball team even right now. Like and they have clear flaws right now, but even right now, I think they would probably win if you just mandated. If Rob Manfred said, all right, Braves, you can't make it another transaction. You're not allowed for whatever reason. Everybody else can, but you can't, I think you probably go into the season. I picked them for probably a win total in the low nineties with this current roster. When I go over on ninety four and a half, probably not with the current roster, but I probably picked them in the low nineties, which is not exciting, but it's that's a division winning total a lot of the time, even with the roster holes. So if you factor in that, we believe and I still think they're gonna do some stuff, yeah I would. I would probably lean over as well. I wouldn't like to be running to bet this right now, to be honest with you. If you're listening to us for that number one. Wouldn't listen to us to that number one in general, not a gambling expert podcast. But number two. I wouldn't bet that now. I just wouldn't. It's not that appetizing. If this number was ninety and a half right now, with what I just said to you, that I would bet this number even at current team, then yeah, I would like it a lot more. But ninety four and a half, Like you, kind of the Braves need to get better for me to like that number. But yeah, it's a reasonable number and they're just kind of doing the dance right now. Only the Dodgers are anywhere over ninety four and a half at any market right now. They're by the way, one hundred and three and a half. So that's quite a gap. You don't often see a nine win gap at the top of baseball standings of projections. So they're gonna be good again, unfortunately for all of us.

00:29:43
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, And you know, there's a real claim that the Braves might be the second best roster in the game when it's all said and done, and I know that it may not always feel that way, or I don't know, it's I think when the Braves make a move or two or three, I think the feel and tone around the team is just gonna it's gonna be a one eighty it is. I know people are frustrated. I know anytime I tweet about the Braves, I get a couple of people, Ah, they're cheap. Alex isn't working. He's on vacation in Cancoon, He's working for the Phillies. I'm just like, dear God, the Braves are going to do something. There are still a ton of free agents out there. The trade market is starting to really move. As we recorded, I actually got a notification from Jeff Passing. This is it. I popped up. I could see the notification Jeff Passing tweeted, and I couldn't see what teams. I'm like, oh, here we go, Brad, we spoke it into existence. Here's the Braves trade And it's not it's the Nationals and the Rangers. But the Braves are going to do something. The vibe will be much better at some point. And even if Rob Manfred came down and said no more moves, Braves, you were under penalty, this would still be a really good team. And obviously we feel like they're going to add to it in the coming weeks.

00:31:04
Speaker 1: Yep, we are a line there. Two quick things before we sign off this podcast, we will have another show at some point this week. We're actually gonna bank it ahead of time and just pray that it holds up. Even though this is gonna be, It's gonna be, I would say evergreen topics, So we're probably safe on that. Number One. Ricky Henderson died this week. Ricky Henderson is an absolute all time great that is not always treated as one in the collective consciousness, but like an inner inner circle hall of famer, like top fifteen to twenty player of all time and a unique guy. So I always wanted to shot that out like great career. Sad that he passed away, but like legitimately a legend. I was looking out. I was did I was in the right and Baseball reference rabbit hole this week after that happened, remembering, and I was already like pilled on Ricky Anderson being an all time great, and I'm like man even stronger now by the way, took took walks, stole the basis is like his big thing of course, career leader by a lot. By the way, like by like four hundred, which is a crazy number. But I just want to shut that out. Not a bravesting but a baseball dieheart sting.

00:32:04
Speaker 2: I would say, history of baseball, have there been five players just more fun to watch over a career than Ricky Henderson? Probably not, Yeah, probably not. So rest in peace, a legend did so many good things for the baseball game. And yeah, I'm glad you brought that up, Pratt.

00:32:22
Speaker 1: Yeah, let the league and walks three times on base percentage multiple times. I had a how about this the all time lerian stolen bases by a lot? And he had I want to say, he had like seven or eight seasons with an ops of like eight forty or higher. Like he was a great he was generally great hitter, and no one remembers that because he was such a good base runner.

00:32:43
Speaker 2: So and that that stolen base record never touched, will never be touched, especially with the way baseball's changed. That is one if if I could bet on that record not being broken the rest of my lifetime, I would. I would put a large sum of money on it.

00:32:59
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's not this cy young win total that will literally never be approached by anyone that one's the safest record maybe in the history of sports right now? Is is cy Young's like five hundred plus wins or whatever it is? But uh yeah, Ricky's no one's getting there. I don't think. Uh second thing, Scott, I didn't. I didn't not brief you with this. But it's it's Christmas week, it's holiday week. I know you're a big NFL guy, facy football guy, et cetera. How is that going to change your Christmas Day? There's two Christmas Day games, it's a Wednesday, there's NFL. What's going on? What's supposed to happen here? Like? Are you gonna watch football on Christmas Day? I'm curious?

00:33:33
Speaker 2: Uh, if I want to stay married, Okay, that's my follow up question.

00:33:37
Speaker 1: Okay, that's good.

00:33:38
Speaker 2: Well, not to save my marriage, I will not insist on watching NFL on Christmas Day. But yeah, we'll probably have it. You know, we are a presence in the morning family, and then usually the middle of the day is a little open. We'll we'll do some things and then we'll cook a dinner for Christmas night. But so yeah, I'll probably get some football in middle of the day. But if I if I told my wife. Hey, we got some football to watch on Christmas Day. I might be asking to sleep on your couch a couple of nights.

00:34:09
Speaker 1: Bread. It's kind of a long, long journey for you to get to my couch Scott from where you live. But hey, come on down if you did it at any point. But no, I just was thinking about that. It's a Sundays. We're recording this the football on the background behind the screen. If I'm not watching it right now, I'm talking to you, but it's on there.

00:34:25
Speaker 2: Uh.

00:34:25
Speaker 1: And yeah, I have had to cover the NBA for years on Christmas Day, so it's a little bit strange for me because it's like I'm used to it. But like if you don't, if you're an NBA person, which I know you're not really a huge person on the NBA stop even though you're a King's fandom is legendary in the space. Anyway, I just wanted to ask the question. It's gonna be a little bit weird, and it's Christmas. Christmas is Wednesday. It's always a little bit odd, which is for me anyway, when it's in the middle of the week, because the vacation calendar is different work calendars are different now there's football on presence. I am not married, so I have a little bit more flexibility you do, probably, But anyway, that is a that's a podcast, Scott. We'll wrap it up now in the mid thirties in terms of it's anything else to share on the Braves or otherwise, and if not working, folks who might be following us for the first time stumble onto your hot takes about the Braves and everything else.

00:35:17
Speaker 2: Yeah, I just want to wish everybody are very happy holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, all of those good things. We really do appreciate everybody who has joined us over the last nine months since we relaunched on the show, and of course listeners who went back to even the Talking Chop podcast days. See you guys and gals are the real heroes. But yes, we will hopefully be back soon with a transaction pod. If not, we will for sure have at least one show in the middle of the week to help bridge the gap. I'm sure folks will be busy traveling and all of that good stuff. But again, happy holidays to everyone, and I am at Scott Coleman at fifty five on the social media machine. If you want to follow along.

00:35:57
Speaker 1: There, follow Scott. Follow the show at Hamber Territory across most social platforms, not TikTok just yet. Everything else should be there. Basically, I am at bt Roland if you want to read a lot about basketball right now in the middle basketball season. But I do have some brave stuff too on that platform, and please please please subscribe to the podcast. I would echo Scott what Scott said. Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, whatever you celebrate, enjoy the time with your family, all that stuff. Happy New Year. We will have one more episode for sure that we're literally about to record right now, that we'll bank for later this week for your travels. Look, I know this is not a new invention for podcasts, but people are driving a lot this week. People are flying a lot this week. I always want to have podcast content I can listen to when I'm on the road, so we'll give you at least one more. But stay tuned. We'll have if the Braves do something crazy this week. We will try our best to get you a podcast as fast as possible, So stay tuned. Subscribe on Apple and on Spotify, on YouTube, et cetera. We appreciate everyone listening to the podcast this show and also this year in general, it says watch the podcast, so stay tuned, Happy holidays, Merry Christmas, and we'll see you all next time.