Many Early Offseason Decisions Ahead for the Braves

00:00:19
Speaker 1: Welcome one and all to the Hemy Territory Podcast. My name is Sean Coleman. Hope, wherever you are and wherever you were listening, you have had a wonderful week. Of course the playoffs for past the first round of the playoffs, plenty to talk about when it comes to baseball in general, but unfortunately the Braves. While they're not in the playoffs, that doesn't mean there isn't plenty to talk about when it comes to the Braves. Obviously, the news got added to this week with the end of Brian Snicker's tenure as Braves manager. We'll talk about the latest when it comes to the Braves manager position, plus some roster moves as the Braves look to clean up their roster, and some early off season roster decisions beyond the ones that the Braves have arelready made. Dan much more on this edition of the Here Territory Podcast. And of course I've got one of the best in the business when it comes to talking Braves, my podcast partner, Steven Tilbert. Steven good as always to have you, sir. I hope you're well.

00:01:12
Speaker 2: What's up, buddy, Yeah, man, Friday night show. We don't do many Friday night shows. But obviously off season mode has begun, and so you know, this might be a couple that we do throughout the winter. But yeah, some things to talk about. Obviously, the big news happened on Wednesday with Brian Snicker stepping down as manager and taking a new position in the front office, and we've gotten a little, you know, tidbits of news here and there since then. We kind of the reason we waited till Friday to record is we thought Alex and Dappless would do his end of season press conference, uh, so that we could react to that. That's kind of what we thought was going to happen today. We had heard behind the scenes that it might happen. It did not happen, obviously, so that'll be next week. But still some things have dropped that we're going to talk about. The Braves didn't make a series of roster moves, kind of a one big chunk of roster moves that matter. We're gonna talk about the nuts and bolts of that. So yeah, just kind of in off season mode and and kind of find a new manager mode.

00:02:12
Speaker 1: Absolutely, And you know, the thing that I'll say is this is that when it comes to you know, the Braves. You know, typically we get the Alex and Thoppoless, you know, end of the year presser. You know, it's been in the playoffs for many years in a row. This time around, though, maybe he's just delayed a bit, just to give Bride Snicker, you know, his proper time to you know, everybody. You really need to cherish you know, you know, and and enjoy Snicker through the weekend, and then next week business will pick up, not in terms of roster more roster's decisions and you know, off season moves, but just in terms of at some point next week, early next week, I imagine we'll be able to get more insight from Alex and Thoppoless. But let's do talk about what now is one of the bigger off season needs for the Braves, and that's finding a new manager. You know, we talked on Wednesday about you know, several potential names that could make Nothing has happened on the front of again probably out of respect for Snicker through the weekend, nothing has happened yet, at least through reports of the Braves you know, showing any type of interest in anybody as of yet. But one thing that we do know is that we could start scratching, you know, some potential names off the list, and one name is Skip Schumacher. Now many had mentioned Skip Schumacher as a potential, you know, candidate for the Braves opening. I feel that that was much more just a general connection with the fact that Skip Schumacher probably was the most buzzworthy managerial candidate out there of all the potential ones that you know, could potentially be pursued by teams in this offseason. But it always seemed like when Bruce Bochie was not returning to the Rangers from earlier this week, Skip Schumacher forarm manager of the Marlins, former manager of the Year now at the Rangers, he was the natural pivot for the Rangers. Now, while that hasn't been made official yet, it certainly seems like that the case. In other words, Skip Schumacher is one significant name that you can likely scratch off the list of potential candidates for the Braves job.

00:04:01
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean that was the most I think that was one of the more unlikely candidates, just because he had, you know, he was on the Ranger staff last year. He was very much the kind of coach and waiting the manager and waiting. You know, Bruce Bochi was almost certainly going to move on after this year one way or the other. So you know, I think I think Skip Shoemaker took that job in Texas knowing that he would eventually be the manager. I think they even hired his old bench coach from Miami. I think his old bench coach from Miami was on that staff as well, So like, all signs pointed to him taking that job. And then one of their beat writers came out today and said, they're not even looking at external candidates. So and if you're not going to look at external candidates right now, which is the time to do it, then that probably means you're not going to at all. So yeah, you can kind of cross his name off the list. There were a couple more that are a little more interesting, but Skip always felt like a long shot, And the news we got today kind of confirms that.

00:05:00
Speaker 1: The thing I was not, I got you, I got you, got it, you got it. The thing that I'll say is is that, yes, it definitely seems as if the idea of Skipped Schumacher being the Braves manager was not, you know, really something that seemed likely. But I mean, you know again from the national you know, newswriters, they're going to look in the way, shape or form to take the most buzzworthy name and you know, make their story up as much as they possibly can. As a matter of fact, as we are recording this, it has been made official. Jeff Passan just coming across on x announcing that the Texas Rangers have hired Skipp Schumacher as their next manager. So it's official. One of the more connected names, at least finnational media to the Braves job is no longer on the table, so nothing really lost there. It's not as if, you know, again, as Steven mentioned, this is a big loss because it didn't seem that you know, likely to begin with. But I do think something else that's worth noting is, you know what coaches, and especially those coaches that have been connected with Alex and Thoplis's in the past, as they potentially if they have current jobs in the majors, as they potentially you know, part ways with their current teams, how could they figure into the equation. One notable name is John Gibbons. John Gibbons, who is a former two time he managed the Toronto Blue Jays on two separate occasions, the ladder of which was through much of Alexanthopolis's latter part of his time with the Toronto Blue Jays. There obviously is a significant connection between him and Alex and Thoppolis. Now does that mean that I think that John Gibbons immediately becomes he John Gibbons was the Mets bench coach, they parted, he parted ways with the organization today. Does this mean that he moves up to the top of the list as one of the most likely candidates for the job, I personally don't think so. I think it at least means that he'll get an interview, and it could mean that as other openings come in the Brays organizations, when it comes to scouting, when it comes to coaches, things like that, he could take one one of those roles. I don't necessarily think that he'll be a serious candidate for the managerial role. But Stephen, the reason that I'm mention this is because while we're talking about the manager's role, there are other spots on this Braves coaching staff, other spots in the organization that are likely going to change hands as well as the Braves really tried to, you know, kind of Redo the organizational focus. Names that can become available that have connections with then Thoppless, like Gibbings, it's gonna be worth watching those names to see if they take on a role with the Braves, even if it's not as manager over time.

00:07:25
Speaker 3: Yeah.

00:07:25
Speaker 2: So John Gibbons was the manager for Toronto. Uh he was actually I didn't realize this until a couple of days ago. He's actually the He actually had two to separate stints as the manager for the Blue Jays.

00:07:36
Speaker 1: Uh.

00:07:37
Speaker 2: One in kind of the early two thousands, like two thousand and two to two thousand and eight, and then he did the stint with Alex and Thoppolass was the GM from twenty thirteen to twenty eighteen. I think so he obviously out he you know, he and Alex have a long working relationship. He's been the Mets bench coach for the last three seasons twenty twenty three, twenty twenty four and twenty twenty five. You know, he's a baseball guy. He's been around baseball his whole life. And again he's got a prior relationship with Alex. I'm guessing you know, he's he kind of stepped down from the Mets job. He didn't technically get fired. He kind of said, I'm kind of walking away. You never know what's really going on behind the scenes there, But like you said, offline, he might have seen the writing on the wall. But I would guess he gets an interview at the very least, again, he knows Alex. Alex knows him, he's respected, he's been around the game, he's been in the NL East, Like he checks a lot of boxes.

00:08:33
Speaker 3: I'm not gonna pretend like I, you.

00:08:35
Speaker 2: Know, was watching a ton of Toronto Blue Jays baseball, you know, a decade ago.

00:08:39
Speaker 3: So I can't tell you a ton about him, but I would guess he gets an interview.

00:08:44
Speaker 2: And I will say this about not hearing a lot of news, I imagine this search is gonna go the same way that like free agent possibilities go, where we're not gonna hear anything. The only time you're gonna hear something is when it's done. So I know I wouldn't expe a lot of updates at least, you know, like out in terms of being reported by national outlets or beat writers, we might get a snit, you know, some little crumb of information. One benefit we have of being in this position is we do know people kind of behind the scenes. We do have some connections. We hear stuff doesn't mean we can always repeat it. We're not everything we hear is reportable or we're allowed to say it.

00:09:25
Speaker 3: But we hear little things here and there.

00:09:27
Speaker 2: But I would expect a ton of you know, uh, you know, some organizations you get to track every move they make, second by second because everything gets leaked. The Braves are not like that, and I don't expect the manager search to be like that.

00:09:40
Speaker 1: Either, absolutely, And I think that that you know again, you know, just something that Alex and Topless puts value on it. He feels that that is a leverage move and more often than not, I know here recently it may not seem that way. More often than not they just worked out one other final thought, another you know, piece of news that came across to day with Chipper Jones actually went on you know, I believe it was ninety two nine, the game. You know, he had a conversation and of course they brought up the Braves managers opening. And it looks as if, you know, chipper stance has changed a little bit when it comes to his his viewpoint on you know, his pat his potential future in coaching. Now, he says his family's okay with him managing. It doesn't seem as this if Chipper's stance has changed that much, it doesn't seem like managing maybe in this future. But he does think he would make a really good hitting coach. That certainly his noteworthy. It's not park Petch to see Chipper as a potential hitting coach because we have seen plenty of former notable names Hall of famers, you know, anywhere from Barry Bonds and Martin McGuire down to John mabray. You know, just the many different levels of former Major leaguers who have been hitting coaches. So maybe that is a role you know, Chipper has had, you know it kind of assisted type roles like that in the past. I mentioned that because we also saw former Brave Kurt Suzuki, who is a special assistant in the Angels organization, which we know has a lot of connection with the Braves. He interviewed for the Giants opening. So Steven, I'll ask you this question. We talked about it on Wednesday. How it really seems as if where the Braves are and where they're trying to go someone with paths manager's experience makes sense, and a former player makes sense. But when it comes to alex Athoppolss, you also have these connections that really seem to you know, kind of you know, he'd loves to bring in former players of his into the organization. Do you give any type of value to there? We know that there won't be a lot of news out there about what potentially could happen. Does that mean you could see the Braves going with an outside of the common realm of thought option, a former player of alexanthopolis is who could, despite not having a coaching past, be the option board of Braves.

00:11:43
Speaker 3: Yeah, I would be surprised.

00:11:45
Speaker 2: I would be very surprised if alex A went with somebody who's never managed before and be went with somebody who's never managed before and has not ever really been a coach on any consistent level to be the manager now, like with Chipper and that Chipper interview today was very interesting because he has changed his stance before he's said he had always said he is not interested in the time commitment it takes to be a full time coach, Like there was conversation about him being the hitting coach before, and he's always said he's not interested in the in the time commitment because you got to be with the team every day for seven months. And today he kind of changed that. He said his family's good with it. He would not be interested in being a manager, but he would be he thinks he'd be a really good hitting coach, and that I perked my ears up at that, because I know the Braves technically have a hitting coach right now in Tim Hyers, but not I mean his his name is certainly not written in penn And we have gotten because Alex has not done as in the season press conference, we have not gotten any kind of statement on like where Alex's mind is that with the rest of the coaching staff, because obviously the when the head guy leaves, you could have turmoil up and down. So it was definitely notable to me that Chipper went on radio and very publicly said I would be I'd be fine being the hitting coach, because that is a that is a change of stance from where it was a couple of years ago when he was asked and he said he just wasn't interested in the time commitment. You know, with a guy like Kurt Zuzuki. I know Suzuki is a is a West Coast kind of Barry guy. He spent a ton of time with the A's and he interviewed with the Giants. I'd be curious to, you know, I don't know if if the Braves will bring him in. Obviously he has a history with the Braves. He played for the Braves. Alex knows him, so it wouldn't stun me. But again, I would just my personal opinion. I could be dead wrong about this.

00:13:38
Speaker 3: This is just me guessing.

00:13:40
Speaker 2: I would be very surprised if the Atlanta Braves hired their next manager as somebody who's never been a manager before, or has never even really worked on coaching staff before, even if they played being a coach and then being a manager or very different things. And it's just such an important job. The Braves are in the middle of a world Series. This is not a rebuilding team.

00:14:03
Speaker 3: I don't know. I would be I could be wrong.

00:14:05
Speaker 2: I could be dead wrong, but I'd be surprised if they went with somebody with zero managerial experience.

00:14:10
Speaker 1: I agree completely. I think that that managerial experience. The Braves again needs someone who has proven to be successful relating to players, but also adding that value when it comes to things we discussed on Wednesday, you know, the analytics findset you know, in game decisions, things such as that. I think that that those are certainly two big traits that you would like to have seen passed success in when it comes to a potential higher But speaking of that, it's not just to us talking about former braves when it comes to then potentially rejoining the organization in different roles. We've also got some former braves, plenty of former braves in fact, to kind of track as the playoffs continue, and that leads us to of course, we do this nearly every week, as could we do it every week in which we talk about, you know, some options when it comes to DraftKings, And specifically, what I'm mentioning is that we are sponsored today by the Pick six app from DraftKings, the official daily fantasy partner of the NFL. Now, I'm sure as many of our listeners know, Pick six is a fantasy type format, if you will, fantasy type format for the many different formats that are through DraftKings, where basically you can pick in most cases over and under for different statistics. When it comes to players, and you can rack them up all the or you can stack them up all the way through six players, and the more you get right, the better payout you get. So it's definitely a fun way to test your knowledge and luck when it comes to play in both fantasy and you know your fun when it comes to gambling a bit as well. And Steven I think that it's a good time to talk about the draft Kings pick six because we got plenty of former Braves to pick from when it comes to the playoffs starting tomorrow, and two in particular are going to actually be facing off tomorrow. That is Dansby Swanson as well as William Contrera's. Now you made some picks here, Steven, I think both William Contreras and Dansby Swanson are going to be critical components to a long postseason run for either the Brewers or the Cubs. Do you think either one of them start that success tomorrow.

00:16:22
Speaker 2: Yeah, So we went with a Braves flavor for our pick six tonight. We went with obviously there's the Braves around the playoffs, but the Brewers versus the Cubs feature you know, some former Braves, and William Contreras was my pick six tonight, so it's you know, we went with more than one point five hits, runs and RBIs. You know, Contrera's has been unbelievable since he left the Braves, has been one of the best hitters in Milwaukee. Milwaukee was the best team in baseball this year. I don't think anybody had that coming. And contraras sits in the middle of that lineup, it's going to be a home game for them. The Cubs rotation is kind of a mess right now. Kate Horton is on the IL, so I like, I like William contred more than one point five hits, runs and RBIs.

00:17:05
Speaker 1: I definitely think that that is a way to go. When it comes to pick six, of course you got Freddy Freeman. You got so many different options, but the big key is, hey, you feel strong about certain players that you think are going to play pivotal roles in their team's playoff success, make sure you pick them through the draft Kings Pick six app this season. Play your player instincts. Download the drafts Kings Pick six at now and use code foul. That's code foul. Foul. Played just five dollars to get fifty dollars and Pick six bonus picks. Make the call, ride the upside in partnership with Draft Kings Pick six, the crown is yours more in just a moment after another word from.

00:17:46
Speaker 4: DraftKings gambling problem called one eight hundred gambler help is available for problem gambling called eight eight eight seventy nine seven seven seven seven or visit CCPG dot Oregon, Connecticut. Must be eighteen and over age and eligibility restrictions vary by jurisdiction. Pick six not availed everywhere, including New York and Ontario. Void were prohibited one per new customer. Bonus awarded as non withdrawabal Pick six bonus picks that expire in fourteen days limited time offer. See terms at pick six dot DraftKings dot com slash promos.

00:18:13
Speaker 1: I'll say this after having tried the you know, the pick six you know option in the pass. It can humble you real quickly or can it make It can make your day if you get it right. But speaking of a bit of a humbling news this past week as well, you know it wasn't the only significant occurrence this week when it came to news for the Braves. When it came to Brian Snicker's time as manager. Ending There also was the beginning of what can only be described as a big roster cleanup coming for the Braves right now. The Braves have several decisions that they've got to make when it comes to the roster, and it's got to be early in the off season because with so many potential needs out there, so many potential boxes that they need to check to improve, they've got to make sure they've got the roster space to do that. And because of that, it was actually announced I believe it was yesterday. It was announced yesterday that the Braves went ahead and made some decisions when it came to some notable Braves, but also some names who you know, it just made sense, weren't likely to be with the club long of course. That's Luke Williams, Jared Kelnick, Alexis Diaz, Dame Dunning, and Sandy Leone. Each of those players were outrighted from the forty man roster and many of them selected pre agency. I believe all of them selected free agency. But before we get into the most notable name of that round of roster moves, I don't think any of this is surprising, Steven. It was gonna happen later in the offseason. Anyway, it seems like the Braves and these players, you know, they didn't really come to the other standing. The Braves just went ahead and removed these players from the roster because these were names that were just not going to figure into the equation moving forward in twenty six and beyond.

00:19:53
Speaker 2: Yeah, So the Braves had so many injuries over the season that they had to do a lot of patchwork roster you know, maneuverability throughout the season. And what that meant was when we got to the end of the season, you were gonna have necessary roster moves that have to take place. Because we've talked about this before, one thing to keep in mind is the Braves have eleven guys who are on the sixty deil who have to be added back to the forty man roster once the World Series is over. Well, you can't add eleven people to your forty man roster until you clear eleven spots for your forty man roster. And when the season ended, the Braves had a full forty man roster plus an additional eleven guys on the sixty dil, so they had effectively fifty one players, So some roster cutting was coming even before the offseason begins. Just to begin the offseason, a bunch of roster moves had to happen, and so the Braves outrighted. They announced they outrighted five guys, outrighted Sande Leone, Jared Kelnick, Dane Dunning, Alexis Diaz, and Luke Williams. So the thing about all those guys is when you outright somebody, that means you put them on waivers. They went through the waiver process, they went unclaimed and so the Braves could option them to goin net. But a number of those players had more than three years of service time, which means they could reject the assignment to Triple A and just elect free agency and move into free agency, and most of them did, Like Jared Keelnick is the big name. He rejected the assignment. He is now a free agent. So essentially all these players are now just off the Braves roster, out of the franchise. The forty man now sits at thirty five. Again, they were at forty. They just outrighted five of these guys. And then on top of those five position are those five spots opening up. You're also going to have the three big free agents, which is Marcelo Zuna, Rossie Iglesias, and Charlie Morton all come off the roster as well, so that's three more spots. So effectively the Braves will have, you know, they have to put eleven guys back on the roster, and as of now they've opened up eight spots, so there will still have to be more roster cutting coming. There's plenty of names, you know, guys like Bidel Bruhan, Eli White, even like Nick Allen. None of those guys have minor league options for next year. They might be at risk. Brett Wisely, Jake Frayley, you know, there's a bunch of the kind of the fringe pictures the Braves picked up along the way. There's plenty of names, so you'll see more roster cutting before we even get to the off season part of the you know, the moves. The Braids are gonna have to cut some more roster spots just to start the offseason, and.

00:22:49
Speaker 1: Before we get further into that, we'll discuss a bit more of that in the third segment. I think it's also you know, worth noting, not really much to talk about because there wasn't much to talk about during his time as a Brave. But but Jared Kilinnick, I think is worth taking a second to you know, look further into because to be honest, he is one of the bigger misses of Alexanthopolis's time leading the Braves. Now I won't say he's the biggest because you know, I don't really think that he was ever that significant of a piece. Unfortunately, you know, within you know, the Braves, you know, looking to have success, it just was not there for Jared Kelnick. I think that talent certainly is not the question. It's other things that have to be there for the talent to consistently show up. Of course, we know how creative the Braves went through, how much money they took on, money maneuvering they took on in order to bring in Jared Klinick to where they didn't have to pay a high prospect price. But it just did not work out. You had the June of two thousand and four, he stepped up and did really well in the lead off spot. After Ronnie went down in twenty twenty four, and then after that it just it just was a downward spiral for Jared Killernick. This is obviously the right move. I think Jared Kelnick will get another shot, but we are to the point to where that could be his last significant shot if he doesn't take advantage of it. So now not thrilled to see that it didn't work out, but I do think that it is the right move. He simply cut your ties. Perhaps Kelnick can find success elsewhere. Wishing the best, but this was the right move. An obvious miss, but the right move to move on from Kelnick.

00:24:20
Speaker 2: Yeah, and listen, the riding was on the wall when they signed Profar. I mean, they already had a Kunyan Harris and then they signed a full time outfielder to play the same position that Kelnick plays, which is left field. Now, Kelnick was always going to get a tryout basically in the first two months of the year until Akunya came back in twenty twenty five, and he got that opportunity and he was miserably bad. I mean, you know, he's not the only reason the Braves offense was so bad earlier in the year, but like the fact that him, I mean, I don't know if people remember, but like him and Brian Da la Cruz were like full time outfielders for a minute there, because Profar was on the suspended list for eighty games and you was out with the ACL and so the Braves were starting De la Cruz and Jared Keelnick for like two months and they couldn't they couldn't oh and yeah and d go.

00:25:13
Speaker 3: Yeah, they had a bunch of them.

00:25:15
Speaker 1: He when it comes to Steven Tober, he he's he who should not be named.

00:25:20
Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly.

00:25:22
Speaker 2: And so you know, the running was on the wall for Kelnick and then he went down to Triple A and was somehow even worse, Like he had a worse year in Triple A than he did with the Braves. You know, this year or last year, he had like a five hundred ohps in Triple A. And so you know, the Braves were going to owe him like three million dollars if they tendered him a contract.

00:25:41
Speaker 3: There was not a chance.

00:25:42
Speaker 2: Even if he didn't elect free agency in this process, he would have been non tendered at some point in the off season. So this was always going to end with Jared Kelnick being off the roster. And yeah, I mean he's at a cross. I mean he might I don't even know if he'll get a minor league deal and he might be hit.

00:25:58
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean he might be in.

00:25:59
Speaker 2: Like Korea or in the Mexican League, or you know, he might have to go somewhere else for a couple of years and figure out how much he wants to play baseball. There are all sorts of reports about him like not really giving it his all in Triple A. We never confirmed any of that. I don't know how truly it is, but it's just stuff. We heard that he was very disinterested in being there, and his numbers certainly reflected it.

00:26:21
Speaker 3: So yeah, it didn't work. The Braves spent a pretty good chunk.

00:26:26
Speaker 2: Of change about twenty about eighteen twenty million dollars and all the dead money and all the contracts they took on to get him. They didn't pay any prospects, thankfully, it was just money, but for that one season that they took him on, it was a big chunk of their available money, so it wasn't just completely free. And so, yeah, this has been one of Alex's kind of more notable big misses and it's gonna happen. But yeah, he I mean, he crashed and burned. There's no other way to say it.

00:26:54
Speaker 3: He was terrible.

00:26:55
Speaker 2: Still got a lot of talent, but you never saw it because he was he just played horribly, couldn't hit, couldn't get on base, striking out like thirty five percent of the time.

00:27:04
Speaker 3: It's just a disaster. So yeah, the Braves were always going to move on.

00:27:09
Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, And you know that's that's the thing that stands out is that, you know, the Braves are kind of noted. Again, as we mentioned plenty of times on this podcast, they have a good track record for you know, as Kevin Pilar you know last week mentioned just because it's just a great atmosphere to come that you want to succeed in. If you can't do it here, I'm not saying it can't be done elsewhere. But with the Brace track record of being able to to you know, have especially position players perform better here than they had in previous stops, you know, in recent times in their career, it kind of stands out when they can't unlock the potential in a player. So which kelenk All the best. But again, it was the right decision for the Braves. But speaking of decisions, this is just the first round of decisions that are going to be made when we come back, I want to talk with Stephen about some important decisions when it comes to which guy do you want to go with? To feel this needed area of depth, because the brains are going to have to make some decisions on some similar type players of the roster to bring back all of their injured players in the coming weeks. More than that, in just a moment, after another word from our partners.

00:28:22
Speaker 5: Okay, aj our slab pack ripping continues. Now you just ripped a card that I think you're.

00:28:29
Speaker 1: Actually going to keep. I am. I'm going to keep it.

00:28:32
Speaker 6: It's a Ken Griffy Junior Rookie card. The old is the famous Upper Deck one I believe it is. And yeah, heck ye, I'm gonna keep it because I'm gonna get Griffy to sign it. I'm gonna get them to send it to me. What you can do, and I'm gonna get Griffy to sign it. And it's only gonna make it worth more. So I am all in on this card.

00:28:48
Speaker 1: I'm keeping it.

00:28:49
Speaker 6: And it is one of the coolest cars with the highest turtle neck you've ever seen and the gold chain around his neck.

00:28:56
Speaker 5: Graded nine, nineteen eighty nine Upper Deck you got the offer for one seventy nine, it's valued at around one ninety nine, and you're like, nah, I'm keeping it, but if you want it to sell it back instantly, you can. It's the beauty of Arena Club. AJ's going to send in and get the physical card sent to him and you can do the same. Twenty percent off your first slab pack or card purchase can happen for you if you go to Arena club dot com slash foul and use the code foul.

00:29:24
Speaker 1: So, Stephen, as we talked about, when it comes to the Braves again, they have a forty man roster. Five players have been taken away, but that means that right now there are still yes, there's five open spots, but for forty men roster, you still got forty six players to account for. And let's go through these names real quickly that are on the sixty daio because Stephen correct me if I'm wrong. Even if a name that I mentioned that's on the sixty daio will miss a significant to all part of next season, they can't be on the sixty day io in the offseason. They have to be on the forty man roster. So let's go through these names. Joehman is, Austin Riley of Ozzie Alby's, Aaron Bummer, Das Boll Hernandez Grant Holmes, Ornando Lopez, Spencer Schwellenbach, A J. Smith, Shaver, Sean Murphy, and Austin Riley. Now, none of them are going anywhere. Obviously, all eleven of those players are going to be back on the roster. So let's continue to make these decisions. Let's continue to identify how these roster spots are going to become open, because that's going to define some of the bigger storylines for the Braves in the off season. Now, the first thing that stands out is that you're naturally going to have two or three spots come open when it comes to free agents, right, so hele Iglesias, Marcelo Azuna. That gets you to eight spots. We'll have all off season to discuss which one of those players could potentially come back to the Braves if they are resigned. But Stephen, that's one obvious way in which the Braves can clear more spots here in the near future.

00:30:54
Speaker 2: Yep, So you got eleven guys, and like Shawn just said, there's no sixty day in the off season. So anybody who's on your roster has to be on your forty man roster for the entirety of the off season. And then I think the sixty dil opens back up like the first week of spring training, and then you could put guys back on and then you can open those forty man spots back up, but for the entirety of the off season, those players have to be on your forty man roster. So that's why the Braves cleared five spots a couple of days ago. Again, they will clear three more spots when Charlie Morton, Marcelo Zuna, and Rossio Iglesias hit free agency once the World Series ends, so that's eight spots, so that still leaves three more spots. They got a clear just to get the eleven guys back on from the sixty to al. Now again, they have plenty of options, you know, Nick Allen, we'll see what happens. They did pick up Brett Wisely from the Giants, who can play shortstop. So right now they have Nick Allen, Viidel Bruhan, they have Brett Wae, and they have Hasan Kim. Now if Hassan Kim opts out of his player option, then obviously he gets removed from the forty men because he will be a free agent, not on the Breads roster anymore, so that would kind of clear a spot. Now the Brigs are hoping that doesn't happen. Of course, they would much rather have him on the roster if he does.

00:32:17
Speaker 3: If he if he.

00:32:18
Speaker 2: Declines his player option, or if he if he picks up his player option and is on the roster next year, then that means you would have Kim, Nick Allen, Videl Bruhan, and Brett Wisely all on the forty man roster. I don't think you would, and of course Ozzi Albi's and Nacho Alvarez as well. That's six six middle infielders on the forty man roster. That's probably too many. If Hassan Kim accepts his player option and is on the team next year, Brett Wisely has minor league options, I'm guessing he stays, but Nick Allen and Vitel Bruhan both do not have minor league options, So one, if not both of those guys would certainly be on the line for being released non tendered whatever, you know. When the Braves need these spots. Do not be surprised at all if it's one of those guys again on the on the outfield side, you've got, you know, Jake.

00:33:13
Speaker 3: The Braves have Jake Frayley. He is technically on the sixtydil right now. They can just bring him back.

00:33:22
Speaker 2: They can also just non tender him if they don't think he's gonna be if the Braves want to upgrade outfield and that's something that you and I and Scott and Brad have all talked about about maybe using the DH spot on an outfielder, like a starting outfielder, and then you can have basically four starting outfielders and just let them.

00:33:39
Speaker 3: Rotate the DH.

00:33:40
Speaker 2: If that's the plan the Braves are interested in doing with, you can justify just non tendering Jake Frayley because you're already gonna have four high profile outfielders, and then you could have, you know, a guy like Eli White be your fifth outfielder.

00:33:54
Speaker 3: You don't you probably don't need a guy as good as.

00:33:56
Speaker 2: Jake Freyley to be your fifth outfielder, so certainly a guy like Jake Freyley. There's a guy named Carlos Rodriguez who's still on the forty man roster certainly could be bumped off. There's a catcher they picked up Briesly named CHUCKI. Robinson. I'm sure he's a good player. He could get bumped off and he and then there's always pitchers. I mean, there's I'll just go through it real quick, Nathan Wiles, Joey Wentz, Jose Suarez, Hunter Stratton, Joel Pay, Jumps, Roaldi Munos, Alex Manoah, yeah, that's probably I mean, even like a guy like Bryce Elder, Austin Cox.

00:34:37
Speaker 3: We'll see what happens with those guys.

00:34:38
Speaker 2: But like just go reading through those names. All those names on the are currently on the forty man roster. So there are plenty of places the Braves can go to cut off some dead weight here if they once they need these spots. But they're just gonna have to do it. It is a you know, it is a administrative part of the offseason. They are gonna have to cut at least three more guys off the roster just to get all of these sixty d al guys back.

00:35:03
Speaker 3: And then that's before you even get.

00:35:05
Speaker 2: Into you know, if they want to add some if they want to sign a free agent, if they want to make a trade, they're going to have to cut more guys off the forty man roster because there is no sixty dil in the off season. All these guys have to be on the forty man for the entirety of the off season.

00:35:21
Speaker 1: Well, and that's the important part of it, because you know, you went through all these names and their significant right because a lot of these names, you know you've got two or three candidates to fill important roles for the Braves. Outfield depth, you know, infield depth, you know, reliever depth, rotation depth. And the big key is is that you know, we don't necessarily know for sure to what extent we're hoping the Braves are going to be, you know, more aggressive when it comes to spending, But you also have to certainly think that they're going to be you know, conscientious of wanting to get good value from cheap sources. So making the right decisions to give you depth in those are is are what's going to be important. But with that being said, like you mentioned who has minor league options and who does not, that will play into the factor who potentially is already into arbitration and could be offered more money you know, we saw the Braves make some you know, pretty eye opening decisions, you know, which seemed to be based off money last year. That could be what opens up these roster spots. So minor league options, how much are you owed, things such as that, the versatility that you offer from your position, those type of things really come into play and they're going to matter as the Braves continue to trim their roster to bring on players that you know are going to be with the Braves next year.

00:36:36
Speaker 2: Yeah, and remember a couple of years ago, the Braves had kind of a forty man roster crunch and we saw the Aaron Barmber trade where they traded four guys who are all on the forty men, who all were kind of dead weight to them at the time, and did a four for one and they went from four guys on the forty man they didn't need to one guy on the forty man that they wanted. So you can always do that as well. You can you can trade guys. You know, a guy like Aaron Bummer who is currently on the sixty al if teams are comfortable that he's healthy, you know that it would not surprise anybody if the Braves attempted to move him.

00:37:16
Speaker 3: You know, there's there's.

00:37:17
Speaker 2: Plenty of ways to open up spots, and there's plenty of The Brais have plenty of dead weight on their roster that they could cut at any time, and nobody would bat at eye players that most fans have never heard of. So it's not like it's some impossible task, but it's just it is part of the off season. They do actually have to cut more players just to fit. I mean, had to have eleven guys on the sixty sixty deil when you get to the end of the season is pretty nuts. I'm not sure if I've ever seen I certainly have never seen that with the Braves. I don't know if I've ever seen that.

00:37:48
Speaker 3: With any roster.

00:37:50
Speaker 2: That's just an insane amount of guys on the sixty day and so it's an unusual situation the Braves find themselves in where they they're gonna have to make up a substantial amount of cuts even before the off season begins, just to just to get all their sixty day il guys back on the forty man.

00:38:04
Speaker 1: So just the just on the track.

00:38:06
Speaker 3: Something to watch you.

00:38:06
Speaker 2: We will get some roster news, you know, in the next week or so, and certainly by before the World Series ends, or at least you know, five days after the World Series ends.

00:38:17
Speaker 3: To get this offseason started, just to get the roster where.

00:38:20
Speaker 1: It needs to be, absolutely and it's gonna be really interesting to see what that looks like. Again, we're not we're not even talking about you know, we're just talking about the Braves bringing back their players that we know we're gonna be on the roster. We haven't even gotten into opening up spots on the roster from potential offseason editions. So from on many different levels in terms of many different you know, you know, minor moves to major moves that could really you know, look to make the Brace future as awesome as it can be. We're in for it. What we hope is a very busy off season. I know we said that last year and it was a bit dull, a bit disappointing. This year, though, I think there's a better chance we'll really see you know a lot of rock and Roland when it comes to you know, filling out the Braves roster and hopefully a roster that will be in a significantly better position to contend moving forward. Steven anything else from yous. We wrap up this edition to the Hammer Territory Podcast.

00:39:14
Speaker 3: Yes, uh, we always forget to plug it.

00:39:17
Speaker 2: But we do have a merch shop. We have a websitemy. Hammer Territory Shop dot com is where you can go. I'm a big Tumblr guy. I like having I always have a drink with me wherever I go, so I buy tumblrs whenever I can, t shirts, pullovers, hats, whatever your merch of choice is, Uh, Hammer Territory, there's Hammoratory, toy merch all over it. You know, anything you want, so all the sizes. There's a couple of Adidas pullovers in there, having a da one of our Adidas pullovers. Super nice material that's obviously Adidas, so it's high quality.

00:39:53
Speaker 3: But yeah, we have we do have.

00:39:55
Speaker 2: I always forget to mention we have a merch shop. So if you want to support Hammer Territory, if you want some merch, hammor Territoryshop dot com.

00:40:03
Speaker 1: Make sure you check it out because there's so many great things to choose from for yourself, for the ones that you love, whoever you would like to buy something for, make sure you check it out and represent the official logo of your favorite Braves podcasts and Hey baseball podcast. There you go, Hammor Territory shop dot com. That is all from us tonight. Again. Nothing major, nothing roundbreaking or anything like that. We hope that there's plenty of that as the off season goes along, but it's important to lay out what steps have to be taken first to make the space for those moves we all hope are coming as the offseason continues. You can find Steven Tolbert at be under Square Outliers on Twitter slash cks. My name is Sean Coman. You can find me at Stat's sec Hammer Territory across all forms of social media. Foul Territory Across all forms of social media. Hammer Territory part of the Foul Territory family of podcasts. Can't thank you enough for joining us and as always the support. Enjoy the divisional round of the playoffs next week. Me and Steven may give our picks when it comes to after we have a bit more knowledge. We're going to cheat a little bit after we have a bit more knowledge of how the playoffs are going. Until next time, Go Braes. We'll talk to you agatting soon here on the Hammer Territory podcast