A look at Matt Olson and the Braves' first base position

00:00:21
Speaker 1: Hello, everyone, Welcome back to the her Territory Podcast. I'm your host, Brad Rowland. This is going to be our first ever pre recorded episode because we can. I'm joined on today's podcast by Scott Coleman for an evergreen episode because this player is not going to go anywhere, I would say, unfortunately for some who don't like it very much. But how are you, sir? Before we dive into Matt Olsen on this podcast? What's going on?

00:00:43
Speaker 2: Hello Brad, Hello to one of matt Olsen's most famous high school alumnus. I would put you ahead of Matt Olsen. I don't know if you're ahead of Jeff frankcoor.

00:00:54
Speaker 1: You're the only one. You're the only person that thinks that I'm ahead of Mattelsen in anything. Yes, just to get that, get this out of the way, I did go to say high schools. Madelson. We do not know each other. We've never met other than I covered the Braves a couple of times in a round. But he doesn't know who I am. We have no relationship whatsoever. Me and Jeffryan cor have known each other for a long time. Matt Olsen's much younger than I am, better looking than I am richer than I am, et cetera, et cetera, but we do have that connection.

00:01:19
Speaker 2: I would like to see Matt Olson host not just one, but two podcasts year round, Atlanta Braves Atlanta.

00:01:28
Speaker 1: Hawks, two award winning podcasts. That's right, that's right.

00:01:31
Speaker 2: And we are just waiting on our twenty million dollars a year podcast deal and then Brad, it really will even out.

00:01:38
Speaker 1: Yeah, us on the Kelsey's should be getting the same money to do podcasts. Okay, so this is the second one of these we've done. So you and I, in another dead period, recorded the Orlando RCIA Slash Shortstop kind of player capsule episode. We've teased a little bit throughout the season off season so far. We'll do one for every position probably at some point along the way, right and first base is one. We went back and forth whether we were gonna do first base with third base because those are the two safest ones that like, they're just they're just not gonna change. Medalson and Austin Riley are not gonna go anywhere. But it's Christmas week because you're gonna listen to this podcast most likely, and Medalson is not only healthy, he's good, he's well paid. He also is a a player that they're really invested in, et cetera, et cetera. Like he's not gonna be going anywhere, it's pretty safe. And he also plays every ending of every game basically, So it's like, all right, our first base capsule is basically just madd Olsen capsule. So just yeah, that's what it's gonna be. Could we mention at some point along the way on this episode, Scott that like, okay, what happens Medlson gets hurt? We will probably have that discussion for a little with thirty seconds, But other than that, it's about Medelson and he's he's pretty good. It's gotta have to say. So, I don't know how you want to dive in here, but do you want to just kind of talk about medalson broadly speaking first and we'll kind of dig in too. You know, he's got, you got the contract, you got last season, you got his defense actually had a nice little uptick this year. Projections, et cetera. Where are you at with these with the Madilson experience and how that is maybe difficult to separate from the discussion online about Meddlsen perhaps, but I'll leave it to you to start this off.

00:03:18
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, let's let's just talk about Matt Olson last season.

00:03:22
Speaker 1: You know, it's weird.

00:03:23
Speaker 2: I mean, he had a one to seventeen WRC plus, which was top ten among first basemen in the league. He hit twenty nine home runs, which was third among first basemen in the league. And he put up a two point six roar, which was seventh among his first base peers.

00:03:43
Speaker 1: And those numbers are fine that they're not great.

00:03:46
Speaker 2: This is a guy a year removed from being a legitimate MVP candidate in twenty twenty three. But you know, one seventeen w orc plus and the home runs and the defense was really good. He actually won the Fielding Bible Award for defense at first base. And you know, in two and a half war, it's not great, but it's also not terrible by any means. And you know, first base is interesting right now in Major League baseball. I think, like you know, back in the day, or we'll call it your older brothers, major league baseball, you know, first base was like one of the premium positions. You had a ton of guys who just hit the crap out of the baseball and first base is kind of dipped off a bit in recent years, and pretty clearly Medalson at worst is a top five first baseman, and I think you can make a pretty strong argument he's even better than that.

00:04:37
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean there are plenty of metrics that would say you he might be the second best first baseman in the league. Let's just get this out of the way now, Scott. Unfortunately, the best first baseman in the league is the guy that Bricks had before Medalson, which changes the way he's discussed, which is not fair at all to him, which is always something I want to point out, and I think it's because I cover players and cover sports in person and then going to locker rooms and things like. I think it's important to note these guys are like humans, and it's not Medilson's fault. The he's not Freddy Freeman. Like. That's not nothing new with Medalson. They hired madd Olsen quote unquote, They've traded for him to do a job, and he's been quite good at his job since arriving in Atlanta. It's been it consisted a little bit. The one season was incredible, the other two have just been fine. Et cetera. Fined to good by the way, even his down five season is still really quite good, which you did a good job laying out where Just a point of thought about Freddy Freeman anymore, like it's just that it's water under the bridge. It happened, It's unfortunate. I think he should have stayed in Atlanta forever. All these things we've been on the record about this becover on our old podcast. There was a mess of negotiation. He fired his agents, like blame, placed to blame wherever you want to place to blame on that. I would encourage you not to place it all on the braves. At least give some of it to Freddy Slash's agent side. It's not a one unilateral decision. But that out of the way. Medilson is really good and we'll see how good he is this next season. But yeah, I think that you could very reasonably look at Madelson's profile and say the only first baseman in baseball that you would rather have, it's freadit foreman, like you could there are other guys too, You might You might take Bryce Harper's as a bull tip first baseman. Now, Bryce Harper is really good, So if you want to say Bryce Harper totally understandable. There's some other guys too, but he's definitely in the top five. I think it's not even that's not even like us being Homer's Like, if you look at this profile, that's where he is. Was he that? Was he that good this year? No, he was seventh in baseball and war but that's one season after he was last. The year before he was number two, but only because Freddy was incredible, Like he had an MVP level season in twenty twenty three. I think that's been forgotten because a his teammate won the MVP and deservingly so, and Ronald of Kunya and Matt finished fourth in the voting. But Matt Olsen's twenty three season would have won MVP in several seasons, so he's capable of that. He's also capable of what happened this last year, where he was a two and a half three win player, really good. I would call him mad Olson a star. I mean, I don't think that that's hyperbole. You could have been of whether he's a superstar or not. He's not Shoyo Tommy, he's not Aaron Judge, but he's a star. Level player, so is Riley, the Hawks of the Hawks, the brace of plenty of stars, but Matt Olson is one of them. And I think that even last year, like he had this slow start, and it's not we won't pars every month of the season, but I think if if you, if you start his start his campaign in like on like February first, sorry on like Mark May first of last season, his numbers jump quite a bit. Like it's he gets into that like one, you know, one twenty five ish uh WRC plus and you know, et cetera, et cetera. So yeah, it is what it is. But he was good last season, even if he was not great last season.

00:07:49
Speaker 2: And on the whole, So Matt Olson's three seasons with the Braves, he has a one thirty three w RC plus really.

00:07:58
Speaker 1: Good, really really good.

00:08:01
Speaker 2: And in that same time period since the Braves traded Olsen, he has a twelve point two WAR which is second best among all major league first basemen. So again, man, if Matt Olsen replaced literally anyone but Freddie Freeman, I think we would maybe subconsciously think of even more of Matt Olsen. And I mean I can speak for myself and I think this podcast that we fully acknowledge Matt Olsen is a really, really good baseball player. And the fact is he has five more years on that deal and the Braves are going to need him. And I think it's fair to say the Braves need more out of Matt Olsen next year because while he was totally fine this past season with a one seventeen WORC plus, we know and have seen firsthand that Matt Elson can be even better than that.

00:08:50
Speaker 1: And if I mean.

00:08:50
Speaker 2: He's been a streaky hitter too, I mean his hot streaks. Man, he can single handedly carry that lineup when he's going at his best.

00:09:00
Speaker 1: Yeah, and look on Matt's front about like the last three seasons overall, It's a good point to bring up because I think it's it's smarter to holistically look, like, you know, was Heason's a big sample in baseball. I'm not saying that it's not. That's part of the appeal to baseball. It's such a big sample as the season goes along. But if you do about the three years, you about even at this time in Oakland, like this is not a new thing, Like he's not an unproven player. He's in fact, he's very very proven. I'll talking about later on with his durability, but the bat ball profile is really good. Last year, it was not as good as it was in twenty twenty three, so it's not like he just got unlucky this year compared to the previous year. He had a uniquely awesome batted ball and production season in twenty twenty three. Both of those things fell last year. But I think, actually, if you look at the bat of ball data, he should have been a little bit better than he was last year, which encourages me. I think that he's still hitting the ball really hard, he has massive power, he takes walks, et cetera, et cetera. So like I am encouraged by that overall profile. And yeah, we could leave it there, but I think that you know, they we agree I think on that front about him the Braves needing more from Matt Olsen, that's one hundred percent true, and it's the same for Riley. It's the same for really everyone in their lineup last year. I mean, other than Marcelo Zuna. I think I think you and I would probably agree that all their stars maybe you could say Michael Harris and definitely Azuna, but everybody else that they have. It's a star level player was not as good as they often or usually would project to be. Riley wasn't as good. Also wasn't as good, Ozzy wasn't as good, Ronald wasn't there and wasn't as good even before he got hurt, like Sew Murphy, all those guys from star level players to some to some to some renowned. So while that statement does apply to med Elsen, for sure, they have to have him be better. It's a it's also a collective which is not to go back to the well so much here, Scott. But that's why the was so vexing last year because nobody other than Azuna had a good year. It was like, am the odds of like you have eight seven or eight stars that all those guys have bad years at the same time. It's kind of tough, but it happened.

00:10:59
Speaker 2: It was unbelieve that basically everyone in the lineup had such a down year other than Ozuna. And you know, anecdotally, I did not do a deep dive on where Matt Olsen hit the baseball last season, but just anecdotally from doing a lot of podcasts and talking about the games a lot it felt like Matt just missed a handful of baseballs, balls that were two feet before the wall, or balls that bounced a foot below the top of the wall, and if they go another foot they're a home run, but instead they were a double, you know, one that's baseball. It's amazing how just a couple of plate appearances over six months can be the difference between a good season and a great season.

00:11:41
Speaker 1: You know.

00:11:41
Speaker 2: It's also probably fair to say that Matt Olsen has impacted more than most of his peers by the dead and baseball. Statistically speaking, it is a proven fact that the baseballs were nerved last year, they were not nearly what they were in prior years. And while all every player has to use the same baseball, a guy like Olson, who hits for so much power he elevates and lifts the ball a ton, if the balls are naturally not caring as well as they have in prior years, it's probably going to impact him more than a player who maybe relies a little bit more on speed and has a higher ground ball rate, because obviously that that's a different type of trajectory on a baseball than when you're trying to hit it.

00:12:23
Speaker 1: Four hundred and twenty five feet down the line. Yeah, I have a look at this about Matt's projected home runs, and stat guy says, the thing where you can actually do it like have his same profile of bat of balls, put them in a different ballpark, and he's there's a few ballparks where he would have hit more than forty home runs last year. Any hit tory nine, Like if you play it in Chicago, they said his production would have been forty three home runs forty in Philadelphia, for instance. There's something that actually have less too, like if it was Kansas City. I think he goes down to like twenty in the mid twenty somewhere, So it's always a little bit Varian's there. But I think that like a lot, he's a lot of long home runs as well, But also there was some flexibility there. I think his expected number was like maybe thirty. Issue wasn't like it was crazy crazy low, but it was still a good power season generally speaking.

00:13:11
Speaker 2: So let me ask you this quickly, Brad, just yeah, all right, so matd had a one seventeen WRC plus. I think I know your answer here, but let me ask over under In twenty twenty five, over under, we'll say one twenty WRC plus.

00:13:28
Speaker 1: Uh over. I think you know Matt's career WRC plus is one thirty three, and that that takes an account part of his rookie season as well since he came, like since he became a full time, a full time guy. It's ely's still the case, but going into last year he took out last year it was it's actually one thirty six. So he's only had three seasons under one twenty and one of them was the was the shortened COVID season. So the smart money is is on the over. I think on that you could have made r on me instead of one twenty five. I think I still might have gone over to be honest, when he gets a one thirty, it gets to be I think I would project somewhere in the one thirty on the one thirty range for Matt Olson as an over under on his on his w rscity plus like Steamer has him at one twenty seven right now, Like that's about kind of what I mean. Maybe I probably lean over on that too, but somewhere in that you know, one thirty ish range, but with the upside to go, like we've seen him have a one sixty one and I want sixty four w rscity plus seasons. His range is probably what one ten to one sixty five, one seventy, Like, that's a pretty wide range, but that's probably a realistic one. Yeah.

00:14:40
Speaker 2: I mean again, we have seen Matt Olsen's highs are very very high. M hm, I would be pretty surprised if he's worse than what he was this past season. And and just one other just cool note that I dug up when talking about Matt Eilson here. So Matt Olson now has appeared in one one hundred and sixty two games all three years with the Braves, which is not a small thing. I mean, being available and being healthy is a big part of being a professional athlete. Dating back to twenty twenty one, so pre trade, Matt Olsen has now appeared in six hundred and twenty baseball games without missing one. And not only did he play all one sixty two this past season, but he played like nine innings of one sixty two basically every single night. That you know. That's impressive. And not only that, but Brad, you probably know this already, so I'm not even gonna bother quizzing you because you probably read through our our document of notes. But currently Matt Olsen's streak of six hundred and twenty straight games played. I'm gonna give the listener a moment here to say where does that streak rank in the history of baseball?

00:15:54
Speaker 1: So again, six hundred.

00:15:55
Speaker 2: Twenty games, we are gonna go with. Wait for it, all right, got your answer. It is the twentieth longest streak of consecutive games played in the history of Major League Baseball that goes back like, you know, all time baseball history. Guy's playing in like nineteen oh four. And if Matt were to play in all one sixty two again next season, that would move him up to thirteenth all time. In his current streak to play all one sixty two, it's really impressive for Matt that he keeps himself in such physical condition that he is able to go out there and play every single day. It's you know, he's a first baseman. He's not a running back in the NFL, where he just gets punished every single week. There's not a ton of physicality that comes standing at first base. But again, for a good player, the Braves are gonna want Ulsen in their lineup every single night, And I thought that was a cool note that if you're twentieth in the history of baseball in anything, that's that's pretty cool. Yeah, it's the longest active streak by a lot, which is not given what you just said about the history of it all.

00:17:03
Speaker 1: Yeah, he could be in the top what fifteen if he does it the game this year. I am just to be consistent from our old podcast. I think it's probably a good idea to give a guy a day off every once in a while. Said the same thing with Freddy Freeman back in the day, because Friday and everone take a day off either. It's kind of ironic those guys are both that way. But Alson also hasn't really had any that we're aware of, like nagging injuries like that, you know, knock on wood, of course, but you know, I feel like Freddy always had something he was dealing with. There was a season where he had the wrist and it was like he was, uh, that was the old the old paper bag whatever it was, paper newspaper, what newspaper. So I'm sure Olson's been like everyone gets hurt during the season, it's just whether you can keep playing or not. And I'm sure he's been below one hundred percent many times. That's what has to happen when you keep played every game. But uh, yeah, it's a it's a very impressive streak. I like, I knew he played every game for a while, but not to the extent that you would put out there. And I don't think he's gonna be going after cal Ripken if I had to guess, because that record is probably not gonna ever be broken either. But speaking of Brooker records, but it is, Uh, it's impressive, and the durability is helpful because look it, being out there every day has value if you're a star player and you could be consistently available. It helps everybody else in the lineup. It helps your manager, it helps your bench guys, et cetera, et cetera. And we joked about this already about how this is going to be basically be the preview or review or whatever you want to say, because he's the only guy that plays there. It's funny in the Fangrass Death projections, which I look at a little bit before these, they actually give fourteen played appearances to Luke Williams because they just can't put one person's name. They have to put someone there that's not matt Olsen. But every other team that I'm seeing right now, everybody else in baseball other than matt Olsen has at least three. EVERYBOE team has at least three players getting played appearances at first base on the projection, and the Braves have two and the backup is look way, so it's not even gonna be there. Like, Okay, let's ask a question now. It's actually relevant to this conversation. If matt Olsen were to get injured for three weeks, what would they do at first base? And I think the answer is I have two inches, I'll ask you.

00:19:19
Speaker 2: I want to.

00:19:19
Speaker 1: I won't lead the witness. What would you like to see them do if they're fully healthy everywhere else, granted, what would you let them do at first base if Maddilson weren't actually be out for more than a couple days.

00:19:30
Speaker 2: Great question, I would guess, And my preference would be for Marcelo Zuna to grab a first baseman's mitt and pray that that night. There's very little activity at first base other than Marcel putting his foot on the bag and catching the throw from whoever, that would be probably the best option for the Braves. But I mean, the short answer is, if Matdelson gets seriously hurt, this team has probably a big problem on its hands.

00:20:01
Speaker 1: That is the answer I would say is, Well, the other option would be Austin Riley going to first base, but then you have a third base problem all of a sudden. So I think that the simplest, easiest way if you can trust Marcell to catch the ball at first base, is to put in there. They have tried that in the spring, like Marcel always takes some reps at first base and spring training for this reason. Basically, like, all right, Marcel, we just might need you to hold it down for a couple of weeks at this position and then and then that way you could just rotate dhs and that makes your life a little bit easier. You don't want to have to put rally there, like because number one, Riley's a fine third basement. There's always been the debate of how good he is, but he's fine there. So you can if you have a fine third baseman, as long as it's fine at the third base, leave him at third base. By the end of the By the end of the Riley deal, he might be a first basement and that might be kind of a question that we talk about in five years or whatever. But at the moment, he's a third baseman and that's where you should stay. So I should want to ask a question because like, hey, the math is, I'm not saying this to pick on Matt. Who's my guy. He might get hurt at some point, man Like guys just don't tend to never get ever, ever, ever get hurt. And maybe he won't again this year, but he does, marcell In.

00:21:04
Speaker 2: And unless your DH is a former first baseman, the fact is, like no team carries a backup first baseman.

00:21:11
Speaker 1: No, not a pure one. There's no reason to right.

00:21:14
Speaker 2: That's right, especially with the way that that you need a utility infielder.

00:21:21
Speaker 1: You need at least one outfielder.

00:21:23
Speaker 2: Usually you have a speed type of guy off your bench to steal a base in the ninth inning of a tie game, and then you have to have a backup catcher. It's just tough. So the Braves are not exclusive. If if they lose Matt Olsen, they're the only team that wouldn't have a backup plan. But frankly, as we said, I mean, if if Marcell could catch the baseball, they I mean, obviously the bat plays more than well enough there, right, So but let's hope for another one sixty two from Matt and hopefully a better season than what he gave the team last year, because when this team is at its best, Olsen and Riley in particular, in the.

00:21:58
Speaker 1: Middle of the lineup, are really hitting the baseball. Yeah, for sure, I might have said that too, because if you just need somebody to catch the ball, like you have a backup infielder somewhere, like honestly, Luke Williams being there as funny on the projection, but something like that, like for one day, you just throw your backup infielder there. You can play there, catch the ball. It's just that you need offensive first base Like that's not that's that's a position where you tend to project you get some offense from. So yeah, but you're right, no one carries that position for a reason. One more thing we'll kind of wrap up with a little bit more of a mini projection next year is the contract. So he has five years and one hundred and ten million left on the deal. It's twenty two million a year ain't no value. They had a club outtion at the end of that for twenty million dollars. I wrote this down slage. I'll to say it. I feel extremely comfortable saying that it also was a free agent right now, even after a relatively down season, he would get more than this, especially in this market that has been inflated? Does that? Is that? Am I out of line with that? Knowing that I am slightly partial to mister Olsen? Is that? Am I wrong? Or am I? Am I safe? There? You think? Yeah, you're not wrong, you are safe there? You know?

00:23:11
Speaker 2: It has been the only counterpoint I would make is that the first base market this winter has been the only one that has not been like blowing away every projection imaginable. Sure, Christian Walker, who is really quite good, former Brave Christian Walker for a hot minute. I think he was in like twenty seventeen with the Braves, and anyway, he's been great with the Diamondbacks. No, Walker just got three years and sixty million. Matt Olsen is clearly a better player and is younger than Walker, but like three.

00:23:41
Speaker 1: Years or four years too, like thirty four, Like he's sneaky old. Yeah, he'll be thirty four.

00:23:46
Speaker 2: Yeah, Pete Alonso is not as good as Matt Olson, although he is. I think Alonso's a top six first baseman in the game. No, Alonzo's market has not been great. Teams have not necessarily wanted to commit themselves to the mega pay day that that Alonzo was looking for. But yes, I mean, if you gave Alex and Thopless the choice, if you said, all right, Alex five years, one hundred and ten million dollars, do you want to keep this contract or not, it would be the fastest yes, imaginable.

00:24:14
Speaker 1: Yeah, And that's why I'm bringing it up. Really, there's somebody to action on him here, like they couldn't get it if they want to. There's no option here. It's just that I think it's just kind of good to every once in a while come back to these deals with the Braves have signed that the long term deals, and say, hey, how's it looking now? And this deal still looks really good to me? Yep, And that's not really Again, after last season, it would have looked even better, of course, because he'd been so good in twenty twenty three. But even after again a relatively down year for Matt Olsen, he earned that contract last year, even in a relatively down season. It's I mean, five years is a long time, like bye bye last year. Will he be great? We'll see you know, he'll be thirty five, like, that's not it's not too old to contribute by any means. But in the meantime, though, I do, I do agree with you. I don't know what he would get on the market, but it would be more than this, which is all that matters behind the Braves.

00:25:01
Speaker 2: So you're reading my mind. I was going to say, if Matt Wilson was a free agent tomorrow, I would guess with him being thirty years old, he'll be thirty one in the spring. I believe six years, one hundred and fifty million dollars, So six years and twenty five million per I mean, that sounds fair to me. But this free agent market has not been a fair one.

00:25:24
Speaker 1: So who knows.

00:25:25
Speaker 2: Maybe a team would give him seven years at thirty million dollars a year instead of twenty five and have to overpay. But the good news for the Braves is that five years and one ten is extremely valuable here and one that I think the Braves deserve a lot of credit for getting a head out of I mean it was what like a day after the trade that they announced the extension. A pretty savvy move by Anthopolis, as he had to pivot from moving on from a future first ballot Hall of Famer in Freddy Freeman.

00:25:54
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean you could compare it this way. I wouldn't necessarily do it because they're different positions, and you were right to point out the first base mark. It is a little bit more tepid, but I think Matt Olsen is better than Willia Thomas at baseball, and Willia Donamas got seven for one eighty two this winter. Again, shortstop versus first base matters here. I think there's some more value placed on Adamis because he was the only guy at that spot at shortstop. Everyone has to have a shortstop. But as far as just player equality and value, I think Olson's probably a little bit better than Willia Damas, and Willie got a lot more money than Matti is Ode, so I don't think you would have gotten that much. To be fair, I think your projection is about right. Six one sixty something like that would have been probably what I would guess from d olsenon right now. But still that's more than what they owe him at this point, even though cold Austion could be if he's still good, that's a cheap Fell option twenty million dollars at the end of this. Yeah, a little bit of a flexibility that Alex tends to like. Okay, it's Scott fours that off, who already has a little bit on the over under projections for his WRC plus. But I have some projection system numbers for you. Steamer has Olsen at one twenty seven versity plus zips is one twenty six op yes plus, so kind of in the same range there. And the Panagraft's deep chart has the Braves number four in baseball at first base, and as we just covered, that's entirely mid Olsen. Basically, it's just like, hey, Matt Olsen is right there. He's there behind the Dodgers, which is Freddy. They're behind uh vladimirger Ria Junior is ahead of him. I think I might have I think I might rather have my Olsen, honestly, but Land's upside is sky high, so I'm not quibbling with that. And the other one's price Harper, who I mentioned before. If you want, if you want to choose Byce Harper. I have no call of that he's a superstar player. He didn't used to be a first baseman, so he wasn't really in the mix until recently. Now he is. So does that seem right to you?

00:27:37
Speaker 2: Like?

00:27:37
Speaker 1: I feel like that's what he is. He's a top five first baseman and it's a spot that the Braves don't to worry about.

00:27:42
Speaker 2: Yeah it is. I mean, set it and forget it, and probably set it and forget it every year between now and twenty twenty nine, maybe twenty thirty.

00:27:52
Speaker 1: That's the hope.

00:27:53
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, So hopefully continued health for Matt, hopefully and even better season offensively. And I mean I think Matt Olsen would be the first one to tell you that he feels like he should be better than what he was this past season. And that says a lot when a guy was still perfectly fine at first base and all of that. But you know, over under, I would Maybe I'm being a fan boy, but I would take the over on the one twenty seven w RC plus, I think he bounces back. I think he will benefit from having just more healthy talent around him next season two. You know, I didn't, It's just spitballing, but maybe teams avoided matt Olsen a little bit more last year just because there was not quite the depth and power that was in this lineup two years ago. And you know, I have a hard time seeing that deal really go sideways, even though five years guy in his thirties, all of those caveats apply. I mean, really the last four or five seasons, Matt Olsen with Oakland and now Atlanta has been a very good first baseman and basically nothing in his profile to suggest that he is going to come down.

00:28:56
Speaker 1: From that anytime soon. Yeah, diversity plus projection from me of like in the one thirty range thirty five ish, Homer's slug around five hundred, like obviously upside beyond that, but that's kind of what I would project as of December or something for matt Olson. And yeah, I think it just puts that on every day. It's very very helpful for your roster building exercise, all right, Scott, Unless you have more to adamtt Olsen. That is a podcast for a player that again I think we feel safe that will not be traded before we post this podcast.

00:29:27
Speaker 2: Yes, if I could bet on bet money on that, I would happily do it. Yeah, we wanted to get another one of these player reviews and previews done. We'll continue to do them throughout January and even early February as spring training gets closer and closer. But we did Orlando Arcia a couple of weeks ago just because of the uncertainty at that position moving forward. And then yeah, we kind of picked and choose between Matt Olson and Austin Riley to very good baseball players who are signed for a long time. And yeah, so that's a Mattleson podcast, a very good player and hopefully he gets back to his highs of twenty twenty three when he was one of the very best in the game.

00:30:07
Speaker 1: We agree on that. Yeah, this is being posted sometimes we don't want it's going to go up, So please subscribe to the podcast. And the best way to find the show a little professional segue here, Scott, is that if you don't know what the show is going to post, if you subscribe to it, you will just it will just be delivered to you. It'll be presented to you on a platter in Spotify or Apple Podcasts or wherever you like to listen to podcasts. Best thing you can possibly do so. Subscribe check us out on YouTube if you want to watch us. I don't know why you would because I'm old, but hey, people like people like YouTube podcasts. I don't.

00:30:35
Speaker 2: I don't.

00:30:35
Speaker 1: I don't know who these people are. I love you all. You're probably younger than I am and better looking than I am. But hey, hopefully you go. That does not turn you off to watch us on video.

00:30:44
Speaker 2: You do a fine job, Brad, fine job.

00:30:47
Speaker 1: That's the ladies.

00:30:48
Speaker 2: The ladies go wild for you and Sean the lady.

00:30:51
Speaker 1: The ladies love Sean. That is that is that's that's been well established. Seawan's family men, so he doesn't have to take the attention. But the ladies love Sean and Stephen of course. But yeah, we'll have more coming up. I don't know what our next podcast is going to be. Exammem one the simppost, but just stay tuned, everybody, We really appreciate it. Follow Scott on Twitter and Blue Sky at Scott column fifty five. Correct, that's right. Follow us as a show at Hamard Territory. I am at BT Rowland on Blue Sky, Twitter, et cetera. Will more. Please to subscribe to the podcast. Enjoy your holidays. I think this podcast going to post stound on the holidays, so stay tuned for that as well. And uh, thanks for listening everybody, We really appreciate it. See you all next time.