Rapid Reaction: Braves Lose Spencer Schwellenbach to 60-Day IL

00:00:22
Speaker 1: Welcome one and all to the Hammer Territory Podcast. My name is Sean Coleman, back and more clearer than ever, a little bit of an ugh grade as we've started baseball season. Poor you boyd here in Tennessee. Also with us is my podcast partner, one of the best when it comes to breaking down the Braves. That would be Steven Tobert and Stevens. Baseball is back. Pitchers and catchers reporting for the Braves, and we have a serious injury to talk about and it is a significant one. Again, thank you for joining us here on the Hammer Territory Podcast. I'm not going to say this is the start of a new season, but it feels like that baseball is back. The super Bowl has occurred, and his super Bowl has been completed. Baseball is now the central focus for everyone, it seems. But of course, the Braves got some pretty negative news today and Steven, we're gonna let you break it down. This is going to be the topic of the show, going to break down, of course, the news that we received today, our reaction to it, how the Braves will respond, and then some news and notes but plenty to get to and Stephen, once again, it's not the best of news more negative than positive when it comes to Spencer Swellenbach.

00:01:33
Speaker 2: Yeah, what's up, buddy. So you know, right around noon today, Bowman Mar Bowman, friend of the show, beat writer for MLB dot com, send on an odd tweet and it said, no one has seen Spencer Schwellenbach or Robert Suarez. We'll find out why later. And then about twenty minutes after that, everybody started tweeting out Spencer Swallenbach is going on the sixty DOL and he has elbow inflammation and is going to be out for what Weiss called a significant period of time. So this was all. You know, this all happened around noon today, and we're gonna get into the ramifications for the team just thirty thousand feet. Initial reaction was just like it's just a punch in the nuts. It really was like this was supposed to be the start of twenty twenty six. Put in twenty twenty five behind us, right spring training, The start of spring training, literally day one of camp is supposed to be like the eternal hope of every baseball fan because you know, it's a new season and there's endless possibilities in a new baseball season. And man, did it just feel a lot like twenty twenty five because did not even get halfway through day one and we have a devastating injury. So we'll go through the details real quick. So it's it's right elbow inflammation. Presumably it is carryover effect off of his injury last year, which was a broken right elbow. I will be honest, I am so unfamiliar with a broken right elbow in terms of like the things that can happen after. I don't know how connected the two are. I assume it's pretty connected to that. It's just part of like the rehab process and what Wisse said. They think it's just some bone spurs. They don't think it's anything that's going to require additional surgery, but there's enough inflammation. And he had a bullpen about five or seven to ten days ago where it started to bite him and he reported to the team that it was hurt, and they made the decision to put him on the sixty day IL, which means he's not going to be back until at least the end of May, more much more likely sometime in June or even after that. Bowman today put out you know, most of the first half was his best guess, So it sucks. And listen, we have been saying and saying and saying for weeks and weeks and months and months going back to last year, that this rotation, this specific rotation, this specific collection of pictures has higher injury risk than normal, Like every rotation has injury risk, but this collection of pictures especially has a high high injury risk because they all spent significant time on the sixty day IL last year. And that's why we wanted the Braves to go get picturing, more, pitching, more starting pitching specifically, and boom, day one a camp, one of their most important players goes down and it just sucks. Man, it just sucks.

00:05:05
Speaker 1: Yeah, No, there's no better way to put it. And and again I think that this is important to point out. You know, when you talk about Hassan Kim being out potentially through the end of May, you look at that and you say, Okay, we don't have our best option, but we have a replaced we have someone that's a respectable replacement in Mauricio Debond. Okay, we're going to be without Sean Murphy. Well we've got the rookie of the year and Drake Baldwin, the kind of you know, obviously he's going to start until he returns. It's different when it comes to a Spencer Swellingboch because after a Ronald d'acunya junior, after a Chris sale, you could ease a and think Matt Olson probably would be third on this list. But the word indispensable comes in place like this is your second most important pitcher because of what he's shown in his time so far in the Majors. And Stephen you talked about the detail of when he possibly could return. You know what that could look like. Let's get into the details of the impact that this makes on this team because of the significance of swelling Box, how important he was to this rotation. You don't have a replacement for the level of production that he could offer, at least one that's reliable. Unless we go out and we make an unexpected move for a true number one or number two on the trade market or signs that galleon or something along those lines. That's not going to happen. So it's very unlikely. It's now essential that we sign at Chris Bassett. It's essential we get someone to his level. I feel, but that we'll discuss that in a moment. But for Spencer swelling Box injury itself and what the immediate impact is on the team, two things come to mind. Three things actually. Number one, you're back to thin ice. Your room for error for injuries to occur is back to once again being on thin ice razor thin because of who you've already seen be injured. The second thing is Spencer Stryder coming into this year. You hope that he's back to being a top of the rotation type pitcher, but you just simply don't know with how we saw him last year. That uncertainty, though, was kind of minimized because you had Swellenbach who could be that number two to Chris Sale, and you hope that Spencer Strider could be a third top of the rotation option. Now it's almost a must that Spencer Strider gets back to being that number one, number two starter level. And the reason why I say that is because the biggest impact is now without Spencer swelling Back. I think it's fair to question what part of this Braves team currently do you truly feel is at the level of a contender, Like I still feel our rotation is good. I feel that our offense has the potent should be good. I feel our bullpen could be very good. But are any of these aspects of the team elite? They could be, but it's a lot of ifs. And one of the players on the team that you felt most confident in truly being elite. Now, not only do you know when he's not going to return, Steven as you pointed out, now, I'll let you elaborate on this. Even if he does, it's very unlikely that he's going to be at the level that we all hope he would be as a true number two behind the sale.

00:08:32
Speaker 2: Yeah, And that's the thing is that and I tweeted this out earlier today, when pitchers missed this much time at the beginning of a season and he's going to miss two months at least, maybe more, maybe three months, maybe four months, we don't know. But when pictures missed that much time to start the season and they're already coming off significant injury from this previous season, and it's been, you know, a calendar year or more since they've been on a major league mound. Even if everything goes right and they do somehow get back to the mound this season, it's almost never the full version of that picture, and Braves fans saw it firsthand last year with Spenser Schreider. Right, Spencer Streider came back last year, but these Spencer Streider never came back last year, And it was always gonna be like, he's gonna need a full, healthy, normal offseason to build up to get back to the guy he was right. And so that's the thing with schwellenback is even if it's only let's say it's three months, Let's say he comes back sometime around you know, July one, the most likely scenario is that he is going to be a watered down version of himself for the rest of twenty twenty six. It might not happen, but I have been watching baseball for a long time. I've seen this hundreds of times. It almost the guy almost never comes back in season and gets all the way back to four. Like it just doesn't happen, especially and they don't have a normal spring training, they didn't have a normal off season, they didn't have a normal off season throwing program. Like, it's almost always all right, he's gonna come back, but you know it's gonna be kind of you know, Spencer Swallenbach liked for the rest of twenty twenty six and then hopefully after a normal off season, you get regular Spencer Swallenbach back for twenty twenty seven. And again we saw it last year with Strider. And so even though the news today was not that Spitcher Swallenbach is going to be out for the season, the idea of like the true number two, even potential ace that is Spitcher Swallowback. That idea of Spencer swallow Back kind of went out the door today like he might come back this season, but that version of him is probably not coming back this season. So we did lose that version of Spincher swallow Back for the season essentially, And that's what you're talking about. Where now the shift Now the focus turns to Spencer Strider. Like Spencer Strider's how he was going to respond to last year and having a fully healthy offseason was already going to be an important storyline to follow in spring. Now it's crucial. I mean, the Braves had three guys that could potentially sit at the top of a rotation and Sale Strider and Swallenbach. They just lost one of them. And again, I know swallow Box's going to come back at some point this year, but I don't think that version of him is going to come back this year. It'll probably be twenty twenty seven until we get that version of him again. So it's now down to Sale and Strider. And I know Sale, if Sale is healthy, I know Sale is going to pitch at that level. So what do you get from Spencer Strider becomes a massive question, and then you get into and we'll get into this a little bit more in a minute, but then you get into like, what are the Braves going to go ad additionally? Because now, I mean, if the season started to once again, you would probably have Bryce Elder in the rotation. And I just don't want to live in a world where Bryce Elder is still in like one hundred innings for this team again, like he led the lead, He led the team in innings last year. And you know, and I know everybody's gonna say, Hirstl Waldrip, Herssel Waldrip has options on Herssel Waldrich is almost certainly gonna start the year in Guinet. Bryce Elder doesn't have options, which means if there's any place to put him, the team is probably gonna put him in the rotation if if there's a spot available to do so. So it just sucks, and now Spitzer Strider just becomes so much more important. And what the team does in a response to this, we'll get into a little bit more, but it's just a brutal with start. I mean, this was supposed to be a different year, and we've already had in twenty twenty six. We've already had Hassan Kim break his hand, We've already had Spitcher Swallowbach hit the sixty d il with elbow inflammation. I mean, just it feels like twenty twenty five all over again and we haven't even started the damn seeing we have and we started spring training today. It was the first dam of spring training and it already feels like twenty twenty five all over again. So yeah, it's just a brutal way to start what was supposed to be kind of a hopeful day.

00:13:13
Speaker 1: But the thing that I'll say is this is to your point about what will swallow Back look like when he returns. You know, last year he took The one thing that I'll say is this Spencer swallow bough It's not like he ended last season throwing one hundred and sixty innings, and he made his final start at the end of September. Spencer Swellobach's last appearance last year was June twenty eighth. There's a very real chance that when he returns this year, it will be more than a year since his last time pitching. And he talked last year about you know what impacted the elbow fracturing? Was he throwing too fast? Well, now he's got elbow inflammation. That's in your mind, especially for a young pitcher when you're coming back. So are you gonna have to try to reinvent yourself? Are you gonna be able to trust throwing at what made the difference? Make no mistake about it. Spencer Swellingbock is a very good picture. But just like Spencer Strider or any other picture, the faster you throw, the more effective you typically are. So that's why we're saying it's you hope that Spencer swelling Bok comes back. You hope he's healthy, But that Spencer Schwellingbach, who clearly is a top twenty to top twenty five pitcher in the game, it could be there's a chance I'll get back to that. Obviously, in twenty twenty seven. But it may not be here in twenty twenty six. So what do the braves do. There's a good chance now that they may have to go external and maybe overspend or overpay for a potential addition to the rotation. More on that just a moment. But while the Braves may have to overspend in one shape or another, quit overspending yourself when it comes to a wireless with fifty percent off. Unlimited Premium Wireless plan start at fifteen dollars per month at mintmobile dot com slash territory.

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00:16:04
Speaker 1: So, Stephen, the first thing that comes to mind is, okay, again, you're not going to be able to replace a picture to the level of Spencer Swelling, the box production, the Braves. We know that they are been looking to add to the starting rotation. However, however, they do have some suitable options that could make sense. They have a rotator, They have options in place that could make a league average or even above average rotation. You've got Chris Sell, You've got Spencer Strider, You've got Ronaldo Lopez, Grant Holmes, Bryce Elder as well as Hirst and Walder. If am I forgetting anybody off the top.

00:16:40
Speaker 2: Of my head, I don't think that I am said Joey Wentz.

00:16:44
Speaker 1: Yeah, Joey Wentz, But okay, the point that I'm getting at though, is that you know pictures that we know have had some decent success, and you feel, could you know, repeat that success, I guess is the best way.

00:16:58
Speaker 2: Yeah, wuld it.

00:17:00
Speaker 1: There's some potential there, There's a lot of injury risk, but what there is is opportunity. I definitely think that at the least for now, this probably means that Ronaldo Lopez clearly becomes an option for the rotation. You see what you can do with Price Elder. But where we first start is we need to ramp up the efforts to look externally and add some arm of significance to this rotation, not just one, maybe even more.

00:17:29
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean listen this, I mean I've I've lost count how many times we've said this since November since I mean hell, since September, since August, since July, that the Braves need to add stability to the rotation by adding more depth to it and go sign Chris Bassett like that is just the easiest thing to do. I don't even if you have to overpay by like five million BI, I don't care. Like you need the depth. You don't want to have another lost season because you did nothing to address the rotation and listen, I am not going to accept injuries as a reason. Like you know, if Alice comes out and just says, like, well, you know we had injuries, there's nothing you can do. There is something you can do. You can address the depth in the off season like you should have, because the injuries were not only possible, they were likely with this group of pictures. That's just the truth. Like, it's not some like shock that Spincher Swallowbach is not healthy. If Chris Sale is not healthy, it's not gonna be some shock. If Spencer Streider is not healthy, It's not gonna be some shock. Like the injury risk of this collection of pictures was baked in like we know it. So when you know that going in, you have to address it via depth. And you have versatility in this group because Ronaldo Lopez and Grant Holmes can both pitch out of the bullpen. You have optionality because Hirston Waldrip can pitch in Gwinnette. You don't need to protect guys like Bryce Elder and Joy Wentz who can be replaced on the roster with better options. Like I just I'm not I'm not gonna accept while injuries happen as just an excuse. If this season go, if the Bradys have another season that goes in the tank because their starters got hurt, you should have done more. You should have done more to add to the depth. Because this was very easy to see coming, so easy, in fact, that we said it a million times over the last four months. This is gonna happen. You're gonna lose one to multiple of these guys. You got to address the depth. So go address the depth. Go sign Chris Bassett, Call the Twins and say what do you want for Joe Ryan, Call whoever like, and waiting until pretty much all all the pitchers on the market have been signed. Not a great move, quite frankly, because now Chris Bassett's agent can be like, all right, well you're a lot more desperate than you were twenty four hours ago. The Twins can be like, well, you're a lot more desperate than you were twenty four hours ago. I'm going to add an extra prospect to this call, like this is the price you pay for waiting till the last minute to add to your depth when it's something you should have been doing since day one of the off season. So I don't feel bad for Alex, like he put himself in this position via inactivity of not adding to the depth when this specific problem that they're facing now you could see coming from a mile away and everyone could see it coming, and we talked about it for months that it was going to happen, and it happens day one, and now you gotta scramble. And again I don't feel sorry for him that they put themselves in this position by not addressing the rotation at all this winter. They have not done a single thing to the rotation this winter. So now you're in the soup, and you know, Chris Bassett, thank god, is still out there. I mean, imagine if Chris Bassett, Zach Gallon, and Lucas Giolito had all signed elsewhere where you'd be right now. Thankfully you still have a chance to go and add depth before you know, all these guys get unsigned. But you got to go do it because you know this this news sucks, but most likely this is not the last time we're going to be having this conversation around one of these pictures. Like, there is just a ton of injury risk with this group. There just is. That's just the reality. So you got to get You have to have more depth, and that's Alex needs to go sign a starter. He needs to go trade for a starter, maybe multiple. I don't know. If you've got to get rid of Bryce Elder or Joey Wentz to fit him on the roster, then that's what you do. Those guys are replaceable. You can go find five FIP pictures anytime anywhere, Like it is valuable have guys like Bryce Elder in your organization. But you can easily find guys like Bryce Elder, So they're not individually valuable as much as they are, just the concept of them is valuable. So if you got to get rid of Bryce Elder to go sign one of these pictures, you do it because you can go find a Bryce Elder anywhere. But you got to go find some actual depth where Bryce Elder is not leading you in innings pitched. And I know that was a little bit of a ran I didn't mean for it to be, but like we saw this coming. Everyone saw this. Anybody with a brain two eyes saw this coming. That this group was not going to stay healthy, which is why you need more depth. So go add more depth.

00:22:35
Speaker 1: Yeah, and the thing that I'll say is this is that it's time to be desperate. Like what I mean by that is is that I'm not saying that, you know, Alex just needs to absolutely, you know, go you know, get fleeced in the trade or you know, go off for Chris Bassett twenty five thirty million or so. Obviously he knows what he's comfortable doing. But it's time for you to get uncomfortable. I understand that. You know, earlier this offseason, you know, when we talk about going after getting a Freddie Peralta, at the end of the day, we weren't going to be able to match what the Mets offered. But I am sure conversations have happened all winter long. We've seen similar conversations this offseason that we saw during the trade deadline that we saw last off season. The Braves don't are reluctant to give up their pitching depth, will you If you're reluctant to give up the pitching depth that you're not certain of, the problem is is that you can't rely on the pitching depths that you think that you are certain of. Your major league pitching depth is not reliable. I don't mean to be negative, that's just the truth. It's talented, it's quality. When it's fully healthy, it clearly could be one of the best rotations in baseball. But the reality of that of that happening is lower right now for the Braves than it is other teams. So you not only need to go get depth, you need to go get durability as well. So that's why I'm saying it's not just about going to get one picture. If it makes sense, go get multiple pictures. Go out there and get multiple pictures, and then if you do that, you could potentially stick Rinaldo Lopez or Grant Homes are both in your bullpen, and make your bullpen even stronger. Alex needs to be. I don't know if desperate is the right word. Determined is probably a better word. We hear that they want what they want to do, they want to add pitching depth. It's now time to turn one into action. You've got to go get these arms because the moves that you made this off season, You've had a very good off season. But now when you lose one of the quality pieces of your rotation, this off season is gonna feel incomplete. If they don't go out a significant arm, because we're now to the point to where you've lost one of your biggest contributors to you hopefully returning to contention. You want to be a contender, go act like a contender and get something done. The time is now or never, in my opinion, Go get something done, because for you to return to contention, you have to have an aspect of this team that is either very much above average or elite. And right now you're starting pitching that Biel is the closest aspect of your team to doing that. But you just lost one of the biggest reasons why you're not gonna be able to replace the swelling box. But you need to go out and get another quality arm or two to give you a chance to do that.

00:25:23
Speaker 2: Yeah, and listen, you're probably gonna pay more. You probably are. You're probably gonna pay a little more than you wanted to. But that's the price for not doing this in November or December. Right like now, you're up against the wall. Teams know you're up against the wall, and I mean you're one more piece of bad news away from being completely screwed. So unless you want Bryce Elder and Joey Wentz both pitching and your rotation and both throwing one hundred plus innings this year, which no one wants so And I understand you have Hersa Waldrop and that does help, but I have my own questions about herschel Walder, It's long term viability and how how real last year was. I'm not ready to I'm not ready to count on Herston Waldrip yet. Just go get another solid, durable picture, Like it's not that hard. This should have been, Like I don't know if it was priority one for me, but it was probably like priority one or one A, one A or one B all off season, like everyone saw that you needed more durability in the rotator. I don't know how we're to this point of the off season and it still hasn't been addressed. It's just crazy, Like it's the most obvious thing in the world to me that this team needed another starter, And the fact that we're sitting here on February what is it, February tenth day one of camp and they still have not added a single piece to the rotation is just And I don't want to hear about the Mining League deals for the NRI guys, like I don't want to hear about that, Like go add legitimate, you know, quality major league starting pitching. Just go sign Chris Bassett. I don't know why this is that hard. You don't even have to give up a draft pick to do it. If you don't want to sign listen, Zach Gallon might get one hundred million dollars. I don't know, he might not this late, or you might not want to get up the give up the pick. Okay, I don't necessarily agree with that, but that's fine. I can understand that reasoning. Go sign Chris Bassett. He doesn't cost a pick. He's not gonna cost you one hundred million dollars. He's gonna put up a two win season. He's probably gonna throw one hundred and forty innings, And that's exactly what you need right now. You need some durability, you need some stubility, because again, you are one more piece of bad news away from being extremely screwed, and you have a bunch of volatile pitchers who are one pitch away from that bad news coming up. So just go out a picture. It's not it should not be this hard. Like I understand, it's not easy to sign these guys, but the Atlanta Braves should be able to sign one starting pitcher in an entire offseat, like I'm not asking for the moon here, Sign one starting pitcher like teams do it all the time. Go sign a starting pitcher to help with the depth of this team. Like it's it shouldn't be hard, especially if you did it back in November or December when you should have. It might be harder now, but that's the price you pay.

00:28:22
Speaker 1: Absolutely and and and like I say that, the time is now, like you, you've got to get it done as much as you feel good about the team and all that different stuff. Again, listen, a trade of this team is higher injury risk than other teams. That's just that's.

00:28:37
Speaker 2: The that is the thesis of this entire argument, is that there is just more inherent injury risk on this team than most others.

00:28:46
Speaker 1: And so you went out and you got depth for the lineup. Go out and do it for the rotation, and do it quickly. That way they can come into camp and you know what you've got to work with. Speaking of you know, maybe a bit of a surprise when it comes to camp. A name known around baseball, but one that was surprising to see in Braves camp. Well, we'll start. Let's set the stage here a little bit, switching from pitching to the catching position for the Braves. You know, of course, Sean Murphy was in camp yesterday. He talked to the media, you know, talking about the fact that it's likely going to be may or so you know when he's really looking to come back. He mentioned that he's going to start some light running, maybe getting too baseball activities, but it's clear that there's still quite a bit of time before he's going to return.

00:29:30
Speaker 2: Well.

00:29:30
Speaker 1: Former Texas Ranger catcher jonah Heim actually was in camp for the Braves, and it was revealed today that the Braves signed him to a one year, one point twenty five million dollars deal. It's not that significant in terms of assigning because basically he's probably just going to hold the fort down as the backup catcher until Sean Murphy arrives. But when you look at the past and you look to see, you know, the production that Jim has had a few seasons under Tim Hyers, that's the big connection here. The fact is is that he was, you know, the Rangers catcher back when Hires was the batting coach for the hitting coach for the Rangers. I think this is a pretty notable signing when it comes to, hey, we needed a guy for two months. Jonaheim has decent potential to be a good backup catcher. I approve of this signing by the Braves. I know, Steven, you had talked about maybe them going to sign a Mitch Garver or something like that to also kind of feel their need for right handed hitting depth. But Jonaheim's a pretty good option to feel that backup catching spot, especially heaven forbid, well, you know what, I'm not even gonna put it out there into the universe. Jonaheim's a good backup catcher who can spell or spell h Drake Baldwin occasionally when it comes to the lineup.

00:30:42
Speaker 2: Yeah, I've thought for the last few weeks in signing a third catcher made sense. That's why I brought up Mitch Garver a few weeks ago. I can't remember exactly when we had that conversation, but it just made sense because one, you don't know that Sean Murphy, you don't know the injury extent, you don't know when he's gonna be back.

00:31:03
Speaker 3: Uh.

00:31:04
Speaker 2: Murph was actually interviewed today and and kind of repeated that that he that they don't really have a timeline, which is not bad news. It's also, I guess, not great news. I guess it's it's just kind of neutral. But you don't know long he's gonna be out, so you needed another catcher. The other reason I wanted to sign a right handed catcher that has some decent pop against lefties is because I've also been saying for a while that I thought the Braves were a right handed bat short You know, when there's a left handed pitcher on the mound and you don't want to use your strim ski and you got to put pro for on left, you know, who's gonna d h is a question that I've had. You know, originally it was going to be Dubon, but obviously Dubon is now the starting shortstop. Like I thought, like a right handed outfielder like a Starling Marte or a third catcher would make some sense. So obviously they went the third catch a route. I think for his career him has got like a one to oh five WRC plus against left handed pitching. Last year he was terrible, so I'm not even gonna pretend he was. That's why he's available on February tenth for one million bucks.

00:32:18
Speaker 1: Uh.

00:32:19
Speaker 2: But you know, he's had some success in the past. Twenty twenty two, twenty twenty three, he really crushed lefties hard. He was like in the one thirties. Twenty twenty four was like it was more like a ninety five I think, and then last year like bottomed out completely completely. I don't know what happened last year. So they're obviously hoping they're still a little in the tank and he can help out with lefties, but he also just helps out with catcher depth. He is considered a pretty strong defensive catcher, Like he's got a reputation of being, you know, really good to throw to. I think a lot of people are excited to have him around. Drake Baldwin. So yeah, I mean it's not like going to change the world or anything. But I've thought for a couple of weeks that another a third catcher made some sense on the rosters. So that was certainly notable today that he you know, we woke up and he was in camp. Only was like, yeah, he's here, so so yeah, it makes sense.

00:33:14
Speaker 1: Yeah, and again you're you're not expecting much from him, but if you can just get, you know, semi reasonable valuable value from him. Even with his offense kind of cratering over the past couple of years, he's still been a positive contributor in most metrics value wise because of his defense. The other news and notes from today concerned the bullpen. Robert Swarez one of the brave significant free agent signings this year. He's going to be a bit late to camp due to some visa issues. It's not not anything injury wise that they're concerned with. And also Dylan Lee won his arbitration case with the Braves. I bring those up because those notes themselves are not necessarily that significant. But I will say now that the attention shifts a little bit from Man, if we could just keep our rotation healthy, Man, if we could just get this signing made, our rotation could really be the aspect of our team that truly, you know, is elite, puts us towards contention. To me, Stephen, it now shifts a bit to the bullpen because you've got a really strong back into the bullpen with Russell Iglesias, Robert Swarez, Dylan Lee. You want them in camp. You want as least distractions as possible, and you want those guys to be truly focused on filling out that back into the rotation or the back end of the bullpen, because again, some aspect of this team is going to have to be near the top of Major League Baseball for this team to win at the level that they want to, and I think the bullpen could surprise some people. Dylan Lee, Robert Sworez. Getting them into camp without distractions, I think that's critical now since you've got even more questions around the rotation.

00:34:54
Speaker 2: Yeah, so obviously, so as a visent issues, I believe Sores is Venezuela like Acunya so and obviously Venezuela has had some some upheaval over the last few months, so I don't know how serious it is. Most visa issues get get solved pretty quickly. And also remember that is kind of an extended spring training this year because of the WBC, And obviously, sure as being a reliever, he doesn't need nearly as much time in camp as like starters do to get ready. So I'm not that worried about the the visa issues outside of the Venezuela stuff. You know, that's kind of separate, and we'll see if anything comes to that. Also, you know, when Akunya reports to camp, you know it's I'm gonna be tracking that as well to make sure he doesn't have similar issues. But but yeah, they only won his arbitration case. I do think the bullpen is going to be a strength. I especially think the bullpen would be a strength if they signed another starter and put Ronaldo Lopez or Grant Holmes in the bullpen, the bullpen would be even better, Like it's another reason to sign a starter. By the way, I do, I am probably most confident in the bullpen out of all three phases right now, starter lineup, bullpen. Yeah, I would probably say the bullpen is where I have the most confidence. I think that's where the Braves have. I mean, obviously they spent a lot of money on the bullpen this offseason. You can probably make the case they went harder on the bullpen than anywhere. So I do think it's gonna be really good. You got to keep everybody healthy, of course, and they do have some age like Glacias Sin Suarez are not young, so you know they're gonna have to stay healthy and not fall off the cliff that a lot of players do when they get to mid thirties. But I think the bullpen will be good. It will be exponentially better if you just add a starter and you can now shift one of those starters over to the bullpen and have more versatility. I'm guessing either Joey Wentz or Bryce Elder are gonna end up being in the bullpen just because neither one has options and they don't want to cut both. Joey Wentz makes more sense to me than Elder because he's done it before. But we'll see what they do. But yeah, the bullpen should be good. I am as I am. I am less worried about the bullpen than I am any other part of the team is. I guess the best way to say it.

00:37:12
Speaker 1: I'll end with this. If there was a time where this news comes, it's now, right because at the very least it's the start of spring training. You've still got time to be able to plan around it, adjust all that different stuff. But you got to take action. We've seen the braves adjust eternally, and we've seen them you know, next man up and all this different stuff. Go out and sign a starter, add pitching depth. The time is now to get it done. I know we keep repeating ourselves, but we keep repeating ourselves because the biggest reasons why we keep repeating ourselves keep repeating themselves. Is the best way that I can describe it when it comes to what the Braves need to do. Adjust all you want to accumulate data, all that you want to, but do it by also adding value externally. Stephen, anything else from you? As we wrap up this edition, hopefully, hopefully, hopefully the last version of this podcast where we've got to break down what do the braves do now because of a damn injury, Hopefully the last one of these we have to do in a while, Stephen, anything else from you?

00:38:21
Speaker 2: I have one final thing, so do me a favor. Repeat after me. Say gallon of milk.

00:38:32
Speaker 1: Gallon of milk.

00:38:34
Speaker 2: Now, says Zach gallon of milk.

00:38:36
Speaker 1: Zach gallon of milk.

00:38:37
Speaker 2: Now, remove the of milk of milk. No, remove that part of milk. Say just Zach gallon, Zach gallon.

00:38:47
Speaker 1: There you go, beautiful, I said, Zach gallon.

00:38:50
Speaker 2: You put a weird eye, I say. You say you say Zach, You say Zach gallion.

00:38:55
Speaker 1: I did not say Zach gallion. I said, Zach gallon.

00:38:58
Speaker 2: Well the tape that listen. Luckily it's recorded, so we will know.

00:39:02
Speaker 1: Listen, you signed Zach Gallan. You signed Zach Gallian. I will drink milk on air in celebration. As a matter of fact, I will pull it. Pull a kurd angle, come up, put this camera outside.

00:39:13
Speaker 2: I also wanted on the record that when I said remove of milk, you just kept saying of milk, which is just beautiful.

00:39:20
Speaker 1: A gallon of milk.

00:39:22
Speaker 2: Oh my god, you're You're a national treasure You are a national treasurer, just like Gallen Gallon, just Zach Gallon of milk. Just keep saying that. Yeah, there you go, Zack.

00:39:39
Speaker 1: If we said listen, I don't care. I don't care. Sign Zach Morris if you want to, I do not care. Just sign a picture. Can't thank you enough for joining us here on the Hammer Territory podcast. For Steven Tolbert, you can find him to be under Square Outliers. My name is Sean Coleman. You can find me at statsay s ac on Twitter. By the time listen, hey, I will leave you with this inspiration. I will leave you with this. If I can sit here and improve the overall quality of you being able to look at me, and now you are cursed to see what I actually look like. I can get better at mentioning and pronouncing a very very.

00:40:15
Speaker 2: Important that is a very high definition camera. I don't know if Tennessee just like cracked that technology, but.

00:40:22
Speaker 1: And you want to know the definition of high quality. This right here, this right here. I may not be able to pronounce pitchers names right, but at least look better doing it than I did before. Until next time, go braves. We'll talk to you again soon here on the Hammer Territory podcast