Ronald Acuña Jr.'s Injury, Chris Sale's Dominance, And More With Grant McAuley

00:00:22
Speaker 1: Hello everyone, and welcome to episode fourteen of the Hammer Territory Podcast. I am your host, Brad Roland, coming to you on a Sunday. It is Themorrow of day weekend, and I'm recording of this podcast about eight pm Eastern time. That will become important in a moment when we get to our guest on today's podcast, and that is Great McAuley and ninety on the game. He covers the Braves extensively across the internet, not only there, but also from the Diamond his own show, as well as Battery Power on the video side, along with Chris willis Lot on Sports Atlanta on YouTube eleven alive, all those kinds of places as great as everywhere. He's beencovering the Braves pretty long time in very comprehensive fashion, so I'm excited at bringing them in a moment the time of podcast. I should also tell you that we are part of the Foul Territory Network. Please give the show a follow and a subscription on your favorite podcast platform choice. You can find us on Spotify, you can find us on Apple Overcast, all those places. You can find us at Hammer Territory and the link should be available in the description of this podcast if you are listening on Foul Territory today, So without you've heard to lay, here we go myself at Grant McAuley diving into All Things Braves on Sunday, May twenty sixth I am joined now by the Great Grant McCauley. How are you, sir?

00:01:25
Speaker 2: I am doing well. I appreciate that very very friendly intro.

00:01:30
Speaker 1: It's true I will have already talked about it before I bring you in, but you are everywhere on the internet, and we'll plug all that stuff along the way here. Of course, we are recording this Sunday evening, a little bit of a interesting timeslot. I'd already had you booked to do this appearance before the Ronald Racoonya news broke today and how will happen and all that, and we got to start there. So I think probably people listen to this podcast, especially on a World Day weekend, and probably seen the replay at this point in time. And in case you missed it, there's this kind of bizarre play in the first inning on Sunday in which Ronnie essentially went down in a heap going the wrong way and I'm not even sure what the best way to describe it. It's hard. I've always trying to figure out how to write this down. It's like, how do you even describe this play rant? Anyway, the long short of it is he hurt his knee in some fashion and he after the game talking to I believe it was Mark Bowman justin Cascado up in Pittsburgh, was a little bit upbeat, like it wasn't the same feeling as the acl taar all that stuff. But it didn't look good number one and we're all guessing, again, this is Sunday even when we're recording this, but what was your reaction and like what happens now? Because everybody's kind of doing the same thing, which is basically holding your breath until there's news.

00:02:30
Speaker 2: Yeah, well there was that part, the holding your breath part, and then there was the oh no, here we go again part that you you can't unsee Ronald Lucuna Junior going down like that and not think about, you know, three years ago when he went down and his season was over. So I think that was the initial worry. As he started to kind of work through it and was able to, you know, limp off the field, he did have some help, but he didn't have to be carted off, which you know, if we're looking for the small moral victories and signs that say, hey, maybe he's going to be all right, those are a couple of things I think you needed to see. But yeah, hearing from him after the game, and I was talking about this on from the Diamond earlier on ninety two nine the game, which is my local show, which you know, I had everything written up, and then the rond La Cuny Junior news happened, and well that changed everything for everybody. But what it sounded like from those comments was it wasn't dour, but it was very matter of fact, Like you know, it felt a lot like the twenty eighteen. I thought it was a hyper extension. I know, they said it was a sprained ACL. I haven't gone back and looked at all of that. I'd kind of wiped some of these things from my memory because he came back and was such a tour to force that year. You hardly think about that one. But the fact that it was the more minor of his knee injuries that this was reminiscent of that the pain had subsided at least a little bit as it went along. And that he could limp around the clubhouse. I think all of those are just kind of some immediate signs that maybe he's going to be all right. He is going on the ten day injured list. He did reveal that after the game we'll find out MRI. Sounds like it was scheduled for tonight according to Acunya, go to the ballpark on Monday, and then figure out what the Braves have discovered. And hopefully for Ronal La Cuny Junior, we're talking about a matter of weeks and not something that lingers on for a long period of time or requires surgery that would keep him out for the remainder of the season. Those are the things, you know, fingers crossed here that we're going to be able to hear. But I still feel like, just based on everything that we saw and heard after the game, it feels like a bullet dodge. But we won't have confirmation of that for you know, not quite twenty four more hours.

00:04:20
Speaker 1: Yes, the listeners may do this before we do, obviously, because you know, it's just one of those timing things. But he did say he didn't feel a pop, you know, just to say this out loud, that doesn't mean that it's you're out at the out of the woods. It's a good thing relatively, you would think. But and you know, obviously guys know their bodies the best. Ronald is of course familiar with the way his body works, so he seemed to be a little bit more on that side. And you know, Mark Bowman said, I believe he used the term significant lip limp in the clubhouse after the game. No surprise, it didn't look good like there was no way to avoid an injury of any kid if you watch the way that happened, like he was going to be out for a little bit of time, just based on the way it all happened. And you know, he was the first to say I know, Snit didn't say I l but like Snit was basically just saying, well, wait until we have information. He kind of didn't want to speculate at all. Or as Ronnie, as you alluded to, talked about going on the IL right away. You know we could probably say this but essentially let's just do the as long as Ronald is out, what happens, because you know, today they could they could shift do Vall Center, they could kind of do that, but this is not a team that's necessarily set up depth wise to withstand in the outfield Ronald being out for that long. So what do you make of all that they got. They got Michael Harris, all those things, like obviously having Harris really helps you, but they had this platoon going in left field that works in theory, but now they both have to play most of the time. You'd imagine till Ronnie comes back.

00:05:35
Speaker 2: Yeah, but I would say this, I mean, these are the reasons why you signed an Adam Duvall, because after signing him, it became a lot more apparent that at least there was somebody that you had they could play all three outfield spots that you could put in in case one of those guys got hurt, whether it was Akunya Harris or kill Nick anybody. And I don't mean hurt like misses the whole season. I mean, if they got to go in the intered list with a hamstring deal, what are you going to do for ten days? And I'm not knocking Forest Wall or you know, some of the other guys that they brought in in spring training, Eli White and some of those guys, But Adam Duval just no pun intended hits different, So when they brought him back in, that was what I looked at. And know a lot of people focused on, well, this will take playing time away from Kellnick, and yeah, in the short term it might, but long term, I don't feel like it changed much for Jared kel with the Atlanta Braves based on two or three slow weeks in spring training. Now you have an Adam Duval. I'll call it insurance policy, and I think that you know, you can't expect him to put up the kind of numbers that Ronal Lukunya junior, you know, prime Acunya can do. But Adam Duval has been a pretty good player for a long time, and I think as he plays more on an everyday basis, that could be helpful for him. And I'm kind of, I don't want to use the word excited, but I'm interested to see how this plays out for Jared Kelnick, who certainly felt like he was going to be the everyday left fielder with no caveat whatsoever, and then the Duval thing kind of changed out. But talking to both of those guys, I mean there's a kinship there and I think that Kelnick's even said, look having Duval here. I've learned a lot from him. It's allowed me to kind of space out some of my bats and really kind of get inside of what's going on rather than feeling like young player playing every day, figure it out, be productive. Here's the pressure can you handle it? That he had in Seattle. So it may sound like kind of an evasive answer, but I felt like there were some benefits maybe to that platoon. But after doing it for a couple of months, I mean, let's see what Jared Kellman can do, because I do feel like he has the potential certainly to be an impact type bat, and maybe this is the opportunity where he's able to show some of that. So from a depth perspective, I would expect Forest Wall probably to get the call up. I would expect Michael Harris, maybe Alsie Alby's to move to the leadoff spot, and then after that hopefully get Austin Riley back this week. That would make a big difference. Sean Murphy on his way back from the injured list. I'm sure we'll get to all that stuff later, but I kind of joked earlier today that sometimes you say it's one step forward, two steps back. Well, for the Braves lineup. It felt like they were about to take two steps forward getting Riley and Murphy, and then they got to take at least one step back for Ron Lacuney Junior here. But we'll see what the timeframe is and all of those things kind of coming together. There's no great time for an injury, but maybe if you had to get a littleit of a boost, you've got some reinforcements on the way, and you have a decent insurance policy that you can plug in the outfield in the meantime.

00:08:06
Speaker 1: Yeah, we agree, and I think it will be forced Wall if I had to guess, they do have Dappy Martinez is on the forty nine if they needed to do that. But you know, Wall's been up, He's been around, and we kind of know what he is. He's not going they don't want them to hit, but he can do other things and out be around and we will see again it's worth coming back to and we will you know, hopefully is not the case. But if it is a long term injury for Acunya, then there's a discussion of do you have to go go on and get somebody in the future and we'll save all of that for later, but it is in the short term they do have three starting calibro out fields to play, which is that not everybody has that one quick one grant. Because somebody asked me today, you probably won't be surprised. I got the Kim Morrisselo's in the play left field question, which I think we all know they don't want to hit the play left field. But in the event of something like this, you know what I mean, especially because if you have Murphy coming back. Yeah, the theory would be Murphy Darneault catching DH ten Or will they I guess is are they willing to stick morsel every once in a while left field? Or is that door completely closed?

00:09:04
Speaker 2: No, I don't think that door is closed. I mean it's not plan A, obviously, it is Plan B because you have Adam Duvall, and if you're looking for an outfielder that can make the plays, he's going to be the guy that you put out there in the event that one of those three was gone on a regular basis. And Kelnick's a very good left fielder, so you kind of have that covered. And I don't feel like you want to so much avoid giving Kelnick that opportunity against some lefty starters or whatever the case is. But if you needed him, yeah, I would say it's more likely he sees time in left field then he sees significant time at first base, which he would be very excited about just getting any opportunity to play first base, and he's worked very hard at that to his credit. But Marcel, he makes his living with the bat. He has put the driving force of this offense. I just don't necessarily feel like you have to, at least as your first option, start kind of messing with all of the pieces on the board. Let's just figure out a way to plug the hole and see exactly how long you're talking about with Ronald being down.

00:09:55
Speaker 1: We agree completely, and yeah, it is useful for have Marcel be able to play first base in the event something happens to Matt Olsen, but we're all hoping that will not happen. You don't have to have him do that, but worth at least asking. And I understand why people were asking the question because again, like you reference, Marcel's been the guy in the lineup that's really been fantastic all year long. So having a guy like that who might be able to plug a hole if you needed him to would be the worst thing, But I agree with you, like go out there with Kilnick and and Duval as much as you can, and then reassess if you need to down the line. There's plenty more to talk about beyond the Ronald Kunya injury follow information. We'll have more on that in a second, but first we're on AG one from our guys, Scott Braun Aircrafts a voluntari story.

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00:11:52
Speaker 1: Go check it out, all right, Grant, I had this t up before we start talking about Ronald, but the offense has not been great. I'm sure you've been asked on every single appearance on your show, everywhere you do a talk about the braves. I know I have been for basically not a month now. It's just what's wrong with the offense, and fortunately it's a little bit more upbeat today than it would have been yesterday. They had a really good game today, as recory is on Sunday. They put up eight runs, fourteen hits, seven extra base hits, and a much needed whim to avoid a suite. That helps. But you know, the last twenty five games or so, about a month before that, they had a bottom five offensive production level basically WRC plus slash lines. I every want to put it, it's been pretty ugly. Aside from Marcel and you know, Darnol's been pretty good, et cetera. We'll start broad What do you make of this? Because I'm I'm kind of the king of guys. Don't worry. It's a small sample size. But the old saying, of course is whit's a memorial day to check the standings all this, and now it's Memorial Day. So what do you make of this? Because individually it's kind of explainable. But at the same time, this is an offense that was historically fantastic a year ago and has been anything but that so far.

00:12:56
Speaker 2: Yeah, and it's a collective struggle, and I think that's what And I've used this word a lot. I used it probably too many times on my show today, baffling like I don't have the answers for how the entire lineup can have this extended amount of a lack of production. And I'm gonna throw some numbers at you that I hate to be the bearer of bad just throughout a few that weren't so great. It's not just a bottom five offense. If you go back to April the twenty sixth, that's one month. It is the worst offense in baseball. The Braves has scored eighty seven runs in their prior to twenty six games, discounting Sunday. And I'm not throwing it out because it would skew the numbers. It really wouldn't help that much. But they have been averaging just over three runs per game, thirtieth in Major League Baseball. I did not have any period of time where twenty nine other teams in baseball will be outscoring the Braves for a solid month. That kind of blew my mind. Collectively, the Braves offense over that twenty six game sample has been worth one win above replacement according to Bancrafts. That I did not have on my being good either. But then you start to look at, okay, well, who's the best offense in baseball sprize. It's the Philadelphia Phillies in the same amount of time twenty eight games for because they didn't have some rainouts the Braves I had to deal with. They scored one hundred and seventy nine runs, so they have more than doubled the output of the Atlanta Braves over the last month. I knew the Phillies were good. I just again didn't have anybody doubling up on what the Braves could do in a calendar month. Offensively. I thought, if anything, the question for this club is going to be health. Was the pitching staff going to be able to hold it together? What were some of the new additions going to be able to do? I had almost next to no worry about the offense, and that's not expecting him to hit three hundred and seven homers and slug five hundred. As a team. Again, I just thought, Okay, well, guys will go through highs and lows, but nobody's going to go through it all at the same time. And I have been extremely wrong because outside of Marcelo Zuna, who's had maybe one slow stretch, of about a week. Everybody else has gone through it for two, three weeks, a month, whatever it is. And it's crazy to see the Austin rileyes, the Matt Olsen's, the Ronald Lacuna juniors, Michael Harris, who's chasing a lot of pitches this year. He's had some production, but I don't know. I mean, that's just the kind of adjustment that I feel like he's going to look into making. And he's talented too, and he's shown it the last couple of years. He can make thosedjustments, but everybody at the same time. Then you take away Sean Murphy for two months. It's just a lot to overcome. So I don't have the answers for why it's all happening. I just have to believe that with two thirds of the season left, this is a club that's capable of playing much better, and I expect them to do that, both individually and collectively, because these aren't guys that we're talking about are out of their prime or were one year wonders. I mean, these are annually very good performers, but for some reason, somebody turned the lights out on most, if not all of them, were a significant amount of time, and I just didn't expect that.

00:15:32
Speaker 1: No, we're one hundred percent agreement there, and I think it is the it's the weirdness of like, for instance, this is a very unscientific thing, but I did the old MLB dot com last thirty days, which is essentially the exact time frame that you just referenced. Right, there is one guy on the roster above a seven to twenty eight ops in the last thirty days, and it's a Zuna Rise. Matt Olsen is second, right, and Matt Olson's been better lately. He seems to be I don't want to get over aggressive here, Grant he's coming out of it. It seems like home run today, like looking like himself again. But that's just another example of the fact that these guys are not one year wonders like it was if it was Michael Harrison. The sample size is a little bit smaller if that was one of the guys. It's a one understandable, right, But you know, Riley's hurt, that's part of this too, and Murphy not being there. We'll come back to those guys in a second. But Olsen, you know, pre injury, Ronald Ozzy, these guys are established stars, and you know this is an offense set up. This is again very simple, but it's set up to be when you have two or three guys maybe slumping at once, the other two or three stars are three or four stars you have, in theory would be themselves during that period of time, so you're never going through an extended period of time where you only have one or one or two guys hitting. A lot of clubs have that where like they can't afford their stars to be slumping. Ever, this is a team. It's set up to I would say, almost specifically go against that when you have six or seven guys who are star level performers on the offense and so far one of them has played that way. And again part of that is right we not being there. But even when Riley was there, he's not been himself this year. I think he would admit that. You know, Sean Murphy is a really, really good player, but he's not someone's going to single handedly transform your offense. So we're saying the same thing. It's just a really interesting situation. And now again if we're thinking even if it's a short term couple of weeks, taking around out of it, and we're Al's not been in the Superman version of himself this year too. But you start to get the bottom of the order. You know, it's not exactly imposing some of these Some of these games all respect to guys who I know have value, from Arcia to the way Kellick's played. They do, they do things well, but those guys are not the same caliber of you know, projectible hitters that you're talking about, your top guys. So when they're all kind of out at the same time, it really does kind of get a little bit dire, even if I'm someone who is again preternaturally disposed to being like guys relax. I'm having trouble saying that all the time now because people keep asking me and I'm like, just wait another week. I guess I'm not really sure.

00:17:56
Speaker 2: I mean, I've said, look, I'm I don't have the answers for this, and I feel like I keep saying this thing and I want to do shows that are compelling and interesting, and I don't have the answers for how this all happens at once, other than to say sometimes it's just baseball. When you think you've got it figured out, it's the old rowdy roddy Piper line. Just when you think you have all the answers, I changed the questions. That sometimes is the game of baseball. But you're right about the lineup in that you know when you've got Riley going, and obviously Ronald sets the tone for the whole thing. Ozzy Alby's, Matt Olsen, Marcelo Zuna, the catching duo of Murphy and Darnault, basically counts for another thirty home one hundred RBI guy Michael Harris. It allows for the Orlando Arcias and the Jared Keelnicks, and even to a lesser extent, the Adam Duvalls did not really have to be a featured bat because other guys are going to do the heavy lifting. But you're seeing this year that with Ronald struggling, Ozzy goes in the ill he comes off, he's not the same as he was before. And I don't know if that's injury related or just Hies and Low's of the baseball season right on through the middle of the order, the only guy who's really been able to swing it consistently has been Marcelo Zuna. And I don't know about you, And I said this quite a few times already this year. I did not know that. If you told me a year ago, I would be saying, where would the Braves be without Mark Telozuna. I would not have had that on my bingo card either. And I feel like I have worn out the bingo card joke this year because I'm still grasping for answers and trying to figure out how there was a scenario where this Braves team and this offense has this much trouble for this long.

00:19:22
Speaker 1: We totally agree on that. And you know, one more thing on the offense before we get to a little bit of pitching talk on this podcast, you know, as soon as Monday, we could see Riley and or Murphy. We don't know that, but that's kind of the consensus. That's kind of an out there from the Beat writers, the guys around the team this week could be both of them, even I mean, I don't want to go over my skis just people listen to this. Maybe after the game because it's a Monday afternoon game, so TBD, but soon seems to be the general consensus on both those guys. Before we get to that, I have a question for you. Do you care about the Braves handling of Riley in the Eyel situation, I tend to not very much. All I would say is that like, yeah, in a vacuum, would you to have two full weeks with one guy down on your roster? You would say no to that. But for this team in particular, how they handle their roster, it seems like it's not a big deal to me. But I'm sure you've seen the discussion. It's been everywhere, like especially nationally, and I get it, like you see a guy who's a star in Austin Riley and being out for two full weeks without being on the IL. It's kind of like, what's going on here? But that's a long setup. But like, does this bother you at all the way to handle this or is it just kind of like what the way it broke down and.

00:20:23
Speaker 2: Just may not surprise you, But no, it really doesn't. And I mean, in hindsight, if you knew he was going to be out for two weeks, yeah, I think they put him on the IL, but that kind of arrived here was okay, he went out, then they got the MRI done and it didn't show anything major and it was just kind of an inflammation thing. And then I talked to Austin Riley, like, what about a week into this old thing, He's like, I'm better, you know, it's just kind of I still feel a little bit. It's not pain anymore, but they don't want me to swing the bat yet, and until I can do that, you know, there's not much I can do. Then it started to become all right, we can only backdate it three days. So if he's missed a week or eight days or whatever it is, now you're ruling him out for a whole nother week. Do you really want to do that or do you feel like he's gonna get on the other side of this thing and come back. They don't want to miss more time with him than they have to. But you pointed out some of the roster, you know, restrictions for the club in that. Well, here's the restriction is, you can't bring up another pitcher. If they could have done that, think he ended up on the IL. Yeah, I think they would have done it and just said, Okay, that's just kind of what we're gonna do. But you have to have thirteen hitters and thirteen pitchers on your roster, and that's it. But yeah, you had Zach Short came over. It played pretty well for a minute. They just went out and got Joey Wendell. We'll see if he factors in, and Luke Williams kind of filled in there. Nobody's going to replace Austin Riley. You're not calling anybody up that's going to play as well as he would. But they were able to get through it. The Universal DH certainly helped out with that, and I think there was maybe a time or two where I looked and thought, yeah, if they had one more guy, they could have pinched run. I think in an extra ending game it would have been helpful. But otherwise there really hasn't been that much, to be honest with you, that you felt like, Okay, they've done themselves a major disservice here. Now it's dragged on for two weeks. If they continues to go then I think you have to make a decision. But it finally sounds like he's moving in the right direction, which is great. Could be back in the Brais lineup as soon as Monday.

00:22:04
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that also. Generally, it's almost taken a long time. I know it's been kind of commonplace now that the university, the age, the roster restrictions, but not everybody thinks about that yet. I think it's still kind of kind of new, and it's like, hey, the way you put it is perfect. If they could use it, they could have had a picture there, they would have done it. But look, this has been a team that has had a twenty sixth man that's not played for I don't want to overstate it, but a month at a time, I mean, how long woul the Culberson sid on the roster last year without playing a single second of any game. Like it's just the reality of the situation of this team. And also the other thing is not having anybody that you terribly are in love look to call up, Like you know, it's not a shot at any of those guys that particularly you name some of them, but they don't. The forty men is limited. They have a ton of guys there. So I always want to ask the questions people keep people keep asking us. I'm sure you get to like what's going on here, and it's as simple as they thought he was gonna be back earlier. And but what I've been saying, I think you would certainly agree with this. A guy like Austin Riley. I know the Rays have been not playing that well recently, but a guy who's signed forever, a star player, the last thing you want to do is rush the guy like it's may like you don't want to. There's no reason to take any fraction of a chance on Austin Riley reinjuring something and being out for another month, like there's no reason.

00:23:12
Speaker 2: And that's what he said. He said, Look, I mean, I don't like not being out there either, but the thing they're telling me right now is to go day to day with this. To get the treatment. He was able to do some fielding work and kind of ramp up and do some baseball activities, but he said, and I quote, I don't want to have to revisit this, And that's why he did it the way that he did, following their protocols in place, and even though it seemed weird and he didn't end up on the injured list, I think everybody will be happy to have him back and having given him enough time to feel like this is truly behind him.

00:23:39
Speaker 1: This is not the most sophisticated insight in the world, Grant, but let's just say, for example, the Brids get Murphy and Robbie back on Monday, Tuesday, whatever, the just the vibes looking at a lineup and seeing those guys in the lineup compare what they've had, maybe maybe that'll help unlock some other just the bats in general, it's like, hey, you know, I think the murket thing has almost been underplayed. I think Sean Murphy I really gets under discussed like he's a star player and does not always get discussed that way. And part of that's how ened our know's or you know, I take the best backup cutcher in the league. That's what I've always said about Travis. But still you're still going from Sean Murphy to Chadwick Trump and that's a that's a that's a big drop and then you throw a rawish. So it's not as simple as this. It doesn't fix all the issues we are talking about. This, it's not a one, one thing solution. But having two more All Stars come back, even if Ronnie is down for a while, just the difference there, just the depth of the lineup more than anything else, should in theory help lot.

00:24:32
Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean maybe, you know, again, there's never a good time for an injury. But if something was going to happen to somebody. If it times out where you're getting a couple of other big somebody's back and they can't hurt, you know, it has to help at least a little bit through just you know, pure osmosis of okay, well we look a little bit more like our lineup or our old selves. And you know, hopefully with a short term prognosis of this injury for ron Lucuney Junior, they can have the whole band back together at some point very soon. If not, you know, three four weeks from now. Ronald seemed to think it might be a month long thing for him. But you know, Sean Murphy being gone for two months, I don't think people talked about it a lot. In fact, the last couple of weeks the only time I've heard his name brought up is people want to know why they traded William Contreras, and yeah, well, good for him. He's doing great. I mean, if he was around, that would certainly be helpful. But to get good players. He got of trade good players sometimes and you know you can't have them all, you can't keep them all, and certainly hindsight is not going to undue trades for times when people got hurt that you didn't plan because you never planned for guys to be hurt.

00:25:33
Speaker 1: And Sean Murphy is very, very good. People will be remembering that once again in the near future. I'm not gonna keep you forever, grant, but some pitching before we get out of here. Number one, Chris Sale has been unbelievable. Now we all kind of understand this, but he was again fantastic on Sunday. Seven innings, one run, eight strikeouts. He's got an error in the in the low twos. My favorite stat of the year for Chris Sale is the seventy eight strikeouts and nine walks that he has. That's an thurd ratio. It's been even better than that in recent days. My colleagues Scott Coleman, who you know, made this bit all whether long. We look smart. Now it's more of a you know, squirrefying and that every once in a while about how Chris Sale has always been good when he's been healthy. It's basically never been the case. He's never been bad. He's either been hurt or he's been good. Yeah, and even us we were not anticipating this because he's been just unbelievable so far. But what do you make of this? It's a very broad question, But like a guy who's in his mid thirties who's been banged up for several years now performing at a top five song level, to be conservative is just crazy. I know it's ten starts, but it's two months worth of activity. And by the way, it's not fluky. The peripherals are fantastic. It just he looks great. Yeah.

00:26:38
Speaker 2: No, he's not outperforming any particular metric that makes you think, Okay, well this is all smoke and mirrors. No, you watch him. Me passes the eye test. You look in the numbers at every possible level, he looks like vintage Chris Sale and talking to him in spring training, he was so excited about being healthy, finishing twenty twenty three, having a normal winter, and then I know there had to be some motivation getting traded, not because he was angry at the Red Sox, but the excitement of coming to a new team and a new opportunity and getting extended on top of that. I mean, he wanted to prove that he had plenty left in the tank, and he has proven that here in his early go in a Braves uniform. I mean, he has dominated in a way that it was the it's the Chris Sale of old and you know, he doesn't walk a lot of guys. He racks up a lot of strikeouts, but he's given the Braves innings and I think that's the number one thing that everybody can look at and say, Wow, I guess he's not a five and dive pitcher. He's a guy that wants the ball and wants to stay out there, cover those innings, put the bullpen in a good position when he pitches, and you know, those are all things either the go into the competitor that is Chris Sale. I know a lot's made out about that, and for good reason. I think that's just something else the Braves really loved about him. But you know this is with all respector Ryanaldo Lopez being a very pleasant surprise getting back into rotation, and he could end up being one of the best offseason signings at ten million dollars per year if he continues to perform this way. But getting Chris Sale, I thought was the potential for kind of a coup for the Braves because I don't think too many people expected him to even be on the move because how many clubs are going to look at the injury history and say, yeah, we'll take that on. But I think the Braves really looked at it and thought, Okay, there was some major injuries in there, but lately it had been fluky stuff and not things that were really all in his control. So if he is healthy and I know it was a big if at the time and it will continue to always be an if because he's a pitcher and that's always be the case. But this is a guy that could be really, really good and that's exactly what he's been and then some. So this is one of those cases where we can move the goalpost in a good way because Chris Sale has far exceeded the guarded expectations of most.

00:28:38
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, he's probably gonna win Picture of the Months in May given his numbers, like two earned runs allowed in a month, but this is almost made up forty five strikeouts and two walks.

00:28:48
Speaker 2: He's got a way.

00:28:50
Speaker 1: Yeah, what do you do with that? But yeah, I mean, look, we already covered it in depth about the lineup underperforming this team is I mean, I feel that way, but this tame is thirty and twenty which is still very very good. Ninety seven one pays all those things. Most of that's because the pitching has been excellent so far, So sales a part of that. Lopas is a part of that. Even the guys who were returning fre It's been really good recently. Morton's been his usual rock solid self despite being four years old. It's been exactly what you want from those four guys. But I have to ask about the fifth spot before we get out of here. So they used Smith Shauber this well, well, first of all, we go back, they had to use they had two spots because of the way that it broke with the rain, dealt with the rain and all those things, they had to fill two spots. Once they decided to send Brycellar back down, et cetera. They go with Ray Kerr got to start this week, and they just saw got to start this week. And unfortunately for aj he had a Grade two oblique strain, which nobody knew about until after the start. He pitched fairly well. Apparently he told in the media that he actually fuilt it in the third inning and didn't tell anybody else until later. By the way, the year of the oblique. Huh, nobody's really I'm not enjoying that, but you know that's obviously just brutal. There was a whole guessing game online about whether it was just like some Phantomiel stuff and obviously it was not great too oblea straight is a real thing, and ray Kerr like was a weird situation for him. He didn't even know he even was starting till the day of the game. I'm not saying you close the door on ray Kerr as the starting option, but what we could probably agree on is they don't have a god they love right now. In the fifth spot, Bryce Elder struggled badly in this first starting back on Whenette. It's one start, but you know what happens here? Man, They have a big TVA on the on the list this week, as you I'm sure have seen. What would you do? And also what are they just going to cycle this till they find something they like, like you know, waldrops and everybody always wants to see a waldrope sit around them later, where's your head on this?

00:30:37
Speaker 2: Yeah? I think that they have to kind of you know, hit that shuffle button for a little while with that spot, And yeah, I mean the rain delayed that happened, or the rain now that pushed. I mean you could tell they wanted to win that or at least split that series, I should say, at the San Diego Padres, because I mean, who wants to go out potentially losing three out of four are being swept in a home stand And I think that's kind of why they wanted to go with Ronaldo Lopez and Chris Sale on that day. It just unfortunately didn't work out in that first game, but then it did create like that secondary option. And we'll get into the other stuff. But the ray Kerr thing, to me is a little bit curious because I looked at him as like, Okay, well this guy has proven they can throw multiple innings. He could be kind of the long guy there. I know Jesse Chavez often gets that call, but wouldn't it be nice to have a lefty that throws hard and has good strikeout stuff that could also kind of serve that role. And with all the minor league guys that they do have, and I know that Darius Vines and Alan Winings and Dylan Dodd and Bryce Elder to a certain extent as well, though he's had more big league success than the other guys I mentioned. I mean, do they not have enough guys that could kind of fill in that fit spot. Maybe throw Ian Anderson back into that mix here in a couple of months. Obviously, Hurston Waldrip is a name that everybody's going to gravitate towards. But it just to me was curious why you would even bother moving Kerr into that starting role. I'm excited for the opportunity, if he's excited for the opportunity, But I guess we'll kind of see how that all plays out. I just think he can make a bigger impact in the bullpen. And I'll put my soapbox over to the side. All to make a long story short, Yeah, I think that they in the short term have to figure out, you know, who is lined up, who's available? What is the deal with the ten day option window because you can't bring guys right back up. And then they had some optionable problems in the bullpen where they don't have too many guys that they can't option, and Ray Curry is one of those guys. And I don't know if that really matters in the bullpen and the big scheme of things, If everybody's healthy, and you know, at some point, you know, Tyler Matsi gets it figured out and jumps back in there. Maybe the need for Ray Kerr and relief is not as great as it is without a Tyler Matsik, But you know, it's not a position that you want to be in. But the four starters that you do have, even without Spencer Strider, have been pretty unbelievable. The proven big league guys. I went back over that same twenty six game sample where I told you the offense was the bottom in baseball in terms of run scored, looked at the starting rotation, they have been terrific. And if you do and I know this is cherry picking, but if you take that twenty six game sample, remove the four starts by Bryce Elder and just look at Max Freed, Chris Sale, Rinaldo Lopez, and Charlie Morton, these guys have pitched to an ERA just over two. That's four starting pitchers over the course of that time. In twenty two starts. They've been posting up. So the rotation is in pretty good hands, but they do want to get to least some consistency, some continuity, some quality starts out of that fifth spot if possible. But with those other guys doing so well, it is helping out the bullpen a lot. And we've seen Max Freed really leading as well in this regard. I mean, we talked a lot about Chris Sale. Max Freed getting back to being who he truly is has been a pretty good development for the braz with no Spencer Strider.

00:33:34
Speaker 1: Yeah, he's been unbelievable for sure, and it's a good problem. I always try to stress that almost no one has a fifth starter that they like. That's not satisfying the Braves fans, but it's just this is that this every team has this problem. It's just a little bit magnified because in fairness, if they had Strider and suddenly Lopez was a fifth starter, you'd be on cloud nine right now. I mean everybody would be dancing in the streets. And I get that. But most teams don't have a perfect six seventh eith option. And maybe we'll see Waldrop, maybe we'll see En Anderson. You references a good time to keep him, keep him in mind. He's still not like imminently there, but another arm throw in the mix, and they have options. I mean, that's the one thing that they that they do have and necessarily the most impressive allotment of guys, but they have several of them, and and honestly, as much as like pick a guy, Winans or Darius Spines that those guys are as good or better than most teams, most teams fifth starters are They just they just are. They're just not the same as Morton or Sale or Az or Freed. The big drop off from there. Uh, Graham, I'm gonna let you go. But the Braves do have a seven game homestand this week that begins on the Moral Day afternoon against Washington and Oakland. If that's all I tell you, it sounds pretty appetizing, right, two teams that are not necessarily fantastic, now they both are. They're both are better than they were a year ago. So far, they've been competitive. Oakland in particularly, was a disaster last year. They've been more competitive this year. But it's still objectively true to say injuries all that stuff. These are two teams they are not as good as the Braves, and they're playing them at home opportunity you would imagine to wreck up some wins. Theory Again, it's baseball. I can't predict it, but on paper, a pretty favorable spot here.

00:35:03
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, you certainly hope that a couple of series wins are out in front of the braves here. But as we know, the game is not played on paper. And both of these teams are better than they were a year ago, and they have been competitive, and maybe surprisingly so in the case of Oakland, who everybody was just pretty much riding up as maybe a chance to be the worst team in baseball. This year, they've had some younger players that have kind of stepped up. They've been a little bit surprising and dare I say a little bit fun despite the fact that their situation has been anything but fun for you know, baseball fans to talk about little on stomach. So I'm interested to see what the Oakland Athletics look like. I'm kind of happy that I don't have to see the Washington Nationals nineteen times a year, and not because you know, it's not a knock on the on field staff, but it just the last few years it hasn't been the most competitive matchup between the two clubs, and that was a lot of divisional play. But they're you know, doing some things this year they're taking a step in the right direction, I feel like, and maybe some of their you know, bigger prospects and those guys will jump in at some point this year year and they'll start to turn a corner a bit. But I feel like the Nationals have kind of taken the spot I thought the Marlins would be in, and the Marlins have more or less just evolved into a worse version of last year's Nationals, most certainly, and that was a bit surprising. But yeah, this is a homestand that if you feel like, if you've got seven games there, the Braves could win five of them and feel pretty good about it. You got to win four, I think of these seven to feel like you took advantage of this homestand in this run of teams at all, Yeah.

00:36:27
Speaker 1: At least that many you would imagine. And yeah, look, as I record this, the Nats are five and a half games ahead of the Marlins. That would have been a surprise. Yeah, even as someone who was skeptical of the Marlins coming into the year, being five and a half games worse than the Nationals was not something that I had to use your phrase, Grant, I'll my big go kart come there to the season. Thank you for all the time, my friend. Please, I know you have like one hundred things to plug. You and I are a line in this regard where we have like seven jobs. But please tell people where they can find you if they somehow. I'm sure most people that listen to this podcast know your work, but if they don't, where can they find Yeah?

00:36:57
Speaker 2: No, I really appreciate you having me. It's always good to talk Braves you guys, And sorry I missed Scott on the way through, but maybe we can get like the whole trash.

00:37:04
Speaker 1: I'm not sure he's ever coming back. I mean, Scott, he might just move to Italy at this point, I think it's pretty still is he's over there somewhere Europe.

00:37:09
Speaker 2: Okay, I didn't realize he had taken that kind of.

00:37:11
Speaker 1: A Oh yeah, he's been gone for two weeks. I mean I can't. Every once in a while will text me back, but it's every once in a while.

00:37:16
Speaker 2: International Braves correspondent Scott called it's pretty good. But no, I appreciate you guys having me as always really enjoy listening to your stuff as well, and if anybody would like to listen to some of mine, I've got plenty of places for you to go, from the Diamond where you get your podcasts, as well as from the Diamond dot Com, which can give you a link to all the other things that I'm doing. I do a Battery Power YouTube show. I also do the Lockdown Braves postcast, which will be my next stop after we record this to talk about the Braves Crazy Sunday. You can find that at Lockdown Sports Atlanta on YouTube. I appear on eleven Alive here locally. I'll post those videos on from the Diamond dot Com. I also write for The Mary Out, a daily journal, and you can check those things out links on social at Grant McCauley on most platforms, And again, I really appreciate all the time and thank you for letting me take so much time plug all those things, because it's hard to get to very quickly these days.

00:38:03
Speaker 1: It's an incredibly long list of outlets. Most of those are Braves. I mean, that's the thing like that, it's hard to cover the same team for that many places, So I certainly admire your work. Grant. Thank you for being here and also not canceling on me in the midst of what could have been is a very busy day now, especially with the Rold news. So thank you for doing this. I really do appreciate it. Please subscribe to this podcast, please follow all of Grant's work. We'll sign off here for now. We'll have more come up this week. I'm not sure exactly when, Monday or Tuesday. If we get Rynie news, maybe we'll do an emercy podcast. Hopefully not if it's bad news, emergency podcast. If it's not, probably not. Let's stay tuned, subscribe to podcast, all all of Grant's work, and we'll see you all next time.

00:39:00
Speaker 3: After Tracher F B M.

00:39:07
Speaker 1: Trach