Sale, Bats Help Braves Snap Seven Game Skid with 7-1 Win Over Brewers

00:00:21
Speaker 1: Welcome one and all to the Hammer Territory Podcast, and this time around, this time around, it's a winning edition of the Hammer Territory Podcast. With you, as always, wherever you are and wherever you are, listen, my name is Sean Coleman. Always a pleasure would be with you. Hope you had a great weekend outside of baseball. Hope you had a great weekend and you're getting off to a great start this week. But Steve Otober, absolutely the worst weekend you could think of, the worst weekend ever. The title of yesterday, the title of Sunday's podcast was perfect, the worst weekend, the worst week ever. And thankfully the Braves were able to put that all past him, get the job done in a seven to one victory over the Brewers on Monday night. How are you so good to be with you as always the hardest working man in the Hand Territory Podcast field.

00:01:11
Speaker 2: I mean, I can't remember the last time we did a podcast after a win. I mean that's how long it's been. I mean we didn't do any last week. Scott and Brad did one on Sunday after a loss. I legitimately can't remember last time we did a podcast. Wheel it was the Zach Wheeler. It was the victory of Zach Wheeler.

00:01:27
Speaker 3: Yeah, that was almost two weeks ago. So yeah, what a lovely feeling. I mean, just to.

00:01:34
Speaker 2: Watch an easy, like start to finish game where they just easily. I mean, they haven't been able to win a single game in seven games and they just come out to nine and just and win easily. And there is something fitting to the fact that it was Chris Sale on the mound. Of course he's the one to bust the streak. There is something fitting to the fact that a Kunya Homer, you know, Riley doubled Olsen Homer, Azuna single in It's like all the guys who we expect to be awesome, we're awesome tonight, Like this is what we thought it would be like all year.

00:02:09
Speaker 3: And so you know, maybe.

00:02:12
Speaker 2: It's just one night and maybe tomorrow we'll come back and we'll get you know, snatched back to reality. But we're gonna enjoy the hell out of it for one night because tonight was fun. Tonight I had fun watching a Braves baseball game. And man, I can count on one hand the number of times I've said that this year.

00:02:29
Speaker 1: Absolutely, and the great thing about it is is because tonight the star Wars stood out and we're gonna get to plenty of it as we We're just gonna sit here and focus on a victory. It's been such a long time since we've been able to talk about a win for the Braves, but we're gonna break down all for you here on the Hammer Territory podcast. And of course it starts with Chris Sale, who's been absolutely spectacular. You know, he got off to a bit of a slow start, you know, in April, Stephen, but ever since May first, I know that he may not be, you know, the the one of the maybe two or three, you know, clear front runners for the NLSI young but he once again is working his way into the picture. Because since May first, you can easily make the case that he's been one of, if not the best pitcher in the National League and was at his best once again tonight. Thing is, he didn't have his best stuff. They seem like that the fastball was not at its full capacity tonight, but still got the job done. Eleven strikeouts, pitched him to the eighth and he kept the Brewers off the board. Besides giving up what was it an RBI single to William Contreras. Just an all around outstanding effort to Chris Sale. And if there's one thing that you can count on when it comes to this team, it's Chris Sale putting together a needed performance to get a victory, and he did that once again tonight.

00:03:44
Speaker 2: Well, I mean, one of the real bummers of the last three weeks with how bad they've played, is that we haven't been able to enjoy these Chris Sales starts that have just been awesome.

00:03:55
Speaker 3: I mean, he's been doing this for.

00:03:58
Speaker 2: Five, six, seven weeks now. I really got off to that rough start in the first like three weeks of the season, but since then he's looked exactly like he looked last year, which is just one of the best pitchers on planet Earth.

00:04:10
Speaker 3: He's just been incredible.

00:04:11
Speaker 2: I mean, the strikeout stuff is still every bit as good as it's ever been. The lefties still have absolutely no clue what to do against him.

00:04:18
Speaker 3: You know, the.

00:04:18
Speaker 2: Brewers had I think three or four lefties in the lineup tonight, which surprised me and Chris just I mean, he ate him up all night long. They you know, I think I think their number nine hitter the one of the worst hitters in the National League, or Tees stuck his bat out on like a two strike pitch and got a double down the line, and then win Contraz hit a ground ball up the middle with two outs to for their only run.

00:04:45
Speaker 3: But I mean, he was just awesome.

00:04:48
Speaker 2: And listen his numbers. You look at his overall numbers, they are very similar to what they were last year when he won the Cy Young.

00:04:56
Speaker 3: So I'm not saying it's gonna happen.

00:04:59
Speaker 2: But like Paul Skeens has been unbelievable, but he plays on a really bad team, and sometimes voters don't like that. Logan Webb has been good, Zach Weener's been good. There's been other guys, but like Chris Sale, Yamamoto the Dodgerto. Yeah, but Chris Sale has got every chance to repeat as a cy Young win. I mean, he's he's he's pitching as good as he did at any point last year right now, and tonight was just another rendition of it.

00:05:26
Speaker 3: So awesome, awesome.

00:05:28
Speaker 2: I tweeted before the game, or actually I tweeted during the game that Chris Chris Sale and Ronald Kunter Junior are kind of the two reasons I tune in these days and both showed why tonight and listen. If they play more games like this, then it might be a different story. Now, we're not gonna get ahead of ourselves, but for tonight, Chris Sale, awesome, cy Young level, Chris, Chris Sale, and here's to you know, fifteen or twenty more of those starts for the rest of the season.

00:05:59
Speaker 1: Speaking of start, Stephen, I think you're gonna get this one, but tonight. Well, entering tonight, Chris Sale had made forty two career starts for the Braves. Do you want to tell me who has the most strikeouts through their first fifty career starts as a Brave in franchise history, It's a pretty obvious answer.

00:06:17
Speaker 2: I mean, I'm guessing Strider since he struck out everybody you saw the first year.

00:06:21
Speaker 1: Yeah, Spitzer, Strider through fifty career starts had four hundred and thirty five strikeouts. Second on that list was Charlie Morton with three hundred and twenty four.

00:06:33
Speaker 2: People forget like twenty twenty Charlie Morton, how good he was? Yeah, and he also twenty twenty one Charlie Mortons.

00:06:40
Speaker 1: Well, Charlie Morton also is one of the has one of the highest per nine strikeout rates of any picture over thirty five is made more than one hundred career starts and m will be history. Chris Sale has now struck out three hundred and thirty two batters as in Atlanta Brave in forty three starts as a Brave. So that's the point that I'm getting at is is that in terms of all Braves pitchers who have made at least fifty career starts through their first fifty starts as a Brave, Chris Sale would now would rank second all time to Spencer Strider. The reason I bring up that specific is because it just goes to show we've not seen a person come in very often and just make this sort of impact, and that is what is so awesome. And think about this. All the success that Chris Sell is having is in the era in which the Braves have fallen off a clip when it comes to their offense, like this is the first time the Braves offense have had three plus homers and five plus runs in the same win since April twenty six. That makes it that much more impressive. The fact that all of this going on can impact so many but When it comes to Chris Sale, it's not just about him being consistent. It's the consistent consistency of being elite that sets him apart. And again it is what gives you hope that how only can the Braves turn this around, but if they were to make the playoffs, then you could see odds unexpectedly going into their favorite a playoff series. If Chris sil is at this level.

00:08:13
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a good point that he hasn't been at the you know, he hasn't had the benefit of of some tremendous offense ever since he's been on the team. You know, the offense has has fallen off a cliff. You know, obviously he wasn't around for twenty twenty three. So not only has he been awesome, but he has been awesome when needed most, when oftentimes three runs is all you're gonna get and you got to make it hold up. And if the Braves had only scored three runs to night, they would have won the game because Chris Sale was awesome.

00:08:44
Speaker 3: And so yeah, I.

00:08:46
Speaker 2: Really hope he stays. I really hope he can do this where he can continue this level all the way throughout the year and went back to back cill youngs that would be unreal after you know the five year stretch he had where he just couldn't stay healthy and that might cement a Hall of Fame career. To be honest with you, but yeah, he's been unbelievable, unreal. One of my favorite things to do as a Brads fan right now is to watch Chris Sales starts. They are appointment television. I never missed one. I was even with the Braves on a seven game losing street tonight. I was in my seat at first pitch ready to watch because I know these games are awesome and he's awesome, and it's been a joy to watch the last year and a half.

00:09:28
Speaker 4: Absolutely. Another thing.

00:09:29
Speaker 1: I know that he won the cy Young last year, but Chris Sale also was seventh in the MVP voting in twenty twenty four. You see him continue this, continue on being in that cy Young conversation. If he were to wind up winning it and the Braids were to turn this around, Chris so easily could put together a top five MVP year as well, And to your point, that really solidifies him as a Hall of Famer. One one other small but very significant factor in this game that I want to give credit to is Drake Baldwin. We'll say this at the plate he did Okay, you know, nothing really to speak on in terms of others. We'll get to the offense in just a moment, but also want to say that Drake Baldwin has caught Chris sel Now several times this year, and against this Milwaukee Brewers team, there was a bit of a factor with them that you don't get with other teams. It's the stolen bases that you know, Bryce terrang Jackson, Cheerio as well as Southreley, so much speed in this lineup, but he was able to throw Cheerio out to start the game. And then the threat thanks to Sell mostly but the threat of stolen bases really was not there. But you have to give credit for Drake Baldwin. So much is made of his offense, but the ability for him to handle the catchy responsibilities, it really is at its best when Sale is on the mound. And that's an unspoken truth of Drake Baldwin's well not so much spoken truth of Drake Baldwin's value. He's doing better than expected behind the plate, especially when containing the base running of other teams.

00:10:55
Speaker 2: Yeah, and it was such a problem earlier in the year. You remember that first series against San Diego, and a lot of it was on the pitchers and and some of it was on Chris Sale, to be honest with you, you know, Chris sales number one way to stop base runners has always been just to not let him on base to begin with. That's always been, you know, his his motto is the easiest way to stop a guy from stealing first is to never let him on first to begin with. But the Braids were giving up an alarming amount of stolen bases early in the season, and between the catchers, I think Baldwin throughout another guy tonight, between the catchers and the pitchers really making an effort, it really has not been as big a problem.

00:11:36
Speaker 3: In fact, even though the.

00:11:37
Speaker 2: Braids get just got swept out of San Francisco, they threw out four or five runners on the bases over the weekend.

00:11:44
Speaker 3: They threw another one out tonight.

00:11:47
Speaker 2: You know, it's just it's been a it's become it's gone from a liability to a weapon. And that's not easy to do in season. And again, because the Braids have been so bad overall, we haven't been able to talk about it because it is just not you know, when you're losing, it's not really worth talking about.

00:12:03
Speaker 3: But in wins it matters.

00:12:05
Speaker 2: And Baldwin and Murphy are both throwing out, you know, a tremendous percentage of base stealers. I think Baldwin's at seven now that he's caught. So yeah, it's been huge to turn this around where were such a liability earlier in the year and now you know, runners really have to decide how aggressive they want to be on the basis against the Braves because it's not a sure thing as it was early in the season.

00:12:31
Speaker 4: Absolutely, and it's hard.

00:12:33
Speaker 1: It may not be the first thing that comes to mind, but it is no small thing when we talk about could the Braves turn this around? What could they do despite how bad things have been, what could they do to really turn things around? Well, there may just not be a better or more simple approach than just leaning on your say, young winner from two thousand and four, but also your MVP from two years ago. We'll discuss that more in just a moment after a word from our part.

00:13:00
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00:14:01
Speaker 1: So, Steve, when we talk about the fact that Chris Sale is starting to resemble his twenty twenty four to form when he won the Cy Young Award for the National League, well the thing that we've also discussed, and it was good to see it once again. You know, he's been a little bit silent. He was a little bit that fell off a little bit last week. But ronald' cooney Junior was right at the center of the Braves offensive success. One of the better offensive games basically since that you know win over Zach Wheeler that we discussed about ten days ago. Ronald Cootoney Junior was right there. Listen for the first four innings of tonight's game, it looked like we were going to see it all over again. The Brewers were up on and nothing. We had had multiple opportunities where we could not get the job done. Ozzy Alby's popping out, Alex Rodugo forgetting that it's okay to swing when he's at the plate, all those factors coming into the first four innings, and then Ronald counew Junior took it upon himself, hitting his fifth home run of the season later on in the game. He had two walks in this game, including getting the scoring rally going later on in the game that made the score seven to one. This is what we talk about when it comes to Ronald Cooney Junior being in the lineup. He being able to add multiple areas of value at the same time, hitting for power, getting on base. It was all there tonight and it was absolutely critical and the game is in a game the Braves had to have.

00:15:14
Speaker 2: Yeah, anytime you see seven runs on the board for this offense, it's just a it is like it's like the sunrise, It's just like Hope springs eternal because it's just been so rare.

00:15:25
Speaker 3: I mean, it just really has.

00:15:27
Speaker 2: And when they scored ten runs the other day, they had the worst loss of the year because they couldn't hold it. So and yet it all starts with Ronnie. And he did have a quiet week last week. Listen, He's not gonna put up a thousand oh ps every week, but it was nice to see, you know, two more walks he had that he crushed the absolutely destroyed the ball to straight right field. I mean, his opposite field power is among the greatest I've ever seen.

00:15:52
Speaker 3: He just had.

00:15:53
Speaker 2: He does not lose anything when he goes apoh, and yeah, he was the cog tonight. And listen, it was kind of the Big four, right, I mean, Riley had three hits, Olson had that massive homer in a couple of walks of Zuna had a couple of hits. He had that big two run single to bust the game open. Like this is what I was talking about at the beginning, Like this is what it was supposed to be, you know, the bravest pitching being really good and if nothing else, these top four dudes Cunya, Olsen, Riley, Ozuna are just monsters and it's hard for any team to hold them down. And it's one game and it felt so good tonight because of how little we've seen.

00:16:38
Speaker 3: It this year, so that matters.

00:16:41
Speaker 2: But my god, can you just imagine a scenario where like these four dudes just go on a heater of all heaters over the next four months.

00:16:50
Speaker 3: What could they do if?

00:16:51
Speaker 2: I mean, I'm not even talking about Ozzie or Michael or left field or shortstop. I'm just talking about these four dudes, Kunya, Riley, Olsen and Ozuna. These dudes are so damn good and m VP level hitters when they're right that if all four of them got hot at once, this team would go on a run. They absolutely would go on a run with the pitching they have, and I would just loved even if it's just like a month. I just want to see what this team could do. How how far could this team get back in it if these four dudes just go off for an extended period of time and really remind the world that the Braves still have an offense to be reckoned with. We have to see it for more than one game. We have to see it for more than one series. We have to see it for more than one week. But it was nice to see it again tonight to be reminded of what is possible.

00:17:42
Speaker 3: What is today's date, Steven, June ninth?

00:17:47
Speaker 2: Oh, we got we got Tennessee. Got a Tennessee mine working hard over there, no smell smoke.

00:17:55
Speaker 4: It's it's June ninth, right.

00:17:57
Speaker 3: Yeah.

00:17:59
Speaker 1: Over the past two weeks, Austin Riley has a one forty WRC plus shout out shout out to benieter Buzz on Twitter for bringing that up. So I saw that stat. That was a very good stat remind me against Stephen What who do you compare Riley to between June and fifteenth and August first every year?

00:18:16
Speaker 3: Yeah, he turns into Barry Bonds and Babe Ruth.

00:18:19
Speaker 1: Absolutely, absolutely yeah. Since twenty nineteen. If you go back Aliston, Riley is a top five hitter if you combine all the stats between June fifteenth and August first for each year over the past six years.

00:18:32
Speaker 4: But do not let it rest on deaf ears that.

00:18:37
Speaker 1: The other person who takes off and is consistently taken off in July and August is Matt Olsen, who gets unconscious when it comes to the All Star break. Again, we're coming up on that time and it should also. I know that he popped out twice with runners in scoring position tonight, but he had two hits, including the thousandth of his career. Ozzy Albi's has been one of the best offensive second basement over the past three weeks in baseball. See where we're going with this. We're now talking about more than half the lineup getting going. And again, I know it's just one game, but history shows that one of the reasons why the Braves take off in June is because their best players take off themselves. We're starting to see small signs of it. It's got to be there consistently. Not gonna count an eat chickens before they hatch, but history is starting to repeat itself in a positive way. And that's really really good to see because this team needs the identity of the team to be the offense.

00:19:32
Speaker 2: Yeah, well especially you know we're gonna get to the A. J. Smith Shauburn news at the end of this podcast. But you know, with the bullpen uncertainty, they need, they need some margin of er in these games. I know they had a six run lead a couple of days ago and they still blew the game. But like you give them a six you give this bullpen a six run lead every night.

00:19:52
Speaker 3: The Braids are gonna be pretty good. So just score runs. Just you know, I was looking it up.

00:20:01
Speaker 2: We're I think we're only like six percentage points away from Austin Riley, where the top five guys in the lineup all have ops's over eight hundred. I know Acunya does, I know Baldwin does, I know Olsen does, and I know Azuna does. And I think Riley's like six points away and I can't remember at any point this year where the Bradys had five guys in the lineup that had Ops is over eight hundred.

00:20:24
Speaker 3: So it is slowly coming and.

00:20:28
Speaker 2: Slowly being the operative word. We got to see it more though. I'm not gonna get crazy with this. We've we've been down this road before with this offense where it looks good and then they go through two weeks where they score three runs a game or less.

00:20:44
Speaker 3: So I'm not gonna get crazy here.

00:20:47
Speaker 2: They we need a month of this, two months, three months of this before I'm gonna get crazy about it. But it was nice to see it tonight. It was nice to be reminded that it's in there. I know Acunya has been awesome, but everybody else coming along the power three homers in a game, I can't remember last time the Braves had three homers in a game. God, it would just be great to just even for a month or two, just to like get a sneak peek of what twenty twenty three was like and see what this team could do with that.

00:21:18
Speaker 1: Absolutely, Stephen, one other quick question that you know many may not you know think is on the horizon, but it's getting close. Is that tonight? Was the sixty fifth game of the season. You know, Jerks and Profar was suspended. I believe what was it after the second game of the year. So we're two and a half weeks basically away. We're about fifteen sixteen games away from where Jerks and Profar would be available. I imagine that we'll hear over the next week or so, perhaps the ability for him to start a rehab assignment. But but the other the reason why I'm bringing this up is because the Brain's need to figure out their left field situation because Alex Verdugo is not it. He's just not getting the job done. Tonight, two excellent opportunities to add value, and the ball the bad did not leave his shoulder. Shout out to Eli White, who made the most of an opportunity a nice insurance home run. I would almost just say just put him out there for the defensive upside, for the base running, just hopefully maybe he can get on a heater for the next ten days or so. But the Braves do need production from their left field spot because they're obviously still waiting to get something of any type of value offensively for Michael Harris from Nick Allen, one of those two it's not going to come from. But the left field situation again, I know we're two and a half three weeks away from having what we hope is a solution, but we got to figure it out over the next few weeks. Any thoughts on that, do you just still go with the platoon and hope for the best, or do you maybe just give it to Eli White Because as we also saw, you know, earlier today, Jared Kilnick's not really doing anything to impress down on Tripalea.

00:22:45
Speaker 3: Now, yeah, Kelnick's been awful.

00:22:47
Speaker 2: He's got like a seventy five WRC plus since going down to Gwinette, so he's been bad. Verdugo has fallen off a mountain since that hot start back in May.

00:22:58
Speaker 3: I can't remember exactly what it was, maybe late April, but he.

00:23:02
Speaker 2: Takes so many fastballs that I just I don't understand how somebody takes so many fastballs down the middle. Like if I took one fastball, if I was a major league hitter and I took a one fastball down the middle for strike three, I would tell myself, all right, well, at the very least, we're not doing that again, because I mean, it's just embarrassing, and like it happens to this dude like twice a night. I don't really I don't really understand what's happening. So yeah, I would just put Eli White out there. At least you're gonna get defense. At least you're gonna get speed. Every once in a while, I was gonna run into a homer like he did tonight. None of these guys are good by any stretch. There's a reason that Brave signed Drexson profar. There's a reason the Braves spent twenty million dollars last winter on Jared Kilnick when they spend all that money in all those different trades to get him over here, because left field has been a black hole.

00:23:51
Speaker 4: For a long time.

00:23:52
Speaker 2: I mean, even like when they traded for like Eddie Rosario, the reason they traded for him midseason was because of how bad left field was, and even back to like twenty twenty one, when they want the World Series, like, left field has just been a problem forever. And now with the struggles of center field and shortstop and and you know, Oddsy's been better lately, but overall is still sub seven hundred ops. Man, it'd be nice to get a left fielder that can hit, and yeah, Profar. So people have asked me, Profar can start rehab games and get ready to go before the eighty one games were up. Like there were people that thought like the eighty one game suspension meant or the eighty game suspension meant that he couldn't even start rehab games until after the suspension was over.

00:24:37
Speaker 3: But that's not the case. He can rehab.

00:24:41
Speaker 2: Fairly soon, in like a week or so, so that he is ready to be activated as soon as his suspension is lifted. So I'm assuming you just said that, but I'm assuming that's what the Braids are gonna do. We'll hear about that probably next week where they're gonna send.

00:24:55
Speaker 3: Him to get going.

00:24:56
Speaker 2: But the Braves need him, honestly, Listen, I don't have a lot of confidence and I'm gonna be extremely harsh with him until he proves anything because I don't trust him and I don't think he's earned that trust, and so we're gonna be critical until he does something productive. But make no mistake, the Braves need him. The Braves needs something on a left field. Until then, I would absolutely just put Eli White out there and just at least you're gonna at least, you know, for a fact, you're gonna get speed and defense. And every once in a while he'll run into a.

00:25:26
Speaker 1: Homer Absolutely again, he don't want to really, you know, get it in harrible negative or anything like that after a win. But hey, if we see that this other well, this offensive cape is capable of even with all the offensive holes that they still have, especially centerfield, shortstop and left field, why not see if you can improve upon it, you know, especially if Eli White, you know, maybe can you know, rekindle a bit of success over the next few weeks before we get to a bit of somber news today and also looking at the week ahead. Another word from our partners.

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00:27:01
Speaker 1: Of course, some news was confirmed earlier today, actually a couple of news updates.

00:27:06
Speaker 4: We'll get into the other one in just a moment. But the news was confirmed that many of us had expected earlier today. A J.

00:27:11
Speaker 1: Smith Shover underwent surgery in Arlington, Texas to replair a torn UCL which basically, in other words, is Tommy John surgery in his right arm. Many of us had suspected it from ten days ago. It was confirmed today. Braves just went ahead and got it done. Stephen, correct me if I'm wrong. One is one very important distinction to make is that I believe that this was a complete repair of the torn UCL versus I forget what the shoulder braves or whatever operation Spencer Strider has had. I don't have the name off the top of my head. But of course there's now multiple routes you can go with Tommy John surgery. This was a complete repair. The big news though, The big part of this though, the Braves of course announced that he will miss the rest of the twenty twenty five season. But let's just be honest here, there's a good chance that he's going to miss into a large portion of the twenty twenty six season as well, so he may not really be an option again until twenty twenty seven.

00:28:02
Speaker 4: We've spoke before.

00:28:04
Speaker 1: You mentioned that age is obviously still on the side of a j Smith shaber, But it doesn't take away from the fact that man just for the past two seasons, he had that one start where he looked really good in Chicago in twenty twenty three, had the oblique injury, didn't come back until the playoffs last year, and now was really starting.

00:28:20
Speaker 4: To put it together.

00:28:21
Speaker 1: Rookie of the Year candidate and then falls into just this unfortunate injury. Sad to see that we're not going to see him for a while.

00:28:30
Speaker 2: Yeah, just a quick reminder, So Spencer Strider got the internal brace procedure and aj S mischaber A got Tommy John, and I know we talked about this before, but just as a reminder, Tommy John, is when they completely reconstruct your UCL because you had a full tear, the internal brace is where they just kind of they kind of support the current liguament because it was not a full tear. So it's a very different surgery, even though they're both obviously significant elbow surgeries that Tommy John, the full reconstruction of the of the ligament is about if you look online, it says about twelve month twelve to fourteen month recovery time. So you know, even if you're optimistic about it, and let's say it only takes aja year to get back, then you have to remember he's got to go through a full spring training and get you know, ramped up, and even if you only brought him back as like a reliever, the chances are he would still only be back for a very small part of twenty six, and most likely he's probably out for all of twenty twenty six. So the I know in the announcement they announced twenty twenty five, I would just go ahead and prepare yourself that we're probably not going to see Aja in twenty twenty six.

00:29:47
Speaker 3: It's not a guarantee he might again.

00:29:49
Speaker 2: He might pitch sometime in the second half next year, maybe as a bullpen guy, but I wouldn't. I would just kind of in my mind just kind of remove him as an option for the next year and a hal half and then if if something surprisingly good happens, then you can be you know, uh, it can be a bonus. But yeah, it sucks for him. I really hate because this kid was just like really scratching the service of his talent. He was really starting to figure it out. The splitter was such a weapon, the fastball was such a weapon. He was really learning how to use his velocity to control the fastball. You know, Tommy John is not like a career ending surgery the way it used to be. There are guys that come back as good, if not better, now not all the time. For some guys, they never come back the same. So it's not one hundred percent thing. It's still major elbow surgery, so we're gonna have to wait and see. But it's not some career ending injury. It's so common now that for most pictures it's not a matter of if, but a matter of when. Especially guys I throw this hard. So it sucks, but at least he got it out of the way early in his career.

00:30:56
Speaker 3: He's still in twenty two.

00:30:57
Speaker 2: He's still you know, he's still got plenty of time to be a great major league player, to you know, make all the money he needs to make and wants to make.

00:31:05
Speaker 3: So sucks for him.

00:31:07
Speaker 2: I hate it for aj best of luck in recovery, and you know, we'll see in in twelve months or so.

00:31:15
Speaker 1: And the other thing that I think that this puts the spotlight on is that, you know, what this means is is that the Braves rotation that you see right now, Chris Sale, Spencer Schwellenbach, Bryce Elder, Spencer Strider, as well as Grant Holmes, this not only is going to be your rotation through the rest of this year more than likely. Knock on wood, you hope that hell certainly is there, because there's not, like you know, a clear you know, other pitcher knocking on the door, but this also very likely could be your starting staff going into twenty twenty six. Now, I know Ronaldo Lopez will hopefully be back by then as well, but if Bryce Elder's throwing pretty good, you know that that at least has six options for five spots. But the point that I'm getting at right now is is that this rotation has been among the best in baseball made first A. J. Smith Schaufer had to roll in that, but Bryce Selder is step riding and has done quite well an excellent start over the weekend. I know that it may not necessarily be on paper the most encouraging thing to say that this could be our main rotation this year and next year, but that's what stands out.

00:32:15
Speaker 4: We've got the guys.

00:32:16
Speaker 1: Who were going to hopefully lead us where we need to go. You pray for help, but you also pray for them maintaining the success that they've shown over the past month.

00:32:26
Speaker 2: Yeah, and it's easier it with selle In Schwellenbach pitching like they have the last three weeks, four weeks, five weeks, six weeks, whatever it's been. They both look like top of the rotation arms again, and that makes everything easier, right, Like Grant Holme, Spencer, Strider, Bryce Elder can all kind of fit in on the back end of the rotation because they none of them have to like lead this rotation with Sell and Schwallenbach pitching the way they have, so a lot of it starts with those two. But you're right, they've been one of the best rotations in baseball for six weeks now. So and credit again, you know, Brad and I talked about it last night, but you know, insane amount of credit to Bryce Elder for what he did in San Francisco.

00:33:05
Speaker 3: And we'll see, you know, Strider.

00:33:07
Speaker 2: We're not really ready to make definitive statements on Strider yet. You know, it's just gonna be kind of a wait and see. Grant Holmes is gonna pitch again tomorrow, so you know, he's been solid, he's been super solid. And yeah, this is probably gonna be the group for the rest of the year unless they make a trade at the deadline or I guess technically Ronaldo Lopez is not out for the year. We don't actually know what the update is gonna be with him. I guess technically could come back. You might even come back as a reliever. If they can't build them all the way back up to be a starter, potentially they could put them in the bullpen at the end of the year.

00:33:39
Speaker 3: But this is probably the group.

00:33:42
Speaker 2: You know, there's nobody in tripa A that's really knocking on the door. So these are gonna be the five guys. Pray to God for no more injuries, because they really can't afford any more injuries. And hopefully this group can keep it going and the offense can finally start pulling its weight.

00:33:58
Speaker 4: And that's where we get into the rest of this week.

00:34:01
Speaker 3: Now.

00:34:01
Speaker 1: Of course, we don't want to put the cart before the horrors, any cliche saying that you want to or anything like that, but I do think it's worth mentioning something, you know, for this week. Again, don't want to assume anything. We'll take, as Stephen mentioned, the old Bobby Cox approach of one game at a time. But but Steve, but Steve tomorrow. Grant Holmes is on the map and the Braves are favored against the Birds, and then on Wednesday it's Spencer swelling back against Chad Patrick. You would have to feel pretty good about that.

00:34:31
Speaker 4: Pitching matchup.

00:34:32
Speaker 1: You're off on Thursday, and then you wait, wait, wait, yeah, you're off on Thursday, and then you turn right back around and you welcome the Rockies to Atlanta. The Braves, in other words, are going to be favored in every game that they're going to play this week, coming off the last the previous ten days, and how far are they've fallen over that ten day stretch. It's hard to ask for a better setup. It's just now you've got to execute to take advantage of it again, one game at a time. But if you can build off today, the offense can come and give Grant Home some early support. Tomorrow, you get the job done tomorrow. The setup is there. You got off days on Thursday and then a week from today before you get into that really tough stretched end June, this week could be a really, really good opportunity to put the past ten days behind you and get off to a really good start before a hectic into the month of June.

00:35:34
Speaker 3: Yeah.

00:35:34
Speaker 2: So the next two weeks for the Braids are two more against Milwaukee and Milwaukee off Day, a weekend at home against the Rockies off Day.

00:35:48
Speaker 3: Then they play the Mets for three games in Atlanta.

00:35:52
Speaker 2: So if you can build some momentum this week going into that Met series, maybe you're playing your best ball of the year, potentially you can start chipping into some of this lead. Then after the Mets they go to Miami for a three game series, and then they go to New York for the Mets again, and that's kind of the next two weeks for the Braves. So obviously playing the Mets twice is not gonna be easy. There, you know, best record, one of the best records in baseball.

00:36:17
Speaker 1: But other than that, right after that second Mets series is the Phillies just start jaw right.

00:36:22
Speaker 2: So they do have a chance here over the next five six days to get going to get healthy. Now, the Brewers are not a pushover. You know, the Brewers were one of the hottest teams in baseball before tonight, and they went up to Philadelphia and kicked the crap out of the Phillies.

00:36:38
Speaker 3: So it's not yet.

00:36:40
Speaker 2: I mean, the Braids could lose the next two games, and we've seen this Jecklin High team all year, so we're not putting the car before the horse. They gotta win tomorrow and go score some damn runs, and that would make everything easier. But if they can, if they can, if they can maintain this and get home against the Rockies and maintain it there and maybe win like five out of six or even like six out of six and start chipping into this at least start chipping into the wild card lead a little bit.

00:37:10
Speaker 3: Then you can start.

00:37:12
Speaker 2: Then you can start getting some hope. Again, hope is not there yet. They're too far back. We're gonna they're gonna need like a six game winning streak, seven game winning streak, ten out of twelve, twelve out of fifteen. They're gonna need something huge to really get back in this thing. They've just dug themselves too much a hole.

00:37:30
Speaker 3: But this is a good week to do it.

00:37:32
Speaker 2: Like Sean just laid out, pitching matchups in your favor. You end at home against the worst team maybe in the history of baseball, come into your place. At the end of the week. You take care of business in these two games. You got a shot to maybe start rewriting the narrative of the twenty twenty five season. But it starts tomorrow. If you lose tomorrow, you're back to square one. So go win a damn game tomorrow.

00:37:57
Speaker 1: Yeah, because at the end of the day. That's the reason why you keep it in the perspective of one game in a time. You just lost fourteen out of seventeen, So if you win twelve out of fifteen, congratulations, you're back to five hundred. The braves have a big, big, big hole to try to climb out of. They're capable of doing it, but the best way for them to do it is to take it one game at a time, and with every game, whether win or lose, we're going to be right here to cover it for you. The hardest workingman when it comes to the Foul with the Foul Well, I'll say Foul Territory Crew, I won't go well. One of the hardest workingmen of the Foul Territory Crew obviously the hardest when it comes to the Hammer Territory Crew, Stephen Tolbert, probably going to be here for eighty to ninety percent of the podcast for the rest of the year, but you can find him a be underscore outlier on Twitter, slash x.

00:38:46
Speaker 4: My name is Sean Coleman.

00:38:47
Speaker 1: You can find myself at stat's sac Hamit Territory across all forms of social media and on YouTube. Also, Foul Territory proud member of the Foul Territory family of podcast Stephen, I'm gonna make a request, man.

00:39:02
Speaker 3: Let's do it and and and and do not. Do not throw in a hashtag.

00:39:05
Speaker 4: I will punch you hashtag.

00:39:07
Speaker 1: I'm not. I'm not throwing out a hashtag. Okay, let's do two podcasts in a row where we get to recap a victory.

00:39:13
Speaker 4: Let's do it about that, Let's do it.

00:39:15
Speaker 1: Let's do it next time you see us, maybe Thursday or Friday, but we know why not.

00:39:18
Speaker 4: Let's let's just win. But you know, we just came off a week where we were win lists. Let's go through a week where we don't lose a game. So much more Yeah, yeah, it's so much more fun. We'll have you covered. Can't thank you not for all the support. Win or lose, but preferably win, go breaks.

00:39:34
Speaker 1: We'll talk to you again, and we'll talk to you again here soon on The Hammer Territory podcast