Braves Beat Cubs, Sean Murphy Injury, Brian Snitker, and More

00:00:22
Speaker 1: Welcome on and all to the Here Territory Podcast. My name is Sean Coleman. Hope, wherever you are and wherever you are listening, you had an amazing weekend. You had an amazing Monday, and you had an amazing time seeing the Braves get a victory against what should be a playoff team, one of the better pictures in the National League on the mound, the Braves countered with Bryce Elverer, who's been absolutely magnificent as of late, and the Braves got a victory. And of course, with where we are in the time of the season, none of that matters with the news that was dropped today. Kidding aside, we have an action packed episode of the Hammer Territory Podcast with you and, as always, the best podcast partner that anyone can think of for myself, Steven Tobert is here as always. Steven. Good getting to see you, sir, Hope all has been well on your end. You actually got to see your team win a college football game this weekend.

00:01:13
Speaker 2: Go ahead, Steven, Wow, that's how we're starting. Okay, all right, it's gonna be that kind of show. What's up, buddy?

00:01:23
Speaker 3: Who needs enemies when you got friends like these? Yeah, we actually got to see a win for the Braves tonight. I'm not talking about my college football team. We got to see a win tonight. Bryce Elder Pischwell, we're gonna get into all that, but unfortunately, the news of the day kind of stole the headlines. And you could probably tell if you're listening to this or watching this by the headlines that we had some pretty massive, unexpected, kind of bombshell news come out about one or two PM something like that, and it, you know, has big effects on the rest of the season, potentially on next season, potentially on the off season.

00:01:58
Speaker 2: So there's a lot to get into tonight.

00:02:01
Speaker 1: Absolutely, and we'll get jumped right into it. Of course, can't thank you enough for tuning in, watching, listening however you enjoy the hamm a Territory podcast. We cannot thank you enough for all the support part of the Foul Territory family of podcasts. And what Stephen is alluding to is that earlier this afternoon it was announced by the Braves who had made multiple roster moves, which we'll get into a bit later on the show, the specifics of the roster moves that they made, but the big news of the day concerns Sean Murphy and the fact that Sean Murphy will be out for the rest of the year and likely we'll be rehabbing for much of the off season due to a tear in his hip.

00:02:38
Speaker 2: Now.

00:02:38
Speaker 1: I can't remember if it was the labrum or something along those lines, but it's a significant injury that is actually going to require surgery later this week. That, in of itself is a significant development. That is a significant news nugget in and of itself. But adding to adding to that is how this all came about, Stephen. You know the fact that you know, Sean Murphy basically has been dealing with this for three years. He's dealt with it, he's he's gonna gone through pain management, He's dealt with others while dealing with this, and then it just got to the point, evidently over the weekend where it just came again. The word use was unbearable. But the fact is is that this has been going on for three years and the organization didn't find out about it till Sunday. That, of itself, I think it's fair to raise questions about that. So let's get into it, Stephen, what were your initial reactions and you know what questions did you formulate and come back with the answer so on? Just what were your initial thoughts when you heard all the details of this pretty significant development when it comes to Sean Murphy.

00:03:44
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean it was a bombshell.

00:03:47
Speaker 3: Of course, he's got a I think it's called a laboral tear and his hip.

00:03:52
Speaker 2: He is gonna have the surgery.

00:03:55
Speaker 3: There's different treatments if you do the surgery, and it's it ends up being a four to six month kind of recovery time, and obviously six months is where you get into spring training. So you know, when the Braves announced it today, they announced that he's gonna be ready for spring training, that felt a little optimistic to me. I'm not sure I would write that in pen just yet. I've actually talked to some people in the last few hours since this all came out that that either have had this surgery or have family that have had this surgery, and They've all said the same thing. This is a major, major surgery and it takes a long time to come back from. And so I'm not sure I would just go ahead and say full on that Sean Murphy's gonna be one hundred percent ready to go for spring training. I'm not sure that's true, but yeah, it was shocking the news dropped. And then immediately after the news drop, we found out that he's been dealing with this for three years. He told the team about it this week, but he's been dealing with it off and on for three years, which.

00:04:53
Speaker 2: Is crazy to me.

00:04:54
Speaker 3: I don't understand this culture of like trying to play hurt. You know, started with Freddy free I did start with Freddy Freeman, but kind of Freddy Freeman was the most famous case in recent history. With the Braves were like, you know, you got to be out there every day, and you can't. You can't miss time, and you gotta ignore injuries and even if you're even if you're not, you know, playing able to play to your best, you should still be out there. And I'm not a big fan of that mindset, to be honest, I think it ends up doing more hurt than good. In Shawn's case, I think it's certainly done more hurt than good. Especially listen after twenty twenty three, you know he had that amazing season. He's got a he's got a fully guaranteed contract, Like he's not playing for more money, Like, just be honest with the team that you're hurt.

00:05:42
Speaker 2: And we're talking about a hip.

00:05:43
Speaker 3: I mean, we're talking about imagine trying to hit, you know, I mean, think about how your hips fire when you're trying to swing a baseball bat or a golf club or anything athletic. Now imagine trying to hit major league pitching with a torn hip. I mean, I just don't understand why. I mean, I do understand the highly competitive people they want to be out there, but like you know, this stuff kind of drives me crazy a little bit. And I disagree with the way Sean handled it. He should have been up front from the beginning. I understand it's somewhat of a pain tolerance thing, and the pain got to the point where he just couldn't bear it anymore. But by that point you should have said something a long time ago, long time ago. So yeah, it was. It was a shock. It's a shock how long he's been dealing with it. And again with the timetable, I know they said he's gonna be ready for spring training.

00:06:31
Speaker 2: I'm not sure I would go that far just yet.

00:06:35
Speaker 1: And let's also look at it from the perspective of you know, this is now a trend with Sean Murphy. You talk about, you know, trying to hit with a with a pretty significant hip injury trying to catch as well, you know, having an injured hip while trying to catch that has got to be painful also. So the first thing I want to say is I agree with you, is that at some point along the line, this shouldn't have gone on three years without their being more knowledge known about what was happening. Especially last year. I know the Braves really didn't have, you know, a secondary option besides Travis Darnaud to come in and pair with him. But Sean Murphy has to say something, you know, and I don't. Necessarily I can't speak to how big of a culture still remains of trying to play through injuries and all that, but I will say that this organization now has a track record this season alone of questionable developments leading to significant injury concerns. You know, there was the coaching staff not being able to recognize what was going on with aj Smith Shaver. It took Spencer Striders saying something. Of course, the Acunya you know scenario in which he played, you know, with what he felt was a hurt achilles, and now this Sean Murphy development. I'm not saying as if the organization is doing something completely wrong, but there just seems to be a lack of effective level awareness of when a player is playing hurt and that has got to improve, especially with how much injuries have impacted this team over the past couple of years. That's the first thought that I want to hit on. The second thought now, is the ripple effect that this has on the off season, because now this pretty much put in place, I know that you could probably bring or you could probably still look to trade Sean Murphy if you found the right deal, but teams are going to sit there and want to pay a probably a good enough price for you to consider trading Sean Murphy with him now coming off two years of significant injuries and the fact that he has struggled at the plate outside of July of this year over the past two years. See, that's the other thing that stands out about this is that now we're going to in twenty and twenty four, twenty and twenty five, and likely twenty and twenty six, and each of those in the past three years, Sean Murphy will have started the season on the IL. I imagine that's how he's going to start twenty twenty six. So not only does this impact potentially your off season plans because now Sean Murphy doesn't become a trade asset, he likely is going to be with the team. You also are probably going to have to figure out your catching position behind Drake Baldwin to start next year. So in multiple ways, it has a significant impact and unexpected impact on next year's plans.

00:09:17
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's just uncertainty.

00:09:19
Speaker 3: And you know, for such a large part of the season, one of the only things the Braves had going for them was like their catcher position was.

00:09:27
Speaker 2: One of the best in baseball.

00:09:28
Speaker 3: I mean, there was a big chunk of the early part of the season really, probably the first three or four months, where Baldwin and Murphy were arguably the best catching tandem and baseball, and that's one of the few things the Braves could kind of count on. And now you go into the offseason and you already have uncertainty at so many other places, especially the rotation, where you know, it's probably the most significant level of uncertainty and most impactful in terms of its you know, how it can change an entire season, you have uncertainty in the bullpen. You still have a uncertainty with your offense, you know, and now you've got you know, what was originally one of your better you know, positional setups with Baldwoo Murphy. Now that's uncertain because you don't know what Murphy's gonna be doing next year. You don't know how long he's gonna be, you don't know how his rehab's gonna go. If you had any inclination of trading him in the offseason, that's pretty much out the window. I mean, the Braves still o Murphy. I think fifty million dollars, forty five, fifty million dollars something like that. I think he's got three years at fifteen million dollars a year, and then I think he's got to buy out.

00:10:38
Speaker 2: It's a it's a chunk of money.

00:10:39
Speaker 3: So a team's not just gonna, like, you know, gladly trade for that contract right now, not knowing you know, ay, how how long Murphy's gonna be hurt and be what he's gonna look like on the other side of it.

00:10:51
Speaker 2: So, yeah, it is more uncertainty.

00:10:53
Speaker 3: And it's just another it's another thing that this team kind of has to weather, and this offseason is gonna be fascinating, Sean, I mean, this offseason is just gonna be so damn fast. I don't I mean, they've got so much uncertainty at players, with players that are locked into contracts. I genuinely don't know what they're gonna I don't know if they can afford to just go into next season with all of these guys under contract and just hope that the majority of them work out next year. That just seems like a incredibly low probability thing to happen. So, man, what a fascinating off season the brands are in store for.

00:11:40
Speaker 1: Yeah, because, I mean we've already seen it not work out, right, it has not worked out over the past two years, and we're now really getting into the point of where these contracts now are getting more expensive raises to players like Spencer Strider and others as well. And don't get me wrong, if it does work out, you've got a World Series contender on you hands. Let's make that clear. The outcome of this in a positive aspects, which still is a very it is a very relevant outcome. It's a very realistic outcome. You could still have a World Series contender on your hands. But I do agree with you, Stephen. We now have more uncertainty than we had anticipated going into this off season on top of the fact that we've had two straight seasons where it's not worked out anywhere close to where we had hoped. One other final thing that I do want to speak to again talking about how this development could impact the rest of this season as well as the off season. One big thing that this does do is it's going to allow for Drake Baldwin to really take over that catcher spot and basically play every day. But the thing that I will say is this is that when we talk about the fact that this team is going to probably have both Murphy as well as Baldwin next year, I'm not to the point I haven't seen enough where I clearly am for the catcher DH approach where one d is one catches going into next season. So when I talk about how this impacts the off season, not only are you potentially going to have to find added catcher depth to start the season, but you also potentially are going to, if it's not Marcello Zuna, find another bat to take on that dhroll or potentially fill another position and keep that dhroll as an open door to where maybe Ronald or Jerks and or the one of the two catchers dhs. That's what we mean when we say it's just adding more questions to an off season that already had plenty of them to deal with.

00:13:34
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's a good point. I mean, the catching position is directly tied to the DH position, and the DH position is directly tied to what you do with Ronald and what you do with Profar, and like what's free agents you go after, and so like, Yeah, and I don't know, you know, I don't know how interested they've ever been in the whole one guy catches the other guy is the DH scenario. Anyways, that's just stuff we speculated back when both catchers were hitting really well. It's kind of been a long time since both catchers hit really well though, to be honest, So I don't know if that was ever a realistic option for them.

00:14:11
Speaker 2: Anyways.

00:14:12
Speaker 3: They might have always set out to go get a DH, or go get an outfielder and let Ronald and Profar and you know, new outfielder and the catchers and let them all rotate DH, which is without knowing specific names, is probably the way I would lean, But.

00:14:33
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I mean you're one hundred percent right.

00:14:35
Speaker 3: The catching position impacts all of that because obviously you have Baldwin and Murphy, and now you're probably almost certainly gonna have Murphy next year, so you know, if they were planning on that, they probably have to adjust those plans. So it is just one more thing to account for. And Alex, I mean, they're adding up for Alex the number of things he has to account for this winner, and you know the number of things that are gonna have to go well for the braves and spring and summer next year, so this thing doesn't go off the rails again like it has in twenty twenty five.

00:15:07
Speaker 1: The thing I'll end with as far as this scenario goes, and you're right about the idea of perhaps the going to get another outfielder and then then rotating now the DH spot, you know that the reported interest in Byron Buxton is an example of that, though I'm not sure how you know, Haw So I'm Kim, and his salary being around next year impacts it. Again, just more questions, more questions. We've got plenty of time to discuss that, but I do want to end with this note, as many questions potentially are added to the off season from this development, there's again one outcome that is very much on the table to where a lot of these questions could become less significant, and that is Sean Murphy becoming a healthy Sean Murphy once again and showing at times what he did in the first half of twenty twenty three and also about six weeks ago that Sean Murphy still could really show up next year for the Braves and that can make him an asset once again. But getting to that point, that journey to that destination is once again going to be a rocky one, and I know this organization is tired of such journeys. But that was just one part of the news that was revealed today. Will have plenty more to discuss in a moment after a word from our partners.

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00:17:19
Speaker 1: So Steve and the other News of the day. We actually talked about it on the last edition of the Habit Territory podcast that You and I did. We discussed how another maybe not so much talked about storyline is how is this coaching staff going to evolve as the off season goes on? If Brian Snicker were to step aside, what does that mean for the rest of his coaching staff? So on and so forth. And by the way, all this news is coming from the fact that Alex and Thopless he actually had a Q and A he spoke with the media today, So that's why we have multiple significant storylines to discuss. But the thought with Brian Snicker, the conversation was around, well, you know, as there been any thought, has there been any updates on his future with the squad? And we did really get like a definitive answer, But Steven, it certainly seemed like the way that Alex was talking, any anticipation that's been there that Snicker could you know, potentially retire and you know, move on to another role with the Braves, that very much seems to be like a realistic possibility. That's kind of what Alex and THOPLSS spoke to, how he always have a place with the Braves. Any decision about when he wants to make a decision, whether it come early come later on the off season, that's up to him. One thing I do think is that the Braves would want to get undefenditive and definitive answer as early in the off season as possible. But I came away from Alex's comments about Brian Snicker being the fact that I think this organization is preparing for a change at the manager spot in this offseason.

00:18:45
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, he did not say it outright. He gave a pretty wishy washed the answer, which is is what Alex does. But anytime you start hearing, you know, a front office guy talking about a manager like retrospectively, like he's all going to be a part of the organization and he's always got a place here. Anytime you start hearing stuff like that about a guy who's still on the job, he's not gonna be on the job for long, Like you don't talk about that. You don't talk about like that about a guy who just signed a three year contract extension.

00:19:16
Speaker 2: You talk about you know, you.

00:19:18
Speaker 3: Talk about that's something you talk about when the guy's in the last month of his coaching career most likely.

00:19:27
Speaker 2: And yeah, I I I.

00:19:29
Speaker 3: The way I see it playing out is I think somewhere around the last day of the season, maybe the last day of the season, Snit will announce that he's retiring. There is not a single person in baseball, not a single person that we've talked to in front of the camera, behind the camera, on the record, off the record, not a single person we've talked to that thinks Brian Snitcher is going to manage next year. And listen, if the Braves wanted to truly like get rid of this, you know this, these questions, they could announce that he's signing a contract extension at any point, and could have done that at any point in the last year, two years, three years, and they haven't done that. They you know, I don't know if they haven't put in a contract extension in front of Snit because they don't have any interest, or they have put one in front of him and he hasn't taken it because he doesn't have any interest, or a combination of both.

00:20:19
Speaker 2: Whatever it is.

00:20:21
Speaker 3: The tea leaves point to a one very clear direction, and that is enjoy If you are somebody who loves Brian Snicker, enjoys his managing, enjoys watching him being the manager of the Braves. I suggest you pay attention strongly over the next two and a half three weeks because it is almost certainly coming to an end once we get to October, and certainly once we get into twenty twenty six.

00:20:47
Speaker 1: And it's time, right like like, it's clearly time. Brian Snicker he won his eight hundredth victory with the Braves tonight, and about all means. I want to make this clear. The two separate truths can certainly exist in the same time in most cases, and that is the case with Brian Snicker. On one hand, this is the second best Braves manager in franchise history over the past one hundred years. That's just absolutely the truth. He's got the second most winning that time for him since Bobby Cox. He has been our leader through probably the second most successful stretch of success in Braves franchise history outside of what happened in the nineties in two thousands. He is a wonderful person, both in terms of being a baseball person and a person in general, beloved across the game. He deserves all the praise, all just anything positive that goes Brian Snicker's way. He deserves it. But there's also just the simple truth that the instances of you just watching the Braves and seeing decisions that are made. And I'm not saying that, you know, I can only speak for myself. I'm not suggesting I know more about the game than Brian Snicker. As many have said, he's forgotten more than I'll ever know, but I do field. That's pretty clear that there's more instances where you're left thinking why did he do that? Where was the value added in that decision? Than thinking, Wow, he really put us in a position to succeed there. The Braves need a new voice at the helm of the squad that's going to put them in a position to where they can succeed more. And that's why I think Brian Snicker's time has simply run its course. It happens with every manager, with every organization. Love Brian Snicker. He's been tremendous, but the time is right for this to occur, for the Braves to get a new voice at the head of the squad.

00:22:33
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was thinking about this.

00:22:35
Speaker 3: So if you're a college basketball fan, you'll know the name Buzz Williams, who is the Texas A and M coach, and he just left to become the coach at Maryland, I think is where he went. And he had a really interesting take on it. He said, after about five six years, your voice just kind of gets stille and it's time to move on. And if you look at his track record throughout his career, he's always done that.

00:23:03
Speaker 2: Marquette, Texas A and M. You know, after about five or.

00:23:06
Speaker 3: Six years he leaves because he's he just feels like it can only end badly if you stay too long. And with snit, I don't It's never been just one thing like It's not like one egregious thing that happened. It's not like anybody puts the twenty twenty five season at the feet of Brian snick Er. No one blames him for what's happened this year, but it's just time for something new. It's just gotten a bit stale. And I think that I find that to be the case with not only the manager, but also in some ways the roster. Like I think the roster needs a shake up. I think the coaching staff needs to shake up. I think the front office needs to shake up. Not a major one at the top. I'm not talking about alex Adopolis, but I'm just talking about.

00:23:49
Speaker 2: They need some new blood, they need some new life, they need some new ideas they need. It has just gotten stale. And that's no one's fault.

00:23:58
Speaker 3: It's you know, the old saying is familiarity breeds content. Like just the more you're around the same group of people year in, year in, year in, year in year out, you know, it just gets stale.

00:24:10
Speaker 2: And and I just think it's time.

00:24:11
Speaker 3: And Snicker's also been in you know, he's been in around in the organization for fifty years. I mean, I'm sure the guy would like to go spend some time with grandkids and you know, not have to worry about the nonsense that we talk about on a daily basis, and not have to worry about knuckleheads like us talking about the stuff that you know, he has to worry about on a daily basis.

00:24:28
Speaker 2: I'm sure he's got much better shit to do.

00:24:30
Speaker 3: So I I do fully expect this to be the last month of Brian Snicker's you know, coaching career with the Braves or any any team.

00:24:41
Speaker 2: I think he'll stay in the organization.

00:24:42
Speaker 3: He'll get some sort of you know, a Maritas, you know, lifelong position in the front office where he can come to spring training anytime he wants, very much like Bobby, you know, he can do. You know, he's got a lifetime pass to be around the team as much as he wants. I just don't think he's going to be the manager. And that is going to kick off. Another fascinating part of this all season is who is going to be the next manager of the Braves and then what does their coaching staff behind them look like? Because those are massive questions as well, just another massive, massive piece of what is going to be a massive, massive offseason for the Braves.

00:25:21
Speaker 1: Muted buddy, everybody has in their mind that you know, when it comes to you know, that window of opportunity, that window of competing, and the Braves have had an extended when the Braves run of being a true contender. It's not over with in my mind by any means, but it's been going on for nearly a decade. You know, we're coming up on you know, I know they're not going to make the playoffs this year, but it lasted for seven years. That's an extended period of time for an organization. And while everybody kind of envisions going up a little bit, going up a little bit, going up a little bit each year till you have that two or three year window too, you really are a World Series favorite. The Braves kind of peaked early in twenty twenty one, and ever since then it's just kind of gone restly downhill, Troubling the playoffs, trouble being able to stay healthy, offense falling off a cliff last year, and then this year, everything just kind of all falling to bottom at times. When you have that occur over as long as stretch as we've had it, which basically is four years now since we won the World Series, it's time that the staying with the current regime it's run stale. Just having something new in and of itself can have value. So it's going to be very interesting to see what the Braves do on that end. One other small but significant discussion that Alex and Poplus talked about was he talked about rys Cela Iglesias and how good Ryce sel Iglesias has been in the second half of the year. Very much. You know, Iglesias has been to the level that he was all of last year in terms of how successful he's been on the mound and Alex and Thopolas was asked about the fact that you have any regrets about not trading Iglesias at the trade deadline, and Alex basically repeated what he said at the trade deadline. We were not going to trade players just for salary relief. We were only going to trade players if we were able to get prospects to help us in the future. Now, I mentioned to Brad Steven when we were talking about the Hassan Kim. Addition, we've now also had a Jake Frayley, Kim, Alexis Diaz, players who formerly were successful major league players who could potentially be a part of next year's team. How the Braves have been active on the waiver wire has made me be less concern about their inactiveness at the trade deadline. But I do think that it's very interesting when it comes to Alex and Thoppless. He's not going to make a move for salary relief. That I don't want to read too much into, but at the very least, it lets me know that money may not necessarily be as big of a concern as many of us think that it is. Number one, and number two, he values continuity, in terms of players that he knows he could be successful here, he would rather than be here than them not. And I think that adds value in a positive way for this team that certainly seems to value continuity highly.

00:28:05
Speaker 3: I imagine there are the people that are kicking themselves about not adding iglesias, are the other teams more than and Dopless is kicking himself about not dealing them. I mean, the offers you get are the offers you get. Like you, you know, you have no control over what offers you get. Now, I will say I think the Braves. I think one reason the Braves didn't get the offers that they wanted to get was because the Braves were not willing to pay down the contracts. I have not been able to confirm that at any point, but I do believe that's the case, where they just weren't willing, and I think that impacted the offers they got. And I think that's why anytime Alex is talking about it, has talked about those potential deals, he's always said the same thing, which is the only thing teams were offering were salary relief, which means he was asking them to take on the full salary and I think that did impact both of those guys market but Litten and if I'm a playoff team, I'm pretty pissed at myself if especially if I've had bullpinch, you know, disruption since the trade deadline.

00:29:11
Speaker 2: I knew it. I mean, Glacias has just got such.

00:29:13
Speaker 3: A long track record of success and at the highest levels of this game, in in the ninth inning and high leverage like and there's just not a lot of those guys out there available at any trade deadline. And the fact that no one was interested for seven million bucks or whatever he was. I think it was like six million bucks actually for whatever he had left on his deal for the last two months of the season.

00:29:35
Speaker 2: It's still very surprising to me.

00:29:36
Speaker 3: And I mean, there's nothing you can do about it now, you know, I hate that the Braves are spending this six million dollars just letting Iglacias pitch on a bad team. I would have much other than spent it by sending it to another team so that they would have sent us some prospects, but that's not the way they chose to go. So, you know, it is what it is. There's nothing the Braves can do about it. But I guarantee you there are teams around the league that are are looking being back on the trade deadline, wishing they would have been a little more aggressive on Aglecias, especially given the state of some of the bullpens around baseball at the moment.

00:30:09
Speaker 1: And to be honest with you, I would love to have Iglecias back, but that's kind of another byproduct for all of this. With how good he's had is at the end of the season, I imagine that you know, he certainly could be looking, you know, to have a closer spot somewhere, and if that's for us, that's great, but it's not off the table to where he certainly can give him the multi year deal where he's making double digit salary each year. Excuse me, you know, more than ten million average annual value. I don't necessarily know where that works into the brace fan it plans it would be cheaper, But let me put it this way, rycell Iglesias, I would be more than happy to have him back, even in the closed role, with how well he's into the season. But that's kind of lower on the totem poll after all the other things that we've talked about that add to what again is going to be a fascinating season or off season for the Braves. But there's still a little bit of this season left, and there still is some excite moments to be able to watch, and perhaps the most exciting moment will take place tomorrow in Game two of the series against the Cubs. We'll discuss that in just a moment after another word from our partners.

00:31:10
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00:31:33
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00:31:47
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00:32:11
Speaker 1: So Stephen, of course, you know we we have talked about it nearly on a weekly basis, and it's for good reason, because it's actually become a bigger storyline than many of us had hoped. But it still remains one that could really work out well for the Braves. We talk about certainty added to the off season, having an extra pick to work with and adding to our slot total. There are our money total that we could use and what should be a very deep draft next year. That would be a great development and all that. Of course rids on Drake Baldwin winning Rookie of the Year. And I bring that up because Drake Baldwin right now is actually second. You know me and you have talked about it multiple times over the past month. Where the odds are currently currently, Cade Horton of the Cubs is a slight favorite ahead of Drake Baldwin. And the thing is is that tomorrow they'll be facing each other for the second time in a week. Cad Horten will be on the mound. He pitched last week against the Braves through five excellent innings against Atlanta. He'll be on the mound tomorrow for the Cubs. Drake Baldwin, of course, now likely will be playing mostly every day when it comes to what he did another you know, great night tonight or at least in his first at bat, A really awesome opportunity for Braves fans to witness tomorrow. And you're hoping that if Drake Baldwin can put another hot streak together, he'll be able to win the Rookie of the Year award and get that extra draft pick for the Braves.

00:33:32
Speaker 3: Yep, Cad Horton versus Drake Baldwin Part two. Obviously, the Braid has just played the Cubs last week, so and KD. Horton came out and threw he actually threw a no hitter for the first five innings, got pulled at seventy five pitches. That is notable that you know, you probably should keep that in mind that he is on a pretty strict pitch count. The Cubs are not playing around with his pitch count at all. So and I don't know if it'll be seventy five pitches like it was last week, or if it'd be more or less.

00:33:59
Speaker 2: But you know, if you're the Braves, you have.

00:34:02
Speaker 3: To know, like, if you work this guy's count a little bit in the first three or four innings, you have a very good chance of getting him out of the game. And they're not gonna let him throw ninety one hundred, one hundred and ten pitches. They've shown that, so you know, the Braves have been much better taking walks. Let's have a patient approach tomorrow, maybe try to get this kid out. He's very talented, Like you said, he is the front runner for Rookie of.

00:34:24
Speaker 2: The Year right now.

00:34:26
Speaker 3: He's just pitched insanely well. And the Cubs are a better team than the Braves, and so the Cubs are playing in more high impact games than the Braves, and you know, Drake's just got to be that much better. When you're on a bad team. You know, is that fair? Probably not, but that's just the way it is. He's got to be that much better. And you know, I do think if the voting were today, you know, just because of the Vegas odds doesn't mean it's written in stone. Like if the voting were today, Drake Baldock would still very much win. I think Kate Horton would win. But I could be wrong. He could be the leader in the clubhouse for all we know. You know, we're not gonna know until the voting.

00:35:05
Speaker 6: But.

00:35:07
Speaker 3: Days like tomorrow that you know, his teammates could really help him out by putting an eight spot on Kate Horton in the first three innings and Drake going you know, three for three with a couple of doubles. You know, anything like that will help his cause because it is a neck and neck. I mean, even if you think Drake Baldwin is ahead right now, it is not by much.

00:35:26
Speaker 2: It is a tight race.

00:35:29
Speaker 3: And you know, we've already laid out multiple times on the show why it matters for the Braves that Drake Baldwin wins this award. So tomorrow's a big kind of chapter of that story. Is is Horton Versus Baldwin Part two.

00:35:43
Speaker 1: And the other thing I want to add to this discussion is that, yes, the draft pick coming with Drake Baldwin, we make it seem as if that's even more important than Drake Baldwin himself winning Rookie of the Year, and yet it's a what it means a lot to the organization. It would be a nice little consolation prize from what we've experienced this year. But to add to the reason why I think Drake Baldwin deserves it over Kate Horton, Drake Baldwin has been doing this all year as a catcher, playing not every day, but he's played in big moments and is delivered in big moments. And to me, the other thing that stands out about Drake Baldwin, He's in his rookie year. He's been consistent for the most part all season long, and his numbers, his underlying numbers, those metrics that we always talk about, they support what he's done. They show that what he's done is legitimate. He may even be underperforming a bit what he actually should be doing. So for those reasons, I feel Drake Baldwin is definitely in position to win and deserves to win the Rookie of the Year contest. It likely is going to take another hot streak and hopefully that occurs starting tomorrow night against Horton directly. Also want to talk about tonight's game, Stephen, because it was a good victory. The Braves got a needed victory. Much like Friday night. They faced a quality picture on the mound, a team that's in position to make the playoffs, and they look like they belonged. Ozzie Albi's went deep with another left handed hitter again. I know many are pointing out that how he's hitting against right hand how he's hitting right handed against left handed pitching, That may be the most positive indicator of all We're getting back to Ozzie being Ozzie. But I also want to put the spotlight on Bryce Selder, who gets some pretty legitimate competition, has been absolutely outstanding his past four starts. I don't think that means he gets a rotation spot next year. I don't think it means anything significant. But when we talk about as many Braves as possible ending the year in as good a way as possible, Bryce Elder is certainly taking advantage of that. He was in command tonight, and he got the job done against a pretty legitimate opponent.

00:37:46
Speaker 3: I'm not sure there is any pitcher in baseball with a higher range of outcomes than Bryce Elder. I quite literally, anything could happen in a Bryce Elder start, and I would kind of believe it.

00:37:57
Speaker 2: I'd be like, yeah, that's know.

00:38:00
Speaker 3: He could give up nine runs before recording it out, he could throw a one hitter and anything in between, and I'd be like, yeah, I mean that makes sense. The dude is there's not a soul on the planet that can figure out what Bryce Selder is or what he's gonna do next, because we've seen him go on heaters, we've seen him go on i mean just fall off a mountain, and tonight he was really good. He's been really good, like four starts in a row, three or four starts in a row. It gets really good teams. So I don't know what to make of it. I don't think the Braves know what to make of it. I don't think Bryce Selder knows what to make I'm guessing he's as confused as the rest of us as to what happens on a night to night start for him. But he pitched well tonight, and the offense did enough. You know, you still got a Cunya batting six, which we're not going to get. The whole thing tonight still annoys me, but it is what it is at this point. You know, Brian Snicker clearly thinks it's a way to get him out of his funk.

00:38:57
Speaker 2: Whatever.

00:38:58
Speaker 3: The offense did enough. Olsen hit another homer. Matt Olsen is heating back up.

00:39:03
Speaker 2: He had a really slow August. He's heating back up. Ronnie did break his over streak, he did have an RBS single tonight.

00:39:10
Speaker 3: Drake Baldwin at a double, Ozzie Albis hid another homer, so you know, it was a good start. We're gonna talk about Spitzer Strider here in a second in the show, but yeah, the offense did enough. We need the office to be more consistent. It would be lovely to see Ronnie come all the way back before the season ends. But Bryce elder Man, I don't know, I have no answers I have I don't even know. I don't even I don't even know how to begin to give an answer about Bryce elder Just every single start, anything can happen, and in a lot of ways that makes him the most interesting man on the team. Literally, any outcome on any given night is attainable for him, and it's it's wild.

00:39:50
Speaker 2: It's wild to watch, quite honestly.

00:39:53
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a year of riddles, right, Like we talked about, this has been one big question mark all year, and the Braves had just come out the last three weeks of the season and just wear a question mark on their hats. That's what they should do, because that's been one big question mark. But after all of today's action, Steam, after all of today's news, all today's action, and then again, it's been a mixed bag of positive and negative, but at least it ended well on the field. The biggest question of all and I think this may be of the season. The hell happened to Spencer Strider's mustache? Seriously, it's just it's different. Listen. I'm here for change, I'm here for trying something new. But the man looked like he could well bass against anybody with that mustache, and I'm sure that he still can, but it's just it's a different look. He looks ten years younger. That that stash was like one of the it was like one of the biggest, like the most identifying features in Baseball Strider's stash. When you saw that, it struck feet and hitters everywhere. Just I miss the stash.

00:41:07
Speaker 2: I'll tell you this. That mustache. I don't know what it is about it.

00:41:14
Speaker 3: Maybe it's because he's got a really really dark hair, maybe it's because it's like jet black.

00:41:18
Speaker 2: But it like changes his whole face.

00:41:21
Speaker 3: Like if Spencer Strider committed a crime with the mustache and then shaved and was like on the run the rest of his life, he would never be caught because that looks like two different human beings. Like I thought that was like Pete Alonzo's son, Like they he looks exactly like Pete alons It's the weirdest thing I've ever seen. Yeah, you know they shot him in the dugout. It's like he's playing out like the whole Major League Ricky Vaughan storyline, except it's with the instead of a mustache, that's with the black glasses that Ricky Vaughan had. You know, he took him off for the second one and he lost all his powers, and he put him back on at the end. Maybe we'll see the mustache return next. I don't know it was I mean it was. It was weird as hell. I mean he really he looked twelve. He looked like a ball boy, said, I made the joke. He looked like Bennie the Jet Rodriguez was about to teach him how to throw a baseball. That's I mean, he it's crazy how much that mustache like changes his face. So yeah, I mean he's kind of having one of those years where, like, you know, it's like a high school girl who breaks up with her boyfriend and cuts all her hair off. Like he's having like that kind of you know, existential crisis kind of year where he's like, you know what, screw it, nothing else is going right this year.

00:42:33
Speaker 2: We're going with a new look.

00:42:35
Speaker 3: And there were, honest to god, people were as mad about that as anything that's happened.

00:42:40
Speaker 2: All year long.

00:42:43
Speaker 3: People love that mustache. That mustache had its own Twitter. I had multiple Twitter accounts. It's got to I mean, it's its own celebrity at this point. So it was a shocking, shocking turn of events.

00:42:56
Speaker 1: I'm still in shocked. Yeah, kill me, Strider, You're killing me. Just don't make it. Foreverse even did there did. I picked up all that I had to give it a little sand lot, you know, shout outs now, Listen, I'm I don't ever think this will get back to Spencer Strider, but if anybody ever expresses to Spencer Strider our reactions to him being without his mustache, I want to make it clear if he ever asked directly, it looks absolutely fantastic, best decision he's ever made. Keep it that way if he prefers. All joking aside, we want to end the show on a bit of a hilarious note, because listen, we deserve a bit of hilarious in our lives right now as Braves fans. But it was a change, and it's one of those changes that you're just not prepared for. Man, even if I would have gotten a week's notice, I still would not have been prepared for it. But you know, hey, at the very least, let's put it this way, the end of the season for the Braves, I think has been a bit more eventful than any of us had anticipated. Maybe not necessarily all in a positive way, but at the very least has been eventful. Stephen, do you have anything else for us as we wrap up this edition the Hammer Territory Podcast.

00:44:05
Speaker 3: No, And I guess we should mention that obviously. We talked about Kate Horton pitching for the Cub tomorrow. Tomorrow, Spencer Strider pitches for the Braves, and then Chris Sale is on Wednesday, day off Thursday, and then the Astroals come to town. So you're gonna you're gonna get another Spencer Strider started to mark. Striders start tomorrow. Just another data point to watch. I'm curious to see, you know. The outing he had against I think Miami was decent. The next one not quite as good. They've pushed him back.

00:44:36
Speaker 2: A couple of days. There was some speculation on whether he was hurt. I don't think he's hurt.

00:44:41
Speaker 3: So it's just gonna be just see what he looks like tomorrow, and that's gonna be the big thing. And then we moved, you know to Chris Sale, and then the Astronals come to town for the weekend.

00:44:49
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, and it looks like that what we could be seeing, what we could be lining up to see is over the next three games. You know, we talked about it last week. The Braves are gonna get the opportunity to really see where they It didn't work out so well against Seattle. But see where some of these individual players stand. You know, again, more about the process over the result. Right now, See where there's some of these individual players stand. You've got Spencer Strider facing the Cubs for a second straight start, a playoff team they saw him last start. What can he do adjustment wise to maintain success at least in terms of run prevention. You got Chris Sale on the mount tomorrow against the Cubs and then Hirston Waldrip on the mount against the Astros on Friday. So plenty to watch board this week, of course, going along with Drake Baldwin hopefully having a great week. Listen, Ken, thank you enough for joining us here on the Hammer Territory podcast. We're always here to cover with the braves, always here to deliver content, hopefully in a fun and informative way, sometimes in a not so fun way if a rant or two is involved, though a lot of times it's certainly warranted. For Steven Tolver, you could find him at b Underscore Outliers on Twitter, slash x. My name is Sean Coleman. You could find me at Stat's sac Hammer Terroritory across all forms of social media, The Foul Territory family of podcast. Shout out to Brad Rowlands, shout out to Scott Coleman, shout out to Grant McCauley who was an awesome guest on Sunday, and shout out to the Braves. A hell of a day off the field and on the field. Hopefully Sean Murphy comes back better than ever. Until next time, Go Braves. We'll talk to you again soon here on the Hammer Territory Pot