Atlanta Braves Roster Takes Shape As Opening Day Looms

00:00:21
Speaker 1: Hello, everyone, Welcome back to the Hemorate Territory Podcast. This episode three four nine. My name is Brad Rowland, coming to you on a Sunday. We're getting closer and closer to Atlanta Braves baseball. It is Opening week and I'm joined, as almost always by Scott Coleman. Scott, how are you in the midst of March madness.

00:00:39
Speaker 2: Brad, I am doing well. It is always good to see you, and we have made it. This was a long off season now. It felt like November and December went pretty fast, probably because the Braves were very active in those months.

00:00:52
Speaker 3: But man alive.

00:00:53
Speaker 2: I mean, I think the Brave signed Tyler Kinley like a week into the new year, and it has been either very quiet or all bad news for the Atlanta Braves since then. But we have finally made it. It is Opening week. Baseball officially begins on Wednesday of this week and the Braves get going on Friday. It's a good time to be a Braves fan.

00:01:12
Speaker 3: It really is.

00:01:13
Speaker 1: And within the next five days, as we're recording this, four days we're listening to it, the Braves will have a game that counts and Scott, because it's finally opening week, let us mix it up, engineered by Fastenal all right, Scott, we have gotten some information we were kind of waiting for and knew it was going to happen eventually, and stuff like opening day starter, stuff like probables for the first series of the season, and one of them was not surprise. Let's just say Chris Saale as the opening day starter was always going to happen unless he was unavailable to pitch, but that was made official this week and it's his seventh time ever doing this. He has been He's already a kind of French Hall of Fame player and he's remarkable. So so it's like a warm blanket to have Chris Sale on the mound on Friday, at least for me, I feel pretty good about that. Everything after that we'll see. But Chris Sale being the opening day starter is encouraging and now.

00:02:09
Speaker 2: Official, we will see I think is the official motto of the Atlanta Braves starting rotation for twenty twenty six.

00:02:17
Speaker 3: We will see.

00:02:18
Speaker 2: But as long as Chris Sale is healthy, we know this guy is going to be fantastic on the mound, and we saw it last year, I mean, after winning Cy Young in twenty twenty four. I think if Chris doesn't lay out and die for that baseball against the Mets and doesn't break his ribs, he might have won Cy Young in back to back years. And God willing, let's hope for another thirty starts and one hundred and ninety innings from Sale this year. It sure feels like the Braves are going to need him to stay healthy if they have any chance at staying atop the NL East and making a deep run into the postseason. And that's going to start on Friday, and a great recognition, a great honor for a very likely future Hall of Famer in Chris Sale. I believe they said it's his seventh Opening Days side, which is really impressive, just the longevity of his career, and hopefully Sales able to go out there against a pretty decent Kansas City Royals team and give the Braves some good innings and let's get a win and get this season on a better foot.

00:03:12
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think you're right.

00:03:13
Speaker 1: And then oftentimes I think because of all the things that as you lud to earlier, have kind of gone wrong in recent months, weeks, et cetera, for the Braves, it's almost not overlooked that Chris Sale has been so good. But he has been like full stop, a top five pitcher in baseball, and probably even better than that since the moment joined the Braves. We're talking about a guy with a two point four to six ERA with the Braves, a two point three three FIP with the Braves, which is even arkably more impressive than the ra He's been just ridiculous when he's been out there and uh, knocking all the wood, I suppose, But Chris Sale I feel very very good about. On Friday night, when the Braves actually get going in earnest, the rest of the first weekend against the aforementioned Kansas City Royals will be filled by, at least for now, the probables, and probable is an important word because probable does not mean definite, and that.

00:04:00
Speaker 3: Would be the case all season long. The Braves.

00:04:02
Speaker 1: Other teams announce they're probable starters, they're not definite starters. But as of today Sunday, as we record this, we're on a Lopez is going to get the ball in Game two for the Braves on Saturday, especially Trader will have the ball in Game three for the Braves on Sunday, of note, as the recorders on Sunday, Renaldo's velocity was let's just say, not encouraging in his final spring training outing. It drew a lot of attention and the way that you don't want to draw attention at the end of spring. I am unaware of any postgame comments and I've been looking. Of course, we're not in Florida, so we were not there on site, and I'm pretty good I feel like at media monitoring. I don't know if anybody was there of the beat guys that we talked to Ronaldo post start. But what did you make from afar seeing the numbers, seeing the outing? Are you as afraid as some Braves fans are right now? Seeing that Ronalvo was sitting like, you know, eight eighty nine with this fastball, not what you want to see in late.

00:04:58
Speaker 2: March, No, you want to see for a guy who is making his final tune up of the spring training session and across the board when all those velocity was down. Now, I will say it was interesting. So on one hand, the fact that Ronaldo's vilo was way down is obviously a concern, Like, no matter what the circumstance or situation, if your fastball is down five to six miles an hour. That is never an encouraging sign. That being said, the Braves had Ronaldo throw eighty pitches on the dot on Sunday afternoon, and the Braves aren't. It's not like they don't have access to the radar gun readings in the dugout. So if you want to try to be positive and optimistic, maybe there was some like, hey, Ronaldo, get your work in, but go like seventy five percent out there. We don't need you wearing yourself down before a start in six days from now. But I mean, I can't sit here in good conscious and spin this as a positive as well. Actually, it's a good thing. Your second starter of the year is throwing way softer than he usually does, especially a year removed from a shoulder surgery that cost him basically the entire year. Yeah, I was gonna say, I mess every thing about this. It'd be one thing if he was coming off of a healthy season or a healthy winter and all systems go, but he famously just hasn't really pitched in a year and a half. I mean, he threw one game last season early in the year and that was it. So we'll see, but I'm with you, Like striking out one out of nineteen batters is also concerning like in a different way.

00:06:31
Speaker 1: It's they're related. Obviously, it's a lot hard to miss bats when you're throwing eighty nine as opposed to ninety five. But I was already a little bit wary of Ronaldo not totally out or anything. But I would love to hear an explanation if it was spin and we're not going to do that, you and I we just agreed to that on this podcast. I would love to hear someone from the Braves say we didn't want all Over to throw hard in his last outing. And unless we hear that, and I haven't seen it yet as we record this, I am a little bit afraid. And look, I'm not predicting this to happen, but it would no longer surprise me if we got a Ronaldo hits the il announcement between now and Saturday. I mean, maybe he won't, but I you know, when you see I'm kind of training maybe this is a bad thing. Maybe I'm trying to be being overreactionary, and I'm using the word might on purpose. I'm not saying it's gonna happen. But I'm just kind of trained to say, Hey, if a guy is six miles an hour down in his fastball, I'm like, all right, it is he heard or what's going on? And yeah, there's an oor in there, But there's also the other side of the ore, you know what I mean?

00:07:33
Speaker 2: Definitely, and let's cross our fingers and hope for the best with Ronaldo. And if he does make that scheduled start on Saturday, you can bet that every single eyeball at Truest Park is going to be on that radar gun. And if these mid nineties, I don't think anyone's gonna be concerned because that's a great sign. And maybe this was a hey, get your work in, but don't exude yourself. Let's just throw eighty pitches and we'll move on to the regular season. But that also just feels, i mean, borderline foolish to me. We'll time stamp it again. It's about seven o'clock Eastern on Sunday night here as we were recording, So maybe there's new news that comes out in the next day or so as folks are listening, but yeah, whenever, as word was making its way around Braves Twitter on Sunday that Ronaldo was throwing five to seven miles an hour less than what he usually does. I mean, everybody was concerned and we'll we'll just help Brad shoulder injuries or a scary thing for pictures, and this was the absolute last thing anybody wanted to see less than a week away from opening day, right, and just to head.

00:08:39
Speaker 1: This off, you know, earlier in the month, we did a segment or two about Strider's velocity being down, and that was the difference between those two things with in my view, and you don't have to agree with me, Scott, but was that that was early in the spring, and it's a more natural progression to say a guy's ramping up and Spencer very immediately after was like, I was not trying to throw max effort in this start, and look, you don't have to be excited about that, and I don't think we were, but at least there was an explanation it was still early. What the most troubling part about this for me was it was the last outing of spring. And you're right, maybe maybe it is a situation where they wanted him to keep it kind of take it easy, But what's the point of throwing eighty pitches if you're not throwing your normal heady pitches, you know what I mean? Like, that's kind of my mindset. Look, I'm not an expert on pitching mechanics or pitching injuries or dry just crazy, but it's kind of counter into it to me. It's like, Okay, we want it, we want you to hit a benchmark of pitches. Cool, if you're not throwing the way you're gonna throw it a major league game, what does it actually give you other than eighty pitches to look at?

00:09:41
Speaker 3: I guess I don't know.

00:09:42
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, I mean there's been I guess if you're looking for positives on the pitching side, Chris Sale looks great, Diddy or Fuentes, who we're going to talk about, looks great, and it's going to be on the opening day roster.

00:09:54
Speaker 3: JR.

00:09:54
Speaker 2: Ritchie had a good spring, and Grant Holmes, who of course also had an elbow injury last here, looks really good and looks mostly healthy but man alive. Spencer Schreider spent most of his spring pitching on the backfields. We saw Rinaldo Lopez this afternoon with decreased velocity. They lose Schwallenbach. They lose Walldrip like the games have not even begun. We have six months to go and we are already hanging on for dear life with the health of the pitching staff.

00:10:24
Speaker 1: And I promise everyone on this pod we will not do our seventeenth edition of should they have signed someone?

00:10:30
Speaker 3: This winter? We are on record about that.

00:10:31
Speaker 1: If you want to know what we think, they should have signed somebody or trade for somebody.

00:10:35
Speaker 3: But old news now here. We are in March twenty second and you met a strider. We've heard. I don't know about you.

00:10:42
Speaker 1: I've heard a little bit of good news abo us rider, like a little under the radar things about striders like velocity being kind of not ninety nine again, but like in a more normal place on the backfields. That's that's the backfields. So I don't know, I'm not I don't know if that's true. People reach out to us on prompted sometimes to say hey, I heard this, saw this, whatever, thanks and we appreciate that.

00:11:02
Speaker 3: Keep it coming.

00:11:03
Speaker 1: But I just I wasn't there, so I don't know if that happened. But hey, I hope you're right, hope he was throwing Yeah, mid nineties again, that'd be fun.

00:11:10
Speaker 2: Yeah, that would be great. And similarly, assuming that Spencer Strider does need make the start on Sunday in the series finale against Kansas City, all eyes, we'll be on the radar gun.

00:11:19
Speaker 3: And also just the.

00:11:20
Speaker 2: Movement and crispness of Spencer's pitches. The fastball is one thing, but that slider was such a devastating pitch a couple of years ago when Spencer was really humming. How does that look? Is he still throwing the curveball? Is he working in a change up or anything like that? Like we're going to see. We are holding on for dear life with this pitching staff, and hopefully in a week maybe some of these velocity related concerns are put to bed. But that feels like just a pure wish at this point.

00:11:45
Speaker 1: It does, and we will talk about this a little more later on this week, but just to kind of set the stage for the week ahead, the Braves had their final two exhibition games on Monday. It's a road gett against the Pirates. Then Tuesday is the finale in Northport against the Rays, and then they come back to Atlanta. They are off Wednesday and Thursday. In fact, The baseball opener is Wednesday night on Netflix, which is interesting Yankees, Giants, and then twenty two teams are playing on Thursday. The Braves are not one of those twenty two teams, so we have to we have away a little bit longer. And then of course the well discussed thirteen consecutive days. We'll talk about more on this podcast later on, but they face Lefty Cole Reagan's opening day the Royals. That w'd be a nice little test and we'll have you covered throughout the process, including this week and into the season. One more note here on our friends at fasten All because this podcast is engineered by fasten All. Fasten All Industrial Supplies Innovative Solutions. If you want to learn more, visit Fastenall dot com.

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00:13:45
Speaker 1: Okay, Scott, let us discuss Deeter flint Has, who you already noted that was the probably the most fun news blast couple days for the Braves, the twenty year old big time oar. He's had a just ridiculously great spring and start to leak out over the weekend even made national news. Jeff Passen your friend of Nemesis Jeff Passen reported on Twitter, which is not normally what you would see for like a fringy not fringy, but like not like a main huge bs piece of news to have him to have that, but Fonte is gonna be opening day roster. And the more local angle is that Mark Bowman has been reporting, I'm sure he's been told this directly by the team that the plan has been to have him work out of the bullpen. He's like the long man coming into the season. And then apparently the plan again plan is a Didier will go back to Gwinnett to work as a starter. In fact, there's a quote from Walt Weiss that Bowman had in his story about how Didier can quote protect the Braves through those thirteen straight days because the bullpen is a wise quote again, will be filling the brunt of that challenging stretch and he can give them some length. So no surprises as far as him being on the team because of how good he was in spring. But I have to be honest with you, Scott. If you told me, I don't know three weeks ago that Didder would break camp with the Braves, I would have been I wouldn't have fallen out of my chair, but I would have been surprised. And here we are. He was great in Irrot.

00:15:05
Speaker 3: That's what happens.

00:15:06
Speaker 2: I guess when in spring training, you throw collectively pretty close to a perfect game. Is what Dittier did across four appearances. A ton of strikeouts, a ton in swing and miss. Nobody could hit his fastball. And he's worked in this like sweeper slider pitch that is just nasty and is getting a ton of swing and miss as well. I think with Didtier, the big key to him being really successful this year is does he have a third reliable pitch that he can go to, especially a second and third time through an order once guys have seen him a little bit more. But what a great story, and we saw firsthand at twenty years old, Dittier was just not ready for the major leagues. There's no shame in that last summer starts. I mean, the Braves called Dittyer up out of just absolute necessity and he was not ready. But that's not a knock on a kid, because guess what, very few nineteen twenty year olds are ready for the major leagues unless you are like a one of one generational talent, especially on the pitching side. So it's really encouraging. Let's hope that Didtier can make an impact this year. The Braves are really going to need to lean on him, and lean on Jr. Richie and some of the other promising pitching prospects in their system, even with all the injuries to kind of they're more established veterans. But just I mean, you cannot ask for a better start to the twenty twenty six season for Didtier. And now we'll just see how it translates to the real games.

00:16:31
Speaker 1: Absolutely, and this is not my original comparison, I assure you everyone's been saying this, so I'm not taking credit, but there are some clear stratter parallels with Didner, with Didier and this approach. The stuff you just mentioned having two pitches, that's what Strider had when he came up. He was mostly a two pitch guy. He had a great spring, He came up earlier than advertised. He was older than Didier is now.

00:16:54
Speaker 3: But if people may.

00:16:55
Speaker 1: Have forgotten this, Strater was a reliever his first I think twelve appearances at least ten or twelve appearances in Meajor League Baseball, and he worked his way up in this same way that Diddeer might be doing now. And like you said, I mean, I'm looking at it right now. In the notes, seventies ricouts and no walks, and no hits, Like what are we talking about here? I know it wasn't like all like he was facing Aaron Judge every played appearance, but still he was just ridiculous everyone. By the way, I got messages from people that don't normally message me about things happened, like what's going on with to your front test guy?

00:17:25
Speaker 3: Like, well, he's really good? Is the answer to that?

00:17:27
Speaker 2: Yes, I mean everybody did, even like fantasy baseball analysts. I'm not a huge fantasy baseball guy, but I follow a couple of accounts and they were like, holy smoke, should this guy be on the radar for this upcoming year? And I mean absolutely, and sure, you're right. You made a good point. A lot of Dittier's appearances this spring came against more of like the B squad type of guys. He has not gone up against the Phillies opening day lineup or the Mets opening day lineup just yet, but those numbers speak for themselves. I mean, I think the lone blemish against Didier this spring was a hit by pitch. Other than that, he's been nearly perfect. The stuff is good, the velocity is up, which is both good and also a little scary, especially what we saw last year with like Spencer Schwanbach's velosity being up a bit as well, and then we know how that went. But it's really good to see presumably Didtier was really serious in the weight room this offseason. He just looks bigger, he looks more physically mature, and his teammates have talked about he just seems more at ease and settled in And even though the last handful of starts in last year did not go well for him, sometimes failure is not the worst thing in the world, and you can learn from it and hopefully grow.

00:18:34
Speaker 1: For sure, And while Weiss laid out the plan for him to go back to Quinnett, I think there is a world where he does not and maybe joins the rotation or maybe the says in the bullpen. I mean that's possible too. I don't think that's probably the least likely scenario. But if he's the long man and gets into a game or two and wis there's a Loger quote about how maybe he has to like throw four innings on a certain day because somebody leaves the game early. He does that once or twice in the first two weeks. It looks good, and it's like, hey, are we really going to have this guy go back to Gwinnette When it looks like this, that's it might happen. I mean, I would say it's probable he goes back to Guinnette at this point, given that they've said that that's on the record as the plan. But he might just force himself in. He's already forced us off on the roster, Like, it's not that far fetched to see him making a start in like May first, you know, it's not that far away.

00:19:23
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was looking at Spencer Schreider's game log, and again, I don't want to compare Didtier as a one to one to Spencer Streider because it's just inevitable.

00:19:31
Speaker 1: You're right, I mean, you're We're not saying he's going to be that because Strider was literally the beespecially in the world there for like a year. So I'm not saying that's going to happen. But the comparison, the most recent comparison of the Braves is clearly to Stryder as far as the stuff and the way they're handling him, for sure, And in that twenty twenty two season where Streyder really established he was out of the bullpen until I think about Memorial Day, and then he was just too good to ignore. And we'll see kind of what the plan holds and what the future holds for Dittier. By pitching him out of the bullpen early in the year, if he really is Spencer Strider two point zero, it is nice that you would be able to limit his innings a bit in the early going, with the idea that hopefully the Braves are in contention come August and September and October, then you probably don't want did Your throwing two hundred innings this season. And if it means he spends six to eight weeks in the bullpen and throwing, you know, four innings a week instead of making one to two starts, it might help keep him fresher and just kind of keep his innings cap within a reasonable amount before you have to start having hard conversations down the stretch. I'm looking forward to seeing him at the bidgery level again. I'm happy for him too. I mean, we covered it a lot at the time. There was a lot of unfair things being said about Didier fronts last summer that were kind of dismissive of his potential as a pitcher, like he was obviously not ready, but that wasn't his fault and it is what it is. I'm glad he's been awesome. It seems like a good kid by all counts, and oh yeah, we'll get into we'll get into all that more when he's pitching. But that was a certainly an encouraging piece of news from this week. I will give the caveat just to be a reporter that I am sometimes all of the stuff about this guy's going to make the opening day roster. It was floating around the last three days from Fuentes to these desk guys. We're talking about. It's reporting. It's not official, because it's not. We're not there yet. Nothing has been named, nothing has been announced. The Brakes have not finally as the roster at this point in time, So that's a blanket caveat for all of this stuff. With that said, the Braves did not announce, but they did sign Dom Smith and Kyle Farmer to split major league deals that certainly indicate a plan for them to be on the opening day roster, and Ben Gammell got set down among those three veterans that were kind of battling for maybe two spots on the team. And then also maybe a somewhat related thing, the Braves did sign Roddy Telez to a minor league deal on Friday. Te Lez is a name you might have recognized, you that he actually had a thirty five home one season in twenty twenty two, not that long ago with the Brewers. But you actually mentioned this to me. Isn't he just like Dominic Smith in a different jersey, Like they're basically not the same exact player, but there's like a very very similar profiles, like overall talent levels. Yeah, it's interesting that the Braves brought in another like pure first base DH only but not a guy who's like Crewe better than what they had already.

00:22:18
Speaker 3: It's just an interesting at.

00:22:20
Speaker 2: My guess is that dom Smith will be with the Braves on opening day and they will get Rowdy Teles some regular bats in Gwinnett. And it's almost like a insurance policy on your insurance policy, because you know, up until three weeks ago, they did not anticipate a real need for dom Smith or Rowdy Teles to be there. I mean, honestly, primary DH against right handed pitching, you know, historically pretty similar numbers for both Smith and te Les. Both hit righty's decently well. Not great hitters at this point, but they're serviceable, could hold their own. If they're batting seventh or eighth in the lineup most nights, it's probably not going to kill you. And hopefully once the Braves get a bit healthier with Sean Murphy and Hassan Kim, they have better options at DH and just more flexibility with the roster. Telez does have more power, or at least the potential for more power than Dom Smith, but at the same time, there's a reason that these guys were mostly just floating around and available in March or I think late April was when Dom Smith signed. It is what it is, and I mean it's the situation you're kind of handed. I mean, unless the Braves pull a rabbit out of their hats three days before opening day, it feels like this is kind of what you're gonna have until mid May, when you get a little bit healthier with a couple of players coming back.

00:23:40
Speaker 1: I forgot until this week that Smith used to play outfield a decent amount. I don't know if they would ever just stick him in left field and pray. I don't know if that's even on the table, but just want to say that out loud, like he has plays and outfield in the major leagues not that long ago. So Telez is a pure first base DH that's all he's ever going to be able to do, whereas Smith could at least maybe stand in left field, maybe he had advantage there on something down the line. And Farmer plays basically everywhere he's even caught in the major leagues. Not a catcher by trade, but he has done that. Like I don't know if that's they're gonna do that, but he's the he's the emergency catcher. I can tell you that right away, probably and he's literally played everywhere in field, outfield, middle end, field, like every everything. So he's thirty five years old. It was decent left with since Daddy Minnesota or of his decade. Certainly a fringy guy, that's what you're gonna get this time of year.

00:24:27
Speaker 3: And we'll see.

00:24:29
Speaker 1: But I do think that I give the caveat but Smith and Farmer are likely to be on the Obaniony roster, like that's certainly the case. It's more of if they if the Braves. Somebody shakes loose this week, and the Braves are like, we prefer this this player to this player. That could happen, but if they don't, if they don't bring anybody in, it's going to be farmer. And Smith then questions answered that we were asking the last couple of weeks.

00:24:51
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I think especially I mean the first month or so of the season, I think the Braves are really going to be stretched. Then on this bench, you don't have Murphy, don't have Kim. You're kind of adjusting on the fly to not having Profar. God help us. If another player gets hurt, then you're really going to be stretched. Then yeah, it's gonna be touch and go. It's unfortunate. And you know, we talked at the end of the we'll call it the end of the transaction period of the offseason. It's like, hey, the Braves have some real depth here that we kind of like for the first time in forever. And of course here we are and we're kind of looking around and like, well, maybe somebody will get cut who's of interest. And I know there's a couple of players who have been let go over the weekend. You know, it's like Hey, maybe we want to hit her who's a little bit better against left handed pitching. Let's acquire him for basically nothing and have him instead of Farmer on the bench to start the year. I think that's certainly within the realm of possibilities.

00:25:45
Speaker 1: I agree, and we'll do a little bit of a quick look at the roster as it stands right now, the projected roster in a second. But that is the the position player side of things. On the pitching side, Martin Perez is not gonna be a big roster coming out of camp, but he will be picking around in Gwinnett. By all the reporting, it was not a given that he would stay with the Braves if he didn't make them be in their roster. That's for me, that's more of the bigger note to say he's going to stick around. That could be useful depth if they need him in a playable situation and he you know, he can go to the miners and give you that. And the other pitching news was that the Braves did send both Dylan Dodd and Jr. Richie down to the Miners. Not shocking at all on either one. But I think we said you and I last time we talked that Dodd was really the only relief only option, like non starting option that they could keep that wasn't like kind of almost a lock, and if they sent him down, that was like a show showing their hand of what they were going to what they're gonna do, which is trying to have as much length as possible in the bullpen and have six and a half starters basically coming out of camp.

00:26:49
Speaker 2: For sure, And if the Braves were in the World Series tomorrow, I have to think that Dylan Dodd would be in their eight man bullpen to win one game, right, But it's a long season and Dodd had an option left, so because of that he got squeezed off. But I promise you we will see Dylan Dodd sooner rather than later this year. And then for Jr. Richie, a kid who did everything right this spring, again, it just comes down to a numbers game and who has options and who does not. It's a bummer that Richie wasn't able to find himself on the opening day roster, but hopefully he'll get a couple of starts in Gwinnette under his belt continues to throw the ball well and then will be an impactful piece for this team this upcoming year because, as we talked off the top, I mean, the need for Diddy or Fuentes and Jr. Richie to be effective contributors this season has really gone up. Yeah, I think Richie will be up at some point. I am sure Dog will be barring injury and TVD. So we know that Alex likes to maximize versatility and optionality and pick whichever word you want to insurance, and they have done that with the way they've aligned this roster to begin the season atwas on paper as at this point in time. Okay, Scott, in a second, we're gonna look ahead what the roster projections all seem to look like, and they're a lot clearer than they were a couple of days ago on the podcast. Plus a little bit of a note on the suddenly scalding Austin Riley. I'm encouraged by that. We'll get in all of that and more upter work with my partners.

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00:28:51
Speaker 4: That's right. Each ticket is rated on a scale of one to ten, so you know you're getting a good deal. So look for the green dots. Green means good, red means bad. And of course we have a code for you. You can use code Territory ten for ten percent off your next set of tickets at Sea Geek. That's ten percent off any tickets with promo code Territory one zero. Make sure you click the link in the description to download the app and have the code automatically added to your account so you can use it later.

00:29:16
Speaker 1: Okay, Scott, I will first mention I've been calling Mikey Streemsky Babe Ruth for a couple of weeks now on this podcast. Perhaps that was misdirected because it should be Austin Riley the way he's looked in recent days. Obviously, deep sarcasm font there, but Austin has been really good and looks really good, and I think we've all said it, but it's he's maybe I don't.

00:29:38
Speaker 3: Want to say he's the most pivotal.

00:29:39
Speaker 1: Piece on the roster, but if he's the best version of Austin Riley, that solves a lot of issues. And in the spring he has looked like the best version of Austin Rally, which has not been around for what two and a half years, Like he's been pretty good since then, but not the all Caps guy that we're hoping for.

00:29:55
Speaker 3: If you're the.

00:29:55
Speaker 2: Braves, Austin looks terrific. And I mean, honestly, most of the regulars have had a really good spring and we'll take it man like, there's no guarantee that continues over to win the games really count, But across the board, I think most of the Braves regulars have hit the ball really well, and Austin Riley and Mikeys Streemsky might be the two best examples of that. Riley hit a no doubter off of Garrett Crochet over the weekend. I mean launched it, and I think would have had another homer, but it bounced off the wall as well. Austin looks great. You mentioned about a thirteen fifty ops and five homers this spring in thirty eight at bats.

00:30:34
Speaker 3: He just looks good.

00:30:35
Speaker 2: And Riley is such an important player for this lineup. I mean, man alive. He's probably gonna hit third or fourth for this team. And the Braves need capitol letters Austin Riley. If this offense, which is probably going to have to pick up even more of the slack with the uncertainties around the starting rotation, Like if the Braves are going to win a lot of games seven to six this year, Austin Riley's gonna need to be a big part of that.

00:30:58
Speaker 1: Yeah, and you mentioned the regulars. We don't do a lot of game level coverage during spring training. We talk about stuff that pops pitching, young guys, et cetera. But the Braves have been the best team in their Great Fruit League. They have the best record in their Great Fruit League run differential. Does this matter at all? I have no idea, but it is an indication between that and the individual stats because you're right. I mean, almost every single one of the regulars is having a good spring by the numbers, and you expect that a subdegree, like I think Matt Olsen is likely to look good against spring training pitching, right, Same with Ronnie, same with any of these guys. But it's good that they all look like that. I mean, it's not a bad thing. It's a data point you can file away. Even if you kind of I roll it like I kind of am right now, It's not bad. It's not a bad thing to have your guys looking the way they're supposed to look, because you're right, they do need We talked about it this win or a bunch, but every time we talk with all the pitching staff, it's like, Yes, you can go back to twenty twenty three and say that team that one hundred plus games had a very ordinary pitching staff, and you'd be right. And the reason why they want to hurt post games because they had this incredible all time offense and on one hand, you cannot project that kind of offense. They were incredible that year, like all literally all time great. But it is a reminder of what an awesome offense can do. It covers up a lot of sins, and the Grims have the ability if everything goes well, and look, the likelihood of that over the last couple of years been pretty low. But if everything goes pretty well or better with the offense, they can be a great offense. That's still in there, I believe, especially if Austin rally is Austin rows, that's that's full circle. But if you go you've got Austin and Ronnie and Matt Olsen, who's awesome, and Drake Balwin who's awesome cooking at the same time. There are not many teams that have four hitters like that.

00:32:42
Speaker 3: They're just aren't. So uh. There are ways to.

00:32:45
Speaker 1: Find some optimism, and I think that offenses maybe the place to find it right now, given the uncertain with the pitching staff. So go go on ahead, I believe there. Oh yeah, I just checked this. They are also leading a greatferent league and run scored so champion banner fly the banner right now, Scott, They're gonna win the Great Fruit League, it seems like and I'm okay with that.

00:33:05
Speaker 2: There we go. Yes, Right at Truest Park you have the twenty twenty one championship flag and then right below it you'll put the Grapefruit League champions twenty twenty six for everyone to enjoy listen.

00:33:16
Speaker 1: We all need something to hold on to, Scott. You know me, if people listen to the podcast for a long time, you'll know I'm not the most optimistic person in the world. You gotta find something, man. It's been a trying time for the Atlanta Braves for the better part of a calendar year, and I'd like to just find some things that are positive. And I'm joking about great Fruit League stuff, but it'd be cool if they would hit. And Austin Riley has been hitting, So sign me up for that.

00:33:39
Speaker 2: Amen, hit the baseball. I think you said it perfectly a minute ago. The top four in this lineup I would put up against basically anyone well Kunya Olsen, Riley Baldwin. That is as good one through four as there is in Major League baseball. Mike Stremsky had a great spring, hopefully he carries that over. And then you really gets into what do you get from Michael Harris what do you get from Ozzie Alby's, what do you get from Sean Murphy? And when does has On Kim come back? And how good is Hassan Kim? And I mean, there are a lot of questions, but at least one through four, maybe one through five, I feel about as good as you can feel about a lineup here. As we approach opening day.

00:34:14
Speaker 1: We agree on that point. As a bridge, we tease the open day roster one more time. It is not official. It will not be official until at least Thursday.

00:34:25
Speaker 2: I believe Windesday.

00:34:27
Speaker 1: I think window because the league starts earlier. I forgot that season the Braves were playing Friday, so I have Friday in my head. You're right, there is a cutoff deadline that it's earlier than that because there are games, So stay tuned for that LEFL coverage. At what happens in the meantime, I think we know what it's going to be unless there's an injury or a trade or as signing Butcher. That's three ors, so there's a lot of uncertainty relatively speaking, but the starting eight that they have available health wise right now. Baldwin Olsen Ozzi, Dubon Riley, Yastremsky, Harris and Akunya is in Stone their top eight right now, with Murphy and Kim unavailable. Then you have the bench which got the Cirta Teme we talked about earlier. You got him as the backup catcher. You got Eli Whitees Smith, Farmer and Mateo. I would be shocked, but it wasn't those five. Do you have a hot take that'stop that.

00:35:18
Speaker 2: I hope they all perform well when called upond, and I also hope they are not called upond very much.

00:35:26
Speaker 1: Somebody's got to look every single day early in the season, one of those five has to play. Eli Whites had a nice couple of weeks. I think this week, you know, spring week, he's the most known by Braves fans. Eli White is a guy like he's a good depth piece. He could run as the hitting I'm not convinced about. He's got some pop in the bat if it works. I think Smith's probably the best hitter of those five. That's not a high bar to clear.

00:35:52
Speaker 3: If I had to.

00:35:53
Speaker 2: Guess, We'll say, you know, last season about two hundred played appearances against right handed pitching. Dom Smith married a one nineteen WRC plus and like, yeah, mid seven's ops. I think he hit like two ninety five. I mean, if you told me, I would probably bet the under on that with Dom Smith. But if you told me you got even close to that as your primary left handed DH option. I mean, all day long and twice on Sundays.

00:36:21
Speaker 1: All joking aside about Dom Smith, who is not incredible. He is a professional hitter.

00:36:26
Speaker 3: Like he is.

00:36:27
Speaker 1: He'll go up and take good he'll go take good play appearances. He can hit, he won't to embarrass you. He's not going to be somebody that's just an automatic out. I don't mind him being.

00:36:35
Speaker 3: In the lineup. I really don't.

00:36:37
Speaker 1: Eli White does other things better than him, obviousally, but hitting probably isn't one of them, always says I guess Righty's I really wish that Dom Smith was a reverse of his current platoon split because just because just Scrimski's the other is the same side as Dom Smith. If those guys had a complimentary skill set, it would be better. But beggars, choosers, et cetera. So that's the thirteen player roster on the pitchers player side, barring a surprise pitching wise, same kind of deal.

00:37:08
Speaker 3: We kind of know even if we don't.

00:37:12
Speaker 1: Sale Strider, Lopez, Grant Holmes, our guy Bryce Elder will be on the roster borring a Shock and then Didier in the kind of hybrid role.

00:37:23
Speaker 3: They've said bullpen.

00:37:24
Speaker 1: But will they carry will they carry Jose Suarez? I think they're going to do that, and he's kind of a hybrid as well. They have two long men basically in Fuentes and Suarez and five starters. I mean, they're trying to get as much like as possible. And I get it because Lopez and Holmes, even Strider are bigger risks to leave a game early than most pitchers are.

00:37:47
Speaker 2: I think, so it will certainly be a day by day proposition. And you know, I wonder if so, let's say the Braves do pitch sale Strider, Lopez, Holmes an Elder in the first five games. I wonder in game six if they just have like a set plan of look, Diddy or Fuentes is gonna take the ball and he's gonna pitch until he can't pitch anymore, and then Jose Swarez is going to pitch until we get to the seventh inning, and then we will evaluate and see where the game is and say we are getting six innings out of these two guys no matter what. And if you're winning, then you manage the game like you're winning. And if you're losing nine to two, well then someone's gonna eat it. Probably Jose Swarez is going to eat it the rest of the way and just kind of get you home that way.

00:38:28
Speaker 3: I agree.

00:38:29
Speaker 1: I mean, we will learn more about this, as Weiss is undoubtedly asked about it, maybe even this week, but that sixth game will tell us a lot. I think about how they're going to plan. Are they willing to have Chris Sale throw on regular rest earlier in the year.

00:38:41
Speaker 3: I don't know.

00:38:42
Speaker 1: We'll find out. Strider is the same thing, Mopet is the same thing. I mean, there's a lot of guys who might need an extra day, and if you get him all on extra day by getting through that game with some combination of fencees, Suarez and the bullpen wouldn't absolutely hate that. And we'll see what they do assuming that those six plus wars. That's and then you have the guys that we've been calling virtual locks in the bullpen for a while, Iglesias, Robert Suarez, Kinley Piomps, Lee, and Bummer. Those six were like always basically unless they get hurt, they'll be on the team. And they're all healthy knock on wood.

00:39:15
Speaker 2: So yeah, I mean, those guys all had nice springs for the most part. Aaron Bummer in particular, I don't believe gave up a run and had I think I saw six strikeouts and five appearances. Small samples and all that, but a good sign because Aaron Bummer can be an effective reliever when he is healthy and throwing the ball well. Hopefully he regained some of the velocity that he lost last year that I think really impacted his effectiveness. We know how good and how consistently good Dylan Lee has been whenever he's been up in the majors, and then on the right side, Iglesias and Suarez should give you just a lights out eighth ninth inning combo late in games to get you home. Tyler Kinley was a madman after the trade last year, and then you'll all. Piomps, while coming off a down year with the Brewer, has thrown the ball well as well and seems to be healthy. So I feel really good about this bullpen group as a whole. There's also some live arms kind of waiting in the wings, and Gwinnett who you could call upon at some point. I feel pretty good about similar to maybe the top half of the lineup. I feel similarly good about this bullpen being really good and hopefully the starters can at least get through five or six innings most nights and then give you a lead and you can get it home from there.

00:40:27
Speaker 1: Yep, I feel good as good as I can possibly feel on Sunday, March twenty second about the bullpen. So all signs point to get to the season, get get through the grape fruit lead, come back from Florida, be healthy, and hit the ground running starting on Friday.

00:40:42
Speaker 3: So that's a show. Scott. We have talked a lot.

00:40:46
Speaker 1: We will do are customary hopefully we will try to do at least our customary fire off. It takes episodes, but you already heard some of that from Steven and Cheng in the last few days. We will have we have a special guests lined up. We wan't announce who it is until it's been recorded in the can. We have special guests lined up, hopefully in the next couple of days, and then they'll be again on Friday, and we should have a show post game from the first game of the year, I think is the plan. If you're new to the pod. We don't have a show every single night, but we do an average of four per week during the season. Occasionally, if we need to go five or more, we'll do it. And the first game of the year.

00:41:27
Speaker 3: We'll probably have a podcast.

00:41:28
Speaker 1: So between those two things, it's a great time to subscribe to the Hombor Territory podcast. I say that with obvious bias as one of the hosts of the podcast, but I actually do mean it. It's a great time with subscribe to an Land based podcast. There's a lot going to be happening. We are, we have fun doing the pod. We do work hard to make sure the pods is as good as it can be. But lock in Apple, Spotify, YouTube. If you're a YouTube watcher, primarily we welcome you. Please also do us a solid and subscribe on audio platforms download there help us choose the numbers a little bit. I'm not ashamed ask that. It's fine if you're a audio listener. I am one of those generally for podcasts, but I always like and subscribe on YouTube to shows that I'm trying to support as well. Comments appreciated social media follows. Scott missing, I'm missing anything at all?

00:42:14
Speaker 5: Oh?

00:42:15
Speaker 3: Is there an update on tournament challenge the Beat Brad Role Invitational. Am I winning?

00:42:18
Speaker 2: Ooh, I don't think you are winning.

00:42:21
Speaker 3: I'm not winning. I know I'm not winning.

00:42:22
Speaker 2: I'm going to jinx it. My bracket's actually in pretty good shape here. As we hit the eight o'clock hour, I.

00:42:27
Speaker 1: Was gonna say, wait til it goes bust over the next two hours as recording this podcast, just.

00:42:31
Speaker 2: You Wight, Arizona loses, you will never hear from me again.

00:42:35
Speaker 1: But folks, folks, just to look behind the curtain at the end of the podcast. We are recording this at this particular hour. In the small event Arizona loses, I couldn't guarantee I could get Scott on the podcast. So that's why we're recording now because I don't want I have to try to make Scott talk about the braves at eleven thirty after.

00:42:50
Speaker 3: An Arizona loss in the round of thirty two.

00:42:53
Speaker 2: So you would probably have to build an AI to get me to do an episode of pod with you Brad after that. But we're not gonna have that happened. Hopefully the rest of the day of the tournament goes well. I hope everybody out there has enjoyed some basketball and we set it off the top, but baseball is right around the corner.

00:43:09
Speaker 3: I know.

00:43:09
Speaker 2: It has been a challenging, to put it lightly, a challenging spring training for the Braves, but there's still a lot of talent on this team. If you look at the projection models and like the win totals in Vegas, still projected to be one of the better teams in the National League. God willing, they have some good injury fortune coming their way and just some bounce back seasons and some really talented players. I'm ready to have baseball back in our lives. I think we all are. And it all gets started on Friday night and should be a fun, fun time at Truest Park.

00:43:38
Speaker 1: Absolutely, so lock in, subscribe, tell your friends, we'll be here all week with preview concept and then when things get going, we will have you covered throughout the twenty twenty sixth season and beyond. So take a listening everybody. We do appreciate it and watching on YouTube if you're watching us on that platform. Thanks to Scott for being here. That's our show for today and we'll see you all next time.