Latest Manager Musings and Free Agent Projections

00:00:21
Speaker 1: Hello, everyone, Welcome back to the Hammer Territory podcast presented by Fox One. This is episode two nine zero. My name is Brad Rowland and I'm joined today my good friend, my frequents, I would say almost always co host. His name is Scott Coleman. Scott, how are you, my friend? Hello, Brad, I'm doing well, man.

00:00:40
Speaker 2: This has been a really fun World series to watch as a baseball fan. I'm sure most of our listeners and viewers are watching the World Series. I'm sure some once the Braves are out kind of say screw you, Baseball. I'll pick you back up in March. Hopefully they still tune into our show throughout the winter because we do not go away. But great World series so far are credit to the Blue Jays. Those dudes are just fighting and throwing. Every time the Dodgers throw a punch, the Blue Jays throw a counter punch and hit even harder. And they have injuries too, Toronto does. And it's been a really fun series so far. And hopefully Toronto can close it out in Game six or Game seven.

00:01:17
Speaker 1: Yeah, and we'll probably talk about that at the very end of the show as well, because we are in that dead period today. Is the off day between Game five and Game six and the World Series of We're recording this podcast on Thursday evening you just said it by I'm reminded to say now that we are Hamber Territory. We cover the Braves all year round. We are part of the Foul Territory network of podcasts, and you definitely want to subscribe to the show anywhere you get your podcasts. That includes YouTube. By the way, we are pushing right now for YouTube subscribers, even if you're an audio listener preferably that's totally fine. Just do us a solid, take two seconds out of your day and please, like slash, subscribe to the podcast on YouTube and vice versa if you're a YouTube watcher. On the audio side, there's plenty to discuss. No major Braves news to at the top right now. It's kind of that period where don't expect major Braves news. There is a manager year old decision that will happen in the near future we'll talk about in the second. But also I just want to say this, like the off season is going to begin in official terms in one week or less at this point. Now, I know if you're a Braves only observer, it began for you a month ago basically, or even longer than that if you want to be less literal about it. But the World Series will end either Friday or Saturday. That is the longest it can go with Saturday, and five days after that is when the fun begins of the off season. That is the deadline if you don't know this, five days after the World Series, where free agents are eligible to sign anywhere they want to at five f at Eastern time. They don't always do that, as Scott's rant will probably come momentarily about that as he always as he always delivers, but also the deadlines for club options player options a Lah Hassan Kim is the big one for the Braves this year. The dubline also for qualify oppositions, which the prison will be happenny of those. But five days after the World Series is when like things can actually start happening that go beyond your own roster. So the off season is basically here, not quite, but it's like nine We're almost there.

00:03:07
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I mean, obviously Hassong Kim is the big one. There's also kind of this period where teams can negotiate exclusively with players on their roster. So if in the next week, if the Braves were to announce a contract with Rice ell Iglesias, could totally.

00:03:24
Speaker 1: See that happening.

00:03:25
Speaker 2: It would make sense. Iglesias was good in the second half. Braves could use a closer next year, could see that happening.

00:03:31
Speaker 1: Maybe they do work out a.

00:03:32
Speaker 2: Contract with Hassan Kim, although with every day that passes it probably becomes less likely, but you never know. Sometimes it's hey, if you're willing to throw in this, well we'll sign.

00:03:41
Speaker 1: On the dotted line.

00:03:41
Speaker 2: And I mean Jesus Alex could check off shortstop before the offseason even begins. That would be really nice, so he could focus on the other pressing needs. And then, of course manager is the outstanding probably first most pressing item for Enthopolis and the Braves. And who knows, maybe by the next time we do a show or shortly after, we will officially know who the next manager of the Braves will be.

00:04:04
Speaker 1: Right, and we'll hit on some freak and stuff. Actually, there was an interesting projection list that came out and we'll talk about later on in the show. But on the manager topic, I feel like we're doing the same thing every show in some respects about like, you know, they could hire someone any day, but they haven't. It's fine that they haven't. They don't have to be in a rush. There are still three jobs open as of Thursday evening. It's the Braves, the Padres, and the Rockies. This week, the Nationals hired a manager who is younger than me. I think he's even younger than you. Thirty three year old Blake Butterra is the manager of the Nationals now and our guy Jeff Passion and your guy should say Jeff Passing. The ESPN reported he is the youngest manager in Major League Baseball in like fifty plus years. Like, managers do not get hired at thirty three years old. That's a crazy hire. Doesn't mean it won't work. I actually kind of like it, to be honest with you. But that's a wild one. I think. I think our guy Steven Tolbert said this our in our DM today. The Nationals have players older the Bluelake Terra at least one, like Josh Bell was older than him. But he's on the team. So that's yeah, wild.

00:05:05
Speaker 2: Yeah, hey man, good for thirty three years old and managing a ball club. Although, of course Washington is a mess. I don't know if he would necessarily be in the running for a Rade's job. Of Padres job, even like an Oriole's job would be probably a.

00:05:20
Speaker 1: Little too far down the road. But you know, we'll see.

00:05:23
Speaker 2: Washington has some young talented players, but I think there are a few years away from really being able to contend with the Braves and Phillies and Mets. But yeah, obviously, you know the Padres job being open. I know some people were talking, they were almost a little concerned that maybe the Padres would poach a manager candidate from the Braves. I will say the Padres got started about a week and a half after everybody else did because of a maybe unexpected retirement from Mike Schild. And then I mean that Rockies job. I mean, look, there's only thirty baseball manager jobs in the majors on the entire planet. But I mean, good god, that Rockies. Who wants that job? Rad? I mean they might they might see you in a couple of weeks if they can't get anybody else.

00:06:05
Speaker 1: Yeah, that is the argument for that job. You just made it like, hey, it's only thirty eighties. That's the only way because and that organization, this is not a Rockies podcast, but that organization befluddles the rest of the week. I know you hear things like I do, people that work on teams and stuff, and it's it's a mess. But anyway, yeah, it's not like they're in direct competition. I think, you know, you never want to fully bank on reported candidates, finalists, any of that stuff. But like the Padres lists that have been out there and the Bridge lists them out there, I have not really crossed over at all. Like they're kind of seemed to be in separate pools, which is fine, that's a good job too, but you're right there a little bit behind. Just to say this out loud, a lot of the reporting has already even before this pointed to Danny Layman, you know, and I talked about Daniel Laman a few days ago pretty extensively on the show. But since then, I know, Dave O'Brien Mark Bowman have both kind of pointed to Danny lamb and not like as the definitely the guy. But I know you were following this closely. What's kind of been out there reporting wise on this, because it's notable that he's the one person that seems to be a candidate that's still actively coaching baseball right now because the daughters are in the World Series, which seems to matter.

00:07:13
Speaker 2: It's yes, yeah, it's interesting timing and again, not a guarantee that it's going to be Danny Layman, but conventional wisdom he is actively coaching as the Dodgers bench coach. No team, not just the Braves, but no team would announce a hire of an actively coaching player. You see this all the time in the NFL with coordinators in the Super Bowl, and they don't want to announce it until after the Super Bowl, and then lo and behold on Monday morning, it's Oh, by the way, Brad Roland is the new head coach of the Atlanta Falcons. There's conventional wisdom here to say it might be Danny Layman. It's interesting to me too, that about a week ago, Mark Bowman was I think the first credentialed Braves reporter to say Danny Lahman's name, went as far as much to say that he believed he was potentially the favorite and the front runner for the job. And then on Wednesday of this week, Bowman again published a newsletter that said, the belief is that Layman has been the favorite for the last couple of weeks. At this point, I don't know, Brad. The way the Braves operate, something tells me that if Layman was just not the guy, that somebody from the Braves front office might have sent Bowman the text and said, hey, Bud, it's not Layman and maybe we shouldn't have two articles with his name and picture on the front page of Braves dot com. That's just my speculation, but it feels like this is a smoke fire. And I mean, if you tell me the World Series ends on Saturday and the Braves have a new manager by Monday or Tuesday, that that would not surprise me at all.

00:08:39
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think two things could be true. The signs that we can see on the outside, which are limited, but they pointed to day Laman between the reporting that's been out there and the logistics of like why is this taking a little bit longer, and the fact that he's still coaching if he is the favorite, that is a very logical thing. And the number two thing I would say is that I've seen people talk about like he's definitely gonna be the manager, and I would not go that far. Right now, it is not a lock. I would not assign that. Maybe it would be that way. Look, if you asked me to pick the manager right now, based on what I have heard and what I've seen, what I've read, my projection would be Danny Lamb. If you asked me to give you a name, that would be the name that I would give you, Scott. But I also would not bet my life on it. I would not say that it's definitely a lock to happen. So like, I don't know, it's the internet. It is what it is. But like there have been people who are like almost like riding him in a pen now, and I'm not quite to that point because it is the Braves and they like to be buttoned up, is the word I will use, Alex is not like to leak things. But you're also right that we've seen before the Braves won't necessarily leak to their local beat writers very much, but they do tend to shoot things down to them more than they actually leak to them. So that's a great point that you're making there about like if it wasn't Laman, maybe they would have told them in some strong or maybe Look, the other thing is maybe they just truly haven't been able to like sit down with Danny Laman the way they want to. And he isn't like the definite guy. He's a candidate. That's that's also that's one possibility is like, hey, he's a candidate for real, but also not like definitely our guy, and we're gonna wait till Sunday or Monday to talk to him one more time. That's possible too. So we're in the uncertainty zone right now. But certainly if you ask me to pick one that I think it's going to be, it would be daily. Yeah, I would agree.

00:10:21
Speaker 2: And you know, also in that newsletter that Bowman published yesterday also said George Lombard's name again, said Ryan Flaherty's name again as guys who have been kind of rumored and linked.

00:10:31
Speaker 1: To this job.

00:10:32
Speaker 2: Interestingly enough, Chris Woodward, who currently coaches, was a former player currently coaches with the Dodgers. His name was written in there. My hunch is, I don't think Chris Woodward is necessarily the in the running for the Braves manager job, but I could see Woodward coming over and coaching with the Braves in some capacity bench coach, third base coach. I believe he's the infield coach for the Dodgers currently. And then lastly Bowman did that again that it's not a guarantee, but he has no sense that Mark de Rosa, David Ross, or John Gibbons are candidates for the job. And those were names that we heard quite a bit in the twelve to twenty four hours, at least publicly whenever Snith announced he was done as manager.

00:11:18
Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, Ward didn't play for the Braves briefly, I think it was only one season, but was a Brave and also was a manager for the Rangers for I think it was three and a half four years something like that. And also it's on the Dodger staff. So another maybe a sleeper e candidate because he also would not kind of be attainable at this very moment in the same way that Lehman isn't. But uh yeah, I think still probably more of a sleepery candidate, but still notable at least say, and he's the one guy that we've kind of seen reported that actually has experience as a manager. I know David Ross was like early on kind of linked, but it's been quite on that front by all means recently so interesting stuff. I mean, if they could announce a non Dodgers person tonight, if they wanted to. I'm guessing they probably won't do that at this point, but if they do, we'll talk about on this podcast. Gott Hey.

00:12:05
Speaker 2: And you know what, somebody asked me this week who I would hire if I was Brave's manager, And you know, truthfully, I said this on the show about a week ago, I'll say it again. Of the three finalists, the three reported finalists, I am totally cool. If they want to hire Danny Layman, He's very qualified. I think he'd be a great manager to kind of lead this next era of Braves baseball. If they want to hire GEORGEA. Lombard, people in Detroit rave about him as a human. He's done a lot of things in major league and minor league baseball. He'd be qualified. I'd be cool with that. And Ryan Flerty, who's the bench coach with the Cubs, is a long time playing career and has gotten glowing reviews from those in Chicago and feels like somebody who will be a manager somewhere one day. So those three, truly, I mean, if they want to drop the blue box tomorrow, and say it's Lombard when everybody kind of feels maybe like Layman's the favorite. Cool like no issues with that, same with Flerity.

00:12:57
Speaker 1: You know.

00:12:57
Speaker 2: The good news, Brad is we should get clarity within the next maybe five to seven.

00:13:02
Speaker 1: Days, one would hope, for the sake of content and everything else going on with the Braves. All right, Scott, we'll get to some other stuff on today's podcast, clue Pree, agency projections and more, but first it worked with our friends at the Pick six app from DraftKings. Okay, Scott, we are special today by the Pick six app from Draft Kings, the official daily fantasy partner of the NFL. And Drake Baldwin is our spotlight player on today's podcast. And the reason for that is that, you know, Drek's a AUSO, very good and very awesome. We talk about him all the time. But he won an award this week. Now, it was not the mainstream Rookie of the Year award, keep that in mind, but he won the MLBPA like the Players Association Most Outstanding Rookie Award for the National League. And we'll spend time on this later when the Biggot war comes up. Probably a lot more time on like whether he should win, whether he would win, all those things we've talked about for a long time. But our guy Sean Coleman did the work on this. He counted it up and according to Sean, twenty one of the thirty one times that a player has won this award, they've also won the actual Rookie of the Year award. So two thirds of the time this has been an indicator of a positive indicator that they that that person will win the actual award. So pretty good towards that. And I'll spoil it a little bit now I've said before, I'll say it again. I think Drake should win based on the body of work. And that's not even putting on my Homer hat. If it was close, I would tell you for me it's not even that close. But shuster j Drake Baldwin. Anything else you'd like to add on Drake Baldwin pulling down an award that was like not when we're tracking necessarily, but it got announced and it's like, hey, this is actually not a small thing. It's put it on by your peers.

00:14:48
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, really a great recognition for Baldwin. He deserves this and hopefully he gets the official Rookie of the Year award when that comes up, And just as a reminder if folks miss this or maybe forgot because he was on the opening day roster, if Drake Baldwin wins Rookie of the Year, the Braves get additional and additional first round pick, so it's probably going to be in the range of twenty eight to thirty two in the draft order. It's at the end of the first round. And not only do they get the draft pick, but they also get about three and a half million dollars give or take towards their bonus pool to then sign other players. And because the Braves said such a bad year, they're going to have a top ten pick and the money that comes with the top ten pick. So you want to just kind of breed some life even more into this farm system and pour some fuel on the fire. You're rooting for Baldwin to win the award, not only because it'd be a very cool recognition for Drake, but it would give the Braves another three plus million to spend in the draft next summer and hopefully add some really high level talent to this farm system that is on its way up.

00:15:51
Speaker 1: Right now absolutely so SHOs Drake Baldwin. We will definitely talk more about his candidacy and then ultimately results of Rookie of the Year, But in the meantime, a good honor for a burgeoning young player for the Braves. The NBA season tips off, and so does Draft Kings. Newest fantasy game, Draft Kings Pick six is the easiest way to play for big wins with every possession give you a shot at real money. Here's how to play. Just pick more or less on two or more stats. Unlike the Upside every game brings Pick six is available in Texas, California, Missouri, and more. New DraftKings customers fifty dollars in bonus picks with just a five dollars entry on your first pick set. Don't just watch basketball cash in. Download the Draft Kings Pick six app now and use code foul. That's code foul play just five dollars gif fut your dollars and pick six bonus picks. Make the call ride the upside in partnership with Draft Kings Pick six. The Crown is yours.

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00:17:04
Speaker 1: All right, Scott. Interesting free agent projections came out this week. Now there are a lot of these, uh, I know there's always one from MLB trade rumors that'll come out in a little while. We're not quite to the fever pitch of free agency. And the person who wrote these is not always like beloved in every circle online will say that out loud, although he is a guest if territory and runner basis, keep that in mind too. Jim Bowden of The Athletic put out his like I think it was like top fifty for agents and full like actually projected contracts for all of them, which by the way, is an impossible exercise. And like everyone, I have lots of friends in the industry that would be doing something like this at some point. I know Fangrafts does one that's a big, a big project as well, and they all think it's like it's impossible, because you're just gonna be wrong. Like it's not. It's it's kind of a thankless thing because fans, people like us who are doing content grab these things and like time, tie ourselves to them, and it's really hard to get the stuff right. What that said, I actually had an industry source tell me this week the boat does a pretty good history on this kind of thing, actually, which I was. I didn't know that that was not on my radar, but that was out there, one big picture thing. And then we'll talk about some players, a lot of the top deals, but the top ten fifteen guys struck me and others as high. Now, maybe that's that kind of year for agency, right, Maybe there's gonna be a lot of money thrown around. We'll always see kind of what kind of year it is on that spectrum. Also, the looming potential labor stoppage in a year plus from now could affect a lot of this stuff. But did you did you have that same takeaway? I actually haven't asked you about this, like that was my takeaway first, and then I saw it from somebody else too that I think it was John Becker from Bangraft. Someone else said that it was like, hey, they they seem high to me, and I'm like, I think that I agree, But do you think anything sounds it might. I'm not saying they're wrong, it's just like they seem a little bit lofty, but maybe not.

00:18:58
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, just for some friends here, because of course if you're on audio, you might have no idea what we're talking about. In terms of dollars in years, But for the top name pitchers, Boden projected like six years and upwards of twenty five to thirty million dollars for names like fran Burvaldez, Dylan Cees, Ranger Suarez, like big time money. And then even on the shorter term deals like Shane Bieber three years, seventy five million, Michael King, who's somebody who I really like personally, three years, seventy five million dollars. Even Chris Bassett, who is he's in his late thirties, is a fine pitcher, but not a great one, got a hefty two year and forty five million dollar projection on the pitching side. So these feel a little rich to me, But then you think about what it costs in prospects to trade for a good starting pitcher, and how few of them are generally available in free agency.

00:19:54
Speaker 1: You're probably gonna have to.

00:19:55
Speaker 2: Go one more year and another however, many million dollars over that course of a year that you're comfortable with if you want to get the deal done.

00:20:03
Speaker 1: Let's thinking about recent comparisons. Nathan Yavaldi was one that we talked about a lot in previous iterations, who got three for seventy five, that exact same deal that multiple guys Shane Bieber, Michael King were projected for. You know, interesting ranges. But yeah, when framervald Is, Dylan Cees, Ragers Suarez, and Zach Gallon all are projected to get like one hundred and thirty five million or more in total dollars, that's a lot of money. Man. Like none of those guys I would describe as like a full blown ACE, Like maybe they're number ones on some teams, but like ACE is the different tier above that, like the top fifteen guys in the league kind of tier. I wouldn't go there necessarily, on those guys, maybe a couple of them have gotten there at times. Dylan Cees is really good, but I don't know how he's not Paul Skin's, like, he's not even Chris Sale, you know what I mean.

00:20:46
Speaker 2: So Dylan Sees is right handed Blake Snell, where when he is on he is maybe a top five pitcher in the game, and then he just has nights where he is getting torpedoed all over the place and gives up a lot of fly balls.

00:20:59
Speaker 1: And yeah, I mean.

00:20:59
Speaker 2: It's this is a pretty deep pitching blast, Brad. And you know it's also it's funny. Why you know, we talked about like Sonny Gray, who the Braves could trade for, and then you're only on the hook for one or maybe two years of Gray. That's part of the appeal, yes versus yeah, Like you know, Alex, like Alex has never given out a deal like this for a picture or anything close. Like I mean, I'll just the top one, two, three, four, five, even I think maybe the top six or seven pitchers and for agency this year are projected by this projection. It's one projection to get a bigger deal than Alex is ever given to a picture at any point. Now currently it's the Strider deal as far as length, but that was that was an extension. That was he had, he had time left and all these things. That's a different, different situation. Sale like, yeah, he'll he'll extend.

00:21:47
Speaker 1: A guy for a year, like he did with Morton, like he did with Sale at that kind of number, but not given out a fresh five six year deal. Maybe he'll do it at some point, but he has it yet. I thought it was interesting. I was gonna ask you about the pitching side, because what thing you and I have agreed on on this show is that the Braves do need another starting picture that's like a real guy. That's a belief that we have. But also I think Boden might agree because it's part of the player of projections. In this piece, he gave like a list of teams, not just one team. It was like, hey, here are the contenders, and the Braves were listed for almost all the pictures, like all almost all the good pictures, not as the first team that was listed, but like the third or fourth team, and every single guy, including Baldez, including cs including Suarez. What do you make of that? Like, is there any even in your brain can you see alex Enthoflis giving out the kind of deal that it would take to get Framer Valdez, Like, I kind of don't, but maybe I'm wrong.

00:22:44
Speaker 2: It's a good question and funny enough. You know, we had if folks missed it, we had CJ nik Kowski, the Braves television analyst, on the show a couple of days ago.

00:22:52
Speaker 1: And hey, by the way, great show. I wasn't on it. You did a great job. Shots at CJ as well.

00:22:56
Speaker 2: Yeah, CJ's great guy, was very generous with his time, really pit him coming on the show. But CJ was talking and he felt wholeheartedly the Braves need to add a starting pitcher to this rotation for depth, to get through one hundred and sixty two games and then get to the World Series and make a deep run. And you know, we saw it with the Braves in twenty one. They had two healthy starters who were firing the ball really well, Charlie Morton and Max Freed, and they kind of pieced it.

00:23:21
Speaker 1: Together around them.

00:23:22
Speaker 2: Even the Blue Jays this year, you know, like they're big underdogs against LA, but they have Gosman throwing the ball really well. They have the Savage throwing the ball really well, and then Shane Bieber and Shurezer have been fine. You don't need eight good starting pitchers in October, but you do need eight starting pitchers from April to the end of right to get there. That being said, do I think Dylan sees that six years and one hundred and ninety million dollars is going to be a brave Probably not. I do think.

00:23:53
Speaker 1: Funny enough, this was CJ.

00:23:54
Speaker 2: Nikowski's top offseason pick for the Braves was Ranger Suarez. If war is getting six years in one hundred and sixty four million, give or take, that's something I could maybe see. That's kind of in the comfort level of years and dollars. Again, I'm not saying it's going to happen, but I could see it.

00:24:15
Speaker 1: Truthfully.

00:24:16
Speaker 2: Of this list of all these starters, I think more of like the Shane Bieber three years at seventy five million, at that kind of twenty to twenty five million dollar range that Alex likes to operate in. I could see that. I could see Michael King, if his medicals on his shoulder are clean, three years or seventy five million. Is interesting because if King would have been a free agent a year ago, he's probably getting double that contract, and we have seen him be really good. He'd be up there with those other guys, like with the Gallon Suarez kind of level, like he's he's quite good. And we talked about I'm not sure he's a trade Canada a year ago on this podcast. I mean, yeah, I'm with you. I think that's probably more of the Alex tier based on history, even the tier below that of Bassett, Merrill, Kelly, Tyler Mallley, Like that's kind of probably more of the Alex tier because maybe those guys are available for like a two year deal or a one year deal, and Alex likes a short deal like that. But yeah, I'm not saying it's impossible to believe that one of those five six year deals gets done.

00:25:16
Speaker 1: I'm just in the mindset of, like I gotta see it. I gotta see Alex give out a five year deal to a starting pitcher before I believe he'll ever do it, Like I I think he's He's never said, he's never ruled it out, but I think there is a like barrier in his mind, like I do not want to give out a deal like that, and I don't wave honestly, like I've gotta go one Bred.

00:25:34
Speaker 2: You used Spencer Schreider's contract a minute ago. That's why now Streider had control in the first couple of years in that contract are very cheap. But think about it, the Braves give Strider this contract. He was awesome, then he blows out his elbow, misses an entire year, and then the next year he was very Jekyll and Hide and couldn't get healthy. At the start of the year for a couple of reasons.

00:25:56
Speaker 1: Was good and then bad.

00:25:57
Speaker 2: You know, if you give six seven years to a starting pitcher man like that, that is the risk that you take.

00:26:04
Speaker 1: And at least with Strider, the.

00:26:06
Speaker 2: Cheap years were kind of built into the front end.

00:26:08
Speaker 1: There's no cheap years.

00:26:09
Speaker 2: If you want Dylan C's and you give him a six year contract and he blows out his elbow in year two and then he's just not very good in year three. All of a sudden, you've kind of burned all that money in the first couple of seasons, and you're holding your breath that he's able to figure it out on the back end of that contract. That is the calculus for every team. And I am not saying the Braves should not go out and spend money and add a true impact starter, because that'd be a pretty sick rotation if you add one of those guys to Strider and Schwellenbach and Sale. I mean, that could be the best rotation in baseball next year. But I do understand why Alex has been so hesitant to give out a mega contract to pitchers, especially Yep.

00:26:48
Speaker 1: I believe that all of that is very reasonable. The other big thing that we want to talk about all the players I recommend was reading this. By the way, check out this on the Athletic and also just as a reset, we are hamoritaris represented by Fox one because you're joining us if you're for a lab right now wherever you may be, thanks for listening to the podcast. As always, shortstops the other spot, of course, everyone's talking about. We won't break new ground on Hassan Kim today. I don't think it's been a discussion for the last few weeks and really a couple of months now. Boba Chet's projection is seven years for one eighty nine and he is in a shortstop in my humble opinion, so that's gonna bean no for me. Dog, but the one that really you and I were laughing about this offline. A lot of these projections seem high. Hassan Kim's projection seems quite low to me. Uh, it's three years and thirty nine million for Hassan Kim. Now, I'm not saying that's that's not a crazy, crazy, crazy low price. I just think that he probably would get more than that. That's my guess. And I wrote this. I wrote this in our notes. I'll just say it out loud. I wrote in big ball letters. Call this in right now if it's available, if you're the Braves, because look, if they annus three for thirty nine right now, I would be very very happy right now. Even if he's not a star player, he's not an elite guy. I'm not saying any of that. But three for thirty nine, I sign me up. I will, I will walk down to I will physically walk from here. I probably it's like ten miles. Yeah, I'll walk it over to the offices by the ballpark. Sure, happy to do that. Whatever you need to do, Alex, three for thirty nine. I'll see in a few hours.

00:28:27
Speaker 2: You know, it's funny and I am fascinated to see what kind of contract projection that Hassan Kim gets from Van Grafts and MLB trade rumors. I think ESPN. ESPN also does it. And yes, I think three years and thirty nine million for Hassan Kim is low. That being said, and I was tweeting about this today, and we will not talk about Kim again for another four hours on this podcast.

00:28:48
Speaker 1: We will not not today.

00:28:49
Speaker 2: But I continue to see people whose whose opinions I value, and I think they're very sharp minds. But I keep seeing people go, well, hass On Kim, I get five years and one hundred million dollars. Me personally, I can't get there for Kim, and I know that means that Alex would have to scramble and figure out something else at shortstop. But Kim is a good player, do not get me wrong. And I want him with the Braves. He is by far and away the cleanest, easiest way to improve this position. He's thirty years old. I know he was bad or not great in twenty five because he had the shoulder surgery. But I really think that Kim is a better player than he's shown. But he's also not a superstar like there has to be a limit on what the Braves would be willing to give him. I sincerely hope that Kim's market does not turn into a looney tune situation where teams are offering him five year deals, six year deals, twenty five million dollars a year that for me, in good conscious I would not come on this podcast and lament Alex Enthopolis not going there Like there's contracts in the past that have been signed. I'm like, damn Alex, But where worry you man? Like that that's a good deal. If it gets crazy and we don't know that it's going to get crazy, the unhass on Kim. He is not a player or a talented enough player for me to just say, blank check Brad, whatever it takes bring this guy back.

00:30:10
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm with you on that. I think it's just just to say the exact same game we just did about three thirty nine. If it's five one hundred, my reaction would not be a positive one. I wouldn't think it was like completely unhinged, like F minus minus. But I also would be like I would have done that, honestly. Yeah, Now, twenty million a year for a shorter deal, I am more open to because even if you don't think he's twenty nine dollars player, there is some inherent value in having the average annual value go up if the years come down. Yeah, Like, if it's three for sixty, I'm actually totally fine with that, to be honest with you, that's probably like on the richer side from what I would want to do, But that would be totally fun with me because it's a year's not dollars situation. Given his age. He's not he's not over the hill, but like, you don't want to be talking about thirty five rojas On Kim at twenty something million dollars per year, and maybe he'll still be that good, but the project the likelihood of that is a lot lower than thirty two year old Hassan Kim. By the way, playing shortstop, where the Braves continue to message with years and years and years that they value defense at that spot. Defense age is poorly generally speaking, not for everybody, but most for most of the time, that's what goes what you can hit longer than you can feel, than you can field your position at the premium spots. So yeah, if it's two for forty five, like actually would probably do that, to be honest with you, but five for one hundred is different than that, even if it's.

00:31:37
Speaker 2: Maybe it's a hot take. But you know, if you said, all right, Hassan Kim, he's going to sign with Atlanta, you could do a three year deal for sixty million, or you could do a four year deal for seventy million seventy two million, I would almost take the three year deal, so you're off that contract when he's a little bit younger. I mean that's again, at the end of the day, I want Kim in Atlanta. I don't personally think he's going to get an insane contract. But all it takes is one team to jack up the bidding and all of a sudden.

00:32:06
Speaker 1: It's like, man alive.

00:32:07
Speaker 2: Can we really commit one hundred million bucks to thirty year old Hassan Kim coming off a serious shoulder surgery a year ago?

00:32:14
Speaker 1: I don't know.

00:32:15
Speaker 2: There's gonna be a line in the sand, and hopefully we don't get to that point.

00:32:20
Speaker 1: Yeah, for sure. And but just to say this out loud, the situation the Braves are in where we've talked and not just to us, everyone's talked about this, about the shortstop market being very barren. Like if it's not Bobashett and Trevor Story does knocked out, it's hass On Kim and that's it, man. So like that is the kind of situation where the bidding war can get silly if teams get reckless, which is why we're throwing it out there as a possibility. Any if there were four guys like Hassan Kim, I don't think the market would get out of hand. But when you're only when you're the only guy and everyone knows it, that's when and by the way, your agent Scott Boris, you know, could get out of control. And I do think Alex has shown that he'll walk away even to the even to the frustration of Braves fans who especially anti Alex Brace fans that would just hate that he will not go above where he's supposed to go in his mind. But he's shown that so for better work. So I think he would walk away if he needed to quickly on this, and we'll move on the Braves guys on this projection. Iglesias was two years and twenty four million and Ozuna was one year and twelve million. I Uh, you're making a face which is funny. I'll let you go first. What was your reactions to those two projections.

00:33:32
Speaker 2: I would say yes to ricell Iglesias two years, twenty four million. I would say no, thanks on Ozuna one year and twelve million dollars.

00:33:40
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I mean I think if they gave Azuna that deal, I would be very happy with that deal, because if you're paying in twelve million dollars, he has to play every day, and I don't think should play every day.

00:33:50
Speaker 2: You can find a better, more impactful player for twelve million dollars, either in free agency or on trade.

00:33:57
Speaker 1: I agree, uh, Aglesias, that's it's like what he should cost. Like, it's not a bargain. I think that he was really good last year. And this will come up i'm sure later on in our winter, but I think that's like what he should get, like in that range. So that would that wouldn't be a deal with I'd be celebrating in the streets, but I would be like, all right, that sounds about right for what he is. He's still good. I know there was a rough patch early last season, but he was awesome Nomstratch and that's what relievers get like that is also in comparison to the other believers on this list, like Robert Swarez got four for eighty projection. The gap between Robert Suarez and and at Glacis is not that big, man, I promise it's not. Yeah, so I was a hunter out of one hundred those two contracts. I mean true.

00:34:41
Speaker 2: I like Robert Schwarrez a lot. The Padres closures really hard, good closure. But yeah, I mean you said it perfectly. If my choice is four and eighty million to Suarez or two and twenty four to Iglacias or you know, one for fifteen with a club option, I mean I would take a Glacias all day long. The gap between those players is not that wide.

00:35:01
Speaker 1: We definitely agree on that, Scott. Anything else you want to add about this projection, Again, it's one projection. There'll be more fangrafts ESPN, MLBTR they're all coming out and we won't we won't always deep dive into them, but this is the first one. So it was like, all right, we'll talk about it a little bit. Anything else you want to get to. If not, we can move on.

00:35:17
Speaker 2: But yeah, it's fun to talk about and see and truthfully, but Brad, probably the best exercise is taking the athletic MLB trade rumors, fangrafts, ESPN, drop the projections into an Excel sheet and average them out, and that's probably what the ultimate outcome is going to be. Players beat their players beat their projections. Players come in lower than their projections because they don't have a market. It's you know, it's going to be fascinating.

00:35:44
Speaker 1: It absolutely will be fascinating for sure. All Right. In a second, we'll talk about one more award that came out this week and some news around that player who won that award, plus a final World Series check in and more after a word from partners.

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00:37:00
Speaker 1: All right, Scott, we are back up, by the way. We are Hammord Territory presented by Fox One. Ronaldalquon Jr. Was at least minor ly in the news this week. Word broke. There was multiple reports that he's gonna be cleared now and approved by the Braves to play winter ball in Venezuela. So we'll do that first. Do you have a response to that happening, because obviously Ronalcoon Junior is at the level where he doesn't quote unquote need to play winter ball. He'll do whatever he wants to do. But that made some news so and got some reaction. You know, anything with Ronni gets reactions. For whatever reason, people were melting down. What did you think about this?

00:37:33
Speaker 2: I love how much Ronald Lacunya Junior loves baseball. I will be holding my breath for every time mcunya goes out there. Just hold your breath and hope and that he's smart out there. I don't want him stealing bases if there's a ball in the gap, I do not want Acunya going, you know, haul and ask the right center field trying to dive for a ball. But hey, he loves the game. He has friends down there of course who play as well. As long as he's being smart and the doctors have fully cleared him, great, have a good time, but.

00:38:02
Speaker 1: Dear God, please stay healthy. I actually have evolved on this kind of thing. Like when I was younger, before I worked in the industry in sports media, I was someone who was like I would have probably not liked this very much, Like there were NBA was kind of the same thing. Like I covered the NBA even more than baseball, and it's like, you know, players playing playing in the Olympics or playing national team, and it's like, man, I don't really want to do that if I'm if I'm the team, I wouldn't love that, And now I do. What I really think of, what I always hear is that these guys are gonna play no matter what. Like ron Akunya may not be playing in like a big time event, but he'll be playing baseball somewhere this winter. He can't stop playing baseball. He'll always hit, he'll always do it. Same thing in the NBA. Guys want to play. Like I know for a fact, guys are playing pickup basketball all summer long. So is the risk much greater than playing in a summer league game or playing in a Olympic qualifying game than it is in a pickup game? Like, No, it really is. These guys want to play, and it is what it is. So yeah, I'm with you, hold your breath. I get it. But like I also still think at the same time, all the times that the runner will be playing baseball that we won't see, that we can't watch, and it's like you can't hold your throw all that either. So he'll play and it'll be fine and hopefully it won't be a big deal. But I saw some meltdowns and I thought I thought it was funny, but then also get frustrating and it's like, guys, everything with ronaldccuone is not a conspiracy like he's he just likes it. He likes baseball. You said it. He just loves baseball. He wants to play.

00:39:36
Speaker 2: It's fine and a nice recognition for Acuna to get the Player's Choice Awards, a Player Comeback of the Comeback Player of the Year. Of course, god willing. Let's keep Ronald healthy.

00:39:47
Speaker 1: Yeah, no more, No more comebacks would be good. All set with comebacks.

00:39:51
Speaker 2: He's won two dollars now, yeah. Hey, and you know what, maybe man, it's funny, Brett we and we always talk on this show about, Hey, the Braves need to add this player, they need to add that player.

00:40:04
Speaker 1: You know what.

00:40:04
Speaker 2: The one thing the Braves can have happened next year that would improve them more than any player they can probably add this offseason is getting good, healthy seasons from their stars. Having Ronald Acunya Junior in the lineup for one hundred and sixty games, having a healthy and mashing Austin Riley, having Michael Harris come back to his form that he was his first couple of years, have Ozzie Albis be healthy, have the pitching staff be healthy again. That's not a crutch. I'm not saying the Braves don't need to do anything and they can just rely on bounce backs. But let's get Ronald healthy and firing and have another MVP kind of season in twenty twenty six.

00:40:38
Speaker 1: Right, there is no player that can acquire that is even eighty percent of rondic, you and Jr. Because the Braves are not going to sign Kyle Tucker. He's the only he's the only guy available in free agency that is near the Acunya level. And the projection on Kyle Tucker in the athletic was ten years and four hundred and twenty seven million dollars. I can pretty much guarantee that that will be the Braves. So live on the pod, Brad.

00:41:00
Speaker 2: I would like to bet you five dollars on who is going to sign Kyle Tucker for an insane amount of money?

00:41:06
Speaker 1: Do I get the Dodgers? Otherwise I don't want to I don't want to play. I don't get no.

00:41:11
Speaker 2: I was gonna say I'll take Dodgers, I'll give you the field five dollars, but I think.

00:41:15
Speaker 1: You would come out. We can do that, but I'm gonna lose. I think that's fine. We canna have a friendly, friendly podcast wager. But no, again, your point's right. Ronnie's upside if he can play one hundred and forty five games, he can be an eight win player even doing that, Like, he's that kind of guy. He's that kind of monster. And hopefully he's good to go and normal come back with as cool if you want it. He did come back and played well last year, normal comebacks. Ronnie, just just playing baseball, all right, Scott. Before we get out of here, a brief World Series check in. Do you want to sound the alarm now? If you're a Braves only person, will normal risk talk on this podcast? Would you say that out loud? I people don't get met us. So we'll just we'll sound the alarm now. And this guy has something else to add about the Braves. This won't be long either. It's just it's the World Series, man, two games left, it's baseball. It's massive news. Go Blue Jays. That's that's got's the entire thought. Uh quickly though, our friends with DraftKings actually have the Blue Jays favored favored favored there minus two forty. That's a big number. Now. Granted they lead three too, and they're going home. So that makes sense that they're favored now. But you and I talked about this beforethand series, Like there was this thought there were this massive under underdog. I don't I never really saw that they were the underdog. Certainly I thought coming into a series, but I never really saw that. It's baseball and they're really good. They have a top five pay roll. It's a good team. Uh, we should at least talk about I talk about with CJ. The eighteen inning game in Game three was just ridiculous. But to lose that game my biggest thame with the Blue Jays right now. To lose that game on the road, come back the next two days and win convincingly the next two days was super resilient and impressive to me, Like I was like, wow, I mean, I know, what's the World Series is. Obviously everything's impressive when it goes on. But like, man, if you I thought they were in trouble after Game three, like you lose that game and that way in that ballpark, you got two more there, it's like, oh, this might be over about somebody can go back to Toronto. Nope, they're gonna win the next two like pretty impressively too.

00:43:11
Speaker 2: Toronto is an impressive baseball team. Brat and you know, I think in October we get narrative Street with with teams and lineups at all. They got a bunch of dogs in that lineup.

00:43:21
Speaker 1: They just fight. They they're clutch. I have it so much.

00:43:26
Speaker 2: Listen, get the Phillies had a team of nothing but dogs and then after that two year run, I mean they've been awful. Phillies have been you know where, turned into cats. I mean they're not They're not dogs anymore in Philly. But uh yeah, the Blue Jays, they're so impressive. Anytime the Dodgers strike, that feels like Toronto is fighting right back. And we said it off the top of you know, Springer is banged up, the sheet is playing on one knee. They have like two starters and a bullpen that is not exactly super deep and loaded with big names. Like credit to Toronto. They have absolutely deserved this and I hope that they're going to have a chance to win it in front of their fans. I mean Toronto might burn down. I mean that's a that is a passionate sports town that has been deprived of championships for a while. In the Big sports. Uh, did did the Raptors win a basketball championship?

00:44:14
Speaker 1: I know you're a die hard Raptors fan, but yes, they did win in twenty nineteen, So okay, Well.

00:44:18
Speaker 2: They haven't won in hockey and forever. They haven't won in baseball and forever. I don't know how many die hard Raptor fans there are. Sorry, if you're you're tuning into a Brave show.

00:44:25
Speaker 1: There actually are a lot like it. They're probably listening to us that which is fair you go, but yeah, no, I'm with you, like we just have once at night since ninety three. That's a long time, as Brais fans know, that's a long time to go without go between that they're been longer than the Braves were. Uh and the ba the Leafs are, Man, that's a different subject that the Leafs are maybe cursed. One more thing at the end Halloween Night game six Yeah in Toronto. By the way, it's on the air for our friends at Fox one to check them out for Fox one. That's they're still free to all available in our show notes. Uh, but it's also us pitching matchup What's Up Everything Else? World Series Primetime Halloween Night Yamamoto for the Dodgers, he's been ridiculous in the playoffs. And then Kevin Gosman for the Blue Jays, old friend, Braves legend, Kevin Gosman on the Mount, he's been awesome too. So I can't wait to watch it, honestly, like I have to do, I have to cover basketball that night too. It would be it'll be a two. It'll be a multi multi screen, multi viewing experience for me because I'm watching baseball team.

00:45:23
Speaker 2: And you know what, it is a rare opportunity for a baseball team to clinch the World Series at home. So weirdly, very few teams have won the World Series on their home field in like the last decade, I think, maybe even just so it's.

00:45:37
Speaker 1: Just it's just so random. But you're right, it's a couple. Yeah it's Braves won it.

00:45:41
Speaker 2: Yeah, Braves won it in Houston, Dodgers in New York. I mean again, go and look it up. I think something like nine of the last ten World Series have been won on the visiting team's fe like the visiting team has won on not on their home turf. So again, rooting for the Blue Jays would be a great story, even if they lose Game six, they do have Game seven in their back pocket. I take that situation all day long, and hopefully they can close this thing out. I mean, man, we say, how much fun that would be if they can't win one out of two games at home against the mighty Dodgers.

00:46:12
Speaker 1: Well, that's and that's what it is. I mean, that's not to evoke this is this is our age difference. But people that are my major order will are We'll almost know where I'm gonna go here. The Braves won the first two in ninety six on the road in New York, came home, lost all three and lost the series and six. Yeah, so like stuff happens, it's baseball. And as discussed you and ilaw we go, hoth of advantage is not as big in baseball as it is in other sports, but it does make it feel worse if you lose the next two at home. For you and and look, the reason why their favorite right now not to do Betty market analysis at the end of the podcast is really just because they have two chances at it. They're not going to be huge favorites or actually I think their underdogs in the game in Game six, because the Dodgers are still the better team in the in the market, and they have the better pitcher now Momoto, he's really really good. So like individual games, it's probably slight edge of the Dodgers, but when you have two to win one that made your chances are higher. So oh yeah, yeah, man, I'm looking forward to I almost no, I won't say this. I I almost said I almost wanted to go the Dodter's win Game six for Game seven purposes, but I just want to lose just to win. So go Jays, Yeah, go Jays.

00:47:19
Speaker 2: I mean credit to Freddy Freeman for having just another historic iconic moment in the eighteenth inning, and and it's all the.

00:47:25
Speaker 1: Time, Scott I thought, I'm just kidding.

00:47:28
Speaker 2: I am happy for Freddy on a personal level that he's had this success. Man, I do miss Freddy every day. I miss watching Freddy Freeman play baseball with the Brakes. But that's neither here nor there. Let's not set our comments on fire entirely all the show.

00:47:40
Speaker 1: You literally just did the fort of time minute market. Anybody made it this far? And yeah, I literally I literally know members of Freddy's family, like, I'm like friendly with his cousin. His dad is grandparents. I root for Freddy. I hope Frey does well. I hope he loses. I hope he loses on Friday Night.

00:47:57
Speaker 2: Yeah, blue Jays ten nothing on Friday Night. Let's let's bring home no drama need I mean, as a impartial fan, sure, like, you know, maybe not eighteen innings, but like a tenth inning walk off for the J's might be, you know, it would be scenes in Toronto. I know there's also a history with the Braves and the Blue Jays. I don't know if that old wound is is I mean at.

00:48:16
Speaker 1: This point, but yeah, were you born? You were born? Maybe not barely yeah ninety two, Uh yeah, yeah. I never got the sense that Braves fans hated the Blue Jays, especially they did the Twins ninety one, which is so much more like raw. I felt like, I mean I was little, but like even doing the history of it all, like reading stuff talking to people that were older than I was at the time, I feel like the Herbeck thing, all all the stuff that happened in ninety one was just like way more raw than the Blue Jays series. They just kind of lost to the Blue Jays, Like it wasn't like a huge drama series. I think our good friend Grant McCauley shared that video. I think it was last week where the final out was Otis Nixon tried to drag bunt for the final out of the World Series with John Smoltz on third basis of Pincher runner. How about that. Go find that video that actually happened, Like in my lifetime, I remember this happening. Literally, the final out of the World Series is John Smaltz, Pincher running at third and Otis Nixon tries to bunt for a hit. It didn't work, Scott, That's why you call in good friend Jorge Solaier to hit a five hundred foot home run and the rest is history. Just signon horts Layer, even if for nothing else other than the World Series. All right, Scott, let's get out of here. Thank you for being here, as always, my friend. Working folks find you on social media, they'd like to find you, and they're just not buying our podcasts. Look, people do find us and the elfies for the first time. We appreciate it.

00:49:33
Speaker 2: Yeah, we're gonna keep rolling, I mean again, off season starts and a couple of days we will have instant reaction whenever the Braves do hire a manager, whenever they make any trades, any signings, whatever happens, we'll do a show that day, just about guaranteed. And if you want to follow me over on the Twitter machine, I'm at Scott Colman fifty five.

00:49:53
Speaker 1: Scott hold fifty five, the world's largest Colts fan, righting high right now, we'll see that goes. If you want to follow me on Twitter slash x, I am at BT Rowland. I don't know why you want to follow me, but if you want to, please feel free. And more importantly, the show is at Hammer Territory on that platform as well as on Instagram, Facebook, et cetera. And please one more time subscribe and Hammer Territory presented by Fox one, Apple, Spotify, also especially YouTube. If you're an audio subscriber already, thank you so much. Also just take two seconds and subscribe on YouTube for us. We very much appreciate it. We've a comment if you want to engage with us there and social media all those places, but we really do, sincerely appreciate all the support and we'll be here all the way through, so stay tuned. We'll have much more coming up later on this week and see everybody next time.