Breaking Down the Braves Search to Improve the Outfield at the MLB Trade Deadline

00:00:21
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Hammer Territory Podcast. My name is Sean Coleman. Hope wherever you are and wherever you are listening, you're having a great start to your Tuesday. And of course All Star week is here, and we just finished the home run derby and we are going to have an all star version of this Hammer Territory podcast as you not only get two but three of the four main group here at Hammer Territory, myself, Scott Coleman, and Steven Tolbert tonight as we talk about all Star weekend also what's to come ahead for the Braves. But first we'll get to my podcast partner, Scott. How are you doing tonight, sir, Good to talk with you again.

00:00:57
Speaker 2: Hey, Sean, I'm doing really well to do a three man pod. We of course used to do a lot of these back in the day with Talking Chop and Battery Power, but I believe this is the first three man that we have done on Hammer Territory. It's very nice to be on with you and with Steven Tonight.

00:01:14
Speaker 1: Absolutely, and I think that this is the case. And Steve and I know that me and you usually are talking about, you know, all the different things that are going on and you know, typically here recently it's been us talking about, you know, how disappointing the Braves offense has been. But I know that you tonight kind of endured more than enjoyed the Home Run Derby. Of course, Stephen over at Battery Power, you know, recap the Home Run Derby. Well we'll start there. Marcello Zuna was in the Home Run Derby. You know, a little bit of anticipation that maybe he could have a good show, and unfortunately he didn't. But you know, when I say that we've had a bit of rants in the past, this this Home Run Derby, it was supposed to be entertaining. It didn't come across that way, even though there were some enjoyable moments.

00:01:58
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's good to be on with you guys, obviously, it's it's always fun to do these and I'm very much look forward to doing our first three man pod. I think we have some interesting stuff to talk about. But yeah, the Home Run Derby. Listen, I grew up on the Home Run Derby. I was obsessed with the Home Run Derby when I was a kid. Like it was Griffy and McGuire and Bonds and so so like those things were like magical to me.

00:02:19
Speaker 4: The magic has.

00:02:20
Speaker 3: Certainly worn off over the years. I don't know if it's just because they changed the format every year. If they you know, they really struggle to get the best home run hitters in the game.

00:02:29
Speaker 4: To do it.

00:02:31
Speaker 3: You know, this year we had Alec Boehme and you know, Tiascar Hernandez and no no offense to those guys. They put on as good a show as they could. But like you know, you need a certain amount of star power in these things to really drive it. Even as a Braves fan, you know, watching Marcel was cool, but you know, if this thing has Aaron Judge and show Hey and and Soto, you know, it's just got more juice. So I don't really know what the league can do, but you know, it is what it is. It's a it's a marketing and pr event, and that's kind of what this whole week is. So I'm not gonna get two upset about. But yeah, it was a like a three hour derby tonight. Not the greatest, you know, not the best field to begin with, but.

00:03:07
Speaker 4: Is what it is.

00:03:08
Speaker 3: But yeah, good to be on with you guys, And obviously we've got some interesting talk to get to about the Braves and where they're gonna go as we as we approach the trade deadline and Scott.

00:03:18
Speaker 1: We also need to acknowledge just how busy this week is a week that continues to get busier and busier because, of course, we also know that the MLB Draft over the past couple of seasons has occurred during All Star weekends. So I'll be the first to admit myself I'm not a draft expert, but the Braves, once again, you know, heavily investing in pitching. But I think for many across the league, you know, they saw us draft you know, one of the youngest but also most appealing arms in this draft in Cam Kamanitti with the first pick in the draft. But beyond that, I think that it's a good thing that the Braves invested in Cam Kmmanitti. Just a few thoughts that you have on the fact that the draft's going on, and of course we're going to see the completion of the Braves twenty twenty four draft class tomorrow.

00:04:04
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, so far, the Braves have made ten picks and nine of them have been pitchers. And then they took a catcher with some pop, and lately that's been the trend for the Braves in the draft, a whole lot of pitching. And while I admittedly am not a big time draft guru, the people who I trust and who really follow this stuff really really like the pick of Kaminetti, a player who was very likely not going to be there at twenty four if you believe the scouting services. He was a projected top fifteen pick, and with good reason. And at the end of the day, you're talking about a seventeen year old prep high school arm There is such a long path ahead of him in order to make the majors. But for my money, if you're going to swing in the draft, swing for the fences. Go for a Kaminetti who throws ninety eight with a clean motion from the left side. If everything goes right, you're talking about a top of the rotation all for years to cop. He has blood lum working in his favor. He is the kind of player who I want the Braves to go out and try to get because you can play for floor and you can play for sealing in these drafts, and it is such a crapshoot. But for my money, if you're going to try to add a player with the twenty fourth pick. Kevin Eddy was a no brainer, and let's hope the Braves can develop him and turn him into a real weapon out of their rotation in a couple of years.

00:05:28
Speaker 1: Absolutely, and you know you're looking at you know, a few years from now. You know, Alex and thopplss they've consistently gone. You know, it's just like the setu from last year. Stephen pointed this out, in which you know they probably had a plan going into the draft, but on nine one those plans kind of got scrapped when a player you didn't expect to be there was there. So kudos to the Braves were getting that value. But of course we're here to talk about you know, what's to come, and I know we're in the midst of All Star Week, not no games until this weekend, but what's coming up after the All Star break is of course the two and twenty four or MLB trade deadline. And in another episode later this week, we're gonna go top to bottom with the roster, you know, looking at different perspectives when it comes to what the Braves could do with the trade deadline. But in this episode, really wanted to focus on what has emerged as the number one need for this Braves team. And we've heard it rumored that the Braves are already exploring options for this need, and of course that is the outfield addition. And Steven, I'll throw it to you with this setup, the current situation for the Braves outfield is this. We've discussed it' Scotten Brad have discussed it. The current Brave situation is this. You've got right now at the top of the hierarchy for the Braves outfield, You've got Jared Kilnick, who over the past six weeks or so has performed very well. Past week or so has struggled. But you've got Jared Kilnick, You've got Adam de Ball, You've got Eddie Rizzario, You've got Eli White, Ramon Lariano possibly could be coming back, you know, maybe this weekend, hopefully in the next ten days or so, maybe Michael Harris the second. But the thing that I'm getting that when you look from that top to bottom of the current hierarchy for this Braves outfield, you maybe have one or two liable everyday options. To me, when it comes to the reason why outfield is in need, you need another everyday option to really make that group formidable for what you hope can be a productive group for the playoffs.

00:07:13
Speaker 3: Yeah, listen, I mean you read off the names, right, you read off Jared Kelnick and Adam Devall and Eddie Rizzario and Ramon Loreano and Eli White. You know that really doesn't sound like a group of players that should be, Like you're one through four on a on a roster that's trying to win a World Series, at least in terms of the outfield, Like that really sounds like more of you know, that should be the names that's like you're three through six or three through seven. You know, there's just not a lot of high end talent in that position right now. You know, Michael Harris is coming back. Obviously, at least he's planning on coming back, I should say, you know, he's.

00:07:51
Speaker 4: Got a hamstring.

00:07:53
Speaker 3: Hamstrings are notoriously tricky, especially for guys who use, you know, their legs as a big part of their weapon, like a center fielder does. So obviously, Michael coming back and when he comes back, and how healthy and productive he's going to be when he comes back is a factor in all of this. But at the end of the day. You know, I can spit out a ton of numbers. I can, you know, splits left right, you know, obp slugging like there's a there's a million numbers, and we'll talk about some of them tonight. But like if you just step back and just look at the names and like the talent level, like it's just insufficient, Like it's just not that's not a talented enough outfield to help the Braves win a World Series in my opinion, And I just think they need more. And you know, whether they need one or two more is probably pretty dependent on where they think Michael is in terms of his rehab. We're going to get into some names tonight a little bit, and some of the teams that are that are potentially.

00:08:51
Speaker 4: Selling, but they just need more. I mean, they just need more talent. You know.

00:08:55
Speaker 3: We can hope for guys to play better, and hope Eddie Rosario plays better, Adam de Ball plays better, Kellnet gets a little more consistent, but at the end of the day, it's, you know a lot of a lot of times just about talent, and I don't think the Braves have quite enough talent there. I think they need to make a couple of external moves, at least one external move if they feel comfortable about Michael and just add to the talent level and then go from there.

00:09:16
Speaker 1: And Scott. The thing that I'll mention about it is is that when you're looking so the Braves obviously need talent, they need to out elevate their talent level in the outfield, and a lot of times when it comes to trade deadlines, outfielders are one of the more, you know, easy to come by options that you can get, especially for the Braves, who we've seen time and time again, go get a player, have them improve in Atlanta versus what they did previously. You know, it's a tel As oldest time, you know, master of the move on the margins Alex and Thopless and so many people want to point out we just celebrated the three year anniversary of us going to get John Peterson in twenty twenty one. People want to point out, well, he did it in twenty twenty one, he could do it this year. But one factor that's changed between now and in twenty twenty one there's an extra playoff team. I went back and looked at the Wildcats Stadings in twenty twenty one. At this time, there was no team within the top two wildcard teams by more than three games. The standings in the situation for the playoffs have changed. That makes the amount of outfielders and teams that are willing to trade change a bit. It's a point you brought up time and time again, but it's an important factor as to who could be available when it comes to adding an outfield edition.

00:10:24
Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely will. And if you go and look at the standings that there are as many as maybe a half dozen teams who are going to ultimately decide what they're going to do with the deadline based on the next two weeks once the games begin. Teams like what do the Texas Rangers do, What do the Toronto Blue Jays do? What do the Tampa Bay Rays do? Go on and on down the list. And obviously, if you're the Braves, you're winning as many teams to sell as possible. Prices generally go down when it's more of a buyer's market and you just have more flexibility and options for who you're going to try to add in right field. I would agree entirely with both you and Steven. The Braves have to go out and ad an outfielder of some kind. It may not be a superstar. I know Luis Robert is probably the biggest outfield name on the block. I mean, sure, could the Braves unload the farm to go get Robert and hope that he stays healthy and if he is, then that's a massive addition. Sure, I'm also not sure that Alex and Thoppless, just knowing everything we know about him, is going to unload three or four of his top prospects from a pretty thin farm system in order to go take that gamble. Does a player like Randia Rosarina become available in Tampa Bay? And we can go on and on down the list, But the point is is that Alex kind of zigs when we expect him to zag. He has never really made the obvious move, especially recently. Who saw him going out and getting Chris Sale. I don't think that name was mentioned once all off season connected to the Braves, even by US people who follow the Braves and cover the Braves closely. And he goes out and ads Sale, And I think that's a point of Whenever Alex, He's never afraid to look under every rock, and it would not surprise me that in a couple of weeks if a he were to add an outfielder, and b if it's somebody who we maybe aren't thinking is an obvious choice.

00:12:16
Speaker 1: And Stephen, the thing that I'll say is this is that you're correct, absolutely, Scott, Alex and Thopolis. He had the resourcefulness that he has especially on these moves in the margins of going to get names that we may not expect. I think is definitely something that kind of always keeps us in the loop to be able to find a valuable get even if the number of teams that are out there are not that numerous, at least not as much as they were in the past. But Stephen, while the names may not be available, I think that one thing we could pinpoint is one or two traits in a specific outfielder that really could be a need for this Brave's team. I know we've talked about someone who can get on base at the top of the line up, obviously, someone that could hit right in and pitching, of course with the Brave's preference. When we saw Horor Hace Layer do what he did in twenty twenty one, it's power potential. Could it outfielder here be more powerful than he was elsewhere. Steven went it. While the names may not be obvious, what are one or two obvious traits of a potential outfield get that would really improve this Braves lineup?

00:13:18
Speaker 3: Yeah, listen, I mean when you lose Acunya, you know, you lose a lot, But the biggest thing you lose relative to the rest of the team is on base percentage, because you know, outside of Matt Olsen, there's nobody else on the team who you would describe as on base percentage being a strength of theirs, Like, it's really a Kunya and Olsen, maybe a little bit of Riley, but that's about it. But Acunya is the is the is far and away your your most talented player in that regard. And so when you take him off, I mean, you know, you look at the numbers. We uh, somebody tweet him out Earler Scott was talking about but before we went on live here. But you know, the last three months or so, the Braves are dead last in the league and on base percentage, and it's even worse when you take a Kunya out of the equation, who obviously won't be back this year. So you you kind of need to take him out of the equation. So on base percentage is a huge part of it. You know, the Braves do have an archaeotype in terms of players they like. If you go look at all of the players that Alex and Thoppos has ever acquired, you know, it's a he's really a power in defense guy like Jared Kelnick was a power in defense acquisition, Sean Murphy was a power in defense acquisition. Mattilson when he came over, his reputation was power and defense. Michael Harris is a power and defense player.

00:14:33
Speaker 4: Before the injuries, Azzi Alby's.

00:14:35
Speaker 3: You know, before all the shoulder stuff that he went through, he was a power in defense player. Orlando Arcia was a power in defense. But like they have a they have a type that they look for and it's power and defense, and on base percentage is not a huge part of that. And they've been able to win and score a lot of runs without that, So maybe that's not a huge part of what they look for. But you know, if you're talking about where could this team improve the most, well, when you're a dead las in the league and on base percentage, then that is clearly where you can improve the most. You know, the Braves are one of the worst teams in baseball in terms of walk rate. Again, especially when you take out a Kunya, who you know is far and away the best at that you know in the Braves lineup, you take him out, it's very pedestrian, just straight up bad really, So on base percentage, it would be, you know, adding an outfielder that can you know, at least like a three forty three fifty clip. You know you're not trying to go get you know, Bryce Harper, that's on base you know, forty three percent of the time, but just anything in the three forties three fifties would be a help, honestly, because the Braves are running out a lot of guys who are two ninety three h five three ten.

00:15:40
Speaker 4: That's tough. Man.

00:15:40
Speaker 3: It's tough to string together any sort of offense that way, especially when the when the home runs aren't coming, and we've seen that too many times this year.

00:15:47
Speaker 4: With the the home run ball just goes dry.

00:15:50
Speaker 3: And listen with this, the way they designed this and built this team. You know, when the home runs go dry, you desperately need somebody to get on base at some point to maybe generator run. So yeah, that's what I would say on base percentage. But I would also remind people that Alex does have a type. He's been very clear about that type for six years now, and I wouldn't be surprised if he's stuck to it and just kind of, you know, went doubled down on more power to see if he can wake the rest of this lineup up.

00:16:19
Speaker 4: It wouldn't surprise being off.

00:16:20
Speaker 1: That's what he did, absolutely, And Scott, when you when you look at the power, when you look at the on base percentage, that's what kind of defines, you know, the Braves wanting to be able to go get that type. But again with less teams now being available to provide that type of outfielder, those teams are know that they have assets to where they're going to want a milk as much value out of them. The Braves may not necessarily have as much out there as other teams will like the ability to go get three or four outfielders. And the you know, most valuable prospect you give up is the twenty first prospect on your you know, top thirty list, Like they didn't do twenty one. That's going to be hard to do. So your thoughts when it comes to you know just how much Alex Entthopolis may be willing to pay. I know that we've got, you know, a few minor leaguers who have had some special seasons so far this year. But do you think it makes sense for alex to pay a relevant, even to substantial cost for an outfielder that could really come in and change things for this lineup?

00:17:23
Speaker 2: You know? I think my first response to that is when a team is very much in a World Series contention window, my concern about the farm system and having a deep pipeline goes down a bit because at the end of the day, your World Series window is only open for so long, and if you have an opportunity to add an impact player, you should go do it. And maybe you have to overpay a little bit in prospect, or maybe you have to take on a contract in order to get a player. But for the most part, I'm not overly concerned about the health of the farm system when the Braves are trying to win their second championship in four years, and I think with Alex, I know we talked about traits and what he looks for. I wanted to add. Another thing that I think is always something Alex has tried to do in the past is adding underperforming players. And sometimes people will see the surface level stats, like on a Pierce Johnson for example, And I know Pierce is a reliever, and of course we're talking about outfielders tonight, but his surface numbers were terrible. But if you dug in a little bit deeper on the stats, you would see that Pierce Johnson's a very capable and talented reliever, had a great spin rate on his curveball, had great underlying metrics even if his ra was inflated. Those are the kind of players you look at. So when I look around the league, you know, you look at a player like Taylor Ward out in Anaheim. Ward's numbers on the surface are nothing special. They're not bad, but they're not going to blow you away. But then he has one of the highest expected wobas in terms of the way he hits the ball, his exit velocities, his line driver those are things I think the front office really looks for. And I'm sure that some of our listeners are a little more on the traditional side of stats and others are more on the advanced and analytical side. They do think when you're looking at players, you kind of have to dig a little bit deeper than what their surface numbers are. You know, what's their exit velocity? Like are they running into bad luck? Is this just a down year? What trends do they have right now? All of that is going to factor into the equation. And there may not be a perfect outfielder out there for Alex. They think he's just gonna kind of have to weigh everything and try to add the best player for this year and potentially beyond.

00:19:38
Speaker 3: And to piggyback on what scottch just said, if people remember, you know, the Braves paid almost nothing in twenty twenty one to get the four outfitters. They brought in very very little in terms of prospect costs. And the reason was is because you know, Jorge Hilarira was having a terrible year with Kansas City before the Braves acquired him in twenty twenty one. Any Risoria was hurt and barely put it all.

00:20:01
Speaker 4: For Cleveland in twenty twenty one.

00:20:03
Speaker 3: Jock Peterson was having a very mediocre year with Chicago in twenty two. Like this is exactly what Scott's talking about like he Alex bet on upside and he bet on you know, bat at ball numbers that were better than results. You know, he decided that he would rather you know, pay less on a guy who maybe hasn't performed well but they thought could perform well in a better lineup and hope that works. And you know, like Scott said, that's just been Alex's m O.

00:20:32
Speaker 4: I mean, he is a find the.

00:20:35
Speaker 3: Hidden gym, find the you know, the the unlocked value, and try to get more out of a guy than you give up in terms of costs. So, yeah, just to piggyback on what Scott said, Alex has done this multiple times in the past.

00:20:46
Speaker 4: He's done it with the outfield.

00:20:48
Speaker 3: Obviously in twenty one it had unbelievable results that pretty much every move hit exactly what they want. But yeah, you know, Scott's one hundred percent right. He doesn't always just go get the guy having the best year. A lot of times they go get the guy who they they think might have a better second half than they had a first half, and you know, get some get some some value out of a deal where the cost maybe isn't quite as high.

00:21:15
Speaker 1: And that's the question that I'll ask when it comes to that cost. You know, again, the way that they've been able to find value is you're right they you know, we've seen it time and time again Atlanta Kevin Sitzer, the hitting you know, for the hitting approach that's here. We do such a good job of getting value once a player comes versus where they were. But this leads to another interesting conversation, I think because both of you have offered great insight on something that I myself have also been weighing as well, going after a rental versus someone that's controlled. And we'll start kind of with those rental pieces. You know, when you look at the on base percentage aspect of things, I think some rentals potentially stand out. I believe each of these players are going to be a free agent after the season. Some veterans names such as a Jesse Winker, a Tommy fam a Charlie Blackman. Those type of players you don't have as much upside because those are older players. You don't have as much power upside either, but you do have players that could come in and can give you that on base consistency that you're looking for. Probably you're not going to cost as much because of the fact that they are rentals. Does that type of approach really make sense to either one of y'all? Cost is reasonable, you kind of know what you're getting, and it's someone that at the very least could help the on base approach of the Braves. If one of those type of players were to be available, I think that they could make sense, and especially if you feel they could be better in Atlanta than where they are right now.

00:22:45
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, I would definitely say listen to brain.

00:22:48
Speaker 3: The brains have to weigh some interesting things here, like uh, and I know Scott and I both talked about this at different on different occasions, But in twenty twenty five, the Braves have three outfitters under team control. They have Acunya, they have Michael Harris, and they have Jared Kelnick and you know, Marcelo Zuna. The guaranteed portion of Marcelo Zuna's contract is up. If they wanted to move Ronald Acunya to DH for the year, and they could do that and bring in an outfielder. But if you do that then you lose mar Solo Zoom, right, And that's a huge piece.

00:23:19
Speaker 4: Like that's a huge.

00:23:19
Speaker 3: Part of this is if you want to bring back Marcelo Zuna, the Braves have a team option on him for next year.

00:23:25
Speaker 4: That is very reasonable.

00:23:27
Speaker 3: If you want to bring him back, then that eats up your DH spot, which means then you didn't have three outfield spots for Acunya, Harris and Kelnick, which means if you want to go get a controllable outfitter that's got more years of team control after this year, then what are you gonna.

00:23:41
Speaker 4: Do with it?

00:23:42
Speaker 3: Would be my question, because you're not gonna ever sit a Kunya if he's healthy. You're not ever gonna sit Michael Harris if he's healthy. And Kelnick has already shown that he's been better as a full time player than he ever was really as a platoon player. So under that lens like part time rental outfielders make more sense just because they're cheaper. Obviously we just talked about twenty one how cheap Alex was able to get guys, but also because you don't have to worry about twenty twenty five and fitting all of these outfielders in. I understand you can't have too much talent, but like you also, if you have three outfielders already locked up, past this year, and that is your plan for twenty twenty five. It's tough to go get a fourth outfielder who's a full time player and make all of that work. So you know, could they do it? Yeah, they probably could. They probably could bring Azuna back, have four full time outfielders, spread the playing time around enough where everybody's happy.

00:24:37
Speaker 4: But that's not easy to do, and it's a lot to ask for the manager.

00:24:41
Speaker 3: And you know, managers always got the guys that he likes the most. And I don't know it, maybe Scott has a different opinion, but in my opinion, our rental outfielder just alleviates all.

00:24:54
Speaker 4: Of those problems.

00:24:54
Speaker 3: And if you want to bring him back in the off season, you can if you really love him, if he plays well. But acquiring an outfielder with a ton of team control, to me, it might solve some problems, but it also creates some problems. But I kind of want to hear what Scott thinks about this.

00:25:10
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a fascinating logjam. And I found myself just in a like a never ending tweet storm a couple weeks back about this exact situation. Because if you're Alex and Thoppolis. Obviously you're thinking about this year, but he's paid the big bucks to think about years down the road. And I think Alex basically has two choices here and you just outlined them. You can add a rental and admittedly the rental market is not great on the surface in terms of outfielders. We could do a super deep dive on this, but just on the surface level, it's not like there are a half dozen rental outfielders who make a ton of sense for this team. But at the same time, in the interest of winning this season, if you can go out and trade for a player who has control through twenty five or twenty six or even twenty seven, you could always add that player and then figure it out in the winter time, and maybe that gives you a better chance of winning in twenty four. Knowing that then in November and December Alex can potentially trade someone. It would also give them a little bit of insurance because we have no idea what Ronald Acunya Junior is going to be able to do defensively next season. I think that is the big unknown right now, and Alex is going to have to operate as if he doesn't know because frankly, there is very little precedent for players at Ronald's age, in particular coming back from two torn acls in less than four years. Is he going to be able to play right field every day come April first? Next season? Do the Braves want him to play every single day? And I know we could probably talk about this for hours about next year's outlook on the team, But at the end of the day, it is very much a consideration that Alex is going to have to figure out whether he goes for a rental who may not be as good, or if he goes for a player with a couple of years of control and then tries to figure it out in the winter on what to do.

00:27:07
Speaker 1: Absolutely, and I think I see both sides of the equation. I agree with Steven in that you know, you go for a rental, at the very least you got someone that can help out your own base percentage. You know, maybe it's someone that could come here and do better again, like we've talked about, than they have elsewhere. But also get Scott case and and I think that there's multiple points to why you would maybe want to go after a controllable person. You probably are going to find more upside and the controllable talent. You could then take that controllable talent potentially and use them in a trade in the off season to go get an arm that you need, because we're gonna have plenty of arm questions about twenty twenty five as well. And to Scott's point that he brought up into Steven's point as well, you're also going into next season with Ronald Accoye Junior coming off a big injury. But you've also in general experienced plenty of injuries as a whole to your outfield this season. Michael Harris is also injured this pass off season. After having so many pitching injuries in twenty twenty three, Alex and Thopless went out and got a whole bunch of arms. Maybe he sees the value in getting another fourth outfielder, but someone that could start if you need it, So maybe he likes that control. So I think that there's plenty there to both sides, And I definitely think that Alex and Thopless, if he finds the right situation. To Scott's point, I think he will pay a notable price to go get it. But we've been talking about all these different parameters, all these different thoughts as to what type of outfield we could go get. Scott, Steven, whatever word er you would like, Just some names that intrigue you. A few names that stand out is being okay, if we're really gonna go out and maybe get a guy who can get on base and hit for power. What are a couple of names that stand out for you? Steven?

00:28:40
Speaker 4: Go ahead, yeah, listen.

00:28:43
Speaker 3: I mean I I'm always tied to what teams are gonna sell, Like it's just hard to get past that.

00:28:48
Speaker 4: Like I would love it.

00:28:49
Speaker 3: Like, for instance, if the Pirates were gonna sell right, like Brian Reynolds has been a name on the market for years, you know, would they ever pull the trigger on that?

00:28:58
Speaker 4: I have no idea because we don't know if they're gonna sell.

00:29:00
Speaker 3: You know, Ian happ for the Cubs, same thing he's got, you know, I think Ian I looked this up a couple of days ago. Ian Hamp's got like a three sixty on base percentage this year. But the Cubs are only like three or four games out of the third wild card, so like, who knows what they're gonna do? You know, Cody Bellinger's another name, like, if the Cubs ended up selling, do they move Cody Bellinger? You know, Jazz Chisholm is a name that Marlin's people have brought up. Jesse Winker is a name from the Nationals that's an obvious just because he's a rental. He has had some off field stuff, some clubhouse stuff that I don't know that that Alex would be terribly interested in, but maybe, I mean, who knows. You know, the the Tigers have got some interesting guys, but again, they're not that.

00:29:43
Speaker 4: Far out of it.

00:29:44
Speaker 3: It's just so you know, we're we're so tied to the buyers and sellers. And the extra playoff spot has really you know, I've railed against expanded playoffs enough on this podcast. But another problem with it is how much it's kind of down what it means to be a contender, which is in effect, you know, created a situation where you have I mean, right now, we have nine teams in the National.

00:30:08
Speaker 4: League that were are like within three games of the last wildcard spot. Nine teams. That's crazy. I mean, there's only fifteen teams in the league.

00:30:15
Speaker 3: There's nine of them within three games of the last wild card spots. So yeah, until you know those sellers list. It's very hard to pick names. But one thing I do want to say in our last what we were just talking about is I think in a perfect world, in an absolutely perfect world, I think you would keep your DH spot open to allow Acuna to play DH whenever he needs to on a daily basis. I don't know if you can afford to do that with the way Azuna has been hitting and the way the other guys haven't been hitting. But if we're just talking about in an absolute perfect world in terms of matching up outfielders with positions, I think in an ideal world, Acuna would have the DH spot for himself in twenty twenty five, and you would have three other outfielders who could all potentially be your everyday guys that you know that Acunya is not one of them. I just I don't know if they can afford to do that until Matt Olsen, Austin Riley, Ozzy Albius, till these guys start hitting the way they're supposed to hit. I just don't know if you can afford to take Azuna out of the lineup like that. But in a perfect world, I think Acuna would have the DH to himself next year. We'll see what happens. But yeah, in terms of names, it's tough. It's tough when you don't.

00:31:33
Speaker 4: Know who the sellers are.

00:31:34
Speaker 3: But those are a few guys that I have been watching to see if maybe their teams fall out. Jock Peterson with the Cardinals with the Diamondbacks is another one, if they fall out of it.

00:31:44
Speaker 4: But you know, we'll have to wait and see what actually happens.

00:31:48
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, I was going through MLB trade rumors. Just drop their list of the top fifty trade candidates, and I would encourage folks to go take a look. There are a lot of names in there. There are quite a few outfielders, which is a good thing for the Braves. Steven mentioned the name Ian Hap. That's an am I would be very very interested in because he gets on base. I would love to get Ian in like the second spot in this lineup if the Cubs decide to sell. He's a corner bat. He's under control for beyond this year. But again you can figure that out in the wintertime. There's other names too. When I go through, I mean, the dream would be Randy or Rose Arena from the Tampa Bay Rays. I don't think Tampa Bay is going to tell him, but the Rays also operate very differently. He is having a down season, so maybe there's a chance that they would be willing to trade a Rose Arena. That's probably far fetched, but I can dream. I love Randy, you know, if I had to guess, And this is a very official July sixteenth prediction, Man, there's two players who stick out to me. Taylor Ward with the Angels is interesting because, as Steven talked about at length, Alex has very much type and Ward fits the type of a couple of those things. He's having a really he's having an okay season with the Angels, but he has huge stat cast numbers. His exit velocity and expected numbers are way more than his one hundred WRC plus. I would not be surprised if it's Taylor Ward for a couple of reasons. There's also a lot of familiarity with Los Angeles' front office with Alex and some folks who move from Atlanta to Anaheim with Perrimanasian, so there's a Nobvius connection there. And then if he's gonna go, if Alex is gonna go boring, I think Lane Thomas with the Nationals is interesting enough. He's having a decent year. He is unfortunately right handed, which I think in a perfect world he would be a lefty just to help balance things out a little bit with Duval, but solid numbers from the right side, a lot of speed he could fill in. I think he's a significant upgrade over what the Braves currently have. Otherwise we know that that's a pretty low bar to clear. I would hope they could add somebody better than Lane Thomas, but I think Washington's clearly going to sell, and as a player who is not under control for much longer, he seems like a fallback option if other choices or preferred options fall apart.

00:34:17
Speaker 1: And I think that the point that you bring up about Taylor Ward is so critical. You know, he's the type that Alex lights. We had the familiarity with LA's front office, and like all those twenty twenty one outfield candidates that we got in the past, when they were in their younger years, they showed star level potential with the plate, highly productive potential at the plate. They went down because of whatever occurred. But when you look at Eddi Rizzario, jorgees Selaier, Jock Peterson. They had had tremendous seasons back you know, each of them, twenty eighteen, twenty nineteen, and then they come to Atlanta and get back to those levels. Taylor Ward in the past has had that, not necessarily to that level, but has had success. He could get back to that level as well. You know an interesting name I find out there though he really doesn't have the profile that Alex goes after because there's not a lot of power potential. But Isaiah Isaiah Kiner Falefa of the Toronto Blue Jays. Just someone who's got some versatility to potentially play in the old field or the outfield, can get on base, and has shown some versatility with the bat. Maybe someone like that as a singular source could help you out at shortstop or in the outfield if you need help at both places. Of course, I'd love to see us go get maybe an outfielder for the White Sox. You know, if the Braves feel they like Tommy fam if they want to get him and Paul Deyung, I think that combo would be hard to get. And then as a Bilow candidate who's got a few seasons left on him, I really like Hazu Sanchez of the Florida Marlins. I think there's a lot of power potential that you could play, you know, him with He would be kind of a Bilow like Jared Kilnick. Don't know how likely that is, but just some names out there that could make sense. But Scott, the whole thing is this is that even when we talk about there not being a lot of teams, the thing to remember though, is that when it comes to Alex Nthopolis, I think more than most shems, he's going to go through all these scenarios. He's going to consider all these perspectives, and for someone as resourceful as he's proven to be in the past, well, even when there's not just a perfect candidate out there, at the end of the day, he may even bring multiple candidates in one thing. To remember, he's been here before and if there's anybody who can do it once again, it's him.

00:36:21
Speaker 4: Yeah.

00:36:21
Speaker 2: I think, especially with his in season moves, Alex has earned a lot of benefit of the doubt. And he's not going to bat a thousand because nobody beats a thousand. But I do have confidence that he's going to go out there and adequately access his team and say, hey, we need to add an impact outfield here, and it may not be a superstar, but I would be a little surprised if Alex adds someone and we all jump on here for an emergency podcast and it's kind of like a wamp womp kind of reaction of Okay, I guess he's a little better than Adam Duvall or I guess he's a little better than Eddie Rosario. I would imagine that al going to go out there. The farm system does have a little bit of depth right now. They have some intriguing players at premium positions. Drake Baldwin is the I think if the Braves are going to add an impact outfielder, Drake Baldwin, who was just in the futures game, is a catcher. The Braves obviously have Sean Murphy locked up for years. Presumably they're going to keep Travis Darno around for a few more seasons as well because of what he does on and off the field. So if you're asking me to pick a prospect who could be moved in the next couple of weeks, I would guess that Baldwin is probably the one I would pick from the top five or top ten of the farm. But I think again, Alex is also shown a desire to not trade his prospects whenever he can do it, and that situation may or may not present itself in the next two weeks ahead of the deadline. But they do ultimately think that Alex is going to give this team a real chance to make a push by adding an impact player to this lineup. And if you can add I had a good enough hitter in right field, all of a sudden, your lineup one through eight looks pretty damn good. It's really just that ninth spot with the Orlando Rcia that you're not loving. And that's fine. Right now, the Braves only have five or six hitters that they feel good about. But if you get Michael Harris back, you're going to get an outfielder. Presumably you can do a whole lot worse than what the Braves will be running out there one through eight, especially if guys like Matt Olson and Ossi Alby's pick it up in the second half.

00:38:29
Speaker 3: And I will say this because I was just sitting here thinking about it, there is a scenario that makes.

00:38:36
Speaker 4: Sense, like let's say, let's say Alex wants.

00:38:39
Speaker 3: To go get Louise Robert. Let's just hypothetically say, Okay, I want to go big. I want to go big they you know, the White Sox love Drake Bald when the White Sox love not you al Morez.

00:38:50
Speaker 4: You know, pick your top prospect that it would take.

00:38:56
Speaker 3: There is a scenario where if you go get a guy that good, where he's got multiple years of team control, then you could potentially you could potentially let Ozuna walk at the end of the year because you've essentially replaced him with a guy like Luis Robert, And then how couldn't you could dh in twenty twenty five, Like, if you go big enough.

00:39:22
Speaker 4: For your addition this year, you do actually create a.

00:39:25
Speaker 3: Scenario where you can let Ozuna walk next year and it's not gonna kill you as bad. So there is a threshold where it actually does make more sense to go bigger than smaller. I don't know if they'll do it, but as I was listening to Scott talk, that scenario popped in my head where like it does actually make some sense.

00:39:45
Speaker 1: Absolutely, And I think the one thing that we can all agree on is that one thing in Scott you hit on this point. But this Braves pitching staff. It enters the All Star Break leading the majors in EURN run average. We just had three starters from our staff, a staff that's lost Spencer Strider unfortunately for the season, but three of their starters, including two who are in their first year with the franchise, go to the All Star Game. If that pitching staff can remain healthy, we have ingredients here to be able to put together the type of run that you have seen many teams do that we did in twenty twenty one to win the World Series title. We are a World Series contender, and we've just recently seen our offense in the ten games before the All Star Break. They scored five plus runs in eight of those ten games. Yes, they were shut out in the other two. But if this team can just at least get a boost from somewhere, even if it's not a superstar, if it's just a notable player who can offer a bit more consistency than some of the other outfield options we've got, if we can get back to score in those four or five six runs a game, this team is a really good spot to potentially go on one of those runs. So anyone who's thinking well, maybe it's not worth investing in this team. It's worth it because this team, Sean's pitching staff has the talent to be able to win a title. And I think that's going to motivate Scott to or is going to motivate Alex and thoughtless to your point, Scott to want to go get something done and something notable done.

00:41:13
Speaker 2: Yeah, and hey, if Alex wants to make me assistant GM, I'd be down. Give me a call, Alex. No, he doesn't need my yapping in his front office. Yeah. I mean, clearly, this team has a lot of components of a World Series champion, high end starting pitching at the top of the rotation, a lights out bullpen as a whole. Maybe we are guilty on the podcast of not giving the bullpen its flowers for just being a really great and consistent group all year long. And then line up. Yes, there are players underperforming, Yes there have been a bunch of injuries, but if you can get healthy and stay healthy, you get a bounce back from a couple of players, and then you can add an outfielder. We just talked about how deep this lineup suddenly looks while also being pretty solid defensively, you can absolutely see this team making a run. We could do our whole rant about how random the playoffs have become and we don't have to go down that whole rabbit hole right now. But clearly, man, you can't just say, well, Okay, maybe this isn't our best team. We're not going to go out and improve it. Of course not because we can't predict the future. And if you're telling me the Braves can get to October with a healthy Sale and Freed and Lopez, a very deep bullpen and a lineup that's going to hopefully find some more consistency in the second half, and I think it will. Why not the Braves? Maybe they aren't going to go in with the best record, but as we've seen the last couple of off a couple of playoffs, going in as the number one or the number two seed does not mean a single thing, especially in the National League.

00:42:45
Speaker 3: And I'll add this, you know, we haven't really adjusted our thinking because in the offseason, you know, the constant conversation was how big of a question mark the rotation is going to be in twenty to twenty five losing all these guys. But you know, Alex went and got Chris Sale for multiple years. He went and got Ronaldo Lopez for multiple years. Spencer Swallenback has come on, who's got multiple years of tea control all of a sudden, like the twenty twenty five rotation. You know, you get Strider back, you have Sale, you have Lopez, you have swollen Block. Maybe you get Morton back, like and even if you don't get Morton back, like you know it's it's going to get a back and started, Like the twenty twenty five rotation suddenly doesn't have as many question marks as it did. Maybe in the winter when we didn't have Lopez, we didn't have Sale, we didn't know about Schwellenbach. And I do think that's relevant to this conversation because if if you were looking at the twenty twenty five rotation has still this huge question mark, then maybe if you're Alex, you're saving some of your prospects, like you're saving some of your your resources, you're saving some of your dollars because you know you've got some pretty big holes to fill in the wintertime, and maybe you don't, you know, push us hard for an outfield right now. But now that that is not as big of a question as it was maybe even three four months ago. You know, this team all of a sudden doesn't really have that many holes going into next year outside of we got to figure out the outfield and or we got to figure out the h you know, we got to figure out something for this year. Do we you know we do we do multiple years to spill over into next year. What do we do with those? Know, that's that kind of becomes the biggest question, and so once again it does kind of justify maybe spending a little bit more, going a little bit bigger on that acquisition right now because you don't have those massive holes in the roster, you know that maybe we thought we would even three or four months ago. So it is going to be to see how they allocate resources given the emergence of guys like Sale and Lopez and swallowing back to really solidify not only the rotation this year, but the rotation you know, next year, the year after. It's it's a lot less scary than it was even a few months ago.

00:44:54
Speaker 1: Absolutely, and I think at the end of the day, the one thing that stands out for a general manager like Alex and thoughtless, who again is creative and resourceful and just you know, is consistently making moves that wind up making sense. Again, just look at what he's done with Kellennick Sale as well as Rinaldo Lopez getting an asset at this trade deadline that could help now and potentially could be here as an asset in the future. That's a good problem to have, and it certainly is something that I think Alex and thoughtless. You know, he's looking to do what makes the most sense for this year right now, but while he also is considering years ahead. I think that you know, he looks forward to you know, hey, if I can get something that can help me now and potentially can give me options to use room in the future, that type of option could be worth investing in. But Scott Steven, the reason why I always enjoy talking with y'all is because obviously y'all are two of the best when it comes to breaking down the game in Bravest Country. Always learns so much and just enjoy y'all's perspectives. That either one of y'all have anything to end on. As we wrap up this edition of the Hammer Territory podcast.

00:45:57
Speaker 2: Uh no, nothing really on my end. We like this was a great opportunity to do a bit of a deep dive on the roster and look ahead to the trade deadline, which is July thirtieth, so we are two weeks away. It is very quickly approaching, and with no games for a couple of days, we thought, why not, let's do it. I thought that this was a great conversation, and man, isn't it just fun to be talking about a really good Braves team, maybe a team that hits them roadblocks in the first half, but at the end of the day, there are eleven games up, they're firmly in the playoffs, and the fact that they have navigated such choppy waters and they are in the position they're in with two and a half months to go in the season. It's just fun. It's fun to talk about. Hopefully it's fun to listen to. And we're going to do another show here in the next day or two, just kind of doing a deeper look at the roster, so be sure to keep an eye out for that.

00:46:47
Speaker 3: Yeah, I would just add I agree with everything Scott said. This is one of my favorite things to do, quite honestly, is just talk roster and trade stuff. I think I've talked myself into like going to get Louise Robert if I'm being honest, like just go get him and figure out twenty twenty five.

00:47:04
Speaker 4: I don't know if they'll do it.

00:47:05
Speaker 3: I do think they have the high end triple A talent to do it, you know, both position player and pitching wise, you know, with Balden and and and Nacho having the years they've had.

00:47:16
Speaker 4: So I think they could do it, and I think it.

00:47:17
Speaker 3: Does maybe solve some problems with maybe letting Azuna go at next year.

00:47:24
Speaker 4: So yeah, I've kind of fallen in love with that move. I'd love for them to do it.

00:47:26
Speaker 3: I don't think they will. I think he'll go a little more measured. Alex is much smarter than we are, so we'll see what they do. But yeah, I agree with everything Scott said. It's a ton of fun. We appreciate it all the support that we've gotten, and and Sean very much appreciative you kind of, you know, quarterbacking this whole conversation.

00:47:44
Speaker 4: But but yeah.

00:47:46
Speaker 3: It's been fun and obviously a lot more to get to in the next couple of weeks, and this is.

00:47:52
Speaker 1: Where we enjoy it the most, you know, not only getting to talk with each other, you know, as Scott and Steven both said, but this time of year, I don't want to speak for Scott or Stephen, but I don't think that it would be you know, in any way, shape or form wrong to suggests. It's kind of like Christmas to all of us because we get to, you know, enjoy talking about the potential moves the Braves can make for a championship run. But we want to make sure that you know that we're going to continue to you know, pipe out a lot of content when it comes to trade discussions. The Braves have a big series against the Cardinals coming up this weekend. The two teams right now at the top of the wild card race in the National League, so plenty to get to over the next week. But watch out for that next episode in which we will have you know, more in depth conversation about the rosters of Hall and what potentially could occur. Of course, Hammer Territory as part of the Foul Territory family of podcasts, they had a great interview with Chris Sell earlier today. Make sure you check out the latest Foul Territory podcast to be able to see that, and of course for Scott Coleman at Scott Coleman fifty five on x Slash Twitter, Stephen Tolbert at Beuder Score Outliars. My name is Sean Coleman at stats SAC. Thanks for joining us on this all star wik condition of Hammer Territory. Make sure you check out Hamma Hammer Territory across all forms of social media. Until next time, go braves. We'll talk to ye again soon here on the Hammer Territory Podcast