Braves Bullpen Breakdown, Bad News for Wentz, Spring Bats Look Good

00:00:21
Speaker 1: Welcome one and all to the Hemmer Territory Podcast. My name is Sean Coleman. Hope, wherever you are and wherever you are listening, you are having a good start to your March. You're enjoying spring training and join the World Baseball Classic. A lot of baseball US sports going on right now, but hey, we're here to focus on the Braves and as always, my podcast partner Steven Tabert, one of the best when it comes to breaking down the Braves, is here to discuss the latest when it comes to Spring training takeaways, a little bit of World Baseball Classic, you know, musings as far as some exciting moments that we've seen from Braves players for the respective countries, and looking at the bullpen, reviewing the bullpen for twenty twenty six, that and more. Steven, anything from you before we get into our first segment.

00:01:07
Speaker 2: What's up, buddy? No, I mean, my favorite time of the year by far, by far, my favorite time of the year, March. Maybe the I mean, I know it's I know it's a football driven culture, but the best sports calendar of the year in my opinion, we got conference tournaments happening in college basketball leads directly into March madness. If you like golf at all, which I enjoy, it's the Players Championship right now, and you've got the Masters on the backside. Opening Day is right around the corner. You know, there's big college baseball fans, you got the WBC, we got World Cup coming up in the summer. So like, just an incredible time for sports. And obviously the main focus of this show is the Atlanta Braves. An Opening Day will be here before you know it.

00:01:54
Speaker 1: And hey, one of the reasons why we love good times on the sports calendars is when we get to see offense offense, offense offense, whether it's baskets, touchdowns, scoring goals, what have you. But what comes to baseball, it's scoring runs. And that's exactly what this Braves team is doing in spring training. That will be our topic as we look to mix it up here, engineered by fasten All. Once again, this is our mix it Up segment, engineered by fasten All. And hey, I know that, you know, we'll get into some other notable topics about the Braves in just a moment. But the thing is, let's start off with some good news. And the good news this Steven this Braves offense continues to roll right along, and the thing that stands out to me is that it's literally everyone that's rolling right along. Now. Not everyone is having a you know, three for four tight day, you know that you would love to see, but everyone from the stars to the subs to players who are trying to make the team, everyone seems to be having a really good spring or a standout moment that really makes you hope that if this Braves offense can lock in a lot of the questions that are unfortunately getting louder when it comes to the pitching staff, maybe they'll be silenced a bit. If this offense can again become top of the league, a little bit more from you, Stephen again, just up and down the lineup, the Braves are producing on an offense right now.

00:03:20
Speaker 2: Yeah, listen, it's spring training, so we're not going to freak out and we're not gonna get crazy with it, because if it was going the other way, we would tell you the numbers don't really matter. So we got to be consistent and say these numbers don't matter a ton. But here are the list of the names of guys that currently have a nine hundred ops or better in spring training. And these are the regulars, Drake Baldwin, Matt Elson, Austin Riley, Mike Strimsky, Michael Harris, and Dubon I've all posted to this point a nine hundred ops are better through the first two weeks of spring training, So that's like everybody. And then you add in the fact that Ronald is killing it at the WBC right now, Ozzie just had that walk off homer. Like, in terms of production on the lineup side, obviously minus the profile news, spring has gone extremely well for the Braves. Like, everybody is hitting a lot of rockets, a lot of opposite field shots, a lot of homers. The power has been there. Now Listen, you know a lot of times, especially when you're at home and the other team is coming in off the road, you're playing like a bunch of minor leaguers and you're facing like a triple A pitching staff for that spring training game. And that's why we don't use spring training numbers to really mean anything. But having the production is better than the alternative of everybody just having a terrible spring right, So it's good to see. It's good to see everybody hitting, even at the bo I'm in the lineup with Harrison Dubon and then Ozzie having a pretty good WBC. So it's one of the things I've noticed is that anytime the regulars play up and down the lineup, everybody's having good at beats and everybody's producing. Everybody's getting their hits, their homers, their doubles. Riso Dubon had like three doubles yesterday or two days ago. Apparently he's been talking with Chipper about some hitting stuff, so that's gonna be fun to watch. So yeah, again we're not gonna freak out about it, but it's been a really fun start offensively. Subtract the profile stuff everybody else, it's been a fun start offensively to.

00:05:36
Speaker 1: Spring and that's really all you can ask for. And again, yes it does come with a caveat that. You know, again, these numbers don't count, But the thing that stands out to me is it's, again, as you just mentioned, it's not just one or two guys who were just absolutely killing it and everybody else is meant, it's the whole lineup basically, and that's what's really encouraging. If your whole lineup is producing to the level that this Braves team is. What that means is it should give you more confidence that at any one time, at least half the lineup should be productive and the overall potential of this lineup certainly can get the job done even if a few guys were to struggle. The problem is, though, is that you know what we run into over the past couple of years, either our lineup was ice cold or scorching hot, and it was more ice cold than scorching hot in terms of frequency. And then you also have to think to yourself, okay, we're not obviously we're not getting Profar back, but Hasan Kim Sean Murphy, those guys will be coming back in time as well. So again the depth, you know, seeing everybody basically have a good spring, that's really encouraging to go into the start of the season. But also want to turn the spotlight on the straw that stirs the drink, and that is Ronald Akunya Junior. And I don't know if I've seen you know, maybe in quite a while. I'm sure that there was a game or two last year, but when you go if you were to go watch the highlights of I believe it was was it Venezuela versus Panama. Venezuela versus Panama. Last night, look at what Ronald Acunya Junior did. He had a home run in the first inning, He got a base hit, got on base, was scored on a base that used his speed. Last night was the perfect example of how Ronald Acunyu Junior can completely take over a game offensively, and there are a few players who can do that. You may be able to count on one hand the number of players who can take over a game to the level that Ronald O'cunya Junior did single handedly winning that game. I mean, I don't know if that was the equivalent of a one war game in and of itself, but it felt like it. That is the other exciting thing about having a healthy Ronald Acunya Junior back. He himself can take over a game when the opportunity is there, and especially can do it early. Once again, I'll point out, if this Braves team could score early, that's going to be a heavy indicator that this offense is clicking and it's really needed to go in order for them to stay consistent.

00:08:11
Speaker 2: Yeah, or I think it was Nicarauga. I don't I don't think it was Panama. I think it was Venezuela, Nicaragua. Yeah, I mean it starts with Ronald and he looks. He looks fantastic. I mean he's running around the bases, hit that homer to right field. I think it was on a breaking ball. I wasn't watching close enough, but I believe it was on a breaking ball in the outside corner that he he stayed back and hit it to right field out of the stadium. So looks fantastic. Obviously, we just need to stay healthy. Uh. Maybe the game of the WBC is happening on what we're recording this on Tuesday. It's happening tomorrow on Wednesday. I think it's Dominican Republic versus Venezuela. On Wednesday night. I think that's San diy Ala contra versus Edwater Rodriguez and obviously those two. So I can't wait for that game. That guy, that might be the game of the tournament. But yeah, Ronald looks fantastic. He looks like I mean, he's got his confidence back. Ronald plays with a swagger when he's healthy, like you can visibly see it, and he doesn't have it when he knows he's not healthy, and right now he knows he's healthy, and he knows he's one of the best players on the planet. So just give him health, just please God give him, give him like the next five seven years of health, and let's just see what he can do. That's all I want is just give me like five seven years of just healthy Ronald Coon Jr. And let's see what the kid can put up. Because when he's healthy, he's electric. And obviously, like you said, he starts everything for the Braves, both literally and figuratively. So yeah, really really fun. And Ozzie has looked good in his in his WBC stuff, so I I still think the Braves need another Bat to make up for Profar. But the offense overall has been very hurging. Like the Mike Kistremsky stuff has looked very good. Michael Harris has quietly had a really good spring. Again, we can't put too much stock into it because it is spring, but I'm encouraged. I do want one more bat. I think they'll probably add somebody as roster's cut down here in a couple of weeks. But everybody looks really good. Everybody's healthy. Knock on Wood. The profile stuff is the only bad stuff that's really happened on the offensive side. Like we knew about Kim and Murphy when we came into spring training, so I don't really count that, you know, since we've been in spring it's really the only bad stuff that's happened is the profile stuff on the position player side. So so far, so good. Everybody looks good and Ronald looks fantastic, and just pray for health.

00:10:44
Speaker 1: Yeah, and like you said, you know, Ronald is having fun. You know, when Ronald's locked and he's having fun, and that just makes it fun for everybody. Like if you're mad at seeing Ronald Acunu Junior having fun or how we go about having fun, that's on you. You know, that's it's just that it's a simple, straightforward take. But the point is is that when Ronald Acouya Junior is playing at the level that he is, where I don't know where you ranking, but he clearly, again is a top five singular source of offensive production in baseball and he's showing it right now. When he's at that level, it's hard not to smile and just be like, man, I am glad that we have him. But one. Another thing that I can tell you that you can trust it. The Braves real that they can trust Ronald to be one of the best offensive producers in the game. Another source that you can trust is Fasten All Fast and All Industrial Supplies innovative solutions. Want to learn more, visit fastinal dot com. So Stephen. Obviously, the offense has been great as of late. It's wonderful to see how good this offense can be when everyone is healthy, but that is far from a guarantee. As a matter of fact, it feels like it's less likely than likely to happen when it comes to health. And speaking of health, the Braves once again were delta blow, not necessarily as significant as maybe a Spencer's Rillabach or a hirshton waldrip, but because of those absences at the start of the season, Joey Wentz was going to you know, be a you know, clear depth piece for this team in case another injury occurred. Well, unfortunately, the next injury was WinCE himself knee injury. It seemed like it wasn't that serious to begin with, but it wound up being a tore aco. He's out for the season. One thing that I'll say is this is I just feel bad for Joey Wentz, like especially coming off last year when he had had some good success after being picked up by the Braves during the season. Now, just you knew he was looking to make the most of the opportunity, really trying to establish his career. And fortunately it's just not meant to me at least right now. But this is a blow to the Brave's death and they're on thin ice right now. You know, it's just like they're one injury away from really being in a bad, bad situation. But it, you know, besides not being good for Wins himself, it's an fortunate to see for a team that just cannot handle too many more injuries to its pitching down.

00:13:05
Speaker 2: Yeah, kind of a freak play. I didn't see it live. Actually I wasn't watching the game, but I saw I went and saw a replay and like he was, It's just it was covering the base and you know it. It looked bad initially because he had to be carted off the field, but then everybody said he kind of walked to the clubhouse under his own strength. All the Beat writers were like weirdly positive about it, right, after they were like, you know, he doesn't look that serious. It looks like the Braves avoided any kind of serious injury. They're gonna get some testing done just to make sure. But you know, he was walking on it and he's you know, he seemed relatively fine. And then the next day, I mean, just in perfect Braves fashion, just boom torn acl out for the year. So whatever, I mean, just you know, incredible stuff. It does suck for Joey because he had really kind of a stat had really found himself as a big league pitcher last year and was really contributing at a high level to the point where he kind of put his name in the hat for this year out of nowhere last year. I mean, they got him just a Phil innings last year as an emergency because they lost everybody else and they it looked like they may have founded diamond in the rough. But yeah, just the Brave's luck, he's gonna miss the season. So yeah, I mean, I don't know how many more times we can say it. The bravest pitching situation is just it's just constantly on a state of like the thinnest ice imaginable. It's just I mean, again and it's some of it is bad luck, but some of it is of their own doing because they didn't go out and supplement any of this injury risk with depth. So, you know, I feel bad certainly for Joey and the team, but like in some regards, like if you don't add to the depth, then you get what you get, you know, And we said this group has injury stuff. And the crazy thing is two of the guys who didn't really have injury stuff coming in to spring training, where Waldrip and Wins, and those are two of the guys that the Braves have lost. And so and that's that makes me even more nervous because a lot of the injury risk guys are still kind of waiting out there like time bombs. So, you know, I don't I don't know. I listen, We're not gonna litigate the whole thing again. I don't know why the Braves haven't added depth to the rotation after stating it to be a priority in the off season. They have literally done nothing to it. They have lost three guys. Now, you know, I don't know. I don't know what else to say. I mean, maybe they're right, Maybe maybe the young guys are ready maybe Jr. Richie's ready. Maybe you know, Dinny or Fuintes is ready. We'll see. Maybe Spitcher Strider and Ronald Lopez and Grant Holmes and Chris Sale make it through the whole season. I'm gonna let you guys kind of determine how likely you think that is. But that's just the that's just where we are. If the Braves wanted to sign Lucas g Ledo, they could have signed him at any point over the last five months, and they have so they clearly don't want to. Or Lucas Giolito is just asking for the craziest contract in the history of the game. And maybe that's it because no one signed him. I don't know, but you know, it is what it is at this point.

00:16:16
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know. And you also again, you know, you go back to what options are out there for the Braves. Zach Lttel, You know, he signed with the Washington Nationals and I believe it was a one year, seventy dollars year cheap contract. Yeah, yeah, it seemed very affordable. It would have made all the stunts in the world for the Braids, but they just decided not to do it. Again, as you mentioned, there will be roster shuffling, roster cuts, you know, towards the end of spring training, the Braids could you know, potentially Alex typically will make some sort of move or two. It won't be anything significant like I know many hope for, but he'll look to make a move or two to add to the depth. And you know, it's it's a bit easier to find, you know, someone to the level of Joey Wentz. And it is a spincer swelling box around this time of year. So wouldn't be surprised if they eventually add an arm. But to your point, the fact that they did not have one more significantly again just rings as as a clear miss from this office.

00:17:06
Speaker 2: Now, I'll say this, even if they signed Lucas Gilido right now, unless he's been throwing, I don't think he would have time to be ready for opening day. So like we've kind of reached the point of like diminishing returns in terms of what he can give you because he's not gonna be ready for opening day.

00:17:23
Speaker 1: Yep, you know.

00:17:24
Speaker 2: So, Yeah, it's just I mean, the Braves very clearly, the Braves don't have much interest in adding anymore starting pitching. Yeah, we can agree or disagree with it, but that is they have made that point very very clearly with their actions shown they're happy with what they have, So you know, we'll see if they're right.

00:17:43
Speaker 1: Yeah. And the other thing that I'll say to that is this is that you know, there was a report, you know from Ken Rosendaal that it seems as if the process of making the Jerkson Profar suspension official by going through the appeals process and you know, making the decision on that, it actually could take weeks. You know, the earlier reporting that made it seem like it'll be done within a few days, but it actually could take weeks. Rosenthal Evin mentioned months, but he said weeks is more likely. It's clearly going to go into the season. But the issue with that is is that if the Braves are going to save the money that they owed to Profar, it may not be available right now like we had anticipated. It may be into the season now that if this was an off season test, that's a bit frustrating. But you know, then again, you know, we're talking about a guy that cheated, and so you know, I don't know if the MLB is going to really try to do any favors for either the player or the team in that situation. But you know that should not be a factor in wanting to add another player when you mentioned all season, off season long, you had the capacity to do it, but it is notable with the fact that we have not added someone yet.

00:18:49
Speaker 2: Yeah, initially they said the appeal process would be expedited because it's got regular season ramifications. I still think that's the case. I should. I have talked to us people behind the scenes, and they're still belief that it's gonna get done before the regular season starts. But you know, I would be surprised if they didn't have an answer by the time opening day got here. But we'll see. It's you know, the appeals process on these things is pretty simple, like there's not a lot to litigate, So I would be surprised if this wasn't the result by the time opening day got here.

00:19:25
Speaker 1: And again.

00:19:28
Speaker 2: That money should not be what you need to go sign a starter, like you and Alex said even before the profile stuff happened, that they have the funds to go add if they want to. So that's not the reason they're not signing the starting picture. They don't, they don't, they clearly don't value the starting pitchers that were out there or that were out there for most of the offseason, or at least relative to what they got in contracts. So you know, it just is what I mean. They just we can disagree all we want, and we've disagreed plenty of times, but at the end of the day, they've made their are They've made their side of the argument very clear that they prefer what they have in house versus anything they could get externally at whatever that cost would be. And so we're just gonna have to see if they're right. I disagree completely with them, but I could be wrong and they could be one hundred percent right.

00:20:19
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, So we'll eventually see what occurs. It's actually it's a frustrating situation. It's frustrating that even though it continues on that there's there's no resolution, and it just it seems like extra It seems like in terms of what the Braves can could or cannot control, that is working out in the worst case scenario that it possibly can right now, But in terms of what they can control, it just feels like that there's a lack of urgency to get it done. But the other thing that this does is it puts the spotlight on the one part of this team that thankfully has been quiet. Like you haven't heard much at all about the Braves Bullpy and that's a good thing. Why is that It's because they're producing and that hopefully it definitely needs to be a strength through this team. As we neared the season, more of the Braves Bullpen. How the Braves Bullpen will line up to start the season in just a moment after a word from our partners.

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00:22:22
Speaker 1: So, Stephen, I think that it's pretty easy to say that one of the mo the one of the aspects of this team that you can be certain about is that you should have confidence in the back end of the Braves bullpen. Right. So Iglesias as well as Robert sore Is, over the past five years have been two of the best closers in baseball. I think last year, you know, they were first and third in the National League. I think when it came to overall saves, and may be inaccurate on that, but you clearly have two veterans, guys in their mid thirties, but who know how to get the job done. And of course the big thing for that is where they are age wise. You still, though, have a little bit of confidence in them that they may not necessarily decline like you may think they would as they're in their mid thirties because Ryceella Glacias doesn't necessarily rely on overpowering stuff. It's setting up that devastating changeup and Robert s wore is he doesn't have as many miles on his arm that a lot of pitchers his age do. But the back end of this Braves bullpen, it's locked in. Both of those guys have been pretty good. To dominate this spring, you have to feel confidence and that's going to be a big big step in the Braves winning the amount of games that they need to, knowing that they can hold leads with those guys at the back end.

00:23:35
Speaker 2: Yeah, so let's talk about the bullpen for a second. So obviously everybody knows that a Glacias and Suarez are going to be on the back end, sure eighth and ninth, any guys in some order. I don't. I'm not convinced that Russell Glass is gonna be the closure all year, but I think one of them will be in the eighth, one will be in the ninth. And then after that, if you go kind of top of the bullpen, you've got Glacias, Swarez, and then after that you probably have some combination of Dylan Lee, Aaron Bummer, Tyler Kinley. I would say that's the next kind of three, right, and then after that you get into like the Joel pie Amps, maybe James Karen Chak who's had a really good spring, Jose Swarez. If they wanted another lefty, it was probably gonna be Joey Wentz. It's you know at one point, but obviously it's not gonna be him now, which is why I bring up Suarez in case they won a third lefty. You know, as we sit here today and Bowman actually Mark MLW dot com beat writer Mark Bowman in front of the show, actually put out his latest roster projection today and that was his bullpen he had Glacias Swarez, Bummer, Lee Kinley, Pie Amps and Karen Check were his bullpen. So that's a pretty damn good group. Everybody has stayed relatively healthy again minus WinCE, and Once might have been in the rotation, like they might have gone six man rotation and just gone one less reliever. I could have seen that, but I think Once would eventually move back to the bullpen. But they've got they've got right handed power, they've got left handed power, they've got you know, they got depth, they've got a lot of money tied up into it. And obviously all of this is minus Joejamenez, which sucks, but it just seems like Joemenz is I don't know if he's done done, but it seems like he's kind of done with the brains because obviously after this year he's a free agent, so and I don't know he's gonna pitch this year, and I don't think the team knows, and I think if you ask the team, they tell he's probably not gonna pitch. So we're just gonna have to kind of remove him far from our brains right now. And even with Once left, even the amount of money they've spent. It's a really good group and I'm and I think you said it best. We really haven't had to talk about them or haven't really heard from them, which is a good that's a good sign. It's kind of like no news is good news. Everybody seems healthy, Everybody seems like they're getting their work in. I know pie Amps got off to a little bit of a slow start. I think he was delayed, but he just pitched on like Monday. Everybody else has gotten into games. Like it just seems like the group is kind of steadily moving along, and it seems like we're pretty close to getting a a collection of players that we can pretty complish say, are gonna be in the bullpen, like you know, Karen Shack versus Suarez for the last spot. Maybe there's a young guy that jumps in there and takes a spot. But you know, it seems pretty settled at this point, barring injury. We never know with injury. But it's a talented group. It's a deep group, and I think it should, like you said it should, it needs to be one of the biggest strengths of the team, especially with the questions on the rotation. You know, being able to shut games down after like the sixth inning would help the rotation a ton. So it's a big part of the team. They spend a lot of money on it. I am confident it's going to be good. It needs to be good. If the Braids wont to accomplish what they want to accomplish in twenty twenty six, then a lot of it's going to be based off a really good bullpen.

00:27:14
Speaker 1: And another thing that kind of emerges this year. You know, we talked on the last podcast about how, you know, in a year or so, the Braves, in terms of their starting pitching options, they're going to have a plethora of young starting pitching options that are near major league ready. Right well, last season we talked multiple times about how the Braves hadn't really developed their own relief candidates, their own relief prospects. But coming into this year, they do have a little bit of bullpen dept that they could dial up in case of injury. You've got Aiden Harris as well as Dylan Dodd, who will both likely start the in the miners to start the season. Das vol Hernandez, you know, perhaps he could refigure, you know, could figure out how to make his you know, at times dominant stuff more consistently effective. And then let's not forget John Carloslore, who was one of the you know more must see aspects of the Braves minor league system with how good his stuff could be at times. I don't necessarily know how reliable he'll be until that walk rate comes down. But that's one other aspect of this team that is is a bit you know, is a positive, is that if you were to see some type of injury to the bullpen, you've got young guys that could step up that could eventually become long term pieces of the bullpen. So that's a good thing to have in place as well.

00:28:29
Speaker 2: Yeah, and that's what they didn't have last year because none of those guys were close enough or are close enough to being ready to really contribute. Like by the end of the year, like like Hay and Harris got really close, Laura was able to come up, but you know, when it was still a competitive part of the season, those guys weren't really ready. And so the Braves and listen, the Braves kind of did it to themselves last year because they didn't really address the bullpen the way they should have last year and they had you know, they had Hector and Harris pitching on opening Day and they kind of got what they got. And that is a that is a strength this team has that last year's team didn't. Is that even if the guys that you're depending on don't have the years you're hoping, they do have minor league options, or they do have guys in the miners that are options to come up and at least potentially contribute, not definitely contribute, but at least like you can reasonably hope that these one of these guys can come up and contribute, like Day's Bill has been a guy that's contributed before at the major league cleve. It's just never consistent. There's no idea where the ball's going, you know, and that's not uncommon with hard throwers, especially on the bullpen. So you know, for a lot of these guys, it's about fixing command and then you can pretty much be major league ready. But yeah, they've got talent, like they've got talent up and down the majors and the miners for the bullpen, more talent, way more talent than they had last year, way way more talent than they had last year. And that's obviously a positive and obviously they're depending on that. Alex actually referenced that at one point when talking about the rotation is, you know, one reason we feel comfortable with going with the guys we have in the rotation is because we feel like the bullpen is going to be so good so and they might not be wrong. I'm not saying they're wrong. They could be one hundred percent right about that. So the bullpen is going to tell a major part of the twenty twenty sixth story.

00:30:16
Speaker 1: And also, don't rest on your laurels when it comes to the bullpen being as is, because one of the most consistent things about Alexanthopolis's time as a member of the or as a as the Braves GM he always has bullpen pieces and he typically does it not only for this year but moving forward. One bold prediction that I'll make when it comes to the twenty twenty sixth season, I say the Braves add a significant left hander to the bullpen if they are if they are if they're contending, if they're winning as they want to, I definitely think that a late inning left handed option to go with Suarez and Iggy will be high on Alexanthopoulos's priority list. You know, you got Garrett Clevenger of the Rays who we've heard could be available for trade, Chris Bubick Bubbick I believe of the Royals who could be available for trade. I'm not saying that that's gonna be something that they do to start the season, but it would not surprise me, especially if Lee or Bummer struggle, that this team goes out and adds a noteworthy left handed reliever to the back end of the bullpen, because you know, Alex will certainly want one of, if not the strongest bullpens in baseball if the Braves are projected to make the playoffs.

00:31:28
Speaker 2: Yeah, And I'm not like, even though I'm confident the bullpen overall, Like if you told me Aaron Bummer was going to have like a very meh kind of season, it wouldn't shock me. Like he came in last year, I think the stuff was probably a tick or two down the normal. He's pitched some some in spring training already this year, it looks like the stuff is kind of where it was last year, like one or two miles an hour down on the fastball. So, like, I'm not saying the bullpen is not going to be without its warts. It wouldn't surprise me at all. Like Dylan Leela year had a lot of home run trouble, weirdly amount of a weird amount of home runs he gave up, especially in the second half. So you're right, they could certainly add a quality lefty. You know, Jose Suarez is far from a sure thing. And let's sten like James Karenshak he's got obviously he used to be a very good believer. That's no guarantee of anything right now. Tyler Kinley was extremely good last year for the Braves, but wasn't great really before that. So there's a there's a world where the bullpen is not great. You know, I don't think that's the likely outcome at this point. I think the lightly likely outcome is is at least, at the very least a solid group. And like you said, even if they have a couple of pieces that don't perform the way they hope, they A have guys in the miners who could potentially help, and B they have a track record of aggressively adding to the bullpen most seasons, at least when they're in contention, they aggressively add to the bullpen, and bullpen is usually the easiest place to add anyways, because there's so many options out there. So I am reasonable as reasonably confident as you can be in a bullpen, which is a volatile group. I am reasonably confident that the Bridge bullpen is going to be solid dish.

00:33:09
Speaker 1: Yeah, and again, the need for that to be the case is certainly there. Again, if this braves offense can be more consistent at producing runs early in games and we can enter that six or seventhary of the game with the lead more often, you have to feel confident the bullpens going to get the job done. Stephen, anything else from us, We're gonap up this edition of the Hammer Territory podcast.

00:33:31
Speaker 2: No, just WBC stuffs coming up. Make sure to check it out on Fox one. Of of course, Fox one is sponsor of the show. You can watch all WBC games on Fox One. I said, Dominican Republic Venezuela, I think is tomorrow. I think US versus Italy is tonight. Yeah, so you know, again you can check all that stuff out on Fox One. But then, yeah, we got like two weeks away from opening day, Like opening day is going to be before you know it. Yeah, I will say this. I'm still wedding on some TV and streaming stuff details.

00:34:02
Speaker 1: I know.

00:34:02
Speaker 2: I've had like seven questions about that in the last two days. Yeah, we just don't have answers yet, and as soon as we get them, we'll talk about them, we'll go through them. I'm actually gonna reach out to some people tomorrow to see if there's any like anything new, but I haven't heard anything yet. So we just were just waiting on those answers.

00:34:20
Speaker 1: Well, hey, and we're gonna give them to you because again, you know I did Scott Coleman, Brad Rowan, Steven Tobard as well as myself. Again, we cannot thank y'all enough for all the support that you've shown us during the off season. The show only continues to grow as anticipation for the season arrives, and so we're definitely going to continue to have you cover no matter what when it comes to the Braves. Of course, you can find myself at stats at sac, on Twitter, slash x, Steven at Beech, Underscore, Outliers, Hammer Territory across all forms of social media, part of the Foul Territory family of podcasts. Don't forget that the flagship of Foul Territory itself. It will be covering post game all USA games and tomorrow's Venezuela versus Dominican Republic game. So great content from the flagship of our Foul Territory family. Make sure you check it out listen. I'm just wanting from this point on to just have a string of positive podcasts, like let's just let let let's have a string of positive podcasts to really be able to start this season off strong. I think it's possible because the guys on the field are producing. They just need to stay on the field and hopefully help will.

00:35:26
Speaker 2: Go our way.

00:35:26
Speaker 1: Until next time, go Braze. We'll talk to you again soon here on the Hammer Territory Podcast