Farewell to May and Hello to June

00:00:22
Speaker 1: Hello everyone, and welcome to episode nineteen of the Hammer Territory Podcast. I am your host, Sprad Roland, coming to you on a Sunday. It is our first episode of the month of June and our first episode and quite some time with my usual co host who is now back from his never ending European journey, Scott Coleman. How are you, user, Brad. It is great to hear your voice.

00:00:43
Speaker 2: You and the fellas Stephen and Sean did a phenomenal job holding down the fort while I was away. Very fortunately was able to get away with my wife for a couple of weeks. But the podcast it probably is the best it has ever been without me on it, if we're being honest. But you all did a great job and very happy to be back and home Territory.

00:01:02
Speaker 1: Yes, we're happy to have you back. That makes my life a little bit easier not having to hustle down guests, even though if it's definitely fun to talk to people like Chris Willis and Grant McCauley, etc. We had Mark Bowman of the show on Friday with Stevens, so if anybody missed that, I would encourage you to listen to all of our shows, but especially that's the most recent episode on this podcast. Also, we are a part of the foul Territory Network. Check out the entire network, including the flagship show at foul Territory, and please subscribe to this podcast anywhere you might find your podcasts, of course, places like Apple and Spotify, but overcast, podecasts again, all the places you can find podcasts. We should be there, Scott. Beyond you being back, and that is clearly the headline on this Sunday evening, But beyond that, the Braves actually won a baseball series this weekend, and it sort of would have changed the vibe of this podcast had they lost the series, because earlier this week, as we covered extensively on this podcast feed, they lost the series to the Nationals. In fact, it would have it was still a losing week overall in the seven day but on a more positive note, they both won a series, and in breaking with tradition, they won on Sunday afternoon.

00:02:07
Speaker 2: Yeah, you never want to make too much of a game in what June second, but it felt like they really needed to win today's game. Coming into Sunday, they were three and six over their last nine against the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Washington Nationals and the Oakland A's three bad to horrible rosters. So to get a win on Sunday, you win the series is nice. You have the day off on Monday. I'm sure the flight to Boston will be a little happier after the win. You never want to lose series in general, and then you go out with another series loss would have been really tough. So thankfully they were able to pull out. But it ended up being a pretty close to a fifty to fifty game on Sunday afternoon, it was nice. Once again, the offense was basically mia, which has been a theme for a month now. I can't tell you how many times when I was abroad I would check the box score because as that they Braves would usually start at one or two in the morning where I was with the time difference, and man, it felt like every night it was like one run, scored, two runs, scored, no runs, one run, two run. It was never this offensive. Onslaught.

00:03:13
Speaker 1: We got a little bit of that over.

00:03:14
Speaker 2: The weekend, but once again, it's really just coming down to the pitching having to hold serve. Just the offense is just still not there.

00:03:22
Speaker 1: Yeah, I got some very funny texts slash dms from Scott at like six thirty seven am or something my time that we're just basically what is going on here? Anyway, we could dive into what transpier for the weekend again, if you missed anything from the not series, we did cover it in detail on this podcast feed, but for the most part we're gonna focus on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and the takeaways on this show. Friday was a series opening victory against the A's Ronald Lopez, who has been a fantastic story. We've covered that in detail, but he now leads the National League in era, which speaks that's all you need to know about that. Era is not the end all be all. Well, his peripherals are not as good as that, but he has a ERA in the one range, which is all you need to know about that. But he was excellent again on Friday. The opposite had enough basically one big swing my jeer at kelnick A Nice I would say, surprise, Kendidy, I guess lefty, But that was That was the final game of May. Scott so kind of punctuated a otherwise pretty brutal month on a slightly high note at the end, and you.

00:04:25
Speaker 2: Just you cannot say enough good things about Ronaldo Lopez and what he has done for this team. I mean, again, a guy who I think a lot of folks thought was going to be in the bullpen, and ever since the spring man, he just goes out there every fifth or sixth day and gets results. And he's been so good a one to three seven ERA through ten starts. I think the Braves have done a really nice job giving him extra rest when they can. I know we're going to talk about that a little bit, because there's not a great option right now in the fifth spot in the rotation, but anytime the Braves can push back Renaldo Lopez a day or two in the rotation, it has proven to be really beneficial. And at this point, a fun little note, Renaldo Lopez is up to fifty seven innings, so if he makes a start or to this upcoming week, he's actually going to surpass his number of innings thrown in both twenty twenty two and twenty twenty three. He averaged about sixty five innings out of the bullpen in the last two years, so he's going to pass that now. Obviously, the Braves have built him up as a starter and plan I would assume to continue writing him as a starter as long as they can. Maybe at some point if the stuff falls off or the velocity starts to dip, they'll have to make a change. But it's almost impossible to not keep giving him the ball every week because he's been so good, so effective, and I mean we're about six weeks away from the All Star Game. He is pretty locked in as a real candidate to be one of the National League starting pitchers, which I don't know if anybody had that on their BINGO card coming into the year. It's something that you usually associate with young pitchers as far as the endings limit concern and looking at past endings totals to kind of outline what might happen. And you know, the news broke right before I record a solo podcast midweek about Ronaldo being pushed back a day and there was no injury, and a lot of people were having negative reactions, and I think most of that, to be charitable, was because the Braves don't really have that they that they want to pitch in that fifth spot, and I get that, but I think big picture, and I'd always encourage people to to kind of think about this big picture. You know, yes, throwing Raykerr in the middle of the week versus Lopez makes you worse. But keeping Renaldo Lopez healthy, fresh, and able to continue to start matters a lot more than that one outing in late May. So they're good to be comfortable, sorry, careful with him, it seems like. And that makes a lot of sense because of what you just said about the innings totals. Yes, he started at one point, but it's been four or five years since he was a full time starter. And for me, if it ain't broke, don't fix it, Like give him five days off between starts, that's totally fine with me.

00:06:55
Speaker 1: If you have to sprinkle in a Schwellenbach, a ray Kerr or whoever it's going to be in between that, that's fine. I don't really worry about that. And honestly, the Braves kind of had this uniquely busy schedule because they had so many off days for so long it didn't really matter. But then they played. I think it was like, you know, fourteen to fifteen days in a row, and that led to one of these decisions being made. But for me, like keep giving an extra day off when whenever he wants or needs one, I don't really care. Keep him fresh, keep him locked in, and you know, having four quality starters is a pretty good place to be. But Lopez, look, it's it's going to regress his eras in the low ones, like that's not going to sustain. But even if it was in the low threes, you'd be doing cartwells And now I would.

00:07:34
Speaker 2: Be yeah, yeah, Now he's been a revolution for the rotation and offensively Friday Night only four runs, But I did want to mention with the Ronald Dcunya junior injury, of course, Jared Kalnick is going to be playing every day and that includes against lefties, and that was something the Braves went out and actively added Adam Duvall towards the end of the spring to ensure that Kelnick was never really going to face lefties, and that was a move I think we all liked at the time, and frankly, we like it a lot more having both of those guys without Acunya. But Kelnick had a really nice to run double off the lefty on Friday Night, and I think Kelnick is starting to come around a little bit. His numbers are pretty average on the season. I believe he's around a one hundred WRC plus, which is hardly bad by any means. The strikeout rate is slowly coming down, the walk rate is slowly rising. He has not been great by any means.

00:08:27
Speaker 1: I don't know.

00:08:27
Speaker 2: I don't want to blow this out of proportion, but it feels like Kelnick is settling in a little bit, and if he can give the Brave something in left field and do all can supply a little bit of power and right field at least for the next two months until the trade deadline. For the opportunity to add somebody, I think you have to take it and hope that he just keeps getting better now, especially that they did tweak his swing a little bit, it felt inevitable that it was going to take him a little bit of time to settle in and hopefully some power continues to come to He's hit a couple of balls and driven the ball well, he just hasn't had a ton to show for it and the power department, but again, you know, the Braves if the top of the order is going to start to hit like Matt Olsen and Austin Riley, Marcelo Juna has been so good. If Kelnick can give them something in the seventh or eighth spot in the lineup most nights, it's really going to help things along.

00:09:14
Speaker 1: This is overly simplistic, but Jared Kellnick currently has a one o two WRC plus for the season. I think you have to take that. Obviously you would want a little bit more from him, to your point, but you know, I think that you are okay with him being a league average hitter who who fields the ball, has a good arm left field. There is upside there. But as we talked to him a lot in the winter, with what they're paying him, which is very little, just getting a league average bat from him is fine, and they have to kind of have him out there every day, like you mentioned so And by the way, I guess we should acknowledge that you you missed the Iron Accunion news when you were abroad. I know you, I know you obviously saw it happen, but well, I tried to fill in for you with the Tiger Woods memes along the way, But did you have a reaction beyond that? Sucks that sadness.

00:10:00
Speaker 2: Had a couple of glasses of wine and honor Ronald. We were in Italy, so there was no shortage of wine flowing.

00:10:07
Speaker 1: Very sad.

00:10:08
Speaker 2: I mean, it was just crushing. We don't have to relive and pick at that scab, but very very sad. I feel awful for Ronald the quote about him crying and just feeling isolated, and you know he talked about that at length in the off season following his ACL tear in twenty twenty one, how he just felt so helpless at the time of the injury. I hope he's doing okay. He is going to have surgery on Tuesday, which was announced. We just have to hope for the best and hopefully it's just a minor side step and what'll be a really great.

00:10:34
Speaker 1: And long career for Ronald. Well, we'll have some more positive stuff talk about beyond that injury, but just wanted to resurface it because you were back. And also we'll close the book finally on the month of May. We'll look ahead to June a little bit talk about Saturday and Sunday and more of bats. But first a word on AG one from our guys, Scott Brown Aircrafts of foul Territory.

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00:12:14
Speaker 1: Go check it out. Okay, Scott, before we get to Saturday and Sunday, some final numbers for the month of May. We all know it was not good. They were thirteen and fourteen, which honestly is better than it seemed. To be honest with you. The offense was brutal. We all know that had they averaged three point four runs per game in the month of May, which is just crazy for this offense to do. They had a three saturd three slight percentage, just brutal stuff. But how are they able to go thirteen and fourteen in that sample size? Well, they were top five in baseball and all of baseball, not just the National League, all of baseball on era strikeout rate and when's a both replacement for pitchers and it's basically everyone. The bullpen was awesome, top five in baseball. The starters were mostly awesome. My favorite sat here just to kind of get it back into our Lopez conversation from earlier one point five to combined era in the month of May for Lopez, Chris Sale, and Max Freed, three starters combined for a one point five two ra Is that pretty good? Yeah, that's gonna work.

00:13:11
Speaker 2: I mean, just a phenomenal job by especially Freed and Sale in the month of May. I know Sale got beat up pretty good on Saturday afternoon, But yes, you cannot say enough about the starting rotation. And you know, despite you mentioned the thirteen and fourteen record, I think you have to take that every single day of the week, knowing how bad the offense was, and despite all the injuries, and despite the offense being so bad for six weeks now, this team is still on pace to win about ninety four or ninety five games, which is pretty wild to say. It doesn't feel like that, at least to me, because they've been I believe, just below five hundred now since the start of May, or rather going back to April rather mid mid April. It's just been an unconventional right. I don't know if anybody would have asked two months ago. How the Braves are doing. It's well, the starting rotation has been ungodly, but the offense can't score more than two or three runs every night. I really just we know how good this team was a year ago with the plate. I just don't think anybody would have necessarily expected that. And at the end of the day, if you can go about five hundred with the issues that this roster has right now, I guess you have to take it and just hope they are better days on the horizon.

00:14:26
Speaker 1: Yeah. The runner up for crazy stat in May, beyond all the offensive stuff was the fact that I mentioned the three point four to two era for the starting rotation in the month of May. That number includes five starts from Bryce Elder and Ray Kerr in which they combined for twenty three earned runs and nineteen and the third innings, so their era was like ten And that includes that, and the ARIA was still in the low threes with this arders pretty crazy stuff.

00:14:51
Speaker 2: Yeah, it is such a bummer that Spencer Streider is hurt, because if you had Streider with Max Freed, you have Chris Sale, who has turned the clock back a decade. Yeah, Fornaldo Lopez, who has been nearly perfect, and then old Charlie Morton at age forty as your number five. I mean, that could have been an unbelievable rotation. The rotation has been really good, but you've just listed off those numbers. They they have not been able to settle in with the fifth starter spot when it seems like there's a bright spot with a J. Smith Shauver, he of course now has heard. It's just been a never ending carousel. You just have to hope that somebody can settle in and solidify the back end, because otherwise that top four has given you everything you could really hope for.

00:15:35
Speaker 1: It is pretty wild to think about. I mean, I think obtendidly it would have been the best rotation in baseball if Strider was Strider and Lopez was Lopez that we've seen this year, and Sale was the sale that we've seen this year, et cetera. That's a lot of positive things that would have had to go right. But still if that had happened, it would have been kind of scary. So, yeah, you're right, it's highly unfortunate. Even if that's the injury, that's not the most focused on one right now because of a Cunya that was a brutal loss as well. Anyway, speaking of brutal losses, Saturday's game, the Braves had their most runs scored in a loss all season, so nine runs, thirteen hits, four walks. It's kind of crazy that they had a what I would describe as a breakout game for the offense and lost. Is the only time all year that they really have had a big offensive game and lost in general. And Chris Sale essentially was human for the first time. Obviously, we've talked about us a lot. He was not going to ever be able to, you know, just be perfect forever. But it's his first batstar and I think we talked about it with Graham mcaulay on the show last week. Chris Sale was the best picture in the world for the month of May, so maybe he was due. That's all I got for you.

00:16:47
Speaker 2: Yeah, I just don't think Sale had his command on Saturday afternoon. Quite a few sliders right in the middle of the plate that Oakland's lineup did not miss. I mean, it's not an it is not a lifeless lineup for the A. I mean it's not good, but it's they have some guys who can beach, especially from the right side. He just didn't have his command, left the slider in the zone too much, and the ball was really jumping on Saturday, not just in Atlanta, but across the league. Maybe as the weather is warming up, we're finally going to see some more offense, although there was not much of it on Sunday, just at one of those days for Chris Sale. I mean, thankfully the offense did show up to help cover it up for him a little bit. It's a bummer they couldn't score a few more runs towards the end of the game to come back all the way. Because they were down eight to three early and being able to then go up nine to eight, it was.

00:17:33
Speaker 1: Like, Hey, the Braves are back. This is the Braves lineup.

00:17:36
Speaker 2: That we all know and love so well. Sadly, it was just kind of the end of what the offense could do. But no concerns about Sale. I think it was just one of those games and I'm sure he'll bounce back next weekend.

00:17:47
Speaker 1: Yeah, we agree on that, And you mentioned the comeback. They were able to do that. You know, Matt Olsen a two run homer in the midst of that six run fifth inning to take the lead. I know this on Twitter earlier today, but worth just kind of diving it for a second. Matt Olsen is essential Matt Olsen again, and I think people haven't quite noticed for whatever reason. This is a twenty game sample size before today and which he also had a hit today and an RBI on Sunday, But in the twenty years before that, he had a one seventy two WRC, plus he slugged six hundred with five home runs and six doubles, which is like a you know, forty five home run pace over that sample size. I know it's twenty games, but I think people just kind of didn't really notice that Matt Olsen was kind of Matt Olsen again, and you know, he's they.

00:18:29
Speaker 3: Have to have that.

00:18:29
Speaker 1: We've all talked about that in the last especially since Ronald went down. Ozuna has been the only guy who's been lights out but slow start for Matt for sure, but he's been himself recently and now they have to just kind of hope that Riley and others come back to themselves. But I just wanted to at least note that because there's been a lot of talk about like all the stars are struggling and Maddilson's not struggling, and he hasn't been for about a month.

00:18:50
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's great to see for Matt. And let's hope that as Riley distances himself from the side injury, he's going to go on one of his tears. Really the last two seasons he has started out pretty slowly, he being Riley, and then he's just gone nuclear in the summer months. Let's hope he had a couple of well hit balls on Sunday afternoon, just didn't have much to show for it, and then you know, just keep going down the line if you can get Riley going. Michael Harris has shown a little bit of life. Hopefully he's going. He presumably is going to be leadoff most nights, based on what the Braves did this past week without Akunya, He's going to be the primary leadoff guy against right handed pitching, which is of course they're going to be the case most nights. We talked about Kelnick and Duval getting going. Sean Murphy is now back, which is great. Maybe Murph can get going. I know he's basically at ground zero. I mean, what did he play five innings on opening day before he got hurt, and you know, he just keep going down the line and let's get these guys going. The weather is going to warm up. It's just it feels like we've had the same talking point for about six weeks now. But there's just too much talent and power in this lineup here for it to containe. Need to struggle this way. Let's hope that better days are coming soon. And if that starts with Matt Olson really just getting into one of his grooves, all the better.

00:20:09
Speaker 1: Yeah. So there was ever a you know, no loss to Oakland is ever going to be a good loss, but the fact the offense did something was almost more encouraging than the result itself. On Saturday, speaking of I guess you know the tradition there is to Sunday's game in which it was kind of going back to what happened in May, where the offense was not fantastic, but the pitching was really really good. And it was a really nice bounce back from Charlie Morton after his really really rough start, like his worst start of the year by far, in his last outing. He bounces back six scorre wass indings, one hit aloud, struck out six. He did have some command issues. Like even I, as the resident Charlie stan will note that he was not exactly hitting his spots on Sunday, but it worked and he kind of, you know, did his job and more obviously leaving the game with a one nothing lead. They gave it back after that, but then, hey, the Braves had a couple of well timed, well placed hits and the Murphy RBI double was probably the best example of that, where it was like in a perfect spot. It wasn't exactly roped, but it worked and they could have had it on later on, let's say, but I just wanted to, you know, sort of stay on brand here, Scott, you're back, It's Sunday, and I stay Charlie Morton, who did my job.

00:21:12
Speaker 2: Yeah, Charlie, especially early on, really had it going and it felt like he lost his command a little bit.

00:21:19
Speaker 1: He hit. I know.

00:21:20
Speaker 2: Steven made a great point about how if if you took a drink every time Charlie hit a left handed batter with a backfoot curveball, you would be you'd have a moderate drinking problem.

00:21:32
Speaker 1: I mean, did you see the stats. Somebody had a stat today. I can't look at it and I'll try to find out the actual career. I believe he is top ten in the history of baseball now and hit my pitch like that's an insane number. I know he's forty years old, but the history of baseball Scott is fairly long. I'm not sure if you knew that.

00:21:48
Speaker 2: Yes, if you were top ten in quite literally anything counting SATs.

00:21:52
Speaker 1: Counting stats, especially like it's hard to be thought any baseball counting stat.

00:21:57
Speaker 2: Yes, yeah, he has the huge curveball. He has the fastball, which moves quite a bit as well. So congrats to Charlie for getting in the top ten in major League baseball history. Yeah, you know, Chuck again, he's maybe not an ace at this point in his career, but he was perfectly fine, especially the way that Max and Sale and Ronaldo have been throwing. You know, if he's the number four right now, you take it. You mentioned the five walks was a little bit of a wild ride, but got a lot of contact on the ground, which helps negate that a little bit. And then yeah, the eighth inning rally especially felt really good. We know the Braves have been barreling the baseball for weeks with very little to show for it. They've been hitting the ball harder than basically anybody in the league. So when you get a couple of bloops to nowhere to win the game, it feels especially good you take the wins however you can get him, especially whenever you've been in this funk now for five or six weeks.

00:22:52
Speaker 1: I have a question for you about late in the game on Sunday. Now it didn't matter, the Braves won the game, and it could have added on to their lead within some insurance two different times. The first time, can't wait do anything about that. Rcia had a pretty rough plate appearance in a big spot with one out, and then in the eighth inning he came up again, and it felt like, and this is not revisionists, a lot of people, including me and I think Steven and others were kind of wondering aloud if Snip might pinch hit for Lando Arcia, which might seem weird for a team that doesn't have huge depth. They did have Zach Short behind him to come in to play shortstop. Short on shortstop, uhuh. But the reason I came up was not just because of the spot and look, it was a prime high leverage plate appearance, but Orlando has been really bad for a while now, not only for the full season. He has a seventy to one dow RC plus, which is obviously really brutal, but his ops is in like the load to mid four hundreds for about the last three or four weeks. Like that's really really tough. I guess the bigger question is not whether you would hit it, whether you would have hit for him or not, which is certainly something you can answer, But like, are you worried about rc is bat because you know, the Braves seemingly just want him to catch the ball, and I understand that. And for a while he was batting sixth to the mania of people like me. You just could understand that. Now he's hitting knife again, which is where he probably should be thinking. But uh, are you worried, because you know, there is a level of which it gets to be a little bit troubling. If he's playing good defense, he's got to hit a little bit. Yeah, it's tough.

00:24:23
Speaker 2: I really like Orlando.

00:24:24
Speaker 1: He seems like a great dude.

00:24:26
Speaker 2: I mean, every day there's a clip of him in the in the in the dugout messing around with somebody and it's like laugh out loud yea good vibes guy for sure, and defensively just phenomenal defensively, I mean really really good defensive shortstop. But his at bats are genuinely tough to watch.

00:24:43
Speaker 1: The one the seventh today was just yeah, yeah.

00:24:47
Speaker 2: I mean, it looks like a low minor league player trying to, you know, hit a major league slider for the first time. Is bluntly, I think what it kind of reminds me of. It's just overmatched offensively. You know, last season he got off to a really nice start offensively and then was pretty bad in the second half of twenty twenty three, and that, of course has continued into twenty twenty four. I'm glad that. I mean, he should not be batting anywhere else other than ninth. I really don't care who else is in one through eight that day. Arcia has to be hitting ninth right now. I think the Braves have because of the injuries, they have a starting pitching issue. They could use another outfielder, I think. I think in a perfect world, I think alex Entthopolis would be looking at possible shortstop options in the next two months, not necessarily that he would replace Arcia, but at least see what's out there, even if he does it quietly and not wanting to upset a guy who I'm sure is liked well in the clubhouse. But man, I mean offensively, you just kind of have to close your eyes up whenever he's up there. In terms of pinch hitting for Arcia, Travis Darnault was available. They did have Chadwick Trump as well as the third catcher, so it wasn't like you were at risk of that today. But Arcia's defense is so good and you already had a two to one or three to one lead at that point. Maybe you prefer the defense in that kind of a situation. But I don't know if anybody has a lot of confidence whenever Orlando is at the plate, because the at bats and the approach have just been really tough to watch.

00:26:19
Speaker 1: You mentioned this the decline last year. I pulled some numbers last basically almost a calendar year, you know, from late June of last year where his swoon kind of began until now. It's almost six hundred play appearances, so almost a full season worth of bub at bats for for Orlando, and he has a seventy four varsity plus so like that's not what you want. He's the Fortunately, he's the only guy on the roster, even with the slow starts this year, the only guy, only full time guy on the roster that is anywhere near that, so that you can kind of live with that. It's always been a talking point around Arcia is that you can have one badhead in the lineup. It's not a big deal, but just noting that there was optimism a year ago that maybe he had turned the corner a little bit. He had basically had his best full season of his career the previous season, even though that was basically, you know, he was only a league average bat, but that was a step forward, and then last year in the first half he was really really good, and then basically he's become the guy he used to be before then, which is not what you want. Offensively. I'm glad you brought up the depenstive because it is very important, and at shortstop it's a lot easier to take the bat basically, so we don't have to do the whole thing on him every time we talk. But it just it felt particularly notable today because he had the two biggest flameouts at the plate and again they won again, which made it a little bit easier. But anytime you're talking about pinch hitting for a guy who's a regular in a big spot, and a lot of people were like, man, they probably should have done that there. That kind of speaks to how bad he has been recent at the plate. So hopefully they can find us some equilibrium there when it comes to Orlando. But still a win and that was nice to see despite the lack of insurance at the end. Anything you want to get to like on the field, because there's a little bit of like news and notes, e stuff like aj minu Her is on the il right now, they're seemingly optimistic about him. But anything that you want to add on about anything you've seen, because look, I know you were I know you were traveling abroad and we couldn't possibly do everything while you were gone. But open floor for you, my friend. Yeah, I mean nothing really.

00:28:15
Speaker 2: I think listeners are obviously tuned into the braves. They probably have the same frustrations and questions that I do. You know, we did see Dylan Lee and in the seventh inning, and Dylan Lee has been perfectly fine, but you do feel the impact whenever Aj Mintor is not around not having him as your top lefty, everybody has to slot up or wrong, So you have to hope that Aj is buying. A hip issue for a picture is always a little concerning just because of the torque and and everything that goes into that, but you have to hope that Mintor's buying. And and you know, for Lee and Aaron Bummer, they're going to be called upon for important innings as long as AJ is down, So it's going to be a you know, interesting to see how Brian Snicker navigates the left handed situation the next couple of weeks as AJ is not available.

00:29:01
Speaker 1: The troubling thing there is that it was clearly bothering him before he went on the ail, which everybody's kind of admitted now, kind of a one of those things that bugs me by the way that sometimes the briand tandle things. But it does seem like they might like he might be back as Susie's eligible to be back, So we'll see if that actually he takes place, but it's it's a big loss for sure. Elsewhere on the major league roster, front Trump was optioned after the game on Sunday, they did not announce who's gonna come up. They have it off day on Monday. I know this is something we talked about for years. I mentioned it earlier this week even, but there's just not really a reason to carry a third catcher in the DH world a special I guess the theory would be that Snid is so averse to ever pinch hitting his second catcher that you want to just kind of snitproof the roster. But he didn't even do that. So maybe maybe with a final start, I have this theory that Alex decided to option Trump as soon as Orlando hit the batter's box today. I'm kidding, but I'm not.

00:29:54
Speaker 2: It sometimes does feel like that. Yeah, you know, with Trump, the I like that they can kept Chadwick up because it freed up Travis or Murphy to be that pinch hitter, presumably for if Jared Kelnick was out there and facing a lefty, you could bring Darnault in. If Orlando Orcia was in a big spot, especially if you were trailing and you didn't care about the defense as much, you could pinch hit Travis. But there's also not like a massive gap offensively between those three players. So yeah, I'm curious to see who they bring up. There's just kind of this carousel right now of bench options for the Braves, which we expected. I mean that that's the case for a lot of teams. But yeah, I do like Chadwick. Trump seems like a good dude.

00:30:39
Speaker 1: I know.

00:30:39
Speaker 2: The pitchers, especially Chris Sale. I mean, Chris Sale is a guy who's been around the game and has thrown to a lot of catchers. When Chris Sale goes out of his way to praise a catcher, I think it's pretty noteworthy. And he talked about Chadwick's work both in game and before the game. With this prep and everything, I am sure we will see him again at some point. And you know again, I think in a perfect world, whoever they do decide to bring up for Tuesday's game in Boston probably not going to see the field the whole bunch, but takes his an injury and suddenly you're thrown into the mix.

00:31:10
Speaker 1: That is the argument for keeping Trump. I mean, in an optimal world, I would not have three catchers. I will preface that. I've said that many times. But when you if you're Alex and you know your manager and you know Snid is terrified for whatever reason to have an injury to a catcher and be out without a catcher. You know, it probably happens once every decade, but he's he just lives in fear of that. There's an argument for that twenty six rotter spot that basically is almost a zero all the time for this team, the way they operate. If that's Trump and that allows you quote unquote or at least you know permits you and snit's mind to use your best pinch hitter every once in a while. It wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. So maybe that's why they did it. Also, just to say the logical thing out loud, Murphy being hurt for as long as he was, there's some insurance there, Like, you know, there's a reason, another reason chop up for a little while after Murphy came back, just in case he has some flare up or whatever. But now we're a week into this, he seems to be just fine health wise, and you make the logical move. But I think it's gonna be Luke Williams if I had to guess. But they don't really have a guy that's exciting. We all know that. So that's why it's that's why it's at minute thirty plus of the rundown, not earlier in the podcast. It is what it is. Oh one more. I guess this is a minor league note. Herson Waldrop is now in Gwinnette and he had a big game today. He struck out of eleven, which is I believe is a career high for him in the minor or something like that. He was awesome Missippi. Seven straight starts with two runs are fewer to close out his double a time. Scott and I will always acknowledge we're not the biggest minor league gas in the world. But I talked to Garrett Spain on the show about Waldrop and others only about you know, we can half two weeks ago at this point, and Waldrop is the guy if you pulled Braves fans, whether they're actually engaged in the minor leagues or not, he's the one guy that almost all the fans can name and nope, because he's a first round pick and he's very exciting, so people have an eye on him. Know there was a reaction when he was not the guy they called up last week, but you know, just keeping it on him, and I know he made it to Guenett last year very briefly, but this is like a real trip to Genette, like he's going to be there for a while.

00:33:09
Speaker 2: It seems yeah, And I'm you know, I think the Braves are going to have a real decision to make because in a perfect world, Hurston Waldrip is going to get months to continue developing in Gwinnett, but circumstance may not allow for that.

00:33:24
Speaker 1: They might have to.

00:33:24
Speaker 2: Call him up at some point to start. We know what the carousel has been like for that fifth starter job, but I mean eleven strikeouts against a pretty good lineup on Sunday afternoon. That split finger is nasty. There's some video of him today. I mean, just so many swing and miss guys just flailing at the pitch without really any kind of a chance. It sounds like his fastball and his breaking pitches still have some ways to go, and that's why I think in a perfect world you'd allow him to continue developing in the minor leagues. But we also know that the Braves are going to push their players whenever they feel like they're ready. You know, it's been a crazy run for Waldrop, who this time a year ago was pitching in the College World Series for Florida, and here he is now right on the doorstep and in Gwinette for the Braves. Let me let me ask you, brad over under July thirty first, for Hurston Waldrip's first major league start.

00:34:18
Speaker 1: I think I will take over slash after, but I would not be surprised if I'm wrong, only because you know, again, the minor league guys know this stuff more than I do. They seem to think that the Braves just want in an ideal warter, even close to that, a little bit more seasoning for Waldrop, Like you know, they want to Schwellenbach and a lot of the fans were like, who's that? And I get that, but like, you know, the more polished option. And no one's arguing that waldrop ceiling isn't higher, because it is. But I think that they are. They've seemingly tried not to do it so far, but you know as well as I do, if they if Schwellenbox struggles this week and you get another whatever at some point, if you know something, if you're down ten in the division, that kind of stuff too can into your mindset. So I think the Braves have shown they're willing to be patient with Waldrop. And part of that's because they kind of need to be, because you know, the minor league guys that we that I trust I'll speak to myself, love the stuff. But they all are kind of like, hey, he's not quite ready yet. And and I get it because you know, like you just said, he he's a year away from being in college. Like this is not a it's not surprising that he's not been up yet. But so I'll take the over. Maybe it's September, but it would not shock me if it was in the month.

00:35:25
Speaker 2: Yeah, at some point soon, let's say, he'll be there. I would assume they will continue to start him, although you know he always has the bullpen as a fallback option with his fastball and that split finger especially, I mean that splitter is going to give him a career as a reliever for a long time, just a matter if he can keep improving that fastball, and I believe he throws a slider as well, just to keep hitters.

00:35:47
Speaker 1: Honest.

00:35:47
Speaker 2: I mean that's Waldrop has legitimate mid to top of the rotation upside. From everything I've seen and read and heard, I think the Braves are smart and just not over pushing him. You don't want to rush a picture and cause him to not develop the way that he can to his full potential. So very excited for Waldrip in Gwinett. It's going to be appointment viewing every five days there. And I am sure at some point we will all get our first glimpse of him in Atlanta. Whether it's in a month or two or three, yes, absolutely. And before we got here, a brief look ahead at the week to come. The Braves are off on Monday. That is their first game without it with the first day without a game I should say since May eighteenth, and get that actual day was a rainout, so they have not had a scheduled off day and quite some time after having a bunch of them.

00:36:32
Speaker 1: Early in the year. And then they begin a three city road trip. First a quick two game trip to Boston in a rematch of about you know what a month ago now at this point, and then they go to Washington for a quick rematch after they lose three or four to the Nets this week. Other than the normal previews stuff, I think the biggest talking point is that Schwellenbo's gonna get another start on Wednesday. Snid was pretty he didn't say that definitively, but he was pretty I think you kind of like overshared maybe a little bit to say he was gonna stay up, and that ended up happening. He's now on the probables list. I thought he looked pretty good in his first start. The end did not go very well, but as far as debuts go, I thought he looked like a major leg starter. That's good to see. But we will see another run there. Also on the road. Boss is not a fantastic team, but certainly not a terrible one. And I still test the Family a park and I'm sure the youngster will have some big eyes as he's pitching a family apart for the first time.

00:37:27
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, Boston, their rotation is fantastic. I mean, maybe the best pitching team in the American League so far in the early going of the season. But offensively it's not been great. A note that von Grissom, I hate to say it, has been one of the worst players in Major League Baseball this season. I believe he had like a negative war and now he's on the injured list again, which is sad for Vaughn. But a weird two games then four at the Nationals man the Braves.

00:37:58
Speaker 1: I caught the highlights. I did not.

00:38:00
Speaker 2: Fortunately, I did not have to watch any of the full games because of travel and all that against the Gnats this past week. But that was about as pathetic of a Braves effort that I've seen in years. I mean, those were just terrible baseball games. So let's hope they kind of wake up a bit. Two games in Boston is always a fun kind of get the juices flowing, and then four at Washington. It's a place where I mean, if the Braves are going to make a comeback in the East, they have to start beating some of these bad teams, which is not something they've done necessarily so far through the first two plus months of the year. They have to start beating the Nationals. We talked about, they went four and six against three pretty bad teams over the last ten days. Soupefully, you at least get one in Boston, if not two, and then try to win the series against Washington. There's just no comparing those two rosters. And let's hope for better days because I mean, I guess the good news, Brad is you cannot play worse than what the Braves played against the Nets this past week at Truest.

00:38:55
Speaker 1: Well maybe they could, they could have got swept, I guess if you want to roll about it, But no, all the way across the board, you know, what's one of the ways to make up a deficit. And like you know, as we're recording this Philly play tonight, so we don't know the deficit exactly as we're talking. As we're talking, but it's a sizable one by June standards. And the Braves also have to play later on this month. The Orioles on the road, they're very good. The Yankees on the road, they're very good. So, like, you've got to beat the teams that you're better than. And that's always the case in baseball, but it's especially the case when you're facing a Phillies team and your division that is scolding. They've been awesome all year long, and maybe they'll cool off. But you know, if you're worried about extending the division streak, as people probably still are as they should be in June, beating the teams that you are clearly better than is part of the ticulust there, for sure. That's all we gotta think, Scott. It's nice to have you back though.

00:39:44
Speaker 2: Just be back, Brad. I will say it again. You and the fellas and all of our guests did a fantastic job holding down the fort while I was away. Very happy to be back. That's hope. Now that May is behind us, the Braves have some better days on the horizon, a nice start to the month. You gotta win today to win over the A's, But as you just said, there's some tough games on the horizons. Let's hope the team wakes up a little bit. God man, let's let's get healthy. The injuries this season have been unbelievable.

00:40:13
Speaker 1: I mean, it feels like the year of the oblique is on top of everything else too.

00:40:17
Speaker 2: Yeah, every other morning, when you open up your app or whatever you go to get your news, it feels like the Braves are putting somebody new on the injured list. I mean, just unbelievably bad injury luck through the first two months of the season. So let's hope that stops. They get healthier, they get guys rolling again. I mean it has to be tough. I mean, obviously you and I are not major leaguers, but can you imagine how difficult it must be for Sean Murphy to not play for two months and then just try to go zero to one hundred, even after a couple of rehab games in the minors like that, hitting a baseball is hard enough. And then when pitchers have had two months to get in their groove and you're just kind of going back out there for the first time all regular season. I mean, that has to be brutal to try to do as a player. So let's hop their better days on the horizon. Guys are healthy, Guys stay healthy, and they can pick up some wins this week, because really, six games against the Red Sox and the Nationals are winnable and let's hope for four or five.

00:41:11
Speaker 1: Yes, we agree on all of that. That's it for us. Please subscribe to the Hammer Territory podcast anywhere you might find your podcasts, especially places like Apple and Spotify, as well as overcast, et cetera. You can follow us on Twitter and Hammer Territory. We're on Instagram, We're on Facebook all those places, and please support the Foul Territory Network. Scott. Where can folks find them if they are new listeners to this podcast?

00:41:34
Speaker 2: Yeah, thank you everybody. I am at Scott Coleman fifty five. We will be back again soon here on the feed. Please, as Brad always says, please tell a friend. If you have Braves fans in your life, please let them know about the show. We really do appreciate it, and we'll be back soon with a new episode.

00:41:49
Speaker 1: Yes we will, so stay tuned. More to come this week from us as well as Stephen, Sean, etc. We appreciate you listening to the podcast and we'll see you all next time.