Emergency Pod: Braves Sign All-Star Closer Robert Suarez

00:00:24
Speaker 1: Hello everyone, and welcome back to the Hammer Territory podcast. I'm Scott Coleman and I am joined once again by Steven Tolbert. Because Steven, we have not even twenty four hours later another emergency edition of the podcast. Today, the Atlanta Braves have signed All star closer Robert Suarez to a three year deal. Your immediate reactions on what has been, in terms of dollars, the biggest move of the offseason for the Braves. What's up, buddy, We're here again.

00:00:54
Speaker 2: We mentioned it last night multiple times that you know they needed to keep going, and boom, next day they kept going. Robert Suarez one of the biggest closers on the market. There was kind of this big five of Diaz, Devin Williams, Suarez, Iglacias, and Peter Fairbanks. Braid's got two of them. So it's a big deal. The Braves needed relief help. We've talked about that all off season. They've got two of the very best relievers on the market. I mean, that's just the nuts and bolts of it. We're going to get into the money and the rolls, but just thirty thousand feet looking down there was pretty much four or five really good relievers on the market that we're going to be premium in terms of being paid, and the Braves got two of them, so you know there's some nuance that we're going to get into, but you can't really argue with them. And that's just that's that's massive for the twenty twenty sixteen.

00:01:49
Speaker 1: Big time addition to this bullpen. And let's go over the contract first. So three years and forty five million dollars for Suarez, which is right in line with most of the projections from trade rumors and fangrafts and ESPN that forty five million dollars will be split up thirteen million dollars in twenty twenty six and then sixteen million dollars in twenty twenty seven and twenty twenty eight. So Braves are going three million dollars lighter for this upcoming season, which is interesting, and we're going to talk about what might be coming and why the Braves might have wanted to save a few million this upcoming year. And Suarez will turn thirty five years old in March, so not a young man. He has had a fascinating path. He pitched professionally in Japan actually from twenty eighteen to twenty twenty one, and then signed a pretty healthy contract with the San Diego Padres and has been a fantastic closer for the last couple of years out in San Diego. One of the very best. I believe he led baseball and saves the last two seasons. So Suarez, this guy is battle tested. The Braves, as you said a moment ago, now have two just tried and true veterans in the eighth and ninth and eight and uh, I guess, uh, we'll go right into who Suarez is. I mean, he's an interesting pitcher because Steven he only really throws a fastball and a change up and then a sinker, which is kind of like a mix of the two. But he is not a typical power reliever in the way you see with big time wipeout sliders.

00:03:17
Speaker 2: Yeah, he is a I mean, he has pure gas. I think he was ninety nine percent maybe ninety eighth percentile in velocity. He averages he averages ninety nine miles an hour on his fastball. I mean, the dude lives in the hundreds. The Braves got, you know, one of the hardest throwers in baseball, and like you said, he's not. The off speed stuff is not where he lives. The change up he does throw, but he I mean, he relies on this thing's coming at one hundred, do what you can with it, and so you know, everyon's a while, he'll get hit decently hard. But when you throw that hard, man, it's just tough to do anything with It's got good movement. Like you said, he does have a sinker to add a little bit of a wrinkle. But yeah, he's not the basketball slider guy that we're used to seeing, you know, the Kimberls or you know, even Iglesias. I know Aglesias has the change up as well. So he is a fascinating guy. Is a unique but he's making he's made it work. I mean, he's been one of the best relievers in baseball for five years and everybody knows what's coming and they still can't hit it. So and there's really been no signs of slowing down. Like you know, like last year he averaged right at ninety nine miles an hour for his fastball, like it's still even at thirty five. Because he did have such a unique path to the majors, he doesn't quite have the same mileage on his arm that a lot of thirty five year olds would at least, you know, in terms of major league getings thrown. So there's probably still quite a bit of gas in the tank. Obviously, the Braves feel like there's quite a bit of gas in the today's game. A three year contract and not a cheap amount of money either, So but yeah, this is one of the best pitchers, one of the best relievers in baseball. I I don't know, I'm curious is I'm curious to know what you think. I did not think the Braves would go get two of these guys. I thought there was a I knew they would get one, and I just always assumed it was a Glaciers Once they signed to Glaciers, I was not expecting another one of the kind of the Big five to come off the board to the Braves. But yeah, yeah, the Brave. I mean, Alex has always spent money on bullpen, always spent money on bullpen, always spent money on bullpen. We could debate that at a later date, but he went out and got basically the next best releader on the market after Diaz and Devin Williams signed, and now the Braves have maybe the best one two punch and eighth the ninth inning in baseball.

00:05:33
Speaker 1: You know, it's funny, Steven. At the onset of the off season, if you told me what closure were the Braves going to sign, I might have actually said Robert Suarez, because we have heard for two off seasons now, both publicly and behind the scenes, that the Braves have really liked Suarez for a long time. They tried to go and trade for him last winter kind of at the very end of the off season there was Suarez and Dylan C's and Michael King were maybe available, and of course all three ended up sticking around. But because the Braves have like Swarz for so long, it does not shock me that they have signed him to this three year deal. I think where I'm legitimately surprised is that they have invested now nine or twenty nine million dollars next season to have both A Galacias and Swarez in the eighth and ninth innings. And interestingly enough, right after the signing, multiple national and local reporters Mark Bowman, David O'Brien, Ken Rosenthal all reported that the belief is that Rycella Galacias is going to remain the closer in the ninth innings, and that Robert Swarez is going to pitch the eighth innings. Now, of course, that can change circumstances happen. It is hardly a problem because two guys you feel comfortable with in the ninth inning is a good thing to have. But I mean, was that a surprise to you when that came down? Not really?

00:06:53
Speaker 2: I mean, obviously Surez has to be okay with it, you know, I'm sure they talked about it. But at his age, like this is probably his last big contracts, I'm guessing he doesn't really. You know, if you're like twenty seven and you're still trying to get three or four really nice contracts, you probably want to stay the closer because teams just pay more for closers. When you're thirty five and this is probably your last big deal, you're like, I don't care. As long as you're gonna pay me, I'll pitch wherever you want. It's also like, you know, Glecius has always been beloved by the Brace because of his willingness to take the ball any any inning, anytime, anywhere. He doesn't care. He doesn't have an ego. The fact that Suarez is just okay with this also pretty good indication. He's just like, yeah, give me the ball, I don't care. I'll pitch whenever. And like you said, it's gonna be performance based. I mean, Iglesias lost the closer job briefly last year when he was struggling so bad. If Suarez is just lights out in the eighth inning and Theglesias is having trouble in the ninth, I guarantee you they'll they won't hesitate to switch it around. It's it's just it's a good problem to have me. You just have so much experience that it can go either way. So now I wasn't surprised, I will tell you.

00:07:59
Speaker 1: So.

00:07:59
Speaker 2: The other day we got a note that after Edwin Diaz had signed with the Dodgers, there was a report that the Braves were heavily involved in Edwin Diaz. I don't know if you saw that, and you never know what to make of though, Like you never know if those are real, if that's if that's just somebody guessing. I think this is I think this is proof the Braves were heavily in on Edwin Diaz as well. They they were very clearly highly aggressive in the high leverage reliever market. And I would actually love to know how close the Braves got. When I saw that our pur I was like, well, they probably probably wouldn't even really close. I bet it was pretty close. I bet the Braves were. I think they I think they probably had I think they knew they wanted to get a Glaciers back, and then they probably said, we want to get one of either Diaz or or Suarez, and so I think it's confirmation the Braves were, they were in that market, and they were obviously in the sUAS market. They just signed him. So yeah, Alex, Alex clearly indicated back a bullpen was gonna be a key for him this offseason, and he went on got two of the best guys.

00:09:01
Speaker 1: And obviously Glacias was only a one year deal, but Suarez is three. So who knows what the next twelve months are going to hold. But you could always make swar As your closer in twenty twenty seven, if we play baseball in twenty twenty seven and twenty twenty eight, and if Iglesias is awesome again, you can bring him back and do like the Charlie Morton one year at a time thing because he's a veteran, and that's I mean, you said it off the top, and I'll emphasize it. If there is one area on the roster that Alex and Thoppless, for better or worse, is never afraid to spend on, it's bullpens. His entire time, he has had at least one expensive arm out there in the ninth inning, if not two or three or four. It's not an area he is shied away from when building out his teams.

00:09:47
Speaker 2: Yeah, and you mentioned the structure of the contract where they're paying thirteen million this year and sixteen million next year. One thing to keep in mind, of course, is that Aaron Bummer and Joe Jimenez both make nine million dollars this year, but both come off the books next year. So I actually I did think at one point this offseason, after the Iglesias signing, I thought if they sign another one, I would not be surprised at all if they backload the deal because it gets them through the Bummer and Jimenez. You know, we could also have a whole Joe Jimenez conversation attached to this. I think this is a pretty clear indication we don't. We can do that at another show. But obviously they're not confident, they're not confident in that knee, and they still all nine million bucks. So it wasn't surprising to me that they've backloaded this Suarez deal, and it makes sense with what they've got currently in the bullpen.

00:10:40
Speaker 1: And it's not hard to see why the Braves like Suarez.

00:10:43
Speaker 2: Yeah, and the last.

00:10:44
Speaker 1: Two seasons with the Padres as their closer, one hundred and thirty five appearances, a two point eighty seven ERA, a three point one seven FIP, about a twenty six percent strikeout rate and a six percent so strikes out a lot of guys. Maybe not elite in that regard, but Suarez strikes out a lot and doesn't issue free passes. And if there is one thing, not just us, but managers in baseball, front office, execs, fans, you name it. If you're relievering, you walk people, there is no faster way to fall out of favor and get into trouble. And that's something really throughout his entire time with the Padre, Suarez has done a really good job of is not issuing free passes to first base.

00:11:29
Speaker 2: Yeah, and the Braves have always valued strike out to walk ratio. You know they love the four to one, five to one strike out to walk ratio. I remember when they traded for Joejamenez, like he was like number three or four in the majors the year before. And strike out to walk ratio. It's just a metric they care about a lot, and it's very predictive. It's a really strong if you're somebody who likes to get into the numbers, that's a number you should really get into more for pitchers is strike out to walk ratio. It's very predictive of success. Teams love it, the Braves adore it. So it's not a surprise anyone after Suarez struck out almost ten per nine, like you just said, doesn't walk barely walks anybody. So yeah, that it was even more clear. On top of the fact that we've heard, we've heard Swarrez's name for a couple of years link to the Braves. He just has a metric that the Braves are really really high on.

00:12:19
Speaker 1: Well on credit to you, Steven. When we did our Mike Yastremsky Emergency podcast twenty four hours ago, you said Suarez's name, I think multiple times on the show as kind of our big takeaway from that show, and please go back and listen to the Yastremsky Emergency Show if you didn't already. Was as long as this is not like the final move of the offseason or the final move of significance. We were cool with it because we understood what the Braves are going for. But that had to be just another piece of a bigger puzzle. And I don't want to say that adding a thirty five year old closer is a guarantee and you can plan out the Braves World Series parade tomorrow. But he, I mean, Swarz is an impact reliever. I mean, I know, Oh, we'll do our quick bit the year over year relievers. They're volatile, they have good years, they have bad years. They can change, they can fall off, they can come out of nowhere to be really good. But this guy is about as tried and true as it gets the last couple of years with San Diego, and I fully get why the Braves did this, and I like the signing for sure.

00:13:17
Speaker 2: Yeah listen, I didn't say sure is his name? Last night, just ran like we have heard the smoke for a while, and you know it's funny that people always say, well, if you hear the name in a rumor meal, that means it's not happening. Because the Braves never leaks stuff. It's just not true, like stuff gets leaked out, like you can only control so much of what gets leaked out because other teams are involved, other agents are involved, the entire other side is involved. The agent can leak anything anytime we want. It's not Alex has control over what agents do. So Brave stuff leaks out all the time. You know, we need to give Robert Murray credit because Mark Robert Murray broke the Yustrimsky signing. I think Passing had this signing, and Mark Finsen had the rumor about the Braves and swars like two days ago. So stuff gets out. It's not just like every time the Braves do something, you know, no one has ever even heard of or thought about it or talked about it. It's not actually true. They are tight lipt, but not so crazy. And the last point I'll make is, so the Braves have signed thirty four year old Robert Suarez, They've signed thirty five year old Mike Yastrimpsky, and they've signed thirty six year old Russ Sale Glacias. I think for forty five plus twenty three plus sixteen, that's like seventy something million bucks they've given to a thirty four to thirty five and thirty six year old. We need to say out loud into a microphone, like there is risk here, Like the Braves are banking on some conservative aging curves where especially with Suarez on a three year deal, and like you just said to volatility of relievers, there's risk, Like this is not a risk free deal, you know, obviously Glaciers is a one year deal. Y Stripsky is a very low av with this deal, like it could hurt if something was wrong with is in the next six months, Like it get hurt. So there's risk here. I don't want to just ignore the downside completely because we like the signing and the Braves have gone very you know, the Braves are quietly becoming a much older team with these three guys and the money they're you know, the money they're paying him, So there's not like there's no risk involved. But overall, I do like this signing.

00:15:22
Speaker 1: So we're gonna take a quick break to hear a word from our partners on the podcast. But when we come back, we're going to talk about what this bullpen looks like with Suarez and Iglesias in the mix. We're also going to now talk a little bit more as well about what else the Braves could do this offseason after a very busy last couple of weeks. But first quick word from our partners, right, Stephen, Let's talk about this bullpen now. It was an area we knew the Braves needed to address, and they have addressed it with two big dollar signings so far. So currently we have, if the reports are correct, you have ere I sell Igalacias in for the ninth inning. You have Robert Swarez for the eighth inning. More times than not, he could probably throw a seventh if he was facing some tough rieties. But Iglesias and Suarez is too. Dylan Lee, assuming healthy, awesome from the left side, probably your best lefty reliever at the moment. You have Aaron Bummer under contract for nine million dollars. Probably not as zero percent chance the Braves could move on from Bummer in the coming weeks, But if Bummer is healthy and he did have the shoulder scare at the end of the season, you would imagine that bummer will be out there, hopefully a healthier bounce back season. The Braves gave two and a quarter million dollars to Joel Piomps a couple of weeks ago. Piomps was once really good with the Brewers, was terrible last season, where the Brewers defade him and the Braves picked him up. Clearly, the Braves are banking on him being able to bounce back. I think Piomps will be in that group, although for two million dollars, if he just looks god awful in the spring or even a couple of weeks into the season, you could always move on. And then I think those five, if healthy and on the roster, are probably on the team. The massive question now is Joe Jimenez and his surgically repaired me, his twice surgically repaired me, which the Braves have been pretty wishy washy on. If they feel like they're gonna have Jimenez back, and then there's a handful of others who are gonna likely round out the back end of the bullpen. Do you think the Braves are done spending in the bullpen? Do you do you think they're gonna go and sign another like legitimate reliever here. Do you think they're gonna pick up a half dozen veterans on cheap deals and hope that one or two of them stick. Knowing you have now some stability at the back end, where are you at with this bullpen right now?

00:17:41
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a great question. So obviously Iglesias and Suarez are in, I think obvious, Dylan Lee, Aaron Bummer in as long as they're on the team. Like you said, Bummer is no guarantee. I would not be surprised at all if they try to move off that ten million bucks. The wild cards are Ronaldo Lopez and Grant Holmes because if you feel like either one of those is going to be a reliever for you this year, and I really think one of them should be specifically Ronaldo, Like I think if you if you put Iglesias, Suarez and Ronaldo Lopez as you're eight, seventh, eighth, and ninth inny guys, Because remember when Lopez pitches out of the bullpen, he throws like one hundred and two miles an hour. So you have Lopez, Suarez and Iglesias finishing games for you, and you have the pitching depth, you have the starting depth at least right now, and especially if you go out a starter because of the emergence of Huston Waldrop. Now, some of that is tied to the health of Grant Holmes, some of it is tied to the health of Ronaldo Lopez. So those are the wild cards right then on top of that, you have to remember guys like Joy Wentz and Bryce Elder have zero minor league options, So those guys cannot go to the miners after spring training. They're either in the rotation, they're in the bullpen, they're on the IL, or they're DF eight. Those are the options. So I'm guessing Joy Wentz is going to be in the bullpen, that's my gut. Now he's got a pitch, well could be you know, if he comes in the spring training pieces like Crab, he could be dfad. Same with Elder. But just remember the guys that don't have options matter in this conversation as well. And then, like you said, Joejamenz, like I imagine if you had Ronald Lopez and Joejimenez and he had all four of these guys at the end, Dasball Hernandez is still technically out there as a you know, he's got to figure out where the hell the ball's going. He rarely knows. But there's a lot of name. I would be stunned if they kept spending at this point. That's a lot. They have a lot of money tied to the like a ton of money, probably too much money tied to the bullpen, if we're being blatantly honest. But we're not going to complain about spending right now because fans were mad as hell yesterday because they weren't spending. Now they're spending. Do I love the allocation of bullpen relative to the other spots? Not really, but who cares at this point we'll debate that at another time. They have a lot of names, they have a lot of money. They have potentially the best bullpen in baseball. I think they should put Ronaldo as the seventh inning guy, like Grant Holmes and Hurstal Waldrip and who where they signed as a starter, go to the rotation. But there's a lot of ways they could do it, and multiple of them could work because there are there are there is quite a bit of talent in this group at this point. Yeah, you know, you.

00:20:12
Speaker 1: Also have like Dylan Dodd from the left side, Donald's signing also a lot of options. Hayden Harris is someone who has fans and uh got Harris was called up for like one day and did he even get He got into like one game, I think before the Braves sent him down. Hayden Harris has fans, great numbers in the minors. You mentioned Daze Bell Hernandez. I'm personally not a big Day's Bell guy. I don't think it doesn't know where it's going, It doesn't know what it's going. The idea of Day's Bell is awesome.

00:20:40
Speaker 2: Does one hundred Yeah, Day's.

00:20:42
Speaker 1: Bell's ballcase is that he turns into Robert Swarez. He just throws that ship out of the baseball every time and says, here's one hundred miles an hour, try to hit it and see what happens. But but when you're not throwing strikes like Robert Swarez does, that's going to be a problem. And then you know there's also kind of in the wings waiting, you know, like a J. Smith Schaver he had Tommy John surgery. But maybe at some point in the summer you could put a J. Smith schaover back in a bullpen roll to kind of build him back up.

00:21:11
Speaker 2: You have JR.

00:21:12
Speaker 1: Ritchie in the minor leagues, and you you know who knows. I mean if Hurst and Waldrip is kind of squeezed out of the rotation, depending on what the Braves do from here on now, maybe they have Waldrop in the bullpen for a cup, like a month or two, to keep his arm fresh, and then at some point you send him to Gwenette and you then build him up and then he becomes a starter. Maybe you don't want Waldrop to throw two hundred innings in his first full major league season. I guess what we're trying to say here is there's some real depth here. Especially knowing that you feel about as good as you can feel in December about your eighth and ninth innings. That's kind of mind ling too. Maybe they sign one more veteran to like a one year, six or seven or eight million dollar deal. I would hope that means they also have money for a shortstop and a starter. But I kind of think with a Glecias and Wars, they're pretty much done with this bullpen. Yeah, and now they've also got like what's his name, Botho Broke Holter Blake Brokehlter, the guy that was gonna be potentially taking off in the Rule five draft.

00:22:15
Speaker 2: A lot of people see him as a reliever. I actually thought he might get picked in the Rule five and somebody would put him in a bullpen.

00:22:21
Speaker 1: Roll.

00:22:21
Speaker 2: That didn't happen. He's still in the team. Uh Laura Uh who came up last year briefly. They got a lot of names and a lot of money tied into the bullpen. So yeah, I think they have the talent. I love the fact that they have added premium velocity to the to the bullpen, especially the back end, something I really wanted them to add. I felt like they were a bit behind. I think the Braves through the fust amount one hundred prower pitches in baseball last year, so I did want them to add in. Obviously, with with Suarez, they've done that and more. But yeah, man, I could sit here all day and dream on an Iglesias Suarez, Ronaldo Lopez like seven, eight, and ninth.

00:23:01
Speaker 1: They're all with Dylan Lee on the left side too. I mean, and if Aaron Bummer can get back to for him, I mean, this could be a sick bullpen.

00:23:08
Speaker 2: Yeah. So there's a lot of ways you can go Opson great Holmes too, if they want to limit his innings because of the injury. I don't know if he said his name already, but there's a lot of ways that can go. I I I would say, whatever money you have left, let's let's go find a shortstop, let's go find a starter. Let's maybe hold off on spinning anymore. On the bullpen. But the talent of this group, I mean, it's you know, I think legitimately could be the best bullpen in baseball. Now, it could, it could, it could be average. This is how bullpens work. It's not like a lineup or a rotation where you can really feel good about it until you see it, until everybody gets their healthy. But on talent, they have a chance to be unbelievably good.

00:23:48
Speaker 1: Yeah, it should be really fun to watch this summer. We will see what the coming weeks and months hold. Stephen, We're gonna take one more break, but when we come back, we are going to talk about what is left for alex Ands to do this offseason. There's still some pretty big items to check off. Let's be greedy. Let's get this team to be as competitive as it can realistically, be first quick word from our partners. All right, Steven, So we're about a month into the off season. The bullpen has been heavily addressed, the shortstop position has may been addressed with Mauricio Dupon, and the outfield and dhspot has been pretty well addressed with Mike Kistremski. Again, Steven and I talked about that signing for about thirty five minutes on Wednesday. Go and check out that episode if you want to listen it. But for my money, the two big things starting rotation in shortstop. Yep, where are you at with those two spots? Now that the Braves have solidified kind of the other big pressing needs on the roster.

00:24:53
Speaker 2: I put shortstop one. The Braves do have a lot of depth and rotation, and especially now that they've added at the back of the bullpen, because I thought there was a world where maybe Holmes and Lopez would be in the bullpen, but when you add Suarez, it's not as big a need. Right, It's all connected, it's all it's all in a you know, none of this is in a vacuum. It's all connected. It's all in context. So like a minute, like just a solid mid rotation starter would make me feel amazing about the rotation, Like the rotation is good, Like you read off the names. The rotation is good. It's got upside, it's got enough upside that you can dream on, and it's got enough depth that you're okay. But one more name would be fantastic. But damn, do I want to shortstop? I want a real short stop. Listen, Marissa Debon is A is a high quality major league player. You know, he's one of the best. You know, he's in the top one percent of baseball players in the world. But he's much better as a bench piece. He just is. He's much better as a bench piece. He is a He's a utility guy, and your roster is so much better if he is your utility guy and somebody else is You're starting shortstop. Now, people are gonna say, what name? I don't know, I don't listen. Kim is out there. Everybody knows about Kim. There's trade targets, the Corey Seeger stuff. There's actually a lot of smoke coming out about Corey Seger. Not necessarily, I mean, somewhat connected to the Braves, but just in general. The Rangers are apparently much more okay with trading him than I maybe thought they would be. The Rangers might be in a kind of a pivotal like, you know, there might be at a crossroads where they're going in a different direction. My god, could you could you a Matt or not even I'm not even gonna say. If they trade for Corey Seeger, this would be the greatest off season of all time. But it's probably not gonna happen. But so I don't know the name, I don't know who it's gonna be, but I would love a real short stuff.

00:26:48
Speaker 1: I would too. And you know, the Seeger one is fascinating because every day it feels a little bit more like the Rangers might be willing to actually trade him and the six years and a hunt eighty nine million dollars left on his contract, But then you read about it a little bit more like between the lines, and it might be one of those situations where sure, the Rangers will trade Corey Seger to the Braves, but they want Drake Baldwin, or they want Spencer Schwallenbach or pick and probably more than that too, which is maybe crazy to say, But I mean, Corey Seger is not going to be cheap guys. When he's on the field, this guy is a top eight hitter in Major League Baseball. That's fun to dream. And the fact that the Braves have now made some real signings this offseason, I think the temperature level of the fan base has it should a better damn well cool down. And I guess last offseason was miserable. I mean, you guys are frustrated. We're frustrated. Try doing three to four podcasts a week where the team made one signing the entire winter, which was, you know, a good player in Jerkson Profar, but not a superstar by any means. If they signed one Soto maybe, but yeah, it's this I think is a really nice step in the right direction. And if they can add a shortstop, which is easier said than done, and add something to the starting rotation, I feel like we're going to be in a good place come opening day.

00:28:12
Speaker 2: Are you where are you at with the picture or like are you the starting picture? Like what level are you think? Do you still want like a ranger Srez Because the starting pitching market, I mean, the closer market has moved insanely quickly. There's still some decent starters out there, I think Sorez is probably the I guess sores and Valdez Framber are probably the two best guys still out there. What level are you at with the starter?

00:28:36
Speaker 1: So what was really interesting to me the other day is there was a report I think from Mark find Stand at MLB dot com that Framber Valdez is market has not really developed.

00:28:49
Speaker 2: Yeah, and if that's.

00:28:50
Speaker 1: The case, if I'm if I am the Braves, and I am willing to give up the twenty sixth overall pick and really invest in one of these big four starting pitchers who are left Framber Valdez, Rangers, Warrez, Michael King, and Zach Gallen. Yeah, I think when you factor everything in, I think Framber Valdez is in a tier of his own compared to the other three. If I'm gonna go and commit five or six years to one of these starters, which I think is what most of them are going to get, I'm probably more on the Framber Valdez train because I think he has the fewest questions about him, and I would also be probably more comfortable giving up the qualifying offer pick to add like a legitimate number one, number two to your rotation, Like he's a stud. He has been as consistent as it gets in Houston, whereas Rangers Warrez. He doesn't throw hard. He's never thrown one hundred and sixty innings in a season. Michael King has had one great year, but other than that he's either been in the bullpen or hasn't been healthy. And then Zach Gallan. I'm just not willing to give up a pick and big money for Gallant. I just don't think he's great. If he ends up being awesome and he's an All Star and a Cy Young win the next year, then we'll, you know, I'll eat Crow on that one. My guest, Stephen, is that they go and sign a starting pitcher. But in that middle tier, your your Merrill Kelly types, Chris Bassett. If the Braves feel like Brad Keller can be made a starter who was a reliever and a really good one the last couple of years, whether he was a starter before. That kind of tier to me is where my my guests would be if I had to put money on it. But maybe maybe Alex and Thoppolass has a lot of money to spend and they're like, you know what, enough screwing around. We're gonna go get one of these big name free agents and draft pick. Be damned, We're just gonna go all out for the next couple of years. That's probably not a non zero chance.

00:30:43
Speaker 2: Yeah, it'd be alarious if they signed Chris Bassett. I mean they start handing out AARP carts for this free agent class. I agree, I the pick the draft pick. Also, all four of those guys would cost a draft pick because all of them arequalified free agents. To pick complicates things. It's kind of one of those things where you if you're gonna give up the pick, you would almost rather be on a long term deal, Like you need some value. You need the other side of the equation to have some heft, have some value to it to make it, you know, like giving up the pick for a one year deal doesn't make any sense. So it is interesting. I do think, you know, we've talked about Brad Keller with the Cubs, who could be converted, could also be a reliever, starter hybrid. I kind of love having those on the roster because of the versatility. I could be talked into a lot. I would just much rather have a shortstop, if I'm being honest, But I don't know there might just not be a one avail. I don't know. I don't know what Kim's gonna get. I have not heard a single peep about Kim's market other than Scott Boris saying a lot of teams have called, which who the hell knows what that means. It might it might mean no teams have called for all we know so but I think it's gonna take forever. So I would love a shortstop. I would love this roster so much more. Of Debond was the super utility like first go off the bench. Maybe they are I guess there's a world where they don't add a starter. Maybe they are super confident in homes and Lopez. I do not recommend that. I would really hope they would add a starter. We'll see, but I would prefer I really want to starting. I want to starting caliber shortstop, even if it's not Cory Seeger Go find somebody in the trademarket, go you know, maybe the maybe the Rockies will talk to you about Tovar or something like. Go find try to go find a short I would love to get this black hole at Shortstop filled at some point.

00:32:37
Speaker 1: Oh absolutely, I mean, it's been dark days since the All Star Game when Orlando Orcia was an All Star and ever since it has been just a never ending decline at the position. You know, we the million dollar question is we don't know how much money the Braves have left to spend. Yeah, and if it's fifteen to twenty million, and that's just a total guess, then maybe Alex sits there and goes, you know what, we can add one more player. Do we want it to be Hasan Kim or do we want it to be Merrill Kelly, because you're probably not getting one of the elite starting pitchers for fifteen to twenty million dollars, or maybe they have thirty to forty million dollars left to spend, and it's okay, we can get one of each. We can get a shortstop if the right one presents itself, and we can go get a starting pitcher and try to figure out the budget that way of who makes the most sense in terms of highest impact per dollars spent. And yeah, I mean I said it with Brad the other day. I am not trying to give away this extra draft pick. The Braves won with Drake Baldwin winning Rookie of the Year, but if they do, if they go out and sign a big time free agent, I am not losing sleep over the twenty sixth pick in the draft.

00:33:46
Speaker 2: Go look, I look this.

00:33:47
Speaker 1: Up historically, or I looked this up the other day that historically the number twenty six player in the draft over the last like twelve years, I think the best player who was taken was Taylor Ward, who was like a pretty decent outfielder, was with the Angels, just got traded to Baltimore. But Taylor Ward, Guys, this is not I mean, sure, maybe you find the next Aaron Judge with the twenty sixth pick, or you find a guy who never even makes the major leagues. Again, I'm not looking to just give this pick away. I'm not giving it away for a one year Zach Gallon deal. Yeah, But I'm also it's it is a free pick. The Braves kind of have. It is a joker card in their hand, and they can figure out what they want to do.

00:34:26
Speaker 2: And they also have the trade market. They don't have to sign a free agent to add as starter. We've heard of plenty of starters who could potentially be traded. Lit's send if the Rangers. If the Rangers are serious about cutting money, like Nathan Ney Ivoldie is still out there, Like there's names in the market where you don't have to give up the pick at all, you'd have to give up prospects probably, So it's all, it's all, it's all an equation. And you mentioned Perols, So I do want to mention the Braves after the so after the Yastremsky, after the Suarez signing. The Braves already have more cash payroll committed to the twenty twenty six team than they did at any point in twenty twenty five. And we're at what like December tenth or whatever today December eleventh, So you know, they're at like two hundred and thirty million right now in terms of cash payroll depending on how many like league minimum guys that have on the roster to fill off the roster. So they're they're getting up there. Now, that's not that's not luxury payroll, that's not AAVs, So that's a little more complicated. We'll probably dedicate a show to that at some point, just just because the Braves are kind of creeping up on the luxury tax is the reason that we're probably gonna need to talk about this at some point. But yeah, cash payrol, they're already above where they were last year. So, like you said, the thing we don't know. The thing we can't know is how much they have to spend. And you know, getting on here and talking about and trying to judge these deals would be so much easier if we knew, like you know, Mike Kyushimsky is eight percent of the payroll, Like, if we had that number, it would be so much easier. So we just don't. We don't know how much they're gonna spend. So I have no idea how much this Robert Schurez contract, how much of the war chest that just took up. If I did, we would have a bit, you know, we'd be able to talk about it a little easier. So we just have to guess. But right now they've spent more than they did at any point last year, which that's already a hell of him improven off last offseason or where we had just set around and waited and waited and waited and waited and waited. Yeah, one damn move. The whole off season already substantially better than that.

00:36:33
Speaker 1: Yep. And I would say this, and we we closed the Mike Yashchremsky Emergency Show with this, and we'll close out this show as well. Keep going, Braves, keep going, Like the first month of the off season has been great. Two lights out relievers, a really good hitting platoon outfielder, and a gold Glove utility man.

00:36:55
Speaker 2: Keep going.

00:36:55
Speaker 1: I like all those moves in a bucket. I like those moves. Yeah, but but keep going. Go go get a ideally, go get a starting shortstop, and go get some kind of starting pitcher. And if it's not Frambervellez or Ranger Swarez, I'm not gonna come on here and yell about it, because I get it, like the Braves do not. Unfortunately, have just completely unlimited money, and giving twenty five million dollars to starting pitchers for seven years is kind of terrifying. But some kind of a starting pitcher and some kind of a shortstop and this would be like an a plus offseason for me.

00:37:27
Speaker 2: Yeah, I would feel great at any level. Any anybody that I can clearly say that is a starting shortstop, I'm not gonna go through the names, but anybody I could say that is a starting shortstop, I'd feel great about. And yeah, starting just some sort of mid rotation, durable starter. There's dozens of them out there, trademarket, frieedge market, any of those guys. And yeah, this is already a fantastic off season. So an exciting day for the Atlanta Braves.

00:37:55
Speaker 1: Robert Swarez your new eighth inning man, maybe ninth inning man for the next couple of seasons, on a contract that was right in line with projections, with what a lot of people thought. It was going to be an exciting time for the Braves. And overall this has been a much more enjoyable offseason. Not hard to do after the misery we sat through last winter, but a really enjoyable first month of the offseason, at least for me. I think you feel the same, Stephen. And now let's finish this thing off, like, finish the job, go all the way, no half measures, go out at a short stop, at a starting pitcher, maybe had one more reliever if you have the funds to do it, and let's go, man like, let's get back to the playoffs. The Braves have won two e fing playoff games since they won the World Series.

00:38:40
Speaker 2: Yeah, let's go.

00:38:42
Speaker 1: Let's get us winning where we want them to be.

00:38:45
Speaker 2: This is your core, Like this is your core is not getting younger like Olson is in his thirty almost in his thirties, Acunya's twenty seven or twenty eight, Riley's twenty seven or twenty eight, like this, fuck, you built this core to win now, Go win now, Like there's not a single prospect in the Brave system that is untradable that you should be like afraid to move to try to go you know, like the next three or four years, you should be balls to the wall to try to go win another World Series. This is what you signed all these like team friendly contracts of this core so you could do this, so you could just go go for it for like a five year stretch. We'll go for it. We got a five year stretch where everybody on the team, all the important players are still productive. Let's go, let's keep going.

00:39:35
Speaker 1: Yes, indeed, so that is going to do it for this emergency edition of the Hammer Territory Podcast. As always, a big thank you to everybody for tuning in on the audio podcast side as well as on YouTube, and we'll do our plea. If you're new to the show, please hit the subscribe button, follow the show, like the show whatever it is you need to do so whenever we do more shows in the weeks to come, they'll be in your feeds. And for our longtime listeners and viewers, thank you as always for stopping by. He is Stephen Tolbert. You can follow Steven on X slash Twitter at b Underscore Outliers. I'm Scott Coleman. You can follow me on Twitter slash X at Scott Coleman fifty five. We'll be back with plenty more content for the Atlanta Braves throughout the offseason. Until then, we will see everybody next time.