Emergency Pod: Braves Sign Ha-Seong Kim

00:00:23
Speaker 1: Hello everyone, and welcome back to the Hammer Territory podcast. This is episode three one and it's an emergency podcast. My name is Brad Roland. I'm joined on the show on a Monday evening by Scott Coleman. Scott, I went out of town and Alex found that out, it appears, and decided to make the entire all season's worth of moves in six days. How are you hello, Brad? I am doing well.

00:00:47
Speaker 2: It was never in doubt that as soon as you left the greater Atlanta area that of course Alex was gonna do all of his heavy lifting, or at least most of it this offseason. And I mean, man alive. The Braves have signed how Song Kim. This has been as busy of a four week stretch in terms of off season moves that we have maybe had in a decade for the Braves. I mean, it seems like we can't go forty eight hours without some kind of a transaction. And obviously tonight we are going to talk all about has On Kim, and I mean a big impact addition for the Braves.

00:01:21
Speaker 1: To be sure, absolutely, and look just the particulars. It's a one year deal for hass On Kim, something that I know you have foreshadowed several times in recent days on this show. One year deal, twenty million dollars, no options. It's a little bit more than the player option was, but once he didn't take the player option, you kind of have to assume it was gonna be more. And it was so good agent work by Scott Boris as supposed to get your client a little bit more money. I made fun of it, but this is literally our third emergency podcast in six days. Eu Stremski followed by you know, it's been extremely, extremely busy. Suarez extreme Ski. Now, Kim, this is interesting because this is one that was on the radar, right. We talked about Suarez a decent amount. Strepsky was kind of off the radar.

00:02:07
Speaker 2: Kim.

00:02:07
Speaker 1: We've discussed a lot, so we'll probably repeat ourselves a little bit on this show. But I know you said this before, so I'll say it for you and we can talk about it. A one year deal for Hassan Kim just made a ton of sense for everybody involved, especially if he didn't have like some massive deal out there, which I'm sure he would have liked to sign. If he had a five year one hundred million dollar deal out there. He would have signed it up pretty sure, but he didn't. So that's kind of where my brain is, like, Hey, this is not a grand slam for the Braves, but on all sides, it's kind of on brand. Right, Alex loves a one year deal. He got paid a little bit. So I mean, that's that's my general reaction. It might not be the most inspired reaction, but it makes a ton of sense for everybody involved.

00:02:46
Speaker 2: For me, this felt like it was inevitable and you look at it from basically every side and it's like, yes, that makes a lot of sense. And if you're hass On Kim and you're Scott Boris, you put twenty million dollars in your back pocket and you get to hit free agency again. Or if you have a great year, maybe you work out an end season extension with the Braves, which maybe isn't super common for Scott Boris clients. But from the very end of the season, even when it was apparent that Kim was going to opt out of his player option, Kim had nothing but good things to say about his time with the Braves. He knows jerks and PROFI really well. He now knows. Robert Suarez, the team's new eighth inning maybe closer really well, sounds like he was good friends immediately with Ozzy Alby's and for the Braves, they desperately needed a shortstop. We have been talking about it on the show for the last month. Not only do the Braves now have a battle tested shortstop, but it also frees up Mauricio Dubon to be the gold Gloves super utility man. Gives you insurance in second base if Ozzy Alby's isn't fully ready to go after breaking a bone in his hand. This really was maybe not a rare deal, but a rare deal will It made sense for every single party involved, right, I mean a lot of times what the Braves do on our Alex is kind of surprised you and Suarez wasn't wasn't really a surprise.

00:04:07
Speaker 1: It wasn't one that we definitely thought was going to happen. Well, it wasn't a huge shock. Becau Strumsky was more surprising. This is one where's like everyone saw it coming. It's kind of interesting, like it's kind of off brand for Alex to do the thing that everyone thinks is going to do. But that's what happened here, and because again, like it's a it's a shortstop spot on a at least a potentially contending team. I know the Braves were not contenders last year, but the perception in baseball is that they're going to be there again and be better and bounce back. Kim knows that. I'm sure he'd like to have a long term deal in place, but this is a he's well compensated for his time for this one season. I know your guy, Jeff Passon reported that he turned down multi year deals elsewhere. I would suspect those were relatively cheap multi year deals would be my guess if it was anywhere near this AAV My guess is that he would he would have signed that multi year contract somewhere else. I don't I don't know what the numbers are, but if it's like three years and thirty million versus one and one in one for twenty, you're taking one for twenty every time. So we don't know. We'd have to guess, but I mean we'll say a big picture and in a second. I know we talked about Kim a lot, but for listeners that are not always here, we will do a kind of a deeper look at what Kim actually is in a second, but you just mentioned it, so we'll talk about it. This is a need that the Braves have had for a long time. You know. We did a kind of weirdly emergency podcast when the Braves claimed him off waivers, and that was a huge surprise when it happened. It was not that long ago, three and a half months ago. At this point, it was like, whoa. They kind of had a short stop fall in their lap in the middle of the season out of nowhere off of waiver, which just never happens. And he is not a star like he had. He had one season where he was a star level player. He was, he had a four to one season. He's not a star player, but he is. I'm not sure if it is not what you just said, but it's certainly in the realm of He is a in Capitol Letters starting shortstop and that was the market for him. He's played second base as well. But I think everyone has been clamoring for the Braves, including us, for three years now since Dansby left to have really a full fled shorter at shortstop and Marissa to Debon is a good baseball player, a useful baseball player. He is not what people were looking for. And Hassan Kim is not Corey Seeger. That has to be said. He's not Corey Seeger. I get it, but he is a starting shortstop and it's like hard to complain about that, especially when it doesn't come at the cost of a long term deal. The risk on this deal is not particularly hot. Yeah, he may not be great, we'll talk about it in a second. But if he isn't great, you have Briosa Debon and it's a one year contract. For me, it's like checks every box. And that's my overall reaction is like, how do you I'm trying to almost prethink about might be mad about this. I can't get to a spot where I could even find the devil's advocated position. Maybe it's that you wanted Corey Sieger or die, but like if it wasn't that, this is pretty logical.

00:06:50
Speaker 2: Or maybe bo Baschett. You know, we talked about Bishette a lot, but I just didn't see the Braves committing eight years and two hundred million dollars to a player like Bashette with the defensive concerns. Alex A thopp was doing a nine figure deal for a terrible defensive shortstop. Would have been the most shocking thing I've ever seen him do by a wide margin. And maybe he maybe call on him. We'll never know, but I would have fallen out of my whatever chair I'm in, whatever stand I'm in.

00:07:15
Speaker 1: I bet it happened. It just wasn't gonna.

00:07:16
Speaker 2: Happen for sure, And at this point, Kim was kind of the only option who was realistic or obtainable. And sure we would have loved Corey Seeger on a six year deal and one hundred and ninety million dollars, but we don't even know if Texas is actually gonna trade him, and it would cost quite a bit as well.

00:07:34
Speaker 1: We talked about the shed. I mean, there's a few other guys. CJ.

00:07:37
Speaker 2: Abrams was out there, maybe Ezekio Tovar was around there with the Rockies.

00:07:42
Speaker 1: Maybe.

00:07:43
Speaker 2: But again, man, you don't have to give up any prospects here. You don't have to give up the qualifying offer draft pick. And it's a one year deal. And maybe Kim doesn't set the world on in twenty set the world on fire in twenty twenty six, but you have to hope that as he distances himself from offseason shoulders surgery a year ago that basically cost him his entire off season. So one note we should say this towards the top of the podcast. In twenty twenty four, Kim was with the Padres having a really nice season and he tore the labrum in his right shoulder, his throwing shoulder. Kim had surgery in September of twenty twenty four and basically did not have an off season to work out normally to do everything he does to get himself ready for the grind of one hundred and sixty two games over six plus months of baseball. Kim didn't even start his minor league rehab until Memorial Day and did not make his debut with the Tampa Bay Rays last season until the fourth of July, So not only was he rehabbing from a serious shoulder surgery, but he was also three months behind all of his peers. I think the Braves are banking on a healthy, normal off season for Kim that he will get back to being more of the average hitter, gold Glove level defender that made him so valuable with the Padres.

00:09:04
Speaker 1: Absolutely, and that's a good way to tee things up. We will talk about Hassan Kim and his basically, what is this player if you're not familiar with his game beyond what the Braves had him doing the last four weeks of the season. We'll talk about that and more after a word from a partners Scott, we should dig in now to Hassan Kim. You already tee it up beautifully. The fact that last season you don't throw it away. I'm not saying you throw it away, but I think it's worth keeping in mind for context purposes. He didn't have a off season. It was also by the time he got back, he played less than fifty games, Like it was a tiny sample size, even tinier in Atlanta than it was previously. And by the way, he's not as old as a lot of for agents tend to be, Like, he's going to be playing at age thirty all year long, and thirty is not thirty five. I mean, it's at a middle of a position. It's nice to have a guy who's not going to be thirty five years old. There's a reason to believe he's still maybe in his late prime. Perhaps he we thirty one in October. Last four seasons combined, which I'd like to kind of give a bigger picture of what a baseline is. On the offensive side of things, he has a one to three WRC plus. If you don't love that, what it means is, basically he is a three percent better than league average hitter. He's roughly been a league average hitter for four seasons. That may not sound appetizing to you, but if you have that player as a positive glove shortstop, that is a very, very valuable player. That's what I would say in short term. Last year with the Braves, in about a month he had ninety eight played appearances. It was a ninety one WRC plus, which isn't good, but it's totally fine if you play defense. And the projections are out already for this this coming season, Zips is one. Steamer is one. They all have him around a league average bats and that's not gospel, But those are smart like people are doing those things. I tend to trust those a little bit. So all that to say, am I wrong for thinking in my brain? I am penciling in league average bat for Hassan Kim And maybe there's a little bit upside beyond that. Maybe there's downside too, That's that has to be said. Like we don't like to give just rainbows on this podcast. There is always downside. But lee average bats sounds right to me.

00:11:14
Speaker 2: Well, and you would take that all day long because we saw even though that Kim was he said, a ninety one WRC plus with the Braves, that was galaxies better than what we saw Nick Allen do and what we were seeing Orlando Orcia do. And yeah, it's like, wow, this this Hassan Kim guy can really hit. And in reality he wasn't that great, but when you compare him to the other options, he was a marked improvement. And what I like about Hassan Kim is sure he's not gonna go out there and hit thirty home runs for the Braves next year. He's probably not gonna hit three point fifteen. He's not gonna steal thirty bases, although he does have a bit of speed in his arsenal. But Kim has always been somebody who gets on base and draws walks, and it was not a Kotan in the back half of the season, especially in September when the Braves had Kim. When Kim was batting towards the bottom of the order and getting on base, and then the lineup would turn over to Akunya and Olsen, who were like the only two constants I guess Drake Baldwin the only two of the only three constants in the Braves lineup all year long. It was not some grand coincidence that all of a sudden the Braves started scoring more runs when the bottom of the order was feeding into the top and having runners on base for Acunya and Olsen and Baldwin. So again, don't pencil has on kim In to be a silver slugger. He is not that good of a hitter, at least he's never been that good through his first four or five years in the majors. But he is a totally fine middle infielding hitter. And if that glove can get back to the Gold Glove level or even close to it, you're talking about a really valuable player here.

00:12:48
Speaker 1: Yeah. I mean, there's there's some pop. It's not zero pop. He's hit doublegit home runs three times in his career, so it's not Nick Allen he had, and like you said, he takes walks. He's a professional hitter, not an elite one, not even like a very very good one. But at shortstop, just like in center field, it's kind of the same thing as center field, those those premium defensive positions catchers the same way. In some ways, the bar is lower and if you can reach that bar, and I think he has consistently reached that bar offensively, that is a pretty good spot to be in. And honestly, we'll save this for later on in the off season. The Brave's not having any just clear and utter hole in the lineup would be a welcome thing. You mentioned it with Nick Allen. Obviously there was times when Michael Harris has spent that in the last year or so. But on paper, there isn't anybody in the lineup that you're terrified of in a bad way right now, which is a nice departure for those of puspect to watch every play appearance for the season. It's it's nice or worth my heart.

00:13:47
Speaker 2: Well, and for the first time in a long time, Brad, this team has some legitimate depth. It has a real bench with the additions of Mike Strem, the addition of Hassan Kim, the addition of Mauricio Dubon, the fact they still have Eli White who can bounce around and maybe even play infield in an emergency situation. Like, there is so much more flexibility and versatility with this bench now.

00:14:15
Speaker 1: Where the braves.

00:14:16
Speaker 2: While we never want to see an injury because there's always going to be a drop off in performance, the braves are.

00:14:20
Speaker 1: Not completely screwed.

00:14:22
Speaker 2: Like if Ozzie Alby's pulls a hamstring and needs to miss a couple of weeks, well, guess what you have Mauricio Dubon and Hassan Kim ready to play. And frankly, I don't know who would be shortstop, who would be second base in that scenario would be an interesting point of conversation. If one of your outfielders goes down for a couple of weeks, you have Mikeyu Stremsky available, you have Eli White available, You could have Mauricio Dubon go to the outfield, Like there's there are so many ways to now fill holes in this lineup if and when somebody is hurt or needs a couple of days off as a breather, that's a really welcome side. And sure, Mikey Streemsky not an All star, Hassan Kim not really an all star. They did not go out and add a crap. This guy as a star level player so far this offseason, but they've added some really good depth to this twenty six man roster and that's something they desperately needed to do.

00:15:11
Speaker 1: Absolutely, and we have not seen what Weiss manage yet, but I think that there's almost no way that he will play everybody every single day to the level that Brycenicker did, because no one really does that. That's not a shut snitch, just that's just he was kind of an outlier in that way, other than Matt Olsen, who just plays every single day. Knock on wood. Giving guys a day off over once in a while is a lot easier when you trust the next guy doubt and having four real outfielders and having five real infielders, but before you get to catcher and having two high level catchers on your team, that's really nice. So yeah, I mean when Eli Whitch you're like third or fourth bench player, you feel a lot better than he's your best bench player, which he was at times last season. So yeah, good depth. Good addition, we should talk about the the defense a little bit because that was point Kim's calling card and it still might be We don't know that it's not, but it was not as good last season for sure. The context that you brought up earlier is important. It was his shoulder and his throwing shoulder. It stands to reason that could have impacted his defense. That does matter quite a bit. But his defensive metrics were sharply down from where they were previously last season. Arm strength, overall range factors, all those things. He did win a gold Glove recently, like two and a half years ago he won the gold Glove. So I number one, we don't know. So I'm gonna put you in a spot where I'm gonna ask you to tell me, as a suit saider, what's gonna happen here? But are you feeling okay about his defense? Like with what you can see all the data that we have, Like, what are you expecting? Because I feel like that's kind of a wider range than the battlemost that that's kind of like what it's going to be. I think the defense might be a bigger range from like was awesome two years ago to now it's like, is he not good? He's not going to be. He's not going to be Nick Allen. Last year Nick Allen was incredible defensively last year normal TV Bobachhett, I'm pretty sure. But somewhere between there, what do you think about his defense?

00:17:05
Speaker 2: So I would guess that Kim is probably not going to be the legitimate Gold Glove defender that he was from twenty twenty one through twenty twenty four. He's also getting older. Generally, defense does not age super well at age thirty. That being said, I really have to think that not having any kind of off season a year ago had to impact Kim's defense, and not just his defense, but if you look at Kim's sprint speed over his entire career, pretty consistently, in his age twenty six, twenty seven, twenty eight, twenty nine season, he was like seventy fifth percentile just about every year in sprint speed. This past year he was down to fifty third percentile, So a big drop, about a thirty percent drop in sprint speed. That tells me that Kim just did not have the same normal off season regimen to go and strength train and do everything that he does to get ready for a year. So my hope is that he is a better defender than what he showed statistically a year ago. And hey, if he's a legitimate gold Glover, then awesome will take that all day long, quite obviously. But Mike, I think that if I had a guess today, Brad, we're doing a podcast in July about Kim's defense, I'd say he's good out there, maybe not great, maybe not terrible, but like.

00:18:21
Speaker 1: Passable for sure. I don't think that I try not to appeal to authority that much on this podcast. We don't like to do that. Also, I think that if Alex and company believe his defense was what it was last year, I'm not sure they would have give Hi twenty million dollars. That might be a leap of logic on my part. I like to be probably overly logical, but I don't think that they would give him this contract if they thought that that was going to be his baseline. Defensively, they might be wrong, which is very possible, but I think that I think the club probably expects a bounce back of some kind defensively, maybe not to where he was two years ago, three years ago, but you're right the sprint speed stuff, and again, thirty isn't super young, but thirty is not a spot where you fall off a cliff athletically. Generally speaking, if he was thirty five, I would get it, and he's not, so that all matters to me. I think it's just generally I feel like it's kind of a boring analysis, but he's just a He's a very solid starting on a short stop. I could come back to that and it may not be sexy, but that's just what I feel like. It's what he is on the whole.

00:19:25
Speaker 2: So let me ask you this question, Brad, because they saw some people talking about this tonight right after the signing, This Braves lineup is pretty much set now seems like it seems like it. The only way is if they would trade one of the established, you know, under control players on this team, Like like, sure, could they trade Michael Harris technically, but I don't think they're going to. But for all intents and purposes, it seems like this lineup is pretty set. Maybe they had a right handed bench bat who could balance out Mike Yastremsky at DH or something, but who knows. But for the most part, this in this lineup is set. Is this lineup good enough with Hassan Kim in the mix as shortstop?

00:20:10
Speaker 1: Yes, I think is the answer. To that question. I mean, I'm not what you said earlier is right, They're not. They didn't add a star back. I do think that the combination of what they added. I think even if Hassan Kim is what he was last year, going from Nick Allen to Hassan Kim is a meaningful upgrade offensively like a meaningful one I think really helps them. I was on the show when you guys did that reaction. I am pretty high on Ustremski based on what I've seen, especially the role he can be in, not a star, but a righty masher like and that makes a ton of sets for what they needed, like for instance, Sean Murphy hits left, he's really well and on days when Sean Murphy needs to play, yeahs won't play. You know what I mean? Anyway, that's a different problem.

00:20:55
Speaker 2: Is as long as as long as your Stremski is used in the right way, I think he's going to be a really successful hit.

00:21:00
Speaker 1: But this is not gospel either. But I was looking at the Fangrafts depth charts projections and they're they're not in real time. They don't. I don't believe they think actually this even includes Kim, right now, but before today the Braves were fifth in position player projected war and you add Kim that it certainly wouldn't drop them, like you think that it's fourth or fifth still and it's the It's seems you expect it would be. It's the Yankees, the Mets, the Dodgers, and the Orioles ahead of them. And the Orioles have a lot of position. They're pitching is a big question. But the other no, the other teams are obvioust really good. So say all that, like, I feel good about the lineup. I understand cupticism. I do because we just saw the lineup underachieved two years in a row, even two years ago. It did not what it was, not what it's supposed to be, So I get it. My brain points me to the player. If you go player by a player by player, there's a lot to like about the lineup. Rond Acute is a star, Matt Olsen is a star. You hope it. Roster Rowley bounces back. We'll talk about this a lot more later on. They got to I know people that people hate Sean Murphy. The Braves have an uber elite catch catching duo like no matter what, even if Sean Murphy's is the backup catcher, like he's the best one in baseball. If he's an MP catcher, he's the best one in baseball. So yeah, it's not perfect. They didn't they didn't add Corey Seeger. But I do feel good. I don't feel incredible, but I feel good about the position player cores in part because of the depth and because they added guys that just a lot. They make a lot of sense of Marisa Debon isn't a great hitter, Maurisio Debon is fantastic as a utility guy. Like that's he's awesome there. And Michael Michael Schremsky and Marisio Lebon as bench players, which is what they are. And Sean Murphy if you want to thrown in in that category as well, that's really good man. How many teams have three guys as good as those three guys as there as you're you know, nine, ten and eleven. That's pretty good. Yeah.

00:22:56
Speaker 2: It feels like the floor for the Braves has been increased significantly over the last month. The ceiling maybe isn't that much higher, I think right like they if they went out and signed Kyle Tucker and Boba Schet this offseason for eight hundred million dollars then then sure, of course, but I don't think realistically the Braves are ever even going to discuss that possibility. The floor is absolutely higher and as I think, no matter what they did this offseason, this team is ultimately going to go as far as the internal stars are going to take them and also be healthy enough to take them. It just feels like now Akunya and Olson and Riley and Baldwin and profar Harris, all these they just have so much more around them now and that gives me real reasons for optimism compared to where we were at the end of September, where I mean to be blunt, this this roster was just not good enough.

00:23:53
Speaker 1: So looking ahead a little bit, the questions the question you just point poses a good one number one, like, is a lat upset? It seems like it probably is not definitely, But if you just are logical, but whether Brad the brains operate Alex's stated stance to not prefer to trade guys in our contract long term contractors, I should say, like, there isn't that much they can do with the lineup. We have talked about it endlessly. I still believe they did in a starting pitcher. We'll see if they add one. That's the spot they had my attitude so far. That's for another podcast. You know, they still have the long term shortstop question. This is a one year deal, which does appeal to Alex, does honestly appeals to me. I would prefer this structure to a three year deal for Hassan Kim given the uncertainty, unless it was three years in super cheap, which I part wasn't gonna ever be. But it does lead you vulnerable next winter. If Kim has a great year, you have to pay a lot or he leaves, which is okay. You have to understand the pros and cons of that. And the last thing is something you and Sean talked about last night. By the way, listen to that show still. It was a Millbay podcast that Sewn and Scott did on some of the evening. But the payroll is higher now you had twenty million dollars to it. I'll throw it to you for the specifics, but it does feel like the Braves could spend some more money. Whether they will or not, it's going to be maybe the topic du jour over the next however long. But what are you thinking about that now? Because one thing that Alex has kind of done is push money to the future on some of some of these multi year deals have been cheaper in year one and push money later. This is a twenty million dollars for this season commitment, so none of that's happening on this deal. So they have spent a chunk of whatever flexibility they had for the near term.

00:25:38
Speaker 2: So payroll is now CBT payroll is now about two hundred and fifty two million dollars. So the Braves, you're in the luxury tax. Now, Brad, we can hang the banner at Truest Park.

00:25:50
Speaker 1: I mean, it won't stop anybody from saying they don't spend money, because that's just what the Internet always says. And look, I've castigated the Braves before, if for not spending mon so I'm not saying that nobody should say that, but they are. They are spending money. They're in the luxury tax. This is not the pirates, it's monstiffs.

00:26:08
Speaker 2: So currently the CBT payroll is now about two hundred and fifty two million dollars.

00:26:14
Speaker 1: So that's interesting.

00:26:15
Speaker 2: That number is really interesting to me because the next tier of the luxury tax is two hundred and sixty four million dollars, So you can say a pessimistic view is the Braves are done for the most part with their spending. They're gonna save ten million dollars give or take for the trade deadline, and they're gonna stay under the second tier of the luxury tax payroll, which is two hundred.

00:26:41
Speaker 1: And sixty four million.

00:26:44
Speaker 2: You can also be optimistic and say the Braves are about two hundred and fifty two million in CBT payroll if they don't want to go and exceed the two hundred and eighty four.

00:26:56
Speaker 1: Million dollar threshold.

00:26:57
Speaker 2: That means the Braves still have about thirty million dollars to spend, which also means that then they could presumably have twenty million dollars left to spend this offseason and save ten million dollars for the trade deadline. That is the story I'm gonna hope for and go with here, because that means the Braves could add a starting pitcher and maybe a bullpen arm depending on who they ultimately sign. But we should there is a world where the Braves are now mostly done for the offseason. I think it would be a little bit of a disappointment, even though it sounds like being greedy. I think it'd be a little bit of a disappointment to not add one more.

00:27:34
Speaker 1: But there is money.

00:27:35
Speaker 2: There is a world where they still have legit money to spend here.

00:27:39
Speaker 1: Yeah, we don't know. Number one. We won't know because Alex is not gonna tell us, which I understand honestly. And one thing that he has said. I know you guys talked about this on a recent podcast as well, but just for new listeners or people that missed it, Alex has always said he gets a big picture number from ownership that includes whatever tax payments or whatever, like, it's a big round number and he won't tell us what it is. But he's factoring in the penalties for the CBT, So whether you go over a threshold or not, he's going to understand what the machinations are. You just laid it out. But he always has One thing he's actually been upfront about, a rare thing that he's actually went upfront about, is that he does want flexibility at the deadline. Alex is usually going to try to buy. Obviously, last last summer was weird because they were so bad and it was unexpected and they did very little. But every time they've been in a race, they have gone and done something in July to try to make the team better. And he wants that flexibility. So I'm with you. The hope would be, if you're a Braves fan, that they're willing to spend some more money. I still believe that they need another starting pitcher. I know that Alex has kind of gestured otherwise recently, which I have said and will say it again now. I think he's every reason to do that, whether he believes it or not, which is hard because you're trying to interpret what he means. But like he even if even even if Alex definitely wanted a starting pitcher, he wouldn't say, guys, we have to get a starting pitcher. He's not gonna do that. So whether it's a bigger name guy. I know, Mary Kelly was a guy that I liked that's no longer available. I keep circling Brad Kellder in my mind because Brad Keller could be a reliever or a starter, and they tend to like that kind of appeal. I know Alex has been mentioning we're on a Lopez is like a written in pen starter, which is interesting to me. But all that said for a later podcast, they got more flexibility if they want to buy the money, and I yeah, spend it all. I mean, spend as much money as you're allowed to spend. We'll see how that. We'll see how that goes. But it does seem like if they're gonna do anything else major by far, the most likely is that they add a starter, Like they could add a reliever, but it's not gonna be an expensive one. I don't think they've already spent a lot on the two relievers that they added, and even even Alex might probably has a limit of some kind. I almost going to spend in the bullpen. But starting pitcher is the one thing that as a podcast we've been calling for and I'm still calling for. I just it might feel greedy, but they need one still in my opinion.

00:30:04
Speaker 2: Yeah, and there is the trade route as well. Yeah, so it maybe the Braves are able to add a starting pitcher, but then they go out and trade for a you know, a power righty arm, and they trade one of their you know, a dozen semi promising right handed pitching prospects in the farm system to get it done. Or they could trade for a pitcher, maybe someone who's a little bit cheaper and has some team control, just to give yourself some more financial flexibility, which is of course Alex's favorite term. Yeah, I mean, let's let's hope. I mean, let's say this. If the Braves are done. I don't think they're going to be done, but if the Braves are done, I feel really good about this offseason. As for what it is, They've added some depth, They've raised the floor. Maybe not again, maybe not an impact Kyle Schwarber Delancee's type, but no denying the Atlanta Braves are in much better shape today than they were on October first. But that being said, one starting pitcher would just it just makes everything look better. It would make me sleep better at night. It just it feels like Alex has one more in him.

00:31:10
Speaker 1: Doesn't. Maybe I'm off, but it.

00:31:12
Speaker 2: Feels like Alex has one more move based on the kind of trajectory of these signings that he's done piece.

00:31:19
Speaker 1: By piece over the last few weeks. I have several reactions to that. Number One, Scott losing sleep about starting pitching in December is very on brand. Number One, This is.

00:31:31
Speaker 2: Why I have a podcast, Brad, because my wife would leave me if I told her all the crazy ass baseball things that go through my mind in December.

00:31:39
Speaker 1: That tracks Number two. I agree that they have something else in them, and number three, I also agree that they've done a lot to make this team better in the last six days. Even before that, they did DuPont help them, but that was not a huge impact thing. Iglesias is getting forgotten. That was an investment. It was a one year deal, but like that's a big money deal that they spend. That's been like memory hold now because it was like a few weeks ago instead of last six days. But they've now added if if you want to sort of ignore Maricio Debond, he's a utility guy, get it. They've added four guys making eight figures in the last three weeks. Like that, you can't say they didn't do anything. They're doing things.

00:32:24
Speaker 2: Sixty six million dollars. They just added it up in cash for this upcoming year. Sixty six million dollars between everybody they've added so far.

00:32:34
Speaker 1: And they lost very little. I mean, that's the reality is they didn't They're not losing a lot from last year's team. Injury I mean, obviously there's some injury questions, et cetera. But like they didn't have somebody, big name guy walk out the door the way they've had in the past, Like yeah, when Dadsby leaves and doesn't get replaced, I understand the reaction, it's your cheapness all But this year that they didn't lose anybody and they're spending they again. They just added four real guys plus do ball On, so four and a half real guys. So yeah, I feel I feel good about the off season. I will not relent on my desire for starting pitching. It's a drum my bang last winter and they and it was not fulfilled then, and I think it was a mistake and it played out that way. Obviously, I'm not saying that they're gonna everyone's gonna get hurt again, but I understand lining up your your depth chart and getting excited about what they have. I'm not I'm not even dismissing that they have a lot of interesting pitching on the team. The fault is assuming that every single one of those guys is going to be healthy and effective, because I just don't assume that, and I've just seen it for far too long across not just the Braves, across baseball, Like you just need more, more, more, more pitching, and I believe that's the case. But I agree with you, like this has been a good off season already, it would become a very good one if they were to add a starting pitcher that I.

00:33:53
Speaker 2: Like, and you would sure think they could do it if the Braves have roughly twenty million dollars to spend.

00:34:00
Speaker 1: Which and if they don't, I'm just one more time because you said it already. If they don't, they could still trade for someone. And some of the guys that they are potentially could trade for are cheap now and they won't be in the future, but they could be relatively cheap money wise now. So if there's if ought doesn't have a kind of barrier they don't want to cross, there's still pathways to add pitching, and I think he would want to the cagout that he keeps giving, and you guys have said this too on the show. He keeps giving the like guy that could start a playoff game caveat and that's a little bit of wiggle room. I don't know what that player. What does Alex believe that player is you know what I mean? Does does Brad Keller meet that threshold? I don't know. In Alex's mind, I think Meryl Kelly would have. Does chrispassit? I have no idea, like just to say the names, so we'll see. But I still think even if it is Brad Keller, it's more of a hybrid. Guy, sign me up for that if you want to add. Because that way, if you have Brad Keller, which is one more quick example of this, you could at least tell me, hey, if Lopez can't start, Keller can, or if Holmes can't start Keller can or whatever else, there's more flexibility and helps your bulpin too. So we'll say that for later. Because, by the way, now that we're deep into the show, we're about to sign off. I have one gripe with Auxen Popolos as a contentsman. Scott, uh huh, we're in We're in deep trouble here. The race has done all their business in a week. It's December fifteenth. What are we gonna talk about for three months? What's going on?

00:35:28
Speaker 2: Brad's favorite recipes and favorite Christmas movies and god knows what else. Maybe it's just gonna be Stephen and Sean yelling at each other about Bama and Tennessee and.

00:35:38
Speaker 1: College that happens anyway. Oh yeah, I'm actually deeply upset that I haven't gotten to listen to Scott and Steven talk about college basketball after what happened in Birmingham the other night. So there down. Look, now that we're done with this show, basically my college basketball team and your college basketball team are number one and two in the and I don't want to have to have that showdown later on, but it might happen, That's all I'm saying.

00:36:06
Speaker 2: I'm fine, we can have that showdown on like April third. We'll talk about the Braves and then we'll do a NCAA National Championship preview.

00:36:13
Speaker 1: Has that sound I would be good on that anyway, that's a show. I think we'll have more to come. One more plug. If you are just finding us now, welcome board. We appreciate it. I said, very busy on the show. The last week, emergency shows on your streem, Ski on Suarez and build Bag show on Sunday from Sean and Scott. Please subscribe to YOURMMA territory anywhere you get your podcasts Apple Spotify. Also on YouTube. If you're an audio listener, take two seconds and subscribe on YouTube. If you're a YouTube watcher, do the same thing and auto download on audio as well. We very much appreciate that follow us as well across social media at Hammer Territory. You can find Scott at Scott Colemin fifty five. I believe, is that correct?

00:36:57
Speaker 2: That is the one And before we sign off, Bright just want to say this has been really fun the last month. It's and damn it, we deserve this after last off season where I genuinely ran out of ways to say on Sunday nights when we usually record Brad, I don't know what the Braves are doing, and it was so frustrating and it was just the never ending weight game. This has been as good of an off season for the Braves in terms of just quantity of moves as we've had in a long long time. And it's fun and it's great to see the Braves are spending again. God knows, we did not want to have to do the episode screaming at Braves Holding LLC and Terry McGirk and all the other financial decision makers about being cheap and not investing in the club and not rewarding fans for just the millions of dollars that fans pour into Truest Park for eighty one home games every single year. This is what it should be like. Maybe they wanted to get away from the luxury tax a year ago, maybe they wanted to just get their books or but this is really fun and it feels like the Braves are going to have a top five or so payroll when it's all said and done.

00:38:06
Speaker 1: That's where the.

00:38:07
Speaker 2: Atlanta Brave should be. And now they just need to go out there and win some baseball games. They can get back to the top of the NL East. Let's win in the playoffs. Let's make a deep run. This is why you make additions in December to give yourself a chance to do it in September and October. Very well said, and that line of that this is where the Atlanta Brave should be is one hundred percent the way I feel like we know what we have, the rare opportunity that the Braves have open relatively open financials because they have to and we know what they can spend, and it's a lot if they want to spend it, and they should spend it, and also the entire appeal or a lot of the appeal of having this cost controlled core and having all these guys signed forever or whatelse is because you can spend on the margins and make the team better. And they're doing that this winter, which I appreciative of.

00:38:53
Speaker 1: It is fun. We'll cover it even if they are done. We'll find stuff to talk about, So please stick around. Please subscribe to the show will more time. I'm thanks for being here, Scott, thank you for letting me talk because I haven't talked about the Braves in like two weeks. I missed all the fun last week, but hey, they have one more for us on a Monday evening in mid December. Hi, everybody, that's all we have today. Please subscribe, tell your friends, and we'll see you all next time.