A look at Orlando Arcia and the Braves' shortstop position

00:00:21
Speaker 1: Hello everyone.

00:00:21
Speaker 2: What's episode one of the Hemmor Territory podcast. I'm your host, Brad Roland, coming see you on a Sunday evening. It is now the month of December and I'm joined by Scott Coleman, host Thanksgiving.

00:00:32
Speaker 1: Scott.

00:00:32
Speaker 3: How are you hey, Brad? I am great. I hope you and everybody out there had a very happy Thanksgiving and uh yeah, you know, we're making some progress now in the off season. We are a week away from the winter meetings, which will hopefully break the damn for moves across the league. But again, so far it's kind of been the theme for not just the Braves but basically like ninety five percent of the league. It has been very quiet. But here we are rain or shine. We'll do a podcast and hopefully there's something on the horizon sooner rather than later that.

00:01:05
Speaker 2: Would be helpful, to be sure. And if you are new to the podcast, first of all, welcome aboard. We are part of the Fouad Territory network of podcasts. We are Hammer Territory covering the Braves all year long and comprehensive fashion. Please subscribe, rate and review the podcast. We're on Apple and Spotify of course, and all the audio platforms. Plus we are on YouTube. If you want to see Scott and myself in video form, welcome aboard on that as well. Please like the episode as you're watching it there. But yeah, we're getting closer to where it should be picking up a little bit. Other than the Dodgers and the Angels, it's been pretty quiet for the last couple of weeks. The Braves didn't make one roster move, and I say that very lovingly, but it's a very minor roster move.

00:01:41
Speaker 1: Ope the weekend.

00:01:42
Speaker 3: If you're listening to this, take a seat because it's a big one. I don't want anyone to be shocked by what we're about to say.

00:01:48
Speaker 2: It is not a big one at all. Scott's lying to you, but no, it's the Braves, signed right handered Connord Gillespie. I believe Gillisspie. How are you say it to a one year non guaranteed deal. It was originally reported by with Bob Nightingale as a guaranteed contract. It's probably a split deal, but it's certainly non guaranteed, so that means it's not exactly a high impact move. He is twenty eight years old, he's been on the fridge of the majors in the past. Not a total nunetity like he could be on the team this year at some point, So we shouldn't just poopua completely. But it's a split contract. It's something we would not talk about a lot if this is what's not that we can talk about.

00:02:24
Speaker 3: I'm ashamed that we didn't do a thirty minute emergency podcast over Thanksgiving weekend about Connor Gillespie. But in all seriousness, he will be at spring training. I'll have a chance to win a spot. The bullpen will for sure need a kind of long man, and I guess Gillespie, who both started and relieved for Cleveland's Triple A team last year, you know he might be a live arm. He got a decent number of strikeouts in the minor leagues. But at the end of the day, he's twenty eight years old and he has eight major league innings under his belt. Eight very much just a depth signing, and probably you can go to Gwenett Stripper's games a lot you'll probably see Connor pitch quite a bit.

00:03:04
Speaker 1: That was my guess as well.

00:03:07
Speaker 2: Other than that our episode today just for some background over the off season, right now we're in a dead time, which it has been so far. I shouldn't always be a dead time right now, but it is. We'll be sprinkling some player kind of like position capsule reviews up and down, the up and down the roster during the winter, during the winter, and the first one of those is going to actually gonna happen today and kind of sneak it in under the wire here a little bit, because we talked a lot about shortstop changes and upgrades and Willie Damas and Hassan Kim and trade stuff, et cetera. But we have not done a dedicated episode or depdicated even segment about Orlando Urcia himself. So we'll get to that in a second. But shortstop will be the position that we kind of review first. It is prominent right now, and we're doing it first because they could upgrade it like as soon as like tomorrow. It wouldn't like I would not be shocked if they made it a move in the next couple of days a shortstop. But I'll start here, Scott. Let's just say this, the Braves had six hundred and twenty three played appearances from shortstops last year, more than six hundred of them were or Land Arcia. So essentially there are some positions where you'll split the time, we'll talk about different guys et cetera, et cetera. This is essentially just Orlando Arcia. There was a sprinkling of Zach Short, Luis g Jorme, Luke Williams, but it's essentially in Orlando Rcia breakdown. And the Braves were in the bottom five in baseball last year. In Fangrafts wore a shortstop. Not breaking news to anybody that this's podcast, probably, but he was not very good last season. I should want to say that out loud people. It's not just him. It was mostly him though, And positionally, just to put it in context, the Braves were quite bad at shortstop. And that's what's as honestly, while we talk about it so much.

00:04:43
Speaker 3: Yeah, right, you don't talk about Matt Olson a ton because Matt Olsen is generally a good to elite baseball player or yep, Austin Riley or Michael Harris or some of the more proven star level entities on this roster. Yeah, clearly, shortstop is one of probably four position groups on the roster. The Braves can and potentially will upgrade this winter. It's not breaking any news to say that Orlando Arcia was unbelievably bad last season. I mean, I knew he was bad from watching him every single night. I think everybody listening does too. But I mean, statistically speaking, even I was kind of blown away. It's just how bad Orlando ranked amongst his peers. I mean, legitimately, he was probably the worst offensive player in Major League Baseball last season, at least in a full time capacity. And that's significant when there's I don't know two hundred players who could qualify for that for that unprestigious award. So we wanted to get it in on the chance that the Braves trade for a shortstop tomorrow, we at least wanted to recap arcas season and kind of look at some options for next year.

00:05:52
Speaker 2: Yeah, like I said, we're going to be doing a lot of these in the next few months. We'll spread them out a little bit when things are not happening, but you'll hear more capsules opposition, so it won't just be shortstop. But the reason why we're leading with this before you actually dig into Orlando is that the Braves were ahead of the A's Marlins Guardians who were good to be fair and the Tigers at shortstop this year, and that includes his well documented solid to good defense. So there's always people in our comments or mentions that want to say, well, all all he has to do is catch the ball. We generally subscribe to that to a point. To a point, if he hits the way he did two years ago and he's a slightly blowl average hitter, that's totally fine. The Braves could live with that, and that's what they were hoping for. That we all can understand that. Going into last season, the thought was, all right, we have our Caa. He's really cheap, catch the ball and hit a little bit. The problem was he didn't hit a little bit. He hit zero essentially, and that leaves you in a place where, even when you include the defense, it's bottom five and you can withstand that. It's like it's like, you know, no team has a superstart every position. The Braves have tried to do that, honestly, with the way they built. For the most part, they have six or seven, like potential stars are already established stars in their lineup. Most teams don't have nine. In fact, nobody not even Dodgers have nine stars to roll out there every day. But there is a baseline that he did not reach, and we'll talk about him more in a second. I do want to let you cook, though, Scott, because you were doing some research this week. In a second, I want you to get to a big, kind of interesting and fun and potentially scary shortstop idea first of the work of more partners on today's podcast. Okay, Scott, I teased it, but the potentially scary short stop idea that you didn't make it up, but you found it, so I will give it to you.

00:07:40
Speaker 1: Tee it up for us. What's going on here?

00:07:42
Speaker 3: Yeah, so you know there was an interesting proposition, not even a proposition, but an idea. So for context, there was a private chat on MLB Trade Rumors where I believe you have to be a paying subscriber to their to their web site in order to view the chat or participate in the chat. But someone I don't know who, but somebody asked the MLB Trade Rumors writer to say an unexpected or kind of out of nowhere move that was going to happen this offseason, and this writer said that it was going to be the Atlanta Braves trading for Trevor Story of the Boston Red.

00:08:25
Speaker 1: Sox Bump Bump bomb.

00:08:28
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know the Braves, man, they they towed a very thin line this time a year ago when they traded for a former teammate of Trevor Story with Chris Sale. Trading for Trevor Story now is almost like more scary and more risky than trading for Chris Sale a year ago, And that says something. But I also like, don't think it's impossible, and there might be something to it, So we at least wanted to hit on this not even a rumor, but idea that somebody who is connected into the game kind of throughout there is a possibility of a trade that nobody really sees coming.

00:09:08
Speaker 2: Yeah, to be clear, and Scott did say this, but this is not a rumor. No one's reported this, No one has reported this. This is just totally speculative. It does kind of make sense with the way that Alex tends to do things. He kind of gets creative sometimes and he's been good with these moves. No one's talking about Chris Sale year ago, as Scott's referencing, But Story just turned thirty two years old. He has had some injury issues, especially the last couple of years. Before that, he was a top tier shortstop, not like an absolutely like elite elite guy, but certainly like a star level player for several seasons dating back to Colorado.

00:09:45
Speaker 1: And that's why I get up in Boston on a big deal. All those things. He makes a lot of money.

00:09:50
Speaker 2: That's the biggest reason why this would be so risky is that he makes a lot of money. But he got hurt last year fracturing a shoulder. He had able issue the year before that. He's making between two twenty two and twenty five million for the next three seasons, So that's not that's not nothing. That's why when Scott says it's more risky, that's the reason sales money was shorter. The rests also paid a lot of it, which I think we probably what's just stop right here, Scott. If this were to happen big, if I can't imagine the Briefs taking all the money, it would almost have to be Boston paying some money, right, Yeah, am I crazy?

00:10:25
Speaker 3: No, You're not crazy. Significant money would have to come from Boston to Atlanta to help cover his deal the next three years. But there has been some reporting in Boston that they are looking to kind of shake up the team quite a bit, get some more balance, move some pieces around. So again, man, I don't think Brad or I are saying this is going to happen next week or anything like that. But it was at least interesting enough that we wanted to chat about it for a couple of minutes.

00:10:51
Speaker 2: Yeah, and you know, Story, even some of his numbers are cores inflated because he was playing in Colorado, But even with the positional adjustments and the park adjustments that fangrat, et cetera, he was a six win player at one point in his career, a couple of four win seasons. Like, he's always been good, not quite to the Sale level, where like you and I said one hundred times, Sale has always been good when he's been healthy. Story's not always been good, but he's mostly been good when healthy. Just that he hasn't been healthy for a long time. So we could probably stup on this now. It just interesting idea that you stumbled across and someone that I'd never would have thought about, honestly, And Alex tends to do this kind of stuff where he gets creative and it would take Boston wanting to part ways with Story in a way that where they said, hey, we'll pay a bunch of this money down if you take him, and you probably send him something back to probably a prospect going every way a lah von Grissom for Crissale, where yes it was von Grissove for Gersale, but Chris Sale also came with a bunch of money. So yeah, it's an idea. It's a player. But like you know, I know Stephen and Sean and you I believe talked about trade targets for shortstops to different points in time. I don't think he was referenced on that podcast, at least that I remember. Because of how much money, it's kind of a tough sale. But there's a little bit of a through life. You can kind of squint on this one.

00:12:04
Speaker 3: Yeah, you would be buying low on a very talented former All Star level player. But again, man, I mean Story, not only does he make a lot of money the next three years, but he has mentioned had a shoulder injury, had an elbow injury, has had a history of some nagging ligament and tendon injuries as well. Basically has not played more than one hundred and forty games since twenty twenty one, so it's been a long time since Trevor Story was back at the level that he once was. He's also thirty two years old, which is not ancient by any means, but of course you're going to have him for age thirty two, thirty three, and thirty four. So yeah, I mean, without knowing what a Willia Damas is going to command on the free agent market, you know, if it's a number that we're all comfortable with, then at by all means, I would would love to add Willia Damas to this team, similar with Hasan Kim, big fan of his, if the contract is right. But the contract might not be right. I mean, Willia Domas might get an eight year, two hundred million dollar deal, and if Hasan Kim blows everyone away and gets up three or four year packed at a high dollar, then it's like, okay, if if Boston's willing to include quite a bit of money, and maybe the Braves can afford to take on some risk and some bounce back potential, it's not impossible. So we at least wanted to throw that out there, and before we really dug into our cea.

00:13:26
Speaker 2: All right, Scott, you're ready talking about Orlando Arcia with some death.

00:13:29
Speaker 1: No, we'll do.

00:13:31
Speaker 2: That's that's why I asked, Let's start positive, shall we? And that's his his his defense, right, so let's begin there quickly. At least there's actually a discussion point here, because by all accounts, Orlando is a solid to good defender. Would you agree with that broad premise?

00:13:52
Speaker 3: For me?

00:13:52
Speaker 1: Yes, god, solid.

00:13:54
Speaker 3: Goodid solid to good.

00:13:57
Speaker 1: But he's not.

00:13:57
Speaker 2: Elite or spectacular. He is Notton Simmons. He is not what Dansby was in Atlanta at times. He's a good defender, he's not a game changing defender. Just for reference on this, this is last season mostly, but he wrecked eleventh last year. And fangrafts overall defensive value metric at shortstop so above average, good defender, not top ten, good defensive run save didn't love him, but he was quite good. And the stackcast metrics, especially the range metric, they're out to by average. It's kind of funny, though, Scott. He's extremely slow, Like it's not you know, it's not always foot speed versus quickness. For instance, Anderton Simmons was not a super fast runner at any point, but like to be really good at shortstop.

00:14:41
Speaker 1: It be that slow.

00:14:42
Speaker 2: He's thirteenth percentile in sprint speed. That's like really slow. It's like first basement slow. So credit to him. He's still a really good, solid defender. But I wonder what you think about this framing, because you know, I don't know, I don't even know who we're arguing with, but it might be different Orroun Orlando, And we're saving the bat for a second because it's gonna be it's gonna be pretty grim. We talk about numbers. Would it be different for you if he actually was a great defender, like great, and I mean great, would you feel differently even after last season which was so bad at the play And we'll get to that in a second. Okay, okay, For instance, what choose our old friend Niki Lopez. He was a brief member of the Braves. Nicko Lopez is a fantastic defender by all accounts. Numbers wise, he's up there on the level of top three to four in the league. He doesn't hit, and that was the whole thing on Nicko Lopez. But if you play him every day with his glove, he's gonna get you two or three war just with the glove, whereas Orlando we saw this year. It's one year. He doesn't guarantee you that. So would you feel differently about twenty twenty five and beyond if Orlando actually was a great defender in the way that some people think that he is. Honestly, mostly Brays fans that are just being hopeful, I think, But but what do you think about.

00:15:57
Speaker 1: That difference, if that makes sense?

00:15:59
Speaker 3: Yeah, to answer your question, yes, I mean if he was maybe not Andrelton Simmons because I mean was a Smith, Yeah, or me, He's for my life of watching baseball live. And you know, of course there's players from decades ago that I didn't have a chance to see live, But I mean, Andrelton Simmons is the best defensive baseball player I have ever seen, at least in Atlanta. Andrew Jones incredible, but you know.

00:16:26
Speaker 2: It's a two man left between Andrew and Andrelton in my lifetime basically for the Braves for sure.

00:16:30
Speaker 1: Yeah.

00:16:31
Speaker 3: So you know, Arcia, I've seen it. I mean I've been tweeting about him or talking about him, and you know, people, oh this he's just he's a gold Glover. You can't knock that, and I disagree with that. I think Orlando is perfectly fine at shortstop. You can do a lot worse, But no, I mean, he is not so good defensively that I feel like, you know what, you can survive with him the way this offseason kind of go oot that Braves might just try to run it back again in twenty twenty five, which would probably drive me a little crazy and others crazy as well. So if he was really really good defensive, they'd probably feel a little bit differently. But he's not. I mean's he's fine. He makes I think Orlando Arcia does a very good job of making the plays that he's supposed to make. You know, he's not a high air guy. I mean, errors are kind of a terrible way to judge fielders on the whole, but it doesn't commit a lot of errors. Is pretty good on turning double plays. If the ball is hit in his vicinity, he generally makes the play the Braves need him to make. But he's not like saving a run every single night the way an elite shortstop or an elite center fielder can, you know, don't. I've never felt that way about him, And of course, as he gets older. He's not suddenly just going to become even better defensively. It's usually something that gets worse as you age.

00:17:52
Speaker 2: And to your point there, like, he does have pretty good range numbers, but he actually is quite strong in fifty percentage, which is basically not make years. And as we progress as a baseball society, we kind of understand now that's not the beliely the best way to judge fielding. But he doesn't make big mistakes, and that is good. I mean, you want that, but he doesn't add a ton either, which and look I will I will always say this, fielding metrics are more flawed than hitting metrics.

00:18:20
Speaker 1: They just are.

00:18:21
Speaker 2: We and everyone and everyone and everyone knowledge is that even the zealous about defensive metrics will tell you they are not perfect. They are not as accurate as hitting metrics are. But when you have a six seven year sample size on a guy and he's really never been elite in defensive metrics, you start to get a more appropriate feeling of that he's not. It's like if you had if you had one outlage season, Okay, maybe he's got there, but like he's just he's just pretty good. He's maybe good if you when you use the word good, I'm okay with that, saying he's a good defender. I'm totally good with that. Yeah, he's just not a great one. So that's kind of a little bit of a wrong turn this conversation. But I just came to my mind, like, because look, people listen us know this, especially you, Scott.

00:19:01
Speaker 1: I trying to put on you.

00:19:02
Speaker 2: I agree with you on this for the record, but you're the anti RCA guy in some circles.

00:19:06
Speaker 1: You're You're kind of like, get me out of here. I'm done. I'm all set with this. Is am I being unfair. It's like, that's that's accurate.

00:19:13
Speaker 2: And I think it might be different if he actually was that defender and he's he's just not m.

00:19:18
Speaker 3: And if if he was a really good fielder and even like a blow average hitter, you know, like running in ninety w RC plus.

00:19:27
Speaker 2: Which well that's where he was too, like honestly with the offense. Now, like the argument for Arcia was the year before where he actually was exactly that good defender, blow average glove, blowage glove, I mean hitter, and that's a decent enough, not a great player, but a starting caliber shortstop even on a good team, he was like a one and a half two win player in twenty twenty three.

00:19:50
Speaker 1: You can literally he.

00:19:52
Speaker 3: Might have been even more like two three, two four, something like yeah, yeah, I mean mid twos. If you told me that Orlando Rcia could give the Braves two war season, I would take it all day of the week, and I would quit yelling about every possible shortstop who could be available this winter because I wouldn't feel like it would be such a priority for the Braves. But really, since the All Star Break last year, so mid twenty twenty three, he has been so bad offensively there's nothing, I mean, literally nothing. He has one of the worst offensive profiles I have ever seen on baseball savant across the board, batting average, on base, slugging, line drive, sweet spot, barrel rate. He sucks at all of them. And I wish. I hate to be so critical of a player of a team that's won. However, may you know an average of ninety five wins a season in the last seven years or whatever the crazy number is. But the approach is bad and the results are bad. And if there I've said it probably on every other show this winter. If there is any way to improve this position, you have to go out and do it. It's too important of a position for the Atlanta Braves and really baseball as a whole to be running out the worst offensive player in the game at that spot.

00:21:10
Speaker 2: Okay, Scott teased up there, So let's get into the numbers a little bit. I'll try to be brief everybody, because they're not great from last season. Scott is accurate and that he was literally the worst qualified position player in baseball last year in Fangraft's overall offensive value metric. Now, one counter, small counter, is that I use the word qualify, which means you have to play a lot. Most guys that struggled the way he did don't play that much, which is why they don't qualify. But there's some level you have to get to to protectually play that much. So there's something like that. But he was in the bottom three in WRC plus on base percentage he was. This is not just on short stop. This is about all offensive players everybody, not just short stops, all players bottom ten and slighter percentage. He was bad and high leverage, all of those things across sport, and you alluded to it with his stackcast profile. And I know that not everybody loves the bad ball stuff. I understand that. But the reason I'm about to bring this up is sometimes you can have a noisy variant season. It's happened to Braves players on good ways and bad ways right where you could have the season from hell basically, and you're hitting the ball hard and it's not going well for you. Honestly, Marcelo Azuna pre renaissance had a couple of these seasons where he was hitting the ball hard, his balltball profile looked pretty good actually, and it was like, man, is he really this bad? Like what's going on here? And they saw they was good again. I'm not projecting that farci yet, but anyway, it was not just like he got unlucky. He's why I'm saying that he was really bad in how he hit the ball, which is all you can really ask for, like break down, he was truly bottom of the barrel and all the expected batting average stats, slight percentage ex Wloba, Like Scott said, barrel ray, pick your stat he was bad in it last year. There's nothing, truly, nothing encouraging. I don't I tried to find something encouraging for this podcast. It's not fun for us to come on here and be like, all right, he was terrible. I wanted to come up an angle. I don't really have one for you. The only one that I have for you is his history. Someone asked this question to you, Scott Orlando pre last season, even when you factor in his twenty twenty one where he kind of fell apart in Milwaukee and got moved as a result. And by the way, he was used to be a big top prospect. My Brewers were all in on RCA. He was their guy shortstop.

00:23:28
Speaker 1: He was so bad.

00:23:30
Speaker 2: Even when you include that year over a four year sample size from twenty twenty to twenty twenty three, it was like eleven hundred play appearances, Like it's a pretty big sample. He had a ninety six WRC plus that's perfectly fine for shortstop. So that on one side this year and all of the unredeeming badness on the other, is there any chance if they just said, Okay, Orlando, we're gonna go We're gonna give you not the season because you can't do that, but we're gonna have Short's up be the spot that we are saving on or whatever we have in our contract. You got two months, Orlando to prove you can actually do this for us. Is there any chance he bounces back to some degree? Not like he's a good hitter, Scott, but you know me, I tend to like sample size. I tend to like looking at more than one season. So is there any argument for it? Like, Okay, if you're projecting him for next year, I think he'd almost have to be better than he was last year, just by just by logic. Maybe I'm wrong, but yeah, it's just it's tough.

00:24:41
Speaker 3: Do I think there's a world or Orlando Orcia is better next year?

00:24:45
Speaker 1: Sure, I think it's a likely world.

00:24:47
Speaker 2: Honestly, I'm not saying it's for sure, but I mean, okay, let's Stepper's out right or fit.

00:24:53
Speaker 3: I don't want to find out, is what I'm saying. Yeah, I think we agree on that. I'm just trying to give a comprehensive picture of what's going on here, but we do agree on that. For the record, you know, yes, there's there's a new hitting coach coming in. Maybe he can work with Orlando to refine his approach at the plate a little bit. I mean, Orlando is the king of taking himself out of at bats, swinging at a a two to zero pitch off the plate where it should have been three to zero, but instead it's two to one, and two pitches later he's out, or taking a three to zero fastball right down the middle of the plate. It's just his approach is really bad, and you don't have to be like an advanced scout or anything like that to see it. I mean, watch five of his plate appearances on any given night as a casual fan and you go, God, what is his approach up there? Is he sitting fastball? Is he sitting breaking stuff? Is he trying to be aggressive? Is he trying to be patient? It's just a lot of hacking without any kind of plan. So sure, could Orlando if he is a shortstop next year, could he be better? I mean, frankly would be hard to be worse than what he was this past season. But it's a good point that you made that over that four year period he was a totally fine, ish hitter at the shortstop position. That would not kill you if that's what he was. I'm just not sure that guy exists anymore.

00:26:19
Speaker 1: I think we.

00:26:19
Speaker 2: Basically agree on that because of the age he is. He's not super young, but he's only thirty. There are guys who are done at thirty, like they they lose something or whatever, and physically it doesn't like not everyone ages the same. So thirty is is a lot younger than some guys just fall off, right, but it does happen. Some guys are just done. Maybe he is done. And like we said, the batball profile would tell you it's it was not luck base this year. He was just playing poorly. But like, for instance, I just looked up his dis projection, so Danzeborskia Fangras puts up his ZIPS system, which is really really useful. Probably do have a dial on that later on the whole roster. But he has our CF for an eighty or eighty ops plus which is on WC plus. It's similar ish, that's better than he was last year, but still bad. If that makes sense, Like we wouldn't take that. I think you said this earlier. But if you could pencil RCN for even a ninety WRC plus next year, it's so easy to be like, all right, I can live with that. It's a two win player, one and a half two win player bat ninth every day he won't murder you. It's just if ninety becomes seventy that may not seem like much. That's a big drop at that at the plate over a large episode, because like we said, he's playing every single day. Like some of these guys are patuning. You're Adam Duvall had a terrepleas in last year, right, So use Adam Nevaal as an example. He was awful, but you didn't have to play him, and they stopped playing him because he was awful. With RCA, you can't stop playing him. You have no one else, at least on the team. On the team this last season, there was no other option, and that is where you really really really get in a bind at a position like shortstop. So maybe it's just you have to get a better backup shortstop if you're going to go with that. No matter what, we agree, we don't want to have this roller coaster again. Personally, I do think there's a world on December first that he's a shortstop opening day. That's still a world that's possible, even if we're not gonna like it.

00:28:18
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, if I had to put every dollar to my name, who's starting shortstop for the Atlanta Braves on opening day in San Diego in a few months, I'm gonna say it's Orlando Arcia.

00:28:30
Speaker 1: Well, if you have one name, it has to be him right now.

00:28:33
Speaker 3: Yeah, So you know, I sincerely hope the Braves can go out and add a better shortstop this winter. If they were to go and add a really, really, really good hitting corner outfielder, and then at some point in the first half, you're going to get Ronda Kunya Junior back, and let's hope that the new hitting coach can get something back with Sean Murphy and get him back on track, and Matt Olsen and Austin Riley's healthy, and Michael Harris takes a step forward. Maybe Ozzie Alby's has more of a twenty twenty three season than twenty four. Like, if you go out and add a really good bat to the corner, I think this team is gonna be fine if Orlando Orcia is the shortstop. But man, if there's any way to improve the position, I hope they do it. And it's just too important, man, Like it's not the field where they They've had this carousel for five years now and can't solidify it even though they've tried with Kelnick and Rosario and Solaer and everybody else. Shortstop is one of those spots you just have to have locked up because it's so hard to find good shortstops and it's obviously easier said than done. It's not as if there were a half dozen shortstops out there for Alex to just go and pick and choose from. But there are resources both financially and in a potential trade with prospects where they could get a deal done, and I sure hope they do.

00:29:57
Speaker 2: We agree there it's so hard on one hand to acquires stop, which we've all said, you and I have said it. Seawan ste would have said, it's so hard to get a short stop because once you have one, you protect that player with your life. Basically, as a franchise, you don't want to lose that guy unless you just can't pay him anymore. Like the guys who went free to See a few years ago, the Seeger Bogarts Lindor to your a guy, they just at some point might get priced out of their spot. But like, by the way, you're just signed a massive extension in Kansas City because they're like, hey, you're not leaving like you're our guy. It doesn't matter what whatever else happens. There is an argument just to say it out loud and I think we don't love it. But if you do upgrade, I think it is untenable. That's our position as a podcast. I think generally.

00:30:41
Speaker 1: You can't.

00:30:41
Speaker 2: You can't leave left field and shorts out the way they have been recently. If you do one, the other one seems like it's a little bit more tenable. Like if you could say and same thing in reverse. If you get William Damas or whatever a short stop, you can kind of live with a platoon and left field or whatever. Figure it out. You could have one spot you don't like in the lineup. It's a lot easier to do that with one spot. Having two is where it gets really tough. And at shortstop you can't platoon and left field. You can platoon. It's really easy. I mean, shouldn't say easy, it's it's a lot easier. Yeah, to platoon. It may not be pretty out there, but you can. You can realistically find a lefty masher and a righting masher smash them together. That's not easy to do. Like you have to end game. There's some navigation there that has to happen. But you can plug the damn there so much easier. Even during the season. We saw it in twenty twenty one. We don't always be That example is such an obvious one, but you could lose the whole outfield and replenish it in two weeks. You can do it shortstop. You can't do that right. You can find a guy that can catch the ball. You can find Nick Allen, who the Braves did acquire this winner already to be their backup, to be their backup, you know, Nicky Lopez, but worse type Luke Williams is available for you, like they got a Cavin Bigio on the on the Scotpep in August this year.

00:31:56
Speaker 1: Right, those guys are available, but they can't hit. That's why they're available.

00:32:00
Speaker 3: Him and you made a point a moment ago. Yes, you can have one week spot in your lineup when everything is healthy and going right.

00:32:08
Speaker 1: Well, yeah, but of.

00:32:09
Speaker 3: Course the likelihood that you're going to have an entire lineup healthy and going well for one sixty two is basically impossible.

00:32:16
Speaker 1: So we saw that this year. That was a shy example.

00:32:20
Speaker 3: There were a couple of injuries this past season, Brad, I don't know. Maybe we talked about them on this show a few times. Were a few Yeah, there were a few injuries. So looking ahead briefly, then we'll sign off with no changes. Fangrafts.

00:32:32
Speaker 2: The combination of their projections, step charts, et cetera has the Braves at twenty seventh in baseball at shortstop. So they're taking their numbers and looking ahead with their systems and protecting the Braves to be just as bad with the current crop. And that include Arcia. So you don't have to believe us if you don't want to. But people who are smarter than us with the numbers, like Dan, people who want fangrafts and look, they're not infallible.

00:32:57
Speaker 1: They missed too.

00:32:58
Speaker 2: And he'll tell be the first place to tell you that the Braids are projected twenty seventh of the majors at tartset right now.

00:33:02
Speaker 1: And that's a.

00:33:03
Speaker 2: Combination of mostly Arcia, a little bit Nick Allen, a little bit of Nacho Olivarez, but like it is not gonna probably be good if they just run our sea back. You're hoping, you're hoping for them to be what twentieth in the league, at shortstop if it comes back, is that realistic? That's that's a high end outcome for Arcia at shortstop. I know he's an All Star all I want to say, all out loud one time. I know he was an All Star in twenty twenty three. I do know that happened. I know that happened. That's the That's the highest thing that I can say that that did happen. He's never been that good of a player. I think that's pretty obvious. Even in that moment he was hot. It wasn't crazy that he made the team when they picked the team because he had good numbers at that point in time. The braids are rolling. I understood it. He is not an All Star little player, nor has he ever been. Even in that moment, he was not an All Star little player.

00:33:52
Speaker 3: Just save out All Star Orlando Arcia. What a year twenty twenty three. Res was well and kind to be kinder to him that we have been for most of this podcast. There are many worst players that have been All Stars. They're Alin Rcia.

00:34:08
Speaker 1: There are yeah, yeah, probably no Orlean Arcia.

00:34:11
Speaker 2: I mean we're gonna end this on a high notes. Scott Orleano Rcia has been a starting caliber infielder in the major leagues for seven seasons.

00:34:21
Speaker 1: That's a nice career.

00:34:23
Speaker 3: Oh, I mean, it might be over, but outcome so far as a dream for ninety seven percent of the players in the minor leagues.

00:34:32
Speaker 2: That's what I'm saying. So it's all like he' said, and honestly like he's been a useful player. The All Star thing is an outlier. He was the shortstop on a World Series winning team. He was he was on the team. He was not the shortstop.

00:34:43
Speaker 1: He was on the team. He played in the playoffs as backpinfielder. He signed back.

00:34:48
Speaker 2: One last thing, he's signed to a contract, and this is not new ground to most of the podcast recently. He's signed to a deal that pays him like a utility infielder. And there is some utility in that kind of contract because you can sign you can sign a guy or trade for a guy and still have Orlando on your team, and Orlando is paid like you's. You're back up the tilder. So that's a nice thing to have. And by the way, that's probably his best role. You're mat where he's probably best suited to be a starry shortstop on a not so good team. You're one of those, is fine. Those are both very viable things. He's making what I should know this off the top of my head, But it's like three million dollars something like that this year for Lando Arsia. It's not a lot of money, and uh, that actually gives you some flexibility that the Braves. Yeah, actually it's less.

00:35:33
Speaker 3: It's two million dollars. Yes, year, bargain honestly, I mean that's a bargain for him. Yeah, in a perfect world. He is a really solid utility and fielder for the Atlanta Braves. At this point, Ozzie Alby's has been injured quite a bit in recent years. Whoever, let's say the Braves at a shortstop. Of course, that player can get hurt just like anybody else. If Austin Riley were to go down, you could probably put Arcia at third base. Again, you need depth to navigate one hundred and sixty two games. And let's hope, or at least my hope, is that Orlando is that backup infielder and not a player penciled in for another six hundred played appearance is to shortstop. I just think this team can and should aim higher and hopefully that's something they're able to accomplish this offseason.

00:36:22
Speaker 1: Yep, he played some third in Milwaukee, He's played second. What's the braves.

00:36:25
Speaker 2: He played like fifty games a second base in twenty twenty two because Oz he was hurt. Like, that's what happens. There's utility in that. And uh, it's not personal either, like oh about wild counts of everybody sys like Orlando, So it's not it's not about that.

00:36:38
Speaker 1: Eithers oh for that out there.

00:36:40
Speaker 3: It's never personal on these no vitriol whatsoever. Seems like a gree to. He has a bunch of kids, He's always playing with his kids. I am sure he wants to be better than he was this last season at the plates. Yes, everyone understands that.

00:36:52
Speaker 2: And uh, my last public thing, publicly positive thing, is that I do believe he would be better in twenty twenty five than twenty twenty four in the same role. Now that doesn't mean he's gonna be good, but if you said, all right, simulate the season again, I think he would be better next year than he would be that he would have been last year.

00:37:11
Speaker 1: So I'm not convinced of that.

00:37:13
Speaker 2: I'm not saying it's one hundred percent sure, but I think that my brain tells me he would be a little bit better. So that's a nice positive way in this podcast, Scott, I will not make you give any any retort to that, anything to share.

00:37:25
Speaker 1: Before we get out of here. On the Sunday evening.

00:37:27
Speaker 3: Before we wrap, Brad is now going to sing the Michigan fight song to I'm not going to sing.

00:37:33
Speaker 2: I'm not going to sing, but I'm quite Yeah, it was a good, good weekend. Enjoyed that I had the sometimes you know that Scott is as a fan of certain franchises, the Kings, for one.

00:37:44
Speaker 1: Cold Colts, Cults.

00:37:46
Speaker 2: Sometimes sometimes you go into a game and you have quite literally zero expectations of positive outcomes. And I was pretty close to that on Saturday with Michigan on House State. You know, once the game started, I started to believe, and I could be the worst thing for you.

00:38:01
Speaker 1: I was.

00:38:01
Speaker 2: My guard was going down throughout the game. But I had fun. That was a good win. I enjoyed that immensely, So thank you for calling that out. I'm not gonna sing, but I appreciate that.

00:38:10
Speaker 1: Yeah.

00:38:11
Speaker 2: Of course, most of our listeners are either SEC or ACC people, tech people, if they're not sc people. Uh, there was, there's been some carnage in those leagues the last couple of weeks, the George Georgia Tech game. I haven't I had a dog in the fight. That was a wild one on Friday. So we're not gonna litigate fandom of cought football on the show. I'm going to save space mostly. Uh as a Michigan fan at Scotts in Arizona, alum, so he's no one's ready against you over than our guy, just just Tskana who's in Arizona State guy. No one else is gonna yell at us up for these takes, probably, so that's we're kind of say it there, probably or as Steve Steven and Steven and Sean are sec folks, so they they are more immersed in the day to day people are gonna yell at them they start talking about football on the podcast.

00:38:55
Speaker 3: Sean is a huge Tennessee fan and seven Alabama he is an Alabama yes, so okay, yeah, So they can't really talk about football on the show or we're gonna lose some listeners because people.

00:39:06
Speaker 1: Get mad at them. No matter what's going to happen.

00:39:08
Speaker 2: Same thing with me, like I host a Hawk's podcast and it's like, hey, George, Georgia Tech, I don't have a rooting interest, but I want I want, I want my Michigan hoodie, Michigan polo shirt on the podcast Saturday Night. Just quietly didn't say aything else, just Warman, just sport, just on my chest. That's us, right, yeah, subtle.

00:39:23
Speaker 3: It's been a good Uh, it was a good well. I don't even say it's a good football weekend because I'm sure a lot of our NFL listeners are pissed off. We won't go down rabbit hole. Me.

00:39:33
Speaker 2: I'm pissed off about the Falcons, but hey, that's okay. I'll trade that for Michigan for a Michigan.

00:39:37
Speaker 3: Yeah, we're gonna stop recording now and then like Brad's gonna get out a good twenty minute event session to me one on that, it's uh sports as you as you always say sports.

00:39:48
Speaker 2: That's correct, Uh, Scott, working folks find you if they're a news to the podcast social media. I know you're a blue Scott now, like I am, what's going on?

00:39:55
Speaker 3: Yeah, same handle, Scott Coleman fifty five. I'm all over the play if you want to follow along. There we set off the top again. Hope everybody had a great Thanksgiving and we'll be back. Man. I would love to do an emergency reaction show. I think you would too, Brad. I mean it would be easier for.

00:40:13
Speaker 2: Us than not having that Barsia reaction show to do. Yeah, well, we'll set up podcasts. I mean we're we're planning on other than last week, more than Thanksgiving. We don't need did two shows, but usually what it's going to be three, even if there's nothing else going on. We'll try to get you three, but multiple shows each week other than maybe Christmas week or whatever. But yeah, if there's a shift, if there's a transaction worthy of a reaction episode, we will react to it. And the best thing you can do to find the podcast is to subscribe. So if you're just financed the first time, thank you, please go ahead and smash the subscribe button on Apple or Spotify or wherever you listen to podcast YouTube as well. If you're a YouTube watcher, thank you. Also do us a solid and subscribe on audio platform too. That definitely would help us, and vice versa. If you're an audio listener, trap on YouTube just helps the show likes. Appreciate it too. The algorithm Scott's a big juice, the algorithm guy. He's always asking me about comments on the algorithm. Post your comments, folks, yell at us if you want.

00:41:06
Speaker 3: To yeah, well okay, yeah, do what you gotta do. Anything to grow the community. And again for the low low price of zero dollars, we are here, that's right to share our braves, takes and reactions. And we always say, I mean I still get people every like once a week or maybe oh I had no idea. You guys picked it up on a new station, on a new podcast network under a new name. So there's people out there who were longtime listeners on Battery Power and even before that talking Chop and here we are still still grinding, still doing the same thing, of course with the good gals and guys at foul Territory now. But yeah, it really does help us. And if you have five seconds of your time to leave a like or leave a review on Apple or Spotify, that helps us to gets us in the algorithms, anything to help out the tech lords, we appreciate it.

00:41:56
Speaker 1: That's right.

00:41:57
Speaker 2: Help us to spread the word. Let's just say that, all right, everybody That is it for Scott and I on this first episode of December. Please one more time subscribe to the podcast. We'll have more coming up later on this week, and we'll see everybody next time.