Another Big Braves Comeback Earns Series Win Over Reds

00:00:20
Speaker 1: Welcome one and all to the Hammer Territory Podcast. My name is Sean Coleman. Hope, wherever you are and wherever you are listening, hope that you are having an absolutely awesome week so far, and if you're a Braves fan, it's been a fun week. It's been a stressful week, but at least it has been a fun week. Once again, the Braves within one game of five hundred in dramatic fashion, and we're here to break it all down as usual here on the Hammer Territory Podcast, and as always, my podcast partner, one of the best of the game when it comes to cover in the Braves, Stephen Tolbert with me. Stephen, good night, good night, Hello to you, sir. I hope that you're having a good night. Result of the game probably helped.

00:01:02
Speaker 2: Yeah, this is another one of those games where the last ten minutes really could have affected the tone of this podcast. We've had a few of those here recently, and you know, I was thinking about it sometime around like the sixth or seventh inning. This this team reminds me a lot of my golf game and anybody who plays golf, anybody who plays golf, at least on an amateur level. You go out one day and your driver is fantastic, but you know, if your driver's fantastic, your irons suck. And then you go out the next time and your irons are fantastic and your driver suck. And if by some miracle your irons and your driver are both working, your putter is nowhere to be found. Like that's just golf. Anybody who plays knows exactly what I'm talking about. And those three things are the Braves offense, the Braves pitching, and the Braves bullpen right now where like it just seems like every time they get one going, the other the other just disappears. And like the pitching has gotten really chrystale, Schwallenbach, the bullpen have all gotten substantially better. We talked about how good the other three guys in the rotation are doing, and as soon as that happens, the offense just goes to hell. And it's like, at any point can we get all aspects of this team going at once? And it was a it was a good series. The Brace took three or four, but it was a frustrating series because they had to fight like hell multiple ninth inn He comebacks. I'm not sure how sustainable that model is going forward, but a wins a wins a win, so we take them anyway we can get them. But still some things with this team that we need to see get better. And it would help a lot if at one point, any point in this season, all aspects of the team could be going at the same time. That would make my life a hell of a lot less stressful.

00:02:52
Speaker 1: I have it on good authority that the only thing in this world that's more guaranteed to land in the triple digits than a Mason Miller fan ball is Stevens Tolbrits golf scorer through the front nine. But AnyWho, that's for another day in time. The point that I'm getting at here is this is that when it comes to the Braves, this Brave's team right now, if you go back a year ago, this Brave's team reminds me a lot of where we were a year ago and for much of the last five months of the twenty twenty four season. Right now, the pitching is doing pretty well, at least the starting pitching. Tonight, we're going to get into how the bullpen once again was a bit shaky. This offense is struggling badly when it comes to being able to score runs, especially when it's not hitting the home run. But the one key difference, and I don't know how sustainable it is, but the one key difference is that this offense is getting the job done late when the game is online. The bullpen is doing their job despite Rossell Iglacis, but the offense is eventually getting the job done themselves, and I think that that is something that at least can maintain confidence. I told Stephen before the podcast, I think the concerns of of why we're having to win so many games late like we are right now are a bit more significant than this excitement that comes from winning these games. But at the very least you're winning these games, and it's a lot better to look back and see where you can improve and a win then looking back and seeing what you need to do to do better to win. And so right now, yes, I think there are some clear concerns with the spray squad, but at least they're getting the job done in winning. And hey, if the pitching staff can sit here and turn it around like it has over the past few weeks, just wait till this offense gets clicking once again.

00:04:33
Speaker 2: Yeah, and listen, the Reds and the Dodgers are two of the best pitching staffs in baseball. Like I think people learned who probably didn't already know, at least in Braves Country, that the Reds have a legitimate rotation, like can carry them to the playoff level rotation, some of the arms they have, and even their bullpen is very good. You look up and down their bullpen like everybody's got an er and like the twos so and you know, we talked about it coming into the series. The Reds were above five hundred. They were a plus thirty five differential coming into this series. Like they weren't a joke. They were a real team, mostly driven by how their run prevention so and the Dodgers, of course are the Dodgers. So I'm not gonna I don't want to overreact too much to this one stretch of seven games against those two teams. But yes, the offense has got to be better, and you know, it shouldn't take multiple ninth inning comebacks to beat you know, I don't know if the Reds are gonna be in the postseason. Maybe they will. Their pitching is good, enough, but still like these are the team, These are the level teams you gotta beat, and you gotta beat teams even better than this, quite honestly. So yeah, the Braves offense needs to be better. Acunya will help, obviously, even like Jerks and profile will help. You know, Alex Radugo has run into some kind of a cold stretch. I think he's over like his last seventeen and we've talked about before. You know, as Verdugo has gone, the Braves have gone, and Verdugo has gotten cold, and so the offer has gotten cold. You know, it's not a coincidence. So but they need more. They certainly need more on offense, you know, as well as Schwallenbach pitched in this game, and we're gonna talk about him in a minute. Of course, this should have been an easier win and it wasn't. But credit to them. They have been eight to ninth any monsters like you just said, they've probably stole some games that they didn't head it, you know, didn't have any right winning. But I'll take it until we get Strider and Acunyan Profar back, any whin we get any way we get it. I'm not apologizing for I'll take it and on to Pittsburgh.

00:06:43
Speaker 1: On to Pittsburgh. And it's nice to say on to Pittsburgh after you win three out of the previous four games. And that's the thing. This Brase team is winning and the pitching is getting in a better spot. We talked about how much success they've had with aj smith schaubor Grant Holmes or Bryce Elder on the mountain, the pull pinned to fight another bit of implosion from rhisol iglesias. It's been pretty nails overall over the past few weeks. But no doubt about it, the Braves are going to be at their best again when their best are performing like their best, and that is Chris Sale as well as Spencer Schwellenbach. In Spencer Swellerbach, it feels like, for the first time in maybe two or three weeks, had his best start that we've seen in a while. Now, let's go ahead and get into the details here a bit. Six innings pitched, five hits, allowed, six strikeouts, two walks. Still was giving up some pretty hard hit balls. But the big keeper tonight, Stephen, is that those balls were elevated. They were on the ground where he allowed for his defense to be able to get the job done, and we talked about that. The Braves defense has been pretty good as well, but he was resting in that ninety seven to ninety nine area. He did seem to have a bit better control, a bit better you know, his pitches seemed to be more in line with what he was needing for them to do. So, yes, again, not not the best that we've seen from Spencer Schwellenboch, but getting closer to what we expect each night that he's on the mound. A pretty good outing. I know, the Reds offense is not murderer's row, but this is one of those starts you can build on, especially once the Bray's got the win.

00:08:09
Speaker 2: Yeah, much better start, of course. I mean obviously you give up one run in six innings. He did your job, you know, by process, there's still things that he needs to clean up, still leaving too many pitches in the middle of the plate. You know, the velocity is is fantastic. I mean he's literally he's doing ninety seven, ninety eight, ninety nine, you know, the entire game, but it's you know, too often it's in the middle of the plate and especially in the first pitch, and I thought the broadcast did a good job tonight kind of outlining this. He's given up most of his hard contact on the first pitch of the bat because he's basically always starting the at bat with a fastball, and that fastball is always somewhere bell tied down the middle. And I don't know if he's doing that on purpose. I don't know if he's just trying to get ahead. You know, Glavin was talking about this on the broadcast, about maybe going to a breaking ball on the first pitch. You know, I'm sure his thinking is, I'm throwing this hard, even down the middle. It's hard to hit, and he's right, that is true. The Tampa Bay Rays have built an entire organization around that philosophy. Then on the first pitch of the bat, you just throw it right down the middle because even you know, they get a bunch of guys who throw ninety nine and even right down the middle, it's hard to hit.

00:09:22
Speaker 1: So that is true.

00:09:24
Speaker 2: But even when he's throwing the slider the curveball, there's still pitches he's just hanging in the middle. And the one run he gave up tonight was on an O two or a one to two hanging slider right down the middle of the plate, and that burned the braves a couple of times to night. We'll get to in a minute with Iglesias, but I don't want to nitpick too much. Let a six innings, one run, it's something to build on, right, It's something to kind of launch you into your next start, which hopefully is even better, and then you're on a roll and kind of like we've seen with Chris Sale, then you're back to normal. So you know, the schedule is gonna lighten up. He's gonna get some offense, is and aren't the greatest in the world coming up? And man, it'd be huge if he if him and Sale really did start turning this thing around, And that just makes everything so much easier.

00:10:13
Speaker 1: Absolutely it does, And we'll continue to talk about some things. You know, it's great to celebrate the win, but again, these late inning comebacks, as fun as they are, to see, how sustainable is it?

00:10:24
Speaker 2: Again?

00:10:25
Speaker 1: Some concerns certainly we're talking about that are leading to so many that are the reasons why we're seeing so many of these late inding victories. We'll get more into that in just a moment after a word from our partners.

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00:11:38
Speaker 1: All right, Steven, let's let's kind of go through this game, because I think that this game definitely was You like to use the word microcosm because it's just a fun word to say. But let's talk about some of the things that I think from this game you can take and and if you expand them that you can the things you can spotlight in this game is being a bit concerning. I think in general, you also could look at this, you know, kind of the same things for the season. And I want to start with the fact that you and I before the season. You know, one thing that I had really focused on was that from last year we talked about so many things going wrong, but three things that went right. Where the guys are veterans in are in the middle thirties who just had outstanding years, Chris Sale, Marcelo Zuna, as well as Rycelli Glacias. But I had a bit of a concern on mi end, you know, would they potentially fall off, would we see a bit of regression. We've seen a little bit from Chris Sale. We'll get into Riso Iglesias in the minute, but I want to talk about Marcelo Zuna first off, and the main thing I want to talk about with him is that I don't necessarily think that he has regressed, but I also think that you brought up a really good point during the game, and that when it comes to Marcelo Zuna, he's not impacting the game as much as we would like for him too, or as much as the numbers suggest that he has, or that you're so used to seeing him do over the past couple of years. The big reason why I feel he's just not getting as many opportunities because he's getting on base so much. But in general, when we talk about this offense getting going, you want your best hitters to have as much opportunities as possible. Even when he's getting those opportunities, it doesn't feel like or Azuna is impacting the game as much. What are your thoughts?

00:13:19
Speaker 2: Yeah, So I was just it started with just a feeling like I was watching the game and I was just thinking to myself. I know, I know objectively, Marcella Zuna has great numbers. He's got a one fifty WRC plus this season, which is elite, that's elite offensive production. But I watch every game and it just doesn't feel like I was just having this feeling like it doesn't feel like marcel has impacted as many games or to the level that you would think a guy with a one fifty WRC plus sitting in the middle of the order would.

00:13:50
Speaker 1: Now.

00:13:50
Speaker 2: I know he had to walk off it and XT ratings a couple of days ago, but I went look just I was curious. So there are all these stats about how guys impact the actual winning of game when probability added. There's a bunch of them, and I just went and looked, and they kind of confirmed what I was thinking that like, he has been kind of in the background of these games. He hasn't been at the forefront of impacting winning or losing. He's just kind of been there. And I know, listen, everybody on Twitter sent me the same reply. It's because he's most of his production has come via walk and you're not gonna you know, you're not gonna break a game open with a walk. I get that. And you know there are people he's being too he's being too patient. It's kind of moving past patient and into kind of passive. And I don't know if I agree with that yet. There's he's running like a four fifty on base percentage, and I just I'm not gonna disparage that like, that's just that is valuable. Some of the guys around him need to do more when he's on base. Now, listen, I've said this before. When Marcelo's doing gets on base, He's not exactly a weapon on the base pass. So you know, this is not exactly like a cun your running a four to fifty on base percentage when we saw it tonight. We're going to get to in a minute where he you know, he got pitch run for a controversial situation. But yeah, it has been a weird season for him where he is number his his numbers are unquestionably awesome, awesome numbers, but the actual impact of winning the games, even statistically if you look at the numbers like win probability added, is not there. Like he just hasn't. He hasn't had that kind of impact that you maybe would expect for somebody's having that good of a season offensively. And I really didn't mean it. Some people took it as me disparaging Azun. I really didn't mean it like that. It was just more of an oddity. I watch a lot of baseball, and you don't typically see somebody sit in the middle of the order. Have really good numbers and yet not really feel their presence in an overall season. Like I think Marcel's driven in like thirteen runs this year, which he's on pace to drive in like sixty runs, which is is so odd for somebody with that good of numbers sitting in the middle of a lineup. And so it's just been it's just been weird. It's not it wasn't meant to be disparaging towards us Unna, who's been one of the bravest, more consistent players. More just a trying to kind of talk my way through the understanding of it, like it was. It's just an it's just kind of an oddity to me.

00:16:20
Speaker 1: Yeah, and and and I agree, I definitely think that it's worth disgusting because of the fact that again, if he's not impacting the game as much as we would like for him to see or that he has in the past, that right now arguably is your best hitter not getting as many chances, are not being as consistent as you might hope with impacting the game. So that means that you need to have other ways to impact the game, or at the very least not take away from your ability to win the game, and I ave Brian Sticker, I think that, you know, the majority of Braves Country does. He's been a great manager overall. I think that he's perfectly find as manager right now. But we are seeing again these moments where I don't know if the better label for them is snitting the bed or perhaps you know, sp for brains, I go with whatever you want to call it. The point that I'm getting at is is that when we talk about the potential of this team right now, it's not high enough to where when Snicker has these decisions that he's making, like, for instance, pitch hitting Eddie Rosario for Eli White when you had what Sean Murphy is an option instead of Eddie Rosario. We saw other moments like this tonight. It just feels like that we're seeing I know that it's been in the past, but it just right now we can't see him at the level that we're seeing them. Where Snicker is making these decisions, he's choosing to go with a person in a big moment that clearly is not the best option. There were a couple of times where that happened again tonight, and it just feels like that he's lowering the overall opportunity for the Braves to win games by not going with the best option. He's got to start doing that more consistently.

00:18:00
Speaker 2: Yeah, So let's go through these chronologically. So obviously, the game was two to one. Michael Harris had hit the the triple that scored the second run of the game. The Braves took a two to one lead. Schwellenbach pitches six innings. So we're into the seventh inning, the Braves are up two to one, and the Braves have been using their bullpen a decent amount. They haven't had it off day in about a week, so I was curious to see who was down who was up today tonight for the game in terms of the bullpen. So the first guy that comes out of the bullpen is Montero, Rafael Montero. It's a two to one game in the seventh inning, the Braves are winning, and I'm thinking, all right, well, that probably means, like Dylan Lee, Pierce Johnson, these guys are down and the Braves are just gonna have to piece this thing together night. And we've seen that in the past with Snit. You know, he just goes into games where some guys aren't available, and you know, and you can agree with that. I disagree with that. I understand his logical with that. It's a long season. So Taro pitches, Montero instantly gets into trouble. I think the bases are loaded, one out, out goes Montero, in comes Dylan Lee, and I'm thinking, okay, well, if Dylan Lee's available, why wasn't he pitching just to start the inning? But then I think, well, maybe you know he was. Dylan Lee was going to pitch the eighth and so Dylan Lee gets out of he does give up one run, and so it's a tie game. And so now we go to the eighth inning and Pierce Johnson's pitching in the eighth inning, and I'm like, all right, well, Dylan Lee was available. Pierce Johnson was available. And then we get to the ninth inning and Roscille Glazers is pitching. I'm like, okay, so you had three of your high leverage relievers all available. You had a one run league going into the seventh inning. Why is Rafael Montero pitching? I don't Montero is is probably like your seventh best pitcher. I don't know. I haven't done a hierarchy of the bullpen in a while, but like, he's not great. He's given up thirteen walks in twelve innings this year. It's that's that's awful. Of course, that's you know, you can't really sustain that way. But he's a low leverage pitcher, so it hasn't mattered that much. So I just found that weird. You know, the bullpen did well overall. I mean I thought I thought Dylan Lee did a good job when he came in ross glaciers. Of course, hung that slider on an O two pitch was just one of the worst pitches I've ever seen, quite honestly. And we can talk about him more in depth if you want to, but yeah, I didn't. We'll get into some of the other decisions in a minute, but that specifically, pitching Montero within a two one lead in the seventh inning, when you had your three high or three of your high leverage relievers clearly available for this game. You know, sometimes we don't know who's available, but when they literally pitched later in the game, they were obviously available. Yeah, I don't. Maybe you have an opinion. I don't. I couldn't quite figure.

00:20:51
Speaker 1: That one out. I don't. I don't. I don't really have an opinion because I don't get it with where the Braves are right now. Again, we talk about for the Braves to get out of this, for them to win at the frequency that they're going to need to win to really have not only a shot to get into the playoffs, but also make noise be that World Series contender. We still feel that they have the potential to be. They've not only got to see their best perform at their best, they've got to go with their best in the right situations and the other thing that they've got to do. Steven, because this is really getting into my crawl. Stop flipping bunting, Please stop bunting. I get the concept. I understand the reason why you're looking to bunt. It gives you a higher floor of an outcome when you're in a need for a productive app But with how inconsistent this offense is, and when they're down laid in games or when they're tied lading games, they need for each it back to have as much potential as possible. That is allowing for your hitters to be able to actually having it back, especially someone like at Eli White who right now is one of your best hitters. Just stop bunting. There's not really it's not really working out that consistently enough for you to do it as frequently as you are, soapbox removed. Let's get back to the game itself. The thing that I'll say is is that again getting back to these decisions that aren't really making a lot of sense. You know, he puts Stuart Fairchild in for Marcelo Zuna in the eighth run, but then Fairchild didn't really do anything on the basis and so you didn't take full advantage of the reason why you put Fairchild in the game, and it wound up now nothing against Stuart Fairchild. I think he did fine in terms of what he had, but you did take away the opportunity for Marcelo Zuna to be up in a big spot in the tenth Again, it just seems like it's not necessarily all the decisions that Brian Sticker is making is wrong necessarily. It's just that he's making a lot of decisions that don't that seem to lower the overall potential that this offense has when it needs to have as much potential as possible. When it comes to outcomes that will lead to run.

00:23:01
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was a weird night for Snit. It's kind of felt like he kind of overmanaged a little bit. It just kind of felt like he was pulling levers just to pull him, you know. Starting with Azuno, Zuna gets a two out single. It was in the set, bottom of the seventh or bottom of the eighth, I can't remember. He gets a two out single, two outs, nobody on. He gets a single, and Snitt immediately pulls him for Fairchild to pinch run. And obviously what he's thinking is if if Matt Olsen hits a double, I want the run to score because it's the go ahead run. But when there are two outs in the inning, you're the run expectancy in that situation is very low, and it's even lower if Fairchild is just gonna stand at first base. Now, Fairchild immediately took off and went to second base and tried to steal. Okay, I can't at least justified a little bit, but Fairchild just stood there waiting for Olsen to either hit one in the gap or hit one over the wall. It just that that's not a high enough run expectancy to take Azuna out. Of the game when there's a very good chance he's you're gonna need his bat at some point later in the game. So yeah, I did not like that. You know, there was the bunting. Eli White bunted twice in this game. You know, there was a time where Eddie Rosario pinch ran. Eddie Rosario was the pinch runner for Sean Murphy. I'm I don't, I honestly don't know that Eddie Rosario is faster than Sean Murphy. Now, Rosario did score the tying run in the ninth inning, but he was struggling around the bases. Yeah, and then obviously Orlando came up in the extra innings and he bunted and he you know, he popped out, and everybody freaked out on Orlando because that's the first time he's had a plate appearance in like, you know, six weeks, and that's what he does with it. It was a weird game by snit. And then you add in the bullpen decisions. You know, I think he was I think he was desperate for this win. I think he was trying to be aggressive as possible. I just don't think they I don't think a lot of them made sense. Quite honestly, I don't love any Rosario on this team. I don't actually love Orlando Orci on this team, because you get into situations where neither one of them were good enough to pinch hit and neither one of them are fast enough to pinch run, and you're like, what the hell are these guys doing on a major league pinch like those are the two big roles that you have on as a bench player. Is you're gonna pitch hit or you're gonna pinch run, And neither one of those guys can do either one of them either. Neither can play defense either, And you know, and obviously OURCA is a big drop off from Allen defensively, which is why he's lost his job. And Razio Rosario is terrible defensively. So I don't understand the you know, some of that's not snit's fault. I don't quite understand some of the pieces on the bench as currently constructed. But we're not gonna let this train get too far down the track. They made enough plays to win the game, and I want to say the name of somebody before we forget, because I will forget the hero of this game. Besides Drake Baldwin. Obviously, the game winning hit was Scott Blewett was the hero of this game. Two innings pitched in extras with a ghost runner on second, and he doesn't give a I don't even know if the Reds got a runner to third in either one of those innings. Now, there was a couple of really good defensive plays. Matt Olson made an incredible defensive play. Drake Baldwin made a great throw on a guy's trying to steal. But Scott blew It was amazing, and Scott blew It's been amazing since he's come over. And you know, that dude's got some real peripherals, like some real stuff behind his numbers that make me think like this guy might actually be something more than just a you know, a low leverage reliever. Those were not low leverage innings. He was pitching the night and he was unreal. He was sitting ninety five, ninety six, ninety seven, the slider, the splitter, like he's a that dude's got something in it. You know, that just got some real juice. And I was blown away with how well he did tonight. I you know, I think he won the Braves the game, quite honestly.

00:26:59
Speaker 1: But also discussed as good as Scott blew it was. I think it also is getting back to a name that we had mentioned a bit earlier in the show. The reason why the Braves were in this position to begin with, and what has been an unfortunate thing so far this year is Rice Iglesias. You know, I know I talked about him earlier, but there's some real concerns here. He's given up six some runs so far this year, and he gave up four all of last year in seventy innings. Six so far this year, I believe in fourteen fifteen innings now, however, as much he's thrown, there's some concern. I'm not saying that we're to the point to where you know, he shouldn't be considered the main guy for the ninth, but if you are lacking confident from him getting the job done when he goes out there, I don't blame you a bit. Stephen. You talked all winter about the fact that there were clear signs that the regression monster could eventually show up at some point. This year, it is showed up, and it showed its head early on this season. Unfortunately. I think that Rysliglesius will obviously be better as the season goes along. I don't think he's going to come close to what he was last year. But the Braves need for him to be some sort of consistent. They need for him to at least be trustworthy. Right now, with the way that he's going, it's hard to say that. It's hard to say with confidence that you could find his overall performance trustworthy at the moment.

00:28:10
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's just inconsistent. Like he goes through these stretches where he looks awesome. You know, a couple of games before this one, he had some really strong outings, some like seven eight pitch saves. It's mostly command and listen. There was no chance he was repeating last year. Last year was a one off. There was not a single number in his profile that had any indication that last year was in any way sustainable or repeatable. It just wasn't gonna happen. And that's why we spend all off season trying to kind of warn people that this was good, probably gonna happen.

00:28:45
Speaker 1: No.

00:28:46
Speaker 2: I now, I'm not gonna pretend like I expected it to this level. I did not, nor did I expect it this fast. It's kind of come all at once here at the beginning of the year. But he is just he is not as good a pitcher as he was last year, as he showed last year, and this is some regression to the me now. I think it's probably gone a little too far. I think it'll go back. I think he's better than this. I think he's left some pitches over the middle of the plate, and it seems like every time he leaves one over the middle of the plate, the guy doesn't miss it. And tonight, you know, the guy hit a rocket double to right center field, and then the next guy, you know, he got ahead o two on two really good sliders, and then he threw one of the worst pitches I've ever seen, just just a hanging middle middle, just like high school level slider, and the dude hit it, you know, three miles for a two run homer. So I don't know, I don't know what's gonna happen. You know, Snit is incredibly loyal to his closers. We've seen this before, Will Smith, you know, Kenley Jansen. We've seen the Braves kind of struggle with closers inconsistencies in the past and snit usually has to have his arm twisted for months before he makes any sort of move. I do wonder at some point if Dave's bell maybe gets a look das Bell's looks so good, that's a fascinating you know, that's gonna be a fascinating thing to watch. Quite honestly, is is how prevalent are these inconsistencies from Rossiel now to and I wasn't a save opportunity, which is always tough, you know, tougher for a closer, but still he didn't pitch well, So yeah, that's gonna be a storyline looking forward. Is how long is his leash? How many of these can he have before the Braves decide we might have to try somebody else there.

00:30:32
Speaker 1: The one thing that I think needs to be said, though, is that, yes, while right sol Iglesias has struggled, you know, for much of this season so far, I think that it's fair to say. But also besides that, the hierarchy of this Bullpion has kind of fell into place quite well. Overall, this phrase bullpen, I think, especially over the past few weeks, has done very well. They're still going to have some you know, shaking outings and things like that, but you just manage mentioned Day's Bill, Who's been a great revelation so far this and he's taken over the eighth inning. Goott Blewit's been a great addition. Pierce Johnson, Dylan Lee. I feel those guys are doing just fine. I know Aaron Burber can kind of be up and down, but still think he is a pretty good reliever, you know when you need for it to happen. So the rest of this bullpen has kind of fallen into place in the way that you had hoped it would. I think that it's getting to the point of being reliable, and I think the right seld laces will be just fine getting there as well.

00:31:22
Speaker 2: I do want to add this because I got no joke seventeen replies on Twitter tonight as soon as it happened. Craig Kimberl is not going to close for this team like people think Craig Kimberl is like making his way through the miners to come up and be the Brad's closer. Like, guys, I don't. That's not gonna happen like that. That's not to Craig Kimberl. That's coming. And I really hope people don't expect that, Like maybe they put Kimberle in high leverage at some point, because nit will put anybody in high leverage, as we've learned. But if you think Kreig Kimberl is coming up to like be the guy, this is not twenty fourteen, you know, Kimberle. I just I need, I really want to help people set expectations about what Kimberle is, what he isn't and what to expect when he gets here, if he gets here, because it's not to be like a fifty saved closer like he was the you know the first time he was a brave That's that's a decade ago, and people need to kind of let that go. Yeah.

00:32:22
Speaker 1: I would rather see Scott blew It in a high leverage situation.

00:32:24
Speaker 2: Right now, one hundred percent, rather to see days Bill. I mean, yeah, we're picking new closers. Kimberl's not anywhere near the top.

00:32:32
Speaker 1: Yeah, Iglesias, Day's Bell, Dylan Lee, Pierce Johnson, Scott blew At, Aaron Bummer. I would take all those guys over Kimberl and high leverage. I don't mean anything negative towards Craig Kimberrel in that aspect, I just don't think his basketball is there anymore to where you can consistently trust him in that situation. But speaking of potential moves that could come, we did receive word today that we may be a bit closer than some may have anticipated to a significant roster move occurring when it to the Braves pitching staff. And that is the fact that Spencer Strider he got a positive review today. He got some positive news after his bullpen yesterday. I know it kind of threw some by surprise that there wasn't any update after his bullpen, But I believe the word is he's gonna throw another bullpen in Pittsburgh, and then after that it may even be to the point to where, if that goes well, he could come back without even doing a rehab start. That's the first bit of interesting news. But the second bit of interesting news, Steven, is that the discussion now is about maybe seeing a six man rotation.

00:33:34
Speaker 2: Now.

00:33:34
Speaker 1: I get the idea of the Braves having a six man rotation. It limits innings, it allows for people to kind of work back into getting into their normal workload, all those different things. I personally am not the biggest fan of a six man rotation because I think that what it does is that it does not allow for you to throw your best arms as often, and right now, that's what the Braves need to do. But that's to be an interesting development. I think we see it at first. I think we see a six man rotation at first, but eventually you see the bullpen needing to have moves made to again make it reliable. Stephen, what say you, It's good good to hear the idea that you know, possibly we could see striderback, maybe within the next week to ten days, possibly, But that six man rotation idea is pretty interesting. I think they at least look into it, but I wouldn't be surprised if as short lived, and I kind of want it to be to make sure we're pitching our best arms as often as possible.

00:34:29
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, listen, we know they did it last year, and they were obviously very concerned about the number of innings their top guys were throwing last year, Chris Sale, trying to keep them healthy, you know, Ronaldo being a starter for the first time in a few years. So it would not surprise me at all. Some of it's gonna depend on how well Elder, Smith Schalver and Grant Holmes continue to pitch. You know, the first time those you know, one of those guys has two bad starts in a row, you're probably gonna start hearing, well, let's just go back to a five man rotation and either option one of them or stick them in the bullpen. And by the way, sticking them in the bullpen should not be ignored, because that's very real possibility at this point. But I'll tell you what, I would just love to get to the point where that's the problem we're discussing, where they have they have too many starters. I would love to get to that point because we've been We've spent this entire season desperate for starters, you know, needing guys like Bryce Elder and A. J. Smithschalver to cover. You know, I think Elders made four or five starts already this year. That was not plan a by any means. So I would just love to get to the point where that's that's the conversation, is what do we do with these six starters? It was really good to hear. I was really surprised to hear that that Spencer Striter might not need a rehab appearance. That hit, that's how good his bullpen looked, and that's how good he felt. I'm always nervous, Listen, I worry about everything, especially the pitching. I'm always nervous about Spencer until we see him start for like a month and really feel good. The elbow feels good, the hamstring feels good. I'm gonna be on pins and needles the whole time. But from everything they're saying publicly, he looks great, he feels great. I'm gonna lean on that. I'm gonna, you know, Jesus take the wheel. I'm gonna lean on that, and hopefully this guy can get healthy. Because good Lord, did the Braves need another starter? You know, they need someone else, because as good as Grant Holmes, A. J. Smith Shaler and Bryce Elder have been, I feel like that's a bit on borrow time. I don't feel like that's entirely sustainable for the next six months. I would love to just be able to enjoy that and then move Spencer Strider into one of those spots and say thank you, Bryce Elder for everything he did. We'll call you back up if we need you. You know, something like that or if they go to the six man or if they put one of them in the bullpen. I hope that's where we are in a couple of weeks or maybe even sooner than that, because that's how good the news was on Strider today. So yeah, that was a really that was That was a wonderful bit of news that we were unexpected that we unexpectedly got.

00:37:05
Speaker 1: Today from the unexpected shout out to Carrie under who would Jesus take the wheel to Another great development when it comes to this series is the fact that one player that we have talked about, you know, we mentioned it on the last podcast. We really didn't want to get too much into how much he struggled so far this year, but it should not, in any way, shape or form be ignored that Michael Harris the second had a really good series against the Reds. Yes, he still struggled at the play, you know that that last at bat you know where he kind of you know, seemed kind of off balance, you know, as a bad at bat and a big moment against the Reds reliever of one of the twins, Taylor Rodgers.

00:37:47
Speaker 2: Taylor Rodgers, there I get him confused to Tyler Taylor. I can never remember.

00:37:51
Speaker 1: He did struggle with that at bat, but so many big gins in this series. Again, if he could ever get going and and and I know that he began he to that is the ability to be able to take pitches just so frustrating when he does not do that. But he had a big series. This is a moment for him to build off of. It would be great to see that because as we get into a tougher part of the schedule, if we could get Michael Harrison, Ronald Accoon junior boat going the same time, you want to talk about this offense going to the next level, that would be a pretty clear way to get it done.

00:38:24
Speaker 2: Yeah, he needs credit. That's a huge series. I mean, you know, he had a triple in an RBI triple that gave the Braves the lead in the sixth inning or fifth inning, and then he had that big at bat in the ninth inning, right and came through with a singles scored Eddi Rosario. Listen, it wasn't hard hit, but it was well placed and that's all that matters. You know, there's been a lot of talk about Michael you know, unequivocally he's having a down year. You know, anybody can look at his numbers. You know, I think he's at like a sixty five WRC plus for the year. He's not having the year he wants. He still needs to walk more. I mean, you gotta walk more. You have to. He can't run a two percent walk grate. I don't know. I mean you can go through major league history and look at like successful offensive players and how many of them ran a sub three percent walk grate. It's it's basically impossible to find. It just doesn't happen. So he has to walk more. Everybody knows that he's got to. And not only just walk more, he's got to take more bad pitches, even if they don't necessarily end and walks. He's just got to have better process where he's swinging at good pitches. Listen, when this dude swings it strikes and he makes contact, the ball can go forever. The dude's got light tower power. The dude, I mean he's got you know, he's got ability to hit all over the field. He can run like the wing. He's a great defender. He's literally this one thing away from being a great player. But it's such a big thing that if he doesn't do it, it could it could wreck his career. You know, I've talked about this a lot with Hobby Bayas, but this thing literally wrecked Hobby Bias' career. Despite all the talent in the world, all the defensive potential, all power in the world, if you don't fix this one thing, it can wreck you. And so great series from Mike, huge, huge hits. I mean won the game, one of the you know, other than Scott blew It. You know, the next hero in this team in this game was Michael Harris for sure, multiple at bets where he drove in runs, critical runs that the Braves would not have won without. So yeah, he needs his flowers for this series. Great series. Let's start to see better process. Let's start to see some more walks, you know, some more takes on bad pitches, get into good hitters, counts, and let your natural talent take over. Because he's still got a ton of natural talent, he really does. And if he can do it a little better, we could would see more series like this, you know, if he could take some more pitches, we would see more series like this, And that's what we all want. We want this. Michael Harris there was.

00:40:52
Speaker 1: One more hero in this game, and I think that it's an interesting player to discuss because you actually wrote about this over at Talking excuse me, Battery Power. You wrote about this over at Battery Power. You talked about what the usage the utilization of Drake Baldwin. You wrote about this about seven to ten days ago. And it's hard to sit Sean Murphy right now. We talk about the need for this offense to have as many good hitters as possible. Sean Murphy's clearly been one of our best so far this year. But Drake Baldwin coming through again in a big situation I think shows why even though he may be out there getting consistent play in time in terms of every day at bats, he still has a pretty frequent calling in big moments that I think allow for him to still get value out of his role for this team, and that is four plus times a week. He is an advantage to use off this bench. If Snicker makes the right call, he can be an advantage at the plate. And that's such a nice luxury for the Braves to have, is that whether Baldwin or Murphy you're starting, the other could be a nice late inning option to go to as a replacement or in a pitch hitting situation. And that's what Baldwin did. He hit a home run. I believe last night he got the game winning hit tonight. He is showing that even if he's not getting frequent playing time, he can still be ready in the right situation. And that is such a good measure of a player who's going to be able to contribute to the major leagues when his number is called. It was great to see him come through once again. And is a rookie, He's shown that he's made for the big moments. He's delivered time and time again.

00:42:30
Speaker 2: Yeah. Well, that's the question I posed in that article, was is this the best use of him? Right? Like? Is it? You know, he's basically starting two games a week. You know, at this rate, he's gonna get probably less than three hundred plate appearances on the year. Is that the good use of your top prospect? Are you sacrificing too much developmental time with him by him sitting on the bench so much? And one of the points I made in that article was the reason I think he keeps doing it and the Braves are keep being okay with it is because of the quality of the bats he's putting up despite the fact that he does not have consistent playing time or consistent plate appearances. It is not normal for a young a player this young to be able to do what he's doing. I've talked about this a lot before, but bench players are almost always veteran players because they're familiar and they are used to staying ready without consistent playing time. Young players are not. Young players need consistent playing time to maintain their level. And that's one of the things that makes what Drake Baldwin's doing so incredible, Because this dude is putting up ten year veteran at bats as a twenty four year old, despite getting like five six at bats a week. I really can't explain it. I mean, this dude's just an advanced, advanced hitter. And listen, Sean Murphy had a big hit to night. He hit that ball that went over the right fielder's head in the ninth inning that helped spark that rattle, and then of course Drake Baldwin came in and had the big hit in the eleventh. They need to win the game. As much as I think there is a legitimate argument that the brids are hurting his development by sitting him so much. I don't think you can. I don't think you can take him out of the role. He's just too good at it. I mean, the fact that his abats are this good or is insane. And if the quality of his advats had dropped it all after Sean Murphy came back, I would have said, send it back to Triple A. But they haven't. If anything, they've gone up. I mean, he had a home run in his one start of this series yesterday, and then he comes off the bench and his the game winning hit today. This kid's twenty four years old. It doesn't make sense. It doesn't make sense how good he is. And all the credit in the world to him, man, I mean, just an incredible, incredible player, way better than I thought he was. And that kid looks like he's a legitimate piece for the future.

00:44:52
Speaker 1: And and it's a rare situation where well, I think it's fair to discuss, you know, is it best for his development. It's clearly the best for the Braves to have him in the majors. Exactly, exactly, absolutely what it comes down to for this offense that struggles with so much inconsistency at least consistently having an option that you can feel competent in in Murphy or Baldwin Laden games to be able to utilize, and I'll give a stick credit he has utilized those two despite last night, he has mostly utilized those two in good ways when it comes to using them Laden games. I think that that's best for the Braves right now, you say you continue to go with it, Steven. As we wrap up this edision of the Hammer Territory podcast, one of the things discussed, and of course, that's the weekend series headed to Pittsburgh, one of the most beautiful ballparks in the Majors. There is one simple task that I asked for the Braves to get done, and it's a fancy way of saying that they need to win the series. This Braves team must be at five hundred or better by Sunday, no other way to say it. They're going into an opportunity where they clearly are the better team. I believe that they're going to be able to miss Paul Skins in this series as well. I know that the Pirates can still have some pretty good pitching to throw at you, but just in general, this Braves team needs to win this series and be at five hundred or better by Sunday. That's just absolutely what needs to occur.

00:46:16
Speaker 2: Yeah, the Pirates are are having a rough year. They just fired their manager today and I was reading some of the stuff that came out, and pretty much everybody was stunned that the GM wasn't fired along with the manager. Everybody kind of expected both guys to be fired. One of them got fired, the other one stayed. So that kind of tells you how you know how their season's going. They're twelve and twenty six. Paul Skins pitched on Tuesday, so technically he could pitch on Sunday if they wanted to skip a starter. But the Pirates didn't play today, so for him to pitch on Sunday, they would have to skip one of their starters to get him in. They don't typically do that with young pitchers, so Sean's point is correct. Most likely the Braves. The have not announced any pitching for the series, probably because they fired their manager today and they have other things to do so, but they haven't announced any of the three pitchers for the series yet. For the Braves, I think it's Elder smith Schovers Chris Saale are the three this weekend for the Braves. Listen. Normally I would say, come on here and tell you I don't feel great about Bryce Elder starting another major league game. But the kid has played, he's pitched so well, it's not fair to me to say that. And the Pirates are not good. They're a terrible offensive team, They're a terrible team in general. The Braves should win two out of three. And you know, I don't care how bad the team is. It's hard to expect more than that. But the Braves should win two out of three. Like Sean said, you win two out of three, you're back to five hundred by Sunday. That should be the expectation. Losing this series to the Pirates would be awful. The Braves are substantially better than the Pirates. Go win two out of three, get back to five hundred. Come you know, the schedule still remains pretty easy. I think it's Washington after Pittsburgh. So this is this part of the schedule where the Braves can make them hey and maybe even get I know this is crazy. I know this is crazy talk. Maybe even get above five hundred. I mean, could you imagine I can't. I mean I can't, but could you imagine above five hundred after starting zero to seven? That is technically possible if they take care of business against a couple of bad teams are about to play. So that's the goal. When two out of three in Pittsburgh get back to five hundred, you know you got Washington next, Get above five hundred and then take it from there and hopefully Strider's back. Acunya is almost back. You can really start to rewrite the narrative of this season.

00:48:50
Speaker 1: And it's not like you've seen an theyse scenarios here recently where the Braves were about to be five hundred, where Chris sail on the mound and he pitched very well, and then you haven't seen that here.

00:49:01
Speaker 2: Oh oh, I can't do that.

00:49:04
Speaker 1: You can't, you can't.

00:49:05
Speaker 2: We can't end this show in a negative. The Braves are gonna get back to five hundred this weekend.

00:49:11
Speaker 1: The Braves will be above five hundred when Monday rolls around.

00:49:14
Speaker 2: That's what I didn't say that. I said that get back to five hundred two of three, the Braves are that's what you're saying. You're saying, you're saying sleeping the Pirates.

00:49:24
Speaker 1: That's that's where we're at. The Braves are sweeping the pirates as long as long as no one snits the bed. Thank you so much for joining us here on the Hammer Territory Podcast. Always a pleasure to be with you. Make sure you check out all the great content at SAC when it comes to Twitter at the underscore outliers, Brad and Scott will be back with you Sunday recapping the series Sleep Hopefully of the Braves over the Pirates, and of course we are part of the Foul Territory family of podcasts. Make sure you check out all the great content YouTube, Spotify, Apple, wherever you choose to listen, that's where we'll be for free. Just hit that subscribe button and we'll be with you for Stephen Colbert. My name is Sean Coleman. Until next time, go breaks, We'll talk to you again soon here on the Hammer Territory Podcast