Some Questions Quickly Becoming Louder for Braves As Opening Day Nears

00:00:21
Speaker 1: Welcome one and all to the Hammer Territory Podcast.

00:00:24
Speaker 2: My name is Sean Coleman.

00:00:25
Speaker 1: Always a pleasure to be with you with my podcast partner, Stephen Tolbert. Stephen, may you talk about it consistently and for good reason. We're at that time of year, March madness is beginning, and you know, so far it's been fun to see some of these college basketball games. But good to talk with you is always Stephen. Another thing about it is, man, we are two weeks away from the start of the season for the Braves, and today we're going to talk about some questions that we had coming into spring training. Where do we kind of stand with those? But Stephen, before we get into those details, how are you, sir? Good evening to you, Sean.

00:01:01
Speaker 3: What's up? Brother? Yeah?

00:01:02
Speaker 4: Man? Two week let's you know, right at two weeks. Today's Thursday. We're recording on Thursday night. I think the opening day of the season is Thursday. I think we're right at two weeks. It's coming fast. You know, we say that spring training does trag on. You know, there's always storylines to talk about, which is what we're gonna focus tonight. Basically is kind of the spring storylines that we had at the beginning and where they stand. But we're we're coming up on it. It's gonna be here before you know it. And I just can't wait. I'm every time every year at this time, I just get I fall in love with baseball over all over again. You know, you watch spring training highlights, you see the guys, the bat and the ball, the sounds of the game. I'm just addicted to it. I love it so much and and so I can't I can't wait to get started. But yeah, we got some interesting things to talk about tonight. There's some things going on in camp that are not settled by any means, and you know how important they are is probably a case by case thing, but we're going to talk.

00:02:04
Speaker 3: About it today.

00:02:06
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I think that's settled is a very good way of putting it, because, you know, we'll just kind of give away you know what we're going to get at what We'll go ahead and provide you with the conclusion that we're going to come through talking through a few of these spring training story lines.

00:02:21
Speaker 2: At the beginning.

00:02:22
Speaker 1: The conclusion is is that there were several questions that the Braves came into spring training that remain unanswered, more questions than many of us had thought would still remaining when we looked at the when we looked earlier in the off season, and certainly more questions that were left unanswered when you compared to where we were as a team back last year, even the past two or three years. And the simple truth is those questions remain as we're now in the midst of spring training, and it's a bit unsettling that it's gotten a bit louder because what became clear with each and every day that we went without some type of notable addition to this squad in an area of need. The Braves were looking for internal improvement. They were looking for internal options to emerge to help answer some of these questions. Those internal options, yeah, you can name them, but they haven't answered the questions in my opinion. And when we talk about that we're settling in two spring training, settling in leading up to the season, the fact that those questions remain, Stephen, is what probably is the most unsettling thing about this spring training. I'll stop trying to use all these fancy words. The point that I'm getting at is the same questions that we had a month ago remain now and the fact that they're louder it doesn't give the best a confidence when it comes to going into the season.

00:03:40
Speaker 4: I mean, yeah, that's okay, that's where we are right now. I mean, you know, the easiest place to start is the bullpen, right, I mean we we said for four months that we were surprised the Braves haven't added anything significant to the bullpen because of what they lost, right, They lost Joe Mienez, they lost a j mentor you know, Jeff see Jabez moved on, and we just kept waiting and waiting and waiting for them to add a significant, high leverage reliever that still has not happened as of yet. And what they did instead was they went with this kind of army of you know, non roster invitee, you know, non guaranteed money guys who are on minor league deals and basically just kind of threw numbers at the problem and said, instead of going with quality, going and get a you know, a really high expensive guy on the free edge of market, we're gonna we're gonna throw quantity at the problem and just see if we can catch.

00:04:35
Speaker 3: Lighting in a bottle with one of these guys.

00:04:37
Speaker 4: And you know, Anderson Polar and on hel Perdomo, we're kind of two of the guys that everybody has been saying, no, no, these two guys are for real.

00:04:47
Speaker 3: You know.

00:04:47
Speaker 4: Just wait until we get the spring and you'll see how how real they are. Well, I mean, here we are two weeks in the spring, and I'll help Perdomo and Anderson Pilard don't look that great. To be honest, you know, I think they were hoping Perdomo's stuff would be a little bigger than it's been. You know, he had such massive strikeout numbers with Pittsburgh before he got hurt. You just really haven't seen that. I think he's got three strikeouts on the entire spring. Anderson Polar has had really good strikeout numbers, but he's given up a million bit, I mean, one trillion base runners. He'd be pitched today against the Phillies and it did not.

00:05:24
Speaker 3: Go well at all. He got rocked.

00:05:27
Speaker 4: I think he gave up a cycle and like the first the first four outs that he got, I think he gave up the cycle. So you know, those are the two of the big guys, and then you have all the NRI guys and Jake Deekman has not looked you know, he's looked average. Buck Farmer had a bad day to day, He's had a couple of bad outings. Day's bell has been okay, you know, nothing creaz like. They just don't We just don't have any answers. And you and I have talked about this before about there's just a few more questions that I'm comfortable with at the moment, especially around the pitching staff. And we'll get to the back end of the rotation in a minute, but the bullpen I think has to lead this off because this is the area where they did not add. They lost a lot, and they did not add outside of you know, a bunch of minor league guys, and they were really counting on Perdomo and Polar I think, to be better than they've been. And you know, if he read Bowman's piece the other day, I think he ham out yesterday about his projections. He didn't have Pardomo or Polar on his opening day bullpen projection. And there's a lot of people who don't right now have them because they haven't looked good. And so what happens, like, are they just gonna go with like four of these Nri guys are they gonna you know, we still haven't seen Hector Nerris Buck Farmer has not looked great. Like I don't know. I don't know if you have an opinion, I don't know what they're gonna do. Like I mean, David Robertson is still out there technically, and there's obviously always trades. But like if you look at the names and the performances in house in spring so far, I have a lot of questions, and we were kind of hoping by now we would get we would have a few more answers, and we just don't. And I think if you've got Alex and Thopless in an honest moment, he would tell you they were hoping they would have more answers by now, or these guys that look better that could at least be projectable for the opening day roster and then you know, early in the season before you could make trades.

00:07:32
Speaker 3: So I don't know, I don't know what you think.

00:07:33
Speaker 4: But I have, specifically around the bullpen, I still have the exact same number of questions I had when we started.

00:07:42
Speaker 1: So I've been on record saying when it comes to the bullpen, I haven't been as worried about the bullpen, you know in the past when I talked about it, because that's one area where Alex and Thopless has shown when I say he's a master of the move on the margins probably the one area that he is beyond, you know, getting guys who are underperforming offensively and we're them to Atlanta and they can you know, get back to where you know they were, you know, at good points of their career previously. He's done that before, you know, with with bullpen guys being able to trade for guys I mean, joejimen Is, Pierce Johnson, Aaron Bummer are all examples of that. But that's mint season or you know, in case of Bummer it was the off season and Joe.

00:08:16
Speaker 2: Himans as well. But that's what he's done.

00:08:17
Speaker 1: He's been able to go get guys who've underperformed and come here and have done better. But you haven't seen that be at the first of spring training. It's a little bit harder to do that, I feel at the first of spring training. And the other thing that kind of stands out to me, Stephen is that with how much Alexanthopolis has spent on the bullpen in the past and how much he's put emphasis on having depth in his bullpen in the past. The fact that we have neither one of those things where you question the quality of the back end of the bullpen plus the depth overall, that to me is the biggest indicator, is to while they may not speak to it, there is limitations right now when it comes to what they can add financially. That just this, the fact that they have not gone out and got more security, more certainty for the bullpen is what basically makes me think that that is a legit question because the legit answer is that they do have restrictions. So I don't necessarily know if that's going to be a hindrance going into the season. And I feel that Alexanthopolis, certainly, can you know, structure this bullpen as we go along, But you've already got questions about the back end of your rotation, which we're about to get into. If those guys struggle, you've got to rely heavily on your bullpen to start the season. But you can't rely on your bullpen because it's uncertain. Then you're getting into a slippery slope heer where quickly you could find yourself you know, with a pretty bad pitching situation, and that could really hurt you when you need to get off to a good start for the season.

00:09:49
Speaker 4: Yeah, listen, I mean, you know, Iglesias and Bummer and Dylan Lee and Piters Johnson could come out in the first month and just be lights out right and and the Braves barely notice the back end of their bullpen. But it's hard to say right now that there's any confidence. You know, there are people that don't have confidence in Aaron Bummer, there are people that don't have confidence in Pierce Johnson. Like I I probably have a little more comment, like I think the four, the top four is good, or at least it can be good, and also it can be bad too, that's how bullpens work.

00:10:25
Speaker 3: But the next four.

00:10:28
Speaker 4: You know, I'm not as big as a believer in Day's bell as a lot of other people are. I might be wrong, he could be awesome. I'm just not there yet, and I haven't seen anything from any of these other guys to give me any level of confidence. And how much that hurts the Braves is going to be depending on how much they need these guys, Like you just said, Like you know, you can go through stretches where your starters are doing really well and you're only using like your top four or five relievers for a stretch because the offense is kicking butt, the starters are doing great and you don't really need it. You can also go through stretches where you have multiple starters only go three innings, and now you've got to cover a bunch of bulk innings. Well, now you got to use the other guys, and it gets it can get, you know, dicey quick. So I am still stunned. I mean, I'm gonna be just completely honest, I'm still stunned that this is the group of pictures we have in camp.

00:11:22
Speaker 3: I can't.

00:11:24
Speaker 4: I've said it all off season. I thought they would add to the bullpen. I thought they would add to the rotation. I'm I'm I'm frankly stunned that they haven't. I thought there was very clear need. I think they tried. You know, we got reports about Jeff Hoffman and other stuff. I do think they tried, but like obviously you get judged on the results, and obviously they didn't. They they haven't added anything significant, and I'm stunned by that. I really am I'm I still can't believe when I look at the names when Bowman puts out his projection and I look at the names in the bullpen, I can't believe those are the names. And you know, every time I watch Ian Anderson pitch, I can't believe that he's going to start for the Braves.

00:12:03
Speaker 3: Probably we'll get to that in a second, but that's kind of where we are.

00:12:07
Speaker 4: And the top end of this roster might be so good that it that it protects them from this stuff, or they could really it can really they can really pay for it. We'll just have to see out how how how it goes when the season starts. But the bullpen specifically is an area where I'm I'm just as concerned as I was when spring training started, where I thought they needed another arm, and I still think that.

00:12:32
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I think the easy way to look at this is that, you know, this team is just one more injury away from being in a really concerning spot with its pitching staff. If if one of our you know, if Seal or Schwellenbach or Ronaldo Lopez get hurt, or Iglacias or Piis Johnson or Bummer get hurt, that puts us in an even more unsettling situation, a situation in which it again really I'm not going to use the word dire, but it really could put us in a concern spot when it comes to the reliability of our pitching staff. And that's what stands out to me, especially when you consider the facts, the lack of luck that we've had on the injury side of things over the past few years. And again when Stephen says that he's stunned that we've not added to the bullpen, it's not to be dramatic, not just to you know, he's not just saying that on a whim. The real reason why he's stunned is because again of how much emphasis alex and thoughtless, how much money he's spent on having a quality bullpen in the past. But that to me also is what stands out, is that when we talk about these questions remaining in them getting louder in spring training, there's another statement that gets.

00:13:38
Speaker 2: Louder as well.

00:13:39
Speaker 1: This team, unfortunately is one injury away to where especially to the pitching staff, they could really really be struggling to find reliable arms and you don't want to be in that position to start the season.

00:13:52
Speaker 4: Right exactly, and listen, I don't want to pay two dollars of a picture again. There's a conversion of the twenty twenty five first couple of month of the season where this doesn't hurt the Braves at all. I mean, if Spencer Strider comes back and Sail and Swollen back and Lopez and all the guys look great, and the back you know, the back end guys of the bullpen, Iglesias and Bummer and Lee all look great, this might not affect them on all. This might not matter at all. There's a real possibility that that's what happens. The top end talent of this team is still very high. But you know, the way my brain works is I'm always thinking about, well, what happens if this good? You know, if this goes wrong, if one thing goes wrong, what happens? And I just I don't feel terribly secure in like Plan B, Plan A is still really damn good. And that's the top four guys in the rotation and the top four guys in the bullpen kind of carrying the load.

00:14:49
Speaker 3: That's really good.

00:14:49
Speaker 4: That the Braves are in as good as spot as anybody, and you can look around baseball. You know, knock on wood, the Braves have been relatively healthy this spring, especially in the pitching staff. You know, they really haven't had anything significant pop up on that side of the ball. A lot of teams can't say that. I mean, my god, the National the American League East has been just ravaged with pitching injuries to spring, the Yankees specifically, So they've been relatively healthy. And if those if they're top four guys in the bullpen and their top four guys in the rotation can carry the day, then that's fine. But you remember, Spinster Strider is not gonna be there for the first month, and you know they're gonna need multiple guys.

00:15:29
Speaker 3: You know.

00:15:29
Speaker 4: Obviously they're people that believe in Grant Holmes. I'm still not quite there with Grant Holmes, but I can be convinced very very quickly, very easily, if he if he proves the Braves right and as good as as they think he is. So I don't want to pay too dire of a picture. I don't want to get crazy with this. There's a version where it doesn't hurt them at all, but there's also a version where it's it can get very bad because I think they've left I think they've left themselves open to having a very questionable bullpen.

00:15:59
Speaker 3: And that's really the first time.

00:16:00
Speaker 4: I could say that Alex has always been so aggressive with that specific unit. This is one of the first times I can say I feel like they've left themselves open to being battle in that unit. And we'll just have to see which version. You know, which version of the bullpen starts the year. But there's a world Ward's bad. There's also a world Ward's good. But I think for the first time in a long time, I think there's almost as much of a chances of being either average or below average then there is being good. And we're just not used to that with the Braves, with Alex Atdoppolins and the way he usually built bullpens.

00:16:38
Speaker 1: Yeah, and if you look at last year and say look at all that we endured, you know, we talked about planing a playing bole last year.

00:16:44
Speaker 2: We were on playing a H G H I, F JK.

00:16:48
Speaker 1: You go through the alphabet. We were on that plan and we still made the playoffs. But the thing about it is with expanded playoffs, listen and being that team that could still make a playoffs despite a lot of different things they're working through. That's to me, that's that impressive. The Marlins made the playoffs as recently as twenty twenty three. There's a big difference between oh, well, you went through all this and he's still made the playoffs versus what are you doing to be a little JIT World Series title contender. I expect for the Braves to be in the conversation of the JIT World Series Title contenders, and I just feel that right now there's got to be a lot to go right for Atlanta. Then, you know, we really had hoped for there to be. We wanted to go right obviously, but if it doesn't, the question has really become louder. And the other part of the equation when it comes to looking at the pitching side of things, is the fifth starter spot is the back end of the rotation. And I think Grant Holmes has shown I don't think that he's been just absolutely spectacular this spring. I think he's been steady. I think that he's been fine. I think Grant Holmes has been to the level of you know, every you know, every three to four out of five times he's on the mound, he's going to put the Braves in a position to win. He's already shown that he can do that. That's fine for me as a staller, Anderson have to hope that maybe he can get through the lineup two times in a game, not walk more than five people, and hopefully we live at the opposition to three to four runs and then the offense takes off and he's put in a position to where he can help us win. That's not that confident in my opinion of a setup for the back into the Braves rotation, especially again, if we've talked multiple times this season about there being some legitimate questions about.

00:18:21
Speaker 2: The top end of the brace current rotation.

00:18:27
Speaker 4: Yeah, listen, in a lot of ways, it's gonna come down to Grant Holmes because I do feel comfortable with Sale and Swollenback and Lopez. I know Lopez hasn't had a great spring, but you know, somebody who is as veteran as he is, I really, I really.

00:18:41
Speaker 3: Don't worry about it.

00:18:42
Speaker 4: I mean, I feel like once the season starts, he's just gonna kind of get right back into you know, regular season mode for him. So the top three I feel good about. I've gone on record, I'm not any and or some believer. I know, he's got a really low you know, he's got an ERA in the two and the two the spring. But if you look at literally any other number that we judge pictures by phip X, FIP, strikeout rate, walk rate, you know, left on base percentage, batting average on balls, you look at any of that stuff, he's having a really bad spring. The only place he's not having a bad spring is era. And it's not even so much about the spring stats is just the process does not inspire any confidence. Like he's not striking anybody out, he has very little command. You know, right now he's surviving because the opposition has like a batting average on balls in play that's like below one hundred. Well that, I mean everyone know. I mean this is kind of like the Bryce Elder thing from a couple of years ago. Like everyone knows that there is nothing sustainable about pitching like that. It's just a matter of when it bites you. It's not if, it's just when. And so like when you know, people see the ra and like, well, you know Ian Anderson's having a great spring, He's I mean, he's just he's not having a great spring. He's having you know, he's having a relatively lucky spring relative to how all of his other peripherals look. And there's just nothing in his stuff, in his command that inspires much confidence, quite honestly.

00:20:14
Speaker 3: But he's the fifth starter.

00:20:15
Speaker 4: So if Grant Holmes pitch as well, then you can live with like if if he if everybody else is good and Ian Anderson sucks, you can you can probably you can live with that until Spitzer Strider gets back.

00:20:25
Speaker 3: You really can't.

00:20:26
Speaker 4: I mean, there's a there's a lot of good teams that don't have five good starters. So that's where Grant Holmes becomes so important because if he's good, then it matters a lot less. And that's kind of what I'm you know, that's where it's gonna come down to. Ian Anderson may surprise me and may come out and you know, I think his first game is gonna be against the Dodgers, so we're gonna learn. We're gonna find out very quickly, and he may surprise me. But I I I'm not a believer, but again I can be convinced. But I think Grant Holmes is the lynchpin of this. And if he comes out and has good starts of the year and can bridge the gap to Strider coming back, then a lot of my concerns go away. It's if both Anderson and Homes are bad, and if the Braves are trying to do another kind of round of six man rotation where they use another guy on top of those two before you get back to the top of the rotation, That's where I get concerned. And I just don't love the depth. If I'm being honest, I do like aj Smith Schawver. I'm much more of a believer in him than I am in your incident. But yeah, I'm just I was hoping to add a starter in this offseason, That's what I was hoping. I was hoping they'd add somebody more proven, more you know, consistent than than what they have now.

00:21:39
Speaker 3: And they didn't. So now we're kind of dealing with that.

00:21:44
Speaker 1: Yeah, And the other thing that stands out to me is this. You know, we've talked about the bullpen, we talked about the starting pitching. You know, Orlando Arcia at the shortstop position is not having a great spring himself. I don't think that, you know, if you were hoping for some type of you know, mini breakout from a Brian Da La Cruz or a Jared Kellnick to show that they may be able to take on and every day we're on the outfield, we haven't seen that either the point that I'm getting that Stephen, we have not seen that unexpected, really positive development from a player so far this spring that we feel could fit a spot or feel a need unexpectedly. And we're in a position where we had really hoped that that would emerge, but none of that has happened.

00:22:25
Speaker 2: I think that one of the biggest.

00:22:27
Speaker 1: Storylines of spring training so far is that that has not happened. And again we're sitting here talking about the same things that we've talked about time and time again this offseason.

00:22:38
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, it depends on how much you believe in Nick Allen. I guess he's been the only one that's kind of or Sandy Leone. You know, maybe you're a big Sandy Leone fan and you love how he lead lead leads the team in homers. But let's be honest that neither one of those guys is gonna play. You know, maybe I'm wrong, maybe they actually are, you know, have or do Orcia in a competition for starting shortstop I don't believe it. I think he's just gonna be the starter. What you were really hoping for was somebody on the bullpen side, or maybe Ian Anderson, somebody'd have a really like explosive spring, a really you know, like all inspiring spring, and it would make you feel better about some of the questions they had on that side of the ball. And that just hasn't happened. It doesn't mean they're going to be bad by any stretch. It doesn't mean that. But like you said, we just haven't had There's no pleasant surprises, I guess is the easiest way to put it. There's been no like, oh my god, look at this guy. You know, I knew he could be good, but man, he looks unbelievable. You know, again, it might not matter. The top end of this roster is so damn good. The top end of this roster is so unbelievably good. You know, they got good news with a jerism profile injury. It looks like he's going to be there for opening day. The top fifteen guys on this roster are so unbelievably good.

00:23:59
Speaker 3: It might not matter. It really might.

00:24:01
Speaker 4: Those top fifteen guys until Strider and a cuon you come back, could just carry the load and nobody even notices anybody else on the roster.

00:24:09
Speaker 3: And if that happens, none of this matters.

00:24:12
Speaker 4: But if they get into a situation where a few guys start out cold, you know, bad performances in April, and they actually do need those last ten players on their roster, that's where I have concerns because I don't love I love the roster through like one through fifteen sixteen. It's after that then I have a lot of questions. And we'll just have to see if they need those guys. They might not, and if they don't, that would be fantastic. But yeah, we just haven't seen that, like really pleasant surprise come in spring training and take a job or answer a question that we had when we started this thing.

00:24:48
Speaker 3: It could still happen.

00:24:49
Speaker 4: The Braves could still make a move, by the way, they could still add somebody, they could trade. You know, there's still guys on the fridge. Technically they could still add.

00:24:59
Speaker 2: Every day.

00:24:59
Speaker 4: It doesn't, it becomes less and less likely, but we'll see, We'll see what happens.

00:25:06
Speaker 2: Well.

00:25:07
Speaker 1: I think the thing though, as we wrap up this edition in the Hammer Territory podcast. I think the full circle that we're kind of seeing comes back to what alex Enthopolis has positioned to be the calling card of this team, and that's the offense.

00:25:20
Speaker 2: And what I mean with that is the fact that.

00:25:22
Speaker 1: To your point, if the offense lives up to what it's capable of, a lot of these questions don't need to be asked.

00:25:29
Speaker 2: But one of three things has.

00:25:31
Speaker 1: To happen in my opinion, And when I say has to happen, I mean it has to happen in my opinion for us to get off the start.

00:25:38
Speaker 2: That we want to.

00:25:38
Speaker 1: Number One, if we hit home runs at at least a top of the league level, not saying historical level like we did in twenty twenty three, but at the top of the league level. That's one thing that really hampered us last year was we just did not hit home runs at a consistent enough rate to hide our other deficiencies. If we hit home runs through the top of the league, I think, what fine.

00:26:00
Speaker 2: That's one.

00:26:01
Speaker 1: The second thing is what if we, like we did in twenty twenty three, had a historic season when it came to first meaning production that puts our pitchers in such a better position when they're pitching with the lead that really helps them out, and being able to work through counts, trust their stuff, what have you. So starting off games, have an offense get going early really really helps out. The third thing is a massive improvement from where we regress the most last year, and that's timely hitting with runners in scoring position, making the mode of opportunities when runners are on base. If multiple of those three things, three aspects of our offense wind up being in a good position, we could be in a really good spot to start the season. But if none of those things happen, then again, I don't think it's dire, but we potentially start putting ourselves in a hole to where it's going to be really hard to come out of to be in a favorable position when it comes to the postseason. I think the Brays are going to make the postseason. I think they're one of the favorites in the National League.

00:27:05
Speaker 2: That's not going to change.

00:27:06
Speaker 1: But the point that I'm getting at is all these questions that we have about other parts of the team, if the offense performs well, those questions become much much less silent. But the need for the offense to perform well, is a must, and if it doesn't, then you're probably going to see even more questions start to arise.

00:27:28
Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly, I mean that's what I yeah.

00:27:29
Speaker 4: I mean, do the best fifteen players on this roster, which a lot of them are offensive players, do they carry the day? Do they carry most of the load? And if they do, this team could win one hundred and five games.

00:27:45
Speaker 3: This team could.

00:27:46
Speaker 4: I mean, this team still has an absurd amount of talent. Just all of us still have PTSD from last year when so many of their best players didn't play well and they had to lean on guys nobody was expecting to lean on and we saw the up and down season they had, and so for a lot of us, we're like, well, if they have to do that again, if they have to lean on guys, well, the depth of this team, like the last ten players on the roster, there's a lot of questions on those ten guys. If you know, eleven guys and so you know, like you just said, we just need Austin Riley and Matt Olsen and Jerepson Profar and Michael Harris and Ozzy Albi's we need Marcello Zuna. Those players need to be the Braves' best players and Chris Sale and Schwellenbach and Lopez and Iglesias and Bummer and if those guys are awesome, none of this matters. None of it matters. The Braves are gonna win a ton of games, and that's before you even get a Kunyan Strider back. If those guys struggle, and now you're leaning more onto your depth like it happened most of last year, the questions are gonna get louder because of how little the Braves did this offseason.

00:28:54
Speaker 3: And that's where we are, and.

00:28:56
Speaker 4: We'll just see which version kicks off the year, and again they might they may still add. You know, we're not technically through the period of the winter, the arm sorry, the spring where teams add. We're actually coming up on that now. As guys don't win jobs with other clubs, they get released. You know, the Braves are gonna have a lot of forty man shuffling to do when the season starts because of how many NRI guys they have and and potentially are going to be on the roster. So I still think there's gonna be a decent amount of shakeup and they could add. But yeah, like you said, if the top of the roster does its job, most of these questions become substantially less important.

00:29:36
Speaker 2: Absolutely, and and you know, again putting faith in those guys, and it's easy to do.

00:29:42
Speaker 1: It's just with a bit more caution because of last year and also kind of what we've seen as time has gone on. See even anything else from you As we wrap up this edition of the Hammer Territory podcast.

00:29:53
Speaker 4: Nope Selection Sunday is two days away, three days away, so I can't wait. You know, Braves obviously continuing spring training. If you missed, by the way, I do want to give a shout out to Brandon Golden, play by play guy for the Braves. He came on the podcast with Scott a couple of days ago. If you missed that out, I think it's actually the last episode in the feed. So if you missed that episode, Brandon, you know, gave us like a forty minute interview, talked about.

00:30:19
Speaker 3: A wide range of stuff.

00:30:21
Speaker 4: Brandon's actually been on the show a couple of times, so big shout out to him.

00:30:24
Speaker 3: We really appreciate the time.

00:30:26
Speaker 2: That's great.

00:30:27
Speaker 3: Yeah, a lifelong Braves fan.

00:30:31
Speaker 4: I've you know, I play by play guys can can sometimes it can be a thankless job and you get a lot of criticism. I thought he's I think he's done an incredible job since he's been the main guy. I thoroughly enjoy Braves broadcast, which I couldn't always say before Brandon got there, So big shout out to him, and you know, to come on the show, and for anybody else, you know, if you're just now finding us, obviously it's me and Sean and Brad and Scott are the four man team, and we'll be here all season and all hopefully postseason, and then all winter and then all spring and then all season. It's a three hundred and sixty five day podcast. We give content every week, usually three or four times a week, so make sure you're subscribed, and we appreciate the last two months have been some of our biggest shows, biggest weeks, biggest months ever. You guys have been incredible. Even though it wasn't the busiest all season for the Braves, you guys were incredible, So big, big thank you to the fans. And season's coming, so I'm unbelievably.

00:31:34
Speaker 1: Excited, absolutely, and we love the support because I feel like that there is a connection there because you know, the folks who are kind enough to listen to this podcast, support this podcast, They're just like us in terms of the fact they're listening for the same reason that we're creating the content. We love the Braves and that's why we're here, and we'll continue to obviously talk about them, and hey, when we get to talking about games, that's when it gets about as good as you can get it. For Steven Tolbert, you can find him at b Undersquare Outliers on Twitter slash x. My name is Sean Coleman at Stat's Sac on Twitter slash x. You can find foul Territory across all forms of social media part of the Hammer or part of the Hammer Territory across all forms of social media, part of the foul Territory family of podcasts. So many great podcasts out there on foul Territory. Make sure to check out each and every one of them. Until next time, go Braves, We'll talk to you again soon here on the Hammer Territory podcast.