Full Transcript for First Look At Potential Braves Free Agent Targets

And on the hitting side, it's, it's profile. It's, They signed Marcelo Zuna, and that was kind of a weird one, but it was a short-term deal first, then the long-term deal. They've paid guys eventually. They traded for Chris Sale. They paid Chris Sale, but on one-year deals. They've paid Charlie Morton on one-year deals. It's just not in Alex's... I don't want to say in his character, but it hasn't been in Alex's tool chest to go out and pay four years $ 100 million for Player X. We've just literally never seen that. And that's kind of crazy given how long Alex has been the league executive of the Atlanta Braves. And they have some big contracts on the books. I mean, Austin Riley's contract is going to be a topic all winter long. But that was an extension. Same with Strider. Same with Matt Olsen. Whatever you want to say. So, I mean, I don't want to poo-poo it. I do want to talk about players that we think the Braves should try to pursue. I remember you and I doing like 10 episodes of Willie Adamas a couple winters ago. Oh, yeah. And they didn't sign Willie Adamas. And there's been some guys that they flirted with. And they just haven't ever done it. So I don't even know where I'm going here other than just to say, maybe now, maybe. But also, spoiler alert, we'll get to the players in a second. This is not an inspiring for Asian class. I'm sorry, everybody. It's not. So hold on to your hats. 00:07:14 Speaker 2: The pitching side is mildly interesting. There are some good arms here. And as we're going to talk about, I think the Braves very clearly need to add two impact proven type of starting pitchers this off season. One of them could be Tyler Malley. And then there's about a half dozen others who would, I would say are definitive needle movers one way or the other. And then on the hitting side, it's even less. There's really not a lot of, of great hitting. There are a couple of outfielders, which is interesting because of course the Braves could use a hitting outfielder, especially in the field. They could use a DH type who could rotate in the outfield. So there are some options in free agency, but as we've kind of outlined, I think fans who follow the Braves closely are, Alex Anthopoulos has never been the one with the Braves to take the big swing in free agency. Back in the day with the Blue Jays, he was riverboat Alex. He was moving big deals. He was making big trades. He was very, very aggressive and thought outside the box a lot when he was with Toronto. With the Braves, while sure, they have done a good job of winning on the field, it has been almost the exact opposite of that. Alex has become about as risk averse and conservative of a general manager or president of baseball operations that you are going to see in the majors. I'm not saying that every free agent deal, you have to go make it. You mentioned Willie Adamas. 00:08:32 Speaker 1: Well, guess what? 00:08:33 Speaker 2: The Giants would sell their souls to get off of Willie Adamas'

contract, and there's still five or six years to go on it. But for every Willie Adamas that blows up, there is a Zach Wheeler contract, which you and I have been banging the table for years now of how much we would love to get Zach Wheeler in Atlanta. Lo and behold, he's been maybe the best pitcher in baseball since he signed with the Phillies. That was an obvious one of a local hometown guy who the Braves whiffed on. And, you know, you can say, well, you can't pay these big contracts to players. But if you're going to give Ha Sung Kim 20 million bucks, there is money to spend. You just have to spend it a little more efficiently. 00:09:09 Speaker 1: And that will be a theme of our competitions over the next several weeks and months as to how they allocate the money. I know our show and also Stephen and Sean, like we've referenced the bullpen spending. That'll be a topic that we get to even on this show, because Rossell Iglesias is a free agent, and that will be a conversation we have to have. But that's kind of the table setting. The rest of the show, we're going to get into some names, some pitching free agents, some position players that actually make sense. Will it make sense for us to talk about a first baseman? Probably not. There are some players you can kind of, catchers are probably a cross off. There's a reason why. So we'll be economical, but we're going to do some names. I promise you. But that's the table setting. Scott, before we do that, though, a shout out to our friends at Fastenal today. Fastenal, industrial supplies, innovative solutions. If you want to learn more, visit Fastenal.com. As noted, LB Trade Rumors has this top 10 free agent power rankings and like kind of a top 25 or so because they did a bunch of honorable mentions. They didn't do projections. They're going to have that later in the winter. But as you showed this to me first, I would say a decent chunk of the guys do make some sense for the Braves. You want to go position by position? Is that the easiest thing to do? I would say probably. 00:10:27 Speaker 2: I think so. It's, it is easy to segment them into a couple of groups. And you know, it's funny though, of the top 10 free agents, I think like eight of them actually make legitimate sense for the Braves. I'm not saying Alex is going to go sign three of these guys, but they kind of make sense based on what they need. And then in that second group, that 11 to 25 group there again, like half of them would make sense for what the Braves need. 00:10:50 Speaker 1: I agree. Let's just start. I referenced this player earlier. He's number one with a bullet. Tarek Scouble. He is fantastic. He has maybe some elbow issues. He's going to get a lot of money, maybe from the Dodgers. If Mark Walter is still allowed to spend money federally, maybe he'll be allowed to go back and do that. But I say that because... If there is one thing that I would be genuinely surprised at Alex ever doing, it would be giving like $ 300 million

to a starting pitcher. 00:11:22 Speaker 2: Yeah. 00:11:22 Speaker 1: And that's what it's going to cost. So is it even worth talking about that beyond now? Like he'd be awesome on the Braves. 00:11:28 Speaker 2: I would, I would. 00:11:30 Speaker 1: Okay. So if you're a new listener, you probably didn't hear this back in what July. I think there was a real case. The Braves should have traded for Tarek Scooble in the middle of last season. 00:11:41 Speaker 3: Yeah. 00:11:42 Speaker 1: Because they had the money to spend. They didn't have to re-sign him for it to make sense. They were kind of pushing in to try to win the World Series. That was reasonable. What isn't probably reasonable in the real world, where I like to live in the real world, I think we do on this podcast, generally speaking, is thinking that Alex is going to give him eight years and $ 300 million. Yeah. I don't know. Maybe more than that. 00:12:03 Speaker 2: I am sure Alex will make a phone call to Tarek and his agent, and I think that's probably where it ends. 00:12:07 Speaker 1: So yeah. 00:12:08 Speaker 2: Hey, if If we get a real rumor of like, hey guys, like honest to God, the Braves are in on this, I would be stunned. 00:12:13 Speaker 1: You would be stunned. 00:12:14 Speaker 2: Everybody listening and watching would be stunned. But yeah, we probably, I probably won't do a deep, deep dive on Tarek Scouble and what he would look like in a Braves uniform. Yes, this is intentionally, this episode will be intentionally top level anyway. But that's, if we get a rumor, I promise our listeners, we will do a deeper dive on Tarek Scouble if there actually is credible intel on the Braves being in on him. Yes. 00:12:37 Speaker 1: I promise we'll do that. Until then, probably not. So before we go actually to the list, let's just say the name Tyler Malley and just get it out of the way. So we talked about Tyler Malley already. We did. Sean and Steven did. He's the incumbent free agent. The Braves traded for him. He was awesome. You already said the correct number of starters the Braves need, and that is at least two. And that includes maybe Tyler Malley, but at least two. I think he probably is the most logical starter Cause they already had him in the building. He seemed to like it here. He said as much on the record on the way out the door to the winter. I don't know what that looks like. And he is not in the top 10. And that makes reasonable sense. Like as good as he was with Atlanta, he has not always been that good, which is why he was available for the price he was available for. But I wanted to just kind of put him almost to the side. Cause like we agree, the brave should be trying to pursue Tyler Mallory, not at any cost, but at reasonable costs, they should try to pursue Tyler Mallory. 00:13:37 Speaker 2: Yes? 00:13:38 Speaker 1: Absolutely. Yes. 00:13:39 Speaker 2: And I'm really curious to see what trade rumors and fan graphs and ESPN project for a contract for Tyler Malley.

And to be clear, you do not want to overpay for three really good months with the Braves. Malley throughout his whole career has been fine. He's had some injuries, but whenever he's been on a mound, he's been decently effective. But you do not want to pay the August, September, October tax on Tyler Malley too much. So Brad, let me throw a contract at you for Tyler Malley. I did not prep you on this. I will give everybody listening and watching a moment to form their opinion. But Tyler Malley, a three-year contract, $ 18 million per. So three years, $ 54 million. He is 32 years old, so you'd get him for his early, mid-30s. What would you say to that? 00:14:32 Speaker 1: I'd say that is fine. That would be my response. Obviously I would say more words on that on the podcast, but that would be my reaction is that I think that's a reasonable deal for him. I, in your heart of hearts, you're always hoping to get a bargain. Like maybe he, maybe, maybe you get him for three for 15 per instead of 18 per whatever the number is. I think some people are going to be surprised, but it's not much. Every time we talk about a free agent pitcher in particular, it's like, Whoa, that guy makes what? But then you look at the market, And what guys generally get paid and go into, I mean, last one we exhausted on this, but you know, your crisp assets and all these guys who were in a similar range to Tyler Malley is now they all were projected to get something in that range. And that's what it is. I mean, even with the weird start to the season for Tyler Malley, I think fan graphs, I just looked it up. He was worth $ 17 million of fan graphs this year, despite having a pretty bad first half of the season. He had a $ 30 million season. with the Reds a few years ago. Like if he's the, the version of he was the version of him with the Braves is a 25 plus million dollar pitcher. 00:15:34 Speaker 2: Yeah. 00:15:35 Speaker 1: Now is he, is he that good? I don't necessarily know, but I think that's the right ballpark. I also will be fascinated to see what he's projected to get. Maybe he takes a little bit less to stay in Atlanta. I don't know, especially if they get it done fast. Now, the longer it goes, we're recording this in mid October, the longer it goes, the less likely is that he's taking less to stay. Because once you hit the market, you hit the market. But we've said this once before. I will say it again now and probably too many times in this cycle. The weirdest of this winter, I will not claim to know how the market's going to go because of the pending lockout and the uncertainty about the spending. Maybe this is a team. Maybe this is a buyer's market. 00:16:15 Speaker 2: I don't know. 00:16:17 Speaker 1: I'm really unclear. But if you told me the Braves blue box Tyler Mallee in a week and that's the number, my reaction is like, okay. Solid deal. I'm not fist pumping. I'm not dancing in the streets about the huge value the Braves got, nor am I like crying that they overpaid. I think that's a very reasonable investment. Yeah, totally. 00:16:36 Speaker 2: Yeah, I agree with you. I probably wouldn't want to go super beyond a three-year $ 18 million contract. I care more about the years than the dollars, as is the case with most free agents. But, you know, we try to be. reasonable with our projections because usually in order to win a free agent bidding war of some kind, you got to give an extra year. You got to give a few. 00:16:56 Speaker 1: Extra million dollars. That's the Alex Anthopoulos story, right? That's the Alex story. He doesn't, he doesn't want to go the extra mile on players. That's always the knock on him. 00:17:03 Speaker 2: So, so then you end up with a $ 65 million bullpen. So there, there you go. Okay. 00:17:10 Speaker 1: Moving on from that. So you have school at the top, Mallory kind of the side. Now the players that are in this top 10 are, The highest rated, and this is just one person's list, but Trevor Rodgers. Trevor Rodgers is going to be 29 soon. Former first round pick, talented pitcher, was excellent last season. I know you've always liked Trevor Rodgers. We talked about him a little bit during the season last year. He's the highest rated mortal. If Scooble's not a mortal, Trevor Rodgers is closer to mortal. He's the one that like, okay, highest rated of the guys who seem somewhat reasonable for the Braves to try to acquire. 00:17:48 Speaker 2: Yeah, Trevor Rogers was a name at the deadline I was really hoping Atlanta was going to get. As more and more names were coming off the board, I'm like, okay, maybe Alex is just holding out for Baltimore to trade Trevor Rogers. And of course, they weirdly hung on to him but sold other guys. Who knows? Maybe they want to keep Trevor around. He's very good. He has been very good the last two years. You mentioned former first-round pick with Miami. Had some injuries that basically wiped out three years from 22, 23, and 24. But He's been as good as basically the non-elites the last two seasons. Has been very, very effective from the left side. I think trade rumors have the idea that Rodgers might get a four or five year contract. Maybe around $ 100 million. Again, as we talked about off the top, that is a big investment. But, you know, candidly, I have not done two hours of deep dive research into Trevor Rodgers. But on the surface, everything looks really good. I remember he just mowed the Braves down at Camden a couple of months ago. I think it was a mid July start and he just crushed the Braves. So I'm not holding my breath for these big dollar, especially pitchers, but I would love Trevor Rogers in Atlanta. Yeah. 00:18:57 Speaker 1: And he's probably a guy who gets a qualifying offer. So that's attached to him. It'll be able, I mean, he's, he's young enough where you can give him a five-year deal. If you want to, that kind of thing is interesting. I think he'll get a lot of money. And also he is, this is his first time through free agency

because of the age he is. So like, he's going to want to get paid. This is his first, this is time to cash in as he should. So we'll see how that goes. So Freddie Peralta is, as we're talking right now, still pitching in the playoffs with the Rays. And he was really good with the Brewers, had some weirdness this year with the Mets that went to our benefit as Mets haters. Then he goes to Tampa and is suddenly really good again because the Rays are wizards and they fixed him right away and he's been good. There was reporting... I think we... Right, this happened. The Braves were tied to him a little bit. Yes. Last winter. Loosely. 00:19:49 Speaker 2: I mean... not a big surprise because i mean first of all shout out to the milwaukee brewers who just find that they're a machine and every every off season milwaukee loses a really good player like freddie peralta and they just get better and better and better i i don't understand it they lost david stearns a couple years ago to the mets And the Mets have been a disaster under Stearns, and the Brewers just keep going and going and going. They're in the World Series. They swept the Dodgers. They beat the Dodgers into the ground. But yes, I do think, to get back to your original point before my 30-second shout-out to the Brewers, yes, I do remember some loose reporting of, hey, the Braves are interested, and then the Mets gave up a pretty nice haul to get Peralta, even if it blew up on them. 00:20:31 Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, if he's the guy he's been with Tampa Bay, he's a very valuable pitcher. Is he an ace? No, but he's really good. And a guy who's been consistent, aside from the Mets hiccup. A guy that would be, he kind of feels bravesy to some degree to me. But it will cost money, for sure. Another guy we should mention, we talked about many times on this podcast, Michael King. He's been a Braves killer at times on the field with the Padres. He may not even be a free agent. He's probably going to opt out of his deal, but he doesn't have to. He might just stay. We'll find out. He'll be $ 32 million. You were the stunt on our doc. I couldn't remember a single thing where the Braves were tied to Michael King in free. Yeah, I agree. 00:21:13 Speaker 2: Um, I was trying to rack my brain and search around. I mean, just because it's not reported that the Braves are in on someone does not mean they didn't call it. They might've had the second best offer for all we know, and we'll never know the difference, but yeah, it's funny. There's players who feel like Braves and there are players who don't feel like Braves. Uh, yeah. Michael King does not feel like a brave to me. Uh, we have seen him just absolutely cook. Atlanta's hitters the last few years I kind of think he's going to stay with the Padres they might restructure his deal if he does opt out but you know good veteran starting pitcher does have a couple of injury concerns but did make a lot of starts this past year so yeah if Alex wants to make a call over to Michael King's representatives I'd be happy to hear them out and get an idea of what kind of contract it's going to be especially if it's a shorter term deal given his health questions but I ultimately just don't think Michael King is real likely for Atlanta. 00:22:02 Speaker 1: Yeah I tend to agree um After that, on the starting pitching front, it's the guys that end up in the honorable mention category of this piece. One of which, I mean, we have to talk about because this is an annual rite of passage. Sonny Gray is probably going to be a free agent. There's a mutual option. So maybe he'll be back and not be a free agent, but I think he's probably there. For new listeners, we talked about Sonny Gray probably every year for the last, I don't know, seven? Oh, eight. 00:22:31 Speaker 2: Winters? And you know what's funny about Sonny Gray, Brad, is I have wanted Sonny Gray every year for the last decade. And guess what? If at any single point the Braves would have acquired Sonny Gray, it would have worked out spectacularly because he is always good. And he's old now and he just keeps going. He had a great year with Boston. I don't know. Now I'm worried that they're finally going to sign Sonny Gray and I'm going to cry on the podcast for 45 minutes about how happy I am. And then he's going to suck. And it's going to be like, why the hell did they give this money to this old guy in his 30s? But Sonny Gray is going to get a nice contract no matter who it is. 00:23:10 Speaker 1: Yeah, he does feel bravesy in that it would probably be a shorter deal because he's old. Alex likes those old guy short-term deals. I can't say anything about it on Sonny Gray. He's been really good. You're right, by the way. It could have been any deal for any point it would have worked. And look, we've been wrong plenty. I wanted Chris Bassett last winter, and that would have been a bad contract. So that would have been a mistake. They didn't do it. I ripped them for it. I was wrong. My sentiment about wanting more pitching was correct, just not the pitcher that I wanted. Anyway, Kevin Gossman, former Brave, is on this list as a free agent. And then the last guy is Clay Holmes, who has a player option for 27. So we don't know if he's going to pick that up or not. as of this recording, also feels kind of bravesy to me. Yes. All these guys feel bravesy. I mean, we talked about Alex's MO earlier in this discussion for a reason, because all of these either older guys or short-term guys or hybrid guys all kind of feel more bravesy than the guys who make a lot of money. Yeah, they do. 00:24:14 Speaker 2: I mean, we've been around this team. It's now almost a decade of Alex. I think you have a general idea of players that they're going to be interested in, players they're not. And sure, every now and then Alex throws us a curveball. I don't think a soul on earth thought he was going to go get Chris Sale three years ago, and it's been amazing ever since. But there's also

deals that's like, yeah, like everyone knew, like the Josh Donaldson reuniting when the Braves could use a third baseman, was it seven years ago at this point? It's like, yeah, that felt very on brand for Alex Anthopoulos with their past history. We'll wrap up the starting pitching here, Brad, but let me just ask you, and again, people watching and listening, a hypothetical. It's opening day, whenever that is, and the Braves offseason consisted of signing one of Sonny Gray, Kevin Gosman, or Clay Holmes, and signing Tyler Malley. Is that good enough? Could you sleep at night with that rotation? 00:25:10 Speaker 1: Could I sleep at night? Yes. 00:25:13 Speaker 2: Um.... 00:25:14 Speaker 1: Am I going to want more deep down? Probably. Cause I'm, that's just how I'm wired. But look, that would be the most meaningful infusion that they've done in a long time in the rotation. They will have done what we've asked them to do, which is add two real starters. 00:25:30 Speaker 2: Yeah. 00:25:30 Speaker 1: Like last winter, they didn't do it. I've seen people argue every side of whether that was the right decision or not. I still think it was the wrong decision. It is what it is, but they didn't do anything. I wanted to last winter and they did zero. This winter, I think they need two. Last winter, it was they need one, I want two. This winter, it's they need two. I think pretty clearly, including Malley in that, they need two. But yeah, I think that's fine. If you get Tyler Malley and pick one, Sonny Gray, that is two guys you can realistically say are in your top four rotation for next year. And you already have Chris Sale. So, And then you have a bunch of guys. And if you want to do the long list that I hate of here are all the pitchers the Braves have, you can do that because you have three guys that you are invested in that actually makes sense. 00:26:21 Speaker 2: Right. Because then you're realistically, you're probably trying to find like two and a half starters from like of your internal options. If you can add two. 00:26:28 Speaker 1: Yeah. 00:26:31 Speaker 2: It's much less cumbersome to find, you know, really you need two. Braves basically have run a six-man rotation with the way they've given sale time off and everything like that. 00:26:40 Speaker 1: And you have Bryce Elder. I mean, as much as I have a... Bryce Elder is a reliable fifth starter. That's what he is. That's fine. You have the Spencers. You have Smith-Shawver. Well, all the names. But Ronaldo, you have enough to where you can look yourself in the eye and say, all right, we could... Or at any point in the season, we could have five starters that are confident if you add two more. So yeah, to answer your question, I'm good with that. Am I dancing in the streets? Maybe not, but I'd be good with it. All right, Scott, let's talk about the relievers in a second, as well as some of the hitters that might make sense in this early first look at free agency. But first, let's get a word from

our partners on today's podcast. 00:27:24 Speaker 3: AJ, in this postseason, there is a chance for a fan base to get very excited to witness either their first ever World Series title or a World Series title that hasn't been in a long time, right? So if you're a fan out there and you're going, And some things never change. No, in baseball, it can turn around. But here's what really doesn't change. Mint Mobile, 15 bucks a month on your wireless bill. It's been there since we started talking about Mint Mobile and it will continue. 00:27:54 Speaker 1: It's still there. And like you said, Scott, it's never going to change. The coverage is great. It's unlimited plans for $ 15 a month. People complaining about how stuff is expensive. Mint Mobile, still the same. $ 15, great coverage for a great price. 00:28:08 Speaker 3: Go to mint mobile.com slash territory. That's mint mobile.com slash territory for 15 bucks a month, $ 45 upfront payment required equivalent to $ 15 a month. New customers on first three month plan only taxes and fees extra. See mint mobile for details. 00:28:25 Speaker 1: Scott, before we go to the position players, I think we're all on the record now about the relief investments. Alex has made a lot, a lot of spending on the reliever market. Um, I don't think that's probably the best use of money, but he is known to spend money on relievers. So we have to talk about maybe doing that again. Um, the incumbent or the teller Malley in this case is, uh, Rysell Iglesias, who's been around for a half decade and has been good for a half decade and is older now and still good. And I would, you know, the Braves are better if they have him. The question is how much do you want to spend on that? And how much are they going to want to spend on that? Like, with what they already have available. 00:29:10 Speaker 2: Right. I think my very official take here, October 20th or so, when people are listening, if the Braves have the resources available to them, and they should have the resources available to them, to add a couple of starting pitchers and to infuse some life into this lineup, which is going to either cost money or trade capital, then I'm good bringing Iglesias back. But if I have to pick between either bringing back Iglesias or or having money to sign a couple of those starters we talked about, or to sign one of the good hitters who are on the market that we're going to talk about in about five minutes then I'm moving that money towards the rotation and the lineup and then writing Robert Suarez and Dylan Lee and maybe Didier Fuentes and Dylan Dodd and those types. 00:29:53 Speaker 1: We agree 100% on that. The Rysel factor is that also I think he would probably be willing to sign another one-year deal. That's very Alex-y. There's the risk avoidance factor of that. And to be fair, I like one-year deals too in a vacuum because you can avoid the commitments and the downside risks and that's all fine. But if it doesn't, that's the pivot point.

If it limits you otherwise, thank you, Rysel, for your service. We'll shake hands. If you're able to do a yes and... then yeah, I mean, Ricell is still good, so he makes the team better. That's fine. It will come down to price and elsewhere. The other guy that we mentioned is Adrian Morajon, who is awesome. And if they hadn't already paid Robert Suarez, I think he would be more in bold. But I shouldn't say I'd be surprised because Alex would do anything in the bullpen. I would be annoyed if they paid what it would probably take to get Morajon, even though he's awesome. He is very good. But paying him and Suarez... multi-year big money deals would be a lot. I would not want to do that, probably. 00:31:01 Speaker 2: I think Murray Hone would be, I mean, that dude is electric from the left side, has been elite, did have a little bit of shoulder fatigue in the postseason, which was a little scary. I'm sure any team that signs him will do very due diligence on his medicals. But yeah, he is as good as any lefty reliever in the game. I'm sure Alex loves the idea of it, and maybe the Braves are going to spend more money than what we are anticipating today. But again, I think they have to find a way to balance out the payroll a little bit and infuse some more talent into their rotation and lineup and stop spending so much money on the bullpen. Yeah. 00:31:37 Speaker 1: Especially when you have, uh, if David Fuentes is in the bullpen, uh, you don't need to spend on the bullpen. We'll see where he is, but if he's in the bullpen, he is basically like having Adrian more home at home for making the league minimum. So you don't need to do that. Um, If that's the role he's in. All right, let's go to the position players. It's not a strong market. The top rated player on this list is a potential Japanese posting. It's, I think it's Teruwaki Sato. Is that his name? I can't, you know, it's so early. 00:32:12 Speaker 2: I don't know. 00:32:12 Speaker 1: But if he gets posted, he could be the one guy who gets a nine figure contract. He's an outfielder, very talented player. I won't act like I'm an expert on him. I'm not. He may not even be posted. But he's the one, probably the most expensive name. And there's not other, like, spoiler alert, the next guy is Randy Rosarino, who's a really good hitter, but that's not your traditional number one position player available on the market. And that's what he might be. 00:32:39 Speaker 2: Yeah, there's really not, like, transformational hitters available this offseason. There are some good ones, and we'll talk about them in a minute. But, you know, for years, I would love the Braves to open up kind of like this this Asian free agency pipeline would be fantastic. Unfortunately, for a few reasons, that's been difficult to accomplish. Part of it is geography. A lot of those players want to stay on the West Coast, California, Seattle, or go to New York or Chicago and the big cities. So it's been a challenge. But yeah, I mean, I've already forgotten his name, but he can hit like you would not believe. So if the Braves want to sign him, I will personally drive him to and from the Atlanta airport and show him around town. Yes. 00:33:20 Speaker 1: Um, it seems unlikely to me, but we'll see, uh, a Rose arena. You know, he's coming, he's coming off of a career season with the Mariners. He was awesome. He also has some playoff success. Um, but even before I'm saying that now, like he was awesome this year. He's a five wind player, one 51 WRC plus just was an absolute machine, but that's kind of an outlier. But over the last six seasons of full-time service, he has a one 27 WRC plus. Like, he's a really, really good hitter and has been for a half decade plus. He's not a good defender. He might be a DH. Probably is a DH. But if you want a right-handed power hitter and the Braves need one of those, this is the number one guy on the market to do exactly that. 00:34:09 Speaker 2: Hit. I love Randy Orozarena. I was hoping a couple of years ago when he got traded that the Braves would be in there. Obviously, they weren't. Yeah, Randy can really mash and just quietly was one of the best players, one of the best hitters in the game last year. Maybe it's because Seattle was so disappointing after their run in 2025, but I love a Rosarena. He is going to have a long list of suitors there. You mentioned he's going to be 32 years old next season and the defense is already a concern. I would say if you could make him your DH and then rotate him in left field a couple of times a week, fine with me. 00:34:44 Speaker 1: No problems. 00:34:45 Speaker 2: I'd love to add Randy's just kind of drive and personality and swagger to our lineup and clubhouse as well. But I, I think a Rosa Raina is going to have, I don't know, Brad, I mean, a dozen teams give him a realistic offer, especially given the market. And as, as we've kind of said, I, he does not feel super bravesy to me, but I would like to think that Alex will make the phone call. 00:35:07 Speaker 1: Yeah. You got, you have to call. I don't know what the market's going to look like for him. It's going to be a lot because of the way the market looks for everybody else, but he fits. 00:35:15 Speaker 2: Yeah. 00:35:16 Speaker 1: He'd be there. I mean, he, he's, he's not the same kind of hitter as Ozuna, but like the, the good version of Ozuna, it's basically what right near O's arena is like, it's very similar right-handed power bat DH only probably, and would help the lineup immensely. Speaking of players who would help a lot of immensely say a Suzuki is a free agent from the Cubs 32 years old, but a very good hitter. Like, I think career like one 50 plus WRC plus gets left-handed pitching. Another right-handed bat, middle of the order kind of bat. It's weird. You wrote that you wrote in our notes and you're right. And his defense graded out well this year, he had been like a deep primary DH before this season. And then suddenly he was like a

good outfielder at 31 years old. 00:36:04 Speaker 2: Yeah. 00:36:04 Speaker 1: I don't know what to make of that. Caterly. I haven't looked, I haven't done a deep dive on this yet, but I was like surprised to see that. I was like, is Scott right about this? No, Scott is right about this. He graded out. Well, he was, Anyway, maybe he can field. I know he can hit. So similar to Randy. I mean, Randy's probably a better hitter, but Suzuki probably has a better chance to play the outfield and as a right-handed bat and hits lefties and clear fit to me. 00:36:27 Speaker 2: Yes. Yeah. I mean, you know, say I came over five years ago and all he did is hit like this dude just mashes and he's almost been better. Like it almost, his first year was good. Not great. It almost feels like it maybe took him a year to adjust to American pitchers and just the differences, and of course, you know, living on the other side of the world. But Suzuki just crushes. I was reading, it seems like the Cubs are going to make a big push to retain him. It seems like it's a good relationship. You know, he obviously has a big following in Chicago. There was no, you know, yeah. So based on some comments at the end of the year, I would not be stunned if Suzuki comes back to the Cubs. But if he is seriously looking around and the Braves are seriously interested, I mean, that guy's bat in the middle of the order from the right side would do wonders for this offense. 00:37:12 Speaker 1: Certainly. There's probably a theme if you're listening to this podcast, like the Braves need a right-handed bat. They need a bat in general, but they need a right-handed bat very badly. There are a few of those available. Another bat worth keeping an eye on is Jake Bowers, who is also still playing baseball right now. He's on the Brewers, so they're in the World Series as we're talking. Weird breakout he just had. but looks to be kind of real. I think you did a little bit more on this than I have as far as looking into Jake Bowers, but probably a DH for the Braves because he has played first base and there's not a place to play there if you are on the Atlanta Braves. But hey, Jake Bowers could hit the baseball. 00:37:51 Speaker 2: He just, talk about a Brewer's success story. Bowers, 30 years old, out of nowhere, was one of the best hitters in all of baseball this year. 143 WRC +. based on his expected offensive numbers, he was the 15th best hitter in baseball. At age 30, out of nowhere. You mentioned primarily a first baseman, he would have to kind of do like a DH. He does play a little outfield, or at least in theory could play a little outfield. I don't think there's a great fit here, but if they are serious about upgrading the lineup, the DH spot is very clearly the easiest path forward for the Braves to do it. I have no idea what kind of contract Bowers is going to get, because again, he's had one good season and otherwise was below average offensively. But this dude just, I mean, he had some legendary at-bats against the Dodgers in the NLCS, you know, 10, 15 pitches and ended up, was the NLCS MVP. So this guy's clearly figured something out. Credit to the Brewers. There is also the concern that after one year, you don't want to overpay for a single good year. But I'm very interested to see what kind of contract Bowers has and how many teams are ultimately interested in him. 00:39:01 Speaker 1: Not to beat the dead horse, but that you just have to get a middle of the order bat. And if they think it's, if they think that it's real, he would fit that bill from this. If his performance this year is real, then he's a middle of the order bat. That's what he is. And DH. I mean, we mentioned it. If you missed our most recent conversation, I know Sean, Steve does the same thing. The profile thing is hanging out there and I wish we'd have to talk about it, but until we know what's going to happen there, it has to be at least referenced because he is a DH and the, easiest spot to upgrade is DH and he's a DH. So if he's on the team, it's harder. If he's not, it's not. So TBD on that, just saying it out loud. After that, like you're a little bit more down the list. The incumbent for agent for the Braves is Mauricio Dubon, of course, but We should just say his name out loud. He could be this team's shortstop next season. That's very possible. If he isn't, they have to find one because they don't have one internally that's ready to go right now. And then down the list, like you're talking about Louisa Rise had a great year at the plate. He's a single setter. He's the modern day Tony Gwynn. I don't know if the Braves want that profile, but he could be interesting in a DH role. He can't field really, really anywhere. He kind of plays first base. They don't need, they don't need that. Oh, Ian Happ, you wrote down here. That's a good name. Ian Happ is the other way. So Ian Happ matches right-handed pitching, which they need less. But he is a switch hitter, and he can hit. He's always hit. Yes. 00:40:29 Speaker 2: Yeah, I've been a fan of Ian Happ's for years. And, you know, the Cubs have been good, so they haven't done a lot of selling. But I like Ian Happ. He is getting older. Some of his advanced and batted ball data is going the wrong direction. But there might be something there. I'll take all the hitters you can get. you know, the Braves want to go pure DH, but not go crazy, someone like Ty France had a really good year with San Diego, your typical first base DH type, but I could see a reunion of some kind there, and then, yeah, Luis Arias for 200 singles a year, he does one thing and one thing well, and it's hit a bunch of soft singles, not even soft, a lot of singles, just all over the place, I think he's a little overrated as a hitter personally, because he doesn't do a whole lot else, but I don't know, maybe they want to infuse some batting average into the middle of this order and see what happens. Yeah, Ty France is interesting because he

had a four-year span in Seattle where he was really good. And then he had kind of two years in the wilderness in 24 and 25. And then this last year in San Diego, he was awesome. Like 141 WXU plus and was mashing. If they think that's the real guy, then he's worth looking at for sure. Dubon is the outlier here. Like the unfortunate. 00:41:38 Speaker 1: news about the shortstop market is that it's not good at all. 00:41:43 Speaker 2: There is none in free agency. 00:41:46 Speaker 1: I mean, Dubon is the best shortstop available in free agency, I think, which is not what you want. 00:41:52 Speaker 2: Almost certainly. 00:41:53 Speaker 1: Am I missing someone? I'm looking at the list that I have. I think he's the best guy who can actually play shortstop. Like, Jazz Chisholm used to fake shortstop. He can't play shortstop. So, Other than that, like, it's really ugly. So people keep, I've seen this before, like, oh, and I'm a fan of Mauricio Dubon utility guy. I am. But you have to trade for a shortstop. Like, there's no one that you can sign a free agency to then also sign Mauricio Dubon to play utility role. That's a, you trade for a shortstop, and then you keep Mauricio Dubon to play utility role. Or he's your shortstop. Yeah. 00:42:36 Speaker 2: Or neither, I guess. If I had to bet five bucks on it, I'm going to say that the Braves signed Dubon, multiple year deal, you know, three years. If they could get like three years, 30 million bucks for Dubon, 10 million a year. 00:42:49 Speaker 1: That feels reasonable. Like the Yaz contract, basically. 00:42:53 Speaker 2: Right. Something like that. Yeah. Like I think you can take it. You can plug in Dubon at shortstop. Maybe they do want to go try to trade for a shortstop in addition to Dubon. And then you make him your utility guy and you can make that work for nine, $ 10 million a year. The other interesting consideration, we will not do an hour on Ozzie Albies, but in a year's time, let's assume they're going to pick up Ozzie Albies' club option for next year. Almost certainly will. But if it's the end of Ozzie Albies in Atlanta, you could move Dubon to second base in 2028 if you need to. He'd be a fine second baseman, glove first, probably not going to be a great hitter there. So that's another reason to keep Dubon around. He is so versatile. He can play short. He can play second. He can play the outfield. He can play basically anywhere. I sure think, unless some team just comes in and offers him a bananas contract, I would sure think or like to think that Alex is going to be able to beat any offer that Dubon gets, and you keep him in the mix, and you really do give yourself a jack-of-all-trades type to move around the diamond. 00:43:59 Speaker 1: We are in agreement on that. So, I mean, we could go down the list even more. Like, there are other players... that we're skipping. Like, Ryan Jeffers is a good free agent. He's a catcher. Braves don't need a catcher. There are other guys, you know, first baseman only types, they just become DHs. And then, you know, Brandon Lau is a free agent. Second baseman. Like, they could trade for Brandon Lau. He could play left field. It's not trade for him. They could sign Brandon Lau. He could play left field, but like, if he's not playing second base, his value is probably a little bit lower. 00:44:28 Speaker 2: Right. 00:44:28 Speaker 1: Maybe a team that wants him to play second base is more invested in him playing second base. Although, I'm not sure he can defend at all. So, I don't know what's going on there. Regardless, Jazz Chisholm, same thing. Like a popular player, polarizing player, but he's a second baseman. You don't need that guy. So, yeah, we won't go down any more names unless we have more to throw out there. I think there are a couple of guys we just talked about who would make so much sense, but they are going to have markets. Renny Rosarino, you said this earlier, but you're 100% right. He's going to have a handful of teams at minimum that are willing to pay him a lot of money. And that makes sense. He deserves that. Suzuki might go back to Chicago. But the Braves should be willing and able to get into the mix. It doesn't mean they have to win the bidding war, but I cannot overstate the need for a middle-of-the-order bat. They have to get one. This is the first time in a while we've been saying that as plainly as this, but with Austin Riley, where Austin Riley currently is, that is now a screaming... It was already a potential need a year ago, and now it's a screaming need. They have to have another top five in the order of that. It just has to happen. 00:45:37 Speaker 2: Yeah, they have to, and they have to address the rotation and some way they have to address the bullpen. I know we said a few times about reducing spending on the bullpen. Some of that will naturally happen with Aaron Bummer and Joe Jimenez's money coming off, maybe Iglesias's money. But at the same time, like we're not saying you just turned a blind eye to the bullpen and run a bunch of scrubs out there. That's not what we're saying. We're just, we want it to be in balance with the rest of the 26 man roster. And then the last point I'll make, I know money and finances are always a hot button. You know, the Braves hosted five playoff games this year. I don't want to pretend to know how much money one playoff game makes, but it is a lot, a lot. And you don't bet you can't bank on playoff games on your bottom line. And you know, even if it's a conservative $ 5 million, a home playoff game, that's $ 25 million. They just banked. Maybe it's more, maybe it's less. I don't know. They will report their their earnings and financials in a few months, which is a nice part of being a publicly traded company. But it was a lot of money. It's safe to say they will have cash to spend. We will see what happens with the collective bargaining agreement. Will there be a salary cap? Won't there be? Will there be financial regulations?

Will it be more of the same? I don't know. Conversation for months from now. But regardless, hopefully the Braves are ready and willing to spend some money and spend money in a much more efficient manner than the way they've spent some cash in previous offseasons. 00:47:01 Speaker 1: Yes. We'll talk plenty more about this. We will do deeper dives on the positions on these, even some of these same players. Like this is very cursory. We try, we try to go through a lot of different, a lot of different players as we get going on this. We might, we might do a half hour running Rose arena. If there's a rumor that the Braves are pursuing him, I'm going to dive in deeper on him. So we'll, that's just a, this is more of a appetizer is maybe the word I'll use a moose boosh. One of those things you could say about, you know, early in a early in a meal what the hell is a moose boosh what i'm telling you look look at it look it up where are you eating look it up i'm just saying things now i'm a writer listen i'm a i'm a professional writer scott there's just words you have to say uh before we get out of here anything else you want to share with the class oh are we done with baseball i have i have a non-baseball question to ask you before we. 00:47:50 Speaker 2: Go yes i am ecstatic the cult's finally fired chris that was my question nearly, nearly a decade without playoff wins. No one cares about the Colts. Maybe a few people do, but no one cares about the Colts watching or listening to the show, especially in minute 50. Thank you for watching and tuning in. 00:48:07 Speaker 1: Um, I will say this. 00:48:09 Speaker 2: If Chris Ballard was running the Atlanta Braves in the last decade under Chris Ballard had been what the Braves had had to suffer through. I think we would lead every single podcast with how is this guy employed? He has lost his job. It seems like a good guy, but thank God the fandom has been sucked out of me as a Colts fan. Um, It's a new day, long road ahead, but I don't know. Maybe I'll co-bandwagon on the Falcons because I know Atlanta's doing real hot here for the next. 00:48:35 Speaker 1: Couple of years. Yeah, that is certainly a bandwagon that everyone wants to jump on, the Atlanta Falcons. Yeah, the Chris Ballard news broke in the morning early on the East Coast, and I think you almost certainly had to be asleep still. I was like, oh, Scott's going to wake up to this. Christmas in late October. And appropriately, you had just done a rant. Your last tweet from like 10 hours before that was about how he just had to go and they fired him. So anyway, that was my question. You answered it. Thank you for being here. 00:49:01 Speaker 2: All of my friends. All of my friends. I grew up in Missouri, for people who don't know. Literally, all of my friends were Kansas City Chiefs fans. And without going into my family tree, my mom's side is strong. Chief, they've been okay. You know, a little better than what the Colts or the Falcons have done the last 10 years or so. But my mom's family is from Indiana. They had season tickets to the Colts for years in the 90s and early 1000s. Peyton Manning was coming along as I was a kid watching them. So yeah, I'm a Colts fan. Live and die, right? I'm not going to team hop. But I do think every now and then about how much happier my adult football fanhood would be. if I was a Kansas city chiefs fan, like all my friends growing up, but I just had to pick the Colts. I don't want to pretend like the Colts have never won anything. They've been, you know, pretty good for, for most of my life. But, uh, that was a very random football tangent. I'm glad we did that in the minute 50 of the podcast, but Hey, you know what? That's right. That's right. 00:49:57 Speaker 1: There's at least one Colts fan that listens to the podcast. Cause they replied to the tweet and they were like, no, please talk about this on the podcast. So we did it. Shouts to you, my friend. Uh, Thank you, Scott, for being here. Please stay tuned. We'll have more to come on the podcast. Just for everybody to notice, the World Series gets going in a couple of days as that'll be happening. And then we'll probably talk a little bit about that just because it's fun. It's baseball. And then when it's over is when the real fun begins. Like all of the machinations start to happen. So stay tuned for that. Please subscribe to the show. Just search Hammer Territory on Apple, on Spotify, on YouTube. Anywhere you find your podcasts, subscribe there. Tell your friends. We appreciate it. We'll see you all next time.