00:00I've always said, Tom, Atlanta's one of the best-run organizations in Major League Baseball.
00:05They identify the superstars that are young.
00:07They buy out their arbitration years.
00:09Those players get money in their back pocket.
00:10But the Braves essentially save 50 to hundreds of millions of dollars on some of these players
00:15that they have already in their contract and don't have to wait on them here.
00:18And that's always an incentive.
00:19And also, Tom, we've seen multiple times the Atlanta Braves at the trade deadline
00:22making fantastic moves left and right.
00:25Cheap players here turn out to be marquee stars in their lineup
00:28and can bribe themselves some long-term help.
00:30But if we are looking at the Atlanta Braves coming into this season, Tom,
00:33fresh off a year last year, 76-86.
00:36That wasn't supposed to be what was going to happen.
00:3820 games back of the Philadelphia Phillies in the standings.
00:41If you look at the lineup coming into this year,
00:43Hakuna, Baldwin, Olsen, Profar, Riley, Jastrzemski, Albies, Harris, and Dubon.
00:48You always start with the top of that lineup here.
00:50It's Ronald Hakuna Jr.
00:52But before I ask you the question on how we feel about this lineup,
00:55the one guy that I need to have a much better season this year is Matt Olsen, man.
00:59Need that guy back in the 40s for his bombs.
01:02Right.
01:03You know that I am a Matt Olsen supporter a couple years ago
01:07when I nailed him to lead the league in home runs.
01:09So I'll always be on the Matt Olsen train.
01:12That lineup's good.
01:13It is.
01:14And it's just a matter of them staying healthy.
01:16And it's not just the lineup.
01:17We'll get to the rotation in a little bit.
01:20But I like what they have.
01:21You know, Michael Harris had a horrible first half of the season last year
01:25and really turned things on down the stretch.
01:27But, you know, it was a little bit too, you know, too little, too late, so to speak.
01:30You know, Drake Baldwin, one rookie of the year for Atlanta.
01:34It's a good lineup.
01:35It really is.
01:36But it's not about the lineup for them.
01:37It's the combination of staying healthy as a team and the pitching staff,
01:41which is already behind the eight ball.
01:42So if we get Matt Olsen back, and along with Austin Riley,
01:45who needs a bit of a bounce back here, if those guys step up,
01:47it's going to be one of the better hitting lineups
01:49and one of the better hitting parks in the league.
01:52No, the one thing, Tom, they could even felt like on the offensive side of things,
01:55and certainly from the pitching staff, they couldn't stay healthy last year.
01:57Health is such a big agreement on what this team can actually do.
02:01You take a look heading into the season.
02:02Like, Chris Sale's getting aging there.
02:03But they gave him a one-year, basically $30 million extension
02:06because of how good he's been.
02:07258 ERA last year.
02:08But again, only 20 starts out of Chris Sale.
02:11He got 23 starts last year out of Spencer Strider.
02:13His ERA, 4.45.
02:15We were expecting him to be maybe a Cy Young contender here,
02:17even coming off of injuries.
02:19A 5.40 ERA for Reynaldo Lopez.
02:21Grant Holmes, a 4 ERA.
02:22Bryce Elder, a 5.30.
02:24And then you're already starting this season saying,
02:26okay, how about some of these other young pitchers projected
02:28and also with injuries?
02:30Schwellenbach, A.J. Smith-Schauver, Waldropier.
02:32The talent is in that lineup, Tom, but the big question, once again,
02:35can we stay healthy for the Atlanta Braves?
02:38If you told me Schwellenbach and Smith-Schauver were both healthy
02:43to replace Holmes and Elder, I think we can make the argument
02:47this is maybe one of the best – it's a top five starting rotation in baseball
02:50if those two guys were healthy to replace Holmes and Elder.
02:53And it was Sale, Strider, Smith-Schauver, and Schwellenbach.
02:57And then Lopez, that's an awesome rotation.
02:59But they're just not there.
03:01And I want to buy into them because there's so much talent in the rotation
03:05and the starting lineup, but again, the health of this is more important
03:09than anything.
03:10Certainly is.
03:11Bounce back certainly expected for Atlanta.
03:12They're probably going to be making the playoffs with a legitimate chance
03:15to challenge for that division much better than last year.
03:17But again, that depends on how healthy they are.
03:20Let's flip it over, Tom, to another nemesis in that division
03:22for the Atlanta Braves.
03:23It's the Philadelphia Phillies.
03:24Won the National League East last year.
03:27Second most wins in Major League Baseball.
03:29And that looks like the Phillies are running it back this year.
03:32Estimated lineup for them, Trey Turner, Kyle Schwerber, Bryce Harper,
03:35Alec Boehm, Brandon Marsh, Adolis Garcia, Bryson Stott, JT Murutu,
03:39and Justin Crawford.
03:40In that lineup, you see the adjustments there.
03:42Adolis Garcia, cheap contract coming over, two down years.
03:45Can he get back in the Skinners' ballpark?
03:47We'll find that out.
03:48And also, Justin Crawford slated to be in.
03:50We don't know the exact lineup where he's going to be,
03:52but projected in center field and maybe early in the lineup,
03:55or he could be batting at the bottom of the lineup.
03:57Having a decent spring so far, Tom.
03:59But the questions come up.
04:00They wanted Bo Bichette.
04:01They had Bo Bichette.
04:02Last minute, the Mets sweeped in here, which made the Phillies go out
04:05and then re-sign JT Romuto, but didn't change that lineup much.
04:09Very good in the regular season, Tom.
04:11Last two postseasons, a lot to be desired at the plate.
04:14That's right.
04:15I don't have many different takes compared to what I had last year
04:20about the Phillies just because the lineup is so similar.
04:22Like, it's a really good lineup.
04:23Like, especially the top of that lineup.
04:25And, you know, immediately my mind goes to a Turner, Schwarber, Harper,
04:29or Baum, HRR market, right?
04:31The three of them, you get them close to, like, minus 125 or plus money
04:35if you can get there.
04:36And that's what we know we're going to be.
04:37We're going to be getting 40-plus homers out of Schwarber as usual.
04:40We're going to be getting 100-plus RBIs.
04:41You want Harper to have a bounce-back year.
04:43Trey Turner is awesome.
04:45Top to bottom, it's really good.
04:46We can make the Army.
04:47It's the best lineup in the NL East.
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