- 2 days ago
The Atlanta Braves started last season with a seven-game losing streak, which derailed their year before it even got started. The Morning Shift discussed how much better their year will be to begin in 2026, but why they must take advantage of it.
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00:00So this Friday, it looks like Didier Fuentes has made the opening day roster for the Braves.
00:05They are taking on the Royals, Cole Reagans versus Chris Sale.
00:08First pitch is at 7-15.
00:10Now, if I recall correctly last week, we talked about Didier Fuentes,
00:15and there was no chance he was going to be making the opening day roster.
00:18No, I tweeted it. I was shocked.
00:21I was shocked.
00:22I thought the question was whether or not he makes opening day rotation.
00:25Right?
00:26Is that what we talked about last week?
00:27Or is that just to me?
00:28Roster rotation.
00:29I asked about, I did, I remember asking y'all about if he could make the rotation.
00:34I didn't say roster. I did say rotation.
00:36But still, either way is.
00:38I'm like, that, I'm not going to be disrespected in that way.
00:40You know, I'm not going to come at me scot-free here.
00:44Did you just try to okie-dokie?
00:46Yeah, for sure. For sure.
00:48She tried to just slip it in.
00:49She said, roster, all right, that's fine.
00:50That's kind of dirty.
00:51You know, rotation roster, it's fine.
00:53No, I think you're right.
00:55Bo was just about to get into it.
00:57It was surprising for me.
00:59The rotation, I mean, the roster too.
01:03Yeah, because you've got, well, they had a guy, and I have to find his name,
01:08but he agreed to not make the opening, not meet the team,
01:12and not basically go to the minors and be optioned.
01:16And, well, I don't think he's optioned.
01:18I think what happens is they have to release.
01:19I mean, he's agreed to sign back.
01:23Because you've got guys that are out of options, so, you know, with Elder and such,
01:28so I just didn't think it would be a chance.
01:30But they're going to make him a long reliever for the first week or so,
01:34and then option Fuentes apparently to Gwinnett to go down and start.
01:42I don't know if I like that part of it.
01:44I think if he's going to be here, let's just keep him here.
01:47You're going to need a long reliever.
01:48But they obviously have a plan in place.
01:50I'm not really sure what it is.
01:53But they have a plan in place.
01:54I'm sure Grant can fill us in more when he joins us this week.
01:58But I'm glad for Fuentes.
02:00I think it's good for him to be up here.
02:01And he's obviously worked on stuff.
02:03He's gotten better since he came up, what was it, last year,
02:06and just didn't have a great time up.
02:10Yeah, he got shelled, you know, in those four starts.
02:13I think he gave up 20 earned runs or something crazy like that.
02:16Is Martin Perez the guy you're talking about?
02:18Yes, that's it.
02:19Okay.
02:20Yeah, so I think, in my opinion, I agree with you.
02:23I don't love that, like, let's just bring him up for the first couple weeks.
02:26And I realize, I don't think the first off day is until April 9th,
02:30which I think is 12 straight games or 13 straight games
02:34without an off day to start the season.
02:35Right.
02:36That's a rough number.
02:37So I think what you look at with Didier Fuentes,
02:39you look at how good he's been throwing the ball.
02:41If you're Alex, if you're Walt Weiss, you're looking at it going,
02:44all right, long relief, probably make a start somewhere in the middle
02:47of those 13 days, right, the 13 straight games.
02:51Make yourself a spot start.
02:53You can be the sixth guy right there in the middle,
02:55and then you're sliding back down.
02:59But I agree with Bo.
03:01Like, if the guy's good enough to make the roster, the rotation,
03:05and I feel like they are kind of talking much in the way I was last week.
03:10And I realize I'm the downer Braves guy, but I was talking and going,
03:14the odds are before you get out of April, you're going to need an extra starter.
03:18You know what I mean?
03:19And it's like they're going to sit him down, make sure his innings are long enough,
03:22make sure he's getting starts, make sure he's pitching the correct volume
03:25to be needed if and when you have to bring him up at the end of April
03:29or early May because something else is happening.
03:31So I don't know.
03:32It's a tough pill to swallow because you feel like he's good enough,
03:36and yet he's going to be taken back down after two weeks,
03:38and that is already the plan.
03:39But it is what it is.
03:41It's going to make sense, I think, in May and June when all of a sudden
03:43you need the guy who's been extended.
03:45Yeah, and you're trying to keep guys fresh for if there's a blowout.
03:51You know, like if a guy's getting shelled, you don't have to push him any further.
03:56Or if you're shelling someone and you can say, you know what,
04:00get us five innings, Grissel, get us five innings,
04:03and we'll move along to somebody.
04:05We'll let Fuentes pitch three innings or four innings maybe,
04:08and we don't have to tax our bullpen, and it can be an easy day.
04:13Hey, that's all I ever hear with long range.
04:17Or, God forbid, something negative happens physically to someone,
04:24and then there's a chance that after that 13-year stretch,
04:26he might be here anyways because you might need him.
04:28I mean, you don't know what elder's going to be,
04:31and then you wouldn't have to screw up whatever you have
04:34with Martin Perez going on.
04:36Well, and just to give context on Didier, he did retire 26 straight batters,
04:4017 strikeouts, hasn't allowed a hit or issue to walk over nine scoreless innings
04:44in spring training, so he has been doing fairly well.
04:47How do you guys feel about opening day happening here at home this year?
04:51Because remember last year, it was kind of a – we fell on our face
04:54right at the beginning of the season with the West Coast.
04:56It was not great.
04:58That's a great way to put that.
04:59I mean, it was just not great starting out,
05:01and you just saw it blunder after blunder,
05:03and then you come home and try to rally against that.
05:05It was a tough gig.
05:07Well, luckily, we've already lost a couple of starting pitchers
05:09and our yearly steroid suspension with Profar before the season started,
05:16so we don't have to watch that be a part of the storyline
05:20in an 0-7 start.
05:24Whatever.
05:25It's weird to me that I feel like normally they start on Thursdays,
05:29and then they take Friday off, and then it's Saturday, Sunday.
05:33So to just straight-up start on a Friday, I do like.
05:37I think it's good for the Braves to mix one in every year
05:41because I feel like every – probably it's like once out of every four years
05:47we're at home to start a season.
05:50Yeah.
05:50And I know some of that is the Braves have a little bit of a, you know,
05:55wink-wink, handshake, you know, unspoken agreement with Major League Baseball
05:59because of kind of the way they want to open the season,
06:03and so they get to start away.
06:04So I'm fine with it.
06:05I mean, that's great.
06:07It's – and it means they're not opening the same weekend as the Masters
06:11because that's happened a few years too,
06:12where it feels like the Masters is in town or in Augusta,
06:16and then the Braves are opening weekend as well.
06:18I'm still laughing at Allie.
06:20It fell on our face because it's so true.
06:23I'm just picturing the Braves at like a track meet,
06:25and the gun goes off and you just bow, you know.
06:28That's what happened.
06:29On your mark, get set.
06:30Oh, my God, what just happened?
06:31Seven times.
06:31You just fell flat on your face.
06:33Yeah, it's exactly – and that's exactly how it did go last year.
06:36I mean, it was frustrating to watch.
06:37Some people would tell you, well, you know, it's a long season.
06:41Yes.
06:42I'm sure I'll get that talking to you today.
06:44Yeah.
06:45Because I feel like that is Grant's number one go to, like,
06:49well, you know, it's a long season.
06:51It's like, yeah, but I'm overreacting now, so go with it.
06:55There was a couple times last year Grant, I was ready to tear up that baseball card
06:58and kept referencing the back of that baseball card.
07:00I'm like, I don't see it.
07:01I don't see it, Grant.
07:01I don't see the back of the – that's not – the back of the baseball card's not showing up.
07:06And then it did, you know, for a lot of these guys.
07:08Yeah, but half a season of back of the baseball card ain't the back of the baseball card.
07:11The Michael Harris baseball card, we never got it, you know.
07:14Well, you know what his baseball card says now?
07:17Is it half the year he's in a slump?
07:19Half the year, yeah.
07:20And that, you know, that pulls him up.
07:22That's what it says he says.
07:24Pulls him out of the money.
07:24It's, you know, it's imperative to me for this team to get off to a good start.
07:30Like, not just a mediocre start, a good start.
07:33If you look at their spring training baseball card,
07:36the three guys that I think you might not name, Ronald Acuna Jr.,
07:40that you might rely on the most have, so far, done very well.
07:45Yep.
07:45Drake, Matty Olsen, and Austin Riley.
07:49They've all three had pretty good springs, which is a very positive sign.
07:53They have looked very much, even maybe at times,
07:58better than what their baseball card says.
08:02But spring training is different.
08:05They've got guys working on stuff.
08:08You know, you're not facing sometimes the best of the best.
08:13Sometimes you're facing guys that won't be on rosters.
08:16So let's see how they start.
08:18You would like to see them hit the ground running, though,
08:20because, man, I can't do another 0-7 start.
08:25And, again, I'm going to make the point.
08:26I don't think you could be mediocre to start.
08:28I think this needs to be a team.
08:30And I realize, like, what am I talking about?
08:32What's the downside here, right, if you don't start hot?
08:34But I just – this overall feeling that I've had towards the Braves is, like,
08:38you had this – you know, Bo likes to talk about the core.
08:40All right?
08:41You have this great core.
08:44You talk about the core in terms of the Falcons, right?
08:46But the core for the Braves has been so good for so long,
08:48and yet you have not been able to capitalize on it.
08:50I think that a collective sigh from Braves country with an eye roll,
08:54if you come out of April being under .500, is going to be in line.
08:57Don't let it get to the depth being an issue.
09:01Yeah, exactly.
09:02That's what you're saying.
09:03Start well so when things that are going to happen pop up, you've got padding.
09:11Precisely.
09:12So when it comes to – we talked about 13 straight.
09:15You're playing these first 13 straight, you know, days of the regular season.
09:18In this 13-day stretch, in y'all's opinion, what should their record be?
09:248-5, 9-4, 8-5.
09:27I'd take 8-5.
09:28I think that's a good start.
09:2913 days is a lot.
09:30I know it's the Royals, right?
09:34That's who they start at.
09:35Correct.
09:36And I think the Royals were pretty decent last year, if I remember correctly.
09:39I cannot – sorry if I don't remember the Royals record off the top of my head last year.
09:45Not y'all, but I'm sure somebody's like, how can you not remember that?
09:48But I don't – I thought they were not a terrible team.
09:52I – you know, take – it's the old take two of three.
09:55You need to win series and win series right out of the gate because it is important to get off
10:01to like an 8-5 start.
10:0282 and 80, by the way.
10:03So they weren't, but they were better than you last year.
10:06They have.
10:07For the love of all things, holy, can we win on Sunday?
10:10You know what I mean?
10:10Get to 130.
10:11All right, here we go.
10:11Get to 130.
10:12The Braves have historically not won on Sunday.
10:14Atlanta Braves, if anybody's listening right now, please win the first Sunday 1 o'clock
10:19day game from Mike Johnson.
10:20Bro, because even if they take two out of three, they win Friday, Saturday, we're stoked,
10:24and then they lay an egg on Sunday and get beat like 8-0.
10:26We had to come in here on Monday morning and be like, well, that was cool for a second.
10:30I know it harms us, but it also harms my husband as well because that's his show.
10:34It's on Sundays.
10:35Yeah, yeah.
10:35Carries that with him.
10:36You know what I would start a petition for?
10:38We talked about starting petitions last week.
10:40I would start a petition for the Braves to bring back like their kind of off-white cream
10:44jerseys on Sundays.
10:45I feel like they have pretty good luck in those.
10:47I'm down with that.
10:48As long as they win.
10:49I don't care.
10:50It's true.
10:51Those things look hot, though, and most of your Sunday games are going to be big games.
10:54They do kind of look hot.
10:54It looks like they're wearing a wool.
10:55Yeah, right.
10:56That's true.
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