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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