00:00Today, Lindsey, before we get into a ton of stuff on the field,
00:04obviously just share your recollection of Bobby Cox,
00:07what he meant to you as somebody who has covered the team day in and day out
00:11and all the great memories.
00:14Yeah, it was, I mean, I grew up watching Bobby Cox coach the Atlanta Braves,
00:19and I think the big thing that I took away from his managerial tenure,
00:23his front office tenure, and his time as an advisor is just how he ran a tight
00:28ship, right? Like he required, you know, things to be done a certain way.
00:32He had standards, but at the same time, he was incredibly supportive of his players.
00:37You don't get thrown out 162 times if you're not willing to go out there
00:43and back up your players, even when they're wrong sometimes.
00:46And I think that's the biggest common note I've heard from every single tribute
00:51his players have given is that he always had their back, no matter what,
00:56even when they were wrong and they all loved him like a father for it.
00:59Yeah, it's a good way to put it.
01:00Somebody that Braves country continues to have their back behind,
01:04and hopefully last start was a sign of things to come as Spencer Strider.
01:08What were you able to pinpoint the differences between start one and start two?
01:14So getting out of Colorado really helped him because the big thing he complained
01:18about last year was his fastball not having the same shape.
01:22You know, the induced vertical break on the four-seam fastball,
01:25obviously the velocity is part of that, but he said the shape was more important
01:29because when he has it, he can compete in the zone,
01:33and that's what sets up the slider and the curveball.
01:36His velocity was a lot closer.
01:39He was playing multiple 97s, but because he had that 17 to 18 inches
01:45of induced vertical break, guys were swinging underneath the four-seam fastball.
01:49He was able to then play the slider and the curveball off of it quite a bit,
01:54and that's the thing that more so than the velocity,
01:57that's what he has to have to make this whole package work.
02:01And so I feel a lot better about where he is now when we saw him not in course field
02:06and everything looked as good as it possibly could have coming back off of surgery.
02:10And then the other guy who shoved in this series, Bryce Elder,
02:14what do you make of what he's done?
02:15I mean, if he keeps this up, he'll get his second all-star campaign.
02:21Yeah, he had a really good end to the year last year that kind of got overshadowed
02:25because his ERA was still over five, but he's taken it to another level this year.
02:29He added that cutter.
02:31His changeup has improved significantly.
02:33It's night and day from where it was last year.
02:36And so now he's not just a sinker-slider guy that has the occasional four-seam fastball
02:41he can throw at you.
02:42He has a changeup that's a legitimate weapon.
02:45There's at-bats and even entire games where he throws more four-seam changeup
02:51than he does sinker-slider.
02:53And he's now just a more well-rounded package.
02:55And I think the biggest thing that I was hoping for was that he could just minimize the bat outing.
03:01Right?
03:01Instead of giving up seven runs in five innings, he could cut it back to four or so.
03:06And instead, what we're seeing, to your point, is a potential all-star here.
03:10He's third in quality starts from June 1st of last year through now.
03:15And I just don't think we maybe realize how good he has been the back half of last year
03:21and this season.
03:23We announced today that we're going to see Hasan Kim back starting with this series with the Cubs.
03:29What do you think are reasonable expectations for him?
03:34So Hasan Kim has been trying to get back to stealing bases more, being more active on the base paths.
03:43I think you're going to see a contact-oriented bat.
03:46He's not going to hit for a ton of power early, coming off of a hand injury.
03:49But I do think you're going to see steady defense.
03:52You're going to see quality at-bats.
03:53And if he gets on base, it's going to be another base-stealing threat.
03:57We haven't really seen the running game kick in for the Braves this year.
04:00And I think Hasan Kim could be the guy to do that.
04:02His best season, he's been a 30-plus stolen back guy.
04:06And we haven't really had that on the team other than Ronald Acuna Jr.
04:09So not expecting a ton of power, expecting steady defense, expecting good quality at-bats,
04:14and a little bit of havoc on the base patch if he can get on.
04:17No moral victories in May and even in June.
04:21But, Lindsey, if the Braves are able to take care of business against the Cubs,
04:25off the backs of taking care of business against the Dodgers,
04:28especially with the way the season started last year,
04:31it just feels like such a different tone and such a different tenor
04:34for the 2026 Braves as opposed to the 2025.
04:39It absolutely does from the perspective of not only being able to beat the good teams,
04:48beating the Dodgers, beating the Cubs, but also being able to put in your position.
04:53When the Braves started the series in Seattle, they were nine and a half games up on Philly.
04:57And Philly had a really easy schedule, Colorado and some of that stuff.
05:01And the Braves finished the road trip up nine games on the Phillies.
05:05So being able to handle the tough teams, being able to keep your lead in the division
05:10when the Phillies have a really easy stretch,
05:12I think that's got to make you feel really good about the ability to carry this all season,
05:17win the division, and make some noise in the postseason.
05:20So we've got to look at the state of the lineup right now
05:24and the obvious one to continue to discuss.
05:27Although playing better of late is Austin Riley.
05:30What have you seen from him over the last handful of games
05:32that could maybe suggest that he's on his way back?
05:37It really looks like his pitch selections have gotten a little bit better, right?
05:42He's not being fooled as badly on some of these breaking balls.
05:47He's making pitchers come more into the zone to get him out.
05:52And I think the worst version of Austin Riley you saw earlier this year,
05:55he was just swinging at everything.
05:57It didn't matter if it was a slider in the dirt,
05:58it was a fastball up and elevated.
06:00And the version you're seeing now, the swing decisions are better.
06:03He's still not getting the results you want to see,
06:06but it's better process.
06:07And typically better process over time will get you better results.
06:12I'm not out on Austin Riley.
06:14I still think that there's signs of improvement and we're getting there.
06:18But the most amazing thing is you have this lead in the division
06:21and you've done it without Riley and without Ronald Acuna Jr.
06:24So if you could add Riley into this,
06:26I think that does nothing but help you maintain this league going forward.
06:30As we're talking with Lindsey Crosley Braves today,
06:33make sure you check it out podcast or on YouTube.
06:35I asked this question half jokingly, but half not.
06:39Is Sean Murphy snake bitten?
06:43It really feels like he, you know,
06:46drove his truck over Indian burial mound,
06:49you know, broke a whole mirror,
06:50like a whole showroom with a mirrors or something.
06:53I'm hopeful that he avoided serious injury.
06:55We'll find out more tomorrow as far as he had X.
06:59They didn't show anything obvious,
07:00but at this point it is starting to feel like there's almost nothing they can do.
07:04I kind of wish now we had Jonah Hyde here still.
07:06So we had another backup catcher just in case.
07:10Braves really need Murphy to be healthy.
07:12And if they have to sit him for a game or two now to,
07:15to get him back to where he needs to be,
07:17I'm fine with that because Baldwin's playing so well,
07:19but it definitely does suck for the guy.
07:22Speaking of what is going on with Lopez?
07:28So with Renato Lopez,
07:30I was kind of digging into some of this actually for four Braves today.
07:34The spin rates are down.
07:36The velocity is down.
07:37The pitch movement is down.
07:38And when you look from every single outing,
07:43everything goes back to when he had that fight against Jorge Soler.
07:49They haven't said anything about an injury.
07:51He said he feels fine.
07:52I'm wondering if there's something going on with his hand,
07:55the one that was holding the baseball that hit Soler.
07:58I'm wondering if there's something going on with his hand that's impacting his ability to grip the baseball.
08:03Cause there's no other real explanation.
08:06Cause he looked better than this when the season started.
08:09And that fight is when everything changed.
08:11And I really think either he has a hand injury or he's just completely cooked.
08:15And I don't want to assume that he is now completely cooked at the age of 30.
08:19Do you think he has a chance to be cut?
08:24Given the fact that he has guaranteed money for next year, I don't,
08:28but I'm really intrigued to see how much or how little he plays.
08:33Now that Hassan Kim's going to be back at shortstop.
08:35Mauricio DuPont's already been in the outfit a bunch,
08:37but if you have Kim manage shortstop every day,
08:41I genuinely wonder what Weiss has not shown that there's any golden gooses.
08:45There's any sacred cows on this roster.
08:48You may see a week where Mike Yastrzemski is a pinch hitter only.
08:53I'm like, I don't think they'll eat the money this quickly.
08:56I do think if it's late in the year and he's still not performing,
08:59they may go ahead and move on.
09:00But right now I don't think they're going to do that just yet.
09:03When it comes to the state of the bullpen,
09:07how confident are you right now in the middle relief?
09:10I know we got the two guys, or if you want to include Lee in there,
09:13the three guys at the end, but you know,
09:15there's been a couple of guys that have, you know, the Kinleys of the world,
09:18the Bombers of the world that maybe don't get it done every time out.
09:22Do you think that's an area they could look to add,
09:24maybe just to get some more guys in there that could pitch in the fifth,
09:28sixth, maybe sometimes even the seventh inning?
09:32Barring what happens with Mike Yastrzemski,
09:34I think left-handed leverage reliever is the number one need for this team
09:39via trade as of right now.
09:41It's just, it's just a scenario where Aaron Bummer does not look like he is,
09:47you know,
09:48can handle any sort of significant inning that has meaning and leverage to it.
09:52Tyler Kinley has been a little unlucky with these home runs off of his slider.
09:57I do think it's that that'll normalize,
09:59but I don't feel great about Aaron Bummer and you just don't have any other
10:03lefties that they really feel good about.
10:05So I definitely think as of now,
10:07you can get by with guys like Fuentes covering some innings,
10:10but you've got to find somebody else who can give you high leverage innings
10:15on the left side.
10:15And there's just not that guy really in the organization,
10:17not just in the bullpen right now.
10:20Before I let you go,
10:22do you think at some point there might be a conversation with Ronnie about
10:25adding some DH days in there?
10:30I'm honestly kind of surprised it hasn't already happened.
10:32And I think because you've had so many outfielders that miss a little bit of
10:36time in here and there,
10:37you know,
10:38you had Eli White with the plantar fasciitis,
10:40you had Michael Harris with the quad.
10:43I do think now that,
10:46now that Sean Murphy's back,
10:49I do think you're going to see some scenarios where they're going to say,
10:52well,
10:52we don't want to DH Sean Murphy.
10:54We're going to DH Ronald,
10:55but it does require everybody to be healthy.
10:57It's really hard to do that with the current configuration of the outfield.
11:01And so once everybody's back,
11:03I do think you'll see that conversation,
11:05but it's just hard to realistically do right now.
11:09Cause it's a load management thing.
11:10They want to keep them healthy for one 62.
11:12They're going to have to do something.
11:14By the way,
11:15were you able to snag a pair of those sweet,
11:18sweet shoes?
11:21I was not.
11:22And listen,
11:23they bite like 10 AM.
11:25All they had was size nine and under.
11:27I'm a 10 and a half.
11:28Anybody listening,
11:29I'm on social media at Crosby baseball.
11:32I will pay you plus a premium for a pair of size 10 and a half.
11:36Wow.
11:37Look at that.
11:37He's trying,
11:38he's saying,
11:39listen,
11:39come to me and I will make sure that you are well,
11:43well compensated.
11:44And I can get a 10 and a half.
11:46Make your offers.
11:47Well,
11:48here's sweet YouTube money.
11:49Here's my,
11:50here's my problem.
11:51I'm a 13 and my producer,
11:52Oren who's six,
11:54five and a half is a,
11:55uh,
11:56like a 15 and a half shoe.
11:58He's a 16 shoe.
11:59So I don't even know if they made those.
12:01So we're,
12:01we're all in the same boat right now,
12:03Lindsay.
12:03We're all desperate for a pair of those sweet,
12:05sweet sneaks.
12:06Appreciate you.
12:06My friend will chat.
12:07So,
12:07listen,
12:09somebody's going to call the station and say,
12:10Hey,
12:11these fell off a truck.
12:12I'll hook you guys up.
12:13I know it's going to happen.
12:13And I will make sure I get them right over to you.
12:18Appreciate it.
12:18Lindsay.
12:19Thanks.
12:19Take care.
12:20That is Lindsay Crosby there.
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