00:00Were you surprised at all by the, I know it was really bad performance and there had been multiple bad
00:06performances for Aaron Bummer, but with the money that he sort of had still guaranteed to him, were you surprised
00:12at all to see the Braves just cut bait with him earlier this week?
00:15No, not really. I feel like this was a decision that had just been looming. And you hope that he
00:20can figure it out. He got $9.5 million invested in him, so I think he got a longer runway
00:25to try and get things right.
00:27But you just kind of looked at the performance. The ball was just not doing the things it did for
00:33him a couple of years ago when he was so good at limiting hard contact, at avoiding the bat barrel,
00:38at getting ground balls at a high rate.
00:40I mean, we're not talking just like, oh, he's pretty good at that. It was elite-level stuff. You look
00:44at that StatCast page, there was a lot of reason to understand why Aaron Bummer could have success.
00:50Then you look at it in 2026, coming off the shoulder issue he had a year ago, and everything had
00:55just swung back the other way.
00:56He was getting hit hard, and he was getting hit hard frequently. And so you look at that and then
01:02start to do some math on how this bullpen is constructed and where you're going to get innings from.
01:06And they can't all come from Rysel Iglesias and Robert Suarez and Dylan Lee and then Tyler Kinley, I feel
01:14like, has already been overworked.
01:15Then you've got a couple of guys out there that you're not sure what you're going to get from them
01:20in Ronaldo Lopez and Didier Fuentes, because are they starters?
01:24Are they working on stuff? Can they be relievers? Can they throw back-to-back days?
01:27What levers does Walt Weiss have to pull here?
01:30And yeah, there have been some other pieces that have moved in and out, and I haven't gone through every
01:33single pitcher that could pitch in relief for the Braves.
01:36But for Aaron Bummer to struggle, that was your second lefty in the bullpen that you wanted to be able
01:40to count on, and you just flat out didn't have that weapon.
01:43And that, I feel like, is one of the reasons why, directly, Tyler Kinley has had some struggles, because he's
01:49had to face more lefties, and lefties have hit him extremely well.
01:52So when one piece falters or comes out, everything can have that Jenga effect, if you will.
01:58Now, the back-end guys haven't felt it yet.
02:01It hasn't cost the Braves a ton of games, but they do have to address what they're going to do
02:06as far as a second left-handed option out of that bullpen.
02:08Hey, Grant, I said earlier today that wise is wise, because for whatever reason, and correct me if I'm wrong,
02:15but it always seems like it to me.
02:16Like, when this team is tied going into the seventh, and he does, okay, I know they're tied, but we're
02:23going to go our seventh, eighth, ninth guy.
02:25The reason why is because I know that we're going to pick over the lead in these innings.
02:30Is it one of those things where, do you see it, or is it just me?
02:33No, I see that a lot.
02:35And this is something that, with Walt, he's looked at, he's flat out said it after games.
02:39He said, look, I saw a win that was right there for the taking, and we chased it.
02:42But when you chase those wins, and then all of a sudden you start to look at kind of a
02:46usage map for your bullpen,
02:48it's like, okay, all of a sudden, well, Robert Suarez has done three consecutive games,
02:51and one of those, he had to throw parts of two innings, and then we've used, you know,
02:55right sell three straight, or three out of four.
02:58And then you're just trying to figure out the proper amount,
03:01because especially when you're in these runs where the Braves are with no off day,
03:04you don't really get to reset that chart.
03:06So you may go after it on Friday night and feel really good about that win,
03:10but it might cost you on Saturday because a couple of guys just aren't available to you.
03:14And that I think the Braves have run into a couple of times.
03:16But I will say this, the gambit, you know, by a wide margin seems to have worked
03:21because the Braves offense has been very good at comebacks.
03:24This is going to sound a bit like a random question, and it kind of is,
03:28but we're already talking about the bullpen.
03:29And a listener hit me up and asked if I would ask about Joe Jimenez.
03:33Do we know much about his timeline injury-wise?
03:37Yeah, so I asked about Joe last homestand,
03:40and Walt Weiss told me he had had another knee surgery,
03:43but this was one, so this would be number three.
03:45But they felt like this procedure might have actually increased his chances
03:50of being able to pitch again at some point, but there is no timetable.
03:55And we're not talking pitch again at some point in 2026.
03:58I mean, I have heard from a couple of different places where when they found out
04:02how bad Joe's knee was after 2024, that there was some thought, at least initially,
04:06that this might be career-threatening.
04:10Like, you're going to have to navigate through this injury.
04:13We're just not sure or comfortable enough to say he will definitely be back
04:17in six weeks, six months, whatever the case may be.
04:20That dude pitched through a pretty bad knee injury in 2024,
04:23and I don't know if that made it worse or if it just was what it was,
04:27and I don't even know the details of all of the different procedures that have gone on.
04:31But I can suffice it to say I would not factor Joe Jimenez heavily
04:35into the plans for the Braves this year, and this is the final year of his contract.
04:39Hey, JP, because of the fact that that Drake Baldwin that we all hate
04:42is going to be on the aisle for at least another week,
04:46do you think it's because he was a DH last night,
04:49do you think it's just leaving Ronald at the DH just to get those at-bats
04:53and not put him in the wrist?
04:53I don't want to say wrist, but put him out there in the field
04:55to have to run around extra?
04:57No, maybe.
04:58You could see some, Ronald, at DH,
05:00but I think that ideally the Braves want him in right field
05:03because he is a solution to their outfield need.
05:08Now they get Eli White back from the concussion aisle today,
05:10so Jose Ozzocar was designated for assignment.
05:13I kind of like Jose Ozzocar as the fifth outfielder.
05:17I mean, this is a conversation that probably not too many shows in America
05:21are having about, hey, how do you feel about the fifth outfielder?
05:24But you need the depth, we've noticed, in different position groups.
05:27You can end up getting hurt because if you think about it this way
05:30in terms of the DH, you wanted Sean Murphy back
05:33so that Drake Baldwin would have the opportunity to take a lot of those at-bats
05:36or a good number of those at-bats.
05:38Then you had Dom Smith, so you felt good about that.
05:41Then all of a sudden you bring Sean Murphy back.
05:43Jonah Haim is claimed by the Athletics, so he's gone.
05:46Sean Murphy gets hurt, so now Drake Baldwin's got to do more of the catching.
05:49And the reason why you ended up in that position
05:52when you activated Sean and felt good enough about cutting loose
05:55your other catcher was, or had to, was that you had
05:59Michael Harris couldn't play the outfield for what felt like
06:01about a week, week and a half, but they didn't want him to.
06:03And then Ronald went on the IL.
06:05So your whole opportunity to hold on to three catchers went out the door.
06:08And now you've lost all three of those catchers,
06:11and you've got Sandy Leone and Chadwick Tromp
06:13trying to hold things down.
06:15And as I said yesterday on social media, they're solid vets.
06:17So I think they can handle the staff, but there's really no expectation
06:20whatsoever, offensively speaking, especially when you compare it
06:24to what you were getting from the catcher position out of Drake Baldwin
06:27and what you would have liked to have had the opportunity for
06:30if Sean Murphy could get it going and everything else Sean brings
06:33to working with the pitching staff.
06:35This was just, if it could go wrong, it did go wrong for the Braves
06:38in a very short amount of time behind the plate.
06:40Are we not there yet?
06:41Because it's so early in the season, and it's only happened a couple times
06:45in a row where the Braves haven't given Chris Sale a ton of run support.
06:50Or if maybe they don't do that tonight, is that something that they start
06:53to think about a little bit?
06:55I don't really know what you can do about it, though.
06:57You know, it's kind of the, you know, church and state.
07:00You can have everything going great on one side, and the other side,
07:03it might be an absolute mess, or there might be some things that you want
07:06to clean up and fix.
07:08And, you know, there always seems to be one guy on the staff
07:11that just draws the short straw with that.
07:14I think that we saw it happen to Chris Sale a handful of times,
07:17even in 2024, but all he did was go, I think, 18-4
07:20and win a Triple Crown and a Cy Young Award.
07:23So it's a couple of starts.
07:25It's unfortunate because you pitch well enough that you want to win those games,
07:28but I think it said more about, you know, offensively speaking,
07:31some struggles on those particular nights.
07:33And really, you're trying to find some consistency.
07:35Getting Ronald Acuna Jr. back at the time you lose Drake Baldwin,
07:39you can look at that as, hey, you know, again,
07:41we can't get this whole team together, or say, well,
07:43at least that takes some of the stress off of you lost one great hitter,
07:47you get one more to come back and help spark your lineup.
07:50And Ronald was on base three times and scored three runs yesterday.
07:53That would certainly be a nice outcome.
07:55He wears out the Marlins.
07:56And if you could get Ronald rolling, Chris Sale,
07:58and every other starting pitcher would be feeling pretty good about what this
08:01offense is capable of.
08:02G-Mac, Hassan Kim, we just got to just get through this.
08:04It's just baseball phase with him right now?
08:07Yeah, I think so.
08:08And yesterday, I mean, he finally got a big hit,
08:10knocked in some runs, was involved in that comeback.
08:12And look, we're in what I call small sample size theater.
08:17And it's happening all right at the beginning, right?
08:19I mean, if you come in and say he went seven for 14 in his first three or four games,
08:23you think, oh, Hassan Kim's the best.
08:25But if he goes 0 for 14 or 1 for 14, you're just thinking, wow, this guy can't buy a
08:30hit.
08:30Why is he any good?
08:31And why are we paying him $20 million?
08:32I mean, we just end up in these extreme kind of places sometimes.
08:36But over the course of a long baseball season,
08:38if you look at what he has been and what he's capable of and what you paid him to do,
08:41he still has time to accomplish those things.
08:44Mauricio Dubon, as much as he's been a great story,
08:47and he did have three hits yesterday,
08:49he went through about a two-week stretch where he had about three hits.
08:52I mean, it's not necessarily something to where it's, okay,
08:55well, you took away the hot bat of Dubon,
08:57because now all of a sudden Mauricio had to go to the outfield to help you out
09:00with some of the things that weren't happening out there.
09:02So it's good to have Mauricio Dubon.
09:05It's better to have Mauricio Dubon and Hassan Kim.
09:08It just makes the club much more well-rounded,
09:10and I do think it will take care of the shortstop position.
09:13We just, like you said, have to give it time,
09:15let him get his sea legs under him, and see what happens.
09:17Grant, thank you.
09:18Pretty nice to see you, Mike.
09:19Thanks, guys.
09:20Grant McCauley there, 92 on the game, Atlanta Braves insider,
09:23host of From the Diamond, joins us Wednesdays at this time.
09:26Yeah, Dubon three for five last night.
09:29Yep.
09:30RBI run.
09:32Remember Paul Bird was on with us on Friday
09:34and said that he buys, like, taco bars for the grounds crew?
09:38Yes.
09:38I love that.
09:39What a guy.
09:40What a guy.
09:42The biggest thing, and I always remember this when I was in St. Louis,
09:45when you could take care of those people,
09:47they were like, hey, we're going to get together a pot
09:50so we can get this for these.
09:52Okay.
09:54It's awesome.
09:55It's awesome.
09:55This is something that a lot of people probably don't think about.
09:57They don't even think about it.
09:58Yeah, but they're out there making the field beautiful every day.
10:00And, of course, they like tacos.
10:02Everybody does.
10:02Who doesn't like tacos?
10:04I like tacos.
10:05Me too.
10:05I mean, tacos tonight, Andy.
10:06I had tacos last night.
10:07Well, damn.
10:08Well, it's Taco Tuesday at your house.
10:10It's eating them on.
10:13I can't come up with Taco on Wednesday.
10:16I don't know.
10:17I don't have a W.
10:18Wacky Taco Wednesday.
10:19Wacky.
10:19Yep.
10:19There you go.
10:19There it is.
10:20It's going to be poke belly tacos.
10:22God, that sounds so good.
10:23Oh, yeah.
10:24When she's not here.
10:24Oh, I'm eating that, but poke and beef.
10:27That's just for you?
10:28Yes.
10:28No chicken, no fish.
10:30Good for you.
10:30Just poke and beef.
10:31Well, uh.
10:33Swine and cow.
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