00:00Rob, if you can't tell, I'm in a pretty good mood this evening
00:03as the Braves sit 45-21, fresh off of a sweep this weekend.
00:10Oh, how sweet it is to be in Braves country right now.
00:14I mean, I know we were both on the hype train to start the season,
00:17but 45-21, Rob, I mean, what are you seeing from this squad right now?
00:23I know, because first of all, there's no one I'd rather be talking to than you.
00:26Thank you for having me.
00:28And second of all, how are you going to feel when they have Tarek Scoble?
00:31I mean, like, oh, my goodness.
00:32We'll get into that.
00:34I mean, we're going to put it over the top.
00:39But, yeah, it's funny because if you go throughout baseball,
00:44the baseball, the MLB, is just littered with mediocrity, littered with mediocrity.
00:50And I think I looked it up yesterday.
00:52In the last 10 games, seven American League teams were five and five.
00:58So that just tells me that nobody wants to win.
01:01Nobody wants to play well.
01:02Nobody wants to separate themselves.
01:05Well, congratulations, Braves.
01:07You, along with maybe one other team, has actually separated itself and taken advantage of the situation.
01:14And you know what that does, Chris?
01:16What that does is it allows the Braves to pull the Dodgers.
01:20And what I mean by that is that you cruise to the end and you set everything up.
01:25You manage your injuries.
01:27Not a lot of teams get a chance to do this.
01:29This is how the Dodgers win World Series.
01:31Congratulations, Braves.
01:32You might get a chance to do that.
01:33You mentioned the big name floating around the club right now.
01:37Tariq Skubal was mentioned by ESPN MLB insider Jeff Passan is one of three teams,
01:43along with the Dodgers that you just mentioned, and the Brew Crew,
01:46as teams that could be interested in Skubal if he's made available.
01:50Had his first rehab start today, five scoreless innings.
01:54So that's good for anybody who may be interested in his services.
01:58My only concern about it has nothing to do with the player.
02:02It has nothing to do with anything other than, Rob, we've got to be honest.
02:05It's not a very Braves-like move, especially because he's an impending free agent
02:10who's going to cost way too much for the Braves to sign in the offseason.
02:13Yeah, I mean, you don't really think of the Braves when you think of these sort of moves.
02:19And that's no slight on them.
02:21Obviously, they've had some really good trade deadlines.
02:24But it's been more sort of shrewd moves.
02:26It's been more, you know, fill-in-the-gap sort of moves.
02:30And this is definitely not a fill-in-the-gap move.
02:33And you have to weigh it, man.
02:36Like, this is the thing.
02:37Like, Kim Kim and Nitti, like, I don't know if that's what it's going to cost,
02:41but that's what they'll ask for.
02:43They'll ask for guys like that.
02:44And so if you're the Braves, is it worth it?
02:47Or can you get a reasonable facsimile and manage that way?
02:51And I almost, you know, I go two ways on it.
02:54Because I think that the Tigers, if they deal schoolable, are going to be in a great situation.
02:59Because they do have some teams, those teams that you mentioned, especially with the Dodgers,
03:04who they can leverage a little against each other.
03:07But at the same time, I think there's going to be some other arms out there
03:10that you can put in the rotation that will help you win postseason games.
03:14So, you know, so if the cost is just too much, honestly, I'd be like, okay, it's all right.
03:20It's okay.
03:21You know, we don't want to mortgage our entire future.
03:25Because I do believe that the Braves, even with an addition, maybe a next-level addition,
03:32a notch down, can still win a World Series with the group that they have.
03:36So, the only impediment to that, and I agree, Rob, is we need Austin Riley to wake up.
03:42He's had a couple of stints where he's looked like he might be back on track.
03:46But you know how important this guy is to the club.
03:49And if they're going to win a World Series, Rob, he's going to have to be a part of it.
03:55Yeah, yeah.
03:56And, you know, the thing is that you always have that guy.
03:59You always have, even the best teams have that guy who you're like, oh, man,
04:05only if we have the best version of him.
04:07Because if we take a step back and we look at the Braves and their record
04:10and winning, what, 18-21 series or whatever it is, it's, you know, we're like,
04:17oh, but, you know, if we only had Austin Riley.
04:19But you're right.
04:19I mean, you need the best version of players like that when it counts the most.
04:25And, you know, I think it's not to be a cliche, but it is a long season.
04:29There have been examples of guys turning around in the second half.
04:33I think that the great thing is that you have been able to weather this storm
04:38without the best version of him as long as these other guys keep going.
04:42I mean, it seems so weird to talk this way.
04:46But this is the way that everyone around, not to keep coming back to the Dodgers,
04:50but this is what everyone around the Dodgers understands is that we can talk
04:54about guys slumping.
04:55We can talk about guys doing well.
04:57We can talk about guys healthy or not healthy.
04:59But ultimately, all that matters is how are you positioning yourself when it comes to
05:04October.
05:05The Braves have earned that right to have that conversation.
05:08So not to sort of diminish exactly what you're talking about with Riley, but, you know,
05:13when it comes to the end of September, I'd be very anxious to see where they've landed,
05:18not only with him, but with all these guys.
05:19The other factor of this, too, Rob, there's nobody in the American League that scares me,
05:25honestly.
05:26With Judge going down for the Yankees, he's not going to be right for the rest of the year
05:31with that rib injury.
05:33And Tampa, I mean, can we name five Rays?
05:36I mean, let's be honest about that.
05:39Guardian, same thing.
05:40Seattle's barely above .500.
05:42I mean, I think whoever comes out of the National League is going to be the overwhelming favorite
05:48against the AL.
05:50Yeah, I don't think there's any question.
05:51I think that the only potential blinding women when it comes to not finding a dominant team
06:01is Judge.
06:02I mean, I think that if Judge can come back and you get Max Fried back and you get a
06:08good
06:08Garrett Cole, the Yankees are absolutely the team that can position themselves as the heavy,
06:15heavy favorites in the American League.
06:17But that's a big if.
06:18Like, we don't know, like, what he's going to come back as.
06:22We don't know what the situation is.
06:24We don't know if Cam Slitter is going to wear down.
06:26We don't know.
06:27But you're so right.
06:29It is unbelievable when you look at it.
06:31And, you know, you can look at it two ways.
06:33You can look at it, well, the American League stinks and you don't have to worry about
06:38them.
06:38Or is one of these teams going to actually take advantage of the situation and have a
06:43shock and awe deadline and separate themselves from the rest of the pack, you know, like
06:48a Seattle Mariners team?
06:50You know, so, like, are they going to be able to do that?
06:52Because there are some pieces for all of these teams, but they're all flawed teams.
06:57And that's what makes, I think, the deadline really, really interesting.
07:00And if I'm a GM for one of these teams, I've said it for the last two years and I'll
07:04say
07:05it again, you have to take advantage of the situation and the situation is the American
07:10League is there to be had and winning is good for business.
07:14So go out and try to win.
07:15Talking all things Braves and MLB with our good buddy Rob Bradford.
07:19Make sure you check out Baseball Isn't Boring wherever you get your podcasts.
07:23What is your buy-in level on Philly right now?
07:28It's pretty high.
07:29You know, I think that you can't ignore what they have done since Don Madeline took over.
07:36And, you know, we can't forget that last year they had a really, really good regular season.
07:43They're a really, really good team.
07:44This year, everyone thought they were going to be a really, really good team.
07:47They obviously got off to a close start.
07:49But there's a reason why everybody thought they were going to be a good team because they
07:53have good starting pitching.
07:55Once Zach Wheeler came back, you knew what you had there.
07:58You know, you have a really, really good bullpen now with Duran.
08:02So you have the pieces and then you have a veteran, veteran team that knows how to win
08:07and knows how to get through a season and has a good lineup.
08:11Are they as good as the Braves?
08:12No, they're not.
08:13They're not as good as the Braves.
08:15But the thing that's looming is Dave Dombrowski.
08:19You know that Dave Dombrowski, if they need something, they're going to go out and get
08:23it.
08:24And that's where it becomes a little bit dangerous.
08:26So I can absolutely see the Phillies as a team, one of the teams that kind of takes off
08:32in the second half and ultimately becomes one of the top three, four teams in Major League
08:37Baseball.
08:38And that'll be really, really interesting because, I mean, not to jump forward to next year,
08:43but they offered Alex Cora the job the day, even two days before they fired the manager.
08:49And does Don Mattingly want to keep going?
08:52Is Don Mattingly the right guy for the job?
08:54It's a really interesting time for him in Philly, but I'll come back to it.
08:57I think that by the end of the year, I would not be surprised at all.
09:02We just say, locked in, Philly is one of the top five teams in baseball.
09:07Two teams that have fallen off kind of inexplicably lately.
09:10What's going on with the Cubs and what's going on with the Padres?
09:15Yeah, well, it's two teams where there's plenty of chaos.
09:20And first of all, like how bizarre is it in the Cubs season?
09:25And you have these 10-game win streaks, and then you have these 10-game losing streaks.
09:29I'm rounding the numbers up or down.
09:32But it's – and then now they've settled in the bad part of it.
09:36And now they have injuries.
09:38Jameson Tyon, now he's banged up.
09:40You know, and you have guys like Alex Bregman underperforming, which by the way, Alex Bregman,
09:47you know, good for him for getting the contract for the Cubs.
09:51But if you want to talk about a park that is less conducive to the park that he could have
09:57played in at Fenway Park, that was it.
09:59There's no doubt in my mind Alex Bregman would be having a much better year if he wasn't playing at
10:04Wrigley Field all the time.
10:05It's not an excuse.
10:06That's just a fact.
10:07But I think that, you know, there's a lot of heat on the Cubs.
10:10I mean, there just is.
10:11And there's a lot – oh, my goodness.
10:13There's a lot of heat on A.J.
10:14Prowler and the Padres.
10:15Because it's just that you have the core of that team with these enormous contracts, these contracts that go forever,
10:23the Machados, the Bogards, those sort of guys.
10:26And it's just not working offensively.
10:28And now you're getting guys banged up.
10:30But it's funny because if we go back a month, month and a half, those two teams were like, oh,
10:36here we go, two of the elite teams.
10:39And now they're both taking on water.
10:41But the common thread with both of them is there is a desperation to win.
10:47So I don't think that either one of them will ever be like, we're giving up.
10:51We're not going to be aggressive at a deadline.
10:53Like, we know what A.J. Prowler is going to do.
10:55He's going to go for it.
10:56And, you know, with as many chips that the Cubs push to the table, they'll absolutely go for it, too.
11:03Before I let you go, the initial proposals for both sides of the MLB potential lockout situation have been released.
11:11I know it's early on in the process, but what did you make of the language and what they both
11:15are willing to give up and what they both want?
11:19Yeah, without getting too much in the weeds, I'm just going to say it's demoralizing.
11:25It's predictable.
11:28It's everything that we hoped that the first round, you know, in an ideal world and sort of this world
11:37that we really don't exist in, that we're like, oh, look, it's a lot better than we thought.
11:44That, you know, the cap situation, that they were going to be more agreeable.
11:48And then you have this was worse.
11:50This was a worse proposal for coming from MLBPA.
11:55This was the worst proposal that MLB had the owners had ever put out.
11:59And so when you hear that, you're like, no, this isn't going to be a dream come true and they're
12:06going to settle this.
12:07No, this is absolutely going to go to a lockout.
12:09This is absolutely going to be a pain.
12:11And, you know, not to really get political about it, but I thought that it was noteworthy in telling that
12:19the president, you know, is there was a report in The Athletic that the president is sort of diving into
12:25probably the owner's side of this thing.
12:27And I don't think that should be taken lightly.
12:30It shouldn't, because I think that, you know, if the pressure comes politically from one side, it's going to make
12:37things even more difficult to get a deal done.
12:41So ultimately, in a nutshell, dig in college baseball, Little League, high school baseball, the real winners.
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