- 1 day ago
Braves got good and bad injury news Monday. Catcher Drake Baldwin was cleared to begin his rehab, which is good, but Spencer Strider's right arm will be shut down for the next month with hopes he can return before the season's end. Dukes and Bell assess the situation and talk about how the Braves can bulletproof themselves to support a deep postseason run.
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00:00Mike, let's talk about our Braves because we have lost four or five.
00:03That is not our concern.
00:05You're going to have stretches, okay?
00:07The concern is, even though we still have the best record in Major League Baseball,
00:12what about the injury situation?
00:14So put Ronald Acuna aside right now, okay?
00:16And I'm going to give you more good news, which is Drake Baldwin.
00:21He's going to be in the lineup tomorrow.
00:23He's coming back.
00:24Good news.
00:25Bad news, Mike, is the situation with Spencer Strider and the right arm soreness.
00:31Yeah, initially there was a consultation with the same doctor who did his last procedure,
00:37and Mark Bowman had that from MLB Network.
00:40They're saying there's no concerns about him needing surgery.
00:42That's Dr. Meister, by the way, that performed his surgery in 2024.
00:46That was the initial report about five hours ago.
00:49And then later on we found out that, yeah, they're going to shut him down for at least,
00:54well, sounds like minimum four weeks.
00:57And then they'll reevaluate, sounds like in late August, a chance he could begin throwing
01:03exercises again during the second half of July.
01:05This is from MLB.com's Mark Bowman.
01:08If all goes well, late August or early September return seems possible.
01:14So, okay, so last couple of weeks in August at best?
01:17It's tough.
01:18I mean, and trying to be mean because we all know every Strider is a fan favorite,
01:22but you just, you can't expect anything from him at this point.
01:25You just got to just, look, you know, hope that in the interim we'll talk about other
01:29things that Alex can do, but you try to get some guys off waivers and you hope that
01:33Harst and Waldrop will be back here like the Cavalry, Carl, sooner than later.
01:37But you just can't count on Spencer Strider to your tease.
01:40You can't count on him at this stage of his career.
01:42Yeah, Mike, and look, we hate it because he was going to be such a big part of what
01:47we thought was the front part of this rotation with Chris Sale, Strider.
01:53We were searching for that third guy, right?
01:55It had been kind of Elder, his last four starts.
01:57Elder's given up 16 earned runs and has a 70 ERA.
02:00He's not been great.
02:01Okay, we're talking about a span over 20 innings.
02:04He's also, his walks have picked up.
02:05He's given up too many hits, which is what you're talking about with, you know,
02:09pitching to contact, 27 hits in those four starts.
02:11So, now all of a sudden, what looked like a solidified one, two, three is not so much.
02:17And so this week, right, we get a chance to play back at Truist.
02:21We've got Holmes, Richie, and Martin Perez.
02:24And Holmes is out of the bullpen back to starting.
02:25Correct.
02:26And all that that entails.
02:27And hopefully getting through four and two thirds.
02:28So, I just feel like with the Spencer Strider situation, oblique injury, right elbow in 2024.
02:37Now you're talking about shoulder, you know, he had shoulder, elbow soreness.
02:43All of this stuff is compounding.
02:45And I have a hard time believing, and I hope I'm wrong, but I doubt it, that Mike, he's going
02:51to be able to overcome all of the things that he's been dealing with,
02:55especially to be as productive as we need him to be for this season.
02:58So, then what are we talking about?
03:00He takes his time off.
03:00He comes back.
03:01Like, maybe he pitches one or two starts, Mike, but there's no guarantee that the soreness doesn't resurface.
03:07No, and again, the scary thing about the last outing was how the velocity was in the mid-80s.
03:11You know, in the upper 80s, it's like, wow.
03:13I mean, it's just a guy that now needs rest, and you just, so then what?
03:19Then he comes back, and you slowly ramp him up, and then you're telling me you'll be able to count
03:23on him for the drive for the pennant?
03:26So, I mean, the Braves have got to, look, I don't want, I get it, all the baseball people.
03:31What do you mean, baseball people?
03:32What do you mean?
03:33Nerds!
03:33Yes, I know you can't make a trade right now.
03:36You can call.
03:36You can make a trade any time you freaking want.
03:39The trade deadline, as we know, is later and later every year.
03:41But, again, Scooble scares some Braves fans.
03:44Of course he does.
03:45You don't want to give up anything.
03:45You're worried about his health.
03:47He's got to reestablish himself.
03:48We're not the only team that will be kicking the tires on talking to the Tigers, I should say, about
03:55Tariq Scooble.
03:55But what do you need?
03:56A month's worth of quality starts from him, and you give him, okay, let's go.
04:00All right, other options for you, Carl.
04:02There's other players.
04:04These are guys that are generally expected to be shopped by teams, which, again, as soon as their stock goes
04:09down, they're going to be selling.
04:11Kansas City.
04:12We've gone to the well with Kansas City before.
04:14Michael Waka.
04:15Okay?
04:16I like him.
04:16How about that?
04:17He's good.
04:17Another name I mentioned to Carl earlier, ironically, we just didn't have the time to make it work on our
04:22timeline, as Michael Soroka is balling out for the Diamondbacks right now.
04:25And you're going to get a very team-friendly, I should say, contract, which is always a paramount concern for
04:30the Braves when signing pitchers.
04:32No doubt.
04:33And familiarity, right, if you were to do something like that.
04:36You mentioned the Blue Jays with Kevin Gosman.
04:38I mean, there are names outside of the Scooble search situation that there are possibilities.
04:45This is really just going to come down to who you can make a deal with, and, Mike, what are
04:48you willing to trade?
04:49I mean, Freddie Peralta with the Mets is another guy.
04:52Lugo with the Mets, right?
04:53There are tons of guys that you could go, all right, are we really interested in what are we willing
04:57to do, and then how does this work, not only for the rental three-month situation, because it's really August,
05:02September, and October, but then beyond.
05:05Are you willing, or do we even care about that?
05:07We're just trying.
05:08And for me, this is where I'm at.
05:10All I care about is right now.
05:11I don't care about, like, this offseason, there's not even a guarantee we're going to have a baseball offseason.
05:17And that's the other thing.
05:17You know, I joked around with some guys today.
05:21These prospects.
05:22What?
05:22Another pitcher who's going to blow out his arm in another six months?
05:25I mean, come on, guys.
05:26Carl just laid it out.
05:27We might not even have a baseball season next year.
05:29And we've got a team which is playing at an historic clip.
05:32Even with Austin Riley playing terribly.
05:34Even with Ronald out of the lineup.
05:36Drake is back, by the way.
05:37Great to hear about that with Drake Baldwin.
05:39But we've been able to do some things with the worker bees.
05:42You know, the Dubons of the world and Mateo.
05:44These guys have been a revelation, Carl.
05:46Even just Dremski's been really good, other than when he's trying to hit a cutoff bat and hits one of
05:50those poles, which maybe the Mets have got it too close to the foul.
05:52That was a new one for me.
05:54And by the way, let me bring it back to pitching.
05:57Bryce Elder's getting hit up lately.
05:59Bryce Elder is throwing a lot of hittable stuff now.
06:02Would you agree?
06:02Yeah.
06:03We talked about it.
06:03I mean, I was just talking about 27 hits.
06:05That's a lot of hits in his last four starts.
06:07Again, the Yaz thing didn't help, but that ending was going awry as it was.
06:11But the point I'm getting to is, it's a special season.
06:15Then if it's not a special season, don't tell me about these milestones we're hitting.
06:18They were the most wins in baseball.
06:20The best records since 0-3.
06:21If you're not going to double down and put money into this thing.
06:25Why else?
06:25Why the hell are we here?
06:26Right?
06:27He left.
06:28We're talking about Strider.
06:29Friday's game with that soreness.
06:31And then he was placed on the 15-day I.L.
06:33And we were just trying to get answers over the weekend about where this is.
06:37Today, we have those answers.
06:39They're not good answers.
06:41They're not the answers we wanted as Braves fans.
06:43It's not the answers we wanted as Braves country.
06:46But this is what we're dealing with.
06:48And so these stretches over the course of a season, guys, and this is what happens.
06:52This is why it is a, it's not a sprint, right?
06:55It's a marathon.
06:56You're going to have these stretches, Mike, and how you overcome them
07:00determines your season.
07:01The Dodgers overcome it by simply just stacking the deck.
07:05They just go get as many guys as they want, Mike, and the salaries are not a concern.
07:09And they go, well, we're down three starting pitchers.
07:12That would be number one starters on most teams anywhere else.
07:15And they just keep rolling.
07:16They're only a game below.
07:19We got 46 ones.
07:20They got 45, right?
07:21But the fact is, we are in the mix.
07:23And when you start talking about home field advantage and being the team to beat in the NL,
07:27are we going to be all of those things when you have what's going on right now with your starting
07:31pitching?
07:32Mike, this cannot be a six-week lapse of bad starting pitching,
07:36and now we're depending on the pin to carry.
07:38It just can't happen.
07:39No, we talked about it.
07:41I mean, Chris Sale is your only guy you can count.
07:43And they seem to find ways to win Martin Perez's starts.
07:45Sure, sure.
07:46But Grant Holmes is four and two-thirds.
07:47That taxes the bullpen.
07:49Hurston Waltrip's going to have a couple of starts in Gwinnett.
07:51By the way, how many starts?
07:51You know he's good, right, in Gwinnett.
07:53What do you need to see?
07:55Need him back quickly.
07:56But it's an ugly patch.
07:58It was a strange couple of games in New York.
07:59And we talked about Chicago.
08:01It was a weird one.
08:02But this team is playing like 2023.
08:06You had this amazing offensive record.
08:09Everybody, home runs, RBIs, medals.
08:11And the whole team was raking.
08:12He didn't have any pitching.
08:14So when you have to go play the Phillies in a must-win situation,
08:16it was a very hittable Bryce Elder.
08:18That's the year where everything was weird.
08:19Freed had a weird injury.
08:21We're dealing with the typical stuff.
08:22We're dealing with Strider.
08:24So I just apologize.
08:26I rant and rave about not enough money into pitching.
08:29If you're not trying to stack the deck,
08:31and now you've got a legitimate concern to Carl's point.
08:33Your starting rotation is in tatters.
08:35Yes, you hope that Waltrip's going to be ready to go.
08:37Spencer Schwellenbach's a little bit further behind as far as coming back.
08:40So, I mean, to simply wait for someone to get cut by the White Sox,
08:43you know, right?
08:45And they're not going to be cutting anybody
08:46because they feel like they're pretty good about themselves, right?
08:48No, look, they just beat us.
08:49Right?
08:49That's a young team which is over .500.
08:51But you know what I'm talking about.
08:53Who's the guy I said to you before?
08:54The Yari Chorizo?
08:57Those kind of guys.
08:58Ironically, you mentioned the name.
08:59Gosman is up again as a potential trade bait if Toronto goes south.
09:03Well, remember, they came here and they were reeling, right?
09:06Right.
09:06They weren't hitting.
09:07I mean, we beat them up, and it's one of those things.
09:10That team is underachieving.
09:11We talked about it with Grant.
09:12The teams that are going to get in the next month who are still underachieving
09:16are the teams by the end of July that will be willing to do something.
09:20And by the way, the trade deadline is not until early August.
09:22I know it feels weird, but it's what it is.
09:25And I just feel like you've got to make those plans now.
09:27You're also, Mike, you may be giving some of these other guys that are in your farm
09:33maybe an opportunity.
09:34I mean, guys, J.R. Ritchie was your No. 2 prospect in this organization.
09:37He's now starting for you.
09:39He's up here.
09:40You may have to do a little bit more of that, Mike,
09:42depending on who you feel like is ready to have that chance.
09:46I'm not telling you that's the answer, but it may be just where we're at right now
09:51until you're able to fill the void with what you need to get.
09:54So the Braves, in the meantime, keep your head above water.
09:56Anybody with any money on his contract, that's a non-starter.
10:00Guy just hit me up.
10:01He goes, what about that Japanese pitcher?
10:03Oh, Shota Imanaga.
10:05We just saw him.
10:05Not happening.
10:06Nope.
10:06I just looked it up.
10:08$22 million deal.
10:09Okay?
10:10So that's probably not money you're going to take on.
10:13Anthony, we just talked about Anthony Kaye guy hit us up.
10:15That's the White Sox.
10:16They're in a position where they're going to hold out of their assets right now.
10:18Yeah, I will say this, though.
10:19We do have, and this is the primer about this whole deal.
10:24We do have the pro-far money to use.
10:2718 mil.
10:28It's right.
10:29It's a marker, if you want to say, that's there.
10:33That is something that we did not expect to have, okay, going into the season because
10:37you thought you'd have pro-far.
10:39Once that deal got voided and how that all works with Major League Baseball, we do have
10:43that.
10:43So, Mike, as far as, like, if you told me we couldn't add a few million, and we're not
10:48paying a full salary, by the way.
10:49You're only renting a guy unless you're picking up his full contract, and he's still under
10:52contract for the next three years.
10:54That's a different conversation than a scoobal situation where, hey, I need him for right
10:59now to the end of the year, and then he becomes a free agent.
11:02That's pro-rated.
11:03You're not paying his whole salary.
11:05You know, J.R.
11:06Ritchie can come to the rescue.
11:07He had decent numbers in that game against the Mets.
11:09So, J.R.
11:10Ritchie, we talked about it, guys.
11:12I mean, unless...
11:13I think there's just a ceiling.
11:14Guys, what do you have against Grant Holmes?
11:15Nothing.
11:16It's just a ceiling with Grant Holmes.
11:17He was a journeyman in the minor leagues.
11:18It's a nice story, but, you know, it's here.
11:22If you're watching on YouTube, my hand's right here.
11:23But it's just not somebody you have the faith in because he still taxes your bullpen every
11:27other start.
11:29Well, guys like Grant, he's done a really good job.
11:32You know, again, Bryce has done a good job.
11:34Bryce has been one of our best pitchers to start the season.
11:36It's one of the reasons why we're here.
11:38But when those guys are in a rotation, Mike, where they're not counted on to be the one
11:44or the two or the three, that is the difference.
11:47Right.
11:48So there's pressure.
11:50There's...
11:50Guys, I just don't know.
11:52I'm not going to argue with you while I'm talking to Carl on the radio because I'll be losing
11:56my focus.
11:56What are they arguing?
11:58No, it's just...
11:58I just don't understand these Braves.
12:00Well, we can't give up the farm.
12:02Who freaking cares?
12:04Trying to win the world championship here.
12:06Fire sale it.
12:07No, that's...
12:08No, we're not doing that.
12:09Well, that would be the team you're dealing with.
12:11They'd be fire sale it.
12:12We'd be sending them some prospects.
12:14But, I mean, the Vaughn Grissom thing I mentioned to Carl earlier.
12:17We just have these raging arguments with people on social media.
12:20Vaughn Grissom is untradeable.
12:21Well, look, I'm glad things are finally, finally working out for me.
12:24This third stop in the show.
12:26You got to give to get.
12:28You know?
12:28And I would love to see this franchise change their approach and actually give money to
12:33pitchers who are really good.
12:34And then we start the spring with two or three guys that actually, you know, we're going to
12:37eat innings.
12:37He'll stay healthy.
12:40You know?
12:41It's just not how we play.
12:43You know?
12:44Winging a prayer.
12:44That's our pitching model.
12:45Winging a prayer.
12:47What do you guys think, man?
12:48Find us on social media.
12:49Mike Bell.
12:50ATL.
12:50I'm at Put Em Up.
12:51See Dukes.
12:52I don't want to trade any ethics.
12:53Who?
12:53So what?
12:54So we're just here for blanks and giggles?
12:57Greatest start to a season in 26 years.
12:59No, we got to improve.
13:00We got to improve.
13:01And hopefully Drake coming back improves this lineup.
13:04But the pitching is going to be a big question moving forward.
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