Hello everyone, and welcome back to the Hammer Territory podcast.

This is episode two six zero.

I am your host, Brad Rowland, coming to you only a few hours after our last episode, and this time I am joined I joked yesterday.

I'm joined very rarely by Steven Tolborg, even more rarely by Sean Coleman.

Sean Coleman is here for a true I don't know about you, Sean, A stunning emergency podcast on Labor Day afternoon.

How are you?

I'm doing well man.

Listen.

We have been missing these emergency podcasts.

We thought that we were going to at least get a couple of them at the trade deadline that wound up not working so much.

But I'm gonna give the Braves credit.

We're gonna get into it quite a bit.

But one of the things that stands out to me was that the lack of activity at the trade deadline, not trading Rice, sale, not trading Marcel, those things came, you know, a little bit confused as to why those things did not occur, but at the very least in the aspect of how are they going to improve for twenty twenty six.

One thing that I will greatly admit I did not think that much of the waiver wire having a good spot in that waiver wire.

The Braves have worked that out.

We're going to discuss that obviously with their latest move.

But pretty exciting emergency podcast if you ask.

Me, yeah, to be sure, and if you are new to the podcast, we are Hammor Territory.

We cover the Braves all year round.

Go ahead and subscribe anywhere you get your podcasts.

But it's a true blue Bergacy podcast because the Braves claimed Hassan Kim off of the waivers on Monday from the Tampa Bay Rays.

Now that may not sound exciting, but Sean, I know between the four of us, we talked about Hassan Kim probably twenty five times this winter as a potential free agent target.

A lot of people immediately on Twitter were like, wait, is this the same guy that we talked about in free agency this winner And the answer was yes to that question.

But this is one of those mystery waiver things where no one even knew he was on waivers.

The Rays didn't out he was on waivers.

It was one of those situations where like, he has some money left in his contract.

We'll talk about it, but it's a contractual situation where the breathers are taking on some risk, but they're adding in a player that we talked about.

Look, I just refreshed my memory.

Before we started recording, a lot of projections had Hassan Kim maybe signing a deal in like the sixteen to twenty million dollar annual value range this last winter.

Fangrafts had him at five for one hundred projection at one point this last winter, and there was some injury concerns and all that.

But he's just suddenly available on September first, at a position where the Braves famously have had a hole for several seasons.

Now it's it's a bit of it's interesting.

It's comes with some risk.

He's had injury questions that we'll talk about.

But this is a potential and I want to use potential on purpose, potential solution to shortstop and also, as you just alluded to, a real commitment of resources to where we don't there's no guarantee because there's a player option, not club option, a player option in play here that there's no guarantee that he'll be on the roster.

But if you're the Braves, you can't make this move unless you are prepared to have him on the roster at a big time sum of money next season.

So it's truly like a October November, December level emergency podcast on September.

First, absolutely, and it's you know, potentially even bigger, you know, And that's the thing that stands out about this.

You know, we'll write down a few different aspects of it, but let's first get to the player, the player him himself.

We're talking about a player who averaged higher than three f war from twenty and twenty two, twenty and twenty four.

And I know myself, I know you brought into all four of us, four of us.

I know many in Braves Country have talked about it.

We don't need someone who's going to sit here and put up a nine ops at shortstop.

Sure that will be great, but we're probably not going to pay the money to get that type of player.

We just need league average production offensively, and that would make a ton of difference for this team.

And that's what you're potentially getting with Hasan Kim.

You see that he had over a one hundred WRC plus in twenty two, twenty three, and twenty four.

But the kicker is is that it comes with Gold Globe level defense, consistent Gold Glove level defense, and you didn't have to give up any type of prospect capital.

Yes, you're taking on potentially a sixty million dollar commitment.

Obviously has only played twenty four games over the past year plus.

There's a bit of injury concern there, but the upside, in my opinion, makes it worth it.

I don't know if there's a better potential player who could sum up all the things we've been asking for at shortstop than Kim and that's what gets me excited risk in Bob, but I think the reward potentially is certainly worth it.

Yeah, And to your point, this is why we talked about him a lot in this winter, and the injury was always the caveat.

He was not healthy, and that's why he got the deal that he got, which was a two year deal with a player option.

He kind of took that like kind of a pillow ish contract because it was like, all right, get healthy, go back on the market potentially if you want to.

But it was always him and Willie Damas that were the names that we talked about at Shortstop, and they were kind of polar opposites.

You mentioned Goldglove defense.

He actually did win the Gold Glove at shortstop in twenty twenty three.

Like that's a it's a proven thing.

Whether he is as good as Nick Allen defensively, maybe not.

Nick Allen's been incredible, but like he's a very good defensive player and a much much better hitter for a long time than what the Braves have had a position since Arcia had that season a couple of years ago where he kind of had, you know, was above his head for half a season.

So Kim is twenty nine untill turn thirty in October.

You just gave some of these, but I'll stay the numbers as well.

He averaged three and a half, was a Bell replacement for three years in a row, reached as high as you know, five basically five one season in twenty twenty three, a one oh six WRC plus over three years combined.

That's above above average hitter at shortstop with plus glove.

Costs a lot of money, and it's worth a lot of money.

That's what he is.

It's not an elite bat by any means, but it's an above average hitter.

Also takes walks eleven percent, walk right over those three seasons, doesn't strike out a time average thirteen members of the season, so not a ton of power, but a little like non zero power and just a very well rounded hitter, great defensive metrics.

And until the last year, we'll come back to this, I'm sure the durability aspect is probably the biggest thing here until the last issue with the shoulder and now the back.

He did average one hundred and forty one games a season in those three years, so it wasn't like he was always hurt.

Like this is a guy who played as a full time starter for three full seasons in San Diego and was a plus plus player, So that's kind of the of what he actually is.

I mean, do you want to talk about the injury?

Do you want to bury the lead on that?

We probably have to talk about the injury at some point and where we are at this stage because it really matters, and then we'll get to the contract too.

Yeah, I mean, the injury concern is a bit.

It's certainly relevant in my opinion.

And the thing is is that I believe also it's been multiple injuries as well.

Correct me if I'm wrong.

I believe it was.

I want to say it was a risk at the end of last year.

I may have been wrong.

I may be wrong on the injury itself.

I've got it too, I got the history.

So if yeah, don't worry.

But I'm getting at is is that it's not as if it's just some random injury that has occurred that has kept him out for much of the season.

Last year, he had a different injury than he has now, which kept his contract expectations low.

That's why he had to take the structure of the deal that he got this year.

He certainly has not been a pillar of health, so that injury risk certainly stands out now if he's coming back and the Braves potentially get to see him for a month or so.

Brad, you, I many others have talked about it.

One of the biggest goals for this Brave's team is to have as many other impact players going into the offseason as healthy as possible.

Kim could be that type of player for this Brave squad, and if he can go into the off season healthy, that's a big difference.

But yes, it's relevant.

It's something that you know when it comes to injury.

Again, with it being multiple injuries, that heightens the that concerned that they could pop up again.

So the injury part of this, that's where the risk is.

It's certainly relevant, it's not just something to set to the side.

And it's probably the biggest reason why he was available.

So we'll get into that in a second.

We'll get to the contract, which is very very important to navigate those waters.

What the Braids are looking at shortstop for the next month.

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Terms of Pick six dot DraftKings dot com slash promos all right, Sean, So, our colleague Ken Rosenthal was first to report the news and the brace of sense analysids, so it's official.

When that came down, I think we all had this like flood of questions and all these things, right, And one of the things that you already alluded to was the injury history.

So when we talked about it, I went through kind of some of podcast notes from the winter to refresh my memory of what we were saying, and it was a he had basically had a labrum tear like he had a shoulder a labrum tear that was that was well known.

He had to have surgery.

When the whole time we talked about it, it was like, we know he's not gonna be ready for April.

That was the looming specter about Hassan Kim as a potential AD and fregency.

It was like, all right, when is he actually gonna play?

And this season was well, it's lost now was supposed to be one where the brads were competing and that every game was gonna matter and all that stuff mattered, And maybe that's why they didn't get it on him.

We don't know.

But he didn't come back until basically early July, so he missed, you know, a long time.

That was expected though with the shoulder.

When he came back, he played twenty four games in about a six week period.

So there was a little bit of an injury to his back in the middle of that.

He had some back issues.

He won in the IL for ten days, he came off the IL, played a little bit more, and then currently was on the IL when he was placed on waivers.

That's not supposed to be a long term issue.

I Ken already reported this.

The Braves as we're recording this Monday afternoon, have not talked about this.

They announced it.

But unless I'm missing something and Snid hasn't talked, nobody's talked yet as we're talking, keep that in mind as a timestamp here.

But Ken's writing was like, he's basically ready to go off the il, so presumably he'll be ready to play.

I mean, maybe not today, but maybe ready to play in the next couple of days.

And that's the injury history that's gonna matter even more.

We talk when we talk about the contracts, but as far as like, it's not a tryout because they have a commitment beyond the season with player option.

But I'm assuming, I mean, I don't know about you, Sean, I am assuming.

I don't like to assume, but we have to right now that he's gonna play shorts up every day.

I mean, I can't imagine you make this move and then he doesn't play every day.

As soon as he's able to play.

Yeah, I mean absolutely, you know, and the Braves have every reason to play him at shortstop right because they want that he's now on the team.

And I know that that may seem very obvious.

But the point that I'm getting at is is that it doesn't make any sense for the Braves to sit here and make this move just to set him to the side and let him go into the offseason then try to prevent anything else from happening to him.

You want him to play because you want to be able to see when we get into the contract.

We already know that there's a good chance he potentially could be on a player option, but we also know the Braves like to be very creative when it comes to these player options or when it comes to these contracts.

If he plays well, they like what they see.

Could that mean more?

And the other thing about the injury that I think, you know again is makes it even more relevant than just Kim's, you know, having multiple, you know, significant injuries over the past year plus.

That's the big story for the Braves over the past year plus.

You know, so many of our players that have been an all star level kind of like Kim has been in the past, but injuries have crept up all of a sudden and now are a part of their player profile, Austin Riley being one of them.

So you know, we hear all these great things about Kim.

We hear what he has been but if you're a bit concerned, could he get back to that since we've seen it happen to other Braves, I don't blame you a bit.

And that certainly is part of his profile.

So that is where when the injuries come to play.

I think that's why the Braves have another reason to plaim get him to end the season on a good note, having to be healthy, having be productive.

Here in a minute, we'll discuss another aspect of his game that's really really important to the Braves that they dude decide to keeping twenty twenty six and beyond.

But getting him on the field, playing and being productive, I think is a big plus if it can happen.

Yeah, and again Ken said it, Kin reported it.

We'll see what the Braves say and we'll cover that on our next episode.

But that's the assumption that I'm gonna make.

I think you're making the same one.

And look, he's replacing Nick Allen.

There's been a lot of Nick Allen discourse.

We don't want to do all that today.

Nick Allen has done what Nick Allen sho should have been expected to do this season.

It's not his fault that he can't hit.

He's never been able to hit, and he's played great defense.

And honestly, you know, I had this stat that I'm almost I'm almost like sheepish to share it because it's not like I fel like I pick on Nick Allen and I'm not.

It's Nick Allen has been fine.

Nick Allen is not the problem with the twenty twenty five Braves.

I don't know if you're agree with me on that, Sean, but that's that's what I feel about Nick Allen.

I'm saying that now just to say this that Nick Allen currently has the lowest slugging percentage by an MLB player in at least four hundred played appearances since nineteen eighty eight.

Nick Allen has a two forty nine slugging percentage this season.

In the last thirty years, the lowest until now was two sixty one, So he's twelve points below the worst mark in the last thirty years of basically a full time player.

So again, not his fault.

Nick Allen was always supposed to be a backup utility infielder, and then Arcia fell off the face of the earth and all those things, so I get it, honestly, Kus Nick Allen.

I'm not picking on Nick Allen at all.

Nick Allen did his job, but it's not the reason have to make this huge.

Like you know, see change changing of the guard at shortstop, you just shake Nickdallen's sand and say, Nick, you're a now our backup infielder again and Hassan Kim.

Stepson absolutely and I think that it needs to be said Nick Allen.

Though he's shown his defensive value, Nick Allen has more value to a winner than he does to a team that's struggling.

And the reason why it is is because he is the type of player his main value is in run prevention.

You want that lad in games.

And if the Braves could utilize him and Kim, because don't forget Kim can play third, Kim can play second.

You put those two guys out there during some late game situations to prevent leads, that will be an excellent benefit for this Brave squad if they retain Alan.

The big key for the Braves and why they're so interested and why they got Kim they need to score runts earlier in games.

And that's why we've talked about upgrading at shortstop was something that they had to address.

Scott Coleman, your partner has talked about it at nauseum and he has every right to.

They've got to be able to get more offensive production out of the spot.

So, Nick Allen, I agree with you.

I think that the Braves have every right to want to retain him next year for his defensive value, but they could not go into next year looking to contend getting that low of production, especially over the past two years.

And here's a big, big key, Brad, as to why I'm so excited about Kim above one hundred plus or above one hundred WRC plus with runners in scoring position Since the start of two thousand and three, the Braves over the past two years have had the lowest production at shortstop with runners in scoring position.

That and of itself is where the value lies.

And I don't know if this is what you were referring to earlier when you teased a skill set.

Was it the ability to run because Hassan Kim can run.

Was that where you were going with that, Sean.

Oh, it was the ability to run, but also the ability to hit with runners in scoring position.

Yes, yeah, I figured it was one of the two and probably both, but Kim I said them, we didn't say earlier, just to say it out loud.

He hasn't seen it where he still thirty eight bases and they stole twenty two the year after that, and still a basis can be overvalued to some degree.

But like when you steal sixty bases in two years, hitting in the middle of the order, not even leading off like he was hitting like six most of the time for the Padres, that's a potential weapon.

It provided He's still got the speed that he had coming off of the injuries, but it was a shoulder like It's not like he shouldn't have lost a ton of speed.

He's also not in the middle of his prime, but the fact that he'll be thirty next year, that's still pretty much a normal prime age skill set.

Wise, he's not the fastest player in the world, but he does have a skill set for stealing bases.

I think he had like a seventy sixth percentile sprint speed in his most recent full season.

So a guy who can run give them a little bit more juice.

They haven't had a ton of that recently.

We're all hitting the order.

I have no idea we'll talk about that, I'm sure when he gets established.

But a guy who can get on base again eleven percent walk right for three years, not a zero there, and someone who you know is a professional hitter like that gets overused, but not gonna blow you away.

He's not gonna hit fifty home runs.

He averaged thirteen home runs a season like that, that's what you're talking about.

But he's not going to also be a guy they have to bat nine every day if he's right.

So that's nice.

Yeah, it's nice to have a high floor player in many different areas.

He can run in a productive fashion, and he can hit with and he has situational hitting in a productive fashion.

He can field in a productive fashion.

Look at last year when we got Ramond Loriano and Mark Briseil or not Mark Grizzle, excuse me, Mark Brizzle.

He reminds me of Mark Brizzil.

Like, wow, that was that was quite a throwback sean.

Deep deep cut as they say.

But when we got whit Maryfield last year, just the overall batting approach, smart hitter worked counts, could field okay, cam fielding even better.

But also it was just productive when he was on the field that is Hawsong Kim and the Braves need as many of that as possible.

We've seen the impact that Jerks and Profar has made why the Braves signed him.

Just being at the play.

It's productive at bat after productive at bat.

That's what you're getting with Kim.

And I think that that high floor in many of the areas where we've had such a low floor here recently, especially from the shortstop position, is why it's really exciting to see what he can do if he stays on the field.

Yeah, I know, since we hear from fans all the time, and it's great.

We love hearing from people, and I know a lot of fans don't like necessarily the fact that the Braves have a lot of not all or nothing, but a lot of guys who are relying on hitting the ball hard and they don't have the best approaches all the time.

Kim is the opposite of that.

He doesn't hit the ball very hard.

A lot of Blue and his like hard hit metrics on his stackcast page.

But I just pulled this out to Michelle.

Wasn't crazy Last season twenty twenty four, ninety eighth percentile chase rate.

He doesn't swing a bad pitches.

That's a nice breath of fresh air for Braves fans ninety second percentile with rate.

He doesn't mispitches when he swings, he tends to hit the ball, and he takes walks, doesn't strike out, all those things that I think people maybe yearned for on this roster a little bit more.

And look, Profar's at some of that too.

Profar's approach has been a breath of fresh air with his walks and not striking out a ton.

Another guy like that who kind of fills this roster out, because look, there's still going to be relying on guys like Olsen, guys like Gothick, Riley.

You know, Harris is going to be on this team.

Harris is a chase guy.

We all understand that.

But having another guy who's not that to balance things out a little bit is pretty helpful.

And not you know, I think that's going to be a again, breath of fresh air is probably being overused by me on this conversation, but just a solid professional hitter.

And that's the type of presence that you want for someone that likely is going to be batting towards the bottom of your order because I know that we reference the wonderful years, the wonderful pass that was twenty twenty three.

I know that a lot of homers were hit.

But two aspects, two forgotten aspects I think of what made that often so good their ability to score runs early and their ability to turn that line over in such a productive way.

Getting the eight to nine guys set up for Acuna and others at the top of the order.

You put Kim down there compared to the other guys that we ran out it shortstop over the past couple of years.

That turns that line up over.

That puts those productive at bats in that second and third inning in place to where we can get that extra run or two to support our pitchers and play with the lead more often.

That's where a big value from Kim comes from.

And the more hitters that we can get like that, especially when it comes to us not having to give up anything to get him.

Jake Frayley is that type of potential outcome as well.

That's adding these two guys gives us those high floor depth pieces where when guys are potentially out with injuries, our guys are struggling next year, we've now got much better options than we've had the past couple of years.

That's what makes these move so exciting in my opinion.

Certainly, and it doesn't fix anything from this year.

We're not saying it does, but Alex has certainly not gone to sleep recently, like he's been very active.

The pitching stuff's gotten a lot of funny attention from us and others about kind of the cycle of you know, name your least better pitcher, Eric Fetti, Tau Quantrill, Carls Carrasco, et cetera.

But Jake Freiley is an interesting addition potentially for the future.

This is even a high profile example of that, and with that as the backdrop, we will get into the contracts and the implications there after a word from our partners.

We're throwing a curveball at you this week for our Arena Club segment.

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Right, Sean, the big part of this beyond the field, because the onfield stuff matters a lot, but it's the contract is the headliner here.

Honestly, we've kind of buried the lead to some degree.

Hassan Kim has a sixteen million dollar player option for twenty twenty six.

One more time, sixteen million dollar player option for twenty twenty six.

I've already seen people, I'm sure you have to misinterpreting, misinterpreting this.

People talking about this is a tryout.

No, no, no, this is not a claw option.

This is Hawsong Game being able to unilaterally pick up a sixteen million dollars player option if he wants to pick it up.

That means the Braves have to do this.

That it may not stay this way.

There is a pathway that you mentioned earlier very smartly, that they could potentially renegotiate, maybe end up with a multi year deal that's a little bit lower.

There's there's there's ways you can do this.

But if nothing else changes, you could be owing Hassan Kim sixteen million dollars for next season.

And on one hand, that's encouraging that the Braves and somebody even above Alex was will in a green like that.

But also that's a real commitment for a guy who's been banged up for the last year and he is worth that if he's healthy.

He's been worth more than that honestly the last three years before this year.

But that's a real big commitment, Sean.

And also Alex has this stated, I don't know if it's a full fledged CU club policy, but a preference at least a strong preference to not give out player options.

He has a player option, so that's really all this is very interesting.

It wasn't a trade, so it was like he had to go out and talk to the Potters about this.

Sorry I raised about this, but it's a lot of weirdness.

This is not a very Bravesy thing that's happening here.

The player option, the big commitment a year here at a year ahead of time for a guy that they could have signed this winter and they didn't sign.

What do you make all of this?

Well, I tip my hat to Alex and Thoplss.

We're going out of his comfort zone, going into doing another creative type of move with where we were in the waiver wire to add a potential difference making talent when we want to contend.

Now.

I know that's sixteen million is quite a bit to take on, or quite a bit to commit with the recent injury history that we've seen from Hassan Kim, But this also falls in line with kind of what Alex and Thopliss has done in his bravest tenure.

You know, he signed josh Anilson in twenty nineteen when Donaldson came off and off year and Donaldson was absolutely outstanding for us.

He signed Marcello Zune before the twenty twenty season when he was coming off a bit of an off year.

He's been absolutely outstanding for us.

So this kind of the way that he's going about doing it through the waiver wire is a bit odd or a bit different from what we've seen, but it winds up in the same spot in terms of you've got a one year deal with someone who, in Kim, I feel like, is going to have more focus on keeping healthy being productive because on Kim's side of things, which is what I think makes it more than makes sense for the Braves to do.

Even though Kim's turn in thirty, even though he's had injury concerns over the past two years, he I think if he opts into that player option or he does some type of one year renegotiation with the Braves, I think Kim has every reason to want to play healthy and play productive next year because then he goes back into the free agent market at the end of twenty twenty six at thirty one years old, he still could get a very lucrative contract as a proven shortstop, So he has every reason to play well next year.

I think the Braves are betting on that, and if they want to keep me long term, that potentially makes sense, but they really could benefit from him wanting to do want to make good year.

That's the other aspect of this that I really think helps the Braves want to invest in Kim's production.

Yeah, you know, there's so much nuance and that what I would recommend strongly is that people not overreact to what the next four weeks of results spring with on kid.

On one hand, I get it.

On one hand, I've seen a lot of like, oh, well, they got a month to see what they have.

Yes, they do, but that's it's four weeks of games and even that to be plays today, which we don't know how fast it is gonna play.

It might be three weeks a game, it might be three and a half weeks.

We don't know that.

That's not a big enough sample size to learn enough to only make a utilatteral decision based on that.

Alex, and you mentioned it already.

Alex has a history of looking beyond the most recent season, also a history of looking beyond the box score numbers.

He likes this is this is an organization that does value batterball profile, that does value the things that don't necessarily make their way into your baseball reference.

First cover page you know, they like to see the whole picture, and with Kim, you're doing that.

No matter what.

If he comes out and hits four hundred the next month, great, If he comes out and struggles a little bit, that isn't going to be a death sentence.

It just can't be, Nor would Alex.

I think Alex has proven that he's not gonna judge a tenure of this a player based on four weeks of data.

It's just not gonna happen.

But fans, will you know how this works, Sean, If he has a bad two weeks, we're gonna be furious and it's gonna be what it is.

But I do think, like we've seen creativity, that's the word you use, that's a good one.

I almost I'm almost projecting them to come to a different deal with him this winter in my in my brain right now.

Obviously that's silly because the default is Kim decides yes or no on a player option, and that is the default.

But given where the Braves have been, the way they've operated, like what, it should surprise absolutely no one if they come up for air in November or December whatever, sorry, October, November, whatever, the player option deadline is and basically it's instead it's a it's a two year deal for twenty four million dollars total like something like that, or it's a three year deal for whatever if he's if he's healthy and they feel good, like there is some wiggle room there.

But no matter what, if you're haus on Kim on the player side, which always have to point out the player side, you're guaranteed sixten million dollars next year, so you're not gonna sull take some bargain basement discount contract like you have a guaranteed amount coming to you.

And if it's a restructuring, it might lower the AAV a little bit, but it's going to be a commitment because that's the whole point of having the player option.

Negotiating that last winter with Tampa Bent and.

I was talking just a second ago.

On the player side, the Braves investing in him, wanting to make the most of his year, and he have potentially been able to do that to help the Braves contend.

It should not be lost on anyone.

How the Braves can benefit Kim as well.

Number One, they're keeping him a shortstop which is going to make the most of his value.

Number two, they're looking to contend, which is going if he plays well, it's going to add value to him naturally itself, instead of him playing for someone who's not looking to contend.

And the big thing also the Brave's history with helping players who in past years have been productive, had been played very well, they fell off a bit due to injury or lack of production where they weren't a good fit wherever, but when they came to Atlanta they did well.

Look at what jorgees Celerat did in twenty twenty one, Donald said, zoom to look at how they bounced back in their careers.

Just last year, Ramon Mariano really benefited from his time in Atlanta.

The Braves have a history of taking these type of players and being able to make the most of them, helping get back to where they were at their best in the past.

So that's something else that really could stand out.

And Kim's approach at the plate seems to really fit well with kind of what Tim Hiers is put in place in the second half of this season.

But the other thing that I do want to also mention about Kim.

We talk about the streakiness of players, so much.

We're so high solo with many of our players, Kim just stay solid and that's in the Braves or of that.

So I agree with you on the side of the Braves want to invest in that type of presence in their lineup.

It would not surprise me if all if Kim was open to it, he would take a two year deal.

I would hesitate though on one thing.

I do think that the Braves will look to renegotiate, but I do think that they put some type of option out there, maybe to where not a player option.

I don't really know how they.

Could do it.

But if I'm Kim, I'm not necessarily that interested in going like beyond maybe two years.

Because I do he probably wants to make the most of if he does.

Went on twenty twenty six, So that's another factor in how those negotiations will go.

Oh for sure.

And I always try to bring up the player side because I know everybody's a fan of the team and rooting for the team.

I get all that, But like the player side matters.

They have to buy, especially when you have when you have a player out.

This is a unique thing for the Braves.

They don't do this.

This is why I said, this is something we don't talk about a lot, but the player has they earned that.

They negotiated that.

That was their pillow insurance contract coming out of the injury last winter.

Obviously Tampa Bay didn't work out super well or they wouldn't place on waivers.

But they're in a weird spot to his organization.

I get all that, and the Braves benefit potentially.

And look, just to say this out loud, there's some downside.

We mentioned risk when you owe a player option of sixteen million dollars if he is either hurt or not playing, well, you know that's not great.

So this is I'm sure that Alex when he talks about this, and he will, I'm sure because it's such a big commitment that he has to talk about it at some point soon he'll acknowledge that.

I mean, this is a deal that has almost I keep saying deal.

It's not a new deal.

They're just picking up a deal that already existed.

So they're just they're decided.

It's a decision that has some risk to it.

But also I don't know where you come now.

I guess we should end with this, Sean.

It seems like you like this.

It seems I don't want to speak for you, but I will ask the question, like broadly speaking, you don't have to get a grade, but like, how do you feel about this right now?

With acknowledge it we don't have all the information yet and the injury stuff is lingering.

But if he's ready to play now and you're taking a kind of a it's not a free shot, it's it's with some risk.

But what do you what do you what was kind of your synopsis of this whole time?

I was getting in the show with this, But I think this is a good time to kind of sum it up this way in my opinion, since May of twenty twenty four, when our offense started struggling, we ran into injuries with a coon you it just a lot of things have not worked out our way, or when it comes to us expecting something like the trade deadline, for instance, it wound up happening worse than what we expected.

This is a different scenario.

This is adding to twenty and twenty five to set up for twenty twenty six and beyond.

This is a type of move that is making things better moving forward.

You combine adding Hassan Kim Jake Frayley to the mix for twenty and twenty six.

You look at what Hirst and Waldrip is doing during his breakout, Drake Baldwin continuing what he's doing, Joey Wentz potentially becoming a depth option.

Those type of developments.

This depth getting better for the Braves when you know we're going to have to utilize it due to injuries or under performance likely next year.

At some point are set up for twenty and twenty six in terms of depth and in terms of dressing areas that we clearly needed to improve on to have a better chance of contending in twenty twenty six.

The Braves approach has been better than expected over the past four weeks, and I commend to Alex and the franchise for doing that.

That's why I'm excited about this move.

We are in a better spot to contend in twenty and twenty six than we were when we were very, very inactive at the trade deadline.

I didn't expect to say that I'm glad that.

We Yeah, I would echo that for sure, and there's more that we'll talk about with this.

This is just our emergency first reaction.

But also I liked the aggression yes, it's weird to say aggression when all you had to do was just click the box to say claim on waivers.

But it's a real commitment to owe that much money when you look at for agents and we've all kind of looted this a few times without doing a deep dive during the season.

When you look at the shortstop crop almost every year, it's really hard to add shortstops.

And if you can do it without having to give it anything else but money and not have to trade for it, and yeah, not a superstar level player, but a good starting level shortstop when he's been healthy.

Like I like the aggression of go ahead, you know, you know what, let's just do this now.

And it's funny people.

I don't know if I'm I'm opening Twitter every once in a while.

I'm sure I'm not missing anything that's new that's being said as we're talking.

But one of the things that I've gotten in my mentions is like, way to take all of the suspense out of the off season, Alex and kind of kind of in a funny way.

But yeah, I mean one of the one of our major storylines, this winner was going to be shortstop and this isn't necessarily full on solvent.

But this is this is their this is their end, this is what their bullet they're firing on shortstop.

This is what this is.

It has to be that.

I mean, there is room for nuance.

But as far as like questions about what the plan is that shortstop the question, the answer to that at this moment on September first is Hassan, Kim and Penn like that's what has to.

Be absolutely and the other thing that and you mentioned you like the aggression.

I do as well, especially with the fact that some of our riskier moves here recently have not worked out well.

Jared Kelnick.

After all the different hoops that we tried to jump through to get him, he has not worked out well.

Jerkson profar.

He seems to be a pretty good investment, but he certainly, you know, has not been productive towards us winning this year like many had hoped.

But the Braves are staying aggressive.

And also to your point, I think it's a great point.

This time, though you lack suspense, you don't have to jump through all those hoops.

It's forward.

You don't have to give up prospects.

When you talk about I know many people.

One is exciting an offseason as possible, and the uncertainty or you know, not knowing what occurs adds to the excitement.

The Braves don't need excitement for their offseason.

They need productive moves with as less issues as possible, and this is the type of move that fit checks those boxes.

Yes, you do have the injury risk, but I think that there are plenty of options out there for the Braves to use to make him the best that he can be if he's on the field, and that's why I think the reward is worth it.

So I'm here for the lack of suspense yet getting a player who could really play a big foot role for us winning in twenty twenty six.

Yeah, I think that's sweet where we can leave it, But it's aggressive.

It is not without risk.

I want to we have acknowledge that, we understand it, we both like it.

But with the prism of this is there's downside too, and that's most deals have risk if we're being one hundred percent honest about it, but this is one that might You know, I have been saying and I have back this up with what I'm saying now, saying it for two months now like you can't sit on your hands anymore.

This is not you can't.

This is not a run it back winter.

If I'm in charge of the Braves, and this is not a run it back move.

This is an aggressive move.

So uh more to talk about, Sean.

I'm sure I know our guy Steven is busy today and we'll have to get his thoughts on this.

Scott is gallivanting.

He just texted me from across the pond weighing in.

I will not share that.

We'll talk about it when he when he gets back to but uh a big move.

And hey, some programming for us in September.

Maybe not in October November anymore, but some programmer for us in September that was not expected at this point.

For anybody also who is maybe not necessarily that excited because it takes some suspense out of the off season.

Here's one little nugget to remember.

When we went into the trade deadline, we were come disappointed that Ozuna was not moved, Iglesias was not mood.

But then a few days later, don't forget there was that news breaking, or that that that revelation that the Braves talked with the twins about Byron Buxton.

It did not work out, which makes sense.

Now you've got short stop potentially addressed for next year, maybe potentially beyond.

That means Alex can turn his attention to improving the squad in other ways, in other creative, unexpected ways.

So now that shortstops taken care of, you've got his attention to potentially improve the team in a way that none of us expected.

And the chances of that happening now, I think, have improved.

So that is something to be excited for.

When it comes to the off season.

It's gonna be fun and it'll be a little bit different.

And again, more to come on this podcast.

So if you're just finance for the first time, welcome aboard.

We talk about the Braves all year round on the show.

Follow Sean, follow me, follow our colleague Stephen and Scott, who are not with us today but subscribe to the podcast.

Sean, I appreciate the rare opportunity to do a show with you.

We are split up because we basically de facto are the hosts of the two that's just what happens.

But we'll do more of these together.

This was fun.

Hey, Hey, I'm just I am glad that I got to sit here and do it with the legendary Bradland.

That's what I'm most excited about.

That's not true pleasure, pleasure, get to do it with you.

Thank you, Sean, and hopefully it was a little bit uh maybe I don't know if the easier is the right word.

You didn't have to like tell I mean, people are gonna be disappointed with it, don't They don't here to welcome at the top of the podcast, and then they do, then you're then your a voice will appear, people will know Sean is here.

That's great.

H Anyway, please subscribe everybody to Hammer's Territory once again.

Tell your friends about the podcast.

We'll have more to come, I promise you later on this week, and we'll see you all next time.