Welcome one and all to the Heroy Territory Podcast.

My name is Sean Coleman.

Hope wherever you are and wherever you are listening, you are having a great start to your week.

I can tell you one thing on my end, it is good to have my boys backs.

Still not one hundred percent, but we are getting there and is always good to be with my podcast partner Stephen Talbert.

It's awesome when it comes to talking Braves baseball right now.

I know that it's not the most opportune time when it comes to how the season has gone.

About nine games now, the Braves have won in a row, eleven to five victory over the Nationals.

The offense once again on fire.

Ronald Acunda Junior went deep, Michael Harris had a great game, Drake Baldwin had another good game.

Just a lot of awesome things to talk about.

But yet it's the same story rent swash repeat that we've seen over the past year plus.

Just as soon as you really start to feel good about the unfilled product of the Braves, some unfortunate injury occurs that takes the headlines and that once again, of course, is the case.

Again.

My name is Sean Coleman Ham a Territory part of the Foul Territory family of podcasts.

As always, my podcast partner Stephen Talvert's with me and Stephen.

That's where we are once again, the unfortunate news Ozzy Alby's for the second straight season.

I'm not exactly sure if it's the exact same injury, but after tonight, during tonight's game, when he went to the plate took a swing, it was revealed that he broke the handmate bone in the same risks where he had a broken bone last year.

It may or may not have been the same injury.

It's a significant injury to the same risk and just an absolutely unfortunate into the season for Ozzy Alby's, who here recently just cannot buy a break when it to avoiding injuries.

Yeah, what's up, buddy.

So it it is wild that every time the Braves get on any sort of like positive run, they just they catch an injury.

They catch like a serious injury by somebody.

And I know, obviously the season was winding down and Ozzie, you know, Ozzie had been a lot better lately.

I had a lot of people we were talking about this on Twitter when it happened like what's going on with Ozzy's like hand wrist, And you know, there was a lot of conversation about it.

And one thing you gotta remember with Ozzie is one the way he holds the knob of the bat, it's you know, it's his kind of hand is kind of off of it, and so that knob of the bat kind of digs into his hand a little bit, the way he holds the knob of the bat.

And obviously on it's his left hand.

So on his right hand swing, it's his bottom hand.

On his left hand swing, it's his top hand.

But you know, on that right handed swing, there's just a lot of torque, a lot of pressure on those bones right there.

And you know, he already swings an incredibly heavy bat.

We've talked about that a lot, that Ozzie swings one of the heaviest bats in the game.

He's not a big dude, but power is a big part of his game.

So you know, he uses a heavy bat to kind of make up for the fact that he's not the biggest guy in the world.

But yeah, it's just I think he is somebody who's just very clearly naturally susceptible to this where he's just gonna deal with hand and wrist injuries.

Just again, the size of the bat, he swings, the way he swings it, the way he holds it.

You know, this was a non contact injury.

This was a just on a swing.

I think he was a swing and a miss if I remember coructly, he didn't make contact with the ball.

He just swung and broke a bone in his hand.

And that's that's that's concerning because it just seems like it's something that he's gonna have to constantly deal with.

You know, if you get hit by a pitch, you know it's just bad luck, but it's not something you're worried about like continuing to happen.

But when it's a non contact injury, and it's very clearly by the way you hold and swing the bat, you know, it's a different level of concern because now you're wondering, like can it keep happening?

And we've seen with Ozzie it usually has a pretty strong lingering effect.

You know, the recovery for this is only like eight weeks, and so he'll be ready for spring training.

Like that's not the concern.

The concern is for him specifically, there always seems to be a lengthy period of time where this this injury zaps him of his power and it lingers for quite a while.

And so now you got it.

Now you're just kind of left with this question of, like, what is his even if he's gonna be healthy come spring training, what does his offensive production look like?

Which was already sort of a question because what we went through this year, specifically in the first half as he was recovering from his last rist injury.

So it's just more questions.

It absolutely is.

It will start with Ozzy because you know we're gonna get it.

You know, in this episode we're going to discuss what it means for Ozzie and a couple of different perspectives, but also the ripple effect for the rest of the roster because this now does impact, you know, how the off season priorities are, without a doubt, But let's start with Ozzie, and we'll start with the fact that that for Ozzie, at some point in time, I feel that Ozzie is a wonderful human, wonderful player.

But I don't care how good of a person you are, how mentally strong you are things such as that Ozzie seems even killed no matter what, I would be very surprised if at some point this does not take some mental toll on Ozzie as well, because you have to remember, this is starting to pile up injuries.

Twenty twenty he missed more than half of the sixty game season.

Twenty twenty two, he missed you know, you know, nearly one hundred games.

Last year, he missed it over sixty games.

It was due to foot injuries.

Last year was due to the wrist injury.

And I know that he's played nearly every game this year.

But now this rest injury occurs again.

It's significant injuries piling up on significant injuries, and I obviously think that Ozzie will at some point in time overcome this.

But as we mentioned, there's a difference between this injury healing to the point to where he can play and Ozzie being to the level that this Braves team clearly needs for him to be, which is at least being at a you know, around one hundred WRSC plus level type of player, and he can certainly be that.

He's been at about one hundred and ten WRSC plus over the past five weeks and you see the impact that it's had on the offense.

But that's the big thing when it comes to Ozzie Stephen, is that do I feel like that he could get back eventually at some point in time and be in the all star level of Ozzie that we've seen over the past five weeks.

Yes, But can the Braves take on the risk of it taking him several months to get back to that level next year?

That's where the big question lies.

And the likelihood of us seeing in twenty six we saw from him in the first half of twenty five.

It just exponentially increased because of the type of impact this sort of injury has on his approach at the plate to be productive.

Even if he's healed, even if he gets mentally back to where he needs to be fully trust in his swing every single pitch that he sees, that's gonna take a while, because we've already witnessed the fact that it takes a while.

Yeah, So let's just kind of lay it out here.

So obviously, Ozsy, for people who have been following all year are just sir Braves fans and know this Ozzy, the guaranteed portion of Ozzie's contract is up after this year.

After this year, it starts the team options that were tacked on to the end of his deal.

So next year Ozzy has a team option for seven million dollars.

And of course, the critical part of that, what we've talked about many times and we'll talk about again, is that you've got a four million dollar buyout attached to it.

So even if you decline it, you're only saving three million bucks because you got to pay this four million dollar buyout.

And the way Ozzie looked in the first half, there was real conversation like can we do this again?

Because he looked awful, Like you know, some of it is profile based because Ozzie such power is such a big part of Ozzie's game because he's a he's never been a high on base guy.

And when you're not a high on base guy, you have to slug otherwise you got nothing, You got nothing to build on.

This is the Michael Harris problem.

So if you're not slugging, you got a problem.

And for the first three and a half months, Ozzie wasn't slugging, and there was all these tough conversations about like is it risk.

Is it risk?

You know, is it because it's just lingering issues from the wrist.

Well, in the second half, he started slugging more, he started you know, he started looking more like himself.

But now we have another risk injury or you know, hand risk, whatever.

So.

That's gonna be the concern going into the next year.

I still think the option gets picked up because again, it's such small savings.

It's you're saving three million bucks for a guy who's beloved in the clubhouse.

You know, you're star player.

Ronald Comune Junior is like best friends with this guy.

So I don't I'm still not to the point where I think they're gonna decline the option, but there are now real concerns of like what you're gonna get from him next year?

And you know, do they bring in a utility guy that can play second base?

Do they trust Nacho Alvarez to be that guy?

How much protection do they give themselves against Ozzie not being himself next year, assuming they pick up the option, which again I think they will and I think you do as well.

How much you know, how much of a safety net do they give themselves on the roster with another utility player maybe like a super utility player, somebody who's closer to a starter level player than a bench level player.

There are things you could do on the roster to protect yourself a little bit.

Even if you do pick up the option, it's just one more question And the Braves already had plenty of quipment.

The Braves already had enough questions this offseason.

They did not need is another injury to the wrist hand of Ozzie Albi is to now throw into question, you know, his ability to hit for power, which is such a massive part of his profile.

Like they didn't need that, and so you know that's what that's why tonight sucked.

But yeah, what what do they do with the option?

Again?

We think it's gonna get picked up, and then what do they do with the roster to protect themselves against Ozzie not being himself going into next year?

And I'm in full agreement with you.

I think there's no question that they pick up the option.

What he means to the club with Ozzie, I think that it Some may not put value on this, but with Ozzie, I do think that you put value on it more than others.

What he's been to the squad, both auto off the field, the clubhouse.

You know, impact that he has, the fact that he's best friends with your most pivotal player in Ronald Acuya Junior.

Listen, that matters.

Those intangible aspects of Ozzie matter and they should better.

That'll Loade is the reason why I think you pick up an option.

The other thing, though, that I want to make clear is that we're talking about the worst case scenario.

What if Ozzy has this leaguer once again and he becomes, you know, again one of the least productive offensive second basement in the game for much of next season like we saw this season.

We know the Braves really can out handle that.

But I also want to point out that, say he does get fully healthy once again, and maybe next year he is back to produce them like he is right now, and Ozzie Albi's who over a five or six week stretch next year is producing the one ten WRC plus, especially if we're trying to win from the second base position, that is more than worth, you know, the three million or so in savings.

It's it's the equivalent of the seven million that they'll pay next year.

So it's not like it's going to take much for him to earn his contract.

That's another reason why I think it's worth picking up the option.

As much as we want to talk about potential worst case scenarios and you know how this potentially has a negative effect on Ossie in the offseason, there still is a realistic outcome where he could come back sooner than he did this year, come back sooner next year, and be productive.

So that's why I think they're gonna pick up the option, and that's why not.

I don't think they're gonna do anything other to continue with him as the primary second baseman for much of next season.

It's just what you do with that insurance policy.

It's what you do with the second base step.

Because you've already been through the worst case scenario of if he's not productive.

You saw how big of an impact you had that in twenty five, you really can't go through it again in twenty six.

Yeah, and listen, they have Nacho, and Nacho has certainly I think I think Nacho has certainly increased his value this year versus where it was when when the year started.

I think he is now seen by probably the team and certainly a lot of fans as a perfectly suitable utility infield player who can play second, who can play third, probably can play shortstop in a pinch.

You don't want to do it for a long term.

But again, he's more of a probably more of a bench level player.

Do you need to go get more of a closer to a starting level player.

Now that you have these concerns and we're gonna talk about Kim and shortstop in a minute, Now that you have these concerns with Ozzie, do you upgrade maybe your utility position.

Do you go get a Willie Castro type player who could reasonably start on a lot of teams, but at the very least can be insurance.

Listen, it's a fair question.

And the other thing you have to consider if you're Alex again, is this something that you're worried about continuing to happen with Ozzie and the hand and the wrist again, the way he holds the bat, the way he swings the bat, that the size of bat that he uses, like, that's all stuff you have to consider, like this might not be the last time this happens to him, because again it was a non contact swing.

It's an injury that is now you know, again, I don't know if it's the exact same injury as the last year, but it is close enough to the same injury last year where you are concerned that this is something that's gonna continue to happen to him.

So you know, that's just those are just things Alex Is gonna have to consider.

And so yeah, it's just another question that they didn't quite that they didn't need.

But I do think again to kind of wrap up Ozzie, I think they're going to pick up the option.

I think he'll be the starting second basement next year.

I do wonder if they increase the level of insurance they have on the roster at that position to maybe a starting close to a starting level player on the bench to be insurance for Ozzy in case it we get another twenty twenty five where he's just he just doesn't look like he can hit for a large chunk of the season like it happened like happened this year.

Absolutely, And you know, we talk about these questions, We've talked about, you know, questions, you know, the same type of question being there, even if it's asked in a different way for over a year plus or more questions rising than answers.

His time goes on.

I definitely think that this raises more questions.

But one question question that we do know the answer to.

The Braves cannot afford to go into next season.

Would there being a big chance that they once again have league worst production up the middle when you come to center field, shortstop in second base.

More on how this Ozzie injury impacts the roster as a whole, especially up the middle when it comes to the Braves position players.

More on mad in just a moment after a word from our partners.

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So Stephen, I think that it's best to kind of sum up how when you take this Aussie injury, you look at it, how it impacts the off season, and basically how the ripple effect makes the impact of this injury go beyond second base.

I think a couple of numbers really put it into perspective in the first half of the season, the Braves were eleven games under five hundred.

After tonight's win.

In the second half of the season, the Braves are now two games above five hundred.

So there's been a thirteen game swing between the end of the first half and where they are in the second half.

Like, that's how big of a swing they've had, that's how much of an improvement.

And I know that this recent winning streak is a big rigus and why.

You can point to a lot of different factors, but for me, here's a big factor.

In the first half of the season when you combine production from the Braves center field, shortstop, and second base position.

When you combine that together, the Braves had a fifty eight WRC plus in the first half of the season, twenty ninth in the Majors.

The only team that was worse was the Rockies at a fifty four WRC plus.

The team with in the twenty eighth position had a seventy four WRC plus, So the Braves were very bad fifty eight WRC plus from those three positions combined in the first half.

In the second half, the Braves has simply been league average, a ninety seven WRC plus from centerfield, shortstop, and second base combined.

But you see that that leads to more of a ten game positive swing in the record.

That's how much production.

That's how valuable just having league average production from those three positions is.

And the thing is is that as of twenty four hours ago, you had to feel pretty confident that with an Ossie being close back to hisself, maybe Hassan Kim being our long term answer at shortstop, and though Michael Harris has fallen off once again showing what he showed, you know, back in August, you had to feel pretty good that Lee average production could be a decent expectation from those three positions in twenty twenty six.

But now we're back to having that concern where that's now potentially back to being a question.

But that's the whole thing.

The difference between league worst production in those three positions and league average production in those three positions, that's the difference between the Braves being a playoff team and a lottery team.

You've got to have league average production combined from those positions, and that now is a much bigger question than many of us will becomemfortable with going into the off season.

Yeah, so it starts with Kim in terms of the questions, because there's just this player option hanging out there that we've talked about.

We talked about a bunch obviously the night that he got claimed, and you know a lot of us were hoping that the Braves might be able to work out an extension right after the deal to kind of get rid of this.

Obviously, Scott Boris is the agent, so that was gonna you know, obviously he's not gonna love that when he's got a chance to get back on the open market.

And since then, Hassan Kim has been awesome, And you know, this is I remember we did the show and I kind of talked about this about the problem with player options is that you are tied entirely to the downside of the contract, but you only have access to a limited amount of the upside of the contract.

Because if the guy gets really hot, goes nuclear, he's gonna decline the option, he's gonna hit the free agent mark and you might lose him.

And I'm not sure Kim has gone nuclear, but he's been really, really good.

I mean, he's got like a one thirty WRC plus as a Shortstop, which is incredible production from that spot.

Again, his agent is Scott Morris.

The odds that he's going to decline this player option and hit the open market have increased a bunch.

Quite frankly, they just have I know, Braves fans don't want to hear that.

And there's a chance he could still pick up the option.

There's a chance the Braves could work out an entirely different contract and extension of some sort where he gets a lot of guaranteed money, gets a higher AAV or something.

And but you know, this close to free agency again, with Scott Boris as your agent, I wouldn't count on that.

And so I am very worried they're gonna lose Kim.

I know he loves Atlanta, but if he gets to the open market, the odds that the Braves are the highest bidder are not usually great.

So I am officially worried they're gonna lose Kim.

And then you have this whole question at Shortstop, which we had all year until Kim got here.

Now you add in the injury to Ozzie Alby's at second Michael Harris has fallen back off the wagon after that incredible month stretch where he was the best player in baseball.

He's been honestly just as bad as he was in the first half since then over about a month.

So yeah, you're right now you're back to these questions at those three positions.

It would make things so much easier if Kim could be retained, and I know that's not entirely up to Alex.

This is why player options are such a headache to deal with, because he just doesn't have any leverage or control here.

Bringing Kim back would would make things so much easier.

If that doesn't happen, it's going to get fascinating because, like you said, you already got questions with Michael next year, You already got questions with Ozzie next year.

If you don't bring Kim back and you have questions that shortstop next year, I mean, I just don't know if you can go into next year having those three spots being such offensive questions like they were this year.

Because we saw what it cost the Braves and you brought the numbers up.

Its quite a bet some of that was guys at the top of the lineup two.

Of course it wasn't just those guys, but having at least league average production for those guys is a big deal, and it would just make things so much easier if they could work out a deal and get Kim locked back in for next year in the next couple of years, I would just make everything so much easier.

And the thing, the reason why it's so important to retain him is because of his consistency, right because we're talking about league average position or league average production, like it didn't even need to be that, just like a six fifty to seven hundred ops month in and month out from centerfield, from second base, from shortstop.

We're not needing Michael Harris.

You know, it would be great if he didn't, But the Braves don't absolutely need for him to have an eleven hundred ops over half the season.

That's unrealistic to expect.

It's just that we don't need for him to go through a three week stretch where he has a two to three hundred ops and then go through a week or two where he is one thousand ops.

We need that consistent six fifty to seven hundred ops from at least two of those three positions, and it would work wonders for this offense.

It would work wonders for this roster, and that's why it's so important for us to retain Kim because that's what he can provide.

The Consistency of him putting together good to bats would be such a big boost for the bottom of this line and more middle of the lineup wherever he's going to bat, and just filling that shortstop position.

Now, with that being said, we'll have all off season to discuss this, I think, and I want to make it clear when Steven's talking about that player option potentially be in decline now, that is something Boris is absolutely going to angle for this.

Ozzie Albi's injury is the type of development that really Boris looks for.

I don't mean to I'm not saying that these hoping players get injured, but he's the type of agent, as we all know, who's going to work every angle possible to get as big of a track for the players that he represents as he can and for the Braves.

Now, the need to retain Kim has just gone up.

That makes him more expensive.

Three years fifty five million, four year seventy five million, that's not an unrealistic ask for Hasan Kim this offseason.

And some team is going to pay it.

It may be the brains, but you can bet some team is going to be willing to pay that.

And that's the reason why the player option is probably going to be declined now in my opinion, because there's also not a lot of great shortstopped options over the next two years, so retaining Kim just became more difficult.

But the other portion of this that we need to discuss in terms of how do we approach roster building this offseason to counteract what's occurred.

You need a reliable utility guy.

You need someone We talked about the fact that you really don't need that DH position solely a DH option that you can't play in the field field up, so you can play some of your fielders in that DH position every day, a different person the each position every day.

But now you probably need a guy who you can feel just as comfortable playing at second base as you can left field.

There are plenty of options out there that could do that, that probably could get you that six fifty to seven hundred ops at least at that type of position.

That type of guy, especially a controllable option, I think would be a great addition for this squad.

That's that's what you need to find one source that potentially could feel multiple needs for this squad, like we had hoped Jerkson Profar would do, and he has done when we signed him last offseason.

Yeah, I agree.

I mean, I think that utility infield position is now substantially more important.

But listen, if you don't resign Kim, you also got to find a shortstop.

Like you can't do Nick Allen.

I don't think you can do Nick Allen.

Nick Allen's a great defender, but he's literally one of the worst hitters I've ever seen.

And you know, Vi Deel Bruhan, Luke Williams, like the Braves love these, you know, defensive shortstops that run, you know, ops is that look like a pitcher.

I just don't think you can do that.

You gotta go find a shortstop.

And there's not a lot out there this offseason.

There's you know, there's Boba Schett, who some people aren't even sure is gonna be a shortstop in the next couple of years.

He's certainly not a great one.

And there's Kim, assuming he declines his option again, we don't know that.

I do want to make sure we say that it is possible, although unlikely.

It is possible he picks up that player option.

It's also possible to Bravest work out a contract at this point, I certainly would say the likeliest thing is that he declines and gets to the market.

But we'll see, We'll see what happens.

But if they don't get Kim back, they're gonna have to find a shortstop somewhere.

And it's like it's damn near the hardest position in the field to go find elsewhere, like, and they don't really have anybody up and coming, Like I know, they just drafted a bunch of shortstops, but those guys are like three years four years away, so they're gonna have to figure out shorts up one way or the other.

It would be a hell of a lot easier just to get Kim back.

In the strongest possible terms, I hope Kim is like a number one priority of this offseason, or even before the offseason starts.

Get Kim back to this team should be the like.

That should be the mantra, that should be the motto of everything the Braves put out over the next three weeks.

Get Hassan Kim back.

On this team next year, and everything else becomes a hell of a lot easier.

If you don't get Kim back, it becomes substantially more difficult.

And now, especially with this Ozzi injury, the bottom of the lineup already has questions because of Ozzie and Michael.

You do not want to have to add shortstop to that.

Bring Hassan Kim back.

Yeah, and other big names like a Boba shitt or a gliber tour Is or training for a k Tell Marte, those just are are not as straightforward of a option that just helps your roster in multiple ways, like resigning Hassan Kim is because Kim's already here, You've already got that relationship established.

You just have to pay him money.

Though it's money you may not necessarily want to pay.

You just have to pay him money.

Got to be able to fill the shortstop position adequately to above average defensive wise, plus what he could do with the bat.

Torres and Machette nor Marte are going to be reliable defenders at shortstop.

I'm not saying that Kim is a better player than Marte, for instance, but it doesn't make sense really in my opinion, to trade what you have to trade to get Marte paying what you're gonna have to pay, plus you still got to pay Assi Avis that that does not make.

Sense, Marte.

Marte's a second basement.

Yeah, torres is a second basement, like yeah, yeah, yeah, that doesn't help you on short.

No, it doesn't.

That's why I'm resigning or retaining Hassan Kim is so important.

I think that's the reason why alex Adappos Alexandopolis realizes this.

I think alex Adopolis is banking on how good of a fit Hassan Kim has been here so far, and I think that he will be willing to pay.

When I mentioned that three year, fifty five to sixty four years seventy five to eighty million dollar price tag that Hasong Kim could ask for this offseason, I don't think it's out of the realm.

But AA when he claimed Kim, he could see that being a possibility, So I think that he's definitely that's run through his head.

But I agree with you completely.

As important as it is for Ozzie Albi's to be healthy, it becomes even more important now for the Braves to retain Hassan Kim because it just allows for you to feel easier about so many other questions for this roster.

Yeah, and again there's no one.

I mean there's there's I don't want to say no one else because the trade market is always available and it's hard to predict what players are going to be available.

But teams don't trade shortstops, like they just don't guys that are close to being in the majors, because shortstops can move all over the field.

Like there's just very little value in trading away somebody who could be a major league shortstop, and so teams don't do it.

So you know, you got the free agent market, you have nothing internally that's coming up, Like it's Kim, It's it's pretty much gotta be Kim, and Boris knows that.

And there are other teams out there that need shortstops.

So like that's why I think the options ultimately gonna get declined and he's gonna let to go free agency where there can be a bidding war, like I think the Yankees have talked about getting rid of Vulpe.

I think the Red Sox, I know they have Marcela Meyer, but there's talk about Trevor's story you know, if the Red Sox need a shortstop, there's there's there's actually plenty of shortstop is just the hardest position to find, and the Braves have a really good one right now.

Gotta figure out a way to keep him, even if you have to overpay a little bit, even if it's not a contract you love.

I don't care, like, this is not the time to you know, use your analytical hat and it's gotta be this precise number or we're just not saying yes to it.

Sometimes you got to say yes to a contract you don't love because you need the player.

I think the Braves need hass On Kim, even if it's a little more than they want to spend.

You got to bring them back.

When we talk about organizational focus or organizational approach or things such as that, and we're talking about the fact that in some aspects that needs to change this offseason, this is one of those examples because however you've gone, however you've gone about approaching, you're up the middle production over the past two years, it absolutely has not worked out.

Yes, a lot of it has on Michael Harris and Ozzie Albi's injuries, underperformance, all that plays a part in it, but they have occurred.

You've experienced the worst case scenario of how your approach to this point has not worked out.

That means that it's the time to change things or do something that you may feel uncomfortable doing.

If that's overpaying for the consistency and the reliability that comes with the hasan Kim do it, because that at least is a great starting point for the rest of the off season to go by and make progress with.

But that's not the only news of the day, and we'll have plenty of discussed when it comes to Ozzie Albi's and Up the Middle production as the off season moves forward.

Some other notable occurrences happened during the day, including an awesome opportunity for a phil return for a beloved member of the Braves World Series squad and someone that many Braves fans have come to love over the years.

Uncle Charlie is back.

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So that is true.

You know we talk about you know the braves, you know how you know in the alexandplass era.

He just loves his guys.

He loves reunions with formal players, even if they've been with the Braves for a while during his era, they go somewhere else.

He loves ringing them back and that's exactly what we saw occur last Friday.

The Braves faced off against Charlie Morton of the Tigers, the second time this year.

The Braves that faced off against Charlie Morton they did earlier this year against the Oriols.

They had a very good offensive game plan.

It worked out.

Charlie unfortunately, was designated for assignment by the Tigers on I believe it was Sunday on Sunday, then it may have been Saturday.

It was over the weekend, but the Tigers actually released Charlie, fully released Charlie and that worked out because he is back with the Braves.

Brian Snicker announced it on Monday during the pregame conversations.

Now the big question is what does Charlie's role look like.

At the very least, this could be just a farewell well tour.

He's back with the organization that he had some of his best years with and that he started with.

That may be enough in itself, but of course we'd love to see him on the mound again.

But overall, just good to have Uncle Charlie back.

If this is the end for Charlie Morton, it's great to see him in it with the Braves.

Yeah.

I could be wrong.

I this really feels like signing with the team that drafted you, signing with the team that you won a World Series with, you know, maybe getting one more start to be able to say bye to the fan base, and then retiring at the end of the year.

Like that's what this feels like to me.

I' see the Braves are going nowhere.

Charlie Morton was going nowhere.

He got dfaded and then he got outright release, which allowed the Braves to sign him for pennies on the dollar if they had claimed him, and this is what Breton Scott were talking about last night.

If they had claimed him, then they would have been responsible for the last like two weeks of his salary, which is actually quite a bit of money because he's making fifteen million dollars this year.

But because the Tiger's outright released him, the Brads could sign him for basically nothing.

So this was a kind of a no you know, there was no risk, no cost.

They just I think they just want to let a kind of a franchise legend.

That might be too strong of a word, but I don't know if it is.

People can debate that.

I know he wasn't with the Braves a lot, but he did help the Braves win a World Series, and that alone matters in the history of the franchise.

There's all.

You know, how many guys can say that, And Charlie was the ace of the staff the year they won the World Series, so and I know him and Max Freed were obviously the piederal parts of that rotation that year.

So I think they just want to say goodbye to him.

Let him say goodbye to the fans.

I have no idea if he'll even pitch.

I think he's He pitched on Friday in Detroit against the Braves, so he should be available to pitch anytime over the next week if they want him to, or if he wants to.

He might not.

This literally might just be like sign him as a retirement press conference and that's it.

So I mean, hell, him and Snip might have a joint retirement press conference for all we know.

But yeah, I didn't have a problem with That's all people freaking out about it.

I don't really understand why didn't cost the Brads anything.

They're not going anywhere.

The season's over.

They got a bunch of guys on the roster that are whatever.

Like I didn't care.

It was funny for Brad, you know.

I think if if he pitches, Brad's gonna go to one of the games, because Brad has been the Charlie Morton guy for all these years.

But yeah, it was cool, and I hope they give I hope he at least comes out for maybe like an inning so the fan base can give him the ovation.

And you know that stuff's cool to me.

But I'm guessing this is so he can retire as a b That's what I'm guessing.

I don't know that for sure, but otherwise I don't really understand why you would go through the motions for one week of the last week of the season.

I would give him the chance to end the year for the Bras, That's what I would do.

With the fact that these fail, the Pirates are going to be the team that he's going to be facing.

Of course, as many may remember, back in two thousand and nine, Charlie Morton was the prize prospect that was traded from the Braves to the Pirates in exchange for outfielder Nate Mcloth, who was having a breakout year.

It didn't work out, obviously, for it did not work out.

It did not work out.

He did.

Mcloth did not have a good career with the Braves.

But then you know, Charlie went on to play with the Pirates.

Let's see, he also played with the Astros, the Rays, the Orioles, and the Tigers, you know, after the Braves.

But the Pirates and Braves are who he spent twelve of his eighteen years with.

So him closing out the season, closing out potentially his career again, it's the team, with the team that he spent the majority of his crew with.

I think that that would be and outstanding development and a great way to end the season.

Now with Morton being back, if anybody had an uproar, I don't think it was anyway, shape or form that's nowhere justified for bringing Morton back.

Bring Morton back all day long.

Yeah, he deserves that.

It's been outstanding.

You know.

I think that the Braves bringing Morton back is a great gesture.

What probably did confuse some folks is that John Callers Laura going back to the Miners.

Was the move that occurred to bring Charlie back that didn't necessarily make much sense to me.

In my opinion, it's been a missed opportunity to not see what Laura could offer to this squad at least for a few weeks, but just bringing him up for a road trip for three games, that to me doesn't make a lot of sense.

And that I think if there was any part of the moves today that kind of, you know, got a side eye glanced of why it would be that Laura should have been up here weeks ago contributing to the squad to see if he could be an option for next year.

And I think it's a missed opportunity that not taken advantage.

Of that well, And they had chances to pitch Laura, like the game he came up on Friday, which is the game that Morton pitched ironically, and the Braves won that game like ten to one, Like why wouldn't you pitch him?

Yeah, I didn't get that.

I don't understand.

I don't really understand what they've done with Laura this whole month.

Like I thought he would come up earlier.

They finally bring him up the last you know, ten days of the year, and then they don't use him and then they send him down.

It has been very weird.

And I if you're upset about that part of it, that's perfectly fine.

I don't.

I don't understand that either.

And I you know, once he's up on the roster, the first game he plays is a ten to one game.

It's a perfect game to get him in.

And like even tonight, like if if they'd kept him on the roster, that's been a perfect game.

I don't know.

Yeah, that part's been weird.

Charlie coming back, I have no issue with whatsoever, but how they've handled Laura doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

But they've done a lot of stuff this year that quite frankly, doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

So yeah, I agreed, I was about I was just looking at some of the stats, you know, where Charlie ranks in terms of, you know, the since the Braves have been in Atlanta since nineteen sixty six, basically over the past sixty years, And I wouldn't go as far as saying that he's been a top ten pitcher in the Braves era in Atlanta.

But I'm right there with you in terms of narrative and in terms of what he's done.

You know, we'll have more to talk about with Charlie, especially once if he does retire this offseason.

But one thing that I do not think should be lost on folks, Charlie legitimately has been one of the most productive after the age of thirty five pitchers in Major League Baseball history.

Not necessarily in terms of just you know, Paudy hasn't been like up to the level of a Sures or or a Verlander or a Randy Johnson or somebody like that, but he legitimately has had some of his best years past thirty five for the Braves, and I think that that's what really stands out.

Not a Hall of Famer or anything like that, but he has more than made it clear that he was one of the better moves of the Alex Thoughtless era in the ITA.

Yeah, I think it was.

And franchise, I said, franchise legend.

That's too strong.

He's not a franchise legend.

But he did help the Raids winn World Series, Yes, but I think so.

He went from Pittsburgh to Houston, and I think he was like thirty two or thirty three years old at that time, and at in Pitt he had not really done much at all.

And then he went to Houston and really kind of turned into it a legitimate, like not ace level, but very very good starter, pitched on those really good Astros teams, and then went to Tampa and was like the ace of their staff for like two or three years, and all of this happened.

Like you said, I think he was again.

I think he went to Houston at like thirty two or thirty three, and so all of this has happened after thirty three years old, thirty thirty two years old.

So that's been the incredible part is that he had this entire second half of his career that was substanti actually better than the first half, which is not how it normally goes in terms of aging curve.

And so yeah, good for him, and I'm happy that Brad's brought him back.

It does not matter to me.

Onceoever gets if he plays, if he pitches, if he gets lit up, if he you know, throws one pitch, maybe throws one inning, I don't care what they do, or if he just retires tomorrow, the season's over the roster spots don't mean anything right now, I don't understand what they've done with Laura.

That's a perfectly fair criticism of the team.

But yeah, I have no problem with Morton coming back to finish his career.

At least that's what I'm guessing is gonna happen.

Yeah, And I mean, you know the other thing that stands out about Morton as well, is that just the success he's had the postseason.

I mean, he was a huge part of the Astros seventeen World Series run as well as the braves twenty one World Series run.

He also played a big part in Tampa's twenty twenty run that he struggled in the World Series.

But he's had plenty of big postseason moments as well.

So just the seller overall queer.

But he give, We've got plenty of time talk about that in the off season.

Do you want to end on another note?

You know, we talk about some of these moves that the Braves have made in terms of bring in guys, reclamations for reclamation, potential projects that could play a role in twenty twenty six if the Praise were to figure them out.

We've seen the man some bullpen arms like Tyler Kinley, Alexis Diaz, and today they also added Joel Paams and maybe saying his last name role but I think that's great.

Joel Pamps.

Now that name probably looks familiar because he was a part of the Sean Murphy William Contrera's trade.

He went from the A's to the Brewers in that trade, and he actually was one of the bigger some.

He's probably the biggest surprise overall of that trade with how productive he was for the Brewers in twenty twenty three, out standing reliever in twenty twenty three.

Since then, he struggled some in twenty twenty four, really fell off the cliff this year.

So that's why he was made available.

There's stuff there to work with, Steven.

I don't necessarily know if it's just an absolute you know, hey this guy could you know, he makes perfect sense for the Braves to claim him.

He's a reclamation project that could really turn into a valuable guy in twenty six.

It's gonna take some work, but the outcome could be there could be stuff to still work with for him to potentially turn into a part of the bullpen in twenty.

Six yeah, I mean twenty three, twenty four, he was striking out like between nine and ten guys per nine innings.

He was walking less than three guys per nine innings.

So, like, just those two numbers alone are attractive to a lot of teams.

Like, if you're a reliever that strikes a lot of people out more than a guy perinning and you don't walk a ton of people, there's a lot of teams that will give you a shot just based on that alone.

And yeah, the Braves are one of the teams, by the way, that are very high on strikeout to walk ratio in terms of their pitchers and especially their believers.

That was what first attracted the Braves to Joejanmenez from the Tigers.

He wasn't a high leverage reliever for them, but he was.

He had these insane strikeout to walk numbers, and that's what you know.

How do you say his last name again?

You said, I think you said it correctly, pay amps, pay MPs.

Yeah, I think that's right.

So that's what he brings to the table strikeouts, not a lot of walks.

One thing.

Though he does not have minor league options for neck.

He is under team control next year, the Braves will have his I think he goes to arbitration next year.

I have to look that up.

But he does not have any minor league options, so that's gonna be you know, he's got to make the team outright, assuming he's on the I'm guessing he'll at least get a spring training invite, assuming the Braves don't release him in the off season.

But if he makes it all the way through the off season on the roster, he'll get a spring training invite.

He will have to win a job outright in spring because he can't be optioned.

He'd have to be dfaed, So just keep that in mind.

But he is a guy that's got some stuff.

He's had some major league success, high strikeouts, not a ton of walks.

Twenty five has not gone well for him, which is why he was available.

So the Braves are kind of hoping they can find some of the magic he had the last couple of years.

Yeah, it really feels like that the contacts assess.

The quality of contact opponents have had against him is once jumped up.

I think he allowed like six or seven hits per nine inning in twenty three and twenty four jumped all the way up to eleven plus and twenty five, and that's just not going to work when you're when you're a liever.

Plenty that we have discussed again, I guess for content purposes, it's nice to have things to discuss, but not this way.

And I want to end on this note.

It is gut wrenching and just it's painful.

It sucks to see someone who is is good a person, good, just a vote representative for the braves as Ozzie Albi's has been over the past decade nearly to go through these injuries and I know that this is kind of something that he just he deals with, his plain style, deals with what had.

It just sucks to see Ozzie deal with this.

Yes, there's a realistic possibility he can be right back to being normal six months from now and will be good to go, no questions asked.

You know, all these concerns are by the wayside.

But it's just that we've seen this already occur, and we've seen the downside of what happens.

That's what we're concerned with, which I think is a legitimate concern to have.

But all of what we think and all how we feel and all of what we break down the side.

I just want to see Ozzy Aby's return to healthy.

Man.

He deserves to be able to play the game that he loves, healthy and confident, just like Ronald Accoona Junior does.

And hopefully he'll get a stretch here over the next couple of years where he puts the injuries past and we can get back to being the Azzi Abbis of mode, because he certainly deserves that.

I know the Braves will benefit from it, but man, just hope Ozzie is speedy recovery and hope he's back better than ever as soon as possible.

Yeah, and I want to make the point one more time.

We already made it earlier, but I can already see the comments.

I can already see people on Twitter.

I hamn't fracture.

The injury itself is not like some crazy injury.

It's like a it's like a six to eight week injury like that.

It's not the It's not the injury itself.

It is the lingering effects of the injury that we have already seen from Ozzie this year from his injury last year.

That is the concern.

It is not him.

He will he will be recovered from this injury, probably before the playoffs are over or shortly after the playoffs are over.

That is not.

The concern is not is he gonna be healthy once the spring training starts.

It is what are the lingering effects of the wrist, the hand, on his particular swing, the way he holds the bat.

Does it have impact on his profile, which has to be power driven for him to be successful because he does not have a high end base percentage, it never has.

That is the concern.

So I don't want to hear people like you guys are so stupid the himm You know, it's a six week injury.

I swear to God, we get that.

That is not the concern we're talking about.

We're talking about the lingering effects after that.

So and that's what the brains are gonna have consider so and everything.

He just says, one hundred percent.

I want Ozzie more than anything.

This guy just deserves like a healthy Give the man a healthy twenty twenty six, just so he can not have to worry.

He almost made it through twenty twenty five, at least physically healthy.

I know he didn't have the year he wanted, but.

He was ended and on a good note.

He was showing he still had it when he was healthy.

Yeah, and he was.

He was far enough removed from last year's injury where you started seeing the power again.

And again that's the concern of going in the next year.

How long how far past the injury are we gonna have to get before we start seeing the production again.

And so that's the concern.

And so I don't want to hear I don't want to read any comments about like the handmay boat's not that serious.

It's it's more than just the injury.

Itself, because this also affects other players.

This is this is a well known specific injury that goes beyond just healing back to where a player is capable of playing.

It's still being able to get their power back.

Then have he being able to to have the trust of swinging at different pitches, then being able to know that they can fully go through their batting approach, their batting motion without that, you know, conserving in the back of their mind.

I am I'm going to feel that pain again.

I'm not saying that it's going to be a mental case for Ozzie moving forward.

It's just that it's impacted many of players who have had this injury.

It's a very common injury because of how much rotation goes through your risks on a consistent motion when you're swinging the bat.

That's one thing, But again, like we talk about with Spencer Strider, him having to readjust himself with the fact that his fastball is nowhere, it is not where it once was.

With Ozzie, if he doesn't have that same you know, if he doesn't have the same potential in his risk to help out with his power game, that completely doesn't necessarily throw off, but it just changed his approach to try to be successful.

It's the fact that it is such an important part of a position player's ability to hint for power that when you are a player like Ozzie whose offensive production is so based is so you know, it's so so much of his offensive success is determined by how much he hits for power.

Anything that gets in the way of him doing that, it becomes very significant if it limits his ability to hit for power.

And that's why this exact injury is for Ozzie a bit more concerning than it is for others because how much power plays in his game.

And again we've already seen how much he can impact his overall production from this year.

We just hope that twenty twenty six isn't the repeat of twenty five and we get more of what we've seen over the past six weeks from Ozzie once he returns in twenty six.

Yeah, and again, like when you've had the same injury or close to the same injury, it becomes a mental like you're afraid to swing the way you normally swing because you're like, am I gonna hurt it again?

Right the way again?

The way he holds the bat with the knob right on the hand.

You know, even if you're physically over the injury, it's there's a mental side of it too.

So yeah, it's it's just another question that Braves didn't need and now they have.

And so now they've got I don't know how much they're gonna it's gonna adjust their plans, but I know this bringing back Hassan Kim would help a lot.

So let's start with that.

Let's maybe go grab a utility player that can play second in case Ozzie's not the same.

But you gotta get you gotta bring Kim back.

That's that's my number one takeaway from all.

This, and let's end this on a positive note.

Let's see a significant Braves player hopefully coming back like his old self after experiencing the same exact injury that he already had a second time.

Does this not sound familiar?

Oh, it's Ozzie's best friend, Ronald Acuna Junior, who went through the same thing, going coming back from an ACL injury for the second time of his career, and then he picked up right where he left off.

Perhaps Ozzie hadn't already been through this.

He's got a good support channel for the Braves and obviously a coon you being through something similar.

Perhaps Ozzie comes back for this stronger than ever because he's already experienced him.

But hey, speculation, it's an unfortunate injury.

We hope Ozzie gets a speedy recovery and he he's back and better than ever as soon as possible.

But it also is important for the Braves to realize what they need to do to have as much guarantee go when twenty six that they can get get at least league average production.

You're better up the middle when it comes to their position players, Steven, anything else from you, as we wrap up this edition in the Hammer Territory podcast.

Last week of baseball for Braves fans, at least Braves baseball.

Obviously we're gonna watch the playoffs, but you know, for the season, it's the last week.

It always goes by so fast.

Even when it was a you know, a miserable year at times for Braves fans, it's still sad when the season ends, like it's still kind of a bummer for me.

The fact that we're in the last week, the last homestand is kind of wild actually, but yeah, just it's been a fun year, even though it hasn't been the kind of year we wanted the Braves to have.

The worst day talking about baseball is still better than most days, so we appreciate it.

And we will be here to cover the off season.

Anything that happens with Ozzie, with Snitker, with Morton, we will cover it all.

It's a twelve month, you know, fifty two week a year podcast, So there it is.

And let's not forget.

Ron McCune junior looks absolutely locked in.

Matt Olson has been hot as can be.

Drake Baldwin is getting back to the.

Office, looks good offense, looks real good.

This Braves team.

Braves team now has an eighty eighty three percent winning percentage when they score five or more runs this year, five and twelve this year when they score five or more runs and they've done it for nine straight games and won all of them in terms of on the field production, not a much better way that you can end the season.

We get past these injuries, We've got some stuff to build on.

Can't thank you enough for joining us here on the Hammit Territory podcast.

Myself, Sean Coleman at stats Sac on Twitter, slash acts, Steven Toilbert at b Underscore Outliers on Twitter slash Acts, herot Territory you can find across all forms of social media.

Part of the foul Territory family of podcasts you can find across all forms of social media as well.

For Steven Tobart Sean Coleman as always a pleasure.

To be with you.

Go Braves.

We'll talk to you again sunor on the Hammer Territory podcast