How Corbin Burnes Signing Helps Atlanta Braves

Atlanta Braves
37 followers
Two more big free agents come off the board and Corbin Burns and Oscar Hernandez. I'll tell you
how this could impact the Atlanta Braves and also we'll spotlight Blake Burkhalter, top pitching
prospect for the Atlanta Braves. Could he have an impact in 2025? We'll discuss all that on
today's episode of Locked On Braves. So let's get into it. You are locked on Braves, your daily
Atlanta Braves podcast, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day.
Hey, welcome back to Locked On Braves, part of Locked On Sports Atlanta, where we cover your
favorite Atlanta sports teams each and every day. And after the Falcons game the other night,
maybe it's time to start looking at the Atlanta Braves. As always, make sure you follow us on
social media at shortstopballatlockedon-braves. If you're new and watching this on YouTube,
hit that subscribe button, hit that thumbs up button as well. Leave me a comment down below.
I do appreciate it. And if you're listening on the audio version, you can help out by leaving
a five-star review on Apple, Spotify, wherever you get your podcast. On today's episode, we're
going to talk about the signings of Corbin Burns and Te'Oscar Hernandez, and specifically the Burns
one and how that could impact the Atlanta Braves if the Diamondbacks are more willing to move some
players now. We'll discuss all that. Also, Miners Monday spotlight, we'll take a look at Blake
Burkhalter, who had a great 2024 campaign. Could he be knocking on the door in 2025 for a pro
debut? So some rumblings happening. Don't know how much stock to put into them, but we'll get
into a lot of that in the final segment. Roki Sasaki, seems his meetings are all done at least
for the moment. So we'll get into all that on today's episode of Locked on Braves. But let's
start with the big signings from over the weekend that we haven't talked about yet. And let's first
talk about Te'Oscar Hernandez here, because this to me was the last big free agent out there that I
made a lot of sense for the Braves move. I feel like they could have afforded,
but the Dodgers ultimately bring him back three years, $66 million, $23 million of it deferred,
$23 million signing bonus. Dodgers doing their usual thing to get a player to come in.
This is a situation, like I said, money-wise, I think the Braves could have done this. It's
in around that range where AA seems to be capping at $22 million a year. Not a long-term deal.
Makes a lot of sense. It's the type of bat that the Braves typically want with a lot of power
in there. I just think Te'Oscar Hernandez made a ton of sense for the Braves. But here's the thing.
In free agency, we normally look at it and say, teams who offer the most money, they're going to
get the player that they want. That's not always the case. And look, we don't know. I don't know.
We probably will never know if the Braves made a legitimate run and offer at Te'Oscar Hernandez,
if they would have been willing to match what the Dodgers gave them or not. But what we do know
is that Te'Oscar really wanted to go back to the Dodgers. He wanted to go back to LA.
And it really was just a matter of how much were the Dodgers going to offer him. But it always felt
like he was going to go back to the Dodgers. That's where he wanted to be. Look, the Braves
have benefited greatly from players who wanted to take less money to be with them. So you can't
really criticize it when it happens for somebody else. Again, I don't know if another team offered
Te'Oscar more than that. It seems like a pretty fair deal. And we haven't seen many fair deals
this offseason. So like I said, this may just be one of those situations. He wanted to play
in LA, wanted to play with the Dodgers again. So he just took the best offer that they were
willing to give him. But it felt like one that the Braves could have made. And it certainly was
a player that I think made a lot of sense for the Braves. But again, in free agency, yes,
you can just sit there and take the biggest paycheck that comes your way. But you also can
choose, especially if the money is similar, where you want to go. You look at it in the
Dansby-Swanson situation, and a lot of Braves fans kind of upset with him because he took the bag.
But he had every right to, and it's not like it was close. From all we understand, the Braves
weren't willing to go much over $100 million for Dansby-Swanson, and the Cubs gave him over $170
million. We're talking about possibly a $50 million gap. That's a huge gap. Not many people
are going to leave that on the table, even though I think Dansby wanted to be in Atlanta. I think
he made it clear he wanted to be in Atlanta, but that's not always the case in free agency.
And we see it with Teoscar, and I think we also might have seen it with Corbin Burns,
who gets six years, $210 million to play for the Diamondbacks. I think that caught a lot of people
off guard, and reports are he reached out to Arizona. He has a house in Scottsdale where he
lives, and so he reached out to Arizona and wanted to see if he could make something happen there,
and ultimately they did. And I think part of why this works out for Corbin Burns is that there's
an opt-out after 2026. So he could spend two years in Arizona if he keeps pitching well,
like he has been. There's a chance for him to get another six-year, $200 million deal.
So it makes a lot of sense for Corbin Burns. He gets to go play where he lives, where he wants to
make over $200 million, and there's a chance for him in two years to hit the open market again.
And again, if he continues to produce like he has been, he's going to get another
major deal. It's $35 million a year. It's not like this is not a lot of money. It's Max Freed
got more, but it's also two years less. $35 million a year is the sixth largest AAV ever given out
to a starting pitcher. But again, I think where it was, being in Arizona, where he lives was big.
And I think getting that opt-out after 2026 was big for him as well, because it's a chance for
him to go to the market again and get another big deal, a six-year deal for a similar type of money.
So it made a lot of sense for Corbin Burns. I thought he was going to the Giants. There's a
lot of rumors, reports that he wanted to be on the West Coast, but ultimately he goes to Arizona.
But what does this mean for the Atlanta Braves? I have to figure the Diamondbacks are more
motivated now to trade one of their starters. You look at their rotation at the moment,
Corbin Burns, Zach Gallin, Merrill Kelly, Eduardo Rodriguez, Brandon Fott,
Ryan Nelson, and Jordan Montgomery. They have a lot of pitchers there. Now, as you know,
you need a lot of pitchers to get through a season. So there's a chance that maybe they hold
all these guys. I feel like this also has to mean that the Diamondbacks need to go for it.
You don't sign somebody like Corbin Burns. And I know maybe it was just plopped in their lap. It
was an opportunity that they couldn't pass up. He wanted to be there, was willing to take fewer
years, even if it is a higher AAV. And maybe you only get them for two years. And look, Zach Gallin
is potentially a free agent after the upcoming season. Merrill Kelly is possibly a free agent
after the upcoming season. But you go get a guy like Corbin Burns and you're only really
guaranteed to have him for two years. I think the Diamondbacks have to go for it now. And they're
a tough division with the Padres and the Dodgers. The Giants are wanting to compete. You always have
the Rockies there that you can beat up on, but it's a tough division. And now you've gone out
and spent a lot of money on Corbin Burns. But Merrill Kelly, I talked about, I would love
Merrill Kelly to make $7 million next year. I just think he's a really good pitcher, not
overpowering. Jordan Montgomery is set to make $22.5 million. I want no part of the EROD contract.
That's probably the one that they want to get rid of the most because it has the most years on it.
But I think Jordan Montgomery is the one that gets moved. Gallin, as I mentioned,
in his last year of arbitration, predicted to make $14.1 million. I don't think they were going
to move him after they go out and get Corbin Burns. Fott and Nelson are both pre-ARB. I don't
think they'd want to move them either. I love the idea of getting Jordan Montgomery. I've talked
about him a lot this off-season. I've talked way too much about Jordan Montgomery this off-season.
If the Dimebacks eat $5 to $7 million of that and you don't have to give up a top prospect,
I'm all for that. We're going to talk about Blake Burkhalter, and maybe this is kind of
foreshadowing how my conversation is going to go, but I'd even be okay if you give up a Blake
Burkhalter or a Drew Hackenberg for Montgomery if they're going to throw in $7.5 million.
I like those guys, and I think they've got a chance to pitch in the big leagues. I don't see
a ton of upside with either one of them. Again, spoiler alert for the next segment, but I would
do a deal like that. Either way, if you can get Jordan Montgomery, not have to give up one of
your top prospects, and they eat around $7 million of that deal, I think it makes a lot of sense.
I'd also love Kelly. Again, I prefer Merrill Kelly in that, but if the Dimebacks are going
for it, they need to hang on to him, and I think they should. A package deal of Geraldo Perdomo
and Monty is a great fit for the Atlanta Braves. Like I said with Perdomo, even if you don't think
he's a shortstop of the future, which I'm not convinced that he could be, but if the Dimebacks
are ready to hand things over to Lawler, and they probably aren't, if they're going to try to
compete right out of the gate in 2025, which they should now with Burns in tow, then I think you
have to put Perdomo out there and make Lawler earn that spot, which I don't think he's quite
done yet. So I don't know that they'd be as interested in moving Perdomo, at least right now.
Maybe that's an in-season type of deal, but I would love a package deal. I think that's still
one of the better options for the Braves this offseason, a package deal of Perdomo and Jordan
Montgomery. It gives you that veteran starter that can hopefully give you some innings if he can stay
healthy this year, which he hadn't really had too much of a problem with over the past four or five
years before that, and you get somebody in Perdomo who could take over at shortstop for you at the
very least, can play all over the infield, has good back-to-ball skills and some speed and is
really good defensively at shortstop. Again, at the very least, push Orlando Garcia. I think he'd
be the starter over Garcia. I do think he's an upgrade over him, but that to me is one of the
best options for the Braves this offseason, is doing some sort of package deal for Perdomo
and Jordan Montgomery, get the down backs to eat a little bit of Montgomery's contract, bring that
AAV down. I don't know how much of a return they would want if you threw Perdomo in that, but
again, getting those two players, something like that, I think would make a lot of sense
for the Atlanta Braves. Braves 3L says maybe get one of their outfielders as well.
Alec Thomas would be an interesting one in that, a left-handed bat. Braves obviously
can use another left-handed bat, has some good speed, and he's kind of pushed out in that
outfield mix, so that could also be an option as well for the Braves. Just get all three.
Why don't you just go ahead and get Alec Thomas, Perdomo, and Jordan Montgomery, and there you go.
But I do think there's something there with the down backs. The Braves could make work,
they could help them in multiple areas, and now with the move of Corbin Burns,
you'd feel like they would want to move some of that money from Jordan Montgomery
this upcoming season, and I think the Braves could benefit greatly from that.
All right, next we will go into our Miners Monday spotlight, looking at Blake Bergkoth,
a guy that I just tried to trade, but I promise I do like him. I think there could be a role for
him with the Braves in the future. We'll discuss him here next. Did Rocket Money help you find any
subscriptions you forgot about or that you were paying for twice? That definitely has happened
to me. I had a few subscriptions that I didn't even realize I was still paying for, and Rocket
Money made it so easy to track them all down. It's like having a personal assistant for your
finances. Rocket Money is a personal financial app that helps find and cancel your unwanted
subscriptions, monitors your spending, and helps lower your bills so you can grow your savings.
It brings everything together in one place, whether it's subscriptions, your spending habits,
or even the goals you want to hit this upcoming new year. Rocket Money has over 5 million users
and has saved a total of $500 million in canceled subscriptions, saving members up to $740 a year
when using all the app's premium features. Cancel your unwanted subscriptions and reach
your financial goals faster with Rocket Money. Go to rocketmoney.com slash locked on today.
That's rocketmoney.com slash locked on, rocketmoney.com slash locked on.
Well, thank you as always for making Locked On Braves your first listen of the day. Now go make,
or after this is over, go check out Locked On MLB and make them your second listen
of the day solely getting you caught up with everything happening around Major League
Baseball. See Braves still saying RIP to Braves legend Jimmy Carter as he did
die over the weekend at the age of 100. So certainly prayers and thoughts to his family.
Let's jump into our Miners Monday spotlight here. We're going to take a look at Blake
Burkhalter. I've had several requests, people wanting me to break down Blake Burkhalter after
the big year he had in 2024. Let's go back a little bit further than that. 24 year old,
right-handed pitcher, six foot, 204 pounds, 76th overall pick in 2022 out of Auburn for Eagle Woods.
He was the comp pick for Freddie Freeman signing with the Dodgers in 2022 at Auburn. He had a 3.69
ERA, a 0.91 whip and 46 and a third innings with just seven walks and 71 strikeouts to go along
with 16 saves was just a dynamite closer for Auburn that year. Atlanta drafted him as a starter
and said they were going to give him a chance to start, which they have to this point. He did just
four and two thirds innings after getting drafted and then missed all of 2023 after having Tommy
John surgery in 2024. He returned in late May, made 14 starts at Rome, had a 2.71 ERA, a 1.18
whip, 69 and two thirds innings pitch, just 16 walks to 63 strikeouts, a 2.53 average against
not great. 8.63 walk for nine, not great. 2.25, sorry, 8.63 K for nine, not great. 2.25 walk for
nine is fantastic. And a 0.38 home run for nine is also fantastic. Can only allow three home runs.
So did a great job of keeping the ball in the park. He did pitch in game one of Rome's playoff
series as well and allowed just one run on four hits with no walks over five innings with four
strikeouts. The only run he gave up though, a solo home run. So he did a great job all year
of not giving up home runs, but gave up one in the playoff game. He pitched well in that one,
but unfortunately Rome took the loss. You look at the pitch mix for Blake Burkhalter,
a four seam fastball sits mostly 93, 94, but he can crank it up to 97, 98, he hit 97 in the games.
One of the games that I watched was that's as high as I saw him get up to, but I've read some reports
that, you know, he's hitting 98, 97, 98, somewhere in that range. He can get into the, uh, to upper
nineties, but mostly sits 93, 94. It seemed to sneak up on hitters as well. And has a little
bit of arm side run. I didn't see that as much with him, but again, there's some of the reports
I've read that it has some arm side run on it, but I didn't see as much with that. Like I've seen
with others that we've already talked about this off season, a cutter and the low nineties look
like his most confident secondary pitch. Uh, he'd throw it to righties and a left. He's got
plenty of called strikes with it. It seemed to just catch hitters off guard, uh, with that picture.
Cutter has always been a pitch for me. That is, is tough to read. I don't, I don't know why,
but it's tough for me to read. I'm watching on TV. Kenley Jansen's one, he has one of the best
cutters and when he throws it, it just looks like a slower fastball to me, but there has to be some
sort of movement cutting action on it. Uh, I don't know if you agree with that or not. It's always
cutters is something visually that's always been hard for me to pick up. Uh, but it seemed to be a
good offering for him. And again, it seemed to sneak up on a lot of hitters as well. The change
up is only off speed pitch that he threw in the low eighties. To me, this acted more like a 12,
six curve ball. When he threw it, when he threw it well, when he started at the knees,
it dropped off the table and can be a really good pitch, but it's also one that I saw him
hang a lot. A couple of them got crushed. He didn't freeze one guy because he just hung it so
much. The guy didn't see it coming and he doesn't throw a lot of them to begin with, but when
located, well, like I said, it can be a really good change up because it has a lot of just drop
to it. I didn't see as much fade. Normally your right-handed pitcher with a change up, you're
going to see some drop and some fade going down and into righties. This to me looked more like
just drop, like it drops off the table. And again, when thrown correctly, when he starts it at the
knees and it just kind of drops off, it can be a really good pitch for him. So foreseen cutter
change up. I'll be honest. I wanted, I wanted to see something special when I watched Blake
Burkhalter being an Auburn tiger, seeing the great year that he had. I was hoping to see
something from him that just blew me away. And I didn't quite get that from him. The fastball
didn't seem overly special. The cutter didn't seem overly special. Like I said, the change up,
I think if, if he gets more consistent with it, maybe that could be a special pitch for him
because it had a lot of really good drop to it, but I just didn't see anything that,
that blew me away. I've also always viewed him as a reliever. And I think that's the best spot
for him in the future. I can see him being a solid setup guy. And I think that is the,
the most likely outcome for him. His delivery is a bit odd when you watch him. It's kind of,
if you've ever watched cutter Crawford for the Red Sox pitch, it's kind of similar to that,
where he kind of tucks his, his arm in instead of extending it all the way out.
It's not quite to the degree of cutter Crawford, but he kind of hinds it behind his body. And
again, just doesn't stretch that, that right arm all the way out. Just keeps it tucked in,
which I think is kind of helps with that deceptiveness. And maybe why you see that
fastball even in 93, 94 kind of get on hitters. Cause he, he hides it really well behind his body,
but just a little bit of an odd delivery for him with his current pitch mix. I think the ceiling
as a starter for Burt Coulter is a fourth, fifth starter type. I'm just not seeing a guy with a
lot of upside to become a, a two, three type of starter. I see a guy that, you know, fourth or
fifth, he has the command to be able to pitch and be a starter. I just don't see that elite pitch
to give him that upside as a, a middle or even top of the rotation type of starter.
I think he's most likely going to be a backend starter, but again, I think the best possible
outcome and maybe the most likely outcome is that he becomes a setup reliever, perhaps a multi
inning type of guy. So I do think he pitches in the big leagues because I think he has the command
and he has enough stuff that he can get by the big leagues, but I just wasn't seeing anything
to really blow me away with him. Let me know what you think. You know, if you've watched
any of Blake Burt Coulter again, I wanted to be excited about him. He had a great year
coming. And this is also his first year coming off of Tommy John surgery. So you throw that in
there. And the fact that the command was still good, I think is, is big for him. You know,
maybe in the next year, if we see him sit more than 95 and, and can touch 97, 98 more regularly
in that fastball plays a little bit up and you see him become more consistent with that change
up in his off speed pitches or develop some more off speed pitches, then maybe there's a little
bit more with him, but I just didn't see it this year from, from Blake Burt Coulter. I don't see
a big upside guy here. I see a backend starter set up middle reliever type of profile, but here's
what I want. I do want to see from him in 2025 because players as always, as we talk about,
they can grow and certainly become better. I love to see the below tick up a little bit. And you
say that with, with a lot of starters, it's not like this is a young guy though. It's not like a
Didier Fuentes we talked about last week. It's not like it's the young guy who you can project,
you know, to add a tick more on his fastball, but I certainly would love that. I'd love to see him
more 94, 95 and be able to reach back for 97, 98 a bit more regularly and have that in his
back pocket when he needs it. Also, the other thing is just consistently with the off speed
pitch, whether it is a change up or maybe he develops a curveball slider, something like that,
being able to throw that pitch more consistently and play off the fastball cutter combination,
I think would be, be really good with that. That fastball, you know, does have a little
bit of arm side run on it again. I didn't see that as much in my watches of him, but either
that or having that change up something that can go into righties a little bit more to play off
of that cutter, I think would be big for him. So again, at least as far as what I saw in 2024,
I think the best possible outcome for Blake Burke Hunter as he is now is a backend starter or a
setup middle reliever type. But I do think, you know, he has the ability to reach that and be
that. And possibly I don't want to think it would be in 2025, but he's probably going to start the
year at, at AA. And again, if he continues to pitch and AA is a good environment for pitchers,
I can see him moving up pretty quickly or I can see him traded for Jordan Montgomery.
We'll just have to see. All right, next we'll get into some rumors around Tanner Scott. Are the
Braves going to really pony up for another reliever for 16 million a year, whatever it's
going to cost. Also, we'll talk about the luxury tax a little bit more and Roki Sasaki and all his
meetings or the Braves, a part of that. We'll discuss all of that here next. So there's been a
lot of rumblings over the last couple of days. I don't know. People are just getting bored. People
want to troll people trying to get attention. I don't know what it is, but it feels like there's
a lot of people out there talking about a potential Braves move coming soon or that a big deal is in
the works. Been a lot of talk about Tanner Scott. And I think part of this comes from David O'Brien
sending out a post on X that somebody asked him, do the Braves have interest in Tanner Scott?
And he said, yes. And look, it is a point of the off season where we are willing to run with
anything because nothing has happened. And we're all so eager for something to happen that
a reliable reporter saying that the Braves have interest in somebody and we're all kind of running
wild with it. And I get it. We want to be excited. We want to see something happen,
but that's really all that I've seen or read is that somebody asked David O'Brien
of The Athletic, do the Braves have interest in Tanner Scott? And he replied and said, yes.
And that is the extent of the Braves known interest in Tanner Scott, to my knowledge.
If you know of another credible source out there that has more on that, let me know,
but that's all I have seen to this point. Now, should the Braves go out and get Tanner Scott?
Should they go out and sign another high dollar reliever? That is the bigger question here in my
mind. Would I love to have Tanner Scott? No doubt. He is the top reliever on the market.
I don't know that we need to have another $16 million a year reliever. And I get it.
Ryce Iglesias, his contract's up after this year. So you could possibly replace that,
be your future closer. Look, if you go get Tanner Scott, great. I'm going to be happy.
We'll jump on here. We'll do a podcast and be fantastic. But if it prevents you from going out
and getting another starter, which I think is a much higher priority, if it keeps you from going
out and getting a big bat for the outfield, which I think is a higher priority, then I'd be a little
upset. Now, maybe if Tanner Scott just happens to be the deal that AA likes, and he's not seeing a
deal out there for a starter, then okay. It was the best deal that he was comfortable with.
I don't know that another $16 million reliever is what this team really needs. Again, I would love
to have them, but I just feel like if that move happens, that means that other moves aren't going
to happen because of that move. And I'm really more worried about depth at starting pitching.
I love the starting pitching the Braves have, but you need depth there. You need depth in the
outfield. I mean, right now you're looking at an opening day outfield of Jared Kellinick, Michael
Harris, and Brian de la Cruz. Yes, we're hoping Acuna comes back and that he comes back and looks
like 2023, 2021. And before that version of Ronald Acuna Jr. And not the guy that came back from ACL
the first time and the guy we saw at the beginning of 2024. But you're still talking about a Ronald
that's probably going to be limited. And we don't exactly know what version of him that we're going
to get coming back. He's going to be able to run. We just don't know. You need more depth in the
outfield than Brian de la Cruz and Eli White. You need more than that. So again, I'd be happy. I'd
be ecstatic if they went on and got Tanner Scott because he's one of the best relievers on the
but if it were to, if that move were to prevent you from then also going out and getting quality
depth in the outfield, in the rotation, I'm going to be a little upset. And that leads into this
next discussion. I want to talk about the luxury tax for just a second. I really just want to call
out a great article and I want to get this guy's name right. It's a great article on battery power
written by, I believe his name was Austin. It's reach underscore baseball. Austin Kane reach
wrote a great article for battery power, explaining the luxury tax, how it works,
breaking it down. But he got down to what I've really been wanting to know. And what I've really
been trying to figure it out. I just don't have the brain power and the math power to do what
Austin did in this article. What is the huge benefit of staying under the tax this year?
Does it really help the race spend more money next off season? Now in Austin's article,
he does a lot of guessing about the payroll, but essentially what it comes down to and what
he broke down is that getting under the luxury tax threshold this off season, maybe saves you 4
million next year. That's just not enough, not for a team that is trying to compete and win a
world series. It should not keep them from going over the luxury tax threshold this year because
it doesn't really save you all that much for next year. Now, if you knew you weren't going to
compete anytime soon and you wanted to reset that luxury tax, I get that. But when you're in a window
to win a world series and you're talking about saving $4 million by getting under the tax.
And again, these numbers could vary. These are all kind of estimations. It just does not make
much sense. So I hope that's not the case and I hope they're not really trying to stay under the
luxury tax. I think more than anything, these prices have been really high this off season
and we know Alex isn't going to overpay for anything. So I think it's more so indicative
of that than the team actually trying to stay under the luxury tax threshold. I do think they
are going to spend, but he's going to wait for these prices to come down to where he's more
comfortable spending. But go read that article. I put it on my social media page at shortstopball.
But you can also go check out Austin, check out his account as well. And we're in the article
over at Battery Power. It's really great article breaking things down, taking the time to do what
I've wanted to do, but just haven't been able to. So thank you so much for doing that, Austin.
Roki Sasaki met with 20 teams, was not reported whether or not the Braves were part of that. I
would really hope that they are. But Roki Sasaki is now back in Japan, weighing decisions,
might also be more meetings after this as he looks to make his decision. The Braves
re-sign Brian Moran to a minor league deal. A lefty reliever adept probably won't see him.
We haven't seen in the past two or three years, I believe, that he's been in the organization.
Cubs traded Matt Mervis for Vidal Brujan. The big three agents left out there, Pete Alonso,
Alex Bregman, Roki Sasaki, Jack Flaherty, Anthony Santander, Tanner Scott,
Jerickson Profart, Jeff Hoffman. You look at that list, obviously Sasaki, Flaherty,
Jeff Hoffman, Tanner Scott would be some great pitchers to go pick up Santander. If you were
able to get him three years, 60 million, I wouldn't hate it. I don't love the lack of average,
but he certainly is a guy that can hit 35, 40 home runs. You play him in the outfield for one year
and then move him to the DH spot. We've talked about that in the past. I think that makes a lot
of sense. Profart, I'm not as big on because I'm not really buying into what he did last year.
Although apparently there were some swing changes that he made, but I just feel like he's going to
get overpaid for what he did last year. Maybe he's not. Maybe other teams aren't buying into that.
And so he's not going to get that big money. Maybe he takes a one-year deal and tries to
prove it again and then goes out there and tries to get that big deal. If he's able to do it
for another season, but I'm not in on Profart for a long-term 15 plus million dollar a year deal.
I'd do it on a one-year deal at 15 million, something like that, to see if he could do it
again. But I'm not buying into it long-term for Profart until I can see it one more time at least.
But those are the big free agents left. Again, I don't know if people are getting bored or what,
but it does feel like something is going to happen soon. I feel like something just
needs to happen. And maybe that's why everybody feels like something is about to happen just
because we've been waiting for so long. We're about to be in 2025 and the Braves have not added
anything towards the 2025 roster yet. Spring training is a month and a half away from pitchers
and catchers reporting, which is great to say, but I'd feel a little bit better about it if I saw the
some significant quality depth to the team. So hopefully that is going to happen as Protect PR
said. I feel like we're watching paint dry. Hopefully that's not how you feel watching or
listening to this podcast, but that is how the off-season has felt so far for the Atlanta Braves.
All right. Thanks so much for joining today's podcast. Protect PR, Tina Churchwell, Chuck
McMillan. Is Baldwin athletic enough to play left field? Del Murphy came up as a catcher
and moved to the outfield. Just looking, I don't think so. But I have thought about that myself,
but there's been no mention of that. And I would have to figure that with the Braves need in the
outfield, that if it were a possibility, somebody would have at least asked about that or looked
into it. But just for my viewings of him, I don't think so. I don't think that's the best idea.
Jeffrey Humphries, thanks for being in here. Like and subscribe. Appreciate that. Dave White,
MassBoost, thank you as well. David Thatcher, BC, Alien Johnson as well. Says hope it's not
Verlander. I've heard some of that lately. I don't mind if it's Verlander. I talked about this the
other day. There's some veteran pitchers that I don't mind coming on a Lancelin, a Max Scherzer,
a Justin Verlander, Charlie Morton, even all four of those veterans, Jose Quintana,
throw another one in there. I'd be fine with any of those veterans on a one-year deal,
depending on the price, obviously. I don't know how much is it going to take to get Justin
Verlander to come in for one year. I'm not paying him $20 million like you have Charlie Morton in
the past, but I don't know how much he has left to offer. He'd probably be towards the bottom of
that list in terms of what I think you could get from him. But I don't hate it, again, depending
on the price or what he could bring you as a new voice, a new veteran, and a leader in the clubhouse
to replace Charlie Morton. Shadow Ninja, Money2k, Jessica, thank you all for joining the podcast as
well. Make sure that you do subscribe on YouTube. If you're new, hit that thumbs up button. Go check
out Lockdown MLB for your second listen of the day. Follow us on social media at shortstopball
at lockdown underscore braze. Make sure that you rate, review, and subscribe to the Lockdown
Braze podcast, wherever you get your podcasts, and we will talk to you next time.
