Braves OPENING DAY Preview 🚨 Roster Surprises, Royals Warning & Bullpen Truth

0:00It's game week. It's almost game day here at Atlanta Braves Central Barat Sully, Chris Domino with you. Of course, you hear us on the Atlanta Braves radio network pregame show. The four lead off show getting you ready for every single game. Of course, reindeer lays and also after the game, I'll be there to hang out with all of you. The Royals coming into town, Chris. It's finally here. It's been a long off season, but it feels so good to be back. Yeah, look, everybody can talk about what I maybe it ended yesterday. Maybe you get one more day to talk about because the roster came out the opening day roster, 26 guys, 12 new on the roster. I got a fact about rice elder. You might not be aware of will play a little. Did you know coming up in a little bit, but the other part of what it is you didn't spring. Maybe it's going to be discussed a little bit today. It's funny. I can't city station that I do once in a while. I'm going to do something with them today. And when they asked me yesterday about some of the spring training stuff, I said, Oh, okay, but we're going to put that in a box and put it away, right? Because I know it existed and I know it means

1:01something. I'm just not sure what it means. So I wanted to make sure that it doesn't mean very much. I went and I looked at who were some of the better teams in the last five years in Arizona and Florida, what it didn't mean for the regular season. There's a whole it's a mismatch. So if you're just thinking that spring training is indicative of something, what it's really more indicative of is do you have the 26-man roster you were hoping for? Is it the 26-man roster that you would have thought this would be our best 26 going forward? The Atlanta Braves have been hit with some injuries. So some other teams and I just think that's why while the opening day roster itself is interesting, what happened in spring in my opinion, maybe by the end of today, certainly by tomorrow morning, that's going to get put away. Yeah, so you're saying that the grapefruit league trophy should not be probably displayed at truest park. Well, is that what you're selling me? Listen, take it. I would say if you were the New York Knicks of baseball, then yeah, display whatever they're going to give you. Hang the battery. Yeah, because at that point, you've won nothing in so long that you might as well just take and value who the idea.

2:03Have a parade for it. Put it on display. I just think I'm ready for the season beginning in a lot of different ways and I think the picture match up tomorrow night, I know we're going to talk a little bit about the world's coming in. Who are they? The fact that the world baseball classic might have introduced you to a few people. This is not a knock on anybody, but I believe Salvador Perez in this building right across the street from where I'm sitting today at truest park for the weekend, the best leader, the future Hall of Famer, Salvador Perez. I think there's nobody really better in the building who impacts a team. And this is what we say about the Braves and it's been said for a number of years. Who's the leader? Who's the guy? Who's the one? Is it a combination of three guys? Is this guy going to grow into being more vocal? That's not a case with the Kansas City world. They've got some really good young talent. They got talent that maybe you don't know about yet, but Salvador Perez is the extension of the manager. He's like the kid who plays point guard or quarterback in high school whose father's the coach. That's what Salvador Perez is more than anybody in the building.

3:03And that means something to this royals team. And it might be on display here for Atlanta Braves fans as early as the opening three days of the season. Yeah, let's get into the royals because you know, it's interesting and new that we get to open at home. And granted, if we're playing the red socks of the Yankees, people kind of know about who those teams are. The royals to me, and I said this with CJ Nick Kowski, when he was on MLB preview show last week, that they might be one of those teams that are good enough to make the play. I think they aren't good enough to make the playoffs, but maybe get hot because you mentioned Salvador Perez. We got to know Vinnie Pascotino with team Italy in the magical run. They made, of course, Bobby Witt. If you didn't know about Bobby Witt, you haven't been paying attention, but you certainly know about him now, but it's not just those three. It's Michael Garcia, who was the MVP of the World Baseball Classic and all star last year, Golden Glover last year. And then in that infield, if Jonathan India plays even close to what maybe he's supposed to, then they're pretty darn solid. And then you add Jack Caglioni in the

4:05outfield. They're a team that is dangerous. And this is not the royals of a few years ago. It's not the world of 2015 when they won the World Series, but it's a little bit closer to that than a seller dweller behind the Tigers in the in the in the AL Central. I think they're definitely up there. And they're pretty darn close to being not only a playoff team, but a team that can make a run. And they've got a pretty good pitching rotation to Michael Walker's the number two. You see all three of these Cole Reagan's on Friday, Michael walk on Saturday, and then and then Seth Lugo on Sunday. That's a pretty solid one, two, three punch. So brave fans don't take this team lightly because they can play. They won 82 games last year. They hit more doubles, more triples than the Braves. They didn't hit as many home runs, but they're going to fix that because they're pulling offenses in about 10 feet. The 2015 Royals team and I actually got to know some guys. I talked with Dayton more about the construction of that team, how they went from not being good, sort of similar to the cups. You have bad years, Houston Astros, bad bad years, 100 lost years.

5:09And what do you do through the draft and certainly through free agency? But that Royals team won by throwing the fewest starting pitching innings in baseball. They did it with a bullpen, and it was incredible what they did. They were ahead of the curve. You know, we talk all the time, if you go five innings, if you go six, we want to build just statue. That Royals team was built in the bullpen to not hit a ton of home runs. It was built to the park. They're not necessarily going to be that, but I will tell you, when in 82 games, six more than the Braves, more doubles, more triples. They struck out less. And there is something about them that you say, oh, wait, are they, are they dynamic? They might be this year. They're going to hit more home runs with what they did to the dimensions of the field. They might actually go from being one of the least home run hitting teams in baseball to middle of the pack. I think they can make it into the top 10. And the thing that's interesting now is, you know, everybody sort of wants to do the with baseball starting last night with the giants and the Yankees and what's going to go on today and the Braves will wait one extra day. You just start to read lists and articles and

6:10tears and all those things. I can make a case and I have it in front of me. I think the Cole Reagan's Chris sale matchup might be only behind scuba and pavetta when you talk about who are the opening day starting pictures for all of the games Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and baseball. Now, Gary Crochet is an interesting story. He's going to start his third opening day in a row with only three years in the league. That's interesting. I certainly know that if you go around to maybe a little bit deeper, Paul Schienz and Freddie Peralta, well, Paul Schienz is the headliner now on Peralta. I ain't bad. So I'll put that sort of with Salon Reagan's. So it's an interesting matchup on a Friday and eight on top of that because I don't think anybody knows anything about Cole Rengens. Reagan's I think Chris sale said he was excited to get an opening day start here because his first two years, the Braves are on the road. This is, you know, everybody's own L, but the idea of what the Braves need to do offensively, what they need to do to survive, what's happened to the rotation already, what you're going to ask the bolt pen to do, we all know those stories. Like we've been talking about them literally since the off season,

7:11then spring training, this guy goes down, this guy goes down, this guy goes down, and then the pro for a bust on top of everything else. I'm just ready for it not to be talking season anymore. Yeah. I watched the Netflix game last night. I'm going to tell you, look, I don't really care. That was a, that was a disaster. Like everything that went on and I'm just telling you, I understand they basically took 10 pounds of shit and put it in a five pound bag and they just said, Oh, look at us. We can do a lot of different things. I want the game and even the game presentation wasn't very good. They had problems with the sun. They had problems with filtering for the cameras. They had problems with the ads behind home plate, which are superimposed. They have their little box was terrible. You couldn't read it. And my couch isn't very far from my TV. And I got a pretty big TV. What they decided to do in terms of graphics was just a shitshow. And at the end of the day, I just wanted the game. And I watched Darren Judge set a record rating MVP strike up four times. That never happened before. So there were stuff. Barry bonds wants to tell me people don't understand. I was a great teammate. I like Albert. I like

8:13C.C. Sebastian. I like some parts and pieces. I just thought it was a jumbled mess. I say all that to say this. It also was another example of that. I'm right. I'm ready for talking season at end. I'm ready for actual games and let's, there'll be interesting things around baseball all year. But I'm ready for, oh, he won six innings. That guy won seven innings. That guy struck out 10. This team made two errors. They gave away two games over the weekend. That's when I'm ready for it. Just feels like everything else now. Much like spring training. Let's put it in a box and let's put it aside and let's actually see how teams play baseball. Yeah. Cole Reagan is in terms of Vegas odds. He's fourth on a list of pretty good pictures. So the boys out in the desert seem to like him with the braves. The roster did come out. And I'm looking through this roster and actually talking to Colin Madden, who does Chuck in turnoff. He's pretty sure for Chuck in turnoff. The afternoon show and on the flagship six eighty to fan. And we're looking at it going dang. This bullpen. You mentioned the royals bullpen being strong. And that's how they built their

9:13foundation last year. I'm not saying the braves are building their foundation after this bullpen. But when Dylan Lee or Aaron Bummer or even dig your Fuentes is your seventh inning guy. And then you've got two closers to sort of mix and match Robert Swars is going to start as the eighth inning guy, but if Russell the Glacier struggles, you know, you have a reinforcement right there. This bullpen to me, it's not the Eric Flaherty, Johnny Ventors, Craig Kimberl trio. But I got a feeling this couldn't might be one of the strengths of this team. Yeah, that could never happen again, because they're really going to try to avoid that three guys because she saw what happened short of Kimberl, who actually went on the other two just died of death. And they don't want to do that. I'll tell you that bullpen to me is the easiest fastest way to add five wins to your win total from the year before. It's the easiest. I'm also going to tell you, if you run the bases better, there's a chance that even if you're scoring four point four runs a game, 13th and baseball, when you score them, how you score them, you can actually pick up a win

10:18every 10 games because you run the bases better and there are going to do that. The offense has got to be better than those numbers that it just gave four, four puts them basically in the middle of the pack. I thought at times it felt worse than that, but the one and two run games, that's bullpen and that's your ability to run the bases. I really believe that you can flip what was a horrible, horrible number for the braves last year. And we've talked about it. I think this bullpen is underrated bullpen is in baseball for a long time with sort of like special teams in football. I know there's three parts to this thing, but special teams is like the stepchild. That's bullshit because special teams in the NFL, you realize now when you don't have them, my guy can't make a 50 yarder. We have nobody that can return. Well, we don't really have good field position. Special teams has actually taken its place. If still right under offense and defense, it's right there. That's not the case with bullpen. It's offense starting pitching and bullpen and you line them up three across. I don't know how we're going to win or lose the game today, but there's a good chance with the amount of endings that bullpen throw five guys coming out of that gate. Bullpen's I can make a case back half of the game is the most important part

11:22of the game. And it's not just in the eighth and ninth inning. Like I think bullpen construction and bullpen keep them healthy and please for the love of God, like guys actually contribute to the level they're supposed to. That's to me is how this team is going to go from 76 wins to 86 wins, 89 wins. And it's going to be something I think we end up talking about both the good and bad because bullpen's going to get hot. Bullpen's going to look terrible. Bullpen's going to be how long you baseline and just be good enough to win. This is going to be a topic that you and I are going to be talking about a lot this year. I just don't think people are ready to hear it as much as I think it's going to be talked about. Yeah, it's going to be interesting to see how that works out. You know, spring training numbers you said earlier in this show and I agree with you, you don't take a lot from spring training numbers. I do like to pick and choose and I have two that I think are important, not necessarily what the number is, but what it means. Last year, Michael Harris had 16 walks and 641 played appearances. He had four and 45 played appearances

12:23this year. I thought it was that matters to me. I thought it was going to be more than that. He started. I did too. You know, I came on this thing and I brought it up on here. I said, the only thing I'm looking at I'm looking at two things. I'm looking at Michael Harris walk numbers in spring, which seems ridiculous. But then he had to like really quickly. I'm sorry, oh, let's go. It the pace absolutely slowed down. We'll see. It did. What happens? What's your other one? And I'll tell you the only other one that I will actually bring into the season. Okay. My other one is Mike Dostromsky to about a 270 against lefties. That I think is important to me. Now, I know that, you know, some of that is the backups and the World Baseball Classic took some players away. So some of that might be diluted even more. But 270 against lefties compared to what I expect of him, what I expected of him against lefties to me does say that maybe now that he is in every day outfielder for this team that maybe he's not a liability, maybe where we thought that he was going to be a liability before. Yeah. My only other one was, can Spencer strive to hit the ground running make the second or third start. This is a couple of

13:28weeks ago or a month ago. And now we find out, well, that's been halted, obviously, and we'll find out how long I'm not going to speculate. I just know that it's a suggestion. I else didn't say suggestions. That's all they are. There's nothing more and nothing less. And I've said this to you before and I've said this for years here. Tell me what it is you put on paper because you had to file the paperwork with Major League Baseball. And I'll tell you what I know. The minute I see him on the mound and then I see him the next time he's supposed to be on the mound, Spencer Strider or any other picture. That's when I know they're back. Here's what I also know that they could go away the second time they're on the mound. So Spencer Strider hitting the ground running to look like he feels comfortable, did all the work he wanted. He looks like a $20 million picture. He becomes a linchpin to the rotation because I really would like a bonafide one, two punch. Well, that's on hold. So the one I looked at Michael Harris and the other one was Spencer Strider being ready to open up the season, looking and feeling like the the brace surgery that he had and everything else was behind him. Well, I guess to be determined, but it's certainly going to be

14:33delayed gratification if it does turn out well. Dread Holmes is now the number two. And you know, I think he's certainly the number two because Rinaldo Lopez, I don't make much of the mechanical change that he made that caused him to lose what four or five miles per hour. I don't really care about that. He fixed it. Now I was told he did. That's right. Unconfirmed sources. Let me check my let me check my data. Oh, yeah, yeah, he threw a hundred and seven miles an hour in that bullpen session. So everything is just fine. Yeah, but Grant Holmes because of the fact that he went through rehab instead of going under the knife and he did have a good spring, a really good spring. I don't again, I don't care about the numbers. I care about the health though. And the fact that he went through spring and didn't have any issues because we talked to Alex Anthopolis. What was that early December and and he said that Grant Holmes is basically now going through a regular off season. And you know, I I expected GM to say something along those lines, but it's clear that he

15:34was not screwing around that that Alex Anthopolis was not pulling our chain that Grant Holmes did go through a regular off season despite the fact that he could have gone under the knife and then spring training rolls around and he shows no signs, no lingering effects from that as well. And Grant Holmes is absolutely needed right now because down the stretch last year, the last four games before he got hurt. It wasn't great, but we did see the guy that we expected for the about four or five six games before that. So I know everyone's focused on the rotation and I get it, you know, when Jose Suarez is your number five and Bryce Elders, your number four, things are not going according to plan. I think that's safe to say, but Grant Holmes is extremely important to this team. And the fact that he's just healthy, that he shows no lingering effects from what happened last year really makes me kind of more relaxed a little bit to say, okay, things in this rotation might not be as bad as maybe it seemed when the Spencer Strider news

16:35was released. It really is just what I'm what am I going to ask you to do? They're going to be clunkers. How many starts are you going to make? When does the cavalry arrive? Whether it's Jared Richie, whether it's Fuente is actually getting starts keeping them stretched out? I like the idea that he's actually up in the major leagues. I like the idea that he's going to have people around him. I love the idea that he came out this spring while it was limited and it was limited for a reason. Look, I have my theory. I think after the first two ass kick and see took last year, he might have started to rely on what some young guys will do. I'll just throw harder. I think one of my opinion, this is not science, this is not me being told, this is me just watching and then extrapolating perhaps a hypothesis. I think when he got slapped around, I think he maybe tried to overthrow a little bit because I think the compensation is, well, I've got to actually throw harder to get guys out because if you remember when he was done with his four games, then he was basically shut down and one of the reasons he threw a limited amount of innings this spring was because they're ramping him up. I like the idea of ramping him up in a bullpen. I like the idea that he's going to be around guys who have experience around here and are going to tell him just by him making the opening day roster. Hey, last year,

17:38throw that away. He didn't get a chance to do that down in the minors, like that was the crazy part. I say you always get 24 to 48 hours to bitch and cry and do whatever it is. And then you got to be, you got to be a professional again, and they're going to scout. You want to say, how do they handle being sent back down? Well, he didn't really get that opportunity because they kind of shut him down, getting him ramped up and him making the opening day roster. I think everybody told him, hey, look, as Walt White said, the first day of real spring training, if you're in this room, you're in play. Well, they decided to let him know he's in play. Now, was it a tradition? Yeah, of course it was guys going down, but that's the idea. Rotations, staffs, five guys, 13 guys in total. That's all going to be based upon guys falling down. If you get a chance, do you get to keep it? Last year, it didn't go well, but I like the idea that they put it back in the situation. Here's what I like about Grand Homes. Like I'm saying this because I believe I can. What I like about him is he doesn't seem to give a shit. Like in a good

18:39way, how he looks, how he carries himself, he's, he doesn't, he's not boisterous. He's not ciferous. He's not over the top. He's actually underplayed. But I think there's something about him that's got like, yeah, I don't know what you're saying about me. I don't care. Today's my day. And while he might not be talented one and a two, I kind of like, I think he's got Moxie. I think he's got something. It's what I liked about Waldorf. And I told you this, even though we only worked together one year, I have not stamped anybody really on the staff. I've seen everybody have little great starts. And that guy is going to be, I don't believe that. You know my definition of it. Hey, she got to make 30 starts four years in a row, five years in a row. You got to be on the mound. And I believe I have a chance to win just because you're on the mound. None of these young guys prove that because they're just too new to this whole thing. Waldorf was a guy I liked. I hate the fact that his development is now going to get pushed back. But let's see how he handles it. I think for one day's handled this spring really well

19:39compared to what happened to him last year and how he might have been kicking around. I think Holmes is one of those guys who thinks he's a he's a two. You know, and I don't mind that. I hope without being loud about it, I hope he takes the mound. That's his office. And on days that he throws well, he throws well. Yeah, he really does. So I think he's very important as well. Obviously, Bryce elder is going to be the number four. Before we head out of here, you have a number for Bryce elder. That's surprising. Yeah, welcome to the opening day roster. I guess the number that I tried to do the math on this. Do you know he's made more starts in the last three years than any brave starter? And this is the first series on the opening day roster. I didn't know that he this is his first time on opening. I would have thought that he I'm at all star season. If I'm wrong, I'm wrong. I know you got the computer right there. I think this the first year he's on the opening day roster and a crazy part is if you add up his

20:41starts for the last three years, he's got more starts than anybody for the land of braves. So I you know, I call him cake days in my house. When you kids get out of diapers, that's a cake day. You know, has celebrate. I don't think Bryce elder is again personality-wise. He he's country not a cowboy. He told me this difference a few years ago. You don't want to be a drugstore cowboy where you're where he's there were real cowboys. He hunts. He fishes. He plays golf. He's got to look. He's got a little country in him. He doesn't really claim to be a cowboy, which I appreciate from him. But yeah, that's a cake day. You know, you look at your family and you go, I got a bunch of starts in a major leagues. It's not like he's eligible to be rookie of anything. But to make an opening day roster, that means your winter went well, your spring went well. And I don't care what anybody says about him. I'll say this one last time and I hope I never say it again. He's not going to be the reason you go to the postseason that you don't like for this idea, this panic mode. There's an old man reference towering inferno beside an adventure. It's a disaster.

21:42Rice sellers are fifth starter. No, it's it's really not because if you compare him to other fives, not only is it not a disaster, his good games will be better than a lot of fives too. He's not going to be the reason you do or don't go to the postseason. So it just celebrate opening day roster. You get paid your major league minimum. You're not on a split contract. The way that guys have been in the past. Dominic Smith, congratulations, Kyle Farmer. Everybody tells me what a great dude this guy is. It doesn't mean he gets to stay. Sun Kim is going to be coming back at some point. DuBon wants to make sure that he's on this team. He wants to play well enough if he doesn't start certainly to stick around. But congratulations to everybody on the 26 man roster. I'm looking at the starting pictures from 2023. The starters are Max Reed, Spencer Strider, Jared Schuster, Charlie Morton, and then Kyle Wright ended up being a starting pitcher. He was still trying to make up for lost time. And then the bullpen was terrible. My goodness. Listen in the past. Thank God we hit a lot of home runs in 2020. They're because yikes.

22:42All right. Let me also say all season long. And we're going to be back by the way. Some of what we said about the Royals offense is going to be said on Monday when the A's come into town because they've got guys and Langleyers and Kurtz and others. Rucker, you might not know a ton about them, but I promise you this. They're going to come in swinging. They're not they're not playing around either. The A's and I bet them. I don't mind telling you. I was up at Harris, Cherokee, one of the bets. I lay was over 74 and a half wins for the A's. I don't know if I'm going to be right, but I'll take a shot with that team. And this idea of well, the Braves got to come out of the gate. Certainly they got to come out of the gate better than last year because she couldn't be worse, but I don't know. You got six games. Four and two. Is that going to be enough? Yeah, actually, it would not be a bad start. Five and one, everybody should dance. Whatever, don't be worse than four and two. If that's a real thing, you have an opportunity to do that, then do it. But it is not as if you got a bunch of slappies coming into town in a world in the A's. They believe they're all known. They believe they've got a right to declare pretty early in the season. They can look like a playoff team, just as much as the Atlanta Braves.

23:42I do want to say this all season long. I want to thank Marrietta Toyota, Jared and his people right up there on Kyle Parkway South. If you're watching this in this area, if you're watching it in the entirety of Georgia or even a little bit beyond that, go to MarriettaToyota.com. You can find out about the cars, trucks, electric vehicles, pre-owned vehicles with warranties, the best powertrain warranty, certainly a new car purchases of anybody. Insurance costs less because there's some of the safest cars on the road, the buyback and everything else, whether it's Tacoma, whether it's the trail hunter, which I'm actually in now, which is off-road camping, everything else you would hope for in a truck Toyota is now stepped up there to come a game to that. We want to thank them for all season long being a part of this. You and I will be actually talking about them. We'll be talking about other people who could be involved in the show as the year goes along, but it is time for praise baseball. I want to thank Marrietta Toyota. They're going to be with us all season long. And, Barrett, let me just make sure that I have this right because I do not read my emails. I do not lie about this. I need to hear things. If I read them great, but if it's in my email, you better put it in front of me.

24:43I believe we'll be doing this the first day of every brand new series. I believe that's right. I believe that's correct. Let's go with that. Let's say emphatically, hey, everybody, first game of every series we'll be doing this. We'll have a couple of specials as the year goes along. Marrietta Toyota is going to be part of a series I'm going to do with former Braves as well. And I think I came up for a title with that. I'm going to be talking to Dale Murphy and I think with all the guys I'm going to be speaking to since I've spoken to them a lot in the past. I think the title of that one is going to be all the other things. And in other words, like Dale Murphy before really internally play, never playing in the American league. I have no idea. Is Dale Murphy ever swung a bat in Fenway? Is he ever swung a bat? And I don't think so. Probably not. Right. Unless there's something that whatever. But that's part of all the other things. Like the things that you don't really think about. You go, well, hold on. I know you've told the story of 398 home runs. And if you couldn't hit two in Colorado, it was time to retire. I know the time. Glavin had to hit you. And I know

25:47that whole story when you went to Philadelphia. But I think with all these guys, there were probably 10, 15 minutes worth of a conversation. It would encompass all the other things. And Marrietta Toyota is going to bring you that as well this year. I'll let you know when those come out. It's going to be awesome. We'll be here before every single series downloads, subscribe, check it out in YouTube. Available pretty much anywhere you get your podcasts and you see your video. He's Chris. I'm Barrett. Braves Royal starting Friday night. That's the