RUMOR: Trade Interest in Byron Buxton Paints Picture for Atlanta Braves Upcoming Offseason

RUMOR: Trade Interest in Byron Buxton Paints Picture for Atlanta Braves Upcoming Offseason

While a trade for Byron Buckston didn’t happen, the Braves interest in him at the trade deadline tells us a lot about what this offseason could look like for Alexopoulos and the Braves. We’ll discuss it 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, and welcome back to Locked On Braves, part of Lockdown Sports Atlanta, where we cover your favorite Atlanta sports teams each and every day. I’m your host, Jake Mastriani. You can follow me on social media at shortstop. Check out the podcast there at Lockdown Braves onx and Lockdown Braves on Instagram. Make sure that you subscribe to us on YouTube if you’re new. Hit that thumbs up button, leave me a comment down below as it does help us a lot whenever you do those things. And if you’re listening on the audio side, you can help out as well. Just leave me a fivestar review on Apple Spotify, wherever you get your podcast. Thank you so much to all my everydayers out there who continue to grind through the frustration of 2025 and listen in each and every day. Uh, this is not a postcast. I may have fooled you into thinking that. Lindsay out tonight. So, we’re going to be doing a regular podcast here. We’re going to be talking about the Byron Buckton trade rumors, which I know Lindsay already covered on on his podcast. You want to give that a listen, too. We’re going to talk about that. We are going to get into the Brewer series and the oh close comeback on a Wednesday night. We’ll get into all of that. Spencer Strider with another rough outing. We’ll discuss all that on today’s episode and all the latest news. Some a lot of injured players for the Atlanta Braves. We got a lot of updates on them here recently. So, we’ll go over all of that on today’s episode of Locked On Braves, which is brought to you by Monarch Money. Take control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code locked on MLB at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year. I want to start out today talking about the rumor of the Braves having interest in Byron Buckston at this past trade deadline because the report from Dan Hayes of The Athletic, I think probably took a lot of people by surprise. Now, obviously, Byron Buckton quickly shot down any possibility of a trade. He has a no trade clause that goes through 2026 and he already has 10 five right so he can veto any trade just like you know Ozuna from the Braves he could also you know reject any type of trade offer so that easily was you know dismissed but the fact that the Braves at least showed interest in him and that Alexopoulos was checking on him I think tells us a lot and I want to get into that on today’s episode and This could have very easily been a I’m going to call in, see what the see what the offer is, and just do my due diligence. That very well could have been what happened here. And most likely that is what happened here. We know Alex is is turning over every every stone. He’s trying his best to turn this thing around because he knows and everybody knows how disappointing of a season this has been. But I do think just the fact that he checked in and Dan Hayes from the Athletic makes it seem like it was more than that. more than just a casual check-in that there was actual interest there I think tells us a lot about what could happen this offseason. Now just very quickly to touch on on Buckton he’s owed just a little over 15 million the next three years but has some significant performance bonuses in his contract as well and despite all the injuries that he’s had he has produced 3.4 four or more F war in four of the last five seasons, but he’s only played in over a 100 games in one of those seasons. He’s been one of the most injuryprone players in baseball. Stud when he’s healthy and he’s out there, but he’s very rarely ever out there, which seems pretty odd that Alexopoulos would even call in on a guy that has been so injured on a team that’s had tons of injuries in the outfield. Well, it’s there’s been Michael Harris in the past or Ronald. Um, obviously you can’t do anything about the suspension of ProFar, but they’ve had their own share of keeping players on the field on in the outfield here. So, to trade for a guy like Buckston, I think is pretty odd. But I think what this confirms for me, there’s there’s a few things that this this trade interest tells me. The first one is it kind of confirms Alex and’s comments after this past trade deadline that their main goal at this past trade deadline was looking for talent to help them in 2026 and beyond. It wasn’t so much about dumping free agents that they have now. I’m sure that was part of it and I’m sure that they were exploring options to trade Ozuna Glacius. I sure hope so. But Alex said in his post trade deadline interview that their main goal was to find help for 2026 and beyond. That was their main focus. And they also said in that conversation that many of this the discussions of the trade deadline could lead to something in the offseason which I think is very very promising. And again, we’ll see once the off season starts. But it sounds like what this trade deadline was more about for Alexopoulos was setting stuff up for for the offseason. You obviously not a lot anything really happened. Kinley’s the only player that they actually got that has control beyond this year, but maybe he was able to have some conversations that he now has an idea of who he could go after in the offseason. And I think that’s probably what it was checking in on Byron Buson. I think this also confirms for us that AA is going to be very very active in the offseason looking for a big piece. Not just looking for supplemental pieces, not looking for reclamation projects like Jared Kelnik. I think this tells us that AA is going to be looking for a big piece. Now, he’s going to try to do it as conservatively, cheaply is another word to say that as possible. But just like with Bucks’s contract, it’s it’s a very affordable contract, 15 million a year for a guy that when he plays is like one of the best in baseball. He’s going to be looking for that that deal. He always is. Similar to to Chris Sale. You know, Chris Sale was a guy that was seen as often injured, a contract that maybe you wanted to get rid of and he took advantage of that and got a great deal out of it. And it feels like that’s was kind of the same thought process and checking in on Bucksen. And I’m sure that’s also going to be the kind of deals that he looks for. But I think what this tells me is the the the conversations he had at this last trade deadline were more about what he might do in the offseason. And I think it tells me that he’s going to be very active in finding a big piece for this team in the offensive side of things going forward. The other thing that this tells me is that there could be some reshuffleling in the outfield. I I think I think this was a likely situation where AA saw the potential for a great opportunity and a great deal and just went after it, not really worried about every how everything would fit if he got the deal done. If you can trade for a talent like Byron Buckston, you figure out the rest. And that’s that’s most likely what the mindset was here. But this could also mean that he’s going to try to move Proofar this winter. And we’re going to talk a lot about Proofar in the second segment because of he had a good series, but also we’re going to talk about on tomorrow’s podcast and and who he is. Did the Braves get swindled in this or we being too harsh on ProFar? We’re going to talk about that in tomorrow’s episode. But this could be a sign that maybe he’s going to try to move on from Proofar this winter. Maybe he could actually be considering moving on from Michael Harris this winter. Maybe he’s looking to to deal him as well and maybe replace him with another Georgia native. Maybe that was his his thought process. Could this also and what I think is probably most likely be a foretelling that the DH is going to be more fluid next year that they’re not going to bring back Marcelo Zuna. They’re not going to try to bring in somebody that’s a DH only. But instead, they’re going to rotate the catchers through there. They’re going to give Ronald some days there. They might give ProAar some days there. And if they were to acquire somebody like a Bucks in that you would give him days there as well. I think that’s more likely the notion to take from this is that it’s just about acquiring talent and we’ll we’ll figure out where to play him after that. And I think that’s probably a good mindset to have. Um you think about the Josh Donaldson move uh and when you already had a third baseman and and moves like that where you just figure it out, you know, you get the talent in here and you figure it out. That kind of seems like the thought process for Alex with this potential move and and checking in on Byron Buson, but also probably the way he’s going to navigate in the offseason, too, of just thinking where can I get the best deal with the most talent. And that’s probably how he’s going to go about it. And then you figure out the rest after that. I mean, you could get a you could get an outfielder and you could potentially move Proar to second base, which again we’ll talk about probably more on tomorrow’s uh podcast. So, my final thoughts on this this trade rumor of the Braves having interest in in Byron Buckton. I think this was probably just AA doing his due diligence to see if a great deal could be could be had here. If maybe the Twins were, you know, they traded some really good relievers. Maybe the Twins were just looking to get out from under Byron Buckston and move on. And maybe there’s a potential for a good deal there for a guy that doesn’t cost too much and when he plays he’s one of the best in baseball. And I I doubt that talks ever really got that serious, but I think this does give us some insight into how aggressive Alexopoulos will be this off season to upgrade their roster. That’s my hope anyway. Uh I am I am very moes Perez has amx anxious already for the offseason. A part of me is too. I mean I I don’t want to rush the season because while I am, you know, a Braves fan and that the team I’m going to watch, I also love and enjoy watching other teams. I don’t want to rush the baseball season. And there’s a lot of teams out there playing good baseball that I enjoy watching. But I’m pretty anxious about this off seasonason, too, because I think there could be a lot of turnover. I think the coaching staff could be completely gutted and changed there. I don’t want to get too deep in the weeds on this conversation here, but I posted the other day reposting from a tweet that Grant went out. We know we’ll talk about that in the final segment. I’m going to come back to that and save that. But just wrapping my thoughts up here on the Byron Buckton rumors and what this tells me is that I think it’s going to be in a very aggressive exciting hopefully off seasonason for the Atlanta Braves and them trying to do a lot to retool and upgrade this roster. I still very much doubt he’s going to spin big just because it’s one of those things I need to see it to believe it, but I think there’s going to be at least one big blockbuster deal to bring in a huge talent to Atlanta. And this kind of gives me some hope that that’s what’s going to happen. All right, next we’ll get into what happened in this Brewers series where the Braves got swept. There were some good things in there, including Juriken Proofar, Michael Harris, who hit a home run on Wednesday night. We’ll get into all of that and then we’ll wrap things up with the news of the day. A lot of injury updates, and I’ll talk about that tweet that I I mentioned where the Braves are on record or on pace to win over 90 something games. How did it get to this point? And we’ll talk about all that here next. Today’s episode is brought to you by Game Day Hugh. And I’m usually wearing that hat, but I was wearing it today and left it out in the car. For locked on brace fans like me, this hat absolutely hits the mark. Game Day Hugh makes clean. No logo gear with teamspired colorways for every pro and college fan base. It’s all about letting your colors speak for you. No giant logos, just smart, versatile style that works on game day, on the course, or anywhere in between. The hat pairs perfectly with my usual gear. It doesn’t replace my team’s logo stuff. It just adds to the lineup. And it’s the kind of hat that reps your team without screaming it. It’s subtle, and right now as a Brace fan, you probably want to be a little subtle with what you wear out in public. But you’re true Braves fan to the core. You still want to rep the colors. This is a way to do it with a nice game day hue hat. And it’s not just hats either. Check out their split shade gloves made for the golf course or the perfect gift for the fan who has everything. Right now you can get 15% off with the code MLB15 at gamedayhue.com. That’s gamedayhue.com. The code even stacks on bundle deals. So now’s the time to load up. Let your colors talk because colors speak louder than words. That’s game dayh.com code MLB15. Thank you as always making Lockdown Braves your first listen of each and every day. Go check out the guys over at Lockdown MLB for your second listen of the day. Slowly getting caught up with everything happening around Major League Baseball and the guys that it will be game night bringing you the best highlights from each and every night as well. And make sure you’re subscribed here to Lockdown Braves. We’ll have two more episodes for you this week. I already hinted or teased at tomorrow. We’re going to talk about Jurgson Proofar, what the Braves should do with him, what he’s looked like for the Atlanta Braves, what player does he look like through his first 100 plus at bats with the Braves. Have they been swindled? We’ll talk about that tomorrow. Then we’ll have our mailbag episode on Friday. So, make sure you locked in here to locked on Braves. Well, let’s get into the series with the Brewers. The Braves get swept by Milwaukee in this series. Milwaukee playing great coming in. I mentioned it. They’re one of the hottest teams in baseball, one of the best teams in baseball. Uh before we get into the specifics, I I think watching this series and watching the Brewers and for those of you who don’t know, I I got stepped my foot into Locked on Podcast as a Brewers host. It was the only opening at the time and I was, you know, granted the opportunity to be able to be a locked on Brewers host. So I I I followed that team very closely for several years. It is a well-run organization. They do not spend a lot of money. They they went through a managerial overhaul. They lost a, you know, somebody that was very dear to the franchise and Craig Councel who goes to their rival in the Cubs and first year after that Brewers win the division over him. Right now they’re on top of him in the division. They just won a big series against him. And I think they’re just a model type of franchise right now for how you can win in in a different way. And I think if you watch this offense, you watch that Brewers offense, you kind of see that. You see, it’s not a it’s not a ton of power. And I talked about this coming in. They do a lot of the the little things well. Now, to be fair, it hasn’t translated to a lot of success in the postseason yet, but they do a lot of the little things really well that has made them such a consistent team and a consistent winner for so many years now, despite all the changes. I mean, they traded Corbin Burns, you know, and the next guy steps up and it’s just nothing has really slowed them down. They lose a Willie Adamus in free agency, next guy up. I think the Brewers are are a team that you really want to if a it’s kind of like the how the Rays have been for so many years. It’s a team that hasn’t been a big spender, but they have just found a model that works consistently to win in the regular season. again hasn’t turned into a lot of postseason success. Rays have made a couple of World Series appearances, but I feel like the Brewers kind of are that team right now that they just have this plan and they have this model of how to win games and it’s consistent. And so, a lot of props to the Brewers and their organization. Again, they’ve been through a lot of changes both managerial wise, personnel-wise, and they just continue to go on chugging. And I think when you watch them play, again, there’s not really one particular player that stands out. I mean, yeah, they have a they have a William Contrarus, they have a Christian Yelich, but you know, neither one of those guys are are really considered superstars at this point. I mean, Williams not having the best of years. Yelich is has kind of been down dealing with those back issues for several years, but yet guys just step up. I mean, look at Isaac Collins who killed it in this series unfortunately because he’s one of the main competitors with Drake Bowwin for rookie of the year. You look at a Andrew Vaughn that comes over and just starts destroying for them. A Bryce Serang who just does all these little things. Well, a Jory Ortiz that they get back into Corbin deal. It’s just they just continually find pieces to make it work. So, just you know, props to the Brewers. Um I agree. I agree. Will like Will V says they always get bounced in the wild card. Um, but regular season, I mean, they are just they become a model of consistency and how to get it done despite not having a high payroll, despite not having, you know, the best talent in the world. Uh, and you saw it in display in the series. I mean, there it was a couple of close games, but I mean, for the most part, they they own the Braves. They did all the little things well in this series to to win it and got it done. Uh but looking on the Braves side of things, Eric Fetty in game one of the series, five and a third innings, three hits, two walks, three earned, no strikeouts, 87 pitches. Look, you really can’t ask for much more than that out of Eric Fetty. You know, pitched into the sixth inning, gave up three earned. I mean, that’s really what you’re you’re hoping for. It’s not a terrible start. Um and does give you some length and keeps you in the game. Uh Joey wins five and a third, seven hits, one walk, five earned, three strikeouts. The result the results certainly don’t look great in that game for Joey Wentz to give up a lot of hard contact, but it was the weak contact on on that night that really hurt him. It was that infield dribbler by Christian Yelich that really killed him. I mean, he that’s hit a little bit harder and you get out, you get out of that inning, it’s a very different ball game. It’s kind of crazy in that game and I’m going to look at this with with Strider, too, in in tonight’s game. It was very interesting as well to look at the hard contact. But in that game for Joey Wentz, the six hardest hit balls off of him all went for hits. All were singles except for the Collins, you know, quote unquote triple, the profar misplay out there. And then the weakest ball of the night was also a single and everything else in between was an out. So, I thought that was kind of interesting. I’m certainly not trying to advocate that this start by Joey Wentz was was a good one, but it was also extremely close to him just giving up nothing. Uh, like I said, the yellow ball hit a little harder. He’s out of that inning, not giving up anything. Proofar makes that play and left. He doesn’t give up anything. So, um, showing Joey went a little bit of grace there. Maybe it’s me just trying to be positive that the Braves actually found something here, but I do think it was closer to being a really good start than it was what it looks like is a bad start. Five earned in five and a third innings. As for Strider, this was this just was a bad start. I mean, there’s no other way to really to really put it for Spencer Strider. 11 hits on the night and just a lot of hard contact. 11 hard hit balls in four and two/3 innings. He goes up five runs, one walk, six strikeouts, two home runs on 94 pitches. His erra shoots back up over four. Um and it was just everything was getting hit hard in this game for Spencer Strider. Um he did get 13 whiffs on 28 swings against his slider, a 46% whiff rate. So, I mean, that’s that’s solid. That’s okay. You look at the fastball average in this one. It was actually up in this start. It was 96.2 m per hour. He hit a 98 in this one. So, the fastball velocity was actually better than it’s been over his last several starts. I just don’t know if you certainly there was some mislocation in this that that definitely hurt him. And I think you give a lot of credit to that that Brewers lineup that like I said was swinging the bat really good coming in. But you look at it, I mentioned he gave up he gave up 11 hard hit balls of 17 put in play and all of them were between a three and a 29 degree launch angle. That means they were squaring up some baseballs against him. You look at in contrast in contrast you look at Jose Canana who also gave up 11 hard hit balls. Now, he did it over six innings, but the Braves had 11 hard hit balls against José Canana, but almost half of them, or that’s not true, four of them were negative degrees. And many of them weren’t really good launch angles. Couple of them over over 30 degrees. And it just it shows one, I think there’s a a difference in Braves hitters and Brewers hitters. Brewers hitters able to get to the sweet spot. And some of that probably has to maybe has to do a little bit more with the pitchers and the pitches that they’re throwing and not being able to execute. But both pitchers give up 11 hard hit balls, but the difference in the type of contact. We talk a lot about exit velocity on here. I haven’t talked as much about it this year because many of you say you don’t want to hear it anymore, but it goes into the outcome. But it’s not just exit velocity. It’s it’s how you’re contacting the baseball and how you’re squaring it up. The Bryce Draang hit and I believe it was the second inning is a good example of this. Bryce Drain got himself an account where he felt like he was going to get a fast ball, but he didn’t sell out to try to murder that fast. It was a fast ball that was up and out of the zone and he put the barrel on it and just shot it the other way. Whereas, if that was Austin Riley, let’s pick on him. And Braves hitters do this. They’ll get in certain counts where they’re sitting on pitch. Almost every hitter does that. But in but the difference is that if Austin Riley is sitting on a a 1-1 fastball or whatever it was, he’s swinging out of his shoes to try to hit it over the fence, no matter where it is. And that’s great if that fast ball is is middle or it’s in your happy zone. That’s great. But if it’s not and and you’re committed to swinging to this fast ball, you have to have enough barrel control to know that, okay, it’s a I got the fast ball I was looking for. it’s not in the location I wanted it. I either got to pull off or I have to adjust my barrel to to just take it where the pitch is. But instead, Braves hitters, they’ll get themselves in account where they’re guessing a pitch and they may get that pitch, but if it’s not in the exact spot that they want it, it’s a it’s an easy popup. And you know, that’s a long way of I didn’t mean to go down that much of a tangent, but I thought that was a prime example of Bryce Drain was sitting fast there. You don’t hit that pitch any other way unless you’re sitting fast ball. But he wasn’t just sitting fast ball middle. He was sitting fast ball wherever it was. And wherever it was, he was going to take his barrel to the baseball and shoot the pitch where it was. I mean, if that pitch was middle middle, he probably pulls it out for a home run. But he was prepared. He knew what pitch he was going to get. He was prepared for it. And he was prepared for wherever it was pitched. Braves hitters don’t have that. Braves hitters don’t do that. They’ll sit on a pitch, but they’ll swing the same no matter where it is. And that’s been a huge frustration for me. So, I didn’t mean to get on too much of a soap box there on that one, but I thought that was just a prime example that you could see in that game. And when we’re talking about the difference between the the Brewers and the Braves hitters, I thought that was just a great example of that. Now, some positives in this one. You know, Eli White coming into Wednesday, he he had accounted for six of the team’s last seven runs batted in, in fact, and also and you saw in this one too with the the two home runs that the Braves got of the three runs scored coming into Wednesday. Six of their last seven runs scored over the past four games were via home runs. Three of them by Eli White, the other by Proofar, who then hit another one on Wednesday, and two of their three runs on Wednesday. So, if I can do math correctly, eight of their last 10 runs scored have been on home runs. And so it’s it feels like it’s back to an offense that can only score one way and they’re they’re hitting a lot of solo home runs because nobody’s on base and they’re just not hitting enough of them. Uh so just very frustrating. I was supposed to be positive here, but just another frustrating uh kind of performance from from the Braves offense and still not really figuring out I think who they are or what they’re they’re going to be. U unfortunately Eli White, he does get another RBI in this one. He goes 0 for four getting moved to the leadoff spot but does pick up an RBI and then Michael Harris he has four hard hit balls on the night. One of them leads the yard brings the game within one run in the ninth inning. So good to see that from Michael Harris. Nacho had a hit in this one in and a hard hit at that. So that was good to see. Sean Murphy had a really good night throwing out a couple of base runners. Also had an RBI earlier in this game uh as well. So good stuff. I guess they scored sorry my math is is not good. eight of their last 11. They had two runs they scored on Wednesday night that weren’t via the home run. You had the the RBI hit from Shawn Murphy and then the force out uh from Eli White to score a run. But there was some good stuff in this series. Eli White Proar who again we’ll talk about more tomorrow I think had some good series. Michael Harris with some good contact in this one after some rough at bats I thought on Tuesday’s game. So good to see that for Michael Harris making that adjustment. But let me know your thoughts on this series from the Atlanta Braves. Let me know your thoughts on the swings that you see. Did you see something in that Brewers team that you wish the Braves could emulate? Because I think it’s a very good game plan for a consistent offense. They got the speed. They do the little things. They’ll they get the sack sack hits, the sack flies. They they do everything kind of the right way offensively. And I wish the Braves were more like that. So, let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Next, we’ll get into some of the news on Akunia, Grant Holmes, Chris Sail, Swenbach, Lopez. We’ll get into all that here next. Ever wish managing your money felt easier? With Monarch Money, it can. 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That’s monarchmoney.com code lockedonmlb for half off your first year. Well, again, thank you so much for joining us here on today’s episode of Lockdown Braves. Lindsay out tonight. I believe we’ll be back together uh on Thursday to recap that Marlins beginning of that Marlins series. Big Marlins series coming up is a I was going to say the battle for third place, but then I looked at the standings and the Braves are like 10 games back to the Marlins. So, I don’t know that’ll be much of a battle, but if they were going to make up some ground for that third place in the NL East, now would be the time to do it. So, we’ll be back the rest of the weekend to recap those games, including the double header on Saturday, which comes with a little bit of excitement. It’s going to be the first female umpire will be part of that Marlins Braves double header. I should say first female umpire at the major league level. So, that’ll be really cool. Awesome for Jen Powell. Uh, see her on Saturday as part of that series. Now, some news updates for the Atlanta Braves. Some injury updates. Akuna is apparently doing some work on the field already. He’s hit in the batting cage, so it sound like he’s progressing, but obviously they’re not going to rush him, but signs are good that we will at least see Akuna back at some point this year, and that’ll be exciting. We need every reason we can get to tune into these games right now. uh Grant Holmes decided to forego surgery and will try to rehab the UCL. Now, this does not mean that he will not ultimately have surgery, but it just kind of makes sense because of where we are at in the season that if he had surgery now, whether he has surgery now or he has surgery in the offseason, he’s going to miss all of 2026 anyway. So, might as well try to rehab it at the moment. I think he said the plan is to just see how he feels in the off season and then just kind of go from there. And it feel like he’d have to have surgery, then he will at that point. So, like I said, it’s just at the point of the year where I think this kind of makes sense because if he has surgery now or if he has it two months from now, he’s still going to miss 2026. Anyway, Chris Sale is beginning to ramp up his process for a return. He threw a bullpin session over the weekend. He’s going to throw a live uh BP batting practice session on Thursday. Sn said he’ll likely need at least one rehab start. So, we could be a couple of weeks away from seeing Chris Sail, which would be good again. We need all the the excuses we can get to tune in and have something to cheer for with this team. It’ be great to see Chris Sale back out there. Um, unfortunately, Spencer Schwelenbach is likely done for the year. He hasn’t even ramped activity back up, and it sound like he could miss the rest of the season. Ronaldo Lopez is playing catch, though, and there’s still a chance we could see him this year. I’m I’m I’m interested in all of these certainly, but Ronaldo Lopez might be the one that interests me the most because I I want to know what his role is going forward on on this team. I’m sure, especially with the injuries the Braves already have, they’re going to try to stretch him back out as a starter, but with the losses in the bullpen and with the the need already to find some bullpin arms in the offseason, including a closer that you’re going to have to find, I’m really curious to see what they do with Ronaldo Lopez. And shoulder injuries are are no joke, and they’re hard to come back from. And I just wonder if they just go ahead and make that transition, say, “Hey, we’re going to need a dominant setup reliever. We feel like you can do that and because of your injury that you have, that might be the best plan for you.” Um, so I’m I’m curious to see if Lopez does come back this year. I’m sure he’s not going to throw a lot of innings anyway, but what which way do they use him? Uh, I think it will be very interesting to see. And then I kind of teased this earlier and we’ll probably talk about it more in an episode next week or as we get further on into the season, but Grant McCauley, old postcast partner, posted a tweet, you know, the Braves on pace to win or to lose lose 94 games so far this season. That was coming into Wednesday night. I guess it’s worse than that now. And talked about, you know, how many times the Braves have lost 100 games and all that. And it just got me thinking and I posted this myself. um quote tweeting Grant, “It’s hard to believe how far this team has fallen and how bad they are. Not just that they’re having a bad season. Like a bad season for this Braves team and and forget all the injuries. A bad season for this Braves team should be a team that’s around 500, not a team on pace to lose 90 plus games and might approach losing a 100red games. for for things to go that poorly, something is fundamentally wrong with this team, whatever that is. And I got a lot of great suggestions from you. And like I said, we’ll do a full deep dive podcast on that at some point. But something has to fundamentally be wrong with this team for things to be this bad. You cannot just blame it all on injuries. Everybody’s dealing with injuries, especially on the pitching side. even the players who were supposed to be good are not playing up to their their level that they played to in the past. Something’s fundamentally wrong. Whether it’s the coaching, again, a lot of good suggestions and ideas that we’ll talk about in a future podcast, but it just it just got me thinking. This team has fallen so so far. I never in a million years would have imagined that this team with all the talent that it has. And yes, I still believe there’s a lot of talent on this team could fall to this this level, this low. And it just it reemphasizes the fact for me that something’s fundamentally wrong with this team. And it going taking things full circle to where we started on this podcast. It also reinforces to me that something dramatic has to happen this off season. Whether it is, you know, full shift in coaching changes, whether it is shaking up personnel, something dramatic has to take place this off seasonason because for this team to fall this low, something’s fundamentally wrong uh with the system and what is what is happening right now. So, hate to hate to leave you on so much of a a downer here. Uh, I am Todd, I am curious to see if an announcement comes pretty soon about Brian Snicker, you know, this being his his last ride. Um, maybe they’re waiting till the final month. I don’t know. Maybe maybe we’ll get the the post that says he’s coming back for a year and we’ll come on here and we’ll have an outrageous podcast. But I I would not be surprised if we get that announcement soon just to go ahead and get out in front of it. and so the Braves can officially begin that search. But let me know your thoughts on that in the comments section below. As well, if you haven’t already, hit that thumbs up button, hit that subscribe button, and leave me a comment down below. Make sure that you rate, review, and subscribe to the Lockdown Rays podcast wherever you get your podcast. and we will talk to you next.

After a disastrous 2025 season mercifully comes to an end, Atlanta Braves general manager Alex Anthopoulos will have a lot of work to do. Rumors of trade interest in Minnesota Twins outfielder Byron Buxton show just how aggressive he will be in his pursuit to upgrade the talent level of the team.

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