Atlanta Braves HAVE To Lock Up Ha Seong Kim NOW

Atlanta Braves HAVE To Lock Up Ha Seong Kim NOW

The Atlanta Braves cannot wait. They have to lock up Hassan Kim right now before the off season even begins. I’m going to tell you why 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 Lockdown 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 shortsortstopball. Check out the podcast there at Lockdown Braves on X and Lockdown Braves on Instagram. If you’re new and you’re watching on YouTube, do me a huge favor. Hit that subscribe button as we’re approaching 15,000 subscribers. Thanks to Doc’s cards out there for pushing that f 15k by world series end of world series uh promotion right now. Thank you so much for that. And you can also help others find us on on YouTube. Just hit that thumbs up button, hit leave me a comment down below. Thanks for all of you who continue to comment on these videos whether you like them or not just to help others find us here at Lockdown Braves. Thank you so much for your support. And on the audio side, you can help out too. All you got to do leave a five star review on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcast. Thanks so much for making lockdown braves your first listen of each and every day. Today’s episode we’re going to talk a lot about Hassang Kim and why I think the Braves need to go ahead and get a deal done now. Don’t even let him get to his player option. Make it happen right now. We’ll also get into a little bit from Tuesday’s game and some big news around Major League Baseball as the uh automatic ball and strike system is coming into play in 2026. So, a lot to get to on today’s episode which is brought to you by Game Time. Download the Game Time app, create an account, and use code locked on MLB for $20 off your first purchase. The Atlanta Braves have been searching for a shortstop for several years now, really since Danby Swanson left. We’ve had some good moments from Orlando RCA, some good defense this year from Nick Allen. But this team’s really been searching for a shortstop for quite a while now. And shortstop, as you might expect from my Twitter handle, I think is a very important position. And the Braves have one that they need to keep around. Look, when the Hassan Kim move was made and the season that he was having with all the injuries and when he was playing, how he was performing, it seemed pretty obvious that he was going to decline or sorry, that he was going to pick up that player option and that he would be the Braves shortstop in 2026. I think that’s probably what Alexandopoulos thought would happen. But because he’s been so good with the Braves, and let’s not overreact to a very small sample size, but he’s been good in the past and he’s playing well now. I think even more than that, it’s just a fact of where the free agent market is going to be this offseason. We’ll talk more about that in the second segment. But here’s why I think the Braves need to go ahead and try to make a deal happen right now. The numbers through Monday for Hassan Kim with the Braves, 68 at bats. So again, very small sample size we’re dealing with here. 21 hits, a double, three home runs, 14 runs, 12 RBI, seven walks to 12 strikeouts, no stolen bases. Uh he got caught stealing once, but slashing 309, 372, 456 with an 828 OPS. I mean, the Braves have been dealing with a 550 ops at the short stop position all year long. Now, on the downside for Hassan Kim, negative3 outs above average OA with the Braves this year at shortstop would be the first year that he’s ever had a negative defensive run value on baseball. So Savant, he had a plus seven OA in 2022 as a shortstop and was plus four in 2024. Now perhaps a little bit of grace is needed here with Hassan Kim because of all the injuries but you also have to wonder if it’s a you know guy who’s going into his 30s 5 foot10 shorts stop a lot of injuries over the last several years is this the decline of him defensively is he going to be a negative defensive player or again do you just kind of give him a little bit of a grace because he’s had to deal with a lot of injuries this year my eye test just tells me he’s not as good as I would have thought for somebody that was gold glove caliber in San Diego uh with the Padres’s. There’s certainly been some good plays that he’s made. There’s also been some potential great plays that he could have made that he didn’t make. Uh but again, I’m willing to give him a little bit of a pass because of all the injuries that he’s dealt with this year. The other thing is that his arm strength is way down this year and that is something that could definitely be a direct result of the shoulder injury that he suffered. But again, is that the new normal or is that something that he’ll regain? That’s something we just don’t quite know. And I think you have to mention the injuries when you talk about Hassan Kim. You can’t ignore the fact that he’s turning 30 this off season. He’s played in more than 121 games just twice in five big league seasons dealing with shoulder issues, back issues, finger issues, uh leg, hamstring, abdominal, triceps, foot, calf issues. He’s dealt with a lot in his short time in the big league level and he’s only going to be getting older. Now, I say all that, I still want Hassan come back and again, a big reason for that is just there aren’t any better options. And like I said, we’ll talk more about that in the second segment. But let’s talk right now about what a contract would look like for Hassan Kim. You know, despite all of that, I think he still might be the best option to play shortstop this coming off off seasonason, at least on the pre- agent market, especially if you don’t think that Bob Bashett’s going to stick at shortstop long term. My initial thoughts are three years 50 million. Um, that’s what I would like to do. That’s what I would like to give him, but I think that’s going to fall well short because like I said, I think he could be the top shortstop free agent on the market. You look at the AAV for other top shorts stops around Major League Baseball. Francisco Lindor is making 34 million a year. That’s the A. These are the AAVs of their contract. 34 for Lindor. 33 for Korea. 32 for Seager. 27 for Turner. 26 for Wit who has maxed out at 35 million a year. Adamis at 26. Swanson at 25. Tatis who signed as a shortstop 24 but maxes out at 36. Trevor Story 23. Jav Bayz 23 and then there’s Hassan Kim at 14.5 million this year. Now I would guess he probably wants somewhere in that 20 to $25 million range as he’s not in that elite company with a Lindor you know Koreah Seager Turner Wit maybe not even an Adamus but he’s probably more closer to that Adamus Swanson you know Trevor Story Javias type of range 23 to 26 million I think he’s still a tad below that or at least maybe that’s just what I’m hoping but I would imagine that’s probably the tier that he wants to be again is that 20 to $25 million a year type of shortstop. So that’s where I think the AAV will sit with with Hassan Kim. So what about the years? Because like I said, you’re talking about a guy that has a lot of injuries. He’s going into his age 30 season. I’m sure he’s going to want at least five years. As I said, I would like to do it for three years. I don’t know how much the lockout plays into this or potential lockout. I mean, the the 2027 season could be a bust and players have to to work around that. Make sure that they, you know, get their their money. Obviously, if there’s a a lockout, they’re not going to get be getting paid for that of making sure they have a deal maybe beyond that season. So, like I said, I’m sure he’ll want five years. The Braves will probably want three years. AA almost has a bigger hangup on the length of a contract than he does the AAV of a contract. See Freddy Freeman. Freddy Green wouldn’t be here if Alex just gave him a sixth year. He really does not like getting tied down in these long-term contracts. So maybe you meet in the middle at four years. Four years or three years in an option would again be my preferred offer deal for Hassan Kim. So what does that deal look like? So what about four years$ 18 million per with a team option for 15 million and a $5 million buyout. So, it’s it’s a guaranteed four years with a potential fifth year and a guaranteed $77 million. I think that’s a pretty fair deal and kind of meets in the middle of where I would want to be and where he probably wants to be. I’d want to be at three years 50 million. He probably wants to be at five years somewhere around 100 million. This kind of meets in the middle of four years and 75 million 77 million, you know, with a buyout on there for a fifth year. and you just kind of hope that he really loves being in Atlanta with Proofar and Azie. And again, that’s kind of what this last month is a little bit about is not just, you know, seeing what he can offer you, but him getting a chance to see what this Braves team can do. And when when we talk about this winning streak the Braves were on, while I’m I’m very much of the belief that, you know, this current success is is not going to carry over into next year. You don’t carry over momentum from year to year in my opinion. I know some people disagree with that. I do think that feeling that Hassan Kim has right now could help him in making this decision that is, you know, immediate. Um, so I I do think that certainly helps. The only other things here, payroll concerns, I’m still of the belief that the Braves are going to go way past the luxury tax this off season. They they reset it this year. I think they’re going to go way past it this year, back to where they were in 2024, where they were over that second tier of the luxury tax threshold. I am of the belief and the hope that that’s going to happen again. And yes, you have some big contracts coming off the books like Ozuna, like Iggy, but you also have players getting big raises like Strider, Aaron Bummer, Ronaldo Lopez, you know, they restructured those contracts so that the AAB was higher this year. So, they have some guys getting a bump in payroll as well, but I still think they’re going to go way beyond the luxury tax this upcoming season. They have to. I’ll be pretty upset if they don’t. And as I’ve said on this podcast several times now, Hassan Kim, even if they were to get this done, it would be a big move, no doubt, but it can’t be your only big move of this off seasonason. There is still more that is needed. Whether it’s getting Hassan Kim or another shorts stop, you still need to go out and get a big bat for DH in outfield. You preferably somebody that can back up Michael Harris in center field. You still need to go out and get at least one proven arm in the rotation. and you still need to go out and get at least two solid bullpin arms. So, this can’t be the only big move if this is what happens. You need to make sure you have at least 50 million left in the payroll for the upcoming season to go out and make all the moves that you need to give this team the depth to make sure that when injuries happen, things just don’t completely fall apart. So, that’s something to consider as well. The other thing to consider is that Hassan Kim’s agent is Scott Boris and not somebody that the Braves normally deal with. Last time, as Lindsay pointed out the other day, was Dallas Kel. It’s just not a guy that they normally do business with because, you know, Boris wants those optouts. He wants those player options. He’s going to pinch for every single penny that he can get his his player, which is why he’s so popular and so many guys use him. But AA doesn’t he doesn’t deal well with that as we’ve seen in the past. Again, look at the Freddy Freeman situation. Um, so you got to figure how that all works out as well. Does AA fold in that and and be willing to give a player option to somebody like Hassan Kim to get that deal done? Would he give him an opt out after the 2026 season? Um, we’ll have to see if AA would cave on that for this deal. But let me know what you think about that potential deal. Four years, you know, 70 77 million guaranteed, $18 million per year for four years, you know, five a fifth year option at 15 million with a $5 million buyout. You think that gets it done? You think that’s too little? Think that’s way too much? I’ll get some of your thoughts on that here next. And we’ll get into what the other options are going to be this offseason, whether it be externally through free agency, trades, or prospects. We’ll get into all of that here next on Lockdown Braves. 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So we talked about Hassan Kim and why it’s so important that the Braves lock him up and I mentioned some of the the pitfalls of Hassan Kim. you’re paying high on a you know 75 at bat sample that we’ve seen here in Atlanta or whatever it’s going to be 80 90 at bats that it’s going to be by the time things all end here and it’s a guy that’s been often injured it’s a guy that’s going into his 30s that’s been often injured there are definitely some risk with signing Hassan Kim but here’s the big reason why the Braves need to get it done and I think they need to get it done now and I teased this in the first segment cuz he just might be the best free agent shortstop on the market. And you look at Bobette who’s 27, just had an 840 OPS season with 18 homers, 311 average. He’s he is ending the year injured, although he’s hopefully going to be back for the postseason. But among qualified shortstops, he ranks dead last in Vanraft’s defensive rating out of 22 out of 22. He’s also last and ounce above average and defensive run saves by all accounts from the defensive metrics at least. And and again, the defensive metrics are not the end all be all to me. And when I watched him this year, I thought he looked fine defensively at shortstop, but it’s hard to dismiss when the metrics are that bad. Uh same when you see metrics that are just that good. Clearly, that’s that’s generating something. And when they’re that bad, that’s that’s telling you something. Um, even without the eye test. But many people don’t think that Bobette’s going to stick at shortstop. And despite that, he’s probably still looking at a at least a six or sevenyear deal for at least 20 25 million a year. And I mean, you look at it, he’s 27 years old. He is still a very young player. He’s had some really good offensive seasons. It’s almost like Xander Bogarts, I don’t think he’s going to get 11 years like Xander did. Um you but they signed him to that contract, moved him to second base real quick now. He has gone back to to shortstop. Um but I can see a similar thing happening here with Bobette. You’re really just paying for the bat. I don’t know that he’s going to be a shortstop long term. And the Braves need a shortstop. I mean certainly you could sign Bobette. I don’t think the Braves will. And like 25 million a year is probably going to be on the low end for Bob Bashette who’s likely going to get in that Trey Turner, Xander Bogarts type of range around 30 million a year. Um, you know, Bogarts was a little bit lower because they spread it out, but he’s probably going to get in that 25. He’s going to be in that upper tier of 25 to 30 million a year just because he’s going to be one of the better offensive bats on the market no matter of where you’re going to to play him. And I don’t one I don’t think the Braves are going to pay that. and it still doesn’t solve the answer at shortstop, which is what the Braves need to do. So, when you consider that and that Hassan Kim might be the best shortstop available, the best true shortstop, somebody you know is going to play there for several years, he might be the best one available. Willie Castro is the only other one that’s borderline everyday player and he’s not even really a full-time shortstop. Although, I would love to go get Willie Castro. I mean, he could be that guy that, you know, could play a little bit of everywhere for you. Can even play some center field, could back up Azie at second base. I think it would be great if you wanted to sign Hassan Kim and Willie Castro and those are your two big moves. I still would like a bigger bat. But if they just did those two things and they took care of the pitching, got at least one or two starting pitchers and two at least two bullpin arms, I’d be very happy with that off season. But I still don’t think Willie Castro is your your full-time shortstop uh going forward if you were to make that deal. And I think Hassan Kim can be. So that’s that’s where the bigger importance comes in from locking up for locking up Hassan Kim now is just because you need a shortstop for at least the next couple of years. Nobody is really close at the moment. You look at the prospects for the Atlanta Braves. You have Nacho. I think the Braves have officially given up on on that idea. You look at Tate Southine, they just drafted him in the first round. He’s probably not going to be ready till 2028, 2029 at the earliest. Alex Lois, not a great professional start that I was hoping for. I was hoping he would move pretty quickly, but he looked a little bit overmatched at at HA. John Hill ended the year at double A and he might be the one that, you know, gets there first. Good bat, good speed. Don’t know enough about the defense. I can’t wait to dive into his defense in this off season. Jose Jose Purdomo feels like he is a ways away and needs a lot of improvement. Um that that’s what you have prospectwise in your system right now. There is nothing close that you could say, you know, next year maybe somebody’s ready to step at the short stop position or really even the season after that. Like I said, unless John Hill is just progressing that quickly and you think he can stick at the short stop position, which again I don’t know and I haven’t really heard anybody talk about his defense, so that’s something I’m going to have to go and break down in the offseason. But there’s just nothing there at least in the next couple of years. And so you get somebody like Hassan Kim to try to bridge that that gap. And like I said, there just aren’t many other options out there. You could look at a trade, you know, could you entice the Angels for Zach Neto? Doubtful, but I’d at least try throw a bunch of pitching prospects at them. Uh, you know, do you take a chance on a reclamation project like Anthony Vulpi? I don’t love that just because of the the swing profile. Don’t give me another Jared Kelnik situation. Do you take on a bad contract and injury risk from Boston again in Trevor Story and hope that you get another Chris Sale turnaround? No thanks on that either. So, I just don’t know where you go. Uh prospectwise, you could look at the the Diamondbacks and maybe see if they’re interested in trading Jordan Lawler. Maybe the Mariners, you could somehow convince them to trade cold Emerson. Uh, but there just there aren’t a lot of viable options out there that I think could happen from from trade or prospect. I really think your best chance at getting a a solidified shortstop for the next couple of years is Hassan Kim. And I think you have to do what it takes to get that deal done. We cannot go into another season with a big question mark at shortstop or or have another season of a Nick Allen type that’s going to give you good defense but is going to be one of the worst hitters in baseball. Just cannot have that happen again. So that’s why I think it’s so important that the Braves go ahead and lock up Hassan Kim if they get the chance. Now I asked some of you on social media, what do you think would be a good contract for Hassan Kim? And I’ll try to read some of the more serious ones here. Lindsay says, “The Atlanta max of 22 million AAV and I’d be willing to go more than three years on it. Maybe 5110.” So Lindsay willing to go even higher than I am on it. Julie Craig says three years, 75 million with a signing mo bonus payable uh this year and two-year team option. So that’s even a lot. 25 million year for three years. Uh Albert Drad depends on how they maneuver the payroll around him. Need to move Murphy’s money to allocate properly. That could be part of it. Bradley Dover says 10 years 400 million. That seems a bit rich for my blood. Census said three years 60 million plus $15 million team option. I’d be okay with that. Mano says 4 and 60. That’s not bad either. Um Allan Haram says three years 60 to 66 million or four for 70. Seems like a palable move and I agree. I think we’re spot on right there. Matt Olsson Burner says three for 55. That’s the deal I would like. That’s what Dave Bessie says too. 3 for 54. Uh Eddie also says three for 55. um maybe 360. So we’re all kind of I think those are Aegon says that as well says that as well. Fair is probably three and 54. Um but I think that’s what I would want to give, but I think you’re probably going to have to go to that fourth year and probably more guaranteed in that 7075 million range. Trent Ellis says three at 60. So, uh, a lot of you kind of in that same ballpark of where I am as what I’d want to be, but I think it’s probably going to be Lindsay’s the only one there with the big overpay. So, we’ll see what Lindsay has to say about that. And Lindsay, smart guy. He’s big baseball fan, too. Um, so it might be more like that. Like I said, the I don’t know what the market’s going to do and how they’re going to treat him. And is he the top shortstop, legitimate shortstop on the market? That could play a lot into it and probably why Boris is going to make him go to free agency because he could be that top dog. All right, next we’ll get into the news of the day, including Major League Baseball implementing the ABS system starting in 2026. We’ll get into that here next. The NFL season is here and FanDuel is making sure you’re ready for kickoff with a can’tmiss offer. Right now, new customers can bet just $5. 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That’s fanduel.com to place your first $5 bet. And if it wins, you get $300 in bonus bets. So, some a little bit of or big news rather uh from the day on Tuesday. Major League Baseball announced that they will implement the automated ball strike challenge system in 2026. And just read verbatim from the tweet that they posted out. Each team will get two challenges and can keep them if they’re successful. I love that. Challenges can only be initiated by a pitcher, catcher, or batter. And the request must come right after the pitch. I love that. To signal a challenge, the pitcher, catcher, or batter will tap his hat or helmet to let the umpire know. No help from the dugout or other players on the field is allowed. Talking to you, Astros. Uh, in each extra inning, a team will be awarded a challenge if it has none remaining entering the inning. I love it. I love all of this. I am not strictly in favor of a complete robot robbo robot style umpire uh that calls every ball and strike, but I think this is the perfect middle ground here for that and the challenge system. You got a big call in a game, you feel like it was a a bad call, tap the helmet. Uh it’s going to be interesting to see how teams utilize this. You know, do you tell your players wait until at least the the second half of the game or early on? It better be pretty obvious because you don’t want to waste those and not get it in a big spot. You know, does it have to be in a a runcoring situation? It’ll be really interesting and I want to set the overunder on the number of times that Juan Sodto challenges they call it probably 565. Um, but I think it will be a really great thing and a really cool thing for Major League Baseball to take out. You know, you watched the game on Monday night, that umpire had no clue. Uh some of those calls were just so egregious and not all of them were in big spots, but this will make it so that in those big moments, you now can change the game essentially by getting one of these calls right. So, we’ll see how that’s implemented. We’ve seen it obviously in the minor league level, spring training, all-star game, and all of that, but I think it’s going to be a good thing for the game overall. Azie goes on the 10day IIL. They recalled Brett Wisley who started on Tuesday. They also added Joel Pamps after optioning Nathan Wild. So, still didn’t do the right thing and bring up Young Carlos Lara back with the injury. You want to hear a better rant on that, go listen or go read rather uh Lindsay’s newsletter. I thought he did a great job kind of breaking down how Alex and the Braves just haven’t had much feel with their players this year and how they’ve handled some of them. whether it was the Craig Craig Kimble situation and now the Lara situation. I just I don’t feel like they’ve done a good job handling players in situations like that um that give you those good vibes and play why it’s been a place that players want to come to. Um now I get it. It’s a business decision. I don’t think Craig Kimbell should have been on this team, you know, that long, but I think you could have given a little bit longer leash and especially with the guys you had there. I think you could have thrown young Carlos Lar into one game, at least given him three batters over the weekend in Detroit, especially on Friday and Sunday’s games. So, go read Lindsay’s letter. He does a great job breaking that down. As far as the game on Tuesday night, Hurstston Waldrip, six innings, five hits, four walks, one earned run, five strikeouts on 92 pitches, 17 whiffs is great. 29 CSW percentage is good. Um, but I loved how he spread spread out the whiffs in this one. four on the sinker, just three on the splitter, five on the slider, four on the curve, and one on the cutter. And a very impressive ending to his season. He’ll come into spring training with a chance to compete. But having options may actually keep him out unless the Braves go to a six-man rotation. Obviously, injuries happen and they seem to happen a lot to the Braves in spring training. They’re very cautious with their starters going into a season. So, we’ll see what happens with Hursten Waldrip, but I don’t know that anybody has improved their stock from beginning to end more than Hursten Waldrip did this year. I mean, it was a disastrous March, April. It was looking like they were going to have to give up on him as a starter. Made some mechanical changes and now it’s going to be really hard to keep him out of the rotation in 2026. Offense got off to a slow start. Michael Harris, two home runs. He’s now one home run and one stolen base shy of that 2020 season. Kuna with a solo shot as well for a 20 home run season for himself, which is pretty incredible. He’s two steals away from a 20 and 10 season. I think he could have stolen a lot more if he wanted to and needed to. Um, but just good to see him come out, you know, get that home run stroke back. He’s looking more like himself in this final week. Plus, that would do it for this episode of Locked on Braz. Like I said, we’ll have two more shows this week, including our weekly mailbag episode on Friday afternoon. Make sure you check out the postcast. Me and Lindsay wrapping up the season here the rest of this week. You can get that right here in your locked on brace podcast feed. Hit that subscribe button, hit that thumbs up button, leave me a comment down below. Make sure that you rate, review, and subscribe to the Lockdown Braves podcast wherever you get your podcast. and we will talk to you next time.

Atlanta Braves face critical shortstop decision: Ha-Seong Kim emerges as top target. Can the Braves secure their infield future before the offseason frenzy begins?

Jake Mastroianni analyzes Kim’s impressive .309/.372/.456 slash line and proposes a 4-year, $72 million contract with a team option. The host explores the limited shortstop market, comparing Kim to alternatives like Nick Allen and Orlando Arcia. MLB’s upcoming Automated Ball-Strike system takes center stage, with Mastroianni breaking down the challenge rules set for 2026 implementation. Recent Braves moves, including Ozzie Albies’ IL stint and Hurston Waldrep’s stellar pitching performance, round out this comprehensive look at Atlanta’s present and future.

Tune in for an in-depth analysis of the Braves’ shortstop conundrum and how Ha-Seong Kim could reshape their infield strategy.

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0:00 Intro: Braves need to lock up Ha-seong Kim

5:42 Potential contract details for Ha-seong Kim

11:48 Challenges in negotiating with Scott Boras

17:54 Limited shortstop options in free agency

24:30 MLB implementing automated strike zone in 2026

28:05 Huascar Ynoa’s impressive final start of season