OFFSEASON OVERDRIVE: Braves TRANSFORM with Walt Weiss Promotion & Ha-Seong Kim Signing

OFFSEASON OVERDRIVE: Braves TRANSFORM with Walt Weiss Promotion & Ha-Seong Kim Signing

The Atlanta Braves have been aggressive this off season and Grant McCauley is going to be joining today’s episode to help me break it all down on Locked on Braves. You are Locked on Braves, your daily Atlanta Braves podcast, part of the Locked On Network. Your team every day. Hey, welcome back to Locked On Braves, part of Locked On Sports Atlanta, where we cover your favorite Atlanta sports teams each and every day. Also part of the Locked On podcast network, now the number one sports podcast network. I am your host, Jake Mastriani. I’ve been covering the Atlanta Braves in both written and podcast form for the last 10 years. And this is Locked on Braves, your daily connection to all things Atlanta Braves. And today we got a special guest joining me. Grant McCauley is going to be joining the podcast to talk about everything happening, the flurry of moves that the Atlanta Braves have made this off season and possibly what’s a little bit left to be done. Before we get into all that though, today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel if you want to be right in the middle of the action this season. Visit fanuel.com and place your NFL live bets all season long. All right, Grant, thanks so much for joining the show. I know it’s been a little while since I have you on here, but we got a lot to talk about. It has been an active offseason, as quiet as last offseason was for us, Grant. We’ve had plenty to cover so far this offseason. >> Yeah, no doubt about it. Thanks for having me. I appreciate it. It’s nice to be able to talk about the flurry of moves as you said. I mean, we looked at the winter meetings and kind of knew what the checklist was. We knew that a couple of things had maybe been accounted for. I mean, you brought Rice Glacius back, you got Mauricio Dupan, but I don’t think anybody was looking at that feeling like, “Okay, those should be the final answers. Lock those in. let’s get everybody on on the bus or on the plane and send them down to Northport and let’s start spring training tomorrow. So, I think Alex Antonopoulos has been living up to his reputation prior to what we saw last winter, which is being one of the busiest and most aggressive GMs to add pieces and find pieces that can make his club that much better. And I feel like what we’ve seen over the past week, beginning with Mike Eyestky, adding a big-time closer as well in Robert Suarez, who may not be closing to start with, but he is a big-time late inning arm, and then culminating everything that I I feel like that he was trying to do, which was make the team better. And shortstop’s been that position for a couple of years now. And Hassan Kim is back in the fold. So, lots to talk about, lots of impact I feel like that’s in there, but still things left to do perhaps for the Atlanta Braves if they want to shore up a couple of other areas or just make that club that much better. >> Yeah, certainly Braves fans hoping uh maybe not quite done yet. Certainly, Bill’s really good. Like you said, after the Iggy and and Dubon move, you’re like, “Okay, things feel good.” And then, you know, after the Sporz movies, all right, things feel really good. But now you’re feeling like, “Okay, this has been a great off season so far, but can you finish it off?” I want to go back a little bit further though because we haven’t really talked about this and the beginning of the offseason it feels like a year ago now, but the Braves had to make a manager change this off season too. Uh give me your thoughts on on Walt Weiss. Was that a bit surprising to you to see them kind of stay in house? I thought it was an offseason with everything that had happened that maybe they’d want to try to, you know, turn things over a little bit, do things a little bit uh different outside of the box. Not that Weiss won’t be different, but to see them ultimately kind of stay in house, I was a little little surprised by that. What about you? >> So, I’m going to give you an answer that might be six in one hand, half dozen in the other. And why I say this is that when Walt Weise came in to join the coaching staff, it kind of felt like to me that was a piece that you put in place as somebody who could follow Brian Snitker. Now, when that was going to be, we didn’t know. But keep in mind, it was what, an eight-year run as the bench coach for the Braves. And eight years ago, Atlanta was in a very different position than it is now. So, on the one hand, I’m not surprised that Walt Weiss was named the manager. And I will go on the other side and say because people ask, well, why did it take so long just to hire somebody that you’ve already got? And I think that was because they wanted to have the process of looking to see if anybody blew them away, if anybody changed their perspective, if anybody just took the job and ran away and hid with it because they made it their own. And the Braves just wanted to go that route. And I think ultimately they had some considerations, but Walt Weiss kind of became that guy. And people might look at him and trust me, I’ve got experience with this. He’s a bald guy that stood next to the other bald guy. So maybe they’re all the same. They’re not all the same. We’re not all the same. Uh even if the hair care is the same, Walt Weiss is a totally different character. And I’ I’ve asked him a lot about this and I got to talk to him at the winter meetings. He’s not looking to come in and be his version of Brian Snicker or his version of Bobby Cox or his version of Tony Larusa or any of the other great managers that he played for throughout the course of his career. He’s looking to have his own voice and his own stamp and he’ll take the notes and the lessons and the experience he got from all of those managers playing for them and also his coaching career, but he’s going to look to make it his own. He understands the job in a unique way because when he got that Rocky’s job, he just went in for an interview because he thought it might be useful and then they gave him the job and he said, “Okay, well now I got to walk in day one and figure out what this franchise is all about.” He’s not in that case this time around. He’s not in that place and I don’t need to tell you, but I will anyway. The Rockies and the Braves are very different jobs. So, I feel like he’s learned a lot. He’s qualified. He’s also familiar. And he’s got a voice that I think Braves players can gravitate to because it will bring some consistency, but I think it’s also going to bring some fire. And I’m interested to see how it all kind of plays out and how Walt Weiss, you know, allows people to get to know him because from spending some time with him at the winter meetings, this is a guy who’s had a very, very interesting life in baseball. And I got to hear some pretty fascinating stories from his Oakland playing days and also just his time with the Braves and his overall experience around the game. So, not to turn it into the Walt Weiss show, I feel like the Braves got their guy. And I think over time, he’s going to be able to show people exactly why it is that Walt Weiss became the next manager of the Braves, even if he was just hiding in plain sight during their managerial search. >> Yeah, I think you’re spot on with a lot of that. And and I too, I question the decision partly because it just did go on for so long. And if you knew Walt was your guy, why not? But I think when you take a step back and realize, okay, well, they wanted to do their due diligence and if somebody, as you said, kind of blew them away, then then sure. But Walt Weiss, you know, seemed like it was going to be the guy. And I like everything I’ve heard from him, you know, since then. And it’s going to be a little bit of a different different manager, maybe a little bit maybe you’ll see a little bit more of that fire. I know fans have been wanting that. And I didn’t realize this, too. And you kind of hinted on it when he got the Rockies job. I believe he was coaching football at the time. So, it’s like >> so he was just kind of thrust into this. So, to really put too much stock in what he did in in Colorado, which like you said, a very different franchise, isn’t really fair. It’s that’s been a long time, a lot of experience since then. So, I’m excited to see what he can do. Let’s pivot though to one of the the bigger moves and the freshest one in in Hassan Kim. The shortstop position for the Atlanta Braves since Dansby Swanson left has been a bit rough. You had the first half in 2023 with Orlando RCA that was great, but outside of that, it’s it’s been pretty rough. Been great defensively, Nick Allen, you know, a gold glove finalist. But you look at it in terms of WRC plus the short stop position for the brace ranks 29th over the last three years. It has been pretty putrid offensively. You go out and get a guy in Hassan Kim who rough last year. A lot of it because of the injuries, but you’re hoping that he can get back to the guy he was before where he was, you know, at least around league average in WRC plus and also brought gold glove caliber defense. What do you think of the signing? One-year deal, 20 million for Hassan Kim. Well, if you follow me on social media and on on X in particular, I felt like this was a winwin win because Hassan Kim, he opted out of that player option or declined his player option and he got a $4 million raise. So, that’s a win for him. The Braves, meanwhile, were able to sign a short stop they liked. That’s a win for the club, but they were also able to do it without getting bogged down in years and money with a player that maybe or maybe not will that particular contract age the way they want to. Now, after I said that, I did get to hear Alexopoulos’s side of that, and there were multi-year offers and and and you know, versions of the negotiations, but ultimately, and this is something that goes back to the winter meetings as well, because I did talk to Scott Boris specifically about Hassan Kim, the fact that yeah, he is healthy. There were clubs calling and looking for him, but clearly that final month in Atlanta gave him a comfort level to once again bet on himself. It’s easy to do it for $20 million a year. I will stipulate that’s a very good paycheck, but and I’ve seen a lot of this kind of debated. I mean, is that a lot in the grand scheme of baseball in 2025, 2026? Not as much as it used to be. And it pains me to say that because nobody’s paying me $20 million a year to do anything that I’m capable of doing. But long story short, I feel like they made that position better by getting somebody who defensively can give you a lot. And on top of that, he has the ability to offensively provide, I think, more than we saw last year. And if you look at his career norms, this is a guy that could be a three to five win player. And the going rate for a three to five win player, I think, would be somewhere in the neighborhood of 16 to$20 million. So, if you can get this deal done for one year, maybe he plays so well, you give him a qualifying offer and that whole thing could work out for you and net you a draft pick on top of everything else. We’ll see. But ultimately to your point and to I think Braves fans, you know, great delight at least you kind of got to look at this guy and you know him and you feel like he could be an upgrade at a position that has badly needed an upgrade with a better all-around player. Kim may not lead the league in anything offensively speaking, but I do think he does enough of the right things that he makes the lineup better and more well-rounded. >> Yeah, definitely excited to see what he can do. And I think you’re right. you know, the move to bring him in when you made that that move off the waiverss from the Rays, you know, it gave you that kind of look to see what what could he be with this team and it gave Kim, I think again to your point, an idea or a shot for him to see what he could look like with the Braves, which I think definitely helped in this deal for him to come back to Atlanta. So, uh, you know, bit underrated part of that move is being able to bring him in and get that relationship with him early going into the off season is very key. All right, next. There are a lot of more moves to talk about, particularly the bullpen. I want to touch on two big moves already there this off seasonason. We’ll get into those here next. NFL Sundays move fast, one big play, and suddenly everything feels different. That’s what makes live betting with FanDuel so exciting. You’re not just watching the game, you’re reacting to it in real time. With FanDuel, you can place bets as the action unfolds. every drive, every momentum swing, every highlight moment. Live betting is best when the game starts to shift, a receiver gets hot, a defense tightens up, or the momentum flips after a turnover. FanDuel lets you jump into the moment live with live spreads and money lines adjusting instantly. Or hey, I’ve been keeping up to date with the World Series odds for 2026. After the latest moves, the Braves are up to plus,500 now over on FanDuel. The sixth best odds behind the Astros, Mariners, Phillies, Yankees, and Dodgers. They finally uh they tied. They’re even with the Mets now. Plus, 1500 odds for next year. But they also have odds out there for college basketball, college football. You got the uh playoffs coming up with that. NBA, NFL, a lot that you can see there at fanuel.com. Also, make sure you visit fanduel.com/playsafe for tools and resource to help you stay in control of the way you play. So, if you want to be right in the middle of the action this season, visit fanuel.com and place your NFL live bets all season long. FanDuel. The game moves fast and so can you. Thank you for making Lockdown Braves your first listen of the day and thank you for making Locked On the number one sports podcast network. If you’re a true diehard Braves fan, the Everyday Your All Access tier is built for you. You’ll get one-on-one text access with me and Lindsay All Access episodes, an exclusive newsletter, and a 15% discount to the Locked on merch store. Head to lockdownbra.supcast.com supercast.com to join the Everydayer program and unlock all access. You can also find it in the show notes down below. Getting back into our discussion here with the Grant McCaulay. And just uh to remind you in case you aren’t already one of these over 70,000 following him on social media, Ed Graham Macaulay, Braves reporter, Falcons radio network, all of that. 92 929 The game from the Diamond podcast that he has where he’s got a lot of content obviously coming from what the Braves are doing this offseason and the winter meetings. Uh you can find him as his his written stuff as well at Marietta Daily Journal. Grant, you’re all over the place doing all kinds of things. So, I appreciate you taking the time to talk with me here today. And I want next I want to get into the bullpin because talk about shock’s not the right word, but definitely surprised when they declined the the options on Tyler Kinley and Pierce Johnson and created two holes in the bullpen. But I think we all we all held our breath for a second, but we all were kind of thinking, okay, you’re going to do that, you have to plan to do something big. And I think they have. They brought back Iggy on a $16 million deal and they go out and get one of the top relievers in the free agent class outside of Iggy himself and Robert Suarez. And now you have two guys in the back of your bullpen capable of closing games and being great setup men. What do you think about the how the way the bullpin has kind of played out this off season? Yeah, I actually asked Alexopoulos about this yesterday just because we were having an opportunity to go over a few other things when the Braves announced that Hassan Kim was going to be back and we did get to speak to Robert Suarez right after the winter meetings when he signed and like he’s totally open to being that setup guy and it’s there’s going to be save opportunities for him this year and Alex kind of pointed to that and said you really need a couple of guys and I think we’ve noticed that and maybe 2025 was kind of the critical mass for we don’t have another closing option that we feel strong about when you had all the faltering in the early going for a Glacius as he was trying to figure out how to get his season back on track. Ultimately, he did that. So, they brought him back at the same rate they’ve had him for the last couple of years, $16 million. I think that’s a solid deal for him and a one-year deal. You really can’t go wrong with a guy that you feel can do the things you need him to do. But the Suarez move, I feel like was kind of that next level of did you need it? I think so. Were you expecting it? Maybe not necessarily based on how quiet last winter was, but the Braves got a multi-year deal in which they did not have to give up a qualifying offer draft pick. So, that certainly was nice. And they’re able to install somebody who can be a setup man and part-time closer as you need him and then move him into next year and he could become your closer. And as a guy who’s a two-time all-star and led the National League in saves, I think you feel pretty strongly about the resume. And one other thing Alex pointed out was we like these guys because they are strikethrowers. We knew that about Eacius. We can see that about Robert Suarez and he is a strikethrower with one of the best and most high octane fast balls in baseball and he throws it a ton. So I think it adds another dimension to the Braves bullpen. I don’t think they’re done building there. There are obviously some other pieces that are already in place. Most notably I think Dylan Lee, Aaron Bummer, I guess we’ve kind of got to find out exactly what condition he is in once he comes to spring training because he dealt with some injuries last year. The Joe Jimenez news is obviously concerning because you just don’t know if you can count on him at all at any point this year. And not to mention, you just have to feel terrible for Joe because he really had proven himself in 2024 to be a great setup man. And you’re going to have to work without him. So, I feel like they need some other pieces there. And we could talk about some of the others. But the Pierce Johnson move, I I kind of thought he would be back. Maybe he will be back on a lesser deal, but he is a curveballheavy guy that I think that over time they just maybe didn’t feel as strongly about him for $7.5 million as they did a couple of years ago. There were some things inside the stats I looked at that I could kind of understand why they might be hedging their bets a little bit more on using that money somewhere else. And I really felt like Tyler Kinley was nice, but maybe a little bit smoking mirrors there. There was a lot of hard hit contact. I don’t feel like he was missing enough bats. Do you really want to just put $5 million into that or go out and maybe find James Karen who could be maybe a project that yields a little bit more fruit than the latest guy you plucked off the Colorado Rockies tree? So, I know that’s a long-winded answer with a whole bunch of names and a whole bunch of stuff that we can start to pick apart, but surprised, pleased that Robert Suarez is now an Atlanta Brave. And I think Rice Glacius from a continuity standpoint made a ton of sense for the Braves. And clearly, they valued him to bring him back at the rate he’s been paid because he’s been one of the more dependable closers in baseball for a while. Save a couple of months last year where he was really, really struggling, but he found himself in the second half. He was awesome in August and September. Yeah, really excited about the back end of this bullpin. Now, I do agree with you though. I I feel like there needs to be a little bit more depth and and that’s just because mainly of the Joe Jimenez thing. We just don’t know. It’s a big question mark. If you knew he was going to be healthy really at any point this season, you would feel maybe a lot better about it, but we just don’t know at this point. And that could also get addressed to Grant if they get somebody else for the rotation. It could move somebody else to the bullpen. I know that that you and others have talked to AA about this recently and right now it sounds like the plan is for Ronaldo Lopez and Grant Holmes to both at least go into spring training as starters, but that could definitely change. >> Yeah, and it’s easy to have them go through spring training that way and then transition to a relief role as opposed to, well, we’ll just have them relieving and then all of a sudden some other thing pops up and now you’ve got to stretch them out and you got to figure out a way to do that if you’re outside of spring training. that could there could be a lot of frustration with that and you also have to consider that Grant Holmes is now out of options. So it’s not like you can just send him down to Gwynette for a month to stretch out again. So you’ve got to be pretty measured I feel like with what you do here and both of those guys could have success in the bullpen. Do I anticipate both of them being there? Not really. And I if you look at the the resume of the two, Ronaldo Lopez I feel like could be one of your higher leverage arms if you chose to do that. Every bullpen needs a long guy, but the other things I looked at and asked about and and nobody wants to hear about what the Braves plans are for Bryce Elder and Joey Wentz right now. They want to be dreaming on the next piece of the bullpen, but you do have to protect your depth and they’re also out of options. So, I’m just curious to see how it all plays out like what other names come in. Obviously, number one, because if you get other quality arms, that’s a good problem and you’ll make the tough decisions if you have to. But you don’t just want to be dropping off, you know, arms that could be useful to other clubs at Goodwill for them to pick up for pennies on the dollar and then be trying to figure out how you can get some arms that maybe have been cast off by other clubs when you end up in trouble. So, they’re they’re kind of walking a a fine line there, I guess. But all of that said, I do think they could use another proven veteran arm in the bullpen. Somebody who has shown themselves to be durable and somebody that can throw some meaningful innings, whether that’s big outs in the sixth, seventh, or eighth or what have you. You want to be able to mix and match and have that depth. And I think that the Braves are one proven reliever away from perhaps having the best bullpen, at least in the National League. I’d have to sit down and look at what everybody does at the end of the winter. But you have to feel pretty great that you’re starting with Rice Olacius and Robert Suarez in whatever order they pitch and some of the other arms that could be in place for the Braves that are already in house. And then ultimately if your rotation depth is able to be pushed into the bullpen, that’s just a plus. If you can find the starter that you like, that could make the rotation better. But at least you’ve got positive health results or excuse me health reports on Spencer Schweenbach, on Grant Holmes, on Ronaldo Lopez because those are guys you’re going to be counting on in one way, shape or form to either help you in the rotation or slide into the bullpen in the case of Holmes and Lopez and maybe solve that problem for you. If we weren’t so, you know, coming off these recent seasons with all the injuries that we had and we just looked at the the names and the numbers of the people in the rotation, I think we would feel great. But, you know, you do have to live in the reality that these guys have struggled, you know, staying healthy and they’re coming off some injuries. So, you have to account for that. But again, these guys, if healthy, could be one of the best rotations in all of baseball. I would say will be one of the best rotations in all of baseball. I want to get to the the other two big moves of the offseason though. And I might be missing one here, Grant. There’s been a lot, so let me know. But Ystrrimsky and Dubant is kind of those depth pieces that again with the injuries you had the last two seasons, it’s really, you know, stressed your depth that you have for the position player group. I feel like those two moves in particular and kind of going with a more fluid DH to give Ronald Days a DH and you can play other guys in the outfield, it really feels like that’s what the focus was this off season for AA in the Braves is to just really get some quality depth on your bench. >> Yeah. Yeah, and I talked to Walt Weiss about that DH spot and what it means to this club to be able to put guys in there and he referred to it as giving him a half a day off because you don’t want to lose Ronald’s bat, but you might want to get him off his feet for nine innings once a week or or once every couple of weeks, whatever it may be. But then you kind of look at ways to upgrade your defense that gives you that jerks and Profar simply does not. So maybe Profar is the guy that could eat up some of those DH at bats. And then Drake Baldwin when he’s not catching, they want to keep his bat in the lineup. And Walt Weiss has come out and said, “This is an on the record comment. We know he hits righties and lefties. Like we’re aware.” So I think everybody knows that they want to try to give him as many bats as possible. He’s not a platoon player. Now with Shawn Murphy, Alex Antonopoulos did say they’re going to take it easy with him throughout spring training and maybe early on into the season. We won’t know for sure what that timetable looks like until sometime next month, but they’re not going to rush him to absolutely 100% be a lock for the opening day roster and a starting catching role. So, that’s just something to monitor. Again, we don’t know exactly what it’s going to be. We’re just going to kind of watch what his recovery is. So, maybe the Braves will have veteran catcher on that list as you know, guys are being put together, that spring training roster is put out there for somebody that could help out in that regard. So, there are a few different things they can do with DH. I mean, you’re not giving Matt Olsen too many days off. I mean, that’s a guy that wants to be out there for every inning of every game playing first base, but could it benefit Austin Riley and you could play Mauricio Dubon over there? Could you play Hassan Kim at third base and play Dubon at shortstop? I mean, there’s just a lot of different versions of it. And if Azie Albies unfortunately has to deal with some kind of injury thing the way he has at times now I think you feel a little bit stronger about the backup that you have there depth that you have there to help you out and again can play all three spots in the outfield and Don can pretty much play anywhere. So that’s something the Braves haven’t had. A luxury that they have not had. But the ideal situation clearly is Ronald Luna in right, Michael Harris in center field. Around the infield, you want Riley, Kim, Alby’s, and Olsen. You got Baldwin and Murphy behind the plate. Left field can be Proar can be a Stressky. And you can play some matchups here, too, because everybody seems to have a role and have a strength, if you will, to make the lineup a little bit better. So, if they decide to throw all of this on its ear and go out and get another hitter, that could change the whole conversation we just had. But if this is what it is at this point with Dubon, Yremsky, and Kim on board, you’re going to have to have some health on your side to get some other guys back to their norms. But you have to look at this overall as a pretty complete roster picture at this point. >> Yeah. And I do think it’s complete. And I do think to your point, this is a luxury we haven’t seen in a long time because for many years and it’s and it’s been for the most part a good thing. It’s you run out the same nine every day because those nine were really really good. But you’ve seen the last two years with the injuries they’ve had that how quickly that can deteriorate. You know, when you have a guy, which I love Charlie Coerson, but a guy just sits on your bench for months. You’ve had just useless bench spots for a lot of this run the Braves have had. But now you look at it and as you said there’s a >> there’s a reason for everybody on this team right now to actually get, you know, at bats and and get playing time throughout a week and not just maybe once or twice a month. So I do think this is one of the more complete and deep teams that we’ve seen roster-wise for the Atlanta Braves. So I’m excited for that part of it. But as you said, Grant, maybe they’re not quite done yet. We’ll come back and finish things off looking at what else might be left for Alex and to do this off season. All right, Grant. It’s been a great off season already for the Atlanta Braves as we started out talking about. I think if you ended things here today, most fans, most realistic fans would be very satisfied with what Alexopoulos has done this off season. But he even said today on the radio asked about would he go into the second tier and he said, “We’ve done it before.” And that right now they’re into the first luxury tax threshold. That’s the tier that I was referring to. We’ve seen them go up as far as right to the edge of that third threshold. And he does want to allow a little bit of money to spend during the season, but there’s potentially room left to go sign another starter. And he’s been very adamant, too, about finding a guy that could pitch in the postseason for you. So, not just finding some sort of depth piece for the rotation. Put on your your GM hat here for a minute. Grant, what would be the one move, not to talk specific players or anything, but what one move would you make to kind of complete this off season? >> I really do feel like, and I said this earlier, that they’re one big bullpin arm away from having it exactly how they want it. Now, could somebody, you know, that’s not a huge signing play a role like that? I mean, Tyler Matzik came out of nowhere and every all 30 teams are looking for guys like that that just step up and into a role. Is that Joel Pamps who they’ve already got and they’re looking at? Is that Karen Jackack who they signed who could be a a redemption story if you will? Are you counting on those as known quantities? No, I don’t think so. But when I asked about the bullpen and the construction of it, Alex went out of his way to talk a little bit about Py in particular as somebody they believe there’s way more upside in. They felt like he had a really, really weird off season last year. A lot of things were disrupted. He just never got comfortable. And this is why they’ve been, you know, dangling around trying to figure out a way to get him onto their roster and bring him into spring training and see what they’ve got there. But before I get lost in a whole bunch of minutia about the bullpen, if you were to tell me that there is a middle to front end of the rotation starter that’s got durability and a track record for pitching in October, I would be very inclined to say that is the one missing piece because then maybe Ronaldo Lopez or Grant Holmes or both of them help you out in that bullpin role. Hurstston Waldrup. There’s no guarantee based on the number of starters they have right now that he breaks camp with the big league club. And that might sound crazy because of how good he was in his 10 outings last year, but that’s just the reality of where they are depthwise right now. So, I don’t think they’re done trying to reimagine what it’s going to look like and who goes where and who else could come on to help them out. And it should be kind of fascinating to watch, not only the rest of December, but through the month of January leading up to spring training to see what players are still out there looking for work and maybe all of a sudden there’s a little more urgency and they get a deal done with somebody who’s a free agent or it could just be the Chris Sale trade out of nowhere, a name that you love that you’d never connected with the Braves. That’s always on the board with Alex Antonopoulos. >> Yeah, because it’s it’s interesting the way we’ve seen him work. It’s usually right out of the gate he comes makes some moves and then he’s quiet and then you see you hear you know the Marcel Ozuna signing late in the offseason or the the Chris Sail trade later in the off season. So we’ll see maybe if he’s got one more up his sleeve. I do agree with you though. I think if you can find, you know, reliable, even just mid-rotation starters, somebody you would trust in a postseason, that solves two two needs for you, right? Because you’re you’re getting a rotation piece and you’re also potentially putting somebody good in your bullpen as well, Ronaldo, Grant Holmes, somebody like that, they could also really help you out in that regard. So, I do think for me as well, if there’s one more big move for to be made this offseason, I do think it would be, you know, the middle rotation type of I like to shoot higher than I mean, you want to go for it. Ace, go for it. But, uh, somebody like that, I think, would again solve solve two holes for you that are left on this team because I do think one more starter just for the depth and one more bullpin piece is really what this team needs. But just getting one of those could potentially solve both of those. So, excited with where the offseason has been, excited with what they’ve done, and excited to see what AA can do the rest of the way. And excited, to use that word one more time, to get 2026 going, Grant, it was a rough 2025 for us. I’m excited about this 2026 season already, which already got delayed another day. They pushed the opening day back from Thursday to Friday, so Race fans having to wait a little bit little bit longer. But yeah, I can’t wait to get 2026 going. >> Yeah, I think everybody’s looking forward to it. And you know, the momentum that you have from feeling like your club went out and did more things, was more active, generated a little bit more excitement. I mean, everybody’s known that the Braves have got a really good core of players. The problem has been keeping these guys healthy and productive. You mentioned it last year. I mean, we all lived through it. You had injuries to certain players and then you had other guys that were really struggling to find themselves. What will they look like in 2026? We’ll find out. But if health is on the Braves side, which knock on wood, you would hope at some point it that worm would start to turn a little bit and the Braves would have a little bit of good fortune at least more than they’ve had the past few years of fielding this lineup and keeping the rotation moderately healthy as well. This is a club that you look at and you have to feel at least confident that this should be a contender. It doesn’t mean it’s all done. Doesn’t mean that they won’t save a little bit of this capital and, you know, utilize it around the trade deadline if they need it to help to help put them over the top. There’s a lot to be excited about, more to be excited about, I think, about the Braves now than there was at the start of October when you just had so many questions about when and who and where exactly will they fit. Now, you started to see some of those answers take form. And I think you like a lot of the answers, too. If we’re being honest and as you mentioned, realistic about what the Braves could do this off season. They’ve done about as well as any club out there. I think with the variety of the shopping and filling those needs. >> Absolutely. Well, Grant, so thanks so much for joining me on today’s episode. Again, check out Grant onx at Grant McCola. You can see everywhere that he’s covering the Braves, Falcons, everything in his bio there. He’s all over the place. Really do appreciate you bringing your knowledge here today. Thanks so much for tuning in to Locked on Braves. will be back on Friday for our weekly mailbag episodes. So get your questions ready for that. Make sure you subscribe to Lockdown Braves on YouTube or wherever you get your podcast. You can follow me on social media at shortstop and the podcast at lockdown braves. And again, thanks for making Lockdown Braves your first listen of the day. And we will talk to you next

Atlanta Braves recharge roster with major offseason moves—can new faces like Ha-Seong Kim and Robert Suarez power a 2026 World Series run? Jake Mastroianni spotlights the team’s aggressive strategy, breaking down why Alex Anthopoulos went all in to upgrade shortstop and the bullpen following an injury-plagued 2025. Walt Weiss takes the managerial reins, bringing fresh energy to a clubhouse hungry to bounce back.

Grant McAuley joins to dissect Raisel Iglesias’s return, the impact of proven arms like Suarez, and the under-the-radar value of additions like Mike Yastrzemski and Mauricio Dubón. The conversation explores lineup flexibility, potential DH strategies for Ronald Acuña Jr., and why Atlanta’s new depth may be the key to overcoming recent setbacks. Will the Braves’ rotation stay healthy, or is another big move coming before Opening Day? Get expert insights on Atlanta’s pursuit of another NL East crown and October glory.

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