Show #485: Doc and Dylan from the Platinum Sombrer

You're listening to Atlanta baseball talk, your weekly podcast for all things at Atlanta Braves. Welcome to Atlanta baseball talk show number 485. Today is Wednesday, September 23rd, 2020, and my name is Steve. No hammy tonight, but I'm joined by Curtis. And before we start, folks, please help out the show by telling your friends sharing links and writing reviews. All right. So tonight is another hour series

of midweek shows we're doing where we talk to some of our favorite favorite Braves podcasters on our farewell tour. And tonight we welcome Dylan Short and Doc Herbert of the Platinum Sombrero podcast, but first a quick break. All right, Dylan and Doc, welcome to the show. This is long overdue. Doc, how you doing tonight? I am spectacular. I'm so excited to be here. I know I

kind of was praising you guys earlier, but I've wanted to be on Atlanta baseball talk ever since ever since I was just a big giant nobody. So I'm very, very happy to be here. Thank you for having me. Well, it was very con and I'm sorry I wasn't recording then because it was really good stuff. Dylan, how are you? Just over here trying to shake my

head here. My partner taught me to talk like he was an actually nobody forever, but I'm actually really thankful. It's really cool. I'm glad that you guys, but you guys thought enough of us to bring us on here in the farewell tour. I was sad to hear that you guys were going, man. You guys at the OJ. You guys have been around here forever. 2007. Wow.

You guys went to some dark days. It was, it was, we've been, we've endured some very dark periods. Well, we, we figure that once we retire, though, get really good in win a world series. But we're doing it for the greater good. That's right. But you guys are so close to 500. I'm surprised that you're, you know, I'm hoping that you're actually going to get there

and have number 500 be the last one. I know it'd be fun. If a deep playoff run would help. Did you need to send that up the chain to Alice in the thoughtless? I mean, the breaks can't let you down. Yeah, exactly. I should have sent that up the chain at the trade deadline. But, you know, here we are. All right. So guys, I want to,

before we start talking about this year's team, I want to talk to you. About like your origin stories. And Dylan, I want to start with you. Right. I know that you've written at multiple blogs over the years. So what was your first braze related gig and when? So that's actually a really cool thing. Nobody's ever asked me that before. It actually started out pretty weird. So

I played for, I was playing up until I was about 21. And then I kind of hit this random spur of like, I've always been a baseball guy. But I never really had enough time between practices and worrying about playing to actually do anything with it on the side. So I kind of, I got into radio and I met a buddy there. I was playing at

the gym. And we did a show called Shell Shocked. And it was, it was covering all sports. And at the time I was looking to write a little bit. I didn't want to do anything. Like, I didn't want to do a lot of anything. But I started getting on Twitter finally. And I'd seen Doc stuff always. And I'd started talking to Andy Harris. I might have

asked Doc this or it might have been one of the other guys about somewhere I could go to maybe freelance a little bit. And they put me in touch with Andy and the Chris Jervis. Over at the Alphill Flyroot. And I think the first piece I ever did was a top 30 breakdown of the Atlanta Braves where I believe I, I can't remember if I had

Colby Allered up at the top. But I might have had Colby Allered up at the top. And it was, it was my first written piece ever. I was super nervous about how it was going to be received. And most of, most of the comfort that time have not turned out very well. A couple of them turned out well. But since then, I kind of floated around

a little bit. I wrote for Braves Journal for a little bit. But I'm so bad at being a consistent writer. I cannot do a deadline at all. I don't know how Doc does it to have a deadline that have a set deadline every single week. I'm very much a, if you know those, does douchey kind of writers that are like, I need my views. I'm kind

of exactly that. I like to self burn. Yeah. Okay. So, so Alphill Flyroot, Braves Journal. So what years does that take us through? I think that was 2018 without through Flyroot. I only did like two pieces of Braves Journal. That was last year. I haven't written spend. I keep meaning to write some stuff for the Patreon. And I just, I never have time to sit down

anymore. Now that I had another, I have a son I basically have, I've got about 28 hours worth of work to try to fit into a 24 hour day. So unfortunately, or for to live in how you feel about my takes, I haven't been able to get any more written work into the easer. Got you. So before we, before we started recording, Doc was talking about

when you had us on, which was show number 26. Gotta be a couple years now. What when did, when did TPS start? What was that doc? Um, I want to say March, March, 25th or early, yeah, I think we recorded the episode in late February of 2018. And then it got released like March 1st of that year. I've never been thinking we'd go back and listen

to it. Three and a half hour episode. We were doing some marathon in the early days. Oh yeah. No, our early shows. I mean, I remember in the beginning was just me and Ham, Kurt joined later in the first year. Like we were reading box scores and stuff. Like we had no idea what we were doing. And it's not an exaggeration. We really were. It was,

yeah, I was really. Oh, were you. Um, so I, I do want to just quick break in for a second, because I have the game on on my phone. We're recording this. Obviously Wednesday night. It's top of the second. And Luke Jackson has replaced Max Fried, which doesn't seem like a good turn of events. This is one of the things right. I mean, don't like that.

That's just terrible. I mean, he's got to be hurt. He's got to be hurt. Well, they did score three runs. So maybe. I mean, he was throwing nine out of four. It looked like. Yeah. Oh my God. Okay. So, so Dylan, um, I want to ask one more thing. This was. Probably a couple years ago. I was driving into work. Now I was listening to six

80 of the fan. And you were on, right. And you had some very strange nickname. I want to say it was turtle or something. Yeah. So is that. So what, what is that story and how long were you at six 80 of the fan? And what did you do? I started that August 20. August like 21st. I want to say at 2015. I've been with them.

Really, I'd been there up until this whole COVID thing happened. I don't know where it stands now. But they give every intern in the name. I just happened to be turtle because I don't know if you guys would be shocked to hear this or not. But my default function when I'm in kind of an. An unnerving situation or kind of like an uncomfortable situation is to

talk and to talk sports in particular. So I had cornered Brian Fendering in the pre show room. And I was just talking sport. I was just talking football with them nonstop. And took a from the show. I was on cameras in contact home in Spas Yoge show in terms of. Through. No revealing. Behind the!.. But I went backstage in circle and I thought, couldn't we just

look upon the crew and why don't we just go? Now? Why don't you go back to horror and really fun that's cool. Um, it helps that I'm glad I'm actually really glad that you recognized me as Turtle because I can't tell you the number of people that I've reached out to me like, Hey, this guy on Sixth and the band said this about the bravest what

do you think? Yeah, that was me. That's an awesome take. Yeah. Exactly. That's what he really knows you so. Okay, so doc, let's move on to you, right? I covered you on Twitter a number of years ago and you were at talking chop, I want to say, I know you're still there. So what was your first bravest gig? This is, uh, this is kind of funny.

I was such a nerdy kid that when I was like seven or eight years old, I would, I'd built like my grandparents house and I would ask like for paper and a pen and I would just like go and write stories. I would just like invent games and I would write them up. You know, I was doing this ever since I was a little kid because

I always wanted to play baseball, but I was so bad. I had, I'm horribly coordinated and I have awful vision, which you can't do that and be a baseball player. So I knew very early on it. I was going to do anything for the game. It was going to be writing about it. Um, when I was probably early 30s, this would have been like 20, 50

and or so. I read an article on, I think it was sports talk ATL maybe and it was so bad and so poorly written that I reached out to the editor and look like, Hey, you guys need some help over here. Can I write for you? And they let me write for them. And I wrote probably three pieces. They were, it was like reading Ulysses. I

mean, these were the longest freaking articles and they made no sense. And I didn't even know what I was trying to say, but I needed an outlet. And, uh, so after a couple of years, um, I met Ben Chase and he was with called the pen at the time and he asked if I wanted to come right for them. And this was long after I stopped

writing like infinite just and everything for sports talk ATL. And I really, um, I was like the only braids guy and I really enjoyed doing it. It was just, uh, the structure for getting paid for it was, uh, kind of walkie and you had to do X amount of articles every month. I remember he, uh, he sent me a message on New Year's Eve and it

was like, Hey, you're one article from your quota. And I, and I spent like that whole afternoon just, you know, banging out some, you know, giant article about Brett Cumberland or something back when he was still a system. And, um, after a couple of months of doing that, I, it just got, got kind of tricky doing that. I needed one or two somewhere that they were

like actual reinforcements where, you know, Ben was like, I was on the V umbrella and Ben wasn't really in the position to be like in their writing in the trenches with me. You know, he was like the editor. So, um, after a while, um, I, I had gotten, I'd known Eric Cole at talking chop in Chris Willis for years. I've been on do it. Lanup with

Eric and, uh, and Garot and Garrett. One Garrett was still doing the show a couple of times and they said, Hey, if you're looking to write, we'd love to bring you on. And that was, uh, right before the 2018 season, we started doing TPS. And I started writing, writing for talking chop within about two weeks of each other. Very cool. You know, the, it's kind of

similar to how we got started in 2007. I was so sick of local radio because they talked so little braves. Um, that I was like, I'm going to look for a podcast and there was one, which I don't remember the name. And I'm not looking to trash anybody, but it was really unlistenable. I just think spot two because now there's podcasts everywhere. And, and, and, and

that's not this, you know, everybody should have a podcast. This is a very awesome experience. But at the same time, as there are a lot of them, there's not as much open space. You know, so if you, there was just one bad bridge podcast and you're like, Hey, I think I can capitalize on this. I mean, it obviously took for you guys after all of this

time. So that's, um, and that's before podcasts for everywhere. You know, before it became such a rampant thing. Yeah. Yeah. It's true. Um, and then so last question about sort of how you guys got here is locked on. Is it just one of the, I assume it's similar to SB Nation and the other sort of aggregate platforms where you have different local versions throughout the country.

Is that what locked on is because I honestly not heard about it until I saw it for on TPS. Actually, yes, so locked on is something that I started last season. Uh, I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to do that. I took over the Atlanta team from, uh, from Newby's, uh, Wilburn, who was doing the Pirates one for a while, but they're, they're

more of a podcasting media company. So they cover across all schools. It's pretty similar to SB Nation. I hadn't heard of them before. They reached out to me. That's, um, that's when I started last season. That one's just me. Uh, TPS was the brainchild of us that actually, uh, was funnily weird enough. That one. I actually decided that I wanted to do a podcast with. Doc

after one episode that he came on and guest hosted with me for shell shocked in 2017. Uh, I believe that was like, we were planning on doing like a 30 minute show and turn into like two and a half, three hours. I remember because of the super snowy outside. I didn't get to go to work that day. And I spent like two and a half, three

hours talking to Doc. I'd never, I'd never spoken to him to phone before. And I just remembered talking to him. You like, you know what? I want to do a braids podcast. And. That's the guy I want to do it. That's kind of, that's kind of the origins that I mean, Locked on just kind of came out of act as. Uh, I wasn't writing as much.

And, um, they were willing to pay me. So I was like, okay, sure. So is Newbies the guy that was that wrote about the braids for a minute for the AJC and then moved somewhere else? Yes. Okay. So he had a, he had the, he had the local Locked on podcast before you took it over. Yeah, I can't remember how long you did it. It's, be

honest. I didn't really follow his work ever. Um, I'm not going to donate shots or anything, but just say we, we don't agree on a lot of things. Uh, and I never heard of them before they kind of rebranded and reached out and sort of do new shows and they had an opening for the braids. So okay, sure. I like to talk. So I guess I'll

do that. That's cool, man. That's great. Um, all right. So let's, let's, let's move on to the 2020 braids. First thing I do want to say is, six minutes ago, um, DOB tweeted that freed tweet his left ankle on a bunter play. And he was removed as a precaution. So as things go, maybe that's not so bad. Well, he did after that play, he gave up

the two homers in the double. So clearly he was off. Yeah. But better than like, you know, his shoulder started to hurt. Sure. All right. He did back or something. What's that? They're teeters back again. Yeah. Yeah. No, totally. And I mean, I guess it is heartening. At least the, at least game day had his fastball at 94, which is, you know, which is a couple

of miles an hour faster than his return last week. Um, well, let's just start with Max. I'm sure you guys watched the game. Uh, you know, his, his return from the I.L. I'm sure he was just curious about being told that he was going to be coming out of that game. Um, I think that he is just, he is. Lucas G. Alito and Jack Flarety and

Max Reed all over the same high school rotation, which is, I don't know how they didn't win a state championship. But, uh, you know, G. Alito has had his assent, he threw the note hitter this year. Flarety has been a great player. He's been pretty much the, the only reliable picture on that cardinal staff. Um, he's just, and he had kind of his star making turn

last year. So I think that free to starting to, he's getting some pub, but maybe not as much as he deserves. And he seems like a really nice and Dothaio guy and person. He'll catch it when he's on the mound. And I think that that's the time I've got that you want being being your game one guy. So I feel, I feel really good about next.

Yeah. No, he, and, you know, I have no doubt that he's a nice guy, but he just looks like permanently angry when they show him in the dugout in between innings and that kind of thing. When he, you know, when he's pitching, he's just got that game sneer all the time now. Um, all right. So Doc, I want to ask you, it's been like, I think

this is a really likable team. As strange as this year has been, it's been fun. Um, you know, winning is always fun. What's your, what's your favorite storyline of the season? Ooh. I think, um, ready Freeman, almost dying and then becoming the MVP. He hasn't won the award or anything, but I mean, he by all accounts for me, just. He's the face. You know, he, he

is the new shipper. Uh, he's the new hangover. He's the, he's the, he's the brain's player that everybody looks at and says that's, that's the face. I mean, I know that Acuna eventually he's going to take the title from Freddie, but right now, I mean, like when we hear that somebody like Freddie gets, gets COVID and it's saying prayers that he doesn't die. I mean, that,

that hits you in a way that's different than like just, that's not just a baseball player. You know, that's somebody who's like a fixture in your life kind of and, and seeing him come back and struggle and you're asking yourself guys is what's, what's the thing? What's going on here? Is this what how he's going to be this entire season? And then he hits this hot

streak where he's just hotter than than anything. I mean, he's hotter than a dance and bobcat. So he just go out there and to me, like, and people are talking about that. Uh, and I mean, um, the, the fact that he has ascended to being like a, uh, this is his first year like superstar and being in getting the credit he deserves to me. That's, that's

my number one story. I love it. Dylan, how about you? You know, I'd like to say Freddie. Because at this point, you have to tell me why he's not the MVP instead of making a case for why he is. But I think my favorite story. I think he was after coming over in that trade for him to really just be perfectly fine and understanding about going

down on the miners working on some things. Coming back up in last year played a lot of really important at bats for the braves was one of the one of two players who was any good in the playoffs last year. Now, brinda come out this year and just be all of a sudden one of the best powerhairs in baseball while playing some really undervalued or some

underrated defense. He's not a main piece like he's a complimentary piece at best. He loves stories like Adams Evolve, the guy that completely kind of reinvented himself late in his career, knew he had stuff to work on and just came up. And this season, we, I think everybody would have just assumed that if anybody was going to opt out of the season, it was going to

be devolved with his type one diabetes. And sure, just to come in and have the season he's had, I, I have absolutely enjoyed every bit of Adam devolve. Yeah, and to be thrust into an everyday role and I was concerned, he would be exposed right, particularly against. All the right hand it's starting pitching and he just, he just hits everybody. It's been great. Yeah, yeah, I

love it. You know, I mean those two for sure, I, for me, I throw Dan's B in there. I mean, I know he's had a dip, you know, until last night really. But Dan's B showing much more consistency has been so fun. And Ian Anderson to just from day one, how composed and successful it's just. I mean, it was kind of season saving. It feels like.

Well, just to be where they are with the way the starting pitching has ended up where we thought it was going to be. And now where it is, it's pretty remarkable that the braves have been able to cobble together this season. And obviously it's based a lot on having the best offense and major league baseball. But to have Sorota go out so early and have all

those guys, Hamlet have pitch what six innings and five innings all season long. It's pretty remarkable what they've done. So Dylan, at the top of the show we're talking about Bryce Wilson a little bit. If he looks even as 80% is good on Sunday, the team is announced he will start again on Sunday last game of the regular season. If he looks even, you know, that

close to good as he did Tuesday night, is he your fourth starter in the playoffs come, you know, DS time. He's had such a good question. I'm a big wascker. No, a guy I might be the highest on wascker. No, I don't know. Many of the podcasters are kind of prospect guys around here. And I do think that wascker has been supremely underrated as far as

his effectiveness this year. But for Bryce, he has the prospect pedigree. He was a starter coming up. There's never been that bullpen. They never brought him up assuming he'd be in the bullpen. If he goes out there and he goes another five or six innings with no walks or one walk, he does what he did last time. I think the braves would be more comfortable rolling

with Bryce despite the fact that wascker's had a better season. I think for certain it'll be one of those two. Now, I think it's pretty telling that Bryce is the one who's guaranteed another start. So I would think if Bryce goes out there and has another really good showing, I think you're looking at a rotation that's going to have E and Anderson Kyle Wright and Bryce

what Brian to say again. I think that I think that I think you're right on with that. I think that's probably the most likely scenario that they want Bryce to grab that and take control of that. Yeah. Yeah. I think one more thing about Bryce Wilson as well. If I can jump in on that too is that he is currently strict out to give you more

more innings or at least more pitches than I know it is. I mean, I think that if we're looking at that, I think that's what I'm looking at because Bryce did 77 or 75 in the, in the starting of the Marlins. And I think that it, you probably could have kept going in a series like that. So even for a team that's going to rely on

a full pen a lot, if they can, I think they have enough faith in the offense or where they can say, look, if Bryce goes out and gives us five innings, even if he allows five runs, the offense is good enough to overcome that as opposed to Inoa going three innings, maybe four, not even sure how he's going to fail. So I think just by sheer

ability to pitch longer, I think that's part of why Bryce is getting, getting the nod. And so let's assume Bryce is number four. They are going to need a fifth starter at some point. You guys think it will be Inoa over Tomlin. I mean, it seems like they have shot away from Tomlin after, you know, the whatever four or five starts that he had. He certainly

seems to be a good player. I think it seems more successful coming in as opposed to starting. Wascar starts game five. You know, I'd like to see them use Jacob Webb as an opener and bring in Wascar and know after him. I think the fit start would be a bullpen start. I would love to see Jacob Webb use as the kind of Tampa Bay traditional opener

where he goes and ending or two. And then you bring Wascar in after him, maybe bring in Tomlin after him. I think it's pretty telling that when you see Tomlin's numbers, as a starter, he's been given up a fair amount of hard hits and home runs. A lot of teams have kind of figured him out once you have to go through the second or third time.

I do think that they love Tomlin, but I think with having three or four rookies and your starting rotation, they like the security blanket of Tomlin being able to come in if one of those guys has a bad start and be able to go to Tomlin early. So I love the idea of Webb as an opener. A la the raise. And despite the fact that Snittger

in, you know, during, spring training 2.0 said, yeah, no, we'll consider that. We'll consider everything like truly never did it all season. Just would, if, you know, one of these guys out of the bullpen was looking good, would just want to ride him as long as he could. Third time through the lineup be damned. I just don't know that Snittger has it in him. Yeah, I

agree with you there. I don't think you can spring too many new ideas on him at once. I do know that they, when it was when Tomlin was going to the rotate, I know they approached Tyler Matt sick about it about being in the starting rotation, but I don't think Tyler was comfortable going back to being a starter. That could be another area if Tyler's comfortable

doing it. I think they would prefer Tyler Matt sick get the start over pretty much any of their other options right there. I'm just not sure if he's comfortable doing that after how badly his career kind of plummeted as a starter and how well he's done as a reliever since then. Okay, we need to stop for a second. Kurt, are you happy to hear this? Kurt's

been bang in the drum for Matt. I really, I've been news that the words balloon was coming out of my mouth as to why they don't start Tyler Matt sick. And I'm glad I finally have an answer here at game, whatever this is, 57, 54. So I'm glad I finally achieved my goal of completely understanding why Tyler Matt sick never got to start this. Interesting. That's

interesting. That's really, yeah, that is interesting. Yeah. So, okay. I want, I want to step back. Back for a second and talk about faulty. It seems to me that things took a really bad turn in the last couple of weeks because either, look, I mean, a bunch of it was lip service regardless just to cover for the lack of moves. At the trade deadline, but the

fact that they, you know, talked up faulty as well as right, of course, in, you know, in Anthopolis press conference that day when they had made no moves, it certainly seemed like faulty was going to get a start. Like, I would have bet 20 bucks. We were going to see faulty sometime in September. And we didn't. Yeah, I don't know if I even have a question.

It just seems like, you know, maybe he was, things were looking good for a while and then they weren't. Doc, you might have I get this one before I let you, before I let you go about faulty here, because I know faulty. Yeah. Yeah, go ahead. Go ahead. Okay. So I'm going to agree with you, Steve. The faulty thing, that was pure lip service. That was

100% pure political deflection. That is politician being put on the spot. Oh, no, no, no, faulty doing good. Notice that he never mentioned that he was sitting 94 just said that he hit 94. There've been a lot of differing reports on faulty coming out of camp. Some starts he's good. Some starts he's getting knocked around by the alternate site guys. I do, I am shocked that

he didn't get a start though. Just like I'm shocked that they talked about the fact that he was knocked up Sean Newcombe and the only time he got called back up didn't get into a game. It looks like according to his wife's Instagram that faulty is going into the playoff pool at least at least on the taxi squad. I don't know if he's going to be

on the big roster. But I actually do think that if faulty is anywhere close to being OK or serviceable, that that's another guy that you could put in the consideration for that number four number five starter role. We've got experience. I think that's going to go a long way with this front office with Brian Snicker in particular. He would be a hell of a story. Doc,

what's your position on faulty and what we might or might not see from him? I mean, I'm with Dylan. I was just flabbergasted that you. Newcombe came up. They got the not over faulty and then just immediately got the yo-yo. He's like new Chad Sabatia, right? And so I may be because they know that faulty is that I mean, and I kind of feel bad every

time I reference like. I mean, I'm just a mental aspect of faulty because it's like it's right there at the talking point, but I hate it. I don't ever want to use it. But I mean, if you bring up light fold and Averyton, you send him back down, then you know, that's just a disaster. Maybe Newcombe has more mental fortitude to deal with something like that.

But I mean, look, faulty was bad. That's starting as a raise is awful. That was the first talking chapter game that I wrote up this year. And when you're doing game coverage, you can't just turn it off. So I had to watch the plane crash into the mountain, right? I mean, he was completely ineffective. He's been tracking horribly in that that preseason game. There was against

the Marlins where he was just getting banged up and yeah, you get these reports that are coming out of the alternate site. Like yeah, he's he's looking good. Yeah, yeah, sure. He's looking good. And then you keep running out. Josh Tomlin, which is fine, but you keep running out Robby Irland and you trade for Tommy Malone. Yeah, that's for two players to be named later. Fine.

But like you got Mike Folk and Averyton is right there. You know, like just see if you guys are going to be able to get in. I mean, I just can't imagine that they are going to bring him bring. I mean, maybe, maybe if there's something going on with Max, uh, and that he was supposed to make one more start by the end of the year.

I don't know. Maybe, maybe they're just going to kind of bring him up to see. Maybe he can pitch against big league guys instead of just going through the same. Same dude down to the triple A site. But to me, like if we haven't seen him now, then. I think Mike Folk and Averyton is probably throwing his last pitch and brave uniform because I can't imagine

him being willing to reengage and try and break through again in 2021. Right. I totally agree. Um, all right. Quickly on hammers. Right. When when that news broke a couple of days ago, I was immediately distraught. Like, you know, look, we need that guy to be, you know, the fourth guy or even the third guy, right? Because he's got more experience. And then sort of took

a step back. Really, this difference is maybe three innings in the wildcard series, four or five innings in the divisional series. Well, you know, get ahead of myself from there. So really, the differences. We're covering like eight innings of a starter. Now that hammers is gone. Um, Dylan, do you think it's a huge deal that hammers is not going to pitch for the braves and the

playoffs? No, I actually don't, I don't think. The hammers was really ready to come off the aisle when he did. I think the braves were just in such dire states and starting rotation. He's like, all right, I'll keep, I'll just rehab during major league games. If you were to hold a true serum to Alex and topless, I don't think he would tell you that they were

planning on Cole hammers playing a big role this postseason. So there's a lot that made about, oh, yeah, he can get three starts in and and three starts. So we have to 100 pitches, but he also hadn't pitch a game in a year. Yeah. So you're talking about not only the rest of not pitching for a year, but he also didn't get a spring training. So

I don't think that hammers would have gone more than three or four innings in a playoff game regardless. And you can say what he won about how good he felt during that Baltimore start, but he looked exhausted in that fourth inning. So I don't really think that. I think it sounds good to say it's more about, you know, not sounding the alarms, but I don't think

that they were expecting that much from hammers to begin with. Yeah. Doc, you see what a bad friend. No, I mean, we just got done recording this week's episode and I said something kind of similar. I mean, it's so optimistic to assume that he was just going to come back and not only with his pitch count, going to build up, but he also was going to

be super effective and just mowing guys down like the Cole hammers of old. I mean, as soon as I saw it, like it didn't surprise me at all that that he got placed on the aisle after that start. And honestly, even on the day of like leading up to his start that day against Baltimore, I'm thinking, I'm going to be seeing he's going to stub his

toe or he's going to break a fingernail or serve something's going to happen where he's not going to get the chance to make this start. He's going to be out to the season. So, I mean, it's almost entering Dion to Skano territory where it's like, did we actually even sign him at all? Does he even exist? So I am curious what this means for next year.

Kind of similar to the Derenoday situation where he just was with the team for so long and then they basically bankrolled his rehab just for an entire year. And then he came back and signed like a super cheap deal. And he, oh, Dave's not getting paid much at all to be here right now. I wonder if Hamill wants to kind of save face with the with

the organization to say, Hey, thanks. Thanks for paying for all of my shoulder stuff and try stuff when I got 10 outs for you. I wonder, I really do. Yeah, although, don't you think he could easily or just as easily retire? Yeah, no, there's no doubt about it. We we might have seen the end of the line for him. Depending. Derenoday has worked out. You know,

he's been kind of an unsung guy, but he's been really, really good out of the bullpen. He has, I think that the arm slot is very beneficial for him because he felt throwing hard at all. You know, he he worked a lot on deception and a lot on movement. And for every time that you hear Chip praising guys that don't have to throw 99, you know,

I think that he's he's, he's kind of making an and oblique reference to guys, guys like Oday. So do you guys with Nukem, we were talking about him. I mean, is it just the fact that the bullpen is so deep and everybody sort of established at this point that they are not interested in even giving him a shot in the bullpen? Actually, Doc brought that up

on a we did we talked about Nukem on a show while back about this mean that he's a reliever from now on and doc kind of pointed out that he had that good run in the bullpen when he first got put in there. But aside from like a few good outings. He actually hasn't been all that effective in the bullpen. Now I think Nukem is probably

done here in Atlanta. He's already what 27 or 28. I know he doesn't have a lot of years as far as big league service, but he was already an older prospect. I don't believe he was, I think he was like 23 or 24 when he got drafted. But he's a guy that if you can't throw strikes, then you got to find a way to get out

and with Nukem, I think they're kind of over watching somebody as big as he is and with his type of stuff pitch scared. So there's a difference between nibbling and pitching scared. It's like with Tuky nibbles on the corner because he's not confident in his fastball command. Nukem pitches straight up scared. It's eerily reminiscent of JoJo Reyes back in the day. Oh, JoJo. Oh, I think

for Nukem as well, when you start looking at sticking lefties in the pen, you're competing with Will Smith, you're competing with AJ Mentor, you're competing with Tyler Mathick. I mean, even if you do stick Nukem in the bullpen, he's still like the fourth best guy. As far as lefties, not even in terms of that doesn't even get into all of the great writings that are on

there. So it's weird. And I think that we all have an attachment to Nukem, not even so much because of the fact that he was dealt for Simmons, but because he was one of the, when Braves traded for him, he was the number one prospect. It was only for like three weeks because that was right before they got Dan's B. But he was, he was one

of the first big pieces of the first wave of the rebuild. And what's like Fulti was. And now it's like he's cycled through. He had that really good 2018. And now we're just looking at it going, is this the end? What's going to happen now? It's like looking at C and Julio in a different uniform. Like I don't know where we go from here. I don't

know how I feel about it. I mean, I would say that they, they believe the Nukem as a starter is a non starter or lack of a better phrase, right? I don't think they believe that's ever going to happen again. So yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if this was the end of the line for him. So, so guys, as we record this, right on Wednesday night,

the Braves are the number two seed. And would face the Cincinnati Reds. So since we've won the East, we're locked into either two or three. We're not going to catch the Dodgers. And so six or seven could be like most likely the cards or the Marlins or the Reds or the Brewers or the Giants. I, you know, there it would be a miracle for Phil Delphi.

I think that their double header loss on Tuesday was the final nail in that coffin. So Doc, who do you want to face in the first round? Funny. We, we actually, we had this exact conversation just a minute ago. The, I like, I like the idea of facing the Cardinals and Dylan and I are both very much want to just go and face them immediately. They

are the team that broke our hearts last time. And what better way to get revenge than breaking the heart of the person that broke your heart. I think the Marlins, it would take either the Braves being the three seed and the Marlins being the six or the Braves being the two and the Marlins completely imploding and getting leapfrogged by Philly. So Philly, what's a lot in

as the six and then the Marlins will be number seven. I don't even know if that's what mathematically that would take. But I would love to face the Marlins and the playoffs just because they, they seem really tired. They seem like they might be running out of steam a little bit now that they're, they're having to make up all of those games that they missed. And

it's a, it's a similar thing to the Cardinals. And, and I think that, that Milwaukee is, is another team that I would be really interested in facing. If you ever have to face Christian Yellich in the playoffs, you wanted to be in a year where he's hitting 208. You know, and Brandon Woodruff has been, has been good for Milwaukee. Corbin Burns has been good for Milwaukee,

but, but aside from that, I mean, the Braves, I think, just pound on the Brewers. So that those are the three that I would, that I would like to see. Do the red scare you? I can't decide, which I think means they don't. Right. I have so much, I've so much faith in this often to even stand up and Trevor Bauer and Gray and Castillo, because

you remember when the Braves played the Indian last year when Bauer was still there. And he was so whiny during his press conference about, God, they just, they got this really annoying approach like, yeah, that's called hitting, man. Sorry, they wanted to foul a lot off and get you out of the game. It worked, didn't it? I mean, I think that we could wear him down.

Their bullpen is not, you know, particularly frightening. So that said, the Marlins to me would be the easiest path. I would throw the fillies in there as well, but I just don't think we're going to see him. Dylan, you have any different opinion on this? Who do you want in the first round? And I mentioned this on our show too. Like the Marlins actually frighten me

more than any of those other guys. Because they're such a plucky type of team. Like I know the phrase, like scrappy gets overused and baseball and it's usually applied to some white guy who's not super talented, but just knows how to be annoying, like pesky, like Brock Holt. But the Marlins kind of are, they do a good job of hitting with two strikes. They don't, they

don't make it easy to strike them out very much. And I just, I have a real, I don't really like playing teams that are really, really young. They're really talented young players because they don't, it's like the Braves in 2018 and the Brewers in 2017. They don't really know that they're not supposed to be good yet. So you, you get them into a short series. And

anytime you're facing Sixth O's Anchez, he can absolutely put up, he can, he can dominate you on the right night. They've got some guys that can be annoying. But for me, it comes down to one cool, I want the Cardinal. I don't care if they're the best matchup or the worst matchup. I want to rip their hearts out, show it to them. Then I want to

hit Yachty. And then I also want to start a fight with Mike Schilt and Jack Flaherty. I want to rip the soul from their body. And then finally exercise all of the 2019 postseason. That's what I want out of the 2020 postseason. Give him the Cardinals, the Brazen Beat, the Cardinals. I'll be happy with however else anything turns out. If they can go out there and

punk the Cardinals and then snit in the locker room, say the exact same thing that Schilt said, I will be happy. So you know, we had this similar conversation last Sunday and we were all, we are spooked by the Cardinal. Not because of the talent, not because of what they are on paper, but just spooked by last year. You have it like you're not. Last year,

all the years that's true. The devil meeting us when he couldn't throw a strike every year. But they're the devil team. They've got some sort of weird voodoo magic that doesn't hit until they get into the postseason. Because they're never a super talented team. Like their roster is not that good. It's just they're the Cardinals. Yeah, exactly. Even even for what happened last year, sorry, sorry

to put it in. I swear I wasn't going to do that. But even for game five last year, the 10 running, that's, that goes beyond voodoo and devil magic. That's a whole different type of thing going on right there. That said, there's, I just, I don't know what that was. That's like the next level of hell beneath, you know, what we're normally dealing with here. That

was just gratuitous and unfavorable. I just want to see a cuny hit one 700 feet off of Jack Flarey. That's all I want. That's all I want. Guys, you know, so so evil was that anything that I may have ended faulty? Certainly in a faulty brace career, apparently, exactly. Okay, so we get past the first round. So I would guess that the Dodgers scare you. Does

anyone else in the NL scare you or tell me that the Dodgers don't? The podras I actually think would be one of the toughest matchup for the Braves because they're so similar as far as what they are as teams. They go about winning in much the same way. It's just that the the podras young pitchers have been better than the Dodgers. They're better than the Braves

young pitchers this year. Now right now the Braves young pitchers are pitching better than the pitch all season. And the podras offense, a lot of their young guys are kind of cooled off a little bit. But you know, Tatees isn't going to keep being awful. He's going to go back to being Tatees. He's too talented. I actually. The Dodgers are the best team on paper, but

they're starting rotation does not scare me, especially. The duelers been injured and when he hasn't been injured, he's been super ineffective. Dustin May is really talented. But he's not a guy that's going to go super deep in the games. And the Braves usually fair well against velocity. You know, you've got Clayton Kershaw. But man, what is he doing the playoffs and is this Clayton Kershaw going

to continue to last? I don't like facing the Dodgers lineup certainly. But I think the podras would be one of those teams that it'd be a fun matchup for sure. That would be a team that I would love to face in the NLCS just as a baseball purist. I'd love to see those two teams going after each other. But I think that podras team would be

scary just in the fact that they're so similar to the Braves. Did you guys see the Clevver left his start this afternoon with the right bicep problem? It did. It's the Braves pony duck to get him. Can you imagine what would be going on right now? If I know that Mike Clevver was not going to be in the fold from this playoff run? Can you imagine

the fallout guys? Yeah. The good news is they did not or would not or will not ever ever create any or anyone except Tommy Moore. Right. Have we heard anything about Tommy Malone? Like is there any chance that he's on the 28 man for the post? I'm not even certain he's still there. Alex might have taken him up to Canada and like just left him there.

Right. You might have pulled a Freddy's like by delta email. I have a little left him in Baltimore. Here, taking back. I have a kidding. Hey, what's the return to? Yeah. Yeah. You guys can keep the you can still have the players to be named later. That's fine. Just take Malone back. Whatever. And but it's weird though. I was wondering the same thing. When as soon

as I heard about him, my first thought was. Well, it's they have to bring back Malone now, right? Just because you need somebody is going to give you some level of volume, even if he's allowing eight runs over three innings or whatever, then you know. You can't just get somebody. You can't just do a bullpen game in terms of you got nine pictures going one inning

and he's somebody you can eat some time. So and then he just never came up. He's been on the aisle for 13 days now and no hint of him being activated or coming off or anything. But. A doesn't really disclose a whole lot of information. So he's probably starting game on. That's right. Yeah. When when Hamill was still slated to start on Tuesday and Wednesday was

TBD, I was sure that was going to be Malone. Just positive. But. I can see why they did the TBD then you don't want to announce that to the fan base. Hey guys, Tommy Malone is starting again. Yeah. That's right. Yeah. Yeah. I mean. I feel bad for Malone. When the braids acquired him, he had the exact same F4 Garrett Cole. They're obviously different talent levels.

But that tells you that he actually was having a pretty decent season. And then he got here and. What was that? I mean, you can't give anybody better run support than. That and. I mean, between Hamill and Malone, how many any day did this total? Like 12 if that right. It's unbelievable. It's crazy. I mean, look, they didn't get him on a very good foot. Starting

in that same day. In that Sunday night game. But, um, you know, recover for the next start man. Yeah. Or the. Yeah. Um. Say again. You never want to be. That guy in history that said nobody has ever been this bad before except for you. And it's happy. I believe it's happened to him twice. Where. You get twice. You get. Decutive 10 run outings and not

qualify for the win. Not even getting through the fourth. I think that's happened to him once before when he was in Baltimore or two. Yeah. Wow. Um, so guys, let's, let's end with this. Um, do you guys think that the braids are, well, we'll start here. Do you guys think the braids are getting through the wild card round? I'll start and say that I do. Well,

I jumped and gone because you said you were going to start. And so I will follow your. And say yes. Again. I do. Doesn't matter who it is. Yeah. No, I agree. I think they should. But I made a promise that I was not going to pick the braids to win a first round series anymore until they actually did. So I'm not going to make a

pick. I'll just say they should. Yeah. And I'm, you know, the five game series and of course with the no days off. Um, you know, things have to fall right. But, uh, you know, the pieces could fall into place here. And they could go really far. You know what I mean? Just get a few good innings out of your starters. Sort of do it like the

Nationals did it last year. Play a lot of bullpen innings. The, the bats keep hitting like they have been. I mean, the bra, you know, the braids could go really far. My God, I think if you get past the Dodgers and win the pennant. I feel. Let's just say this. Like I would, I think I would feel better in the World Series matchup. Whoever that is,

then I would in the Dodgers NLCS. Absolutely. There's not an A L team that scares me more than the Dodgers or the Padres to be quite Frank. Yeah. I mean, who out there, you really worried about. I mean, maybe the Yankees, if they've got everybody working, but they're starting rotation is awful. They can't keep people healthy. They could score a lot of runs. But I mean,

they're, they're going to have to have some good bullpen pieces. But I would take Atlanta's bullpen over the airs. And I quite frankly, I would, our lineup is healthier than there. So I have not that worried if you could get past that. I mean, if you could get past the NLCS, then I think the Brains would be sitting very pretty as far as the World Series

goes. Yeah, I agree. Hey guys, can I bring something, can I bring something up real quick? I know we got to get out of here, but I just have to make one quick point and have you get some of the other. I'm crazy. You're not sure. I, I keep looking for any reason. I was so happy. I was so bullish about this team coming into this

season. And this was before so broke they got hurt and before, bulky and nuke and just I don't even have to react. You guys know every bad thing that has happened with this team. And I keep looking for reason to finally wave the white flag and give up. And you know what? I can't find one. And last year, it was a good enough team, but I

was very like they could make a run. Yes, but I just don't know. And it's 2018. It's like, oh, I keep every year. There's a reason why I'm like, I don't think they can make it. And this year, even having a million reasons why they can't, I still think of this is the best shot they could possibly have. I don't know why the pitching has the

capacity to be historically bad. But the offense is that good. I'm with you Steve. I think, I think they can make a run and that my inner optimist is screaming right now. But like, I really think they can't bad pitching began. This is a year. Wouldn't it be the most bracing ever to win it in a year that nobody can actually see it or be there

for it? Yeah. Totally. And they'd still get a better World Series celebration than the Nationals did last year. Yep. Exactly. You know, so this is what I think. I think that there is something really magical about the fact that Ian Anderson showed up when and how he did. And that right, you know, had that conversation with Tomlin and figured a bunch of stuff out. And all

the sudden Bryce Wilson could paint the inside against Rides and live at the bottom of the zone like he did last night. There is magic with this team. And you could say that about the last couple of years. But there's something even a little more special about this group. So yeah, Doc, I could see it. Yeah, you're, you're picking the ideas out of my head. That's

exactly right. There's just something I've got a million reasons to not believe in this team. And I'm not listening to any of them because I think there's, there's feelings of special. There's a very particular vibe coming off this roster right now. Yep. I agree. So gentlemen, this was a lot of fun long overdue, like I said, but seriously, this was great. Thank you guys so much.

For real, like this, this has been a lot of fun. Thank you guys for having us on. And it's nice to be on with who I do consider kind of the originators of the bridge podcast. So it's really cool. Sad to see you guys go, but I'm really just honestly, I'm pretty stunned at how long of a run you guys were able to have six years

or what? 14 or 14 hours long? It's been over 600 episodes, man. That is our 400 episodes. That is a long, long run. And it's been, have you guys been a three man crew the whole time? The whole time. I mean, that's, that's incredible. It's hard enough sometimes just getting two people to see if we could do, consistent shows day in and day out. So thank

you guys so much for having us on. Well, we wouldn't say they were consistent, but they're up every Sunday. So. No, you guys, you guys have really struck the stuck and great balance of very conversational. It feels like, you know, one of the vibes that we always wanted to go for was not just being like mega pretentious. And you know, we were staff guys and we

love to talk about that stuff. But like at the end, we're just to do talking about baseball and and you guys have nailed that vibe. But once you stop reading box scores, I'm showing everything. You really nailed that vibe. But you know, you guys kind of set the blueprint for everything that that we do and all of the other podcasts that the great podcast we're doing.

So congratulations on an amazing run and congratulations on your retirement. And I hope you do great things in the future. Thanks, guys. Thank you very much, guys. All right. So big, big thanks to Dylan and Doc. Make sure everybody you subscribe. And don't forget to subscribe to the Platinum Sombrero podcast. Follow the podcast on Twitter at TPS underscore podcast. Follow Doc at Braves Herber and follow

Dylan at Dylan X short. And remember to find us at Speaker iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play and Spotify as well as Atlanta baseball talk.com. Be sure to follow us on Twitter at ATL baseball talk and a like us on Facebook. Thanks again for listening and go Braves. Thanks for listening to Atlanta baseball talk. Your weekly podcast for all things at Atlanta. Thanks again for watching Braves. To

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