Well, we believe in exit velocity, bat flips, launch angles, stealing home, the hanging curveball, Big League Chew, sausage races, and that unwritten rules of any kind are self-indulgent, overrated crap. We believe Greg Maddux was an actual wizard. We believe there ought to be a constitutional amendment protecting minor league baseball and that pitch framing is both an art and a science. We believe in the sweet spot, making WARP not war, letting your closer chase a two-inning save, and we believe love is the most important thing in the world, but baseball is pretty good, too.
Let’s start by putting a bow on the Braves-Ronald Acuña Jr. drama. What’s your overarching takeaway from this mess?
Zachary Rotman: My overarching takeaway is that Brian Snitker retiring sooner than later might be for the best. He’s a great manager, undoubtedly, but Acuña clearly is not completely thrilled with every decision he makes in the dugout, and he only made it harder to defend him by essentially saying he didn’t pull Kelenic because he was asleep at the wheel and didn’t notice his lack of hustle in real time or on the replay. This drama will eventually go away, but that doesn’t mean Acuña will ever fully be behind Snitker again after this incident.
Eric Cole: As the resident Braves guy, this is a long-built situation that has required a lot of give and take from both sides. Acuña Jr. is a young guy that is immensely talented, but doesn’t ascribe to the old school and Brian Snitker has been coaching for 50 years. There is going to be misunderstandings. I think Ronald was right to be perturbed at the inconsistency, but shouldn’t have turned to social media with it. I think Snitker needs to be more consistent, but probably shouldn’t be dragged to oblivion for one instance of non-discipline. Get those two on the phone or in a room and let them talk it out. Fully expect this to be a non-issue very soon as they both know what each other brings to the table, but I suppose it is possible it lingers until Snitker retires.
Chris Landers: To Eric’s point, while it’s easy to forget now, it was a bit of a bumpy road to stardom for Acuña Jr. with the Braves, as his personality very much clashed with the culture that has been in Atlanta since the days of Bobby Cox and Chipper Jones. They’ve managed to make it work, but he and Brian Snitker are simply very, very different guys, and it’s not too surprising that – with Acuña Jr. away from the team rehabbing an injury, and the big-league club mired in a nasty start to this season – things would bubble up again. If Atlanta starts playing the way we all expected, they can probably patch this up and move on. But if not, well, we’ve seen how big of a powderkeg this team and its disparate parts can be.
Adam Weinrib: I think it’s really weird that a lead announcer - and a TBS playoff guy! - in Jeff Francoeur went and torched the face of the franchise he covers, while also publicly selling a story that Jarred Kelenic cried for a half hour after not being pulled from the game and becoming the center of attention? I don’t know, man! I think there’s a bridge to be built here in Atlanta, but I don’t understand how a simple (and accurate) tweet setting off so much vitriol from all corners bodes well for the future. Also, how was Snitker not more prepared for a better answer? Goldfish memory?
Robert Murray: I think it highlights that the Braves’ issues are deeper than just the roster. They have some underlying issues that need to be addressed. What should help the Braves is that Alex Anthopoulos has purposely constructed a locker room full of great people and humans. He has done that intentionally. With that and Snitker’s strong presence, I think this issue will resolve itself. But I’m believing less and less by the day that Atlanta is a postseason team.
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Despite some clear roster flaws in the bullpen and rotation, do you believe in the Chicago Cubs as NL contenders?
Zachary Rotman: I think this Cubs offense is electric. Kyle Tucker has shown why he’s worth giving a blank check to in record time. I think the Cubs should be considered favorites to win the NL Central even with the state of their pitching staff. With that being said, it’s really hard to put this Cubs team as is on the same level as the National League’s elite. If the Cubs add a starter and a big-time bullpen piece or two (which they’re more than capable of doing with their farm system), that will change things.
Eric Cole: Yes, but that is more an indictment of the NL Central as a whole. The Pirates have little interest in winning even with Paul Skenes around, the Reds seem to be a work in progress, the Brewers pitching staff is going to be problematic, and the Cardinals refuse to acknowledge that they need a rebuild. That leaves the Cubs who went out and traded for one of the better hitters in baseball in Kyle Tucker and who seem motivated to actually push for the division win.
Chris Landers: Yes, in so far as it’s hard to see anyone else winning the NL Central. But to Zach’s point, I’m still not quite sold on Chicago as a team on the same level as, say, the Dodgers – or even the Padres or the Mets, for that matter. There are just so many question marks up and down this pitching staff: Outside of Shota Imanaga, do you trust any Cubs starter to take the ball in a postseason game? Will Ryan Pressly’s sketchy underlying numbers come back to haunt him? Will anyone else in this bullpen step up? Jed Hoyer has time to answer those questions, with plenty of ammo at his disposal at the trade deadline. But until he does, it’s hard to jump in with both feet.
Adam Weinrib: I believe in the Cubs being the roller-coaster team of the 2025 season; they make the postseason, their fans hate every minute of it, and their agonizing October crashout will overrule every positive element of the season to that point as a wave of realization creeps over them. “Wait … Kyle Tucker’s not locked down …” In essence, the 2024 Yankees. Congrats on the pennant, then!
Robert Murray: Kyle Tucker has singlehandedly changed that franchise, so yes, as long as he stays healthy the Chicago Cubs are playoff contenders.
The first round of the NFL Draft was Thursday night, with Travis Hunter receiving Shohei Ohtani comparisons. Please tell NFL fans how wrong (or right) they are:
Zachary Rotman: Are we serious with this? What Travis Hunter did at Colorado was special. What Travis Hunter did was also at the collegiate level. He has not played a single professional snap, and it sounds like not every team is fully sold on him being a two-way threat in the NFL. Even if Hunter does play both ways, the chances of him having close to the impact Ohtani has as a hitter and as a pitcher are slim to none. The sports are entirely different. The impact Hunter can have as a cornerback and a wide receiver just don’t compare to that of a DH and a starting pitcher. Hunter can be a unicorn in his sport, but not all unicorns are created equally. This comparison is insulting.
Eric Cole: Talk to me when Hunter is able to play both ways against professionals and be among the best at each position while doing it. Don’t get me wrong as I love what Hunter did and he is immensely talented, but there is a difference between being a two-way player and being Ohtani. The former is a novelty, but Ohtani is a once in a generation talent. Pump the brakes on Hunter until he proves it.
Chris Landers: Come on, man. This is no shade to Hunter: He was my pick to win the Heisman last season, and he is a genuinely incredible and unprecedented player in his own right. But until he’s established himself as among the best in the NFL at not one both both of his chosen positions, he doesn’t deserve to be included in the same sentence with Ohtani. And even if he does reach that ceiling, I’d still probably argue that what Ohtani’s done is more impressive, considering just how disparate elite hitting and elite pitching are as skill sets – and how rare it is for someone to excel at both at the highest level.
Adam Weinrib: Travis Hunter is exactly like Shohei Ohtani in every way. Done!
Alright, back to reality. This is not to take anything way from Hunter, who is an exceptional talent on at least one side of the ball. But right now, this is about something he wants, not something he’s proven. We don’t even know if he’ll be given the chance to achieve this particular dream.
That said, hitting a baseball is the most impossible feat in sports (I once debated “deflecting a flying puck in mid-air towards the net,” and I’ll acknowledge that’s hard, but sorry, not even close). Elite pitchers typically train, unceasing, from the age of eight through the professional ranks to attain the level of skill that Ohtani came by. He paired that with unparalleled offensive talent. There’s nobody like him.
Robert Murray: I wrote a story on this! So let me redirect you to that. But for the TLDR crowd: what a stupid comparison! As I wrote earlier this week, "It’s not fair to Ohtani, and quite frankly, it gives Hunter a comparison that’s impossible to live up to. That’s not a shot at Hunter; that’s just a sign of how great Ohtani is, and how rare it is to do what he's doing."
25-ish games into the season, what storyline has flown under the radar in mainstream media circles, and what does it mean?
Zachary Rotman: The Twins are a mess, and I don’t think nearly enough people are talking about that. They collapsed in last season’s second half, and are 8-15 as of this writing. It’s early, but they have the third-worst record in the majors right now. There’s a good amount of talent on this team, but it’s really hard to take them seriously when the organization’s three best position players - Royce Lewis, Carlos Correa, and Byron Buxton - are as injury prone as they are. Even their top prospect, Walker Jenkins, has had trouble staying healthy. The Twins had chances to add to this core in recent years but refused to do so thanks in large part to an ownership situation that’s still in flux. What this situation means is a sell-off could be coming. The AL Central is deeper than it’s been in years even with the White Sox existing, and Minnesota’s odds of making the postseason feel like they’re dwindling by the day. Major changes might be coming sooner rather than later.
Eric Cole: There were a lot of people that wrote the Padres off coming into the 2025 season. They lost Jurickson Profar to free agency, Joe Musgrove is out for the year, and their unfortunate ownership situation prevented AJ Preller from making any real moves of consequence in the offseason. The end result? San Diego is in first place in the brutal NL West right now and that is with all-world talent Jackson Merrill on the injured list. Don’t call it a comeback, because the Padres are as good if not better than they were last season.
Chris Landers: What if the Colorado Rockies become the worst team of the modern era? For as bad as the 2024 White Sox were, they still managed to sneak over the 40-win mark; right now, Colorado is on pace for … fewer than 30, which would blow away the previous record of 36 set by the 1916 Philadelphia A’s. (The all-time record for futility? The 1899 Cleveland Spiders, which sold off the best players on their roster to help out their owners’ other roster, didn’t play a home game until May and finished the year at 20-134.) The other four teams in the NL West look like playoff contenders, and I’m really not sure how many winnable games the Rockies will find on this schedule. It could be a historic(ally bad) summer.
Adam Weinrib: The Philadelphia Phillies’ window with the current core isn’t just approaching closure. It’s already closed. Kyle Schwarber and the organization are off base on future value, and are unlikely to come together on an extension. Trea Turner’s $300 mega-contract seems to have bought the Phillies a completely fine player. Was it worth it? Aaron Nola has backtracked on his big-money deal as well. There’s an intriguing core below the surface, but not an inspiring one. Even so, if Aidan Miller, Justin Crawford, and Andrew Painter bring the Phils back to relevance, that would represent the end of a generation and the start of a new opportunity. I’d wager that represents Philadelphia’s best hope under Bryce Harper and Dave Dombrowski.
Robert Murray: That Pete Crow-Armstrong is emerging in front of our very eyes and the trade that sent PCA to the Cubs in exchange for a couple months of Javier Baez was one of the worst trades (by the Mets!) in recent memory.
Robert Murray notebook: Jordan Hicks future, Cubs need pitching
- It might be time for the San Francisco Giants to move Jordan Hicks back to the bullpen. They certainly have the young pitching depth to facilitate such a move.
- The Chicago Cubs, for as talented as they are, desperately need a starting pitcher or two.