It’s the day after the Trade Deadline and the Atlanta Braves are back at it. Again, it has to be mentioned that Atlanta is 22 games over .500 with a healthy-sized lead in the NL East at the moment, so it’s not all doom-and-gloom at the ballpark. With that being said, it’s totally understandable for the fans to have questions about what’s going on with the state of the squad after what turned out to be an underwhelming Trade Deadline day.
Still, manager Walt Weiss feels confident in his squad and also
confident in the GM’s vision for the team going forward. He stated as much when he was asked about it in the pregame press conference ahead of their season opener with the Miami Marlins.
“I’m not going to call him and say ‘Hey, I need this…He knows,” stated Weiss. “We talk on a daily basis and over the course of the Trade Deadline […] he was keeping me in the loop of what was going on.” Weiss went on to make it very clear that he’s in favor of the job that AA is doing as GM. “Bottom line: I trust his judgment. I trust who he’s going to bring in the building and that they’ve been very well-vetted if they’re going to come in this building,” affirmed Weiss. “Whether it’s a player or a staff member or support staff. You know it’s going to be [good] people on board with you.”
On the shortstop situation
Ha-Seong Kim has finally returned from rehab assignment and while it’ll surely be nice to have Kim back (and hopefully productive), his return did spark a bit of speculation as to how the shortstop situation would unfold going forward.
Weiss has decided to stay the course with the rookie Jim Jarvis and he confirmed that Jarvis will be staying active with the squad. “Jarvis has earned some playing time. He’s going to get some reps,” said Weiss when he was asked about the shortstop situation. “You’re going to see me use [Mauricio] Dubón at short against some left-handed starters. [Ha-Seong] Kim’s back in the picture so we can see what that looks like.”
Weiss appears to see Kim’s return as a bit of an opportunity. “We got some versatility,” stated Weiss. “For the most part, I’m going to continue to look at that spot like I do everywhere else — who’s playing well, who gives us the best chance to win based on how they’re performing.”
Where does Mauricio Dubón fit in?
With shortstop being a bit crowded, that also opens up questions about where Mauricio Dubón fits into things. The obvious answer is “Wherever there’s a gap” since Dubón’s versatility has proven to be his most valuable asset as a player so far and Weiss confirmed that Dubón is still going to play a big role for the Braves going forward.
“When we first signed Dubón, [the versatility] is what we had in mind,” said Weiss. “I talked about giving these guys days and obviously Dubón was a major piece that allowed me to do that. He’s been one of our best performers. He started out as an infielder and then when [Ronald] Acuña [Jr.] went down, he’s been one of our most consistent performers — one of the guys that’s the heart and soul of our club. He’s going to continue to play a lot. I know he’s not in the lineup tonight but he’s going to continue to play a lot.”
On the catcher situation
Another sign that Weiss is starting to have some good problems to have when it comes to filling out his lineup card on a nightly basis is the return of Sean Murphy into the fold as well. When asked about where Murphy fits into things going forward, Weiss was pretty excited to talk about it.“
“At this position, I’ve caught Drake [Baldwin] against right-handed starters and DH’d him against left-handed starters. That makes the most sense obviously with [Sean Murphy] being a right-handed hitter, he gets to start against left-handed pitching. However, I don’t think he’s going to be exclusive to that,” explained Weiss. “We love what Murph brings to the table, especially on the defensive side. The game-calling, the ability to control the running game and the ability to handle a pitching staff, those are all strengths of his. It’ll look similar to where it’s been in the past with Murph getting the starts against lefties but I don’t think it’ll be that exclusive.
Weiss is clearly keeping his options open when it comes to his primary duo of catchers and again, it’s a good problem to have. “Like everything else, you’ve got to watch how it all plays out and things change every day […] If you try to look to October and what’s going to happen, that’s a million miles away as we sit here today,” proclaimed Weiss.
On Tyler Mahle being added to the pitching staff
I was able to ask about the addition of Tyler Mahle to the squad as well and how important it’ll be for him to eat some innings for the squad going forward. As usual, Weis was very effusive about having a new pitcher to utilize going forward and he made it clear how Mahle is going to fit in going forward.
“Looking [to have Tyler Mahle] protect the bullpen when we can. I think he helps us do that,” stated Weiss. “You’ve heard me talk about the importance of starting pitching as the most valuable commodity in the game […] I think that Mahle has shown that he can get deeper in games and he’s throwing the ball lately so he’s trending in the right way this year. I think he’s a very functional piece to work with.”
