- 1 week ago
Did Alex Anthopoulos know Tyler Mahle was going to shove like this after the trade deadline? The Braves GM joined Dukes and Bell to debrief on Atlanta's roster moves, nearly pulling off huge pitching trades, and how AA navigates fan criticism while building a World Series contender.
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00:00Alex Anthopoulos, Braves General Manager.
00:02Double-A, thanks for jumping on with this.
00:04Game's at 6.05 tonight, by the way, and Bryce Elder is on the heel.
00:08I want to start with this pitching staff and Tyler Malley.
00:12Double-A, did you know you were getting this Tyler Malley
00:15when you made the move to get him because he's been unbelievable since the deadline?
00:20Can I lie or no?
00:22I mean, hell no.
00:251-4-8-E-R-A? Hell to the no.
00:29But did we think he was good? Yes.
00:31Did we think he'd be better? Absolutely.
00:32Look, I remember, and maybe I was, you know, I try not to follow.
00:37I have told you guys this, right?
00:38If there's Braves talk on radio or whatever, I switch channel
00:41because I don't want to not like anybody and be impacted.
00:44So Hawks, Falcons, I'm listening. I'm all over it.
00:48But at the time when I did my media after trade deadline,
00:52I could feel it was like, you know, I think the first question out of the gate was like,
00:56it took me by surprise, like, hey, so-and-so team got this guy, that guy,
01:03and you got Tyler Malley.
01:04And I was like, whoa.
01:06Like that was like basically, and, you know,
01:09I didn't think it was the most respectful thing in the world and so on.
01:11And I said, look, like, I felt like we got better at the deadline, you know.
01:16But I know everyone's, after the fact, people are telling me how people are upset.
01:20And maybe I was clueless.
01:22I don't know.
01:22But I wasn't following it.
01:24So I just was like, you're doing your job if you're making the team better.
01:28And look, when you're explaining you're losing, that's a political adage, right?
01:32So having to go talk through everything, walk through everything,
01:35it's obviously part of the job.
01:37But I think the one thing I kept saying is, look, irrespective of what I say,
01:40with all these guys, with anybody who we traded,
01:43who we couldn't have traded for, we're going to find out, right?
01:46Just like a free agent signing and so on.
01:48The beauty of this stuff is we're going to find out whether you trade for a guy,
01:52sign a guy, as a free agent.
01:53We're going to find out soon enough.
01:55So after the deadline, look, it's been a nice three, four weeks.
01:58We still have a whole other month of September.
02:00We still have hopefully October.
02:02So the book isn't written on any of these guys.
02:04Am I happy?
02:05Of course.
02:06But I think at the time, my view of the deadline was, look, we got better.
02:10And I felt like I was getting a bunch of high rolls.
02:12Like, so, okay, Suter brings up the floor in the bullpen.
02:15Obviously, Lane Thomas brings up the floor, and Mally makes us better.
02:19And we're going to see how they perform.
02:20And they've all done a great job, so I'm really satisfied.
02:22Look, and we said this on the air earlier in the week, you know,
02:26apologize because I just thought, look, the Scooble thing was its own thing.
02:29There was a very unique set of circumstances,
02:31and that didn't seem like it was ever feasible.
02:33And then we found out that you were interested in Jacob DeGrom,
02:35but he was interested in coming to be a Brave.
02:36So, and now in hindsight, obviously, you made the right moves.
02:40Now we're just going to hope we can win a World Series with this squad.
02:42But how close were you on some – we haven't had a chance to debrief
02:45since you did it.
02:45How close were you on some other deals?
02:48Yeah, so I'd say this.
02:49Look, a lot of stuff was out there.
02:50I have to be careful talking about other players on other teams.
02:53But, one, Terry McGurk, you know, to this day even, you know,
02:58there's guys on waivers that make a lot of money and so on.
03:01He continues to give me the go-ahead.
03:03Look, like you mentioned, there was guys out there with big salaries
03:08that we were given the go-ahead to pursue.
03:11There's been a lot of reports about us trading for guys
03:14and them invoking no-trade clauses.
03:17I saw the reports.
03:19Those things happen.
03:21You know, guys have rights.
03:22There's a reason.
03:23They get a no-trade clause negotiated into their contracts,
03:26and they have a right to use those.
03:30But I think the one thing I've always said, which I know can be tough at times,
03:33is we're not going to force a move.
03:35We're not going to make a move to make a splash.
03:37I did that stuff as a young GM because of fan pressure, media pressure, and so on.
03:42And I made a lot of mistakes.
03:44And I understand, and maybe just because I'm older
03:47and it's my second time doing this,
03:48and, you know, I did nine in, you know,
03:50I've been nine years here now.
03:51I've been six in Toronto.
03:53This is my 15th season as a GM.
03:55I've made every mistake in the book,
03:56and I'm going to continue to make mistakes.
03:58I just have to get more right than wrong
04:00so I can keep doing these phone interviews.
04:03But, you know, like, you're going to,
04:06you just have to make decisions for the right reasons.
04:08And, look, there's plenty of times I'll go into Terry McGurk's office
04:11and say, look, if we do this, it's going to be loud.
04:13People are going to be upset.
04:15But we still have to do what we believe in.
04:18And the bottom line is I've been there where we've won the offseason.
04:21We did the splashy move.
04:22People are excited, you know, in the offseason.
04:24Everyone's excited.
04:25They're praising you.
04:25And then the year starts and the team isn't playing well
04:27and you made the wrong decisions,
04:29and it comes back to you anyway.
04:31So I'm fine taking the bullets.
04:34I get it.
04:34I get the frustration.
04:36Look, that's why you guys have a show.
04:38That's why I'm following Falcons and Hawks
04:40because we have opinions and we're sports fans
04:42and we're really passionate.
04:43And at the end of the day, the people running the teams,
04:46it's their job to get it right more often than not.
04:49But we get to second guess, criticize, and I'm fine with it.
04:52I get it.
04:53It's part of the job.
04:55And if I don't get it right, I should get ripped.
04:57And if people don't like to move at the time,
04:59that's fine with getting ripped.
05:00And hopefully the move works out and we win games
05:03and we're all satisfied.
05:0482-55.
05:05Braves are 27 games above .500.
05:07Swept the Dodgers.
05:08Huge.
05:09Swept the Rockies.
05:10And now on a seven-game win streak.
05:12One shy of our longest streak.
05:15I want to ask you about the starters that maybe we were counting on.
05:20And AA, did you think, it's Alex Anthopoulos, guys,
05:23Braves general manager, Strider or Waldrop or Smith-Charver,
05:26did you have them in the future rotation down the stretch here
05:31as part of a playoff run?
05:34So, look, we, you know, I've said this before.
05:36When it comes to the postseason, you're really looking at 27 outs, right?
05:40And that doesn't mean you'd love to have a one, a two, a three, a four.
05:43The Dodgers won it two years ago with basically a bullpen
05:46and one starter, two starters, and they had an unbelievable bullpen.
05:50Last year, they were incredibly deep in the rotation, right?
05:53So, they've won it both ways.
05:54We had a year where it was Freed and Ian Anderson as our one and two,
05:59and the rest was up in the air.
06:00And we went to game seven of the CS during the COVID year with no off days.
06:04And then the other year where we went to the World Series,
06:07you know, we had Charlie Morton and Freed as our one and two,
06:09and Ian Anderson slotted down to our three.
06:11And we were able to obviously win the whole thing.
06:12So, I guess I'd say this is, who's throwing the best?
06:16Who's the best matchup against that team?
06:19We saw Snet pulled Ian Anderson after four no-hit innings, I think,
06:22or five no-hit innings, and we went to the bullpen.
06:25So, I do think having a deep bullpen is really important.
06:27But in terms of relying on certain guys, you know, like you mentioned,
06:31we penciled in this guy for game two or three or four.
06:34One, we always respect the fact we've got to get to the postseason.
06:37But I'd say this, on all these guys, it's not to say you're expecting all of them
06:42to have surgery at some point.
06:43Some guys, though, when they join the organization, you know that surgery might be coming.
06:49So, I'll give those examples, and it's fine because they're our players.
06:51Adrian Smith-Charbert, we took him late in the seventh round.
06:54When we drafted him, we knew there was issues with the ligament at that time.
06:57No one's going to do surgery at that time because he's pitching.
07:00But you know it could be three, four, five, six years down the road.
07:03It could happen.
07:04He performed for a while.
07:06Finally, it went.
07:07But that wasn't a surprise.
07:09Waldrop, when he got hurt in 2024, you know, we knew there was a concern then.
07:14But you always try to rehab it.
07:15He rehabbed it, came back, and basically made 30 starts in 2025.
07:19So, some guys can have a bad elbow, bad shoulder, and they pitch their entire career.
07:23But you also know it can happen at the same time.
07:26So, you know, there's sometimes you know it can happen.
07:29It's likely going to happen.
07:31So, you don't sit there and plan on saying, this guy's my game two or my game three starter.
07:35I think we have a lot of depth right now.
07:37We have a really deep bullpen, which is important.
07:39So, I think hopefully we get there.
07:41We're going to look at who's the opponent.
07:43Maybe it's three innings out of a guy.
07:44Maybe it's an opener.
07:46Maybe it's one time through the order.
07:48The off days and the postseason change everything because you can basically lose all your relievers all the time.
07:53And it's totally different than during the season when you're playing 20 in a row, 17 in a row, and
07:57so on.
07:58Well, it's Alex Anthopoulos with us, guys.
08:00The Braves general manager, as we've said, now tied with the Dodgers, the number two seed in the NL, which
08:04will certainly be important.
08:05Don't want to be in a best of three.
08:06One of the other curveballs that was thrown at you this year is Hassan Kim.
08:10And really not much you can do, the untimely injury.
08:12And then the only way guys get better, as we're seeing with Murphy, is getting reps.
08:15But tough for Walt to get him in the lineup.
08:17Where do you see that going the rest of the way?
08:20Yeah, I know there was a lot of debate about, you know, do we keep Kim, do we not keep
08:24Kim, all that kind of stuff.
08:25And look, he hasn't.
08:26I mean, stating the obvious, definitely hasn't played the way we expected.
08:30Look, when we acquired him last year, we were hoping he didn't opt out.
08:33We were acquiring him for the current year.
08:35He played well for us down the stretch.
08:38Tampa had signed him originally to a two-year deal.
08:40They knew they were rehabbing him and so on.
08:42And look, his season never got off on the right foot, right?
08:45He gets hurt in the winter, comes back.
08:47Swing isn't right.
08:49He does not play well early.
08:51Banged up again.
08:52Goes back on rehab.
08:53Actually starts swinging it a lot better on rehab and was hitting balls hard.
08:57And he actually looked good.
08:58But we had other guys playing well at the time and there wasn't playing time for him.
09:01So, you know, there was a debate of do we keep him or not.
09:05The view with us was when you look at the track record, he had less than 100 played appearances or
09:09whatever it was with us.
09:10This guy's track record in his career, he's 30 years old.
09:13He's not 38, 37.
09:15This guy's been a very good player.
09:17You know, so much so that he's earned two-year contracts and even a one-year contract with us.
09:21And we can debate the dollars.
09:22But at the end of the day, this is a good player.
09:24He's traditionally been a good player.
09:25He's been a good everyday player.
09:27And to take a 100 played appearance sample size, which is so far away from what he's done his entire
09:34career, was crazy to us.
09:36So our view is, look, as a 26 guy on the bench, barely playing, is he the best guy out
09:42there?
09:43Maybe not.
09:43But if there's an injury, which we've had plenty of between Albies and Riley and so on, does this guy
09:49have the most upside as an everyday player?
09:51If you look at the track record, if we can get him steady at bats and play him every day,
09:55does this guy have the most upside?
09:57Absolutely, yes.
09:57And that was the thought process because once you get past the trade deadline, it's almost impossible to add players.
10:02You get into the postseason, guys get hurt.
10:04We lost Adam Duvall and other guys in the past.
10:06So that depth and guys that have a chance to be everyday guys, an everyday player, is a big deal.
10:11And this guy's still very young, and it's still in there now.
10:14Playing time, like you said, with Walt, he's trying to get everybody in there, but we're trying to win every
10:19game we can.
10:19We're trying to, one, win the NL East.
10:21And then beyond that, if we can, we'd love to get a bye and be one of the top two
10:25seats.
10:25So, Alex, real quick, it's not the money why you're keeping him.
10:29You're explaining why you guys decided to hold on to him, right?
10:32Absolutely.
10:33I've seen all that.
10:34Oh, this guy makes money.
10:35Look, this is a meritocracy here.
10:37You're on a one-year deal anyways.
10:39The money's spent.
10:40Aaron Bummer's on a one-year deal.
10:41Dylan Dodd was better.
10:42We decided to keep him.
10:44Love Jorge Mateo.
10:45Did a great job for us.
10:46But, and I say this with all due respect to Jorge, because he's great.
10:49He was a great teammate.
10:50He's a great base runner and so on.
10:51If you look at the last 10 days that he was with us, I think he got one start against
10:56Trevor Rogers with the Orioles.
10:57He got one start in a 10-day period.
11:00Had a really nice stretch, I think, in May, where we played the Reds.
11:04He was great.
11:04I think Walt started with three or four games in a row.
11:06If you look at their careers and their track record and so on, I'm stating the fact, Hassan's had a
11:11more accomplished career.
11:12If you look at where Jorge Mateo was a year ago, we gave him a shot, trying to have a
11:16bounce back season.
11:17So, if you're talking strictly if all we want is a pinch runner, steal bases, yeah, I'd say Jorge Mateo
11:23is as fast a player as there is in the league.
11:25But if you look at track record and so on in terms of consistency of career and upside, I think
11:31the industry would have told you Hassan's been valued higher.
11:34That's not to take anything away from Jorge.
11:35So, this has nothing to do.
11:37Look, it's very similar to when we had, and I'm not saying they're the same player, when Ozuna was going
11:41through hard times, I remember a couple clubs.
11:44Madison Bumgarner got released.
11:45Aaron Hicks got released from the Yankees and the Dimebacks.
11:47And I immediately asked me, why isn't Ozuna next?
11:52And he was great in the clubhouse.
11:53He had big upside.
11:54He played well in September, the year before when he came back from injury.
11:58And we felt it was still in there.
12:00Now, to Snit's credit, he kept running him out there because I can't tell you I would have done it.
12:03He's getting booed, and he was awful.
12:05He had the worst April in the history of the game, I think.
12:08And Snit stayed with him, and he finally got it going and turned it around.
12:10And there was a lot of indicators to say that.
12:12So, look, I don't know that Kim's going to get the playing time now with Dubon playing a lot of
12:16short and the other outfielders and Murph now coming back.
12:18It's tough on Walt getting everybody at bats.
12:21But we still need depth.
12:22Guys are going to get hurt.
12:23Guys are going to slump.
12:24And having as many guys that could be everyday players for us, especially Kim, who won a gold glove across
12:29all three infield positions with San Diego.
12:32He was the utility glove.
12:33He was really what Mauricio Dubon's been for us.
12:35He was that for San Diego.
12:37He's still a very young player, and it's certainly in there.
12:39So, this has nothing to do with salary.
12:41On a one-year deal, the money spent, it's irrelevant.
12:44We're doing the best thing.
12:45And I think the move with Aaron Bummer for Dodd is a great example of that.
12:50Talking with Alex Anthopoulos, guys, debriefing on the trade deadline.
12:53Obviously, the amazing run since the trade deadline came and went.
12:57A little wobble there against the Brewers, but right back on top in Red Hot, the hottest team in baseball.
13:01The other thing, you mentioned the pitchers, the Schwellenbach injuries, and all the young guys.
13:05I know in the offseason, I think that's why some guys were upset, Alex, was when you said starting pitching
13:09was a priority in his last offseason.
13:11And just for whatever reason, we weren't able to get more starting pitching in here.
13:15Yeah, no, it's fair.
13:16And look, I get it.
13:17And I think about that all the time.
13:18You want to communicate with fans, right?
13:20You want to be transparent.
13:22I know it's – I struggle between the GM speak, but then also trying to be transparent.
13:28Because, you know, people are living and dying with the team.
13:30So, you're trying to be as transparent as you can be.
13:32And, look, like in a perfect world, yes, we would have got this, this, this, this, this.
13:37I think you run into issues when you say, I have to do this at all costs.
13:45And, you know, I think the issue you run into is if – then you force a move because, look,
13:50if you're doing a one-year deal, that's fine, right?
13:53But if you're saying, hey, we have to get a third baseman or we have to get a first baseman
13:56or whatever it is, and the best guy on the market happens to be X.
13:59And, look, there's examples of that in other sports.
14:01It's – you're getting married, you start doing long-term deals.
14:03And if it's not the right guy and you make a mistake, you're now – you've chewed up the money
14:08for all those years and you've chewed up that position.
14:10So, the goal is you're being asked at the beginning of the offseason, right?
14:13It's beginning of November.
14:14You're at the GM meeting saying, what would you like to do?
14:18And part of me feels like I should just give a boring answer and say, you know what?
14:21We want to make the team better.
14:22We're just trying to make the team better any way we can.
14:24And you guys will roll your eyes.
14:26This guy never tells us anything.
14:27You're right.
14:27You're right.
14:28Right?
14:29But then I'll say I'd like to do – and sometimes I want to be really careful because I don't
14:33want to tip our hand, whether it's trades or agents or other teams of what we're looking to do.
14:38But there's no doubt every year if you can go get, you know, starters that you think are impactful and
14:44so on, you're going to look to do it.
14:45And, look, I know nobody wants to hear we tried.
14:48I get it.
14:49Josh Donaldson taught me this years ago.
14:51This isn't the try league.
14:52This is the get-it-done league.
14:55And, you know, we need to get results.
14:57But I do think when it's all said and done, we play the games.
15:01We play 162.
15:03And the standard here is to get to the World Series, win the World Series, be a really good team.
15:08There's super high expectations here, rightfully so.
15:11And that's well before my time.
15:12That's Bobby Cox and John Sherald.
15:14So I feel it.
15:15I feel it.
15:16I know how much everybody cares.
15:18And I know how important it is.
15:21But I guess I can tell you this.
15:23I'm okay with the criticism.
15:25That's not to be arrogant because if I know I'm doing what I believe is right for the organization, irrespective
15:31from a personal standpoint, how it impacts me, the criticism and so on, you don't have any regrets.
15:35When you make decisions, and I've done this in the past, that you know are the wrong decisions.
15:39But you know the fans are going to get excited.
15:41Media is going to get excited.
15:43And I did this in Toronto early in my career.
15:46There's like a guilt that comes over you.
15:48Like I made the wrong move, but everyone's so pumped.
15:50But this is going to not work out.
15:52It's going to kill us.
15:53It's a terrible feeling.
15:54And I swore to myself when I did that early in my career and it didn't work out, I wasn't
15:58going to do that anymore.
15:59I was just going to make the right decision for the club.
16:01And you put your head on the pillow and you hope it works out.
16:05But I've seen it in other sports.
16:08Start doing stuff for halo effect and everything else.
16:11And sometimes you're going to make moves that aren't exciting, like Mally.
16:14He's been good.
16:15I hope he continues.
16:16But no one's going to get excited about that because they don't know who he is.
16:18And I get it.
16:19But if he performs, that's all that matters.
16:22And if that means you're going to get criticized, so be it.
16:25In the long run, if you win games, it's going to go away.
16:27You make the splash and a guy doesn't perform, you're going to get killed anyways.
16:33Alex Anthopoulos.
16:33Hey, he's dropping knowledge, guys.
16:35And by the way, not to pump him, but how many times have we missed the playoffs since you've been
16:39the general manager?
16:40Once.
16:40Right?
16:41Am I right?
16:42One out of nine so far.
16:43I hope we're at a nine.
16:45Correct.
16:46So that all plays to what he's talking about.
16:49All right.
16:49Before we let you go, I want to ask you about Walt Weiss because I know we've got a game
16:52coming up here tonight.
16:53Did he lobby for the job?
16:55Because I love his pragmatic approach.
16:57I think he's perfect from what I've seen and what I'm hearing about how he handles the clubhouse.
17:03I'm just kidding.
17:04Did you know you were getting this?
17:05And did you know his makeup, even though he had been around SNIT all those years?
17:10I'm just curious from where you sit and how that played out.
17:14Yeah, no, I don't think never.
17:16And that's something that's I'm big on that kind of stuff.
17:19I'm not.
17:20If you're a political animal, I'm out.
17:22I am so out.
17:23I don't care how talented you are.
17:24I don't care how good you are.
17:26It's just that we're not going to work well together.
17:28You know, and that's what I loved about SNIT.
17:29He was authentic.
17:30He was himself.
17:31Even, you know, my first year, SNIT's in the last year of his deal, all this uncertainty.
17:36He didn't.
17:37He was himself.
17:39If that was good enough, it was good enough.
17:40And I do feel the best, at least from a baseball standpoint, I can't speak for the other sports,
17:45the best coaches, in my opinion, people in uniform, they're the ones, they do the job like they don't need
17:51the job.
17:51You start doing it and you're worried about players, offending players or, you know, front office and this.
17:57And you're just not going to, you're not doing the right thing.
18:00So, Walt is always, you know, I've been around him a long time.
18:04You never know exactly how he's going to be if you put him in the chair.
18:06You know, his role was a bench coach and he was loyal to SNIT and, look, SNIT has the playbook,
18:11right?
18:11And he's handing it out and it's Walt's job to execute it and so on.
18:15So, but the person, the character, the way he goes about it, the way he thinks.
18:19And then, look, the first time I talked to him about the manager, it's the only time I'd ever talked
18:23to him about managing in any.
18:25And what I loved about all my time here is not once did he ever try too hard or sometimes
18:31when you're the boss and people, you know, it's pretty obvious they try harder than maybe they should.
18:37And so, and it's obvious, right?
18:38He just went about his business.
18:40He did his job.
18:41He reported to SNIT and he was loyal to SNIT.
18:43And I respected that so, so much.
18:45But he's his own human being, his own person.
18:48And, look, we had, we had half of the success that SNIT had here.
18:52Sign me up in a second, you know?
18:54So, did I expect Walt to do a good job?
18:56Yes.
18:57Did I know there were some things we hit the ground running?
18:59He's worked with the front office.
19:00He has the respect of the players.
19:02He's done the job before.
19:04Didn't need to have a playing career, but it's nice that he had one.
19:07All those things, there was a lot of boxes already checked.
19:10And you just, the one thing you can't simulate is what's his in-game going to be like?
19:14What's the strategy?
19:14You can talk about it, but once the bullets are flying and everything, how was he like managing a game?
19:19That was the one unknown, but in talking through the way his mind worked, I felt pretty good about it.
19:23So, he's been great.
19:25You know, I'm lucky I inherited SNIT and he was awesome.
19:29And then, you know, I inherited Walt.
19:31I didn't hire Walt initially.
19:32He was the bench coach.
19:33So, you know, I gave him the job now, but he was already part of the organization.
19:37And Bobby Cox is the one that brought him to SNIT.
19:39And SNIT was obviously really smart to hire him.
19:42So, I've been elated.
19:43He's done a great job.
19:44Good stuff.
19:45Let's keep it going.
19:46Alex, good luck tonight.
19:47Thank you for the debrief.
19:48We look forward to talking with you in the month of September as we get ready for it.
19:51Hopefully, I'm keeping our fingers crossed another playoff run.
19:53Let's keep it going.
19:54All right, guys.
19:55Really appreciate it.
19:57If you take anything from that, take this.
20:03He's always going to do what he thinks is right, even if he's willing to get criticized for it.
20:09And it's the right path.
20:11I mean, Mike, it's worked.
20:13And look, we didn't agree on the trade deadline.
20:15We were hot that next day.
20:17Yeah, just you felt like you missed some opportunities.
20:19And then you find out some of the stuff that goes on behind.
20:21He's like, that's why I want to talk about the DeGrom thing.
20:23They tried.
20:24They tried to make a play.
20:25That would have been a big splash.
20:26We didn't want to go.
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