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Talking Chop

Your one stop shop for everything Atlanta Braves

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Braves News: Free Agency, More

This week could be a fun week for the remaining MLB free agents. With the start of Spring Training less than two weeks away for nearly all of baseball, many notable names remained unsigned. As a result, we could see several signings this week, and teams will continue to fill needs for 2026 and beyond. […]

How would you change MLB All-Star Weekend?

The NFL’s Pro Bowl is on Tuesday. Or I should say the NFL Pro Bowl Games. Pro Bowl games used to be full contact affairs. Then they slowly started removing some of the contact elements for injury concerns. It started to resemble non-contact football, especially across the line of scrimmage. So they decided to replace […]

Braves News: Framber Valdez rumors, player panels, more

The offseason may almost be over, but the Braves have widely been rumored to still be looking to add a starting pitcher and there are plenty left on the open market, as well as some presumably available via trade. The biggest fish in free agency is Framber Valdez and there has been some buzz about […]

Offseason open thread: January 31

We’re officially one sleep away from entering into February, which means that spring training will be here before you know it. Excited yet? I know, it’s just spring training but that’s one step closer to the regular season so every little bit needs to be celebrated at this point, right? Anyways, I hope y’all are […]

Why are the Dodgers paying for bad baseball?

The Los Angeles Dodgers are on track to pay at least 160 million dollars of MLB competitive balance tax in 2026. In all, ten teams will be charged close to 500 million dollars in 2026. And it’s only January 31st. There are some big free agents still available. We’ve been over the salary cap and […]

Offseason open thread: January 30

I hope everybody has a lovely start to their weekend. Please stay warm and safe out there if you’re in the path of the second winter storm in as many weekends! Here’s a random clip for you:

NFL

Braves add veteran starter Martin Perez on minor league deal, per report

Well, it’s not really a solution to a perceived need for additional heft in the starting pitching department, but it’s a move anyway: A 14-year MLB veteran, the Venezuelan left-hander has 17.1 career fWAR across over 1,630 career innings. His career pitching line (ERA-/FIP-/xFIP-) is 100/103/107 — basically a fourth-ish starter over the arc of […]

Braves players primed for an offensive boost in 2026

There is no sugar coating it: The Atlanta Braves largely underperformed last season. There were unforeseen circumstances like injuries and a suspension, but pure underperformance played a role for some players on the roster. There are some players on the roster that also fell victim to some bad luck with the bat. What is meant […]

2026 Braves Fest cancelled due to forecasted inclement weather

In Thursday night’s open thread, I discussed the weather forecast that was a bit concerning for Saturday. Saturday was important because that was when this year’s edition of Braves Fest was scheduled. Well, the weather forecast for Metro Atlanta hasn’t gotten any better since Thursday and as such, the Braves have officially made the decision […]

What will Jurickson Profar produce in 2026?

Prior entries: The portent of the 2024 Atlanta Braves season being a morass of injuries was Sean Murphy getting hurt and leaving the first game of the season. The portent of the 2025 Atlanta Braves season being… really dumb and no fun was Jurickson Profar eating a PED suspension after the first series of the […]

MLB

Offseason open thread: January 29

So here’s the forecast for Saturday (a.k.a. Braves Fest day) as of right now: Of course, this could definitely change between now and Saturday (especially considering how the Metro Atlanta area ended up dodging a bullet (for the most part) when it came to last weekend’s ice storm) but also OOF. Even if there’s no […]

Venezuela announces Ronald Acuña Jr. addition to World Baseball Classic roster

It is official, Ronald Acuña Jr. will be playing for Team Venezuela in the World Baseball Classic this year for his second appearance since debuting with the team in 2023 during the WBC. That year, he experienced going to the quarterfinals with the team, but fell to Team USA in the end. It was just […]

MLB

Braves News: Starting pitching rumors, Sean Murphy injury, more

The Braves were linked specifically to Chris Bassitt and Lucas Giolito as targets for their starting pitching pursuit, which apparently remains active at this stage in the offseason. While those are by no means sexy options, they likely wouldn’t require eye-watering contracts and would preserve the Braves’ 2026 draft capital, as compared to Framber Valdez […]

Braves reportedly still interested in adding to their starting rotation

Despite the fact that we’ve hit this lull period here in the offseason, there’s still a fair number of players out there who are available via free agency. In fact, there’s actually plenty of starting pitchers who are still on the market at the moment. Jon Heyman of the New York Post recently took note […]

How would you prevent waiver wire vacillation?

To be clear: I’m not even saying the phenomenon referred to in the title even needs a fix. Maybe, if you’re a fringy utility player or hurler, it’s just your lot in life to change teams five teams before you suit up in a Spring Training uniform during the upcoming season. Still, it seems kind […]

Offseason open thread: January 27

Piggybacking off of this Feed post from DJourn from earlier: Are y’all going to Braves Fest on Saturday? Granted, it’s forcasted to be absolutely brick cold in Cobb County on this coming Saturday but hey, it’s Braves Fest. We didn’t get it last year and it only comes once a year. I’m planning on going, […]

Three Braves make ESPN Top 100 Prospects

Today ESPN and writer Kiley McDaniel – who is a former Braves scout, put out their Top 100 Prospect list for the 2026 season found here. Once again Cam Caminiti leads the way, but for the first time this year Didier Fuentes is also included, along with JR Ritchie making the third of the four […]

Braves prospects who could make Top 100 lists in 2027

Now that the 2026 Top 100 Prospect lists are out, it’s time to take a look at some of the Braves prospects who could make a push to be included on the 2027 versions of the Top 100 Prospects in the game. Of course Cam Caminiti will not make this list, as he is already […]

What will Spencer Strider produce in 2026?

Sigh, this is a depressing one of these to do. Everything about Spencer Strider was, in theory, so awesome, that it didn’t seem like a little thing like a year-long layoff due to elbow troubles was going to derail his career. Surely someone so diligent in being in tune with his body and mechanics could […]

MLB

Braves News: Cam Caminiti, Bounce Back Braves, More

If it is late January on the the MLB Calendar, that means it is prospect lists galore. And for Cam Caminiti, it is further validation that he is emerging as one of the best young pitching prospects on the game. Both Keith Law and MLB Pipeline see the young southpaw as the Braves best prospect, […]

Offseason open thread: January 26

Ivan asked about it earlier but yeah, hopefully everybody out there in the path of this weekend’s winter storm rode it out both warmly and safely at the same time. Spring Training will be here before we all know it and we need everybody locked in and ready to go without freezing out there. Anyways, […]

MLB

Braves bring back José Suarez

Not even two weeks ago, the Braves ended up seeing lefty pitcher José Suarez get claimed off waivers by the Orioles after Atlanta had designated him for assignment. As fate would have it, Suarez’s time with the Orioles ended up being extremely short after the Orioles decided to DFA him last week after they claimed […]