I’m pleasantly surprised by the play, both defensive and offensive, of Arcia. He is off to a fantastic start of the season !

Arcia came into spring training looking more muscular and agile and focused this year than he started last year. You were all about the eye test with swanson when he was the guy. The night he had off he was sitting right next to snit all night. He means business this year. I think the way the playoffs ended last year with all the drama flipped a switch for him during the offseason

What about Reynaldo Lopez. He's been pitching so well and it looks like they're not using him.

Hey Jake. I wanted to say that I generally concur with your assessment of Arcia. I think he's a good player but not a superstar and is very likely (in fact almost certainly) over performing right now and probably overperformed the first half of last season as well. In defense of the people who may disagree with you I will point out something though. At one point Arcia was ranked as a top 10 prospect in *all* of baseball. Prospects ranked that high are generally considered to have very high ceilings. I don't see how a low or even middle ceiling player can be considered one of the 10 best prospects in the game. It's entirely possible that the Brewers organization just failed to develop him offensively and the Braves are doing some things differently that are more suitable to Arcia's skill set and talent level. And like I said before his talent level must've been considered very high at some point for him to earn that top 10 ranking. It wouldn't be the first time a player finally reached his potential after switching organizations. So in other words it's very possible Arcia's performance with the Brewers had less to do with Arcia and more to do with the Brewers and the way they were trying to develop him. Honestly if Arcia were to end up being a consistent star player it wouldn't be all that different than what the Braves are hoping to do with Kelenic. They are both previously very high ranked prospects who failed to reach their potential with their previous team but seemed to turn into much better players as soon as they put in a Braves uniform. So maybe the Braves have the combination to release that top 10 talent potential for Arcia and Kelenic and the Brewers and Mariners just didn't. We shouldn't forget that Arcia wasn't just an All-Star last season either. He was the starting All-Star. So for the majority of last season Arcia was actually considered the best overall SS in the National League. I do agree with you though that it makes virtually zero sense to extend Arcia right now. Including the club option(s) didn't Arcia sign what could end up being a 4-year extension just before last season? That would mean the Braves still have multiple years of dirt cheap control left even after this season is over. There's really no reason to extend him now because that would be buying high when they don't even have to. One of Arcia's best attributes is he costs next to nothing which allows the Braves to spend more money on other players. Extending him now would almost certainly require a noticeable increase in his salary which would take away that attribute. Maybe if Arcia continues to do this through the end of the 2025 season the Braves should start contemplating an extension. Right now it seems totally unnecessary though. Sometimes I think some people.want players to get extended just because they like the idea of the player getting more money without looking at the big picture and what is best for the team as a whole. What's best for the Braves is for them to have as much money as possible available to add more players and extending Arcia while he still has multiple years of control left would certainly hamper that ability. Great video Jake. Thanks.

Braves have played 17 games this year so far. 3 teams total have played only 17 games (Twins, Brewers, Braves). 21 teams have played 19 or more games. The Braves lead all of MLB in doubles with 51. The Astros have the second most doubles with 40 and have played 20 games. The Dodgers have the 4th most doubles with 36 and have played 21 games. The Braves have scored 108 runs this season which is 2nd to the Padres 109 runs. The Padres have played 21 games. The Braves have 299 total bases which is 3rd. Dodgers are 1st with 308 in 21 games and the Astros are 2nd with 300 in 20 games. Ron hasn't really got started yet. He only has 5 extra base hits (4 doubles, 1 home run). Sean Murphy has 3 at-bats although d'Arnaud and Tromp have a combined 8 doubles which ties them with Arcia and Riley for the team lead. Anyway..... this offense is incredible. Just wait until they start hitting home runs. Ozuna and Olson are the only 2 Braves with more than 2 home runs and Olson only has 3.

Thanks for looking up the blackout rules. Do the broadcast teams for the other networks give everyone a headache? Bally Sports will not allow me to select the Braves broadcast since I live in Florida. I usually mute the TV and listen to the Braves on the radio.

As good as Orlando Arcia has looked, an interesting thing to look at is he's got the largest overperformance on the team with a .419 wOBA, .292 xwOBA, for a positive 0.127 which is a massive overperformance.

Definitely agree about pitching. If that doesn’t get better, we’re screwed again in the playoffs. Still early, but like you said, pitching gotta get better!

Morning, Jake! Looking forward to your responses to Mailbag questions. Let’s get to it!!

Everydayer here Jake. Is this the best Braves lineup of all time? Thanks.

Lance Lynn innings eater and bulldog . Could work.

Ryan Webb- Everydayer here from PA, pleasantly surprised by the defense so far especially without Ron Wash. Get ready because Ronald and Matt are about to go off!

What do you think about some of the Angels' starters. Canning or Sandoval could be good depth additions.

Once the Angels season looks done, I'd be calling the Angels about Tyler Anderson. He's been consistently decent, his only really bad year was in CO where everyone sucks, he's not so good as to be really expensive (in money and prospect terms) and he's signed for this year and next at 13 mil a year. That's Charlie Morton kind of numbers for less money. Especially if Fried and Morton are going to be gone next year, he would be a nice piece to help fill in until better options could be found.

Ozzie flips his wrist when he throws and it cause him to arc the ball which takes away from the speed. He’s done this his entire career. It’s just the way he throws.

Gilbert

I love Ozzie. I wish he was a bit taller The need to do a bear 🐻 of some sort. If not extension for Arcia then who? I thought Arcia has a 3 year deal?

I think the braves could use some reinforcement via trade but I think the concern would be the $$ pushing the payroll over the third threshold and if the braves are willing to take those penalties including getting their draft pick pushed back. If the braves don't care, then I think Jose Berrios could be an interesting candidate. Could be a good #3 starter ahead of Morton in the playoffs. Is experienced and relatively young on a reasonable contract without big injury history. I could see the Blue Jays being out of contention by the trade deadline esp in a competitive AL east and if they suffer a big injury like to Gausman who was dealing with shoulder issues. Another trade partner could be the Twins. They have a lot of young interesting starters but I don't know much about them.

Hey is Matt Olson trash why cant he hit?

We need to stop talking extensions for now. Until some payroll clears we can’t extend anyone unless they decide no one cares about penalties.

What’s the update Ynoa?