Sam took a look at why Sean Murphy could bounce back this year and that is perhaps an underrated tertiary variable (behind the recoveries of Strider and Acuna) for the Braves’ 2025 season. Murphy was fantastic in 2023, but dramatically fell off in 2024 both offensively and to a lesser extent defensively. It is easy to point to some underperformance of batted ball data and the oblique injury to paint a picture that he should regress back to his star-level self. To throw in a pinch of pessimism, his batted ball data was still dramatically below his career baseline. We will have to hope that he simply never recovered from that oblique injury fully, because the Braves have a lot invested in him for the next four years and the Braves could really use that skillset both offensively and defensively at the catcher spot, although perhaps Drake Baldwin can come through as a bigtime player.

Braves News

The Braves were announced to be on three TBS nationally televised games (one viewable in market) in the first half of the season.

Sam made the case for a Sean Murphy bounceback from a disappointing 2024 season derailed by an Opening Day oblique injury.

MLB News

The Reds are talking with star closer Carlos Estevez to potentially reach a deal in free agency.

The Chicago Cubs signed utility infielder Jon Berti to a $2 million deal for one year that includes substantial incentives.

The Cubs are also still pursuing a plethora of high-end options to add to their bullpen via trade or free agency.