In the first two segments of The Nick Kayal Show, Nick kicked things off by talking about the biggest news in Braves baseball, and that is obviously the Atlanta Braves re-signing Marcell Ozuna to a four year sixty-five million dollar contract with a fifth year club option included in the deal. Nick and all of Braves country love this move by Alex Anthopolous and the Braves front office whether there is a universal designated hitter this season or not. However, not only does Nick love the move, but he also thinks with this move and with the Los Angeles Dodgers acquiring Trevor Bauer this all but cements a rematch of last year’s National League Championship Series.
Marcell Ozuna was obviously a huge part of the Braves regular and postseason success last season. If it hadn’t been for Marcell Ozuna the Braves would have started the season 0-2 as he saved the Braves in the ninth inning with two outs with a solo home run off of Edwin Diaz to tie the game at two. That home run by Ozuna sent the game into extra innings where the Braves would score three runs the two innings later in the top of the tenth to get a lead they would not lose to secure their first victory of the season. Not only did Marcell help win games for the Braves on the field, but he also injected a contagious energy into the clubhouse where he started mixing it up, and sooner than later that was the hashtag and the calling card for the Atlanta Braves postseason run. If all that isn’t enough for you not only did the Braves re-sign that guy but general manager of the Atlanta Braves Alex Anthopolous got Marcell to agree to a pretty team friendly deal.
Nick Kayal says “We saw the reports and the rumors over the last handful of days to weeks that Marcell was in the market looking for four years one-hundred million dollars, and Alex Anthopolous I don’t know how he did it, but somehow he did, he got Marcell Ozuna for sixteen million dollars per year.” Nick continues by saying “They were able to get what I think might be the steal of the century, because I thought Ozuna was easily gonna get twenty, twenty-two, twenty-four million dollars, and they get him back at sixteen per year.” Nick interviewed RADIO.com MLB insider Jon Heyman later in the show who also loved the deal for the Braves saying “Ozuna with a four-year deal can play the outfield for a year and then move to DH as it seems certain there will be a universal DH if not this year then next year.” Now, with the Braves basically having their core in place, as all signs point to MVP of the league Freddie Freeman getting a long-term deal done at some point, Freeman, Ronald Acuna Jr., Ozzie Albies, and now Marcell Ozuna are all locked up for the Atlanta Braves for the next several years Nick Kayal believes another Braves-Dodgers NLCS is all but imminent.
While the Braves got their bat back the Los Angeles Dodgers got another monster arm to add to their rotation as they signed free agent pitcher Trevor Bauer to a three year one-hundred and two million dollar deal. Nick says the Ozuna signing “keeps the Braves as a legit threat to win the National League and win the pennant.” However, Nick knows that if the Atlanta Braves want to get back to their first World Series since 1999 the Los Angeles Dodgers will most likely be standing in their way. Nick says “I’m thinking we got our bat back the Dodgers once again go out and get their arm, why don’t we just run this thing back again in October in the NLCS, and you know this time we don’t you know cough up a 3-1 series lead.” A rematch seems very likely, as the Braves and Dodgers still look like the two best teams in the National League.
As mentioned earlier RADIO.com MLB insider Jon Heyman joined Nick Kayal to kick off the final hour of his show today, and Heyman mostly agrees with Nick as he thinks the National League pennant will come down to three teams this season saying “I think they are in the top three. I throw the Padres in there. The Braves are excellent and I finally got it right and picked them. I had not been on the Braves bandwagon, but I think they will upgrade the pen, and I think it’ll be between the Braves, Dodgers and Padres.” I think we all could agree this again is one of the best chances for the Braves to break their World Series drought.
With the signings of Charlie Morton, Drew Smyly to sure up the rotation, the re-signing of Marcell Ozuna to sure up left field and the batting lineup, and with Mike Soroka coming back from injury I think we can all agree with Nick that the Atlanta Braves are in prime position to not only meet the Dodgers in the National League Championship Series again, but this time finish the job.