The Atlanta Braves Thread

#27,979
#27,979
Bassmaster_Vol said:
I understand that. I’m not for giving the guy 6 years. But I hope we’re trying for 2 with a high AAV. But we can make trades with our prospect capital and haven’t done that either
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I guess what I’m saying is that there’s merit in letting the prospect capital play itself out if you don’t think any individual move (or set of moves) in free agency/trades makes you a championship contender.
 
#27,981
#27,981
Kingston Vol said:
I personally think Kuechel would really help us. But there’s a reason he hasn’t been signed yet and I have to believe it’s because the majority of teams don’t think he’s worth the asking price.

I know the Braves are cheap and we all want them to throw caution to the wind and spend just to prove they are trying, but that’s not good business. And the fact that other teams feel the same way should let us know there’s more here to be cautious about than the average fan can see.
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I guess it depends on how you define the average fan but would say it doesn't take much to see teams concerns with him. The fact that his slider became much less effective last year, only generating a swing and miss 11.85% of the time (was over 20% the year before and has hung around 19 and 20% for his career) to go along with the fact that the two-seamer effectiveness is down across MLB with the recent focus on launch angle. Yeah, you might be able to get a decent year out of him before the bottom starts to fall out when his velo starts to decline, but how much are teams really willing to commit. You have to figure all things being equal on a short term deal he is choosing the comfort of familiarity with the Astros who have reportedly discussed both a one and two-year deal with him. So then that would leave giving a third year or going significantly above the Astros money wise, but with the Astros really being the most familiar with him not sure how comfortable you can feel going over them in either category
 
#27,988
#27,988
Kingston Vol said:
Here’s my question though: what changes if the front office swings for the fences this offseason?

Add Realmuto, Harper and Kuechel.

We’re more secure for sure. But everything still hinges on guys like Folty, Newcomb, the young crop of pitchers, and Ozzie and Dansby.
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There's no way we could have added all three because they'd never spend that kind of money. But assuming they did, we massively upgraded in RF and at catcher. We have a cleanup hitter in Harper which allows Acuna to stay at leadoff and another great bat in Realmuto to put wherever you want to put him, say at 5. That's the best top 5 in baseball in the lineup. Then, to round out the lineup, you had Ozzie who was the hottest hitter in baseball for the first half of last season. He has a tremendously high ceiling. Then Dans and Ender who are both gold glovers defensively who at least have offensive potential. It would be hard to argue that that isn't the best lineup period in baseball. That offense could cover some pitching concerns. But instead we are avg in RF and below avg at catcher and may be leading off with Inciarte so that Acuna can bat cleanup to protect Freddie which means they won't pitch to Acuna.

At pitcher, you add Keuchel, you have a number 2 behind Folty in the rotation. Your have Folty at the top who is one of the best in the NL if he's healthy, and at least you have another option that you can trust. While I agree that the season still hinges on those young guys like Newk, Wright, and Touki, it gives you more flexibility with them having another frontline starter and thus you also strengthen the bullpen. You have Wright, Fried, or Touki in the rotation with the others along with Gohara in the bullpen if you need them for long relief in case of a bad outing with an absolutely lethal offense capable of keeping you in any game.

It changes a lot. It changes so much in fact that we would be the favorites to win the division. That's actually a playoff contending roster. But instead we're projected to finish 3-4 in the division and if the rotation ends up being bad, and that looks like a real possibility with the injuries, we'll be 4th for sure.
 
#27,989
#27,989
We don’t know what deals we attempted to make, but I just hope we tried via the trade market, or maybe laid groundwork for in-season. It was known we needed improvement for the staff and performance and injuries have made it a nightmare outside of a few young arms. I’m still cool with passing on Kuechel and Realmuto
 
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#27,990
#27,990
AV_12 said:
We don’t know what deals we attempted to make, but I just hope we tried via the trade market, or maybe laid groundwork for in-season. It was known we needed improvement for the staff and performance and injuries have made it a nightmare outside of a few young arms. I’m still cool with passing on Kuechel and Realmuto
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If it was going to require Ozzie to get Realmuto, I'm with you. I also wouldn't want to give up both Riley and Pache for him. But man, go get Grandal or something. We really needed help there at catcher and we didn't get it. Neither guy can throw anyone out and neither are very dangerous at the plate either.

Keuchel is the best FA pitcher left, I wish we would've been players for others like Corbin, but even if we don't go after Keuchel, surely we could try and trade for somebody? We really need some help in the rotation in the worst way. I don't trust Newk, Gausman looks like garbage, Julio is awful, and Folty is hurt.
 
#27,991
#27,991
Look, the entire rebuild is built around getting as many high-upside arms as possible and seeing which ones will be good and lead the rotation. The 2018 season accelerated the contender timeline and that is great! We have six guys that when healthy that can pitch at the major level right now who were in the minors last year and not get killed (Touki, Fried, Soroka, Wilson, Wright, and Gohara). At some point, we got to let these guys sink or swim. Plus, we are going to have spots open up. Teheran will be bought out after 2018. Gausman is a FA after 2020. Folty is probably heading to TJS (just based on BARVES and how hard he throws, etc). So let's who we can rely on and go from there. I'm mad we didn't do more offensively and find that AA's offseason plan was horrific, but I don't blame him for looking at the rotation and letting these guys ride or die.
 
#27,992
#27,992
AA giving the money to Donaldson instead of Grandal and not doing something...anything...to improve RF was a massive failure. If we got Grandal and let's say we got Domingo Santana for example (and gave up Fried, I don't know), then signed Derek Dietrich for the bench and rolled with...

LF Acuna
3B Camargo
1B Freeman
C Grandal
RF Santana
2B Albies
CF Inciarte
SS Swanson

We would be in much better place lineup wise IMO.
 
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#27,993
#27,993
zjcvols said:
Look, the entire rebuild is built around getting as many high-upside arms as possible and seeing which ones will be good and lead the rotation. The 2018 season accelerated the contender timeline and that is great! We have six guys that when healthy that can pitch at the major level right now who were in the minors last year and not get killed (Touki, Fried, Soroka, Wilson, Wright, and Gohara). At some point, we got to let these guys sink or swim. Plus, we are going to have spots open up. Teheran will be bought out after 2018. Gausman is a FA after 2020. Folty is probably heading to TJS (just based on BARVES and how hard he throws, etc). So let's who we can rely on and go from there. I'm mad we didn't do more offensively and find that AA's offseason plan was horrific, but I don't blame him for looking at the rotation and letting these guys ride or die.
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Nailed it.
 
#27,994
#27,994
zjcvols said:
AA giving the money to Donaldson instead of Grandal and not doing something...anything...to improve RF was a massive failure. If we got Grandal and let's say we got Domingo Santana for example (and gave up Fried, I don't know), then signed Derek Dietrich for the bench and rolled with...

LF Acuna
3B Camargo
1B Freeman
C Grandal
RF Santana
2B Albies
CF Inciarte
SS Swanson

We would be in much better place lineup wise IMO.
Click to expand...
Agreed
 
#27,995
#27,995
zjcvols said:
Look, the entire rebuild is built around getting as many high-upside arms as possible and seeing which ones will be good and lead the rotation. The 2018 season accelerated the contender timeline and that is great! We have six guys that when healthy that can pitch at the major level right now who were in the minors last year and not get killed (Touki, Fried, Soroka, Wilson, Wright, and Gohara). At some point, we got to let these guys sink or swim. Plus, we are going to have spots open up. Teheran will be bought out after 2018. Gausman is a FA after 2020. Folty is probably heading to TJS (just based on BARVES and how hard he throws, etc). So let's who we can rely on and go from there. I'm mad we didn't do more offensively and find that AA's offseason plan was horrific, but I don't blame him for looking at the rotation and letting these guys ride or die.
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I really wish Soroka was healthy. I'd feel much better if he was. I hope all of these guys are in Atlanta and not with the Stripers. I wish we would have traded Julio and we could have had both Touki and Wright in the starting rotation with Fried and Wilson and eventually Gohara able to rotate in some as well. If that's the plan, I like these young arms a lot. But that is also a risky play as they don't have much experience and when guys figure them out they can get beat up if they are unable to adjust to it.
 
#27,997
#27,997
Bassmaster_Vol said:
I really wish Soroka was healthy. I'd feel much better if he was. I hope all of these guys are in Atlanta and not with the Stripers. I wish we would have traded Julio and we could have had both Touki and Wright in the starting rotation with Fried and Wilson and eventually Gohara able to rotate in some as well. If that's the plan, I like these young arms a lot. But that is also a risky play as they don't have much experience and when guys figure them out they can get beat up if they are unable to adjust to it.
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It’s risky either way. Risky if they don’t work out and risky if they trade away a guy with ace potential.
 
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#27,998
#27,998
Bassmaster_Vol said:
I really wish Soroka was healthy. I'd feel much better if he was. I hope all of these guys are in Atlanta and not with the Stripers. I wish we would have traded Julio and we could have had both Touki and Wright in the starting rotation with Fried and Wilson and eventually Gohara able to rotate in some as well. If that's the plan, I like these young arms a lot. But that is also a risky play as they don't have much experience and when guys figure them out they can get beat up if they are unable to adjust to it.
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It blows my mind how stupidly poor AA's plan was offseason. AND HE WAS A GAMBLER IN TORONTO! We never heard of anything significant on the trade front. We were only connected to one free agent that didn't sign with us. It was unbelievably bad. No ingenuity. No creativity. It's like he signed Donaldson and McCann and was like "Well, we will wait out Markakis and if he signs with us we are done!". It's probably the worst offseason the Braves have had this decade.
 
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#27,999
#27,999
zjcvols said:
It blows my mind how stupidly poor AA's plan was offseason. AND HE WAS A GAMBLER IN TORONTO! We never heard of anything significant on the trade front. We were only connected to one free agent that didn't sign with us. It was unbelievably bad. No ingenuity. No creativity. It's like he signed Donaldson and McCann and was like "Well, we will wait out Markakis and if he signs with us we are done!". It's probably the worst offseason the Braves have had this decade.
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That's why I'm so frustrated. I get we are loaded with young talent. But that young talent is unproven. We aren't paying anybody big money right now except Freeman. We have the capability to spend big money right now to try to win after winning the division last year. A few additions and we could be talking about a potential WS run. And then we heard the promises of shopping in any aisle and spending money in the marketplace. And then they went as cheap as possible and made no significant moves. I'm just extremely frustrated. And that's made worse seeing what the Phillies, Nats, and Mets did. I want to win. This offseason was a slap in the face to braves fans by the Braves FO.
 
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