Potential for a once in a lifetime haul this summer for the minors

[Preacher]

Was thinking about this the other day when I couldn't sleep.......... this summer has the potential to bring an influx of talent into the minor league system that may never happen again.

- We are about to break the bank in the international market and HOPEFULLY sign not only 6+ highly regarded kids but also the NUMBER ONE player available. That haul by itself is going to be immense, but we also have the #3 pick in the draft and 4 more before #80 - with the potential to add more. We are going to spend as much on the international market as anyone and have nearly as much draft capital as anyone.

Considering that baseball is about to overhaul the international free agent market, this type of perfect storm with the draft and the international signings may never happen again. We can potentially add 5 top-80 draft prospects and 6 or more top-30 international prospects - that's 11 potential impact players right there.


......oh and our farm system is already loaded......

[jpack1]

Gonna be a huge summer in reshaping this franchise. Let's hope we strike gold and not fools gold

[nsacpi]

The influx of talent should allow us to field a competitive team during most of the next decade. The true test of a FO imo is whether you can sustain that without writing off entire seasons of competitiveness (and the high draft picks and funds to go on international market spending sprees associated with such write offs). It kind of reminds me a bit of what banks do when they cram all of their write offs for bad loans into one or two quarters and generate "earnings momentum" after that.

[KB21]

Was thinking about this the other day when I couldn't sleep.......... this summer has the potential to bring an influx of talent into the minor league system that may never happen again.

- We are about to break the bank in the international market and HOPEFULLY sign not only 6+ highly regarded kids but also the NUMBER ONE player available. That haul by itself is going to be immense, but we also have the #3 pick in the draft and 4 more before #80 - with the potential to add more. We are going to spend as much on the international market as anyone and have nearly as much draft capital as anyone.

Considering that baseball is about to overhaul the international free agent market, this type of perfect storm with the draft and the international signings may never happen again. We can potentially add 5 top-80 draft prospects and 6 or more top-30 international prospects - that's 11 potential impact players right there.


......oh and our farm system is already loaded......

Absolutely!

Kevin Maitan may be a generational prospect. Abraham Gutierrez is a strong catching prospect. Yunier Severino, Yenci Pena, Livan Soto, and Juan Contreras are all top 30 international prospects. Then to top it off, we could be looking at a pitcher like Jason Groome with the 3rd pick, a couple of high upside bats in Will Benson and Carter Kieboom at 40 and 44, and probably another high school kid at 76/80.

You add that to what we got last year in the first two rounds, along with what we are probably looking at getting next year.....you can see why the Braves front office chose to do the rebuild the way they are doing it.

[yeezus]

The influx of talent should allow us to field a competitive team during most of the next decade. The true test of a FO imo is whether you can sustain that without writing off entire seasons of competitiveness (and the high draft picks and funds to go on international market spending sprees associated with such write offs). It kind of reminds me a bit of what banks do when they cram all of their write offs for bad loans into one or two quarters and generate "earnings momentum" after that.

but how many franchises have sustained success without some lost seasons?
some teams do it, but not when they've started with little-to-nothing in the farm system in the first place. the cubs look amazing, but money + being bad for years has helped that quite a bit.
it's really tough to not have a lost season or two when you have the farm system we had and want sustained success. the cardinals have had a great FO in place for a long time and have always kept a well-stocked farm. sometimes a franchise needs to hit the reset button. hopefully we won't have lost seasons for a while after this.

[nsacpi]

but how many franchises have sustained success without some lost seasons?


No franchise enjoys perpetual success. But obviously some franchises have done better at minimizing the number of non-competitive seasons. The standard I would probably use is percentage of time a franchise makes the playoffs over a 20-30 year period. Obviously you need to make some adjustments for financial resources and maybe some other things.

[Enscheff]

The keys to sustaining success are:

Cash in players for new prospects when they have 1-2 years of control remaining. Call up prospects to replace them, and continue that cycle.

Avoid dead money contracts at almost all costs. This means no long term commitments to pitchers into their 30s, and no shopping at the top of the FA market.

When a gap in the "prospect replaces young veteran" cycle inevitably has a gap, sign a FA veteran to a short contract. Avoid guys that will cost a draft pick.

Sign young position players to contracts early that buy out a couple FA years. Only extend pitchers through their 20s, but option years into their early 30s are fine. Don't be stupid and extend bad players like CJ.

In short, maintain maximum roster and financial flexibility.

[50PoundHead]

No franchise enjoys perpetual success. But obviously some franchises have done better at minimizing the number of non-competitive seasons. The standard I would probably use is percentage of time a franchise makes the playoffs over a 20-30 year period. Obviously you need to make some adjustments for financial resources and maybe some other things.

The key is to find a set of core players and find a way to retain them and sprinkle solid support around them. I always thought the problem during the Wren regime (and it may not have been Wren's fault) is that we started to pay too much for non-core players. That's water under the bridge. The goal now appears to be to get as much high-end talent as possible, groom them, and build a core of major league players that you can retain. Hopefully, the budget situation gets better so we can keep what we grow.

I don't think a team can be a perpetual top-five team, but I do think a team can be a perpetual playoff contender. Money is a big part of that, but having a pipeline to replace what can't be retained is also important.

[nsacpi]

That about sums it up
The keys to sustaining success are:

Cash in players for new prospects when they have 1-2 years of control remaining. Call up prospects to replace them, and continue that cycle.

Avoid dead money contracts at almost all costs. This means no long term commitments to pitchers into their 30s, and no shopping at the top of the FA market.

When a gap in the "prospect replaces young veteran" cycle inevitably has a gap, sign a FA veteran to a short contract. Avoid guys that will cost a draft pick.

Sign young position players to contracts early that buy out a couple FA years. Only extend pitchers through their 20s, but option years into their early 30s are fine. Don't be stupid and extend bad players like CJ.

In short, maintain maximum roster and financial flexibility.

[Russ2dollas]

The keys to sustaining success are:

Cash in players for new prospects when they have 1-2 years of control remaining. Call up prospects to replace them, and continue that cycle.

Avoid dead money contracts at almost all costs. This means no long term commitments to pitchers into their 30s, and no shopping at the top of the FA market.

When a gap in the "prospect replaces young veteran" cycle inevitably has a gap, sign a FA veteran to a short contract. Avoid guys that will cost a draft pick.

Sign young position players to contracts early that buy out a couple FA years. Only extend pitchers through their 20s, but option years into their early 30s are fine. Don't be stupid and extend bad players like CJ.

In short, maintain maximum roster and financial flexibility.

And you need to be right more than you are wrong on the draft and trade front.

Also invest in development.

I think the next CBA will see big changes to the international market. Good to go on a shopping spree before that ends.

[rico43]

The exclamation point to the 2016 draft will be the Braves' top two picks in 2017.

[bravos4evr]

It is exciting to think that just 24 months ago our #10 prospect was Jason Hursh and by August first this year it might be Austin Riley

[KB21]

It is exciting to think that just 24 months ago our #10 prospect was Jason Hursh and by August first this year it might be Austin Riley

This is what Coppy was talking about the other day when he mentioned that a year ago, we had middle relief prospects in our top 10.

[bravos4evr]

Being that the Braves operate solely on revenue with no financial input from ownership, the new park and surrounding 365 day a year revenue streams should increase payroll a good bit. I could see us, come 2018, having not only a top 3 farm system, but a top 8 payroll. You combine those 2 things, and you tend to get long term success.

[Julio3000]

McGuirk outright promised a significant payroll bump in 2017. If this happens, I'm inclined to agree. We're putting a ton of trust in our talent evaluators, and I'm comfortable with that (Olivera notwithstanding). If we've got the payroll to afford to extent some guys and fill in FA talent where necessary, we're in business.

Coppy's still got to prove himself with regard to assembling a big league roster, but it's nice to know there's a plan.

[smootness]

Coppy's still got to prove himself with regard to assembling a big league roster

This hasn't yet been a goal of his.

[The Chosen One]

This hasn't yet been a goal of his.

Agreed. I'm pissed and loathe being as bad as we have been the last 2 seasons but the moves he's made to the big league roster have definitely been filler temp jobs til the youth arrive. The Johns have worked much more on rebuilding our farm and that of course will supply the major league roster.

[bravos4evr]

heck of a lot better than the 70's and 80's where we sucked, made dumb moves, sucked harder, made worse moves and kept right on sucking (with a 2 year exception where we somehow didn't suck) at least there seems like a designed plan in effect rather than 'hell, I like that boy there let's trade for him!" like it seemed like under the first decade of Ted's ownership

[Tapate50]

McGuirk outright promised a significant payroll bump in 2017. If this happens, I'm inclined to agree. We're putting a ton of trust in our talent evaluators, and I'm comfortable with that (Olivera notwithstanding). If we've got the payroll to afford to extent some guys and fill in FA talent where necessary, we're in business.

Coppy's still got to prove himself with regard to assembling a big league roster, but it's nice to know there's a plan.

This.

From years passed there was just drafting from the board. In years passed there was no calculated SPLASH in the IFA pool. In years passed there was no strategy to gain ammo for the draft or leverage more talent with what you have.

They are getting creative to maximize returns, and I approve.

[Julio3000]

This hasn't yet been a goal of his.

No, it has not. And he still has to prove himself. Do you disagree?

[Enscheff]

This hasn't yet been a goal of his.

I'm not so sure this is accurate. Their stated goal was to improve this year, and the moves they made to accomplish that consisted of signings like Bonifacio and Beckham, trades for Olivera and Aybar, and giving a full time spot in the starting lineup to Garcia (who every single semi-knowledgeable poster here, as well as every single writer not affiliated with the Braves declared was not an MLB caliber player from day 1).

Meanwhile, a guy like Freese sat on the FA market forever and ended up signing for peanuts with the Pirates where he is posting his typical 2 WAR season at a position (3B) of extreme need for the Braves. Cespedes ended up signing what will amount to a 1 year contract and has hit 3x as many HRs as all the Braves OFers combined. No actual MLB caliber BP arm was brought in to fix the BP, which is the single easiest/cheapest area of a ball club to improve.

Those are not the types of personnel decisions that inspire much confidence in Coppy's ability to construct a competitive MLB roster.

[cajunrevenge]

And on top of all that we could have the #1 overall pick next year as well.

[smootness]

I'm not so sure this is accurate. Their stated goal was to improve this year, and the moves they made to accomplish that consisted of signings like Bonifacio and Beckham, trades for Olivera and Aybar, and giving a full time spot in the starting lineup to Garcia (who every single semi-knowledgeable poster here, as well as every single writer not affiliated with the Braves declared was not an MLB caliber player from day 1).

Right, so what do these things tell you? Perhaps that we actually didn't care much about improving this year?

It just seems strange to say something like, 'I question our ability to make the necessary moves at the major league level to compete. After all, in the middle of a massive rebuild, we let Adonis Garcia play 3B.'

We didn't make obvious, cheap moves that would have made us better. The obvious answer is that we weren't really trying to get better.

[smootness]

No, it has not. And he still has to prove himself. Do you disagree?

I guess, but that's sort of like saying a 1st year guy has to prove himself. It's obvious. I didn't mean to make a big statement about it, just saying.

[Julio3000]

I guess, but that's sort of like saying a 1st year guy has to prove himself. It's obvious. I didn't mean to make a big statement about it, just saying.

You may think it's essentially inconsequential, and that's cool. I think it's important and not a forgone conclusion, but that's not saying I expect him to fail.

[Enscheff]

Right, so what do these things tell you? Perhaps that we actually didn't care much about improving this year?

It just seems strange to say something like, 'I question our ability to make the necessary moves at the major league level to compete. After all, in the middle of a massive rebuild, we let Adonis Garcia play 3B.'

We didn't make obvious, cheap moves that would have made us better. The obvious answer is that we weren't really trying to get better.

I hope that's the case, or the Braves are in serious trouble. The FO either lied for 3 months, or has no idea how to assemble a MLB roster.

I hope they are liars...

[smootness]

I hope that's the case, or the Braves are in serious trouble. The FO either lied for 3 months, or has no idea how to assemble a MLB roster.

I hope they are liars...

I definitely don't think they thought this team was going to compete. I think they just tried to sell that to the fanbase.

I thought it was a dumb thing to say then and still do, because it was always going to backfired...but I'm pretty confident that's what they were doing.

[bravos4evr]

No sane front office is going to announce to the public "come on down and watch what will certainly be a terrible team! buy up our luxury boxes and season tickets and watch us lose 100 games!"

so, lying???? not really. SELLING??? absolutely.

[yeezus]

No sane front office is going to announce to the public "come on down and watch what will certainly be a terrible team! buy up our luxury boxes and season tickets and watch us lose 100 games!"

so, lying???? not really. SELLING??? absolutely.

agreed. i don't understand why people don't take what any FO says with a grain of salt, all the time.

[mqt]

I hope that's the case, or the Braves are in serious trouble. The FO either lied for 3 months, or has no idea how to assemble a MLB roster.

I hope they are liars...

I mean, I'm sure they hoped that players like Beckham, Flowers, Olivera and Garcia would be improvements over last year, but I doubt they genuinely were counting on it.

[DirkPiggler]

agreed. i don't understand why people don't take what any FO says with a grain of salt, all the time.

It's like the people who get pissed when their favorite college football team's coach says "I'm staying here as long as I can" then bolts for the NFL or Alabama for twice the money and prestige.

They lie because their position doesn't really give them any choice.

[nsacpi]

agreed. i don't understand why people don't take what any FO says with a grain of salt, all the time.

Yup. Examples would be Coppy saying we wanted a college bat in the draft then saying a HS player. None of it should be taken too seriously.

[Russ2dollas]

I hope that's the case, or the Braves are in serious trouble. The FO either lied for 3 months, or has no idea how to assemble a MLB roster.

I hope they are liars...

I think they honestly thought Oliver was going to be a solid LF. That Aybar would be an avg defender and hitter. Thought JT and FF would be better. Markakis would be a 2 WAR player off of neck surgery. Inciarte would be a many WAR player.

I think they thought we'd be better. And there is reason to concern us that they thought that way.

That said, it's still early. I didn't see Olivera being terrible at baseball and at life. Some say they did, but I didn't think Aybar would go to worst player ever. Inciarte got hurt like the 3rd game. Our schedule was BRUTAL.

It wouldn't shock me if we pass the Phils.

[NYCBrave]

The keys to sustaining success are:

Cash in players for new prospects when they have 1-2 years of control remaining. Call up prospects to replace them, and continue that cycle.

Avoid dead money contracts at almost all costs. This means no long term commitments to pitchers into their 30s, and no shopping at the top of the FA market.

When a gap in the "prospect replaces young veteran" cycle inevitably has a gap, sign a FA veteran to a short contract. Avoid guys that will cost a draft pick.

Sign young position players to contracts early that buy out a couple FA years. Only extend pitchers through their 20s, but option years into their early 30s are fine. Don't be stupid and extend bad players like CJ.

In short, maintain maximum roster and financial flexibility.

You hit the nail on the head with this one. The big risk is being able to develop talent. If you can't do that, you're going to be stuck in a cycle of mediocrity for many years to come. That's one thing that scares me about this rebuild. Just hope we see further development out of our lower minor league guys.

[jimsnores]

I'm not so sure this is accurate. Their stated goal was to improve this year, and the moves they made to accomplish that consisted of signings like Bonifacio and Beckham, trades for Olivera and Aybar, and giving a full time spot in the starting lineup to Garcia (who every single semi-knowledgeable poster here, as well as every single writer not affiliated with the Braves declared was not an MLB caliber player from day 1).

Meanwhile, a guy like Freese sat on the FA market forever and ended up signing for peanuts with the Pirates where he is posting his typical 2 WAR season at a position (3B) of extreme need for the Braves. Cespedes ended up signing what will amount to a 1 year contract and has hit 3x as many HRs as all the Braves OFers combined. No actual MLB caliber BP arm was brought in to fix the BP, which is the single easiest/cheapest area of a ball club to improve.

Those are not the types of personnel decisions that inspire much confidence in Coppy's ability to construct a competitive MLB roster.

Ouch. I am still trying to give Coppy the benefit of the doubt, but that's a rather stinging indictment right there.

[smootness]

Ouch. I am still trying to give Coppy the benefit of the doubt, but that's a rather stinging indictment right there.

It's just evidence that proves our goal this year was not to win at the major league level.

[The Chosen One]

I'm glad Coppy didn't get Freese. We'd have more wins and would threaten our #1 pick status. As Joker said "it's all part of the plan".

[yeezus]

I'm glad Coppy didn't get Freese. We'd have more wins and would threaten our #1 pick status. As Joker said "it's all part of the plan".

Freese MIGHT have helped us win about an extra game, and my guess is he would look pretty bad in this lineup.

[Horsehide Harry]

Freese MIGHT have helped us win about an extra game, and my guess is he would look pretty bad in this lineup.

I agree with this. However, that doesn't change the central point which was that the FO had an opportunity (and the money, which is rare) to bring in some guys who might have had some trade deadline value and they mostly didn't do that.

I think the FO has been pretty good in a number of areas in the rebuilding process but they have missed on a number of opportunities. I "think" it probably goes back to the whole "compete while rebuilding" philosophy which never works and is really detrimental to a most effective rebuild. The Olivera, Markakis and AJ moves all have to be looked at as moves to help a "win now" approach and not moving Markakis when they had a chance can only be defended as a move concerned for today as opposed to when you hope to be good with your young players. They probably can't give Markakis away now and they are on the hook for the rest of his contract. Think about this: in 2018 when the young guys are hopefully blossoming into a team that can be a real threat, you are going to have a RF making about 1/10 of your available payroll who is on a severe decline and has little useful value.

[KB21]

The reason why you will not see me criticize this front office that much for their moves is this. They set out to make sure they did not make a move that cost the team any of their capital towards the rebuild, which means they weren't going to sign anyone that cost them draft picks. So, you saw them take chances on some players like Gordon Beckham. The biggest mistake they made was trading a young left handed pitcher with a controlled salary for a 31 year old prospect who had not shown power in his small sample size. That was a bad move that I criticized at the time it happened. I did not like trading Alex Wood in that deal, and I still don't.

[yeezus]

The reason why you will not see me criticize this front office that much for their moves is this. They set out to make sure they did not make a move that cost the team any of their capital towards the rebuild, which means they weren't going to sign anyone that cost them draft picks. So, you saw them take chances on some players like Gordon Beckham. The biggest mistake they made was trading a young left handed pitcher with a controlled salary for a 31 year old prospect who had not shown power in his small sample size. That was a bad move that I criticized at the time it happened. I did not like trading Alex Wood in that deal, and I still don't.

i think that's about the only glaring, critical mistake that's been made to this point.

[mfree80]

i think that's about the only glaring, critical mistake that's been made to this point.

I prefer to look at this from the 30,000 foot level rather than dissecting each move individually. The rebuild is going quite well, JMHO, and everyone knew there would be a couple of rough years along the way. The optimists, including me hoped they would strike gold quickly, and get better sooner rather than later, but I am not jumping off a cliff over a delay of a year or two because I see the future, and it looks very bright.

I don't see the value in harping on and on about Olivera, not trading Markakis soon enough, not signing Freese, etc. From the 30,000 foot level, I see better days ahead, and I like the looks of it.

[yeezus]

I prefer to look at this from the 30,000 foot level rather than dissecting each move individually. The rebuild is going quite well, JMHO, and everyone knew there would be a couple of rough years along the way. The optimists, including me hoped they would strike gold quickly, and get better sooner rather than later, but I am not jumping off a cliff over a delay of a year or two because I see the future, and it looks very bright.

I don't see the value in harping on and on about Olivera, not trading Markakis soon enough, not signing Freese, etc. From the 30,000 foot level, I see better days ahead, and I like the looks of it.

I'm with ya.

[bravesfanforlife88]

Didn't hart do an interview where he said that we were hamstrung on the budget for this season due to moves like the swisher and bourn move. Which is why we didn't sign anyone for more than $2.5m....I have a feeling that was the budget due to plans to spend big on the draft and international signings

[bravesfanMatt]

I prefer to look at this from the 30,000 foot level rather than dissecting each move individually. The rebuild is going quite well, JMHO, and everyone knew there would be a couple of rough years along the way. The optimists, including me hoped they would strike gold quickly, and get better sooner rather than later, but I am not jumping off a cliff over a delay of a year or two because I see the future, and it looks very bright.

I don't see the value in harping on and on about Olivera, not trading Markakis soon enough, not signing Freese, etc. From the 30,000 foot level, I see better days ahead, and I like the looks of it.


I hope no one is jumping off any cliffs right now. Even the most Posi Brave or the most Negi Brave Fan couldn't predict this level of fail. However, there are some really good positives.. Wisler, JT, Folty, Viz, and even Blair have shown me things that I like. then you have Mallex, Norris, Hunter who have done well in flashes.
Also Ellis, Jenkins, Gant, and Sims all seem to be progressing their way up to the big club. Also excited to see if ManBan can stay healthy and it is fun to watch the Ozzie Swanson highlights.

the most disappointing is off course, the Aybar and AJ combination. I have been disappointed in Newcomb's ability to throw strikes.. and to a lessor extent, I hate that Adonis and Jace had to be sent down... but that might be a good thing.. not sure yet. Also, I hope someone will work with FF this off season to beat that shift.. it still looks like it gets to him.

But the best part of this year is our draft/int'l signings. Our system is already a top 5 system and we have the potential to add several pieces to this with a very strong draft position and ties to big int'l kids.. on top of that, we have several possible trade chips that could net us even more.

I like our future too..

[Horsehide Harry]

I prefer to look at this from the 30,000 foot level rather than dissecting each move individually. The rebuild is going quite well, JMHO, and everyone knew there would be a couple of rough years along the way. The optimists, including me hoped they would strike gold quickly, and get better sooner rather than later, but I am not jumping off a cliff over a delay of a year or two because I see the future, and it looks very bright.

I don't see the value in harping on and on about Olivera, not trading Markakis soon enough, not signing Freese, etc. From the 30,000 foot level, I see better days ahead, and I like the looks of it.

For me it has to do with commitment level to the rebuild and a true vision of what you want to do and how you expect to get there. Olivera, Markakis, AJ (twice), not trading Aybar, not aggressively shopping at least Teheran if not Freeman for multiple hole-filling pieces (assuming those deals can be had) in themselves are all things that might happen since some mistakes will be made. The issue I have is that some of the deals make no sense in the context of rebuilding. IF they had bargain shopped and added Freese you could see that in that he was an obvious bargain AND you might be able to move him for young pieces therefore adding to the rebuild. If he busts, all you've lost is short term investment. AJ doesn't make sense because you spent all this time trading for young pitching then add an offense first veteran catcher who's never been known to be good with young pitching. You add Markakis to an expensive long term deal instead of using those funds to bargain shop for short term commitment guys like a Freese.

From a 30,000 foot view, the rebuild isn't a straight line from point A to B. It's a convoluted knot of switchbacks and flyover bridges that you have to hope doesn't lead over a cliff along the way.

[yeezus]

For me it has to do with commitment level to the rebuild and a true vision of what you want to do and how you expect to get there. Olivera, Markakis, AJ (twice), not trading Aybar, not aggressively shopping at least Teheran if not Freeman for multiple hole-filling pieces (assuming those deals can be had) in themselves are all things that might happen since some mistakes will be made. The issue I have is that some of the deals make no sense in the context of rebuilding. IF they had bargain shopped and added Freese you could see that in that he was an obvious bargain AND you might be able to move him for young pieces therefore adding to the rebuild. If he busts, all you've lost is short term investment. AJ doesn't make sense because you spent all this time trading for young pitching then add an offense first veteran catcher who's never been known to be good with young pitching. You add Markakis to an expensive long term deal instead of using those funds to bargain shop for short term commitment guys like a Freese.

From a 30,000 foot view, the rebuild isn't a straight line from point A to B. It's a convoluted knot of switchbacks and flyover bridges that you have to hope doesn't lead over a cliff along the way.

1) I wasn't a big fan of the Markakis contract, but I do see some logic in it: I'm of the belief that veteran leadership means something and that a strong clubhouse is important. You also couldn't throw three AAAA players in the outfield. I also wouldn't call $44M expensive, and this move has little to do wioth Freese.

2) Trade Aybar? When? Who knows what his value was?

3) I'm fine with the team not "aggressively shopping" Teheran or Freeman. Why shop them, not to mention "aggressively"? They will be plenty useful when you aim not to be terrible again. They are easily part of the long-term plan, and trading them to fill a void creates two voids, and the guys you're likely to get back are unproven guys who may not be able to fill any void. being upset about those two not being "aggressively" shopped is nitpicking, to me.

4) I guess you can be upset about David Freese, but as I said, I think he'd be a negative hitter in this lineup and wouldn't be much more than Gordon Beckham. Maybe he was holding out for an opportunity to join a contender. Being upset at pretty inconsequential moves such as not signing David Freese is more nitpicking IMO. The Freese obsession is nothing short of odd.

We've had two rough years but I'm feeling things will be quite different pretty quickly. We have a great farm, we're adding the #3 pick and a handful of great INTFA talent, and a top-3 pick again next year. That's the view from afar without breaking down every move and non-move (not that it's silly to do that, but to harp on not signing DAVID FREESE is just funny to me). We're going to have a slew of talent coming up thru this system really soon.