Originally Posted by
Enscheff
Seems pretty obvious to me the Braves went into the off season with their projected contracts for cOFs severely underestimated. AA had his sights set on JD, and he got him immediately. They didn't leave nearly enough cash aside for a Brantley or Cutch, and now they are stuck in limbo trying to recalculate their optimal path forward.
They have downgraded C, upgraded 3B, upgraded the bench, and the rotation as currently stands should improve as much as the young guys improve (I expect a full season of Gausman to largely counterbalance the loss of Sanchez' surprising production). They have failed to address cOF, but it looks like there's a strong chance that position will be downgraded as well from the surprising 2.6 WAR Markakis provided.
Summed up, this off season is shaping up to be a very minimal upgrade to the roster overall. In an off season where they had $40M+ and one of the deepest farm systems in the game, I expected a larger push. Nothing close to "all in", but I expected significant improvements to the MLB roster.
Instead, what we've seen (and will likely continue to see) is low risk additions while the young core continues to improve. It's looking like the biggest improvements to the roster will come organically from guys recently on the top prospect lists. The potential is certainly there for Acuna, Albies and a handful of the pitchers to improve this team by 5 wins just by getting better naturally.
Perhaps that's the best plan. Perhaps it would be foolish to let the early year of contention change the overall plan.