2020 Camp Battles

Doesn't necessarily fit in the offseason thread - Mods feel free to move it you disagree.

Given that most of our higher-ranked prospects are relatively advanced, it's probably reasonable to believe that most of the veteran signings are going to get a quick look in camp and might be released relatively quickly so they can try to catch on with someone else - particularly the arms. For instance...

1.) If King Felix shockingly looks good early - or Wright, Wilson, or Anderson shows they're ready - you've now got Newk, Minter, AND Dayton vying for the 2nd and 3rd LH pen slots. Since all three of those guys still have options remaining, there's not much reason to believe Chris Rusin or Chris Nunn would need to be asked to hang around in Gwinnett all summer - especially after no one poached Burrows and when you consider one of Davidson, Pfeifer, or Muller may ultimately fit better as a reliever.

2.) It would be great if Solarte somehow returned to his 2015-2017 form and won the battle for the 26th roster spot, but now that Markakis is going to become your primary pinch-hitter is there really a need to ask him to hang around in Gwinnett? It'd be nice to have that extra LH bat as a super-sub guy, but if Riley makes adjustments Camargo goes back to that role. With Hechavarria and Culberson back in the fold, younger guys like Unroe and Jack Lopez around, and Shewmake potentially getting bumped to AAA midseason there's not a whole lot of reason to have middle infield ABs going to Solarte and Kozma - if you have the types of injuries that make you reach that deep the season's not going to turn out very well anyway.

3.) Alonso is interesting IMO. If he looks good, keeping him around would seem to make sense since he likely won't have other opportunities. He'd probably have signed elsewhere to begin with since he's a 1B/DH only guy and we con't have a DH spot available. If Snitker remains Snitker, Freeman's going to play 150+ games and we don't really have a close-to-ready alternative in the event Freddie gets hurt. If Davidson shows something in his return from injury you might be happy enough to let him play 1B in Gwinnett, but it probably can't hurt to have him at least start out the season in AA.

4.) Ortega, Peter O'Brien, and Robinson are probably competing for two spots in Gwinnett, and you'd think O'Brien would have a leg up over Robinson since he provides the extra flexibility of being able to handle 1B. Keeping two of those guys means Jenista could start out in Mississippi.

5.) With four of Weigel, Ynoa, Webb, Sobotka, and Walker likely ticketed for Gwinnett and Hoekstra, Johnstone, and Graham still around there doesn't seem to be much of a reason to ask Ben Rowen to hang around since he doesn't have any options left.

1. IF Felix looks good enough to hold down #5, then Newk probably gets traded in ST. I still think AA will look for third base options right up until the season starts. With Paxton going down and the Yanks having a couple of 3rd basemen, I think that might be an option. Outside of that, AA spent money on a lot of flyers with the likelihood that they never cost anything since they will be released early.

2. Solarte is almost 33. He makes the team if everything falls apart AND he shows he can play at AT LEAST 2018 form. I think Hech and Culberson are much, much more likely.

3. The Alonso signing was a waste. Even if he's BSOML, he's nothing. Greg Byrd signed the same day for the same thing with the Rangers. At least Byrd has possible upside.

4. Ortega probably hangs around until midseason at AAA and gets the service time early season call if an OF goes down. After that, Pache and/or Waters take that role and Ortega is gone. O'Brien has a chance to make the team as #26.

5. At least some of the Weigel, Ynoa and Walker group will likely start in AAA. The rest in the pen. I don't see any the Braves would be that concerned about losing and could see any being included in ST trades.

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Originally Posted by Horsehide Harry

1. IF Felix looks good enough to hold down #5, then Newk probably gets traded in ST. I still think AA will look for third base options right up until the season starts. With Paxton going down and the Yanks having a couple of 3rd basemen, I think that might be an option. Outside of that, AA spent money on a lot of flyers with the likelihood that they never cost anything since they will be released early.

2. Solarte is almost 33. He makes the team if everything falls apart AND he shows he can play at AT LEAST 2018 form. I think Hech and Culberson are much, much more likely.

3. The Alonso signing was a waste. Even if he's BSOML, he's nothing. Greg Byrd signed the same day for the same thing with the Rangers. At least Byrd has possible upside.

4. Ortega probably hangs around until midseason at AAA and gets the service time early season call if an OF goes down. After that, Pache and/or Waters take that role and Ortega is gone. O'Brien has a chance to make the team as #26.

5. At least some of the Weigel, Ynoa and Walker group will likely start in AAA. The rest in the pen. I don't see any the Braves would be that concerned about losing and could see any being included in ST trades.

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The point about keeping Alonso to start the season in Gwinnett is that he gives you a "break the glass" option in the event of an early-season Freeman injury. While Freddie going down would pretty much end any big hopes, there's no need to compound something like that by having no one available at Gwinnett that you can just throw out there - Davidson, Owenby, or Ball certainly wouldn't be options because you wouldn't want to ruin any value they might have to someone else by starting their clocks early.

Feels like this might be the year Kazmar breaks through.

I kind of see Markakis as the short term emergency 1B

Those guys are all LONG shots to contribute imo. The only ones I’m barely optimistic on are our young arms

Alonso is a good option if you're looking for someone to stand at first base, get hit in the chest with the ball, reach down, collect the ball and record the out. Outside of that, it's about the most useless signing I've seen for 1B since Kotchman. I mean, he's not Ken Camanitti bad over there but his bat is nothing. He's a known and that known is that he's not good. I would much rather go with an unknown that shows he's not good than a known not-good. At least a Greg Byrd guy presents a tantalizing illusion that he might one day meet his early projected promise.

Not a whole lot minus 3B/last SP spot, and last couple bench spots barring a Bryant or Arenado deal or something.

It’s a very good sign when the roster battles are meaningless.

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Originally Posted by Horsehide Harry

Alonso is a good option if you're looking for someone to stand at first base, get hit in the chest with the ball, reach down, collect the ball and record the out. Outside of that, it's about the most useless signing I've seen for 1B since Kotchman. I mean, he's not Ken Camanitti bad over there but his bat is nothing. He's a known and that known is that he's not good. I would much rather go with an unknown that shows he's not good than a known not-good. At least a Greg Byrd guy presents a tantalizing illusion that he might one day meet his early projected promise.

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Whew. I was reading all those words to find a counter argument to “He sucks” but you took the long way to agree with public perception. Kudos

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Originally Posted by mfree80

I kind of see Markakis as the short term emergency 1B

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Or Culberson. Or Riley. Not sure exactly how comfortable they really are with Markakis over there.

But that's short-term - I'm talking about a significant Freeman injury. We're pretty well covered at the big league level everywhere else if someone were to sustain a more serious injury. Can't hurt to have a real 1B in Gwinnett in the event something happened that would keep Freddie out for more than a couple weeks.

I'm not suggesting by any means that a significant injury at another position wouldn't severely dampen our hopes, just pointing out that we've got quite a bit of flexibility with guys that have already shown they can handle multiple positions. I'd just prefer that Riley, Pache, and Waters spend the early part of the year in Gwinnett if at all possible - and more specifically Riley at 3B there. If he's potentially our long-term answer, he needs to be put over there and left alone - not called back up and asked to play out of position (at 1B) again. We've got other people capable of handling LF in Atlanta, and if something big happened to Ozuna I'd still rather see the Markakis/Duvall platoon, Culberson, or someone picked up off the scrap heap before sending Riley back out there. He's a 3B, and even if he gets traded the team getting him is trading for him to be one - put him back there and leave him alone.

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Originally Posted by clvclv

Or Culberson. Or Riley. Not sure exactly how comfortable they really are with Markakis over there.

But that's short-term - I'm talking about a significant Freeman injury. We're pretty well covered at the big league level everywhere else if someone were to sustain a more serious injury. Can't hurt to have a real 1B in Gwinnett in the event something happened that would keep Freddie out for more than a couple weeks.

I'm not suggesting by any means that a significant injury at another position wouldn't severely dampen our hopes, just pointing out that we've got quite a bit of flexibility with guys that have already shown they can handle multiple positions. I'd just prefer that Riley, Pache, and Waters spend the early part of the year in Gwinnett if at all possible - and more specifically Riley at 3B there. If he's potentially our long-term answer, he needs to be put over there and left alone - not called back up and asked to play out of position (at 1B) again. We've got other people capable of handling LF in Atlanta, and if something big happened to Ozuna I'd still rather see the Markakis/Duvall platoon, Culberson, or someone picked up off the scrap heap before sending Riley back out there. He's a 3B, and even if he gets traded the team getting him is trading for him to be one - put him back there and leave him alone.

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In case of a long term FF injury, We could just trade a Jake Odirrizi type arm for Matt Adams. Problem solved.

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Originally Posted by Tapate50

In case of a long term FF injury, We could just trade a Jake Odirrizi type arm for Matt Adams. Problem solved.

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Makes too much sense not to happen

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Originally Posted by zbhargrove

Makes too much sense not to happen

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So we signed Alonzo so we can trade him for Odirizzi?

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Originally Posted by Tapate50

Whew. I was reading all those words to find a counter argument to “He sucks” but you took the long way to agree with public perception. Kudos

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https://i.imgur.com/lhxO8Sg.gif