Ian Anderson's stuff

[PawPawMaxwell]

I dont think any GM would be too doubtful with a rotation of Soroka (if healthy), Fried, Anderson, Wright and any 5th starter considering age and potential along with the years left of control. I wonder what Tiajuan Walker will command in FA. Should not be extravagant and would always be a viable trade candidate.

[Russ2dollas]

question is, who would that stud be? AA isn't going to pay for one. and i don't think he should.

My guess is Stroman. Maybe some say he's not a stud. But he's put up a 5 win season and a 4.8 win season is his last couple of years. He did opt out and has been hurt. He may not find the multi year deal he's looking for with COVID and strike looming. Maybe he'd take a one year deal for 25.

It's also possible the new Mets owner just signs everyone and we look at Odorizzi on a one year deal.

I do think it is reasonable to think about a Soroka, Fried, Anderson, Wright and scrap heap vet rotation. Would be solid. Would be cheap. We may not have any money to spend.

My concern with that is it relies way too much on Soroka coming back as himself and our depth looks compromised unless davidson et al are better than AAAA. Looking for a rotation that can win in the post season I'd want one more guy I think is a 3+ WAR pitcher. Gives me some injury buffer.

[Tapate50]

pitching ninja had another gif of Anderson's tunneling of FB and CH....amazing how similar.

I think he's getting overrated. Thinking of him as an ace is unfair IMO. I still think we need to try and get a stud in FA. If we could get an impact guy, then I'm ecstatic about Soroka, Fried and Anderson in our middle. I think I'd love Wright as a 5. I think Wright is likely to be a guy who 1/2 the time is 5-6 innings giving up 2-3 innings, 1/4 time 6-7 dominance and 1/4 time blow up.

If we could get Bauer (don't think it's realistic), then our rotation looks really good.

Who is thinking of him as an ace ?

[bravesfanMatt]

Who is thinking of him as an ace ?

Um. Yeah. Who thinks that. Well I gotta go. I have a um meeting or something

[jpx7]

My guess is Stroman. Maybe some say he's not a stud. But he's put up a 5 win season and a 4.8 win season is his last couple of years. He did opt out and has been hurt. He may not find the multi year deal he's looking for with COVID and strike looming. Maybe he'd take a one year deal for 25.

It's also possible the new Mets owner just signs everyone and we look at Odorizzi on a one year deal.

I do think it is reasonable to think about a Soroka, Fried, Anderson, Wright and scrap heap vet rotation. Would be solid. Would be cheap. We may not have any money to spend.

My concern with that is it relies way too much on Soroka coming back as himself and our depth looks compromised unless davidson et al are better than AAAA. Looking for a rotation that can win in the post season I'd want one more guy I think is a 3+ WAR pitcher. Gives me some injury buffer.

I think the Braves need to sign at least two potentially "dependable" arms. Hence why I've said I think Anthopoulos is probably better served somehow dividing the Hamels $18m between two such players—though whether that's something like $9m/$9m or something like $14m/$4m will depend on his judgment and the market. Perhaps Stroman and Odirizzi could both fit under such an umbrella.

Regardless, while the last few weeks of the season did provide Bowman that the youth might actually work out, I think just assuming it's going to be smooth-sailing with Soroka–Fried–Anderson–Wright–VeteranPresent plus AAA depth is ... unwise.

[chop2chip]

Stroman on a 1 or 2 year pillow contract seems in line with AA's m.o.

The Toronto ties draw some similarities to the Donaldson situation.

[bravesfanMatt]

Would anyone be against bringing back Cole on a cheap one year prove your healthy contract?

[MadduxFanII]

Would anyone be against bringing back Cole on a cheap one year prove your healthy contract?

I've thought about this too. I think it would have to be an extremely cheap contract -- guaranteed money in the low seven figures, with a lot of incentives written in. I don't think you could go back to that well if it costs real money.

[PawPawMaxwell]

Would anyone be against bringing back Cole on a cheap one year prove your healthy contract?

I have to think that ship has sailed. Throwing away $18M (prorated or not) and then following up with another gamble on an aging arm might be fatal.

[Russ2dollas]

Who is thinking of him as an ace ?

I heard Leiter use the word on MLBTV yesterday.

[Russ2dollas]

I think the Braves need to sign at least two potentially "dependable" arms. Hence why I've said I think Anthopoulos is probably better served somehow dividing the Hamels $18m between two such players—though whether that's something like $9m/$9m or something like $14m/$4m will depend on his judgment and the market. Perhaps Stroman and Odirizzi could both fit under such an umbrella.

Regardless, while the last few weeks of the season did provide Bowman that the youth might actually work out, I think just assuming it's going to be smooth-sailing with Soroka–Fried–Anderson–Wright–VeteranPresent plus AAA depth is ... unwise.

I don't think they need volume. The braves have had success for years bringing in a scrap heap vet to be the fifth starter. I don't see why they cannot get another Felix or anibal sanchez. Plus, over a long sample size I still think you can get a 5th starter out of Davidson, Wilson, Touki, etc.

I think they need impact, not volume. And it's tough to call any pitching dependable. Too many options for getting hurt. AA will likely want a vet since we seem to care about such things.

[jpx7]

Would anyone be against bringing back Cole on a cheap one year prove your healthy contract?

I've thought about this too. I think it would have to be an extremely cheap contract -- guaranteed money in the low seven figures, with a lot of incentives written in. I don't think you could go back to that well if it costs real money.

I think it's a great idea, actually—especially if Hamels is more willing to sign such a deal with the Braves, given that he wasn't able to make good on his 2020 contract with them.

[jpx7]

I don't think they need volume. The braves have had success for years bringing in a scrap heap vet to be the fifth starter. I don't see why they cannot get another Felix or anibal sanchez. Plus, over a long sample size I still think you can get a 5th starter out of Davidson, Wilson, Touki, etc.

I think they need impact, not volume. And it's tough to call any pitching dependable. Too many options for getting hurt. AA will likely want a vet since we seem to care about such things.

Not sure how you watched the 2020 regular season and think the 2021 Braves don't need pitching volume.

[Heyward]

Yeah not sure how you can watch this season and think the Braves dont need to add an impact SP. Not saying we need to blow it all on Bauer but a Stroman, Odorizzi, Paxton type on a 1 yr deal is needed.

[50PoundHead]

Yeah not sure how you can watch this season and think the Braves dont need to add an impact SP. Not saying we need to blow it all on Bauer but a Stroman, Odorizzi, Paxton type on a 1 yr deal is needed.

Talk about a guy who misread his market. I think he's near the top of the list for a reasonably-price option.

[jpx7]

Talk about a guy who misread his market. I think he's near the top of the list for a reasonably-price option.

I think he pitched poorly enough this season that he should be quite cheap—which is why I mentioned attempting to sign both him and Stroman (whose sitting-out of 2020 muddies his market a bit, though not nearly as much as Odorizzi's poor performance).

[bravesfanMatt]

I am also a fan of another Hamels deal. It should be one year and insanely cheap. I wonder if he even wants to try and come back though.

[Dalyn]

Would anyone be against bringing back Cole on a cheap one year prove your healthy contract?

It would have to be "I'm sorry I pitched fewer than 4 innings for you guys" cheap.

[Dalyn]

I think he pitched poorly enough this season that he should be quite cheap—which is why I mentioned attempting to sign both him and Stroman (whose sitting-out of 2020 muddies his market a bit, though not nearly as much as Odorizzi's poor performance).

I was just talking about Stroman with a friend. Definitely like this idea. It gives us a potentially solid rotation until Soroka gets healthy (and allows us the opportunity to actually make sure he is healthy before returning), and then it really ramps it up to a strength. We were lucky this was a short year. I do not believe our bullpen could've covered this rotation over a full season. We need to be sure they don't have to try next year.

[clvclv]

I was just talking about Stroman with a friend. Definitely like this idea. It gives us a potentially solid rotation until Soroka gets healthy (and allows us the opportunity to actually make sure he is healthy before returning), and then it really ramps it up to a strength. We were lucky this was a short year. I do not believe our bullpen could've covered this rotation over a full season. We need to be sure they don't have to try next year.

I'm not 100% sure it's as big a concern now that Snitker's been forced to deal with SPs giving you 3 IPs (or less) on a consistent basis. AA needs to sit down with him and make sure that he understands that the Newk/Touki/Wilson/Ynoa/Weigel/Davidson/De La Cruz/Muller crowd is not to see a lineup a second time NO MATTER HOW WELL things might be going on a given day (until one takes a SERIOUS step forward), but there's no reason to feel like we don't still have plenty of depth to use an Opener or piggyback guys in the final rotation slot that can't work in 2021. Every one of those guys will still have at least one option left, so there's no reason they can't ride the Atlanta/Gwinnett shuttle until someone does enough to be trusted with a spot in the rotation.

I actually kinda like the idea of going to a 6-Man rotation next year - at least early on. Asking Fried, Anderson, Wright, or Soroka to give you more than 130-140 innings next season is playing with fire. If you bring in an inexpensive veteran SP and use the shuttle until at least the All-Star break, you'll significantly reduce the strain you put on those arms and will have them fresh come playoff time when you want to ramp them up. Depending on what kind of deal you get on that veteran SP, you can spend most of your money on offense and/or bringing in (or back) at least one more arm to maintain a shutdown pen.

Say you could get a Hamels/Minor/Paxton/Ray/Lester on a cheap, make good one year deal ($5-$6 million), you'd add a second lefty to the rotation and have a nice trade piece in July if they're pitching well (and are healthy). Then maybe you could look into adding BOTH Pederson and Lamb while spending what's left on a full-time DH or pen guy. It's a huge stretch, but if AA has $35 million to spend and you could get a SP, Pederson, and Lamb (or Holt maybe) for $12-15-ish million he might still have enough money to play on Ozuna. The problem there is that unless he's got $35 million to play with AFTER paying for raises for Acuna, Albies, Dansby, Duvall, Ender, Fried, and O'Day there's just not going to be that much to spend on free-agents.

Maybe some of those guys (Pederson/Lamb/Holt/Minor/Ray/Lester) come significantly cheaper than I expect them to this winter with all the uncertainty, but EVERYBODY'S going to be shopping in the bargain bins - I just can't see AA landing 3 guys like that for $2-$3 million apiece. If he spends on one of the big-ticket names (Ozuna/Gausman/Stroman/Odorizzi) he's probably just going to have to take what he can get in other spots.