The fact that the offense isn't the top priority tells a lot about the brain trust of this team.
The fact that the offense isn't the top priority tells a lot about the brain trust of this team.
Acquiring another starter is not a must. But there are a lot of them on the market, which could help us get one at a good price. I only want a starter at a good price and on a contract that isn't guaranteed for too many years.
Btw signing a starting pitcher this off-season might put us in a position to trade some pitching for a hitter at a later date.
The other consideration is that we need to proceed on realistic assumptions about injured players and even attrition with healthy pitchers.
Last edited by nsacpi; 10-05-2015 at 01:53 PM.
Or trade some current pitching for ready or near ready batsOriginally Posted by nsacpi
Andrelton Simmons and Christian Bethancourt taking the next step in their development, as well as Olivera hitting next year, would be a big step towards "boosting the offense in some way".
Platoons are one relatively cheap way of getting more out of a group of hitters. A possible Peterson-Castro platoon at second has been brought up. In the outfield there should be many opportunities to mix and match even with the current crew. We have lefties--Bourn and Markakis. Righties--Maybin and Eury Perez. And three switch hitters--Swisher (better against lefties), Cunningham (better against righties) and Terdoslavich (better against rigthies). We can also potentially throw Olivera and Garcia into the mix in left field. That kind of flexibility (not all of whom will necessarily be on the major league roster at the same time) increases your chances of finding a productive combination.
Here are Markakis' splits for example:
Career: .814 OPS against righties, .732 against lefties
2015: .795 against righties, .635 against lefties
He's at an age where a little more rest against lefties would be good for him and the team, assuming there is a good guy off the bench to use in those situations.
Last edited by nsacpi; 10-05-2015 at 02:43 PM.
We have a manager who can't spell the word platoon let alone use one appropriately.
Braves1976 (10-05-2015), bravesfanMatt (10-05-2015), FreemanFan (10-05-2015), goldfly (10-05-2015), zedsdead (10-05-2015)
This gives me less confidence that the good old boys club knows what they're doing. The pen should be a priority but not number one as it can be fixed a lot easier than the offense and starting rotation.
Horsehide Harry (10-05-2015)
Yeah, seems like they're looking at all the blown leads early in the season - when we were getting incredibly luckily offensively which won't likely happen again next year - and are making the assumption that fixing the bullpen will give us an additional 5-10 wins right off the bat
Horsehide Harry (10-05-2015)
Over correcting a problem has been a Braves tradition for many years now. We'll see it again this off-season with the pen. Also there is a certain amount of public relations spinning going on here when they cite the pen as the #1 priority. It will appeal to a segment of the fan base that doesn't realize that pens are more easily fixed and not that important to start with.
Braves1976 (10-05-2015)
pitching is king... this last week should show you how a good pen can win games. you can also check out how many runs the Cards scored this year and look at their pens ranking. Sorry, a lock down pen is a huge asset.
The top pen this year was worth 4.8 WAR (San Diego). The worst was us (-1.3 WAR). That gives you an idea of the overall value of the pen. Btw we were the only team in negative WAR territory. The next worst pen was Toronto at 0.3. The median was 2.5 WAR. If we improve to that it will be a 4 win swing.
Braves1976 (10-05-2015)
Yep, pretty much my exact thoughts.
The pen is a self correcting problem. I have stated in other posts that the Braves don't need to add several FA to the pen IMO. They have enough depth to cover the pen. Maybe one person is all we need IMO. I agree, that Hart is blowing smoke so that fans think that he intends on improving a glaring weakness. Most fans don't pay enough attention to what lies in waiting to know that there are internal solutions to fix problems.
as far as WAR and the pen.. I have no idea how that is calculated but I do know the Padres had a 4.02 ERA as a pen and the Cards/Pirates/Royals had a sub 3 ERA as a pen and those three teams where in the top 4 of the best records in baseball.. the cubs had the 8th best BP ERA at 3.38.. I think simply saying a good BP is an easy fix is a bit short sighted and I think Hart needs to make sure we are set in that department. Ask the Gnats how easy a pen is to fix.
The main thing you need to know is that fangraphs uses FIP not ERA in calculating WAR for pitchers.
I share your guys' concern on overcorrecting, but we may have a different bar on where that line is. My goal is an average MLB bullpen and some depth at AAA that is passable for middle relief (at least in the short run). I think we need to add one setup-caliber arm from the LH side. This may take more than a one-year deal. In addition, I would add two solid middle relievers: one LHP, and one RHP. Guys who will require an MLB deal, but not more than one guaranteed year. This would allow most of our fringe guys (Cunny, Marksberry, Moylan, etc.) to serve as depth in AAA that will eventually need to contribute. I'd prefer to avoid guys like Folty or Tyrell in the big league bullpen.
The Braves were 29th in the league in BP ERA, and 30th in runs scored. Considering it is orders of magnitude easier to "fix" a BP, I think making it priority 1A is very logical. That doesn't mean spending $20M per year on FAs to fix it, but it can be improved significantly with a fraction of that. Fixing the offense is obviously priority 1B.
Having the worst offense in the game (something that was predicted by many on this board last offseason, by the way) is going to be much harder, especially when you consider they won't be in the market for any of the impact FA bats. The gaping, glaring, cavernous hole on the roster (as usual in Atlanta) is the lack of an impact bat in LF. The position must be addressed, but if Heyward, JUp, Ces and Gordon are not possibilities, then I'm not sure where the improvement is going to come from. A LHed bat to pair with Swisher is probably the cheapest/easiest fix, but I'm not sure it will be enough to get this team to .500.
Worst case scenario they keep the current guys and hope that Olivera at 3B for 120+ games (he seems pretty fragile), Swish plus somebody in LF, a full year of Maybin, a healthy year from Freeman, a repeat performance by AJ, and improvements from the Peterson/Casto platoon allows the Braves to at least score more than 600 runs (the only team held under 600 runs, by the way).
Last edited by Enscheff; 10-05-2015 at 04:52 PM.
The Braves know they have a lot of really good young pitchers. They also know it takes at least a dozen relief pitchers to get through the year. I think they are looking for a couple of solid anchors. I don't think they will sign a new pen in Free Agency.
I don't think they sign a new pen either. It has been discussed on the board that the 40 man roster is already crowded. I don't know who they leave off if they go out and sign three bullpen guys.
I think they will sign or trade for three relievers on major league contracts. An eighth inning guy and a couple situational specialists. Cost in salary in the 10-15m range.
Probably come from: LHR - Blevins, Bastardo, maybe take a flyer on O'Flaherty
RHR - Clippard, Soria, Mujica, Johnson, maybe take a flyer on Feliz and/or Parnell
Big, Big mistake if you ask me. It's like being shot three times, once through the chest, once through the arm and one grazing the meat of the calf and deciding that fixing the calf muscle is top priority.
Last edited by Horsehide Harry; 10-05-2015 at 07:22 PM.
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