Albies having a full season like he did in AA this year is unlikely. In the past 5 years there have been 44 individual seasons of at least a 390 OBP or higher. The lowest homerun total among those is 11. The lowest ISO Slg is 127 by Joe Mauer in 2012. Pretty much every other player is in the 170 range or higher.
So realistically Albies has a couple of choices. Hit for more power or suddenly get the plate discipline of a Joe Mauer type which is among the best in this todays game.
Is the trend continuing where teams are overpaying for high end relief arms?
Rule 5 draft this AM. Braves have a full 40-man, so I think Jacob Lindgren was effectively their pick (and a good one). Should be fun to follow nonetheless.
Williams Perez released, we have an open spot minutes before Rule 5 begins.
50PoundHead (12-08-2016), Hawk (12-08-2016)
Our pick is 28-year-old RHP Armando Rivero (http://www.milb.com/player/index.jsp...ching/2016/ALL). He threw 67.2 innings and had 105 Ks and 35 walks last year in Triple A for the Cubs.
Marlette also went unpicked in the Major League portion of the draft, so if he's the PTBNL in the Jackson trade, we'll get him.
Chico (12-08-2016)
I'm assuming most teams will view Williams Perez as AAAA, and he has a good chance to pass through waivers.
How in the world do the Braves consistently make these really good moves?
A couple videos of Rivero. The slider looks pretty good:
This video has an at-bat against Marcus Semien in the 2013 Arizona Fall League. Semien swings through the slider at 1:20:
Good Move!
I'm not a fan of Perez and this kid looks like he's just been chomping at the bit to get his shot.
An even better question might be why they've moved him along so slowly. He came over as a 25-year-old Cuban, and they did move him up to AA that first year. And he had really good success. He then had good success in AA and AAA the next year. Admittedly his numbers dipped some in 2015, but then he spent a full year striking out everybody in AAA this year?
Just bizarre that he's taken this long. His BB rates aren't great, but it seems like he should have at least gotten a shot.
buck75 (12-08-2016)