Originally Posted by
Carp
For one, I'm pretty sure we're above .500 over our last 90-100 games. So fielding a competitive team in 2017 is hardly a pipe dream. They were above .500 for the first half of 2015 and finished with the third worst record in baseball. Freeman has had a career year and probably doesn't have much more to offer than he has this year, Markakis and Kemp are on the wrong side of 30 and more likely to decline than improve, Folty and Wisler aren't much improved and the other young pitchers have shown they aren't ready. Sometimes fool's gold looks just like gold, but it isn't.
But to address your payroll numbers, they're pretty flawed. For one, it's very unlikely we spend 15 million on the pen. Even in 2014 when our payroll was the highest it's ever been, we only spent about 14.25 million. Unless we trade back for Kimbrell, our BP will continue to be built by bargain players. I am accounting for ongoing inflation of relief pitching salaries. It's possible the Braves will go with a bunch of no name guys but even if you have 6 pitchers at an average of $2.5M apiece that's $15M.
Secondly, it's also very unlikely we spend 28 million dollars on two pitchers. But even if we did, you fail to realize that based on what the FO is saying, whatever pitchers we may sign would likely be on short term deals (like 3 years or less), which would have a very minimal impact on signing future players. Also, ditto on wupk said about Mac and Kemp.If they sign a guy this offseason to a three year deal, then he's on the books through the 2019 season. My response was based on an ability to play in the 2018/2019 FA market.