Official Offseason Thread

[nsacpi]

I think you misunderstood me... I was not implying roster and lineup depth were the same. I was saying that before Inciarte, Swanson, and Markakis went down with injuries (not to mention an unhealthy Freeman) the lineup was extremely deep and raking. When those guys either didn't come back and/or weren't themselves again of course the lineup wasn't deep. For 3/4 of the year, our lineup was one of the deepest in the NL. I was saying thankfully we also had a very deep roster which kept us playing as a good team.

There were two stretches where the offense really clicked. When Riley was raking. And more briefly when Inciarte got hot after returning from injury. Obviously having guys in the bottom half of the lineup who can do this is great. In those two instances it was more a case of a player getting hot than anything sustainable. But it goes without saying that having better hitters in the bottom half of the lineup makes the whole offense more effective. And it also goes without saying that there are real constraints in terms of who we can acquire.

[PawPawMaxwell]

Last night MLB Trade RUmors article: They reference Teheran as a potential trade acquisition for Angels. Do they know/have heard anything or just guessing?

[CyYoung31]

Last night MLB Trade RUmors article: They reference Teheran as a potential trade acquisition for Angels. Do they know/have heard anything or just guessing?

Teheran for Mike Trout is the rumor that’s out there.

[thewupk]

i think his overall point is solid tho: if going cheaper at 3B allows you a deeper lineup, it's certainly worth looking into.

Deeper doesn't make it better. The Braves are going to have a hard time replacing his 132 WRC+ and 4.9 WAR. Hopefully some organic improvement from Acuna and Ozzie will help offset it. But Donaldson will be missed (and I have a feeling even if he came back he wouldn't have the same overall numbers)

[Freshmaker]

Are there any realistic 3B targets out there? We're not getting Rendon, and I'm sure someone will toss Josh a deal we won't want to match. Any FAs we can go for? Or are we going to be hoping Riley puts in some serious work in the offseason

[BeanieAntics]

Deeper doesn't make it better. The Braves are going to have a hard time replacing his 132 WRC+ and 4.9 WAR. Hopefully some organic improvement from Acuna and Ozzie will help offset it. But Donaldson will be missed (and I have a feeling even if he came back he wouldn't have the same overall numbers)

Yeah we're going to have a bunch of tough decisions to make this offseason. If we feel we can't replace Donaldson's production directly, going for more depth may be a way to mitigate whatever loss might occur there.

[BeanieAntics]

Are there any realistic 3B targets out there? We're not getting Rendon, and I'm sure someone will toss Josh a deal we won't want to match. Any FAs we can go for? Or are we going to be hoping Riley puts in some serious work in the offseason

Personally I'm still really hoping that we see the D'backs signal that they are willing to sell and we try to make a move for Escobar.

[Heyward]

Personally I'm still really hoping that we see the D'backs signal that they are willing to sell and we try to make a move for Escobar.

Arizona won 85 games this year, and were pretty unlucky. I'd love Escobar, i dont know why AZ would move him though.

[Heyward]

While I agree that the GM is incompetent, weren't a lot of his players supposed to be "good" players? Franco and Herrera were once solid prospect are have fallen flat. He had a great 1B, an elite RF, one of the best starters in the game last year and the best catcher in the game. Ya, they needed and should've added pitching at the deadline, but Nola regressed, Efflin regressed Pivetta regressed. Cutch getting injured hurt them a lot, too.

Kapler probably deserved to get canned. Maybe he made better, more analytical calls than someone like Snitker, for instance, but players seem to play better for Snit than Kapler. Kaplers guys seem to under perform.

That's on the GM/FO, not Kapler, what i was trying to say. Kapler got too much blame when it's on the GM.

[Heyward]

Last night MLB Trade RUmors article: They reference Teheran as a potential trade acquisition for Angels. Do they know/have heard anything or just guessing?

Angels need SP bad, would make sense for both clubs.

[Heyward]

If we dont keep JD, we'll need to lengthen the lineup somehow.

I dont know who we go for but after our top 4, no one really did much of anything.

Acuna, FF, Swanson and Ozzie are probably the only everyday guys as of today, C depends if we pursue Grandal or not, Ender should start vs RHP, need a 3B, someone to replace Nick if he's gone, and better depth. Pache eventually getting to the show would help. Cant rely on Riley next year, need to get a 3B somehow.

[mfree80]

AA is on record saying that Free Agency is an inefficient way to build a team. Those who are suggesting a list of FA’s, hoping that he will sign them to finish up the team for next year are forgetting history. We will likely see a few small FA signings, but I expect most of the heavy lifting for next years team to be done through trades and the farm.

[BeanieAntics]

Arizona won 85 games this year, and were pretty unlucky. I'd love Escobar, i dont know why AZ would move him though.

Their 3rd order W% was only at .516 and a bunch of their key players are on the wrong side of 30. Their 2020 roster is also pretty unimpressive when put up against any other NL contender. There are currently 8 NL teams that I would put ahead of them. You could make a perfectly reasonable argument that a 30 year old player with two more years of control has more value to them as a trade piece than as a player on their team. The same argument applies to David Peralta as well.

With that being said, they would probably be one of those teams that would look to get back near-ready MLB talent in a trade to fit with the young cornerstone players they have like Ketel Marte and Carson Kelly. Luckily for us, we would probably be able to offer several players who fit that general mold in a deal for Escobar.

[BeanieAntics]

AA is on record saying that Free Agency is an inefficient way to build a team. Those who are suggesting a list of FA’s, hoping that he will sign them to finish up the team for next year are forgetting history. We will likely see a few small FA signings, but I expect most of the heavy lifting for next years team to be done through trades and the farm.

Free agency is an inefficient way to build a team, but we really aren't trying to build a team this offseason. We're trying to build around an already established contender. Those are two different things and the latter is going to have to support their foundation with some free agent signings. There is almost no way to effectively fill the holes this team has through trades and the farm this offseason. We can address some of it, but we're going to have to dip into the market.

AA will be cautious and isn't going to be giving out any long term albatross contracts, but a couple value-oriented contracts for 1-3 years is definitely on the table.

[PawPawMaxwell]

Big question still: Do we really have viable trade chips to fix the voids?

[Carp]

Retired MLB umpire Chuck Meriwhether, who umpired in both leagues for a combined 20 years, has passed away. He had stroke about a month or so I believe. Thoughts and prayers for his family. I went to college with his youngest son.

[salmagundy]

It was thrown out there that Camargo's lack luster offense this year was possibly due to his not playing winter ball. Is he going to play winter ball this year and if so, for who?

[Enscheff]

AA is on record saying that Free Agency is an inefficient way to build a team. Those who are suggesting a list of FA’s, hoping that he will sign them to finish up the team for next year are forgetting history. We will likely see a few small FA signings, but I expect most of the heavy lifting for next years team to be done through trades and the farm.

Really? Which trades were made last off season? Giving $23M to JD was small? Giving $13M to DK for a few months was small?

AA has shown he will splurge on short term FAs. He hasn’t done any “heavy lifting” through trades.

[clvclv]

Last night MLB Trade RUmors article: They reference Teheran as a potential trade acquisition for Angels. Do they know/have heard anything or just guessing?

Julio for Brian Goodwin and/or Kenyan Middleton could make a lot of sense - particularly if AA's slightly considering letting Julio walk.

Goodwin would be a switch-hitting corner OF option who could back up Acuna if Ender's moved, and Middleton has closing experience and could be a cheap back-end option that's controllable for a while. Goodwin's only projected to make $2.1 million in arbitration - Middleton's projected to make $800,000.

The biggest concern is just how much of Goodwin's semi-breakout season anyone believes in - he was always highly thought of early on, but there's a lot of swing-and-miss there AND he had a .337 BABIP in 2019.

[The Chosen One]

Really? Which trades were made last off season? Giving $23M to JD was small? Giving $13M to DK for a few months was small?

AA has shown he will splurge on short term FAs. He hasn’t done any “heavy lifting” through trades.

AA has said he wants to see what our prospects have before he does anyrhing.

Seems to me he would still make a big trade, depending on the target. It just so happens that Donaldson and Keuchel filled immediate short gap needs without having to unload prospect capital.

Kind of premature to rule out AA doing any big trades based off one real offseason. He wants to examine what we have and go fron there. Seems very adaptable to the market conditions as evidenced by saving money to spend later on Keuchel.