FA Pitchers of Interest

[nsacpi]

I mostly want to go with a homegrown rotation next year. But I would be fine with adding one veteran guy. Not a top of the rotation type guy. More like a bounce back candidate or veteran to provide some stability. Looking at the potential free agent starting pitchers, there are several of interest:

Brett Anderson
Jake Peavy
Charlie Morton
Ivan Nova
John Niese
RA Dickey
Andrew Cashner

Not all are equally interesting. Probably the top two guys for me are the ones I listed last: Cashner and Dickey. Either them on a one or two year deal would be a nice complement to what we have coming up through our system.

I would like the 2017 rotation to look like this:

1. Teheran
2. Wisler
3. Folty
4. Veteran FA
5. Mix and match from Gant, Baby Harang, Blair, Bradley, Newcomb, Sims, Jenkins, Povse, etc etc

[Tapate50]

I have no interest in Peavy. I could see some of the others though.

[The Chosen One]

Baby Harang I've given the 5 spot to.

4 is going to be either a vet, or someone from down in the org stepping up.

Gant to me is a long reliever, not a starter.

[smootness]

With Wisler pitching like he has the last couple starts, you can suddenly start to picture the beginning stages of a pretty solid rotation. I agree that I would like to add a solid FA pitcher, and I think we will. I think I'd prefer Cashner over all the others listed.

I think Blair should be first in line to earn a spot in ST. Newcomb and Sims won't be ready until at least midseason or so, so I wouldn't worry about making room for them yet.

[Chico]

I think we trade for one and sign one. Cashner and Fister are the two I like via FA with Cashner being the preference.

[Chico]

With Wisler pitching like he has the last couple starts, you can suddenly start to picture the beginning stages of a pretty solid rotation. I agree that I would like to add a solid FA pitcher, and I think we will. I think I'd prefer Cashner over all the others listed.

I think Blair should be first in line to earn a spot in ST. Newcomb and Sims won't be ready until at least midseason or so, so I wouldn't worry about making room for them yet.

I wouldn't worry about making room for anyone and after Wisler and Blair letting Coppy down this year I doubt he will be saving a spot for anyone either. I like the idea of having a stacked AAA rotation and pen and let things happen organically. Let GM's see our depth and call and make us some offers when they have a couple of injuries happen in ST and are desperate.

[Enscheff]

Rich Hill and Jorge De La Rosa are older guys that should be signable to 2-3 year deals. A trade for Ervin Santana might make sense.

I am not going to speculate on which scrap heap starters they will bring in to compete for the 5th slot and AAA rotation.

[Nerfherders]

It worked pretty well for us this year. We flipped Chacin, Norris, and Harrell for actual value. I say sign them all!

[bravesguy]

It worked pretty well for us this year. We flipped Chacin, Norris, and Harrell for actual value. I say sign them all!

That assumes you have a rotation spot to play them. If we actually want to compete, then there is no "extra" rotation spot.

If the rotation is Tehran / Folty / Wisler / FA / Prospect, then the only way to have a guy like Norris or Harrell is for them to be that FA which means we start out not wanting / expecting to win with it. I think we get a guy like Santana to fill that spot so we are more like Tehran / Folty / Santana / Wisler / prospect. This leaves no room for flip-able asset.

[Chico]

That assumes you have a rotation spot to play them. If we actually want to compete, then there is no "extra" rotation spot.

If the rotation is Tehran / Folty / Wisler / FA / Prospect, then the only way to have a guy like Norris or Harrell is for them to be that FA which means we start out not wanting / expecting to win with it. I think we get a guy like Santana to fill that spot so we are more like Tehran / Folty / Santana / Wisler / prospect. This leaves no room for flip-able asset.

I don't think you need to save a spot for a prospect. Make them earn it in AAA. I like Folty but he has an injury bug. I like Wisler, but he's been inconsistent. You can't really count them in for 30 starts next year yet.

Too much pitching is a great thing to have. It works itself out. I look at the rotation as Julio, SP, SP, Folty, Wisler

[bravesguy]

Too much pitching is a great thing to have. It works itself out. I look at the rotation as Julio, SP, SP, Folty, Wisler

I get the point, but I think we are still a rebuilding team and it is obvious that great at AA / AAA doesn't mean ready for MLB. We need to have an opportunity for a prospect who looks ready to come up, take lumps. I think one of Whalen / Jed / Gant will end of MOR if they are given starts at the MLB level and allowed to struggle. i am not sure about Jenkins / Blair / Perez. The best way to do that is have the other 4 pretty consistent.

For every Harrell, there is a Stults.

[Chico]

I get the point, but I think we are still a rebuilding team and it is obvious that great at AA / AAA doesn't mean ready for MLB. We need to have an opportunity for a prospect who looks ready to come up, take lumps. I think one of Whalen / Jed / Gant will end of MOR if they are given starts at the MLB level and allowed to struggle. i am not sure about Jenkins / Blair / Perez. The best way to do that is have the other 4 pretty consistent.

For every Harrell, there is a Stults.

There will be an opportunity. There will be injuries and ineffectiveness that will create an opportunity.

When Coppy was quoted for offseason priorities he has said starting pitching not a starter. I foresee two new vets added to hedge our bets, and let nature take its course

I like the idea of trading for guys like Alex Cobb and Tyson Ross who are coming off injury and pending free agents. Play the odds and try and catch a Jeremy Hellickson to trade in July if we suck or keep him if we're competing and offer a QO and get a comp pick the following year.

[nsacpi]

For every Harrell, there is a Stults.

More like for every Harrell there are a half dozen Stults. The Braves though do better than most teams in identifying good reclamation projects. I don't mind signing one or two guys like that to compete for a bullpen spot or even the fifth rotation spot if the young uns give them an opening. But I want the young uns to be given most of the looks in spring training for the fifth spot.

[Hudson2]

I think we'll see a trade. I like Odorizzi a lot. We don't have to have an ace but if they get a good deal on somebody I could see them pulling the trigger. They have a ton of ammo to get whatever.

[smootness]

I don't think you need to save a spot for a prospect. Make them earn it in AAA. I like Folty but he has an injury bug. I like Wisler, but he's been inconsistent. You can't really count them in for 30 starts next year yet.

Too much pitching is a great thing to have. It works itself out. I look at the rotation as Julio, SP, SP, Folty, Wisler

It's not about saving a spot for a prospect, it's about having room for one. I don't want us to go out and add multiple SPs and then find ourselves in a situation where we have prospects ready but can't call them up.

I just don't see any way we add two SPs that are at least solid after all we've done to add pitching throughout the system.

[Chico]

If we have prospects who show they are ready, then we can make room for them. I don't think that will be a problem. It's better to have too much than not enough.

[clvclv]

My guess is those decisions will hinge on what they see from Jed Bradley this month. If he could become our bridge to other LH starters, he'd be ideal IMO. While I'll buy the fact that Blair is going to have to prove a lot before he's penciled-in to next season's rotation, I do think Wisler and Folty are locks to join Julio when healthy. If Bradley has a couple good starts, he should be in the mix for a spot. I agree that Williams Perez will win a spot if healthy unless Bradley impresses. That's 4 "locks" - or at least semi-locks.

If/when they come to a fair number financially, I imagine we'll see two of Jenkins/Gant/Ellis/Whalen dealt for Mac. If the other two could net you Santana, this team could be significantly better out of the gate...



Rotation: Julio, Santana, Folty, Wisler, Bradley/Perez - with Bradley/Perez, Newcomb, Sims, Blair, tucked away in Gwinnett.

CF- Inciarte, SS - Dansby, 1B- Freeman, LF- Kemp, C- Mac/Flowers, RF- Markakis, 3B- Adonis, 2B- Peterson - you'd still have Mallex, Ruiz, and Albies tucked away on the bench or at Gwinnett in case a Longoria or deal for a RF arose.



Assuming they don't try to put a package together to try to land Longoria, I'm not sure they try to do anything "big" to be honest. I do think a trade for Mac is somewhat inevitable - just listening to the guys on XM is enough to scare you. They all seem to believe that Ramos is going to get a five year deal this winter, and I just don't think I'd go there if it were up to me - that's a LONG time given his injury history. Even if you just get pop from Kemp and Mac (and defense from Mac), I think giving up a couple C-level arms for Mac is probably the best option. Word was we were willing to pay half ($17 million) of what's owed to him, and if you budgeted all that money in 2017, you could potentially jump into the bidding war for Lucroy following next season.

[TheBravos]

There is a real possibility that we might not need any starting pitching now that Folty and Wisler are back in form. I think we have enough guys to fill #4-5, unless we find a deal. With the market the way it is...I doubt that will happen. Jed Bradley could make a BIG contribution. He was a former middle first rounder. If he has finally put it together...wow.

[depley]

I do not find one pitcher on that list that I would want to give a contract to. Everyone of them gives up more hits than innings and some of them walk batters at the rate of 50% of the innings pitched. None of that is worthy for me. I would rather look for a trade vs any free agent pitcher.

[nsacpi]

I do not find one pitcher on that list that I would want to give a contract to. Everyone of them gives up more hits than innings and some of them walk batters at the rate of 50% of the innings pitched. None of that is worthy for me. I would rather look for a trade vs any free agent pitcher.

who would be on your list of trade candidates