The curve or whatever it is only seems good enough to steal first pitch strikes.
The curve or whatever it is only seems good enough to steal first pitch strikes.
Anderson’s control/ location looks night and day better than last week… correct ?
Well that was an embarrassing run to give up. A single and 3 errors.
Our 1 through 6 is going to be the best in baseball this year.
1-9Originally Posted by thewupk
Ozuna still looks like crap. Not hitting the ball hard is a huge red flag.. Also still not impressed with Eddie. I hope the Braves don't screw around with those two too long.. I would hate to see a guy get cut from camp and go on to be at least average while these 2 anchors slow our team down.
Coppy
And they've had 15/16 AB!!!
We don’t need much from LF- just something remotely decent - I still am having a hard time thinking Ozuna can’t at least be that. Gimmie .240 and 25 tanks and I’m happy.
1-8 is damn solid - assuming TDA / Murphy DH every night.
Surely between Ozuna, Pillar, White, Wall, Hell- stick Arcia out there - someone outta be able to at least be better than an auto - out.
JohnAdcox (03-09-2023)
My biggest takeaways this far into ST - Oly and Acuna look fantastic, the primary bullpen arms are ready to roll and Fried is a monster.
my biggest takeaway is that our Minor league teams, especially AA and AAA, are going to be a steaming pile of elephant dung.
Coppy
100% the starters come out and we just give it away. Probably the total effect of the sanctions. Should filter out this year and next?
Ivermectin Man
It’s scary how bad our farm is. If we suffer any major injuries, we don’t have a Grissom, Harris, or Strider to come up and fill the hole.
bravesfanMatt told me your mom sure could.
Ivermectin Man
I mean, I know spring is what it is.. records don't mean anything.. but jesus, I have never seen a group that can give up any lead regardless of how many outs are left. It is too the point that I just stop watching or listening after the 4th inning. There is literally no one that I am interested in following after that.
Coppy
True. The farm has been emptied but it is what it is at this point. I'll take that considering the Braves, on paper, should be a top 1-3 team in baseball.
Tapate50 (03-06-2023)
We also have no clue whats in the lower levels that in 2 years could be top prospects.
I fully believe in AA and his team.
Natural Immunity Croc
The concern is sustainability, continuation of the competitive window. When you get to the top of the mountain, you have to have waves of talent, each wave situated strategically on the developmental curve (Rookie, Low/High A, AA/AAA), or be ready to spend at all costs, or some version of the two.
If you look at the Dodgers they are the best of all worlds: All the money they want/need, top of the line scouting and development that has built waves from which to draw, adherence to modern concepts to help them stay at the top.
The Braves have committed to more payroll than I ever would have imagined and they've made strategic gambles by locking up talent to guarantee a cost structure, especially as they've moved the young guys up. They've been strategic in moving the right guys in trade it seems so far. BUT, the next "wave" of talent, if there is one is in Rookie/Low A. And it seems, finances, regardless of team verbalization are about tapped out given the relative lack of even cursory FA interest.
The Braves have had a combination of being smart/lucky in recent drafts with non premium picks (assuming premium to be 1st and 2nd round). Harris 3rd, Strider 4th, Grissom 11th, Elder 5th. Kyle Wright was the last premium round pick to do anything in Atlanta picked in 2017. The MLB draft has always been a crap shoot (go look through MLB's draft tracker) but REALLY becomes one after the first 2 rounds. For the Braves BTW the 2018 draft was close to a complete bust with #14 Victor Vodnik being the last real hope.
Everyone will point to the International Sanctions as being the problem. And they contribute. But, if you add in ALL the talent the Braves had signed and lost from that would it move the needle for the Braves? Last time I looked about the best coming out of the group was maybe a couple of Utility Infielders.
I am not sure anyone is referring to the actual class that was removed but more to the fact we couldn't take part in any drafts for basically 3 years.. or was it 5.. I know they tappered off.. But not having that resource does hurt, but it is unknown how much.
man, I went back and looked at the entire 2018 class for the most part, that whole class was trash. And the Braves basically didn't have a pick in round 1 that year due to Stewart not signing.. So you could say Lango was our 2018 pick that netted us Oly.
And with the Braves most likely being competitive for the next 4+ years just with the team they have, those waves don't really have to start crashing until the 2021 crop is ready.
Coppy
Yeah, I agree. It's always a gamble. You just have to try to better the odds if you can. The Braves DO look likely to be competitive over the next 4 years given luck, especially on the everyday player side of the ledger. But if anything, anything, goes wrong then your likely having to dig into that next wave to patch since there isn't much above it that teams would want (Shuster, Shewmake?).
Stewart was the only time I can remember the Braves publicly commenting on spin rate. Then they medical flagged him which has turned out to be the right choice. I wanted them to take Gorman there but that's just a guess by me at the time not any real insight. The Lango pick was fine as a Carter replacement but the Shemake pick looks like a weak selection if not outright bust.
My problem with the years of International sanctions is that the Braves look to have mostly foregone the whole market for a while. Without knowing (admittedly) the whole fine print on the pool money and how it applies (I've always thought that you could sign as many under a price threshold that you wanted (maybe $100K?), I would have thought that the Braves would have gone heavy on signing the proverbial "diamond in the rough" type guys, maybe slightly overpaying for a few (but still under the limit). If you look at International signings, the hit rate is actually not nearly as good as the MLB draft. You can find value but you have to have investment and I think the Braves minimized their investment in the area when they should have doubled down.
We already know LF/DH are going to be garbage, and SS is a question mark with a potential answer, so those aren't my biggest concern.
My biggest concern is Albies and how badly his approach has warped into this pull happy wannabe power goon with terrible plate discipline. He was injured in 2022, but his O-Swing% and Pull% were quite a bit higher than usual while his exit velocities were way down. He has his back foot so close to the plate now in an effort to pull every single pitch it seems like he won't be able to put anything in play hard other than an outside pitch. I worry he has been allowed to ingrain so many bad hitting habits he will really struggle.
JohnAdcox (03-09-2023)
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