Official Spring Training Thread

[thethe]

What better way to start the thread than this - MAKE IT HAPPEN!

[Tapate50]

Man you always see players hedge against this.

I’d lock him up.

[chop2chip]

It’s no secret I want to see him be a Brave for life. Seems like it should happen

[bravesfanforlife88]

It’s no secret I want to see him be a Brave for life. Seems like it should happen

Didn't Freeman say the same thing....? To be honest, I want Acuna here for life....I hope it happens, but i'm not holding my breath. And if we get to the final year of his deal, it would be very unpopular, but if we know for a fact he isn't coming back, we should ship him off for the biggest, big league ready package we can get.

[thewupk]

Didn't Freeman say the same thing....? To be honest, I want Acuna here for life....I hope it happens, but i'm not holding my breath. And if we get to the final year of his deal, it would be very unpopular, but if we know for a fact he isn't coming back, we should ship him off for the biggest, big league ready package we can get.

I think the lockout hurt the Freeman situation. Also seemed like Freeman should have been a man about it and contacted the team directly.

[bravesfanforlife88]

I think the lockout hurt the Freeman situation. Also seemed like Freeman should have been a man about it and contacted the team directly.

Agreed with the lock out throwing a wrench in that FA class, but still, if he wanted to be a Brave, he would have been. Chipper went on interviews the day the Braves traded for Olson and said exactly that. He told FF that if he wanted to be a Brave for life, he'd have to be okay with taking less than going elsewhere and that conversation was well before the lockout.

[Chico]

We have Acuna signed 4 more years after this year at 17M. If we tacked on 4 more years at 30M per year, then averaged it over the 8 years he’d be at 23.5M for the next 8 years. That would make him $1.5m more than Riley and Olson’ annual salary of $22m

[mossy]

Zen.

[cajunrevenge]

Didn't Freeman say the same thing....? To be honest, I want Acuna here for life....I hope it happens, but i'm not holding my breath. And if we get to the final year of his deal, it would be very unpopular, but if we know for a fact he isn't coming back, we should ship him off for the biggest, big league ready package we can get.

I think he would have been if we signed him to an extension when he had years left on his contract rather than waiting until he was a FA. I think we could have signed him to something like 4 year 100 million extension when he had 2-3 years left.

[chop2chip]

Agreed with the lock out throwing a wrench in that FA class, but still, if he wanted to be a Brave, he would have been. Chipper went on interviews the day the Braves traded for Olson and said exactly that. He told FF that if he wanted to be a Brave for life, he'd have to be okay with taking less than going elsewhere and that conversation was well before the lockout.

You mean taking more to be a Brave than a Dodger.

[CJ9]

I would imagine we have to wait until next offseason to add onto his deal. Doing something now would likely push us over that next tax threshold that causes our 2025 first rounder to drop 10 spots.

[cajunrevenge]

https://clutchpoints.com/braves-news...pring-training


Strider apparently working on a curveball. The point where he has a viable third pitch is when I think he really takes off. His ERA always seems to be so much higher than the advanced stats say it should be which imo is because he is a 2 pitch pitcher. Hitters can go up guessing and it might make them look silly a good portion of the time it also leads to some very hard hit balls that turn into extra base hits. Even a below average third pitch could really help with that.

[Heyward]

I would imagine we have to wait until next offseason to add onto his deal. Doing something now would likely push us over that next tax threshold that causes our 2025 first rounder to drop 10 spots.

Assuming both sides are willing, i'd agree it makes more sense to do it next offseason due to the money coming off the books. With the draft pick thing as well but if they did it now, i dont think anyone would be mad at that tbh.

[UNCBlue012]

https://clutchpoints.com/braves-news...pring-training


Strider is apparently working on a curveball. The point where he has a viable third pitch is when I think he really takes off. His ERA always seems to be so much higher than the advanced stats say it should be which imo is because he is a 2 pitch pitcher. Hitters can go up guessing and it might make them look silly a good portion of the time it also leads to some very hard hit balls that turn into extra base hits. Even a below average third pitch could really help with that.

I think it's important to note that his changeup was very solid in 2023, he just didn't throw it much (around 8% of the time) but it was most definitely viable. Realistically, he can still be a hard two-pitch guy and just throw the changeup and curve each around 10% of the time and he'd be more than fine. I'd love to see him increase the usage a bit, but he's doing exactly what he should be.

[bravesfanMatt]

Strider with 4 pitches would be pretty fun to watch.

[cajunrevenge]

I think it's important to note that his changeup was very solid in 2023, he just didn't throw it much (around 8% of the time) but it was most definitely viable. Realistically, he can still be a hard two-pitch guy and just throw the changeup and curve each around 10% of the time and he'd be more than fine. I'd love to see him increase the usage a bit, but he's doing exactly what he should be.

Throwing it so infrequently probably had something to do with it's effectiveness.

[Enscheff]

I’m unsure how adding a third pitch would affect the delta between the expected and actual stats. Expected stats are based on contact quality, which happens after the decision point of which pitch to throw.

[cajunrevenge]

I am admittedly no expert on the advanced stats but he seems to consistently underperform what the advanced stats say he should. If that stuff is supposed to balance out he should have some incredible seasons coming up.

[Garmel]

[Enscheff]

I suppose it depends on which advanced stats you're referencing. I tend to only look at wOBA/xwOBA, which has been spot on for Strider. Other advanced stats tend to make assumptions like every pitcher has the same defense behind them, or all pitchers allow HRs at exactly the same rate. Adding another breaking ball may or may not change how those stats shake out.

Either way, adding quality pitches is always a good thing, especially as velocity starts to degrade.