Offseason Hot Stove 2024-25 Thread

[Enscheff]

That may be the worst bench I've ever seen on a contender. There is 1 actual MLB player, and he won't even be on the bench when the opposing team starts a RHP. That bench doesn't even have the good backup C every Braves bench seems to have. This makes it even easier for dino-Snit to justify never giving the regulars a day off until they pull a hamstring due to playing 78 straight games.

"Hoping for guys to be healthier and add nothing else" is a pretty poor offseason strategy. Hopefully ducking under the tax line pays off in the next few years.

[SJ24]

It was a disaster offseason and it calls into question AA's ability to lead this franchise.

I am not sure why AA was ever billed as a "genius" anyway.

He has an Economics degree from McMaster University and that appears to be it.

There are stacks and stacks of talented guys with much better academic resumes in front offices around the game now.

The Dodgers, for example, are in talks to acquire the services of Farhan Zaidi, whose academic and baseball resume far supersedes AA's, to an advisory role.

[TURBO]

It was a disaster offseason and it calls into question AA's ability to lead this franchise.

I am not sure why AA was ever billed as a "genius" anyway.

He has an Economics degree from McMaster University and that appears to be it.

There are stacks and stacks of talented guys with much better academic resumes in front offices around the game now.

The Dodgers, for example, are in talks to acquire the services of Farhan Zaidi, whose academic and baseball resume far supersedes AA's, to an advisory role.

We get it. You love the Dodgers. It's all you talked about this offseason.

[MadduxFanII]

It was a disaster offseason and it calls into question AA's ability to lead this franchise.

I am not sure why AA was ever billed as a "genius" anyway.

He has an Economics degree from McMaster University and that appears to be it.

There are stacks and stacks of talented guys with much better academic resumes in front offices around the game now.

The Dodgers, for example, are in talks to acquire the services of Farhan Zaidi, whose academic and baseball resume far supersedes AA's, to an advisory role.

No one cares what these guys studied in college.

[SJ24]

We get it. You love the Dodgers. It's all you talked about this offseason.

Not at all. You just can't deny they have easily had the greatest offseason since the 2009 Yankees.

We all wanted the Braves to improve one of two weak spots in the lineup, replace Fried, and bolster the bullpen.

We accomplished 1/3rd of those objectives.

Meanwhile, what did the Dodgers do? They strengthened their lineup and bolstered both their rotation and bullpen.

It's hard not to talk about them and be a little envious, seeing as they did what we did not and they were our main competition.

It's easy to throw your hands up and say, "well, we don't have their TV deal or the Ohtani advantage", but you have to realize most teams don't have the advantage of our ballpark/The Battery and the two way under-market deals given to Acuna and Albies.

[Hudson2]

Not at all. You just can't deny they have easily had the greatest offseason since the 2009 Yankees.

We all wanted the Braves to improve one of two weak spots in the lineup, replace Fried, and bolster the bullpen.

We accomplished 1/3rd of those objectives.

Meanwhile, what did the Dodgers do? They strengthened their lineup and bolstered both their rotation and bullpen.

It's hard not to talk about them and be a little envious, seeing as they did what we did not and they were our main competition.

It's easy to throw your hands up and say, "well, we don't have their TV deal or the Ohtani advantage", but you have to realize most teams don't have the advantage of our ballpark/The Battery and the two way under-market deals given to Acuna and Albies.

No team is trying to play catch up with the Dodgers. AA knows better than to try to do that bc it's impossible. The Braves still have the 2nd best roster in baseball and beating the Dodgers will make it that much sweeter. AA will still add another SP and hopefully another BP arm.

[bravesfanMatt]

I think it is very fair to have the discussion that AA might not be a top flight GM.. He was handed the keys to a Rolls Royce and he just needed to maintain it. The fact that he continues to let a buffoons manage the team justifies the discussion at least.

[bravesfanMatt]

No team is trying to play catch up with the Dodgers. AA knows better than to try to do that bc it's impossible. The Braves still have the 2nd best roster in baseball and beating the Dodgers will make it that much sweeter. AA will still add another SP and hopefully another BP arm.

No team should be making moves to counter another teams moves... The Braves had very few clear needs going into the offseason and enough payroll space to make 2+ of those moves and still tighten up the bench.. He got a LF with 1 year of improved data and left the pitching a mess. It isn't about keeping up with the Dodger$, but keeping up with last years team and improving. I would say this team is worse as it stands..

[DirkPiggler]

I think it is very fair to have the discussion that AA might not be a top flight GM.. He was handed the keys to a Rolls Royce and he just needed to maintain it. The fact that he continues to let a buffoons manage the team justifies the discussion at least.

"Handed the keys to a Rolls Royce" seems like an exaggeration.

AA deserves all the blame for the terrible offseason if this is the team that takes the field on Opening Day, but lets not pretend that he had little or nothing to do with getting them to the point where we as fans can have realistic expectations of competing for championships.

[msstate7]

"Handed the keys to a Rolls Royce" seems like an exaggeration.

AA deserves all the blame for the terrible offseason if this is the team that takes the field on Opening Day, but lets not pretend that he had little or nothing to do with getting them to the point where we as fans can have realistic expectations of competing for championships.

He was given a damn good core. He has gotten the two SSs, which is really nice. Other than that, he was basically handed everyone notable. He turned FF into Olson and Contreras into Murphy, and both seem like downgrades.

[bravesfanMatt]

"Handed the keys to a Rolls Royce" seems like an exaggeration.

AA deserves all the blame for the terrible offseason if this is the team that takes the field on Opening Day, but lets not pretend that he had little or nothing to do with getting them to the point where we as fans can have realistic expectations of competing for championships.

I mean yeah, AA has done some good things here.. but the 21 championship was won with talent that was already on the team and then a group of average players acquired at the deadline that caught lighting in a bottle.. AA did push those buttons and he deserves that credit... Just like he deserves the credit for locking up Acuna and Ozzie. Trust me, I know the things he did that were good. But there are some really big head scratchers that, I think, allow you to question if he is a top 5 GM..

I will be the first to point out that Coppy had me fooled. I thought he was killing it as a GM because he traded away star players for a bunch of future value.. A lot of folks thought Coppy hung the moon.. we were way wrong.

[bravesfanMatt]

He was given a damn good core. He has gotten the two SSs, which is really nice. Other than that, he was basically handed everyone notable. He turned FF into Olson and Contreras into Murphy, and both seem like downgrades.

Both are clear downgrades and then extended to make it worse. And we will soon hear the "if FF wanted to be a brave, he would be a brave".. but it holds just as true, if AA wanted FF to be a brave, then FF would be a brave..

[Hudson2]

AA stepped in handcuffed with the international penalties so I'll give him a pass some on the minors. If it weren't for the Contreras trade then he would have a clean slate on the trade front. Contreras obviously was viewed different or they wouldn't have traded him. And if he were here he wouldn't have got a fair shot like he has in Milwaukee. I still think Murphy has a big bounce back year and that won't even be a thing anymore. But the entire rotation as it stands is from AA and it's a pretty good one out side of one spot and he's been trying to improve that. He had a Hoffman deal but the medicals nixed that and no clue what happened with Scott but he was serious about him. If he does stand pat and the penalties reset next year and AA gets us a couple of big guys next offseason then this offseason will become a distant memory.

[Enscheff]

It’s pretty funny to read people question AA as an elite GM exactly 1 year after pulling Sale and Lopez out of thin air. Now that it’s time to dump on him let’s conveniently stop giving the GM credit for developing guys like Harris, Schwelly, Strider and hopefully Baldwin.

AA has made one bad trade with Contreras, and signed 3 questionable contracts in Ozuna, Olson and Murphy. He had a single undeniably bad offseason while likely being handcuffed by getting under the tax.

Oh, and let’s not forget that despite this bad offseason he still has the 2nd best roster in the sport.

Literally everything else has been top notch.

[Enscheff]

Did everyone seem to forget when the dodgers punted an offseason a few years ago to get under the tax? Were you all questioning that FO at the time? Did you even notice?

[msstate7]

It’s pretty funny to read people question AA as an elite GM exactly 1 year after pulling Sale and Lopez out of thin air. Now that it’s time to dump on him let’s conveniently stop giving the GM credit for developing guys like Harris, Schwelly, Strider and hopefully Baldwin.

AA has made one bad trade with Contreras, and signed 3 questionable contracts in Ozuna, Olson and Murphy. He had a single undeniably bad offseason while likely being handcuffed by getting under the tax.

Oh, and let’s not forget that despite this bad offseason he still has the 2nd best roster in the sport.

Literally everything else has been top notch.

He's also extended snit

[Enscheff]

I think it’s pretty clear the plan was to sign Scott, profar and trade for Cease. Aaa fumbled 2 of the 3 and didn’t properly prepare Plans B and C.

No doubt a terrible offseason by an obviously top notch GM

[msstate7]

I think it’s pretty clear the plan was to sign Scott, profar and trade for Cease. Aaa fumbled 2 of the 3 and didn’t properly prepare Plans B and C.

No doubt a terrible offseason by an obviously top notch GM

Guess I'm just mad bc he fumbled the last 2 trade lines also

[bravesnumberone]

Matzek to the Yankees

[Hudson2]

Did everyone seem to forget when the dodgers punted an offseason a few years ago to get under the tax? Were you all questioning that FO at the time? Did you even notice?

They only wanna claim AA sucks for whatever reason.