Farewell to Wood, Peraza, Jimmy Johns, and Avilans.

[smootness]

I disagree on the talent portion. There have been many talent evaulators who have seen Olivera play that think he can be an impact bat. And since all we hear about his how much more rare hitting is I think that puts talent in the corner of the Braves here.

2 is better than 1. I think the pure talent level of Wood and Olivera is negligible at best, especially considering that we've never seen Olivera play. A good major league #2 starter has a ton of talent. I don't know how anyone could say Olivera is definitely more talented. Include Peraza, and there's no way.

[thethe]

I don't care what the Braves feel about Wood's future. Believing Wood is at risk of injury in the future is a reason to trade him; it is not a reason to take lesser value for him. If the Dodgers also feel that way, go to someone else. You just don't allow them to lessen his value because they see him as a risk going forward. You tell him he is a good #2 at 24 years old, he has been a good #2 for 3 years now, and that is his price. If they want a good #2, they will pay the price for a good #2. And if they aren't willing, you back away. It's not complicated.

No one ever said this trade destroys the franchise. But it is a bad deal and is not a good sign for possible future moves.

And what if the Braves have offered WOod to other organizations. I think these are things that we all assume on message boards without having any idea about. I have no clue either but I would like to think that the Braves sent out feelers to other organizations. Or maybe they just really liked Olivera and used this chip. I have no clue but I'm not going to make claims like some are making on here. This is just my opinion and not a fact obviously.

[gilesfan]

Show me proof that bat speed slows down when the level of play goes up. I don't know of anyone's bat speed slowing down then they got to the Majors.

I really doubt any us can gauge bat speed on a batting practice youtube video. We do have a scouting report (rightly or wrongly) that is concerned with his bat speed bc of real life action (getting tied up on balls inside). The author also supported his point with the significant bat wrap that Olivera has.

[thethe]

2 is better than 1. I think the pure talent level of Wood and Olivera is negligible at best, especially considering that we've never seen Olivera play. A good major league #2 starter has a ton of talent. I don't know how anyone could say Olivera is definitely more talented. Include Peraza, and there's no way.

Well again, I'm just basing it off of what others have reported since we have no real body of work to go on. I don't believe its a slam dunk that Wood has more talent than Olivera but I'm also not sure how to compare the talent impact of a pitcher vs a hitter.

[smootness]

of the two negative articles posted, one of them wasn't very negative at all. the SI one stated the obvious: if he can't get on the field, it will be a terrible trade. well, no ****.

Peraza's prospect light is dimming according to some. I still like what he could become, but he better hit .300 or he's not much. hitting .300 will be hard to do with his power (or lack thereof).

How can we just dismiss Wood's drop in velo? People keep saying he's doing it on purpose. Well, his velo is down, and so are his results, so maybe he should try and ramp it up again? Get back last year's results? The "purposeful" drop in velo doesn't appear to be working.

I like the players we gave up. But I also really like Olivera, and so do a lot of people. And he should be a massive bargain.

Pretty much every pitcher's velocity drops. That's not some big negative against Wood.

[yeezus]

Since Avilan/JJ don't have much value then I think if the Braves really liked the draft and this pitcher then I could see this trade being a right value swap. I think we are underselling the ceiling of this pitcher. But the liklihood of him reaching the ceiling seems low. I bet the Braves are banking that they can develop him better than other teams can.

Some people (not Braves people) seem to really like Bird's upside, too.

[gilesfan]

Since Avilan/JJ don't have much value then I think if the Braves really liked the draft and this pitcher then I could see this trade being a right value swap. I think we are underselling the ceiling of this pitcher. But the liklihood of him reaching the ceiling seems low. I bet the Braves are banking that they can develop him better than other teams can.

So you would trade Peraza for a first round draft pick?

[gilesfan]

And what if the Braves have offered WOod to other organizations. I think these are things that we all assume on message boards without having any idea about. I have no clue either but I would like to think that the Braves sent out feelers to other organizations. Or maybe they just really liked Olivera and used this chip. I have no clue but I'm not going to make claims like some are making on here. This is just my opinion and not a fact obviously.

SO you think it was the Braves wanting to trade Wood as opposed tot he Braves actively seeking Olivera?

[smootness]

And what if the Braves have offered WOod to other organizations. I think these are things that we all assume on message boards without having any idea about. I have no clue either but I would like to think that the Braves sent out feelers to other organizations. Or maybe they just really liked Olivera and used this chip. I have no clue but I'm not going to make claims like some are making on here. This is just my opinion and not a fact obviously.

If this is the going rate for a very good, 24-year-old major league starting pitcher (especially when Peraza is thrown in), then we made a severe miscalculation on the price of pitching on the trade market.

I honestly hope for our future moves that this is simply a bad move for us and not Wood's true value.

[thethe]

So you would trade Peraza for a first round draft pick?

Dending on the actual pick spot and the talent pool maybe. But in most situations definitely not.

[thethe]

If this is the going rate for a very good, 24-year-old major league starting pitcher (especially when Peraza is thrown in), then we made a severe miscalculation on the price of pitching on the trade market.

I honestly hope for our future moves that this is simply a bad move for us and not Wood's true value.

The going rate? You mean the rate of a player that before taking a professional AB was able to garner 60+ million dollars? Why are people making Olivera out to be a chump? I'm not understanding this.

[thethe]

SO you think it was the Braves wanting to trade Wood as opposed tot he Braves actively seeking Olivera?

I think the two are independent of each other but happen to align in this situation. If the Dodgers weren't interested in Wood I think the Braves would have found a way to make the trade happen.

[smootness]

You just can't simultaneously say, 'Well, now is the time to trade Wood and Peraza because their value is at its highest; they could fall off' and, 'We had to take less because they could fall off soon.'

If the future risk of injury or a drop-off in production was included in their present valuation, then no, this is not their peak value and we should have kept them.

[gilesfan]

Pretty much every pitcher's velocity drops. That's not some big negative against Wood.

[thethe]

You just can't simultaneously say, 'Well, now is the time to trade Wood and Peraza because their value is at its highest; they could fall off' and, 'We had to take less because they could fall off soon.'

If the future risk of injury or a drop-off in production was included in their present valuation, then no, this is not their peak value and we should have kept them.

But present value as a concept is based on the future.

[yeezus]

Pretty much every pitcher's velocity drops. That's not some big negative against Wood.

Why does this keep getting repeated?
Not every pitcher's velo drops, especially when they aren't even throwing 90 MPH to begin with. You compared Wood to Hamels. Hamels is still throwing 95 MPH. If Wood can get up (hehehe) to that, fine. But he never has, and I don't see it happening. He dropped from just below 90 MPH to just above 89 MPH. Down 1.6 MPH from 2013. If you're throwing 95 and scale it back to 93, ok. 91.7 to 89.3 is not encouraging. And not "normal."

[gilesfan]

Dending on the actual pick spot and the talent pool maybe. But in most situations definitely not.

Good lord, thethe. The odds of that pick reaching Peraza status is almost nil.

[smootness]

The going rate? You mean the rate of a player that before taking a professional AB was able to garner 60+ million dollars? Why are people making Olivera out to be a chump? I'm not understanding this.

He was able to garner $60+ million from one team, easily the richest in the sport and a team looking to go for it all with a perceived need at either 3B or 2B. Let's not act like multiple teams were willing to give him that deal.

And what do you think Wood would go for on the open market right now? Peraza? I would be willing to guess the two of them would combine for a whole heck of a lot more than $60 million.

[sturg33]

The going rate? You mean the rate of a player that before taking a professional AB was able to garner 60+ million dollars? Why are people making Olivera out to be a chump? I'm not understanding this.

Again - when you first saw the names of the Braves, you questioned whether we'd be getting both Olivera and Puig.

So clearly, you thought the value of our package was quite high. And you weren't wrong. Hart was

[thethe]

Alex Wood had 2 units of drop in his velcoity from age 22 to 24. Some of that first year was obviously in the bullpen but that would mean his velocity drop is greater than the average no?