Braves offense and 2017

[bravesguy]

The braves offense has obviously had a great 5-6 games, but if you look at the results of the braves offense back as far as the first of August you have to be somewhat excited (unless you wanted the #1 pick).

So the current lineup appears to be pretty good. Now I know a few hitters are hot right now, and when that happens simultaneously, good things can happen, but WOW!

So how bothered would you be if we kept the same lineup and simply brought up Albies to replace Peterson.

Inciarte - maybe since he has been hot since June 1st it is really a normal
Adonis - He has been the most consistent since he came back up
Freeman - he is Freeman
Kemp - we can only hope he is in a little better shape
Marki - just give us another consistent year
Flowers / Recker - a little prayer
Swanson - just give us what we hope
Albies - gotta be at least as good as Peterson (if not Peterson can step back in)

I can't see this being bad lineup. Throw in some pitching and maybe we are competitive.

[nsacpi]

the upgrade that seems most obvious is a good lefty hitting catcher to pair up with flowers

[GovClintonTyree]

the upgrade that seems most obvious is a good lefty hitting catcher to pair up with flowers

AJ hits left handed.

[nsacpi]

AJ hits left handed.

that's the first guy that came to mind

[GovClintonTyree]

For at least a couple years, several guys have been hot for David Freese to play third - competence at a cheap price. Kinda looks like we've developed our own Freese, ¿no?

[GovClintonTyree]

We need more juice than we're going to have, absent a good free agent signing or big trade. RF or 3B.

[nsacpi]

For at least a couple years, several guys have been hot for David Freese to play third - competence at a cheap price. Kinda looks like we've developed our own Freese, ¿no?

Plus Rio Ruiz has shown some promise in AAA. We will also have the option to play Jace some at third.

[Enscheff]

Folks are letting these hot streaks influence how they view these players. All players go through hot and cold streaks. That's why everyone always talks about small sample sizes being unreliable.

At the end of the season, you add up all the hot and cold streaks of all the players on the roster, and you have your final record. Good players have more/better/longer streaks, and less/better/shorter cold streaks, and rosters with those players win more games.

The Braves need to upgrade C and 3b because the players at those positions have shown they are not good over a long period of time. If the Braves don't upgrade those positions they will have made the same exact mistake they made last offseason.

[VirginiaBrave]

Nick needs to go, move Kemp to right, get the best LF bat possible, and most importantly get the absolute best SP you can. It can come via trade or FA. Ditto for the C spot. If Coppy can accomplish these things then the Braves can contend in 2017.

[VirginiaBrave]

But Garcia has earned a shot. You can't overlook that imo.

[Southcack77]

Nick needs to go, move Kemp to right, get the best LF bat possible, and most importantly get the absolute best SP you can. It can come via trade or FA. Ditto for the C spot. If Coppy can accomplish these things then the Braves can contend in 2017.

All that talk about the signing being good if he could replicate his pre-injury performance and he's pretty close to doing that this year. Continue to think Markakis gets a bit too much grief. If the season since May is what ATL can expect, he's been fine. I wouldn't mind him being traded, but I don't really see Kemp as something to be hoarded and Markakis something to be gotten rid of.

[The Chosen One]

Whomever gets more value in a trade whether Neck or Kemp you unload.

As much as I've made fun of Neck, he's started to grow on me. I like him more than Kemp, even as Kemp continues to hit homers. I wouldn't mind seeing Neck here when we start winning considering he came to the dance with us at our ugliest. Kemp came here right as we're starting to trend upwards. It's like when I didn't want to get rid of Maybin because he wanted to be here and worked hard to improve while here.

I like the idea of rotating Ender,Kemp,Neck,Mallex everyday so they all get a day's rest or depending on pitching matchups.

I'm not sold on Adonis, might be able to flip him for something.

Albies will be here opening day or June at the latest. An upgrade at 3B and a lefty to go with Flowers and suddenly I really like our offense.

[Enscheff]

Albies will be here opening day or June at the latest. An upgrade at 3B and a lefty to go with Flowers and suddenly I really like our offense.

I think you are exactly right. Jace has shown enough to make it so they don't have to rush Albies. That offense will probably be above the bottom 10, and possibly league average.

Couple that with a young pitching staff that hopefully improves throughout the season and you have the makings of a .500 team.

[auyushu]

I think you are exactly right. Jace has shown enough to make it so they don't have to rush Albies. That offense will probably be above the bottom 10, and possibly league average.

Couple that with a young pitching staff that hopefully improves throughout the season and you have the makings of a .500 team.

Yep, offense seems like it will be just below or right at league average at this point. Whether we are more of a 75 win eam or a .500ish team should come down to pitcher development. If Wisler and Folty can turn into consistent #3 types we have a decent shot at .500.

[nsacpi]

freeman and inciarte are a pretty good foundation...on track to give us about 9 WAR between them this season

[mfree80]

I think you are exactly right. Jace has shown enough to make it so they don't have to rush Albies. That offense will probably be above the bottom 10, and possibly league average.

Couple that with a young pitching staff that hopefully improves throughout the season and you have the makings of a .500 team.

Wow... Brimming with positivity. Who are you and what have you done with Enscheff?

[MadduxFanII]

I'm hopeful we might be able to leverage Markakis' hot second half into an off-season trade. Royals might be a good fit, depending on how much they like Paulo Orlando.

[clvclv]

Folks are letting these hot streaks influence how they view these players. All players go through hot and cold streaks. That's why everyone always talks about small sample sizes being unreliable.

At the end of the season, you add up all the hot and cold streaks of all the players on the roster, and you have your final record. Good players have more/better/longer streaks, and less/better/shorter cold streaks, and rosters with those players win more games.

The Braves need to upgrade C and 3b because the players at those positions have shown they are not good over a long period of time. If the Braves don't upgrade those positions they will have made the same exact mistake they made last offseason.

Just wondering - regardless of whether it fits your ideal sample size or not - when does a player "deserve" a shot?

Over his last 651 PAs (not exactly that small), Adonis has hit .275/.311/.444/.755 with 35 2Bs and 23 HRs (103 OPS+ and 1.1 WAR) for the minimum. Just for comparison, Freese's career line is .275/.345/.417/.762 and an average of 611 PAs, 30 2Bs, and 15 HRs (career 111 OPS+ and hasn't exceeded 2.3 WAR in a season since he left St. Louis).

This really isn't to pick on Freese - mainly just to try to understand the hatred for Garcia. Is he ever going to be an All-Star? Highly doubtful. However, since he was promoted he's provided average offense for a 3B for lots less money and his defense has improved.

Assuming you'd prefer to avoid a long and expensive commitment to a Desmond/Turner/Prado (and Tampa asks for a prospect or two that we'd prefer not to part with for Longoria), why is it so unthinkable that the offense could improve incrementally with efficient use of Peterson or Ruiz at 3B as well? And if you see that as the case, where do you go? Freese is unavailable, Desmond/Turner/Prado are going to be more expensive (whether in years or dollars) than most people seem to want to commit (and Prado certainly doesn't provide a power upgrade), and Longoria's quite possibly going to cost more to pry away than the brass (let alone the fans) are willing to part with.

Freddie's entering his prime and only getting better, Swanson is learning, Albies will be an upgrade whenever he arrives, and when Mallex returns whomever the Manager is will have 4 pretty productive OF options to mix-and-match. If a solid option is added behind the plate as well, there's little reason to expect the offense to be worse moving forward. I get the fact that several folks don't like Kemp, but it's ridiculous to discard his contribution - whether you view it as simply a little power, inconsistent and lacking, or as "protection" and someone who lengthens and balances the lineup, he HAS made a difference.

[Enscheff]

A guy earns a shot when he does what Adonis is doing at the age of 23, not 31.

And you conveniently left out Freese's average defense. Folks see Adonis make a few routine plays look hard and suddenly think he is now an MLB quality defender.

[GovClintonTyree]

A guy earns a shot when he does what Adonis is doing at the age of 23, not 31.

And you conveniently left out Freese's average defense. Folks see Adonis make a few routine plays look hard and suddenly think he is now an MLB quality defender.

That's a pretty predictable comment from a guy who likes his valuation distilled down to one number.

Garcia's defense has been good. And Matt Kemp has been worth more than 0.0, regardless of what your metric says.