Originally Posted by
nsacpi
The season is long and the players who start the year in AAA often spend a lot of time in the majors. Pitching depth will sometimes allow a team to remain competitive in the second half when others are collapsing under the weight of injuries. There is always uncertainty about which positions will need reinforcement at the major league level. So lets take a look at what the situation is at each position.
Catcher: If we sign a catcher for the major league team, Anthony Vito Recker makes sense as our main catcher in AAA. The problem is he is out of options and we will risk losing him when he gets sent down. We have also signed Blake Lalli to a minor league deal. In light of the uncertainty about our ability to hold on to Recker, I think it makes sense to sign another AAAA quality catcher to a minor league deal.Agreed. I am beginning to believe that the Braves go with Flowers/Recker to start the season.
Infield: I'm guessing we will sign KJ (or someone similar) for the major league bench and will start the season with Peterson (possibly platooning with someone like D'Arnaud) as our second baseman. This means we start the year in AAA with Kubitza, Albies, Camargo and Ruiz. Daniel Castro and Brandon Snyder selected free agency after we outrighted them, but I think there is a chance we bring one of them back on a minor league deal. Albies and Ruiz are obviously the guys who will likely come up to the big league team as they show they are ready and/or the need presents itself.Agreed again. But, I would expect Albies to be brought along slowly on his injury return, that they would want to be sure he's 100%, so maybe a Util Inf type.
Outfield: Dustin Peterson will man a corner spot. This is obviously an area where we will be signing some players. Probably a couple guys who can play center and one who can play the other corner spot.With Kemp and Markakis on the corners, it would be a miracle if both made it through the season without DL time due to age. I think a lot of work should be done here.
Starting pitching: Assuming a major league rotation of Teheran, Dickey, Folty, Colon and Wisler, we would choose from a pretty big group for the AAA rotation: Newcomb, Sims, Gant, Baby Harang, Blair, Ellis, Whalen and Jenkins. It is possible that Newcomb and/or Sims start the year in AA. If not a couple of the others on the list will be in the AAA bullpen. I like our starting pitching depth. Given the attrition you typically see over the course of the season, a couple of them will be called on to make a significant number of major league starts.Assuming Dickey, Colon and Collmenter all make it through ST healthy, I think Wisler starts at AAA. I think Gant, Whalen and Jenkins start in LR. I think BH gets cut early. I think the rotation to start AAA will be Wisler, Blair, Newcomb, Sims, Ellis unless Wisler starts in the ML, then Whalen takes his spot.
Bullpen: At the major league level I'm assuming Krol and Paco Rodriguez will be the lefties. The lefties in the AAA pen would include Kent, Minter and Marksberry. Maybe Biddle if his arm is healthy. I think we need a little bit more depth from the left side when it comes to relievers. Our depth is much better from the right side. For the major league team we will be choosing from: Vizcaino, Johnson, Cabrera, Simmons, Winkler, Ramirez, Withrow and Walden. Not all of them have options remaining, so we might lose a couple at the end of spring training. In AAA we will likely have Roney, Janas and Dirks in addition to some of the guys who don't make the major league team and some of the guys who have mostly been starting pitchers. So right-handed pen depth is good and we should be looking for one or two lefties to sign.I think the Braves sign a FA lefty or acquire one for the ML and Paco starts in AAA where they can bring him along slowly.
Overall: Our weakest position will probably be third. In the scenario I have in mind, we will try to make up for lack of quality with quantity (Garcia, KJ, Ruiz and Peterson could all end up with significant playing time at third). We have a clear need to pick up some AAAA caliber outfielders. We also have a need to pick up a AAAA caliber catcher and one or two AAAA caliber lefty relievers. Those kinds of moves can make a difference at the major league level. You never know which area your depth will get tested so part of the task in the off-season is to take steps to mitigate these sorts of organizational weaknesses.
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