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Thread: Keith Law Ranks Braves System No. 1 in Baseball

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    Keith Law Ranks Braves System No. 1 in Baseball

    http://www.espn.com/blog/keith-law/insider/post?id=6159

    1. Atlanta Braves

    2016 rank: 1

    Atlanta has been hoarding prospects, especially pitching prospects, for two years now, and the result is a system that is primed to produce good young players just as the team moves into its new stadium.

    This torrent of arms has entered the organization from two avenues. General manager John Coppolella has been trading for young pitching at every opportunity, and scouting director Brian Bridges has crushed pitching in his two drafts at the helm. There are players in this system with viable cases to be in the global top 100 but struggle to crack Atlanta’s top 10. They just took Ian Anderson third overall in the draft and he couldn’t even crack their top six. Their High-A rotation in 2017 could include four first-round picks and a major international signing, only one of whom will be 21 on opening day. It’s as if someone told Coppolella the axiom that you can never have too much pitching, and he just said, “hold my beer.”

    They do have position players, primarily guys up the middle, including three high-end shortstop prospects, multiple center fielders, and the best prospect from last year’s July 2 class, Kevin Maitan, who might not stay at shortstop but has earned comparisons at the plate to a young Miguel Cabrera. They do lack power bats in the system, primarily at the upper levels, but there is just so much pitching here that it overwhelms that concern -- and if they just have a normal attrition rate among that pitching depth, they’ll have plenty of young arms left over to fill a major-league need via trade.

    Coppolella has stayed opportunistic this winter, adding prospects who had fallen out of favor with their organizations, including two of Seattle’s top six prospects. You can make an argument for the Yankees deserving the top slot; I won’t dispute that they have more position-player talent. My vote is for the deluge of arms and up-the-middle players heading for Atlanta, giving them the best farm system in baseball.

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    Not surprised. Keith Law has been one of the most bullish pundits on the braves farm system. We are stacked and ready to be a world series contender real soon.

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    It's crazy, because the guy has been down on Atlanta for years. Reading such rave reviews from him still surprises me.

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    Quote Originally Posted by UNCBlue012 View Post
    It's crazy, because the guy has been down on Atlanta for years. Reading such rave reviews from him still surprises me.
    He was not a fan of wren both as a person and as a talent evaluator.

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    Quote Originally Posted by UNCBlue012 View Post
    It's crazy, because the guy has been down on Atlanta for years. Reading such rave reviews from him still surprises me.
    A lot of people said that about Law regarding their teams. He just sees things a certain way and it can make people butt hurt.

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    The idea that the Braves have potential top 100 guys that might not crack their own top 10 is absurd.

    This front office has done an incredible job.
    Natural Immunity Croc

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    Quote Originally Posted by thethe View Post
    The idea that the Braves have potential top 100 guys that might not crack their own top 10 is absurd.

    This front office has done an incredible job.
    I agree. Aggressive and forthcoming are a good way to inspire confidence from the fanbase.

    Mostly, I'm a big Coppy fan.
    Ivermectin Man

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    Quote Originally Posted by thethe View Post
    The idea that the Braves have potential top 100 guys that might not crack their own top 10 is absurd.

    This front office has done an incredible job.
    I'm pretty sure the Braves will break the Royals record of a few years ago for the most top 100 prospects on a given list. Hopefully it translates.

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    There's no doubt that they've re-seeded the farm system exceptionally well, still need some luck with injuries and then the coaches need to develop the talent - but its really hard to argue with what they've accomplished.

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    I don't think people give it enough credit either, some simply say 'well of course if you trade away Upton/Kimbrel/Heyward/Simmons/Gattis....ect, you're going to have a great farm system' and there's obviously truth there - the Braves sold off a lot of pieces and brought back quite a bit of talent, but they've gotten quite a bit of talent from lesser deals, the draft and international signings as well.

    This last international period which brought in Maitan + another 6ish premium prospects had its foundation laid for over a year in advance, that shows a level of strategic oversight, planning and coordination that's really impressive. Severino, Pena, Soto, Contreras, Rosario, and Gutierrez is a helluva group of young talent to add to the system; and that's in addition to Pache/Cruz from the year prior.

    Then you grab guys like Touki, Scivicque, Mader, Seymour, Moore, Demerritte, Pfifer, Dirks, and Akeel for essentially spare MLB pieces that didn't fit into your plans and weren't big ticket guys.

    Finally, they've aggressively added draft picks -- and more importantly they seem to use them well adding Allard, Sorokoa, Riley, Wiegel, Minter from the 2015 class and a bunch of promising arms from last year's.

    They've just done a phenomenal job of adding talent in all sorts of ways.

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    And we have a top 5 pick in this draft. It's crazy how much talent we have on the way, and it should set us up for the next 10 years. With all the cheap talent we have coming we could easily afford one of the big bats in next years FA class.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Hudson2 View Post
    And we have a top 5 pick in this draft. It's crazy how much talent we have on the way, and it should set us up for the next 10 years. With all the cheap talent we have coming we could easily afford one of the big bats in next years FA class.
    I think that's the plan honestly.

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    I still don't see us signing a really big ticket free agent. I'll believe that when I see it.

    I do think we will be in the market for that tier right below.

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    Quote Originally Posted by thethe View Post
    I think that's the plan honestly.
    So do I. They have went all out on pitching and they figure they can trade for the bats or sign them so I'm good with that. I know a certain few will come in here and shoot it down like always. I think they'll start with Lucroy this offseason.

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    Quote Originally Posted by UNCBlue012 View Post
    It's crazy, because the guy has been down on Atlanta for years. Reading such rave reviews from him still surprises me.
    It's not if you think about it from Law's side.

    These lists are VERY SUBJECTIVE. Law is very consistent in that he strongly prefers upside and tools. Wren liked closer to the ML and more likely. Wren liked Minor and Law likes Touki.

    Law's point is that if you pick a bunch of Minor's you're likely to get a bunch of back end starters and maybe one improves to be as good as a healthy Minor was. If you draft a bunch of Toukis most will flame out, but you can get one of those elusive TOR guys (while cheap), prob still find a middle starter or two, and probably get a high leverage BP arm.

    Law likes us b/c we are now drafting to HIS philosophy. He still hates the Braves name and would not work there w/o a name change.

    He still does not like fan favorite Riley. Slow bat and unlikely to play well at 3B. Still doesn't like Kemp. Still doesn't like Neck. Still thinks Demmeritte is a flawed prospect bc of strike out rate. Etc Etc.

    He is just saying that we've got enough lottery tickets that a couple should pan out.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Hudson2 View Post
    So do I. They have went all out on pitching and they figure they can trade for the bats or sign them so I'm good with that. I know a certain few with come in here and shoot it down like always.
    I agree.

    I'm just not sure we can put up the 400 million it's going to take to steal a Harper, Machado, Donaldson etc. But I think that's the plan. Pitching should be cheap for a long time. Freddie is worth is big bucks. Swanson and Albies would be cheap for a long time. Ender is cost controlled. Kemp is a fixed cost. Probably could go cheap at 3b (Ruiz) or RF (DPetereson) for a long time if you got a big bat in the opposite spot.

    I'm just not sure we have the money to do the Jason Werth type deal/overpay it would take to get that impact bat.

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    Donaldson won't get a contract for half of 400 million at his age so he is the one I could see us really going after. If we did add say Lucroy this offseason and Donaldson next we could be a force with all the pitching we have coming.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Russ2dollas View Post
    I agree.

    I'm just not sure we can put up the 400 million it's going to take to steal a Harper, Machado, Donaldson etc. But I think that's the plan. Pitching should be cheap for a long time. Freddie is worth is big bucks. Swanson and Albies would be cheap for a long time. Ender is cost controlled. Kemp is a fixed cost. Probably could go cheap at 3b (Ruiz) or RF (DPetereson) for a long time if you got a big bat in the opposite spot.

    I'm just not sure we have the money to do the Jason Werth type deal/overpay it would take to get that impact bat.
    I think fans are going to be surprised with how much the braves will spend in the next 5 years.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Hudson2 View Post
    Donaldson won't get a contract for half of 400 million at his age so he is the one I could see us really going after. If we did add say Lucroy this offseason and Donaldson next we could be a force with all the pitching we have coming.
    Inciarte CF
    Swanson SS
    Freeman 1B
    Donaldson 3B
    Lucroy C
    D. Peterson LF
    Markakis still? lol RF
    Teheran RHP
    Albies 2B

    That's awesome.

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    Quote Originally Posted by thethe View Post
    I think fans are going to be surprised with how much the braves will spend in the next 5 years.
    I can see one or two big ticket items once they are reasonably confident the pitching is coming.

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