Lets say..

[Hudson2]

That Acuna, Albies, and Swanson are all good major leaguers this time next offseason. Add in Freeman, Inciarte,and say Flowers. We have Allard, Soroka, Gohara who will all be ready along with probably Wright. Folty, Newcomb, and Teheran are already in the rotation at that point. What do you do going into free agency with the amazing talent that will be available and the super cheap young talent we will already have? Payroll should be going up good by then also. Kemp will be almost out the door and Markakis will be gone. There will be a lot of money to spend and a ton of talent available to spend it on.

[smootness]

Spend big on a 3B or corner OF.

[ixiXSolidXixi]

I think we should extend for sure Flowers.

Trade Markakis for Justin Upton. Justin will be sign until 2021 by that time Waters or Pache will be ready. We can utilize Upton at right field until Acuna is ready. Then try to trade Kemp some how.

Lineup:
Inciarte
Acuna/Upton
Freeman
Kemp/Upton
Camargo/Rio
Flowers
Swanson
Albies
Pitchers

There we have a playoff team and probably around our budget.

[Hudson2]

I'd go big after a 3b too. Machado and Donaldson are both FA then.

[ixiXSolidXixi]

By the time Donaldson becomes free agent he will be 33.

[NinersSBChamps]

Donaldson is garbage. Rather ride with a makeshift third base by committee than pay him anything. I think it's pretty clear the Braves won't spend big money at all. Look at the free agents they brought in this past winter.

[jsebe10]

Donaldson is garbage. Rather ride with a makeshift third base by committee than pay him anything. I think it's pretty clear the Braves won't spend big money at all. Look at the free agents they brought in this past winter.

This.

Those cheap MFers aren't bringing in any more big name FAs.

[Bj1133]

Donaldson is garbage. Rather ride with a makeshift third base by committee than pay him anything. I think it's pretty clear the Braves won't spend big money at all. Look at the free agents they brought in this past winter.

What was the motivation to spend big in free agency this past off-season? The market was lousy and the front office was well aware of how difficult it would be to compete in 2017 with most of their minor league talent a year or two away.

[Chico]

That Acuna, Albies, and Swanson are all good major leaguers this time next offseason. Add in Freeman, Inciarte,and say Flowers. We have Allard, Soroka, Gohara who will all be ready along with probably Wright. Folty, Newcomb, and Teheran are already in the rotation at that point. What do you do going into free agency with the amazing talent that will be available and the super cheap young talent we will already have? Payroll should be going up good by then also. Kemp will be almost out the door and Markakis will be gone. There will be a lot of money to spend and a ton of talent available to spend it on.

It will all depend on what we do this offseason. I'm thinking part of the reasoning behind the aggressive promotions have been to see who are the keepers and who we're going to flip this offseason. This will be the first time we're playing with a full deck and I can see a lot of moves happening this offseason.
Ideally I'd rather get controllable talent of need in trades and not have to spend big in free agency unless it's a good fit at a good price.

[CyYoung31]

Donaldson is garbage. Rather ride with a makeshift third base by committee than pay him anything. I think it's pretty clear the Braves won't spend big money at all. Look at the free agents they brought in this past winter.

How in the hell is Josh Donaldson "garbage"?

[zbhargrove]

I don't see how anyone could ever say Donaldson is garbage with a straight face. That being said, I'm still not too excited about him. Coupling his age with his year of struggling causes me pause. He's even been down on defense this year.

[NinersSBChamps]

How in the hell is Josh Donaldson "garbage"?

Look at his numbers this season and compare it around the league. He doesn't stack up considering he's getting like 14 million a season. I don't care that's he's been hurt either. That just further proves he isn't worth it.

[zitothebrave]

Look at his numbers this season and compare it around the league. He doesn't stack up considering he's getting like 14 million a season. I don't care that's he's been hurt either. That just further proves he isn't worth it.

His 127 wRC+ is way down from the standard he set the past few years, could be because of injuries as he only has about 280 PA about 150 below the healthy 3B. But even his down year, his wRC+ puts him 7th at 3B, just behind Sano just over Arenado.

Certainly worth 14M.

Add in that last year and the year before he was one of the 10 best players in baseball, you can maybe be patient on one "bad" year.

[CyYoung31]

Look at his numbers this season and compare it around the league. He doesn't stack up considering he's getting like 14 million a season. I don't care that's he's been hurt either. That just further proves he isn't worth it.

He's been injured and is still putting up an .850 OPS at 3rd base. I wouldn't sign him to a long-term deal given his age, but he's still one of the better 3rd basemen in the game.

[thewupk]

Donaldson isn't close to garbage but I do not want to go after him in FA. For one his defense has been in decline and has reached the point where it's no longer an asset. He's hit the decline phase of his career.

[bravesfanMatt]

Unless he comes cheap, which he won't. I am in the no side too. I never like paying a guy for what he did with another team and we get the declining version.

[thethe]

Spend big money on 3B. Let Dansby spend half the year in AAA so we can see if Camargo is a flash in the pan.

We have so much cost controlled talent coming through the system. Take a chance and 2018 can be real fun.

[Super]

One should be forced to give up watching and commenting on baseball if one calls Josh Donaldson "garbage."

[Knucksie]

Justin Upton.

Yes! Bring Jason back too!

[clvclv]

Look at his numbers this season and compare it around the league. He doesn't stack up considering he's getting like 14 million a season. I don't care that's he's been hurt either. That just further proves he isn't worth it.

Machado's "garbage" too, right?