Originally Posted by
Enscheff
The point is that the Braves shouldn't have guys like Markakis and Kemp producing for them. They don't need these veterans to guide them to 68 wins. It is a waste of money and playing time, period.
They should have more players like Adonis producing for them. Trying Adonis was a good move, keeping him for so long was not. They should have been trying to uncover more diamonds in the rough with all this free playing time they had due to being noncompetitive. Instead, they gave all that playing time to declining veterans, the team was still bad, and the Braves gained zero benefit from playing them.
Identifying a single "late bloomer" in his mid/late 20s would have been infinitely more valuable than anything the Braves got out of any of the short term veterans they have used the last 3 years. They weren't even able to trade any of those veterans for anything worthwhile. Giving out a series of 1 year "prove it" contracts to guys coming off injuries or down years would have been preferable as well.
Additionally, every single prospect they have promoted has flopped so far. Jace, Rio, Blair, Wisler, Folty, Swanson, Albies, Newk, Sims, and on and on. They were all decent/good/great prospects, and for some reason the Braves can't seem to get them going at the MLB level. The Braves are almost exactly the opposite of the Cards lately in that regard.
Why is that? Why are all these good prospects failing? How exactly does that give anyone confidence the next batch of prospects will be any better?
Is the answer really, "the next wave of prospects are better"? I don't buy that. The recent flops have all been Top 100 or better guys, and the Braves haven't been able to extract MLB value from any of them.
That is a problem, whether or not the pozzies want to admit it.