Originally Posted by
Southcack77
This question is harder than I thought.
Once I actually started looking at the roster it seemed there were fewer and fewer places you could add players.
i will say that I do not think the Braves should trade away major assets or make big investments in long term deals (unless those long term deals or trades are to young studs, which they are very unlikely to be).
But I think they do have to make some acquisitions that give them a hedge on contention if everything works out just so.
1. So I would look at a veteran starter (on short term deal) even if that meant my rotation ended up being Teheran, Folty, **Veteran, Gohara, Dickey. I would not worry too much about finding room for the young arms. Honestly, none of them really would be harmed by some more work in AAA and there is no need to push the ones behind them to come on any quicker. They are pretty young and giving yourself a shot at a solid to good rotation if everything broke correctly would be a good goal. If it doesn't break right, you can still promote the young players later. If it does great right, great. if you must find space, you are trading something with value. That works.
2. A high end reliever on short term deal. This might be too pricey, it might be too much of a luxury. And maybe the pen is already too crowed with the likes of Vizcaino, Johnson, Ramirez, Freeman, Jackson, Winkler, Minter, a swing man (Newcomb, Fried, Sims, Wisler, Blair?). And that doesn't really contemplate remaining veterans or guys like Morris or Cabrera. Still, if you could get that shut down guy, if not for the ninth then for the eighth, maybe that does help relieve the pen and secure a few more wins. This guy would probably be moveable. The Braves had a bad bullpen this year at times but oddly enough have a lot of pretty good looking pieces.
3. I'd probably still be open to that short term solution at 3B. Even knowing that will block Ruiz and Camargo and maybe Riley for awhile. But again, I think that if you can find a better player without sacrificing much beyond 2018 then it makes sense to try and do it. I don't have a great deal of faith in Ruiz, I think Camargo is probably a utility guy or an average middle infielder starter. If that is true, there is no real need to force them into playing time. You can see what you have by rotating players around. And it may well only be for half a season anyway.
4. I would not spend much on a backup catcher unless the candidate was just obvious. I'd probably not extend flowers, but could live with it if they did.