BedellBrave (01-02-2019), JohnAdcox (01-02-2019)
Prices on corner outfielders might drop once the Indians fill their needs. I think they are one of the few teams in addition to us actively shopping in that market. Things should also clarify in that market once Harper signs. I'm good with AA being patient.
"I am a victim, I will tell you. I am a victim."
"I am your retribution."
I still think AA is waiting on the JTR situation to be finalized to make his big trade (since JTR may be that big trade), and JTR probably won't be traded until right around the time (probably after) Grandal signs.
Once the Grandal/JTR situation sorts itself out, I expect whatever moves AA has primed to be executed rather quickly...like the Mac/JD acquisitions. Value is certainly a primary consideration, but the Braves still have to get impact players, so AA can't be driven only by value.
JohnAdcox (01-02-2019)
With as many pitchers as the Braves will probably have next year that are major league ready, they can just play the hot had all year and shift pitchers up and down all year. That will probably work great for the regular season, but will probably not work in the playoffs.
I was just looking at Julio's peripherals and holy guacamole is he looking at some major regression. He led the league in BABIP against with a .217 and the next closest pitcher was Blake Snell with a .241. He did that while having the 11th worst GB% in baseball and the 19th worst HR/FB% in baseball. He also had the 3rd worst BB/9 in baseball. That dude is about to regress into a completely unusable pitcher. If there is any team willing to eat his money right now, we should jump on it as soon as possible.
In the NLDS vs the Dodgers, the Braves scored 0, 0, 6, and 2 runs, while the Dodgers scored 6, 3, 5, and 6 runs. How many more playoiff games would the Braves have won with an upgraded pitching staff?
Against the Brewers in the NLCS, who had a terrible group of SPs , the Dodgers needed 7 games to win it and scored 5, 4, 0, 2, 5, 2 and 5 runs.
So how did a team with much worse SPs than the Braves manage to give the Dodgers all they could handle in the NLCS?
This notion that the Braves need to upgrade the rotation is moronic, and only stated by folks who are absolutely clueless.
Yup. There is quite a bit of risk carrying him. Other teams are aware of this and I don't anticipate any takers. However, we are better positioned to deal with this risk than most teams, with all the young starting pitchers coming through the upper levels. Teheran does serve the purpose of allowing us to ease Gohara and Soroka into things. I want to take it easy with those two in the first month or two. Have them start the year in the minors. This will allow us to control innings and intensity of effort until we can establish that they are healthy.
At least this is the last guaranteed year of Teheran's contract. In the end it hasn't worked out badly. Just not as well as the deals with Freeman, Simmons and Kimbrel. Collectively, those early extensions were very good business for the club.
"I am a victim, I will tell you. I am a victim."
"I am your retribution."
If I had to guess, I imagine a SP acquisition like Gray is contingent on trading someone like Newk to open a space.
Upgrading with a bonafide Ace like Paxton is a good idea if AA could have gotten good value. Apparently he was unable to get Paxton for good value, which is why Paxton isn't in Atlanta. Same deal with Kluber, Carrasco and Bauer.
I am unwilling to criticize AA until the offseason is over because I think he has 1-2 significant trades primed. That will change if the only additions made from now to opening day are Cargo/Markakis and some scrapheap SP that takes the opening day payroll from $107M to $120M. To me, that's a failed offseason.
I could see trading Teheran and replacing with Gray....keeping the rotation of Folty, Newk, Gray, Gausman, Gohara/Soroka/Wilson/Touki/etc. (guessing that Touki would have the edge out of camp)
You could trade Teheran to a team like Oakland or Detroit that is a pitcher friendly park, maybe kick in a little money (~$2m) and that would wash Grays/Teherans salaries, so not adding additional payroll.
I wouldn't mind if we end up with JTR, Gray, Markakis....trading Teheran
Acuna LF
Donaldson 3B
Freeman 1B
JTR C
Markakis RF
Inciarte CF
Albies 2B
Swanson SS
Folty
Newk
Gray
Gausman
Touki/Wilson/Gohara/Soroka
McCann C
Culberson INF/OF
Camargo INF/OF
Duvall OF
Viz
Minter
Venters
Sobotka
Biddle
O'Day
Fried
Winkler
Get off my lawn!
And why would any team trade for Teheran rather than simply acquiring Gray themselves? Do we think the Braves have a unique asset the Yankees will prefer?
We all know what the 25 man roster looks like, no need for folks to type it out on every page of the thread.
I would rather have the 11 million dollars he is owed and use it elsewhere. Then just using our ridiculous pitching surplus to ease whatever guys you want into whatever role you want. I think that using the 10 day DL and Minor league options to rotate the young guys in and out will serve a similar purpose to whatever Julio might provide in that capacity.