I think the Braves sign Cervelli, Hamels and Donaldson.
I think the Braves sign Cervelli, Hamels and Donaldson.
Obligatory post detailing my plan for the off-season assuming 45 million in available payroll space:
1. Sign Grandal. Needs to be the top priority. 19 million to 2020 payroll
2. Trade for Charlie Morton. See previous post. 15 million added to 2020 payroll
3. Trade for Brad Hand and DFA Greene or a separate salary dump trade to offset the 7.5 million for Hand. Estimated 1 million added to 2020 payroll
4. Sign Moose Tacos. 10 million to 2020 payroll.
45 million in total expenditures.
Backup plan to this one is basically the same but to sign JD and one of Castro/D'Arnaud/Chirinos
If we can't get Grandal or JD, then trading for Justin Turner (assuming the Dodgers get Rendon) and signing Castro/D'Arnaud has to be the alternative, imo. A "cheaper" alternative to 3b would be to trade Melancon for Kyle Seagar and cash.
The Moose and Grandal parts could well happen. The Rays are a contending team so I don't see them moving Morton for prospects. An alternative would be to sign DK (probably a 3 year deal) or Hamels (probably a 2 year). Another alternative is to trade for a starting pitcher from a non-contending team such as Matt Boyd.Originally Posted by Carp
"I am a victim, I will tell you. I am a victim."
"I am your retribution."
This could happen too. If we sign Donaldson rather than Moose, it would leave less $$ for catcher and Cervelli is a reasonable cheap option
"I am a victim, I will tell you. I am a victim."
"I am your retribution."
I'm interested to see what the Braves do with the 26th roster spot.
BP arm? 3rd catcher?
Well my initial post about Morton included Riley and Wilson, and I wouldn't really consider either one prospects anymore, despite what their rookie status is. Wright/Newk/Touki are also options over Wilson.
Either way, I think it's fairly likely Tampa moves one of Snell or Morton. They already projected to be 10 million over last season's opening day payroll.
Another option is of course Kluber.
Take it with a grain of salt as I have no personal intel, but I have a friend who knows a couple legitimate MLB scouts and the one who works with the Braves told him Atlanta has shown no inclination of making moves for Grandal. He's unsure why but Grandal apparently hasn't been a big-time target up to this point. He's actually been in-the-loop in the past, including on the Donaldson deal, but that would be a damn shame.
I think there will be a limit of 13 pitchers. So that last spot goes to a position player.
"I am a victim, I will tell you. I am a victim."
"I am your retribution."
You want to send Riley and Wilson for Morton?
"I am a victim, I will tell you. I am a victim."
"I am your retribution."
I believe Braves like the platoon for the catcher position. Don’t think we will spend a big amount on that position when we need a third baseman and improve our starting rotation.
If they truly will platoon Neck with Duvall then I can get behind that being successful cOF spot. Catcher, while an offensive weakness, overall is likely to be in a good position even without Grandal. Flowers is a consistent 2 WAR playing a little over half the games. That's not really a problem if paired with another decent option.
So that really leaves one spot to make a big impact and that's 3rd. Will be interesting to see what direction AA goes in.
if Grandal isn't in the plans and the catchers are Flowers/?? and LF is Neck/Duvall, you better hope JD comes back. that mix with basically anyone else possible for the Braves is a big downgrade.
"Well, you’ll learn soon enough that this was a massive red wave landslide." - thethe on the 2020 election that trump lost bigly
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No. 8 in fWAR over the last 2 years. No. 11 over the last 3 years. He's a pretty damn valuable pitcher.
I am more in the camp of yes on Grandal and no on JD. I just don’t trust JD aging gracefully.
Coppy
If that's true, then the #1 option at C is Castro.
I could get on board with another platoon at C if that's what has to happen so they can afford an impact bat. Problem is, they are running out of positions for that impact bat to play.
I am all for selling Riley now if some team believes his early MLB success was real because they are too dumb to understand just how bad his contact metrics are. I'm going to guess the team dumb enough to believe that isn't the Rays.
Riley to KC in exchange for way more than he's worth seems like the perfect way to fleece a dumb team, just like selling high on Camargo last off season would have been a good way to fleece a team dumb enough to think he is really a 3+ win player despite all his red flags.
If we go with a platoon at C and LF then we are going to regress big time imo.
Why? We platooned at C at last year and somehow made an OF made up of Acuna, bad/injured Ender, Nick "The Warm Body" Markakis, inefficient Austin Riley, castoff Matt Joyce, bench relegated Camargo and AAAA Duvall work.
IMO we are looking at a lateral move at C and I'd much prefer Markakis/Duvall, Ender and Acuna across the OF than the above.
Last edited by CrazyTrain; 11-05-2019 at 02:36 PM.
With an OF vs RHP of Acuna/Ender/Markakis, and an OF vs LHP of Acuna/Duvall/Someone, the Braves are likely to platoon at C and 2 OF spots. Platoons aren't bad, but they usually have better options vs RHP than Markakis.
At this point we just have to trust AA has a move lined up to replace JD's offense somehow. If Turner really does become available he pretty much replaces JD exactly.
Last edited by Enscheff; 11-05-2019 at 02:31 PM.
Braves got 3.2 WAR out of their catchers in 2019. Flowers paired with another cheap vet seems a good bet to repeat that performance.
Braves got 9.3 WAR out of their OF with 5.6 coming from Acuna. You can never predict health especially what we saw from Ender this year. Neck being a year older and Duvall being a diabetic. But that group (with Neck properly platooned) likely gets you 10-11 WAR.
The problem is that we got 4.9 WAR out of Donaldson at 3B. That lost production has to come from somewhere and I doubt it's all going to be from 3B.
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