According to MLBTR, Snits said that Hamels likely won't be on opening day roster with Tomlin, Wright or Davidson fighting for the last rotation spot. You have to consider MLBTR source.
"The Braves will likely open the season without left-hander Cole Hamels, manager Brian Snitker said Thursday (via Mark Bowman of MLB.com)".
Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;......
And, while with silent, lifting mind I’ve trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.
High Flight
by
John Gillespie Magee, Jr.
Was Shanks right then?
Natural Immunity Croc
Hoping there's a lesson learned here.Originally Posted by salmagundy
Not trying to back away from anything - I liked the signing too. It's hard not to jump on the opportunity to add proven guys on short-term deals or pillow contracts - you have to love being able to mitigate risk with those deals. The Hamels and Ozuna deals SHOULD serve as an example though. If you're going to bring guys like them in because you'd prefer to delay prospects like Wright/Wilson/Anderson/Pache/Waters, you shouldn't pay them market value. Hamels had a really good injury history - until last year. Ozuna's wasn't quite as good, but he arguably filled more of a need. There were obvious red flags with these guys being older players.
As a fan, we can't help but love the bigger names. The thing is (partially in retrospect), should you really spend that kind of money on a "placeholder"? That same AAV could have gotten you 4 years of Moustakas and Castellanos and freed up Riley to include in a trade for an arm (Matt Boyd maybe?). You'd still have Wright, Anderson, Pache, and Waters. Bringing in older players that are more susceptible to injuries doesn't necessarily keep you from needing to promote some prospects before you ideally would - or keep you from going out and spending more money (Puig) to delay them longer.
The new math - and numbers hounds - aren't wrong, and they've certainly taught us a lot. Unfortunately much of the information has to be thrown out the window when you're in your window. We THINK we know what Wright, Anderson, Pache, etc. are going to turn into soon. The problem with waiting for them to become those players is you allow Soroka, Fried, Acuna, and Albies to get another year older and step slower while also assuming the injury risk that comes with that.
I'm not implying that AA made the wrong call - or that the analytically-inclined are wrong at all - just pointing out that there are so many variables that can't be accounted for when you're trying to create an extended window that it's often easy to lose sight of short-term opportunities. If the prospects don't turn out like we all hope, we've missed a golden opportunity to turn this into a REALLY strong contender for a 3 year period. With a lineup that consisted of Acuna, Albies, Freeman, Castellanos, Moustakas, d'Arnaud, Waters, Dansby, Pache how much more pitching would you really need to contend if you could keep Soroka, Fried, Folty, and Boyd relatively healthy?
Has there EVER been a statement and question a certain someone should absolutely never have made and asked publicly more than...
Kinda pathetic to see yourself as a message board knight in shining armor. How impotent does someone have to be in real life to resort to playing hero on a message board?
I'm not sure a strategy built around only signing players to below market deals is practicable. The org than could do that would have a competitive advantage for sure.
Hamels injury status is a bummer, but it certainly wouldn't make me feel better if he had a 2 year or 3 year deal.
I don't have any issue with filling out rosters with one year contracts to solid veterans. It's the most flexible and risk mitigating way of handling a roster -- particularly with veterans who have reached their decline.
the one place where you start to wonder is when you are also giving up draft picks. That's significant, but so much luck plays a role it's hard to quantify beyond arriving at a theoretical value of the average case.
Certainly the Braves acquisition of amateur talent seems to have run into a lot of bad luck from covid. the Braves ended up being short stacked in a year when baseball kind of made things harder on shortstacked clubs.
About?
No.
And the answer is context-independent.
"For all his tattooings he was on the whole a clean, comely looking cannibal."
JohnAdcox (07-20-2020)
Hamels will be yuge in the shortened best of 3 world series.
Forever Fredi
Mainly looking at the Rays with my line of thought - they're more or less the poster child for the organization you're describing. My point is, don't go overboard in an attempt to keep prospects down in an effort to gain that extra year of control when opportunities where they can step in and help arise.
I look at it this way - you're going to control these kids relatively inexpensively for six years no matter what. Find out if they're even worth wanting to keep beyond those six years BEFORE you worry about whet they're going to accomplish in year 7 and beyond - then deal with the issue. The vast majority of players don't have 7+ truly productive years in them anyway, and most careers don't last that long. Acuna and Albies are perfect examples of what the Rays did with Archer, Longoria, Snell and others. If your young players look like what you hope they will at this level, throw some serious money at them in year 2 or 3 and make them have to make incredibly tough decisions. If they're not willing to take the types of contracts those guys I mentioned did, you're probably not going to be able to re-sign them when they reach free-agency anyway.
IF you can lock in a few of those core pieces, it becomes much easier to build around them. Maybe you're not able to play at the top of the free-agent market, but when is the last time the Braves did that anyway? Maddux? We've now taken care of Acuna and Albies through the early part of their prime years, and are likely in a position to keep Freeman for most of his most-productive years. Start talking to Soroka and Fried about extensions now. The goal - IMO - should be to have those 5 guys (plus Riley if he's successful in making his adjustments) together for as many years as possible. Adding Pache and Waters gives you your "stars" without substantial financial commitments. You shouldn't HAVE TO make a play for the top-tier free-agents if you have those guys (plus potential replacements/depth pieces like Ball, Wright, Anderson, Shewmake, Contreras, and Langeliers) for the next 5-6 years, Surround them with second-tier players like Charlie Morton or Justin Turner and just eventually overwhelm teams with your depth like the Rays and Dodgers do. Moustakas and Castellanos are those types of players - lock them up for 3-4 seasons and have your draft and player development guys get to work making the next wave ready in a few years.
Last edited by clvclv; 07-18-2020 at 11:19 AM.
Has there EVER been a statement and question a certain someone should absolutely never have made and asked publicly more than...
Kinda pathetic to see yourself as a message board knight in shining armor. How impotent does someone have to be in real life to resort to playing hero on a message board?
Blue Jays denied approval from Canadian government to play home games in Canada. Looking for alternative locations now. Nice to see this happening with only about a week to go. Crazy!
But, the entire NHL is coming to Canada to restart their season and post season on the 27th. Seems fishy, eh?
Odd.
Not really. The NHL teams will be in two bubbles (Edmonton and Toronto) so there won't be any back-and-forth between Canada and the US.
Blue Jays are leaning towards playing their home games in Buffalo now (their AAA affiliate). It was either that or their spring training home in Dunedin but they’re leaning towards Buffalo due to Florida’s virus numbers.
Matt Adams opts out of his minor league deal with the Mutts - wonder if that happened BEFORE Alonso and Tomlin were added to our 40-Man?
I realize how much people hate playing the same old records over and over again, but Adams would sure seem to be a better fit as a stand-in for Freddie for a short time if needed and potential additional LH bench bat IMO. With Riley, Duvall, and Ozuna around, there shouldn't be any need to play Adams in the OF except in an extreme emergency.
Has there EVER been a statement and question a certain someone should absolutely never have made and asked publicly more than...
Kinda pathetic to see yourself as a message board knight in shining armor. How impotent does someone have to be in real life to resort to playing hero on a message board?
JohnAdcox (07-20-2020), jpx7 (07-18-2020), salmagundy (07-18-2020)
I hadn't been following the off-season closely and was curious to see that Adams ended up with the Mets. The thing about Adams is that he seems to have one extremely hot stretch per season (usually a couple of weeks to a month) when everything he hits seems to go out of the park. One would think in a short-season where the value of a hot stretch would be magnified that there would be somewhat of a market for a guy like Adams. The problem, of course, is that one doesn't know when (or if) Adams would have a hot streak and he's the kind of guy who has to play almost every day in order to have a streak like that and he's next to worthless if he's not hitting the ball out of the park.
Watching the Yankees/Mets exhibition game on ESPN. With the few card board cutouts of people in the stands and minimal crowd noise pumped in, it is actually like watching a Marlins game in a normal year.
JohnAdcox (07-20-2020)
Cole still being hurt after not starting the season till late july is funny lol
"For there is always light, if only we are brave enough to see it. If only we are brave enough to be it." Amanda Gorman
"When Fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross"
It's not so much about how "good" (and I certainly use that term loosely) Adams might or might not be - for me anyway - it's all about just how bad Alonso is.
He got 73 ABs in Colorado of all places last year and could only generate a 101 OPS+. In Colorado!!! I'm not particularly confident that Adams will be worlds better than Alonso, but I do think he'd be better. In this crazy sprint of a season, I'd argue that upgrading there would be a lot like (although maybe not as impactful as) the scuttled Puig addition - trying to improve around the edges as much as possible when and where you can. I'll admit this particular improvement could easily just be an imagined one on my part, I could simply just still not be over the shock of seeing the announcement that Alonso was being added to the 40-Man Roster.
I may very well be alone in the belief that these are going to be the only types of moves we see made by AA this season - I just don't see a major (or even significant) trade coming in 2020. There's not going to be enough time to get a good handle on whether that type of trade is going to be enough to push you over the top a month after games start. Some players are notoriously slow starters, and I don't see any reason that the first 30 games of the season will be in August will change things. Is it really going to be prudent to go out and give up prospects for someone (just about anyone really) when a hot September from any of Freeman/Acuna/Ozuna/Ozzie/Riley could conceivably have as much or more impact?
Has there EVER been a statement and question a certain someone should absolutely never have made and asked publicly more than...
Kinda pathetic to see yourself as a message board knight in shining armor. How impotent does someone have to be in real life to resort to playing hero on a message board?
Reds cut Schebler loose today also - not sure he wouldn't fit better than Alonzo as well.
Has there EVER been a statement and question a certain someone should absolutely never have made and asked publicly more than...
Kinda pathetic to see yourself as a message board knight in shining armor. How impotent does someone have to be in real life to resort to playing hero on a message board?
What a bummer. Braves could’ve been back at Turner Field this year.
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