Kimbrel/Melvin Trade Thread

‏@mlbbowman

Hart says Brandon Cunniff will be promoted to be in the bullpen for tomorrow's game. #Braves
 
I don't have a problem with the trade but do wonder where the hitting in the future is going to come from. I would feel better if more of these trades were netting more high upside bats. The whole "you can never have too much pitching" can be taken too far IMO.

Most likely some of the pitching they've stockpiled will be traded for hitting in the next couple years.

Easier said than done though.
 
It snapped the fans out of the Wild Card game funk.

To wit: I had basically given up watching the Braves, aside from Chipper's retirement tour; with him retired, I was bordering on being totally done—I didn't really see where the franchise was going, or have much faith that it could get to the next level. That offseason—and, particularly, that outfield—brought me back in a strong way.

The 2013 season was still one of the seasons I've most enjoyed watching and following—certainly in my adult life—so that's why (a) I took the Los Angeles series pretty hard, and will never forgive Fredi Gonzalez for his decision-making in the final game, no matter what he does hereafter, and (b) I found this offseason so unpalatable, with Hart et al basically dismantling the team and jettisoning the particular players (Heyward, J Upton) that brought me back from the brink.
 
MLB Pipeline ranks Wisler as our 2nd best prospect behind Peraza and ahead of Folty, so he is now our top pitching prospect. Paroubeck is ranked 24th in our system.
 
Dominant relievers actually aren't that difficult to come across. Braves will probably stumble across a couple of them in their own system. Simmons certainly being a possibility if he gets healthy. Kimbrel was among the elite of the elite, but it's kind of crazy just how many dominant late inning relievers there are these days. Considering that fact, it doesn't make sense for a mid market team to spend a bunch of money on a closer.

This is the truth. You have to have someone who can close; you don't have to have the best closer in the game, especially if you're losing anyhow. On this team CK would have been pitching in games in which we're losing, just to get work (and cause posters here to howl in pain).

SD's GM is really trying to make a name for himself, but he's going to join Wren at the unemployment office if they don't win quickly. High risk trades, all of them.
 
9th inning is overrated. The game is sometimes saved in the 7th or 8th inning.

Yep the 9th inning is overrated. Those GM's like Cashman, Schuerholz and all the other considered greats of the game are so stupid for paying those 9th inning guys those big bucks. You should have their jobs
 
Yep the 9th inning is overrated. Those GM's like Cashman, Schuerholz and all the other considered greats of the game are so stupid for paying those 9th inning guys those big bucks. You should have their jobs

Who have the Giants had as their big time closer the last five yeras?
 
I'm sure this has been said many times, but we've seen exactly why John Hart was brought in as GM (or whatever his title is) and Coppolella is still an assistant. Hart can be the hatchet man and engineer the rebuild, simply because he doesn't have to give a damn where is career is going to be in five years. Hart can stick around long enough to make the decisions that will piss off the fan base, then hand it over to Coppy once the team is in position to succeed again (hopefully).

Had Coppolella been the one to trade Heyward, Good Upton, Gattis, and Kimbrel this year he would have lost a lot of the fan base for good before he ever really got started.
 
I'm sure this has been said many times, but we've seen exactly why John Hart was brought in as GM (or whatever his title is) and Coppolella is still an assistant. Hart can be the hatchet man and engineer the rebuild, simply because he doesn't have to give a damn where is career is going to be in five years. Hart can stick around long enough to make the decisions that will piss off the fan base, then hand it over to Coppy once the team is in position to succeed again (hopefully).

Had Coppolella been the one to trade Heyward, Good Upton, Gattis, and Kimbrel this year he would have lost a lot of the fan base for good before he ever really got started.

Pretty clear what hte plan was. I'd love to have Heyward back next offseason.
 
Now THIS is what a rebuild looks like!!!

Less than $53,500,000 in salary commitments next year including Maybin. Does anyone still think they're not going to try to play on at least one of Justin/Upton/Cespedes???
 
There's one more thing that puts me on the "pro" side of this trade- I was beginning to worry just a little bit about Kimbrel's future. I don't have nearly enough confidence in my own scouting abilities to entirely base any evaluations on them, but over the last couple years it looked to me that Craig had slipped just a bit. The command wasn't as crisp, the stuff not quite as dominant, the efficiency not quite there like it had been. Objectively the numbers were all still extraordinary, but it did feel like Craig had taken maybe a half-step back from his best days.

Combined with the general reality that a closer's lifetime tends to be a short one, and the usual concerns about a short, high-effort, high-velocity pitcher, and I think it was a good idea to get out from under that contract when we had the chance.
 
By DFA'ing Quentin, are we still on the hook for his full $8MM 2015 salary?

In the likely event that he's DFA'd, he'll be off the 40-man immediately and the Braves will have 10 days to trade him. If they can't complete a trade, he'll be released outright and the Braves will have to pay the full $8m, less a prorated portion of $507,500 if he's on another team's roster.
 
But all of this activity makes the Markakis deal even odder. The team seemed like a few transactions away from being able to compete in the NL East, and certainly for a wild card spot. Rather than adding, they've been shedding. There's no going back on it, though it's curious the Braves knew he needed neck surgery and didn't seem to care. Spending $44 million on a public relations move (Markakis is from Georgia) in order to create goodwill for the new stadium, seems to be the only reason for the transactio

http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/eye-on...ves-continue-odd-offseason-with-kimbrel-trade
 
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