No matter what people say about lack of hitting baseball will ALWAYS be about pitching and who has the most of it.
The rotation
- Thread starter depley
- Start date
No matter what people say about lack of hitting baseball will ALWAYS be about pitching and who has the most of it.
As others have said I'm confident the Braves could spend in upwards of 120-130 right now. Baseball is flush with cash and the Braves got a revenue boon from renegotiating their TV deal. I think they are holding back this year because they want to spend big going into the new park and of course they didn't think the team would be this good this quickly.
Heyward
<B>Voted Worst Poster <br>'13, '14, '15 (Co-Winner
The FA class in 2017 doesnt look so hot, depending which players re-sign with their teams or not.
Not saying i'd go spending crazy this winter but there's some players i'd target.
Sucks because there's alot of legit aces set to hit the market this winter.
Millwood1Hitter
Anytime Now Frankie...
Still think we make a hard push at Price or Grienke or one of the top pitchers on the market and then trade some of that surplus pitching for hitting, thinking we will kick the tires hard on Beltre and go after a few mid-tier FA's to fill positions of need at other positions (ie Fowler, Feliz, Wieters) etc.
Nonetheless, I don't know any more than anyone else at this point in time to exactly whom we are going to acquire, and I'm just speculating but I believe that this is the direction that this organization is headed in. Even though we aren't a top tier payroll team like we we're in the early and mid 90's, it appears to me that we are starting to build from the same framework that we worked off of during that timeframe. Deep pitching but still went after Maddux when it was obvious he wasn't interested in necessarily going to the top bidder, and then acquiring a guy like Fred McGriff to further strenghten an already pretty complete team.
But don't get me wrong, I don't even believe in the near future we're going to be in a situation where we can outbid teams for someone's services, but if the right situation arises and it's a fit for both parties we will be competive.
Think about it, adding a Price or Grienke to the top of the rotation, a Feliz to the backend of the pen, a Beltre in the middle of the lineup, and a few other pieces and we have a legit contender for sure.
UNCBlue012
Well-known member
This year has shown me that we actually could be much more competitive than I thought. I expect us to fall off a bit down the line, but I'm still confident in our pieces.
I'd absolutely love to go after a guy like Price, Grienke or Zimmerman. Price doe... I think Lucroy is a great person to go after. We need one really good bat, one solid bat and a couple BP arms and I think we are a 90 win team. Seriously.
Heyward
<B>Voted Worst Poster <br>'13, '14, '15 (Co-Winner
I dont disagree.
If we had a good pen, we'd probably be in 1st in the division or holding down one of the WC spots.
The rotation is good, but could use a top of the line arm.
Lucroy would be great but depends what they want for him.
The team has certainly been better than what most thought, even though we'll probably regress as the season wears on.
Signing JUp this offseason just makes too much sense not to do it, in my opinion. He is exactly the type of hitter this team needs to pair with Freeman, and LF is the biggest gaping hole on the roster. Next year the lineup could be:
Jace 3B
Peraza 2B
Freeman 1B
JUp LF
Markakis RF
Maybin CF
Simmons SS
CB/AJ/FA/Trade C
That's a legitimate championship caliber offense.
Jace 3B
Peraza 2B
Freeman 1B
JUp LF
Markakis RF
Maybin CF
Simmons SS
CB/AJ/FA/Trade C
That's a legitimate championship caliber offense.
Heyward
<B>Voted Worst Poster <br>'13, '14, '15 (Co-Winner
I agree but given he trains in Arizona, i dont see that happening.
That's a solid lineup that could win with good pitching, but I certainly wouldn't call it championship caliber.
You would still have Simmons and Maybin, who have both been much better than expected but still only 'solid', a complete question mark at catcher, and a 3B who is hitting well but still OPS'ing under .700. You also have a RF with apparently no power right now.
With that lineup, I only see 2-3 positions that I would qualify as above-average offensively with respect to their position.
yeezus
It's OVER 5,000!
There is no way the Giants and Royals lineups last year are much better, if at all, than that lineup. So yes, it could win.
Like I said, you can win with it. But it's not what I think of when I think of a 'championship-caliber' offense. It would be about average.
yeezus
It's OVER 5,000!
To me, "championship-caliber" means you can win a championship with it.
Offensively? Maybe not. But the Royals were leaps better defensively. Could that lineup win? Sure, anything is possible. Probable? Likely not unless the pitching took a huge step forward overall.