Farewell to Wood, Peraza, Jimmy Johns, and Avilans.
- Thread starter CrimsonCowboy
- Start date
Then he would have diminished value. But what if he doesn't? Because we traded him as though he already had diminished value.
Tapate50
Well-known member
thethe has a Facebook acct I'm sure
Kiley McDaniel is Fangraphs.
I guess I should have clarified ... non semi-professional bloggers.
Those 2 (outside of thethe) are the only ones I've read that were remotely positive about the deal. The rest of the baseball world is scratching their heads.
And I think this is where most people fall. It's not impossible to see what the Braves think they're getting and why they think it works for them; it's just that it doesn't fall in line with other deals the Braves have made, it doesn't fit the rebuilding philosophy, and it really just isn't enough for Wood and Peraza, with all the concerns involved.
I think most would stop short of calling it 'terrible,' though a lot of Braves fans disagree, but I think most are at least wondering exactly how this fits.
yeezus
It's OVER 5,000!
I just don't see how the fit is that bad. We kind of went thru a quick "rebuild" and still have a lot of good, young pieces and a good farm. We needed a legit option at 3rd and this gives us one, super cheap, for 5 years. We could easily be a good team next year, and Olivera could very well help that. We don't have to wait until 2017 (and Olivera would presumably help then, too).
You don't think that a smart organization like the Dodgers mentioned these factors in discussions. You can't hide things anymore.
Wouldn't the Braves have factored this in with Olivera and Paco?
Braves are not trying to have a 3-5 year rebuild. The regime changed happened when there was a bunch of talent on the major league side. It shouldn't take that long and we just filled a massive need cheaply
Absolutely.
Yeah, I'm not seeing too many articles slamming the Braves like posters on this forum are.
with someone that has almost zero professional at bats?
But we really haven't gone through a quick rebuild, not yet. We've rebuilt the farm to a large degree, yes. But most of our most talented pieces are in the low minors. We're not in the first stage of a rebuild, but we're not extremely far along. Based on our major league roster and the makeup of our farm system, the earliest year we can genuinely talk about being a contender is probably more like 2018. We can make that 2017 if we make some moves, but getting a 30-year-old unknown doesn't fit that.
http://www.si.com/mlb/2015/07/30/do...-team-deal-alex-wood-mat-latos-hector-olivera
http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=27094
At first glance, Olivera appears to have a solid build but with a hint of being slightly overweight and out of shape, reminiscent of Miguel Cabrera after 25. His upper half looks like an aging ballplayer’s while his legs seem solid and sturdy, though he is currently rehabbing a pulled hamstring and has not seen Triple-A action since July 13th.
Defensively, Olivera appears limited to the corners. In my observation of him at third, he made all the routine plays cleanly and could have expended a bit more effort on others. He throws from the hip with a whip-like arm action that makes the ball loop and tail. His arm was average at best. There were some concerns with his elbow before signing with the Dodgers so it makes you wonder if there is/was something going on that would affect his throwing mechanics. I believe he is best suited for first base due to mobility, arm strength, and age.
The bigger concern for me is at the plate. His setup is significantly closed with his hands high behind his helmet. His first movement upon loading is to wrap the bat behind his head with the barrel pointing straight to the pitcher. This transitions into a long, loopy swing with which he tries to punch everything to right field. His bat speed seemed average to slow and was very noticeable when challenged on the inner half. Unless Olivera plans to open up his stance or gear up on inside fastballs, I don’t see his bat speed translating to the big leagues. The upside is that Olivera makes contact and seems to have command of his hitting zone (outer half and down), though he is a free swinger.
Overall, Olivera looks the part of a role player, not a $62.5 million man. –Colin Young
Then don't do the deal. You should never, ever allow another team to devalue the assets you're trading. The Dodgers reportedly love Wood, so you base the negotiations on what he is, not what he could be down the line.
And if they won't do that, then you back out. Again, we were not in a position of desperation; we did not have to make a trade. The Dodgers were in a much more desperate position than us, especially when Hamels and Price came off the market. We got diminished value for Wood, which is an indictment on the FO in this trade. It is not a defense.
But this falls back on our overall strategy of loading up almost exclusively on arms leading up to this. If this is the kind of risk you have to take to add a guy like Olivera, giving up your 3rd or 4th best major league piece and one of your top prospects, then we made a miscalculation of the best way to rebuild.
You always have to have young arms, but it's ridiculous for us to load up on arms as a specific strategy, then turn around and overpay for a hitter while saying, 'Well, the market is bare.' We knew that 8 months ago, so we should have planned accordingly.