8/31 WEDNESDAY THREAD ... END OF DOG DAYS
- Thread starter rico43
- Start date
Yep, with Cruz and Pache as well.
50PoundHead
Hessmania Forever
Carolina will be stacked. Rome is going to have a great pitching staff, but I don't see a lot of hitters on our short-season teams. Pache and Cruz will likely be in Rome, as will Cumberland, but the rest of the squad looks like filler at this point. I imagine they were hoping Isranel Wilson would have taken a big step forward this year, but he certainly didn't.
KB21
Where's My Cup of Coffee?
Wait. I thought Austin Riley didn't have any bat speed.
The Braves shouldn't worry about years under control, mostly because John Hart has always been one that buys out arby years in his young players. Guys like Albies, Swanson, Riley....if they are as advertised, they will be signed to an extension after their 2nd full year. Teams that worry about when to start the clock on these players are teams that are in a perpetual rebuild.....like Oakland.
The Braves shouldn't worry about years under control, mostly because John Hart has always been one that buys out arby years in his young players. Guys like Albies, Swanson, Riley....if they are as advertised, they will be signed to an extension after their 2nd full year. Teams that worry about when to start the clock on these players are teams that are in a perpetual rebuild.....like Oakland.
Russ2dollas
10 yr, $185 million Extension
It's not awful anymore.
But most are so far away. Demeritte is still really flawed with his K rate. Everyone is making fun of the Klaw bat speed questions on riley but that will not be seen until he faces pitchers with better stuff and better speed variations. Is Morales really a legit prospect....can he catch?
Take the best player in the draft. But IMO it would be really nice if the best player in 2/3 top picks is a hitter with some pop, even doubles pop.
Just listing guys doesn't really matter. There are currently 3 top 100 guys on that list, 1 of which is 16 and hasn't taken a single professional AB.
The Braves have a decent group of hitting prospects, but it is far from a top notch group.
That's because most people are too stupid to understand a guy can still have good power despite below average bat speed. His high K rate is clear evidence of bat speed issues.
3 top 100 guys is a pretty darn solid group of hitting prospects. And the fact that one of them is 19 and the one at the back end is 16 is a good thing, not a negative. It may mean Maitan is farther away, but it also means he has far higher upside than the back-end of the top 100 would typically suggest.
I think we have 9 guys that I would currently consider legitimate hitting prospects, and I would rank them like this:
1. Swanson
2. Albies
3. Maitan
4. Peterson
5. Riley
6. Acuna
7. Demeritte
8. Ruiz
9. Davidson
Cruz, Pache, and the other int'l signing this year can get onto that list pretty soon possibly, and Ruiz, Davidson, and Demeritte could fall off. But those top 6 are a pretty good group of position prospects right now.
I suppose it depends on how you define legit. To me, the only positional prospects that matter are guys who project to be 3+ WAR players (above average). Even this terrible upcoming FA market has a dozen average guys a team could pick up to produce 1-2 WAR. Almost all teams can cobble together a 2 WAR platoon at most positions. Because of that, I see guys like Peterson, Riley, Ruiz and Davidson as completely fungible assets.
The 4 guys with 3+ WAR potential are Swanson, Albies, Maitan and Acuna. Demeritte has an interesting skill set, but the likelihood of him getting his contact issues under control is very slim.
The 4 guys with 3+ WAR potential are Swanson, Albies, Maitan and Acuna. Demeritte has an interesting skill set, but the likelihood of him getting his contact issues under control is very slim.
Are we talking projection or potential? Because if you're limiting it to guys who project to be worth 3+ WAR/year, you're basically limiting it to the top 2-3 prospects in baseball.
If you're talking about guys with the potential to become 3+ WAR/year guys, I think omitting Riley, Davidson, and Peterson is foolish. I wouldn't say it's likely those guys get there, but they absolutely have the ability to do so.
And guys who project to be worth 1-2 WAR are still valuable, especially in their first few years. You may be able to find a dozen of them on the FA market, but you're going to pay them like Markakis.
Whatever you want to call a FV grade of 55+...projected, potential, doesn't matter to me. Obviously, FV 45 and 50 guys are great to have, but they aren't guys you rosterbate about and list in fan posts pimping how great the farm system is. Every farm system has those guys, even the worst ones...there's no need to brag about them.
And it is perfectly fine for a contending team with a hole in RF to pay for a player like Markakis. Ideally, a mid-market contender will have a roster with 5-6 home grown (meaning not signed as FAs) FV 55+ position players at various stages of cost control, and can afford 2-3 Makakises making $10M-$15M per year to fill out the lineup when prospects fail to develop or simply aren't present at certain positions.
Interesting that you note that since the number of teams who currently have 3 hitters in the Top 100 (that haven't been called up) is 7 - it's not like the Braves are alone in that regard.
Pittsburgh - Meadows, Bell, and Newman
New York - Frazier, Torres, Mateo, Rutherford
San Diego - Margot, Renfroe, and Naylor
Philadelphia - Crawford, Moniak, and Williams
Cleveland - Zimmer, Bradley, and Mejia
Milwaukee - Brinson, Ray, Clark, and Phillips
Los Angeles - Bellinger, Verdugo, Calhoun
OK, but your list is limited to guys that haven't been called up yet, and the Braves only have 2 such guys, not 3. One of those 2 is #96, is 16 years, and hasn't taken an official professional AB. Maybe go look at how many teams have 2 position players in the top 100? I bet the count is 15+.
All the teams you listed have much more positional talent in their systems than the Braves do, and it isn't even close.
I'm not saying the Braves don't have some good talent. But listing guys like Peterson, Ruiz and Davidson like that list of names means anything is absurd.
So is your point that there are 22 other *hitty front offices? Those teams do currently have more positional talent, sure. Which one has more arms - particularly high-upside arms?
Everybody would love to have more offense (including those 7 teams). The day that good pitching stops beating good hitting hasn't yet arrived in baseball.
50PoundHead
Hessmania Forever
If Davidson were to fall from his current plane of performance, the distance to the ground wouldn't be that far. He's K'd 180 times this season. Batting average doesn't tell all of the story, but if you're hitting .223 with all of 10 HRs, that's not much to build on. If I were to peg one guy who has really come up short this season, it would be Davidson.