2016-2017 Off-Season Thread

Jason Castro to the Twins. 3/24

Well, back to the drawing board. Seems like the market inefficiency on framing is closing down. I would have been fine with the Braves paying this price given our depth issues at catcher. ZiPS had him at 3 / $36m.
 
Castro to Twins -- 3 years, more than $24M

A little surprised we didn't go that far, but certainly not upset about it. They mentioned Hundley as well, and I still wonder if Alex Avila might be an option if they want a left-handed bat to pair with Flowers.
 
Looked through some pitch framing stats from the past few years on the remaining FAs. Difficult to capture this in hard numbers since the # of chances varies so widely between guys. Nick Hundley and Alex Avila look pretty bad. Not Jarrod Saltalamacchia bad, but pretty bad.

There was one guy that surprised me . . . Hank Conger. He's been declining on the pitch framing front but has been a plus framer. He's 29 years old, a switch hitter, and has been survivable against RHP over the past few years: 228 / 292 / 375. For reference, here's Recker's career slash line against RHP: 207 / 287 / 344.
 
re Colon vs Casher.

Cashner's upside is what Colon has been providing for years. Plus Colon is a better bet to come close to 200 innings which is a big deal for the Braves.
 
Castro to Twins -- 3 years, more than $24M

My upper limit would have been 3/25. I'm a little disappointed the Braves didn't feel compelled to outbid that offer.

Mac and Castro were the 2 best options the Braves had to improve by 1-2 wins at the catcher position and they came away with neither of them. Failing to upgrade the catcher position should be another clear sign to anyone still wondering if the FO intends to punt 2017.

Kemp, Dickey, Colon and the status quo at C and 3B are not the actions of a team looking to compete next season. They are the actions of a team looking to tread water for another season.
 
My upper limit would have been 3/25. I'm a little disappointed the Braves didn't feel compelled to outbid that offer.

Mac and Castro were the 2 best options the Braves had to improve by 1-2 wins at the catcher position and they came away with neither of them. Failing to upgrade the catcher position should be another clear sign to anyone still wondering if the FO intends to punt 2017.

Kemp, Dickey, Colon and the status quo at C and 3B are not the actions of a team looking to compete next season. They are the actions of a team looking to tread water for another season.

That's why we're going for Wilson Ramos, baby! 4 years, $72m. He's gained ten pounds every year he's been in the majors, so we're looking at a Princean 3-ought-5 by the time our deal is over.

By the third year, his knees will be shot but the NL will have the DH.
 
My upper limit would have been 3/25. I'm a little disappointed the Braves didn't feel compelled to outbid that offer.

Mac and Castro were the 2 best options the Braves had to improve by 1-2 wins at the catcher position and they came away with neither of them. Failing to upgrade the catcher position should be another clear sign to anyone still wondering if the FO intends to punt 2017.

Kemp, Dickey, Colon and the status quo at C and 3B are not the actions of a team looking to compete next season. They are the actions of a team looking to tread water for another season.

It is a little puzzling they spent so much on Colon when they could have spent a little less on Cashner or Morton and used the difference to get Castro.
 
It is a little puzzling they spent so much on Colon when they could have spent a little less on Cashner or Morton and used the difference to get Castro.

Colon likely represents a 2 win improvement over the pitcher he replaced. Castro likely represented a 1 win upgrade over the current catchers.

The only clear upgrade that may be available now is Montero, and I don't see the Braves investing any resources into a guy with 1 year of control.

The 2017 roster is likely set except for a few minor bench pieces.
 
The Braves stated repeatedly they were looking to add "stability" to the rotation. Colon is a lock for 200 IP, while Cashner isn't even a lock to step out on the field.

The signings of Dickey and Colon were not about winning. They were about soaking up innings until the young guys are ready to start winning.

Maybe a little bit about winning. Probably have a better expectation out of those two than they have out of some of the past acquisitions.

But you are correct that a team that was going all out would not have acquired two elderly pitchers because they preferred not to give up a draft pick or commit to a long term deal that they might regret. Fairly apparent that the Braves are still approaching things with an eye towards the future.

But they do get to point to veteran arms, talk about mentoring, and point to their efforts to gauge the trade market for guys like Sale. Pretty decent PR work, IMO.
 
I wasn't really against Atlanta signing Castro, but I didn't really see it as much of an upgrade.

While they don't have any real options at catcher coming along, not real sure committing to Castro for three or four years at that rate would have been a great move.

Seems like they may be able to find a better fit at some point in the future.
 
I wasn't really against Atlanta signing Castro, but I didn't really see it as much of an upgrade.

While they don't have any real options at catcher coming along, not real sure committing to Castro for three or four years at that rate would have been a great move.

Seems like they may be able to find a better fit at some point in the future.

I personally could care less about acquiring Castro. I know he has the framing, but I want to see us go out and get a legit catcher. I'm guessing we are high on Ramos, Wieters or our current tandem.
 
I'm ok with losing Castro. I wasn't big on him at 3 years. The catching market is weak, so we tried to make it a priority, but it may be a good thing. I didn't think it was even necssary to make it a priority, unless we were trying to sell high on Flowers or Recker. We can ride with Flowers/Decker for now.

I'd rather spend that money on a reliever so we can trade from our current crop or in acquiring a 3B.
 
I'm ok with losing Castro. I wasn't big on him at 3 years. The catching market is weak, so we tried to make it a priority, but it may be a good thing. I didn't think it was even necssary to make it a priority, unless we were trying to sell high on Flowers or Recker. We can ride with Flowers/Decker for now.

I'd rather spend that money on a reliever so we can trade from our current crop or in acquiring a 3B.

Ain't that the truth. I think there will be options out there, but I'm not that high on any of the top-tier guys available.
 
I'm coming around on the idea of acquiring Longoria. The Johns keep saying they want roster options. If we acquired Longo it could create some further trading options. By all accounts he's a good clubhouse and team first guy. That would allow us to make Nick more expendable as the defacto positional player captain. He has enough right handed pop that he could slide in to the 4 hole and protect Freeman. That makes Kemp more expendable. He'd make Adonis/Ruiz/Riley all expendable to be used in trades this offseason.
 
I'm coming around on the idea of acquiring Longoria. The Johns keep saying they want roster options. If we acquired Longo it could create some further trading options. By all accounts he's a good clubhouse and team first guy. That would allow us to make Nick more expendable as the defacto positional player captain. He has enough right handed pop that he could slide in to the 4 hole and protect Freeman. That makes Kemp more expendable. He'd make Adonis/Ruiz/Riley all expendable to be used in trades this offseason.

I am trying to talk my self into turner. Always been no. But an infield of turner/Swanson/Ozzie/freeman would be nice. We could then trade from our depth to get a comp pick.
 
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