Make no mistake, the Braves will be assuming significant risk whenever they decide to push their chips in and go for it. They are going to commit a large sum of money to some new player and/or unload a notable set of prospect assets to acquire that new player. If they are going to take that risk, then the reward needs to be a playoff appearance, not an 80 win season.
The Braves are not going to be playoff contenders next year, so there is no reason to take the risk now.
IDK. I think a lineup of: CF Inciarte, 2B Albies/Rodriguez, 1B Freeman, RF Stanton, LF Yelich/Kemp, 3B Prado, C Flowers/Suzuki, P Of the Day, SS Swanson is about as legit a line-up as you'll find and the defense looks good too if Kemp isn't in.
A Bench of Kemp/Yelcih, Adams, Albies/Rodriguez, Flowers/Suzuki, Camargo, Markakis is a rich bench and would hopefully be diminished by trade between now and opening day 2018, but it doesn't look bad, lotta flexibility and professional bats.
The pen could potentially be almost what it is now, just older and maybe with another LH arm: Johnson, Viz, Krol, Ramirez, Sam Freeman, Motte - not exactly great but not horrible
The SP could be: Folty, Teheran, Volquez, Young Stud, Young Stud...this is the weak part of the team and could really kill 2018. But, IF Folty continues to develop and Teheran regains decent #2 starter form, Volquez pitches at a decent #3 or #4 rate, then the Braves
should be able to fill the last two slots with workable solutions from the 7 or so possibilities to pitch in the rotation starting 2018: Newk, Sims, Weigel, Gohara, Allard, Soroka, Fried. Let's face it, if the Braves can't get decent results out of at least 2 from those 7 in 2018, then the rebuild is stalled and likely won't be near over until 2020 or so.
My attraction to it is 2020: Inciarte, Albies, Freeman, Stanton, Yelich/Acuna, Swanson, 3B Demeritte/Riley,
Catcher with Freeman, Stanton, Yelich and Inciarte the only ones really making significant money and a rotation full of young home grown guys who are cheap for years. You could see the payroll drop going into the 2020 season under $100M in known money and theoretically have $50M to spend on filling holes as needed.