http://www.baseballamerica.com/minors/2017-midseason-top-100-prospects-july-7/#HX94a1IHQODle3d6.97
Preseason ranking in parenthesis:
Acuna 10 (67)
Allard 23 (37)
Albies 25 (11)
Soroka 33 (48)
Wright 41 (NR)
Newcomb 42 (78)
Anderson 54 (66)
Maitan 71 (77)
Gohara 75 (NR)
Albies and Wright are too low, Anderson is too high, but I generally agree with this. The system might be even better now than when Swanson was part of it, and that's insane to think about.
FG's will come out after the trade deadline when all prospect movement is finalized. Longenhagen is the best in the public sphere, and I expect he will have something like this:
Albies 10-15
Acuna 15-20
Wright 15-20
Allard/Soroka/Gohara 20-50
Maitan 40-50
Anderson/Pache Top 100 back half
So the best prospect ranking will have 7 Braves in the Top 50, and another 2 in the Top 100.
Definitely worth a circle jerk. Let's just hope they don't screw it up by being buyers at the deadline.
We still have to field bullpen next year. The team can only pull so many Jose Ramierezs out of thin air. Also wouldn't mind sticking it to the Nationals by not helping the supply to their bullpen demand. If another GM is willing to do something stupid I am all for it but I want real prospects and not trash.
If it were me I'd keep Johnson to be a cheap closer this year and next year and trade Viz before the deadline. Throwing guys like Minter, Morris, Dirks, Winkler, and Lindgren next year will help if you have a reliable albeit unspectactular closer at the end.
his injury wasn't exactly well timed.
If Atlanta is now in let's definitely try to win in 2018 mode, and they mean it a little bit more than they did in 2017, you might as well hang on to Viz as a set up man.
The offense figures to cap out below great, and the rotation probably isn't going to be great, but Atlanta could make up ground with an excellent pen and bench, I suppose.
If it were me I'd keep Johnson to be a cheap closer this year and next year and trade Viz before the deadline. Throwing guys like Minter, Morris, Dirks, Winkler, and Lindgren next year will help if you have a reliable albeit unspectactular closer at the end.
I think our future pen actually has crazy good options. Winkler looked really good pre injury; Lindgren was a top Yanks prospect as a closer before TJS. Morris has been throwing pretty well in the upper minors, as has Caleb Dirks. And then there's Minter, who's one of the top relief prospects in the game. And those are just the current RP in the system, without accounting for our MiLB starters that will eventually move to the pen. If we can get anything out of our current MLB bullpen, might as well.
I know relievers aren't included blah blah blah but I refuse to believe that there are 100 better prospects than a healthy Minter.
I think our future pen actually has crazy good options. Winkler looked really good pre injury; Lindgren was a top Yanks prospect as a closer before TJS. Morris has been throwing pretty well in the upper minors, as has Caleb Dirks. And then there's Minter, who's one of the top relief prospects in the game. And those are just the current RP in the system, without accounting for our MiLB starters that will eventually move to the pen. If we can get anything out of our current MLB bullpen, might as well.
I've seen a couple people think Anderson is too high --- I tend to think people still discount him due to pre-draft rankings --- but he's a pretty young projectable kid with a 3.04 FIP and a 11.43 K/9 rate, his BABIP is chilling at .363; the walks are too high right now, but there's a lot to like with what he's done this year.
I've seen a couple people think Anderson is too high --- I tend to think people still discount him due to pre-draft rankings --- but he's a pretty young projectable kid with a 3.04 FIP and a 11.43 K/9 rate, his BABIP is chilling at .363; the walks are too high right now, but there's a lot to like with what he's done this year.
I do as well. You could even see guys like Watts, Webb, Clouse, Biddle, and Johnson Mullins etc from the over 22 crowd in Florida and MS.
I just don't think we'll have an all rookie pen next year, and veteran relievers got paid last year in Free agency.
You could decide to trade a guy like Johnson for postional player prospects this year and then trade pitching prospects for another late inning arm in the offseason as a form of prospect shuffling, but regardless we're going to have a vet or two in the back end of the pen.