AA's Failure

striker42 said:
I think 6 injuries is a number we should have been prepared against. Gohara, Soroka, and O'Day could not be counted on. Their existing injury issues pretty much precluded them from being counted on in any meaningful way. A good GM prepares as if he's getting no production from those guys and is pleasantly surprised if he does.

Really we had 3 "new" injuries. Folty's elbow issue has flared up in the past so while you can't predict when it will cause issues, is something you have to prepare against. With Minter, Viz, Venters, and (to a lesser extent) Biddle, you're going to have relievers injured. When you have that many guys with that long of injury histories, you have to prepare extra depth there.

The only injury that caught me off guard was Gausman who has been a horse. But, pitchers get hurt.

Considering our known injury issues and the fact that random injuries can happen, it was incredible foolishness not to add pitching depth. Even with adding veteran depth, there were going to be enough injuries to give opportunities for the kids.
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We DO have a lot of pitching depth. I wouldn't have minded adding a little at the margins. Someone like Bud Norris. But hard pass on overpaying for DK or CK. The fact that 30 teams have so far declined to meet their asks says something.
 
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I am in the court of not blaming anyone but bad luck for the pitching issues. We should have addressed the pen. I don’t want our assets to pitch mop up work instead of hopefully building value. I am more pissed we didn’t upgrade the offense. We could have added more and didn’t. That said we should have easily beaten the Paxton deal.
 
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bravesfanMatt said:
I am in the court of not blaming anyone but bad luck for the pitching issues. We should have addressed the pen. I don’t want our assets to pitch mop up work instead of hopefully building value. I am more pissed we didn’t upgrade the offense. We could have added more and didn’t. That said we should have easily beaten the Paxton deal.
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Paxton went for a fair price. I would have been ok with matching that.
 
nsacpi said:
We DO have a lot of pitching depth. I wouldn't have minded adding a little at the margins. Someone like Bud Norris. But hard pass on overpaying for DK or CK. The fact that 30 teams have so far declined to meet their asks says something.
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We have lots of talented arms. However, most of our depth is in the form of young starters, many of whom could use more seasoning at AAA. We're seeing now why it's not a great idea to rely on them like we have.

We needed at least one veteran starter and two relievers in my estimation. We'd still have had to rely on the young starters more than is ideal but not anything like we've seen and probably will see as the year goes on. It also would move guys like Carle and Jackson out of the spots as the first options when we have injuries. That would have given us the depth we needed without overcrowding when healthy.

Getting an excellent if not front line starter would have been my preferred route as it adds depth and also upgrades the roster when everyone's healthy. However, an experienced middle of the rotation arm was a necessity. As for the relievers, a closer like Kimbrel would improve the whole pen but is ultimately a luxury. However, bare minimum would be two fairly reliable middle relievers.

AA's neglect of the staff is inexcusable.
 
striker42 said:
We have lots of talented arms. However, most of our depth is in the form of young starters, many of whom could use more seasoning at AAA. We're seeing now why it's not a great idea to rely on them like we have.

We needed at least one veteran starter and two relievers in my estimation. We'd still have had to rely on the young starters more than is ideal but not anything like we've seen and probably will see as the year goes on. It also would move guys like Carle and Jackson out of the spots as the first options when we have injuries. That would have given us the depth we needed without overcrowding when healthy.

Getting an excellent if not front line starter would have been my preferred route as it adds depth and also upgrades the roster when everyone's healthy. However, an experienced middle of the rotation arm was a necessity. As for the relievers, a closer like Kimbrel would improve the whole pen but is ultimately a luxury. However, bare minimum would be two fairly reliable middle relievers.

AA's neglect of the staff is inexcusable.
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I don't think it is inexcusable. You take some chances however you construct your team. And given the pitching we have coming down the pipeline, I think it is a risk worth taking to lean on that rather than overspend on veteran arms. I was in favor of a value acquisition like Bud Norris. But to me it was close to a push. I did think that we would have to make some mid-season moves and favored keeping some powder dry. It remains to be seen which areas we will add (I still see us as more likely to be buyers than sellers). It could well be that pitching will be an area we will be adding. But to me it was a reasonable gamble to take some chances on the young pitching. Every team takes some gambles, whether it be on young or old players. Given the pitching we have coming through the pipeline, I'm fine with leaning on them a bit.
 
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You take SOME chances/gambles. Agreed. We took almost all of them. Even the one move we made, which I personally love because he's one of my favorite players, is a gamble (more than the normal gamble you take with any move).
 
Dalyn said:
You take SOME chances/gambles. Agreed. We took almost all of them. Even the one move we made, which I personally love because he's one of my favorite players, is a gamble (more than the normal gamble you take with any move).
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didn't realize we picked up Martin this off-season
 
I love you guys. I also love Cody Martin.




You can't help who you love...that's all I'm saying.
 
I graded this off season as a D+/C- months ago, and got quite a bit of push back for it. The fact they didn't even add around the edges other than Joyce kept it at a solid D+ for me as a final grade.

The good news is the Braves got swept with their 5th, 7th and 8th best SPs on the mound against one of the best teams in the NL. When the Braves are throwing Folty, Gaus, Newk, Soroka and Teheran against teams and still losing...then it's time to panic.
 
Enscheff said:
I graded this off season as a D+/C- months ago, and got quite a bit of push back for it. The fact they didn't even add around the edges other than Joyce kept it at a solid D+ for me as a final grade.

The good news is the Braves got swept with their 5th, 7th and 8th best SPs on the mound against one of the best teams in the NL. When the Braves are throwing Folty, Gaus, Newk, Soroka and Teheran against teams and still losing...then it's time to panic.
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A couple months ago I couldn't believe AA was done. I figured he was waiting until late in the offseason when players and other GM's got a little more desperate and fill the remaining holes at that time. Even as ST wore on I felt like AA was going to make a significant move or two. That AA was willing to enter the season with this roster forces me to conclude he's not a very good GM.
 
striker42 said:
A couple months ago I couldn't believe AA was done. I figured he was waiting until late in the offseason when players and other GM's got a little more desperate and fill the remaining holes at that time. Even as ST wore on I felt like AA was going to make a significant move or two. That AA was willing to enter the season with this roster forces me to conclude he's not a very good GM.
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I don't believe he is either. He made some bold and regrettable moves in Toronto, he was hell bent on getting his bff Donaldson and jumped at the chance immediately, fed us lies about money and prospects we have to bolster our roster, and then has made two separate comments about trades that 'were almost done.' IMO he either lied about the trades that were almost done, or he's an awful negotiator and failed on two separate occasions to close a deal.
 
So far, AA's biggest flaw seems to be that he's overly cautious.

He avoided paying $110 for something worth $100 in favor of spending $9 on something worth $10, despite having $200 sitting in his pocket. He may have gotten good value, but the $10 item probably isn't good enough when competing against the team that bought the $110 item.

Of course if JD and Acuna each hit 2 HRs this weekend and the Brave won 1-2 games the whole narrative would be different.
 
AA on 680. First question is asking him if they sent Touki to Gwinnett to manipulate his service time.

I don't know whether to laugh or cry that these are the people talking to AA trying to get answers.
 
So we were a little thin at pitching at the ML level and then had some injuries to key pitchers that exposed us early. It's not the end of the world. Folty, Minter and Gausman will be back soon and over the course of the season things will even out.
 
Enscheff said:
So far, AA's biggest flaw seems to be that he's overly cautious.

He avoided paying $110 for something worth $100 in favor of spending $9 on something worth $10, despite having $200 sitting in his pocket. He may have gotten good value, but the $10 item probably isn't good enough when competing against the team that bought the $110 item.

Of course if JD and Acuna each hit 2 HRs this weekend and the Brave won 1-2 games the whole narrative would be different.
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If this was last year, I'd commend him on looking for value and not impairing the future. However, we now know we're at the start of a window to compete for a world series. It's okay to impair the future a bit to make the most out of the window.

Your analogy is correct. I'd extend it further. He preferred spending $9 on a pea shooter worth $10 in order to show up at a fight against someone who paid $110 for a machine gun worth $100. There are points where the opportunity cost justifies spending more than something is otherwise worth.
 
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Enscheff said:
He avoided paying $110 for something worth $100 in favor of spending $9 on something worth $10, despite having $200 sitting in his pocket. He may have gotten good value, but the $10 item probably isn't good enough when competing against the team that bought the $110 item.
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Solid analogy.
 
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