1st Half Retrospective

B

BeanieAntics

Arbitration Eligible
The NL has been nuts this year. Literally 14/15 teams could make the argument that they are still in at least wild card contention. The Mets and Giant's chances are pretty remote, but it'd still be possible with a god-like run in the 2nd half.

At the top of the league, the Dodgers have at least a 12 game lead on every team except the Braves. The Braves have at least a 6 game lead on every team not named the Dodgers. It seems like the league is the Dodger's to lose, but have the Braves firmly entrenched themselves as the 2nd best team behind them? I still think the Cubs/Nats/Brewers may ultimately have something to say about that by season's end, but right now it looks like we're the NL's best chance for a non-Dodgers world series.

Speaking of chances, here are where the current playoff/WS odds stand for each true contender:

Dodgers 100/18
Braves 96/7
Nationals 77/5
Cubs 73/6
Brewers 37/1
Phillies 25/0.4
Cardinals 20/0.8
D-Backs 18/0.2
Padres 14/0.2
Rockies 11/0.2

I think its safe to say that the wild card race this year is going to be insane.

Now that we're at the All Star, I think we can say that the 1st half went about as well as could be reasonably hoped for. I know there is a lot of disagreement about the direction we should take this team in the future, but its pretty undeniable that we are in better shape moving forward than almost any team in the league. Certainly better than any mid-market team in baseball.

AA inherited a pretty good situation, but he's really done a tremendous job of helping us transition into our competitive window. I think Coppygate was the best thing that could have happened to us, despite the sanctions.
 
Braves are a strong team but also have outperformed with sequencing luck and a good record in close games. I'm hoping AA is creative and adds a starter and a reliever. Wont be easy given we dont have much budget left after signing Keuchel.
 
nsacpi said:
Braves are a strong team but also have outperformed with sequencing luck and a good record in close games. I'm hoping AA is creative and adds a starter and a reliever. Wont be easy given we dont have much budget left after signing Keuchel.
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You are the king of the nervous nellies and negative nancies.
 
I wouldn't say things went as well as could be expected. Folty, Minter, and Gaus' struggles have hurt. Overcoming them has been super impressive.
 
striker42 said:
I wouldn't say things went as well as could be expected. Folty, Minter, and Gaus' struggles have hurt. Overcoming them has been super impressive.
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Toss in sobot and Biddle being awful and vizzy injury. It really was a ****storm to start the season and impressive we are where we are.
 
bravesfanMatt said:
Toss in sobot and Biddle being awful and vizzy injury. It really was a ****storm to start the season and impressive we are where we are.
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That's where I would go. Every year, I do this little mental exercise with the Braves starting with "If you had told me this was going to happen, I would gave expected the Braves to be (better/worse)." If you had told me at the beginning of the season that Foltynewicz would be in AAA and that Luke Jackson would be our closer at the All-Star break and we would be in first place, I'd have severely questioned your sanity. Things have shaken out very nicely. I always hesitate to bring the element of luck into the equation because that tends to even out for everyone over the course of a season. The team has executed well and the offense is better than I expected. I was not that optimistic about the Donaldson signing, but he has clearly been worth it. I am guessing they will make a move or two by the deadline and I am very curious to see how they proceed in that regard.
 
50PoundHead said:
That's where I would go. Every year, I do this little mental exercise with the Braves starting with "If you had told me this was going to happen, I would gave expected the Braves to be (better/worse)." If you had told me at the beginning of the season that Foltynewicz would be in AAA and that Luke Jackson would be our closer at the All-Star break and we would be in first place, I'd have severely questioned your sanity. Things have shaken out very nicely. I always hesitate to bring the element of luck into the equation because that tends to even out for everyone over the course of a season. The team has executed well and the offense is better than I expected. I was not that optimistic about the Donaldson signing, but he has clearly been worth it. I am guessing they will make a move or two by the deadline and I am very curious to see how they proceed in that regard.
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Folty AND Gausman in AAA. Newcomb in the pen. No contribution from Viz or O'Day. However many opening day relievers being released or banished to AAA.

Yeah, if you'd told people after the offseason of angst that would be the case, they'd tell you we would be under .500.
 
Southcack77 said:
Folty AND Gausman in AAA. Newcomb in the pen. No contribution from Viz or O'Day. However many opening day relievers being released or banished to AAA.

Yeah, if you'd told people after the offseason of angst that would be the case, they'd tell you we would be under .500.
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Yeah. 3/5ths of our starting rotation not being in our rotation is the biggest thing to me.
 
It's pretty amazing how much we turned over the pitching staff. About mid-way through Spring Training this would have been our opening day staff:

Folty
Gausman
Teheran
Newcomb
Toussaint? (I think this was a wide-open battle between Fried and Toussaint, knowing Soroka was on his way)

Vizcaino
Minter
Carle
Winkler
Jackson
Sobotka
Freeman
Biddle
Venters

The only 2 of those 14 to not see the minors or the IL this year have been Teheran and Jackson.
 
Nerfherders said:
It's pretty amazing how much we turned over the pitching staff. About mid-way through Spring Training this would have been our opening day staff:

Folty
Gausman
Teheran
Newcomb
Toussaint? (I think this was a wide-open battle between Fried and Toussaint, knowing Soroka was on his way)

Vizcaino
Minter
Carle
Winkler
Jackson
Sobotka
Freeman
Biddle
Venters

The only 2 of those 14 to not see the minors or the IL this year have been Teheran and Jackson.
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It is not fully appreciated how much pitching depth the Braves entered spring training with if the guys ticketed for the high minors are included. It has allowed the team to weather all the setbacks.
 
nsacpi said:
It is not fully appreciated how much pitching depth the Braves entered spring training with if the guys ticketed for the high minors are included. It has allowed the team to weather all the setbacks.
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There was a time when some felt we did not have a surplus of pitching
 
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