Braves Sign Will Smith
- Thread starter mqt
- Start date
Rendon is the play if we are serious about leveraging the cheap deals for our young elite talent. It could also possibly signal that the intention is to give Anderson the fourth starter job and let a battle commence between Newk/Wilson/Davidson/etc.... in addition to some bargain veteran deals.
AA has to be planning for Pache and Waters in the OF or at least one of them. That gives the team back enders/necks money as well starting 2021
That's a rich deal unless we take some salary back.
Wright/Riley/Waters I would think at least.
It's not smart for GMs in the long run, but I'd much rather have been a Cubs or Red Sox fan the last 7 years than to have been a Dodgers fan.
Salary back? What?
Absorb one of Oaklands bad contracts to reduce surplus value.
Dont see how this can be ignored.
Braves are also still in the brand building phase in Cobb. The long term benefit of building a winner now cant be undersold. A whole new generation of Brave fans are being ushered into baseball which results into future revenues. There are many more variables to consider than just surplus value and draft picks.
Gotcha.
Braves are currently sitting right at $100M with holes at 3B, C, and SP.
Bowman thinks they will give JD $25M in 2020, and for however long it takes to get him. So that's another high priced aging player on the roster. The saving grace is 1B will open up once Freeman's contract expires, so JD can move over there if needed.
That puts the payroll at $125M with remaining needs at C, SP, and a pretty mediocre OF. Bowman just said Grandal isn't likely, so I imagine it's something like a trade for Contreras, or signing someone like Castro.
Now they are sitting at $130M+ and still need a SP. It should be no surprise Bowman just floated names like Miley and Porcello in his most recent mailbag because that's the aisle they will be left shopping in now that they splurged early on a 30 year old BP arm.
I do love the idea of dealing with teams like the Rays and A's whose financial situations force them to value cost controlled 1-2 win players more so than the rest of the league because the Braves have a lot of those guys who are MLB ready.
What do you see as a deal that works?
Its amusing to look at oaklands contracts. Other than Davis they dont have anything long term and no albatrosses. Absorbing Davis is out of the question so it's a true surplus value deal.
BeanieAntics
Arbitration Eligible
Which team would you rather be a fan of moving forward? Because the Dodgers are still squarely in strong contention while the Cubs/Red Sox are either exiting their window or struggling to keep it open.
The Dodgers have done exactly what you're supposed to do. Put together a team that can consistently make it to the playoffs and compete for a WS without sacrificing too much future value. It just hasn't worked out for them yet, but most of that just has to do with bad luck rather than some notion of them not "going for it"
The Cubs, on the other hand, massively overpayed for a half season of a reliever and got VERY fortunate that it happened to work out for them. Then, they did the exact same thing the next year, except it was for an 2 win starting pitcher on a good contract and that deal isn't look nearly as good. The Cubs window would likely still be wide open if they had kept guys like Eloy or Gleybar. And its absolutely not clear that they would have failed in their world series pursuits had it not been for Aroldis Chapman or whoever.
Give me the Dodger's model any day of the week.
striker42
Well-known member
This signing is absolutely out of character with what we've seen from AA. Until now he's chosen making no moves over making the wrong moves. It makes me think there's something that we're not seeing yet. I just don't think there's any way AA would hamstring himself in filling holes at catcher and third by throwing this amount of money at a reliever (that wasn't a huge need). He either has a plan to competently fill holes on the cheap and so has the money to spend like this or payroll isn't as much of a problem as it has been.
If payroll is still an issue and signing Smith will hurt us in filling other holes, then this is a really bad move. It would just be a bad move very much out of AA's character though.
Signing Will Smith smells of a GM who suddenly feels pressure to win now, and is no longer concerned about the health of the club 3+ years from now.
I just don't see how you can say going for it was a bad strategy when it clearly got them their desired outcome: a WS championship. Likewise, the Dodgers have put together a great strategy for long term success, and have nothing to show for it.
Yes, luck has a little to do with it. The Dodgers have a great team. And in 2018 they certainly made a good effort to go for it with the Machado trade. But there have also been times when they've hesitated to make some trades as well.
Again, all things considered, I'd much rather have been a Sox/Cubs over the last 7 years. I'll take a WS and a few years of floundering over constantly being let down every year.
Yeah, this notion of looking at things with benefit of hindsight as justification for moves is the epitome of small minded people.
The Cubs went all in and won a WS at the expense of future seasons. So did the Red Sox. Just because it worked out in 2 instances does not prove "going for it" is a good strategy.
What the Cubs and Red Sox did prove was that "going for it" is costing leadership their jobs fairly quickly after they "went for it"...even though the moves actually won a WS.
I guess staring at those flags isn't as amazing for as long as folks claim.
They have nothing to show for it?
The Dodgers have an elite team making tons of money moving forward, and leadership isn't being fired.
The Cubs and Red Sox have a declining team moving forward, but a flag to look at...and leadership is being fired.
Stare at that flag though...yay!
Certainly a consideration. Matches up with the Melancon trade as well. Throwing caution to the wind in an attempt to win it all now. I guess the best you can say is at least it's only money and not valuable prospects.
Look to the JD trade for a good idea about the A's quantity over quality preferences.
Having said that, Chapman isn't even arb eligible yet. It makes little sense for the A's to trade him now.
