Looking Ahead - The 2020 Offseason Thread

For the crowd nervous about payroll dropping, that will happen across baseball. The strongest indicator of this is how Miami was able to pick up Marte for a #5 and a couple of Rule 5 to be’s.

The real concern should be whether it drops disproportionately to the rest of the league. Given the diversification into real estate, this is likely, but we will see.

Luckily for the Braves we are not saddled with much long term salary (unlike the rest of our division outside of the Marlins). I expect we will have some flexibility to grab a couple of really good players on short term pillow contracts.
 
PawPawMaxwell said:
Ask yourself this question. Who had the better year, Donaldson in 2019 or Ozuna in 2020?
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JD also had injury concerns that drove his price down imo.
I know Marcell has conditioning questions but he’s been pretty durable in his career.I believe with the DH coming someone will offer him a nice long term contract but it won’t be us
 
chop2chip said:
For the crowd nervous about payroll dropping, that will happen across baseball. The strongest indicator of this is how Miami was able to pick up Marte for a #5 and a couple of Rule 5 to be’s.

The real concern should be whether it drops disproportionately to the rest of the league. Given the diversification into real estate, this is likely, but we will see.

Luckily for the Braves we are not saddled with much long term salary (unlike the rest of our division outside of the Marlins). I expect we will have some flexibility to grab a couple of really good players on short term pillow contracts.
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I agree with this.

There is likely to be some bargains on the trade market too, like the Marlins got with Marte.

We have a ton of money coming off the books, but the budget next year is likely to be less than it was this year.
 
if we are speculating on the next slugger, maybe someone can look into the advanced stats. It seems like we got to ozuna b/c AA loved his exit velocity. Is there someone who is going to be a free agent, who had a down year and had really high exit velocities?
 
I'm going to predict we land JaKe Lamb. Just to make Enscheff's Riley comparison amazing.

He will DH and play some third for Riley. Everyone will be mad. He will hit 250/320/520.
 
chop2chip said:
For the crowd nervous about payroll dropping, that will happen across baseball. The strongest indicator of this is how Miami was able to pick up Marte for a #5 and a couple of Rule 5 to be’s.

The real concern should be whether it drops disproportionately to the rest of the league. Given the diversification into real estate, this is likely, but we will see.

Luckily for the Braves we are not saddled with much long term salary (unlike the rest of our division outside of the Marlins). I expect we will have some flexibility to grab a couple of really good players on short term pillow contracts.
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Yep. I expect there to be a bunch of 1-2 year deals, may be with options built in. I suspect Ozuna will be one such player who will have to settle for that, despite his excellent offensive season.
 
Outside of Smith, we dont have many long-term contracts on the roster. Acuna and Albies make far less than they should given the value they provide. It will be interesting what AA tries to do with a lesser payroll. Have said i could see him try to flip Ender for a BP arm on a similar deal, with a guaranteed deal for 21 and an option for 22.
 
bravesfanforlife88 said:
LINK

That is the MLB leaders in exit velocity.
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So we're getting Tatis, Jr?

Seriously, though, I think Joc Pederson is an obviously FA target (as has been discussed religiously around here), especially in a platoon role with Duvall. But I think Jorge Soler could be an interesting, potentially-inexpensive trade target, if the Royals want to cut some costs, pick up a mids young pitcher, and send the Braves a new DH. Gregory Polanco could also be a cheap bounce-back candidate, but the Pirates would have to eat at least half that remaining salary.

Heyward said:
Outside of Smith, we dont have many long-term contracts on the roster. Acuna and Albies make far less than they should given the value they provide. It will be interesting what AA tries to do with a lesser payroll. Have said i could see him try to flip Ender for a BP arm on a similar deal, with a guaranteed deal for 21 and an option for 22.
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One way a Polanco buy-low could work is by sending Inciarte to the Pirates, with some cash and Polanco coming back to the Braves. Not a great plan, but this would be under the premise that the Braves will do nothing but shop in the bargain-bin—which is a premise I don't necessarily buy.
 
jpx7 said:
So we're getting Tatis, Jr?

Seriously, though, I think Joc Pederson is an obviously FA target (as has been discussed religiously around here), especially in a platoon role with Duvall. But I think Jorge Soler could be an interesting, potentially-inexpensive trade target, if the Royals want to cut some costs, pick up a mids young pitcher, and send the Braves a new DH. Gregory Polanco could also be a cheap bounce-back candidate, but the Pirates would have to eat at least half that remaining salary.



One way a Polanco buy-low could work is by sending Inciarte to the Pirates, with some cash and Polanco coming back to the Braves. Not a great plan, but this would be under the premise that the Braves will do nothing but shop in the bargain-bin—which is a premise I don't necessarily buy.
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Im not sure Braves will bargain bin shop either. We have a good chunk of our roster ready for next year for the most part, just need 1 of MM/Greene back, Ozuna or a slugger of some kind and a veteran SP to go with Anderson/Soroka pending if hes ready for OD/Wright depending is hes turned a corner/and Fried.
 
Heyward said:
Im not sure Braves will bargain bin shop either. We have a good chunk of our roster ready for next year for the most part, just need 1 of MM/Greene back, Ozuna or a slugger of some kind and a veteran SP to go with Anderson/Soroka pending if hes ready for OD/Wright depending is hes turned a corner/and Fried.
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Mostly agree—though I'd like to see them bring in two veteran SPs (as I've said in other threads), probably one on a pricier deal and one on a cheaper deal; plus I think they need two bats, one as an Ozuna replacement (if it's not Ozuna himself) to play DH, and then hopefully Pederson to platoon with Duvall. That sets up a really nice offense and defense, with Pache taking over CF being the weakest offensive link, followed by Riley at 3B.
 
jpx7 said:
Mostly agree—though I'd like to see them bring in two veteran SPs (as I've said in other threads), probably one on a pricier deal and one on a cheaper deal; plus I think they need two bats, one as an Ozuna replacement (if it's not Ozuna himself) to play DH, and then hopefully Pederson to platoon with Duvall. That sets up a really nice offense and defense, with Pache taking over CF being the weakest offensive link, followed by Riley at 3B.
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Looks like they've released Milone, so you better change that two to a three.
 
Now that the Cubs are out, I think this is going to be a really interesting offseason for them. They may have to make some tough decisions. Out of Kris Bryant, Ian Happ, and Kyle Schwarber, at least one, maybe two of them will be dealt. I think the chances are high that Bryant is wearing another uniform come next season.
 
CrimsonCowboy said:
Now that the Cubs are out, I think this is going to be a really interesting offseason for them. They may have to make some tough decisions. Out of Kris Bryant, Ian Happ, and Kyle Schwarber, at least one, maybe two of them will be dealt. I think the chances are high that Bryant is wearing another uniform come next season.
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Kris Bryant would fit the profile of a 1 year deal.
 
CrimsonCowboy said:
Now that the Cubs are out, I think this is going to be a really interesting offseason for them. They may have to make some tough decisions. Out of Kris Bryant, Ian Happ, and Kyle Schwarber, at least one, maybe two of them will be dealt. I think the chances are high that Bryant is wearing another uniform come next season.
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It's really hard to guess what a full season would have looked like across baseball. Cubs won their division, but I wonder what the next 102 games would have meant. I suppose the same could have been said about the Braves, whose bullpen might have worn out over a full 162. But the Cubs appear to be on the cusp of some very big changes. Lots of big contracts. Contreras, Bryant, Baez, and Schwarber all eligible for arbitration. Happ just entering arbitration. They likely save $15 MM by buying out Lester and one doesn't know how arbitrators will look at the 2020 season when figuring about cases this off-season, so maybe it's not as big a mountain to climb as it looks right now. Still and all, it's hard to see them keeping the gang together.
 
50PoundHead said:
It's really hard to guess what a full season would have looked like across baseball. Cubs won their division, but I wonder what the next 102 games would have meant. I suppose the same could have been said about the Braves, whose bullpen might have worn out over a full 162. But the Cubs appear to be on the cusp of some very big changes. Lots of big contracts. Contreras, Bryant, Baez, and Schwarber all eligible for arbitration. Happ just entering arbitration. They likely save $15 MM by buying out Lester and one doesn't know how arbitrators will look at the 2020 season when figuring about cases this off-season, so maybe it's not as big a mountain to climb as it looks right now. Still and all, it's hard to see them keeping the gang together.
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Absolutely agree. The core of that team had a great run, including the World Series title, but changes look to be coming to the north side
 
Southcack77 said:
Covid.

DH vs 3B.

If the Mets or Red Sox aren't interested, I'm not sure his market will be huge.
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When Ozuna was signed it was not to be a DH. At this point in time the offensive numbers he put up this year will be very valuable regardless if he is to be DH or a position player. And his age will preclude him from caving to low offers any time soon.
 
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