Looking Ahead - The 2020 Offseason Thread

Well, names are starting to fly off the board left and right. AA has to have some kind of plan to get a bat, if he goes into OD with the current lineup, what a failed offseason.
 
jpx7 said:
If I’m reading this correctly, he not only didn’t waive his post-2021 opt-out, but he’s also being granted a second, post-2022 opt-out opportunity in exchange for waiving his no-trade provision.
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All I know is the options are now limited for the Braves. They Ozuna or bust at this point. It's like teams aren't willing to trade with AA currently for some reason. If the Mets sign Bauers the East is definitely gonna be tough for us to win. Especially with every team improving.
 
Nothing against Arenado, but I now how he is absolute trash and Stl is saddled with an albatross for 6 years. Eff that organization. Hope they have 100 years of suckitude.
 
TheBravos said:
Chapman maybe
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We haven't heard a word about Chapman from either the A's perspective or AA. Not sure if that's a good thing or not since AA has always been so tight lipped.

IMO, we either trade for Jose Ramirez or Chapman, or sign Ozuna or Turner. If one of those players isn't on the Braves OD roster in 2021 then this offseason has been an epic failure. Not only would we have not maximized the savings we're experiencing from Acuna and Albies deals, but we'll have wasted one of Freddie's prime years.

There is still time, but if we do nothing but sink 26 million into the starting rotation (Morton and Smyly), then it's hard to know wtf AA is doing. I understand signing one of them after last season, but both? Completely unnecessary. We were one win away from the World Series with a starting rotation of Fried, Anderson, Wright and a bunch of AAAA filler. We don't know when Soroka will come back and if he'll even be the same, but splurging on two pitchers this offseason screams like a 2009 overcorrection all over again. We didn't need to sign Lowe and KK but we did and the offense suffered mightily. Wren totally panicked after the 2008 season and overcompensated. AA is a much better GM, but with his aggressive nature of signing Morton and Smyly so quickly and doing nothing else for the team, it makes you wonder if he made the same mistake as Wren did? Hopefully AA has something up his sleeve, and I'll wait for final judgement, but sigh this offseason has been pretty frustrating.
 
Carp said:
Nothing against Arenado, but I now how he is absolute trash and Stl is saddled with an albatross for 6 years. Eff that organization. Hope they have 100 years of suckitude.
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Looks like it would actually be seven years, were he to not exercise either opt-out:

Arenado will receive another guaranteed year on his contract for roughly $15MM, per MLB Network’s Jon Heyman, who adds that he could waive his no-trade clause as early as Saturday.
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Carp said:
AA seems reluctant to give up want top prospects, but also seems reluctant spend money. Something's gotta give at some point if we're gonna add some bats.
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My concern is you keep hoarding prospects and at some point the shine wears off and all of a sudden they're not as valuable as you once thought. AA doesn't want to sign players to big contracts, ok cool I get it. AA doesn't want to trade a bunch of big time prospects for a player, ok cook I get it. But you can't have it both ways if you want to compete and go for it when the time is right. We were one win away from the World Series last year. If you aren't going to go for it now, then when will you? When Freddie is past his prime? Once you let Freddie walk bc you want to save money? Or maybe once Acuna and Ozzie start to get "expensive." Yes, I know they're signed to super cheap deals, but their salaries are only going up. Might as well maximize their 2021 salaries vs their future salaries. Acuna jumps from 5 million this year to 15 million next year and 17 million until 2028. Ok Ozzie isn't really an issue after I looked at his contract. He's making 3 million this year and then jumps to 5 million next year and 7 million through the 2027 season. Dansby is a free agent after this year and you're either going to have to pay him quite a bit more than the 6 million he's earning this season, or move on from him and then have another hole in your lineup you have to fill.

The reality is this year is a great time to maximize the lesser salaries of the players you have, coupled with Freddie's remaining prime years. He's 31. The clock is ticking.

Do something AA. Stop watching everyone else improve their team while we regress with the players we've lost since last year.
 
Not disputing your broader point, but Swanson has two more years of team control, so he won’t be FA until after 2022.
 
jpx7 said:
Not disputing your broader point, but Swanson has two more years of team control, so he won’t be FA until after 2022.
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Thank you for correcting me.

Acuna jumps to 15 million next year (+10). Swanson is arb 3 and jumped from 1.1 million in 2020 to 6.3 million in 2021. How much of a raise will he see in 2022? I suppose it all depends on his numbers this year, but he most certainly will see a raise. Between those two players we're looking at 10-12 million increase in salary. Ozzie jumps up 2 million. Right there we're already +15. Add in other arb players and other raises and things could get rough. If the money isn't there this year then we all better hope the battery opens and returns to form or else we're going to be in for a world of hurt next season.
 
The Braves were good enough last year to win the WS. If they played that series 100 times they would have won it 40 times. There is no need to “go for it”.
 
I starting to believe Ozuna is coming back. AA just looking to get the players he want for the price he want. Last year Ozuna wait until the end of the offseason and he got a 1 year deal. He probably got some good offers already. This year looks like he is waiting for AA.
 
It's all moot now, but I would have preferred Pederson to Rosario. I've seen quite a bit of Rosario up here in the frozen tundra and he's a really odd player. Very erratic. He's basically the top end of Jeff Francoeur. Terrible plate discipline (Rosario actually has a lower career BB/PA% than Francoeur, which is really saying something). Mediocre OFer with a great arm (ala Francoeur) and has more than his share of brain f*rts on the field (ala Francoeur). The big difference between the two is launch angle (Rosario's ranks quite high) and more authority on balls put in play. That accounts for why Rosario's production is so much better. When he hits it, it can go a long way.

Pederson is a platoon guy and maybe (although I can't believe the Cubs promised this) the promise of playing every day sent him in the directions of his landing spot. Rosario has been an everyday player (his splits are bad, but not Pederson-level atrocious) although he's probably heading toward a platoon role as well.
 
Freeman is the face of this franchise. He’s our modern day Chipper. I acknowledge that and absolutely love him for that, but if we don’t sign anyone to a contract that’s more wealthy than Freeman’s 22 million out of fear we’re going to upset him, then we’re in trouble. He’s 31. He signed his deal 7 years ago. The landscape of the game and the value of money in MLB was quite different. Allowing this assumption and his feelings dictate what we do now is quite ridiculous.

I would hope he understands that and not let his contract value handcuff the Braves from signing someone to a contract greater than his 22 million. If he does feel that way then he doesn’t approve of us improving our roster. I just don’t see him feeling that way since he’s cut from the same cloth as Chipper and just cares about winning. If for some reason he does, then fine, sign whoever we need to now at whatever their going rate is, and then give Freddie the high water mark when we re-sign him.

But I find it ridiculously counterproductive to not sign someone now out of fear of how Freddie will react. Lol who do we look like the Mets and their dysfunctional franchise?
 
Im not saying anything about hurting Freeman's feelings. What my opinion is doesnt matter at all but signing a guy like Realmuto or Ozuna or trading for an Arenado all making high AAV will set the bar for Freeman coming off a MVP season and being the face of the franchise as well. There is another side to these assumptions as well and that being the Acuna/Albies windfalls. Lots and lots of pro athletes have fragile egos. Im not declaring that to be the case with the Braves players I mention here but it is reality.
 
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