Official 2022 Offseason Moves Thread

Southcack77 said:
Soler has been a good player and was better than his numbers and heating up. But let's be honest; he was also free and the Braves needed offense desperately.

They took a bunch of flyers of guys they could try and put in best position at no cost and it could not have worked out better for them.

Whether that means they want to marry any of those guys...I don't know.

I'd agree that Solwr seems like the most star worthy, but I bet watching him hit .190 wasn't all that fun so caution.
Click to expand...

He was languishing in KC.

I don't blame him for not being locked in after two years of losing.

Get that guy signed.
 
striker42 said:
It's possible. AA liked what he saw with the analytics of Soler at the deadline and jumped on him. If Soler gets a nice contract it wont be only because of what he did in the playoffs. He had a .911 OPS in the second half with a .257 BABIP. It's a gamble hoping his second half was the real deal but it's not a crazy gamble.
Click to expand...

Just looking at basic splits. Soler had a crappy 2nd half of 2020 (all of 57 plate appearances) and a crappy 1st half of 2021.

At the start of the year Zips had him as a 125 OPS+ and 2.4 WAR guy. I'd put him somewhere in that range going forward. Very similar overall projections to Ozuna (better offense for Soler but worse defensively). With covid seemingly in the rear-view mirror I wouldn't be surprised at Soler cashing in on a pre-covid Ozuna salary (18 million per) for multiple years.
 
thethe said:
He was languishing in KC.

I don't blame him for not being locked in after two years of losing.

Get that guy signed.
Click to expand...

He had a bad run of 370 plate appearances in KC. I won't deny that playing on a losing team won't affect you mentally but his struggles there weren't really that long.
 
thewupk said:
He had a bad run of 370 plate appearances in KC. I won't deny that playing on a losing team won't affect you mentally but his struggles there weren't really that long.
Click to expand...

This is a fair point.

I would say the length and depth of struggle exceeds normal statistical variation and therefore there are other contributing factors at play.
 
thethe said:
This is a fair point.

I would say the length and depth of struggle exceeds normal statistical variation and therefore there are other contributing factors at play.
Click to expand...

Guessing what a contributing factor to a statistical slump is silly. But it's usually an injury of some sort, this year he likely played longer with a hurt/weak groin than he should have. Hitters for some reason play through leg injuries way more than they should. Any injuries from your leg through your core is devastating for a hitter.

I think with Soler there is a reason to be concerned, but said concern should be assuaged a little because his one healthy season he was quite good. The gamble is he may not stay healthy but when he's healthy he's a good player. 2019 showed that as did the end of this season. So you sign him hope he's healthy, if he is he's more than worth what he'll get if he isn't you're out a decent chunk of change.
 
I was looking at Soler back in June, mostly because I had him on three fantasy teams. His batted ball profile never changed early this season. His exit velocity was similar, his xWoba was similar, he was just hitting into bad luck. I held onto him on those fantasy teams because of those numbers, and was rewarded (to a certain degree. his overall year was still mediocre for fantasy).
 
zitothebrave said:
Guessing what a contributing factor to a statistical slump is silly. But it's usually an injury of some sort, this year he likely played longer with a hurt/weak groin than he should have. Hitters for some reason play through leg injuries way more than they should. Any injuries from your leg through your core is devastating for a hitter.

I think with Soler there is a reason to be concerned, but said concern should be assuaged a little because his one healthy season he was quite good. The gamble is he may not stay healthy but when he's healthy he's a good player. 2019 showed that as did the end of this season. So you sign him hope he's healthy, if he is he's more than worth what he'll get if he isn't you're out a decent chunk of change.
Click to expand...

Agreed that speculating is a fools game.

I don't mind dipping my toe in that water though!

I just refuse to believe that a guy who hit 48 homers and who was absolute dynamite for us (once he got into a competitive situation) could be anywhere close to as bad as he was for that 350+ AB sample with KC.
 
thethe said:
Agreed that speculating is a fools game.

I don't mind dipping my toe in that water though!

I just refuse to believe that a guy who hit 48 homers and who was absolute dynamite for us (once he got into a competitive situation) could be anywhere close to as bad as he was for that 350+ AB sample with KC.
Click to expand...

Anything can happen in a sample that small. Even Chipper Jones hit .248 one season in the middle of his career.
 
Southcack77 said:
Soler has been a good player and was better than his numbers and heating up. But let's be honest; he was also free and the Braves needed offense desperately.

They took a bunch of flyers of guys they could try and put in best position at no cost and it could not have worked out better for them.

Whether that means they want to marry any of those guys...I don't know.

I'd agree that Solwr seems like the most star worthy, but I bet watching him hit .190 wasn't all that fun so caution.
Click to expand...

When Soler was hitting .190 he was having the same terrible luck Freeman was when he was hitting .190.

Even during his worst stretch in KC in early 2021, his xwOBA was something like .345. He was by far the best OF acquired at the deadline.
 
CJ9 said:
"The Braves’ revenue was up $22 million, or 10.4%, from $212 million in the corresponding quarter in 2019, the last season before this one played with a full schedule and fans in attendance."
Click to expand...

That's good, right?
 
Law's list of Top 50 free agents only has two Braves: Freeman at #4 and Soler at #36. What he says about Soler is similar to what folks are saying here.
 
Did anyone else hear that interview with Buster Olney where he said Freddie had considered retirement during spring training? Crazy.
 
So I'd like to point out that AA being able to add payroll due to the revenue bump from attendance in the 1st half kind of proves why they made the trades that they did in 2020. They had zero money to do anything due to the pandemic.

Braves are in a unique situation to run themselves. Keep making that money so payroll will increase.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top