How Long Is Our Contention Window Set To Remain Open?

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chop2chip said:
It’s incredible how 11 innings completely changed the perception of one player and his contract. His innings were so stress free I basically don’t remember anything he did this postseason.
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It was still a bad contract, in a vacuum, and always has been.

It was still an all-time elite postseason for a closer, and always will be.

Life is tricky.
 
chop2chip said:
It’s incredible how 11 innings completely changed the perception of one player and his contract. His innings were so stress free I basically don’t remember anything he did this postseason.
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4 one run lead saves and 2 two run lead saves isn’t exactly stress free especially since 5 of them came against 2 of the best offenses in baseball. But, whatever
 
jpx7 said:
It was still a bad contract, in a vacuum, and always has been.

It was still an all-time elite postseason for a closer, and always will be.

Life is tricky.
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Absolutely, it’s always been the most eyebrow raising move of the AA era from an objective perspective (Ozuna of course overtakes this with the benefit of hindsight).

My point is that this all-time elite postseason basically validates everything Will has or will do. He could be so bad next year that we cut him in June and Braves fans will still view him in a unanimously positive way. That’s truly amazing when you consider is approval rating in September was easily the lowest on the team.
 
chop2chip said:
Absolutely, it’s always been the most eyebrow raising move of the AA era from an objective perspective (Ozuna of course overtakes this with the benefit of hindsight).

My point is that this all-time elite postseason basically validates everything Will has or will do. He could be so bad next year that we cut him in June and Braves fans will still view him in a unanimously positive way. That’s truly amazing when you consider is approval rating in September was easily the lowest on the team.
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It wasn't just that AA gave premium money to a BP arm for 3 years. Teams do that all the time, and it's not usually a disaster...just merely bad.

My main issue was AA never gave out multi year deals. Not to Brantley, not to anyone. Then he goes out and gives a BP arm, the most volatile of all player types, 3 years? What in the world about Will Smith was so compelling it made AA give out his first 3 year FA deal?

The Ozuna deal was acceptable because the AAV was so reasonable. His issues with the law only reinforce the idea that hitching to any FA long-ish term is risky, even if he doesn't get hurt or decline.
 
chop2chip said:
Absolutely, it’s always been the most eyebrow raising move of the AA era from an objective perspective (Ozuna of course overtakes this with the benefit of hindsight).

My point is that this all-time elite postseason basically validates everything Will has or will do. He could be so bad next year that we cut him in June and Braves fans will still view him in a unanimously positive way. That’s truly amazing when you consider is approval rating in September was easily the lowest on the team.
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I think most Braves fans still maybe think he sucks judging from threads on other kinds of message boards.
 
Braves paid fair value for Will's past performance expecting an elite reliever and have just gotten a good one (2021).

AA is willing to pay fair value sometimes. It's not clear always what.

But paying to shorten games wouldn't be a bad thing if you could depend on it. As it turns out a scrap heap project was more.
 
Southcack77 said:
I think most Braves fans still maybe think he sucks judging from threads on other kinds of message boards.
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I don’t think that’s true. I think Will is universally loved now.

That’s not to say fans won’t get nervous next year when he comes in to save a 1 run lead (and curse him when he fails). All that means is his legacy will always be “6 saves, 2 wins, no runs”
 
Enscheff said:
It wasn't just that AA gave premium money to a BP arm for 3 years. Teams do that all the time, and it's not usually a disaster...just merely bad.

My main issue was AA never gave out multi year deals. Not to Brantley, not to anyone. Then he goes out and gives a BP arm, the most volatile of all player types, 3 years? What in the world about Will Smith was so compelling it made AA give out his first 3 year FA deal?

The Ozuna deal was acceptable because the AAV was so reasonable. His issues with the law only reinforce the idea that hitching to any FA long-ish term is risky, even if he doesn't get hurt or decline.
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It’s really bizarre, especially the role Smith assumed when he joined the team. He wasn’t even expected to be the highest leverage reliever.

In a similar move, AA assumed a pretty bad Mark Melancon contract. Fortunately, this worked out so kudos to him, but I remember when we acquired him waiting to hear how much money the Giants were going to send in the deal and being floored when I learned we were covering 100%.
 
chop2chip said:
It’s really bizarre, especially the role Smith assumed when he joined the team. He wasn’t even expected to be the highest leverage reliever.

In a similar move, AA assumed a pretty bad Mark Melancon contract. Fortunately, this worked out so kudos to him, but I remember when we acquired him waiting to hear how much money the Giants were going to send in the deal and being floored when I learned we were covering 100%.
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He was spending the available money on shoring up the biggest weakness.

AA does believe in splurges to address weakness.

Drew Smyly is one of those, but so is Morton and Donaldson. Usually to address a fatally deficient position.

I wouldn't be shocked if he spent on Marte and Soler and a leverage righty. Maybe not likely but not shocking.
 
Southcack77 said:
He was spending the available money on shoring up the biggest weakness.

AA does believe in splurges to address weakness.

Drew Smyly is one of those, but so is Morton and Donaldson. Usually to address a fatally deficient position.

I wouldn't be shocked if he spent on Marte and Soler and a leverage righty. Maybe not likely but not shocking.
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Could always trade for the final season of Kimbrel. That feels like a very Anthopoulos move.
 
I'm hoping another 4-5 years. Like others have said Acuna is a major key. Need some top notch hits in the draft really soon to extend that window.
 
I think the team is in good shape through 2024. After that I expect a quick decline to being a basement dweller. The bad drafting hasnt caught up to us yet. It will, although I am sure people will blame everything but the lack of quality prospects from bad drafts. We are already at the "our farm sucks so we need college players" stage of decline where we fail to realize that is the reason the farm sucks in the first place. I call it Royals disease.
 
3-4 years minimum. Obviously, injury/slash major regression could change that outlook. But regardless of Freeman, we appear to be in a similar boat to where we were this time last year at this same time. 2 great hitters (Riley and Acuna) supplemented by Ozzie, Swanson, and TDA, at least for another year. Fried, Anderson, and a plethora of good pitching prospects. Maybe Soroka. . Then you have some young guys that could step up like Pache, Waters, Langy, etc.


Should at least remain competitive over the next 3-4 years, if not straight dominating the NL East. How we do developing prospects will determine 2025 and beyond.
 
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jpx7 said:
It was still a bad contract, in a vacuum, and always has been.

It was still an all-time elite postseason for a closer, and always will be.

Life is tricky.
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Agreed. I'll probably always be stressed when he comes in, but having him for this run will make it all so worth it.
 
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