Official 2022 Offseason Moves Thread

I’m willing to bet Freeman signs with the Braves for 5 years plus a 6th year option that ultimately guarantees him ~$150M.

There simply aren’t many teams looking to spend big at 1B, and the current offer of 5/135 is close enough that the gap can be bridged.
 
PawPawMaxwell said:
Is it possible that everyone has forgotten the bad life choices that Chipper made early on? His desire to remain a Brave, regardless of remuneration, may have been weighed on those choices. Regardless, I greatly admire Chipper for his baseball career and more even if his decision to remain a Brave was to remain an active parent.
Click to expand...

What?
 
Man, lost drew Brees last year, and now I'm staring at losing FF and Sean Payton this year. 3 of my all time favorites
 
VirginiaBrave said:
He deserves that 6/190 he wants.
Click to expand...

"Deserve" is a bit much. I think he "deserves" whatever the market is willing to pay for his services. But any team signing him should do so realizing that his best days are likely behind him and the risk involved is pretty high that he will be an average of worse player before the end of 2025. If the Braves don't feel comfortable taking that risk at such a high price, I can't say that I blame them. If we wish to remain competitive, handing out bad contracts is a practice we should avoid.
 
I've always thought it was pretty simplistic to blame Andruw's sudden decline on his weight gain. From his first year as a full-time starter (1997), he was basically an everyday, every inning center fielder -- from 1997 to 2007, the fewest games played were 153. From 1999 to 2001, he played 162, 161 and 161 games. I believe he played every inning of every game in 1999. He did all of this while playing center field and ranging greater distances than just about any other center fielder in the game. He threw his body around on a regular basis, while playing about 30 games a season on the concrete turf at Veteran's Stadium in Philadelphia and at Olympic Stadium in Montreal. All of this likely contributed in some way to his sudden decline -- the Braves rode him hard, and that has consequences, even for position players.

Would all of that have been easier if he had stayed a svelte 180 pounds his entire career? Sure. We don't know what Andruw's career looks like in the parallel universe where he never gains weight. But the story of Andruw's career is more complicated and nuanced than "ha ha fatty fall down."
 
I think it's safe to assume a professional athlete like Andruw, who put almost zero effort into his physical conditioning, probably put equally little effort into other aspects of being a professional athlete. The lack of professionalism as a whole led to his massive decline, and calling him fat is just our lazy way of saying it.

Keep in mind, his decline was unprecedented for someone as good as he was in his 20s. He didn't just decline like an injury prone player struggling through his 30s. He declined like someone who lost a leg in a car accident.
 
MadduxFanII said:
I've always thought it was pretty simplistic to blame Andruw's sudden decline on his weight gain. From his first year as a full-time starter (1997), he was basically an everyday, every inning center fielder -- from 1997 to 2007, the fewest games played were 153. From 1999 to 2001, he played 162, 161 and 161 games. I believe he played every inning of every game in 1999. He did all of this while playing center field and ranging greater distances than just about any other center fielder in the game. He threw his body around on a regular basis, while playing about 30 games a season on the concrete turf at Veteran's Stadium in Philadelphia and at Olympic Stadium in Montreal. All of this likely contributed in some way to his sudden decline -- the Braves rode him hard, and that has consequences, even for position players.

Would all of that have been easier if he had stayed a svelte 180 pounds his entire career? Sure. We don't know what Andruw's career looks like in the parallel universe where he never gains weight. But the story of Andruw's career is more complicated and nuanced than "ha ha fatty fall down."
Click to expand...

Add in games at Skydome, Tropicana Field, and the Houston Astrodome, as well as places that still had artificial turf where Andruw played at.

Up until 2002, Interleague play was exclusively with AL East, so skydome and Tropicana were regular series.

2002 we played at the Metrodome as well.

If I recall correctly, the stadium in San Juan was also that concrete artificial turf as well when the Expos shared home games there for 2 seasons.
 
Andruw- after disastrous seasons in ATL and LAD- had a 132 wRC+ with the Yankees in one of his last seasons. He was effectively 2021 ATL Jorge Soler for the Yankees in 2011. Not his typical self, but not exactly an amputee either.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top