Official official offseason thread

Enscheff said:
Asking someone to do something illegal (assault) to you does not suddenly make the act legal.

Doing something awful to someone because they asked you to do it does not suddenly make the act un-awful...nor does it suddenly make you right for doing it.

If I ask you to beat me with a boat oar, and then you beat me with a boat oar, you will still face the consequences of beating me with a boat oar when I tell someone about it. If I then come back and ask to be beaten again, you will still face consequences for beating me with the boat oar. Me asking to be beaten with a boat oar doesn't suddenly make it OK for you to beat me with a boat oar.

I'm confused where the confusion lies. Bauer is out of trouble because rich people tend to get out of trouble, not because he's some innocent party.
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Technically, consent does make the act of assault (battery) legal. As long as the striker doesn’t go beyond what was consented. Why sports like boxing and MMA are legal. It is assumed consent. Apso why jackass and a million YouTubers aren’t in jail. There is assumed consent.
 
bravesfanMatt said:
Technically, consent does make the act of assault (battery) legal. As long as the striker doesn’t go beyond what was consented. Why sports like boxing and MMA are legal. It is assumed consent. Apso why jackass and a million YouTubers aren’t in jail. There is assumed consent.
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Just a guess as to why he wasn't criminally prosecuted. The police likely asked "Was there a safe word?" and "Did she use the safe word?" The answers from both were probably "Yes" and "No". That makes it almost impossible to prosecute. Not being able to prosecute doesn't change the fact he is a highly conditioned athlete willingly physically abusing a woman for sexual gratification. Guy needs some significant counseling to unpack why he needs to abuse a woman during sex.
 
From Robert Murray on Twitter:

"Sources: The Atlanta Braves are hiring Dean Decillis as special assistant to the general manager. Decillis was a special assignment scout with the Blue Jays and played a key role in scouting Alejandro Kirk, among other players."


Assuming this is to help with the draft this year with Brown leaving. Saw some Blue Jays fans seem upset about it, so that's a good sign.
 
Russ2dollas said:
I assume we are ranked last in all of these prospect rankings coming out?
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thewupk said:
I'm sure we are close it. Good thing we've hit on almost all our top guys recently.
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Last or next-to-last. And overall, I'm not too worried about it—not just for the reason that the major-league team is populated with a host of "hits" and other locked-down talent. I also think there's a lot of high-upside, if high-variance, guys in the lower minors, who—given the Braves' recent development track-record—have a good chance to produce a few more "hits" that will boost the rankings and, more importantly, the systemic depth.

For 2023, however, I am a little bit worried about the state of the farm. On the pitching side, I think the Braves are in a solid place: between Soroka (a big wild-card, but a lot of upside), Anderson, Elder, Shuster, Vines, and Dodd, I think the Braves have a good amount of depth, in terms of starters who could step in and be serviceable in the event of injury. On the position player side, however, the situation is pretty bleak—with Jesse Franklin V, returning from injury, representing the most advanced guy who might be worth something at the MLB level, followed by Cal Conley.

It's really the thing that makes the Malloy–Jimenez trade seem really indefensible, even if you weren't sold on JHM, and likewise even if you want to take the rosy-glassed outlook on Jimenez's potential in his final year of club control. Because, even if Malloy wasn't a future impact starter, he at least had some nominal positional versatility (3B/LH), and looked like he'd marry that with a non-worthless bat. To remove that from the systemic equation for a high-variance, pending-FA reliever just seems ... less than wise. As it stands now, it's a real puzzle what reserves the Braves could call on in the event of a couple position player injuries—depth is solid at C, thanks to redundancy; and having both Arcía and Grissom, in addition to Albies, helps in the middle infield; but the backup options in the corners, both on the dirt and grass, are very uninspiring.
 
On a related note: I've been beating this drum for a year or so, but that truncated 2021 draft is looking more and more like a masterclass. Only four picks, but thus far it's produced: Quadzilla; a guy, in Elder, who has already had some success at MLB, and looked like his floor is solid back-end starter, with the potential to be solid mid-rotation is he keeps developing; another guy, in Shuster, who seems to have a high-floor similar to Elder's, but who could also be useful in LHP relief, with a secondaries-first McHugh-style approach, if his fastball prevents him from being a viable two-times-through-the-order guy; and Jesse Franklin V, whose development was severely stunted by the TJ injury last year, but who had an intriguing combination of power and speed, and who at this point is probably the Braves' most advanced hitting prospect, after Malloy's departure.

It's a pretty exciting development, and one I find especially entertaining, given that I thought it looked like a pretty crappy draft at the time it occurred. Always nice to eat some crow when the upshot is much better value to the team.
 
Farm system perceptions change quickly.

Nobody really knows what guys below AA are going to develop into.
 
Some interesting position players from the 2022 draft (Alvarez, Baldwin, McCabe) and a few of the later position picks in the OF (Kilpatrick, Williams, Jackson) that might have some buzz, but for the most part, it'll be the pitchers from the 2022 draft (Murphy, Ritchie, Phillips, Maier, Keller, Burkhalter) and a couple of pitchers from the 2021 draft (Smith-Shawver and Shoemaker) that have the greatest chance of moving the needle significantly upwards.

Not much in terms of ceiling on the holdover guys from earlier drafts and signings. Shuster is at the top of the list of likely contributors in 2023, followed by Vodnik and Vines. If Shewmake hits, he could prove valuable if the big league SS experiment with Grissom and Arcia is found to be wanting. A solid return for Franklin would be a plus. The best of the remaining guys look to be utility IFs (Quintero, Conley, Waddell, Milligan) and a sleeper catching prospect in Tolve. OF Tyler Collins missed most of the 2022 season with an injury and he's another guy to watch. I think it's a make-or-break season for guys like Mezquita, Morton, Paolini, and Backstrom, who have all shown something, but not consistently. Our most notable signings from the last couple of international groups (Tavarez, Glod, Benitez) all underperformed in terms of their surface stats, but it's really difficult to make a solid judgment from performance--good or bad--in the short-season leagues.

Can't stress enough how the international sanctions hurt the Braves. Bae and Soto are now in the major leagues and I wouldn't be surprised if Severino joins them in 2023.

PS--Forgot to add LHP Dylan Dodd, who could be in the mix for the back end of the rotation at some point in the near future.

PPS--RHP Schwellenbach also someone to watch coming off Tommy John surgery.
 
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