Official 2024 Off-Season Thread!

[The Tariff King]

I think they're going to have to bear hug him a little, even a lot tighter. It would be ideal if we could really focus on building a deep roster with a flexible bench that can get the regulars more rest over the course of the season and then start ramping the everyday guys up in mid-September. If we don't win the division, so be it, but get to the playoffs and be clicking at the end of the year.

Our lineup 1-9 this year was stacked.

We could have easily given Riley or Olson an off day and not lost much production. After we acquired Nicky Lopez, we could have given even MORE off days.

But the issue is we still have the old school mentality of, if you're slightly hurt you need to play 162. The team and players took it as a badge of honor that before Ozzie got hurt, Riley+Olson+Acuna+Ozzie had all played every game up until that point. Eric Young, Weiss, Wash, Snit are all in that mindset too.

 

[50PoundHead]

Sonny Gray had an interview the other day regarding his free agency and gave the perverbial “it’s not about the money for me in free agency, but I do want valued appropriately “

Curious to see what the Twins' offer for Gray is. He's well liked up here and is a battler. I never thought he would last this long given his durability concerns over his career. At age 33, he's probably a high AAV/short term guy and that probably would fit with the Braves' outlook.

As for the off-season outlook, I don't expect a lot of moves. We don't have the prospect capital to pull off something in the Olson or Murphy range, but we have some interesting guys that we may allow us to do some things around the edges. I'm old and have bigger things to worry about, but my concern for the Braves is that so many guys had career years this year and they not repeat those levels of performance. Braves are likely still the class of the division on paper at this point in time, but there's a reason they play 162 games.

I guess in order of priorities, I would say (1) Rotation, (2) Bullpen, (3) LF. I think the Lopez deal at least mollifies the SS issue. I can see Lopez and Arcia battling it out in spring training. I don't see Snitker going anywhere unless he hangs it up on his own, which he might.

 

[DirkPiggler]

I'll honestly take the glove at this point. I'm tired of watching Rosario try to play left field.

We can agree to disagree.

That glove won't look all that impressive when Heyward puts up a sub-.600 OPS as the long side of a platoon.

 

[The Tariff King]

The dumbest shyt is crying about Ozzie when the entire team shat the bed. Ozzie had a pulse at least. You AA apologists (and yes..he's a very good GM) may want to revisit the failed deadline starting pitcher acquisition or lack thereof, the fossil thoughts of the manager and general soft nature of the club including a ghost offense. Bad series to be sure.

I know you're Ozzie's biggest fan, but starting pitching isn't why we lost this series.

 

[The Tariff King]

We can agree to disagree.

That glove won't look all that impressive when Heyward puts up a sub-.600 OPS as the long side of a platoon.

Heyward's never worked with Seitzer before. Seitzer has been working magic for years. Heyward also had an 800 OPS this year. I don't think working with Seitzer would make it drop to sub .600 OPS.

 

[bravesnumberone]

Our lineup 1-9 this year was stacked.

We could have easily given Riley or Olson an off day and not lost much production. After we acquired Nicky Lopez, we could have given even MORE off days.

But the issue is we still have the old school mentality of, if you're slightly hurt you need to play 162. The team and players took it as a badge of honor that before Ozzie got hurt, Riley+Olson+Acuna+Ozzie had all played every game up until that point. Eric Young, Weiss, Wash, Snit are all in that mindset too.

I don't disagree with this. That's why I'd like AA to put the foot down. But I'd also like us to have a better LF combo than Rosario/Pillar and someone with more offensive substance than Forrest Wall or Sam Hilliard.

 

[smootness]

I think he needs to be sat down and talked to. I think the coaching staff needs to learn from the Philly coaching staff. But firing him is not going to change that we get the same lifeless performance almost every October with 1-2 obvious exceptions.

Outside of in-game decisions, what is a coach’s job if not setting the tone and culture of a team?

If the defense of Snitker is that the team is always lifeless every October, that is one sucky defense.

 

[The Tariff King]

I don't disagree with this. That's why I'd like AA to put the foot down. But I'd also like us to have a better LF combo than Rosario/Pillar and someone with more offensive substance than Forrest Wall or Sam Hilliard.

Hilliard wasn't a bad 5th OF. He can be used as a pinch runner, play all 3 OF positions, and would be fine hitting 8th or 9th in our stacked lineup.

There were many times Hilliard or Pillar should have been in the game as a late defensive sub to Rosario, but Snit didn't do it and it actually cost us a few games, and that says a lot considering we won 106 games.

Wall only came on the team towards the end, after Hilliard got hurt with whatever he got hurt with.


Hilliard and Pillar as our 4th and 5th OF's were the least of this team's problems, if not bottom of list of issues.

Snit never gave Pillar any at-bats for weeks since we didn't face any left handed starters at times, and he still couldn't get him any AB's when he should have pinch hit for Eddie against lefties.

 

[cajunrevenge]

Every year Acuna was on the NLDS roster we lost. The only year we made the playoffs since he got to the majors he was injured and didnt play we won the WS. When did the Nats win the world series? The year after Bryce Harper left. I think the evidence is clear about what we need to do to be a good playoff team. Just get rid of our best player.

 

[Southcack77]

Just accept you will never be happy with the manager. Been a braves fan since 1990 and at no time was there not a large amount of the fanbases complaining the manager was holding us back. Many people couldn't wait for Bobby Cox to retire.

I'm pretty happy with the manager, but yes.

 

[CyYoung31]

Every year Acuna was on the NLDS roster we lost. The only year we made the playoffs since he got to the majors he was injured and didnt play we won the WS. When did the Nats win the world series? The year after Bryce Harper left. I think the evidence is clear about what we need to do to be a good playoff team. Just get rid of our best player.

Acuña was on the team that was 8 outs from a World Series berth.

 

[NYCBrave]

That's not entirely fair though.

Doc has been the Dodgers manager for 8 seasons now. They've gone to the world series 3x in that span (going up against the 2017 Stros and 2018 Sox, both of whom had scandals for cheating) and also made it to the LCS an additional time.

Doc has had to deal with the same things Snit has had to deal with the last two playoffs. New format. LAD teams also have not been as talented as they were 5-6 years ago. You can argue Doc maximized his roster this regular season better than we did, as our roster is way better than theirs overall.

The last two seasons, Snit has had the two most talented teams constructed for him than he's had his entire tenure here. And we played arguably worse in those two NLDS than we did in 2018, 2019, 2020.

Again, I'm not advocating for Snitker. In fact his contributions to the clubhouse are probably over rated as well. The common theme is the players seem to love playing for him, is there actually any evidence of that? Seems like if anything he just stays out of the way to keep the peace in the clubhouse. It's kind of frustrating how he hasn't been willing to fully adapt to the modern game.

My only point with Roberts is being an expert tactician can only take you so far. Even the best manager has so many forces out of their control.

 

[The Tariff King]

Again, I'm not advocating for Snitker. In fact his contributions to the clubhouse are probably over rated as well. The common theme is the players seem to love playing for him, is there actually any evidence of that? Seems like if anything he just stays out of the way to keep the peace in the clubhouse. It's kind of frustrating how he hasn't been willing to fully adapt to the modern game.

My only point with Roberts is being an expert tactician can only take you so far. Even the best manager has so many forces out of their control.

Correct.

The Dodgers have been dealing with worse issues to their starting pitching all season long than we have. Roberts couldn't control Betts and Freeman going 1-21 in the series just like Snit couldn't force Olson, Ozuna, Acuna to hit homers.

I'm saying the Dodgers probably overachieved this year and less considering their rosters haven't been as good as ours, nor as good as they used to be when they were going to the WS and winning pennants.

 

[chop2chip]

Criticism of Snit’s strategic decisioning is easy. It’s obviously has become a liability. A goat could manage this team and we’d make a 12 team playoff.

Snit has received roses for 7 years about how well he manages the personalities on the team. And he deserves that praise! But at the same time, he deserves criticism about how uninspired the team has played the last two years. Something is clearly off with how the team prepared for the playoff format. On top of that, the players embarrassed themselves in the clubhouse and dugout.

If these guys looked prepared then I could maybe forgive the occasional gaffe of leaving a pitcher in too long. But I can’t point to a single thing he did well this whole series.

 

[chop2chip]

Braves are setup well for the next few years to compete, but next year might be our best shot we’ll have with this team. Competive windows always close sooner than you expect.

 

[chop2chip]

Outside of in-game decisions, what is a coach’s job if not setting the tone and culture of a team?

If the defense of Snitker is that the team is always lifeless every October, that is one sucky defense.

Absolutely this.

It’s hard to justify firing a manager that won 104 games, but I actually think with how embarrassing the last two postseason losses are gives AA enough cover to do it.

 

[CyYoung31]

You can’t fire a manager after back to back 100 win seasons that is also just two years removed from winning it all, even if it’s obvious that we can improve there. It just isn’t going to happen.

 

[The Tariff King]

You can’t fire a manager after back to back 100 win seasons that is also just two years removed from winning it all, even if it’s obvious that we can improve there. It just isn’t going to happen.

It just depends on how long AA sees himself being in Atlanta.

If he wants to roll the dice, next year a new manager could probably get 100 wins again out of this core roster again. If it's a first round exit then people will just say Snit should have never been fired. If we get past the LDS, I don't think you'll have most of the fanbase questioning it.

 

[CyYoung31]

It just depends on how long AA sees himself being in Atlanta.

If he wants to roll the dice, next year a new manager could probably get 100 wins again out of this core roster again. If it's a first round exit then people will just say Snit should have never been fired. If we get past the LDS, I don't think you'll have most of the fanbase questioning it.

It isn’t going to happen, man. I want it to happen, but isn’t gonna.

 

[CyYoung31]

Truth be told, I don’t even want Snitker fired. I just want AA to completely take the reins on all the tactical decision making out of his hands, which is something he should’ve done a long time ago. I blame Snitker actively losing us games as much on AA as anything.