2015 Lineup Construction

thethe said:
Braves will be good far sooner than some feel on this board. I think we will be a mid 70s team this year and jump into the low to mid 80 in 16. Then anything can happen in 2017.

All this pitching will be flipped for bats. If you don't have pitching you'll never win a world series.
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The problem is that the market is deviating away from that. Things could change of course, but over the last few offseasons pitching has been going for cheaper than expected while offense has been growing at a premium. Several big names are still on the market for pitchers cause they're not getting close to what they're expecting, Kiroda moved back to Japan while pretty much all the top talent position players are scooped up. Pitching in baseball is up, offense is down. 10 years ago you could easily find a massive market for a pitcher, but aside from the top talents, you don't find that much on the market. So aside from adding 1 year guys, I don't see how we turn our pitchers into long term Jason Heywards or Justin Upton. Our best shot of thriving is to snag Jason or Justin next year. There's really nothing hitting the FA the year before we go to the new park. Joey Bats, Gordon, maybe gamble on Trumbo? really not much there, we should bank on if we're gonna buy someone doing it one Jaons or Justin, or we have to trade for someone and extend them but that will potentially gut our system. We will be in a precarious position.
 
Again as I stated before, I think (I am clearly the minority) our offense will actually improve next year. If our pitching staff as a whole can duplicate their numbers from last season (I certainly think that's possible and they may even be a tick better) we can compete for a wild card spot.

Here is the lineup(s) I think we see next year:

With our current roster (as of 1/18):

Vs. RHP

1. Jace Peterson - 2B
2. Andrelton Simmons - SS
3. Freddie Freeman - 1B
4. Nick Markakis - RF
5. Joey Terdoslavich - LF
6. Alberto Callaspo - 3B
7. B.J. Upton - CF
8. Christian Bethancourt - C
9. Pitcher

Vs. LHP

1. Jace Peterson - 2B
2. Andrelton Simmons - SS
3. Freddie Freeman - 1B
4. Chris Johnson - 3B
5. Nick Markakis - RF
6. Zoilo Alomonte - LF
7. B.J. Upton - CF
8. Christian Bethancourt - C
9. Pitcher

Now I think we will end up signing/trading for a left fielder and I think the best fit would be to acquire Allen Craig. Then our lineup would look like this...

1. Nick Markakis - RF
2. Andrelton Simmons - SS
3. Freddie Freeman - 1B
4. Allen Craig - LF
5. Alberto Callaspo/Chris Johnson - 3B
6. B.J. Upton - CF
7. Christian Bethancourt - C
8. Jace Peterson - 2B
9. Pitcher
 
blueagleace1 said:
Again as I stated before, I think (I am clearly the minority) our offense will actually improve next year. If our pitching staff as a whole can duplicate their numbers from last season (I certainly think that's possible and they may even be a tick better) we can compete for a wild card spot.

Here is the lineup(s) I think we see next year:

With our current roster (as of 1/18):

Vs. RHP

1. Jace Peterson - 2B
2. Andrelton Simmons - SS
3. Freddie Freeman - 1B
4. Nick Markakis - RF
5. Joey Terdoslavich - LF
6. Alberto Callaspo - 3B
7. B.J. Upton - CF
8. Christian Bethancourt - C
9. Pitcher

Vs. LHP

1. Jace Peterson - 2B
2. Andrelton Simmons - SS
3. Freddie Freeman - 1B
4. Chris Johnson - 3B
5. Nick Markakis - RF
6. Zoilo Alomonte - LF
7. B.J. Upton - CF
8. Christian Bethancourt - C
9. Pitcher

Now I think we will end up signing/trading for a left fielder and I think the best fit would be to acquire Allen Craig. Then our lineup would look like this...

1. Nick Markakis - RF
2. Andrelton Simmons - SS
3. Freddie Freeman - 1B
4. Allen Craig - LF
5. Alberto Callaspo/Chris Johnson - 3B
6. B.J. Upton - CF
7. Christian Bethancourt - C
8. Jace Peterson - 2B
9. Pitcher
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I'd rather stay away from Craig... we already had Casey Kotchman
 
Is Jace Peterson definitely making the team out of ST? I feel like they should just roll with him at 2B.
 
I threw up after looking at the proposed lineups. I would rather have the Mets or Twins lineups over ours.
 
thethe said:
Braves will be good far sooner than some feel on this board. I think we will be a mid 70s team this year and jump into the low to mid 80 in 16. Then anything can happen in 2017.

All this pitching will be flipped for bats. If you don't have pitching you'll never win a world series.
Click to expand...

I don't see how you can say that when offensive is at a premium and there is an abundance of pitching. Unless it's going to be a rental (like Justin) then you are going to have to give up a lot.
 
thewupk said:
I don't see how you can say that when offensive is at a premium and there is an abundance of pitching. Unless it's going to be a rental (like Justin) then you are going to have to give up a lot.
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Every players performance is changed by the new cobditions. More pitchers will be good but there will still be pitchers that far exceed the new good. Those guys are still going to be worth as much as offense.

It's a misconception to think that hitting is more valueable than pitching right now.
 
thethe said:
Every players performance is changed by the new cobditions. More pitchers will be good but there will still be pitchers that far exceed the new good. Those guys are still going to be worth as much as offense.

It's a misconception to think that hitting is more valueable than pitching right now.
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As far as onfield performance goes there is no change. A 3 WAR hitter is a 3 WAR hitter and a 3 WAR pitcher is a 3 WAR pitcher. But offensive WAR is more valuable right now which why teams are paying more more it. Could that change within 2 years? Sure but I don't see that happening right now. It's a pitching dominant league and any good offensive players are going to get paid more for it. And those you acquire in trades with cost controlled years are going to take more to get as well.

It's simple supply and demand.
 
thethe said:
I think they want everyone to compete in ST but he will have a job to lose imo.
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I couldn't disagree more. They're not going to just hand the job to Peterson. Callaspo was brought in to keep the position warm until Peraza's ready IF he doesn't win the job during camp.

There's a legitimate chance that both Peterson and Peraza wind up opening the season in Gwinnett - there's absolutely no reason for either of them to be wasting time on the bench in Atlanta with Gosselin around. If neither of them clearly wins the 2B job with a LOUD spring there's no reason to burn up service time, especially while we're rebuilding.

Johnson's going to be at 3B until he's traded in the hope that he gets hot and rebuilds value in the event someone has a 3B go down - I can see playing Jace or Jose over Callaspo IF they're clearly the better option (or Callaspo turns into a black hole in the lineup). With Callaspo around (and plenty of other MI options once teams start making cuts during camp) it just doesn't make sense to have either of them on the roster.

If all the things that had to happen for this team to win 75 games started happening early - great pitching, Johnson and B. J. hitting, any production out of LF - plugging one of them in at the top of the lineup MIGHT make some sense, but that's an awful lot of mights.

As one of the few who fully supported this rebuild, I do think there's something that some others that also supported it aren't quite grasping. 2017 IS the focus now, and the organization isn't going to waste the precious inexpensive service time of these young players if the team's not competitive - if the team's bad, it's just going to have to be bad UNTIL the kids are ready. That's the reason you sign guys like Callaspo in the first place. If this is a 65-70 win club with Callaspo and Johnson in the lineup, there's little to gain if you replace them with Peterson and Peraza in the hopes they turn it into a 70-75 win club.
 
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