2016 DRAFT Signing Tracker ... FINAL, JULY 15

KB21 said:
What other organization can say that they have added the pitching talent this team has added in the past two years along with a bat like Kevin Maitan? And not just Maitan, but Yunier Severino and Abraham Gutierrez as well?

Brad Cumberland was one of the top 2-3 slugging catchers in the entire draft. Last year, Austin Riley was probably the best power hitter that was drafted, high school or college. Lucas Herbert is showing that he has a bright future as a catcher, considering that he got something like 4 ABs in the GCL before he torn his meniscus. You have Ronald Acuna, who may be a fast rising player in the system and in baseball.

Two years ago, the top bat in the system may have been Joey Terdoslavich or a light hitting Tommy LaStella. Those guys wouldn't even be top 20 in this system now.
Click to expand...

Great post KB. I havent agreed with everything the FO has done, but I am a staunch supporter of good work. They did that in this draft. Researching and listening to pundits is a give/take situation. But I was ecstatic to get the three pitchers we did. Adding Cumberland was great as well. I see Sturg's posts, etc... But on the surface, the Braves did very well in the draft. Also, they obviously didn't want Lewis. He may do very well. I wanted him or Groome. But the first three picks who will be in Danville together (I think Bridges said that)has me excited! That's not blind loyalty, that's my opinion.
 
Enscheff said:
Fact of the matter is Lewis gave up going back to college for $3.2m. The Braves are very likely to sign Anderson for a value close to that.

We will find out soon enough if Lewis is the impact bat many of us wanted. Until then I fully expect the usual suspects on this board to blindly defend all moves the Braves make, and some will continue to do so even if Lewis ends up being amazing.

If he fails they will say "I told you the Braves were right". If he succeeds they will say "10 teams passed on him, so the Braves aren't stupid". It's a no-lose scenario for them.
Click to expand...

I've preferred Lewis for the past 6 months and still do because I believe in his talent. It seems clear the Braves weren't sold. Regardless of what Lewis would have signed for (I think it would have been north of $4 million, at least, at #3), it seems they would have taken Anderson over him.

I'm not defending that move as though they were right. None of us knows that at this point. I'm simply defending the idea that Anderson could be rated higher by them than Lewis and that they could end up being right. I just don't see a reason to criticize it at this point because none of us knows what will happen. If Anderson busts and Lewis is a stud, of course I'll be upset and pretty sick, honestly. But what if Anderson tears it up and Lewis is never more than a AAAA bat? How does that look for those who think it's stupid that we took Anderson?

I said before the draft I would talk myself into just about anybody the Braves took, and that's what I've done. Not because I'm a blind homer but because the MLB draft is such a crapshoot. If our scouts liked Anderson more, then I'll wait it out and see if they were right. They definitely know more than I do.

Part of the reason I'm defending them is because I was one who went crazy about 'reaches' last year, and I pretty quickly ended up looking like an idiot. There is just about no such thing as a reach or a steal in the MLB draft, at least at the time of the draft. You take who you believe in. We got 3 high-ceiling, projectable arms. I'm fine with that now and I hope I'm still fine with it in 3-4 years. If even one of the 3 hits, we've succeeded.
 
Enscheff said:
Fact of the matter is Lewis gave up going back to college for $3.2m. The Braves are very likely to sign Anderson for a value close to that.

We will find out soon enough if Lewis is the impact bat many of us wanted. Until then I fully expect the usual suspects on this board to blindly defend all moves the Braves make, and some will continue to do so even if Lewis ends up being amazing.

If he fails they will say "I told you the Braves were right". If he succeeds they will say "10 teams passed on him, so the Braves aren't stupid". It's a no-lose scenario for them.
Click to expand...

Here's something to think about - IF God's gift as a RH-hitter doesn't turn into a 25 HR hitter at the MLB-level within the next 4 years, some of you MIGHT be wrong for the first time in your lives, no?
 
smootness said:
I've preferred Lewis for the past 6 months and still do because I believe in his talent. It seems clear the Braves weren't sold. Regardless of what Lewis would have signed for (I think it would have been north of $4 million, at least, at #3), it seems they would have taken Anderson over him.

I'm not defending that move as though they were right. None of us knows that at this point. I'm simply defending the idea that Anderson could be rated higher by them than Lewis and that they could end up being right. I just don't see a reason to criticize it at this point because none of us knows what will happen. If Anderson busts and Lewis is a stud, of course I'll be upset and pretty sick, honestly. But what if Anderson tears it up and Lewis is never more than a AAAA bat? How does that look for those who think it's stupid that we took Anderson?

I said before the draft I would talk myself into just about anybody the Braves took, and that's what I've done. Not because I'm a blind homer but because the MLB draft is such a crapshoot. If our scouts liked Anderson more, then I'll wait it out and see if they were right. They definitely know more than I do.
Click to expand...

Well said.
 
Enscheff said:
Fact of the matter is Lewis gave up going back to college for $3.2m. The Braves are very likely to sign Anderson for a value close to that.

We will find out soon enough if Lewis is the impact bat many of us wanted. Until then I fully expect the usual suspects on this board to blindly defend all moves the Braves make, and some will continue to do so even if Lewis ends up being amazing.

If he fails they will say "I told you the Braves were right". If he succeeds they will say "10 teams passed on him, so the Braves aren't stupid". It's a no-lose scenario for them.
Click to expand...

If Anderson flames out and Wentz or Muller don't pick up the slack, and the Braves can't field a competent offense, it's absolutely a losing scenario for the FO. Ownership isn't going to just let them skate by forever if they don't produce results.

For now, I think it's pretty fair to say they probably valued Anderson more than Lewis. Time will tell if this is the right decision, but I'm pretty excited about the amount of talent we were able to add to the organization.
 
KB21 said:
What other organization can say that they have added the pitching talent this team has added in the past two years along with a bat like Kevin Maitan? And not just Maitan, but Yunier Severino and Abraham Gutierrez as well?

Brad Cumberland was one of the top 2-3 slugging catchers in the entire draft. Last year, Austin Riley was probably the best power hitter that was drafted, high school or college. Lucas Herbert is showing that he has a bright future as a catcher, considering that he got something like 4 ABs in the GCL before he torn his meniscus. You have Ronald Acuna, who may be a fast rising player in the system and in baseball.

Two years ago, the top bat in the system may have been Joey Terdoslavich or a light hitting Tommy LaStella. Those guys wouldn't even be top 20 in this system now.
Click to expand...

Very few organizations have added talent at that pace because they didn't trade away all-star players. If you trade away Heyward, Upton, Gattis, Kimbrel, Simmons, Wood, Peraza, and Shelby Miller, AND you have high draft picks, I would certainly hope you can bring in some prospects to show for it.

And I really hope we get Maitian - but don't love that we've already penciled him into the HOF with a Braves cap
 
No one has penciled Kevin Maitan into the HOF, but everyone that evaluates these players for the draft has said that Kevin Maitan would have been the top overall prospect in this draft. We are talking about a Chipper Jones/Andruw Jones level prospect here.

I mean, the guy many of you wanted, and who I liked from a talent standpoint, is a guy that a former scout for the Brewers compared to Bryce Brentz, while some others have compared him to Adam Jones.
 
Just one fairly minor point. Those who want to criticize every move made by the FO like to refer to the rest of us as "Blindly" supporting everything they do.

What if our support is not BLIND, but the result of seeing how the organization from top to bottom has improved over the past 18 months. Not a perfectly straight line. Not every move has worked out, but overall the Braves have taken a so so past with a dismal future, and changed it. Right now the present is dismal... Much worse than a couple of years ago but the future is very bright. That is a huge change. And it is about to get brighter.

It is amazing how the FO has been able to create a much brighter future with a series of what you see as dismal moves.
 
clvclv said:
Here's something to think about - IF God's gift as a RH-hitter doesn't turn into a 25 HR hitter at the MLB-level within the next 4 years, some of you MIGHT be wrong for the first time in your lives, no?
Click to expand...

It's not about being right. Both Lewis and Anderson could bust. Lewis could become a middle of the order RFer, and Anderaon could become a TOR starter.

My issue is that the Braves already have half a dozen guys just like Anderson, and they drafted 3 more last week. The Braves currently have zero players like Lewis.

Maybe Anderson turns into the next Mussina, I hope he does.
 
sturg33 said:
Yeah - I'm not arguing with here... but when the Anderson pick was made - a lot of folks indicated it was so we would be able to squeeze in the other 2 pitcher we took next.

In hindsight, that appears to be irrelevant - as we could have likely gotten Lewis along with the others.

We may have chosen correctly... but if the argument for Anderson was so we could could Wentz and Muller, then I no longer believe that is the case.
Click to expand...

the part you're ignoring is that maybe the FO wasn't as enamored with Lewis as the people on this board were. and correct me if I'm wrong, but that's what matters most.
 
Enscheff said:
It's a no-lose scenario for them.
Click to expand...

lol i don't think anyone but you and sturg are worried about "winning" and "losing" on an internet message board. if it ends up a mistake, so be it. they happen. i know you two are the ones who love to pretend you know more than the professionals, but not all of us feel that way. so i'll try and enjoy the things i have no control over.
 
Enscheff said:
It's not about being right. Both Lewis and Anderson could bust. Lewis could become a middle of the order RFer, and Anderaon could become a TOR starter.

My issue is that the Braves already have half a dozen guys just like Anderson, and they drafted 3 more last week. The Braves currently have zero players like Lewis.

Maybe Anderson turns into the next Mussina, I hope he does.
Click to expand...

why don't you tell the braves what they need and what they don't need? they don't seem to know their own system as well as you do. shocked you aren't in an MLB front office..or are you?!
 
Lewis signed for 3.2 because he was drafted 11th........at 3, with the hype he was getting, I doubt he signs for 4 or less. what if it takes 5 or 5.5?

oh and plus it doesn't matter, because the team wasn't as high on him as the people here who have never seen him play.
 
yeezus said:
which will be new for you
Click to expand...

Actually, I've been pretty positive about the rebuild. The only move I've really been upset about was trading for Olivera.

And it would be disappointing of Anderson breaks $4 million. The pre-draft rumors were that the agreed upon number was about $3.5 million. The flexibility from that number was at the core of the explanation as to why we passed on better talents. If Anderson ends up getting about what we could have paid higher rated guys (and I think there were several higher rated guys on our own draft board, I don't personally buy the idea that Anderson was at the top of our board) then it makes drafting him kind of baffling. If he gets $3.5 million, at least I can understand the logic.
 
3.5 would make sense. It would put us in a position to go over slot by a total of about 500K for Cumberland, Wilson and any additional draftees after the 10th round that we sign for more than 100K without incurring any penalties.
 
yeezus said:
Lewis signed for 3.2 because he was drafted 11th........at 3, with the hype he was getting, I doubt he signs for 4 or less. what if it takes 5 or 5.5?

.
Click to expand...

I'm guessing you're a Bernie supporter, as you don't seem to understand math.

The guy gave up the opportunity to go back to college in exchange for $3.2M.

I'm telling you he would have given up the opportunity to go back to college in exchange for $4M... bc, you know, $4M is 25% more money than $3.2

Arguing otherwise in your endless pursuit to prove the doubters wrong makes you look foolish. If you want to argue the Braves genuinely liked Anderson more - then fine. But I disagree with that, and just about every draft elevator out there disagreed with that.

But go ahead and post your typical "lol i guess you kno more than the FO" nonsense...
 
sturg33 said:
I'm guessing you're a Bernie supporter, as you don't seem to understand math.

The guy gave up the opportunity to go back to college in exchange for $3.2M.

I'm telling you he would have given up the opportunity to go back to college in exchange for $4M... bc, you know, $4M is 25% more money than $3.2

Arguing otherwise in your endless pursuit to prove the doubters wrong makes you look foolish. If you want to argue the Braves genuinely liked Anderson more - then fine. But I disagree with that, and just about every draft elevator out there disagreed with that.

But go ahead and post your typical "lol i guess you kno more than the FO" nonsense...
Click to expand...

He signed for 3.2 when being picked 11th, which had a slot value HALF of what ours was. At 3, he certainly gets more than 3.2, and it's far from a sure thing he settles for 4, considering the hype he was receiving that I'm pretty sure he was hearing.

I understand you were enamored with a guy you've never once seen play (have you even seen him swing?) but 10 teams weren't as enamored with him as you and the writers were. Anderson was seen as a top-12 guy, and Lewis went 11th. Their values were not far off, and the FO preferred one over the other.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top