2016 schedule

D

depley

Awaiting a Promotion
Looking at the schedule it is brutal at the start of the season

The Braves will play 28 out of first 41 games against the Nats, Cards, Dodgers, Mets, Red Sox, Royals and Pirates. 19 of those 28 games are on the road.

Might be a quick season.........
 
nsacpi said:
quick but merciful
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I think getting clearly out of contention early would be the best thing to happen to THIS team. There are several assets on the team who could very well have deadline trade value (some more significant than others) and the Braves don't need the illusion of contention interfering in any way with the rebuild.

They set out to build the team for sustained and consistent success. They should stay the course.
 
Silly doubters.

Fredi has learned from last year. We started off 5-0

We're gonna be competitive throughout the year and give Turner Field a nice send off in the Wild Card game.
 
I fear that even out of contention our fearless leader will try to win every game in light of giving playing time to those pieces that are valuable to our future, whether it be as trade chips or future stars... I still worry that we will rue the day we gave up on CB. He is hitting well in Spring and will likely win the back up job in SD.. I felt that Fredi went with the hot hand over letting the kid play extended periods to truly see what we have in him. I understand wanting to win games, but sometimes you have to sacrifice something, to see. By end of July we were buried and it should have been CB 75% of the time..

** oh and Happy Easter!! just finished my bunny duties...
 
The good thing about being out of contention early is that the brass might take more of an active role in the lineups come June and July. Several players may well put them in a position where they have to prove that they're not full of *hit when they say that service-time concerns will not get in the way of promotions and that they're going to let "the players tell them when they're ready".

If you're 15 games out in June, you can't hide behind needing to keep all these experienced veterans around - especially if guys like Blair, Gant, and Jenkins are pitching better in Gwinnett than Norris and Chacin are in Atlanta. If Swanson and/or Albies are playing really well, there will be little reason to hold out and wait for someone to blow you away with an offer for Aybar - if someone needs him and offers you something fair for him, take it and get something to add to Newcomb and Ellis to make the Simmons trade that much less painful. The same goes for Markakis. If a contender could use a veteran bat in the OF and is willing to take all his money and Mallex is playing well, you really can't make a good argument that makes sense that he should be kept around. There will be no reason to keep Grilli and Johnson around if Vizcaino is pitching well - Withrow should be ready and Simmons should be healthy by then.

If they're out of it early, they'll have a tough time letting Fredi try to salvage something with a handful of veterans, and the second half becomes his "interview" as it were. They can't use that as an excuse any longer. If some of the kids are promoted and don't show signs of coming together and performing under him, Bobby's loyalty won't be enough to keep him around to be the Manager when the new park opens. It will be time to start making decisions that will affect 2017, and who the Manager will be is an important one of those.
 
The way they handled Bethancourt last season does raise concerns about whether they are willing to let younger players go through some growing pains. There was a bit of yoyoing with Folty and Wisler as well.
 
nsacpi said:
The way they handled Bethancourt last season does raise concerns about whether they are willing to let younger players go through some growing pains. There was a bit of yoyoing with Folty and Wisler as well.
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Agreed, and I was one of the loudest when it came to that. My point is, they'll have several options who may be ready to force their hands if we're out of it much earlier than this year. Whether any of us liked it or not, they could justify that stance when the team was 42-42 halfway into the season. It will be much tougher to justify holding the future back if they're 32-52 at the same point this season. You can sweep one player under the rug (CB) much easier than 5-10.
 
nsacpi said:
The way they handled Bethancourt last season does raise concerns about whether they are willing to let younger players go through some growing pains. There was a bit of yoyoing with Folty and Wisler as well.
Click to expand...

that is my concern. a few bad outings and you get demoted. I understand trying to win.. but there also has to be a balance with a team that is not going to make the playoffs. CB played in FOUR back to back games last year. and has less than 200 MLB ABs...He never gave the kid a chance. I remember CB getting a game winning hit twice last year and the next day, BENCHED!!.. When Glavine and even Smoltz were getting killed, they did not get yanked or sent down.. They learned and got better. NO WAY am I saying that CB would become great.. I am SAYING that we never gave him a chance to become great... And I think the same for our young pitchers. There needs to be a clear message sent to the Manager that I don't care what our record is.. your job is safe as long as you develop our future stars and balance the playing time for our older vets so they can be traded. Fredi either needs to be fired now.. or tell him he will be back in 2017..
 
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