2018 Offseason And Targets

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Astros won’t give those guys up. If the Marlins really won’t trade him within the division they are worse ran than I thought. You look out for your club and what players are coming back not worrying about where yours are going. I’d rather trade our prospect package for a controllable young outfielder anyways. Give Grandal 4/60 or even 4/64 with an option and let’s move on.
 
Whitley or Tucker would represent an overpay, but only a slight one in my opinion. That's a perfectly reasonable ask by the Marlins and they have a chance of getting it.
 
nsacpi said:
Whitley or Tucker would represent an overpay, but only a slight one in my opinion. That's a perfectly reasonable ask by the Marlins and they have a chance of getting it.
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Those guys are worth ~$55M each, which is pretty much in line with Realmuto's ~$60M in surplus value.

Pache's value is right up there, so he's probably the ask (if they will send him to Atlanta under any circumstance).
 
Enscheff said:
Those guys are worth ~$55M each, which is pretty much in line with Realmuto's ~$60M in surplus value.

Pache's value is right up there, so he's probably the ask (if they will send him to Atlanta under any circumstance).
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Well that number on Pache is um how shall I put it idiosyncratic. I like Pache plenty, but he is not in the same class as Tucker and Whitley. Not yet anyhow.
 
nsacpi said:
Whitley or Tucker would represent an overpay, but only a slight one in my opinion. That's a perfectly reasonable ask by the Marlins and they have a chance of getting it.
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The Astros are a very good team and maybe a piece like JT would put them over the top. So in that case, an overpay may not be the worst thing. As AA has mentioned earlier this offseason, we are not in a position where one piece puts us over the top. So i'm beginning to think it is more likely we don't get JT,.
 
nsacpi said:
Well that number on Pache is um how shall I put it idiosyncratic. I like Pache plenty, but he is not in the same class as Tucker and Whitley. Not yet anyhow.
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I agree. The rankings of Pache and Riley likely carry some of Kiley’s Braves bias.
 
nsacpi said:
Whitley or Tucker would represent an overpay, but only a slight one in my opinion. That's a perfectly reasonable ask by the Marlins and they have a chance of getting it.
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I don't think the "ask" is out of line - didn't realize it sounded like that.

The point is, if those are "must haves" from Houston, there's probably no deal to be made there since there's finally an opening for Tucker in the Astros' OF AND (ready or not) they may need to push Whitley a little faster than they'd like with McCullers' injury. They can probably still manage his innings somewhat in 2019 and slide him into the rotation slowly like the Dodgers did Buehler, but as of this moment they're down Keuchel, Morton, AND McCullers from their 2018 rotation. They can probably get by with McHugh, James, possibly Peacock, and Cionel Perez for a while, but you have to figure they want to either add another starter or have Whitley as an option for a playoff push.

If they're still playing by the old notion that a trade within the division has to net an overpay, they're probably dead in the water. The Mutts need a Catcher but have no prospects, the Gnats aren't about to give up Soto or Robles since they're likely both in their Opening Day lineup, and I HOPE AA would pass and just go spend some of this money instead - even if he doesn't get Grandal (whom the Gnats are also likely to play on if they can't get Realmuto either).
 
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Braves can sign a catcher without trading prospects or forfeiting a pick and likely save years and dollars on grandal.

I’m more willing to trade near majors surplus talent than I am future draft picks if it comes down to it. Because the problem in the system is down the road rather than now and the Braves need to reallocate some of that prospect value.
 
Southcack77 said:
Braves can sign a catcher without trading prospects or forfeiting a pick and likely save years and dollars on grandal.

I’m more willing to trade near majors surplus talent than I am future draft picks if it comes down to it. Because the problem in the system is down the road rather than now and the Braves need to reallocate some of that prospect value.
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I'm completely in favor of making a trade that helps clear up the pending logjam of arms, but you don't want to compound an overpay by loading someone in your division up. If Realmuto costs Wright plus or Anderson plus, I think everybody would be fine with that. But going significantly further would (like Wright or Anderson plus Riley) would be nuts IMO - especially when there are other options available.

AA doesn't necessarily even have to go the free-agent route if he prefers not to. He could pick up the phone and call his Dodgers pals and find out what they want for Will Smith. His bat's still got a little way to go, but if he's backing up Flowers for the league minimum you can spend more money on the bench for offense - sign one of the corner OFs AND Gonzalez. Maybe even expand that and make a deal for Pederson and Smith, drop Duvall and spend money on Adam Jones to platoon with Pederson, and add Gonzalez to the bench.

There are plenty of better options if you're going to decidedly lose a trade - make the Mariners an offer they can't refuse for Haniger (or Haniger and Paxton or Diaz), go get one of Cleveland's Aces, or do something creative with Arizona.

If Realmuto carries $60 million in surplus value as was mentioned before, Wright and Waters or Anderson and Waters more than covers that - let's don't go nuts.
 
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Interesting note that I hadn't seen anyone post...

In Bowman's Wednesday column (https://www.mlb.com/braves/news/relievers-that-the-braves-should-target/c-300729770) he suggests there's at least some consideration being given to signing TWO pen pieces rather than one of the higher-end guys.

He mentions Robertson and Ottavino, but both are projected to make $10 million per (or more). If AA really does have the ability to fill the other areas that need upgrading and plan to add two arms, you'd have to guess he's looking more at a combination of two of the Allen/Soria/Miller/Herrera/Holland/Phelps/Diekman crowd. Two of those guys could be added for less than Kimbrel's going to get and while they might not give you that fear factor, surely Viz, Minter, and two of them should give you plenty of confidence late.
 
In his latest mailbag, Bowman esentially just squashed any notion of the Braves trading for Realmuto, "I just don't get the sense the Braves are interested in waiting around to see if a potential deal for Realmuto develops".

This is funny because back on Oct 29 he made it sound like the Braves were serious when he wrote, "Just how much financial flexibility they have will be influenced by whether they emerge victorious in their attempt to trade for Marlins catcher J.T. Realmuto, who has seemingly drawn the interest of numerous organizations. Armed with a plethora of pitching prospects within their talent-rich pipeline, the Braves have the capability to be strong players for Realmuto, who is much more talented and far less expensive than Yasmani Grandal, the top available free-agent catcher."

He then goes on to confuse Machado as a player who turned down a QO, and forgets Grandal turned down a QO...immediately after talking about him in the Realmuto blurb.

Does the guy ever know what he's talking about? At least he's given the "$60M to spend" nonsense a rest.
 
Did I miss something during our power outage due to Michael?? Have the Braves named a replacement for Chuckie?? Can't find anything on replacement being named.
 
salmagundy said:
Did I miss something during our power outage due to Michael?? Have the Braves named a replacement for Chuckie?? Can't find anything on replacement being named.
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They aren’t hiring one. The FO calculated that subtracting the negative influence of Chuckie would provide sufficient pitching improvement.
The money saved will be used to sign anibel Sanchez and Harper
 
Enscheff said:
In his latest mailbag, Bowman esentially just squashed any notion of the Braves trading for Realmuto, "I just don't get the sense the Braves are interested in waiting around to see if a potential deal for Realmuto develops".

This is funny because back on Oct 29 he made it sound like the Braves were serious when he wrote, "Just how much financial flexibility they have will be influenced by whether they emerge victorious in their attempt to trade for Marlins catcher J.T. Realmuto, who has seemingly drawn the interest of numerous organizations. Armed with a plethora of pitching prospects within their talent-rich pipeline, the Braves have the capability to be strong players for Realmuto, who is much more talented and far less expensive than Yasmani Grandal, the top available free-agent catcher."

He then goes on to confuse Machado as a player who turned down a QO, and forgets Grandal turned down a QO...immediately after talking about him in the Realmuto blurb.

Does the guy ever know what he's talking about? At least he's given the "$60M to spend" nonsense a rest.
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Not sure why these have to work independently from one another.

They HAVE the flexibility to play on Grandal (or Harper or Machado for that matter), but as a mid-market team would prefer to maintain all the financial flexibility they possibly can as long as the prospect cost isn't ridiculous. Signalling to Grandal and his agent that it's "Yasmani or bust" because of his pitch framing would be begging to get taken advantage of. We've already got one elite pitch-framer, play him on the days the younger Pitchers that you feel like you need to steal the most strikes for pitch and play the offensive Catcher the rest of the time (just like they've done the last two years). Make Flowers Newcomb's personal Catcher and rotate him through the rest of the rotation to get him two starts a week, sign Ramos to be your main Catcher, and you've still significantly improved offensively without letting Grandal's agent hold you hostage and stick you with a contract for a couple million more per year - or more importantly a year longer - than you're comfortable paying.

Everybody knew that the Marlins are looking for a home run if they deal Realmuto, but if the most recent report that they'd require Tucker or Whitley is true, it just shows that they're still being unreasonable. If that's really the case and they're asking for more from the Braves to trade him within the division, the flexibility AA might have hoped to keep if he dealt for Realmuto certainly could've just disappeared - and since Bowman said what he said almost two weeks ago. I bet he's not the only reporter that will change his tune over the next two months.

That's the difference between becoming a slave to and negotiating strictly by what the numbers say and negotiating based on your situation - the Braves aren't an organization that can afford to tie up an extra $10-$15 million in someone just because he's a good pitch framer - if they do, they have to cut a corner somewhere else (bench or pen).
 
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The team I keep circling back around to in my head is Cincinnati. They simply have nowhere to play Senzel and he's ready. They need pitching just about as badly as anyone out there. They've got India and Trammell, so they're not going to scream about getting Riley or Pache back to replace them in any deal. If you want to use the charts and assume that Senzel and Realmuto carry roughly the same $60 million surplus value, wouldn't a Wright and Fried for Senzel swap make all the sense in the world for both clubs??? That would help clear up some of our logjam, allow us to keep Pache AND Riley, and create an extra 40-Man Roster spot. Wright and Fried probably both slide into their Opening Day rotation, and they only need to look to the free-agent market for one SP.

With that trade, we would've solved LF long-term (and for the league-minimum in 2019), leaving plenty of money to sign Grandal, address the bench and pen, and probably leave some extra in the event AA wanted to go after Paxton, Kluber, or Carrasco.
 
The Reds aren’t trading Senzel.

It makes as much sense as when you declared MAdams for Odorizzi to “make too much sense not to happen”.
 
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