2025-2026 offseason thread

What benefit does he gain from doing winter ball? Is he going to try to pull an Ohtani and try out pitching? No? Then get the fuck outta here with that. The Braves shouldn’t be having to hold their breath when he’s playing games that aren’t for the organization paying him.
 
bravesnumberone said:
What benefit does he gain from doing winter ball? Is he going to try to pull an Ohtani and try out pitching? No? Then get the fuck outta here with that. The Braves shouldn’t be having to hold their breath when he’s playing games that aren’t for the organization paying him.
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Yep. He gets hurt and the Braves are the only ones that lose. You can't replace his production.
 
bravesnumberone said:
What benefit does he gain from doing winter ball? Is he going to try to pull an Ohtani and try out pitching? No? Then get the fuck outta here with that. The Braves shouldn’t be having to hold their breath when he’s playing games that aren’t for the organization paying him.
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Exactly.

It was fine when he was a kid and wasn’t recently recovered from a 2nd devastating knee injury, keep him happy and let him do what he wants. Now, he needs to grow up and do what’s best for him and the team.
 
CyYoung31 said:
That’s dumb. MLB teams have every right to protect their most valuable assets.

Also, from reading that, seems like the Braves would have grounds to cite injury as a reason to not allow him ti participate if they wanted to.
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They might have grounds. But MLBPA would likely fight it. And there is something to be said about not pissing off your franchise player.

I Imagine he asked, we advised against it but didn't want to deal with the fall out of trying to stop him.
 
We need to trade Acuna while his value is astronomical. It doesnt matter how good he is if he is injured. Anyone seriously expect him to go apeshit in the playoffs like Vlad Jr if we kept him? There are several teams that he could give us great deals.
 
cajunrevenge said:
We need to trade Acuna while his value is astronomical. It doesnt matter how good he is if he is injured. Anyone seriously expect him to go apeshit in the playoffs like Vlad Jr if we kept him? There are several teams that he could give us great deals.
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You don’t trade first ballot hall of fame level talents (hell, inner-circle in Acuña’s case) unless you are rebuilding.
 
From a fan and team perspective it sucks because Acuna is seemingly pretty fragile and nobody wants their best player to be hurt. But I can't really fault Acuna for wanting to play baseball all the time. The kid loves the game and has the privelege to play it almost everyday for a living. Who wouldn't want to do that?
 
Acuna is perhaps the dumbest star player since Manny. It's up to the adults to protect him from that stupidity. That means barring him from playing winter ball where he will be allowed to play the OF and run the bases as recklessly as he wants on 2 rebuilt knees.

If the MLBPA gets upset deal with them at that point. If Acuna gets angry about protecting his future with the Braves then it further proves he doesn't need to be around long term.
 
Enscheff said:
Acuna is perhaps the dumbest star player since Manny. It's up to the adults to protect him from that stupidity. That means barring him from playing winter ball where he will be allowed to play the OF and run the bases as recklessly as he wants on 2 rebuilt knees.

If the MLBPA gets upset deal with them at that point. If Acuna gets angry about protecting his future with the Braves then it further proves he doesn't need to be around long term.
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This.
 
Any talks on a long-term reworked extension that would make him a Brave for the rest of his projected prime years should include a clause that he does not play any winter ball or the Braves should walk away from the table.
 
Enscheff said:
Acuna is perhaps the dumbest star player since Manny. It's up to the adults to protect him from that stupidity. That means barring him from playing winter ball where he will be allowed to play the OF and run the bases as recklessly as he wants on 2 rebuilt knees.

If the MLBPA gets upset deal with them at that point. If Acuna gets angry about protecting his future with the Braves then it further proves he doesn't need to be around long term.
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It's clear the Braves do not want the blow back from preventing Acuna from doing this. Neither from the MLB nor from the locker room by pissing off your franchise player.

And this is all pretty overblown. I can assure you that tons of players around the league are not sitting around in a protective bubble in the off-season. Acuna isn't the only MLB latin star that goes home to play winter ball. I remember reading a few yeas ago about a Phillies player that did competitive MMA in the offseason. Victorino or Pence maybe? Can't remember. And in the NBA, players play pick up games ALL the time in the off-season.
 
Carp said:
It's clear the Braves do not want the blow back from preventing Acuna from doing this. Neither from the MLB nor from the locker room by pissing off your franchise player.

And this is all pretty overblown. I can assure you that tons of players around the league are not sitting around in a protective bubble in the off-season. Acuna isn't the only MLB latin star that goes home to play winter ball. I remember reading a few yeas ago about a Phillies player that did competitive MMA in the offseason. Victorino or Pence maybe? Can't remember. And in the NBA, players play pick up games ALL the time in the off-season.
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Were Pence or Victorino returning from a second major knee injury in the last 4 years?
 
Carp said:
It's clear the Braves do not want the blow back from preventing Acuna from doing this. Neither from the MLB nor from the locker room by pissing off your franchise player.

And this is all pretty overblown. I can assure you that tons of players around the league are not sitting around in a protective bubble in the off-season. Acuna isn't the only MLB latin star that goes home to play winter ball. I remember reading a few yeas ago about a Phillies player that did competitive MMA in the offseason. Victorino or Pence maybe? Can't remember. And in the NBA, players play pick up games ALL the time in the off-season.
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Find all the other Latin stars who have had each knee rebuilt within the last few years, and then note how many of them are playing winter ball.

There is no defending this. Acuna is a moron, and the Braves seem unable to rein him in.
 
CyYoung31 said:
Were Pence or Victorino returning from a second major knee injury in the last 4 years?
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Probably not. Though Acuna is over 1.5 years removed from the surgery.

I am not saying I love that Acuna is playing ball in winter. The point is more that being competitively active in the off-season is a lot more common than people seem to think for professional athletes.
 
Enscheff said:
Find all the other Latin stars who have had each knee rebuilt within the last few years, and then note how many of them are playing winter ball.

There is no defending this. Acuna is a moron, and the Braves seem unable to rein him in.
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If it’s only for a couple weeks and they’re monitoring him closely I can live with it. Will help keep him sharp with about a 6 week break before ST. I was thinking he was playing the full 63 game season.
 
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