Reading comprehension my guy. Nobody is saying he had a good offseason.
2025 Trade Deadline Thread
- Thread starter Carp
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Reading comprehension my guy. Nobody is saying he had a good offseason.
I don’t get it lol. And no one is “bending over backwards”. Pointing out that losing four starters is tough no matter what is simply a fact.
msstate7
Well-known member
This team sucked way before the starting pitching fell apart. They haven't hit since April of 2024
50PoundHead
Hessmania Forever
Curious to see if this starts things moving. Hard to know where everyone's sweet spot is in terms of when to make a deal. Go too fast and you don't get fair return or go to slow and lose at musical chairs. I honestly wonder about what Ozuna's value actually is, but there are teams in the wild card hunt that need another bat. There's always a market for relief pitchers which should pique interest in Johnson and Bummer.
Suppose this past off-season, we said screw the luxury tax, we're going for it. Then we resigned Fried, signed Ha-Seong Kim to replace Arcia, and signed the top RP available in Tanner Scott. Suppose we also didn't non tender Lauerano and instead planned to use him in some sort of platoon with JK once Acuna got back. I think everyone would have been thrilled with that off-season right?
Had we made all those moves, we would still barely be a .500 team right now. You can't lose 4/5 of your opening day rotation and expect to be super competitive, especially when Harris and Albies have been as bad as they have. Not to mention Kim just made his first start about a week ago, so we would have had to run out Arcia everyday for the first 3.5 months of the season.
Had we made all those moves, we would still barely be a .500 team right now. You can't lose 4/5 of your opening day rotation and expect to be super competitive, especially when Harris and Albies have been as bad as they have. Not to mention Kim just made his first start about a week ago, so we would have had to run out Arcia everyday for the first 3.5 months of the season.
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msstate7
Well-known member
That AA has quite the foresight to know this was gonna happen. Hopefully when he gets his palm read this offseason, things look better in our ever closing window, so he gets some actual help.
Foresight or not, it is what it is. Was this years team constructed well enough to absorb a normal amount of injuries and still be one of the best teams in baseball? Probably not.
But there is no preparing for losing 4/5 of your rotation for half the season.
Hudson2
Well-known member
How dare you bring logic into this discussion.
bravesfanMatt
Steve Harvey'd
you are assuming all things remain the same.. which is logically false. If you have Fried to start the year, then everything is altered.. Sale probably isn't breaking a rib.. there is a chance Strider is not pushed as hard and he never goes down with the hammy.. Who knows if Schwelly breaks his bone.... Scott is probably out for the year, I would say that was going to happen regardless.. Then offensively, who knows what effect a couple of better hitters could have done.. maybe guys don't press as much and get in their own heads if others are producing. You can't just assume all things are going to happen because they did happen.. you altered the events, so naturally the results will be altered as well.
Pitcher's are naturally a higher risk to get injured. And Sale Lopez were already at even more of elevated risks given their pretty vast injury histories and Lopez' inning increase in 2024. You are also assuming Fried wouldn't have gotten injured here despite a history of going on the IL virtually every season (he might as well have been on the IL just before the ASG because he went 11 days between starts). Schwelly's broken bone didn't come from anything unusual that we know of, so there is no reason to assume that changes. And AJSS likely tears his UCL regardless if it happened in Atlanta or Gwinnett
And like I said, we likely would have had to put up Arcia for 3.5 months if we signed Kim like a lot us wanted. And it likely means significantly worse defense at SS. The only change on offense would have been Laurenano vs the various combinations of terrible OFers until Acuna returned. All of those moves aren't putting us any better than a .500 team with the injuries we've sustained, which were all fairly likely to happen anyways.
bravesfanMatt
Steve Harvey'd
only thing I was saying is putting different variables into play changes a lot of things.. The one variable that would have remained is Twit and this team is worse with him regardless of the other pieces..
Someone says AA has been terrible lately, and you guys jump in to defend him by pointing out the injuries have been rough, as if that somehow excuses him being terrible. The point "many SPs got injured" isn't even counter to the statement "AA has been terrible", so why even bring it up other than to be argumentative?
Then carrying on for pages is what I would call bending over backwards. AA has been terrible, period. No amount of discussion over injuries changes that fact.
Again, the fact the rotation fell apart with injuries does not excuse a failure to build any depth whatsoever.
It seems like it's bailing him out with most fans though. "Oh, it's ok AA didn't build any depth, the team would have lost anyways".
No, it's not OK. Hindsight of a lost season does not excuse failure to properly prepare for that season. AA was terrible last deadline, terrible last off season, and hopefully won't be terrible this deadline. He needs to correct course and figure it out.
Deester11
Well-known member
I've skipped the entire argument but is there someone saying AA has been good over the last year and a half at least? I will humbly accept flames for my thought, but AA has been mid to less over that span. So say, GM's aren't perfect. I get that, but injuries aside, the flaws of shopping in the bargain bins just in case of said injuries is and was a "hope" strategy. It's been that way for a couple of years. There's nothing wrong with calling that out even if you're an AA apologist, fan, supporter or whatever.
I didn't say it was ok. I still think cutting Lauerano and trading Soler just to sign Profar to a 3/45 deal is probably the worst mistake of the AA era. It's right up there with not paying Freddie, only to trade valuable prospects for Olson and then give Olson the same contract Freddie was wanting. Or trading a young, controllable 3 WAR catcher for an older more expensive 4 WAR catcher and extending him. Luckily Olson and Murphy have mostly worked out, but that doesn't excuse the opportunity cost we forfeited.
I'm simply pointing out that the path we all wanted AA to take this past off-season would not have resulted in much better results. This season has been injury after injury and no amount of realistic roster building was going to change the outcome of being a .500 team or worse. It would have interesting to see how well this team played with everyone healthy and a competent LFer.
CrimsonCowboy
Moderator
50PoundHead
Hessmania Forever
I didn't realize that Laureano was having such a solid season, but he may be on his way to the highest bWAR of his career.
As for Anthopoulos, he built this team for the Acuna window by assuming that signing almost the entire offense to extensions would assure success. No question the Braves have been hit hard by injuries, but the extensions in total (as I've written before, each extension standing on its own has merit, but it's the aggregation that causes problems) have limited payroll flexibility and the ability to make changes on the fly. Drafting has probably been a solid "B" but that's mostly been with pitching outside of Harris and Baldwin (and half a point for Langeliers). I guess what I'm trying to say is that Anthopoulos went "in for a penny in for a pound" when he built the squad post-2021 and because of many of these decisions, we are stuck with what we have.
msstate7
Well-known member
m.
Stay on topic!