Around the League: 2017 offseason edition / 2018 Season

Onlyonegoal said:
Bleacher Reports guess to what a Braves trade for deGrom would look like:

Trade Package

RHP Kyle Wright (No. 2 ATL prospect, No. 25 MLB prospect)

With a 6'4", 200-pound frame and a four-pitch mix that has a chance to be above-average or better across the board, Wright has all the makings of a future ace.

The No. 5 pick in the 2017 draft opened the season in Double-A, and he's gone 5-7 with a 4.18 ERA and 89 strikeouts in 88.1 innings—strong results considering how aggressively he's been pushed.

Wright might have the highest ceiling in a deep stable of Atlanta pitching prospects and he's a viable blockbuster centerpiece.



LHP Luiz Gohara (No. 3 ATL prospect, No. 41 MLB prospect)

Few left-handed pitching prospects have the pure stuff of Gohara. He can touch triple-digits with his fastball and backs it with a wipeout slider and an improving changeup.

The continued improvement of his changeup and overall command will determine his ultimate ceiling, but power lefties don't grow on trees, and worst-case scenario, he'd be a major weapon out of the bullpen.

High-floor starter Kolby Allard could also be a fit as the second piece of this package. Gohara offers more upside, though.



OF Cristian Pache (No. 8 ATL prospect, No. 99 MLB prospect)

Now that Ronald Acuna has moved to the majors, Pache is the top outfield prospect in the system and a precocious prospect in his own right.

Still just 19, he's already playing at High-A Florida, where he's hitting .270 with 24 extra-base hits. His speed and defense are his best present tools, but he has a chance as a plus hitter as well, with at least some playable gap power.

According to MLB.com, he has a chance to become an "All-Star-caliber player," and that's the type of upside the Mets should be looking for.



RHP Touki Toussaint (No. 10 ATL prospect)

Drafted No. 16 overall in 2014, Toussaint was one of the youngest players in the class and he just turned 22 last month.

MLB.com wrote: "The Braves feel Toussaint grew more emotionally than perhaps any other starting pitching prospect in their system in 2017. He came to baseball, and pitching, a bit later than many, which might be a reason why adjustments have taken longer for him. He can get by with improper mechanics, but when he is in sync, he can dominate, and the Braves feel his athleticism will help him get there eventually, with a ceiling of a No. 2 starter."

He's still a work in progress, but the results are starting to match his upside, as he's gone 4-6 with a 2.93 ERA, 1.19 WHIP and 107 strikeouts in 86 innings this season at Double-A Mississippi.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...ges-and-landing-spots-for-jacob-degrom#slide1
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It's tough because I understand why the price would be that high, I mean, it's freaking Jacob DeGrom, but that's an insane amount of talent... to our rivals.
 
UNCBlue012 said:
It's tough because I understand why the price would be that high, I mean, it's freaking Jacob DeGrom, but that's an insane amount of talent... to our rivals.
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Jacob DeGrom plus the contender's premium which is worth a highly rated prospect by itself in a deal of this magnitude

I prefer not to pay the contender's premium. If we have to pay it, I much prefer to pay it in the smaller amounts associated with rentals of the sort we have been talking about.

I also think it is a big risk for a mid-market team to trade for an ace like DeGrom. Aside from the contender's premium. With the contender's premium it is crazy.
 
UNCBlue012 said:
It's tough because I understand why the price would be that high, I mean, it's freaking Jacob DeGrom, but that's an insane amount of talent... to our rivals.
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No thanks... while it's unlikely... there are 3 pitchers there with upside as high as DeGrom and starting pitching has been a strength. Would be such an unbelievable mistake.
 
Onlyonegoal said:
Bleacher Reports guess to what a Braves trade for deGrom would look like:

Trade Package

RHP Kyle Wright (No. 2 ATL prospect, No. 25 MLB prospect)

With a 6'4", 200-pound frame and a four-pitch mix that has a chance to be above-average or better across the board, Wright has all the makings of a future ace.

The No. 5 pick in the 2017 draft opened the season in Double-A, and he's gone 5-7 with a 4.18 ERA and 89 strikeouts in 88.1 innings—strong results considering how aggressively he's been pushed.

Wright might have the highest ceiling in a deep stable of Atlanta pitching prospects and he's a viable blockbuster centerpiece.



LHP Luiz Gohara (No. 3 ATL prospect, No. 41 MLB prospect)

Few left-handed pitching prospects have the pure stuff of Gohara. He can touch triple-digits with his fastball and backs it with a wipeout slider and an improving changeup.

The continued improvement of his changeup and overall command will determine his ultimate ceiling, but power lefties don't grow on trees, and worst-case scenario, he'd be a major weapon out of the bullpen.

High-floor starter Kolby Allard could also be a fit as the second piece of this package. Gohara offers more upside, though.



OF Cristian Pache (No. 8 ATL prospect, No. 99 MLB prospect)

Now that Ronald Acuna has moved to the majors, Pache is the top outfield prospect in the system and a precocious prospect in his own right.

Still just 19, he's already playing at High-A Florida, where he's hitting .270 with 24 extra-base hits. His speed and defense are his best present tools, but he has a chance as a plus hitter as well, with at least some playable gap power.

According to MLB.com, he has a chance to become an "All-Star-caliber player," and that's the type of upside the Mets should be looking for.



RHP Touki Toussaint (No. 10 ATL prospect)

Drafted No. 16 overall in 2014, Toussaint was one of the youngest players in the class and he just turned 22 last month.

MLB.com wrote: "The Braves feel Toussaint grew more emotionally than perhaps any other starting pitching prospect in their system in 2017. He came to baseball, and pitching, a bit later than many, which might be a reason why adjustments have taken longer for him. He can get by with improper mechanics, but when he is in sync, he can dominate, and the Braves feel his athleticism will help him get there eventually, with a ceiling of a No. 2 starter."

He's still a work in progress, but the results are starting to match his upside, as he's gone 4-6 with a 2.93 ERA, 1.19 WHIP and 107 strikeouts in 86 innings this season at Double-A Mississippi.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...ges-and-landing-spots-for-jacob-degrom#slide1
Click to expand...

If that's the price, it is not happening. DeGrom is great, but if we get a 50% return on those guys, we lose the trade big time.
 
clvclv said:
I absolutely did - you're the only person that will be so terribly butthurt when people point out the fact that your spreadsheet GUESSES aren't one bit more reliable than any of the ones the others of us just grabbed out of thin air.

Sucks to be so wrong, doesn't it??? The funny thing about it is that you just pointed out that if something changes and you turn out to be right, you could have saved yourself a lot of time by just tossing out a random number like I did.

Apparently I'm no more mentally challenged than you.
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Actually, I’m not butt hurt at all. I’m confident the vast majority of the board knows I’m right quite often. As evidenced by other responses, they also realize how stupid you are.

You just keep embarrassing yourself. It’s amusing.

Here are a few pro tips about mockingly quoting someone in your sig. Both you and your padawan derptard Garmel could use the knowledge.

1. Be sure the quote is actually wrong, or else you just proved someone else was right in your own sig.
2. Be sure you didn’t agree with the quote, otherwise it just highlights the fact you were also wrong.
3. Be sure the person was adamant about the comment and the comment was not popular at the time.

Anyways, off you go now....go derp however you see fit.
 
Onlyonegoal said:
Bleacher Reports guess to what a Braves trade for deGrom would look like:

RHP Kyle Wright (No. 2 ATL prospect, No. 25 MLB prospect)

LHP Luiz Gohara (No. 3 ATL prospect, No. 41 MLB prospect)

OF Cristian Pache (No. 8 ATL prospect, No. 99 MLB prospect)

RHP Touki Toussaint (No. 10 ATL prospect)

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...ges-and-landing-spots-for-jacob-degrom#slide1
Click to expand...

Without a slam dunk top 10 guy to headline a package, and a bit of slipping by Wright and Gohara, this package probably isn’t too far off.

It would be unwise for the Braves, and I think the Mets can get a better headliner and/or a package that isn’t as heavily weighted with pitching.
 
Enscheff said:
Without a slam dunk top 10 guy to headline a package, and a bit of slipping by Wright and Gohara, this package probably isn’t too far off.

It would be unwise for the Braves, and I think the Mets can get a better headliner and/or a package that isn’t as heavily weighted with pitching.
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Not that I think you're wrong, because I agree with most of this, but this is about as good of a package as you could ever ask for in a trade of DeGrom. I know there are question marks, but the talent here is pretty immense.
 
UNCBlue012 said:
Not that I think you're wrong, because I agree with most of this, but this is about as good of a package as you could ever ask for in a trade of DeGrom. I know there are question marks, but the talent here is pretty immense.
Click to expand...

Pitchers like degrom bring back players like Moncada and Eloy...not pitchers with question marks.
 
Enscheff said:
It will be fun to see Harper and Machado batting behind Freeman.
Click to expand...

Someone recently made a valid point about the Yankees possibly scooping up Harper, especially since he's recently been taking grounders at 1B. The Yankees could take on that salary, give up the prospect capital, and not even blink an eye.
 
thewupk said:
Nats are below .500 now
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https://www.baseballprospectus.com/news/article/41107/prospectus-hit-list-july-5-2018/

Nats are playing like a 45-46 win team, and have only won 42.

Phils are playing like a ~44 win team and have lucked into 47 wins.

The Braves have played like a ~50 win team, and have won 49 games.

I expect the Nats to get healthy and surge at some point, and the Phils to fade. The Braves are legit contenders and I really hope they add responsibly at the deadline.
 
Enscheff said:
https://www.baseballprospectus.com/news/article/41107/prospectus-hit-list-july-5-2018/

Nats are playing like a 45-46 win team, and have only won 42.

Phils are playing like a ~44 win team and have lucked into 47 wins.

The Braves have played like a ~50 win team, and have won 49 games.

I expect the Nats to get healthy and surge at some point, and the Phils to fade. The Braves are legit contenders and I really hope they add responsibly at the deadline.
Click to expand...

Something interesting about the Phillies starting rotation. 4 out of their 5 starting pitchers are averaging at least 1 K per IP. Why does it seem like we are the only team who can't develop strikeout pitchers?
 
NYCBrave said:
Something interesting about the Phillies starting rotation. 4 out of their 5 starting pitchers are averaging at least 1 K per IP. Why does it seem like we are the only team who can't develop strikeout pitchers?
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I think Newk and Folty qualify as strike out pitchers, as does Gohara.

The rest of the rotation consists of Teheran, McCarthy and Sanchez...guys who aren't exactly considered young home grown guys.

Guys like Wright and Touki profile as high K guys, while Soroka and Allard don't.

I do think there is some legit concern about the Braves never getting guys to improve their "stuff" much when they join the organization. They usually seem to get promoted and display lesser stuff than advertised as prospects...or tail off quickly like Soroka and Gohara.
 
NYCBrave said:
Something interesting about the Phillies starting rotation. 4 out of their 5 starting pitchers are averaging at least 1 K per IP. Why does it seem like we are the only team who can't develop strikeout pitchers?
Click to expand...

4 of our starting 5 are averaging over 8 k/9. Newk was over 9 k/9 just 2 weeks ago.
 
I think it's wise to keep the big picture in mind when talking about the roster.

Here are the MLB ranks for WAR by position:

Total - 5th
C - 5th
1B - 3rd
2B - 5th
SS - 9th
3B - 12th
RF - 7th
CF - 13th
LF - 18th
SP - 15th
RP - 14th

The Braves are Top 10 or better at half the positions, and almost exactly average everywhere else....

3B - lots of options to upgrade at all different levels of cost
BP - lots of options to upgrade at all different levels of cost
SP - lots of talented young internal options that still need to be given time
LF - currently manned by an uber prospect that isn't going anywhere
CF - declining defense-first guy under contract for solid value

All the areas of "need" are either easy to fix, have fixes in place that simply aren't ready yet, and/or aren't really "problems". When the biggest complaint about the roster is an average player locked into a contract with good value, I think that is an extremely good sign.

The Braves are competing a year ahead of schedule. Some of the pieces aren't ready yet, and the worst moves the Braves could make right now are trading those pieces in an attempt to push too soon. The Braves are already a good team, and no deadline moves will make them one of the super teams.

Upgrade 3B with a good value trade, acquire 1-2 BP arms at a reasonable cost, and stay the course...LF and SP will improve organically.
 
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