Braves acquire Gausman + O'Day from Orioles for Zimmermann, Cumberland, Phillips, JCE

It was an A+ since they didnt trade anyone worth a **** from the prospects, but they could have gotten better pieces that got dealt for a relatively modest return like Soria, Kela. There is also the waiver deadline as well.
 
AA reiterated the fact our defensive abilities, moving from AL East parks, analytics on his pitches etc... that they feel there is some upside left to tap. Didn’t gain a ton of traction til this am.
 
Saw this on twitter about Archer/Braves.

Alex Anthopoulos says the #Braves did have dialogue with the Rays today re: Archer.

" I think the buildup on that was way overblown and way overstated. We knew what it was going to take to be right in the mix. Ultimately, for us, that didn't make sense"
 
Carp said:
Me neither. Especially for 2019. I guess my idea to trade for Starlin Marte can be officially scrapped now. Pirates have officially gone all in for the next 2-3 years.
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I think I would take 3 years of Archer over 5 more of Glasnow without thinking hard about it.

Glasnow hasn't kept his BB per 9 under 5 yet in three separate MLB stints and hasn't been much better in AAA. Maybe the Rays can fix him. they have a story to tell themselves about why they might be able to. We'll see.

Meadows is a big name, but there is no doubt that his hype is diminished from what it was and he did not pass his first significant MLB test. A good post hype acquisition perhaps by the Rays.
 
I think I'd give it a B-.

I'm glad they did not give up anything of significance for what they got.

In the Bullpen, the first thing that has to be noted is that several closers were traded for next to nothing and the Braves did not get any of them. Their LH relief acquisition is Venters, who is coming off 3 TJ surgeries and has not been anywhere near as dominant as he was before. It's not clear that he's even a dominant LOOGY. Brach is not having a great year and seems to be best suited for getting RH out at this point. While both may not be used purely as specialists, the Braves did not acquire a true high leverage reliever in a season where they were cheap.

Duvall is having a bad year and was a flawed power hitter when he was going right. But he's a solid defender and maybe his platoon with Ender will improve things. I have my doubts.

Gausman does achieve the goal of obtaining another veteran controllable starter. Where Archer would have slotted into the front end at great cost, Gausman would seem to slot into the backend at relatively little cost. So this is very much more of a depth and value play than an all in going for it play.

So overall, it was a very cautious deadline strategy or at least result for Anthopolous. He parts with almost nothing of value and gets a return of players who on paper incrementally improve the team. But the FO will be hoping they outperform in Atlanta what they've done for their former teams.

I think it's a passable effort.

However, they did not obtain an upgrade to Camargo, or a platoon mate for him. They did not remove Flaherty from their bench despite their having no need for his positional utility. They don't have a big LH bat off the bench. They did not get a dominant LOOGY, or a leverage reliever who is having a good year. And they did not make any acquisition of a star level player.
 
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This probably comes off like I am upset with what they did. I'm not.

They did some things at low cost that give them a chance at the division.

They pushed most of the major decisions to the winter or beyond, which gives them more time to look at what they have internally. And perhaps they can address some of the things they did not get this deadline internally or through a waivers trade later.
 
Southcack77 said:
This probably comes off like I am upset with what they did. I'm not.

They did some things at low cost that give them a chance at the division.

They pushed most of the major decisions to the winter or beyond, which gives them more time to look at what they have internally. And perhaps they can address some of the things they did not get this deadline internally or through a waivers trade later.
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actually I thought your post was a well reasoned and welcomed contrarian view...I get you concern about the pen...but I'm ok rolling the dice on some on the young arms in AAA...in particular I think Gohara and Touki could emerge as key parts of the pen

about the need for a lefty bat to help the left side of the infield I completely agree
 
Also, it's worth pointing out that Gausman has historically been a better 2nd half pitcher. So he could be a force for us down the stretch.
 
With the relative low cost of some of these relievers, I also would have preferred another addition. But in the last 4-5 days, we' vs added 2 solid BP arms, a good back-up OFer, and a quality starter without draining our farm. Gotta be happy with that.
 
Should be noted that they also traded Evan Phillips from their bullpen rather than give him an opportunity to get appearances.

Of course, everyone wanted to see Cabrera and then Akeel Morris as well. So maybe best to leave the bullpen evaluation to the experts.
 
If nothing else, this trade deadline should give everyone faith that AA is going to be responsible (for lack of a better term) with the prospect capital that he has. He just leveraged a lot of meh quantity into multiple pragmatic pieces that are relatively safe bets to produce moderately.

I’m also operating under the premise that the Braves see something in both Gausman and Duvall that they can tweak to maximize/improve results. If those tweaks are productive, these could be absolute steals.
 
brav3s said:
If nothing else, this trade deadline should give everyone faith that AA is going to be responsible (for lack of a better term) with the prospect capital that he has. He just leveraged a lot of meh quantity into multiple pragmatic pieces that are relatively safe bets to produce moderately.

I’m also operating under the premise that the Braves see something in both Gausman and Duvall that they can tweak to maximize/improve results. If those tweaks are productive, these could be absolute steals.
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AA said as much in the pregame interview. Hope it wasn't just hype.
 
brav3s said:
If nothing else, this trade deadline should give everyone faith that AA is going to be responsible (for lack of a better term) with the prospect capital that he has. He just leveraged a lot of meh quantity into multiple pragmatic pieces that are relatively safe bets to produce moderately.

I’m also operating under the premise that the Braves see something in both Gausman and Duvall that they can tweak to maximize/improve results. If those tweaks are productive, these could be absolute steals.
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Agreed. He was a faithful steward in his dealings, no question about that.
 
Carp said:
With the relative low cost of some of these relievers, I also would have preferred another addition. But in the last 4-5 days, we' vs added 2 solid BP arms, a good back-up OFer, and a quality starter without draining our farm. Gotta be happy with that.
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And quite possibly the most important part of these additions that's being "overlooked" (sorry Southcack) is the control.

Both Gausman and Duvall have a legitimate chance to be difference-makers for the 2018 Braves and they cost next-to nothing. Still not thrilled to give up on Encarnacion's upside, but if Gausman just performs to the level he always has he's a great trade chip this winter if Touki/Wright/Allard/Fried show continued improvement, and at that point you package the ones needed to make you a legitimate contender for the whole shooting-match in 2019. Same with Duvall if you don't need him - he's going to have at least as much value to someone this winter as AA gave up for him.

Really hard to see how AA doesn't get an A+ for his handling of this year's deadline - he gave up absolutely nothing of significant value while seriously upgrading the team's opportunity to compete in a year when it didn't expect to, and the pieces he got back will more than likely hold value this winter. Could he have gone further? Sure, but not without giving up pieces that could be huge pieces of the future. The direct competitors (Philadelphia and Washington) did nothing to improve further, so make the cheap improvements you can and see if the magical seasons of the guys you have continue.
 
These moves were really solid. Add these with our many prospects and money this offseason, and Atlanta is going to be a damn good destination next year.
 
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