Braves in the mix for Cuban Shortstop

There are questions whether Guerrero is good enough to warrant a huge investment and my guess is we could have matched this offer easily if we weren't throwing almost $30 million per year down a rat hole.

So don't blame the Dodgers for our inability to manage a budget wisely.
 
There are questions whether Guerrero is good enough to warrant a huge investment and my guess is we could have matched this offer easily if we weren't throwing almost $30 million per year down a rat hole.

So don't blame the Dodgers for our inability to manage a budget wisely.

Dodgers can make bad decisions and still spend 10X more money. Braves have to be perfect with the allocation of their resources. Dodgers wouldn't blink to make this deal at all even if they had Uggla/Upton on their books.
 
But the point doesn't matter whether or not the Dodgers blink. What matters is what we can realistically do and our realm of the possible has been diminished by a couple of Wren's bone-headed decisions.

Hey, I hate to carp on Wren too much. We won the division. But he has really made some doozeys and we have to be more careful than we were a decade ago.
 
The one thing that teams like the Dodgers and Yankees can do that we can't is give out an enormous contract to a great pitcher. The Yankees did this with CC. The Dodgers with Greinke this off-season and soon with Kershaw. For a mid-market team like us it is not a prudent risk to tie a huge proportion of payroll to a pitcher. Some mid-market teams have done this (the Mariners with Felix Hernandez) but I don't think doing something like that is prudent or wise given our finances.
 
Prudent gets you a prompt first round exit from the playoffs apparently.

I realize this is not a universally held perspective around here, but my preference as a fan is to have a team that contends year in year out. It doesn't upset me as much as others to see us bounced out of the playoffs. There is nothing that guarantees success in the playoffs. Detroit has dominant starting pitching and didn't make the WS. Ditto for LA who have Kershaw and Greinke. Sure there are some things you can do to improve your post-season chances, but no guarantees. And if the price tag for those improvements is exorbitant I'd rather skip them and take my chances with a good team that may be lacking a little when it comes to dominant pitching. At any rate, I think the chances are pretty good that one or more of our young pitchers will develop into an ace.
 
I realize this is not a universally held perspective around here, but my preference as a fan is to have a team that contends year in year out. It doesn't upset me as much as others to see us bounced out of the playoffs. There is nothing that guarantees success in the playoffs. Detroit has dominant starting pitching and didn't make the WS. Ditto for LA who have Kershaw and Greinke. Sure there are some things you can do to improve your post-season chances, but no guarantees. And if the price tag for those improvements is exorbitant I'd rather skip them and take my chances with a good team that may be lacking a little when it comes to dominant pitching. At any rate, I think the chances are pretty good that one or more of our young pitchers will develop into an ace.

I know, i was just blowing off steam about our "prudent" team. They just disappointed again is all.
 
I realize this is not a universally held perspective around here, but my preference as a fan is to have a team that contends year in year out. It doesn't upset me as much as others to see us bounced out of the playoffs. There is nothing that guarantees success in the playoffs. Detroit has dominant starting pitching and didn't make the WS. Ditto for LA who have Kershaw and Greinke. Sure there are some things you can do to improve your post-season chances, but no guarantees. And if the price tag for those improvements is exorbitant I'd rather skip them and take my chances with a good team that may be lacking a little when it comes to dominant pitching. At any rate, I think the chances are pretty good that one or more of our young pitchers will develop into an ace.

good post.

play-offs are a crapshoot. billy beane is right. wren's job is to get us there. after that, can't go after him. (that's when you attack the manager!)
 
good post.

play-offs are a crapshoot. billy beane is right. wren's job is to get us there. after that, can't go after him. (that's when you attack the manager!)

The how the hell do the cardinals and Giants routinely play in the WS for the NL? Every year the cardinals have these no name pitchers do really well for them in the play-offs to never be heard from again. It's also funny how both teams have line-ups that aren't built for power but guys that get on base, don't strike out and manufacture runs.....you know the kind of hitters like Tommy La Stella,Freddie Freeman and Chris Johnson.
 
The how the hell do the cardinals and Giants routinely play in the WS for the NL? Every year the cardinals have these no name pitchers do really well for them in the play-offs to never be heard from again. It's also funny how both teams have line-ups that aren't built for power but guys that get on base, don't strike out and manufacture runs.....you know the kind of hitters like Tommy La Stella,Freddie Freeman and Chris Johnson.

I would say good managing, and some big performances from both their stars and role players have pushed the Giants and Cards over the top. Also getting hot at the right time, which I believe is partly a product of good managing. Some names that have featured for those two teams--Carpenter, Wainwright, Freese, Sandoval, Zito, Sanchez, Uribe, Renteria. It is a mix of things. Ah let's not forget Pat Burrell. We need someone like Pat the Bat to get over the top.
 
Don't get too upset. It's both a blessing and a curse. Wealthy clubs have been burned in the past in signing Japanese and Cuban FA's.

I think the more high profiled ones have worked out rather well. Yu Darvish is a stud, Puig has enormous talent and put the dodgers back in contention when their season was going no where, Cespedes had an off season but has been exactly what Oakland needed and Aroldis Chapman is a dominant closer that k's 2+/IP. I don't think this guy is a star so we'll see but the "huge" stars and the guys that have gotten a ton of publicity have turned out rather well,IMO.
 
good post.

play-offs are a crapshoot. billy beane is right. wren's job is to get us there. after that, can't go after him. (that's when you attack the manager!)

Only about 10,000 baseball people said that same thing before Billy Beane.
 
I think the more high profiled ones have worked out rather well. Yu Darvish is a stud, Puig has enormous talent and put the dodgers back in contention when their season was going no where, Cespedes had an off season but has been exactly what Oakland needed and Aroldis Chapman is a dominant closer that k's 2+/IP. I don't think this guy is a star so we'll see but the "huge" stars and the guys that have gotten a ton of publicity have turned out rather well,IMO.

Again, it's a blessing and a course. Everybody knows the stars. Then everybody forgets Jose Contrares and Hideki Irabu. (Nobody here forgets Kawakami.) Fans can debate if what Dice K was paid was worthy of the hype. It's just that with the fees, and the enormous bidding process, there are other ways to obtain international talent. That's why the Braves have mined other parts of Latin American & the Carribean.
 
The how the hell do the cardinals and Giants routinely play in the WS for the NL? Every year the cardinals have these no name pitchers do really well for them in the play-offs to never be heard from again. It's also funny how both teams have line-ups that aren't built for power but guys that get on base, don't strike out and manufacture runs.....you know the kind of hitters like Tommy La Stella,Freddie Freeman and Chris Johnson.

luck.

1/4 chance.
 
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