50PoundHead
Hessmania Forever
A LOOGY whose been running from the lynch mob in here for the last couple of seasons.
Implications of the Trade
- Thread starter nsacpi
- Start date
A LOOGY whose been running from the lynch mob in here for the last couple of seasons.
Chipper
Spring Training Invitee
For the top 10 payroll teams, yes Heyward is worth it. He's a great player overall. The problem is, for a team like the Braves, with a payroll just over 100 million, they can't afford to invest that amount of dough into a player that is not an ace pitcher or a top offensive player. At 25 million/year, a team like the Braves need more offense, plain and simple.
The Yankees or Dodgers can pay him that much and still go out and sign 2 or 3 other guys at 15 million plus for offense. Braves can't do that.
The Yankees or Dodgers can pay him that much and still go out and sign 2 or 3 other guys at 15 million plus for offense. Braves can't do that.
Dalyn
Fredi Gonzalez Supporter
Sucks he figured that out after unloading our bats on the (comparatively) cheap.
nsacpi
Expects Yuge Games
yup
yeezus
It's OVER 5,000!
like who?
Heyward did not come cheap for the Cards, and was a rental.
Gattis? Meh, he's a DH and has been a negative WAR player.
Justin was a rental and I wouldn't say came cheap, but time will tell on that. Maybe in a vacuum you think Upton would've brought more back, but it doesn't work like that. Also his slump the last 2+ months has been a killer for SD.
I don't think any of those guys were sold on the cheap, especially Gattis and Heyward.
Agreed. The only guy you can really even argue we sold 'on the cheap' is Wood.
I just don't see how you can say Heyward, Upton, or Gattis were worth clearly more than we got for them. In fact, San Diego refused to give us Wisler in a trade for Upton, and the only reason we got Fried is because he's injured.
People conveniently ignore the 1 year of control left. I think they came expensive to these other teams.
One difference is you seem to keep hitting longer. Due to the attrition factor with pitching you need a lot of it to fill your rotation and pen without paying "retail" on the open market. A good hitter you'll have for a while, and they get injured less...well most of them anyways. So I don't blame Hart for stockpiling the pitching to feed the rotation and pen. But now is the time to turn that focus to hitting. I'm not sure of the draft coming up, but I'd like our first, competitive, and 2nd to all be hitting, unless a pitcher falls we cannot pass up.
You can almost guarantee that we will take pitching with a good portion of our top picks next year. We are loading up on hitters in the international market.
yeezus
It's OVER 5,000!
my problem with this is, those guys are far away. far, far away. I mean, they're 15 or 16 right now.
nsacpi
Expects Yuge Games
Yup. We have a great group of young international hitters mostly age 17-18, and some even younger ones we signed this July and are rumored to sign next July. That means it actually makes sense to use the draft more for pitching.
nsacpi
Expects Yuge Games
Plus the 17-18 year olds playing anywhere from the DSL to Rome. It does make me wonder if some of them will be dealt to accelerate the rebuilding process.
I think they idea is to acquire reasonable bridges with the pitching surplus so we don't have to trade these kids for at least another 2 tears
The difference is, those guys are further away and less predictable than even the HS hitters in the draft, and we still don't have a lot of potential studs as hitters in the minor league system. We have Toussaint and Allard, and now Soroka looks legit as pitchers at that level, and only really Riley that has separated himself at all as a hitter yet.
So even if we get Maitan, I would like to use our first pick in the draft on a big-time hitter to really even out the elite talent we'll have at those levels. Then at that point, just take the best players available.
yeezus
It's OVER 5,000!
hopefully a big-time hitter is there.
50PoundHead
Hessmania Forever
There are a lot of ways to score runs although power is rightly coveted because it tends to translate better. But look at Maddon's Tampa Bay squads; it's generally been Longoria, one or two other guys, and a set of productive role players. We need a healthy Freeman, an Olivera as good as advertised, and some everyone else to turn it up a notch (which I think is possible). I'm not bullish, but I think we can assemble a decent offense if we don't simply toss names out there.
And yes, if we have a top five pick and a good looking hitter is there, by all means draft him.
Sure, I don't want us reaching to grab a bat if an elite SP talent is available. But as I've said before, if the talent is similar (meaning either a potential ace as a SP or potential MOTO stud bat), then I want us to go with the bat. We've made so many moves to side with pitching over hitting, and I want us to get a serious infusion of talented bats in the system.
Adding another elite arm would be great in that you would look and see Toussaint, Allard, Soroka, Sanchez, and the added arm coming as a ridiculous collection of arms, but I would rather see Toussaint, Allard, Soroka, and Sanchez, along with Riley, Maitan, Yepez, and another stud bat coming.