Is all this Braves' rebuilding really necessary?

Even if Heyward produced at a 2013/2014 level... he was probably worth $25M. The potential added would just be upside to the contract.
 
Well my dissenting $.02 focuses on:

(1) I think Heyward did not show enough at the plate to warrant a huge contract and is not worth $25 million per as it stands today.

(2) I don't think the Braves have (had) the money to sign Jason or Justin before free agency or get into a bidding war - they could for 2016 but I bet neither of the two were going to sit around on a 1-year contract waiting for Atlanta to possibly get enough money by then.

(3) the only success we've really seen lately was from our farm talent. With it now at the MLB level, the lesser talents weren't impressing anyone. Coupled with the pitcher injuries, payroll restraints and the BJ/CJ monster, this team had to get exceptional talent in the mid to high minors to gear up for another run which I think they did at the cost of mediocre players and trading players who unfortunately weren't going to fit in their future plans and budgets.
 
I think we could have kept Heyward, Justin, Gattis, Carpenter, etc. and built a 2015 roster with a 50th percentile projection of around 81 wins given our $110m budget. It is certainly not unheard of for teams with a projection like that to make the playoffs . . . the 2014 Royals for example.

I think taking that gamble to contend made more sense for the 2014 Royals than the 2015 Braves. The Royals entered 2014 with a better farm system than the Braves would have had in 2015 in the above scenario. They also had more quality players on their 25-man roster that were fairly cost-controlled for the next few years. In short, the Royals decision to go for it last year would not have jeopardized their future success nearly as much as a similar decision would have jeopardized Atlanta's.

I respect those who have held a consistent position that we should have gone for it this year. It's not an outlandish point of view. However, I'm a lot more comfortable with the decision to embark on the short-term rebuild.
 
Guys, we did not go in to a full-on rebuild, so giles' point about rebuilds taking a decade is kind of moot. We still have some good, young core players that are already proven. Money will be there the next two years. We will have to sign some offense and hope our guys pan out. But it's not like the entire team is stripped. There is plenty of ML ready legit pitching, and more in the minors. I don't think 2017, or even 2016, is out of the question for us to make a little noise.
 
If played correctly, this could be a relatively quick turnaround. There will be interesting developments all year in our rotation, with Simmons, and in the minors.

And I'm far from a FO apologist.
 
yeezus said:
Guys, we did not go in to a full-on rebuild, so giles' point about rebuilds taking a decade is kind of moot. We still have some good, young core players that are already proven. Money will be there the next two years. We will have to sign some offense and hope our guys pan out. But it's not like the entire team is stripped. There is plenty of ML ready legit pitching, and more in the minors. I don't think 2017, or even 2016, is out of the question for us to make a little noise.
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The issue is the offense that's out there is Jason and Justin. The following year has some interesting names in the OF but with some big quesiton marks, like Jose Bautista and Carlos Gomez. In the IF that isn't a 1B, all you have is Adrian Beltre and Aaron hill. Beltre will be old as ****, and Aaron hill will be super old for a 2B.
 
yeezus said:
I find it a pretty safe assumption, with money coming off the books and new stadium bang.
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But we've known these things are true since last off-season. We entered this winter knowing we'd be opening a new stadium in 2017, that Uggla was coming off the books after this year and that Upton was off the books after 2017. And we haven't leveraged any of that at all.

Did the prospect of new stadium revenues help us re-sign Heyward?

It did not.

Did the prospect of new stadium revenues put us in a position to even make an offer to Lester?

It did not.

Did the prospect of new stadium revenues help us sign Yasmany Tomas?

It did not.

Did the prospect of new stadium revenues help us re-sign Justin Upton?

It did not.

Did the prospect of new stadium revenues help us go after any meaningful, high-priced acquisitions in either the trade or free agent markets?

It did not.

Will the prospect of new stadium revenues help us sign Yoan Mancada?

It's possible, but I'm betting on "not."

As others have pointed out before, all the new contracts we gave out last year will start coming due with big raises when we enter the new place (which did help us sign those contracts, so credit where it's due). We're going to be facing big numbers just by keeping the guys we have under contract now. So far, the front office hasn't shown any indication that it is willing to shell out the uncomfortable contracts you need to if you want the elite (or even just very good) players who form the foundation of dynasties, and that's with the new stadium on the horizon.
 
The Braves had 2 choices:

1. Add to the current team, win 85-90 games in 2015 to compete for the WC spot, go through a full 5 year rebuild starting in 2016
2. Dismantle the current team, win 65 games to earn a top 10 draft pick, go through a 2 year rebuild and hopefully be ready by 2017

Option 1 might have gotten one more playoff appearance (and I think they would have), but then the team is guaranteed to be terrible moving into the new stadium. So they had to go with option 2 that at least gives them a chance to be good in 2017 when they open that shiny new ballpark.
 
The only way this remotely makes any sense is if we're going to target some top-tier free agent hitters leading into 2016 and 2017.

Also, I think more fans would show up to the new stadium in 2017 if we were actually a good baseball team in 2015 and 2016, but that's just me.

How about we acquire some guys that aren't hurt?
 
All this doom and gloom is bs. Mark my words this team will not finish last, it will be in the race for a wildcard spot September 1st. Freeman will have his best year to date and carry the '15 Braves to a wildcard spot. It will baseball story of the year. Bank it!! This team will be better than the entitled bunch that slept their way through 5 months of last year. This team will be fun to watch.
 
zitothebrave said:
The issue is the offense that's out there is Jason and Justin. The following year has some interesting names in the OF but with some big quesiton marks, like Jose Bautista and Carlos Gomez. In the IF that isn't a 1B, all you have is Adrian Beltre and Aaron hill. Beltre will be old as ****, and Aaron hill will be super old for a 2B.
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How many spots will need to be filled though? There are actually hitting prospects on the farm that are only 1-3 years away so a lot can be filled internally.
 
VirginiaBrave said:
All this doom and gloom is bs. Mark my words this team will not finish last, it will be in the race for a wildcard spot September 1st. Freeman will have his best year to date and carry the '15 Braves to a wildcard spot. It will baseball story of the year. Bank it!! This team will be better than the entitled bunch that slept their way through 5 months of last year. This team will be fun to watch.
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I think we are going to be much better than people think. 1-4 in the starting rotation is right up there with anyones as long as Minor performs between his great 1.5 year performance from 12-13 and his bad performance in 14. The hitters (including Aoki) will consistently have better AB's and Peraza coming up at the ASB will spark some additional offense. I still think its a stretch to say we win more than 75 but starnger things have happened.
 
Lol so offense was the problem last year. We trade 3 of our 4 best hitters and replace them with a decent outfielder over 30 with a neck issue and we are all of a sudden a WC team. My god people are unbelievable.
 
Who the hell is our cleanup hitter now? BJ? Lol. CJ? Bet Fredi will run that in the ground. Simmons? He seems to think he's a cleanup hitter.
 
thethe said:
I think Kimbrel will absolutely be traded at hte deadline. I hope it doesn't happen because I'd like to have some more legacy Braves and we are going to be wishing we have a Kimbrel when this team is really good in 2017.

I don't get trading Freeman at all. Guy is a baby and still have 7+ years of great ball and the fact that he can actually hit a baseball consistently (unlike Heyward) tells me that he more than likely will age well and could be good into his mid 30's.
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What plus size 1B hit well into their mid 30s?
 
ChapelHillMatt said:
I don't know and really don't care to be honest with you. I know the Braves would have been in bad shape in a couple of years if they didn't make these trades. Now not only have they rebuilt the farm system, they've also cleared a lot of payroll. By the time 2017 gets here BJ Upton's contract will be off the books and the Braves should be in a much better position to get the players they need to compete.
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I don't think they've "rebuilt" the farm system. I think they've added some prospects. But that doesn't mean they are back to a top 10 minor league system with a strong future.
 
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