Looking Ahead - The 2020 Offseason Thread

I realize they are both on one year deals, but the addition of Morton and Smiley would seem to mean the Braves have a surplus of young arms if Soroka is on schedule. When Soroka is back, one of Wright/Anderson will be without a spot in the rotation. Wilson, Muller and Davidson will also be in AAA for depth. That leaves Touki, De La Cruz and Ynoa being converted into pen pieces or as trade bait, right?
 
OcalaBrave said:
I realize they are both on one year deals, but the addition of Morton and Smiley would seem to mean the Braves have a surplus of young arms if Soroka is on schedule. When Soroka is back, one of Wright/Anderson will be without a spot in the rotation. Wilson, Muller and Davidson will also be in AAA for depth. That leaves Touki, De La Cruz and Ynoa being converted into pen pieces or as trade bait, right?
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I don't know. You got Soroka recovering. Morton is old and had a little trouble last year. Drew S. is kind of a projection. And you have two one year deals.

So maintaining depth makes sense.

But if you can flip a little pitching for something, no doubt.

Alex is willing to pay an 80% premium for 1 year deals though.
 
MadduxFanII said:
Signing both Morton and Smyly feels like a concerted attempt to avoid the rotation catastrophe we suffered last year. I think there's an argument that's fighting the last war, but I understand it.
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It's equivalent to Melancon, Greene, Brown, Smith moves to shore up the pen.
 
I still think the Mets are going to do:
Bauer
DeGrom
Syndergaard
Stroman
Peterson

That's still much better than our rotation. Our pen is worse w/o green and melancin.

We need two more bats.
 
Russ2dollas said:
I still think the Mets are going to do:
Bauer
DeGrom
Syndergaard
Stroman
Peterson

That's still much better than our rotation. Our pen is worse w/o green and melancin.

We need two more bats.
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Mets will always be able to outspend our team. Our advantage will be maximizing the contention window with a better farm system and one year deals.

If the Mets sign Bauer, Springer and JTR and all of those guys flop, they are stuck with that team (even with Cohen’s money).

And ultimately, playoff expansion is going to reduce the importance of the division anyways.
 
jpx7 said:
Presumably a Reservoir Dogs-themed sobriquet for the great Darren O’Day.
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He wasn't in Reservoir Dogs. He was Snidely Whiplash in Dudley Do-Right.

usatsi-10633482.jpg
 
Russ2dollas said:
I still think the Mets are going to do:
Bauer
DeGrom
Syndergaard
Stroman
Peterson

That's still much better than our rotation. Our pen is worse w/o green and melancin.

We need two more bats.
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Obviously a 1-2 of Bauer and DeGrom is the best in the league. However, Syndegaard won't be back for the first two months, Stroman will have not pitched in a major league game in over a year, and Peterson still has alot to prove. Plus once again they have absolutely no depth in the rotation which killer them last year. Will be interesting to see what they do with Lugo. He was great as a starter last year.
 
CLCV has thrown out Rosario from the Twins.

Are there other short term bats potentially available for trade? I'm thinking that AA can now turn his attention toward trades.

I think the Mariners have a young 3B ready to go. Would Seager be an option again for little to know return? Move Riley to LF or AAA? I think he'd have to change his contract so that the team option does not become guaranteed with a trade.

Cubs have a lot of options.
 
Interesting discussion that just finished on XM...

Jed sidestepped the issue altogether when asked about trading or non-tendering Bryant, saying only "the offense will look different next season". Duquette immediately brought us up as the obvious fit, but framed it a bit differently than the context we've discussed things around here. He stressed the point that you're likely looking at similar 2021 salaries for Bryant and Ozuna, and he wondered if our "post-hype" arms (their show's term for prospects with clocks already started) - Wright/Wilson/Newk/Touki - might hold enough value to frame a Bryant deal around.

Got me to thinking...say Jed's looking to stockpile arms in the hopes of finding a couple of late bloomers. If two of the arms from that group and a throw-in (or Duvall in the event Jed wants some replacement offense without bidding for it on the open market) nets you Bryant, why does AA have to do anything with Riley? Playing Bryant in LF gives you your RH bat to "protect" Freddie until Waters arrives AND gives you another year to evaluate Riley AT 3B. If Jed doesn't want Duvall, you just non-tender him to help with payroll concerns, meaning you've added Bryant on a 1 year deal for roughly $13 million. Waters steps into LF in 2022, and if Riley doesn't take another step forward and become someone you can hit behind Freeman the DH will be here for sure by then (or you can look into extending Bryant). The Cubs would pick up two controllable arms that still probably have higher ceilings than anyone currently in their system and could play Bote at 3B in 2021 while trying to work out extensions with Baez and Contreras. If they took Duvall back, he'd fit as a platoon partner for Schwarber or Heyward.
 
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Bryant I'm not sure on. Cubs fans have a 3 years ago view on him. Does the front office?

I don't think he has that much trade value. He's owed a lot of money. He's a Boras guy who is not going to sign an extension. He wasn't good last year. His defense is avg at best at 3B and LF.

It would be funny with all of the fight about his service time manipulation if he was non-tendered the last year.

Getting a lottery ticket of two of our AAAA arms for one year of Bryant doesn't seem crazy to me. The Braves aren't sure what they're getting on offense or how he'd take to playing LF vs 3B. If he plays well you might get a QO pick for him, but that could go away in the next CBA.

They might have to take Ender to make the money work for us.
 
I have the Braves sitting right at $114M right now with a $0 at backup SS and OF/DH. I refuse to believe the plan was to spend $26M on SPs and let Mayfield and Almonte take bench spots on the MLB roster.

Pos Player 2021 Salary
1 C d'Arnaud $8.00
2 1B Freeman $22.00
3 2B Albies $3.00
4 3B Riley $0.60
5 SS Swanson $3.30
6 LF Acuna $5.00
7 CF Pache $0.60
8 RF Duvall $4.70

9 SP1 Soroka $0.60
10 SP2 Fried $2.40
11 SP3 Anderson $0.60
12 SP4 Morton $15.00
13 SP5 Smyly $11.00

14 BN1 IF $0.00
15 BN2 Camargo $2.00
16 BN3 OF $0.00
17 BN4 Inciarte $8.70
18 BN5 Contreras $0.60

19 BP1 Jackson $2.00
20 BP2 Minter $1.10
21 BP3 Dayton $0.80
22 BP4 Martin $7.00
23 BP5 Smith $13.00
24 BP6 Ynoa $0.60
25 BP7 Matzek $0.60
26 BP8 Webb $0.60

EX BO O'Day $0.50

Total $114.30

This tells me there are a few possibilities:

1. Payroll is cut to ~$120M, and AA plans to add a platoon partner for Duvall (Rosario) and a Hech replacement, and go with Riley at 3B. In this scenario, DH would be filled by rotating guys through the spot if it is used in 2020.

2. Payroll is largely unaffected and reamins at $140M+. In this scenario, AA just freed up arms like Touki and Wright to be used in a Bryant trade. Turner is an option. Ozuna and Cruz are both options if the DH is in play for 2020. Basically everyone is an option.

We will know a lot about what the plan is when they make a decision on Duvall. If they keep him it's hard to imagine they go big in LF and relegate $5M to the bench.

AA has already surpassed my ideal pitching staff, which was just the addition of Morton for $10-$15M. My ideal outcome for the DH roster is Rosario, Cruz at DH, and Riley getting 400 PAs at 3B. My ideal outcome for the non-DH roster is Rosario and Turner on a 1-2 year deal. Hopefully AA has the $20M+ to make that or something similar happen.
 
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