Looking Ahead - The 2020 Offseason Thread

Russ2dollas said:
I don't. I think we need a RH hitter more than anything.

I think Lamb and Kipnis are our best bench bats at this time. Ender can't hit, but he's much better vs RH. Snit never PH the back up catcher. That leaves you with Comargo and Ervin who are better vs LH.

I like this guy for a minimum guy. Seems like he was decent hitter before last year. Seems to mash LH. Could play the original Duvall role.
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PANDA is in the mix. He is a switch hitter who hits better from the left side.
 
jpx7 said:
It's pretty damn arguable. Demeritte had a better 2019 in AAA, but that's about all he has on Fowler. I don't think either are great shakes, but Fowler's a LHH, making him a better fit for the Cobb County bench (if Pache and Ozuna both start on the grass, that's three RHH OFs); plus Fowler can actually play a competent CF, whereas Demeritte is restricted to the corners. And as far as projections go, Zips sees Demeritte as a -0.2 WAR player in ~500 PA, versus 0.8 for Fowler.

I'm not some big Fowler-stan (in fact, I pretty much forgot he existed between the Sonny Gray trade and today), but I think, while he's arguably the better player, there's not much argument whether he'd be a better fit for the current roster.
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Yeah - I'm definitely not campaigning for giving Fowler a guaranteed spot by any means, but as a left-handed hitter with speed, some pop, a solid track-record at the AAA level, and the ability to play all 3 OF spots, he fits as a potential platoon guy/4th OF in the event Ender shows he's done.

If they brought him in to compete with all the other AAAA/bench guys and kept him and Ervin around until final cuts they might be able to tuck both away in Gwinnett (along with Demeritte) to guarantee there will be no need to even begin to think about Waters before he either forces his way onto the roster or 2022 gets here.
 
Russ2dollas said:
I don't. I think we need a RH hitter more than anything.

I think Lamb and Kipnis are our best bench bats at this time. Ender can't hit, but he's much better vs RH. Snit never PH the back up catcher. That leaves you with Comargo and Ervin who are better vs LH.

I like this guy for a minimum guy. Seems like he was decent hitter before last year. Seems to mash LH. Could play the original Duvall role.
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I disagree—but I guess it depends on what happens with Inciarte. In the likely scenario that he is ded, I think Pache should be the starter from day-one, and Inciarte should just be jettisoned as flotsam; if he's cratered enough he can't start for a month or so in CF, and push Pache's clock another year, then at that point he'd also be pretty useless as a bench-bat / backup. And, in that case, the Braves will field an all-RHH OF, so I'd like to see them roster a CF-capable LHH on the bench to back things up, PH, and spell Pache against tough RHPs.

However, I guess this indicates that it's likely Inciarte begins the year on the roster, however bad he looks in ST—either as the starter in CF, or as the LHH CF-capable backup.
 
50PoundHead said:
It's done. Demeritte cleared waivers and is now on the Gwinnett roster. I was just critiquing clvclv's suggestion of Dustin Fowler.

To earlier points about Smyly, while I'm not in love with the signing, I can see the logic behind adding both him and Morton. Question will always be on price. At the time they were signed, I thought Anthopoulos jumped the market but in retrospect both deals fall within the expected range. For me, the issue gets to be the offense and I may be one of the only folks worried about it, but I think there are question marks there if d'Arnaud and Ozuna (and to some extent Swanson) don't repeat their 2020 performance.
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Kinda wonder if the fact that Demeritte was removed from the 40-Man (understandable following the Ervin pickup although a little surprising he made it through waivers again with 2 options remaining) means that Camargo and Mayfield are competing for the 26th spot. You almost have to feel like at least one of them gets dropped to make room for Kipnis.
 
clvclv said:
Kinda wonder if the fact that Demeritte was removed from the 40-Man (understandable following the Ervin pickup although a little surprising he made it through waivers again with 2 options remaining) means that Camargo and Mayfield are competing for the 26th spot. You almost have to feel like at least one of them gets dropped to make room for Kipnis.
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I hope it's Camargo. I'm sort of done with him—mostly because I'm tired of people dreaming on him being anything more than he is, but also because he can't really play SS. But I guess Camargo does have a minor-league option remaining, so it's probably more likely he's, at worst, in AAA (rather than a salary-crunch casualty).
 
So would you rather have Drew Smyly for $11MM, or Tyler Clippard, Mark Melancon, Asdrubal Cabrera and Brett Gardner for the same $11MM?
 
skillet said:
So would you rather have Drew Smyly for $11MM, or Tyler Clippard, Mark Melancon, Asdrubal Cabrera and Brett Gardner for the same $11MM?
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You're talking about two bench bats and two bullpen arms vs a possible great starter which was by far our biggest need. Also dont know where Gardner even plays without the DH. Have Ender, Pache, Ozuna, Acuna for the outfield. Bullpen options is fair but we'll see what emerges in spring training. Also just signed Lamb which is about on par with Cabrera with more upside.
 
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I’m telling you guys, it would be so “Ender” to come out on fire. It that he could sustain it...but just to throw a wrench in things with Snit.
 
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