Looking towards 2025

Enscheff said:
First move is obviously picking up Ozuna's option. No matter how they resolve the DH log jam, that 1 year deal is valuable.

Next, I decline the Luke Jackson option.

Then I pick up the TDA and Bummer options.

After the easy option decisions are made, I find out if the payroll number is $230M to reset penalties, or if I have another year with a $270M payroll number.

If the payroll number is $230M I can't afford Laureano on the bench, but if it's $270M I go ahead and offer him arb and plan on paying him $7M to be Acuna insurance.

Regardless of the payroll number, I offer Kelenic arb to be a bench OFer and/or part time player as Acuna/Harris insurance.

Regardless of the payroll number, I try to trade Soler away. If no team is willing to take on that contract I deal with him in LF. Teams can win with a bad defender in LF.

If the payroll is $230M I look to trade Murphy and go cheaper at C with TDA/Baldwin. If the payroll is $270M I keep Murphy and hope he rebounds in 2025.

If the payroll is $230M I focus all the rest of the cash on getting the best SP I can afford. I won't speculate on options.

If the payroll is $270M I try to get Adames to push Arcia to the bench, but if there's no cash then Arcia gets another year and I deal with the low end offensive output.

Then I sit back, relax, and hope for a roster-wide rebound and 100+ wins.
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If you have to keep Solar do you shop for a cheap all defense glove as late inning replacement or make do with what you got?
 
bravesfanMatt said:
I don't think you can say Murphy sucks literally after posting that some team would take his entire salary and give the Braves prospect to boot. At that point you are just arguing with yourself.
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Well I wasn't a big believer in him to begin with. Or Olson. I am just not a big fan of .250 hitters. Just because I think they suck doesn't mean every team out there does. The Cubs and Red Sox are big market morons who need catching badly. Look at the free agent catchers and tell me if you were another team would you rather that or take your chances on a Murphy rebound. His contract isn't some super albatross either. Murphy has also had reported problems with the Atlanta heat. He might accept a trade because of it and another team might believe that's a reason for his sub par offense.
 
cajunrevenge said:
We got like 20 prospects knocking on the door. As well as the ghost of prospect Ian Anderson. If a good deals out there I don't mind but I don't think a SP is a must have for the off-season.
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We tried that experiment this year after we lost Strider. Luckily Schwelly stepped up, but 5 other pitchers have combined for 17 starts with a combined ERA over 7. We're losing Fried and potentially Charlie. We simply can't go into the 2025 season expecting to find a 5th starter from the minor league group.
 
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Couple of differences with the crop of pitchers from this year to nexts year. We all knew winans, vines, dodd were garbage. Elder is average and good 5th starter with a normal offense. Next year there is more hope or even unknown with AJSS, Waldrep, hackenburg, and Braun. Plus Anderson return. All could be 5th starter material and some with higher upside.
I am not 100% elder will still be around next year. Seems like a good candidate for a swap of change of scenery type guys.
 
Southcack77 said:
If you have to keep Solar do you shop for a cheap all defense glove as late inning replacement or make do with what you got?
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Kelenic is sufficient as a defensive replacement for Soler. If the payroll allows Laureano to stay that's a deep OF group.

If AA really plans to reset the tax penalties there may not be any cash to shop for anything other than a quality SP of some kind.
 
Let me throw out some names and why I think they may be relevant to our future.

Red Sox RF Wilyer Abreu - from scouting Red Sox forums they seem to believe their team is going to be too LH heavy. They are already LH heavy and so are several of their best prospects. Their general consensus would be that Abreu would be the odd man out not because he was the worst but because others like DH Yoshida are virtually untradeable. Their top 5 position players in terms of WAR are LH. 3 of their top 4 prospects are LH hitters. Abreu isnt anything special so far but he is a quality hitter vs RH pitching, plays good defense with a good arm for the corner outfield and has plenty of that juicy service time left. If we have to keep Soler then Abreu is a perfect platoon partner for him. Wouldnt mind LH SS David Hamilton as well just to push Arcia.

Cody Bellinger - not looking like he will opt out of the remaining 2 years of his contract. He is still an above average hitter who doesnt have terrible platoon splits with a lot of position versatility. Cubs have a lot of OF prospects coming up and Bellinger they would probably give away if anyone would take him. Maybe we trade bad Soler contract for bigger bad contract Bellinger. Maybe we keep both I dont know. Soler's 2 year salary is virtually what Bellinger gets paid in just 1 year of their contracts. Cubs get some salary relief and Braves take on the risk of Bellinger tanking and not opting out again. Bellinger would probably have to be pretty bad to not opt out of 1 year 27 million. Feels like an AA move.

Garrett Crochet - The White Sox appear to be in "**** it" mode right now and are going to cut payroll after being a historically bad team. Crochet kind of tanked his trade value at the deadline but reports are they intend to trade him. He is kind of the LH Strider. Big fastball. Mostly a 2 pitch pitcher. Still one of the most dominate SP in the game. He only made 800k so he will be rather cheap in terms of salary. He seems open to a long term extension and using cheap arb years to get a long term extension is right up AA's alley. And I think we match up well with the White Sox. I think a trade might hinge on if we would include either or both AJSS and Waldrep. Baldwin and Nacho I could easily see the White Sox seeing as potential starters with lots of juicy service time left. I wouldnt be surprised if its a larger deal with Luis Robert as well. He is seriously teetering on negatige value. No team wants to give up top prospects until he shows his one great season wasnt a one hit wonder. The White Sox seem to have a negative vortex of suck with all their players that sucks the talent out of them so maybe he gets better when he escapes the vortex of suck that is the White Sox.

Shane Bieber - Had TJ surgery early last year. Hopefully would be back by the all star break or august at the latest. Normally I would expect a player in this situation to want to stick to a familiar situation to rehab but the Indians arent exactly a big payroll team. Bieber might even want a 2 year deal so he can get a fully healthy year in before hopefully hitting FA again. I think the Braves running their starters with extra rest might entice a rehabbing pitcher who has a lot of money riding on the health of their arm. I could see this being our only move this offseason other than picking up options and arbitration decisions.

Pierce Johnson - Nothing against him but if we find ourselves needing a bit more cap space I think he is the odd man out. We cant lose any of the lefties. Jiminez is better. Iglesias is beloved by the team so trading him would piss in their cheerios plus he is a damn good closer. Pierce might not be the bet but he aint the worst and he has a team friendly contract even if it might be expensive.

Jeff Hoffman - Yes, the Phillies Jeff Hoffman. For whatever reason we seem hell bent on spending ass loads of money on the bullpen. Fortunately most of them have earned their pay but Iglesias is getting old. Maybe they plan to let him go after his contract, Iggy will be 36 by then. Hoffman is 3 years younger. Solve a problem a year early and we get to have both for 1 year. Hoffman doesnt mind coming in for non save 7th inning situations.

I dont know what will happen but I do feel like they need to add something to the offense. Olson has redeemed himself in my eyes even if he finishes with a bit of a down season. Riley will be fine. MH I am....... hopeful...... Acuna I think will always be a wild card both in terms of health and performance. Albies is always up and down. We need to get better in atleast one of LF/SS/C. Soler is barely worth his defense. Kelenic is only close to decent vs RH pitching. Murphy has been real bad for 1.5 years now. Arcia sucls too. Thats 1/3rd of the batting order that sucks ass and thats the plan before injuries? SS and C are two of the least offensive positions so if we have to improve I cant help but look at LF. I also think the 6 man rotation is here to stay for us atleast. Just like a 4 man rotation slowly transitioned to 5 man rotations a new rotation shift has begun.
 
bravesfanMatt said:
Couple of differences with the crop of pitchers from this year to nexts year. We all knew winans, vines, dodd were garbage. Elder is average and good 5th starter with a normal offense. Next year there is more hope or even unknown with AJSS, Waldrep, hackenburg, and Braun. Plus Anderson return. All could be 5th starter material and some with higher upside.

I am not 100% elder will still be around next year. Seems like a good candidate for a swap of change of scenery type guys.
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Yeah, we’ll be better set up for 25 barring injuries of course



AJ/Waldrep/Hack all finished with 3 strong starts which is hopeful for next year.

Elder was up and down still but finished with 2 good starts.

Ian finished stronger as well. He’s interesting because I don’t believe he has any option years left after this year. I don’t think he’ll be good enough to win a spot in the rotation though.

Winans and Vines need to be trimmed and Dodd turned in to a reliever
 
Can't have a catcher platoon making 23 million next year nor can you have two DH's making a combined 28 million next year -- especially when it's apparent Acuna will need to DH some --- or SHOULD DH some.
 
WaitingFor2017 said:
Can't have a catcher platoon making 23 million next year nor can you have two DH's making a combined 28 million next year -- especially when it's apparent Acuna will need to DH some --- or SHOULD DH some.
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A platoon with two RH hitters..... where the best hitter is the backup....... making almost 25 million a year for average production. We can get ****ty production from Catcher for a whole lot less.
 
WaitingFor2017 said:
Can't have a catcher platoon making 23 million next year nor can you have two DH's making a combined 28 million next year -- especially when it's apparent Acuna will need to DH some --- or SHOULD DH some.
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A platoon with two RH hitters..... where the best hitter is the backup....... making almost 25 million a year for average production. We can get ****ty production from Catcher for a whole lot less.
 
cajunrevenge said:
Thats the result of using a 6 man rotation. We can deal with some bad starts if we had a decent offense. Teams actually win games when starters give up 4 runs. Except us.
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Except it wasn't a 6 man rotation for most of the season. Schwelly didn't come up till May 29. Strider went down on April 5. We used 9 starts split between Elder, Vines, AJSS, and Winnans over this 8 week stretch from Strider to Schwelly. Then Fried went down at the deadline for 3 weeks. And Lopez soon after that. So most of that 7.00+ ERA came directly from our 5th rotation spot.
 
A 5th starter we had the option to skip many times and decided to run the likes of Winans out there. Keep in mind 1 game is a big difference right now.
 
In addition to not skipping the 5th spot when they could, the Braves also purposefully moved back the rotation with 9 other starts in May, June, and July. The Braves went 4-5 in those games. I know they were trying to save Sale and Lopez but in hindsight I'd love to have perhaps 12 of those starts back for our main 4.
 
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