Matt Olson to Braves!
- Thread starter Hudson2
- Start date
Oh tapate...
When you end up being a person of color and experienced racism I have before and traveled as much as I have, then you might understand how people can creatively and subtlety be racist without saying what they're thinking.
But I know, it's just a made up narrative i have, not my own personal experiences living in the South and traveling solo around the world as much as I have in the last 5 years.
This is very very rich.
Can't be harder than Greg Maddox or Andrew Jones
Tapate50
Well-known member
Some people on the internet called a person not legging out a double "lazy"?!?! OMFG. Call the police. It does not mean its racist. Its criticism. I'm sorry you have dealt with some crappy people, but you are not unique in that aspect of life. We all run across ****ty people.
I'm sorry you let it shape your narrative on life.
AA is a great GM
Tapate50
Well-known member
striker42
Well-known member
Having thought about this trade for a little bit here are my thoughts.
The fan in me wanted Freeman to stay. That HR against the Brewers was legendary and one of the crucial moments of our World Series run. Freeman was the home grown hero and the face of the franchise. There was emotional attachment there. There was also a part of me that thought re-signing him was just good business. He's a marketable player and it would cost good will to see him go.
However, when I thought about it more objectively, I couldn't shake the thought that giving him 6 years would end poorly. Freeman probably has a couple years of being a very good hitter in front of him but he's entering the age where a collapse becomes more and more likely. The last few years of that deal would likely be brutal. It made more baseball sense to me to let Freeman walk and trade for Olson. There's a good chance Olson will be the better player over the next two years.
I have to credit AA for making the baseball move, not caving to Freeman's demands, and making the objective, logical choice. It's not an easy thing to do.
As for the trade itself, the more I think about it the more I think we did well. It was a bit of a shock seeing 4 of our top 10 go but I was still of the mindset of the Braves having an elite farm. The Coppy sanctions have starved the farm system to the point where it was super thin. There have been times where Pache and Shea wouldn't have even cracked our top 5, let alone been 1 and 2.
I had reached the point with Pache where I doubted his future here. The defense is there and that could make him a decent player but I'm doubtful he'll ever be a star at this point.
As for Shea, I've never been as high on him as some have been. I think he'll be a mediocre starter and only that good because of his glove. I see him being a glove first catcher with enough pop in his bat to start but who struggles to make contact and get on base. He'll likely have a long career because excellent defensive catchers can hang around as backups for years but I thought he was a reach when we drafted him and nothing has changed that analysis for me.
The guy I hate seeing go the most is Cusick. His fastball gives him an extremely high ceiling. He might end up in the pen but even there he could easily be a high leverage reliever.
All told, we're in the middle of our contention window. Olson is a great piece that wont handcuff us in the future and will help us on a bid to repeat. It was a good move by AA even if it does hurt to see Freddie go.
The fan in me wanted Freeman to stay. That HR against the Brewers was legendary and one of the crucial moments of our World Series run. Freeman was the home grown hero and the face of the franchise. There was emotional attachment there. There was also a part of me that thought re-signing him was just good business. He's a marketable player and it would cost good will to see him go.
However, when I thought about it more objectively, I couldn't shake the thought that giving him 6 years would end poorly. Freeman probably has a couple years of being a very good hitter in front of him but he's entering the age where a collapse becomes more and more likely. The last few years of that deal would likely be brutal. It made more baseball sense to me to let Freeman walk and trade for Olson. There's a good chance Olson will be the better player over the next two years.
I have to credit AA for making the baseball move, not caving to Freeman's demands, and making the objective, logical choice. It's not an easy thing to do.
As for the trade itself, the more I think about it the more I think we did well. It was a bit of a shock seeing 4 of our top 10 go but I was still of the mindset of the Braves having an elite farm. The Coppy sanctions have starved the farm system to the point where it was super thin. There have been times where Pache and Shea wouldn't have even cracked our top 5, let alone been 1 and 2.
I had reached the point with Pache where I doubted his future here. The defense is there and that could make him a decent player but I'm doubtful he'll ever be a star at this point.
As for Shea, I've never been as high on him as some have been. I think he'll be a mediocre starter and only that good because of his glove. I see him being a glove first catcher with enough pop in his bat to start but who struggles to make contact and get on base. He'll likely have a long career because excellent defensive catchers can hang around as backups for years but I thought he was a reach when we drafted him and nothing has changed that analysis for me.
The guy I hate seeing go the most is Cusick. His fastball gives him an extremely high ceiling. He might end up in the pen but even there he could easily be a high leverage reliever.
All told, we're in the middle of our contention window. Olson is a great piece that wont handcuff us in the future and will help us on a bid to repeat. It was a good move by AA even if it does hurt to see Freddie go.
We would have been on our third world series title if Coppy was still here......
*runs and hides*
No, the Giants GM got it.
There is an above average chance Olson will be better than Freeman in 22 and 23. Olson is a stud. Now use that 15 million saved to upgrade the OF.
LIke you said - Better than Freeman and the have additional funds to allocate to make the rest of the team better.
Its going to work out very well for ATL.
weso1
<B>Clique Leader</B>
The only thing I don't like about this trade is the opportunity cost. I think I would have preferred to slightly over pay for Freeman and use those prospects to get a really good centerfielder. With that in mind, I think it's likely that we couldn't get Freeman for a slight over pay. So I'm more disappointed in the end result rather than the decision.
nsacpi
Expects Yuge Games
An important point. All the Olsens I know are schmucks.
i think for a stud CF you’re giving up even more top prospects.