He has simply stopped swinging at pitches out of the zone so often. I'm not sure why a stance change would affect that, or why a team of 3 hitting coaches took months to help him figure it out, but I'm glad he's corrected it for now. Just in time to help the Braves get a worse draft pick.
Michael Harris II
- Thread starter CrimsonCowboy
- Start date
cajunrevenge
Well-known member
Payroll is as high as its ever been. This singular year you could say spending was an issue as there were obvious things we needed that werent unrealistic for us to sign like another SP of the Quintana level. AA said we had the money he just didnt think we needed it. I will give AA a pass on the Kelenic money that was a decent gamble regardless of how it turned out in my opinion but the Profar signing for 3 years was retarded. 1 year prove it deal I understand, 3 years for a guy with his history of sucking suddenly becoming a good hitter in their mid 30's was not a good gamble long before hindsight. The most unforgiveable part about it was his obviously declining defense. He is barely better than Soler and we got him for 2 more whole years. He will be a DH only by that time at the rate he is going. Heck he might need a wheelchair by 40 his defense is declining so fast.
The problem as I see it is he is unwilling to leverage long term deals to maximize the team now. We cant sign Fried he wants too many years. Who gives a flying fuck about 8 years from now I want to win a championship now. Its the need to be a consistent winner to maximize profits that is weighing the team down. Its not a bad thing if we have to rebuild for 2-3 years get some high draft picks and restock the farm once every 10-12 years. We are competing to make the playoffs every year not to win the playoffs.
The problem as I see it is he is unwilling to leverage long term deals to maximize the team now. We cant sign Fried he wants too many years. Who gives a flying fuck about 8 years from now I want to win a championship now. Its the need to be a consistent winner to maximize profits that is weighing the team down. Its not a bad thing if we have to rebuild for 2-3 years get some high draft picks and restock the farm once every 10-12 years. We are competing to make the playoffs every year not to win the playoffs.
cajunrevenge
Well-known member
MH got better as soon as it was reported the Braves were going to shop him and Albies in the offseason. If I remember correctly MH grew up a big Braves fan. So that would be my guess.
Hudson2
Well-known member
I agree. Spend the money and oh well in 8 years bc no long term deal is gonna go great the whole time. I know AA is scared to spend in FA on a long term deal but like he did in the draft and went a different direction that's what he needs to do this offseason in FA. Tucker is gonna cost but he'd be the perfect FA pickup for this offense moving forward. Cease I think may cost less now than before the season started so he's the other one I go after. Those 2 would go a long way to fixing this team. You could live with Allen at SS until we develop one if you had another bat like Tucker and Harris figuring it out.
Nerfherders
Well-known member
It might be just enough to change his sightlines. I really don't know but it's obviously the cause of his return. I don't care as much about the pick if we can get these guys going and confident for next year. Isn't it better to have the players we know we have for 2026 playing well? It doesn't matter for results right now, but it will matter if they can turn things around and keep it going for next year.
Hudson2
Well-known member
All it took was him getting his confidence back. Once he stopped swinging at bad pitches and got in a habit of doing it then it came together.
Payroll is high. It’s just tied up in underachieving and injured players and not FAs. He’s not signing tucker. He’ll wait for the Donaldson deal that will never happen again
Hudson2
Well-known member
I think after this year and all the pressure he's came under for his bad offseason and now 2 bad deadlines I think he will spend big this offseason after resetting the tax before the new CBA. We'll see I guess.
Hudson2
Well-known member
That's where I'm at also. He can blow smoke all day about we had this and almost did this but it was all about the tax the entire time. With money coming off the books and resetting the tax I'd be shocked if he didn't spend big this offseason.
Not really. Braves were a top 5 payroll last year, and I’d be surprised if they weren’t again next year. These extensions have limited roster flexibility.
And I’m more talking about the Olson, Murphy and Strider extensions. All of those were unnecessary at the time. The Riley one was probably necessary even if it gets ugly. Hard to complain about the Acuña and Albies extensions, even if they fell flat on their face.
The extensions were risky, but they weren't any different than signing a free agent a bit above market value and that free agent not panning out or living up to their contract.
Riley's production being nowhere close to his extension numbers is what has hurt us the most. Strider is a pitcher so there was worry about his arm, but Strider makes WAY LESS than what a pitcher his value would be getting on open market. Strider can also be converted to a dominant reliever unless his arm completely explodes.
If Riley continued his production and then became so expensive that he couldn't be brought back, then the fanbase would be complaining about letting Freeman/Dansby walk again but this time with Riley. He's one I think AA felt he had to bring back because the southern fanbase would be outraged if Riley walked.
Riley getting much worse post-extension could not have been predicted this badly.
Murphy has been good just unlucky with injuries.
Riley's production being nowhere close to his extension numbers is what has hurt us the most. Strider is a pitcher so there was worry about his arm, but Strider makes WAY LESS than what a pitcher his value would be getting on open market. Strider can also be converted to a dominant reliever unless his arm completely explodes.
If Riley continued his production and then became so expensive that he couldn't be brought back, then the fanbase would be complaining about letting Freeman/Dansby walk again but this time with Riley. He's one I think AA felt he had to bring back because the southern fanbase would be outraged if Riley walked.
Riley getting much worse post-extension could not have been predicted this badly.
Murphy has been good just unlucky with injuries.
I’m not talking about their results. The Olson and Murphy extensions were questionable when they were signed. Signing a 1B and catcher on the verge of their 30s is a questionable use of resources unless you’re talking about generational talents.
Murphy is the one I question the most. Olson is reasonable because you are signing him during his prime through the rest of the Acuna window. Which is and should continue to be the goal. Maximize your winning potential while he is here which is 3 more seasons. If there is a time to go all in it's this upcoming offseason.
Freeman is 4-5 years older than Olson.
If Freeman were to be extented, would that not have been as calculated of a risk than signing Olson for few extra guaranteed years, when Olson is younger? I know in a vacuum we look at whether if FF's peripherals would age better than Olson's. But I do think the FO also considers fan sentiment in some of these things. Us baseball nerds on the board are but a very small small small minority of actual fans who want to see the team run optimally. The rest of the fanbase doesn't understand anything more than AVG-HR-RBI-ERA-W/L and maybe OBP. They want to see the team spend money. If AA gave FF a big extension and he ends up declining big time, the fanbase would probably mostly still be happy that he brought FF back. Olson was a local Atlanta boy.
I understand extensions to 1B and C are a bit risky. But Murphy was also 27 when he signed the extension, and didn't have the unlucky injury history.
The current 2026 tax number is about $150M, and I fully expect it to be $250M by the end of the offseason.
AA should legitimately have around $100M to spend in 2026, so Tucker plus whatever other acquisition he wants should absolutely be doable. The Acuna window is closing, so this is the time to push the chips into the middle of the table before the mini-rebuild.
AA should legitimately have around $100M to spend in 2026, so Tucker plus whatever other acquisition he wants should absolutely be doable. The Acuna window is closing, so this is the time to push the chips into the middle of the table before the mini-rebuild.
My only concern, and I'm way more Pro-AA than others here, is that AA will get the frugal bug again this offseason, and try to go for unnecessary quantity over quality based on everyone complaining he didn't stack the roster enough with depth this year to give the team a chance.
So instead of Tucker, he's going to try and opt for a few mid level guys at a slightly cheaper rate.
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Southcack77
Well-known member
I think what has happened recently is the mid level guys got too much money.
The article I read said that the new stance shortened his load time allowing him a few milliseconds longer to read the pitch before starting his swing.
I guess that could mean not swinging at bad pitches as much….
I am definitely not a major league hitter, so I really don’t have an opinion.
Yeah, the longer you have to recognize a pitch the less likely you are to swing at junk.